Menu plan Monday... Freezer Edition

Once upon a time, a friend from college (who screams uber-organized-on-top-of-things momma) turned me onto freezer cooking. The concept intrigued me: spend one night in the kitchen and take the effort out of cooking for quite a few days during the month. I don't really enjoy cooking, so if that's one chore I can get out of the way, awesomesauce.

There are countless cookbooks and web sites dedicated to how to do it. I tried one, which after our first attempt led to a slight revision. Moral of the story: we can do it "better."

But that was last summer, and we really haven't done more than freezer breakfast burritos since then. I'm not sure if it's the sunshine and warmer weather or the spring fever that makes me want to attempt crazy things in the kitchen, but I'm ready for Round III.

It helps that I'm over the super woman "I can do this, no problem," attitude when it comes to cutting out dairy and I'm back to "Oh woe is me..." I hid in a corner yesterday at our friends' son's birthday party because the food options were pizza (my favorite), Cheetos and Doritos. Hubby scolded me for not eating and commandeered some leftover boneless chicken wings for me. I was talking to someone at the time and had every intention of ducking home for a quick PB&J or something, I swear.

Once a Month Mom has a gluten free/dairy free menu every month, and I've been having trouble finding good comprehensive web sites that can help me plan a month's worth of meals. I need someone to take at least SOME of the effort out of it for me.

So I'm back to where I started, but with one difference: I know better. I'm not going to follow their amounts or instructions to the T. I had Hubby look over the amounts for doubling each recipe last night and helped reign me in and be realistic.

I have three lunch recipes for me and four dinner recipes (that we will eat twice - hopefully). I have a massive grocery list that I will NOT be attempting with both kids because it's spring break and I'm not insane. It may be a run to the store tonight after dinner or bed. We'll see.

I also have no idea when we'll actually be cooking. My thought is to do it in two stages this week: one night for lunches, one night for dinners. All in one night proved to be too much last time. And Baby kinda zaps my energy by the kids' bedtime anyway.

I still have a list of dairy-free meals to fill most of April, but I haven't put pen to paper to know exactly what we're eating when. But it's only 9 a.m. on Monday, so I think I have some time to figure that out today.

But I'll need more coffee.

The death of customer service

For the last few Christmases, Hubby and I have opted to buy one big household item instead of exchanging gifts. This year was a little bigger than usual, but sorely needed: a new stove.

We researched models, scoured reviews and comparison shopped. We decided to pull the trigger and take advantage of a Cyber Monday deal that gave us a significantly lower price plus free delivery and haul-away. Sounded too good to be true. There's always a catch, right?

Right.

The earliest delivery was Dec. 22. I hesitated, but knowing we wouldn't find a lower price or a way to pick up the stove ourselves, I didn't have much choice. It was still before Christmas, so we could thoroughly enjoy cooking on it for Christmas Eve dinner and Hubby could cook to his heart's content over break.

At 4:30 p.m. the afternoon before delivery I got a call saying the stove was on back order from the manufacturer (not cool, GE). They only deliver to our area on Tuesdays, which put delivery on the 27th, when we were out of town. Next available delivery after that? Jan. 3.

Freaking A.

But right at the beginning of our 4-hour window today, I got a call from the delivery truck that he was 25 minutes away. Sounded promising.

Until he arrived and said he couldn't unhook the old range and haul it away without installing the new one. I didn't pay for installation. Something about an open gas line (pssh)... But no one told me that was the case when I opted OUT of paying for installation and Mr. Delivery Guy didn't have a cap or anything to account for the fact that he wasn't going to be installing the range. He suggested leaving the old range until Hubby got home to install it. I not so politely asked him what I was supposed to do with it in the meantime. He suggested the garage. Uh, no hand cart dude, and I'm not carrying a damn stove that shouldn't be in my house.

I had had it up to *here* with the run around and delays from Home Depot and GE, so I gave him an ultimatum: either he figured out how to safely leave me my new stove and get rid of the old one, or I would be refusing delivery.

He quickly ducked out to his truck to call the home office.

Good idea.

The home office wisely decided that a good way to appease a disgruntled customer was to install the stove free of charge.

