Strawberry Bacon Salad with Homemade Strawberry Poppyseed Dressing

This is one of my favorite salads that we eat. The original recipe is from Creme de la crumb. I omit the red onions, and add grilled or pan-sautéed chicken to make it more of a lunch or dinner salad. Yum!

Salad

6 cups chopped romaine lettuce

2 cups strawberries, chopped

8 pieces cooked bacon, crumbled

1/2 red onion, diced (I don't ever use)

1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing

1 tsp garlic

1 tsp diced red onion 

1/3 c sugar (I usually use a little less than 1/4 c honey instead)

1/3 c white vinegar

1/4 c strawberries, chopped

1/2 c olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp poppyseeds

Directions

In a large bowl toss together lettuce, bacon, strawberries, red onion, and chicken (if using). In a blender, mix all dressing ingredients and pulse 1-2 minutes until smooth. Pour dressing over salad and top with crumbled feta cheese. I also top with slivered almonds or chopped pecans.

Serves 4

Chocolate Banana Protein Breakfast Smoothie

I whipped this up the other day for breakfast because we were out of oatmeal (what I usually have). It was very yummy and filling and my very picky two-year-old loved it as well.

Ingredients

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1-2 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 Tbsp flaxseed meal

Half to a whole banana, chopped

Crushed ice

Directions

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth!

This recipe could easily be changed depending on your tastes or what ingredients you have on hand. You could add a scoop of peanut butter for some extra protein and flavor. Also, if you have chocolate protein powder, there's no need in adding the cocoa powder. I just have vanilla, but wanted that chocolate flavor!

Whole-Wheat Banana Muffins

I'm always on the look out for healthy muffin recipes. I've tried so many failed recipes, so when I come across a good one, I try to hold onto it. I love muffin recipes that call for bananas because I usually have several in the freezer. I'll buy a bunch of bananas and the ones that get too ripe before we can eat them, I'll peel them, slice them, and stick them in a freezer bag and into the freezer. That way I can use them for stuff like this or from frozen in smoothies! This recipe was referred to me from a friend of mine that she got from the wonderful world of Pinterest. The original recipe comes from mostlyhomemademom.com

Ingredients

2 1/4 c whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 overripe bananas, mashed

1/4 c yogurt (plain or vanilla) *I used plain Greek yogurt because I usually have that at the house

1/4 c honey

2 eggs

1/3 c applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 c raisins (optional) *I did not use

Directions

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In separate larger bowl, beat bananas, yogurt, honey, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla with hand or stand mixer until well blended. Stir in flour mixture until moist. Gently fold in raisins (if desired). Pour batter into 12 muffin cups that have been lined with paper or foil liners and sprayed with cooking spray. The recipe states to bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, but it took my muffins about 35-40 minutes to get completely done. So you may just have to keep checking them. 

Baked Sausage and Peppers

This dinner is a favorite of my husband's. It's so easy to put together, healthy, and tastes amazing! You can also modify it easily to use whatever vegetables you have on hand. The original recipe comes from lilasapron.com, but I changed it up a little and made it my own. Here's my version, but feel free to experiment with different seasonings and vegetables.

Ingredients:

1 lb. turkey sausage links, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 onion, sliced 

2-3 potatoes, cubed

1-2 squash, thickly sliced

1/2 jar banana peppers

Chesapeake Bay seasoning

Olive oil

Directions:

Place all veggies and sausage in baking dish. Drizzle a couple tablespoons of olive oil over everything, sprinkle generously with Chesapeake Bay seasoning and then pour banana peppers over top of everything. Bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

I've found that if I cut my potatoes too large, it takes longer for them to bake and the rest of the veggies are a little over done. So, I would either slice them into small cubes or bake them first for 20-30 minutes and then add them to the rest of the veggies. 

