Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce

It only seems fitting to bring in the new year with my very first crockpot/freezer recipe. My family started making our own spaghetti sauce about a year ago to save money and cut out unwanted ingredients in our foods. My husband and daughter have developed a recipe that my family loves. Until yesterday the recipe was never recorded on paper only done by memory by one of them. So my sixteen year old daughter decided she would record it and get the measurements so I could bring it to you! I have always froze the leftover sauce for another time. We always made it on our stove top until yesterday when we used both of our new crockpots.                                                                       Now I can't take the credit for the idea of using the crockpot to cook the sauce. I got that idea from my friend Laura at Momables . Laura has awesome recipes and lots of homemade recipes and tips for meal planning. She even offers a subscription for meals at a great price!
So here it is my family's recipes for Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce.

This recipe is for 5 quarts of sauce. We used a 5 quart crockpot to make the sauce.

Ingredients:
1- 105 ounce can of tomato sauce
3 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. onion salt
4 tsp. basil
4 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoon on fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp. of red pepper flakes if you like it spicy( may omit)

Instructions:
Turn crockpot on low and add whole can of sauce. Add all the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Let cool. Put in gallon freezer bags. Lay flat and freeze. When you are ready to use the sauce defrost in fridge the night before.
It's that simple. Each pot of sauce should yield two bags of sauce. We have a large family so that is what we use. You can divide it anyway you want. Their really is no rule for how many bags you use.

We used two 5qt pots and ended up with four gallon bags and a quart bag of pizza sauce.

 

Here is the finished product. My daughter browned a pound of ground beef, made noodles, and added it to the sauce. This plate was for my youngest girl. She had mozzarella Italian bread, homemade spaghetti and a side salad. Yum! It was delish!

 

I hope you all bring in your New Years with positive thoughts and goals. Happy New Years!

New Years Resolutions

I have never really been one of those people who makes resolutions. This year I decided that I would make some lifestyle resolutions and share them with you. I am going to take some steps to make life easier on the home front. So next year you will be seeing lots of new ideas on the blog. I am so excited to take my blog to the next level.
Here are a few of my ideas for the blog. I of course will continue to do bento lunches! Freezer cooking, crockpot meals, homemade earth friendly cleaners, recycling and so much more. I can't wait to share it with all of you! Take care and have a great rest of the year and I will be back with you soon. 

Christmas Party

Hey there! Tonight we are all going to my daddy's house for Christmas! Woo hoo! Let the celebrations begin! So today I cooked all kind of yummy goodies for tonight. I made sausage balls, little Smokey's wrapped in crescents and mini quiche. My grandma was a big fan of cooking and I think I may have that trait myself.

These are my mini quiche. Being the bento creator I am I couldn't let these leave the house without cute Christmas food picks!

 

And here are my Smokey's wrapped in crescents.

 

My kiddos are out of school for the next two weeks so I won't be making many lunches. I do however have something up my sleeve. I am working on a couple things and resolutions for myself and family. I can't wait to bring that all to you.

Merry Christmas and I will see you all later this week!

Jolly Holiday Blog Hop

Hey there! It's A Jolly Holiday Blog Hop! Today you will get to see some of my friends from Bento Bloggers & Friends spread some holiday cheer as you hop through our holiday lunches! And this is my first blog hop! I am so excited to get to participate in the hop. So without further ado here are my Jolly Holiday lunches!

 

Here is my tribute to one of my favorite Christmas movies. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation! This lunch is for the oldest. She will totally get this lunch. She has Chocolate hazelnut spread sandwiches. Apple slices, sugar snap peas and sweet pepper rings. She also has holiday pretzels and three Wally Moose homemade chocolate grahams.

 

 

This lunch is for the littlest girl. She has a turkey Gingerbread Girl sandwich. Turkey and Colby Jack cheese roll-ups. Apple slices, grapes, cucumbers and sweet pepper rings. She also has holiday pretzels and homemade chocolate chip cookies.

 

 

This lunch was for the fifth grader. She has a Santa turkey sandwich. She also has apple slices, grapes and cucumbers. Homemade chocolate chip cookies and holiday pretzels.

 

These lunches were super fun to make and I know the kiddos are going to so happy. Now hop on over to my friend Eileen's page Robot Squirrel And The Monkeys and check out lunch! All you have to do is click on the cutie pie panda and it will take you strait through the hop!

