Mama's Chicken

Today is just one of those days.  It's cold, rainy, gloomy, and all around ugly.  I'm at the point in the year where I am just OVER winter.  February is the shortest month but it always feels much too long!  On "these days" you just need some comfort food.  Which is why I decided to make my mom's famous lemon soy sauce chicken.  When I was a kid, this is the meal I always requested on my birthday.  This recipe was passed down to my mom from my grandma so it's definitely a family favorite.  All you need are these ingredients:

Really though, my mom always said she guesstimates on the amounts of everything.  Now I'm at the point where I do the same.  But for me it's mostly so I don't have to use measuring cups and therefore have less dishes :)  The point is that you don't have to strictly adhere to these measurements.

1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper

You might also like to know that this recipe made it into my first grade class cookbook.  We all turned in our favorite foods and our teacher compiled them into a book.  And it's not weird at all that I still have this.

The chicken you use is really up to you.  I chose to use bone in chicken thighs this time around.  Then preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Put your chicken in a baking dish and pour the soy sauce and lemon juice over it.  Then sprinkle with oregano, garlic powder, and pepper.  If you want, cover it with foil to keep more of the juice in.  Bake for 45 min-1 hour depending on the type of chicken you use.  Serve with rice of course :) I know the trainers on the Biggest Loser would freak out if they knew this, but white rice is a staple in our house.  (mostly because I throw it in the rice cooker and walk away for 20 minutes)

The final product is delicious.

I also promised my favorite pasta sauce recipe.  I got sick of buying those giant jars of spaghetti sauce because we never finished the whole thing.  Then I ended up throwing out half empty mold infested sauce.  Waste.  So I decided to make my own.  You need:

1 can tomato sauce (Hunt's is my fav)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Add all the spices and stir.  Really difficulty concept, I know.  Put a lid on it and let simmer for a few minutes.  We put it over my homemade noodles the other night and had no leftover sauce!

Hope you're staying dry on this yucky rainy day!

 

Noodle Extravaganza

I love Saturdays.  I love them when my husband is off BUT weekends when he works are on a whole different level.  Those are the days when I go into super productive mode and do everything I should have been doing all week.  Or sometimes I do things I actually enjoy doing :)

On this particular Saturday I decided to make noodles.  Let me give some background on how this started.  When Bob and I were engaged, we were bored one night and decided that we wanted to make our own ravioli.  After looking up a recipe online, we were like, "oh yea we can totally do this!"  Actually, we totally could not do this.  It took us at least 5 hours to roll out the dough, make the filling, and put the ravioli together.  Then the dough was so thick that we were basically eating starch balls.  I'm being dramatic.  They really didn't taste that bad.  But the amount of work that we put into it made me lose my appetite.  I told my Oma (German for grandma) about our experience and she passed the story onto her aunt.  (Side note: her aunt was a German-cooking-noodle-making expert.  She recently passed away so this is kind of in her memory.)  Well, my great aunt could not believe that we attempted ravioli making without a noodle maker.  I honestly had no idea this was a real thing. Newsflash: it is (see above).  So she bought one for our wedding, with a ravioli  maker attachment. 

I had no idea how I was going to tackle this noodle making business so I relied on my Oma to help me.  The hardest part might have been figuring out how to put the device together.  A lot of pieces and a lot of Italian directions.  We figured it out and it only took us a couple of hours.  The next time I did it, I made lobster ravioli and it turned out 10 times better than our first attempt.  Here's a noodle making tutorial for what I did this time around.

The best thing about making noodles is that you only need 3 ingredients!  AND it's stuff you would normally have on hand anyways: eggs, flour, and water.  I decided to use whole wheat flour this time just for laughs.

  

The other great thing is that you use an even ratio of eggs and flour.  The recipe the machine came with calls for 2 cups of flour and 2 large eggs.  

Let me tell you how cool I felt when made a flour pool and cracked the eggs in it: very cool.  I never would have done this if Oma didn't show me.  I'm not a big dough-maker, but apparently this is the expert way to do it.  I mixed the eggs and flour with a fork until it looked like this:

Then comes the water.  The first time I did this, Oma said that you just add a teaspoon at a time until you get the right texture.  Your dough has to be not too sticky and not too dry.  Basically it will look like this when it's right:

Now the hard part.  I despise rolling pins and everything they stand for (except when used as self defense weapons).  But I had to learn.  The first time we did it we rolled until the dough was almost paper thin.  Little did we know that the noodle maker will do some of this for you.  This was great news for me because my scrawny arms are not willing to do extreme manual labor.

