Navigating Domesticity

Menu Plan Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

2012-01-10T16:49:00.000-05:00

This week's plan:

Sunday: Marinated Salmon (from the freezer) with Sesame Baby Bok Choy and soba noodles
Monday: Best Pot Roast with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and fruit
Tuesday: Bean and Cheese Quesadillas with leftover steamed broccoli and fruit
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs (from Trader Joe) with steamed mixed vegetables
Friday: Kale White Bean Soup with Grilled Cheese
Saturday: Maple Balsamic Chicken with Saffron Rice Pilaf, steamed green beans
Sunday: Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs (mini meatballs from the freezer), salad, fresh fruit
Monday: Pizza Night

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner:

Bake a double batch of Whole Wheat Banana Bread while making Salmon dinner on Sunday. Freeze one loaf, eat one loaf.
Save the pot roast gravy and remaining meat. Freeze; add to Minestrone Soup next time I make it (Delicious!)
Make Bean and Cheese Quesadillas until I run out of beans and cheese. Freeze extras not used for dinner on Tuesday.
Freeze single and double portions of Kale White Bean Soup after serving it for dinner.
Double sauce recipe from Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs. Use half of sauce, freeze remaining half to go with 2nd batch of mini meatballs already frozen for the next ziti.

I may also do some chicken processing for the freezer if I get the chance.

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan Monday: December 5th, 2011

2011-12-05T09:45:00.001-05:00

Salt and Pepper Chicken: As Easy as it Gets!

The plan this week is to keep things as easy as possible. I'll also be holding a freezer cooking session on Tuesday to start re-loading my nearly empty freezer with holiday goodies.

Monday: Marinated Flank Steak (broiled unless the weather is nice enough to operate the grill in the dark), brown rice pilaf, steamed asparagus
Tuesday: Pizza night (sliced apples, steamed vegetables)
Wednesday: Salt and Pepper Chicken, Spinach Rice Stuffing (using rice from Monday night), steamed green beans
Thursday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole, steamed broccoli
Friday: Dinner Out
Saturday: Leftovers (Parents out)
Sunday: Pot Roast over mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables
Monday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, steamed vegetables

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan Tuesday: November 29th

2011-11-29T22:39:00.000-05:00

It's taken over a month, but my freezer is almost cleared out. This is good news, because I have already scheduled 4 freezer cooking sessions for December to prepare a bunch of holiday treats!

This week's plan:

Monday: Lasagna (using Lasagna sauce that I quickly made last week before leaving town to use up my fresh produce. Find more ideas for using up perishables before leaving town here!)
Tuesday: Soy Glazed Salmon (salmon from the freezer), Sesame Baby Bok Choy, steamed broccoli, and soba noodles
Wednesday: Sauerbraten over Mashed Potatoes (I'll admit it--I use a Knorr package seasoning for this recipe. I add onions, peas, and sour cream for my own version, the stew meat is from the freezer.)
Thursday: Black-Eyed Pea Hambone Soup (from the freezer) with cornbread and steamed green beans
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Marinated Flank Steak (from the freezer), Brown Rice Pilaf, Steamed Vegetables
Sunday: Baked Chicken Tenders (coating from the freezer), Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Steamed Vegetables
Monday: Leftovers... or Spaghetti and Meatballs (from Trader Joe)

Even thought I'm not trying to, I will add to the freezer this week even while I am clearing it out;

I should have a few pieces of Lasagna left over to freeze for quick lunches--if I manage to freeze it before someone eats it, that is. I'll also freeze some leftover mashed sweet potatoes so that I can make Sweet Potato Biscuits.

Note that none of this menu includes turkey! We were out of town for Thanksgiving, and I wasn't able to bring any leftover turkey home. My relatives did feed some to this 6-foot alligator in the back yard, though. (From a distance!)

I haven't decided whether to make a turkey this holiday season or not. Is it worth it or not?

Find more meal planning inspiration at Orgjunkie.com!

Holiday Prep: Freezer Cooking

2011-11-29T22:04:00.001-05:00

I have made a lot of progress clearing out my freezer in the past few weeks--I even found some scones that I froze back in April--still delicious!

Now that I have all of this free space, I am ready for some freezer cooking sessions to help prepare for the holiday season. My friends and I have picked some kid-free mornings throughout the month to focus on bulk food prep:

Dec 1: Cheese Bites (80 or so; easy to mix up, tedious to roll, so we do it together while talking!) I'll try to post this recipe, very easy and good.
Dec 6: Lasagna Sauce, and Sauce/mini meatballs for Baked Ziti. The recipes call for similar ingredients, and we'll freeze the sauce/meatballs, then defrost when it's time to assemble the dish. I'll probably serve my Baked Ziti for a family get together during the holidays.
Dec 13th: Marinated Meats and Fish. Probably some Marinated Flank Steak and Marinated Salmon, possibly some Baked Chicken Tenders coating or other chicken marinades. Anything that will be simple to defrost and/or cook up during the busy season!

Dec 16th: Cookie Baking Day, as well as Sweet and Spicy Pecans
Dec 20th: Cutout Cookies! I'm thinking of baking in advance, and devoting this morning to decorating all of them. This is a huge Christmas Tradition for me, and yes, it's a lot of work! It will go faster with company.

Menu Plan Monday: November 7th, 2011

2011-11-07T11:31:00.000-05:00

Sunday Dinner: Roasted Chicken with Spinach Rice Stuffing

I fell off the meal planning wagon last week, but fotunately I had a semblance of a plan in my head!

Here's the plan for this week:

Monday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole, steamed green beans, fresh fruit
Tuesday: Turkey Chili topped with shredded cheddar and sour cream, homemeade Skillet Cornbread, steamed broccoli
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Dinner Out
Friday: Dinner out (kids to grandparents')
Saturday: Cashew Chicken Curry Stir Fry (from the freezer) with vegetables over steamed brown rice
Sunday: Apple Sausage Risotto with steamed asparagus and baked sweet potatoes
Monday: Leftovers (or something very simple, such as Bean and Cheese Quesadillas from the freezer)

I also need to get back on track with my Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner plans. I need to make some fresh Bean and Cheese Quesadillas for the freezer, and I'm also hoping to bake an Apple Cake this week (recipe to come). I haven't decided yet how else to use my newly available freezer space, but I will definitely be restocking as the holidays approach!

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan Monday: October 24th, 2011

2011-10-24T11:53:00.001-04:00

It took a lot of preseverance, including willingness to grill the Sweet Asian Chicken (pictured above) in the rain, but I stuck to my plans and fed my family nearly every night last week. (They got takeout one night.)

Here's the plan for this week:

Monday: Leftovers--we have lots of Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs to still enjoy! With leftover steamed broccoli
Tuesday: Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs with mashed potatoes and steamed green beans--and it better not start raining while I'm cooking the chicken on the grill!
Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner sliding from last week: Eggs, sausage, bacon, mini whole wheat bagels, fresh cut fruit, steamed asparagus
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: (Parents out) Hotdogs on whole wheat buns with steamed vegetables and fresh cut fruit
Saturday: Soup (Minestrone from the freezer) with Grilled Cheese, fresh cut fruit
Sunday: Beef Stew with peas served over egg noodles, salad
Monday: Halloween! Bean and Cheese Quesadillas (from the freezer) with steamed vegetables, fresh cut fruit

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Sweet Asian Chicken Marinade

2011-10-24T11:50:00.002-04:00

From the Cookbook Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family.

This is our favorite chicken marinade from this cookbook so far. Prepare it in bulk so that with this recipe you will have 3 meals of chicken prepared--one for dinner tonight, and two for your freezer! To test the recipe, or to just make a single meal, divide the ingredient measures by 3.

Ingredients:

6 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup tamari/soy sauce
1/4 lime juice or juice of 1 fresh lime (I recommend fresh lime if possible)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
3 Tablespoons minced garlic--about 25 cloves (I recommend fresh--process in a food processor to reduce prep time)
2 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste, more if you prefer spicy)
3 freezer containers or freezer bags--I find if I use smaller chicken breasts I can fit this meal in a quart-size bag.

1. Divide chicken between 3 freezer containers.
2. Combine sugar, tamari, lime juice, and curry powder in a pourable mixing bowl, whisk to combine. 3. Divide and pour marinade evenly into 3 freezer containers.
4. Add 1 Tablespoon of minced garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes to each container. Mix chicken, marinade, garlic, and flakes, then freeze until needed or marinate for a minimum of 6-8 hours.

To cook: First defrost chicken fully in refrigerator.

To grill (recommended): cook chicken over medium low heat, turning every 5 minutes and basting with extra marinade. Stop basting at least 5 minutes before removing from grill. Cook until center temp of chicken reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer. Cover cooked chicken with foil, let stand for 5 minutes. Slice chicken into 1/2 inch strips against the grain.

On the Stove: Slice into 1/2 strips against the grain, then stir fry in a wok or large pan over med-high heat with oil such as peanut oil, until pieces are no longer pink in the center.

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner: Pumpkin Puree

2011-10-24T11:12:00.000-04:00

While assembling and baking Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs, I hacked my 4 garden pumpkins in half, scooped out the seeds, and baked them for over an hour, then pureed them, ending up with 8 cups of puree, just what I need to make lots of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins! (I ate the extra puree... delicious!)

While making dinner on Thursday I assembled a dozen extra Bean and Cheese Quesadillas, and froze them--7 are left, which is enough for 2 meals when combined with other things.

This week I want to use my pumpkin puree to bake mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, and then store them in the freezer until I have the Kindergarten classroom parents over for morning coffee. I'll bake some Whole Wheat Banana Bread as we get closer to the event, too.

As for Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner, this week is another intense one, so I'll be whittling down the freezer supply a bit more rather than making plans to add to it.

Menu Plan Monday: October 17th, 2011

2011-10-17T17:11:00.001-04:00

Whole Wheat Couscous with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes

I'm continuing to lean on my freezer stash this week! My aim is to use the oldest items, as well as the items taking up the most space this week.

Monday: Soy Glazed Salmon (sliding from two weeks ago, never even defrosted the fish!) with leftover brown rice pilaf, salad, and fresh fruit.
Tuesday: Sweet Asian Chicken (from the freezer) with Whole Wheat Couscous with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes and salad (and possibly some roasted pumpkin if my plan goes well)...
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Bean and Cheese Quesadillas (need to restock my freezer supply of these) with steamed vegetables, fresh fruit, quacamole (from freezer), sour cream, and salsa
Friday: Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs, courtesey of Trader Joe, with steamed broccoli
Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner: Scrambled Eggs (topped with Eggplant Stew from the freezer), mini whole wheat bagels, steamed asparagus, fresh fruit, and turkey sausage
Sunday: Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs (just need to assemble and bake), salad, fresh fruit
Monday: Leftovers

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner: The Payoffs

2011-10-17T16:54:00.001-04:00

Pineapple Zucchini Bread

I didn't do much freezer cooking the week before last because, well, my freezer was full. For a while you took your life in your hands every time you opened the freezer door, because some rock-solid frozen food item was liable to come flying out at you.

Last week, I went away for a weekend, and when I returned, I started working outside the home for the first time in seven years. Needless to say, it was an intensely crazy week! I didn't even make a meal plan. We did eat take-out on a few occasions (okay, really FOUR), and I leaned heavily on my freezer stash to provide the rest of our meals and food needs.

For instance, over the past few weeks I baked a batch Chocolate Chip Cookies twice, and I went ahead a froze a pan's worth of cookie dough each time.

The Payoff: I had committed to bake dessert for a teacher luncheon at the kids' school, and when it came time to bake, I was feeling exhausted. Instead of making cupcakes like I had planned, I popped the frozen dough into the oven and had 3 dozen cookies ready to go in less than half an hour--and the only dishes to clean were the storage containers from the freezer and the cookie pans and spatula!

