Cookie Dough Evening

Every year for the last 10 (and even before that with my mom) I have taken an entire day during he Christmas season and baked.  Mostly cookies but also quick breads, cupcakes, and candy.  I usually give these out to friends, family, and coworkers.  I always looked forward to my "baking day", that is until I had Grant.  Suddenly the idea of spending hours in my kitchen, more hours than before since I was interrupted by the needs of a child, no longer seemed like a fun tradition.  I pushed through for a couple years, making sure my husband didn't make plans for a specific Saturday, so I could at least have backup when needed. 

This year was a different story.  Now being pregnant and having a 3 year old, I had no desire, not one in my entire body, to spend a day baking from sun up to sun down.  Not to mention the fact that I didn't have a whole lot of people to give them out to since my mom also bakes and gives them to part of the people we know and I no longer have co-workers.  I decided I needed a new plan.  I still love baking and the idea of a Christmas season with no cookies and candy was unacceptable in my mind.

My solution for making this year easier and quicker for me was making and freezing the dough ahead of time.  I decided the best option for me was to take an evening or a couple and mix up all the cookie batters I planned on using, roll them into logs, and freeze them to bring out and bake whenever I wanted.  Genius right? 

So last night after Grant went to sleep I decided to get my butt in gear and at least make 1 batch of dough.  Turns out once I started I figured why stop?  I ended up making 3 batches of cookie dough, which is all the cookies I plan on making.  Since we are having my dad over for an early Christmas dinner, I went ahead and baked a handful of each kind before freezing the dough.

I usually stick to the same recipes I've made for years, I am after all a creature of routine and habit.  This year I wanted to try a different chocolate chip cookie recipe.  My mom's is more of a cakey cookie and I was in search of something a little crunchier.  I came across this Pioneer Woman recipe and decided to give it a whirl, after all she's never steered me wrong before.

Seeing this just makes me want to sit and eat cookie dough straight from the bowl.

 

The only thing I omitted from Ree's recipe was the flax seed.  I don't keep it in my pantry therefore I don't use it.

Golden brown to perfection!  When I first read the recipe and saw it called for instant coffee granules I was a little scared, I admit.  I love coffee but didn't think I wanted that flavor in my chocolate chip cookies.  However I decided to trust my friend Ree (oh how I wish she was actually my friend and would have me over for dinner, yum!) and add them to the batter.  I tasted the batter, because you can't have cookie batter without tasting it right? and I could taste the coffee.  I immediately thought, "crap! this is not what I wanted, what am I gonna do with all this cookie dough now?"  But I soldiered through and baked a few to at least let my husband and family try them, after all I figured I could pawn them off on someone if I didn't like the flavor.  When they baked up I tried one with the last hope that the flavor of coffee wasn't prevalent, and guess what?  No coffee flavor!

 

I was so excited.  It was just as Ree said, the coffee granules just give the cookies a little richer chocolate flavor and my oh my they are delish.  Crunchy and chocolatey and just what I was searching for in a new chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I had my husband try them just to be sure my taste buds weren't the only ones not tasting coffee. I didn't tell him why I wanted him to try them just that I tried a new recipe and wanted his opinion.  His comment was, "they taste like a chocolate chip cookie to me".  Translation, no coffee flavor!

 

When I found Pioneer Woman's chocolate chip cookie recipe I also came across this Brown Sugar Oatmeal cookie recipe.  Now, I'm not a huge fan of oatmeal cookies, but my mom and future brother-in-law love them.  My mom has complained in years past that she can't find a good recipe for them.  These looked divine, and I love me some brown sugar in anything so I figured I probably couldn't go wrong.

They come out looking almost, in my opinion, overcooked.  Trust me when I say they are not.  This is just the goodness of all that brown sugar.  It makes it crunchy, and gives it a really nice flavor that I think is lacking in a lot of oatmeal cookie recipes.  I plan on adding some raisins to the dough I already made and froze when I go to bake a large batch of them.

 

The last cookie I made was one I've been making for the last 4-5 years.  At some point I had a bag of Nestle chocolate chips, not sure why since no other cookie or candy I make calls for them.  On that bag there was this recipe:

 

White Chip Chocolate Cookies

2 1/4c flour

2/3c cocoa

1t baking soda

1/4t salt

1c butter

3/4c granulated sugar

2/3c packed brown sugar

1t vanilla

2 large eggs

2c white chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, mix.  In a separate bowl beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until creamy.  Add eggs 1 at a time beating well after each addition.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in chips.  Drop by tablespoonful on baking sheet.  Bake 9-11 minutes.

