Bulk Baking

If you know me or have read my blog for any period of time, you know I am a huge fan of saving time and freezing meals, and rarely do I make a single batch of anything. But it's not just for lunch, I freeze breakfast foods as well. I have frozen muffins in the past, but recently I have found a waffle recipe I like, and Cara and I have been LOVING them reheated in the toaster oven for breakfast. Add some fruit and skim milk, and you have yourself a meal! Today I decided I wanted to get a bunch of BULK baking done, and I succeeded, with the help of Cara (note, she hates it when I pull out the camera, so she is protesting in most of the pictures) :). The goal for today was to make a double batch of pumpkin muffins, double batch of whole wheat waffles, and a new loaf of honey whole wheat bread for sandwiches, etc.

The morning started with a clean kitchen, I have become obsessed with cleaning it before bed and it's so nice to wake up to this in the morning:

So I started by setting out my 3 recipes and getting my ingredients out, and my helper situated.

I figured I'd start with the waffles, because they take the longest...because you have to cook them one at a time. So, I mixed up the batter while heating up my waffle iron (I do what she says, I use about half water and half milk, and half oil and half unsweetened applesauce). I sprayed with a little cooking spray, poured the first one in, and set my timer for 5 minutes (last time, I didn't set a timer and I kept burning them!!!). Next, I got the water and wheat flour breaking down, and started the yeast/water/honey mixture for my bread. As that worked, I started on the dry and wet ingredients for my pumpkin muffins. I don't put the butterscotch chips in them, and I use 1 cup WW flour and 3/4 cup white flour (actually, since I doubled it, I used about 2.5 cups WW flour and 1 cup white flour). Cara likes playing with the crumbs (that she helps get on the counter by helping me 'stir'). As we were finished mixing the wet and dry together, it was time to add the yeast mixture to the dough mixture, along with the butter, salt, etc and knead it into a ball.

"I don't want to smile!!"

Now we poured the pumpkin batter into the muffin pans. I had planned on making 24 normal sized, and 48 mini muffins, however, I OVER poured on the normal sized ones, so I only made 12 normal sized and 40 mini muffins (tip, if you have more batter, but not enough to fill a pan, pour a small amount of water in the cups with no batter, it helps to not scorch the pan, and the muffins actually come out more moist!). And Hannah, if you're reading this....that is your 24 count mini muffin pan!

At this point, Cara was hungry (again, she had already had half a waffle and a banana for breakfast), so she stopped and had 2 1/4 pieces of a fresh waffle. She ate it up, with no syrup!This is only part of what all we cooked. The bread still wasn't finished at this point, and the two small pans of mini muffins were still cooking!! I left enough out to eat on the next few days and the rest are already in the freezer!

:) I love super-accomplished feeling days. If only I loved to clean like I love to cook!

Click here to find a bunch more recipes and people serving their families hot breakfasts :)