Freezer Meals for Days!

Yesterday my friend Jensenne and I decided to try a little adventure by making freezer meals. Let me just tell you I was completely jazzed about this idea. I hate cooking, so days that I exceptionally HATE to cook I will just out one of these suckers and pop it in the oven or crock-pot! But little did I know how much of a process it was. We started at 11 am and ended at 9 pm hahahaha! The thing that took the longest besides assembling them was picking out the Freezer meals! I just had to go through so many pins and find the recipes I particularly liked. So one of my friends (thanks Mindee) suggested I put the recipes on my blog so the process is a lot shorter for ya'll!

1. First you pick out the Recipes, here I have 12 recipes that all sounded simple to do and delicious.

POT ROAST

2 lb Roast
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 bag baby carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp basil
1 tsp beef granules
3/4 cup water
1 Tbsp Worcestershire
salt and pepper to taste

Dump all ingredients into bag, mix, and freeze flat.
Cooking directions: Add 1 cup beef broth and 4 potatoes cut in half. Cook on low 8-10 hrs.

RANCH PORK CHOPS

4 pork chops
Ranch seasoning dry mix packet
1 can cream of chicken
1 can water

Place all ingredients into bag. Toss, knead, and flatten bag to freeze.
Directions: Thaw overnight in refrigerator. Cook in crock pot for 4-6 hrs on high. Serve with mashed potatoes and corn.

CHEESY POTATO SOUP

32 oz frozen diced hash browns
1/2 cup frozen chopped onion
1/2 cup diced celery
32 oz. chicken broth
1 cup water
3 Tbsp flour
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Place hash browns, onion, celery, broth and water in bag. In another bag place: 3 tbsp flour and 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese. Tape together gallon bags. Toss and freeze flat.
Cooking directions: Cook on low 6-8 hrs. Add 1 cup milk, 1 cup floud, and 1 cup cheese to soup after 6-8 hrs of cooking, and then let cook another 20-30 mins in slow cooker.


CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

1 lb chicken (boneless, skinless breasts)

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with chilies
1 10 oz can enchilada sauce (make sure it’s gluten free if that’s an issue for you!)
1 medium onion
1 4 oz can chopped green chilies
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
2 cups frozen corn
1 TBS chopped Cilantro (for garnish)
Corn Tortilla chips

Put all ingredients in a gallon zip lock bag (except the cilantro and tortillas) and freeze. Thaw and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-5 hours. Shred chicken after cooking, serve with cilantro and crushed tortilla chips. Serves 6-8 people

PAPRIKA CHICKEN AND RICE

1 pound chicken breast
15 ounces cream of celery soup
1 cup water
1.5 cup instant rice
2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon pepper

Combine all ingredients in bag. Thaw in fridge when ready to bake. Bake in pan uncovered at 400 for 40-50 mins until chicken is cooked through.

TERIYAKI CHICKEN

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 Cup Teriyaki Sauce

1 Cup water

2/3 Cup Brown Sugar

3 cloves Garlic minced

Add all ingredients to a bag. Once bag is closed mix all the ingredients with your hands. 

To cook take out of freezer one hour before dump in crock-pot and cook low 4-6 hrs.

SWEET BBQ CHICKEN

4-6 Chicken Breasts

12 oz bottle of BBQ Sauce

1/2 cup Brown Sugar 

1/4 Cup Vinegar

1/8 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Garlic Powder

Add all ingredients to bag. Once bag is closed use your hands to mash all the ingredients together.

To cook take out 1 hr before cooking dump in crock-pot and cook low 4-6 hrs.

HAWAIIAN CHICKEN SANDWHICHES

6-8 Chicken Breasts (1 for each family member, doubled)

2 cups of chicken broth

2 small cans of pineapple rings

2 red bell Peppers sliced into thin strips

1 large onion sliced into strips

Divide evenly into two bags. Cook on low for 8 hrs Serve chicken topped with pepper and onions melted provolone cheese on a bun or lettuce wrap.

SAVORY PEPPER STEAK

3 pounds of round steak but into 1/2 inch thick strips

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp of Salt

1 tsp of pepper

1 large onion chopped

a few garlic cloves put into each bag minced

1 green pepper sliced into thin strips

1 red pepper sliced into thin strips

2 16 oz cans of tomatoes 

2 tbsp beef bouillon

4 tso of Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp of steak seasoning

2 tbsp of steak sauce

Toss steak strips in mixture of flour, salt and pepper. Mix together beef bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, and steak sauce and divide evenly into two bags. Add remaining ingredients. Cook on low 8 hrs. Serve with rice and side salad. 

STUFFED BELL PEPPERS

5 assorted Bell peppers, tops cut off and seeds removed

1 pound of ground italian hot sausage

1/2 head of cauliflower, grated or chopped into a rice consistency

1 small (8 oz) can of tomato paste

1 small white onion, medium dice 

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried thyme

Mix all ingredients and stuff into seeded bell peppers. Place in gallon bag and freeze. On cooking day, place in slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hrs.

MAPLE DIJON GLAZED CHICKEN

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts

1 cup Dijon mustard

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a bag. Mix together and zip bag closed. When ready to eat, thaw 24 hrs. Cook on low for 8 hrs (or high 4 hrs).

CHEESY POTATOES WITH HAM

1/2 Cup chopped onion

2 cups sour cream

1 (10.75) can condensed cream of chicken soup

2 Cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 (2 pound) package frozen hash browns, thawed

2 cups of chopped ham

salt + pepper to taste

optional: 3/4 sleeve ritz crackers and 2 tbs melted butter for crunchy topping (add later)

Add all ingredients to bag. Freeze. When ready to eat, thaw night before. Preheat oven to 350. Pour mixture into a casserole dish. Cook for 45-60 min (depending on how frozen meal is)

2. Grocery shopping. I made a list of all the things I would need and how many of each. That was quite the adventure. Trying to figure out each recipe.

