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mamakay

managing a household of 10 by the grace of God

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Freezer

Meatballs

November 22, 2011 by mamakay 1 Comment

Ingredients

6 lbs ground beef (or a mixture I like to use 1 part beef, 1 part pork & 1 part venison)
2 cups bread crumbs
1 cup finely diced onions
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 cups tomato sauce
6 eggs

Mix the ingredients together. Using a small scoop make meatballs and place them on a cookie sheet. (It is really important not to handle the meatballs very much as it makes the fat melt on your hands & thus dries out the meat.) Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees until cooked through. Remove to another clean pan and after cooling place in the freezer to flash freeze. (This takes an hour or so but it can wait on you.) After they are individually frozen put meatballs into bag.

These work great by themselves, served with BBQ Sauce, Sweet & Sour Sauce, in Stroganoff or with Spaghetti.

Makes approximately 120 meatballs

Filed Under: cooking day, recipe, whole foods Tagged With: 15 Minutes, Amp, Bread Crumbs, Cookie Sheet, Diced Onions, Dries, Eggs, Freezer, Garlic, Ground Beef, Meatballs, Mixture, Scoop, Spaghetti, Stroganoff, Tablespoon Garlic Powder, Tablespoon Salt, Tomato Sauce, Venison

Garden Updates

September 29, 2011 by mamakay 1 Comment

Although I have been trying to keep careful records of our efforts this summer I have not kept up with writing posts like I had hoped to. It has definitely been a year of learning for us. The challenges of taking care of a large garden,animals, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and taking care of a family of 8 has kept me crazy busy! I’m looking forward to the winter and a time to reflect and plan how to do things better.

Here are some quick stats on our homestead so far:

Chickens: We now have 53 chickens which I find remarkable considering that’s how many we started with. We have added 23 to our flock from donations, lost 15 to deaths and butchered 8.

We are getting anywhere from 14-20 eggs a day.

Garden:

The potato bins did not work out as we had hoped but we learned some things to improve next year.  We got 5 pounds, 12 ounces total.

The zucchini is still in full force and we get 1-3 zucchinis a day. I have 24 (3 cup) bags of shredded zucchini stored in the freezer and we’ve been eating lots.

The peas did pretty well. I was able to harvest over 34 days. We got 5.4 pounds (including pods). We ate lots and shelled enough for 2 quarts for the freezer.

The green beans were doing very nicely until the grasshoppers decided to devour them. We harvested about 4 1/2 pounds and put 3 lbs 5 oz in the freezer.

The tomatoes are coming along. We had our first red tomato on 8/20.  We have been getting a handful or two of cherry and pear tomatoes and 2 bigger tomatoes every day. There are still lots waiting to ripen.

The grasshoppers devoured our cabbage patch.

Although there are lots of them my onions are all rather small.

The cucumbers are somewhat slow put I really like the A-frame. We have been getting 4-5 pickling cucumbers and 1-2 slicing cucumbers every day.

The apples and plums are starting to turn and I am looking forward to seeing how they taste!

Our biggest challenges this summer have been getting the water where we need it, time and grasshoppers!

Considering that this year is our first on this big a scale I think it went quite well. The pumpkins and acorn squash are coming along. We’ve also had a few raspberries & strawberries to munch although I didn’t expect anything from those plants until next year.

Filed Under: Homestead Tagged With: 2 Quarts, 3 Lbs, Cabbage Patch, Careful Records, Chickens, Cucumbers, Doing Laundry, Freezer, Full Force, Garden Animals, Grasshoppers, Green Beans, Onions, Pear Tomatoes, Plums, Pods, Potato Bins, Quick Stats, Red Tomato, Shredded Zucchini

Blessings 9/20/2010

September 20, 2010 by mamakay 1 Comment

holy experience

311. 10 days with Nana & Papaw

312. 2 date nights with my husband

313. apples overflowing buckets

picking apples

314. bags of apples saved in the freezer for months to come

315. time spent with grandparents cutting apples

apple picking

316. Hearing my grandpa say that he was afraid when they sold the farm & the apple orchard they wouldn’t have apples but every year they have had plenty of apples….God certainly provides

317. Jars of pickles made with my own hands

318.  Pickled beets just like my mom used to make from my own garden

319. fun at the water park

320. Amazing finds at the Farmer’s Market

farmer's market

321. Running into cousins and friends from long ago wandering the streets at the Farmer’s Market

322. a Mother of many who are nearly grown stopping to help me with little ones during church services

323. A Walking Baby Boy

walking boy

324. 5potato is 3!