 

A gave them a try on a whim way back then and have been making them ever since.  They are one of the few cookies that only I make so I get to take them to my mom and sister and give them away.  Pretty much every other cookie I bake, my mom bakes as well so I couldn't ever take her mine, cuz she already had so many of her own.

 

Try your darndest after you mix it up not to taste the chocolatey goodness that is this batter.  I know it's hard, but try.

 

 

Yum!

 

These are 1 of my all time favorite cookies.  I love, love, love, white chocolate chips.  My only piece of advice is to watch while baking these because it's hard to tell if they are fully baked and you can burn them without realizing because they are already dark in color.  I have burned the bottoms of a few of my white chocolate chip cookies thinking they weren't done all the way and then it was too late.  It's a sad day when I have to throw out these favorites of mine.

 

Now for the freezing.  Some people freeze their cookie dough in already formed balls so all you have to do is take them from the freezer, place them on the baking pan, and bake.  I love this method however I only have a fridge freezer in our little apartment and spending hours freezing batch after batch of dough on 1 small cookie sheet doesn't sound like fun to me, or a the way I want to spend an entire day.

 

So instead here's how I do mine.  I take a long piece of plastic wrap and lay it out on the counter.  Spoon my dough on top of that.

 Roll it up in the plastic wrap and twist the ends.

 Place your roll on a piece of foil.

 

Roll the dough in the foil and twist the ends.

 

Write the kind of dough it is on the outside.  I do this with a regular ol' pen and it works just fine.

 

Now pop it in your freezer for when you get a hankering, yes I said hankering, for cookies.

 

 

When you are in the mood for some cookies just put it in the fridge for a couple hours or leave it on the counter to thaw, just don't leave it all day or overnight, there are raw eggs in there after all, and bake as you normally would.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Bean & Rotel Burritos

Today I made Black bean and rotel burritos for dinner.

 They are an easy meal to whip up in a hurry.  They are meatless so you save a little money (which is usually why I make them), and they are good.  Or at least my husband and son like them, I'm not a fan of beans.

Ok I hate beans, with a passion, their texture is disgusting to me but I like to be nice to my husband and make him bean filled dishes because he and my son love them.

I got the original recipe from the Fix it and Forget it cookbook but of course had to alter it a little.

1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can Rotel
1 can whole kernel corn
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 green pepper chopped
1T olive oil
rice (cooked according to package directions)
tortilla shells

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the onion, garlic, and green pepper.  Cook for about 3 minutes.  Add black beans, Rotel, and corn.  Heat through. 
Once heated take a tortilla, put as much rice as you like, then add the black bean/Rotel mixture.  Wrap it all up and enjoy. 
This recipe (without the rice and tortillas) freezes really well too.  I almost always have too many leftovers so I always freeze 1 or 2 meals worth for future use. 

Breakfast Burritos

The Relay for Life was this past weekend and since we stay all night and have multiple team members coming and going, we need plenty of snacks and food to keep our energy up for the 18 hour walk.  I decided to take breakfast on and chose breakfast burritos.  I love them and the freeze fantastic so I knew if I had leftovers it wouldn't be a problem to take back leftovers.  The only issue I had was trying to find a way to keep them warm without an oven, microwave, or anything else really.  So what was my solution....Crockpot, and it worked great.  We put the Crockpot on high just until they were warmed through then lowered it to the KEEP WARM setting and they stayed nice and warm for everyone throughout the morning.

Here's how I make mine:

Eggs $1.29

Shredded cheese $3.29 for a 4cup bag

Tator Tots (did you know you can buy these at the Dollar Tree!) $1.00

Tortilla Shells $1.00

Meat of choice: ham, sausage, bacon

 

My mom had a hog butchered last year so she supplied me with the meat.  It wasn't seasoned so I used Bobby Flays recipe as a base.  I didn't have the fresh herbs or onion powder so I improvised.  I used 1 1/2t dried sage, 1 tsp dried thyme, and 1T minced dried onion.

 

The ingredients in the burritos can vary depending on what kind of flavors you want.  I've added green and red peppers along with onion in some and that's delicious too.  Cook your meat and drain it if necessary, set aside.  Scramble your eggs, set aside.  If using tator tots bake them in the oven as directions say.

 

Now set up an assembly line of your ingredients and assemble your burritos.