 

 

 

Christmas Lunch #2

Happy Friday! My children informed me today that there are only 12 days left until it is Christmas. They are so excited for Santa to come to our house. I will be doing Christmas themed lunches for them until next Friday. They get out for Christmas break next Friday. I really have mixed emotions about this. lol I know they need a break from school and I for sure need to sleep past 6:30 AM. In todays lunch I did a little bit of a Winter theme and a little bit of Christmas. Here is todays lunch!

This lunch is for the oldest girl. She has peanut butter Christmas Tree sandwiches. Christmas cookies and pretzels. Cucumbers, sweet pepper rings and grapes. Santa is peeking from behind the trees!

This lunch is for the youngest girl. She has peanut butter snowman sandwiches. Christmas cookies and pretzels. Cucumbers, carrots, sweet pepper rings and grapes.

This lunch is for the fifth grader. She had Santa peanut butter sandwiches. Christmas cookies and pretzels. Cucumbers, grapes and carrots.

 

This lunch is for the boy. He has peanut butter snowflake crackers. Christmas cookies and pretzels. He also has a clementine and grapes.

 

I just love Christmas and these lunches have been so fun to make. Have a great weekend!

New Bento Supplies!

Hey there! I am super excited today! I got my shipment in from All Things For Sale. The kiddos were so excited to see all of our great new bento stuff. So of course I had to do a lunch with it. This will be our last lunch that isn't a Christmas lunch until after the holidays! Here is what I got in the shipment.

Look at all of it! This place is one of the most awesome suppliers of bento supplies. And affordable!

This was lunch for the boy. He has mini pepperonis, A clementine, and grapes. He also has pretzels and homemade star grahams. I used two Star Wars rings and lite sabers for decoration in his lunch.

This is lunch for the fifth grader. She had a hard boiled egg molded in the shape of a bear. She also had ham sandwiches pressed into stars, a bear and a heart. Cheese its, pretzel balls, grapes, carrots and cucumbers. I also added some adorable bear food picks. She loved this lunch!

This is lunch for the littlest girl. She has a hard boiled egg shaped as a bunny. She also has mini shaped sandwiches with hazel nut spread. Sweet pepper rings, cucumbers and grapes. She also has pretzels. I used cute little bunny food picks and strawberry shaped silicone cups.

 

I had so much fun using all of our new bento supplies!

Star Sandwiches!

Good morning all! We have had some sickness here at our house. All four kiddos were home yesterday. So no lunch. Today two were supposed to go back to school and only one ended up going. I had packed two lunches for today. But only sent one with the boy. I am going to share them both with you today. Believe me that second lunch will not go to waste in this house. So here is todays lunch!

The youngest girl has star turkey sandwiches in all different sizes. Cherry tomatoes, sweet pepper rings, and grapes. She also has a pretzel mix.

 

This is lunch for the boy. He has pepperoni skewers. Pretzels and Ritz crackers. He also has grapes and a banana(not shown).

 

These two lunches were very simple to make. I used handmade food picks.(I made them) And of course different size star cookie cutters.

Christmas Lunch #1

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by today. A couple of weeks ago my friend sent all kinds of cookie cutters and presses to me in the mail. I got another small package from her today and I am so excited. It had all kinds of cute cookie cutters in it! For todays lunch I used some of the Christmas presses she sent. The sandwiches turned out so cute! So here is todays lunch!

In this lunch the youngest girl had two sandwiches shaped like a gingerbread boy and gingerbread girl. She had Christmas cookies and Holiday Wheat Thins. She also had apple sticks, carrots, cucumbers and sweet pepper rings. She also had a gingerbread man made out of smoked gouda cheese.

 

This lunch is for the oldest girl. She had a ham sandwich shaped as a Santa face. She also had Christmas cookies and Holiday Wheat Thins. Apple sticks, sugar snap peas and sweet pepper rings
.

 

This lunch is for the boy. He has peanut butter snowflake crackers. Holiday Wheat thins and Christmas cookies. Apple sticks and grapes.

 

We used our Easy Lunchboxes for todays lunch. I also used cookie presses and cookie cutters to make this lunch. This is our first Christmas lunch of the season. Stay tuned for lunches like this one!

