Planning Freezer Meals

I've done some planning today. If I double dinner once a week and freeze half, I will have 12 freezer meals ready to go before my new little munchkin arrives. (Yes, I'm pregnant, don't think I've said so on my blog yet, but trust me, I'm out to here.) I could even make 6 a month without adding too much to our grocery budget, and it really isn't that much extra time to prepare.

I'm using simple dollar store foil containers with lids and ziploc bags. I'm typing out instructions and labels so hubby can prepare without even asking.

Here are my favorite freezer meals. I will link up recipes and pictures as I go:

Creamy Spinach Chicken

Cheesy Texas Bake

Porcupines

Funeral Potatoes and Ham

Cheesy Manicotti

Pizza Bites

BBQ Cups

Spaghetti Sausage Pie

Sloppy Joes

Baked Ziti

Am I forgetting anything else easy and delicious? Yeah, we won't starve:)

Chicken Taquitos (for the freezer)

And don't forget to check out my Mother's Day Clearance Apron sale here!

You know those taquitos you buy in the frozen foods? And it's like $3 for 24 or so soggy taquitos? They say chicken or beef, but you aren't quite convinced? Ya, stop buying them, it's time to make your own. These are so delicious, the tortilla is nice and crispy and hello cheap!! My husband loves to grab 3 or 4 taquitos, microwave them on a paper towel for 1 minute and dash off to work. I have been known to eat them while driving too:) It took me an hour and a half to make 110 taquitos, check out my price break down below. (Oh, and in case you weren't on board yet, I bake these crispy babies instead of frying in oil, so yeah, healthier too!)

Husband Rating: 5 stars

These are my directions to make 110 taquitos, obviously use less if you're just making a pan full for dinner.

6 cups cooked, shredded chicken (for my easy chicken shredding directions click here)
1 8oz. brick cream cheese
1 lime
1 bunch cilantro
1 1/2 cups Monterrey jack cheese, grated
110 white corn tortillas (Guerrero is my fave brand, made with no lard)

Soften cream cheese in microwave for 15-20 seconds. In a large bowl stir together cream cheese, chicken and Monterrey jack cheese. Finely chop cilantro and stir into chicken mixture. Squeeze lime juice and stir. Warm tortillas (microwave or skillet) so they don't break when rolling. Preheat oven to 425. Cover a cookie sheet with foil (easy clean-up) and spray with cooking spray. Place a spoonful of chicken mixture in each tortilla and roll, place seam side down on pan. When the pan is full, lightly spray the tops of the taquitos with cooking spray. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until crispy.


You will get a nice system going here quickly. I baked about 20 and a time, and you will have the next pan ready to pop in and soon as they're done.

To freeze: Cool taquitos completely. Place in a large ziploc bag, label and freeze. You will want to eat all of the taquitos within 3 months. Mine have never lasted more than a month, we love them too much:) To reheat, microwave on a plate or paper towel for 1 minute. Serve with salsa, guacamole or sour cream. So there you have it, a perfect on-the-run snack or heat up a pan full for a last minute dinner.



Pricing:
Cilantro: .68 cents
Lime: .50 cents
Cream Cheese: .98 cents
Monterray Jack: $1 (used a coupon)
Corn tortillas: $4
Chicken: $5.50 (I bought it on sale)
Total: $12.66

Linking up with Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Blue Cricket Show & Tell, Idea Sharing Wednesday, and We did it Wednesday at Sew Much Ado.

Mother's Day Clearance Event

I had a lot of fun with my Mother's Day sales this year. Instead of just selling an apron, I put together coordinating gift baskets. I have 4 baskets leftover and listing today for you with a huuuge discount.
So, shop for your next bridal shower, the perfect graduation gift or just keep it for yourself!

Gift Basket No. 1:

Reg. Price: $20.50 Sale Price: $11.00 SOLD

Includes: Women's regular Hawaiian Classic Apron
20 hot pink folding notecards with embossed heart
20 white envelopes


Gift Basket No. 2:

Regular Price: $16.50 Sale Price: $8.00 SOLD

Includes: Lime Cheetah Ruffle Half Apron, Size Small
20 blank lime recipe cards
1 recipe card for Reeses Pieces Cookies


Gift Basket No. 3:

Regular Price: $25.00 Sale Price: $13.50 SOLD

Includes: Women's regular Lady Liberty Ruffle Apron with polka dot sash
Coordinating tea towel and crochet topper


Gift Basket No. 4:

Regular Price: $19.50 Sale Price: $11.00

Includes: Lemon Squeeze half apron with rosette, size women's regular
2 coordinating tea towels


And I have one necklace left that I'm throwing in the sale too. Love this!