Roll em up and wrap them in foil.  Put them in the crockpot on the keep warm setting and you have one great on the go meal.

I used about 6 or 7 eggs (I lost count) and cooked a full pound of sausage but only used about half.  This amount made about 14 burritos.

 

To freeze these, after rolling them up wrap them in plastic wrap then foil.  Place them in a freezer bag.  When you're ready to eat one, remove the foil and microwave them for about 2 minutes, and enjoy your on the go breakfast.

 

 

The $30 Grocery Challenge

A few months back I had a conversation with my cousin about budgets and grocery shopping.  I told her my grocery budget was around $30-$40 a week and her mouth proceeded to drop.  She told me she spends about $100-$150 a week for her family of four and did not understand how I spent so little.  To which I looked at her and said, "you can't spend what you don't have".  With my husband starting a new job after we moved here our income was cut by more than half and sacrifices had to be made.  I couldn't do much about our regular bills, they were what they were, but I could control what I spent on food.

It occured to me that most people probably spend at least $100 a week and the idea of dropping that bill down to $30 seems impossible.  Anyone I have shared my budget with automatically asks what kind of stuff we eat.  They assume with a small budget I'm limited to spaghetti, mac and cheese, hot dogs, and the like.  While I am all about some hot dogs and mac and cheese, this is not an every week meal for us, and is usually more of lunch than dinner.

So this is how the $30 Grocery Challenge was born.  Like many others there are weeks I go over budget by a few dollars or somehow justify spending extra on this or that.  There are weeks I "forget" to meal plan and by Wednesday I'm scrambling to figure out what the heck we are going to eat.  This challenge is to help me stick to my budget and challenge everyone else to decrease their grocery bill.  Maybe $30 seems impossible when you're spending $100 but maybe $60 seems doable.  If even that much of a drop makes you nervous, start by decreasing your bill by $10 a week.  So If your budget right now is $100, next week make your budget $90, then the week after that try $80.  Having a small grocery budget forces us to not buy all the snacks, and junk food.  It makes us conscious of what we are putting in our shopping carts and makes us second guess buying all the little extras that "look good" in the moment.  It also makes us appreciate the food luxuries like Little Debbies, sodas, and chips.  These, I'm sorry to say, used to be staples in my weekly grocery trips and can increase your grocery bill buy $10-$20 easily.  I'm happy to say (and my hips are too) they are not any more.  I only buy snack cakes when I have a coupon and can get them at a great price (nearly free), soda is bought for special occasions like cookouts and parties, and chips are in our cabinet only when I've scored some free salsa or chip dip, and even then I refuse to pay $3 a bag.

Seriously, it's physically impossible for me to put a $3 bag of chips in my cart.

So every week I will post my meal plan for the week, grocery shopping list and total after coupons to prove how much I spend and that it can be done, and the recipes I use (if the meal requires one). 

Here are a few tips on how I make it on a $30/week grocery budget, and how you can decrease yours:

#1 Meal plan-this is essential!  There are so many times in the past I did not meal plan and just went to the store, bought some food, and spent a crapload of money.  Only to get home, look in the fridge and realize there's nothing to eat.

#2 Have a variety of recipes.  After you cook the same thing for so many weeks you get bored and that's when you start to stray and spend more in order to get a variety.

#3 Use your freezer to the fullest.  I'm in love with freezer meals.  They are fantastic and such a lifesaver for a busy family.  I also stockpile meat when it's on sale.  I don't buy 10 lbs but I buy family packs of whatever is on sale each week, divide it into meal portions in freezer baggies and that way I have it for future meals and don't have to pay full price.  For years I have had a large deep freezer to take advantage of, now that we live in an apartment we are limited to a regular refrigerator freezer.  Even with a small freezer you can still take advantage of freezer meals so don't let that deter you.

#4 stockpile/couponing.  No I don't mean stockpile like the people on the Extreme Couponing show.  You don't need a basement grocery store or a whole seperate room full of food to stockpile.  When items are at their lowest, with coupons, I try to buy about 4-5 of them.  For example, Quaker yogurt bars were on sale a few weeks back for $1.79 a box.  I had a coupon for $0.75 off of 1 which at my grocery store doubled to $1.50 making each box $0.29 each.  So I bought 5 boxes.  Occasionally when there is a really great deal on an item I can get for free I will buy up to 10 but no more than that.  Space in an apartment is limited and I only buy this quantity of items for things we go through quickly like ketchup, rice,cereal, etc.