After rolling out the dough to the best of my abilities I ran it through the machine.  This thing has 8 different levels of thickness and since I want to use my rolling pin as little as possible, I start at 8 and work my way down to 2.  You crank it through and the dough flattens like magic.  It's pretty therapeutic actually.  A little rectangle of dough comes out this long:

Amazing, right?  Once it's flat, I cut it to the length I wanted for my noodles.  Then the really fun part comes.  Send that paper thing dough through the noodle slicing section.  

I chose to make the wider noodles this time.  It also has a section for making really thin noodles that you might use in soup.  Once the noodles are cut, it's time for them to dry.

I couldn't believe that little ball of dough made enough noodles to cover my entire counter!  Funny story: I left for a couple hours while they were drying.  I came home and they were no longer straight, but curved like the letter C.  Some of them actually came to life and ended up on the floor.  And then one ended up in Ricky the dog's mouth.  It's quite possible that he was feasting on uncooked noodles all afternoon.  I really wouldn't put it past him...that dog is out of his mind. 

And that was my third noodle making experience.  I highly recommend trying it.  Not only is it fun, but of course, it's healthy-ish and cheaper than buying noodles.  Since they have to dry overnight, we won't be eating them tonight.  So tomorrow will be pasta night and I'll share the recipe I use :)

 

Pork Chops & Fries

Just popping in for a quick recipe share!  We love pork in our house...especially the thick cut pork chops.  I found this recipe online somewhere and this is my second time experimenting with it. Here's what you need:

1-2 cups fruit preserves--very important: I used strawberry the first time and apricot the second time.  It was ten times better with the strawberry.  It gave it more flavor I think.  I've tried different amounts of it and decided that, like chocolate, more is always better :)
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce--I love Heinen's brand
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup dijon mustard--this is another item I could never live without! 

I know this sounds like a weird combination but it's surprisingly normal.  B likes it, so you know it can't be that out of the ordinary.  After you mix your sauce ingredients, grab whatever pork chops you want to use.  As I said, we really like the boneless thick ones.  I would especially recommend these if you plan on leaving them in the crock pot all day.  Put the pork chops and sauce in a freezer bag and freeze.  When you want to cook them, throw them in the crock pot on low for 6 hours.  We had ours in for 8 today and they came out a little drier than normal.  Nothing worse than dry pork.  Except dry beef.  That might be worse. 

 You're probably wondering what those beautiful things are next to the pork chop.  Those are the Bob fries.  We started making these back in the day when we were dating.  I don't know about you, but I have a serious carb addiction.  I actually crave bread and butter on a daily basis.  I also love french fries but I don't love how unhealthy they are. 

Well good news!  These are just as delicious and way healthier.  I usually use russet potatoes but we went a little crazy and bought yukon gold the other day.  I would love to use sweet potatoes but my hubby doesn't like them :(






 So grab your potatoes and chop them up.  My wonderful, strong, loving husband does this for me with my (name drop) Pampered Chef (!!) french fry cutter.  I was NEVER able to get my potatoes to look like fries.  I tried a million different variations and they always came out looking like chunks. It really doesn't even matter, they taste the same (duh).  It's just more fun when you feel like you're eating real live fries.

The french fry cutter is great, but it takes some muscle.  I cut the potatoes in half and I still can't do it sometimes...which is why it became a man's job. (just like opening spaghetti jars)  After you cut your potatoes, in chunks, strips, cubes, octagons, whatever, throw them in a bowl.

Then add olive oil and whatever seasonings you like.  I definitely tend to overdo it on the olive oil because I think it makes it taste better.  But by all means, do what you want.  (as if I was dictating your life by writing this blog)  It changes every time but today we added S&P, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, oregano, and chives.  During the summer I love adding our home grown herbs.  Speaking of summer, I don't think it's ever coming back to Ohio.  I had to walk back and forth from the mobile unit to the school today in 2 inches of snow (apparently no one plows school parking lots??).

