Seriously Good Freezer Meals + Blueberry Orange Smoothie Kits Recipe

Seriously Good Freezer Meals
by Karrie Truman
Publisher: Robert Rose
ISBN: 978-0-7788-0591-5

The last couple weeks since getting home from Minnesota have been interesting! I've had a lot of time to be Suzy Homemaker. I haven't fully embraced it, but I have been working on preparing meals thanks for the Seriously Good Freezer Meals book I'm reviewing! It's been quite the interesting process getting started. So I'll tell you what I think of the book, and what it's been like starting down this road to freezer meals.

I definitely liked the first chapter of Seriously Good Freezer Meals of Getting Started chapter. I think some of it was basic information, but definitely necessary. Nothing like getting a refresher course! Some of the things I learned are that avocados (without skins) and garlic cloves are able to go in the freezer!! There's also a great breakdown of freezing dairy products, blanching times for veggies, and how long your meals will last. Each recipe offers a "Bulk Batch Guide". I think 5 batches would be great for a freezer meal exchange!

Now, it takes some time to build up meals so it'll take me a few more times to have enough meals that I will feel good about having last minute food to feed the family. The only thing I have to remember IS...take the food out to thaw the night before! The days we have sports at night are probably the ones  where we'll use these the most this fall!

Since I've never made freezer meals, I have a learning curve on prep and shopping! My goal with some of these meals is to do several batches, but a few of the recipes have expensive ingredients. Not only that, I have to get the family to remember we have these meals as well!

The first thing I made was Perfect Freezer Pancakes. We love eating them, but I never remember to make them unless we're having breakfast for dinner. I have yet to master the art of fluffy pancakes. My friends think I'm stirring too much. Darn it! For breakfast, I also made the Buttery Cinnamon French Toast Bake. I'm holding onto that one for the weekend after school starts.

One of the things I have a hard time coming up with is side dishes. I can never think of different ones to make, and this way, I don't have to! I'm looking forward to heating up the Cheesy Potatoes because a friend of mine makes a dish similar to this, and it's to DIE for! Fingers crossed this is on par with hers. The next two side dishes I'll be making several batches of are the Mashed Potatoes and Brown 'n' Serve Rolls!

I made 3 main dishes: Amazing Macaroni and Cheese, Mongolian Beef and Green Beans, and Broccoli Chicken Alfredo Bake. One thing I haven't quite gotten the hang of yet when making these kinds of meals is sealing them at the end of the process. I bought a bunch of aluminum foil pans, but when I put the plastic on top I'm not sure I'm even doing it right to get rid of the air or is it tight enough. Of course the second part of that is putting tin foil on top. Thankfully that should keep the meals good for the short term. The great piece of making these dishes is making meals I've never attempted before. Fingers crossed the Mongolian Beef turns out well!

The last meal I made was the Creamy, Cheesy Broccoli Soup. Now, this is a dish where I'll be the only one eating it. It calls to put it into a gallon freezer bag, but I used 4 quart sized bags for single-ish servings. Depending on my appetite on of the quart bags could be a couple of meals for me. And I did sample it as I was pouring them into the bags. Oh my, my, my it was good! This I'll be making a TON of batches for.

Up next I'll be trying desserts. They look pretty scrumptious, and they'd be awesome to have on hand when company comes over or just having a better choice on hand for the family! All in all, I'm really loving Seriously Good Freezer Meals and can't wait to try out more of the recipes!

Blueberry Orange Smoothie Kits (2 servings)

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, partially thawed
1/2 banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup water

1. In a small bowl, whisk together Greek yogurt, vanilla, and orange juice. Pour 1 tbsp each into 8 cups of an ice cube tray. Freeze for about 2 hours, until solid.

2. Meanwhile, slice banana into 1/4" slices and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze for about 2 hours, until solid.

MAKE IT NOW Place the 8 orange juice cubes, frozen blueberries, and frozen banana pieces into a blender. Add water. Blend on High until smooth. Add more water if necessary to get desired consistency. Pour into 2 classes and serve cold.

MAKE IT A FREEZER MEAL Place the 8 orange juice cubes, frozen blueberries, and frozen banana pieces in a labeled quart-size freezer bag. Seal, removing as much air as possible.

MAKE THE SMOOTHIES Add contents of freezer bag and water to blender. Blend on High until smooth. Add more water if necessary to get desired consistency. Pour into 2 glasses and serve cold.