I also leaned on my stash to help feed the family when I took a trip with my mom and sisters, and left my non-cooking husband and kids to fend for themselves. The freezer food came in quite handy. I used the frozen topping and chicken to make a large batch of Baked Chicken Tenders before I left town, and also made a list of foods available that they should eat, including a large quantity of leftover pot roast, frozen pre-sliced mini bagels, bread and cheese for grilled cheese, fresh melon and apples, and an assortment of frozen vegetables.

The Payoff: They did eat out a few times, but the rest of the time they were able to put together simple meals at home using what was on hand. Making a clear list of what should be eaten was helpful because my husband would have otherwise not been sure what was okay to eat (all those packages in the freezer start to look the same after a while!)

When I got home, I jumped right into my new job, which included some long days teaching a training class. I was so caught up in the adjustment that I didn't have any brain power leftover to even think about a meal plan--or to make dinner on some nights. We ate some carry-out meals, and on days when I could focus I used these items from the freezer for various meals:

Marinated Flank Steak (supposed to be on the grill, but then it rained, so I broiled it) with brown rice pilaf and green beans
White Bean and Kale Soup with buttered bread (also from the freezer)
Black-eyed Pea Hambone Soup, with mayonnaise topping and salad (salad not from the freezer)
I had a mini loaf of Pineapple Zucchini Bread for breakfast on several mornings when I needed to leave the house before the sun came up. I warmed it in the oven before eating... delicious!
I baked Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies for when some friends came over one afternoon. Now I don't have ANY cookies in the freezer. (Crisis!)

Lots of free space!

Now that things are settling into The New Normal--and I have some newly cleared space in the freezer, I need to get back on track with my menu planning and continue whittling down my current freezer stock to make room for my favorite fall meals, such as Mom's Chili, and for holiday baking, which is coming up just around the corner!

I also want to continue refreshing my freezer stock. I need to keep things simple this week, so I am only going to plan two freezer cooking projects:

1. I need to restock our supply of frozen Bean and Cheese Quesadillas. These are so quick to prepare into a protien-rich, nutritious dinner on crazy evenings--I serve them with salsa, sour cream, steamed vegetables from the freezer, and some fresh fruit. I just need to assemble a bunch of them so that I can grab them when I need them, for quick meals or for snacks.

2. I want to get my 4 homegrown pumpkins baked and pureed for some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (my version of this recipe to come). My plan will be to serve some of the pumpkin as a side dish for dinner one night, then to puree and freeze the rest.

First I will have to figure out how to harvest this one.

Maybe I can saw it in half to extract it from the trellis it sneakily grew inside? Hmmm...

I hope to continue this pattern of using dinner prep time to maintain my freezer stash. It's working for me!

Menu Plan Monday: October 3rd, 2011

2011-10-03T21:29:00.000-04:00

My Favorite Pot Roast

I'll be taking it easy this week. The freezer is full from my Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner strategies, and I am heading out of town for a girls' trip this weekend! I need to think ahead a bit more than usual, because next week is one crazy week.

Monday: Leftovers (Lemon Chicken, Carrot Orzo, salad) with steamed broccoli and fresh cantalope
Tuesday: My Favorite Pot Roast, served over egg noodles with roasted carrots, and fresh fruit
Wednesday: Soy Glazed Salmon, Brown Rice Pilaf, Sesame Baby Spinach
Thursday: Soup (various, from the freezer) with Grilled Cheese, steamed vegetables, and fresh fruit
Friday: Dinner out
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Dinner out
Monday: Leftovers or something simple
Tuesday: Not sure but we might have company
Wednesday: Something from the freezer

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner: The Freezer is Full!

2011-10-03T14:48:00.000-04:00

The Freezer is officially full. SO full that we need to eat some ice cream to make some room for the coffee beans again, so it isn't all bad news!

I made 3 batches of Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs, served one for dinner, and froze the other two. I also made a pot of Black Bean Hambone Soup, and ended up with 3 packages to freeze (2 large servings each). I made Whole Wheat Banana Bread into muffins for my daughter to take to school for her class's snack, and I managed to freeze another 16 Chocolate Chip Cookies when I was baking for a potluck last week.

I was supposed to also make up additional Bean and Cheese Quesadillas when I put them together last week, but I ran out of time (and space in the freezer).

This week the only food I plan to freeze is any meat leftovers and gravy/glaze from my Pot Roast, which I been using to flavor Minestrone Soup--a little goes a long way! I'm going to take a much-needed break from cooking... and from my family for a long weekend away. :)

Organization Project: Craft Supplies

2011-09-30T16:47:00.000-04:00

I have a major organization project that has been hanging over my head the past few weeks while I've been doing other things, such as preparing for our yard sale.

My daughter loves to make crafts, and loves to make a mess doing it. When she asks if she can paint and I say no, she'll go ask her dad, and he'll say, "Sure," and she'll go and do it herself. Same with playdough, glueing, cutting, you name it. Fortunately, she's reasonably neat:

We've been storing our craft supplies in the buffet cabinet in the dining room, and all crafts are supposed to be done in the dining room (we don't have a separate breakfast table, our house is on the smaller side). Since my daughter's birthday in August, the crafting situation has gotten a little out of control. Not everything is fitting in the cabinets, and what's worse, all the fun new craft supplies are mixing in with the broken crayons, dry markers, and empty glue sticks. My procrastination on the project has just given it time to get worse and worse!

Today, time was running out before I host a family get-together tomorrow. I just didn't have time to go through all the supplies, sort them, and get rid of the dried yucky playdough and the markers that don't work anymore.

My friend recently gave us gifts inside two reusable shopping bags from Ikea:

The best thing about these bags is that one of them zips closed. I decided to use the zipping bag to store all the nice fresh craft supplies that aren't fitting in the cabinet. The black and white bag would hold the completed projects (mostly paintings, but a few 3-dimensional endeavors as well. (The interior of the cabinet will have to wait for another day, as well as a plan for storing completed works, which are in several locations throughout the house currently...) The rest of the items were either put away, recycled, or trashed.

My other organization tool was a basket that I originally bought to store items on top of our refrigerator. It was just a bit too tall to fit between the fridge and the cabinet, so I had to put it aside. I decided to use it to store my daughter's current craft project: a princess storybook.

It fits underneath the buffet, and now I have a place to quickly pitch all the supplies and bits of paper that she is using for the project when it is time for dinner and I want to clear the table. There's even extra space for all the new things she thinks of to add to the book next time she works on it!

Now I have a functional dining room, just in time for tomorrow's gathering, and I have all of the craft supplies corralled in two bags so that when I do have time I can get everything sorted and restocked.

Narrowing this project down to the very simple step of clearing the area helped me overcome my procrastination and make some small progress on the project. I handled the mess while still giving my daughter access to her current project!

Linked to 52 Weeks of Organizing at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan Monday: September 26th, 2011

2011-09-26T11:42:00.002-04:00

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

Last week did not work out much as planned, thanks to yard sale preparation and other distractions. I did manage to do some of my freezer cooking while making dinner (see last's weeks results here), and I hope to slide a number of last week's entrees to this week.

Monday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole (was replaced by spaghetti when I ran out of time last week) with steamed asparagus
Tuesday: Black-Eyed Pea Hambone Soup with Skillet Cornbread and salad (sliding from last week because you gotta SOAK those beans in advance! I couldn't pull it together to do so...)
Wednesday: Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs (marinating 3 batches: one for dinner, two for the freezer) with mashed sweet potatoes (freeze 3/4 for future Sweet Potato Biscuits) and steamed broccoli
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Potluck dinner: bring Bean and Cheese Quesdillas (make extra for the freezer) and Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
Saturday: Host Libra Birthday Get-together, using this menu
Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: Favorite Pot Roast over egg noodles with steamed carrots and broccoli (sliding from today because I haven't yet purchased a roast much less put it in the crock pot!)

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan for October Birthday Get-together

2011-09-26T11:24:00.000-04:00

We have 3 family members with birthdays in the first 4 days of October, and I am hosting a family get-together to celebrate this Saturday! Here's what I'm planning to serve:

Basil Pesto and hummus with crackers and grapes (appetizer)
Lemon Chicken with Carrot Orzo (with whole wheat pasta)
Green Salad with Green Goddess Dressing
Fresh Cut up Fruit
Rolls (store-bought)
Mini Sour Cream Pound Cake Cupcakes
Wine, Italian soda, Coffee

Strategy

This Week: make pesto and freeze, make dressing and refrigerate, grocery shop

The Day Before: Cut chicken breasts, bake and frost cupcakes, make green salad, cut fruit for fruit salad

The Day of: Cook Chicken and Carrot Orzo beforehand, and keep warm in chafing dishes. I'll triple the chicken recipe and double the orzo recipe as we are expecting 13-15 people total. Set up extra table, serve meal buffet-style.

I'm hoping that by keeping the menu simple and doing as much as possible before the get-together we'll have a relaxing gathering!

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner: Ziti Sauce and Meatballs

2011-09-26T10:26:00.000-04:00

I didn't get to the store for the chicken, but I managed to double the sauce and meatballs for Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs and added it to my freezer stash. Now all I have to do is boil the pasta and combine with the sauce and cheeses! These meatballs are extra-special because I added cooked, finely chopped, unpeeled eggplant to the ground beef mixture. The meatballs aren't as sturdy as usually (some of them dissolved into the sauce) but my kids liked them just the same so I was pleased.

Freezing just the sauce saves space in the freezer. I have also frozen my lasagna sauce in the past successfully. Something to consider if your freezer space is limited.

We won't eat them for dinner, but I did manage to freeze 16 balls of cookie dough for The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever.

I also started experimenting with freezing sandwiches for school lunches; I was inspired by this post on bulk lunch prep from Sara's Deals. I had some leftover whole wheat potato rolls that I combined with ham slices (no condiments) to make 7 little sandwiches for the week. Now we can pull them out as needed to expedite the lunch process a bit. I'll also be loading up little containers with cottage cheese, peas and corn, and cantalope chunks this week.

In addition I hope to get the Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs marinating finally this week, as well as preparing Bean and Cheese Quesadillas for a potluck dinner, and make up Whole Wheat Banana Bread into mini muffins to send to school for kindergarten snack.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

2011-09-22T08:20:00.002-04:00

With a few simple tips, techniques, and secret ingredients, you can make the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever created. They will ruin your taste for store bought cookies, and your friend will request them from her deathbed when no other food is appealing to her (true story!).

This recipe is based on the standard Nestle chocolate chip recipe (on the back of the bag), but I've made a few modifications and included techniques to make the cookies turn out extra-delicious, for instance, using different chocolate chips!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white flour
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
3/4 cup sugar (or less)
3/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 12 oz bag of Guitard semi-sweet chocolate chips

Several hours before you begin, pull your butter and eggs out of the refrigerator to allow them to get closer to room temperature. Your butter should still be firm, but malleable. The eggs should be as close to room temperature as possible. You'll have to experiment and see how far in advance to set these items out in your kitchen depending on the temperature of your home.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine flours, baking soda and salt. I measure the flours precisely by leveling my measuring cup with a knife, and use the knife to combine the ingredients before adding them to the cookie batter. The whole wheat flour is the first secret ingredient--not only does it add a nice texture to the cookies, but is also adds the illusion of these cookies being 'nutritious'. (They're not.)

Preheat your oven to 365 degrees. (Most recipes call for 375 degrees, but I find that is too high a temperature for my oven. Your oven may be different.)

In your stand mixer, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Next, break one egg in a separate bowl, remove any shells and beat lightly. Add the egg to the butter mixture and (very important) beat until the egg is very well blended. Add the second egg the same way and beat thoroughly until blended. The batter should have a 'fluffy' look at this point if a) the ingredients were at room temperature and b) the eggs were sufficiently beaten. These techniques will give your cookies a light, airy texture. Add the vanilla.

Next it is time to add the flour mixture. The goal is to combine the flour mixture thoroughly without overmixing the cookie batter, as that will make the texture of the cookies tougher. I use a 1/4 cup scoop to add flour steadly to the mixer, then tip the bowl over the mixer to add the final amount. As soon as the flour is almost blended, turn the mixer off. Don't overmix!