5potato's Bday Cake

325. Time celebrating life with our loved ones near & far.

princess dress

326. Princess Dress made with love by Grandma Di

327. Answers even if they weren’t the ones we wanted

328. The changing of leaves — our first fall in Montana — beautiful!

329. New mercies every morning

330. Hope

Filed Under: 1000 Gifts Tagged With: Amp, Apple Orchard, Apples, Baby Boy, Blessings, Buckets, Celebrating Life, Changing Of Leaves, Cousins, Freezer, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandparents, Little Ones, New Mercies, Pickled Beets, Pickles, Princess Dress, S Market, Water Park

Blessings 9/1/10

September 1, 2010 by mamakay 1 Comment

I can’t believe it is September already! We really enjoyed our August in Montana. Although there were a few 100 degree days the heat only lasted a few days at a time followed by some really lovely days. In fact, the month ended with temps in the 60s! Much better than our normal succession of 100s for months on end…

Here are my blessings for this week:

291. Rain, glorious rain.

292.  Boxes of fruit to preserve

293. My first attempt at raspberry jam set up & canned!

294. Yummy Peach Butter

295. Homemade applesauce, apple muffins, apple pie, apple crisp & apple brownies from 1 box of  Ginger Gold Apples.

296. A freezer full of frozen peach slices to enjoy for months to come

297. shopping at the local farmer’s market

298. fresh corn on the cob

299. harvesting lots of zucchini from our own garden

300. the hope of more produce from our garden: cantaloupe, pumpkins, & potatoes still growing

301. Nana & Papaw are coming next week!

302. Fitting into my pre-6potato jeans

303. Finding our place in our new community

304. Our church home

305. Our baby is nearly walking…

306. Starting our homeschool co-op tomorrow

307. Baby going to bed on his own at night

308. Finding dryer paperwork after much searching

309. Everyone else started back to school

310.  God’s mercies are new every morning

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Apple Crisp, Apple Muffins, Apple Pie, Brownies, Cantaloupe, Corn On The Cob, Freezer, Frozen Peach Slices, Ginger Gold Apples, Homemade Applesauce, Homeschool, Lovely Days, Nana, Papaw, Peach Butter, Pie Apple, Raspberry, Raspberry Jam, S Market, Zucchini

Freezing tips

March 25, 2009 by mamakay Leave a Comment

After years of freezing foods these are some things that I have learned.

Foods that don’t freeze well:

  • Raw salad vegetables

  • Raw eggs in their shells or hard-boiled eggs (You can freeze egg whites separately.)

  • Raw potatoes or boiled white potatoes (they turn black)

  • Cottage Cheese

  • Instant Rice

  • Custard, cream or meringue pies

  • Mayonnaise – It separates. It can be used limitedly mixed in with other ingredients in a sauce or casserole

  • Sour cream – It becomes watery but can be used the same way as mayonnaise

  • Deep Fried Foods become soggy

Foods That Change in the freezer:

  • Gravies and sauces separate and will need to be recombined during reheating.

  • Heavy Cream can be frozen but won’t whip.

  • Milk can be frozen for drinking but will separate. Shake to recombine.

  • Vegetables, pastas and grains are softer following freezing. Make sure to undercook them before freezing to help compensate.

