A Veggie Palooza in My Freezer

I just asked my hubby and son what I should title this blog post and my hubby won - A Veggie Palooza in My Freezer. I asked how to spell Palooza and they both agreed that probably no one would know if I didn't spell it correctly! LOL...

Anyway, here is what happened in my kitchen today - I was a busy girl! Between veggies that I had bought and veggies that my sweet mother-in-law had picked up for me, my veggie basket and my frig overfloweth. I decided this morning that I needed to do something with all this bounty before it began to go bad. So, I pulled out my Vidalia Chop Wizard.

I use this handy little tool for onions all the time.  It is so quick and easy.  But today, I decided to use if for so much more and it did not let me down.

I chopped onions, carrots, mushrooms, celery, peppers, scallions, squash, and cauliflower into uniform, beautiful little morsels of tasty goodness.  I placed them in freezer bags and laid them flat on a baking sheet to freeze.  

Now there is a Veggie Palooza in my freezer and whipping up something delicious to eat will be super simple.  I can easily throw a handful of veggies into a stir fry, omlette, or whatever else I can come up with.  The mushrooms are perfect for making my low-carb Cream of Mushroom Soup, which is fabulous by itself or used in a casserole.  Yum!  The cauliflower can be used to make my low-carb Garlic Mashed Cauliflower.  So good! Or, I can use it in this small form to make Faux Rice, or Faux Fried Rice, again low carb and wonderful.

I also had a couple of pounds of Brussel Sprouts and I went ahead and shredded them to cook later in my Best Brussels Spourts Ever recipe.   

Aren't Veggies Just Beautiful - All The Colors and Textures!

I love how uniform everything is which I would never have achieved chopping by hand.

While I was on a role, I decided that I had a few too many tomatoes.  So I cut them up, yellow heriloom, grape and roma's, and placed them on a parchment lined baking sheet.  After a quick drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of Himalayan salt, and pepper  I popped them in the oven at 250℉ for about 3 hours.  Oh, they smelled so good roasting.  

After I removed them from the oven, I let them cool.  Then I layered them in a glass mason jar and covered them extra virgin olive oil.  Now, I can grab them out of my frig and pop a few in any dish or salad that I am making, especially those that call for sundried tomatoes.  These are so yummy.  I'll admit I popped a few of the grape tomatoes in my mouth instead of the jar.  But, nobody knows that but you.  Shhhh!

I also had quite a few lemons and limes and I noticed that a few were starting to get hard, so I pulled out 2 old ice trays that I have.  I labeled one lemon, so that I could tell them apart.  I juiced the lemons and limes into the trays.  About 1/2 a lemon or 1/2 lime will fill each section of my trays.  I popped them in the freezer and when they are frozen, I will put them in baggies and store in the freezer.  Then when I need lemon or lime juice, I just pull out 1 cube for each 1/2 lemon or lime that I need.  Brilliant, I know.  I have my moments.

I am excited about all of the bounty in my freezer.  We are going to have some good eats over the next few weeks.  I hope this has given you some ideas to make your cooking and eating healthy a little eaiser.

Be Blessed,

Individual Jar Pies & Cakes

With the 4th of July upon us, I was trying to plan my menu for our neighborhood fireworks display. It is a fun event where we live. We are on a lake here in Georgia in a golf community that has an annual Independence Day Extravaganza!

On the 18th hole and behind the club house of one of our golf courses that sits on the lake, folks start piling in around 6pm with blankets and lawn chairs and picnics, and fun. On the lake, boats start piling in, grabbing their spot on the water for the show.

Our family loves attending this event each year and I try to make the food not only delicious but fun. So this year, I am making as our dessert little individual jar pies and cakes. I've seen lots of versions of these all over the Internet, but since I was in a hurry, opted to do a semi-homemade method.


I started with 24 half pint mason jars, 2 packages of refrigerated pie crusts, 2 can of cherry pie filling, & 2 cans of apple pie filling. I also mixed up this quick crumb topping.

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar or sucant (natural sugar)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 stick softened butter

Mix with a fork or pastry tool until crumbly.



Apple Pies

I began with the apple pies. I used the lids 0f the jar to cut out tops for each pie. Then I repeated the process for the bottoms of the jar, too.

And I had this great idea of using this little tool, I got from Pampered Chef.  I placed a dough round on the end and put the jar on top of it, flipped it over and easily layered the dough into the jar.

I cut strips of dough and layered on the edges - it will be easier if I show you real quick. Take a look at this quick video ...

I filled 8 jars with pie crust.   Now on to filling our pies. Of course, just because you start with store bought filling does not mean it has to taste store bought. I had some caramel sauce in the fridge, so I added that to the canned filling. There was probably not quite 1/2 cup of sauce. I also added a little melted butter, like 2 tablespoons, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice and about an 1/8 cup whole wheat flour. It gave me enough filling to do 8 of the jars.

I used a star cookie cutter to cut a vent out of the top circle of dough for the little pies.

Then I laid the tops on the filling and used my fingers to seal the edges. I placed the star cut back on top a little turned so that the vent hole was not covered. I brushed a little butter on top and sprinkled with a small bit of Florida Crystal sugar, which I like because it is not bleached.





I screwed the tops on and at this point and can freeze them until I need them. I will pop them in the oven on the 4th for a quick bake. I'll start with a cold oven, put the frozen jars in and then turn the heat on to 375 degrees and bake for 50-60 minutes.  If you are baking them fresh, not frozen they only need to bake for 45 minutes.

Cherry Pies

For the cherry pies, I used 2 cans of filling plus a can of drained tart cherries that I had on hand. I spooned a layer of the crumb topping into the jars, then the cherry filling and then more crumb topping. Very easy!

Again , you can put the lids on at this point and freeze like we did with the apple pies. I will pull them out on the 4th and bake with apple pies.


Red Velvet Cakes In A Jar





My son and daughter are not big fruit pie lovers, so for them, I mixed up a red velvet cake mix. I poured the mix into 8 of the jars, about 1/2 way full. I baked them for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. After they cooled, I used a grapefruit spoon and scooped a little of the cake center out.

Then I made homemade cream cheese icing, because nothing is as good as my homemade cream cheese icing. I'll add the recipe below. I added the icing to a decorator bag and piped it down into the little hole I made into each cake and over the tops.

I used a bit of the crumbs that I scooped out on the top of each little cake for decoration. They look yummy.

Here is my Cream Cheese Icing recipe.

Cream Cheese Icing


1 stick of softened butter
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 pound confectioner sugar
11/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 to 3 tablespoons half-n-half, depending on consistency of the icing you desire: pipeable to pourable

Cream butter and cream cheese with a mixer. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Mix well. Add the vanilla and cream until you reach desired consistency.



Be Blessed,