It's time for the second secret ingredient, which is the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. You could use other brands, but none of them will be as wonderful as the Guitard semi-sweet chocolate chips. After many years of research, I have concluded that these are the best tasting chocolate chips on Earth. They're not very impressive when eaten raw, but when added to baked goods such as these cookies, or
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, they are wonderful.

Add the semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter, mixing until they are barely distributed in the cookie batter, then turn the mixer off right away--don't overmix!

It's time to spoon the cookie dough onto cookie sheets. I use my Pampered Chef medium (?) scoop for this task. I treat the dough very carefully and avoid packing it into the scoop to conserve the air bubbles I've made in the batter. Pressing the dough tightly into the scoop will result in dense, tough cookies. If you don't have a handy scoop, you can use two spoons (one to scoop, one to scrape). Place the dough on an ungreased cookie sheet 2-3 inches apart.

Bake for 6 minutes, then rotate your cookie sheets for even baking (rotate one sheet 180 degrees, and if you are baking two sheets at once, rotate them both and then switch their locations top to bottom). Bake an additional 3-5 minutes. I like to pull mine out when they look like they are almost done in the middle.

While you are waiting for the cookies to bake, scoop out 12-16 on a separate cookie sheet to freeze for another day. It doesn't matter how far apart these are on the sheet, because they aren't going to spread out in the freezer. I like to freeze 16 cookies because that is how many fit on my cookie sheet. After they are frozen on the cookie sheet (in this case, my toaster oven tray), I'll transfer them to a plastic storage container. In the future when I'm ready to bake them, I'll simply place them on a cookie sheet and pop them in the oven. They may take a few extra minutes to bake when they are frozen. This also reduces the amount of cookies available for inhalation on the day you bake the main batch.

Let the cookies cool for several minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack with a spatula. The recipe makes 5 dozen cookies total.

Try not to moan while eating them. It's a bad example for the kids!

Organizing Project: Yard Sale Prep

2011-09-20T12:39:00.001-04:00

There's nothing like a neighborhood garage sale to bring my organizing projects to the forefront! I know that if I can get myself together and put in a little effort, I'll be rewarded with a less-cluttered house come next week, which will make it easier to find a place for all the items that we decide to keep. Items that we don't need anymore will be connected with people who need them enough to pay for them (hopefully), and items that no one wants will be donated, where it will be put to good use--if a use can be found.

And hopefully none of the sale items will reappear inside the house somewhere. Oh, and hopefully none of the stuff from my neighbor's sales will end up at our house, lovely items that they are. (Gee, I wonder who might be the culprit of such activities? If it isn't me, it must be one of my dear family members. I might have to lock the house and subject everyone to a search before they are allowed back inside!)

Here is my plan to get ready for the Big Day:

In the week leading up to the sale:

1. Designate a Yard Sale Spot. For me, this will be the table in the basement. It could be any area in your home or garage where you can put all of the items that you are planning on selling in the sale. This is where I will collect everything together for the sale so that I can price items and get things organized by category, etc.

2. Purge. I'll grab some boxes and then move through the house collecting items for the sale. I'm going to use last year's checklist to be sure and hit all the hotspots in my house:

My closet and drawers
Daughter's closet and drawers
Son's closet and drawers
Linen Closet
Large kitchen cabinet
Pantry
Buffet in dining room (aka Craft Storage)
Toy Cabinets, DVD Cabinet
Basement Play Room
Garage
Storage Room

3. Get the family involved. I'll do most of the purging, but I'll encourage the kids to pick some items from the sale (and promise them the money) and I'll beg my husband to find a few things to part with. (I already have a few things in mind!) Another project for the family may be to make signs for the big day.

4. Sort. Before I start pricing items, I want to get things sorted into categories so that I can get a better idea of what I have and what is the best way to price things. If I have a lot of smaller items, I might put them all in a box with a sign that says '25 cents' or similar. Sorting before pricing avoids the situation of pricing two like items the same, or pricing a higher quality item lower than a lower quality item.

5. Price. I use stickers, some of which are blank, some have pre-printed prices on them. Many people like to haggle at yard sales in our area, so I think of prices as a starting point. If I have a lot of small, low price items, I might pile them in a box and put a sign on it that says '$1 each' or similar.

6. Get Change. I'll make a point to go to the bank and get a roll of quarters and a large number of $1 bills, probably about $50 worth of change total.

The day before the sale:

7. Advertise. This is a neighborhood yard sale, so several neighbors are taking care of this step for me. Ordinarily I would post an advertisement on Craigslist.

8. Set-up and Transfer. The day before the sale I'll start set up tables in the garage and transfer everything to that location. (I don't want to do this until the day before the sale because it's rainy here this week and I would rather park my car in the garage as long as possible!)

9. Extension Cord and 'Broken' signs. It's a good idea to have an extension cord set up for the sale so that people can test items with electrical components. For items that don't work well (such as my old Oster stand mixer) or that no longer work, I include a sign stating that fact. You would be surprised at what people are willing to buy even when it doesn't work! I guess they might fix the item, or use it for parts for another item.

The day of the sale:

10. Open Early. Be prepared for the first shoppers to arrive even before your advertised opening time. I typically have shoppers looking at items while we carefully carry tables out of the garage to the driveway (which is why I like to set everything up the day before!)

11.Hang Signs. Post signs at nearby intersections to direct local drivers to your sale. I typically end up doing this after the Early Bird rush is over.

Linked to Top 10 Tuesday and WFMW!

Menu Plan Monday: September 19th, 2011

2011-09-19T13:02:00.000-04:00

Last week's Marinated Flank Steak, Shallot Green Beans, and brown rice pilaf

I'm really looking forward to fall weather, which has come a little early in our area this year! Fall weather means fall recipes! I'm also looking forward to working in a bit more freezer cooking while making dinner, which went well last week.

Monday: Baked Ziti with Crispy Eggplant Meatballs and salad--I will share this recipe for the eggplant meatballs if it's a good one! (Extra sauce and meatballs will be saved for a future ziti, so all I will need to do is cook pasta, assemble, and bake.)
Tuesday: Potato Kale Frittata with fresh fruit, salad, and rolls
Wednesday: (Parents out) Salt and Pepper Chicken, steamed broccoli, and roasted baby red potatoes
Thursday: (Parents out) Creamy Enchilada Casserole with steamed green beans
Friday: Leftovers, steamed vegetables
Saturday: Black-Eyed Pea Hambone Soup with Skillet Cornbread and Salad
Sunday: Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs (triple recipe, freeze 2 portions), Carrot Orzo, steamed asparagus
Monday: Favorite Pot Roast over egg noodles with steamed carrots and broccoli

I also hope to use up some frozen bananas by making Whole Wheat Banana Bread in muffin form, which I'll freeze and use for snack for my daughter's classroom.

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner: This Week's Report

2011-09-19T13:00:00.001-04:00

It looks meager, but this photo shows preparation for 4 meals: two Marinated Flank Steaks as well as the toppings for two meals worth of Baked Chicken Tenders. I also made a double batch of Sweet Potato Biscuits this week, and added ham to them, but none of them actually made it into the photo OR the freezer. They were eaten for breakfast, lunch, and snack throughout the week.

It was so easy to just double or triple the recipes that I was already making for dinner, and then freeze the extras. This week I am planning to do the same thing by doubling the sauce and meatballs for Baked Ziti (baking one, freezing the other ingredients) and tripling the Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs this weekend.

It's Barely a Recipe: Shallot Green Beans

2011-09-15T08:05:00.002-04:00

My grandmother served Green Beans with Shallots and Hazelnuts for Easter dinner earlier this year, and they were delicious! I adjusted the recipe to make it into an easy weeknight side dish. I make it in small amounts because my kids will only eat green beans with nothing on them. :)

Ingredients:

Steamed Green Beans (1/2 pound)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 shallot, sliced thinly
optional: raw or toasted nuts, such as sliced almonds

Cook or steam your green beans as you normally would--I typically use frozen Hericot Verts from Trader Joe's.

While the green beans are cooking, heat olive oil over medium heat in a small skillet. Add sliced shallots, stirring often to separate pieces. Watch them carefully, as they get brown and crisp up quickly.

Add warm green beans to pan, stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Marinated Flank Steak, Shallot Green Beans, Brown Rice Pilaf

Linked to URS!

How to Slice a Shallot

2011-09-14T10:48:00.001-04:00

When I first came across a recipe containing shallots, I found myself feeling particularly gourmet. Dicing the darn things took forever, and as far as I can tell, taking forever is the main criteria for a gourmet recipe. It seemed like I spent forever peeling and dicing them!

But they're delicious; they add a garlicky onion-type flavor to dishes, so I'm glad that I've found a faster way to deal with them, which leads me to use them more often, such as in my Shallot Green Bean recipe.

First, slice the root end off the shallot.

Peel the dry layers off the outside of the shallot.

Hold the shallot at the top end, and use a very sharp knife to very thinly slice the shallot into discs.

Optional: place the discs in a pile and quickly chop the pile into smaller pieces.

I tend to leave mine as discs, and let them separate while sauteing them in olive oil. Be careful; they brown and crisp up quickly! They're delicious!

Linked to WFMW.

Menu Plan Monday: September 12th, 2011

2011-09-12T15:14:00.000-04:00

I'm hoping to mix in a little freezer cooking when I make dinner meals this week:

Monday: Baked Chicken Tenders (Make 3x the topping and freeze 2 servings in quart-size bags) with mashed sweet potatoes (reserve 3/4 for Sweet Potato Biscuits for lunches), leftover whole wheat couscous, and steamed broccoli.

Tuesday: Marinated Flank Steak (Make 3x marinade for 3 steaks, freeze two) with brown rice pilaf, Shallot Green Beans (recipe to come), and sliced pears.
Wednesday: Shrimp Curry (from the freezer, adding in steamed asparagus) with leftover brown rice pilaf and salad (and if the kids won't eat it, they can eat leftovers from Monday or Tuesday!)
Thursday: Pizza Night (with fresh fruit, carrots, and spinach leaves)
Friday: Back to School BBQ, bringing Salt & Pepper Potatoes (it's easy and picky kids scarf it up)
Saturday: Day Trip-out to dinner
Sunday: Roasted Pork Tenderloin, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and salad
Monday: Baked Ziti, hopefully with some Eggplant Meatballs that I'm experimenting with this week (freezing half of sauce and meatballs for future Ziti), fresh fruit and salad.

By doubling or tripling a few recipes, I'll end up with 2 packages of Baked Chicken Tender Topping, 2 Marinated Flank Steaks, and the sauce and meatballs for one additional Baked Ziti all stored in the freezer even after cooking only 5 nights this week! This is on top of the Pineapple Zucchini Bread (6 mini loaves, 1 dozen muffins) and 5 large servings of Minestrone soup I added last week. I really need to look into purchasing a second freezer...

Find more meal planning ideas at orgjunkie.com!

Can This Be Washed? Results

2011-09-07T12:15:00.000-04:00

The results are in: I threw my experimental items into the washing machine (all together!) and turned it on (Gentle Cycle with cold water). Would the items shrink? Fall apart? Bleed? Here are the results:

The Handbag

I treated the stains before washing, and pulled out the lining to help the bag dry, and I'm happy to report that the bag is ready for Summer 2012, no need for a purse funeral! It is now in storage, I just set it on a closet shelf packed with inflated shipping bags to keep the shape.

Next I think I will wash some of our resusable canvas shopping bags, which are getting quite dirty.

Lunch Bags

The lunch bags turned out okay. I don't recommend them for machine washing because for some reason... they float. At least they are cleaner now than they were. I ony picture one because the other one is currently holding someone's lunch at school. :) Maybe I will try washing them in the dishwasher next, that would get around the floating problem.

The Ball Cap

Stains came clean! Still has it's shape! No longer stinks! My son is pleased.

Slippers

The shearling inside doesn't look any cleaner, but they didn't shrink, bleed, or do anything else alarming, so I will call it a success!

Linked to WFMW!

