The weather warmed up a bit yesterday, and the leaves in the front yard were just too much for the kids to resist.
They ran around,
tossing crunchy leaves in the air.
They had so much fun playing in the Autumn wonderland.
Warm Autumn afternoons are the best!
Last night I got a phone call from a good friend, and she was asking if Dylan could come over to play for the afternoon. I said sure, he would be so excited to spend the day at a friend’s house. I know he will have a blast, and I knew that with a little extra time in the morning, I could knock out some cooking for the freezer.
Yesterday James came home with these…
One of his friends stopped by his workplace with a big bag of Apples for me. I was pretty pumped, and I knew exactly what to do with them. I’ll make up a big batch of freezer-friendly Apple Pie Filling, and be set for awhile. I’ll be baking a pie for his friend though, to say thanks.
Agnes wanted to “help”, but it was naptime, so no little gals in the kitchen.
I set in and got to work. I started the roux for the Potato Soup, and started the base for the Apple Pie Filling too. I also trashed the kitchen, but oh well.
I used the pre-cooked potatoes that I had on hand. I had Bacon Breakfast Potatoes, and Potatoes from the leftover weekend Pot Roast hanging out in the fridge. I threw in Milk, Cheese, Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Salt, and made one tasty soup.
Oh my goodness, it was really tasty.
It also made a gigantic pot of soup.
The Apple Pie Filling is simple. It’s Apple Juice, Sugar, Cinnamon, Corn Starch, and Apples. I just peeled, chopped, and dropped the Apples into the syrupy sweet cinnamon deliciousness. The kitchen smells amazing too.
I waited a bit for everything to cool. I got all of my freezer supplies together, and tidied up a bit of the dishes too.
I scooped the Apple Pie Filling into quart sized bags. I ended up with three quarts, and a little bit more. I’m going to mash, and add the leftover apples to Brown Sugar Topped Oatmeal Muffins, for the next time my mom comes to visit. Make sure and remove as much air from the bags that you can, and freeze the quart bags flat. It makes them easier to store (you can store them upright once they are frozen), and it helps them thaw a bit faster too.
When it was time to store the soup, I measured out 1 1/2 cup portions, and spooned them into a measuring cup. It was easy to portion the soup that way, and easy to pour into bags too. I can eat a ridiculous amount of homemade soup, it is just so stinking good.
I ended up with five generous portions. There would have been six servings, but I was hungry, and had to make sure and taste the batch before I froze it. Oh yeah, it was good! This soup reheats well, and is tasty alongside Crusty Bread Rolls.
What about you… Do you have any freezer favorites?
I haven’t felt good lately. I’ve had really bad migraines off and on for the last two weeks, so I haven’t gotten that much done. I feel bad when I have days like that, when my head aches, and my hands don’t cooperate, it is difficult to get anything accomplished.
Today though, the weather is cool and rainy. So far I am migraine free, but it is extra noisy with the littlest ones at home, so we’ll see how that goes. Back on subject, since the weather is finally starting to cool off, here are a few things on my to do list.
Weather-proof the drafty windows. I weather-proof the upstairs windows that have the window air-conditioning units in them. I should probably do the same to the downstairs windows, but I go a little stir-crazy if I can’t look outside.
Drink lots and lots of Hot Chocolate! I use my mom’s recipe (she makes it from scratch) and it is crazy good. I like mine with an obscene amount of tiny marshmallows.
Come up with more School @ Home projects. I know there will be (lots of) snow days in our future, and I need to keep those busy boys focused on some school work. Dylan and I do School @ Home on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and he getting pretty fast at completing his worksheets. He loves it though, and I love to see him learning.
More projects for me… I am starting to journal again, and clip come coupons every now and then. I would love to get some major projects done around the house, but time is working against me.
Get the Thanksgiving plans finalized. I’m pretty sure I’m hosting, I should probably figure out who all is coming, and get a big meal ready to go.
What about you… Do you have any plans or projects now that the weather is starting to turn cool?
Wow!!! I just felt an earthquake!!! I’ve lived in the midwest my entire life, and I never thought I would experience one, and we did, and it was a bit scary.
The kids slept right through it, but I don’t know if I will be able to sleep tonight. That was unreal.
I’m pretty sure that I baked and cooked more than this, but I must have forgot my camera. I’m pretty bad about that. We had a lot to celebrate in October, and lots of tasty dishes to go along with it. Here are some of my favorites from the month.
We visited the Fall Festival and Pumpkin Patch, and had an awesome Funnel Cake. I have got to try and make these at home. I think it would be a fun and tasty experiment.
Cakerdoodles! Yum.
Super-star Cherry Pie. One of our favorites, well James and my favorite. The kiddos just don’t like fruit pies.
Coffee! Not really a baked good, but a necessity in this house. Morning, afternoon, and night, I’m usually found with a double cup of coffee.
My take on Pumpkin Pasties. I had extra pumpkin pie filling and pie crust, so I decided to whip up this Harry Potter favorite. The kiddos (again) didn’t like them, but I thought they were cute and very tasty too. My kiddos are crazy, Pumpkin rocks!
Pumpkin Pie! Oh yeah! I love pumpkin pie, and I like to make a practice pie or two before the holidays. I do not want to have a pie failure on Thanksgiving or Christmas, and James doesn’t mind the extra treats too.
I didn’t bake these, but they were too cute not to share. We got our Halloween pumpkins from a local farmer, and I didn’t carve them. I just can’t cut into them, they are too cute.
I made two kinds of mints for Agnes’ birthday party. I made the traditional mint, and then I tried vanilla too. The vanilla ones tasted like Cinnamon Roll Frosting, they were amazingly good. I’ll definitely be making those again.
So here we are another month to bake, cook, and mess up the kitchen. I have a big menu planned for Thanksgiving with plenty of desserts too. I can’t wait to get started.