21 freezer meals….12 Freezer dinners, 4 freezer breakfasts, and 5 freezer lunches, in the freezer NOW .

I have been doing freezer meals ever since my second son was born almost 4 years ago. (I don’t know why I have never REALLY shared on here about my experiences)

 I was very very blessed to have a family friend watch my oldest (3 1/2 at the time) when I was in the hospital with my second.  When we were discharged from the hospital keep in mind 4 days later. We went to pick him up and go home as a New family of 4.  Stressed already about having a December baby.  Driving home in the snow, Not being able to drive myself anywhere for anything, To my surprise she sent us home with a HUGE box and 2 paper bags full of meals-prepared and already frozen.  She even included most of the “extra” things that go with the meals, What I mean by that is if the meal was Spaghetti, she had a loaf of bread and a bag of salad to go with it in the bag as well.   It was such a huge blessing to our family.

With my first son I was able to have him naturally, but with my second he was very stubborn and never flipped over not even once after I hit my 5th month of the pregnancy-so being breach I had to have a c-section.

So ever since she blessed us with all these meals, I have tried to always have some ready in our freezers.  Or if I make a meal I try to double it so I can eat one and put one away in the freezer for another day. This comes in so handy when we have a busy week, busy day, or if someone you know is struggling with surgery, finances, or anything else.

This week I was able to put together a HUGE list of some our favorites.

Head to the grocery store

And fill up our freezer.

The recipes I included were:

        Beef-

                     Spicy mexican sirloin roast and mexican corn salsa to go along with it.

                     Meatloaf with brown sugar glaze

                    Slow cooker beef fajitas

                   Tamale Pie

                  Taco Casserole

      Chicken-

                  Chicken and bean tacos

                  White Chicken Chilli

                  Slow cooker chicken fajitas

                  Tortellini soup

                 Chicken soup

    Pork-

                Honey Sesame pork roast

                Pulled pork for sandwiches

    Lunches-

               7 Layer Nachos

               Alfredo mac and cheese cups

             Slow cooker refried beans

            Bean and cheese burritos

              chicken for chicken salad

   Breakfast-

              Maple Breakfast cake

             Spiced pumpkin bread

             pb granola bars

             healthy Granola

*pictures and recipes to come soon!!

Advertisements

clean-out and a re-arrange *boys room*

I started out by just picking up the boys’ room, and then I just seemed frustrated. Too much stuff in a small {pretty big but seemed small} space. So i started with 2 garbage bags and a actual garbage can, I started going through first the closet and picking through each shirt, jacket, and checking sizes.  Moving from one side to the other if outgrown, and if it was too small for both boys into one of the bags.  After all closets and drawers were cleaned out I had one STUFFED bag of clothes and shoes. {sorry in advance-this post is lengthy and contains TONS of pictures}

{before: of the dresser, outgrown diaper basket, art/homework table}

 

{After: moved to the other side of the room so I can actually see the map-I would love to paint this dresser someday}

{before: the book shelf, EVERYTHING that L1 loves to have displayed and an explosion of toys}

{after: book shelf completely gone through and organized – some books are going to a new home, and you can actually see the WHOLE map!}

Next I organized all the boys’ dresser drawers-having only one dresser to share and having quite a selection of clothes, things can get crazy. I will show you my solution though, and so far it seems to work pretty well for them.

{drawer #1-L1 socks on left, L1 undies middle, L2 socks right}

{Drawer #2 –  L1’s Shorts left to comfy pants middle to jeans right}

All folded and stacked on their side as you can see, so he can see everything he has without digging and pulling out everything {not like he did that in the past or anything}.

{Drawer #3 – another shared drawer.  L1’s jammies on the left and L2’s jammies on the right.  Tops and bottoms together so they can grab and go. Since if your a momma of boys you know NOTHING happens slowly!!}

{Drawer #4-is all L2’s far left is his undies [very reachable] then shorts, comfy pants and jeans}

{the left side of the closet is L2’s side and short sleeve shirts on the top bar and long sleeve shirts/jackets are on the bottom bar.  L2’s shoes are on the bottom shelf.  You can see the toy “bins” that we did a year or so ago are still on the shelf and we love it this way…read about that change here}

{L1’s side of the closet!!  I can tell by his shirts he is getting so big}

Map and clock wall-I let the boys point to places on the globe to put their time on the clocks. Turkey and China it was.