 

 

 

 

 

Captain America Sandwich!

Hello there! Today is a very exciting day at our house. We get to use are new Easy Lunchboxes! They arrived yesterday and everyone was so excited to see the box! I must say I an excited too! Thank you Kelly! You are awesome! I have been wanting them ever since I first saw them. They are super cute. I will be doing a review on them soon. Stay tuned for the results! So without further ado I present todays lunch in our brand new Easy Lunchboxes!

This lunch is for the boy! He has a Captain America pepperoni sandwich. Apple fries and a clementine orange. He also has star shapes pretzels and a Greek yogurt tube(not shown).

 

All of the girls had basically the same lunch today. They had heart shaped sandwiches. Two had turkey and one had chocolate hazelnut spread. Apple fries, carrots, sugar snap peas and sweet pepper rings. They also had Annie's snack mix and Annie's bunny grahams.

 

In todays lunch I used our Easy Lunchboxes. Heart shapes silicone cups and regular silicone cups. I also used my set of biscuit cutters from The Pampered Chef and a heart shaped cutter. Swing by these sights and check out all of their awesome products. Have a great day and come back to see me.

Cute Sandwich Day!

Hello there! Today I made all kinds of cute sandwiches for the girls. Who knew bread could be so cute! I have many, many different types of cookie cutters and presses. I guess you could say I am a collector. I am just now getting around to using some of them and am adding new ones all the time. I adore cookie cutters. They are an excellent way to cut sandwiches into cute shapes and absolutely necessary in my opinion. Take a look at the cute sandwiches in todays lunch!

This lunch is for the oldest girl. She had a flower shaped chocolate hazelnut spread sandwich. P.B.&J. trail mix and homemade grahams. Also she has sugar snap peas, sweet pepper strips and apple slices.

This lunch is for my cuddle bug and youngest girl. She is using our pink and purple Lunch Blox boxes today. She has a cute sheep and two mini cow chocolate hazelnut spread sandwiches. P.B.&J. trail mix and Annie's Bunny mix. She also has sugar snap peas, carrots, apple slices and celery used to make the grass in the pasture!

This lunch is for my ten year old. She is using our Goodbyn Bento box today. She has turkey star shaped sandwiches. P.B.&J. trail mix with two star shaped homemade grahams and star shaped pretzels. Also celery, carrots, apple slices and peanut butter for dipping.

And last but not least the boy is using our blue and orange Lunch Blox set today. He has apple slices and grapes. Pretzel shapes with peanut butter. Homemade grahams and P.B.&J. trail mix.

I love making all the cute sandwiches. I know the really like to get them too. My youngest girl loves all the animals in her lunch box. She is such an animal lover. The two older girls love them too. In todays lunch I used many different shaped cookie cutters. The mini cutters came from local stores. The sheep cutter came from Sur La Table. They have great cookie cutters and much more. Great prices too. Click on the name and it links you to the online store. The Lunch Blox can be found at Target or Rubbermaid. Have a great day!


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Super easy lunch!

Hello there! It's Monday yall!  I made super simple lunches today for the kiddos. This mama has been a little under the weather. I wanted to show you that you can still pack a super simple lunch even if you are not feeling great or are pressed for time. As an opener to the Christmas season I made a really cute Winter theme today. All of the kids have very similar lunches. I tweaked each one a bit to fit each kids likes. Here is todays lunch.

 This lunch is for the youngest girl. She has snowflake shaped Ritz with peanut butter. Holiday pretzels and homemade graham crackers. Carrots, sugar snap peas, sweet pepper slices, apples and grapes. She also has two snowflake shaped pieces of smoked gouda.

This lunch is for the second oldest girl. She has snowflake shaped Ritz crackers with peanut butter. Holiday pretzels and homemade graham crackers. Carrots, sugar snap peas, sliced bell peppers, grapes and apples.

 

This is lunch for the boy. He has snowflake shaped Ritz with peanut butter. Holiday pretzels and homemade graham crackers. A clementine orange, apples and grapes.

 

This was such an easy lunch. My kids like peanut butter crackers so from time to time I will pack them for lunch or for a snack. I used mini Christmas cookie cutters to make the graham crackers. I will post a recipe soon. I am tweaking it to get it just right so all the kids will love them. I hope you all have a very good Monday!