Freezer Meal Take 2

Meat Loaf! Need I say more? I mean who doesn't love a GOOD meat loaf. I know there are a lot of questionable meat loaf recipes out there but I found one that is not only healthy but yummy. I can say this with full confidence because my 4 year old eats it AND my dad, who is probably the most picky eater I know and loves red meat. Both even say they like it.


The best part is I make it and freeze it so it is not only yummy and healthy but also easy.


I got this recipe from the Biggest Loser Cook Book. But you can always use your favorite family recipe for meat loaf and feel free to substitute ground turkey or ground chicken for the ground beef. But you may have to alter the recipe to make that taste right so I do recommend a LEAN ground beef we use 93-95% lean ground beef, the flavor will come from the other things you put into it not from the fat in the meat.


So here is what I do. Like I mentioned in my Organization 102 blog I make a big batch like 4-6lbs of this recipe. Then before I cook it I divide it evening and put it in to Rubbermaid containers and freeze. I label the top with a piece of masking take. I put the Date, What it is, Cooking time and temp. So there is no reason to have to consult the cook book when it is time to bake.


Here is the Biggest Loser New Fashioned Meat Loaf recipe modified to be a 4lb, 4 freezer loaf recipe. (each batch yields 4 servings).


2 ½ C Old-fashioned oats
2 C skim milk
4 lb lean ground beef
2 C chopped spinach
1 C minced onion
5 Eggs (Biggest Loser recommends 8 egg whites but I like to use the whole egg)
8 tsp Italian Seasoning
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
4 Clove garlic Minced

Directions for preparing meat loaf mix. Mix oat, and milk let it sit 3 min.  Add meat, spinach, onion, egg, Italian seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and salt. Mix together well. Press into pan. Some tips I like, I use a food processor to chop the spinach and mince the onion. I have even found that a big bag of baby spinach makes about 4 cups of chopped spinach so I chop it all and freeze the half I didn't use this time and use it next time. You can do the same thing with the onion. You know you already got the food processor our and messy might as well make this even quicker next time right?


Next Freeze (remember to label it, Date, Item, Cooking Time and Temp)


On baking day.... Pre-heat oven to 350. Lightly mist and 8/4/3” loaf pan (or I like to use an 8x8 glass baking dish). Bake for 30 minutes or until a thermometer reads 160. Let sit for 10 min, and serve.


I really hope you enjoy this. We eat it at our house just about every Friday during the winter, and serve it with baked sweet potatoes and broccoli. Yummy, warm and comforting in the cold winter months.

A (freezer) Meal Idea

Most of the comments I got from people about my last blog (Organization 102) were about my freezer meals and their recipes.


I love doing freezer meals cause we all know when we are running late and stop by the grocery store to grab a quick dinner it is usually from the freezer isle. Either a frozen pizza, lasagna or the like. Well those foods even if they say No Preservatives or All Natural are really still full of ingredients that I can pronounce. So to make my life easier and healthy and frankly Yummier (yeah I said it, my food is yummier then that frozen junk you can buy, I know it to be true cause my 4 year old will eat it), I make large batches of our favorite foods and freeze them.


I'll be honest though I didn't create any of these recipes, I may have adapted them to make them freezer ready or something but they all came from other sources.


What I keep in my freezer all the time....
Apricot Chicken Glaze. I got this recipe off of the Real Age website. But it was only for 2 servings, that's not real helpful for a family. So I did the calculations and made it serve like 16. Then I freeze it in 4 small Rubbermaid containers and when I want it I just pull it out pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and spread it on the chicken pop that in the oven 20-30 minutes latter I have a yummy dinner (and I only used one dish). I guess I also took out the scallions they told me to use cause I don't like Scallions (too closely related to onions which I hate). So I added a little onion powder to their recipe. But here is my beefed up recipe.


This recipe makes enough glaze to make about 16 boneless/skinless chicken breasts each about 4 oz.


