Freezer Spaghetti Sauce

Are you swimming in tomatoes right about now? I've got the perfect way to use them up without spending an entire day in the kitchen canning! My spaghetti sauce is so simple, it's made in the crockpot so you can go about what you're doing and stored in the freezer.

I've been making this each summer for the past 3 years or so, I'm not even sure where I exactly came across the recipe. I adapted it a little bit to suite our tastes and I love making it each year when we have extra tomatoes coming out of the garden.

It has a bit of a chunkier texture, which I love but if you don't like that, feel free to puree your batch in a food processor. My hubby doesn't like big chunks of veggies in his sauce so I usually try to smooth some out for him.

Freezer Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:
2 onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 green pepper, diced (I also had 1/2 yellow pepper on hand so I threw that in as well)
1/2 c canola oil
16 c chopped tomatoes (I usually figure 1 large tomato = 1 cup)
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp dried basil
1/4 chopped parsley
1/4 c sugar
2 tbsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
1- 6oz can tomato paste (for each batch, when ready to serve)

Directions:
In a large skillet, saute together the onion, garlic, pepper and oil. Cook until onion is transparent. Transfer to a slow cooker and add in chopped tomatoes, oregano, basil, parsley, sugar, salt and pepper. Cook on low for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Let sauce cool, then pour into quart-sized freezer containers. Store in freezer until ready to serve. When ready to use, let thaw and stir in 6 oz. can of tomato paste to thicken sauce. Makes 3 qts.

A couple weekends ago this was my Saturday afternoon project. I was able to put away 3 qts of this sauce and 9 qts of sweetcorn. I can't wait to enjoy it during the winter months!

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway! You have until Wednesday!

Weekly Menu 8/13 and Giveaway!

Hubs and I are thoroughly enjoying our weekend without the girls but I'm so ready for them to come home now! I joked yesterday about how boring our life would be without kids.

This week the kiddos head back to school, Thursday to be exact. Besides preparing for that, we have lots of extra activities filling our evenings along with some cake orders. Some of our meals this week will be more simple since we'll be going from one thing to the next.

Breakfast:
Toast
Blueberry Muffins
HM French Toast Sticks
Oatmeal
Cereal

Lunch:
Grilled Cheese
Snack-y Lunch (think hm lunchables)
Crunchy Lemon Garlic Chicken   (I think we'll make these into strips for the kids)
Leftovers x2 (it will only be the little one and I so no use in making a big lunch for 2)

Dinner:
Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas
Sloppy Joes (We never did make these last week)
Ribeyes
Meatloaf Burgers
Grilled bbq chicken drumsticks

Snacks:
Fruit- Watermelon, Strawberries, Kiwi, Bananas
Veggies w/dip
Chex Mix
English Muffin bread w/strawberry jam
Cheese and Crackers

Now for the fun stuff!



 In honor of my 100th post I'm giving away this adorable apple kitchen towel and apple cookie cutter. Apple season is right around the corner believe it or not and I have a thing for apples in my kitchen. Almost all of my appliances are red and I love any sort of apple decoration I can get my hands on!

Here's how you can win:

1) Follow Been There Baked That using google reader (over there on right hand side of page)
2) Follow Been There Baked That on Facebook
3) Follow me on Pinterest
4) Tell me what you're most looking forward to this Fall?

That gives you 4 chances to win! Leave a separate comment for each entry. I'll choose a winner at random on Wednesday, August 15th.  Good luck!

Book Review: Miserly Moms

My July book to read was Miserly Moms: Living well on less in a tough economy by Jonni McCoy. I've owned this book for over a year now and just hadn't gotten around to reading it, July was probably the perfect month out of this year to do so.

Last month, the company my husband works for filed for bankruptcy. It was definitely not something that was expected. We're very thankful that he's been able to stay employed there for the time being and help with the whole bankruptcy process but we'll soon have to be moving on to something else and it's always scary not knowing what your future holds. With that being said, we've had to tighten our belts a little more than normal and be even more aware of where our money's going.