Regular Price: $28.50 Sale Price: $10.50

To place an order, please email me at camillescasa@yahoo.com. I will accept paypal/credit card payments, or cash for local orders. Shipping is $2 for apron gift baskets and $1 for the necklace.

FYI - Items are handmade by Camille in a smoke-free, pet-free home. All packages ship the next business day via USPS. Shipping is $2, local orders can be picked up. I can only accept orders in the United States at this time. Contact me at camillescasa(at)yahoo(dot)com with questions or comments.

For Baby

Baby Zeke was born a month early, so his baby shower ended up being a welcome baby party! Either way, I had fun sewing up these cuties.

I didn't get creative with patterns either, I used tutorials from some of the greats in blogland. I got this adorable (but still boy) fabric at Joann's.



First up, this handsome elephant. I didn't want to sew on buttons because of the choking hazard, but I wish I would have made some cute felt eyes now that I think about it. I used Simplicity pattern 2613 for the elephant. I'll admit, I didn't love the pattern and it was kind overly complicated. Next time I make one, I will just use it for the shape and sew it up more logically, lol.
Note: I use machine washable stuffing, so this guy can go right in the laundry:)


A handsome bib with a felt Z for the little man. I used Homemade by Jill's great Bib Tutorial and printable pattern here. In true Jill fashion, the directions and photos make it simple.

The back side I used a yellow ribbed knit. Jill uses terry cloth, but I had the knit on hand and I love the colors together.

Car seat strap covers- especially for those tiny little heads:) I used Ashley at Make it and Love it's tutorial here. I cut my squares to 5 1/2x 5 1/2 and they fit a graco snugride car seat strap perfectly. I love these:) And again, her directions are so easy to follow.


So there, throw in some baby wipes and I've got a perfect gift for little Zeke. Welcome to the world little man!!

April Scripture Sticker

We really want to reward the kids in our primary who bring their scriptures, you know? But I hate giving candy, cookies or a button in a jar.

We decided on scripture stickers, one per month. Each week we have a scripture that we look up and mark with a red pencil and on the last week we give a scripture sticker to each child that has their scriptures. (This may seem mean, but if you forget them you can always get it the next week. We got a stack of free Book of Mormons from our local DI and so there is no child in our primary that doesn't have their own. This is something every child can succeed at!)

April Scripture Sticker: Isaiah 1:18

These stickers coordinate with my week 3 lesson found here where we discussed repentance, the atonement and how we can be clean white just like clean laundry.

I made these scripture stickers on my computer, cheaper than the ones you buy at Deseret Book and perfect because we need 40 of each one. Make sure you buy CLEAR envelope labels, not white.

I used the Avery brand Clear Mailing Labels. The package says size 18660, 1 x 2 5/8 inches, 30 labels per sheet. To design I used my favorite scrapbook program that had the built-in layout called Avery 8160. I checked Microsoft word and they also have a template for Avery 8160, so they will print correctly. Scriptures are so small, so I cut each label in half. They look great in color and the kids really love them.

Click here to download the above jpeg. You will have to set up your own template to match the labels you get. Remember each label is in half, so there are a total of 60 on this page. (My printer lets me choose under properties to only print 40 o r 20 or however many you need, so you save the extra labels for later, just run them back through your printer.)

Any questions or problems just email me or leave a comment.

April Sharing Time Week 2 and 3

The April outline has 4 lessons and with conference there are only 3 weeks. I am going to teach the topic from week 3 so the last week of April we can focus on Easter. I created a really fun lesson in July about how Jesus went about doing good with free printables, click here to view that lesson if you need ideas for the week 2 topic.

Theme: We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved.

Materials: Yarn or string, 8 clothespins, 8 t-shirts printed on red cardstock, 8 t-shirts printed on white cardstock, handout t-shirts with scripture for each child, picture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Click here to download my free printables. There are 6 pages here. Page 1 is the t-shirt handout, pages 2 and 3 are the white t-shirt printables, pages 4 and 5 are the t-shirts that need to be printed on red paper, and page 6 is a large, blank t-shirt that is optional if you want to color or need additional.

