How to Make and Freeze Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes

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This isn’t my favorite lava cake recipe.

chocolate lava cake

it tastes good enough with rich vanilla ice cream

But I couldn’t find my favorite chocolate lava cake recipe, and I had a craving!

The great thing about freezer meals is you can prep a bunch of individual cakes, and freeze them individually for later!

When you bake them, simply add 1 minute for the cake that was in the fridge, and add 2 minutes to the cake that you pulled out of the freezer.

What is lava cake?

With a lava cake, the outside is cooked, but when you slice into it, the center is a hot molten chocolate goo - delicious!

chocolate lava cake

How to make Chocolate Lava Cake

  1. Gather the ingredients.

2. Chop the chocolate, and melt it with butter in the microwave.

If you need some chocolate delivered to your door, click the link here! I’ll get a tiny commission, and you’ll get a bit a heaven!

3. Mix all the rest of the ingredients.

4. Use an ice cream scoop to divide the batter into your five buttered ramekins.

cake batter

Growing up, our ramekins were called “Pudding Cups”. Because that’s the only thing they were ever used for! Yummy! As an adult, I like the clear ramekins best (mine are blue Pyrex). And this is the right kind of ice cream scoop (with the swooping bar to eject the batter). If you buy it here, I get a tiny commission, and you get great products you will use forever!

Bake only what you need now. Freeze the rest!

“A bit of advice...only serve these to known chocolate lovers. Otherwise you’ll have to sit and watch someone take one bite, and then waste the rest. Tragedy!”
— Tonya

One day I’ll find my favorite Chocolate Lava Cake recipe and share it with you!

Have no stress and no mess at dinnertime with freezer meals!

Chicken Tenders How To - Cheeze It Chicken

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This is the least healthy of our three chicken recipes. But that means your family will love it!

Chicken Tenders. Chicken Wings. Chicken Strips. Chicken Thighs. Chicken Fingers. Drumsticks.

All you need are four ingredients:

cheeze it chicken ingredients

Yup. Not much is healthy here, but it all is tasty!

Make a lot of this chicken recipe, then freeze it in gallon zip lock baggies for several future dinners!

With freezer meals, we do the work ahead of time, so that dinnertime is stress free and mess free.

Watch the video, and you’ll see how messy this recipe is!

Cheeze It Chicken Recipe in 5 Easy Steps

  1. Smash: Put the Cheeze It crackers in a gallon baggie and roll over them with a rolling pin until they are all crumbled. This is fun for kids!

  2. Slime: Drag a piece of chicken in the sour cream, then pat Cheeze It crumbs all over it.

  3. Freeze: Lay the chicken on a teflon lined cookie sheet, not touching each other, and freeze.

  4. Bag: Place the frozen chicken in labeled freezer baggies.

  5. Bake: When you are ready to serve, bake from frozen on a butter drizzled cookie sheet 375° for 40-45 minutes.

Don’t have a rolling pin? You could smash the crackers in the baggie with your fist, or stomp on them!

No need to touch that slimy chicken again! You simply cook it from frozen!

Watch the video, and you’ll see how messy this recipe is.

Have no stress and no mess at dinnertime with freezer meals!

Chicken Tenders How To - Cajun Chicken Strips

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The second in a three part series…

Chicken tenders. Chicken wings. Chicken strips. Chicken thighs. Chicken fingers. Drumsticks.

This version is a healthy, non-fried, quick recipe.

The best part…

Make a whole lot of chicken tenders all at once, then freeze them for easy dinners later!

family dinner

watermelon and french fries go great with chicken strips!

With Freezer Meals, you will have no stress and no mess at dinnertime!

🍏You will have healthy, home cooked dinners that your family will eat.

🍏You will save time, so there is no stress at dinnertime.

🍏By planning, you will save money and have less waste.