A lot of what's featured in the book our family already embraces, but I will say it was a nice refresher and I did learn a few new things. Jonni does a great job outlining each area of our lives where we can cut costs. Our grocery bill is one of easiest areas in which you can save money and I'm not talking about only using coupons. Sure coupons are great and can help you to get that food bill down, but regular menu planning, purchasing items that are on sale and cooking from scratch also help.

We have a family of 5 and I aim to spend around $60 each week at the store. Some weeks I spend more and some I even spend less. I don't coupon much either. I strive to stick to a menu plan each week; before I do my grocery shopping, I scan the weekly sales flyer's to see what's on sale. I make sure to stock up on items that are at their rock bottom price and then try to plan our meals around what else is on sale for the week. I also try to cook from scratch as much as possible, this means I don't buy very many processed foods or snacks. We try not to eat out very often, occasionally we'll order pizza or on special occasions we might take the whole family out to a restaurant. All of these things helps me to keep our grocery budget low and is part of what helps us to afford for me to work from home and be here with our kids.

The author also includes many recipes for some of her family's favorite dishes but also ones for homemade cleaners and frugal craft ideas to do with your own children. I really liked how after each section she would list some books that would provide additional information on the subject she discussed. I have a few that I'm hoping our local library has available.

If you enjoy reading about ways to help you lower your monthly expenses or maybe you're a mom that's hoping to someday be able to stay home with your children; I think you would enjoy and hopefully benefit from Miserly Moms. Like I said, I didn't particularly learn many new ideas or concepts but it's definitely filled with good, valuable information that I like to be reminded of.

Well the hubby and I are off to hang out with some friends this evening. My parents took all 3 girls for the weekend and headed up to the river. I've been busy baking away today, take a look at these!

Don't they make your mouth drool? I promise to share the recipe next week!

One last thing, can you believe this is my 100th post?! I'm pretty excited, I'll be back on Monday with a fun giveaway to celebrate. Have a great weekend!!



Mini Pancake Bites

Summer's coming to an end soon and next week I'll be sending the oldest 2 girls back to school (at least I'll have one home with me still). We've had a great summer and I hope I've done a good job in helping them to create some awesome memories!

Part of those memories include food, what can I say? Some days I think my life revolves around it but I wouldn't have it any other way. They've enjoyed our little hand-held breakfast dishes just as much as I have, from the mini omelets to the pumpkin donut holes.  And just the other day we made these adorable pancake bites.

I had these in mind to add to my freezer stash, right before school starts I try to start adding lots of pancakes, waffles, muffins and anything else that might make our mornings a little bit easier. I used my go-to pancake recipe for the base and added in different mixings. The kids even had fun helping to prepare these, I let them drop the blueberries and sausage into the muffin wells. We ended up with about 2 dozen blueberry and 2 dozen sausage pancake bites. Served with a little bit of maple syrup, these were amazing! Perfect for their tiny hands and I was able to put away a good amount for the freezer. They'll come in handy in the next few weeks, that's for sure!

Mini Pancake Bites

Ingredients:
2 c flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 c oil
Fillings such as blueberries, sausage or bacon
Maple syrup to serve with

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease or butter 2 mini muffin tins and set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in eggs, milk and oil and mix well. With a small cookie scoop, drop batter into muffin wells, about 3/4 full. Drop in desired fillings, I used 2 blueberries for each one or just a couple chopped pieces of sausage for the others. Bake for 8-9 mins. Serve with syrup on the side. Makes 48 pancake bites, store your extras in the freezer.

Weekly Menu 8/6

I always like reading other blogs and seeing what everyone's planned for their weekly menus. I usually get some inspiration for new things to try or I might be reminded of a dish I haven't made in awhile. I thought I'd try to post my weekly menus for you to see, maybe you'll find some new favorites or maybe not. One of my goals for the year was to make sure I'm taking the time to plan out our meals each week. I'm happy to report I've done really well in doing so, some weeks a little better than others. This week I've got quite a few new dishes we're trying, I'm hoping they all turn out and I'll be posting the recipes soon!