150 Best Donut Recipes by George Geary

15 Best Donut Recipes
George Geary
Publisher: Robert Rose
ISBN: 9780778804116

Donuts, they make everything better. Need something in the morning, have a donut. Need a snack, have a donut. When I was given the opportunity to review the book 150 Best Donut Recipes, I knew I had no choice but to do it! My guys all love their donuts. Making 150 different varieties at home would keep them coming back for more.

Having never made donuts at home, I didn't realize that for half of the recipes I'd need a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Needless to say, it's on my "want" list now! I started out with my favorite flavor lemon, and thankfully the 150 Best Donut Recipes had one. The Lemon Crème Donuts is a baked donut and makes about a dozen. I loved how easy this recipe was. Honestly, baking all of these donuts reminded me how much I love baking.

My second donut was a the Blueberry Donuts recipe. Knowing that my youngest loves all things blueberries, I had to try it out. One of the elements I like about these recipes is the fresh fruit ingredients. The issue I had with this one, which my "little" guy was quick to point out was I didn't get blueberries evenly into the donuts. The other item I need to get my hands on is a pastry bag & tip set. Anyhow, you'll find the recipe for the Blueberry Donuts at the end.

The last donuts I baked was the Chocolate Donuts. You can't say "no" to chocolate. These turned out ok. They were really dense and the chocolate was a bit much, but I think it may have been how I made them. The only way to find out is to bake them again. lol I'm not beyond trying a chocolate recipe out more than once.

When I got out to my mom's next I'm trying the raised donuts because my mom has a stand mixer with a paddle! I just have to remember to take my cookbook with me.

Blueberry Donuts

Preheat oven to 325º F (160º C)

Two 6-well donut pans, sprayed with nonstick spray

Makes about 12 donuts

2 1/2 cups cake flower

1 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking poder

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup whole milk

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set Aside.
2. In another bold, whisk together eggs, milk, butter and villain and almond extracts. Add to flour mixture and mix with a rubber spatula just until incorporated. Fold in blueberries.
3. Spoon batter into resealable freezer bag or pastry bag and fill each prepared well two-thirds full.
4. Bake in preheated over until donut springs back when lightly touched, 10 to 14 minutes.
5. Let donuts cool in pans on a rack for 5 minutes. Turn out of pans onto rack and let cool completely prior to icing.

Happy baking!

Taste Of Home Cookbooks Review & Giveaway

A few weeks ago, Fred and I decided that we were going to start some meal planning. Our days would literally end with us asking each other what was for dinner around 4:30pm! That would mean we'd have to figure out what we wanted and then go shopping for it. Now we spend Sunday pulling out cookbooks to pour over and picking out 6-7 meals. When I was given the opportunity to review two Taste of Home cookbooks, I knew I was in!

The first cookbook, Taste of Home Most Requested Recipes has some amazing options! Here's the funny piece. We got the cookbooks two weekends ago, but we had already prepared our meal for the week and gotten the groceries. Then this week we only have one meal we're cooking at home when all of us are here. My hubby made dinner tonight, and by the time we had all finished eating, I asked him, "Was this a recipe from the cookbook that I didn't take a single photo for?" To which his reply was, "Yes?" GAH! So, my only photo is an after the meal was cooked. Let me say, it was delish! Even my youngest son ate his entire sandwich.

I went through and tabbed all of the recipes I want to start off trying! I've bought a ton of ingredients to make sure I'm prepared with the basics. One of the categories I want to try more of is homemade breads. Fred can try more of the entrees. I just picked out ones that looked like the whole family would enjoy.

In this cookbook, you find helps like "Fast Fix" which means the recipe can be made in 30 min or less and "5 Ingredients" which is a recipe that can be made with 5 ingredients or less (excluding water, salt, pepper, and oil). This winter I want to dig into the soups. One of the first ones on my list is the Cheesy Broccoli Soup In A Bread Bowl.

Next, and can you believe I get to try this one, is the Taste of Home 365 Days of Cookies! COOKIES! If I can do anything, I can do cookies. Ah, famous last words. I decided to get "healthy" with my first recipe. I was going to start with whole wheat flour and was told absolutely not. So I skipped that. Then I remembered I had almond flour and was told that was a "go" in place of the all purpose flour. Look at me go.

Well, I "went" until I only added TWO cups instead of 3. hahahahaha I had the runniest cookies I've ever seen. I got distracted while I was combining the ingredients and forgot the last cup. I can't even believe it. So, I finally got the third cup in and now they're coming out much better. No, I'm not showing you what the first round looked like. Sheesh. The rest turned out much, much better.

