Vacation - Mom Style

I have had this last week off work. In that time, I:

Went camping for three days (see previous blog post).

Started to clean up from camping for three days.

Called washer repairmen.

Bid adieu to dead washer.

I don't think this can actually be called a "wheel" any more.

Bought new-used washer.

Experienced flood when trying to attach old pipes to new-used washer.

Cleaned up from flood.

Finished cleaning up from camping.

Spent one day with Christopher in which we: 

dropped off recycling

wentto Home Depot

went to a museum

shopped for school stuff

ate Chinese

got ice cream

found more Harry Potter stuff at Hastings' going-out-of-business sale

watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

packed his backpack for school

Spent one day with Sheridan, in which we:

took zucchini muffins to the sheriff's office and got a tour

got her hair cut

cruised the thrift shops

ate pizza

got ice cream

shopped for school stuff

packed her backpack for school

Spent one day with Logan, in which we:

had donuts for breakfast

shopped for school stuff

played at Kids' Kingdom

got his hair cut

cruised another thrift shop

ate and played at McDonald's

got ice cream (with Daddy!)

bought Play-doh

went home and played with the Play-doh

packed his backpack for school

Spent one day with Shane, in which we:

had donuts for breakfast

ran errands (two-year-olds think everything is cool)

bought "mine BIG flower!"

shopped at Walmart even though we didn't need school stuff

got his hair cut

ate lunch at the zoo

ignored the animals and played in the dirt at the zoo

came home and took a NAP, which lasted up until supper (for him, anyway).

(Gracie's day will be Monday, since she only goes to school for 3 hours and we don't have her supply list yet)

I also:

finished painting in Christopher's and the girls' rooms

finished the flooring in the girls' room

finished the trim in the girls' room (almost - ran out at the closet. Don't much care.)

Put things away in both rooms

sorted and folded and put away a LOT of laundry

boxed up a LOT of things for yard sale

ran a few baths

cleaned the house from one end to the other (well...it is cleanER)

let the kids finger paint

cleaned again

oh never mind

and prepared 56 freezer meals.

If you should need me, I will be back at work tomorrow, where I hope to get some rest.

Review: Fix, Freeze and Feast by Kati Neville and Lindsay Tkacsik

I already sort-of-reviewed this book more than a year ago, although I forgot to post an update after we tried the first recipe (it was FANTASTIC!) I had put the book on my Christmas wish list at the suggestion of Amanda at A Patchwork of Books, and it has since become one of my most-used cookbooks. That's saying a lot, because I'm kind of addicted to the things!

One recipe isn't much of a review, though. What if I were to make...every single recipe in it? Or, at least give it a good try?

I have this week off, and after our family camping trip, I have been dropping the kids at Grandma's in the morning and then heading back home to get things done completely uninterrupted. Those of you without children, feel free to look perplexed. Trust me, this is a vacation.

I love freezing meals and cooking in bulk, but my meal freezer has been looking a bit bare. I started watching sales on meat a few weeks ago, and stocking up. Thick boneless pork chops, $1.37 a pound? I'll take all of them, thank-you. And then bug the butcher for more. 

Make a list of ingredients I don't have on hand, one more shopping trip, and I'm ready to go!

Obviously, I couldn't taste-test every recipe immediately to give it a full review, but I'll give a few comments on the directions as well as a tip or two. I will come back periodically as we go through the freezer, and add what we thought of the meals themselves. I won't include exact recipes, because that's what you need to buy the book for!

CHICKEN

I had already made the chicken cordon bleu, and the cherry skillet chicken. The first was excellent, the second I didn't really taste the cherries.

Chicken Broccoli Bake - I made 3 meals, and we ate one that night. It was okay, not something I would rave about. That was mostly a personal taste issue, though, there was nothing wrong with the recipe.

Chicken Curry - Good thing I have two of the biggest skillets they make!

