Christmas Week 6: Giveaway Reveal

OHM Christmas Advent Garland

Yeah I'm so ready to let the cat out of the bag!!!!! Did you get a chance to go over to Old House Mercantile and guess at what this week's post is going to be about?!? Well if not, it has to do with Advent!!!!!! And if you go over to Old House Kitchen today, she is posting a tutorial on how to make your own Christmas Garland Advent!!! But that is just where the fun begins because not only is Old House Kitchen showing you how to celebrate Christmas with a fun tradition she is also giving away one of her Christmas  Advent Garland Kits. How awesome is that?!

Christmas Advent Garland Giveaway starts November 10th and ends on November 16th 12pm(EST).
Winner will be announced on November 17th.
You can enter in one or all of the following ways:

1st Entry: Head on over to Old House Kitchen to say thanks for the wonderful giveaway by leaving her a comment or liking her post on Facebook, come back and comment with what you did. (This way those without a Facebook accounts can still participate!!!!)

2nd Entry: Ideas, ideas, ideas: I want to know how you count down the days till Christmas so leave a comment with what your family tradition is.

3rd Entry: Blog about this giveaway on your own blog and then leave the link in the comments of this post.

It's that easy BUT you do need to leave 3 different comments to get 3 different entries. Best Wishes!!!!


Okay, now we have to get back to work. How are things going for you? Last week I asked you to come up with 5 freezer meal recipes. How did you do? Starting this week and continuing for the next 5 weeks, I want you to cook one meal and freeze it. This is going to be an emergency meal. We all know how busy it's going to get in December, so lets plan ahead and have some meals on hand to pull out and pop in the oven or crock pot so we don't waste any of our Christmas budget on eating out!!!! Here is my plan for my freezer meals:

(You can also do this all in once cooking session, whatever works best for you!)

Week 1: Hawaiian Chicken adapted from Don't Panic Dinner's in the Freezer
Label freezer bag with following directions: Thaw mixture and cook in crock pot on low for 4-5 hours or if frozen cook in crock pot for 7-8. Shred and serve over rice. 
Next add following items to freezer bag and freeze.
6-8 Chicken breasts (frozen or fresh) I'm using frozen cause it is what is on hand.
1 can crushed pineapples
2 green bell peppers sliced
2T cornstarch
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 T soy sauce
1T lemon juice
to taste salt, ginger
dash of ground red pepper
*don't forget to cook rice on the day you serve this

Week 2: Lasagna
(We will be having lasagna this week so I am going to prepare two, one to cook and one to freeze.)
Use your favorite recipe but instead of baking it, freeze it.  Southern Living has a great article on how to freeze lasagna. (For easy assembly, I'm going to use canned spaghetti sauce.)

Week 3: Turkey Enchiladas by Mom's Budget
Or any way you like to use up your Turkey leftovers. Simply slicing it for sandwiches would work as well!!!!

Week 4: Mexican Beef and Bean Crock Pot Meal adapted from Betty Crocker
Brown, drain and freeze 2 pds ground beef and season with chili powder, cumin, and onion powder.
Have on hand:
16 oz tomato sauce
2 cans pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
2 cups of chunky style salsa to your flavoring (we use mild)
On th day you want to serve this put ground beef in crock pot and add all on hand items and cook on low all day. I like to serve this with cornbread or corn chips and top with shredded M.Jack cheese

Week 5: Ham and Pineapple Sauce by Freezer Meals For Us
Cook and freeze Pineapple sauce with cooked sliced ham in same freezer bag. Cook pasta noodles of your choice, cool and freeze in different bag.
On day you are serving this meal, thaw sauce and noodles. While warming up sauce, boil a pot of water to warm up noodles by adding to boiling water for 1 minute and then draining noodles.Serve pasta with Ham and Pineapple Sauce.

And a quick no cook idea: Stop by your favorite pizza joint when pizzas are on sale and buy a couple to freeze. We love CiCi's Pizza and their carry out pizzas are a great price and cheaper than frozen pizzas at your local grocery store.

Alright, lets recap what we have going on this week:

• Enter for a chance to win a Christmas Advent Garland from Old House Kitchen
• Start your freezer meal cooking this week
• Start working on Christmas Cards if you are going to make them
• Finish up Christmas Letter this week

We are trekking along just fine and can you believe it is only 2 weeks till Thanksgiving? Don't forget to stop back by next week to see who won the Christmas Advent Garland Kit and what busy work we will be doing right before Thanksgiving!!!!!