Another good idea.

But you better believe I won't be buying from either company again any time soon.

It is pretty though...

Chopped: SAHM edition

A friend started a group on Facebook where a bunch of us could post weekly menus, share recipes and give cooking/baking tips. I try to post every week because it helps me think through my menus (usually), so I'm not running to the store a couple times a week for "just one" thing and ended up spending $100. And when I get into a major cooking rut, it's nice to steal other people's ideas for a change.

Admittedly, this week I did not share a menu. That's because everything in my fridge needs eaten by lunch on Friday, otherwise I'll have a scary, smelly, science experiment waiting for me after our vacation.

I've done it before. It's not pretty.

Monday we had leftover sausage gravy, biscuits and scrambled eggs, which took care of all but one serving of gravy and 2 biscuits and 2 eggs. Last night it was leftover chicken noodles. Mission accomplished there. Tonight is cheeseburger soup (again, leftover) and salad.

After that it gets interesting. In no particular order, here are the perishables that need to disappear before the end of the week:

Taco meat (not quite enough for 4)
Rice
one serving of biscuits and gravy (and eggs)
yogurt
3 squeeze yogurt
half a gallon of milk
3 apples
1 mango
half a bag of clementines (those may make the trip with us...)
half a loaf of bread
2 hot dog buns
3 hamburger buns
4 English muffins
bag of pita (I really don't know the shelf life on those. They may survive)
appx 8 oz container of sour cream
1.5 green peppers
2 carrots
half an onion
cream cheese

I can be pretty creative to combine all of those things, but I kinda need more days and "stuff" with which to do it. I mean, there is more in the fridge and freezer that will last an eternity that can help, but I don't want to generate any more leftovers.

Maybe I should host my own episode of "Chopped" and see what someone else can come up with for dinner. And the ingredients in your secret basket are... All the crap from Bridget's refrigerator! You have 30 minutes. Begin!

Any takers?

Mama needs her coffee

Reason # 492 why I love my Keurig:

In August, I finally broke down and called customer service because my Keurig was leaking water all over my counter with every cup it brewed. This was particularly noticeable when I had a house full of people for Fun Fest and the poor thing was making like 8 cups a morning.

My Keurig and coffee mug... perfect harmony.

I waited and waited before I called because I was afraid a) they'd tell me tough luck, b) they'd tell me to buy a new one or c) they'd make me send my brewer in, thereby leaving me Keurig-less for an excruciating amount of time (ya know, like more than 24 hours).

When I called, the woman I spoke to was very helpful. We guessed it was leaking from the water reservoir, so she agreed to send me a new one at no charge.

Sweet! I thought.

I got the new reservoir in a few days and happily switched out the "defective" one.

I didn't notice any puddles on my counter (always a good thing), but one morning I decided to lift up the brewer "just to check."

Ahh, ignorance is bliss... puddle city underneath. So I sighed, grabbed a dish towel to put underneath and went about my day. I hesitated to call AGAIN because I was still afraid of a hassle. In my experience, customer service is dead.

Then this weekend was the last straw. I pushed the largest cup option to brew a nice, piping hot mug of my coveted pumpkin spice coffee... and it only brewed half a cup. I like my coffee strong, but not THAT strong, so I dumped it out and made another one. Wasted a precious K-cup. Tsk tsk.

It did the same thing again this morning (although I didn't risk the pumpkin spice this time), so I called Keurig. I explained what was happening and she promised to send me a new brewer, free of charge. I don't even have to mail my old one in first or at all! There was no yelling, screaming, crying, begging or standing on my head involved. They just need the little K-cup holder as proof and they'll mark my brewer as "defective" in their system.

I probably won't get the new one before we leave for vacation, but that just means I will have a brand-new non-leaking Keurig waiting for me when I get back.

We're driving to Florida and back with two kids, visiting the Mouse and hitting the beach. I'm gonna need that coffee.

Applesauce '11

I was a spoiled kid.

I mean, yes, I got a lot of "stuff" (being an only child and the youngest grandchild), but I also never tasted store-bought applesauce until I was an adult.

It was a sad day.

