Supper, Dinner, That Meal You Eat at the End of the Day...

Whatever you call it, the meal around the family table really is important.  For instance, I would never have known that a "cheffer" is someone who "cooks real good food" or that Peyton got his pretty eye-lashes at JayC if not for the family meal.

As I continue my adventure with this whole Freezer-Cooking Series, I have realized more and more each day how special this time is.  The days rush by so quickly, and often we're busy at work or at home, or we're rushing to an activity of some sort - and we miss those funny, cute moments with our families.  Supper-time is becoming more and more obsolete, and it's a shame.  The meal around the table is our time to connect.  It's our time to rid ourselves of distractions, gather together, decompress, enjoy good food, and most importantly - enjoy each other!  

"Regular family mealtime also is linked to better emotional health, fewer risk-taking behaviors, such as alcohol and drug abuse and better school performance."  Taken from Mealtime.org - The Family Table

We all have busy schedules, but the Freezer-Cooking series can help!  When your main dish (or whole meal) is cooking all day while you're doing other things, it's easy to get a nutritious, yummy! meal on the table in no time and get back to the Family Table!

See my previous post for the whole Freezer-Cooking scoop; and then head over to my The Family Dinner blog to check out the recipes as we try them!

Even if you can't get to the table as a family every night - start small, and choose one or two nights that you can get there, and make it happen!  Or, if breakfast is a better time for a family meal, do it then . . . I am not a morning person, so not that's not my bag; but if it works for you and your family, that's great!  Bottom line, it doesn't matter the time of day; just get there together!  And don't rush - choose a time that you'll have time to get the full experience!  Good luck!

What the @&$% Was I Thinking? Oh Wait...This Is Awesome!

Recently I got it in my head to try this idea of prepping and freezing (in 1 day) a whole month's worth of meals to make dinner easier during the week.  I have seen quite a few blogs on this and thought many, many, many times that I should try it, but I never committed to it and the idea eventually fizzled.  But, for some reason this time I thought, "I can do this."

Anyhoo - I headed out to Sam's Club, the local 'buy in bulk' store to get all the meat that I would need for this venture.  Then I hit up the local grocery store sale for the rest.  My advice - if you want to give this adventure a try, do plan ahead in order to get the most bang for your buck!  This can actually prove to be a cheaper option than weekly grocery shopping if you do.  Also, have a friend (or brother-in-law - Thank you, Patrick!) who can help you determine just what in the hell hoisin sauce is and what aisle to find it in!

*Helpful shopping list hint - on a piece of paper as you go through the recipes writing your list, don't write it out as 3 onions, 2 chicken breasts (or whatever), instead mark it like this:
Onion -III
Chicken Breast - II
By doing it this way, you can just continue adding tally marks to items as they appear in the recipes, thereby making it MUCH easier to see how much of an item you need instead of writing them ALL from each recipe and then trying to go back through the list and add things up.
 
Last night after putting the kids to bed, I stare at all the bags of food sitting around my kitchen and almost have heart failure.  What was I thinking?!  But I take a deep breath and start sorting.  All the raw meat in one area, all the veggies in another, the spices in another, etc.  Then I take my gallon Ziploc bags and start writing the names of the meals on them.  

Can you tell I'm stalling at this point?!

Finally, I get down to business.  For me, the easiest way to do this was to first sort the meat (cutting it as I went, if needed) into the Ziploc bags and put them on the table out of my way.  Then I scanned the recipes to determine how many onions I needed to chop, how many to slice, etc.  And I did that with all my veggies and did all the chopping at once.  After I completed all the chopping, mincing, blah, blah, blah ... I moved on to filling the bags.  I opened each recipe (I did not write them down, some people do; I bookmarked the link on my computer and just opened them as I went) and grabbed the bag of meat that corresponded and added my veggies and any other sauces or spices that were listed.  Then I smooshed it all around to mix it up and stuck it in the freezer.  I simply repeated this step until I used the last bag of meat!  *Some recipes call to serve with rice or pasta ... you just leave that out and cook that part when you're ready to eat.

When it was all over, I thought--good grief that was crazy!  I don't know if I'll ever do that again.  But then, I thought - wait a minute, I have my main dishes all ready for almost the ENTIRE MONTH.  So all I have to do is grab them from the freezer the night before, throw them in the fridge to thaw overnight, and then in the morning put them in the crockpot on low so supper is ready when we are!  I did all my prep-work in about 3 hours instead of spreading it out into an hour this night, a half-hour that night, etc.  Three hours in one day and I'm finished!  I do have to give credit to my husband for helping me for about an hour and a half ... but then I had to release him for "The Walking Dead," (eeeeewwww) and I finished up by myself.  

