Buffalo Chicken

I'm cooking all the freezer meals we have prepped so I can clean up some room and reorganize my chest freezer. Saturday I cooked up the buffalo chicken and since I had a batch of pizza dough leftover I decided to make buffalo chicken ranch pizza. My son isn't a fan of spicy food but the ranch mix I used instead of pizza sauce canceled out some of the spiciness without lessening the flavor so he devoured his slice. Dinner can be a struggle with him so I'm always happy when I find something that we all like. We used the leftover buffalo chicken to make quesadillas for lunch the next day and they also turned out tasty.

Buffalo Chicken
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup buffalo sauce
Cook in a slow cooker on low 6-8 hours. Shred chicken, return to juice and let cook 30 more minutes.

Buffalo Chicken Ranch Pizza
1 pizza dough, broght to room temperature and shaped
1 cup shredded buffalo chicken
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1 packet Ranch seasoning
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix sour cream, mayo, and ranch seasoning. Spread a thin layer of the mixture on the pizza dough; save what's left for dipping sauce. Sprinkle on the cheese and chicken.
Bake for 12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Easy Make and Freeze Meatballs

It recently dawned on me that I've never made spaghetti & meatballs. Meatballs are great so I'm not sure how this happened. They're so versatile; you can make meatball subs, add them to spaghetti, cook them in a wide variety of sauces, and they freeze and reheat well. So while hubby was at work I put Baby Boy in the carrier and got to work mixing up a big batch of meatballs. I had been looking for a recipe online and wasn't happy with anything I found so I made my own.

2 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 onion, minced
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbs salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups quick oats

Mix everything except the quick oats. Then start adding in the quick oats until you've reached the correct consistency. You want it to hold together when formed into a ball.
Next form the mix into balls. I like to make smaller, bite sized meatballs but if you want them bigger just remember to increase the cooking time.
Finally put them in a baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Slow Cooker Applesauce

We recently bought 40 pounds of apples because they were only $30 through Bountiful Baskets. For those of you who haven't heard of them I encourage you to check them out. There's no way we can eat 40 pounds of apples before they go bad so I decided to use half to make applesauce to freeze. The second half will be sliced and frozen for later. Freezing food for later use is one of the best ways to save money on groceries so I'm so happy we finally bought a chest freezer.
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First I had Hubby start peeling and slicing apples. I got this one because it makes 12 slices instead of 8 like all the ones I've found in the store.

Slow Cooker Applesauce

• apples - peeled, cored, and sliced
• 2-4 Tbs brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• other spices you like

We have a 6 quart slow cooker and I had him fill it almost all the way to the top with apples.
Next I sprinkled the brown sugar on top. The amount of brown sugar you'll use will depend on how sweet your apples are. I've had some that didn't need any sugar at all. It's better to start with less and then add more later.
Then add the cinnamon, vanilla, and whatever else sounds good. Sometimes I use them and sometimes I leave them out. This time I used cinnamon, allspice, vanilla, and a small bit of citrus peel.
Put it on low and let it cook. I let it go overnight but it'll depend on the size slices you use. Once it's ready you can leave it like it is if you want it chunky or take a stick blender to it if you want it smooth.
It doesn't look like it from the pic but I had enough to fill a gallon sized freezer bag.