Stocking the Freezer

This week I've been slowly stocking the freezer. I find I throw too many things away because they sit in the back of the fridge. Or I wimp out on making real dinners because I tell myself I have too much homework. So this week I've been working on these problems.

Please disregard the big dried leaf in front of the ice cube tray. It fell off the dying plant that I keep on top of the fridge. I don't exactly have a green thumb.



I froze some tomato sauce in ice cube trays then emptied the cubes into plastic bags. This way I can thaw only as much as I need. I took two cubes out today for dipping sauce for some bread sticks, and it was one quick minute in the microwave and ready to go!

I made a big batch of dough for beef empanadas. I'm thinking I'll also do a batch without cheese and with some added sugar so that I can pull out a few at a time for dinner or dessert. Spontaneous mini apple pie pocket for dessert? Yes please!

Another thing on my list is to make some pie crust (9-inch size, top and bottom crusts) so I'll always be ready to throw together whatever pie I crave!

I also roasted a couple of bananas for some muffins and froze the extra. I used an ice cube tray, but realized later that it's kind of unnecessary for bananas, since they stay soft even when frozen. You could freeze the bananas whole then slice or mash and store them however you want. I like mashing them so they're ready for breads and muffins. If you're the smoothie type, you should probably go the slicing route.

Now please excuse me while I spend the next three months trying to empty my freezer.