X-Treme Food Stamp Challenge--Baking frenzy

Yesterday, I continued my theme of reorganizing, restructuring, and cleaning out the freezers. 

But first: breakfast!  I opened up a jar of potatoes my mom had grown and canned last year, mashed them up, mixed in a chopped up tomato, onion, and green pepper from my garden, seasoned it with some basil (from Freecycle), oregano (from my mom), garlic powder, and a little sea salt.  Then I cooked it all up in a little bit of olive oil, hash brown style, and topped with a little feta cheese when it was nice and light brown on both sides.  Of course, the kids wanted it with ketchup, but I thought it was great as it was, with a Diet Coke to drink.

After breakfast, I started on the day's mission: filling the freezer with ready-to-eat goodies for when my 12 year old of the huge appetite arrives Friday.  I made peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, pretzels, and spinach bagels (not that I really think the spinach bagels will really last that long, but it was part of my baking frenzy nonetheless). 

No, I'm not going to put up the bagel recipe I used, because it wasn't that great.  I will be perfecting a spinach bagel recipe and probably other flavors as well (I had a really great idea on how to make the perfect strawberry bagel last night, but will have to try it first), then I will post them.

In my search for the baggie of spinach I knew had to be in there somewhere, I entirely reorganized the freezers so I can find things when I need them, get at things easily when I'm making meals or if someone needs a snack, and have enough room for the venison my husband will be bringing back with him when he comes home from his hunting trip today (no, he hasn't gotten another deer.  This is from the beginning of the firearm season last month.  He's just no getting around to bringing it home)

For dinner, I had some shipwreck that had been frozen as an individual meal and the kids had zesty mac-n-cheese.  We snacked throughout the day on the cookies (and milk) and pretzels I made, as well as homemade pear fruit leathers I pulled out of the freezer.  The kids also ate a small jar of homemade applesauce and enough dried pears that I was a tad worried they'd be having some digestive issues.  I had some tortilla chips and apple-tomato salsa.  I found myself giggling with a little glee when cracking open the applesauce, salsa, fruit leathers, and dried pears, because I thought it was really cool that we were enjoying the fruits (haha) of my labor a month or two ago now that snow is on the ground!