Jauary Freezer Meal Recipes

Okay, I admit it. I am trying potatoes in the freezer for the first time. But I found a link where a woman describes how she does all kinds of potatoes for the freezer and I am giving it a shot. These are the best oven fries I have ever eaten, I will let you know how they do in the freezer! After all, wouldn't it be wonderful to pull out precooked fries (homemade and yummy) to go with a meal, or maybe even Roasted Red Potatoes?? I will let you know! This is my mom's made from scratch Sloppy Joe recipe too...love the curry! Enjoy.

Sloppy Joes
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Mix and brown. Drain off grease (if necessary) and add 1 T. flour.

Add:
2 cups ketchup
2 cups water
1/2 tsp. curry powder
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Simmer on low heat for 2 hours. The longer you simmer, the thicker it will be.

From freezer: defrost overnight and warm on stove. (Add a little water, if needed.) Serve on hamburger buns.

Oven Fries (wedges)
6 unpeeled, medium sized potatoes cut into 6-8 lengthwise wedges
Canola Oil (just enough to coat potatoes)
Spices:
1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4-1/2 tsp. coarse black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. sugar

Wash potatoes and leave skins on. Slice into eighths, lengthwise. Put oil, potato wedges and spices in gallon sized Ziploc bag and toss until evenly coated (or stir together in large bowl). I add a little sugar to the spices to help brown and crisp the wedges. Place on non-stick baking sheets or baking sheets sprayed with non-stick spray; bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. (These will only be partially cooked.) Place on brown paper bags or paper towels to cool. Place on clean cookie sheets and freeze solid. Place in labeled freezer bags and return to the freezer.

To cook from frozen: DO NOT DEFROST!! Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Bake 30 to 45 minutes, turning halfway through. Cooking time will depend on the size of the fries or wedges. The oven fries can also be finished in a deep-fryer.

It Came Upon a Midnight....Wet!

Last night we were sound asleep (about 12:30 a.m.) when our 17 year old daughter, Lisa woke us up a little panicked! Apparently she had started the washer and the "float" that controls when the water shuts off has apparently quit working. (Who can blame it, really? 10 years of slave labor and abuse with at least a load or two a day...) Luckily she hadn't started it and just gone to bed or who knows what damage we may have had! She put a load in and went to get ready for bed. I don't know how long it had been running (for a little while at least!) but after she washed her face, then shut off the water she could still hear water running. So she went to investigate, discovered a mess, shut things down and came to get us!

There was a good inch of water all over the laundry room, kitchen and entry tile floor and it had seeped down the walls into the basement. In the storage room directly below the laundry room there was at least 2 inches of water. It was dripping and leaking and running all over the place. So we spent the next 2 1/2 hours sucking up all the water with the shop vac, and sopping up the carpet with towels and our carpet cleaner, and catching drips in buckets and wiping down very wet things.

Today we had a flood recovery service come and start cleaning things up. They have all sorts of fans and de-humidifiers running. They had to rip up the carpet just outside of the storage room door and it is toast....so new carpet, I guess. They had to cut holes in walls to dry the sheet rock out and what a mess we are in. Hopefully the adjuster can come tomorrow and get things going.

The good news is I'm getting my tile cleaned! And who cries about getting new carpet? I just have a huge mess to deal with for a few days.

Fun Find!

Just look at these cute receipt/gift card/coupon holders I found while surfing today! She sews them! Too cute. Check it out, it's called Swankadot.

Might be able to find stuff in my purse if I had one of these!