Anyways, mix it up and pour it on a lightly greased baking sheet.  This has taken some experimentation but I have finally found the perfect temperature and time for baking these.  This information is gold: 400 degrees for 40 minutes.  Easy to remember, right?  They come out a little crispy on the outside and potatoe-y on the inside.

So that was our quick and easy meal tonight.  The potatoes cooked during exactly one episode of the Walking Dead.  Which is a great show to help you work up an appetite :)

Get excited for this: I plan on doing another round of homemade noodles this weekend and documenting the process.  So don't go anywhere!

The Many Uses of Vinegar

Since it's just Ricky (the dog) and me tonight (poor hubby is working a 15 hour shift) I don't have any recipes to document.  Except for this awesome omelette I made. 

I know...my presentation leaves something to be desired.  Trust me, it tasted better than it looked.  So instead of food, I decided that I would share my feelings on vinegar. 

 This stuff is multi-purpose.  I had no idea until I started doing some pinterest-ing.  Side note: I love pinterest.  Most of my ideas come straight from there--I'm not that clever.  But back to vinegar.  I started using it as a cleaning product a couple months ago and it has changed my life--my cleaning life. 

Let's be honest, cleaning products are expensive.  And they don't always work.  I think I've spent at least 2 years of my life trying to get our shower to look semi-clean.  No, we're not disgusting people.  It's just one of those showers without a tub, ya know?  And that DOOR is the hardest thing to get clean.  Not to mention all the nooks and crannies in there--gross.

I cannot and will not take credit for this next part.  I'm just sharing the good news.  My mom introduced me to this and I'm not sure where she originally found it.  First, grab one of these babies: 

Go splurge and get one at the Dollar Store.  Fill it up with half vinegar and half dish soap.  I used Palmolive but whatever you have on hand will be fine.  From what I've read, Dawn seems to be a winner.  Shake up the scrubber and you're good to go.  I'm not joking--this is a serious cleaner.  My shower door was spotless after I used it.  And I didn't even break a sweat!  Normally I emerge from  shower cleaning sessions soaking wet, arms sore, and hair smelling like ammonia.  Not the case anymore.  I MAYBE put about 30% effort into scrubbing. 

After this experience I started thinking, what else can I clean with vinegar?  Turns out the answer is...anything and everything!  I didn't go crazy and throw out all my other cleaning products or anything.  But I did make a vinegar spray.  While you're at the Dollar Store, grab one of these spray bottles:

 

 I filled it with about 3/4 vinegar and 1/4 water.  I also added some orange essential oil to make it smell a little better.  P.S. these essential oils are also something you can use all the time.  I found them on Amazon for about $15.  We used them around Christmas time to make homemade bath salts and scrubs :)

You can use this anywhere in your kitchen.  It's worked well on my counters and my stove.  Let me be blunt--after I use this, my kitchen smells a little bit like a salad.  I think that could be solved by adding more oil but I'm not 100% sure.  Personally I don't mind the smell of vinegar, but if it offends you then ignore this post.

I've found recipes for other homemade cleaning products but haven't gone there.  I still feel that nothing can replace Clorox when it comes to cleaning the bathroom!  If anyone else has used their own cleaning products let me know :)

So not only does vinegar clean, but I also use it in most of my recipes.  That should explain the picture (above) of my gallon jug. 

Stay tuned for one of my favorite pork chop recipes later!

Jake's Taco Chicken & Rice

Just another Monday.  Except it happens to be President's Day which means I have the day off :)  Days like these (and summer) are actually why I chose to work in the schools.  It has nothing to do with the kids.  Just kidding--kind of ;)

Last night, in the midst of our Walking Dead marathon, I decided to make our friend Jake's recipe.  He personally requested that we try this and I did not want to let him down!  Here are the ingredients:

2 cans chicken broth (I use bouillon cubes--cheaper, and easier to store)
1 can tomato sauce
1 package taco seasoning (I make my own: see below)
1 12 oz package frozen corn (I used canned corn)
2 cups uncooked minute rice
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

I had some shredded chicken in the freezer so I just pulled that out.  This made the recipe even faster than it already was!  And here is what I put in for my taco seasoning.
-1 tsp garlic powder
-1 tsp onion powder
-2 tsp cumin
-1 tsp chili powder
-2 tsp oregano
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp pepper
-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
 I personally like using my own seasonings because a) it's cheaper b) I can make it as weak/strong as I want c) I never remember to buy those stupid packets at the store.