Everything you need for delicious cajun chicken strips

Cajun Chicken Strips in Five Steps

  1. Place all the seasonings in a zip lock baggie.

  2. Add the chicken strips and massage the seasoning into the raw chicken.

  3. Place each raw seasoned chicken strip on a teflon-lined baking sheet. Freeze.

  4. Once frozen, remove chicken pieces from baking sheet and place in a labeled zip lock baggie.

  5. To serve, cook from frozen.

No need to touch that slimy chicken again! You simply cook it from frozen!

Have no stress and no mess at dinnertime with freezer meals!

Chicken Tenders How To - Peanutty Drumsticks

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Chicken Tenders. Chicken Wings. Chicken Strips. Chicken Thighs. Chicken Fingers. Drumsticks.

Every restaurant has some sort of chicken parts breaded and fried or seasoned and baked. They are delicious by themselves, in a salad, or dipped in any dipping sauce!

chicken wings

Yummy!

It’s easy to make your own delicious chicken strips!

Make a whole bunch at one time, then freeze some for later!

With freezer meals, you have no stress and no mess at dinnertime!

🔪Have healthy, home cooked dinners that your family will eat

🔪Save time, so there is no stress at dinnertime

🔪Plan, and save money and have less waste

Here is the first of three recipes for making chicken tenders your family will love!

ingredients for peanutty chicken

everything you need for delicious peanutty drumsticks… or in this case, peanutty chicken breast strips

Peanutty Drumsticks in Three Steps

  1. Prepare the marinade in a zip lock baggie, add your chicken, then freeze.

  2. The day before you want to serve your chicken, thaw the baggie overnight in the fridge.

  3. To prepare, pour the thawed chicken and marinade in a greased pan. Bake, then serve.

You never have to touch that slimy chicken again!

It’s delicious by itself, or served with rice.

Have no stress and no mess at dinnertime with freezer meals!

You’ll need to stock up on freezer zip lock gallon baggies if you are serious about freezer meals!

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Can You Bake Cookies from Frozen Dough?

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We know you can. That’s why there is fundraiser cookie dough in your freezer right now.

Can You Bake Cookies From Homemade Frozen Dough, Even if the Recipe Says Not To?

I had to test this for myself.

chocolate chip cookies

I found an unusual recipe for chocolate chip cookies in the morning paper. I was intrigued!

This recipe is different.

  • Instead of white sugar or brown sugar, it uses powdered sugar

  • There is no baking powder or baking soda in it

  • You bake each cookie in a buttered muffin cup

  • It says to refrigerate the dough for 2 hours before slicing and baking

Yes, i read the physical newspaper everyday while eating breakfast. In english, of course.

I tested this recipe in three ways:

  1. Bake from refrigerated, as the recipe says.

  2. Bake from room temperature, so I didn’t have to wait.

  3. Bake from frozen.

I am a fan of making freezer meals. With freezer meals, you nave no mess and no stress at mealtime because you’ve done the work ahead of time.

I made three logs of cookie dough: room temperature, refrigerated for 2 hours, and frozen overnight.

log of cookie dough

Next, I baked them all the same, as directed in the recipe.

The result:

The frozen cookie dough cooked just as well as the room temperature cookie dough.

chocolate chip cookies

There was no difference at all among the three cookies. The recipe called for refrigerating the dough for 2 hours. This cookie was also the same as the other two.

All three versions (baked from frozen, room temperature, or refrigerated as the recipe said) were equally delicious!

Make a batch of this Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookies and pop the tubes in the freezer. If you’re hungry for a cookie or two, you only have to cut off and bake a cookie or two! That’s the benefit of freezer meals!

Here’s a pastry cutter, aka bench scraper, like the one I use in the video. It can be yours for less than $10!

Have no stress and no mess at dinnertime with freezer meals!

Make Your Thanksgiving Stuffing Today - and Freeze It!

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Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends. To gather around the table with thanks and good cheer. To visit and laugh and love.

messy kitchen

Let’s be honest.

