Freezer Cooking Guide: Which Foods Can You Freeze?

Last Friday I posted 4 Reasons You Should Be Freezer Cooking. 

Today I want to talk a little bit about what you can and cannot freeze.  If you know these things, you can easily turn many of your favorite recipes into freezer recipes.  No need to try to find a bunch of recipes that are specifically labeled “Freezer Recipes”.

Do Not Freeze These Items: (or freeze with caution)

Apples
Basil
Celery
Cheese
Chives
Cottage Cheese
Cream Cheese
Crumb Toppings
Cucumbers
Custard
Dairy (milk, sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt)
Fried Food
Frosting
Grapefruit
Grapes
Lemons
Lettuce and leafy greens
Limes
Mayonnaise
Onions
Oranges
Parsley
Pasta
Peppers
Potatoes
Radishes
Rice
Salad Dressing
Salad Greens
Sauces
Sour Cream
Sprouts
Watermelon

Some of the above items can be frozen if you know what you're doing and understand what changes freezing will make to them.

Cheese — You can actually freeze cheese as long as you understand the texture will change. It will be crumbly, (shred it first) and you can't eat it as is, but you can use it in a casserole as a topping. So, if you put cheese on top of a casserole that you're going to pop into the oven to reheat anyway it's fine. But if you plan to slice it for a sandwich, you probably don’t want to freeze your cheese.

Dairy — Freezing dairy will change its consistency; however, you can add it to soups and casseroles without any noticeable difference – especially if you reheat them slowly.

Fried Food — You can freeze fried food as long as you wrap it right, and then reheat it correctly. For something like fried chicken be sure to cool it down while draining off the extra fat, then wrap with freezer paper and then put it inside an air tight container. To reheat, put in the oven frozen after unwrapping on a greased pan.

Grapes — You can freeze grapes if you plan to eat them frozen. If you try to thaw them they will turn to mush.

Leafy Greens — You can chop and freeze leafy greens if you plan to use them in soups or stews.

Onions & Peppers — You can chop these and freeze them to use in recipes. Chop and let them dry on a paper towel first to drain off extra moisture. Spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze for about an hour before putting them into airtight freezer bags.

Tomatoes — You can chop them and freeze into serving sizes or recipe sizes in airtight containers. You can only use them for sauces after freezing or in a soup or stew where texture isn't as important.

Oranges & Citrus — You cannot freeze the fruit but you can freeze the zest. Zest onto a paper towel, and let dry out a bit, then freeze in one layer on a pan for about an hour. Pour into a airtight container to use in recipes.

Rice &Potatoes — They freeze fine in casseroles and dishes, but it does change their texture a bit. You cannot freeze them raw; you must precook and then freeze.

Pasta – While many places have pasta on the ‘no freeze’ list, you can freeze cooked or frozen pasta. It is recommended that you freeze pasta for some dishes uncooked because it will cook during the reheating and you don't want to overcook it. But, you need to use prepared dried pasta and not freshly made pasta that isn't dried.

Below is a list of foods that generally freeze without any problems:

Baked Goods (freeze already baked or freeze the dough)
Baking supplies (nuts, chocolate, coconut, flour, etc.)
Broth
Fruits (any besides citrus)
Fresh Herbs (freeze in ice cube trays with a small amount of water)
Meat
Sauces
Soups
Vegetables

Now that you know what does and doesn't freeze well, you can easily determine which of your favorite meals you can prepare for the freezer.  Next time you make your favorite recipe, double it and put the extra in the freezer for a busy night!  You won't even be tempted to pick up a pizza knowing that you've got healthy food already prepared!

What is the first meal you'll prepare for the freezer?

Overcoming Roadblocks to Organization

Once you have determined the reasons you procrastinate and have identified your organizing style, it's time to overcome your personal roadblocks and stop the excuses.

Failing to plan is planning to fail. If you don't plan for success based on your own personality and way of doing things, you will continue to be frustrated and disorganized.

 Sometimes disorganization or procrastination is the result of your circumstances (lack of time, lack of money, etc.)  Sometimes it's simply your personality.  Either way, you must determine what your personal roadblocks are and make a plan to overcome them.

The best way to fix a bad habit is to replace it with a good habit.

Your task for today is to do the following:

Take out a sheet of paper and divide it into two columns.  On one side make a list of the bad habits you need to change. On the other side write down the good habit with which you should be replacing each bad habit.  However, make sure the good habits are still in keeping with your own personality.  Don't try to make someone else's organizational methods work for you.

