Halloween candy, freezer cooking and celebrating 80 years!

This past week saw a lot of food challenges. I rose up to meet some and fell so far from goal on others.

Lets start on Wednesday October 31st. Oh Halloween how you taunt me with your delicious fun size candy bars. I have three wonderful little ones so just not having it in my house is not an option. My dad will be quick to remind everyone that Halloween is for little kids and to let them be little. Not to say we don't have some rules about trick or treating.

Rule 1 - NO candy until we get home and mom/dad have a chance to inspect it. This is not a rule that will ever get bent, even though it would probably never happen that our kids will get a piece that could cause them harm. Sometimes I have to remove a piece that for whatever reason is not fully wrapped. This usually is the fault of quick manufacturing. Sometimes I pull candies that the kids could choke on or are really bad for their teeth. We do not have jolly ranchers or caramel suckers for this reason.

Rule 2 - All candy goes into the communal bucket. I know part of the fun is the trading but I was always the kid that could convince someone that a tootsie roll was a fair trade for a Resses (it is not). It would cause fights when the trade was over and my siblings saw that the tiny tootsie roll was just traded for a larger candy. Plus the boys are young and just see the candy and don't care about the brands.

Rule 3 - If we collect more than what can fit in the bucket, it is in the trash. I know I could donate it to organizations but I also know it will sit in my house a few more days and I will eat it. It is best to just go in the trash and take the trash out immediately.  I do this when the boys are in bed because they are still too little to understand why I have to do it this way.

Rule 4- One piece of candy a day, even on Halloween night. This is a rule that Losing It Daddy breaks but so far I have been very good at it. I have even gone a few days without anything. The boys love to choose their candy and we take turns on who picks first. We have candy choosing time right after Losing It Big gets home from school along with a piece of fruit or carrot sticks.

 Losing It Big was a fireman, Losing It Middle was Elmo and Losing It Little was part of a chicken. I got him to wear the chicken costume for 1 min, this picture. Then he would only wear the legs. Every year this has happened (Big and Middle have also had this costume) and every year on November 1st, the go and put the whole thing on themselves. I will never understand it and just remember my dad saying, "it is for the kids". So I just laugh and take my half a chicken trick or treating.

I was a runner. I thought I would wear a piece of each race that proved to be meaningful to me. I wore my headband from the color run I did with my brother, the color run bib I did barefoot (I did 2 races), the shirt from the cheesetown challenge, socks from Saint Patricks 5K, metal from mud run I ran with my sister and the new pants I got right after the trail run I did, since my old ones were falling off me. It made me feel strong and proud of all that I have done this year. I have to hang up my shoes for a few races because we should be saving our money for other things. This doesn't mean I am out though. I really feel I will be able to run all of St Patty's in 2013. I just have to remember to train for it.



On Saturday I spent the morning with some lovely women. I am a Great Lake Bay Mom and was asked to do a mini freezer cooking session with a few of the other moms. It was a great morning where we shared cooking tips and got to know one another a bit better. Plus we made some food. It was a learning experience for me since I am usually by myself cooking, so I had to remember to explain what I was doing. I started out slow but then was able to start to delegate for a few things. We made 2 breakfast items and 4 dinners:
Sausuage Cheese Muffins
Banana Bread
Apple Cherry Pork Tenderloin
Spicy Honey Chicken Breasts (we almost always sub breasts for other cuts of meats)
Taco Pasta
Breaded Chicken Breasts

*the banana bread was made to the point of batter and then placed in pans. When ready to cook, thaw and bake for 45 minutes.

That evening I traveled to New Lothrup to celebrate my grandfathers 80th birthday. It was at a family bar style restaurant and I choose (quickly) a burger and fries. I arrived late and just picked the first thing that looked good. When it was time for cake I decided not to have any because of the burger. I didn't really feel all that bad about it, and I LOVE cake. I actually didn't put much thought into it until I was driving home. I stopped for something to drink at a gas station and saw some "fruit" pies. For a brief moment I thought about getting one because I was so good at not having cake. Then I shook my head and thought about how silly that was. Why would I 'reward' my choice by making an even worse choice. So I ended the night with no sugary treats. YAY ME!!!

Freezing Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We have heard this over and over again, yet almost half of our population skip this meal. Why? Most are too busy to sit down and have a meal first thing in the morning. We are running around getting the kids ready for school or ourselves ready for the day. If you are like me, you are still trying to wake up and should not be near a room with sharp objects and fire.