Broccoli Salad

2011-09-07T10:24:00.000-04:00

This is one of my husband's favorite dishes--it's great for picnics or family get-togethers.

Ingredients:

2 heads fresh broccoli, washed and sliced/cut into small pieces (We like pieces the size of small grapes)
1 large red onion, finely diced
8 pieces bacon, cooked and crumbled or cut into small pieces (pre-cooked bacon works fine, and I cut it with scissors to speed up the process)
4 oz cheddar cheese, finely grated
1/2 cup raisins (or more if you like raisins)
2/3 cup mayonnaise (or plain greek yogurt)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice (or juice of 1 lemon)
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

Combine chopped broccoli, diced onion, crumbled/cut bacon, grated cheese, and raisin in a large mixing bowl or container. Stir to combine.

In a measuring cup, whisk mayonnaise, vinegar, lemon juice, pepper, and salt. Pour over broccoli mixture, stirring well. Serve immediately or regfrigerate--I think it tastes best the first day.

10 Steps to Start the Day off Right

2011-09-06T11:25:00.000-04:00

There are a number of things that I'm trying to do each morning to jump-start my daily productivity. I don't do everything every day, but I find that if I do as many things as possible (time and schedule permitting) it becomes much more difficult for my day to become derailed.

1. Work out. I always hate getting up early to work out, yet it has never failed to get my day off to a good start, even when the workout itself hasn't been the best. I try to keep this in mind when I drag myself out of bed: I'll feel great as soon as I finish waking up... just need to get through the next hour...

2. Shower/Dress. I am not one of those people who can work out and then carry on with the day without a shower, I wish I were. I find there is a correlation between my productivity and being fully dressed--appropriately for the day's weather and activities.

3. Floss. It's probably better to floss at the end of the day, but I do a better job--and remember to do it--if I floss first thing in the morning.

4. Apply Sunscreen. I haven't yet remembered to apply sunscreen to my face and hands before going outside, so it needs to be done first thing.

5. Make the Bed. Just as soon as everyone has finished sleeping in it (daughter, dolls, stuffed animals, etc.)

6. Start a load of Laundry. Some mornings I can get this going before my eyes have fully opened.

7. Start Making Dinner. This is more often a mental exercise than a physical one: I confirm what we are planning to eat for dinner, making sure I have all the ingredients (perhaps getting them out of the pantry, or moving frozen items to the fridge or counter), and making sure any leftovers we are planning to eat haven't been eaten already. I'd rather realize that something is needed from the store on the earlier side of the day.

8. Clean Kitchen Sink, Stove and Counters. Usually while the coffee or tea are brewing, everything gets wiped down in preparation for the day, which also usually involves putting things away, washing up items left over from the night before, etc.

9. Have a Gourmet Breakfast. Usually after the kids are fed/delivered to school I sit down to eat a proper breakfast. This can be as simple as a bowl of cold cereal and sliced fruit (today) or something hot, such as a slice of fritatta or some leftover Eggplant Stew on top of scrambled eggs. It takes about 5 minutes to make a nice breakfast out of leftovers, frozen breads or muffins, and fresh fruit. If there is enough protein in the meal, it will last me well into the afternoon. (Note: if I work out, I eat a granola bar beforehand, and this eating becomes Second Breakfast.)

10. Review Email and Today's Schedule. If I'm really organized, I already have a list of Things to Do. If not, it's time to make one.

Recently I timed myself, and doing this full routine on top of helping my kids to start their day took over two hours (1 hour workout, 30 minutes shower/dress, etc.), but it means that by 9 AM I've been incredibly productive and my day is off to a good start!

Can This Be Washed?

2011-09-06T10:04:00.002-04:00

I have a number some things that need to be cleaned, and I thought, why not? I'll just throw them all in the washing machine together and see how things turn out. (Results are here!)

Fossil Handbag

My summer handbag (for the past 2 years) was the victim of a ketchup explosion at a sporting event this summer. There was also an incident with some sort of red molding clay in the side pocket.

Fortunately, the bag is made of canvas and leather, and I already know from experience that the bag washes up beautifully on a cold gentle cycle in the washing machine.

Lunch Bags

All year I've been periodically scrubbing out the insides of the kids' lunch bags, but the cloth-like exteriors have been growing grundgier by the month. I thought I would throw them in the wash (unzipped) and see if their looks improve.

Baseball Cap

My son's favorite cap is coated with sweat, dirt, and several unidentifiable stains. It's just a promotional cap that was handed out at the beginning of a baseball game, so I am not sure how durable it is. We'll find out...

Slippers

Cool weather is coming, and I would like to freshen up my shearling LL Bean slippers. I have been hesitating to clean them because I like them so much--I don't want to shrink them or somehow mess them up! I'm just going to throw them in the wash and see what happens...

See the results here...

Linked to WFMW!

Menu Plan Monday: Setpember 5, 2011

2011-09-05T12:59:00.000-04:00

Whole Wheat Couscous with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes

We're finally headed back to school this week, so dinner will be all about quick, filling, easy comfort food that everyone is willing to eat.

Monday: Leftovers (Lemon Chicken, Carrot Orzo, Whole Wheat Couscous with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes, Broccoli Salad, rolls)
Tuesday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole with steamed asparagus and corn on the cob
Wednesday: Burgers on the grill with Salt and Pepper Potatoes and steamed broccoli
Thursday: Marinated Pork Tenderloin (need to pick a recipe) cole slaw, leftover potatoes
Friday: Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs with steamed green beans and rolls
Saturday: Grilled Cheese and Minestrone soup
Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs, brown rice pilaf, steamed broccoli

Peach Berry Crisp

I'll also bake a potato-kale frittata and a Peach Berry Crisp to keep up with the fresh produce that I have around here, and eat them for breakfasts or lunches.

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Easy Pie Crust Protection

2011-08-31T08:00:00.003-04:00

Potato Kale Quiche

When I make a quiche, such as this one, the crust sometimes bakes up faster than the filling, and I find myself fiddling with wide strips of aluminum foil to protect the edges from getting too brown.

At the same time, if the quiche crust is very full, some of the filling may spill over the sides of the pie dish.

A solution to both problems is to set the pie dish on a large piece of aluminum foil on top of a rimmed baking sheet. Later in the baking process, wrap the edges of the foil up around the crust edge to slow the browning process. It's much easier to wrap the edges with foil that is held in place underneath the pan rather than fiddling with smaller pieces, then the filling can finish baking.

At least it worked for me!

Menu Plan Monday: August 29th 2011

2011-08-29T12:26:00.001-04:00

Potato Kale Frittata with Sweet Potato Biscuits

I started planning meals a bit early for this week as we were expecting some potential inclement weather, which put our access to electricity at risk. Gotta love above-ground power lines! Fortunately the weather in our area was less damaging than expected, and we made it through the weekend without a single power flicker.

Still, in anticipation of having to prepare meals without power, I anticipated being limited to using the stovetop, which is gas and can be lit with a match when the power is out, or the outdoor grill when it isn't raining. It also helps that we're celebrating my daughter's birthday this week and already planned to go out to dinner several times as part of our birthday outings.

Monday: Eggplant Stew (using eggplant from the garden) over whole wheat couscous, Peach Blueberry Crisp
Tuesday: Dinner Out
Wednesday: Dinner Out
Thursday: Minestrone and Grilled Cheese
Friday: Make Your Own Pizza, salad, fruit
Saturday: Lemon Chicken with Carrot Orzo and steamed broccoli
Sunday: Family Get-together--bring Whole Wheat Couscous with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes
Monday: Burgers on the grill, baked beans, salt and pepper potatoes, broccoli salad (Farewell to Summer!)

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Potato Kale Quiche (or Frittata)

2011-08-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite things to do with fresh kale is to make it up into Potato-Kale Quiche as described in Cathe Olson's Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook. It's delicious! Sometimes I want to enjoy the quiche without the pie crust, so I modify the recipe to make a frittata, which is the version picture above. Both recipes follow:

To make a Quiche:

Ingredients

1 Pie Crust (either from scratch or store-bought), partially pre-baked
1 Tablesppon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cups diced potatoes (I like to use redskin potatoes, and leave the skins on)
2 packed cups chopped kale, washed, still damp, with large stems removed (or more--I usually add the entire bunch of kale if it isn't too big) or you can try another green such as spinach or swiss chard
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I add more)
1/4 teaspoon pepper (I add more)
Pinch ground nutmeg
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (or whatever you have on hand)

1. Heat olive oil to medium heat in large skillet (ideally one with a lid). Saute onion for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add diced potato and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes with the lid on, but stir frequently as potatoes will stick to the bottom of the pan a little. Add your freshly washed, chopped kale, stir to combine, and replace lid (helps the kale to steam). Cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to mixture, stirring to combine.

2. Transfer potato-kale mixture to partially pre-baked piecrust. (I mound the ingredients in the middle a bit to make room for the egg mixture.) Top the mixture evenly with the grated cheese.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Pour slowly and evenly over potato-kale mixture. (You may not need all of the egg mixture--be sure you don't overfill the piecrust!)

4. Bake at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Slice and serve.

For a Potato-Kale Frittata:

Complete Step 1 as instructed above. Be sure to cook the potato-kale mixture in a frittata pan or a pan that is oven-safe.

2. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan and top with the shredded cheese.

3. REPLACE the eggs and milk listed above with 12 eggs whisked together in a mixing bowl (omit milk entirely). Pour evenly over potato-kale mixture. I like to stir the mixture gently to distribute the eggs a bit.

4. Bake the pan in the oven at 350 degress for 30-35 minutes. Slice and serve.

Organizing with a Friend: Toddler Closet Project

2011-08-26T12:18:00.001-04:00

My friend and have come up with a plan to help one another work on organizing projects. Both of us have areas in our homes that make us feel too overwhelmed to tackle by ourselves, so we're teaming up to support each other and get things done more efficiently. (As an added bonus, our children are doing a great job distracting one another so that they interrupt us less!)

This week was Bedroom Week: in addition to working on my daughter's bedroom, which had become completely out of control, we tackled her son's closet and clothes supply.

Storage space is not an issue here, as my friend has a roomy closet and TWO dressers!

First off, we set some goals for the project:

Sort through her son's wardrobe, remove too small/too big/too worn clothing
Identify how much clothing she has in the next size up to determine what, if anything she needs to purchase for this fall.
Store the clothing in an accessible way for her 3-year-old to reach himself. She wants to limit what he can reach, yet give him choices on what he wants to wear, because he is in that endearing yet time-consuming phase of wanting to dress himself. My friend is worried that they will never make it to preschool on time between his slow eating and the clothing battles that they have been having!
Reorganize the closet and dresser storage using a few new storage pieces so that the space is used more effectively.

I didn't realize it at the time, but my friend had a huge mental block on this project. One of her cats likes to chew cardboard, and had a cardboard-chewing party in the bottom of the closet, and had also pulled out some insulation. The thought of dealing with the mess felt overwhelming, yet she couldn't even close the closet door, because a hanging organizer was preventing the closet from closing even partially. Most of her son's clothes weren't hanging in the closet probably because it was just stressing her out to even go near it!

Here's what we did:

Mental Block Removal: We swept up the cardboard situation, and recycled the cardboard shoeboxes and box of diapers (no longer needed!) and determined that the organizer hanging on the back of the door was a) not currently needed b) lacking the right hooks to work with the doors in the house and c) better utilized in the mud room, so we removed it and stored it until my friend can get better-working hanger hooks. Now the closet door closes so that kitty access is blocked!

Clothing Sort:We gathered her son's entire wardrobe (don't forget the clean laundry pile) and sorted the clothes into 4 categories: Current, Small, Big, and Worn. Too Small clothes went into storage in a hamper in another closet. Too Big clothes (fewer than my friend expected) were hung on hangers and hung at the back of the closet, and too Worn clothes were thrown out.

Now my friend knows that she has enough clothes in the current size, but needs to start looking for clothes in the next size up. She likes to purchase second-hand lots either locally or through Ebay, so having advance notice of her needs is important so that she can be on the lookout for what she needs.