Thanksgiving is a lot of work!

  • meal planning

  • shopping

  • housecleaning

  • table setting

  • cooking

  • serving

  • cleaning

  • keeping everyone happy

  • dirty dishes and spills

sleepy thanksgiving family

I wish I looked this lovely after toiling over Thanksgiving Day!

I’ve talked about how to play nice on Thanksgiving before.

And how to help your children get along with everyone.

But this article is about how to make your life easier for Thanksgiving.

Start your Thanksgiving cooking today - and freeze it!

I found a new stuffing recipe I wanted to try. I discovered it was a LOT of work!

Good thing I made this stuffing the week before Thanksgiving! There is no way I would be happy if I had toiled for so long on Thanksgiving day!

But it is delicious!

How do I know? I saved a bit to try today before serving it at Thanksgiving.

My husband doesn’t like stuffing. Until now. With this stuffing, he scraped the pan clean!

Cornbread and Dinner Roll Mushroom Stuffing

Shop for your ingredients now, before the desperate last minute crowds!

Make the cornbread. Dry out the dinner rolls and cornbread in the oven as it cools. Then crumble the breads in large pieces in your largest bowl.

Dice all the vegetables and put them in two different pans. Yes, this does take a long time! Use your handy chopper! Don’t have a handy chopper? Ask Santa! 🎅

Simmer some of the veggies in cream. Sauté the rest of the veggies and the mushrooms in butter.

Use your immersion blender to puree the hot softened veggies into the cream. You don’t have an immersion blender? Then ask for one from Santa!🎅

Mix everything together gently. Place in your pan. Wrap for the freezer.

One less thing on my to-do list!

How to serve your frozen stuffing:

  • The day before Thanksgiving, I will let the stuffing thaw overnight in the fridge.

  • 30 minutes before serving, I will unwrap the pan and bake at 375° for 35-40 minutes.

  • Enjoy!

Have no stress and no mess at dinnertime with freezer meals!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

How to Freeze Individual Dinners

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Have less mess and less stress at dinnertime with freezer meals!

But what if you don’t need an entire dinner?

  • Maybe you want individual servings for when your teen gets hungry late at night.

  • Or you want to pre-pack individual lunches for work

You can easily freeze personal sized meals with these three steps!

steak diane

1. Gather your ingredients

In our example, I’m making Steak Diane.

Who is Diane? It depends on who you ask. This recipe was popular in ritzy restaurants in the first half of the 20th century. Diane could refer to the Roman goddess Diana or 1930’s beauty Lady Diana Cooper.

2. Prep the recipe

Steak Diane is beef with a savory sauce.

  • Undercook your meat, because you will be reheating it later, which always continues the cooking slightly.

  • Make double the sauce - it’s delicious!

3. Freeze in a variety of sized containers

You can use muffin tins. My favorite is a collection of smaller bread pans.

  • Place a variety of sizes of meat in your containers.

  • Add a scoop of sauce in each.

  • Freeze.

  • Once frozen, pop each meat-cicle out and place in quart-sized labeled freezer zip lock baggies.

Look at these cute little loaf pans!

Each individual dinner is like having your own personal chef!

I’ve had my mini loaf pans for so long that they don’t make them anymore. Try these from Wilton, each less than $20. If you buy by clicking the link here, I get a tiny commission. And you get cute muffin pans!

Have no stress and no mess at dinnertime with freezer meals!

Three Tips for Freezing Ice Cream Desserts

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I know, I know. You put ice cream in the freezer! Duh!

But there is a reason to use my technique for ice cream desserts!

Freeze Ice Cream Desserts in Individual Servings!

individual ice cream servings

Three Reasons to Freeze Ice Cream Desserts in Individual Servings

  1. Portion control

My favorite homemade ice cream dessert is Mississippi Mud. Our family version is an Oreo cookie crust, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and fudge topping.

1950s birthday invitation

No, I am not THAT old!