I do, however, have breakfast every morning, even in my tired state. I enjoy having a quick meal that I don't have to think about to prepare straight out of my freezer. I could spend lots of money on food from the frozen food aisle but I choose to set aside a few hours every so often and make my own.  I enjoy knowing what is in my food and where it came from.

Many baked goods can be frozen. Muffins, scones, fruit breads, and waffles are all in my freezer. I like to bake them fully and just freeze flat on a baking tray. This is called flash freezing. Once they are semi-frozen, about an hour or so, I take them off the tray and place them in a freezer safe bag. This method will prevent the items from sticking together so I can pull out 1 or 5 items at a time. Partner these up with some scrambled eggs and a side of fruit and you have a meal that will keep you going all morning long, in about 1 minute.

Smoothies and breakfast burritos are a huge hit for our family as well. I can blend up some fruit, yogurt and add a scoop of protein powder in a matter of minutes and walk out the door. As an added bonus, we put 3 cups of fresh spinach and the kids will be having their veggies without any complaints. We call it the Green Monster and my 3 toddlers are more than happy to drink it up. A breakfast burrito takes 3 minutes in the microwave and you can carry it with you as you get those kids to the school bus.

If time is the reason you are skipping breakfast, please spend an hour or so every few weeks and make some things for the mornings that are so hectic. You will be calmer and your kids will be able to focus on school and play.

 Looking for ideas? Here are some of our family favorites:
Apple Snack Cake
Baked Oatmeal
Coffee Smoothie
Cranberry Orange Scones
Fruity Breakfast Burritos
Carrot Apple Nut Muffins
Breakfast Burrito
Green Monster
 Clone of Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls    (these are a Christmas morning tradition)

When Slow Cooker meets Freezer

Don't put your slow cooker in the freezer!!

I heard about making crock pot meals ahead of time about a year ago. I thought the woman who came up with this idea was a genius. I also thought that it was so simple it shouldn't have taken a year of traditional freezer cooking for me to figure this out. I now keep at least one chicken, one pork and one beef crock pot meal on my rotation every month when I set up the types of meals I want to add to our freezer. 

The things I love about using both the slow cooker and freezer for making our meals are:

• The quickness of making them ahead of time. Most of the time I only have to chop the veggies and dump in a bag.
• I can use up extras from other recipes. If I have a little bit of chicken, pork or beef  I know can add a few more ingredients and have another great meal.
• The managers specials are great ways to find cheap cuts of meat for meals but you have to use them quick. Since crock pot meals are easy to toss in the freezer, you can take full advantage of these discounted quick sales.

The only draw back of having slow cooker freezer meals is you need to be discipline enough to think ahead of your meals. Most of these meals need 4-8 hours in the crock pot and it is best to thaw them out a little in your fridge. I like to plan my meals on Sunday for the entire week. I write them in a few places so everyone knows what we are having for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks that week. You don't have to be THAT specific on your meal planning, but having an idea the night before is needed for these meals.

Most every crock pot recipe that requires you to just dump your ingredients and turn the machine on will work for the freezer. All you do is label your gallon freezer bag, gather your ingredients and dump your ingredients in the bag (instead of the crock pot) according to the directions. Raw meats, sauces, veggies, fruits, whatever - NO COOKING REQUIRED! YAY!!!! Get as much of the air out of your bag as possible and freeze. When you are ready to cook I recommend getting it out the night before and thaw in your fridge, not your counter top. If it is still a little frozen in the morning, that's ok. You don't want to chance making your family sick by leaving it out all night and getting too warm too fast. If you forget to thaw in the fridge you can run the package under hot water but it may make your cook times a little off.

I will offer one note about our friend the potato. Some people have blogged about success with freezing raw potatoes for these recipes and having no issues. I am not one of those people. I have tried red, Idaho, Yukon and Bay City, MI potatoes. Each and every time they have come out of the freezer black and mushy. I don't know what I am doing wrong but I no longer add these to my meals for the freezer. I do, however, cook the meal in the slow cooker and then portion and freeze. As long as I reheat the item on the stove top, my potatoes come out looking as fresh as the day I made the dish.

Here are a few of our favorite recipes:
Beef Stroganoff
Spicy Honey Chicken Breast
Apple Cherry Pork Tenderloin
Super Bowl Chili

I hope you are enjoying a peek into how I cook for our busy family. If you ever have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to get the information to you.

