Ham and Hashbrown Casserole

I saw this in a blog somewhere (I'll find the original later so I can give good credit..) and thought I'd give it a shot

Scene 1


1 large bag of hashbrown potatoes - $3.50 (it was cheaper to buy a 5 pound bag then to buy two 2 pound bags like I needed.
3 cans of cream of mushroom soup (yeah, there are only two in the pic..I know) - .88 each
4 cups of shredded cheddar - 2.00
2+ cups of cubed ham (from a major ham sale awhile ago. Was already chopped and ready to go!) - 2.00
1 16oz tub of sour cream - 1.99
Splash of milk - maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup - .25

Scene 2

Dump the hashbrowns and the ham into a LARGE bowl. Now I dumped in all 5 pounds of potatoes, thinking that wouldn't be an issue, well...it was..read on..

Scene 3

Add the three cans of soup, the sour cream, some milk to make it easier to stir and 1/2 the cheese. Mix the best you can!

Scene 4

Divide into your two pans you have lined and ready to go, and top with a cup of cheese each.

Scene 5

Now here was the problem, it didn't all fit!! Oh well, I through it in a loaf pan and we ate it the next morning for breakfast. YUMMO!

Scene 6

Fold over the foil and freeze! Great yummy meal. From frozen, cook 45 - 50 minutes at 350. If thawed cook 30.

Everyone loved it, so we have a hit! Enjoy!

Tater Tot Casserole!

Did you think I forgot about this lovely blog over here? Well...honestly, I just haven't done any freezer cooking! I did find some good deals lately, but I posted them on the family blog. You can find those posts over there, along with my adorable children :)

http://theidahopetersons.blogspot.com/2009/06/update-3.html
http://theidahopetersons.blogspot.com/2009/06/another-shopping-score.html

So..time for some more cooking. I'm in a hurry today. I asked my mother to help do the impossible. Make 5 medieval costumes by Saturday. Um yeah, today is Wednesday! So mom is great and got to work on them, but her request was that I provide dinner tonight. Not a problem, I wanted to make this anyway. This is a great family favorite. Like...we could eat it every single night kinda favorite.

Scene 1
1 lb of ground turkey 1.88
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup - .50 (yes...two are in the pic, but I only used one)
1/4 - 1/3 cup of milk (not pictured...oops) .25
Cheddar Cheese - probably 4 cups or so shredded - 2.00?
1 bag of frozen mixed veggies - .75
1 bag of tater tots - 1.50


Scene 2
Garlic, Onions and Seasoning Salt
So it's blurry..deal with it.



Scene 3
Brown the turkey with the garlic and the onion. This could also be ground beef or even chicken. I've made it with all. I'm not sure about tuna though, but you could give it a try.



Scene 4
While this is cooking, go ahead and shred your cheese. (Or as my 13 year old of course has to say....cut the cheese...uh uh uh uh..)



Scene 5
Add the can of Cream of Mushroom soup (or cream of chicken, or cream of celery, or cream of about anything) and the milk. I just guess on the milk until it is a good consistancy.



Scene 6
Mix in the bag of veggies and make sure your molds are ready to go.



Scene 7
Divide the mixture between two molds (or dump it all into a 9 x 12 pan) and spread part of the cheese on top.



Of course, during this I catch my 4 year old daughter stealing my cheese! I wondered where it why I didn't have as much as I thought!



So what did I do? Yep...made her shred more cheese! She loves this job however, so this wasn't any kind of punishment at all. :)



Scene 8
Cover both pans with frozen tater tots. Since I was making one pan to give away, I made it nice and straight. The second pan is how I would make it for us!




Scene 9
Cover with more cheese...wrap up and freeze! Perfect Tater Tot casserole!


Scene 10
All packed up and ready to go to moms! I threw in a bag of salad, some bread (although I think I will send rolls instead) and two cookies. All ready for her and dad.


Total cost: 5.50ish for two dinners. Love it!

Shopping fun!

Yes, I'm VERY VERY behind on this blog. This has been a crazy month for me at work and I finally feel like I can breathe again. 20 days of school left..yep, thats IT!

Anyway, I had a great shopping trip at Albertson's so I thought I'd share. I don't normally do massive shopping there, but today I had some good coupons so off we went.



I love this part...the receipt says I spent 39.22 with tax and I SAVED IN COUPONS 45.25. Oh yes...fun fun shopping trip!!

One thing to point out...see the bags of chips? Two rice chips and one bag of rice cakes? They were FREE!!! yes FREE with my coupons! Muahahahhahahhaha.....

Bargain!

I found these at Walmart today. Two sesame french bread rolls for 1.37 on clearance. I took them home....buttered, sliced and repackaged. Viola! Perfect to add to any meal! I even added sprinkled parmesean to one of them. When I want bread for a meal I grab these out of the freezer, toss on a cookie sheet butter side up and heat up for just a few mintues. I can even put them on broil on low and toast them up quite nicely. Love it!

Meatball Subs

Yes..very very simple recipe, but another one that everyone in my family will eat. Even the little ones will eat the meatballs in sauce and dip their bun.

Scene 1
Frozen Turkey meatballs - 4.95 for the bag
2 spaghetti sauces - .89 each @ Winco
1 package sub rolls - 1.50 on sale!
Dried Onion - .10?
Dried Garlic - .10?
Parmesean cheese - .50

Yeah..I'm kind of a Costco nut...but it is good and inexpensive so I don't care! :)
Scene 2
Divide the meatballs into two seperate freezer bags. Dump one can of sauce in each along with however much onion and garlic sound good to you.

Scene 3
Take the hoagie rolls and cut them in half. I suppose you don't have to do this step, but they are just easier to handle when they are smaller. Take 1/2 cup of parmesean cheese and put it in a small baggie.


