My First Attempt at Freezer Cooking - And Not the Last!

--Photo Courtesy of DailyDishRecipes 

Freezer cooking. Have you tried it? A few months ago I decided I would give it a go and see what it's all about. I had read about it on sites such as Money Saving Mom and Once a Month Mom, and was intrigued. You mean I can prepare and/or cook a bunch of meals in one day and then throw them in the freezer for later? Then on a busy weeknight just throw something in the oven and be done? I'm in.

I actually didn't even go overboard on this project - shocker I know. I decided that I would buy a cookbook and look online, pick out a few recipes, then prepare enough meals for a week's worth of dinners. I did a bit of research and found Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer on Amazon, used some Amazon gift cards I got from Swagbucks, and poof! it was at my door in a couple of days. Have I mentioned lately that I love Amazon? Anyway...As soon as I received the book I was going through and making lists; tons of great recipes that even my kids would eat. Cheesy Chicken Bundles? Done. Hawaiian Chicken in the Crockpot? You betcha. There's even a recipe for Teriyaki Sauce that looks good, but I still need to make.

So I did my shopping, hit Sam's Club for the huge trays of ground beef and chicken breasts, the regular grocery store for the fill-in ingredients and I was ready. I temporarily misplaced my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but here's a list of what I prepared:

• 2 pounds of taco meat (browned ground beef with taco seasoning)
• 2 loaves of Cheeseburger Meatloaf (check "Recipes" page for details)
• 1 Hawaiian Chicken Crockpot dish - just need to thaw it and throw it in the crockpot - done!
• 8 or 10 (I forget) Cheesy Chicken Bundles - probably enough for 2 meals, the way the kids eat
• About 2 dozen meatballs - and I LOVE meatballs, so this will just be enough for one meal

All in all, I have about 8 meals ready and waiting in my freezer, and I did this all on a Sunday afternoon. There was very little cooking involved, thankfully - really the only cooking I did was the ground beef for tacos. Everything else I just prepared, packaged, and tossed in the freezer. Love it! Now all I have to do is figure out what we're having when, take it out of the freezer to thaw, then pop it in the oven. Dinner's ready! I love making taco filling ahead of time; all I have to do is warm up the meat, set up the taco toppings, and dinner's ready in about 5 minutes. Perfect.

If you're new to Freezer Cooking, or Once a Month or Week Cooking, I highly recommend Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer. There are lots of other books out there on the subject, and excellent blogs and ideas online, but this is the book I used. They explain in great detail the best way to package the meals for the freezer, and all of the recipes sound yummy.

I'll post the recipe for the Cheeseburger Meatloaf right after this one. Its SO yum. You'll love it.

In my research for this post, I also found Daily Dish Recipes, and am totally in love. I'll be doing lots of recipe-printing in a few minutes!

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls - A Love Story

When I went home earlier this month to visit my parents, I rediscovered something from my childhood that I absolutely loved: homemade chocolate-covered peanut butter eggs. One bite, and I was in heaven. It took me back to the days when I didn't have a care in the world.

When I got home to Atlanta, I decided that I would make these delightful eggs for myself, and thus began the quest for the perfect Peanut Butter egg recipe. Little did I know that my own dear grandmother (may she rest in peace) used to make these eggs for her kids - for some reason she never made them for my generation, her grandchildren, but I'll let that one slide. So, a special thank you to my Aunt Cindy for sharing Grandma's recipe with me. I'll be sure to pass it on!

If you want to make these for yourself, here's what you need:

• 2 pounds of powdered sugar (10x)


• 1 cup peanut butter - I prefer Jif, but use your favorite brand


• 2 cups marshmallow creme


• 1/4 pound margarine (1 stick)


• a smidge of milk, if the mixture gets too dry - I had to use a little bit because the dough, or batter, was getting too hard to mix together


• chocolate to melt for dipping - I used milk chocolate chips, but you can use semi-sweet or dark. Whatever you prefer.

Mix ingredients together, kind of like pie crust. I ended up having to use my hands because it really was doughy, and I had to knead it in order to get it all mixed together. I think next time I'll try my stand mixer and let it do the dirty work. If it just gets too thick to mix together, that's where the milk comes in. Just add a little at a time until everything is mixed together nicely.

Instead of shaping the dough/batter/mixture into egg shapes, I just rolled them into balls. After all that kneading, I was ready for something quick and easy, so rolling the balls fit the bill. At this point it's best to put the rolled balls in the fridge to set for at least an hour. Try to hold out, it's worth it! Some recommend letting them sit over night in the fridge, but I just can't wait that long.

Once everything is nice and firm, it's time to dip them in chocolate! I used my handy dandy little Wilton Chocolate Pro to melt the milk chocolate chips. Of course you can also melt the chocolate in the microwave or crockpot. I think a crockpot would be nice and easy, since it will keep the chocolate melted until you're finished.

Use a skewer or a fork to stab each ball and roll it in the melted chocolate, making sure it's covered entirely.

Plop the chocolate covered goodies onto wax paper to set, cover the holes with more chocolate, and you're finished!

I could barely stand to let them set as long as they needed to, so I put the first batch in the fridge until the chocolate wasn't so gooey. The second batch I'm just letting sit out overnight to see how that works.

When the chocolate is set, grab one and dig in!

So yummy - enjoy!

The next time I make them, I'm going to add a little more peanut butter, just because I love peanut butter. I'm a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg addict, but I really think these give the Reese's eggs a real run for the money!

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