Monday, September 27, 2010

Freezer Cooking sites

So I should provide a link to some of the sites I've been using to get freezable recipes!

Once A Month Mom: I love this site! Each month, the woman who writes is publishes her list of freezer recipes for the month. She also provides the instructions for the big day of cooking, if you want her take on what to do when, and other resources are available as well. I've used this one a lot lately!

Mom's Budget: This is another good site with a lot of recipes. Not as many extras, like the cooking day instructions here, but still many recipes to try out.

So far, my freezer cooking has worked out well! The stuff I make will usually last us the next week and maybe even longer, depending on how much we eat at one time. The other thing I like about freezer cooking is that this doesn't result in us having a LOT of things leftover in the fridge that will go bad before we can eat them up. I'd love to be able to do my cooking more like once per month, but I haven't gotten that far yet!

Hello?

Wow, we're almost to the one year mark of posting anything on this blog! Again, Erin and I have both been pretty lax, but maybe we'll be back posting again with more regularity someday. I have been doing some freezer cooking lately, which I'm loving! It's fun to spend a few hours cooking stuff so that you have things ready to go for the week.

As I'm writing this, I'm totally remembering that I forgot to get anything out of the freezer today for tonight's dinner! The husband is at home but is so crashed out from working overtime today that (a) I don't want to call him and wake him up, and (b) even if I did call him, I question whether or not he'd actually stay awake long enough to get something out of the freezer for me! My solution? We have some leftovers from last night (and some other stuff that can be microwaved out of the freezer for Nick) that we'll have tonight. Problem solved!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Cream Cheese Chicken

This one was fantastic! The last one, published way back in August...not that outstanding.

Crock pot needed!

Some chicken (frozen or not) - I used 2 large boneless, skinless breasts
1 can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup (I used chicken)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup Chicken broth
1 packet of zesty italian seasoning
1 package of cream cheese

Place all ingredients but cream cheese into a crock pot on low for 6 hours (and that will depend on the size of your crockpot because apparently the power went out on mine and it doesn't automatically come back on, but things were still pretty cooked...so I have no idea how long it actually took).
After initial cook time expires, remove chicken and shred (I really don't enjoy shredding chicken, so I just cut mine up into smaller pieces).
Return chicken to crock pot and add cream cheese...stir around a bit and cook on high for 30 minutes (I did an hour to ensure cooked chicken based on power outtage and it was fine).

While chicken is cooking for that last 30 minutes, cook some pasta - I used whole wheat penne - and serve chicken over pasta.

So good! So flavorful! So easy!

erin

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Herbed Whole Wheat Pasta with Lemon Butter

Took this from Pioneer Woman...planning on trying out this week:

Ingredients:
-Coarse Salt
-Pepper
-1/2 lb. whole wheat pasta
-1 Tbsp. butter
-1 tsp. lemon zest (so you'll need a lemon)
-1 Tbsp. lemon juice (again with needing the lemon)
-1/4 c. chopped herbs (of your choosing I guess : suggested: parsley, chives, basil)
-crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
-Cook pasta to al dente and drain, reserve 1/2 c. pasta water for potential thinning later
-Stir in butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper (to taste)
-At this point, you can add pasta water to thin your creation if necessary
-Top with the cheese. I might use something other than feta, but maybe not.

Sounds good, no?

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Fried Rice

This is how I do it...however, there are many variations, I'm sure.


You will need:
Rice (I switch between brown and Jasmine)
Eggs
Soy Sauce
Vegetable Oil
Garlic Powder
Pepper
Leftover chicken, pork (if you have any)

My parents would also always add a frozen peas/carrots mixture, but I...not so much.

Okay, so first you prepare rice according to the package. I usually just do 1 cup unless I want to eat this stuff for 4 days, then I'll double the recipe of the rice.

So, once the rice is done, heat some veggie oil in a deepish skillet and after it's warm, dump in the cooked rice...allow to brown a bit (5 minutes) and stir around.

Throw in some garlic powder, soy sauce, pepper (you don't need salt because soy sauce is really salty), I also added a touch of dill to my batch last night, and it was tasty! Basically, throw in some flavor of your liking.

Toss around rice in oil somemore.

Make a well in your rice, a place in which you can crack your eggs. I like to use 3 eggs because I like my rice very eggy. If you prefer less, use 2. If you double the rice, use 4. Crack the eggs into the well and scramble them up. Try not to get rice into eggs at this point.

After the eggs set up a bit, mix them into the rice making sure they are evenly distributed.

At this point, you can be done, or you can toss in any leftover meat you have from a previous meal. Chicken and pork work best...think fried rice people...see much beef fried rice?...but whatever, if you think you'll like, toss it in!

That's it! I eat this all alone, but you could pair it up with bread and a salad for a very nice meal. Leftovers are fantastic!

erin

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Ode to the Deep Fried Oreo

Okay, okay...

I was in a wedding this weekend and had the opportunity to eat a deep fried oreo cookie at the rehearsal dinner.

I took this opportunity like it was my job! And it was ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT! If you don't know the goodness that is an oreo cookie, coated in batter and deep fried to perfection (sorry, Mom, just hold on and go to your happy place) then you don't know sheer delight.

To compensate for this manna from heaven, I didn't eat wedding cake. And it was red velvet. So there.

Other than that, our Xbox broke so I haven't been able to see my zumba dvd...I try to do my own stuff to compensate and I'm sure it's not quite at effective, but it's movement. I am still doing pretty darn well on my portion/food choices but I do need to make a grocery run to restock on the good stuff! We're out of food at our house again!

So if anyone cares, I'll try to keep updating, but I had to take a blog out and relive my deep fried fantasy...good times!

Monday, January 19, 2009

A Week 1 wrap up --Erin

Okay, so at the end of week 1 of operation, "What the heck happened?" I really feel like I've made the mental commitment to change my ways.  Seriously.  Usually, I pretend the make the commitment or unwillingly try to make the commitment and in the end, fail.  This time, though, something clicked in my head and I totally get it and want to do it and really, it's not that hard.  You still get to eat all kinds of lovely food, just you know, don't eat so much.  Don't eat 3 cookies when 1 will do...and don't eat cookies everyday.  Remember when we were kids...there were not cookies everyday at all!  And we were fine and we were kids.  We didn't think about the reasoning behind not having that everyday treat and now as adults, we can understand that an everyday treat will end up equaling an everyday fat ass.

Anyway, I have lost 3 pounds this week.  I am happy with that outcome.  3 pounds a week is a good 12 pounds a month, which means I will be back in my comfort zone in a mere 3 months.  Now I'm not saying in 3 months I'm going to stop or be done, I can always be less than my comfort zone...I'm just looking for that body type I had right when Danny and I started dating (yes, that means I did gain 30 pounds in 3 years...yuck!).  I felt great, I looked great, I was no size 6, but I was perfectly happy with my pants.  These past few months and years, I've been unhappy with my pants and all I want is to again, be happy in the morning before work and not disappointed and disgusted.  

So I'm on my way with these first 3 pounds!

erin