Meet Me On Monday

Monday, November 15, 2010

Meet Me on Monday is hosted by Java at Never Growing Old.
Java asks 5 question for all to answer. What a great way to get to know each other a little better.

Questions:
1. Do you eat Sushi?

2. What kind of bath soap do you use?

3. How often do you talk to your Mom?

4. What TV shows do you watch on a regular basis?

5. Did you start Christmas shopping yet?



My answers:

1.





2.I like to smell like the hubby what can I say


3.Every morning between school zones =)



4.


5. There is shopping involved?

Sunday Dinner

Sunday I felt like cooking. I love to cook but these days I just have very little time to play in my kitchen. However with no major plans on Sunday I made one of my favorite meals. Lemon Garlic roasted chicken, with lemon fingerling potatoes and a butter lettuce salad with a yummy Beurre Blanc Sauce. I actually use the recipe from Tyler Florence's book Dinner At My Place however the link from Time is the same one. For dessert I wanted to try a new recipe and make a Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread. Oh my goodness it was so delicious, I have to thank Aimée over at Under the Highchair for posting such a great recipe. I've made the cupcakes before and they are always a big hit but they just don't compare to this gooey chocolaty cake.

DH had to run a few errands and was a sweetheart so he stopped off at the store to pick up a few thing for me. So for dinner instead of having the lemon garlic chicken i had planned we had a lemon garlic turkey breast....because "they looked the same." Hey I'm not going to complain though it turned out great and I didn't have to go to the store.
Going into the oven


Beurre Blanc Sauce
Everything is better with butter
Something is wrong with my flash but here's the finished salad, those are shallots on the top
Ruggles hanging out
Usually this would be all served up fancy on white platters, however I just didn't feel like washing that many dishes.
Just about done baking, I would have taken finished product pictures however we had a slight mishap. Dh so graciously offered to help me get the loaf out of the pan......so half the loaf came out and half didn't =) no worries though all crumbled up makes a great bottom to vanilla ice cream. Next time more cooking spray and less help.

7 Months and Mobile

Just a short update on Ruggle's. He is now 7 months old and has six, yes SIX teeth. Which makes finding teething foods hard since he can break most of them. He is a very good crawler but is covered in bruises. He's at that stage where he's pulling up and standing but lacks balance so he bumps his head on everything. Below are his 6 months photos, these aren't the cutest of the ones we had taken but DH hasn't scanned the others in yet. I just want to point out that he is a strawberry, at least one of my kids inherited something from me.






The girls also had there Kinder school photos taken. Snowdrop swears that the photographer told her not to show her teeth.....hummm

I Heart My Freezer

These day's I find myself with no time and in the evenings when things are the busiest no energy to make dinner. With the kids wanting help with homework, and the baby underfoot spending time over the stove just isn't practical. Surfing the web I found a wonderful idea called Freezer cooking. It's a life saver for me, and kind of fun. Healthy to because now you can avoid those days where you are DREADING making dinner, so you give in spend money and get fast food.

Here's what you need :
a little pre- planning
2 hours time in the kitchen
box of large freezer ziplock bags
black permanent marker
14-30 yummy recipes
your favorite music in the background

If you plan to cook for 2 weeks ( 14 meals ) then you can probably shop at your local grocery store. Find one that is having a sale on meats since this tends to be the where the bulk of your money goes. If you plan on cooking more than 14 meals then I would shop at your local wholesale grocer like Sam's or my favorite Costco. If you buy in bulk then the next time around that you cook you already have a pantry full of the staples and only need to pick up the fresh things like veggies, meats and so forth. What I do is pick 7 meals and then make 2 of everything, saves time and brain power. I also write is all down on a calendar and then I never have to think about what to make I just rotate several meal plans and I have the shopping lists all ready.

What you are doing pretty much is doing all the prep work for your meals in one day. I buy a pack of 12 pork chops each ziplock bag receives 4 chops ( since I cook for 4, needless to say if you are cooking for 2 you can make several more meals with 12 chops ) I label each bag, BBQ pork, Honey baked, Orange chicken, Wine and Herb Chicken and so on. Then you either make your marinades up and pour them in or you store bought marinades. Then you freeze them, when you are ready you thaw out your bag the night before and then all you have to do is pop it in the oven and poof done. You can precook your meal like the quiche's or the meatloaf, but I like to just freeze everything and then bake it when its time to eat.

There are a few tricks and tips that I have learned the hard way. One make sure you freeze your bags with NO air in them to avoid that nasty freezer burn taste. Two make sure you freeze them flat, sometime you will have to reverse the way you lay the bags to achieve this. Three lay a paper towel in between each bag, no matter how hard you try the bags always have some moisture so when you go to pull a bag out instead of one you get all. They will all freeze together and it is no fun to separate them. Four get a friend interested, it's a lot more fun to swap recipes and do the work together. Five start by making just 2 weeks, if you begin by trying to make all 30 your first time out you might be a little overwhelmed.

Here are my fav sites for Freezer Recipes
Once A Month Cook

Frugal Mom - Chicken

Frugal Mom- Beef


Martha Stewart has several on her site that are so tasty



These two sites are great for tips
Mom's Budget
Frugal Mom - 7 steps


Now about side dishes, usually I like to serve a salad or a veggie along with meat. You can pre-make your veggies especially if you like organics, or are trying to save money. I however like to save time so I usually splurge and purchase frozen veggies that I can steam in the microwave. I try and stay away from anything canned, not only do they have that "can" taste they are also high in sodium.

Cooking this way lets me walk in the door after the girls skate practice or gymnastics or after a long day with the baby teething and all i do is pop something in the oven and put a salad in a bowl. Go grab yourself a few yummy recipes and give it shot, let me know how it goes.