Clothing Storage: Pants, swimwear, underwear and socks were stored in dresser drawers, shirts were hung on hangers, and pajamas were stored in a hanging organizer in the closet.

Easy Access: We installed a lower closet bar in the closet that my friend's son can reach himself. She can hand a week's worth of clothes on the bar, and then let her son pick which ones he wants to wear and dress himself. In season pajamas are stored near the bottom of the hanging rack, two per slot. The clothes in the dresser were moved to lower drawers that he can access easily. Higher dresser drawers are used for toiletries, towels, and bedding.

Limited Access: Anything that my friend doesn't want her son to have access to we stored in higher dresser drawers and in the top and back of the closet.
General Cleanup: My friend was so energized by our progress that we ended up cleaning up the entire room!

Find more organizing inspiration at 52 Weeks of Organizing!

Menu Plan Tuesday: August 16th, 2011

2011-08-16T14:28:00.000-04:00

I'm still trying to recover from the 2 parties in one day... they were successful, but I was completely worn out. I wish I could bottle kids' energy for my personal use!

As a result of the festivities as well as a produce box I ordered from a local company, I have numerous perishables to blend into my menu this week, including kale, eggplant, zucchini, watermelon, raspberries, peaches, cantalope, lettuce, tomatoes (large and cherry-size), grapes, broccoli, shredded cheese, sliced cucumbers, a red bell pepper, and leftover (uncooked) mini burgers and hotdogs with buns.

Monday: Spaghetti with turkey meatballs, whole wheat pasta and broccoli (steamed the fresh broccoli left over from the vegetable platter from the party).
Tuesday: Potato Kale Quiche (using the kale and the leftover shredded cheese) with sweet potato biscuits (sweet potato from the freezer) and fresh watermelon/cantalope.
Wednesday: Bacon wrapped pork chops (sliding from last week), whole wheat couscous with zucchini and cherry tomatoes (using fresh produce) and more watermelon/cantalope.
Thursday: Hot Dogs (from the freezer) in whole wheat buns, fresh vegetables (cucumbers, bell pepper, carrot) with dip, potato chips, watermelon (there's a lot!)
Friday: Baked Chicken Tenders (chicken from freezer) with Fried Eggplant (using same breading as on chicken--delicious!) steamed vegetables, and whatever fruit we need to finish eating.
Saturday: Soy Glazed Salmon (from the freezer) with soba noodles and steamed vegetables
Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: Mini Burgers (from the freezer) with Salt and Pepper potatoes and steamed vegetables

With this plan, I don't need to go to the store at all!

I have frozen the mini burgers, hotdogs, buns for each, grapes, raspberries and peaches (for a crisp), as well as a large amount of boneless skinless chicken breasts that I need to cut up before freezing (see tips here). As for the lettuce and larger tomatoes, I will salads for lunch with a side of protein.

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Pineapple Zucchini Bread

2011-08-11T13:15:00.000-04:00

I decided to give pineapple zucchini bread a try when I ended up with one of those huge zucchinis that seem to grow in the garden overnight! I updated a recipe from my husband's family to reduce fat and added sugar. I could never understand the appeal of zucchini in a quick bread before, but this stuff is delicious!

Ingredients:

10 Tablespoons butter
2 cups sugar (or less to taste)
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups flour (I used 2 cups white and 1 cup of white whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups crushed pineapple, drained (I used a 20 oz can)
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 standard loaf pans with waxed paper.

Since I was using a huge zucchini with fully developed seeds, I scooped the seeds out before shredding the zucchini in a food processor.

In a mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and grated zucchini. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon) then gradually add to wet mixture, being careful not to overmix. Lastly, add the crushed pineapple and nuts.

Ladle mixture into baking pans and bake for 1 hour. (If using smaller baking pans, bake for 35-45 minutes.

Find more zucchini recipes here!

Menu Plan Monday: August 8th, 2011

2011-08-08T11:47:00.000-04:00

Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies

We are preparing for a double birthday party this weekend, so I want to clear out the freezer as much as possible.

Monday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole with steamed broccoli
Tuesday: Chicken Cashew Curry (from the freezer) over brown rice with steamed green beans and fresh cantalope
Wednesday: Eggplant Stew (from the freezer) over brown rice (from previous day)
Thursday: Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops (from the freezer) with baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli
Friday: leftovers (boys at sporting event)
Saturday: Party Menu
Sunday: Party Leftovers
Monday: Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs, steamed broccoli

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

2 Birthday Parties in 1 Day: Menu Plan

2011-08-08T11:45:00.000-04:00

We'll celebrate the kids' birthdays this Saturday in one day-long event that includes both family and friends. My menu plan is as follows:

Mini Hamburgers (served with lettuce, fresh tomato from the garden, and condiments)
Hotdogs on buns (with condiments)
Bean and Cheese Quesadillas (served with guacamole, sour cream, and salsa)
Watermelon slices
Cantelope slices
Vegetable Platter with dip and hummus
Pretzels, Chips
Mini Sour Cream Poundcake Cupcakes

Four important things about this menu:

It's all small-size. The burgers are mini, the hotdogs will be cut in half before serving, and the quesadillas will be cut into quarters. I find that kids are too excited to eat much at parties, and this reduces the amount of food wasted. Grownups appreciate the small size portions, too! I set out dessert-sized plates rather than larger-sized ones--this is the one event all year where I use paper plates.

It's all finger food. I can serve up this meal... and no one needs silverware for anything on the menu!

It's portable. If any kids need to leave before we get around to singing 'Happy Birthday', I can send them home with a cupcake as we won't have a cake waiting to be sliced.

It's almost identical to last year. Why reinvent the wheel? I know my kids like these foods, and I know that I can easily serve them up on the day of the party. We eat these things all the time, but friends and family (hopefully) won't be tired of the same menu. One thing that is different is that I am switching to mini cupcakes rather that cupcakes baked in ice cream cones. I'm hoping that the mini cupcakes will be a bit less labor intensive... and less likely to start shrinking and falling over...

Was it the humidity? The extra moist cake mix? Both???? Either way, I'm pretty sure I won't have this problem with my homemade mini cupcakes!

To make things easier on the big day, I'll be preparing things little by little all week:

Monday: Assemble Bean and Cheese Quesadillas. I'll aim to make around 16-20, freeze them, and then make as many as are needed for the party. We can keep the remaining quesadillas frozen and use them for future meals.

Tuesday: Assemble Mini Hamburgers and freeze. This will be labor intensive, but worth it! I'll make 4 dozen, bake them the day of the party, then pop them into buns and add small cheese slices to half.

Wednesday: Make cupcake frosting and refrigerate.
Thursday: Shopping day: purchase melons, fresh vegetables, and breads.
Friday: Slice melons, arrange vegetable tray and lettuce/tomato condiment plate, and bake/frost cupcakes.

Saturday: Bake quesadillas and burgers in oven. Boil hotdogs on stovetop. (I'm not going to fuss the with grill, and kids don't like grill marks on their hotdogs anyway!) Assemble with buns. Serve buffet-style with fruit, vegetables, chips/pretzels, and condiments.

Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies

2011-08-04T12:45:00.000-04:00

I've made a few batches of these freezer cookies and they are delicious! I love that they are lavender scented yet lemon-tasting. Once they are baked up and wafting their lavender scent, no one will belive that they came out of your freezer! I like to bake 16 at a time, as that is what fits on my cookie sheet. I love to quickly bake them for dessert or right before a get-together.

This recipe is from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family.

Lavender Sugar

Before making these cookies, you'll need to make some Lavender Sugar and cure it for a week so that the lavender scent fully saturates the sugar crystals.

My bag of culinary lavender is very large. I need to find some other uses for it!

Simply combine 1 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon Culinary Lavender, and run it in your food processor until the lavender is shredded up and mixed in, less than a minute. You can strain the mixture, or pick out any larger remaining lavender leaves, but I just leave it. Store the sugar in a sealed container for a minimum of 1 week. I store mine in a mason jar.

This amount will give you enough for 1 batch of cookies, or you could mix up more to save for future baking (you know, while you have the food processor out and all...)

Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies (Makes 7 Dozen!)

Ingredients:

2 cups (4 sticks) softened butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup Lavender Sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons lemon extract
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use 3 1/2 cups white flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour)
2 Tablespoons Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Lavender Sugar (reserve for Topping)

In a stand mixer, combine butter and sugars. Add eggs, milk, and lemon extract. In a separate bowl, measure and mix flour(s), baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, blending well, but not overmixing.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls, coat in Lavender Sugar reserved for topping. I use myPampered Chef scoop, and handle the dough very lightly so as to avoid compacting the dough.

To freeze: Place balls on a rimmed baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes. Transfer to freezer bags for longer-term storage.

To bake: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place frozen cookie balls on cookie sheet--no need to defrost (the recipe recommends using parchment paper, but I have done fine placing them straight on the pan). Bake for 8-10 minutes--I like mine to be just slightly browned at the edges. Remove to cooling racks to cool.

Enjoy!

2 Birthday Parties... in One Day

2011-08-03T10:41:00.000-04:00

August is Birthday Month in our household, as my son and daughter have birthdays that are 25 days apart. After several years of two separate parties, I am worn out! So are all our relatives and guests who make the journey to our house twice in one month for basically the same party, because of course my daughter just wants her party to be identical to her brother's!

A friend of mine made the clever suggestion to just have ONE party for both kids. What a fantastic idea! I decided that this would be the year that we have One Big Party.

My kids did not like this idea.

Despite promises of separate activities and 'Happy Birthday' singing, both kids have strong objections to sharing one party.

I had just about resigned myself to two separate celebrations until it finally dawned on me to hold two parties all in the same day. I explained the plan to the kids, who found it acceptable, so this is the plan:

10 AM-Noon: Daughter's 5th Birthday Party (younger kids, some of whom may still take naps)
Noon-2 PM: Son's 7th Birthday Party (the older bunch)
2 PM-whenever: Friends and Relatives hang out while kids play amongst themselves
This plan means that the great-grandparents only have to make the 4-hour round trip one time (without slighting anyone) and the mother only has to serve one lunch buffet (more on that later).

Here's to hoping this works for us!

10 Gift Ideas for Preschoolers

2011-08-02T13:34:00.000-04:00

In honor of my kids' birthdays this month, I thought I would share some of our favorite gift ideas--things that we have given or received that were especially enjoyed!

Here are some fun gift ideas for the preschool set. I linked many of them to pictures on Amazon to help people locate them, but some of them might be more affordably purchased elsewhere.

1. Goldilocks and the Three Bears Read 'n Play Set- My daughter received this adorable little house a a gift, and she has spent hours imagining little stories for the inhabitants. This toy is also very popular when other little girls come over to play.

Everything zips up inside the little house, so it's easy to bring it along to play with during 'boring' errands or meetings.

2. Richard Scarry Busy Town Board Game- If you are looking for a board game that is a bit more complex than Candyland, this game is a nice choice. It uses a nice combination of competition and teamwork, along with some searching for detail, to get all the characters to a picnic on the island before ants eat everything in the picnic! This game is simple enough for preschoolers to enjoy while also keeping the interest of older players.

3. The Ladybug Game- This is a counting game that is a little more entertaining and complex than Hi Ho Cherry-O! My favorite part is that it doesn't have any tiny red cherries to get strewn around the house seconds after opening the box!

4. Battat Take Apart Crane- This adorable crane has large plastic bolts and nuts that screw together with a battery operated drill, almost like a three-dimensional puzzle. Both boys and girls are fascinated with this interesting toy, and it can be played with as a truck when it is fully assembled.

5. Melissa & Doug Wooden Picture Frame - DYO- This is a gift that keeps on giving! I gave this to my daughter, and she painted it, then we added a snapshot of her with her friend and she gave it as a gift to her friend. The completed project can be given to a parent or grandparent as well. The frame above is painted, but we haven't yet added the stick-on jewels... and I am not sure where they are, to tell the truth... I think we have completed at least 3 of these frames for different people so far.

