Mranimal Farm

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Frugal

Can You Freeze Spaghetti Squash? A Food Preservation Guide

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Can you freeze spaghetti squash? We have already covered freezing mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Can You Freeze Spaghetti Squash

Like so many times before, you may notice a theme here, we found a fantastic sale on organic spaghetti squash at our local market. So, as per usual, we loaded our cart with enough spaghetti squash to garner the standard “What are you going to do with ALL of that spaghetti squash?” from curious onlookers.

“I’m going to freeze it and eat it for a year.” I let them know.

“Can you freeze spaghetti squash?” they ask.

“Well…”

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Can You Freeze Sweet Potatoes? A Food Preservation Guide

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Can you freeze sweet potatoes? Recently, I asked myself the same question about mashed potatoes (right here, ICYMI). It turns out, not only can you freeze sweet potatoes, you should start freezing sweet potatoes.

Can You Freeze Sweet Potatoes

Not only does freezing sweet potatoes make frugal sense. Freezing sweet potatoes makes time saving sense too!

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Can You Freeze Mashed Potatoes? A Food Preservation Guide

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I recently asked myself, “Can you freeze mashed potatoes?” Because we found ourselves with an almost overwhelming amount of potatoes.

Can You Freeze Mashed Potatoes

True story.

Recently, we were walking through the grocery store and we see they are having a HUUUUUGE sale on potatoes. Like a ridiculously good deal.

So what do you do when you see a ridiculously good looking deal?

You buy a ridiculous amount of potatoes, that’s what you do. Like, to the tune of fifty pounds.

Can You Freeze Mashed Potatoes

This times A LOT!

(We had a similar experience with sweet potatoes)

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Goat Toys – DIY & Cheap Toys for Goats to Keep Your Herd Busy

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The other day I looked out my kitchen window and saw goats….outside of their fence just strolling around.  Yikes!  It turns out that bored goats are sneaky goats.  Goat toys can be a fantastic way to keep your herd busy and entertained during the day.

Goats can be very inquisitive and can get into trouble climbing fences and doing other naughty things especially if they get bored.  So, just as you prepare for your goats, make sure you choose the the right goats.

(If you don’t have goat toys and all of your other goat supplies gathered yet, hop on over to our Getting Started with Goats eCourse and get yourself prepared!)

Once you have your everyday goat preparations ready, you may also want to think about what toys for goats you should get.

 

Goat Toys

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Crockpot Chilli – with Chicken or Beef and no Tomatoes

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When it is cold out, everyone loves nice warm hearty meals.  But, really, sometimes with all the farm chores, we just don’t have time to cook them!  That’s why we LOVE our crockpot meals.  It is SO wonderful to spend a few minutes prepping a meal, toss all the ingredients into the crockpot and not have to touch it until it’s ready to eat!  Plus, they usually have several servings of food, so you have leftovers for a few days.  It’s a win-win.  Crockpot chilli is one of our favorite go-to meals!

Crockpot Chilli

We do both beef and chicken chilli in the crockpot and both are pretty similar recipes.  Our chilli is a little different than most as we don’t eat tomatoes much, so we do them sans the typical tomatoes.  Not only does this crockpot chilli (both the beef and the chicken versions) take only a little time to prepare, it makes about 6 – 8 servings and only costs about $2.50 per serving with all organic ingredients!

Crockpot Chilli:  with Beef

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
9 cans of tri-beans (kidney beans, black beans, northern beans)
1/2 tsp each of:  cumin, cayenne pepper, paprika, oregano
(optional) salt and pepper to taste
(optional) cheese

Process

1)  Cook the beef on the stove top in frying pan on medium until cooked all the way through. We love this frying pan!
2) Drain beef and rinse with water.
2) Open your cans of beans and drain all except two.
3) Add beef, beans, spices to crockpot.  This is our favorite crockpot – we use it almost weekly!
4)  Cook on medium 6 – 8 hours.
5)  Serve with cheese on top.

Crockpot Chilli:  with Chicken

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
4 cans Northern Beans
5 cans Kidney beans
1/2 tsp each of:  cumin, cayenne pepper, paprika, oregano
(optional) salt and pepper to taste
(optional) cheese

Process

1)  Bake chicken in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes (or until thoroughly cooked).
2) Drain all beans except for two cans.
3) When chicken is fully cooked, slice it up into bite sized pieces.
4)  Add chicken, beans, spices to crockpot.
5) Cook on medium 6 – 8 hours
6)  Serve with cheese on top
Both of these meals only takes about 10 minutes of actual hands-on preparation. So, they are not at all time-consuming.  And you end up with a great hearty, multi-serving meal.  It is also a great option if you are feeding a lot of people and want something yummy, easy and cheap!

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Can You Freeze Spaghetti Squash
Can You Freeze Sweet Potatoes

 

 

Zucchini Noodle and Beef Casserole – Gluten Free

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Zucchini Noodle & Beef Casserole

Every summer we grow TONS of zucchini and yellow squash.  We eat a lot fresh and then also freeze a lot.  We process it both as chips (slices) and also noodles on our mandolin slicer.  With all of this summer squash we like to think up several different ways to use it.
One of our favorite ways to cook up the zucchini and yellow squash noodles is as a beef casserole.  It is delicious and also packs all of the veggies, protein and carbs of an entire meal into one simple dish that is also yummy when it is re-heated (so you can cook one time and get multiple servings!!).  This zucchini noodle and beef casserole recipe is a great gluten free casserole option.

Here is our delicious Zucchini Noodle and Beef Casserole recipe.

You may also like:  Zucchini Lasagna or Zucchini Nachos.

Ingredients for an 8×8 casserole:

1) 9 cups of zucchini slices or noodles  (or yellow squash – or a combination of both)
2) 1lb of beef
3) 1 tsp Oregano
4) 1 tsp Garlic
5) 1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, gouda and monterey jack taste great!)Process:

Process for making the casserole:

1)  Heat fry pan with olive oil on medium/high, add zucchini or yellow squash.  Heat it until it is warmed all the way through.  Can brown the squash if desired.  This usually takes around 5 minutes.
2)  Cook beef, add oregano and garlic on medium/high heat in fry pan on stovetop.
3)  Mix together beef, squash and cheese in casserole dish.
4)  Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Let us know how you like this casserole when you make it!