Winter Cooking

[Dee]

I was gone all weekend and did no cooking so I was in the mood to get some OMC (once a month cooking) done this morning.

 

23 hambuger patties cooked and to the freezer.

 

2 9X13 pans of lasagna frozen in individual servings

 

1 Dutch oven of chili sitting on the stove cooling. I'll put 1 1/2 cups in each bag and freeze later.

 

Our closest restaurant is 20 miles from us so we seldom just run out for supper. I do like to be gone sometimes (DH loves home and never wants to leave ) and when I am this gives him a main dish to start with. It makes me feel better about leaving him for a weekend or longer.

 

I don't really go often so this food should last most of the winter, if not all.

 

How about it? Anyone else doing any OMC getting ready for winter?

[The WE2's]

Already did "some"...when I boiled 2 bags of whole potatoes and they're either in my deep freeze, my frig freezer, or my frig (for quicky hashbrowns!) I've got my small deep freezer packed to it's limit as well as frig freezer. Wish I had a big deep freeze, but no room for one right now. Maybe we'll get some things moved off the back porch/pantry that don't need to be there and I'll get a bigger one before too long! :wink (2):

[Amishway Homesteaders]

Love cooking this way!

We always 'shop' for deals and then come home and have a 'cooking fest' and can and freeze the whole day.

Makes the house smell so good too!

But last Saturday when we were canning Turkey ( great deal on it this week) the house smelled like Thanksgiving Day and now we both what a big Turkey Dinner!

 

I Also love my Cockpots! (3 qt. & 6 qt.) If we know we will be late getting home and no time to cook it will save the day by making Supper as well as greeting us at the door with just the best smells.

 

Winter is coming and that means lots of stews, soups and crockpot meals for us! Makes the cheaper cuts of meat go a long way and also makes them tender.

 

Man I am Hungry NOW! and we are going out at 5:15 and get back late.

[Deerslayer]

I do omc!!! I love it!!! Our nearest resturant is 14 miles away and hubby works late mostof the time, so I always have a lot of meals in the freezer. My dd moved home recently and was going to go a month until her first paycheck so I made h enough meals to last the month. It was a wonderful feeling!!!

I usually do a chicken day, a beef day, and a couple of dessert days when I do it. I can't believe I didn't do it when I was working!!!!

[Dee]

I read about your potatoes somewhere else Philbe. Sounds like a cool idea. I have some potatoes to deal with and hadn't decided yet what to do. Thinkk I'll give your idea a try.

 

Oh yeah AH, I use the crockpot a lot. Start something in the morning before chores and no matter what the rest of the day brings supper will be ready when we are.

 

Yep Deerslayer, today was ground beef day. I was in Des Moines over the weekend and stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home. Found 80% ground beef for $2.20 lb. (something like that). Bought 15 lbs. and dealt with it today.

 

Next?

[lovinit]

I cooked some sweet potato pie and froze it in muffin tins for individual servings. We do mashed potatoes in different flavors, bacon, cheese, garlic, or onion and freeze scoops/mounds on a cookie sheet for instant sides. We don't have our fall beef yet, but when it is ready, I'll brown some burger, make patties, meatballs and chilli. Dh helps, so it goes pretty fast with our little assembly line. Bacon is another thing we like to make ahead, by cooking it in the oven and then freezing in serving size layers, (between wax paper) . It is nice having the mess contained to the oven and "self clean" clean up. The only problem is monitoring portion control.

I am really looking forward to learning more about pressure canning meats and stews. CGA and Darlene will be shaking their heads at me this weekend; I'll be the oldest "rookie" at the gathering.

[lovinit]

UMMMMM! The talk aobut winter cooking must have put me in the mood. Made a large pan of beef stroganoff for supper (and some for bil who will be here while we are away).

Smells so good, sweet rolls with honey for dessert. aniwonderwhyamgainingweight.........

[dogmom4]

So, someone wanna tell me how to do Philbes potatoes? I just got 20 pounds over the weekend.

[dogmom4]

So, someone wanna tell me how to do Philbes potatoes? I just got 20 pounds over the weekend.