Ok--here's what you do:
1) Cook the chicken however you want.  Jake's recipe recommended boiling it, which is what I had frozen.  But I think it would be fine if you sauteed it too.  Once cooked, cut (or shred if you're me) the chicken into pieces.
2)  Combine chicken broth, tomato sauce, and seasoning in a saucepan. 

3) Throw in the chicken and boil for a few minutes.  I've got to be honest--I didn't boil it.  Too impatient.  Sorry, Jake.  But I think it turned out ok in the end.
4) Add the corn and rice.  Normally I don't have minute rice but I actually did for this!  And in order to be truly authentic, I used it.  I don't think it would be the same without it.
5) Heat until rice is cooked and sauce is thickened.  For this step, I walked away and started doing laundry.  So I actually have no idea how long it took.  Jake says about 5 minutes.  When I walked back over to the stove, it was about 2 seconds away from bursting into flames and sticking to the pan for all eternity.  (Whoops) 
6) Serve over tortilla chips.  Add whatever taco seasonings you prefer.  We did lettuce and cheese.  The hubby dumped hot sauce on his and I added a spoonful of sour cream to mine.

 Survey says....this was delicious!  It was super easy and super cheap to make.  It can be hard to find a happy medium when it comes to GERD and Mexican food.  But this was great.  I could eat it plain and Bob could add whatever amount of heat he wanted. 

Disclaimer: the Ghost Pepper hot sauce in the picture is actually used as a form of torture.  Even Bob can't handle it.  And I've seen him eat some disgustingly spicy stuff.  So no, this went nowhere near our food.  He was just being comical. 

Thank you, Jake, for this fabulous recipe!  The best part of all is that we ended up with about 12 pounds of food.  So we can enjoy it again tonight :)





Because it was a 3 day weekend, I decided to go a little nuts and make some oatmeal bars.  I found these online while browsing for freezer meals one day.  Here's what you need:

- 2-1/4 C quick cooking oats, uncooked
- 2/3 C brown sugar
- 3/4 C raisins and/or dried cranberries (I didn't have any, so I went the healthy route and substituted chocolate chips.  I mean, come on, if you're gonna eat oatmeal you might as well have some chocolate to go with it.)
- 1 apple, peeled and sliced (I used my Pampered Chef peeler/corer/slicer life saver)
- 1/4 to 1/3 C nuts, chopped (I had walnuts)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3-1/3 C milk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract


All pretty basic ingredients, right?  And really, you could throw anything in there you want.  I LOVE recipes like this.  Here's what you do:

1) Preheat oven to 360 degrees. (weird number, right?  I don't know--I didn't write it)
2) Mix the oats, sugar, raisins (or chocolate chips), nuts, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl, combine the milk, eggs and vanilla. Add this to the dry ingredients, and mix until well blended.

3) Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. Place the apple slices on top. I cut my apple into small slices but you could make them as big as you want.
4) Bake for 55-60 minutes until firm.

After it cooled, I cut it into squares and wrapped each serving in plastic wrap.  Then I put them all in a freezer bag.  I had already started cutting when I took this, but here's what they look like.

They tasted way better than they look so don't be alarmed by this unappealing photo.  These are perfect for breakfasts on the go.  Just thaw one and heat it up in the morning.  I'm all about quick and easy! 

Let me know if you try them :)

Mongolian Beef & the Fridge Disaster

Anyone else as excited to see the weekend as I am?  It was just one of those weeks that seemed to drag on forever.  So then, of course, it was Friday morning, I opened the fridge, and disaster struck.  The freezer bag of crock pot mongolian beef I pulled out the night before had leaked in the fridge.  From what I could see that morning, it was contained to the bottom shelf.  I cleaned up what I could and went to work.  Well, I may have won that battle but the war was far from over.  My husband texted me and said the juice had found it's way into the cheese drawer.  NOOOOO not the cheese!  We love cheese!  So here I am picturing a few drips on the provolone cheese container.  WRONG.  It. was. everywhere.  I kid you not, we had to throw out the entire drawer.  Bob is a serious cheese fanatic so we had quite the collection in there.

Sadly, I did not take a picture of this catastrophe.  I was too busy donning my rubber gloves and filling a bucket of bleach water. 

