Gifting

My little bro Josh and baby Connor.

My little brother is on his own for the first time.  He bought a house last spring and works a demanding job.  Mom said he was doing fine, had progressed past frozen burritos.  Well, when I was home for Christmas...and what was in his freezer?  Frozen burritos....

This I couldn't deal with.  He's a hardworking boy, works nights, not getting home until 4 or 5 in the morning.  I get that he needs quick food, something that will be ready in minutes so he can get to bed.  Well, luckily I've spent the last several months on Pinterest pinning every crock-pot friendly meal.  For Christmas I gave him a crockpot, and for his birthday (Jan 10) I gave him a bunch of ziplock bags and freezer worthy containers.  I then spent the next few days looking through my recipes, making shopping lists, dragging Mama Cindy to the grocery store, and putting her to work as my sous chef--in her own kitchen nonetheless.

Well...here are the results:

Getting ready to pack it up and head to Josh's.

Josh's freezer by the time I got done with it.

His ice maker isn't working so I filled the space with food!

Josh was so happy to have some food and grabbed a couple breakfast burritos as soon as I got done putting them in the freezer.  It was nice being able to take care of my brother like this.  I'm so far away there isn't much I can do, but I really enjoyed stocking up his freezer and knowing that he'll have some good food to eat for a while is priceless.

I did use a lot of spices out of mom's cabinet but bought all the meat and the majority of the ingredients for these meals at WinCo and it only cost $95.  For as much food as I made, that's a steal of a deal!

Here's what I made:
Turkey Chili (Made a triple batch and froze)
CrockPot Lasagna (Double batch and froze)
Oh-So Easy Pork Chops (Made 3 bags of 2 each chops)
BBQ Spare Ribs  (2 Bags)
Maple Dijon Chicken  (1 Bag)
Cilantro Lime Chicken (1 Bag)
Breakfast Burritos...I can't find the link to the recipe I used, but here is the recipe:

1 lb. Pork Sausage (I used Jimmy Dean)

1 Pkg. Hashbrowns (not frozen, the fresh kind like Simply Potatoes Brand)

12 Large eggs

1/4 cup milk

shredded cheese (I used pepper jack)

salt and pepper, garlic (and tobacco if you wish) to taste

1 to 2 pkg. flour tortillas (I used the soft taco size tortillas)

Break apart and brown sausage in pan.  Remove onto paper towel lined plate to drain.  Cook hashbrowns in sausage pan using the remaining grease…you might need to add some oil as well.

Crack eggs into large bowl and whisk until combined, add salt, pepper, garlic, tobasco and milk, whisk until combined.

When hashbrowns are done, lower heat to medium-low, add sausage back and pour egg mixture over the top and sprinkle some cheese on.  Stir until eggs are done.

Lay a tortilla out, spoon some of the mixture into the tortilla, sprinkle with cheese and roll up, ends in.  Wrap in plastic wrap, place in large ziplock bag and freeze.

To cook, remove from wrap, micro one at a time for 1-2 minutes.