Scene 4
That's all folks! Freeze one bag of meatballs and a bag full of hoagies with the little baggie of cheese thrown in. Ta-Da! For dinner - thaw. Cook meatballs in a pot on the stove until bubbly and hot. Toast the rolls if you like. Fill hoagies with meatballs and top with parmesean cheese. If I'd had it I would have also thrown in some mozz. cheese, but hey...I can only cook with what I have! Enjoy!

So final totals...8.93 for two meals. TWO MEALS! $4.47 a meal! Toss in a salad and you have a perfect meal! (Get it...toss a salad...LOL)

Brag!

Yeah...two posts in a row that have nothing to do with the actual cooking, but this is important stuff!

I went to Albertson's today to get a few things I knew were on sale there, and it was a great shopping trip!

I wish I had a pic of the receipt to show you, but my total was 115.96 before coupons. Any guesses as to what I actually paid after coupons???

$53.02!!

AND..I got a kick back coupons for 5.00 of my next purchase. Excellent!

My bargains!

So I know this blog is about freezer food, but I had some good bargains lately and I wanted to share! Mac and Cheese - Total family favorite over here. Yes, even myself! I can't help it, I love Mac and cheese in any form. I love homemade the best, but it is always good to have some boxes of these around for when wild child decides he is starving, or I'm not quite home yet.


With coupon at Fred Meyers - .50 a box. Love it!

And these crackers. We love crackers around here. We eat them alot..yeah, way too much. Anyway, I had a whole handful of these coupons for buy one get one free as they were a new item. At 3.79 or so a box, I wasn't going to do that. It just wasn't worth it to me. However...last night at Fred Meyer's they were on sale 2 for 4.00. Yep...do the math. I paid a dollar a box! LOVE IT!

"Stuffy Noodles"

I'm not sure where my 13 year old came up with the name for this one, but it stuck and these alfredo chicken and broccoli noodles became the now famous "Stuffy Noodles" in our house. This one really is a family favorite. Without further ado...the yummiest noodles that all my children love!

Scene 1
4 Chicken Breasts @ $1.88 a pound - $5.00
Frozen chopped broccoli - $1.25
Box of large shells - $2.50
Box of manicotti noodles - 1.00 (many were broken)
2 jars of alfredo sauce - $1.49 each
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese - approx $1.00
Parmesean cheese - $.50

Scene 2 - Staples (not counted in final costs)
Chopped Dried Onion, Olive oil, Smoked Paprika and Salt and Pepper

(Smoked Paprika...who would have thought but it is YUMMY! I got this bottle in my stocking at Christmas, yes..for Christmas and I love it. My sister gave this to me and we use it all the time now. Trust me, you won't be sorry you tried it!)

Scene 3
First cook the chicken and chop or shred. I cooked all four chicken breasts with the onion, but decided that it was just too much chicken. I scooped out a quarter of it to freeze for something else later. So really, these meals just got cheaper! $3.75 worth of chicken instead of $5.00!

Scene 4
Cook the large shells and the manicotti noodles to Al Dente (not quite fully cooked). I would normally use two boxes of shells, but I had these manicotti noodles in the pantry and they needed to be used. It also made the meals costs less because they were on clearance. Gotta love sales!

Scene 5
Add the bag of chopped frozen broccoli, 1 jar of alfredo sauce and 2 cups of the shredded cheddar. I also dump in probably 1/4 cup of shredded parmesean. I just guess on this one. Stir well. I had planned on using 2 jars of sauce, but in reality I only used 1/2 of the second one. I put the rest of it in a freezer bag to add to another dish. Once again..saved me money!

Scene 6
These are my "molds" I line these with foil and build my dishes. Once they are frozen I take the casserole dishes out of the molds and stack them in the freezer. This way I can make other casserole dishes without having to buy more of these foil pans or use my good pans in the freezer. Cool eh?

Scene 7
Now the fun part...stuff the noodles! Go ahead, use your hands...stuff away! Line the pans with the noodles and cover with the remaining cheese. I also dump some more parmesean on top..we like cheese around here!

Scene 8
I stick these in the freezer until they are partially frozen or totally frozen, depends on how much time I have. After they are frozen I take them out of the molds and I package them up and put in the directions. They get stacked in the chest freezer in the garage for use later! Tonight however, one pan went right into the oven for dinner! 350 degrees until heated through. This is normally around 30 minutes if you do it from a thawed casserole. 20 minutes if you are making it fresh. Hint, when you thaw these kinds of casseroles, thaw them in the pan they are going to cook in. That way they don't fall apart while thawing because you didn't freeze them in the pan...the mold system. Does that make sense?


Scene 9
Now what does a good cook do after all that hard work?

Scene 10
And what does slave child, aka Kyle do? The dishes! (by the way, he offered to pay me not to put this pic on the internet..hehe)

Scene 11
Here is what our fantastic dinner looks like! YUMMO!!



So for a total of three dinners $12.00. This is $4.00 a dinner! Gotta love it! I partnered it with $1.00 worth of lettuce and a 1/2 a loaf of french bread (.75)tonight for a grand one dinner total of $5.75 Isn't that awesome?? And even better...I have two more dinners and 1/2 a loaf of sliced french bread ready for another time. I love freezer cooking! :)

Welcome!

Welcome to Freezer Fun! I'm going to show you some of my favorite freezable recipes and how I make them. I tried cooking for a whole weekend and stocking my freezer, but it was just difficult to manage all that cooking while dealing with two little ones running around. What I found that worked for me was to just make double or triple recipes of our favorites and keep them in the freezer. This way there is always something in the freezer when needed. I love it! I'll show you a few of my favorites and you show me yours! :)