Alfredo Sauce

We did a massive Costco shopping trip yesterday and I was coerced into buying one of their amazing, ready to bake meals.  Tonight when I put it in the oven, I realized I had time on my hands!  My husband was home and playing with the toddler and our infant was asleep in the swing.  I decided to make something quick and freeze it for the future.  I had all of the ingredients for Alfredo Sauce, which I've always been afraid to make (it sounds like so much work!) so I went for it.  I found the key to making this successfully is patience!  It's cooked at a low heat so it takes awhile, but from the little taste I did, it's worth it! 
I found the recipe at Once a Month Mom, my current bible on how to make-ahead meals!  I did double the recipe.  It calls for 4 oz of cream cheese which is half of a brick.  I didn't know what I'd do with the other half so I just doubled the recipe.  The single recipe makes 1 bag, enough for 4 servings (or 1 pound of pasta).

Alfredo Sauce
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk (I used whole)
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (I used shredded, and a tad more than it calls for)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan on medium low heat.  Once melted, whisk in flour.  Gradually add milk, whisking as you go.  The original recipe didn't tell you when to add the salt, pepper and garlic powder, so I did it at this point and it worked well.  Once all the milk is added and it's hot (but not boiling!), add the cream cheese.  Whisk to combine. (This took awhile!).  Heat the sauce back up and add parmesan cheese.  Simmer until melted and mix well. 

I wanted to freeze it, so this is what I did:
Cooled the sauce in a container on the counter.  Our freezer is relatively full so I opted to pour the sauce into a 1 quart freezer bag.  Label and lay flat in your freezer so it freezes that way and takes up less room.  To serve, just thaw and reheat!

Oh, the things you can do with eggs

Breakfast and dinner are the 2 worst times for me.  Usually my husband is home for breakfast so that helps out immensely.  Dinner is just plain horrible, which is why I'm trying out the meal plans.  But last week he worked a couple of night shifts and I was on my own with the angels for wake up.  Of course, the newborn always wakes up a few minutes before the toddler and has to nurse immediately.  Then the toddler has to sit in her crib playing (usually whining) until the newborn is finished before I can tend to her.  This somehow makes her think she's just plain starving.  The newborn is now wide awake and doesn't want to be put down and the toddler is screaming for breakfast so I thought I needed some easy things on hand.  She loves eggs, so usually I spray a mug lightly with cooking spray, crack an egg in the mug and add a tad bit of milk.  Scramble with a fork and microwave for 1 minute.  If it's still wet at that point, fluff with a fork and microwave for another 30 seconds.  But this is now too long of a wait for her.
After some research I tried something different.  This afternoon I sprayed a muffin tin lightly with cooking spray, then cracked an egg open in each muffin tin.  It looked like this...

Then you cook for 10-15 minutes at 350.  I cooked them for 15 minutes.  I wanted to freeze them so I wanted to make sure they were completely done.  After they finished, I ran a knife around the edges to loosen them and was left with perfect egg mcmuffin type eggs.  Then I flash-freezed them in the muffin tin for one hour.  At that point you should take them out and place them in a freezer bag, label, and return to freezer.  Of course chaos hit my house and I forgot about them.  They stayed in the muffin tin in the freezer for a few hours and now look freezer burnt, but otherwise they would've been perfect.  I believe to serve you can just put one straight in the microwave for 60 seconds, but I haven't tested this yet.