Cook-a-Thon

I spent a lot of time this weekend cooking.  The idea is that I will save time later by having several things prepared in advance.  This is something I do once a month or so, and it really does help make it possible to get complete, home-cooked meals on the table most nights for Mr. Mami, GrandmaT, and I - and whomever else wanders in. The focus in this particular session was the 10 pounds of  fresh "ground beast" we got on sale for $1.79/lb. I didn't want to just portion it out and stick it in the freezer, but rather, wanted to turn it into USEFUL meal starters.  So here's what became of it:

1 pound went into last night's very delicious Shepherd's Pie.  Mr. Mamie LOVED this version of one of his traditional favorite dishes. This was easy to throw together in the middle of lots of other activity, becasue we had leftover mashed potatoes from earlier in the week.  This made enough for dinner for three and lunch for two the next day. 

1 pound went into a batch of CrockPot spaghetti sauce.  This is SOOOOO good when made with an additional 1/2 pound of hot Italian sausage and plenty of red pepper flakes!  We have lots of fresh herbs growing in the dining room, so I added fresh basil, oregano, and parsley as well.  The batch got divided into to large freezer Ziploc bags, which will make two meals plus leftovers for lunch.

1 pound was precooked and stashed in the fridge for tomorrow's Pan Burritos dinner.

1 pound was cooked and turned into sloppy joe mix (photo above)for the freezer - I like to add lots of corn!  I just use the McCormick seasoning packet for sloppy joes; it what I grew up on and I like the taste better than anything else.

1.5 pounds were cooked with onion and garlic and stashed in the freezer to be pulled put again on Wednesday morning for CrockPot beef and barley soup.

The remaining 4.5 pounds was turned into taco meet for the freezer (see photo above), and was divided into 4 large Ziploc bags.

But the fun didn't end there....

Today for breakfast we had Kris Kringle pancakes, except cooked as waffles.  I LOVE this recipe - so tasty, relatively healthy (given all the whole grain - well, I do kind of load on the butter and syrup!), and one waffle STAYS WITH YOU, unlike Bisquik pancakes/waffles which all-too-quickly dissipate into a sugar-crashing/hollow feeling.

I made this pumpkin swirl loaf this afternoon, which is very yummy and will make nice morning snacks at work.

And, as I write this, dinner is in the oven: Honey Roasted Pork Loin and Parmesan Potatoes.   After that... time for bed!