Well, this was a VERY productive afternoon for me! I posted my plan this morning, and it has grown since. So, I will be cooking tomorrow on and off all day, with a big thanks to my mom. She will be coming over to help me out and play with the kiddos. Ainsley was quite a help making the muffins and casseroles today as you can see below!
I was able to score some more pumpkin today at my local Publix, so I will be baking the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread as Christmas gifts tomorrow. As you can see below I got quite a bit of the $1/bag sweet potatoes at Aldi. Believe it or not, I still have 1.5 bags left!
I owe Shellie at Saving With Shellie a HUGE thanks! She gave me the idea to use my Kitchen Aid to mix my sausage balls, instead of by hand. When I do them by hand there is usually a lot of bisquick and cheese in the bottom, plus it takes forever. Does this happen to you? This did all the work and all I had to do was roll them out. Such a big time-saver for me. I didn’t dread doing them this time.
Today I got a lot of meals prepared and tomorrow will be Christmas treats day. I’ll post my plan tomorrow morning.
Here is what I completed today:
Baked Sweet Potatoes (2 pans)
Sweet & Savory Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potato Fries
Sweet Potato Casserole (for Christmas Day dinner)
Sausage Cheese Balls (2 large bags)
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (3 dozen)
Pepper Stir-Fry
Brown Rice (4 bags + dinner tonight)
So, did you bake along with me today? How about tomorrow? Want to get ahead of the Christmas rush, and have it all done? Be sure to leave a comment with any great ideas, progress and recipes. If you have a post and want to link to your favorite recipes or your baking day, please leave it below.
Ingles has Tyson bone-in split chicken breast on sale for .98/lbs. I stocked up and boiled it all this afternoon. My stovetop was covered in large pots! Now I have a few quarts of flavorful homemade chicken broth and six large freezer bags filled with cooked, shredded chicken. I love making soups, stews, casseroles, chicken pies and chicken and dumplings. Now I can make these quickly since the meat and broth are frozen in small batches.
Do all of these things that you made here freeze really well?? rice? Sausage balls? muffins? Thank you!
all of your goodies look yummy and what a blessing to have them all made up already!!!
What is the “Kitchen Aid” you talked about?! I love making sausage balls, but hate the time and stickiness…
April, I am talking about the Kitchen Aid Mixers, see an example here. I LOVE mine!
I’m curious about freezing rice–how does this work? Does it keep its texture and taste well?
Thanks!
Cherith – I have found it to do pretty well! Just undercook it a bit. I actually overcooked mine and it is a little mushy, but will work in a pinch.
How do you do your sweet potatoe fries?
Thanks!
Kimberly – I just sprinkle them with olive oil, salt and cinnamon. Lately I add a pinch of cayenne.
Do you modify the time and/or temperature on the pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe when you make bread loaves instead? I’ve made the muffins, and they’re delicious, but the bread would be great to give.
Kim – I am actually making them in loaves today, and I cut back to 30 minutes and check every 5 after that with a wooden toothpick! Usually ends up being a few minutes longer.
Okay…my husband LOVES sausage balls…never thought of freezing them…so he can have then Christmas morning and I don’t have to make them along with dinner stuff the day before Christmas ……plan to put some smokies in the crockpot….I wrap them in a half a slice of bacon, secure with a toothpick and layer them with dark brown sugar, let them cook on low until we are ready to eat them. You can wrap them the night before and then just pop them in the crock…then eat on them all moring! Add some cinnamon rolls…and we are all set! Thanks Kelly…these are great ideas…..and I’ll have to start saving for my mixer…..I just hear way too many good things about it;)
Do you bake the sweet tater fries before you freeze them? If so, how long do you cook them, and how do you thaw/cook them later?
Thanks for all that you do!
Kelly, I under baked them, so only about 8 minutes. I freeze and bake frozen for about 10 minutes.
hi there, I met you on Twitter via #oamc, when you answered the question about sweet potatoes. I thought I’d check out your blog. Looks like you have lots of good ideas, so I’ll be adding you to my reader so I can read through more when I have time. It was my first #oamc, and I think it went well.
I love sweet potatoes, especially fries. But, I’m not the biggest cook although I’ve been trying more these days. I stick mostly to the frozen fries you can find in grocery stores. Do you have any sweet potato recipes I can use?