Garden Fresh Pesto - Large family and Freezer Style!

Garden Fresh Pesto

6 cloves garlic
4 cups garden-fresh basil leaves (mmmm!)
1 cup olive oil
1 teasp salt
1 teasp pepper
1 cup parmesan grated
1 cup cashews (pine nuts are too pricey for us)

Mix all in food processor. Make extra, as this can be frozen, too!

Quiche in a Bag - Easy Freezer Recipe

Serves 12-18

• 3 c. Cooked meat (any meat diced or browned and crumbled)


• 2 1/4 c. Vegetable (any raw, blanched; thawed frozen; or canned, drained)


• 3 c. shredded cheese (you can exclude this or just add feta)


• 3/4 c. diced onion


• 3 c. milk (can sub dry milk and water, soy milk or rice milk)


• 12 eggs


• 1 1/2 c. flour (may substitute rice flour)


• 2 tbs. baking powder

Containers: 1-gallon freezer bags

Assembly Directions: Combine meat, vegetable, cheese, and onion. Place this mixture in a labeled 1-gallon freezer bag. With a mixer or blender, combine the milk, eggs, flour and baking powder. Pour into the bag with the meat/vegetable mixture.

Freezing and Cooking Directions: Seal and freeze. To serve, thaw completely. Shake bag well and pour into a spray-treated or greased deep dish pie plate or quiche pan. Sprinkle with paprika if desired. Bake at 350º for 35-45 minutes, until lightly browned on top and well set in the center. Cool about 5 minutes before serving.

We made this with bacon and broccoli. It was so good and super easy! I make two meals at a time!

Easy Freezer Alfredo Sauce!

This is the BEST (and easiest) alfredo sauce I've ever made! Oh, and I added fresh basil from our garden and some chicken when cooking it initially. When I was ready to make it for dinner, I defrosted it in the microwave, added fresh broccoli to it, popped it in the crock pot and cooked on low all afternoon. I poured it over penne later that night and it was a complete "hit" in our house! I also add it to pizza crust (with cheese, of course) for a homemade chicken alfredo pizza! Mmm! It freezes wonderfully, so I always make double! It was SOOOOO good & easy. It even reheated well in the microwave on leftover night! Enjoy!

Freezer Alfredo Sauce

1 package cream cheese -- 8 oz
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk

Basil to taste

finely chopped garlic or garlic powder to taste

Dash or two of nutmeg

Mix cream cheese, parmesan cheese, and margarine, heating slowly, stirring frequently until smooth. Add all spices and milk to thin until desired consistency for your pasta. Will freeze for months in a sealed freezer bag!

Lisa's Large Family Recipe for Freezer Chili

This recipe will make 22 qts. (yes, you read correctly) of the most AWESOME chili EVER! You can either feed a crowd OR freeze what you don't need OR cut the recipe accordingly. After all, I usually eye-ball the amounts anyway. Everything is "to taste"!

• 2 -2 1/2 lbs. ground beef (cooked )



• 4-6 cups onion soup (I make a HUGE batch of crockpot French onion soup the night before and then add it accordingly to the chili another night - makes for a cheap meal and saves $$ on canned onion soup, which is overpriced, in my opinion)



• 4-8 tbsp. chili powder



• 4-8 tbsp. cumin



• 2-4 tbsp. pepper



• 6 tbsp. cocoa



• 2 small bags black beans (cooked)



• 2 small bags red/kidney beans (cooked)



• 2 small bags pinto beans (cooked)



• 2 6 oz. can tomato paste



• 6 tbsp. cider vinegar



• 3 46 oz. can V-8 (store brand) juice



• 4 cups of homemade stewed tomatoes (canned can be substituted)



• Green, red and jalepeno peppers to taste (we like it hot, so we add lots)

Brown beef into tiny pieces. Place onion soup and half of the ground beef in food processor/blender and puree until it resembles cement mortar. Place with unblended beef into large crock pot/roaster oven. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer until flavors are blended. I use bags of beans to save money. I also use homemade peppers and stewed tomatoes that I freeze from our summer crop, as this saves money, as well. I am a big "estimator" in the kitchen. I throw things in until they taste good, so these are general estimates, although pretty close to what I actually use. Taste test and adjust ingredients (mainly spices) until you're happy with the results!

These 22 qt. Roasters (which can be used just like crock pots) were only $39 at Sam's Club a few years ago...don't know if they can be found there any longer, though.

Large Family Lunch Recipes!

I love this website and am on the edge of my seat, waiting on receiving my book (click the book below to order)! In the meantime, I just found these great posts on their site of Lunch Recipes for Large Families and Five Easy Crockpot Lunches! Cool stuff!

Easy Southern Sweet Potato Casserole

Our family triples this recipe to feed a crowd! This is always a hit. You can prepare this ahead of time (as we do) by making the filling and sealing it in a Ziploc bag. The filling can be stored in the fridge for up to two days. This makes it easy to prepare ahead of time, so that there is more time with family on Thanksgiving Day!

INGREDIENTS:
· 2 eggs
· 1 cup granulated sugar
· 3/4 cup butter, softened
· 1/2 cup milk
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
· 3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes

TOPPING:
· 1/2 cup brown sugar
· 1/3 cup flour
· 2 tablespoons butter, softened
· 1/2 cup chopped pecans

PREPARATION:
Beat eggs, granulated sugar, and 3/4 cup butter. Add milk and vanilla. Combine with the mashed sweet potatoes; spoon into a greased 2-quart casserole. Combine brown sugar, flour, 2 tablespoons softened butter, and pecans, mixing until crumbly; sprinkle over sweet potatoes. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Serves 6.