For instance, if you are a “Piles Polly”, always piling things around the house so you won't forget to deal with them, make a designated place to pile those things.  Use a basket or inbox to hold bills that need to be paid or other mail that needs to be sent.  Instead of  piling things on the counter or coffee table that need to be put away in another room, use a large basket to hold those items and carry it with you when you leave the room.

The “Basket Betty” can continue to use her basket methods with just a couple minor tweaks.  Instead of just keeping things in baskets to keep them out of sight, label each basket to hold one category (bills to be paid, items to be put away in another room, items to be donated, etc.)  Then you won't have to rummage through several baskets to find what you need.

“Neat Nelly”, who keeps everything hidden out of sight in closets, can continue to do so as well.  However, she should do a thorough de-cluttering, keeping only a few items.   To keep things neat and organized, you should keep much less in a space than what actually fits in there.  When you stack things one on top of another or have to reach behind things to get to something else, you end up toppling things over and creating a disorganized mess.  Once you've determined how much can fit into your closets or cupboards without stacking or layering items, do not allow yourself to add anything else to your collection unless you get rid of something else.

Once you've made your list, choose one (just one!) habit that you're going to implement this week.  Don't try to change everything all at once or you will get overwhelmed and give up!

Leave me a comment and tell me what habit you're working on this week!

How to Define Your Home Style

My home has not been redecorated since I got married nearly 8 years ago.

I've been looking around recently and thinking that I would like to redecorate some of the rooms, but I just haven't been able to find a starting place.

I think the biggest reason for that is I just wasn't sure what I liked or what my personal style was.

Something that is helping me tremendously with defining my home style is to look for inspiration on the Havertys website and Pinterest boards.

Once I started pinning things, I could easily recognize what colors my eye is drawn to. I noticed I was pinning cool colors like grays, light blues, and yellows.

I also took the style quiz on the Havertys website and found that many of the images I had pinned showed up as some of my quiz results.

My style was defined as a mix between cottage and eclectic.

Cottage was defined as:

You are casual and informal. You eschew anything that conveys “stuffy” and instead collect items full of charming character. While you have an interest in outdoor activities, your home is a haven

Eclectic was defined as:

You are independent with a broad range of interests. An artistic original, you are creative, intelligent and capable. You break with conformity.

Both of those definitions are pretty accurate and convey the style that I want in my home.

So, although I felt lost at first, I now have a really good idea of my personal home style. I know what colors and styles I want to look for. It was a lot easier than I thought once I collected the images that attracted my eye all in one place!

Visit Havertys.com to take your own style quiz or to find a store near you. (They're currently running a St. Patrick's Day sale, so it would be a great time to stop in!) I'd love to know what your quiz results are!

Havertys is also hosting Home Fashion Workshops. The next workshop, to be held April 12, will be on the theme “Staycation” and you'll learn how to create three different looks: Calm, Cozy, and Coastal. Sounds like fun!

You can find lots more home design inspiration on their Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest accounts, as well on the Havertys blog.

Havertys helps you bring your vision to life. Visit Havertys.com to find a store near you, deatiled product information and design tools that will truly inspire you.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Havertys. The opinions and text are all mine.

4 Reasons You Should Be Freezer Cooking

Have you ever made freezer meals?  If you haven't, I want to try to convince you that you should be doing it regularly!

Here are 4 Reasons You Should Be Freezer Cooking:

1. Saves Time

It takes just as much time to make one enchilada casserole as it does to make two or four. It just takes bigger pans and containers. Anytime you double, triple, or quadruple a recipe, you'll be saved the time preparing that meal at another time.

2. Saves Money

By having meals already in the freezer, you will not be shopping as often. When you don't go to the store, you don't spend any money!

3.Better Nutrition for Your Family

When you get too busy the temptation is to go through the drive-thru or pick up pizza.  You know it's not healthy, but you're hungry, the kids are hungry, and you're exhausted. But imagine you have healthy food at home that you can easily reheat and serve!

4. Enjoy  Last Minute Guests

If you struggle with finding time to have company, you will free yourself by having meals pre-made in the freezer.  You can even invite guests at the last minute without worrying about what in the world you will feed them.  You can focus your time on sprucing up the house while dinner heats in the oven, then enjoy your time with your guests since you haven't been frazzled by trying to get everything done.

Have you ever done freezer cooking?  Do you need to be doing it more often?

It’s Time for Spring Cleaning!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dollar General. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was so excited when Dollar General gave me a kick in the pants to get started on my Spring Cleaning!  I had plenty that needed to be done around the house, and when they challenged me to shop for cleaning products and try them out in my house, I was happy to take them up on it.