3. Label bags. Go through all your Ziploc bags your going to use and label them with the titles for each meal and any special instructions you need to know to cook or add to the meal for cooking. Just so you don't have to go back to the original recipe!

4. COOK, COOK, COOK! We chopped a million onions cause that was in almost every recipe, just so we didnt have to go back and forth. The cooking was ACTUALLY fun for me, it probably helped having my friend for company. But just try and enjoy the process and the meals!! 13 meals later (12 recipes one made 2 meals)

We felt crazy after, but so so so glad we did this! I am way excited to eat each meal!

Growing Up

I always wanted to be older than I was. Until, now. Like when I was in Elementary I couldn't wait for Jr. High. Well then Jr. High was hell on earth so I definitely couldn't wait for High School. Although, I did enjoy High School much more than Jr. High I still couldn't wait to get out, go to college, get married, and start a family. Then I got married. It was a dream. I was living a great life, but at that point it hit me that all this time I wanted to be an adult but being an adult was HARD. I was responsible for the bills, and dinner and for relationships. I looked at majority of my best friends from high school who were traveling and moving from place to place for FUN. They could blow away money like it was nothing.

But then, then reality set in much harder. We had a kid. A kid who needed a lot and required a lot. People always say kids change everything. And I knew that. I did. But when they meant everything, they meant, EVERYTHING. From how I get ready each day, to my relationship with my husband. Now I am not complaining cause I would do it the exact same way all over again. But when I signed up for this, I didn't know that my relationship with Jake was going to get hard, and we would have less patience. I didn't know that we would have a fight on how to do snaps on a onesie, while the kid is screaming. Ya...

I also didn't know that we would be in the biggest financial struggle of our life. This past week we learned that our savings is withering away. Although this is something that I am pretty private about, I feel the need to talk about it on my blog. But I dropped down to working two days, a MONTH and still going to school, and still living the lifestyle we had before. But once again reality has been setting in, Shit. We can't go out to dates every weekend anymore. We can't just buy whatever fiddles our fancy. We can't have the ultimate spending spree, Jenessa has to get on a budget, SAY WHAT?!?! Yep, and keep in mind my budget lasted me a whopping two and a half weeks. SCORE!

So my point is, this is hard! Really hard. And finacially I have no idea how were going to do it all. And I am terrified. But I am so happy. Weird right? Stressed to the freaking max, but happy. Cause I am at the point where I don't want to grow up anymore, I want to stay right in the place where were at. Maybe, a  few extra dollars couldn't hurt but hey? Couldn't it always?

NOW tell me stay at home moms, how the eff do you stay home with your kids only on one income? I'm freaking out here! Help a girl out!

1 year pictures

These are just some pics from Ashton's 1 year pics that I wanted to share and get on the blog!  Huzzah!

Ashton's Baseball Nursery

Before we ever knew about Ashton I always told Jake I wanted to do a baseball Nursery for our first son, because A) I love baseball B) it would be the cutest room ever and C) there is so much baseball decorations out in the world for rooms!

So the week we found out we were getting Ashton we went and picked out a crib and I decided right then, he was getting a baseball room. I was so excited. The colors of the room were Red, White, and Blue. Which sounds super Americana but if you think about it, baseball is Americana. And the room doesn't look at thing like patriotism. So anyways, on to pictures.

Of course I knew for sure I wanted to paint a huge baseball wall. I had found all my inspiration via Pinterest. Where else?

I loved the way it turned out, it was slightly tricky to figure out but once I did it was fairly easy. I am no professional, but I loved it none the less.

I was lucky enough that my sisters son she had 9 years prior had bedding that was navy, red, and denim. So she let me use it, and it turned out perfect. But at my baby shower, my mom had bought me a quilt that fit perfectly with the theme. So I added the pillows my sister gave me, and BAM!

Dresser and Rocker:

My brother in law, had brought furniture over when we first moved in of his, to store, since we had the room and he had moved out of his place. Well when were getting Ashton I told them they needed to take the bed but asked them if they still wanted the dresser, and to my luck, they didn't need it. So I updated it and gave it a little face lift and it fit right in with his crib!

Then the whole time I was registering with my sisters for stuff I kept saying "I want to get a rocker cause Ashton loves to snuggle and be rocked." But kept pushing it aside, well at my shower my mom surprised me with a beautiful one! I was ecstatic! 

Decor:

Lets start with the two things I contributed. First the baseball bat. This was one of the things besides the wall that I was most excited about for his nursery. I found the idea on Pinterest, but did my own little twist with it. I LOVE IT!!

Adorable right?

Then I knew I wanted to do some baseball quote that screamed BASEBALL! Like by Babe Ruth or something along those lines. I was looking on Etsy and found a few that I like when I came across "There's No Crying in Baseball" from the movie A league of their own! Uhm, heck yes! Jake and I would always say it together and sometimes when Ashton cries or get whiny we say it to him! So I knew we had to put it in his room!

Now for what Grammie Les contributed to his room. She has given us a TON! Let's start with the baseball sign, so cute and fit perfect on our baseball wall!

Then the baseball lamp that sits on the dresser.

Then the baseball frame, also on the dresser

then the hamper

and more recently she gave us bookends that are to die for! Also fit the theme!

Cute little Jake gave me that picture of a baseball ^^ for my first mothers day to add to his room!

Then over time I added the piggy bank and perfect "Boston Red Sox" Rug.

So ya his room is pretty dang cute! This is the big picture if you were looking at it from a whole.