Once a month cooking!

Earlier this month, Mike and I decided that we wanted to try Once a Month Cooking. I was interested mainly because I was starting school in early January, and wasn't sure how much time I would have for homework, taking care of my little mister, cleaning and cooking. We decided to give it a try, and boy has it been great! It is so easy to take something out of the freezer, let it thaw and then pop it into the oven! Here is the list of things that we made:

Sloppy Joe Meat (2)
Taco Meat (3)
Chicken Parmesan (we haven't tried this yet...but I'm really hoping that the chicken comes out cripsy!
Spaghetti Sauce (2)
Chicken Nuggets (recipe to follow!)
Taco Rice
Shephards pie (With mashed potatoes!)
Easy Taco Bake (Minus the biscuits...I mixed those up quickly the night that we made them)
Marinated Chicken (2)
Browned; Ground beef (5) (to use for nights that I actually feel like cooking!)
Cooked; Shredded Chicken (3)
Meatloaf
Mashed Potatoes (2)
Chili
Breadsticks
I did a lot of planning, and looking for recipes online...and also used my mom's 30 Day Gourmet Cookbook (Which has many recipes that are proven to work for freezer meals). Most of these recipes you can make your favorites of and freeze...but I will definitely be back for the chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes!
**Not only did this save me a lot of time in the kitchen this month, it also saved us a ton of money!! All I had to buy when going to the grocery store was produce!**

Cookie Dough Truffles

I'm back, and am armed with a few new recipes that I tried over the holiday season. I definitely ate too many cookies, and too many other candies...and now I think that I'm all sweetsed out for now! Anyway, I wanted to share one of my all time favorite Christmas candies with you. My mom made these when I was younger, and recently while I was going through her old Taste of Home magazines, I found them! I quickly clipped them out and stuck them into the holiday section of my big binder of recipes. So, here they are!

Cookie Dough Truffles:

(Please remind me to start taking pictures of my food so that I can be sure to show you how yummy they look!)

1/2 C Butter, softened

3/4 C Brown Sugar

2 C Flour

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C Chocolate Chips

1/2 C Nuts (Optional)

1-1/2 lbs chocolate candy coating

Cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour, milk and vanilla; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Shape into 1" balls and place on waxed paper. Let sit somewhere cold for 1-2 hours. Melt dipping chocolate and dip balls into it. Place on waxed paper and refrigerate until firm. Try not to eat them all at once! They are soo good, but pretty rich. This recipe makes about 6 dozen...so you'll be set for awhile! Oh, and they freeze really well, so maybe before you're tempted to eat them all right away, throw some in the freezer for later.

More recipes coming this week...I'm working on making up a list of foods for the month of January as I'm starting school up next week! Over this next weekend I plan on assembling about 15 meals (some will be cooked and frozen, others will be put together so that they're ready to go into the crock pot). I will be sure to let you know how it goes, and hopefully I will remember to take lots of pictures! :)

Christmas/New Years/Busyness!

Wow! It's been a busy holiday season, past few weeks for us! Mike has been home a lot, which means that I don't get a whole lot done :) Anyway, be on the lookout for more posts this week...I did a lot of baking and have a few new recipes!