freezer Archives • New Nostalgia

Brunch/ RECIPES

Breakfast Burritos For The Freezer

I’ve made these twice in the past 2 weeks. My family LOVES them, and I love that there is always something in my freezer when I hear “MOM, there is nothing to eat!”

I started out with 12 eggs. I prefer feeding my family organic eggs from a local farm. Fresh is best!

I cracked them all in a cup and used my handy dandy most favorite thing ever–my Cuisinart SmartStick Immersion Hand Blender. If you have ever thought of buying one, DO IT, and use the above link if you so please? If you do, I will get a lil’ something to help with buying those darn expensive organic eggs!

I bought a bag of shredded potatoes from Trader Joes. I saw on Pinterest that you could cook them on your waffle maker. I think I needed to use more oil. I didn’t want to, so mine are not at pretty as the ones on Pinterest, but it worked! Plus, I would be dividing them up over my burritos so pretty was not important.

My not so pretty potatoes.

I laid out 12 burritos. Ugh. I keep misspelling that word. Burritoes instead of burritos. Remember, there are no toes in burritos.

I scrambled my eggs. I don’t add any milk or water when I scramble eggs. I’m not sure why. I guess I like to keep it simple. I added seasoning salt and pepper.

I then sprinkled them with cheese. I went very light on the cheese. My kids complained about wanting more cheese next time, but they still devoured them!

I then added the potatoes as the finished cooking. I made 3 batches with the waffle iron. My kids took the left over shredded potatoes and have been making their own potato snacks in the waffle iron. I love that they make their own, but I MUST teach them how to clean that thing. Cleaning waffle irons take patience, all those little squares!

I wrapped in parchment paper, and put in a ziplock.

When my kids wanted one, they would unwrap and put in microwave until hot. We did have some issues with the insides being still frozen while the outside was too hot, I need to fiddle with our microwave settings. We found if we cut them in half while still frozen, that helped. My solution was to keep these in the refrigerator. When I saw that the girls were eating them for afternoon snack and breakfast, there was no need to freeze. With 3 girls and a husband, 12 burritos can easily be eaten in less than a week.

If you want to add meat to these, sausage or bacon, click here to see where I got the inspiration. She makes a meat version.

Breakfast Burritos For The Freezer

12 eggs
12 tortillas
1 cup cheese
3 cups frozen shredded hash browns
s & p

Blend & scramble the eggs. Season to taste. Put about a cup of hash browns on your waffle maker, close and cook until lightly brown. Repeat 2 more times (or brown up in a pan on the stove, according to package directions.) Divide eggs among 12 tortilla shells. Divide cooked hash browns among the 12 tortillas. Sprinkle each with cheese. Roll up, wrap with parchment paper, put into a ziplock and freeze or refrigerate. Will keep in freezer up to 4 months, in refrigerator 5 days.

Drinks/ Healthy Eating/ RECIPES

Ziplock Freezer Smoothie Packs

I found the idea of these freezer smoothie packs on Pinterest from Budget Bytes. I make a smoothie for myself almost everyday, and I love the idea of not having to lug 10 bags out of the freezer every time I go to make one! Plus, now my kids can grab a bag from the freezer and make their own smoothies.

This is what my smoothie ended up looking like. The color will all depend on what fruit you decide to put in it.

I had 5 bananas and a bunch of frozen fruit.

Raspberries, pineapple, blueberries and a cherry berry blend.

Peel the banana, you need one banana per Ziploc bag smoothie. If you are not a banana lover, frozen peaches or mangoes are a great substitute, as they are hearty and will help make up the bulk of the smoothie. A banana is so sweet and creamy, that it tends to be my favorite.

Add 1 cup of whatever type of frozen fruit you would like.

I did a combo of berries and pineapple here.

Just choose your favorites. You can’t go wrong!

To make the smoothie, put 2 handfuls of spinach (about 2 cups) in a blender.