[The WE2's]

So, someone wanna tell me how to do Philbes potatoes? I just got 20 pounds over the weekend.

 

*** I use my stock pot and put as many whole potatoes as I can in, then bring to a boil. Put the lid on, reduce heat and cook until "done"...not mushy. When done, I lay them out on a clean towel to cool & dry. Then I just bag them in manageable bags and put them either in my deep freeze, my freezer or my frig. Since we eat hashbrowns nearly every morning, I keep some thawed. They brown so nicely! I just add dehydrated onions, peppers, a bit of garlic and some chives or parsley, and we're walking in tall cotton! ***

[The WE2's]

Spent the afternoon doing some winter preps. Cleaned a bag of onions, sliced them, separated them, laid them out on my large bake pan, sprayed them with veggie spray, covered them with clear wrap and they're in the freezer waiting for me to bag them up into smaller bags for future use. With only 2 of us it keeps us with fresh onions (not just dehydrated ones). Sliced some oranges also and they're bagged in the freezer for citrus water or "zest" or ??? Last week found 4 huge chicken breasts on sale in a package for $5.25 so I put them all into my turbo cooker and we had one for supper w/pasta and the other 3 are vacume sealed and in the freezer for another day. Already picked all the tomatoes from the SQF garden and they're bagged and in deep freeze. Received a gallon of white queso as a gift, so divided it up. Mixed a small amount with some garlic powder, onion powder and my house fajita seasoning and had it over our pasta with our chicken. Figure supper costs us about $3 a plate...max. Been a busy, busy day...like the rest of my friends here!

[Dee]

Yep, looks like we're getting in the hibernating mode. It won't be long but hopefully at least another 4-6 weeks before winter hits hard.

 

Funny how our bodies get the feeling for the season!

[The WE2's]

Yep, looks like we're getting in the hibernating mode. It won't be long but hopefully at least another 4-6 weeks before winter hits hard.

 

Funny how our bodies get the feeling for the season!

 

From Philbe...we used to call it "the nesting impulse"! LOL

[Ambergris]

Yesterday's roaster turned out to be unexpectedly wholesome--more like a two year old bird than the usual tender little spring chickens. So anyway, the remains of it are in a slow cooker with onions, carrots, more onions, and more onions. We do confess a vague fondness for onions. I'm making broth! BROTH!

 

And there are sliced lamb shanks and slices of beef marrow-bone in the fridge for tomorrow's version. I'm going to use the largest lamb slices for osso bucco. Any suggestions for the rest?

Edited October 20, 2012 by Ambergris

[Dee]

Philbe, "the nesting impulse" makes me think babies.....no, no, no I want no babies so I prefer hibernation mode!

 

The chicken sounds good Ambergris. This household loves onions AND garlic so I understand completely.

 

 

Last week I did 59 breakfast burritos. I had sausage and bacon both in the freezer so I got it all out, cooked it up and have some sausage and some bacon burritos ready. DH and DS both love them so they probably won't last long.

 

Lovinit, I put a double batch of sweet rolls in the freezer for DH too. The individual sweet potato pies sound delicious.

 

I think I am done for awhile!!!

[farm~maid]

My DH has been taking frozen breakfast burritios or sausage/egg/cheese on English muffins each morning. He leaves at 3:30 a.m. so this works perfectly. If I make muffins, he'll take a couple of them instead.

We used the last of the freezer stash yesterday, so today I will be making up the burritos and English muffins. It will be good to once again have a freezer supply of these breakfast foods.

 

 

I like to make up 5# or more of meatballs to have in the freezer. They make for quick meals. We especially like Meatball Minestrone on a cold Winter night.

Edited October 23, 2012 by farm~maid

[themartianchick]

I don't usually do the once a month cooking thing, but I do have some plans for cooking ahead this week if I can squeeze it in. Making bread right now and there's a chicken in the oven. I'm spending the day with a sick grand daughter that loves to cook and watch others cook.

[coastygirl]

Tis the season---so I started my holiday baking. Trying to rotate my stores. Found canned pumpkin and made 8 loaves of pumpkin pound cake in nice paper wrappers for taking with me at the holiday time. On to cookies next.