What's Cooking Wednesday - Getting Started Freezer Cooking

I can not believe how well received the topic of freezer cooking has been. So many people that I talk to on Facebook and in person have been interested in learning how they can get started making their mealtimes less hectic and more about real food.

The big thing I have noticed is many feel overwhelmed as to where to start. I understand that, since I was in your shoes a little over 2 years ago. Two Losing It Kids needing my attention all the time and one more on the way, I needed to find a way to get food on the table, at a reasonable cost, and allow me to eat WITH my family.

I came across once a month cooking as a substitute for coupon shopping in order to save money. This spoke volumes to me. I was a huge coupon shopper but found our meals were starting to become a mess of over processed junk because of it . The OAMC method offered me the ability to make healthy meals that could be quick but also cost effective.

My first cooking session was not a smashing success and it took a few months before I attempted it again. When I first started, I took the suggestion of cooking one day for an entire month and ran with it. I grabbed as many recipes as I thought our family would like and headed to the grocery store . I think I started with 15 recipes to make on that one day. No plan of action at all. This is where the great "Stuffed Shells Ban" was created. I made 7 pans of stuffed shells that we sorta liked. It took me 45 minutes to make them and after 2 years I still haven't lived down how awful they were to suffer through for the next 4 months. The taste of them re-heated was bland and the constancy was a bit of a mushy, watery mess. I think I ended up giving in and throwing 2 pans away. I learned a few things that day. I am not made to be in the kitchen for more than 8 hours, make a meal that you know your family will enjoy and more than 4 meals of one recipe is too much.

When I tried to freezer cook again, a few months later, I took the idea of cooking for one day and spread the recipes out over 4 days. I also only chose to make 5 breakfast meals and 5 dinners. This worked out wonderfully and has been the way I have done it ever since. I have added more breakfast and dinner recipes over time but stick to no more than 2-3 hours of cooking a session.

This evolution hasn't stopped though. This month I have been trying to add 3 recipes to the freezer a week. My hope is I will still keep the freezer stocked of good, quick meals but I won't have to set aside a whole week to accomplish a good stock. So far this week I have added some muffins, cupcakes and 3 ways to make chicken. The one thing with doing it this way is I have to keep good records on my food so they don't end up in the frozen wasteland. This means each meal has a date, is tracked on an inventory list and is rotated when new items are placed in the freezer.

So how can YOU start?

Think about what your family wants when it is 5 minutes to dinner and you have no plan. Do they choose Mexican? Chinese? Pizza? You may see a few trends develop that you can work recipes around.

Create a dinner discussion about what kind of recipes you have made that they liked or disliked. Don't take the criticism personally, no sense in making stuffed shells if they don't really like them. Find 3 dishes to make and spend an hour one Saturday morning making them for the next week. That will give you 3 nights you don't have to cook (YAY!). Once you have your bearings you can add a few more recipes each week.

Double a few recipes that you are making this week for 2 weeks away. You will have forgotten about that chicken dish 14 days later and it will taste wonderful all over again. Even more so because you didn't have to do so much prep/ clean-up for it.

If you are unsure if the item will freeze well, let me tell you most do. If you still are unsure or want to know some recipes we have tried, I am working on getting our family recipe cookbook online. I have a few posted on Wanna See My Freezer? but have many, many more in our book.

I hope you have success in trying cooking for your freezer and I look forward to sharing many more tips with you.

Try It Tuesday - Chocolate Muffins

For Try It Tuesday this week I attempted to make these chocolate cupcakes from Nomadic Nom Nom.

3 Ingredient Chocolate Cupcakes

That is her photo of the cupcakes and she did say to use an electric mixer for 2 minutes to get the batter fluffy. I read that and thought I knew better. I mixed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds and called it good. The result?

These were more like brownies in texture than fluffy cupcakes. Not a huge deal. Now the important thing, taste. I am not a huge chocolate fan, so why I chose these is a mystery for another day, but I thought they were pretty decent. They didn't have the "diet" taste that so many things do because I wasn't substituting anything other than the eggs and oil. I find if you mess with the sugars in things that is where you can start to taste the change. 

Another thing that was questioned was the points for these muffins/cupcakes. There is no WW P+ total on these anymore but in the comments it was a big discussion. Anywhere from 2 -6 points for these puppies. I went online and created a recipe and found them to be 4 points with the dry mix, pumpkin and chocolate chips. That is if you make 24 cupcakes. 