Add 1 cup of your choice of milk. (Dairy, soy, almond or coconut.) I use almond. Blend until spinach is chopped up teeny tiny.

Add your pouch of fruit containing 1 banana and 1 cup of assorted berries/fruit.

Blend. See how the green disappears into a nice purple? The kids will never know what is REALLY in there. The spinach taste goes away thanks to the berries.

I like to add Chia seeds for extra fiber and protein. This is optional. Some also like to add cinnamon. Some add protein powder or honey if the fruit is not sweet enough. Make sure you taste. The one I made today was so sweet, it DID NOT need any more sweetness.

This recipe made enough for a very full 12 oz mason jar…about 15 oz all together.

Enjoy! So refreshing, and a great way to get in some of your servings of fruits and veggies each day!

Ziploc Smoothie

1 Ziploc

1 banana

1 cup assorted berries/fruit

2 cup baby spinach

1 cup milk (almond, dairy, coconut or soy)

—

Optional ingredients:

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp chia seeds

1 scoop protein powder

Honey, Stevia or Agave to sweeten if needed

Make your Ziploc smoothie packs, each containing one banana and one cup of fruit. Freeze until you are ready to use them, you can use one right away, the banana does not need to be frozen.

Place spinach in blender. Add milk. Blend until smooth.

Add Ziplock smoothie pack. Blend until smooth.

Add optional ingredients if desired. Blend until smooth.

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A Little Bit About Blenders

Professional Grade High Speed Blender

{Some of the best money I have ever spent!}

Vitamix Professional Series 750

This is the model I have. I drooled over it for a couple of years!

It was a splurge, but worth EVERY penny. I use it 2-3 times a day.

It makes crushed ice in seconds. It takes almonds to almond butter in seconds. It makes the best raspberry fruit purees for pancakes and ice cream–obliterates all those little seeds into smooth puree heaven! We are eating 3 times the amount of fruits and veggies since purchasing this amazing blender, which I know is keeping us out of the doctors’ office and away from those expensive co-pays, so in my mind it has paid itself off.

Ninja Mega Kitchen System

I’ve never used one, but have heard good things about them. They are not professional grade like the Vitamix, but the price is much easier to swallow and they are powerful.

{my old Oster on the left, my New Vitamix on the right}

Oster

I had one of these for years and it does the job. You can’t beat the price, and for smoothies, it works, although you have to blend much longer. You will still have chia and raspberry seeds in your smoothies, but if you don’t mind the extra texture, this one will do. If you have had a high speed blender, you will not be happy with this one. If you are looking for something to get by until you can get a high speed blender, and to just get those smoothies in you, this will do just fine.

More From New Nostalgia

Brunch/ HOME/ RECIPES/ Simplifying

Oatmeal Freezer Pucks

If you have read New Nostalgia for any length of time, you will know I am a huge oatmeal fan. I eat oats in some form every morning for breakfast, and usually end up snacking on another form of them during the day. I eat them raw, cooked, in smoothies, in breads, in cookies and muffins. I love my oats!

In the summer, my favorite fast breakfast is raw oats, almond milk, and frozen raspberries. I let it sit a couple minutes for the oats to soak and raspberries to thaw. It is a great on-the-go breakfast when thrown in a small mason jar. I sweeten it with date paste or maple syrup. Yum.

Now that it is getting chilly outside, I want the comfort of a warm porridge in the morning. I love steel cut oats and their slightly chewy texture, but did not like the amount of time they take to prepare in the mornings.

Enter Trader Joes.

I found already prepared steel cut oats in the freezer section of Trader Joes. I loved how they came, frozen in pucks and ready to heat. They had simple ingredients with no preservatives. I loved everything about them, especially that they spurred on the idea of this post!

The price at TJ’s is good, but I knew I could make them for much less money, and sugar. So I did!

I bought Bob Mills Steel Cut Oats. Any brand will do!

Prepare according to package directions. Let cool slightly. Pour into muffin tins. I did not grease mine, it was not necessary.