I periodically adjusted amounts for my family size, and for how much was in my trays of meat. This made four meals. 

Update - yummy! A good staple meal, I adjusted the spices slightly because the kids aren't too into 'hot'. We have had this one several times, now.

While I have been bulk cooking for a while, I think one of the beauties of this book is that the recipes are so easy to follow, with built-in tips like, "while the chicken is cooling". They help save you time in the kitchen, without being an obvious extra instruction. I also appreciate phrase like, "mixture will be like a paste", so you are not standing there wondering, "is it supposed to look like this?!" Most recipes have 3-5 steps for preparation, and 2-3 steps for cooking it later (step one almost always being, completely thaw the entree). There are also serving suggestions or shopping tips on most pages.

Here are those first two recipes, ready to go into the freezer:

Some tips here: completely cool before putting in the freezer, or you will end up with ice crystals. I am fortunate enough to have two large freezers (okay, three, but who's counting?), so I can freeze the packets flat in one freezer,

Then transfer them to the other when they are solid. Never put warm items on top of already frozen ones, you'll end up with a thawing-and-refreezing cycle that ruins the texture, if not the taste.

Molasses-Rum Chicken - My shopping excursion included the biggest (but cheapest) bottles of rum, bourbon, whiskey and margarita mix, as well as a 4-pack of cheap beer. The cashier was, of course, one of my former students. I told her she drove me to it. This smelled wonderful, and like many of the meals, required no cooking now - just toss it all in baggies and pop it in the freezer. We will have to try this soon - it says to grill, but would probably do well baked, or maybe even in the slow cooker.

Update: very good - I put it in the crock pot, so it was tender and falling apart when I got home. We used the leftovers with some onions and cheese for burritos, another quick and easy meal.

Sweet Asian Chicken - This should be a kid pleaser. I think I will use it in a stir fry, waiting on an Asian Pack from Bountiful Baskets to come along.

Update: BB took too long, so I bought a freezer bag of stir fry veggies when I was in a hurry. Blech. The chicken was great, though! I'll try it again with fresh veggies!

Tex-Mex Chicken Fingers

On a salad, maybe? Or, with a blue cheese dip?

Mediterranean Roast Chicken - I have the feeling this is one I will like more than certain other family members (kalamata olives? capers?) Maybe I will cook it for myself some night when Daddy makes his seafood gumbo! (I don't eat things that swim.)

Update: the olives just added a little tang to the chicken, so everyone was happy eating that, and I scooped most of the cooked olives onto my portion.

BEEF

Spanish Rice - A classic tummy-filler. I use instant rice and just toss it (dry) in with the rest of the ingredients. By the time it thaws, it's moist, and can bake along with the rest of the ingredients. I also don't put a bag of cheese with the entree as suggested, because we ALWAYS have tons of shredded cheese on hand!

Another tip: If you know what you are making, and how many entrees, you can label your freezer bags before you start the whole process. Otherwise, any down time (like when meat is cooling - or when you just need to sit down!) you can label the bags according to how many meals it looks like. If you ever forget to label them until after you've filled them, you won't make that mistake a second time. 

**Note: the book comes with instruction labels in the back that you can copy and tape to your bags. I move things around too much to trust those to stay, but if you find you make something a lot, they may be worth printing on heavy paper and laminating!

Mozzarella Meatballs - Homemade meatballs take FOREVER (or at least it seems like it when you are forming ball after ball and the bowl isn't looking any emptier), but they are so worth it! Once you have made your own meatballs, you won't be able to stand the mush from the freezer section ever again.

These are formed around a small cube of mozzarella cheese:

and yes, I definitely had to taste-test one. Or more. YUM!!! This recipe includes a sauce, but they could be eaten alone.

As you can see above, I bake my meatballs in a glass pyrex dish. Most recipes call for cookie sheets or even muffin tins. I like these because they are easier to wash, the meatballs cook evenly, they don't stick, and I can go in a couple times and suck grease out with a turkey baster (if you do this, keep in mind that your dollar store baster may not be rated for hot grease - melted plastic is not a good food additive!)