We ended up cleaning out the entire fridge and it did leave me with a sense of accomplishment.  However, there were other ways I had imagined spending my Friday night.  I learned the hard way that freezer bags are not to be trusted.  The good news is that we ended up going to Marc's to replace everything and I found 2 dresses for $2.99 a piece!  :) 

Here's the recipe for the Mongolian Beef.  It is a for sure man-pleasing meal.  My hubby says it's one of his favorites.

Ingredients

• 1-2 lbs beef flank steak, cut into strips (I buy the already cut stir fry beef at Heinen's becuase once again, I'm slightly lazy)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• Any veggies that you would like to add.  I put in some shredded carrots.

Coat beef with cornstarch.  Combine ingredients for sauce and pour into crock pot.  Put beef in crock pot and cook on low 4-5 hours.  I've also made this in a skillet by sauteing the meat and veggies, then adding the sauce.  Serve over rice.  If you want to make it ahead and freeze it, just follow the same steps but pour everything into a freezer bag instead of cooking!

Tonight I'm taking the night off.  We're going to eat at the Wild Mango :)

A Day For Love

<3 Happy Valentine's Day! <3

I've never been a huge V-day supporter.  I'm not one of those girls who puts so much stock in what my significant other gets me.  This was good news for my husband, because he's a guy.  Need I say more?  However, I do think it's fun to do a little something special.  So what did we do?  Had pork tenderloin.  HA The food of romance.  We did get each other some small gifts though.

I will share my pork recipe, but since it's Valentine's Day, I want to share some things I've learned in my 1.5 years of marriage.  I know, it's not very long.  But don't they say the first year is the hardest?  So, here's my list.

1. Make time for each other.  As I mentioned before, my husband is a pharmacist and I'm a school speech pathologist.  I have normal working hours...he does not.  This was a huge stress factor early in our marriage.  We got married while I was finishing grad school so I was student teaching and driving out to Kent twice a week for night classes.  Bob was working until 10 a lot of nights.  So needless to say, we barely saw each other.  While this was hard, it made the time we did have together that much better.  And we always made time.  Did I pass up plans with friends so that I could spend the evening with my hubby?  Yes.  Do I regret it?  Not at all.  I know my true friends won't be offended.  It's so easy to get caught up in your separate schedules but I don't know what I would do without my hubby time.  When I get home from work earlier than he does, I count the minutes until he gets home!

2. Do things your partner loves, even if you aren't crazy about it.  OK--this is something I'll admit I still need to work on.  There will be days when Bob wants to go to Lowe's and I'm like, uughhhhh I just wanna watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (we all know we love it).  On his end, Bob is great about doing things I love.  For example, "honey let's go to JoAnn Fabrics!  I really need fabric to make this purse I'm dying to try."  And he'll go with me!  (sorry to out you, Bob)  I know he has absolutely no interest in fabric but he knows I love it.  Just like I know he loves wood working and could spend hours at Lowe's.

3. Agree to disagree.  Newsflash: Bob and I get in fights.  I know, you're all shocked!  ;)  But seriously, all couples fight.  It's just a fact of life.  Our basic fighting pattern is as follows.  "What's wrong?"  "Nothing."  "OK"  "No it's not nothing, I'm mad!"  "Well I'm mad because you're mad"  and so on and so forth.  We give each other our space, and then always end up talking it out.  I read once that you have to learn how to fight.  This is something we're still learning and getting better at everyday.  Bob and I are both very stubborn, and we both like to be right.  This is clearly not a good combination.  So I've learned that sometimes it's better to stop worrying about who is "right" and just agree to disagree.  Of course, when this comes to serious matters it doesn't always apply.  But for the most part, it's helpful to put yourself in the other person's shoes and think, "is this really a big deal?"  For me, usually the answer is NO!

OK--enough mush.  Time for food.  This is one of my tried and true recipes that I always go back to. 

Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin
1/4 cup hoisin sauce (If you don't have this, you need it--I use it in everything!  You can find it in the Asian aisle at any grocery store.)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon ginger (fresh or ground)
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

Mix the sauce ingredients together.  Usually I glaze the pork while it's grilling but since it's winter I tried it in the oven.  It turned out amazing.  So, you can grill it and glaze as it cooks.  OR you can bake it, covered, at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes (depending on how well you like it done).  This picture does not do it justice.  It was the best I could do since I was starving and had already started eating....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! 