It made 6 large pucks and 12 small ones. I had a couple leftover servings in the pan and ate ’em up!

Here is how I placed them in the freezer. A simple cookie sheet in between the pans did the trick.

I froze them solid, then took out of the freezer. I filled my sink with an inch of warm water, let the bottoms of the pan soak in it for a couple minutes, then used a knife at the edge of each puck to pop them out. They came out very easily.

The small muffin pucks were the perfect size for my three lil’ muffin girls. They love helping themselves to a frozen oatmeal puck in the morning.

The larger size was perfect for me!

Keep in freezer bags, and pull out when needed. Microwave 2 minutes for large, 1 minute for small. Stir. Heat in additional increments of 30 seconds until heated through. Serve with maple syrup & cinnamon, and whatever toppings you prefer!

More Of My Oatmeal Loves:
Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Oatmeal
Cinnamon Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal
2 Minute Steel Cut Oats (another fast way to make them)
Oatmeal Whole Wheat Quick Bread
No Cook, Overnight Chia Oatmeal
Oatmeal Fully Loaded
Chewy Granola Bars/Best Chocolate “Candy Bar”

HOME/ Meals/ RECIPES/ Simplifying

Crockpot Dinners For The Freezer

I have no time today to write a post, so I thought I would share a super great post written by Stephanie of Mama & Baby Love. I am really excited to have stumbled upon her post at Pinterest.

She writes about Crock Pot dinners for the freezer. You buy and chop all ingredients in one day, freeze the meals separately, to be tossed into a crock pot for easy dinners throughout the month.

She includes 3 amazing-sounding recipes, which makes 6 dinners. I love that her recipes are full of vegetables.

Go here to check out her recipes and her process of making Crock pot meals for the freezer!

RECIPES/ Sides

Easy, Homemade Freezer Salsa

See the larger jar of salsa in the background? My husband has just about finished off the jar, and I just made it 2 days ago!

This is a super easy & quick way to make salsa for the freezer. If y.ou like a chunky salsa, then freezer salsa is not for you. Chunky salsa tends to get mushy in the freezer, but we prefer ours thick, but all chopped up, so this is perfect for us.

I have an abundance of little cherry tomatoes growing in my garden. My larger tomato plant is slow to ripen, but that is ok since we are up to our heads in cherry tomatoes.

Mrs. Wages Create Salsa Mix for Freezer Salsa

I saw this mix (Mrs. Wages Create Salsa Mix) when I was at the grocery store and I was happy to see that the ingredient list was short and familiar. I wanted homemade salsa, but my peppers are not ripe yet, so this mix was the perfect answer.

There are 3 different options on the back of the package-Freeze It! Can It! or Serve It! Love that.

I washed my tomatoes and threw them into the food processor. I DID NOT skin and core my tomatoes. Too lazy, plus they were so small…

Then I dumped them in a pan on the stove (no pic, sorry!) and added the dry mix and 1/2 cup of vinegar, and then simmered for 10 minutes.

I let the mixture cool a bit, then poured it into jars.

We have not eaten the salsa that I froze yet, but like I said earlier, the one jar that was left out is almost gone. It really is a tasty salsa, not too expensive (2.59 for the mix, tomatoes were free from my garden), made about 21/2 quarts, and took very little effort!

{ {pin it}

Cancer Journey/ FUN/DIY/ RECIPES/ Sides

Easy, Homemade Freezer Salsa

See the larger jar of salsa in the background? My husband has just about finished off the jar, and I just made it 2 days ago! This is a super easy & quick way to make salsa for the freezer. If you like a chunky salsa, then freezer salsa is not for you. Chunky salsa tends to get mushy in the freezer, but we prefer ours thick, but all chopped up, so this is perfect for us.

I have an abundance of little cherry tomatoes growing in my garden. My larger tomato plant is slow to ripen, but that is ok since we are up to our heads in cherry tomatoes.

There are 3 different options on the back of the package-Freeze It! Can It! or Serve It! Love that.

