Freezer Recipes

Since a good friend of Q's is laid up due to surgery, we've been making a lot of freezer food to share with his family, which has gotten me into bulk cooking mode. Our freezer stash has been depleted and quick, cheap meals are wonderful to have around. There's always pesto in the freezer and marinara in the pantry but pasta can only serve in a pinch so many times in a month. Bulk cooking also means that I get to use my favorite red pan (at the bottom of the link).

I talked about our triple batch of Three Bean Casserole the other day, so I decided to post the recipe here. It's been a favorite of mine ever since I was a kid. Especially using dry beans, it works out to a very economical $3/meal. If I finally get around to making baked beans from scratch, starting with dry beans, the cost may go down even a little more and the waste will go down to almost nothing. (Even though they're recyclable, tin cans make me a little guilty, who knows why.)

Note for cooking with dry beans, the standard is 1 lb dry = 2 c. dry = 5 cups cooked (It seems like a little less cooked to me). To cook dry beans, they can either soak overnight or get raised to a boil, removed from the heat and allowed to stand for an hour. I usually use the second, quick soak method because I'm never that far-thinking. After that, drain them, put in fresh water, and simmer until done, usually about 60-90 minutes (depends on the bean). For Three Bean, I just cook the kidney and lima beans all together, for a triple batch I do just over 2 cups dry of each, which ends up with about 9 cups of beans.

Tonight I made a triple batch of sloppies, so I included that recipe below too. The two recipes include many of the same ingredients, so I often make them at the same time. Freezing chopped green pepper when they're in season makes cooking even easier later.

Clearly, it's time for summer because my pantry is getting low. I looked in there today and most of the shelves are now filled with empty jars. I won't have to make jam or apple butter this year, but we've used almost all the peaches, tomatoes, and grape juice. The freezer is devoid of all berries. Thankfully, due to our warm weather, strawberry season is likely to start next weekend. Just in time for the peaches to run out for my morning smoothies. Side note: There has been a delightful run on red band bananas lately at the grocery so I've got about 40 bananas peeled and frozen right now for smoothies. Very exciting.

Three Bean Casserole

6 slices bacon

1 lb ground beef

1 c chopped onion

1 can baked beans

1 can (1 1/2 c) lima beans

1 can (1 1/2 c) kidney beans

3/4 c brown sugar

1-2 T vinegar

1/2 c catsup

1 t dry mustard

Brown beef and onion in a large skillet until cooked through; drain. Cook bacon until crispy, cut into pieces. Mix all ingredients together. (Divide here for freezing.) Bake at 350 degrees until brown or most of the moisture is gone; about 30 minutes. From frozen, it usually takes about 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sloppy Joes

1 lb. ground beef

1 T oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 T sugar

2 T yellow mustard

1 T vinegar

1 t salt

3/4 c catsup

1 t minced garlic

Brown meat in oil until crumbly but not hard. Drain grease . Add onion and green pepper, cook until almost tender. Add other ingredients, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Freeze in meal size portions. Serve over buns or bread.

Yarn Deal!

Baby Bamboo by Sirdar from Ben Franklin Craft and Frame - marked down 76% from original price. I love this stuff - absolutely silky soft. Can you believe that this yarn would have originally cost $135 for this many skeins?! Woohoo!

Weekend of Work

Got the seedlings actually in

Baby Corn - 20 out of 32 sprouted so far

Baby Edamame- 13 have sprouted, probably will have to thin or transplant

Mystery Plant that's trying to invade the back, assuming it's a weed, but what a pretty one. (The flowers are actually pink.)

First Clothesline Drying of the Season

The warm weather has finally really come and it's lovely. We got so much done this weekend. The house got cleaned, a huge batch of Three Bean Casserole was made and frozen (4 meals for $12, can't beat that), laundry was washed, and other sundry tasks were completed.

First Sprouts

The first sprouts are up. We have 4 little shoots of corn, light spatterings of green that I believe are radishes and either beets or turnips, and three big sets of edamame leaves that haven't quite uncurled. I love that moment when big seeds like that just start pushing the earth above them out of the way.
Q laughs at me because sprouts always make me giddy. I check on my tiny little charges twice a day, when we leave for work and when we come home. It always is just so amazing to me when the things I plant actually come up. Seeds = plants - still remarkable, every time.
The bed planted earlier has peas that are about 6" high and little lettuce and spinach plants that are starting to look like miniatures of full size. The strawberries are coming into full bloom and I need to get them covered with netting because tiny green berries are just around the corner. I'm also going to get the starts we bought a couple of weeks ago out into the actual garden this weekend. I'm finally trusting that I won't have to whisk them under cover again for a too chilly night. It will be fun to post pictures of the garden with some green in it. I'll have to see if I can get those tiny shoots of corn to be photogenic too. :)

Constructing a Hearse Knitting Chart

By the way, people keep seeing me sketching hearses at meetings and I'm making them give me funny looks. :) The landau bars (swoopy thing on the side) is really what makes a hearse look like a hearse, but I'm still finding it difficult to get it exactly right in the magical world of pixels. The current design would be situated on the sock so it looks like it's driving off the top of the wearer's foot and be about 7" long and 2 1/2" wide. I originally designed it at about half that size, but there weren't enough stitches to give the proper curve at that point. Suggestions?

Morbidly Adorable Socks

Here's a mock-up of a pattern for some knee socks someone is requesting. It's just a chart but gives some idea. I tried just coffins but it was difficult to be sure what they were. The pattern would repeat around the entire sock and down the leg and top of the foot. The toe and heel would also be purple. The coffins + RIP would be about 1 1/4" wide and 2 1/2" tall.
A hearse pair is also requested, but I'm still pondering what the essence of "hearsiness" is to make that idea work.

Pac-Man Hat

The Pac-man hat is finally complete. Quite the mix of techniques really. I did find it helpful to "embroider" in the ghost eyes and power pills afterwards. I think Hello Kitty's eyes and nose will be done that way on all future hats. This one was made large for Q's ample sized head. I'm excited to try it as a medium. I did have to redo the top once (decreases were too quick) but I'm really happy with how the second one worked out. I hope it will do well in the shop this fall.