The beginning of the cookie book gives you some basic tips, which can definitely come in handy! Then there are 5 sections: Cozy Bites, Celebrate Spring, Summer Fun, Fall Flavors, and The Most Wonderful Time Of Year. Obviously the cookies can be cooked whenever your fancy strikes, but I like how they're broken up by season. You can also find national "Days" such as National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day on January 3rd with a cookie that's baked with that day in mind! And the pictures...get out! They're amazing as always.

Now you have the opportunity to win both of these cookbooks! Can you believe it?! So many recipes so little time.

Welcome to the Gobble Up Giveaways Hop brought to you by The Hopping Bloggers!

Hosted By: Mama's Geeky & Women and Their Pretties

Co-Hosted By: Teacups and Fairy Tales

Each giveaway has a value of a minimum of $15, however some are worth much more. Be sure to enter to win all of them because there is no limit to how many you can win. GOOD LUCK! a Rafflecopter giveaway

20 Must Try Apple Recipes

This past weekend we took at day trip up to Pennsylvania with the plan of the boys and I going to pick apples while the Freds went to find dad a new phone! Pap had gone apple picking a couple times in the past week and had been able to get Honeycrisp, but unfortunately, by the time we got there on Sunday, we were only able to pick gala apples.

We've got 2 dozen apples and I asked my blogging friends to give me some delicious ideas of how to use them. Here we go...

How about these Homemade Chocolate Apples from Culinary Ginger. They're almost too gorgeous to eat!

You can't beat starting off your morning with these amazing Apple Waffles with Cinnamon from Blondie-ish at Kitchen. I'll take it!

Who can turn down a muffin? These Sugar-free Apple Muffins with Salted Caramel look like heavenly, fall treats from Wholesome Yum.

I don't know about you, but two words that should always go together are apple and caramel! That's where these Baked Apples with Homemade Caramel Sauce come into play. Thanks to The Culinary Jumble for this treat!

I'm all about apple desserts and Mini Apple Pies will do the trick! My Gorgeous Recipes' look like they'll fit the bill!

As I was shopping the same night we picked apples, one of the things I wish I knew how to make was applesauce. Well, viola...Hustle. Mom. Repeat. has a How to Make Applesauce in the Instant Pot.

Oh my gosh...these look like sweetness in every bite! I mean, don't these Fried Battered Apple Rings look amazing? Thank you Happy Foods Tube!

I have to admit that I absolutely love bundt cakes, but I never make them. This Apple Bundt Cake with Praline Frosting from An Alli Event has me wanting to inaugurate my bundt pan!

Cookies are perfect any time of the year. I'm ready to sink my teeth into these Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies from Natalie's Health.

I wish I had coffee cake in my home for every morning! I could handle this Caramel Apple Coffee Cake from Kenarry.

Honestly, I started drooling as soon as I saw Cincy Shopper's Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Ring. It looks amazing, and I'm a huge fan of desserts with cream cheese!

My family absolutely loves cinnamon rolls, so to have them be these Apple & Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls, you can't go wrong. Get the recipe from A Worthey Read!

One of the best things that my boys' great gram used to make were fried apples. Julia's Simply Southern's Southern Skillet Fried Apples look like an amazing snack!

Yes sir, I want my house to smell like apple filling! With One Clever Chef's, Healthy Baked Apple Slices with Cinnamon, I'm sure it will be in no time.

I'd have to say we're a nacho kinda family. That being said, These Apple Nacho S'mores from Dancing Through the Rain will fit the bill for snack time around here!

I'm a fruit pie fanatic. They're my jam! These Miniature Apple Raspberry Pies wouldn't last long around here. Striped Spatula has made me a fan.

Cake glorious cake! The Monday Box's 3-2-1 Caramel Apple Cake is a dessert made in the microwave! I love how quick it is to make.

I'm pretty positive I've never tried a Brown Betty. I know, how is that possible? Well, with Ann's Entitled Life I'll be able to make one with her Apple Brown Betty recipe.

I've also never thought to make an upside down cake other than with pineapple. Not that I've ever tried to make one of those either. This Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake from My Frosted Life would be devoured.

I'm all about baked goods and pastries of any sort. Cheesecake takes the cake for me! I'm pretty certain I could live off of these Mini Apple Cheesecakes by Cents Able Momma.

Last, but not least, is a recipe I have actually MADE in the past...but a very long time ago. It's a favorite dessert for potlucks no doubt. Try this Apple Snickers Salad and see if I'm telling the truth. This recipe is from Joyfully Thriving.

There you have it! 20 amazing recipes using apples. Pretty sure they should get you through fall and further! You'll have to let me know if you try any. And before I forget, you're welcome, because you're going to love them!

Be sure to pin this so you can keep them close at hand.