6. Tangoes Jr.- This set has kept both my kids occupied for long periods of time. They are fascinated with the challenge of fitting the shapes together in different patterns. Unlike other sets that come with a ton of shapes, this set has only 7 magnetic pieces that are easier to keep track of, and contains a handy sliding storage tray so that the pieces have a home and avoid getting lost.

7. Crayola Telescoping Pip-Squeaks Marker Tower- These markers are stored upright in this clear tower, which makes it easy for my daughter to select colors... and also to put them away all on her own! She likes to sort the similar colors together and keep them organized (they are jumbled right now). When we got this set, I also purchased the Crayola 150-Count Telescoping Crayon Tower, and I put away all the other crayons and markers. It's amazing--crayons stay together and are easy to find, marker lids stay on... all because the kids have a specific, easy place to store them! When popular crayons get worn down or broken, I can easily replace them from a few extra 24-packs that I have on hand. Tip: I've found that the most affordable way to purchase these sets is to buy them at Michael's and use a 40-50% off one item coupon, which are available regularly, which lowers the price to less than $10.

8. Deluxe Card Holder Set- If your children like to play cards, this card holder set will come in handy to help everyone hold his/her cards. The holders are sturdy and can hold quite a bit, which is very helpful when you are playing Go Fish, Rummy 500, or Uno.

9. Real Tools For Kids Round Point Shovel - We bought a 'real' shovel for my son when he was 3, and he has really enjoyed using it. He digs up worms in our yard, and we use it at the beach for serious digging in the sand. It makes sense to me to get a sturdy shovel that can hold up to real use rather than a plastic shovel that breaks quickly. It's great practice and exercise to learn how to use a real shovel, and the kids like using one that is the right size for them!

10. My daughter is obsessed with dogs, so here are two ideas for puppy lovers:

Pucci Pups Dog with Carrier- My daughter loves her puppy carrier sets. I'm ashamed to say that we have two of these bags: one with a mother dog and puppy, and one with just one pup. The sets come with collars, leashes, dog treats, outfits, hairbows... and my daughter plays with them all the time. She loves to pack the carriers full of all her pets and go on 'trips'.

Nursing Nana Dog- This fantastic plush dog comes with three puppies who attach to their mother with magnets to nurse. It's so cute, and my daughter loves to play with it!

Now you know some of our favorite preschool gift ideas! Linked to 10 on Tuesday.

Menu Plan Monday: August 1st

2011-08-01T11:30:00.000-04:00

Fried Zucchini

We are back from a week at the beach, and it's so nice to have a stash of meals to choose from in the freezer, and some vegetables to harvest from the garden. Aside from some fresh fruit, I don't need to go to the grocery store right away, which is nice!

Monday: Marinated Flank Steak (from the freezer) with brown rice pilaf, fried zucchini, and salad
Tuesday: Soup from the freezer (boys' dinner out) a choice of Kale White Bean Soup, Minestrone, or Quinoa Vegetable Soup
Wednesday: Lasagna (sauce is already made and in the freezer) with bread and salad
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Dinner Out
Saturday: Family Get-together
Sunday: Baked Chicken Tenders with Whole Wheat Couscous with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes
Monday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole, steamed broccoli

Find more meal planning ideas at orgjunkie.com!

Decluttering Paper in 3 Steps

2011-07-22T08:00:00.004-04:00

I have to confess that I've been taking a lengthy break from decluttering projects this year. I was really on top of decluttering last year, but since then I got distracted and off track, and I'm only now (in July!) returning to the project, which for now is to just attack the piles of paper and miscellaneous items that have accumulated in my house. I'm decided to approach The Piles with a 3-Step approach:

1. Consolidate

First I went around the house and collected all the various paper piles in a laundry basket. (Confession: I filled the laundry basket twice!)

I cleared the dining table so that I would have plenty of space--and also for motivation to get the project done before dinnertime.

2. Sort

I set up an empty paper grocery bag for recycling paper, and sorted everything into piles. It occurred to me that this is really challenging work, because you have to make a decision about every piece of paper: keep? recycle?

I ran into a bunch of papers from an unfinished project that I need to refocus on, and also a few photographs and a recipe that triggered some memories. The biggest bulk of paper were the things that my son brought home from first grade at the end of the year. It takes a lot of energy to decide to recycle your child's artwork! I did save a few things that stood out.

Whenever I started feeling overwhelmed or unable to make a decision about something, I walked away and worked on something else for a while, then came back later. It helped that I needed to shuttle the kids around, and my mom stopped by for a little while. Sometimes I would just go switch the laundry to clear my head so that I could return and continue to make decision after decision...

3. Distribute

After all the piles were sorted, I found a place for each set of items. Some things were easy--obviously the two full bags of discarded papers went to the recycling bin, and the saved artwork went to a box in the basement designated for that pupose. Other things were more challenging to put away, and I admit that a small pile of those random items are sitting in a pile on my desk right now, still to be housed. Similar to the sorting, I did a few piles at a time in between other activities.

The good news is: I finished! I think that focusing very specifically on Paper Only helped me to avoid distraction, and setting a specific space and steps helped as well. I even got the dining table set for dinner, hours in advance. I think I will use this technique again on the disturbing number of Random Items scattered around the house--you know, the what-is-this-and-why-are-we-keeping-it stuff (I hope I'm not the only person with this problem!)

Find more declutter and organizing inspiration with 52 Weeks of Organizing at orgjunkie.com!

Peach Berry Crisp (Topping)

2011-07-21T09:18:00.003-04:00

What I should do is follow The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook and make a lightly sweetened, healthier topping for my Peach Berry Crisp Filling. But, I don't.

Here is what I do instead--based on this Summer Fruit Crisp Recipe:

For an 8 x 8 size pan:

3/4 cups flour (I use winter white whole wheat)
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons sugar (or sweetener of choice)
pinch of salt
5 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans or more to taste

Combine flour, sugars, and salt. Add cold butter chunks and blend into the mixture with a pastry blender, add vanilla extract and nuts. After adding the nuts, I just use my hand to further blend the mixture, which will be sandy and chunky.

After blending for about 30 seconds (it will still be not fully mixed) sprinkle handfuls of the mixture over your Peach Berry Crisp Filling, breaking up the larger buttery lumps. (If you are freezing the crisp topping, put the mixture in a quart-size freezer bag and freeze.) Empty the remaining flour and sugar over top of filling, covering fruit mixture evenly.

I tripled this recipe so that I could freeze two portions of topping to use on future fresh fruit crisps. I'm hoping for some nice peaches and raspberries at the produce stands on the way to the beach in a few days!

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Serve warm over ice cream OR a healthier choice would be fat-free plain or vanilla yogurt. I've been enjoying Trader Joe's fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt with it for breakfast. You could dust the top with powdered sugar, but I consider that to be overkill. :)

Linked to Ultimate Recipe Swap!

Wordless Wednesday: Library Jackpot!

2011-07-20T08:15:00.002-04:00

Linked to Wordless Wednesday

10 Reasons and Strategies to Avoid Grocery Shopping At the Beach

2011-07-19T08:16:00.001-04:00

We are heading to the beach next week for our annual extended family vacation! I am trying to get some things ready in advance so that I can avoid going to the grocery store the entire 8 days that we are there, yet still enjoy lots of delicious food! Here's why:

1. My kids are particular. I've learned that my kids are happy to eat nutritious foods so long as we stick with certain brands they like. My son is especially sensitive and notices when the bread or yogurt is different from the brand he prefers. Rather than take the risk of the beach grocery stores not carrying his favorites, I'll just bring along what I know he likes.

2. The stores at the beach are expensive! I don't even need to explain this.

3. Grocery shopping takes time away from vacation. At our family beach, the grocery store is always crowded, day and night. On top of that, the beach house we rented last year was over 20 minutes away from the nearest grocery store. Just needing a few items meant at least an hour trip. I would rather be relaxing!

4. You often end up buying more than you need. I prefer to avoid wasting food, even condiments and/or bread, and it seems that we always have so much stuff left over at the end of a week at the beach house. I really hate to see it thrown away and wasted! By bringing just what we need from home, I'm hoping to eliminate at least some of the excess stuff left over at the end of the week.

5. You'll end up cooking less at the beach by using food from your freezer cooking stash rather than groceries from the store. I'm going to bring a variety of items from my freezer cooking stash, including Marinated Salmon to serve for dinner one night, banana bread for breakfast, and a few other items, possibly even ingredients for cocktails. My mom is bringing a lasagna and a ham. (I hope she'll give me the hambone to bring home and make into soup!)

Here are my strategies for staying away from the grocery store next week:

6. Make a Meal Plan. By the end of this week, I'll have a clear idea of what we're planning to eat and on which day, therefore I'll have a clear picture (and a list) of what foods to bring, and how much to bring.

7. Pack a cooler and some grocery bags with your favorite foods and ingredients. After making a list, you'll know what you would like to bring.

8. Bring Open Condiments. There's no rule that you need to bring a brand new bottle of ketchup to the beach house each year. Try bringing the open bottle from your fridge/pantry. If you time it just right, you can use it up at the beach house and avoid the need to bring it back home!

9. Shop at the local produce and seafood stands. Not only will you find the freshest ingredients for your seafood meals and your fruit and vegetable salads, you will also support local small businesses in your beach community. I'm hoping we find some fresh okra to fry up, and also some nice ripe juicy peaches.

10. Take it all back home with you. By bringing a cooler, you'll also have a place to stow left over perishables on the way home. Cleaning out the fridge on the last day will be easy!

The Exception: I (or somebody) will need to make an ice-cream/popsicle run late at night one night. Those items don't travel well in the cooler.

Linked to Top Ten Tuesday!

Vegetarian Freezer Cooking Report: Using up Produce

2011-07-18T15:12:00.000-04:00

Pictured: 2 servings Summer Squash Frittata, one 8x8 Fruit Crisp, 3 meals of Kale White Bean Soup, 3 meals of Eggplant Stew. Also pictured are 5 servings of Quinoa Vegetable Soup that I made several weeks ago.

In addition to the produce I already had, I received a vegetable box from a local delivery service, so I had even MORE produce to work with! This meant a few revisions to the freezer plan, as well as a cheat recipe--I added Kale White Bean Soup to the plan--it's non-vegetarian, but uses a large quantity of kale.

Thursday Evening (2 Thursdays ago!): quickly cut and peeled peaches for Peach Berry Crisp (filling) while dinner was cooking, added the extra ingredients, and froze it in the freezer. I place the freezer bag inside the pan that I will use to bake the crisp so that the mixture froze in the shape of the pan. I still need to make a few batches of Crisp Topping...

Friday Morning: Started making White Bean and Kale Soup in the crock pot. (If you used a replacement for the ground sausage, it would still be vegetarian... but mine includes hot Italian sausage. :)

I also whipped up the Summer Squash Frittata, topped it with tomato and basil from the garden, and ate a piece for (second) breakfast. I put several pieces in the freezer to test and see how well it freezes (not too well. It gets very watery when I go to reheat it) The rest we ate for breakfasts the next few days.

Monday: I made the Eggplant Stew and doubled the recipe to use up all of the eggplant! It was wonderful as usual, despite the fact that I quadrupled the tomato sauce rather than doubling it. Rather than add cannded diced tomatoes, I used fresh (skins and all). I also left the skin on the eggplant even though the recipe said to peel it (I never peel it). I ended up with three meals left over for the freezer.

I also made and served Sesame Baby Bok Choy with leftover Baked Chicken Tenders--not cooking for the freezer, but fitting in with my need to use up produce.

Now it's a new week and I just need to use up this by Friday:

Today's Harvest

Ack!