#5 Plan ahead.  Our local pool was not opening for almost a month when I bought the yogurt bars but my first thought was how great they would be to take with us to the pool, park, zoo, etc.  The same thought occured to me when I bought 4 cases of Capri Sun juices a couple months back for $0.75 each.  These are regularly over $2 so I was so excited to get them so cheap.  During the summer months they are a necessity in our house.  If I had waited until I actually "needed" them, I may have had to pay full price or not get them at all.

Are you ready to start saving some money?  Are you ready to stop spending hundreds of dollars a month at the grocery store?  Start this week, take on the $30 Grocery Challenge!

Carrot Pumpkin Muffins

I recently read through the cookbook, Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld, and it opened my eyes up to the idea of adding veggie purees to different foods and I'm obsessed with it now.  The key to adding them is to add enough so the nutritional value is there but not enough so your little ones know it's there.  I have been experimenting with different recipes and have had success so far, even fooling my husband a few times (sorry honey!).

My latest experiment was with pumpkin muffins.  I love love love me some pumpkin.  I love that it smells like fall while I bake and everything you cook with it is always super moist and yummy.  I found this recipe on a freezer cooking website a few years ago.  So no fear of making a batch and 1/2 of them going to waste because you can freeze as many as you want and take them out the morning you want them, nook em in the microwave, and be on your way.

Carrot Pumpkin Muffins
1 1/2c flour
2 eggs beaten
1c sugar
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
1/2t cloves
1/4t allspice
1t baking soda
1/2c butter melted
1t cinnamon
1/4t salt
1/2c carrots finely shredded

mix dry ingredients and set aside.  Beat eggs.  Stir pumpkin, melted butter, and carrots.  Slowly add dry ingredients. Spoon into muffin tins.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

You can't taste the carrots and if you grate them finely you can't even really see them unless you actually look for them.  Knowing there is nutritional value to these makes me feel a little less guilty for letting Grant eat 3 of them in one sitting (where does he fit it all in that little belly?).

Bake and Enjoy!!

Sneaky Pancakes

I don't know about every other mom, but I am always trying to find ways to get extra nutrition into my little guy.  He goes through phases where he will eat anything and everything one day and the next he wants nothing that doesn't contain vast amounts of sugar.  I swear he can smell sugar from across the room (is that possible, I believe so).  I have started adding pureed fruits and even veggies into random things, one of them being pancakes.  I have made a few varieties: sweet potato, sweet potato banana, apple cinnamon, banana, and strawberry banana.  I have had great success with all of them and my little one doesn't even eat his with syrup, they have so much flavor without it, so it's a double score for me.
To make it easier on myself I keep a plastic container of dry pancake mix in the pantry so all I have to do is add the milk, egg, and puree.  Here is the recipe for the mix that I use:

Pancake Mix
5c all purpose flour
1c whole wheat flour (I try to add a smidge of wheat flour wherever possible but not enough for my son or husband to be able to taste it, otherwise they may not eat it)
2/3c sugar
2T baking powder
1T baking soda
wisk these ingredients together and put in an airtight container.  When ready to use simply combine 1c of the dry mix with 1t, 3/4c milk and 1 egg (I write this on a label or piece of paper and tape it to the outside of my container so if my husband is making them he will know exactly how to mix it and what to add.

Now you can start experimenting and adding your purees and spices.  I don't actually measure when I add the puree but it looks like about 1/2-3/4 of a cup.  I add them with the vanilla, milk and egg when making a batch. If you end up adding too much and your batter seems too thin you can always add a little more pancake mix to thicken it up.

Sweet Potato
approximately 1/2c pureed sweet potato
1/2-1t cinnamon
1t vanilla
1c pancake mix
3/4c milk
1 egg

Banana
1 mashed banana
1/2-1t cinnamon
1/4t nutmeg
1t vanilla
1c pancake mix
3/4c milk
1 egg

Sweet Potato Banana
1/2c pureed sweet potato
1/2 a mashed banana
1t vanilla
1/2-1t cinnamon
1/4t nutmeg
1c pancake mix
3/4c milk
1 egg

Strawberry Banana
1/2 a mashed banana
approximately 4-5 medium sized pureed strawberries
1t vanilla
1c pancake mix
3/4c milk
1 egg

Apple Cinnamon
2 finely chopped small apples or 1/2c applesauce
1/2-1t cinnamon
1/4t nutmeg
1c pancake mix
1t vanilla
3/4c milk
1 egg