Update: The sauce overpowered the meatballs. Next time, I will make them without.

Salisbury Meatballs - I made 4 batches of meatballs, but only two made it into the freezer, because somebody's husband ate half of them. And now I have a lot of mushroom sauce in the freezer, because he ate them plain.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs - Wait, I don't have pineapple tidbits? Oops - substituted crushed pineapple combined with pineapple slices I cut up in the can (for the sauce). I also added strips of orange bell pepper, because I needed to use some up, and because it looked pretty!

Update: the substitutions didn't hurt a bit. Froze and re-thawed really well, texture was fine and nothing stuck together. Served over minute rice, stirring the sauce into the rice.

Classic Chili - You can't really go wrong with chili, and I liked that this used two types of beans. I will probably heat it in the slow cooker.

Update: This was too bland for my taste. I will add more spices, maybe some liquid smoke, to the other portions.

**There are many great recipes involving various cuts of beef, but none of those have been on sale lately!

PORK

4B's Grilled Chops - Pork chops in the freezer are awesome, because it's mostly just toss-it-in-the-bag-and-freeze style, and they don't take long to cook when you get home at the end of the day. This is where the cheap beer came in.

Update: Another good, versatile staple

An's Pork Chops - I found the marinade didn't quite make enough for my liking, so I doubled it to make 4 meals. I don't like the smell of sesame oil, so I may use less next time, but it did give us a meal with a different flavor.

Update: these turned out better than expected, everyone liked the flavor, and the sesame oil wasn't obtrusive at all. I'll keep it in!

Cajun Braised Skillet Chops - The breading barely made it through the last chops, but I may have been putting it on a bit heavily. Definitely not a way I have ever prepared pork chops, so I am looking forward to trying these.

Update: Yuuuuuummm!

Margarita Pork Chops - Generally my drink of choice, so I couldn't not make these!

Update: Not enough lime flavor to my taste, I'll add more next time. Made in a pan, turned out a bit dry - maybe add some butter when frying?

Apple and Cranberry Pork Loin - Ever start putting a recipe together and, no matter how carefully you have planned, realize you don't have a key ingredient? Well, that's one of the perks of freezer cooking - you can get it later!

By the way, I label these with instructions that would make sense to me. If I were labeling them for someone else - my smart-a** husband, for example - I would be more specific. Starting with, "take contents OUT of plastic bag."

Update: I'm not sure that the apples made a big difference. I cooked it in the slow cooker - an hour on high, then the rest of the day on low. The meat was excellent, and I liked the cranberry/onion flavor combination! 

Austrian Pork Goulash - Another classic tummy filler! Anything with this much onion and garlic:

definitely has a place at our table.

Update: Logan asked if he can have this in his lunch when he starts school next year. I think that says it all.

Pork Loin Ragout

The SMELLS from this sauce and spices made me want to dive in right there! 

Sticky Drunk Pig on a Stick - You know you have to try something with a name like that. I did not add the onions, because I plan to skewer it with big chunks of onions, and probably other veggies, and I like them fresh and crisp. (And at 1 1/2 cups bourbon for three entrees, that pig is indeed well-inebriated.)

Update: I cooked this at home with onion chunks, green bell peppers, and grape tomatoes, and then brought it to my mil's for dinner. Very well received!

And, that is where I ran out of meat - and freezer space! 

Still many more recipes I want to try...and ribs are on sale for $1 a pound...and I haven't even touched the sections on meatless main dishes, sides, soups, breakfasts, snacks...

This fantastic book also comes with tips for shopping in bulk, adapting recipes, prepping, cooking clubs, shopping lists, and more! It really is the perfect resource for someone who really wants to get into bulk/freezer cooking and isn't sure where to start!