If you are wondering if they freeze, they sure do. Just cook them up and then pop them in a freezer bag. Microwave for 30 - 45 seconds when you want a chocolatey treat. 

They are not as good as a sugary filled cupcake or a candy bar but they will do the trick to satisfy a sweet tooth. At 4 points each they aren't as bad as a 8 point package for peanut butter cups either. 

This one IS going in the recipe book. 

Meal Plan Monday - Week October 8th - October 14th

Link back to orgjunkie.org

Meal plans can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make them. In our house we need to have a plan because our days are not set up like most families. Our weekly schedule is not the normal 9 to 5, we eat our large meal at 11am, and a smaller, lunch sort of meal at 6 pm. I don't have a lot of time to find out what everyone wants to eat during the day. I also don't have a lot of time to take something out of the freezer and let it thaw for the 11 am meal. To make my life easier I plan our main meals months at a time.

As I said before this process can be as easy or complicated as you want to make it. I choose the simple approach. To do this I start by coming up with "days" for the up coming months. I change them according to the season to accommodate the temperature change, because honestly the thought of stew in 100 degree weather is not something I like to think about. For September - December, typically your fall season, I have chosen the following days :

Monday: Soup/Stew
Tuesday : Chicken
Wednesday : Beef
Thursday : Pork
Friday : Pasta or Meatless
Saturday & Sunday : New recipe, take out, leftovers, parties. These two days are not too hectic so we have a bit more freedom. 

I fill in 3 months worth following these "days". This is pretty easy after the first month because other than parties or events that move things around, each month is the same. Now I know you are saying , "Don't you get bored eating the same things?" No, the reason is because by the time you get to the next month, those recipes that you liked are back again. Once I have the dinners, I can plan the freezer cooking days.

On Sunday morning we sit around after breakfast and discuss what we want to eat for breakfast, lunch and snacks for that week. I also check if there is anything they would like to change for the dinners I have planned. This all takes 15 to 20 minutes, not a lot of time if you think about how much time you waste during the day trying to decide on one meal. Also remember, things can move on your monthly or weekly schedule if they need to. You don't have to be stuck with what you have written if it doesn't work for one reason or another.

Now that you know how I come up with my plan; here is October 8th - October 14th

Monday October 8th
Breakfast : French Toast Sticks from the freezer (I need to write up the recipe, but they are a family favorite) and grapes
Lunch : Crockpot Chili and Cheese Bread
Dinner : Leftovers (Salad, mashed potatoes and slow cooker apple cherry pork loin )

Tuesday October 9th
Breakfast : Banana muffins and scrambled eggs
Lunch: Chicken fajitas
Dinner : Mini pizzas on a pita, red pepper strips

Wednesday October 10th
Breakfast : Baked oatmeal
Lunch : Meatballs, mashed potatoes and salad
Dinner : Pita bread, leftover fajita chicken and peas

Thursday October 11th
Breakfast : Breakfast cookies
Lunch : Garlic lime pork chops , rice, peas & carrots
Dinner : Baked Quinoa Bites and left over veggies

Friday October 12th
Breakfast : Cereal and apple slices
Lunch : Sandwiches, fish crackers and carrot sticks
Dinner : Lasagna and salad

Saturday October 13th
Breakfast : Breakfast cookies
Lunch and Dinner - Momma gone so leftovers and take out for Losing It Daddy and Kids

Sunday October 14th
Breakfast : Banana muffins and scrambled eggs
Lunch : Chicken Packets and salad
Dinner : Chicken strips, mash potatoes and corn on the cob

Snacks are yogurt, cheese sticks, nilla waffer cookies and graham crackers. I am also making Chocolate Cupcakes  for Try It Tuesday.

That is what our week looks like, what about yours?

Wanna see my freezer?

A few days ago I posted this photo on Losing It... Facebook page and my personal page.

Yep, that is MY freezer full of 54 meals and a few side dishes. I got a few "how?" comments, a few "wow" and some "recipes!" comments. I really just posted it because I was done and was pretty happy that it was over. I tend to forget how impressive it truly can look because I have done this for over 2 years.

Losing It Daddy and I talked about it (after he told me a few people at work wanted some recipes after he brought in his lunch) and we thought it may be helpful for me to share how I do this. For now I will give you the run down of how I got 54 meals accomplished during nap times but I will also post how YOU can get started.