{I love the ikea spice rack – book shelves-I have moved the bed since I put them up a year ago or so, so they aren’t centered any more, but it seems to work just fine–they love to have their books within arms reach.}

This week I am going to share my latest pins-there is no theme…just COMPLETELY random.

Such cute ideas for neighbor gifts…things that you may have laying around, and ideas that won’t break the bank! read more here

My youngest son has eczema on the inside of his knees and elbows….we have a cream for it that seems to work but it is pricey-so I have been trying these ideas and so far so good.

such great ideas to take to people even if not going through hard times…new babies, elderly, busy, lots of reasons to bless families with a planned meal.  The link on pinterest was not accurate so I went and found the right one–go read more here.

These are the yummiest bread sticks EVER!!  I have made them 3 times now (twice in one day by request from the littles)

I made these yesterday and took them to my sons motocross race….and now they are gone!  So so yummy and just how I remembered them from elementary school.

I thought these Broken Crayon Candles would be so fun for the boys to make…(and for my sanity to get rid of some of those broken crayons in the drawer)

it’s that time of year again….

ALREADY!!

This year is flying by I can’t even believe that school will be out in three short months. In four short months I will have a SEVEN year old—oh goodness gracious, Well excited to see what we get accomplished this Break!…I plan to finish a lot of projects, organization, and CLEANING!!

I have printed some cute decor prints to re-decorate a little for spring.  I need to put them in frames, I printed a checklist for Little T- for morning, afternoon, and night. I am really trying to ingrain a routine into him so I don’t have to sound like a broken record all day long.  I don’t think I am asking too much- he is six now-and should know what is expected of him.

I really want to make a growth chart out of reclaimed wood-organize our linen closet, get a after-school snack system going, and a reward bin filled!  A few months ago we started a punch card system-and a 6-dime-a-day electronic system, (maybe a post about both of these soon) so far they have been working pretty well, except the bin needs re-filled.  Also I need to be better about really sticking to *when you are good and finish your stuff, then it results in a reward*

My list is a mile long I feel like-

*home-made gifts for 2 friends babies

*re-claimed growth chart x3

*organize linen closet

*2 crib quilts for two adorable little girlies

*spring cleaning

*spice cupboard

*pantry labels

*sew a few tote bags

*frame daily checklist

*gallery wall

*spring decor

*sand and paint dining table and benches

*cut some more limbs off our crazy amount of trees

*garden???

Ok so I guess we will start with this list and see how far we get this week 🙂

Freezer Preparing

I have been trying to cook healthy, save money, and get food on the table before 6 pm..so my answer is freezer preparing.  That is what I have chosen to call it because I don’t usually have to “cook” much before it goes straight into the freezer.

Cafe Rio Style Burritos-Our absolute favorite!!  you can find the recipe here.  You will regret it if you don’t try it.

This Ham and Cheese braid was yummy ( a little less of the ranch packet and it would have been perfect)

Find the recipe here

Green Chicken Enchiladas–this was so yummy!!  recipe here

Sausage hash..it doesn’t sound amazing but oh it is!  you can find the recipe here

These are just a few of the favorites from the last couple weeks!  They all got 2 thumbs up from all three boys.

5 Dinners in 1 hour

So we are trying something new-I have only recieved the “sample week” so far but it went pretty well.  We LOVED 4 out of the 5 meals.

So the point of the 5 dinners in 1 hour website is so on Sunday (or day of your choosing) you make all five meals (recipes, and grocery shopping list included)  and put them in the fridge to bake or pop in the slow cooker later in the week.

-Orange Glazed Turkey Patties – served with Green salad and broccoli  (not one of our favorites, loved the salad and       broccoli!!)

-Slow Cooked Meatball Stew – served with mashed potatoes (got two thumbs up from everyone)

-Baked Mexican Chicken Penne – served with green beans (so so good)

-Roasted Shrimp with Tomatoes and feta (*minus the feta) – served with rice and peas (mmmm.mmmm.mmm)

-Slow Cooked Bacon and Potato soup – (ABSOLUTE FAVORITE)  never will have a different potato soup again

*this is how you order and what you get when you do order.

Order a Menu

Monthly Dinner Menu Subscription ($15.00 recurring every 3 months until canceled)

Do not log out of Paypal once payment is made.  It will take you to a  page on my blog to sign up for the auto mailer.  Please be patient, it may take a minute or two.  If you skip this step it will delay your order.
*The name you enter for the menu mailer must match the name on your Paypal account.  The email may be different but the name must match.