Nana wasn't the greatest cook, but baking and homemade goodies were her specialty. Someday I'd like to be half as successful in the kitchen as she was.

I am bound and determined to give my kids a little bit of what I grew up with - complete with homemade applesauce every fall. And winter. And spring. Sometimes summer, if we're lucky.

First, we do something I never did, which was pick the apples off the trees. Well, we were a little late this year, so the apples were pretty high. Hubby manned the picker pole and the kids fetched the apples and put them into the bucket.

I like this system, mostly because I just get to supervise. I did check for soft and brown spots since it was later in the season, but even a few questionable ones managed to sneak through. They don't have to be pretty to become applesauce.

After we got more apples than seemed wise, we headed home. In past years, we've let the kids watch and eat the peels, but we opted for the "wait until they're asleep" sprint this year. Too many monkey-like tendencies, in my opinion.

So here's how we started.

A mix of Jonathons and Cortlands. Probably worked out to be 50/50 on each batch, so a nice combination of tart and sweet.

Here's the set up...

Hubby mans the peeler-corer-slicer, mostly because I get frustrated trying to line everything up and the suction on the bottom doesn't hold it to the counter any more. He ends up cranking with one hand and holding the dang thing down with the other. I take off the bottoms and the tops and quarter each one to make it cook faster and then man the pots.

I only own one huge pot, which I need for the hot water bath (on right), so I use two large pots for actually cooking the apples down. 

One pot held a bag of apples. I forgot to take a picture. I was trying to quarter and check all the apples Hubby was peeling and dump them into the pots and put a little water in and stir and stir and be sticky from my fingertips to my elbows. I didn't want to stickify my phone.

Take my word for it, I couldn't have fit any more apples into the pots if I tried.

Here is one (of five) pots after cooking down.

Next came my new favorite part of the process... two words for you: immersion blender! I had one on my Christmas list after attempting to use a potato masher on waaay too many pots of apples last year. OW. The stick blender was so cool! Stir and whir and voila!

Doesn't that look yummy? I combined the two pots I was cooking simultaneously and seasoned with a little sugar. "Little" being about a cup for a 8 qt. pot-full. But it all depends on your apples and personal preference.

There. That's better.

So into the sterilized jars they went to hang out in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Then they lined my counters while I finished the remaining batches. I love the popping sound the lids make when they seal.

The finished product:

A total of 34 jars of homemade applesauce. Only one didn't seal, so the kids and I happily polished that one off today. The rest are in the pantry keeping our 30+ jars of pickles company.

It's gonna be a yummy winter. 

I am Freezer Mama, hear me roar

Y'all remember our adventure in freezer cooking last month? Despite confusing directions, inaccurate recipe amounts and general late-startedness, Hubby and I survived. Most of the meals were edible. A few needed more cook time. A few that I thought would be great were the exact opposite. Who would have thought that my kids would turn their noses up at mac n cheese made with ranch dressing and lil smokies? Not me.

Over the last month, I enjoyed having those meals to rely on when we had busy days, and made the task of creating a weekly menu that much easier.

But I wasn't sold on an exact repeat. Once Once A Month Mom came out with their July menu and nothing on their list knocked my socks off, I had a thought. I had a few recipes from last month I really wanted to do again and I found another healthy eating blog (80/20) with a lot of things that I wanted to try that were decidedly NOT freezer friendly.

And since I was intimidated by the 4 million-step process OAMM laid out, I decided to make my own rules.

I know, walking on the wild side. It's what I do.

We did breakfast/snack stuff: Breakfast burritos; Oatmeal bars; Honey-Yogurt Waffles and Zucchini cakes.

And main meals: Beef Chimichangas; Mexican Verde Casserole; Squash Mac n Cheese and shredded chicken for 2 meals we're going to do later this month.

The burritos and oatmeal bars were carry-overs from last month. The mac n cheese I have made several times. The others are new and it was fun to make the Salsa Verde for the casserole. I never knew what to do with tomatillos before. Now I know I can make salsa. So even if the cassrole is "eh," I still got something out of it.

