Monday Freezer Meal Recipe - Awesome Beef Enchiladas

I usually double this recipe, make part for one meal then freeze the other for the next week or two. It helps to do that philosophy of cook once, eat twice! This recipe is pretty easy and you can take away or substitute to your liking. My enchiladas are hardly ever the same!

Awesome Beef Enchiladas

• 10 Flour Tortillas
• 1 lbs ground beef
• 1 bag Birds Eye Ready Peppers and Onions
• 1 Can Mild Enchilada Sauce
• 1 Can Refried Beans
• 1 - 2 Cup Bag of Mexican Style Cheese

Brown your beef. Add in the peppers and onions until they are cooked through/softened from their frozen state. Add in half of the enchilada sauce. Let it get to a simmer/boil. Then take your flour tortilla and smear some refried beans on it. Add the hamburger mixture. Roll up and place into your sprayed 9X12 pan (do not do glass as it may break!) Throw away or metal cake pan is best in this case! After you have rolled all the tortillas up, dump the rest of the enchilada sauce on top. If you still have some hamburger mixture left, then add that on top too. Then take some aluminum foil, label, and freeze. DO NOT PUT THE CHEESE ON YET!

To Cook: 

Take the enchiladas out and let them thaw overnight in your refrigerator *sometimes this might take 2 days*  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take out of the refrigerator and remove the foil. *DO NOT THROW AWAY* Add your whole bag of cheese and spread it out. Replace the aluminum foil back on top of the pan and place into the oven for 30 mins or until completely reheated. Then ENJOY :D

And now for the fun part........ALL THE PICTURES! If you make this, let me know what you think! Also, any ideas of what you would like to see next? Let me know!

Monday Freezer Meal Recipe - Tater Tot Casserole

Our family loves Tater Tot Casserole. I didn't think anyone would other than my husband who eats everything! We had it one church night dinner and EVERYONE loved it! It's not too hard to put into a freezer recipe. The added double? You can use this for the crock pot! YUM! To me, that's a double added bonus! What got to me too was just how easy it was to make! The kids could even help me!


Tater Tot Casserole Recipe
32 oz Tater Tots (I substituted with hashbrowns I had gotten for cheap since we didn't have tots on hand)
1 lb Ground Beef, Browned
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
2 Cans Green Beans (I like french style best!)
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 Chopped Onion
1/4 Cup Milk
Cheese (Optional for sprinkling after baked)

Mix all together but cheese and tater tots. Put into a freezer bag, label, and put in freezer. Put tots next to it or label so your hungry husband will not try to use them for lunch!

To Cook:
Thaw bag overnight. Line the crockpot with tater tots and cover with the bag of ingredients. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hrs. Put onto your plate and sprinkle with cheese if desired.

This is just amazing! If you know me well, you know I don't eat things like this! I almost forgot to take a picture of it on my plate! I had to go and get seconds to take a picture! I give this recipe 5 stars it was that good! All of our family even ate it too which seems to never happen. I am hoping I can get tater tots on the shopping list and try it again with them to see how that would come out compared to the hash brown patties.

Monday Freezer Meal Recipe - Cinnamon Toast Muffins

Our family has the staple of eating cereal for every breakfast. I really don't like cereal and after a while they all taste the same. I looked for recipes for muffins that could work in the freezer and came across these babies. To me, they are a mixture of a doughnut and a muffin. For the husband, they tasted like * Nom, Nom Nom* His words exactly! The great thing is after you bake them, you can freeze them and then that way you can have one for breakfast in the morning! I love the variety this will add to our breakfasts in the morning!


Cinnamon Toast Muffins
2/3 Cup (about 10 tablespoons) butter, melted
1 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
3 Cups Flour
3 Tablespoons Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Ginger
1/4 Teaspoon Cloves
1/8 to 1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg (I swear if I put this in a recipe, I can really taste it so I go lighter on it)
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Mix together the sugar and butter. Stir in the eggs and milk.
In a separate bowl, combine all your dry ingredients.
Slowly stir them into your wet ingredients.
Put 20-24 cupcake liners into your cupcake pans. You can also spray them with non stick spray if you would like. You can also put them into a mini loaf pan if desired.
Bake 350 Degrees for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

To Freeze:
When you take them out of the oven, put them onto a cool cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes until they are cooled off. This helps to keep them from moisture escaping in the bag and them sticking if you put them in too soon. If you don't have room, you can always leave them an hour or two on the counter and then put them in the bag to freeze. Doing this though may result in your stash going down!