You can also use some kind of Cajun seasoning. The Chesapeake Bay is just what I had on hand :)

12 Freezer Meals for $70

So this is going to be a huge blog post. I've been wanting to spend a few hours one day to make a bunch of freezer meals for my family. So today, me and three friends got together at my house and did just that. We made 48 meals total for $70 a person. That's $70 for 12 meals! So first of all, I made a list of a variety of meals that would be good for this time of year. I picked 8 of them, but doubled 4 making 12 total. Here is the list:

Black Bean Taco Soup
White Bean Chicken Chili
Potato Soup (2 meals)
Baked Ziti (2 meals)
Italian Sausage and Peppers
Creamy Chicken Casserole (2 meals)
Chicken Pot Pie (2 meals)
Italian Beef Sandwiches

After making my meal list, I wrote down every ingredient that I would need, and then made my grocery list. I decided to just do all the shopping for each girl, and then split it 4 ways. I figured we would probably save money doing it that way. The biggest money saver I think is that I was able to buy almost everything at Aldi. I even checked Costco's prices of stuff and Aldi was cheaper. A few things I had to pick up at Wal-mart. Several of the recipes call for cooked chicken, so I bought several bags of frozen chicken breasts and cooked them in the crockpot. I borrowed my mom's crockpot so I could cook two bags of chicken at one time. So I put one bag of frozen chicken breasts in each crockpot with about half a cup of water, and cooked on high for 6 hours. Then I shredded it to use in the recipes. I boiled all the noodles for the recipes the day before, and also chopped up all the onions with my handy-dandy veggie chopper from Aldi! This was our first time to do this, so it was definitely a learning experience, but I think we did pretty good considering. Also, I will say not every recipe in this bunch would be considered "healthy," but most of them are not bad. The worst one is probably the Baked Ziti, so just save that meal for a day when you really worked out hard! :) Another step I did to prepare beforehand was label all the freezer bags with the meal name and instructions on cooking them. Ok, I'm listing the recipes below and will note where I made substitutions. 


Black Bean Taco Soup

(from sixsistersstuff.com)

1 lb ground beef (We used shredded chicken because I overestimated on our chicken needs and forgot to get ground beef for this recipe, so it all worked out)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 package mild taco seasoning mix
1 16 oz bag frozen corn
1 16 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed (you could use kidney beans or pinto beans)
2 14 oz can stewed tomatoes (we just used diced)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 4 oz can diced green chilis
tortilla chips
Other taco toppings you like (cheese, sour cream, avocado, etc)

Brown meat and onion, drain. (Of course if you're using chicken, just precook it and shred it). Dump meat into resealable gallon-sized freezer bag. Dump the remaining ingredients into the bag, mix together, and zip bag closed. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook in HIGH for 1-2 hours or LOW 2-3 hours. Serve with tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole.

White Bean Chicken Chili
(from bakedinthesouth.com)

2 Tbsp olive oil                                      
1Tbsp corn starch                                          
1 medium onion, chopped                            
1 can chopped green chilies, drained             
2 cans white beans, drained                          
2 tsp cumin                                                      
2 tsp chili powder                                            
1 lb chicken tenders                                       
2 cups chicken stock                                        

Add all ingredients except chicken stock to gallon-sized freezer bag. When ready, place ingredients in slow cooker, add chicken stock and cook on low 4-5 hours. Remove chicken, shred and return to crockpot. Serve with warm cornbread.

Potato Soup
(from Tricia @ onceamonthmeals.com)
We split this recipe into two gallon-sized freezer bags since it serves so many. That way, we would have two meals from this recipe.

5 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, diced (peels still on)
1.25 cups onion, diced
10 tsp garlic, minced
8 cups chicken broth
16 oz. cream cheese, softened (used neufchatel cheese)
1 Tbsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt
cheese (optional)
bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)

Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning and chicken stock to slow cooker. Cook on high for 6 hours. Stir the softened cream cheese and allow to melt (approximately 30-60 minutes.) Stir every 10-15 minutes until soup is well blended. Garnish with cheese and bacon.

Freezing Directions:
Follow all directions above, including adding the cream cheese. Allow to cool, portion into freezer containers and freeze. To serve: Heat slowly on stove, slow cooker or microwave until heated through. 

Alternative Freezing Directions: (this is what we did)
Divide and place all ingredients except cream cheese (and cheese/bacon) into gallon size freezer bags, seal and freeze. To serve: Thaw. Place in slow cooker for 6 hours on high. Stir in cream cheese and allow to melt. Stir every 10-15 minutes until soup is well blended. 