The Duggar Family's Homemade Laudry Detergent Recipe - Cheap and Works WELL!

REPOSTED from 12/2008

I was told that this is the recipe (the liquid one) that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar use for their family of 20. We bought a kit online HERE for $30, including shipping. The soap is easy to grate if you can find a table clamp cheese grater...we found one on Ebay ($11) and the kids do most of the work. They LOVE to help out. The recipe we tried was the liquid laundry recipe and we LOVE IT! We will never go back to our once-beloved Tide again. And at only $3 per 10 gallons, who can complain about cost! UPDATE: We've been using the first of the recipes for laundry soap for a while now and I've come to figure out that our family will pay only $18 per year for laundry detergent! That's less than ONE box of Tide (my former favorite)! I now also add 6 teaspoons of Dawn for the extra dirty kid clothes to the 10 gallons. Adds a little extra cleaning power! ~ Lisa Metzger

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

Ingredients:

• 4 cups hot tap water
• 1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
• 1 cup washing soda
• 1/2 cup Borax
  

a.. Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

b.. Fill a five-gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

c.. Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (It will gel.)

d.. Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per two gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil. Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons. Top-load machine: 5/8 cup per load (approximately 180 loads). Front-load machine: ¼ cup per load (approx. 640 loads).

Powdered laundry detergent

Ingredients:

• 1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
• 1 cup washing soda
• ½ cup Borax

Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use one tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 tablespoons. Yields: three cups detergent (approximately 40 loads). Inexpensive fabric softener recipes

Recipe No. 1: Add 1/8 cup white vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too.

Recipe No. 2: 1 container of name-brand fabric softener 4 inexpensive sponges, cut in half
Pour a whole container of softener into a five-gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice (two parts water to one part softener). Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use, wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.

Large Family Recipe e-book from Value-Driven Family!

FREE from Values-Driven: some tips from our trenches on cooking economically and simply for the large family. Of course, this free download will come in handy even if you don't have a large family, but it is designed to address the needs of those who do.

• Simple and healthy ideas for every meal


• Suggestions for staples you should have on hand


• A few stand-by recipes

CLICK HERE to download your free .PDF!

Organize Recipes!

Repost from February 27, 2008

Easy Way to File and Organize Recipes - Copy all your recipes onto 3x5 cards and store them in a photo album. The albums are not only a great way to keep organized, but they're also great for keeping spills off of your recipe cards!

Organize Recipes - on my to-do list!

Are your recipes in order? Do you have recipes that were sent in e-mails that you printed out, tried (or have yet to try) that are just stuck somewhere? I do! I LOVE to find recipes on the internet, rather than in a traditional cookbook, so my recipes are usually sent to me (by myself - ha) via e-mail. I print these out and keep them neatly, but not so organized, in a cupboard. However, I NEED to copy the ones I try and like onto 3x5 cards and put them in a nice photos album - a small one for each category (main dish, sides, breakfast, dessert, etc.). I am going to try to do this during my usual reading or TV time.

Here's a neat article on organizing your recipes! Try to use one of these methods to organize your recipes!

Are you already organized in that department? How about sorting through and tossing the ones you no longer need or want?

Happy Organizing!

Taco Soup - Large Family Style

• 4 lb. Beef or chicken, browned and drained
• 2 small can tomato paste
• 2 cans black beans
• 2 cans red beans
• 2 cans whole kernel corn
• 2 cans cream style corn
• 2 cans Rotel
• 2 cans stewed tomatoes (or garden grown)
• Taco seasoning to taste (garlic, cumin, chili powder)
  

Cook in crock pot on low for a few hours - until heated. Serve with shredded cheese, tortilla chips or Fritos, sour cream and salsa.

I add green onions and peppers too....must cook in crock pot until they are cooked though. :) This also freezes well and/or makes good filling for quesadillas with the leftovers!

~ Lisa Metzger

EASY Loaded Bake Potato Soup

1 lb. baking potatoes, cut into cubes (I used 4-5 avg. sized potatoes) and cook
2 large cans fat-free cream of chicken soup
1 small can Cheddar Cheese soup
2 cups milk (I added until it looked smooth)
3 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled and divided (I bought the pre-cooked bagged kind at Sam's to make this even quicker and I added until it looked good)
1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided
2 Tbsp. sliced green onions
1/2 cup Sour Cream

PLACE cubed potatoes in large microwaveable bowl; microwave on HIGH 5 min., stirring after 2-1/2 min. ADD potatoes to soups and milk in crockpot; stir. Crush potatoes with a potato masher (I left them as is). ADD bacon and cheese and onions. SERVE top with bacon, cheese, onions and sour cream.

**I MULTIPLY EVERYTHING TIMES 4 FOR OUR FAMILY**

Maple Glazed Carrots - Large Family Portion!

Maple Glazed Carrots

• 8 cups cooked baby carrots or sliced carrots
• 6 Tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (adjust, as needed)
• 1 cup chopped pecans

After cooking carrots, drain. Stir in butter, maple syrup and pecans over very low heat until the butter is melted. Serves 10 (at least in our famly!)