I am not completely sold on the chimis. They smelled very vinegar-ey, which we hope will bake out. Our vinegar may have been a "smidge" past its sell-by date but it smelled like, well, vinegar. No harm, right? Well, we'll find out in a few weeks when it comes up in rotation. If not, there's always pizza delivery.

We lined up our ingredients on the dining room table again to allow for more workspace in the kitchen. Hubby did the cooking and assembly-line work and I did the baking, mac n cheese and the bulk of the dishes (not by choice. Grr). I put the chicken into the crock pot with water earlier in the afternoon to cook, but the rest we started at 8 p.m. Sunday and were done by 11.

I am totally hooked. Hubby likes being in the kitchen but doesn't often get the chance and I don't always enjoy cooking unless I have company. Now this is something we can do together that is a project, but isn't nearly as stressful as home improvement. Like our bathroom/laundry room project the week before Leah's first birthday... Ugh. Not gonna go there.

So now I'm telling you to scan through your cookbooks or browse online and find things you can make ahead and freeze. It's fun, I swear!

Why freezer cooking?

Yesterday I told you a little about our adventures in mass cooking. We did finish up what didn't get done Friday, although the "twice baked" potatoes became "throw them into two freezer bags" potatoes because the skins weren't holding up. That was probably completely user error - they were baked in two tries and then sat until they were cold - not just cool to touch - since Hubby was SAILing and I was garage SALEing all day. (I know, that was bad. I'm done now.)

Besides becoming my Nana, freezer cooking presented another kitchen hurdle that I could attempt to overcome. This from a girl who at one point could not make Jell-O or box mac n' cheese. Blink. Blink. Yes, let that one sink in a bit.

So I've come a long way. I feel more comfortable baking than cooking (my oatmeal cookie debacle notwithstanding) but necessity has made me try new recipes. Eventually, after a few hundred times I just dump things in without measuring and they taste pretty alright.

I hate to say it, but sometimes I actually... like cooking. So getting a ton of meals out of the way in one swoop is more like a "hey look what I can do" than eliminating a chore.

But if you want to talk about chores I HATE, then I could get even more on board with only doing them once a month. The consequences might be a bit extreme...

Once a Month Dusting - Oh, wait, I already do that... Shh, don't tell!

Once a Month Litter Box Cleaning - Tigger would run away or sprout opposable thumbs so he could do it himself. Hey, now that doesn't sound so bad!

Once a Month Dishes - As soon as somebody invents paper pots and pans that won't burn my house down, I'm all over that like white on rice.

Once a Month Laundry - I think I would need a washer and dryer the size of my kitchen to take care of my kids' and Hubby's dirty, smelly clothes. And we'd need a crapload more underwear. Yikes. Maybe not...

Freezer cooking, take 1

A friend from college - who is far more crunchy than I am (that's a good thing) - mentioned on her blog that she had stumbled upon a "once a month" cooking web site and was going to try it. I was intrigued.

My Nana always had a freezer stocked with food, just in case a swarm of hungry people descended on our house unannounced. Soups, pie, bread, jelly... gosh only knows what was in there when my aunt moved her out of the house. Now that we have a full-size upright freezer, I feel like I could be using it more. For the rouge swarm, you know. Or when my kiddos have me outside enjoying the summer and I don't feel like really preparing a meal.

Yes, I'm slowly turning into my Nana. She is 95, deaf as a doornail, sharp on occasion and can still drink a beer a day. I think I could aspire to worse.

This web site my friend found puts out new recipes each month (onceamonthmom.com) so when June's came out last week I decided to jump in. Hubby had agreed to help - he loves being in the kitchen and is the take charge, organize kind of guy. He keeps me from getting flustered and is actually a better cook than I am.

The best chance we had was shoehorned in after a Friday night grocery trip and the kids were in bed. How many meals could we squeeze in before midnight with no prep ahead of time? The lucky number was 9.5. We did 3 breakfasts, 3 pastas, 2 kinds of burgers and a chicken dish. The twice-baked potatoes were not quite baked the first time and we weren't prepared to wait longer, hence the half dish.