I washed my tomatoes and threw them into the food processor. I DID NOT skin and core my tomatoes. Too lazy, plus they were so small…

Then I dumped them in a pan on the stove (no pic, sorry!) and added the dry mix and 1/2 cup of vinegar, and then simmered for 10 minutes.

I let the mixture cool a bit, then poured it into jars.

**I ordered the salsa mix on Amazon, but can also be found in the canning goods in most grocery stores and Walmart.

{for your pinning pleasure}

Homemade Gifts/ RECIPES/ Sides

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Tis the season of strawberries! It’s the perfect time to make strawberry jam!

My girls and I went to the strawberry patch with some friends recently. We came back with a TON of strawberries-they were only 99 cents a pound! We hulled them, pureed them, then froze the puree. I love having a freezer full of strawberry puree, sitting there ready to be used in Strawberry Bread, Strawberry Smoothies, and yes, Strawberry Jam.

I have never made jam before, but now that I have, I don’t know if I will ever buy store made again! It is so very easy to make your own, especially if you freeze it instead of can it. You can make jam with just 3 ingredients:

~Fruit
~Sugar
~Pectin

It is just a matter of mashing your fruit, and stirring in the sugar and pectin. That’s it! (detailed recipe below)

If you read up on jam, you will find there are 2 versions out there. One uses Sure-Jell Pectin, the other uses Ball Pectin. With the Sure-Jell version, you have to cook it, and it uses 4 cups of sugar to 2 cups of strawberries. The Ball version is no cook, uses 11/2 cups of sugar and 4 cups of strawberries. I’ll give you one guess which one I chose.:)

I usually do not use refined white sugar when I make things here at home, but I have found that there are just a few food items that I am willing to compromise on! Example-until I can find a Homemade Lemonade Recipe I like that does not use sugar (I’ve tried quite a few with honey and a couple with maple syrup), then by golly, I’m gonna use sugar! Same with Jam. I was up to my elbows in strawberries, and misplaced a recipe that I had found that used honey and grape juice instead of sugar, so white sugar it was. (gasp-ha!)

Kimba, at A Soft Place To Land, did a GREAT post on Strawberry Jam. She tried both brands of pectin and both recipes, just to see the difference between the two. She ended up with 25 containers of jam in her freezer! She is crazy awesome.

I used the low sugar recipe, and it perfectly sweet. Granted, our taste buds are now accustomed to food that is less sweet in my family due to the recipes I make, but I really think it is plenty sweet for everyone, and I have had very positive feedback from those who I have given a jar of jam to. Kimba thought you would need fairly sweet strawberries, to begin with for the ball recipe, but ours were not super sweet and it still turned out plenty sweet.

Here is the Ball Recipe I used (the insert in the Ball Pectin box has these same instructions)

Ball No-Cook Strawberry Freezer Jam

1 pkg. Ball No Cook Pectin
11/2 cups of sugar
4 cups crushed strawberries (about 4 lbs or 2 quarts)

~Wash & hull strawberries.
~Use a potato masher to mash up the strawberries for a more chunky jam. If you prefer less chunks, use a food processor or a hand blender.
~Add the sugar and pectin and stir.
~Ladle into containers, these can be any type of jar, or plastic containers with lids. (make sure to leave some room at the top for expansion when freezing)
~Let sit for 30 minutes. Put into refrigerator or freezer.
~A jar will keep in the refrigerator for 3 weeks, and in the freezer for up to a year.

I love that I now know how easy this is. I put mine in cute little jars and have already given many away to friends, family and new neighbors. We use it over ice cream and put a spoonful or 2 in our oatmeal in the morning–mmm–Strawberry Cream Oatmeal.
I will make this even in the winter, using frozen fruit that I can hopefully find on sale!

Have you made freezer jam?
Do you have any favorite strawberry recipes for me? Even if they use sugar, send them on through, most recipes that use sugar can be modified to use other forms of sweeteners, such as honey, or pure cane sugar.