Although I still have plenty of cleaning to do, here's what I got done in just a couple hours yesterday (a record for me since I usually get interrupted abot 4,682 times while I'm cleaning!)

The first thing I picked up at Dollar General was trash bags.  I do lots of purging while I'm spring cleaning, so I knew I would need lots of trash bags to remove trash, and to carry unused items up to the attic.

I honestly was a little bit skeptical of how the Dollar General trash bags would do.  I've purchased off-brand trash bags before and been pretty sorry about that decision.  But after I loaded up the baby's clothes that she has grown out of (sniff, sniff) into one of the bags, I realized that I would not regret buying the Dollar General bags.  Score #1 for Dollar General.

Next, I had quite a bit of scrubbing to do.  My daughter has been quite creative lately with the crayons, as you can see below.  The Dollar General super erasers took the lighter colors off without any effort.  The dark blue required me to scrub very hard, and I haven't fully removed it because my arm was killing me!  I'm not sure if the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers would take off the dark colors any easier than the Dollar General erasers did.  I think the best solution will be to make sure my little girl doesn't get ahold of crayons in her room again!

Then it was time for lunch.  While the kids were eating, I washed up a few dishes.  I had been using Ajax dish soap, which I hate, but my husband does the shopping for me, and he buys whatever is cheapest.  I like the Dollar General dish soap much better.  It was thicker and more sudsy.  It's not the best I've ever used, but it was much, much better than the Ajax, and still an inexpensive option.

After lunch, I headed to the bedroom to do some (long overdue) dusting.  I usually use a Swiffer duster because it makes the dusting go really quickly.  I actually thought the Dollar General duster worked better than the Swiffer brand!

We have a lot of laminate wood floors in the house, and many times the quickest way to get them clean is to run over them with the Swiffer sweeper dry cloths.  I found the Dollar General brand dry cloth refills while I was at the store, so I decided to give them a try.  They did the job, but I didn't feel that they worked quite as well as the Swiffer brand.  If price is an issue, they're a good alternative that will work almost as well.

Our bathroom gets that scummy pink gunk so quickly!  I just read the other day that it tends to be a lot worse if you have well water (which we do.)  That makes feel a little less like a disgusting slob.  I grabbed a canister of the Dollar General disinfectant wipes because they were a great price.  It's hard to see in the picture, but it removed the pink gunk very easily.  I like keeping these wipes under the bathroom sink for those “little boy messes” in the bathroom.  I thought the wipes were a great buy for a price. 

I had boiled over some potatoes on the stove (not that I do that very often), and the stains would not scrub off.  The Dollar General soap pads worked great!  I was kicking myself for not picking some up earlier.

Remember the pink gunk?  It shows up all the time in the toilet too.  Eww, gross, I know.  I tend to be a little unconventional with how I clean my toilet.  I don't normally buy toilet bowl cleaner; I just use whatever soap happens to be nearest to me.  I decided to give the dish soap a try.  I loved it!  It made the water so sudsy and gave me some good scrubbing action. 

And I often scrub the pink gunk on the tub the same way as the toilet – using whatever soap happens to be nearby.  The dish soap worked great on that too!

I have a lot more cleaning to do (with 4 little ones, it's pretty much never-ending), but I got a good start.  Seeing things clean motivates me to clean even more!

Have you started your spring cleaning yet?  What projects do you need to tackle?

Will You Say Yes?

This post was originally published in 2012.  Although the circumstances are different now,  I still need to be reminded of this.  I pray it will be a blessing to some of you as well.

I have a deep admiration for God's servants. When I see people who have given their whole life to Him to do whatever He asks, no matter how hard, I am motivated to be like that. I am so encouraged when I see people who are making sacrifices and living through difficult circumstances with a smile on their face.

I've watched a missionary family live with numerous health problems and deal with inconveniences like their water being turned off for nearly a week. I've watched a family proceed with multiple international adoptions in spite of the lack of finances and the emotional, physical, and spiritual toll it takes to parent adopted children. I saw another missionary family lose their 3 year old daughter in a tragic car accident, yet they are choosing to be thankful for the way God is using that accident for His glory. These are just a few examples. Everywhere I go I see people who have said “Yes” to God, no matter how hard a thing it is that He has asked them to do.

I have spent much time in prayer asking God what it is that He has for me. What hard thing is it that He wants me to do? I am determined to say “Yes”. I will trust him for the grace each day to do whatever He asks of me.

…Or will I?