32 Dried Apricots, Chopped
1 C. White Wine
1/2 C. Olive Oil
1 t. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 t. Onion Powder (optional)

Saute the ingredients until tender, transfer to a blender/food processor and puree. Now separate evening into 4 freezer/microwave safe containers label and freeze.


On baking day...
Pre heat oven to 375, place chicken in a glass baking dish. Thaw about 1lb of boneless/skinless chicken. Thaw the glaze (about 30 seconds in a microwave) spoon over chicken and bake until chicken is cooked through (about 30 minutes).


We often serve this with long grain brown rice, and either some veggies or a salad.


I hope you like this as much as our family does.

Organization 102

Well... I wrote this post back in July I think when I did a series on Household Organization and then because I wanted to find a name to give credit to someone in this post and I kept forgetting to do it (I must not have put it on a list). So now that it is a new year I am trying to tie up loose ends so without further ado...

This is the final post in my series on Household Organization. I have really enjoyed writing this, it served as a constant reminder of my plans and goals.  Some days I didn't want to do what was on the list for the day but I did it anyway cause I was being reminded that I have just told the world (or the handful) reading this that I do this so I guess I better do it. I can say I do always try to do my best on the follow-through.


So where does that leave us, we have talked about having a plan in Organization 101, Laundry 101, and Cleaning 101. So what is the need to Organization 102? Well I have a list of tools of the trade that I can't live without so I thought I would share some of them with you.


1. Keeping the list....
I use a white board on my fridge to keep my lists in order. What do I put on the board?

This is the board today

- Grocery list (actually it is just a piece of paper that magnetically stays there)
- Weeks schedule (each day has a number of things on it like the vacuuming, what laundry needs doing, errands, what's for diner, meeting/appointments, workout schedule....)
- Up Coming Events (parties, appointments, meetings etc....)
- Dinner Ideas (what items we typically eat or ones I want to try so I can get dinner ideas quick)
- To do list (make baby food, prep foods, project list, big cleaning projects)

Before a Mommy Binder (this is Dads pile)

2. Mommy Binder: This is not my idea but I got it from a lady who spoke at my MOPs group named Dawn Fiorillo so I give her credit.

This is a 3 ring binder that I keep on the table that has clear, tabbed folders inside that I use to organize all kinds of things. Basically this organizes that pile many people get on their table or counters. I have a folder for...

- each of the girls where I put Drs info, school info,  growth charts etc..

After Mommy Binder

- my All Cozy business (receipts, notes etc...)
- coupons
- personal stuff (letters I got, cards whatever really)
- recipes
- random stuff
- preschool info (class lists, phone numbers, calendars, helper mom schedules...)

A look inside

3. Meal Planning/Perp
We pre-make a lot of foods and keep them in the freezer so diner during the week is just a matter of thawing something and putting it in the oven or on the grill.
Ideas we love:
- Meat Loaf (we make 4-6lbs at a time and freeze it 1lb per container so we only make the big mess of mixing it up once.
- Apricot Chicken Glaze (again 4-6 batches made at one time and frozen so all we do is thaw and put on chicken)
- Chicken Rollatini (I do a double batch and freeze individually so I take out and cook what I need)
- Pork Chop spice (mix it up and just have to sprinkle on the pork)

We also plan our meals a week ahead (and write them on the whiteboard) so there is no need for the questions "What's for dinner" when my husband gets home.

My last notes on the subject of household organizations....

 Our house runs on lists if it doesn't get written down it doesn't get done. I really don't know who said this but I feel it is so true "If you fail to plan you plan to fail." Well here we plan to succeed so we do a lot of planning.


Notice I have used a lot of the word "We," that is because even though I am a stay at home mom I'm not the only person around who can help to keep our house organized. My husband is aware of the plan, helps create the plan and helps carry out the plan. We are a team and as the kids get older they too will help with the plan to make our house organized and run smoothly.

I hope you have enjoyed this series. If you have questions or thoughts on anything you read in the series please let me know. Thanks for reading.