Final count (bold type are items from Fix, Freeze and Feast):

4 B's Grilled Chops (4)

Margarita Pork Chops (4)

Meatloaf (2)

Classic Chili (4)

Pineapple Pork Chops (1)

Pineapple Chicken (1)

Spanish Rice (4)

Salisbury Meatballs (2)

Sloppy Joe Mix (1)

Bada Bing Pork Chops (1)

Honey Mustard Pork Chops (2)

Chicken Taco filling (2)

Chicken Curry (4)

Chicken Broccoli Bake (2)

Cajun Braised Skillet Chops (2)

Mozzarella Meatballs (4)

An's Pork Chops (4)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs (4)

Molasses Rum Chicken (4)

Sweet Asian Chicken (4)

Tex Mex Chicken Fingers (3)

Mediterranean Chicken (4)

Pork Chops with Tangy Honey Sauce (4)

Marinated Pork Chops (4)

Garlic Parmesan Pork Chops (4)

Bourbon Basted Pork Chops (4)

Austrian Pork Goulash (2)

Pork Loin Ragout (2)

Sticky Drunk Pig on a Stick (2)

Apple Cranberry Pork Loin (2)

Italian Herb Baked Chicken (2)

At least three months of meals in just a couple days of prepping - not too bad! Bring on the zombie apocalypse! (Just don't cut my power - eek!)

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Santa knows me well. Well enough to ignore all those silly articles that say not to buy your wife kitchen gadgets for Christmas:

 

 

Happy sigh. I also have two new (to me) cookbooks:

 

 

(maybe the second book I have ever pre-ordered!)

 

and, at the suggestion of Amanda from A Patchwork of Books:

 

 

I have been happily bopping back and forth between the two of them, trying out all my new gadgets. S. told Daddy she wants him to look like Santa for Christmas next year, so I am doing my part by helping put on the pounds. Most of the recipes I have tried have turned out well, a few not so much, so I thought I would spend a few posts reviewing these two books page by page - which gives me even more excuses to cook!

 

So, keeping in mind that these are not MY original recipes, today I made the Chicken Cordon Bleu from page 24-25 of Fix, Freeze and Feast. I love the dish, but have never made it before - something about flattening the chicken breasts always sticks in my head as too much work, so I skip over those types of recipes. It really didn't take that long - just trim any fat off your chicken breasts, cover with wax paper, and pound the crap out of them:

 

 

I had to move the wax paper a couple times for each piece, as the mallet tore through.

 

Coat each piece in flour,

 

eggs (and then forget to take a picture),

 

and bread crumbs.

 

I used 4 eggs for 6 chicken breasts, and had plenty left over. I didn't measure the flour or bread crumbs, just covered the surface of the plate and added more as needed.

 

Then take a piece of deli ham (I overlapped two because they were thin) and wrap around Swiss cheese (the book said deli slices, I just cut two pieces off the end of a chunk for each breast).

 

Roll the ham packet up in the chicken.

 

I tucked the ends of the ham packet in when I rolled, but I didn't have enough fingers to do that while taking a picture!

 

Then place rolls inside a labeled freezer bag,

 

or into a casserole dish.

 

When ready to cook, thaw in refrigerator (if frozen), brush with melted butter, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. These are for supper tonight, so I haven't cooked/tasted them yet, but they sure look like I knew what I was doing! They are huge, so I'm thinking three will feed two adults and three kids. The book says to wrap them separately in wax paper before freezing, so you can take out what you need, but since I am just freezing one more meal's worth for now I skipped that step.

 

I'll post an update after we've tried them! 



Tips for Cooking in Bulk

I love to cook. Happily, my family likes to eat. Unfortunately, it isn't often that the two can coincide - by the time I get off work, head up the mountain, check the mail (we don't get home delivery), pick up the kids, and get home, it's 6:30PM at the earliest. Not a lot of time for checking schoolwork, running baths, doing laundry, etc., let alone preparing a balanced meal. Thank goodness for crock pots!