The Miracle Bean Pot

Hopefully the title of this post alone drew you in.  Raise your hand if you know what a bean pot is.  Anyone?  I definitely didn't until my wedding shower.  B's cousin bought us one and told me that it was the most amazing thing in her kitchen.  Here's mine:

I know it doesn't look like much, but I promise you it's incredible.  This is why.  So freezer meals are great, until you forget to take them out of the freezer.  Last night, I made a point of having Bob choose something to eat out of the basement freezer and move it to the upstairs freezer.  He chose chicken alfredo.  In my head I said, ok I'll put it in the fridge before bed and it'll be thawed by the time Bob needs to put it in the crock pot.  (As a pharmacist my darling husband has some week days off and is in charge of the cooking).  Well, guess who didn't take the chicken out of the freezer.  Shame.  I texted the hubby from work in the morning and asked him to take it out.  Guess who didn't do that.  Yes.  My chicken was still frozen by the time I got home from work.

THE HORROR.  Imagine my despair as I looked at the bag that read "cook on low for 5-6 hours."  Ummm I don't have 5-6 hours.  I have a maximum of 2 hours before my husband starts eating chips and salsa for dinner.  Then, the lightbulb: I'll use my bean pot!  I threw my chicken and sauce in the pot, put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half, and it was fabulous. I boiled some whole wheat noodles (of course), made some frozen veggies for myself (of course), and we had dinner.  The lesson of the day is this: bean pot=crock pot on speed.  Realistically it probably didn't need an hour and a half but we were busy and I get distracted.  But this thing makes the meat so tender and delicious.  I've put potatoes in it and let me tell you, they do not come out like the partially cooked crock pot potatoes.  So, I owe all of this to Bob's wonderful cousin.  Without her I would never have known about the I-want-chicken-alfredo-but-forgot-to-thaw-it life saver.  

My chicken alfredo.....

....was not that exciting.  I mean, it was seriously 2 chicken breasts with a can of alfredo sauce.  So no, I'm not a crazy make-everything-from-scratch kind of wife.  I did add some freshly ground black pepper (which is just like not freshly ground black pepper) and it was pretty good.  I used to use these noodles:




but I can't find them anywhere now!  With a husband who doesn't eat veggies, pasta that advertises 1 full serving of veggies is on my list.  And they tasted good.  So if anyone knows where to buy these please let me know!

I would also like to note that tomorrow is Ricky the dog's FIRST birthday!  He's growing up so fast :)

In the very near future, I will be trying a recipe re: a friend's request.  Our good friend Jake asked if I would only write about frozen meals.  I said, no way.  I enjoy the occasional normal, thawed meal.  So he passed on his recipe for taco chicken and rice (personally I feel the name needs some work)--just kidding Jake.  But maybe we'll really think of one after we eat it =)  Stay tuned...you'll have my unrated, non-biased opinion very soon.

Freezer Meals...Tried & True

Happy Monday! 

This weekend FLEW by--probably because I spent most of Saturday shopping for, and preparing, my freezer meals.  After working all day during the week, the last thing I want to do is come home and figure out what we're going to eat.  So a few months ago, my coworker told me how much she loves doing freezer meals.  I had been seeing it all over pinterest, facebook, and every other social media site you can think of but never thought I would be able to do it.  WRONG.  If you're thinking that right now, you are WRONG.  I'm not going to sugar coat it though--it takes a lot of prep, time, and patience.  But once you do it you'll feel like you just won the lottery.  OK, not really, but close enough.  I don't even have kids and this has saved my life!  However, my coworker has young children and she said that this has saved her life as well.  So, whether you're cooking for 1, 2, or 30, it works. 

I have done freezer meals 3 times, and this last one was by far the best.  Here is my secret:



This is my personal opinion only, but I've found that wholesale shopping is the way to go.  I have tried other options in the past and ended up spending WAY more than I wanted to. 

So, you know my secret.  Before you go to the store though, you need a list.  Ughhh the dreaded shopping list.  Half the time I make lists and then leave them at home so I end up having to go by memory.  Then I got smart and started using the notes app on my phone to keep track of everything.