My birthday is in the summer, so often this is what I chose instead of a birthday cake. There’s an old photo of me grinning in front of a big pan of Mississippi Mud at my 13th birthday pool party. I’d show you, but you know how old photos are - they are hard to locate!

I like Mississippi Mud so much that I could easily eat a gigantic piece every day!

But a piece the size of a muffin is exactly right.

2. It’s hard to slice frozen solid ice cream desserts!

frozen desserts

I’m sure you’ve been at a birthday party and it’s time to serve the ice cream cake. But the ice cream is a big solid block! In order to get it soft enough to slice, the entire thing has to sit on the kitchen counter, getting all runny.

By freezing ice cream desserts in individual muffin cups, you can simply pop them out one at a time, straight from the freezer! Just be sure to spray the muffin pan with cooking spray when preparing your frozen ice cream dessert.

The last serving is just as frozen as the first! How thoughtful you are!

3. Individual frozen desserts are easy to store

You can easily pop out all the individual frozen desserts and store them in a single layer in a Tupperware in your freezer. Then you can use your muffin pan for ANOTHER version of your frozen dessert, perhaps with chocolate ice cream and caramel topping!

I inherited my muffin pans from my grandma, and she probably bought them from a garage sale! If you click the link to buy one, I get a tiny commission. And you get lovely new muffin pans!

How to Freeze Ice Cream Desserts in Individual Servings

The key is freezing in between each layer.

Mrs Richardson's Hot Fudge

Use any topping you’d like, but Mrs. Richardson’s is the best!

  1. Spray your muffin pan with cooking spray.

  2. Crush Oreos, approximately one row. Thin stuffed Oreos work well.

  3. If you want, toss in 1 tablespoon sugar with the Oreo crumbs. Add 1/4 cup melted butter and mix. Press approximately 1 tablespoon crumbs into each muffin tin with the back of a measuring cup.

  4. Place muffin pan in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. Place the ice cream container on the counter to soften 15 minutes.

  5. Add the ice cream layer. Using two spoons, scoop and press ice cream into each muffin, on top of the crust.

  6. Place muffin pan in the freezer for at least 1 hour to let the ice cream freeze solid. Have the jar of topping on the counter to come to room temperature.

  7. Top with chocolate fudge topping. Freeze at least 1 hour before serving.

Would you like other tips and tricks for making your life easier with freezer meals?

How to Make and Freeze Millionaire Shortbread

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Our family got to take a trip to the United Kingdom.  It was winter, and we often rested from playing tourist in a café with a hot drink, or a Diet Coke.

Look at the amazing pastries at the British Museum!

Look at the amazing pastries at the British Museum!

millionaire+shortbread+is+like+a+twix

Many cafes had this wonderful thing called Millionaire Shortbread!

It’s shortbread with a layer of caramel and chocolate. An elaborate Twix!  We must have had Millionaire Shortbread 8 times!  Each café had a slightly different version of shortbread, caramel or chocolate.

When we got back, I needed to find out how to make Millionaire Shortbread for myself!  Google is a wonderful thing! I ended up modifying four different recipes into two batches of Millionaire Shortbread. Watch the video to see my results!

Are you interested in how to take your favorite foods and make them into freezer meals? Click to see our helpful learning tool!

Delicious home made Millionaire Shortbread

Delicious home made Millionaire Shortbread

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Twice Baked Potatoes

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Instead of getting tired of eating leftovers, change them into a freezer meal!

I ended up with lots of baked potatoes after a church lunch.  I like eating baked potatoes with melted butter, or with bacon and cheddar.  But I wanted to make something a bit more special.  Something that I didn’t have to eat right away.

Freezer meals are completely prepared dinners that you simply thaw and serve later.  Watch this video to learn how to change baked potatoes into fancy Twice Baked Potatoes for your freezer!

What would you put in your twice baked potatoes?

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Click for FREE Freezer Meal guidance!

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