 

Whenever I get a chance, I have a cooking marathon, preparing and freezing as many meals as I can (the challenge is then remembering to take something OUT of the freezer in the morning, but that's another post). This week I had several days off, so I really went to town. This is just one of our three freezers:

 

 

Three baskets on the left have cooked beef, pork, and turkey to be used in future meals. The fourth basket is elk meat rejects for the dog. The rest of this very large chest freezer is complete meals, stacked in order by date made. Bring on the zombie apocalypse! (But, please don't cut the electricity, or I am in deep doo-doo.)

 

I thought I would share a few tips I've learned along the way, for anyone else interested in preparing for the end of civilization - or in just getting ahead a bit. I am by no means an expert, but happy to let others learn from my earlier mistakes!

 

Planning

 

The first thing you'll want to do, of course, is plan what you want to cook. I base my menus on what is on sale, what I have that needs to be used up, and what just sounds good at the time. I try to mark recipes that my family liked, and make a mix of old stand-bys and a few new things. Whatever recipes I choose, I double, triple, or quadruple them - why make just one meal when you can make four, with basically the same amount of work?

 

From there, you'll need to make a grocery list. One of my best purchases ever was the 30 Meals in One Day software. It comes with bunches of simple, tasty recipes, and makes it SO easy to add your own. You can also change ingredients/amounts, and it will automatically change amounts if you want to double/triple/etc. You can even search by a particular ingredient if you have, say, twenty pounds of broccoli, and you are running out of ideas.

 

More pertinent to this step, you can click on recipes to make up a menu, and it comes up with a shopping list - adding up how much chicken you need, total, for example. The shopping list is arranged by section of the grocery store - and that is also easy to edit, in case your local store, hypothetically speaking, thinks bagels belong right next to Twinkies. Ahem.

 

When I'm getting ready for a big shopping trip, I make myself actually go and eyeball each ingredient in my cupboard before crossing it off the list - I probably don't have to tell you how aggravating it is to get halfway through a recipe and discover that no, actually, you do not have as many eggs as you thought you did.

 

In addition to groceries, you'll need to think about storage. Do you have the freezer space? What will you be packaging the meals in? How will you label them? I use both plastic containers with sticky labels, and plastic bags I can write on. Both have their good and bad points - plastic containers are reusable, and stack more neatly. Plastic bags use less space, though, and it's easier to get excess air out.

 

Preparing

 

If you have a chance, it's helpful to do some food prep ahead of time. Have a spare hour? Look at what ingredients you are going to need a lot of, then shred some cheese, chop some onions, or brown some ground beef (with onions and garlic is usually a safe bet).

 

 

The night before you cook, get anything frozen out of to defrost. I like to start with a clean kitchen, all dishes washed, floor scrubbed - although it doesn't always happen that way! You'll at least want all the counter space you can make available.

 

The day of your cooking marathon, take a few minutes to set your kitchen up. Decide where you will be doing most of your chopping/peeling/can opening, and set the trash can, mulch bucket, and/or recycling tub nearby. Otherwise, half your day will be spent walking over to one or the other!

 

This was bag two today.

 

Thanks to L., aka Mr. Grabby Hands, I had to keep the recycling tub outside the kitchen door - a nuisance to go in and out, but I have to say I am really happy we can now recycle plastic bottles and tin cans here! That was easily half my trash!

 

It can also be good to keep a 6-year-old handy - it's C's job to empty the mulch bucket every time it gets full.

 

Have a shopping list ready. "What???" you say, "I just went on the mother of all shopping trips!" Yes, but you are about to use up everything you just bought, as well as many things you had at home. You aren't going to remember them all by the end of the day, so have pen and paper nearby, and write things down immediately when you get close to the bottom of the barrel.

