Freezer Meals & Quesadilla Recipe

With all the projects I was working on, I found that we ate out a lot last month….too much. I love to cook, but I was either in the middle of a project or too dirty/tired to make dinner. My crockpot has always been a good fix for those kind of days, and what could be better than having meals just waiting in my freezer ready to toss in the pot??  So, I tried something new in the kitchen....Pinterest-inspired, of course. 
I’m sure many of you have seen those pins for “cook one day, eat for a month” or “freezer to crockpot" meals”, or “once a month cooking”, etc.  I pinned one a long time ago thinking it might be a good idea to try, but I never got around to it until now.  I searched a few websites, picked some recipes that sounded good, made a grocery store run, and went to work in the kitchen for several hours.  It did not take that long once I got organized (and I think it’ll be even faster next time) and I ended-up with 10 meals in the freezer!

Source:  Good (cheap) Eats

I made Salsa Verde Beef, Cranberry Chicken, Ginger Cranberry Pork Roast, and Lemon Dijon Chicken & Potatoes.  Each recipe made 2 freezer meals; except the Pork Roast...it made 4 meals.  Several recipes and most of the instructions/ideas for how to go about the freezer meal thing are from the blog, Mama & Baby Love.  So far, we have had the Lemon Dijon Chicken (pretty good) and the Salsa Verde Beef (delicious!).  Tonight, we are trying the pork roast.

By far our favorite was the Salsa Verde Beef, so I thought I'd share what we did with it.  It is “awesome” (as my 9-year old described it).  You can use it for tacos or eat it by itself….it is super flavorful and tender.  We made quesadillas for dinner and then I made tacos for lunch over the next several days.  Each recipe made enough for one meal plus leftovers….depending on how many people you are feeding, of course.

I was a bad blogger and did not take pictures while I was prepping the meals; but Mama & Baby Love has great pics on her site.  I did however take pictures of my quesadillas (not great ones, but we were hungry!  ).

Lavash Quesadillas
Salsa Verde Beef
1/3 cup Reduced-fat Mexican Cheese Blend
Olive Oil Spray
Salsa (your choice)
Lavash Bread (or tortillas**)

Spray skillet or grill pan with olive oil.  Place 1/4 sheet of Lavash Bread on skillet and top with meat and cheese.  (You can add peppers, onion, pico de gallo, etc. if desired.)  Top with another 1/4 sheet of Lavash Bread and press down.  Cook for a few minutes and then flip to brown the other side.  Once the bread is browned and the cheese melted, remove from heat, slice, and serve. 
(**I calculated the WW Points Plus to be ~8 pts using Lavash; tortillas would increase the points.)


Hope you enjoy!

This post is linked to:
http://blackberryvine.blogspot.com/2012/04/tuesday-to-do-57.html
http://blah2beautiful.blogspot.com/2012/04/tell-it-to-me-tuesday-linky-party-15.html
http://www.notjustahousewife.net/2012/04/show-me-what-ya-got-69.html
http://trophyw.blogspot.com/2012/04/linky-will-craft-for-high-wire-living.html
http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2012/04/wednesdays-wowzers-8.html
http://www.uncommondesignsonline.com/2012/04/uncommonly-yours-link-party-23.html
http://thediydreamer.blogspot.com/2012/04/from-dream-to-reality-linky-party-11.html
http://sewwoodsy.com/2012/04/link-party-2.html
http://igottacreate.blogspot.com/2012/04/mother-lode-linky-party-craft-craze-7.html
http://staceyembracingchange.blogspot.com/2012/04/creative-inspirations-linky-party-9.html
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2012/04/whatever-goes-wednesday-112.html
http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/2012/04/catch-as-catch-can-69.html
http://thirtyhandmadedays.com/2012/04/linky_party_8/
http://tatertotsandjello.com/2012/04/weekend-wrap-up-party-and-thistles-home-and-gift-giveaway.html
http://youngancrafty.blogspot.com/2012/04/free-for-all_13.html
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/2012/04/show-and-tell-saturday-41412.html
http://www.niftythriftythings.com/2012/04/nifty-thrifty-sunday-53.html
http://shakentogether.blogspot.com/2012/04/whats-shakin-link-party-4-party-faves.html
http://www.flamingotoes.com/2012/04/think-pink-sunday-no-56/

Quick Easter Crafts

I’ve been busy lately….little things and daily life kinds of things and house work things and yard work things…you know what I mean?  I haven’t started any new, big crafty projects because I really needed to get the other stuff done.  Don’t you hate it when life gets in the way of fun?  Anyway,…
My little niece came to play one day this past weekend, so I decided to do some Easter crafts with the kids (my son is 9 and my niece is 5).  We dyed eggs and made candy Easter baskets.  I saw these on Pinterest (and several bloggers have featured them too)….aren’t they fun?We made the first two this weekend and I put this bigger one together today (to take to work this week).  I opted to make “boxes” versus handled baskets, but I still think they are cute.
The idea came from these two sites:

Source: Edible Easter Baskets

Source: Edible Easter Basket

I also put a few of these together…Bunny Lollipops.  These are for T’s teachers.The original idea was cuter (see below), but I tried to use stuff I had on hand (and save another trip to Hobby Lobby).  Since I did not have smaller poms, I used puffy paint for the faces and I left the arms off.  The suckers were found at Walmart for $0.50/each.

Source:  Bunny Suckers

Hope you have a wonderful week!