Fast forward a few days, and in your imagination come join me in my home. I get up early, eager to tackle my lengthy to-do list. I have big plans for all that I am going to accomplish. I read my Bible and pray, then get up and start working on my list, humming as I go. I'm excited to face the day, determined to be a great mommy and homemaker. Several short minutes later, my well-laid plans are interrupted. I hear a baby crying. “He never wakes up this early,” I think. “Pleeease go back to sleep so I can get some work done.” After a couple more minutes, I decide that I'd better go get the little fella. I'm too late. My oldest boy, who shares a room with the baby, has already awakened, and there's no getting that one back to sleep once he's up. To top things off, he gets so lonely while I'm feeding the baby that he has to wake up his little sister so she can play with him.

Okay, I can adjust. I'll just go ahead and start working on the things I had planned to do after the kids were up. Then I'll get them down a little early for their naps and go back to working on what needs to be done while they're sleeping.

All 3 kids are cranky all morning from getting up so early. I'm stopping every few minutes to console a crying baby or try to thwart an emotional meltdown from my 2 year old. In between grouchy spells they're running around like little crazy people, getting into everything they're not supposed to get into. I'm trying to maintain some semblance of order, so I stop to deal with each issue that arises and clean up each mess. By lunchtime, I've accomplished the amazing feat of getting everyone dressed and fed. That's it. Oh! And I did throw in a load of laundry and make a loaf of bread. Well, I dumped the ingredients into the bread machine, if that counts. I'm eying the clock and eagerly anticipating naptime so I can at least get a little bit of work done. I'm hoping that everyone (including myself) will be in better spirits after a good afternoon rest.

Naptime, however, is delayed due to the fact that the timer on the bread machine says that the bread will be finished exactly one hour later than I thought it would be finished. I'm almost out of groceries, and that bread is about the only thing in the house that I have to feed the kids, so I'm stuck waiting for it to finish before we can eat lunch. Combine hungry grouchy with tired grouchy, and we have a house full of very grouchy people. And Mama is getting grouchier by the minute. I'm very close to surpassing the grouchiness of my children. Yes, that happy, humming mama that arose so excited about her day is acting like a child who is not getting her way.

But wait, it gets better.

Much to my relief, naptime finally arrives. I make sure the two older older children have gone potty, and get everyone tucked snugly into their beds.

For about fifteen minutes.

That's when I hear the footsteps in the hall. “Mommy, I have to go potty,” I hear a little two year old voice say. “You just went potty. Go back to bed,” I reply through gritted teeth, trying hard not to sound as irritated as I feel. As she turns to walk away, I see the little bulge in the back of her Pull-up. I roll my eyes, thinking to myself, “WHY does she have to go stinky during her nap every. single. day????!!” I change her Pull-up and put her back to bed.

For another fifteen minutes.

“Mommy, I have to go potty again.” I check the Pull-up. Stinky again. I change the Pull-up again and put her back to bed.

She's up and down several more times after that, not to go potty, but just the general two year old naptime avoidance tactics. By the time I finally get her to actually go to sleep, my oldest boy is up. He's actually taken a good nap, so I have no reason to make him go back to bed. I try to make him sit quietly and read books so I can have a few minutes of quiet. Yeah, right. Four year old boys and quiet don't belong together in the same sentence.

I finally give up and go to the kitchen to start supper. My husband walks in the door, and is greeted with what is by this time a very grouchy wife. I start complaining to him about my day, how I'm so tired, and how I didn't get anything done today and that I barely have enough strength to make supper. (Which is true. I'm still nursing the baby, and I hadn't had enough to eat throughout the day.) He just smiles at me and goes to play with the kids. I sit down with my head in my hands and wish that supper would make itself. There's not even anything that I can eat for a quick snack to give myself an energy boost. I get up and manage to pull together some chicken and pasta, and while I'm cooking, the Holy Spirit speaks to me in His still, small voice.

“Didn't you tell me that you would do whatever I asked of you? And that you would do it cheerfully? Do you know what I've asked of you today? I've asked you to love your husband and to love your children, and to have a good attitude even when your day doesn't go the way you planned it.”

I confess to the Lord my selfishness, and for the rest of the evening I choose to be joyful. I choose to say “Yes” to God, although I wish I had obeyed a whole lot earlier.

What about you? What is God asking you to do? We all have different life circumstances, and the thing that He asks you to do will be different from what He's asked me to do. Maybe, like me, you haven't even stopped to recognize what it is that He's asking of you. Will you take the time to realize what it is? Then, will you say “Yes” to Him?