French Bread Pizza would be easy and probably pretty cheap, too. Slice some french bread loaves in half lengthwise, spread with some bottled pizza or pasta sauce, top with grated cheeses, veggies, or some crumbled veggie sausage patties or Boca Burgers, bake until hot through and cheese is melted. Apple juice costs less than cider and can be kept hot in a crock pot - sweetened with brown sugar, add some cinnamon sticks and cloves tied up in cheesecloth. That will warm up those skaters very nicely! Apple slices dipped in a warm caramel sauce would be different. Taco Soup - you could use crumbled Boca Burgers instead of ground beef or add another can of beans or two. This makes a large quantity and freezes well 2 pounds ground round, or veggie burgers, crumbled 1 large onion, diced 1 packet taco seasoning 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch original dry mix salad dressing 1 can kidney beans (with liquid) 1 can pinto beans with jalapeños (with liquid) 1 can yellow hominy, optional 1 can diced tomatoes and green chilies (Rotel) 2 cans stewed tomatoes (I use Mexican stewed tomatoes) 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce 1 cup of water Cook beef and onion until beef is browned, drain excess grease. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Penzy's Spicy Cheese Bread 1 cup grated mozzarella, Jack or Swiss cheese 1 cup grated colby or cheddar cheese l loaf french bread sliced in half lengthwise 2 TB butt, soft 1/2 small yellow or red onion minced 1 1/2 t. Italian herbs 1 t. garlic salt 1/2 t. crushed red pepper or sprinkled on cayenne pepper Heat oven to broil. Cover baking sheet with foil. Toss cheeses in a bowl. Butter cut surface of bread and place on sheet. Sprinkle onion on both halves of bread. Sprinkle half of herbs and garlic. Mound cheese on top of bread. Top with rest of herbs and garlic and the red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper, if desired. Boil 5-7 min. until the cheese melts and the bread is crusty. Slice in 3" slices.

When the fridge in the garage went out four or five years ago we moved the side by side out there. I never liked the SbyS. It just seemed both compartments were too small. I have a fridge with a bottom freezer in the house and I like it better because my refrigerated items are at eye level. In the bottom freezer is the ice-maker, all my frozen herbs, nuts I have already toasted, white bread, wheat bread, containers of lemon juice and lime juice and some odds and ends. I had a 15 foot freezer in the garage which had to be defrosted. It stayed so packed that I could never find what I was looking for so we just sold it and bought a new self defrosting 21 CF freezer. It holds a lot more and I have vowed not to get it junked up with bits and pieces of items. It has one pull out tray the width of the freezer. It isn't deep and I keep things like frozen BBQ, the small amount of beef I buy, and various sausages in it. There is a bin in the bottom with a drop down closure where I keep boxed items for the grandkids such as corn dogs and other misc items. ONe shelf is devoted to frozen veggies. Large bags of nuts and ice cream go in the door. I bought 3 plastic bins from Wal-Mart. In one bin I placed packs of chicken parts, one has packs of all of my boneless, skinless chicken breasts in it and one contains pork chops and pork tenderloins. The top shelf contains a country ham which I had sliced and I used the Food Saver to put each slice in a separate bag. The Food Saver is great because anything frozen in those bags last a long time and doesn't get freezer burn.

jam5, Potatoes have a lot of water. When they are frozen raw the water expands causing bursting of the potato's cell wall structure. The result is mushy, gross potatoes. OTOH, I freeze COOKED scalloped potatoes successfully routinely. Mashed potatoes also freeze well. The reason you can freeze cooked potatoes is because the cell walls have already broken down during cooking. Mashed potatoes are, of course, 'pre-smushed' so freezing isn't a problem. Unfortunately, I'm afraid you'll need to start over. After the casserole is made...cook immediately, then freeze. To reheat, start from frozen (covered). I believe it will take at least 90 minutes. I reheat frozen scalloped potatoes in the microwave because I think they're better but you'll not have that option. So, keep them covered until the last 15 minutes, or so. Sorry...stuff happens. Remember, experience is nothing more than what we get when we don't get what we expected. /tricia

As mentioned above, you have to cook them before you freeze them. I've had some freeze on me when my refrigerator was too cold, and they turned to mush instead of mushroom. Better to dry them, if you can, and this can be done in the oven, I think. I always have dried mushrooms on hand, and these are not like fresh either but are good in soups and stews. When storing fresh mushrooms in the fridge, I always transfer them to a small brown paper bag (never in plastic), and this helps them keep a bit longer. Sometimes they get dehydrated this way in the fridge, and if so I use them as I would dried mushrooms. I bought a pound of fresh Shiitake mushrooms last week-end at a Japanese market, and I find that these keep a bit better than the white button mushrooms, but I do use a lot of them. I made a mushroom noodle soup yesterday for lunch because the weather was cool and rainy. If I had a huge amount of mushrooms, I would make mushroom barley soup and freeze that - or else make a large amount of a mushroom velouté sauce and freeze that. The sauce can be used later for mushroom soup. I always buy whole mushrooms that have not been washed. I wipe them off with a mushroom brush and/or paper towel if they seem dirty but never wash them with water. I get a good selection of mushrooms at the Hollywood Farmers' Market, but some of them are a bit expensive and seasonal.