All-Purpose Ground Meat Mix

5 lb. ground beef, turkey or chicken

1 T salt

2 cups chopped celery

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup diced green pepper

In a large pot or Dutch oven, brown ground meat, stirring to break up meat. Drain excess grease. Stir in salt, celery, onion and green pepper. Cover; simmer until vegetables are crisp tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.

Ladle into six 2-cup freezer containers with tight-fitting lids, leaving 1/2-inch space at top of each. With a knife cut through mixture in each container several times to remove air pockets. Attach lids. Label with date and contents. Store in freezer. Use within 3 monthjs. Make 6 packages or about 12 cups All-purpose Ground Meat Mix.

From the Make-A-Mix cookbook.

Chicken Mix and Broth

11 lb. chicken (4 medium fryers) cut up or 12 to 14 whole boneless chicken breasts instead of fryers

4 qt. cold water

3 T parsley flakes

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

4 t salt

1/2 t pepper

2 t dried basil leaves

Combine all ingredients in a large pot or Dutch oven. Cover and cook over high heat until water boils. Simmer until chicken is tender about 1-1/2 hours. (Less time is required if you are using Chicken Breasts). Remove from heat. Strain broth and refrigerate until fat can be skimmed.

Cool chicken, remove and discard bones and skin. Put chicken into six 1-pint freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch space at top. Pour skimmed chicken broth into six more 1-pint containers, with 1/2-inch space at top. Seal and label with date and contents. Freeze. Use within 3 months. Makes 6 pints of Chicken Mix. Makes 6 pints of chicken broth.

From the Make-A-Mix cookbook.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes (good for the freezer)

1 egg
1 cup whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
1 cup of buttermilk*
1 T. sugar*
2 T. vegetable oil*
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries (or berries of your choice)

1. In a medium bowl, beat egg with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth. Heat pan to medium-high heat for first few pancakes, then turn down to medium once you have done a few. Grease pan (or griddle) with oil.

For each pancake, use slightly less than 1/4 cup of batter. I made mini pancakes so I used about an 1/8th of a cup for each pancake. Cook pancakes until it bubbles on top, puffed and dry around edges. Turn and cook other side until golden brown.

Regular pancakes: Substitute 3/4 cup milk for the 1 cup buttermilk. Increase baking powder to 3 teaspoon. Omit baking soda.

*For healthier options, use Rapadura instead of sugar and use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.

I tripled this recipe and froze most of the pancakes for later in the month. I layed them on a cookies sheet (2 actually) and flash froze and then put them in a Ziplock bag after they were frozen.

September's Monthly Meeting

Time to start planning next months meeting...

Date: Thurs Sept. 11th

Time: 7:00

Place: Kelly's

Theme: Breakfast

Activity: Pizza Assembly

Snack: Amy (you did volunteer, right?)

RSVP: Sept 3rd

Some breakfast meal ideas:

Sausage Breakfast Muffins http://www.recipezaar.com/87629

Bagel Breakfast Sandwiches http://www.recipezaar.com/120519

Berry Good Moirning Breakfast Casserole http://www.recipezaar.com/122197

Breakfast Bake http://www.recipezaar.com/262761

Breakfast Burritos http://www.recipezaar.com/191627

Quick bread/muffins (banana, pumpkin, zucchinni)

We'd like to start committing to whether or not you can come by the first of the month in order to better plan the number of meals that we'd need to make. Since I'm getting a late start, I extended it to the 3rd, but please let me know ASAP is you will or will not be coming and if you know what you'd like to make. As soon as I hear from everyone, I'll send out a message to the group.

I will also create a sign-up sheet for the pizza ingredients. If you have a bread maker and would be able to make some dough, let me know.

During the meeting we'll also attempt plan dates, locations and themes for the rest of the year. So some prepared with some potential ideas for our meetings and when you might be able to host.

Some potential ideas:

-Christmas cookies in November

-Meatless meals

-Apple night: applesauce, pies, fritters in the fall (many hands make the cutting go so much faster)!

-More sewing projects

We could also try to plan another field trip and hope we don't get rained out again. I'll look into some potential apple orchards.

Already looking forward to our next meeting!

Appetizer and Dessert ideas

Artichoke Dip - Krista's got this one down!
Sausage and Mushroom pizza pockets
Chili's salsa
Ham It Up Crescent Rolls
Eggrolls
Pizza Spirals
Bacon Roll ups
Chicken Empanadas

Desserts
Raspberry Summer Sensation
Caramel Dessert
Orange Cream Freezer Dessert
Heidi's Chocolate Chip Cookies (which you know you can make up and freeze)

August meeting

July went well. We made a few bags despite a few glitches with our sewing machines. If Heidi will send me a picture of her's I will post it here. August's meeting is the 14th. We have to decide who is hosting and what we are going to do.

Several people mentioned making August - appetizer and dessert month. I agree! So post some ideas here when you get time.

Next Meeting

We will be meeting on July 17th at Amy's house. Don't forget those that made their June meals just bring that and those that didn't you will just bring a new dish. I think we are going to try our hand at sewing bags so it should be fun. If you aren't good at sewing no worries! We will have fun anyway.