Peach Berry Crisp (filling)

2011-07-18T15:07:00.003-04:00

Peaches and Blueberries, defrosting before adding Crisp Topping

I have an amazing recipe for Summer Fruit Crisp that makes a 13 x 9 pan of pure heavenly delight... except it sure has a lot of sugar in it! To cut down on the sugar, I revised the filling portion of the recipe to follow the crisp recipe from the cookbook The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook: Whole Foods To Nourish Pregnant And Breastfeeding Women - And Their Families. The result is tart fruit with a sweet crisp topping that goes well over vanilla ice cream. (I only make this a few times each summer for obvious reasons--calorie counters beware!)

I also reduced the size of the recipe to fit an 8 x 8 pan because my husband and I have very little self control around this dessert. Just double the quantities to make enough for a 13 x 9 pan.

Ingredients:

7-8 fresh peaches, quartered, pitted, and peeled
1 cup berries (I like fresh raspberries, or frozen blueberries if I don't have anything else on hand, or just add a couple more peaches)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice (or juice of 1 lemon)
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional: better for apples and pears)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir gently to combine. To freeze, dump the fruit and all the juices in a gallon size freezer bag and freeze until needed. To bake immediately, place the mixture in an 8 x 8 pan and top with Peach Berry Crisp topping. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Serve warm over vanilla ice cream. Try not to eat the entire pan in one sitting!

Menu Plan Monday July 18th: Clearing out the Fridge

2011-07-18T13:34:00.000-04:00

Eggplant Stew over Whole Wheat Couscous--part of my vegetarian freezer cooking last week

I'll be using many of my tips for using up perishables before we travel to the beach this weekend. Every time I turn around there is more produce to harvest from my vegetable garden!

Monday: Roast Turkey Breast, whole wheat couscous with zucchini and cherry tomatoes (both from the garden)
Tuesday: Pasta with Marinated Tomatoes, based on a Martha Stewart recipe from the newest issue of Martha Stewart Living, which apparently hasn't been posted online yet, so I can't link to the recipe...
Wednesday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole, hopefully sneaking some fresh produce in there somewhere, with shallot green beans
Thursday: Turkey Avocado Wraps (hopefully there will be enough turkey left over from Monday for this! I'll also use the turkey for lunches.)
Friday: Leftovers--eating whatever is left!
Saturday: Lasagna, garlic bread, salad (at the beach)
Sunday: Ham dinner (at the beach)
Monday: Marinated Salmon, Lime Cilantro Soba, steamed broccoli

I'll be freezer cooking with a friend on Wednesday, to make the salmon marinade and a few treats for the beach. I also want to find time to make Basil Pesto (to bring to the beach) and the crisp topping and lavender sugar that I didn't find time for last week.

I'll also be making another Summer Squash Frittata and eat it for breakfast each day this week, as I am swimming in zucchini and summer squash. I haven't figured out any good freezer cooking recipes for the squash yet (other than soups and sauces), so I made fried zucchini last week and I'll probably make it again this week, too.

Find more meal planning ideas at a special location this week!

Acknowledging the Unexpected

2011-07-13T11:10:00.000-04:00

What happened here? Not what was expected...

Once upon a time, long ago, I worked for a boss who struggled with time management. She took a class and worked with a time-management coach, and he advised that each person in the office keep a daily list of unexpected events. My coworkers and I started doing this right away, because we were stressed out and eager to work on the time-management challenges we were having.

We were really surprised to discover exactly how many unexpected things just 'popped up' during each day. A client would call with a problem, a salesperson would stop by unexpectedly with a new product line, our boss would suddenly remember a project that she needed finished ASAP, or the copier would jam.

Writing down these unexpected events on our To Do lists seemed to give us more power over the situation. We could compare the tasks that we had planned to do with the new task that was now staring at us in the face, and decide which task took higher priority.

Often the unexpected event took precedence over what we had been working on before (our office certainly wouldn't have been able to function if we didn't take the time to fix the jammed copier!) Instead of feeling discouraged at the end of the day because of ruined plans, we could read our lists and count the unexpected events towards our productivity for the day: I helped a client, learned about a new product, finished my boss's project, and fixed the paper jam in the copier.

I'm finding that this same strategy can be applied to homemaking: if I take the time to acknowledge the time I spend each day on unexpected events, and count them towards my productivity for the day, I feel more empowered and in control of how I spend my time each day. I cleaned up the broken glass before someone got hurt, I rescheduled our plans so that I could care for my sick child, I got the car inspected on the last day before the sticker expired and avoided a ticket.

I also apply this strategy to larger periods of time. For instance, I haven't spent much time and effort on keeping up with clutter in my house this year. I think it is important to acknowledge the events (some expected, some unexpected) that have required additional focus and that have shifted my priorities away from this project.

My sister-in-law died in December. My close friend died in January. I'm still helping to go through my close friend's home and possessions and cooking meals for her college-age son.

I completed three large projects for my volunteer work in February, April and May--and I'm working on several new projects now.

By the end of this month, we'll have taken 9 separate trips since December--4 of them unexpected to some degree, but all worthwhile time spent connecting with family, friends, and each other.

By acknowledging that all of these events are important and realizing that I don't regret the time or effort spent on any of them, I realize that I have good reasons for not focusing on the projects I hoped to focus on so far this year. I can release feeling of guilt and powerlessness, and refocus on my goals with a fresh, positive attitude.

With all that said, I am off to finish prepping my new consignment pile, and a nice large Goodwill donation is on the horizon, too.

This plan works for me. What unexpected events have occurred in your life that you need to acknowledge and release?

Fried Zucchini

2011-07-12T21:37:00.000-04:00

I made our eggplant stew today, and I used the huge zucchini I had from my grandparents' garden. I decided to use the remaining amount to make fried zucchini, with thoughts that my kids might eat it.

Ingredients:

Large Zucchini, thinly sliced (1/4 inch thick)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour
butter and/or olive oil 1-2 Tablespoons

Sprinkle both sides of zucchini slices with salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil and/or butter (I use both) in skillet over medium heat. Place flour in shallow dish, add zucchini, turning to coat with a thin layer of flour. Add zucchini slices to skillet and fry for several minutes. Turn and fry for 2-3 more minutes, then place cooked zucchini on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Try not to eat all of them at once. Offer them to your children, then eat the ones you served to them after they turn up their noses.

This would also work well with a large eggplant. Delicious, and barely a recipe!

Menu Plan Monday: July 11th, 2011

2011-07-11T08:34:00.015-04:00

Baked Chicken Tenders, Sesame Bok Choy, and Baked Redskin Potato

I'm still working through my Vegetarian Freezer Cooking Plan, so we will be eating a few of those recipes as we work through the week, while working our way through the second week of dinnertime swim lessons. The strategy that appears to be working for us is to eat protein-rich snacks before lessons to help the kids survive until a later dinnertime.

Monday: White Bean and Kale Soup for adults (from the freezer cooking), Grilled Cheese and steamed vegetables for the kids
Tuesday: Eggplant Stew over Whole Wheat Couscous for adults (freezer cooking), Spaghetti and Meatballs with steamed vegetables for the kids.
Wednesday: Creamy Enchilda Casserole, steamed vegetables, fresh fruit
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Rehearsal Dinner
Saturday: Wedding Reception
Sunday: Pizza night!
Monday: Soy Glazed Salmon with Sweet Potato-Black Bean Salsa with wilted spinach

Preparing separate meals for the kids isn't ideal, but the goal is to use our fresh produce while it is still at its best and freeze the prepared potions. I'll reserve and heat up a few portions for us to eat, and make the kid-version meals quickly.

Find more meal planning ideas at orgjunkie.com!

Vegetarian Freezer Cooking: Coping with Summer Garden Excess

2011-07-06T13:41:00.001-04:00

We are swimming in produce, so I think I will need to do a quick session of vegetarian freezer cooking this week!

I have a bunch of eggplant(s?) from my grandparents' garden which will go well with a zucchini from my garden in an Eggplant Stew over Couscous recipe, which is basically ratatouille. I'll make and freeze the stew, then make fresh couscous as needed. I'll also freeze 3/4 cup portions to eat for breakfast.

My grandparents also gave me a ginormous zucchini which I'll make into a Summer Squash Frittata, which I'll freeze in indidividual servings (makes 8) for quick breakfasts. I haven't tried to freeze a frittata before, so this is an experiment!

I also have a bunch of peaches that I'm not going to be able to eat in time, so I think I'll make up the fruit filling for my favorite Peach Blueberry Crisp--recipe to come. I'll also make up multiple batches of Crisp Topping--one for this fruit, and several more for Future Fruit.

Lastly I need to make a point to cure some Lavender Sugar so that I have enough to make a big batch of Lemon Lavender Cookies--a recipe from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family. I'll post about that recipe soon, too.

Flowers From My Cutting Garden

2011-07-06T08:28:00.001-04:00

I'm excited that the zinnias and cosmos flowers that I planted are finally starting to bloom! I took the remains of a bouquet from last week, removed the spent irises and Gerber daisies, then added the orange and salmon zinnias, as well as two cosmos flowers that bloomed (the white and hot pink at the bottom).

I planted these (and some sunflowers) in a small space next to my out-of-control vegetable garden. I planted 4 different colors (as suggested here... beautiful post!) and I hope to see some of the other colors blooming soon.

I don't think that I planted enough variety to make full bouquets for the house, but I am liking the option of adding some fresh pops of color and enlarging my store-bought bouquets (which usually come from Trader Joe's). I'm hopeful that I will figure out what/how to plant more things each year.

There's nothing like a fresh bouquet of flowers! What works for you?

Menu Plan Monday: July 4th, 2011

2011-07-04T15:22:00.001-04:00

Martha Stewart's Firework Icing--I couldn't resist trying this out!

Happy Fourth of July!

This week will be a challenge mealwise as my kids have swim lessons from 5:30-7 PM three nights this week. If I feed them dinner at 4:30, my son in particular will feel like he 'missed' dinner and he'll ask for more to eat at 8 PM. If I wait to feed them until 7:30 PM, both kids will get cranky and hungry at the pool. If anyone has any advice, please let me know!

In the mean time, this is what I'm thinking of doing:

Monday: Family Get-together (I'm bringing the cookies that I made with my preferred recipe. Icing recipe and instructions for Fireworks design are courtesy of Martha Stewart, who always makes is look easier than it really is, but they were doable...)
Tuesday: Marinated Salmon (from the freezer--I'll broil it), baked redskin potatoes, steamed vegetables, fresh cantalope (served before swim lessons)
Wednesday: Baked Chicken Tenders, corn on the cob, steamed broccoli (served after lessons: the chicken tenders are even better leftover, so I'll bake them in advance and reheat them in the oven while boiling/steaming the vegetables)
Thursday: Grilled Steak (from the freezer), salad, brown rice pilaf (served after lessons)
Friday: Junk Food at the Ball Game :)
Saturday: Cashew Chicken Curry (from the freezer), brown rice pilaf
Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: More Lessons! I'll wait to see what worked this week before planning meals around next week's lessons.

Find more meal planning ideas at orgjunkie.com!

Discounts on Potted Annuals, Vegetables, and Herbs

2011-07-01T08:10:00.003-04:00

One reason I love this time of year is because it's when I start seeing the 50% OFF signs at the parking lot nursery near my house.

I devoted a lot of time and energy towards installing my vegetable garden this year (which is growing like crazy!) so I didn't plant my usual containers with annuals. As a result, my back deck (The Wooden Box, I like to call it) was looking pretty dreary.

When I saw the 50% off sign, I stopped by to see what was available. I picked up two beautiful, huge hanging baskets for half-off! Each basket is extra large, approximately 14 inches across, made of metal with a coco liner. This was perfect timing, because the plastic hanging baskets that I've been replanting over and over each year finally gave out and shattered into pieces last winter.

Each of these huge baskets cost $40 full price. (See? Now you know why I didn't even LOOK at this nursery until everything went on sale! I live in an expensive area.) The 50% off sale made each basket $20. That still sounds like a lot, but when you consider that there are nine healthy plants in each basket, and each basket is reusable, I consider it to be a good deal. If you have purchased annuals for bed or container planting before, you know that the costs can add up quickly.