Breakfast:

Waffles

Oatmeal

Mini Pancake Bites

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Rolls

Cereal

Lunch:

BBQ Chicken Penne Skillet

Burritos

Sloppy Joes

Cheese Quesadillas

Leftovers or Sandwiches

Dinner:

Chicken Ranch Ranchero with Rice

BBQ slow cooker chicken sandwiches

Homemade Pizza

Chicken and Corn Hashbrown Bake

Sloppy Joes

Snacks:

Fruit (grapes, peaches, blueberries, cantaloupe)

Veggies (carrots, celery, cucumbers)

String Cheese

Crackers

Oatmeal Apple Pie Bars

Well that's what we'll be eating throughout the week, we are kid-free this weekend so I didn't plan anything for while the kids are gone. What's on your menu this week? Are you trying any new recipes?

 

Southwestern Pasta 'n' Beans

I'm always on the lookout for new side dishes to try. Seems like we have the same veggie, potato or salad dishes. It's fun to change it up a bit. I came across this recipe in an old magazine, it's something different and I had all the ingredients already on hand.

This made for a quick weeknight meal before softball games. I served it alongside some grilled chicken and it was delicious. We'll definitely be making this more often for a change of pace.

Any big plans for the weekend? Now that everyone in our house seems to be feeling a little bit better, I'm hoping to actually relax a little bit. I am excited to do a little bit of freezer cooking though, planning to make some spaghetti sauce using tomatoes from our garden. We're also planning on freezing a bunch of sweet corn this weekend so we'll have that to enjoy through the winter.....yum!

Southwestern Pasta 'n' Beans

Ingredients:
8 oz bow tie pasta
1 med red pepper, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
16 oz can pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained (I used some pinto beans that I already had in the freezer)
3/4 c vegetable broth
3/4 c salsa
2 tsp cumin
1/3 c minced fresh cilantro

Directions:
Cook pasta according to instructions on package. While that's cooking, in a large skillet, saute pepper in oil (feel free to use some onion as well if you family likes that) for about 4-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add garlic, cook for another 1-2 minutes longer. Stir in beans, broth, salsa and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, let simmer, uncovered for 6-7 mins or until heated through. Drain pasta, stir into bean mixture. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Veggie Crostini

It's been quite a week already I tell ya! We took a couple days off to enjoy some time with our kids and be able to do some fun things with them. But life happens and we spent all of last weekend and Monday passing around a flu bug. Luckily myself and our oldest never got it but it was not fun, washing bedding, towels, everything in the house pretty much; everyday for 5 days straight! Ugh! Luckily everyone was feeling better yesterday and hoping it stays that way for a little while.

Enough with my rant. I made these appetizers last weekend because they are one of my favorites to make during the summer when I have fresh veggies from the garden and farmer's market. And to be honest, I was just craving them!

I always make sure to serve them any time we have a bbq at our house and they always go over well. They're an easy appetizer that you make up ahead of time if needed and can set out for awhile. I start with a fresh baguette, no I don't make my own, maybe someday though.

I top each slice with a herbed cream cheese spread that's seasoned with garlic, dill and parsley. From there the crostini is garnished with cucumbers, bell peppers and tomatoes. These are so delicious! I have to stop myself from eating too many, I always say I could make a meal out of them.

Veggie Crostini

Ingredients:

1 baguette, sliced
Olive oil
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dill
1/4 tsp parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Cucumber, diced
Yellow pepper, diced
Tomato, diced

Directions:

To make herbed cream cheese, mix cream cheese, mayo, garlic powder, dill, parsley, salt and pepper. Set aside. Place baguette slices on a baking sheet, drizzle olive oil on each slice and bake at 350 for about 5-6 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer slices to a serving platter. Top each slice with cream cheese mixture and veggies.