Make Your Life Easier: Fast Mashed Potatoes, Bombers, Pancakes, Etc!

You've worked all day, picked up the kids from school, helped the kids with homework, and now you are expected to cook a dinner for you and your family.

These simple tips have saved us so much time and energy on work nights:

Mashed Potatoes
What you will need:
1 - 10 lb. bag of potatoes
peeler
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons of butter
Freezer bags
Potato masher or electric mixer

On your day off, peel and boil potatoes. Boil until a fork easily pokes into the potato. Drain water. Add butter. Smash down with a potato masher or electric mixer. Add milk and sour cream. Blend until light and fluffy mashed potatoes. Now portion out your mashed potatoes into freezer bags for how many people in your family you will be serving.

The next time you need mashed potatoes to go with your dinner, grab them out of your freezer! Unthaw. Warm in microwave safe dish and serve.

The potatoes taste just as good as they did when you first made them! You will see some liquid but it will be fine once you stir the potatoes. Enjoy!

Pancakes
What you will need:
Box of your favorite pancakes
Griddle
Spray butter
Two apples -skin on
1 - Tablespoon Cinnamon
2 bananas
Syrup
Peanut Butter- preferably crunchy
Large freezer bags

Follow directions on box to make all of the pancakes. Slice apples up into bite size pieces. Cut up one banana. Add apples and banana to pancake mixture. Add Cinnamon. Hand stir. Cook on griddle.

Now enjoy pancakes for breakfast or dinner! Spread crunchy peanut butter onto pancake with a butter knife. Cut up one banana to put on top of your pancake. Top with syrup. The peanut butter addition was given to me by my babysitter. They are delicious! Who says you can't do breakfast items on a week night?

*Substitute frozen or fresh berries in place of apple, banana, peanut butter, and Cinnamon.

The remaining pancakes put in large freezer bags. You can pull the pancakes out of the freezer frozen, microwave, and immediately enjoy!

When making your favorite lasagna, make up two batches immediately. Freeze and you will have another dinner prepared for a few weeks down the road.

What to do with your left over spaghetti sauce? Freeze for a later date. Use in fresh sauce or as cheese pizza dipping sauce.

Another use for the left-over spaghetti sauce is to put it in a Crockpot, add boiled Italian sausages, 2 green peppers cut up and 1 onion sliced. Let all ingredients simmer for 4 or more hours in crock pot. Put Italian sausage on a homemade bakery bun, top with sauce, onions and peppers. My sister-in-law calls these "bombers!"

Now relax earlier in the evening after a great meal!