Hoping to turn Jessica's rainy days into sunny ones!

I hope the weather where you are was as nice as it was here yesterday!  We had a great family day outside, playing and doing yard work.   We had a delicious meal on the grill (from the freezer, of course) and then took our first trip of the season to get ice cream.  Today is a much different feel - very rainy! 

Our family is excited about many more sunny days ahead.  Speaking of which - did you have a chance to read my post about Jessica?  If you missed it, make sure you pop over to take a look.  http://freezerfriendz.blogspot.com/2011/03/please-consider-helping-jessica.html  We'd love your support! 

Freezer Friendz has a space on Facebook!

Hey Chefs!
It's Mags - your background Tech Support! I may not be cooking with the group anymore, but I'm still snagging the recipes!
Just letting you all know that we've got our Facebook Page for Freezer Friendz all set up! You can LIKE us on Facebook and view the recipes there too! We hope you'll tell your friends about us - we appreciate the publicity!
Happy Cooking! :) Mags

Please Consider Helping Jessica

Today I’d like to share with you about a family friend who needs our help. Her name is Jessica Elam (pictured on the left with my daughter). Jessica was diagnosed with Ependymoma (a form of childhood cancer) in 2001. Jessica is 16 years old and has been battling cancer of the brain and spine since she was 6 years old. She is currently in her 6th relapse, yet she still fights hard and is a voice of hope for kids with cancer. Jessica is truly is an inspiration to all who know her. She is strong in her faith in God and continues to seek out ways to encourage others even when times are tough for her. Two days ago she began a new round of chemotherapy. Jessica will receive chemo for the next 40 days. She is experiencing pain in her spine. We are praying for strength, endurance, pain relief and a cure for Jessica. I would be thankful if you would join our family in prayer for her.

I came to know Jessica through our church, when she selflessly took time out of her summer to babysit my daughter while I volunteered at our church VBS. She and my daughter Abby (then 11mos. Old) had an instant connection. Toward the end of the week, Jessica's doctor told her that she should stay home and rest, but Jessica told them that Abby needed her at VBS. She was trying to teach her to walk. The doctor agreed to let her come because he knew it would be good for her spirit. Ever since that week, Jessica has been an important part of our family. She has helped Abby through every transition at church and visits her every Sunday in her Sunday school class. Abby just loves her and so do we!

On May 7th, our family will be participating in The 5th Annual Butterfly Walk for CancerFree KIDS. We will be walking on the team, Jessica’s Jackpots, to support Jessica in her battle against this disease. I am hopeful that our team will raise over the $6,147 that we raised last year to help fund pediatric cancer research. All of the money raised for the walk goes directly to cancer research in our home town at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the #3 hospital in the country for childhood cancer research.

Has Freezer Friendz been a blessing to you and your family? We have been so excited over the last three years about being able to provide you with lots of freezer tips and recipes at no cost to you. If you have been blessed by Freezer Friendz, would you consider paying it forward by being a blessing to Jessica by supporting her team for the 2011 Cancer Free Kids Butterfly Walk?

If you would like support us in the Butterfly Walk you can do so in 4 ways:

• Pray for the success of the walk.

• Join us in person! Register to walk with us on the team Jessica’s Jackpots in the 5th Annual Butterfly Walk and Fun Festival for CancerFree KIDS. Bring your whole family. What a great way to celebrate Mother’s Day weekend!

• Join us in spirit! Want to be a part of our team but can’t join us in person? Register as a virtual walker for our team – Jessica’s Jackpots.

• Support our team! Consider making a personal donation online at: http://www.active.com/donate/2011butterflywalk/AElam5 (note that you are a Freezer Friendz reader (ex. Your name/Freezer Friendz) All donations are tax deductible. Just print off your email confirmation for your donation for your tax records.

or

by mail: you can make a check payable to CancerFree KIDS and mail it to: CancerFree KIDS, Attn. Butterfly Walk, P.O. Box 575, Loveland, OH 45140. Please indicate on the memo line our team name Jessica’s Jackpots.

We hope you will share Jessica’s story with others and help raise awareness for CancerFree KIDS. Together we can change lives!

For more information on our walk visit http://www.butterflywalk.com/

For more information on CancerFree KIDS visit http://www.cancerfreekids.org/

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this note. We appreciate anything you can do to help raise awareness and support for CancerFree KIDS.

Your Freezer Friend,

Jackie

Happy 3rd Birthday Freezer Friendz!

I couldn't let this month pass without acknowledging our 3rd birthday! I can't believe it's already been that long!

This has been a fun year. We have gone up and down in the number of gals in our group, due to sports, etc., but we continue to swap meals monthly and love it!

This year we had the opportunity to share about freezer cooking with the MOPS group I used to be involved with and we had a great time doing that. We would love to share with more groups, so let us know if you are interested.

We continue to be amazed at the number of readers we have and at the fact that we have readers all over the world. It's funny since, when we started the blog, it was just to share our recipes and comments with each other. We LOVE being able to help other families have a more peaceful mealtime. :)

We love to hear from our readers, so please comment if you'd like.

Happy Birthday Freezer Friendz and Happy Freezer Filling to the rest of you!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, FREEZER FRIENDZ!

How is it possible that our little group has been exchanging meals for 2 YEARS?!! Wow!!



We'd LOVE to hear from YOU...

Do you have a favorite recipe from the last two years?
Have you and your friends started your own freezer group?

Post a comment with your favorite overall dish - either the title or link.
Your favorite may be something we need to make again!!

:)

Happy Birthday, Freezer Friendz!

A year ago, in March, a small group of four friends got together to trade freezer dinner once a month. After a couple of months of writing down recipes, copying them, and passing around the recipe cards, we finally realized that this would be SO much easier on a blog - and thus FreezerFriendz at Blogspot was born!

Now, our small group has expanded into two Teams, making dinners across 6 categories, and managing a blog that gets approximately 2000 hits per month! That's a fabulous birthday gift in and of itself!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

FREEZER FRIENDS!

Many happy returns!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Polls vs. Comments

Hey All -
With our growth to 8 people, we are going to be deleting the polls and having you just post your comments under the posts for each recipe you try. This will get rid of some of the clutter along the side of the blog (and allow us space for some new widgets... check out the Live Feed widget... tells us where everyone is coming from!), AND allow anyone (even visitors!) who have used a recipe off of our blog to leave their comments on it as well. It should keep things better organized and comments are directly emailed to us when they happen. That's a nice feature!

If you'd prefer your comment be "anonymous," you can choose this option when you are posting a comment. :)

Happy Eating!
:) Mags