  • Cheeses often change texture. Hard cheeses become crumbly. They freeze best if grated before freezing and can be used in recipes but not for slicing

Filed Under: Investment Cooking Tagged With: Cheeses, Cottage Cheese, Egg Whites, Freezer, Freezing Foods, Fried Foods, Grains, Gravies, Hard Boiled Eggs, Heavy Cream, Instant Rice, Mayonnaise, Meringue, Pastas, Raw Eggs, Raw Potatoes, Salad Vegetables, Sauces, Sour Cream, Whip, White Potatoes

3 Ways to Do Investment Cooking

March 13, 2009 by mamakay Leave a Comment

The method I’ve adapted in cooking is also known as once a month cooking but I found this terminology very limiting. I like to think of it as investment cooking instead. When I cook this way I am investing in my health, my time, and my family’s lives. There are three different methods of investment cooking that you can use to provide great meals for your family. Let’s look at each one today.

You can cook a month’s worth of food in one day to stock up your freezer. In reality this takes three days of effort but one day of cooking. The first day you do your planning including what meals you want to prepare, create your shopping list and plan the best order to cook the items. On the second day you would do your grocery shopping. Finally on the third day you cook and assemble your meals. At the end of 6-8 hours you will able to put away 30-60 meals for your family’s consumption depending on your abilities and meal choices.

Another very efficient way of investment cooking is to do a mini-session based on one meat or base. This is a great method to use when chicken (or another staple) goes on sale. You stock up on that ingredient and cook as many meals as you can out of what you got. For example, if you bought chickens on sale you could make roasted chickens (use the cooked meat in other recipes), chicken soup, casseroles using chicken, and freeze chicken with marinade to grill later. You could also do a baking day making muffins, pancakes, waffles, cookies, etc. to stick in the freezer.

Finally, one of the easiest ways to start incorporating investment cooking into your life is by simply doubling or tripling a recipe as you make it and stick the extras in the freezer. When you are making French toast for breakfast, go ahead and make up a whole loaf of bread’s worth. Flash freeze and you’ll have a yummy breakfast another day that only needs to be warmed up in the toaster or microwave. If you are making spaghetti sauce, double it and freeze the extra for another night. It takes so little extra effort and the returns are tremendous.

I use all three of these methods throughout the year. When I’m making meals that are easy to double I take advantage of it and put some away for another meal. When I get meat on a good sale I will cook up a whole bunch for the freezer. Every so often I plan a cooking day and really fill up my freezer.

Recipe:

Here’s a great recipe I like to make when I get ground beef on sale.

Make-Ahead Meatballs

4 pounds lean ground beef — or pork or turkey or a combo

2 cups bread crumbs

1 cup onion – diced

1 tablespoon kosher salt

pepper to taste

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

4 eggs

2 cups tomato sauce

Mix all ingredients very well with your hands in a large bowl.

For Meatballs: Form approx. 180 meatballs (large walnut size). Place meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned and no longer pink in the center. Cool. Flash Freeze then bag in freezer bags.

To serve: thaw meatballs and bake at 350 for 10-20 minutes or heat in a sauce. (Spaghetti Sauce, Sweet & Sour, Stroganoff, BBQ, etc . . .)

For Meatloaf: Form into a loaf in a baking dish. Brush with favorite sauce. Bake at 350 for an hour or until no longer pink. Cool and chill. Slice meatloaf if desired.

Or freeze mixture raw, flattened out in a freezer bag, thaw and cook when desired.

NOTES:

To make meatballs of equal size:

1. Lightly pat mixture into a 1 inch thick rectangle (on wax paper).

2. Cut the rectangle into the same number of squares as meatballs in the recipe.

3. Gently roll each square into a ball.

(Be careful not to handle the meat too much.)

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Filed Under: cooking day, Investment Cooking, recipe Tagged With: 3 Ways, Chicken Marinade, Chicken Soup, Chickens, Freezer, French Toast, Grocery Shopping, Loaf Of Bread, Meal Choices, Mini Session, Muffins, Pancakes, Recipes Chicken, Shopping List, Spaghetti Sauce, Staple, Third Day, Toaster, Waffles, Yummy Breakfast

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So glad you stopped by. I am a Christian wife and mother of 8 in the middle years. My kids are aged 4 to 20 and just about every 2 years in between. I write about our life as a big family, what God is personally doing in my life, food and books.

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