The Baking/Prep day breakdown!

Well, the results of my labors filled half of my itty bitty little block freezer and would probably fill an entire over the fridge freezer =). I'm happy with it I have to say and was very impressed with myself when I saw it all laid out on the table like that. So, what all did I end up making? Let's do the list...

1 Loaf Bread I would have made more but I have literally 4 loaves of whole wheat reduced bread to go through right now, so I figured why bother?

2 Ham and Black Olive Pizzas I didn't have Canadian Bacon, so I just improvised and figured that deli ham was close enough for me. I also didn't have mozzarella cheese defrosted, so I just went with good ol' cheddar. I think they'll taste just fine though. I used pizza dough I had frozen in the freezer (I used two parts white flour and one part whole wheat flour in the recipe so they'd have extra nutrition...they also browned up nicely :).

1 Thing Breadsticks I just took one thing of pizza dough I had and figured I'd make breadsticks for the kids to eat when we'd have the pizza. I just coated them with melted butter and sprinkled them with parmesan cheese. I then did another coat with the butter and cheese when they came out of the oven to give them a more "soft" consistancy. They are dense, but they taste good.

1 Family size container, one individual serving and one quart freezer bag, Beef and veggie stew I also had this for lunch and dinner the last couple of days, which was nice since I'm fighting the nasty bug my family has had.

1 Recipe Mac N' Cheese Casserole Cups These came out pretty darn good, but it made tons more than the 20 cups the original recipe called for (I THINK I overdid the maccaroni...it called for a pound, but all I have is bulk maccaroni, so I had to eyeball it), so that resulted in...

1 Family Sized Container Mac N' Cheese Casserole (sans the final sprinkling of cheese)

1 Family Sized Bag, Spaghetti I thought of the individual spaghetti bags, and the big thing for me is getting dinner on the table more than lunches, so I figured I'd go with a big family bag and have that taken care of instead. As soon as I free up a little bit of room in the freezer I'm going to cut up some bread and make some garlic bread, freeze that and then we'll have a full meal ready for us in the freezer.

2 Meatloaves I was going to do the mini-meatloaves, but decided this would work better because it would stretch me 2 meals per meatloaf, by making things like hot meatloaf sandwiches with gravy the second night. I think this'll work slick. It'll be easy to throw a loaf of bread into the bread maker and have it ready by dinner time the second night for the sandwiches.

2 Family Sized Bags Chicken Tetrazzini I could probably have stretched it to three bags, but if I did that it would have been a smaller casserole. This way, worse comes to worse we'll have leftovers, but no one going hungry.

1 Casserole Dish Farmhouse Chicken I love this casserole =).

1 Bag, Meatballs I figure we'll have meatball hoagies one night.

1 Bag, Broccoli I bought some fresh, cleaned it and chopped it and threw it in the freezer as an additional side dish. Fresh veggies always taste better than the store bagged ones.

I skipped the lasagna because my husband asked if I could make it fresh for Christmas, since the freezer ones get sort of crunchy when reheated. Since I have no boil noodles in the pantry and the Ricotta cheese will keep, I saw no reason to worry about it.

1 Bag Chicken with Terriyaki Merinade I figure this is probably the meal I'll serve the broccoli with. We love terriyaki around here, so I'm hoping this turns out well.

1 Family Sized Bag Rosemary Chicken This came out awesome, so here's hoping it reheats well.

1 Family Sized Bag, Rice I decided to go this route instead of the Chicken Cheesy Casserole in the bag because really, Chicken Cheesy Casserole is meant to be layered and I like it like that. So, this way I'll have the rice ready to go as side dishes (for the Chicken Terriyaki for instance) or to go in casseroles later.

1 Bag Browned Hamburger I decided to do this instead of just the taco meat, because this way I'll have it to throw in with the spaghetti or the lasagna (when I make it) and I can also make it into tacos too or sloppy joes. This way I have some versatility.

1 Bag Hamburger Patties (not shown cause I took the pic before I finished them =). These BARELY fit in the freezer when I finished them, but they are done.

Bread (in breadmaker) for French Toast dishes.

1 Casserole Dish Sweet Potato Casserole This looks yummy. Hopefully it tastes good too. This will make a pretty good side dish I think.

1 Family Sized Bag, Home Made "Uncrustables". I put the sandwiches in individual sized baggies and then placed them in the big freezer bag so they were all together. I think it worked better.

2 Recipes Breakfast Smoothie Each recipe makes 4 quart sized bags filled with Breakfast smoothie. I made Strawberry and Blueberry ones, but instead of using fresh fruit for the berries I instead used flavored yogurts that I have a TON of in the fridget. I also used "Trail Mix Crunch" Cereal instead of the Mueslix that the original recipe called for. Boy did these come out awesome! I can't wait to drink them =).

2 Big Bags Pancakes For breakfast dinners really. I've got to buy some bacon to brown up here in the next little bit (I'm waiting for a sale) and then it'll be a really easy dinner.

1 Recipe Cinnamon Rolls I put 9 of them in a freezer bag and then took big ol' tablespoons of Cream Cheese Frosting and placed them in sandwich bags and just froze them right along with the Cinnamon rolls. This way when I go to heat them up I won't end up with really grody frosting all over everything but the Cinnamon Rolls. The other three I put in a storage container, which...well I've already eaten one *laugh*.

1 Family Sized Bag Bacon Brunch Bites I made Quiches instead of the recipe they made (there's not much difference seriously). The Crescent roll dough worked SLICK for the crusts though, there was no mess in the pan. I omitted the onion and just used bacon and cheese in the quiche...my husband will be much more likely to eat them that way.

A Couple Good Stacks Cranberry Cream Cheese French Toast The filling on these is YUMMY! I made just my usual french toast recipe and just made a loaf of breadmaker bread and cut it thick for the recipe. It worked pretty good. Honestly? One piece of this stuff will be a meal for my husband and I (since the slices are HUGE and thick!), so I have enough to last for about six meals. Sweet!

1 Recipe Veggie Pizza I actually stuck with the original recipe and used the recipe creations dough for this (since I got it super duper cheap on reduced last week). I didn't put cauliflower on it like it called for, but I doubt that'll make it taste any different. I also didn't sprikle the cheese on top, but I really don't know if this'll need it. I mean it already has enough calories to make your heart explode BEFORE the cheese, so I don't know if I'll put the cheese on before I eat them or not.

1 Bag Chicken Chow Mein Well, okay it's not REALLY Chow Mein. I just had some leftover spaghetti and a little chicken left, so I threw it in with some chicken broth, some seasame oil, what little soy sauce I had left and some frozen oriental style veggies I had and figure it'll taste close enough =). My daughter will eat anything that tastes half decent with noodles involved, so I figured I'd experiment.

And I THINK that's it. So, there you have it folks. The next month of meals (or darn close anyway :). I had a marinated pork loin in that mess, but we ate that for dinner, so it's not pictured either.

And now, onto the very small and cool shopping trip for this week!