**It's really easy to make a double or triple batch of these and freeze them for a busy morning or breakfast on the go.  Just take them out of the freezer and microwave them for 30-45 seconds.  I try to keep pancakes in my freezer at all times so on those mornings I can barely open my eyes, let alone operate the stove, Grant can still get a nutritious homemade breakfast.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I made this per my husband's request the other night and it was really good, and I'm not even a big fan of broccoli cheese soup.  I found this recipe online, where exactly I have no clue, but as usual I ended up changing some of it.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 (16oz) bags frozen broccoli
3 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth (I used 6 cups water and 4 chicken bullion cubes)
1 1/2 lbs velveeta cheese (I used 1 lb regular velveeta and 1/2 lb mexican velveeta)-cubed
pepper
1 onion-chopped
2 cups milk
1/2 cup flour
6T butter

Simmer broccoli in chicken broth until tender.  In a medium sized pan saute onion in butter for about 5 minutes.  Flour to make a thick pastry like paste.  Add milk about a half cup at a time and stir until thick.  Add the onion/milk mixture to your broccoli and broth, stir well.  Add your cubed velveeta cheese and stir until its melted completely.  Do not let your soup boil.  Add as much pepper as you like.

My husband likes spicey and hot flavors and I had both kinds of velveeta, if you only have regular velveeta I'm sure the soup would still be as good, the mexcian just adds a little more flavor to it.  The bonus to this recipe is it should freeze well.  As anyone who has read some of this blog of mine knows I love recipes that freeze well.  My husband doesn't like many things leftover but I hate wasting food.  Not to mention financial times are tough and it is always in the back of my mind that there may come a time when we don't have much money to spend on groceries.  It makes me feel good knowing we have extra stocked up in our freezer if we are in need or someone we know is in a rough spot.

Happy Eating!

Freezer Chicken

I'm sure everyone else has heard of this before but just in case there is someone else out there like me who hadn't heard of it, I thought I'd share. 

I never think to marinade my food until I'm getting ready to cook it, which really doesn't work because you don't get the same flavor.  When I started scouring the internet for freezer recipes I came across this idea and loved it.  It is perfect for me the non planner (wierd because with everything else in my life I plan way ahead of time).  When you buy your chicken breast and get it home take out whatever you want to marinade it in and some freezer bags.  Separate the chicken into portion sizes that fit your family.  My son is too small to eat regular food so for my husband and myself I portion my chicken breasts into 2-3 breasts per bag.  When your chicken is in the bag take your marinade and pour it into the bag, use a generous portion and move it all around your meat so it's covered.  Label your bag as to what marinade you used, the date, how many chicken breasts are inside, and drop it in the freezer.

The day you want to cook it, take it out of the freezer and it will thaw all day in the marinade so you don't have to think about it.  My husband and I recently did this with plain old BBQ sauce and grilled the chicken and oh my it was so good and juicy.

The easy marinades we like and almost always have on hand:
BBQ Sauce- whatever brand and flavor you like.  If I have time I like to put my BBQ sauce in a sauce pan and add minced onion, brown sugar, and honey.  Let it heat through and oh my goodness its so good.

Italian Dressing

My all time favorite is a Mountain Dew marinade made of 2c mountain dew, 1c soy sauc, 1/2c olive oil, 1/4tsp garlic powder.   I will say this sounds gross and looks just as bad but you will love it.  The chicken comes out super juicy and flavorful.  It is a must try.

Spanish Hamburgers (Sloppy Joes but better!)-Freezer Friendly

I won't take credit for creating this recipe.  My mom gave it to me and where she got it I have no idea.  She has been making this for us instead of store bought Manwich for years and we love it and bonus this recipe freezes really well.  It tastes just as good thawed and reheated in the microwave as it does the day you bake it, perfect for all us busy moms out there.

Spanish Hamburgers

2lbs lean ground beef
2tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4c instant minced onion
2T sugar
1/4c mustard
1 1/2c Ketchup

thoroughly mix all ingredients in small baking dish (I use 8x11inch pyrex dish).  Bake on 350 for 1 1/2 hours.  Stir occasionally to separate hamburger.  Serve on hamburger buns.

Since I never think ahead far enough to put mine in the oven for an hour and a half, so I baked mine at 400 for a little less than an hour and completely forgot to stir it until there were only 5 minutes left and mine still turned out tasty.

2 More Freezer Recipes

Here are two recipes I recently tried and absolutely loved, and the bonus is they can be frozen!

