Good Morning & Happy Friday! This week went by really fast for me, how about you? I feel like I’ve been cooking away, but that’s okay because it will be worth it to have my freezer ready for the upcoming Holiday season. Have you thought about Christmas yet? The stores already have all of their decorations out (which my 3 year old just loves) and a few days ago when the weather was gloomy and we were shopping the thought of playing Christmas music popped in my head! I know, it’s not even Halloween yet, and I always wait until at least Nov. 1st! 
This week’s recipes are fairly simple because I figured we’ve made it half way through this 6 week series and well, we deserve a little break! I apologize for another banana recipe, but I had to use up some of the bananas I had on the counter. I swear they turned black the day after I bought them. Does that ever happen to you? Well, enough rambling and onto some Freezer Cooking! Have a wonderful Weekend!
Did you miss a week of this Series? Here they are! 
Week #1 , Week #2 , Week #3
Here’s what we’re working on this week:
(1) Old Fashioned Banana Nut Bread
( I left out the nuts this time for my picky eaters)
Bake as usual, cool completely and then wrap in plastic wrap and store in a freezer friendly plastic bag or container. You may pre slice these loaves if you want for easy, individual servings later. When you are ready to use, defrost overnight on the counter, or take individual slices out and warm in the microwave for a few seconds.
(1) Crockpot Pasta Fagioli
Cook in slow cooker like usual. Let the soup cool to room temperature and then store in a freezer friendly plastic bag or container. To defrost, you may place the bag or container in the refrigerator to thaw a bit, then pour into a pot and warm on the stove to serve. If you froze this in a plastic freezer bag flat, I always suggest when thawing, to place the bag in a pot or casserole dish, just in case there may be a leak from the bag.
(1) Peanut Butter Lover’s Reese’s Pieces Cookies
Yum! These are a guilty pleasure of mine you guys! Bake as usual, and (if you have any left from family members grabbing 1 0r 2 as they pass by) let cool completely and store in a freezer friendly plastic bag or container. To serve, set out at room temperature for 30 minutes to thaw.
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Stock Your Freezer Fridays Series Week 4
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cup unsalted butter, softened
5 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
1 3/4 cups white sugar
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
7 1/4 cups all purpose flour
4 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup half and half (or buttermilk if you have it to make this really tender & moist!)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup Reese's Pieces
2 to 2 1/4 lbs. 90% lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced fine
2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 (24 ounce) jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed well
1 (16 ounce) can great northern beans, drained and rinsed well
1 (32 ounce) container beef stock
3 tsp. dried oregano
2 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. black pepper
1 Parmesan cheese rind if you have it
8 oz. fusilli pasta, uncooked
Freezer friendly plastic bags or containers
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