String your yarn across the primary room and hang up clothes pins. Tell children that today you are going to clean some dirty laundry, but you will need their help. Begin by reading Isaiah 1:18. What is scarlett? What color is snow? What does that mean? Even though we could be bright red with sin, through Jesus' atonement we can become clean and white like snow, like the red was never even there. Display picture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and describe.

In a basket show children the red t-shirts, scarlet like the scripture taught us. Each one contains a sin that needs to be wiped away and made like snow through Christ's atonement. I'm going to choose 2 children at a time. One will pick a red t-shirt out of the basket and clip it to a clothespin so everyone can see. Discuss how it's a sin, how it makes us feel, how we want to be clean again. Have the 2nd child choose a white t-shirt from another "clean" basket that is pure white and place it over the red t-shirt. The white t-shirts have the scrambled words from the 3rd article of faith.

Once all 8 red t-shirts with sin have been replaced with white t-shirts have the children try to unscramble the 3rd article of faith. Read and discuss together.

Handout little t-shirts with the Isaiah 1:18 scripture to each child and let the children share what they love about Jesus Christ's atonement for us. If time remains, children can color their handout t-shirts, or you can copy the large blank t-shirt and children can draw a picture of Jesus inside and color.

I love the scripture from Isaiah and I'm going to challenge my senior primary kids to memorize it. The junior primary kids can probably at least memorize the bold portion in the middle.

If you have questions or great ideas please leave me a comment or contact me at camillescasa(at)yahoo(dot)com. If you use my idea I'd love to hear how it went!!

Check out my matching scripture stickers here!

April Sharing Time Week 1

Theme: Jesus Christ was chosen to be our Savior

Materials: 10 hide/seek pieces hidden around the room, wristband printed for each child

Click here to download my free printables. 3 pages total; 2 pages hide/seek pieces and 1 page of coloring page wristbands.

Optional object lesson: Have one child come up and give them one of those giant Hershey's kisses. Tell them that the kiss is theirs, they can have it at the end of sharing time. Have them return to their seat and keep the kiss under their chair or in their lap. At the end of sharing time, have the same child come up with their chocolate kiss. Tell them that they have a decision to make, similar to Jesus' decision. They can either have that kiss themselves and nobody else gets any candy, OR they can give back the kiss and everyone can have a small hershey kiss. Discuss how Jesus sacrificed for us.

Lesson: I'm going to explain to the kids how I thought of everything I wanted to teach them today about Jesus and realized that it was all in a primary song. Today we will be studying and learning from the words of the song I Lived in Heaven. Print out and hide (in advance) the pieces of the song. Children will follow the clues to find the pieces, and discuss that line of the song and what it means.

I Lived in Heaven

1. I lived in heaven a long time ago, it is true;
Lived there and loved there with people I know. So did you.
Then Heav’nly Father presented a beautiful plan,
All about earth and eternal salvation for man.

2. Father said he needed someone who had enough love
To give his life so we all could return there above.
There was another who sought for the honor divine.
Jesus said, “Father, send me, and the glory be thine.”

3. Jesus was chosen, and as the Messiah he came,
Conquering evil and death through his glorious name,
Giving us hope of a wonderful life yet to be—
Home in that heaven where Father is waiting for me.

Words and music: Janeen Jacobs Brady, b. 1934

My clues fit my primary room, but make up your own if these don't fit. I will choose one child at a time, give them a clue, and let them search for the piece of the song. Here are the clues I'm using:
1) Under a sunbeam chair
2) Beneath the microphone
3) CTR 5 teacher
4) Where the child giving a talk sits
5) Near the window
6) In a doorway
7) Near a garbage can
8) Under a valiant chair
9) Near piano player's shoe
10) Near picture of the prophet


Sing I Lived in Heaven.

Hand out "Jesus was Chosen" wristbands and in remaining time children can decorate and assemble. Just roll around their wrist and secure with scotch tape.


It should be a fun week! If you have any questions leave a comment or email me camillescasa(at)yahoo(dot)com. If you use my lesson I'd love to hear how it went, leave me a note!