To Reheat them:
You can leave them out overnight to thaw or if you rather you can put one in the microwave for 30-45 mins to reheat. I believe this option makes them last a little bit more!


And now for picture overload!!! Enjoy! If you make them, let me know how they turn out for you! I think next time I might try adding a bit more cinnamon and cloves to get even more flavor dynamic!

Monday Freezer Meal Recipe- Stuffed Shells

Last week I shared my spaghetti sauce recipe. This week, I will share Stuffed shells! I like making these together and usually double the recipe. In doubling, I can usually get 5 to 6 9X9 pans full of stuffed shells and 2 to 3 bags for spaghetti sauce.

Now for the wonderful pictures to make your mouth water, followed by the easy recipe!

Stuffed Shells
Adapted from Once A Month Cooking Family Favorites By Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg 

12 oz package jumbo shells (MANY to choose from, I like looking in the Italian section at Dillons as they seem to have less ingredients in them AND same price or even cheaper than the cheap ones!)
1 15-oz carton ricotta cheese (reason to double recipe is that usually cheaper to buy the 30oz)
1 16-oz carton small curds cottage cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbl chopped fresh parsley (can be omitted)
2 eggs
Spaghetti Sauce from Last Week's Post
2 to 4 9X9 foil pans
Aluminium Foil

To Make:
1) Cook the shells according to the package
2) Combine all the remaining ingredients in a big bowl
3) When the shells are done, rinse them and cool them off so that they are easier to hold
4) Fill the shells with the cheese mixture. Can be done 2 ways. 1- take spoonful and put into shell. 2- put the mixture into a plastic bag and cut a corner off then squeeze it into the shells. I find the bag harder if done alone but if you have someone else helping, then it will make it go a bit faster.
5) Place each shell into your pan until full.
6) Put the spaghetti sauce on top to your liking.
7) Write on your foil what it is and the date (just in case you may forget or make a lot of different recipes!)
8) Put into freezer and clean up!

To Serve:
1) Thaw a pan overnight in the fridge
2) Preheat oven to 350
3) Place pan covered in oven for 45 mins
4) Take the foil off and bake for an additional 15 mins.
5) Pull out and serve!

Monday Freezer Meal Recipe- Spaghetti Sauce

I have been trying to think of ways to get myself to keep getting posts up. One thought is to have a post scheduled for a certain day of the week and then hopefully I will keep up with it. I have decided that I am going to try and do Freezer Meal recipe on Monday! I like making freezer meals and I think it would help me to make one once a week so that way we would have food in the freezer so it would be less likely for me to make the excuse to go out to eat!

Hopefully I will be able to take the pictures and process all out for you too but it depends on 1) If I remember and 2) If I don't have complete help from all three of my kiddos! This week, I am going to share one that can be used and made very easily, Spaghetti Sauce! I love using it to make stuffed shells, which I will share next week!

First the wonderful pictures, THEN I'll tell you how to do it all :)

Spaghetti Sauce
Adapted from Once A Month Cooking Family Favorites By Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg

1 onion, chopped
1 lb mild Italian Sausage
1 6-oz can tomato paste, then fill half full with warm water, stir then dump it in
1 28-oz crushed tomato in puree
1 cup tomato sauce (if you don't have any or forget it, just add a bit extra water)
2 tsp chopped or minced garlic (add more if you like the flavor!)
2 bay leaves (I crush them up so that they are harder to find when eating if you don't take them out)
1 tbl sugar
2 tsp fennel seeds
1-3 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tbl fresh parsley, finely chopped (this can be omitted too if you don't have it or forget)
1 tsp salt
2-4 1-quart freezer bags

To Make:
1) Start by browning the sausage in a large pot.
2) While it's cooking, chop up the onion, then add it to the sausage
3) When done, drain then put back on stove
4) Add in all the other ingredients and stir.
5) Bring to a boil.
6) Lower the heat and simmer for 30 mins while partly covered.
7) Allow the sauce to cool.
8) LABEL your 1 quart freezer bags.
9) Fill the bags as full as you think you will need
10) Put into the freezer

To Thaw:
Put a 1 quart bag of spaghetti sauce in the fridge overnight.
Heat thoroughly and serve!