AWESOME!  

*A few recipe notes -
1.  I did not brown any of my meat.  Some of the recipes call for this, but based on others' experiences, it is not a necessary step.
2.  I used some fresh herbs, but not all.  Fresh does have that extra oomph, but it won't destroy the meal if you use dried herbs.  I did this because I have quite a few dried herbs already in my spice rack, so it cut down on my cost.
3.  I was confused at first because not all of these meals are 'crock-pot' meals, and I was concerned that this wasn't going to work like I'd hoped.  But just ignore the cooking directions, throw the ingredients in the bag, smoosh around, and freeze.  Move from freezer to fridge the night before to thaw, grab it from the fridge in the morning and give it a good squeeze to mix it up again, and put it in the crock-pot on low.
4.  There are 19 recipes total on the list I used.  The author of the blog (see below) doubled each recipe (except the ones that were already doubled by the original author) so that she'd have almost 40 meals.  I did not double them because we're just trying them out for the first time.  If we like the recipe, then next month I'll double it.  I'll also be looking for other recipes to add to the rotation!

If you're feeling brave enough to jump right in (and I encourage you do so), visit Who Needs a Cape for the complete recipe list.

If you're not feeling so brave just yet and want to see how it turns out first, follow my Family Dinner Blog for the individual recipes and verdicts on taste as we thaw and cook them!  

I believe tomorrow night we'll start with Teriyaki Chicken or Cilantro-Lime Chicken...

Romance is Dead. ...Or is It?

I recently had a friend tell me she hated romance movies because no man was actually like any of the men in the romance movies.  I happen to love romance movies.  So I was thinking about our conversation and (most) women's love of this genre.  

Now, I'm not saying that men don't possess some good qualities, but a lot of men really lack the "romance bone."  And when we watch a movie where the man makes this big, romantic gesture, we sigh and wish our significant other would perform such a gesture.  Do we realize that you will never be Hugh Grant?  Yes.  Hugh Grant isn't even Hugh Grant.  So then why do we watch, and why do we hold on to a tiny glimmer of hope that one day we will get that gesture?

Why else would we date?!  Ha.

But seriously.

22 Days of Thanksgiving

This "game" is taking Facebook by storm.  Every year it begins on Facebook -- every day, beginning November 1st, you post something that you're thankful for.  I did it last year.  But this year as November 1st came and went, I made a somewhat conscious decision not to get into it this year.  Why?  Because some people (myself included) see the posts and think, "Congratulations, you have...  Why do you feel the need to post it on Facebook?  Maybe we don't care." 

And I still felt that way as I saw the barrage of comments about thankfulness on November 2nd and most of the 3rd.  Seriously - I'm happy that you have stuff to be thankful for.  So do I.  Why do we feel this need to share it all over Facebook?  It's not really people sharing their blessings.  It's bragging about the people in our lives or the things that we have.  It's a big "In Your Face!" to everyone on our friend list.  For example, we post that we're thankful for the wonderful husband we have who works hard, etc.  And secretly we're thinking, "Because I know Janie So-and-So's husband is a real loser...maybe she'll get the message when she reads this." 

Then, last night (November 3rd), I spent the evening working at our Church's Annual Turkey Supper.  I talked to people I've known forever, some newer friends, and some I'd just met.  As I looked at all the people working with me, all the people enjoying the dinner, and all the camaraderie in general happening around me, I realized what a bad attitude I had about this harmless game.  Here I stood in the middle of a room with nearly six hundred people that came to eat, to share their time with others, and to be thankful together.  I was so ... THANKFUL! to be part of it.  

And it dawned on me - people aren't bragging or writing these posts to make others feel bad.  They are truly sharing with the world (or at least our online part of it) how they feel to be surrounded by the people that they love, and how much they enjoy the things they have.  For a change it's not a post about, "This person makes me so mad," or "I wish I had ..."  It's a simple statement about being satisfied and appreciative of who and what we have.  Instead of taking time to be negative, they're taking time to be positive and share the experience of being thankful with others.  And couldn't we all use a little less negativity and a lot more happy?! 

So, look for me to start posting what I'm thankful for!  And Facebook friends, I'm sincerely happy that you have so many wonderful things to be thankful for in your lives!