Food for thought

Today I was lucky enough to do one of my favorite things. I love spending time in the kitchen baking and making several meals at a time to stock up my freezer!

Fridays are my grocery shopping day and yesterday I made Sam's Club one of my stops to stock up on hamburger meat. I like to buy several of the large packages and when I get home I get to work browning, shaping, sealing and freezing!

I actually ran out of time on Friday night so Saturday afternoon I set my kitchen up for my make ahead meal stations. I started browning some of the meat so I could freeze it and start making our Sunday lunch. Also I started forming lots and lots of hamburger patties. Some of the patties I turned into plain ol' hamburgers to throw on the grill Saturday nights for Carter and the others I turned into Mock filet migons. I also sealed bags of "frozen" pizza. Friday night we had ordered a rather large pizza from our favorite pizzeria Gerace's. I bagged up our left overs and we will have two more yummy pizza nights!

I love the feeling of being able to stock up my freezer and have several meals planned ahead! This next week not only do I have my menu already planned out but I also know that all I have to do is go to the freezer and pull out dinner! Who knows I might even be able to share some food with someone who needs some cheering up! :) Whatever might happen this week I feel somewhat prepared and honestly it feels really good!

I would like to share the recipe that I made for our Sunday lunch. I hope that you enjoy!

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

8 oz egg noodles

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/4 cup small curd cottage cheese

1/2 c sliced green onions

1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 1/4 ground chuck

1 can 15 oz tomato sauce

1/2 salt

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat over for 350

Brown ground beef in large skillet. Drain fat, then add tomato sauce. 1/2 tea salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper. Stir, then simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.

Cook egg noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Add plenty of fresh pepper. Add to noodles and stir. Add green onions and stir. To assemble add half of the noodles to a baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture, then sprinkle on hale the grated cheddar. Repeat with noodles, meat, then a final layer of cheese. Bake 20 min. or until cheese is melted.

I hope you get some time to enjoy your kitchen soon and I welcome your favorite recipes anytime! :)