Baking/Freezing Day - Part 1

Today I participated in a Baking/Freezing Event with some other bloggers. Though I have done this sort of thing before, I am excited to be able to blog about now.

My original list of things I wanted to bake and freeze today was:

-vegan, chocolate almond cookies

-tortillas

-pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

-vegan ginger bread

-rye bread x2

-garlic broth

Here is what I was able to accomplish:

Not as much as I hoped, but I had to squeeze it in while homeschooling the boys. I made 2 large rye breads (they are stacked on top of each other), 2 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, 4 mini gingerbread loaves, and lots and lots of garlic broth. I also made 2 dozen mini pumpkin muffins, but they were devoured before picture time!

All but the large rye bread is going into the freezer. We ate half of that bread for dinner tonight and the other half will be for lunch tomorrow. It is so wonderful to have the ability to pull out healthy snacks for the boys at a moments notice.

As far as the broth goes, I know that seems a little weird. Let me start by saying that I make a lot of soup, which means I need a lot of broth. Store bought broth is too expensive for me to have for every recipe. If it is on sale and I have a coupon, I'll buy it. I have also bought it in bulk, but that is for another post. Therefore, most of the time, I make it from chicken bones, beef bones, turkey bones, veggies and this time from garlic. It is so simple, so inexpensive, so good for you, and so delish. My husband had two bowls full by itself before I got it ready for the freezer and the house smelled wonderful!

I don't really have a recipe to share, but this is what I did.

When I cut onions for recipes, I keep the ends and skins for broth. I just keep them in the fridge in a small container and when I make broth I throw them in the pot. Today I was using a crockpot, so I threw those in, along with a carrot, and 2 bulbs of garlic cut in half (skins on).

Then I added some spices, sea salt, multi-colored peppercorns and thyme. (I buy my spices in bulk, thus the large containers.)

Then I simply added enough water to fill the crockpot and turned it on low. By lunch time it was done. I strained out the veggies, cooled the broth and put it into containers. Then I did it all over again and by dinner I had another batch.

I am stocked for a while now. When it is time to make soup, I simply go to the freezer and pull out one or two and use it as my broth in whatever soup I am making.

In the middle of all this, I made dinner. That is what you see below. I sauteed some onion and green pepper, added it to some rice, cubed chicken, beans, and diced tomatoes. I stirred in some cheddar and then topped it with cheddar. That was our dinner. It was a hit and it was simple. I served it with some green beans and rye bread.

From our home to yours,

Jennifer