Now this web site is thorough, but we had a hard time with a few things. A few of the recipes had amounts that were wonky - one burger recipe called for 2 lbs of beef, the other 4 lbs. How does that make sense? A lot of things were measured by cups for easy dividing or multiplying in a spreadsheet, others in ounces. What is 21.33 oz of pasta? Was it by weight or volume? We guessed and changed a few amounts on the fly when it didn't seem right. And by "we," I mean Hubby.

I had to ignore the month's grocery list because I wasn't making everything and I couldn't figure an easy way to delete the ingredients I didn't need. So I made my own. Annoying, but tolerable.

The list of instructions that was supposed to help figure out the order of our recipes got chucked after two dishes because there were steps missing. Really annoying for someone who is not naturally organized and doesn't handle "new" well.

One recipe didn't seem like it would spread to two 8x8 pans (spaghetti pie), so we ended up making just one. It will be a big meal for us, but it can be dinner for all four of us and several days of lunches for Hubby and I.

I don't want to give a full grade until we actually taste the meals (although they smelled pretty good), but I'm leaning toward "C." The process and the specifics were iffy, which is what I needed help with most. That meant that Hubby took the reins and ended up doing more than I did. That isn't why I wanted to do this experiment.

The high points: I appreciate the meal ideas and hints on how to freeze and then heat/reheat. I love the breakfasts. Hubby may actually grab an egg sandwich or breakfast burrito on his way out the door and we can mix up the cereal, oatmeal or toaster waffle rut the kids and I get in.

Next time (yes, there will be a next time), I will try to put my thinking cap on and not follow the letter of the site. I'm not great in the kitchen (I am getting there), but I can try to figure out when things don't seem right. The idea is to watch sales and stock up on ingredients when there is a deal. Since we were in a time crunch, that wasn't possible this time. Speaking of time, I'd like to start BEFORE 8 p.m. I didn't hit a wall until 11:30, really, and all that was left then was bagging the last few meals and clean-up, which was waiting for me bright and early this morning.

So for anyone who is curious, we used mostly the "traditional" menu : raspberry breakfast cake, bacon hash brown wraps, sausage mac n cheese, bacon cheeseburger chicken, ranch burgers, green chili burgers, and garlic chicken farfalle. Left to go tonight are the sneaky stuffed potatoes, buffalo chicken sandwiches and peanut butter pork kabobs, which are mostly assemble and freeze. From the "whole foods" menu, we made spaghetti pie and oatmeal on the go bars.

I encourage you to try it! Nobody can feel as lost as I do in the kitchen sometimes and I survived, so take a chance. And if you live closer than my college friend, maybe we can cook together sometime.

Or maybe I'll let Hubby do it and I'll just eat what's in my freezer.

That's the way the cookie crumbles

Today was a day. A Day.

We were back on snack duty for school, and little man decided he wanted cookies. No problem, right? Wrong.

I should have been more wary since my last cookie adventure ended with a gooey uni-cookie of a mess on the cookie sheets. But I bake all the time, so I blamed the new recipe.

Today, this is what I got.

This is what was left of 3.5 sheet pans of oatmeal chocolate chip. Hubby's favorite. This is what I get for trying. 

I was in a panic, thinking I needed to toss my cookie sheets and burn the cookbooks. My baking rep was in serious jeopardy. I texted my father-in-law, who single-handedly supples all of Indianapolis with a dozen different varieties of Christmas cookies. (Okay, maybe not ALL of Indy, but darn close.) He gathered the important information - oatmeal cookies, called for butter AND shortening, and yes, it's the same butter I always use. 

His diagnosis? The butter had too much water or my baking powder was bad. 

DING DING DING DING!

I went to my pantry instantly. I had just opened a new can before the monster cookie debacle. Date on the bottom of the can? MARCH 2006. W.T.F??!! There is no freaking way that can has been in my pantry for 4.5 years. I'm sure there are dust bunnies who have been living here that long, so don't check under anything, but I actually use my baking supplies. I'm sure I can thank a mix up at our local mega-mart for my cookies crumbling. And two weeks of my baking-induced anxieties. 

Now the next chance I get, I am off to the store to buy more baking powder, where I will CHECK the date on the can. Once I have a successful batch or two under my belt, I may start to feel normal again.

Because that is no way to treat a cookie.