Garlic Pizza Crust

2T yeast
2c water
2T sugar
1/2 c oil
1t salt
6c flour
3 cloves crushed garlic

dissolve yeast in water and add sugar.  Wait a few minutes then add oil, salt, and garlic.  Mix in 3c flour and mix about 10 minutes until it leaves the side of the mixer bowl.  add remaining flour and mix.  knead until smooth.  split into 2 portions and place in freezer bags.
Baking:  remove from freezer and place in greased bowl.  Cover with towel and allow to  thaw and rise 3-6 hours.  Allow to rise twice in a bowl.  Punch down.  oil a baking sheet, using fingers press out to edges.
makes 2 pizzas, cookie sheet size.  let rise a bit and put toppings on.  Bake at 425 for 20 minutes. 

*my husband and I couldn't really taste the garlic so when I make them again I'm going to add a couple more cloves of garlic



Garlic Bread
1 large loaf french bread-sliced
1 stick or 1/2 c butter-soft
2 cloves garlic-minced
1/2 t dry parsley

mix butter, garlic and parsley.  spread thick layer over bread.  Put slices back together and wrap with foil, freeze.
Bake thawed for 25 min at 375.

*I like alot of garlic butter on mine so 1 stick of butter would not be enough for an entire loaf.  You may want to make a little extra just in case.  This is my favorite garlic bread,  I think its better than Texas Toast!

I will not take credit for creating these recipes.  I found them online but I'm not sure what website, oops.  They are both delicious and worth making.

My Favorite Freezer Meal/Once A Month Cooking Websites

For anyone who wants to try freezer meals or once a month cooking here is a list of some of my favorite websites:

Once A Month Mom
A Happy Freezer Full of Food
Christy's ClipArt

Money Saving Mom
Moms Budget
The Finer Things in Life
30 Handmade Days

Freezer Meal: Meatballs and Gravy

I absolutely love freezer meals.  I started looking at websites for recipes probably 6 months ago but was intimidated by the once a month cooking many women do. Not to mention our grocery budget is pretty tight, so getting enough money to buy a months worth of food at one time is a challenge in itself.  However, before I gave birth to my son I decided it would probably be a good idea to have some meals ready because there was no way I was going to be in the mood to cook in the weeks following the delivery, and i'm so thankful I did.  I went with the basics and the easiest of meals to freeze.  I didn't want to try anything I wasn't sure would freeze well because I didn't want to waste any food.  I ended up making meatloaf, bbq pork chops, chili, chicken enchilada soup, the filling for stuffed peppers, chicken in italian dressing marinade, and I had a turkey breast and roast ready to go.  my mom made sloppy joes, taco meat and veggy soup to add to our freezer as well.

Anyway the other night I decided to try out a recipe I found online for meatballs with gravy and then tweeked it a little to use what I had on hand.  I'd never made meatballs before so I was really hoping it turned out good and oh my goodness it was delicious.  I only wish I had gotten a picture of it to show, sorry.  Here is the recipe in case someone would want to try it.

Meatballs with Gravy

Meatballs
1 1/2 - 2 lbs ground beef
salt
pepper
italian seasoning
minced dried onion
seasoned bread crumbs
2 eggs

in medium bowl mix all ingredients.  I didn't measure any of my seasonings exactly (because I never do), I just put how much I thought looked good haha.  I didn't measure the bread crumbs exactly either but I probably put about a cup a them in.  You just need enough so you can make a ball out of the meat and it sticks together nicely.  Form meat mixture into balls (you can make them as big or small as you want) mine were about 1 1/2 inch balls.  In a pan over medium/low heat put about 1tbs of butter in your pan and let it melt.  Place your meatballs in hot pan and cook through.  Remove your meatballs when cooked thoroughly but leave the grease in the pan for the gravy

Gravy
1/4cup flour
3 beef boullion cubes
1 1/2 - 2 cups water

Blend flour into grease left in pan.  Add boullion cubes ( I didn't have cubes so I used boullion granules, either one works) and add water about 1/2 a cup at a time while stirring constantly until thickened.  Put meatballs back in gravy to heat.

I made this recipe into two batches.  I prepared the meatball mixture and only cooked about 8-10 meatballs.  With the rest of the mixture I formed about 7 more meatballs and placed them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and put this in my deep freezer until they were frozen.  Then I put the frozen meatballs in a ziploc freezer bag and put them back in the freezer.  Now i'm ready for the next time we want meatballs and gravy or spaghetti and meatballs.