Anyways, Step 1: THE LIST.  Start by deciding what meals you would like to make.  It takes a few tries to get recipes that are healthy, quick, and tasty, but it IS possible.  The first round of cooking, my husband and I decided that we needed things with more flavor.  Most of the meals were way too bland for us--especially for him, the man who dumps truckloads of hot sauce on everything.  Obviously that's not an option for GERD sufferers, but I do like a little more taste in my food.  So we quickly crossed those meals off for next time.  We also decided that we don't like anything in the crockpot except for meat.  If you like mushy zucchini and undercooked potatoes, by all means go for it.  The hubby doesn't even eat veggies, so I found myself gorging on almost pureed carrots so as not to waste them.  But that's just us--you might like it. 

My advice?  Go through cookbooks and recipes you already like.  It's so easy to partially make them and freeze most of them.  I'll share some of my favs at a later date.  Here is my list from this weekend:

Most of the igredients for sauces and stuff I already had on hand.  So if you don't have that you'll have to add those things to your list.

Step 2: Go shopping!  This part is painful.  You're going to spend a lot of money so it's better to just prepare yourself before you go.  Keep reminding yourself that you won't have to make a big trip like this again for at least a month.  I spent around $160 this time, which is the best I've done so far. 

Step 3: Labeling.  Ok, so if you're a type A personality like me, this is the fun part.  I love labeling and organizing things.  I use freezer bags for most of my stuff but I also have those disposable casserole containers for other things.  Label each bag or container with the date, what will be in it, and directions for cooking it. 

Step 4: Prep the kitchen.  Make sure you have counter space cleared and lots of room to work.  I usually start by making all the sauces for one kind of meat and putting them into their corresponding bags.  Most of my current recipes use a lot of the same ingredients in different variations so I just left them all out the whole time.  I also rinsed and re-used the same bowls as to cut down on dish washing time.  After all your sauces are done, just add the meat.  This has become my new favorite thing and here's why: Does anyone like to marinate their food in the morning before work?  No.  Does anyone even think about doing this?  I don't.  So, I do it all on one day, pull it out of the freezer the night before we want to eat it, and it marinates all day in the fridge while it thaws.  Then you can cook it however you want--grill, bake, fry, crockpot--the sky's the limit.

Some things I pre-cook completely.  This a genius idea and I cannot take credit for it.  I found it here: http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html  She also has some recipes on her site.  I fry up some ground meat (turkey or chicken) and then add various seasonings.  So I made 1 lb with garlic, onion powder, basil, oregano, S&P to add to spaghetti, lasagna, and other italian dishes.  I made another with cumin, oregano, garlic, onion powder, S&P, chili powder, and ground red pepper flakes for tacos.  Throw these in freezer bags and you're done!  I also boil chicken and shred it in my stand mixer.  I've used that for chicken salad, fajitas, soup, BBQ chicken sandwiches, EVERYTHING.  In the past, I have frozen the leftover chicken broth in ice cubes trays, but this has just become an extra step #lazy.  Last time I pre-made some casseroles but by-passed it this time.  Even without those, I ended up with a whopping total of 26 meals!

Minus the shopping trip and breaks to take the dog out, I spent a total of 6 hours in my kitchen.  I know, I  know, it's too long.  But that includes prep and clean-up so it's not TOO bad, right?  My back was hurting and I smelled like soy sauce and dijon mustard but it was totally worth it. 

Last night we had slow cooker orange chicken.  Check out the recipe.  Warning: it is very orange-y!  I altered the original recipe and used a little under 4 oz. of OJ concentrate but I would use even less next time.  Overall my husband and I put this on the "make again" list, with a little less OJ. 

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
•  1/3 cup flour
•  olive oil
•  1/2 Tbl. salt
•  1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
•  3 Tbl. ketchup
•  4 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed)
•  4 Tbl. brown sugar
•  1/4 tsp. ginger
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Combine and  mix the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, ketchup, ginger and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Pour the flour and the chicken in a freezer bag.  Shake to cover chicken with flour.  Pour sauce in a separate labeled bag.

Cooking Directions:

Pour a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and brown the flour-covered chicken.
After the chicken is slightly browned, put the pieces in the crock pot. Then cover the chicken with the sauce.  Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-3.

Next on the menu: Crockpot Mongolian Beef