Baked Ziti
(from sixsistersstuff.com)

1 lb dry ziti pasta (we used whole-wheat penne)
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. lean ground beef (season with pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and minced garlic)
2 (26 oz.) jars spaghetti sauce
8 slices provolone cheese
1 1/2 c. sour cream (we used reduced-fat)
6 oz. mozzarella cheese
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, cook until al dente, about 7-8 minutes; drain. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 8x8 inch pans with non-stick cooking spray. Layer as follows in each pan: 1/4 of pasta, 1/4 of ziti, 1/4 of sauce, 4 slices of provolone cheese, 1/2 of sour cream, 1/4 of pasta, 1/4 of mozzarella cheese and 1/4 of sauce mixture. Top with grated parmesan cheese and remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake covered for 30 minutes in preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted. We put both casseroles in aluminum pans for the freezer. Then to bake, thaw for 24 hours then bake as directed.

Italian Sausage and Peppers
(from bakedinthesouth.com)

1 lb Italian sausage links (we used italian turkey sausage)
1 large pepper, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cups diced tomatoes (we just used one can)
2 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder

To make ahead:
Mix all ingredients in freezer bag and freeze.

To prepare:
When ready to cook, place all ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours. Serve on warm hotdog buns.

Creamy Chicken Casserole
(from triedandtasty.com)

4 c. uncooked egg noodles
4 c. cubed cooked chicken
1 pkg (16 oz.) frozen peas and carrots
2 c. milk
2 cans (10 3/4 oz. each) condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
2 cans (10 3/4 oz. each) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 c. chopped onion
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Drain noodles, add to chicken mixture. Transfer to two greased 8-inch square baking dishes (we used aluminum pans). Cover and freeze for up to 3 months.

To use frozen casserole: Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes longer until heated through. 

Chicken Pot Pie
(from my mom, Connie)

2 cups of cooked chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can mixed veggies (we used frozen)
1/4 c. butter, melted (used only 2 Tbsp)
2-3 Tbsp milk
2 refrigerated pie crusts

We doubled this recipe to make 2 pies.

Drape one pie crust on bottom of pie pan (We used aluminum pie pans). Lay chicken over pie crust. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix together cream of chicken soup, veggies, butter, and milk. Add this on top of chicken. Cover with remaining pie crust. Trim away edges. Freeze in pie pan covered with heavy duty aluminum foil. When ready to cook, thaw for 24 hours. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches
(from sixsistersstuff.com)

3 lb bottom round beef roast (ours were about 2.5 lbs)

2 (1 oz each) packages dry Italian salad dressing mix

1 cup water

1 (16 oz) jar pepperoncini peppers (can substitute milder, sweeter peppers if desired, which we did)

Mix together salad dressing mixes, water, and peppers in a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag. Add the roast and zip the bag closed.When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on HIGH for 7 hours or LOW for 10-12 hours.

Serve on your favorite kind of buns.

I will try better next time to take pictures of the actual meals. The only one I managed to take was us girls, our babies, and all the meals we prepared!

Skinny Pumpkin Muffins

I'm sure you've seen this recipe everywhere on the Internet this time of year. I don't even know where the original recipe comes from, but I made them today and they are super-good and super-easy!

Ingredients

1 box spice cake mix

1 can of pumpkin

That's it! Some recipes say to add water but I think they're fine without it.

Directions

Mix both ingredients well. Spoon into well-greased muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. 

I made mini muffins and they only took about 17 minutes to bake.

Let cool and enjoy! They're great for something sweet after dinner or for breakfast.

Quesadilla Casserole

Last week I decided to make a couple freezer meals to have on hand for when I didn't feel like cooking. This is one of them and I must say it was delicious. I made a couple modifications like using corn tortillas instead of flour and using lean ground beef. This recipe comes from Joyful Momma's Kitchen.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried minced garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
16 oz tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (8 3/4 oz) whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can (4 1/2 oz) green chilies, undrained
6 flour tortillas (8 inch size)
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:
1. Brown beef and onion in a large skillet on medium-high.  Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chilies.  Mix well.  Stir in all of the spices except the red pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat low and simmer 5 minutes.  Add red pepper to taste if desired.
2. Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 9X13 pan (sprayed with pam). Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed.  Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese.  Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef and cheese.  
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until heated through.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!!

This would be yummy with sour cream or guacamole on top. We used plain Greek yogurt to top ours. To do as a freezer meal, layer ingredients in a foil pan and double wrap with aluminum foil then freeze. To cook, just place in the fridge the night before you want to cook it then bake as directed.