Happy Halloween!

A dry run of the costumes a couple weeks before Halloween. These are all the local Rogers' grandkids.

Yes, Cratey was bored and ready to be done with pictures - I began to feel the same way after a bit!

After much anticipation for the pumpkin carving event, it was rather comical to see the lack of enthusiasm and Stratton's reaction to the dirty work of carving:

They did survive, and here's the finished product:

And these are our two cowboys later that night, ready to rustle up some candy. (And our little Keely-Cat!)

He-lo sugar high for the next two weeks!!!! :/

Freezer Food Friday FAILURE!

So we did a preview of trick or treating last night at Ric's office, Great-grandma's house, and my parents' house... consequently I spaced the post I had ready to put on last night. :/ Ha! Oh well, here we go:

Lasagne Casserole

1 pound ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 t. minced garlic (I'm all for the Costco bottles of pre-minced garlic. Just know there's extra sodium, so you may need to decrease the amount of salt you use in your recipes.)

1/2 of a 1 lb. package of bowtie pasta (8 oz.)

1 can of spaghetti sauce

1 can of tomato sauce

2 T. sugar

1 10-oz package frozen chopped spinach

1 cup cottage cheese (or 1/2 of a small container)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 t. Italian seasoning (or your own mix of basil, oregano, and thyme)

Brown the ground beef with the onion. Cook the bowtie pasta in salted water for half of the time recommended on the package. While the beef is browning and the pasta is cooking, in a separate bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients. Put in a gallon freezer bag. Label and freeze.

To serve: Thaw. Place in greased baking dish. Stir. Place baking dish on a baking sheet. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Top with more grated cheese.

*Tips:

I love the "estimate and dump" method so some of the measurements aren't very technical. Makes it faster ;).

For easier, more uniform freezing, put your gallon freezer bag in a casserole dish in your freezer. Once it's frozen, just pop it out and stick it back in your freezer. They stack really well this way.

For my family I split the sauce and noodles in half, cooking half of the noodles fully and also cooking half of the sauce fully (to cook the egg). Then I use that for dinner and follow the recipe for making the other half a freezer meal.

If you also have a husband or children that are not overly fond of spinach, it might be in your best interest to chop the spinach even more (that disguises it a bit) and maybe even decrease the amount by half!

Try it and let me know what you think!

Announcing Freezer Food Fridays!!!

With encouragement from my sister, I have decided to begin doing Freezer Food Fridays where I will post a new freezer friendly meal (or dessert!) every Friday - along with maybe a tip or two. Freezer meals have been an obsession of mine for the last 6+ months. It just makes so much sense to me - cook once, eat twice (or more!).

So I've bought a couple of books, hunted recipes online, created my own, and found a bunch that I really like (and some I don't). Acknowledged, tastes vary. But these will all be meals that I have tried and tested on my family.

So check back next Friday and I'll have a yummy recipe for you to try!

What do you think? I'm excited! :)

Harvest Time

Picking raspberries in Grandma and Grandpa's garden.

Grandma and Grandpa grew giant pumpkins this year.

We look forward to carving one!

I love my cute kids!

Brown Sugar Muffins

I took these muffins to a brunch a few weeks ago and promised the recipe to my cousins, so here it is. The recipe was given to my mother by a dear friend - she brought these over with some honey-lemon tea when mom had a sore throat and they instantly became a family favorite. (By the way, these are definitely not low fat, but they are way easy to throw together, you most likely have all the ingredients on hand, and they are absolutely delicious and guaranteed to impress!)

Brown Sugar Muffins

Mix and crumble together:

1 c brown sugar

½ c margarine or butter, softened

2 c flour

½ t salt

1 t soda

Combine:

1 c milk

1 egg

1 t vanilla

Gently stir until moist. Add ½ c nuts if desired. Will be lumpy.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12-15 muffins.

Video my friend made

This is a video about modesty that my friend made. Kinda goofy but in addition to a good laugh, it teaches good values. :)

Bug Soup

Hey all, I finally got a You Tube account so that I can post some videos of the kiddos. (Just for you, K and D!)

Love my stinker boys!