I start by writing down the recipes we would like to eat over the next few months. Sometimes things are removed or added after a discussion with everyone (kids included) but most of the time I know what they would like to eat. I take the recipes and write a master grocery list of what I would need to accomplish the cooking.

I like to line up the cooking by making 4 recipes a day. I "cook" during nap time for the most part and that gives me 2 hours of uninterrupted time to get things done. When I put stuff together I place meat items to be completed within 2 days of the shopping day.. Nothing like getting to your 4th day to discover your chicken should have been cooked 2 days sooner. This has happened and I was not happy to waste $20 of chicken.This time I was lucky and got chicken that gave me a week to complete my meals.  I also look at cooking method. For example putting a crockpot meal (because they require little to no effort to do) with one that needs to use the stove top.

For this meal plan I had:
Saturday:
4 Lasagna (needed to cook the meat and assemble) I had the ingredients before shopping so I did this one early
Sunday:
Shopping (took 2 hours and spent $234.29)

Monday:
4Crockpot Cherry Apple Porkloin (dump in a bag and you are done) - I make it with dried cranberries. Saves on cost and I can use them in other recipes.
4 Crockpot Chili(needed to cook meat, then dump in a bag)
1Crockpot Beef Stroganoff (dump in a bag, leaving out the cream cheese and you are done. Add the cream cheese when cooking the last few minutes or so)


Tuesday:
2 Mini Shepherds Pie Cups and a Large Pie too (we ate some this day and decided we didn't like them much. I will not share this recipe because of this)
4 Hearty Beef Stew (chop and put in a crockpot to cook up before freezing)
2 Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops (dump in a bag)
2 Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops (a bit of grating of a lime and some spices. About 5 min of work)

Wednesday
3 Taco Pasta (made fully and then portioned out. Ate some for lunch)
4 Beef (I throw some garlic and soy sauce to use up the beef I had for stew and stroganof. It is a base for beef and broccoli)
4 Chicken Fajita (clean chicken, cut into strips. Pour marinade over) 
4 Crockpot Potato Soup (not a favorite and I have a better recipe)

Thursday:
4 Cheesy Crockpot Chicken Tator-tot Casserole (just clean chicken, layer and go) For OAMC recipe, read below. Click the link for crockpot recipe.
4 Chicken Corn Chowder (made a BIG batch and ate some for lunch)
2 Diced Cooked Chicken (I use this for fried rice or pasta dishes. Just nice to have to toss in things)
4 Chicken Enchilada Puffs (Make fully and freeze)

Friday:  (and I had a horrible cold so I had to scrap the plan and just throw stuff together to get it in the freezer)
5 Chicken Strips (I needed to use up about 5 chicken breasts that I bought for something else, but got sick and couldn't make them)
3 mash potatoes
*note when dealing with potatoes. All recipes that have potatoes in the dish should be reheated slowly, using a stove top or oven. Even if they state you can microwave I have never found a recipe that doesn't come out gritty tasting. 

In total 54 meals and 3 side dishes (plus we had 3 meals we ate while I was cooking them) all in about 10 hrs time. I bought stuff to make 2 other meals but when I got ill I knew I wouldn't get to them. The ingredient that I knew wouldn't be shelf stable, the chicken, was made into strips and I will be able to make the items another day.

Cheesy Chicken Tater Tot Casserole {Freezer}
Adapted from The Country Cook

Ingredients:
1 (32 oz.) bag frozen tater tots
1 (3 oz.)bag bacon pieces
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

Layer half of the frozen tater tots on the bottom of a foil pan.
Sprinkle with 1/3 of the bacon pieces.
Now top with 1/3 of the shredded cheese.

Add diced chicken on top.  Season with salt & pepper.

Now add 1/3 of the bacon pieces and another 1/3 of shredded cheese.

Put the rest of the frozen tater tots on top.
Finish with the remaining 1/3 cheddar cheese and remaining 1/3 of bacon pieces.

Pour 3/4 cup milk all over the top.
Place in freezer. To cook: Take out of freezer and bake covered for 1hr 30 min at 350 degrees. Take cover off and bake for 30 more minutes to get a crispy top.
Serves 6 around 568 calories, so serve with a salad or some green beans ;)


You wanna learn how to do it? Come on back for a breakdown of every little step and instructions how you can get started. Remember this has taken over 2 years and I have spent over 10 years working in kitchens as a pre-cook and line cook. Going slow is the way to not get burned out and make this truly a way to save you time and energy in the long run.