 

You may also want a rag or roll of paper towels. I prefer a rag for wiping my hands, and a sponge for counter spills. I also prefer not to think about how much bacteria is on them both by the end of the day.

 

Cooking

 

I'll walk you through one of today's recipes. I used to work on several recipes at once, but lately I've found I need to be able to stop at any point and take care of minor disasters. Funny, I never had that need up until a year and a half ago. Hmm.

 

This particular recipe is for a Hawaiian chicken - sort of an amalgamation of various recipes I've come across. You can either leave the chicken whole:

 

 

Or cut it into chunks.

 

I usually cut meat into chunks, for two reasons - one, it goes further that way, and two, it's easier to serve when you have a variety of stomach sizes to feed!

 

At this point, I am already going to deviate from my 'recipe'. Before I start cooking, I'll sometimes dig out things that have been sitting in the cupboard for a while, but which aren't part of any recipe. I put them right in front of me, so I am constantly thinking, "Hmm, could I add that cocktail sauce to this?" You can also puree leftovers and toss them in with all sorts of meals. You can put anything from squash to applesauce in with chili, and your husband will never know. Unless you...er...blog about it.

 

In this case, there were two flavor packets left over from a box of Asian rice, which I thought might give this an extra zing. In they go!

 

Next, a can of pineapple rings. I want half-rings, so I'm cutting them in the can, then tossing them in, juice and all.

Now we need some pepper strips. God bless Birds-Eye. 

I buy these by the gross. I prefer fresh vegetables for the most part, but these work out MUCH cheaper, and save a heck of a lot of time! In they go - no need to thaw, you are just going to refreeze them:

 

 

Now, slice or dice some onions, depending on your family's preference.

 

Toss them in, and give it a good stir.

 

Pretty! But, I think it needs more pineapple. I'll go with chunks this time.

 

That's better. And, done! I just need to label the bags:

 

I've tried different brands of freezer bags, and I don't have a clear preference yet - feel free to weigh in with yours! I try to keep directions clear but simple. I don't want to have to go back and look the recipe up again, but I also don't want to write a paragraph on each bag.

 

When portioning out your meals, put a little in each bag at a time, moving back and forth - you are less likely, that way, to end up with all the juice or whatever in one bag. That also helps keep the portions equal-ish. Use trial and error to figure out how much you need for one meal. I usually figure one big scoop for each adult, one for the kids to split, and one for just-in-case. Of course, the way C. has suddenly been eating everything in sight, I may have to rethink that soon.

 

Get out as much air as you can, and make sure everything is sealed.

 

Then, if your freezer is not in your kitchen, or if you don't want to keep opening and closing it all day, find something to store/carry your meals in:

 

A few miscelleneous hints:

 

* Keep frequently used ingredients out all day, but unless you have the counter space most of us dream of, don't try to get all your ingredients out at once.

* One Bowl, One Pan. Get out your biggest bowl, and your biggest pan, and use only those all day. You don't have to scrub between recipes, just give them a wipe and a rinse (being aware of raw meat issues, of course - do use soap!) The same can go for most utensils. If you are faced with a sink full of bowls and spatulas and greasy frying pans at the end of the day, you will not be filled with any sense of acomplishment. Trust me. One bowl, one pan.

* What's for supper? Some advocate going out to eat that night, but I really don't feel like going anywhere - I'm covered in food splatters, and I smell like onions! You can plan to order pizza, or set aside one of the meals - the one that brings family members into the kitchen to see what the wonderful smell is - and serve that. It's really not fair, imo, to tantalize them with good smells all day, then tell them they're having sandwiches.

* Clean as you go. This goes along with the one bowl, one pan rule. It is very much worth your while to stop when you spill or spatter, and wipe it up. Again, you do NOT want to step back at the end of a day of cooking, and realize you will spend most of the next day cleaning up!

 

That's all I can think of at the moment. I hope this helps someone, and would love to hear your tips as well!