I also picked up 2 parsley plants for $1.50 apiece since the parsley I tried to grow from seed wasn't very interested in growing.

If you have extra space in your garden, something died, or if you're looking for an extra pop of color in your life, it's a great time to pick up some plants. Heading for a roadside nursery that is only open for certain seasons of the year can result in sellers who are anxious to move as many annuals as possible before the date that they are scheduled to close. I find that the quality of the plants is often better than I find at big box stores, too.

Of course, I would have saved 100% if I hadn't stopped at the nursery in the first place, as my husband reminds me, but nature and beautiful things add joy and relaxation to my life! We I am enjoying the baskets especially when we eat outside, at least several nights a week.

you can see my empty weedy containers...

Now I'm wondering if they will reduce prices to 75% off... I'll have to restrain myself! Find more money-saving ideas at Lifeasmom.com!

My New Favorite Snack

2011-06-29T08:01:00.009-04:00

Linked to Wordless Wednesday.

Growing Potatoes in a Garbage Bag Update

2011-06-28T08:05:00.002-04:00

It's been 2 months since I planted my potatoes in a garbage bag, and they've been growing like crazy!

I've added dirt to the bag three different times now, carefully and gently covering the lower branches of the potato plant. When the stems and leaves are buried (supposedly) they turn into roots and grow some more potatoes.

I'm restraining myself from digging and peeking to find out what is going on in there... I really hope that this works for me!

10 ways to Use Up Perishables Before Traveling

2011-06-27T21:04:00.001-04:00

Here's what I need to use up this week...

You're getting ready to leave town and the fridge is full of perishables that you need to consume before you leave town! There isn't enough room in the freezer to just freeze the stuff, and the raw vegetables don't freeze well anyway. Here are some tips to use up your perishables before you head out of town for summer vacation!

Using up Milk:

1. Make pancakes. Our pancake recipes uses up 2 full cups of milk and makes 16 pancakes. Enjoy these as Breakfast for Dinner, or make them in advance and eat them the morning you are planning to leave town. Freeze them if you have space--pancakes seem to take up less space that milk in the freezer.

2. Make pudding. If you have freezer space, freeze the pudding as popsicles.

Using up Bread:
3. Make Grilled Cheese: just 4 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches use 8 slices of bread! I haven't figured out a better way to use up a loaf of bread.

Using up Cheese:
4. Make Grilled Cheese (see above!): my family can't resist buttery bread with nice big slabs of cheese melted in between them. I think we would eat just as many sandwiches as I could make--which is why I only make 5 at most, one per person with one extra to split between the really hungry folks.

5. Make quesadillas and freeze them. This is also how I use up my tortillas.

Using up vegetables:
6. Make a frittata. Squash, zuchini, onion, potatoes, green beans, bell peppers, and spinach/greens all go well in a frittata. Slice your tomatoes and place them on top. Eat it for breakfast on the day you are planning to leave for a healthy, protien-rich start to your traveling day.

7. Make soup: Minestrone is designed to absorb leftovers.

8. Make vegetable sandwich wraps: If you have lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and other vegetables that are better consumed raw, wrap them in tortillas with some hummus or cream cheese, and bring them with you in a cooler on your road trip. You can do this with your bread too (see above!), but I find you can stuff more lettuce in a wrap than what you can smoosh in a sandwich.

Using up Eggs:
9. Make a frittata (see above! use your veggies--you might as well throw some cheese in there too if you need to get rid of it!): when I make a frittata, I use a 10 inch pan and throw 12 eggs in there. It sounds like a lot of eggs, but when you slice the frittata into 8 equal servings, there is only 1 and 1/2 eggs in each serving.

10. Make Deviled Eggs: If you don't have enough eggs for a frittata, hard boil your eggs, slice them in half lengthwise, remove the yolks and mix them with some mayonnaise and sweet relish to taste, and use two spoons to plop a blob of the yolk mixture in each white half. Serve these up with vegetable sandwich wraps (see #8 above) for dinner, and your family will scarf them down. Again, even if each person eats 3 deviled egg halves, they're still eating fewer than 2 eggs.

Empty your fridge, and enjoy you vacation! Visit OhAmanda to read and share Top 10 lists about many entertaining subjects.

Menu Plan Monday: June 27th 2011

2011-06-27T12:32:00.000-04:00

Sunday Dinner: Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes

It's been a while since I posted a menu plan, and I want to get back into the routine now that it is officially summer in my household--school just let out for us last Friday!

Monday: Quinoa Vegetable Soup and salad (Grilled Cheese for the kids)
Tuesday: Potato-Kale Frittata with Sweet Potato Biscuits
Wednesday: Mini Hamburgers, steamed broccoli, and baked beans
Thursday: Whole Wheat Pasta with Turkey Meatballs and Sauce (my son is cooking!) and any leftovers
Friday: Rehearsal Dinner
Saturday: Wedding
Sunday: Dinner out
Monday: Fourth of July Get-together--making dessert, haven't decided what to make yet!

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

My Favorite Pot Roast

2011-06-27T12:31:00.000-04:00

It isn't exactly the season, but we just ate a pot roast last night, and it was fantastic. This summer I'm cooking for my friend's son while he is home from college, and this is one of the things that he requested. (My friend passed away this past January). I cannot put into words how good this pot roast is! It's worth the few extra steps of preparation. We like it served over mashed potatoes, although it would be equally good with roasted root vegetabls or egg noodles.

Adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook (NYM Series):

Ingredients:

Pot Roast (3-4 lbs)
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced turnip
2 T olive oil, divided
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup dry red wine
3/4 cup water

First, take the time to finely dice your vegetables--they are going to add some incredible flavor to your roast. Heat 1 T oil in a large skillet and saute the vegetables, stirring occasionally. The recipe recommends 5 minutes, but I saute them a little longer and I use my stainless steel skillet so that they leave browned bits in the bottom of the pan. After browning, move the vegetables to the crock pot, covering the bottom.

Next, heat the remaining 1 T of oil in the same skillet. Sprinkle the pot roast liberally with salt and pepper, and place it in the skillet to sear, approximately 3-4 minutes per side. After the roast is browned, place it in the crock pot over the vegetables.

Pour the red wine in the searing pan, and bring it to a boil. Scrape the sides and bottom of the pan to scrape up the browned bits. Let the wine reduce for a few minutes. The recipe says 2 minutes, I usually do it a bit longer. When the wine is a syrupy consistency, pour it carefully over the pot roast. I like to keep as much of the syrup on top of the meat as possible.

Return the pan to the heat and pour in the 3/4 cup of water. Bring to a boil, then pour it into the crock pot. I like to pour it onto the vegetable mixture so that the wine syrup stays concentrated on the meat.

Cook on low for 7-9 hours. When you are ready to serve, move the pot roast to a cutting board or serving platter. Put a strainer over a bowl and spur the vegetable mixture and juices through so that the strainer catches the solids. Press gently on the vegetable mixture to extract the juices. Let the mixture set for 5 minutes--the fats will rise to the top, and you can skim them off before serving the juices as a gravy for the pot roast.

We use the juices lightly, and I usually have between half and 3/4 cup of the juices left. I freeze them and add them to my next Minestrone, along with any shredded meat that might be left over after we enjoy this meal a few times. It adds a nice beefy flavor with few actual pieces of meat!

Menu Plan Monday, May 2nd

2011-05-02T13:53:00.000-04:00

I have to say I am loving life since I have so many wonderful dinner options waiting for me in the freezer each day! The photo above shows all of the items I had prepped in the freezer when I finished my most recent Freezer Cooking Day. I've been slowly working through the older items as well as trying the new recipes my friend and I put together from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family. I'm a visual person, so I find it helpful to look at this photo to remind myself what our options are from week to week.

I even put together a last minute menu for a Book Club meeting yesterday!

The Plan for this week:

Monday: Sesame Soy Sirloin (from the freezer) with salad and brown rice pilaf
Tuesday: Soy Glazed Salmon with Sweet Potato Black Bean Salsa
Wednesday: Whole wheat pasta with Trader Joe's Turkey meatballs and sauce, steamed veggies, and bread
Thursday: Mustard Oregano Pork Chops (from the freezer), salt and pepper potatoes, steamed broccoli
Friday: Pizza Night (Carry-out)
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Out to Dinner (Have an empowering Mother's Day!)
Monday: Cashew Chicken Stir Fry (from the freezer) with brown rice

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Book Club Menu Plan

2011-05-02T13:29:00.000-04:00

A few of my friends and I got together last night to discuss The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain, a fascinating depiction of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage from the perspective of his first wife. (We all liked the book.)

I was in charge of snacks, and I was pleased to discover (at the last minute) that I had enough resources in the house to put together the entire meal with very little effort.

The Menu:
Deviled Eggs-The kids dyed these hard-boiled eggs for Easter and decorated them to look like monsters. Some of the whites were a little colorful, but the eggs were tasty. I just mixed the yolks with some mayonnaise and sweet relish, and used my mini scoop to fill the egg halves back up.

Cheese Bites-I pulled out my last 2 dozen cheese bites from the freezer and baked them up. Amazing how butter, cheese, flour, and a little cayenne pepper can be so tasty!

Veggies and hummus-I stopped by the store for a cucumber and a red bell pepper, sliced them up, and served them with carrots and hummus I had on hand.

Grapes-washed and served in my beautiful glass hobnail bowl from my late mother-in-law.

Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies-again the freezer came to the rescue with these delicious, scented cookies!

Homemade Skillet Cornbread

2011-04-28T08:11:00.001-04:00

Homemade Skillet Cornbread with 15-Bean Soup

I've been recyling my non-stick cookware and replacing it with some vintage cast iron over the past year. (I still have 2 pots and 1 pan that I need to replace!) I've enjoyed learning to cook with cast iron, including this recipe for cornbread that I adapted from a package of Arrowhead Mills corn meal. I used to make conrbread in a glass pie plate, but it never turned out as well as it does in the cast iron pan!

The down side of this recipe? It's dish-intensive, and requires two mixing bowls to prepare.

Ingredients:

for the pan:

2 Tablespoons shortening

for a large mixing bowl:

1 cup white flour (or 1/2 cup white, 1/2 cup whole wheat)

1 cup corn meal

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

for a smaller mixing bowl:

2 eggs

1 cup milk (or buttermilk, or any dairy product that you need to use up)

2 T butter, melted or very soft

4 T honey (or less--I like my cornbread sweet!)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place 2 tablespoons shortening in 8 inch cast iron pan and place in oven during preheating time.

2. Meanwhile, combine flours, baking powder and salt in large mixing bowl, mixing well.

3. Combine eggs, milk, butter, and honey in small mixing bowl

4. When oven is preheated, pour liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir gently until *barely* combined. Remove hot pan from oven (use mitts!) and carefully pour the batter into the pan. It will sizzle when it comes into contact with the melted shortening, resulting in a crunchy, delicious crust. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes 8 large slices.

Some like to add chiles, cheese, or jalapenos to cornbread, but for now I am sticking to this simple version so that my kids will continue to eat it.

Growing Potatoes in a Garbage Bag: An Experiment

2011-04-27T08:05:00.001-04:00

I wanted to try growing potatoes this year, and one popular way to do this is to grow them in a growing bag. When I mentioned my plans to a friend of mine, she told me that she grew potatoes in heavy duty garbage bags last year, which is much cheaper, especially if you have a husband who saves clean yet used garbage bags.

Why grow potatoes in a bag rather than the ground, you ask? Well, for one, apparently potatoes don't like to get too wet (which can happen in my area, we have heavy clay soil). In additiona, wen you are growing potatoes and you want to increase your potato yield, you add soil to cover the lower branches of the plant every few weeks as the plant grows, and this is quite easy to do when you have sides of a bag to raise up as the season progresses. My friend tells me that the lower branches will then turn into roots and grow more potatoes!

Thirdly, potatoes can be easily damaged by a shovel when you go to dig them up. If you grow them in a bag, you can either dump the bag into a wheelbarrow to uncover the potatoes, or you can simply rip the bag open to get to your harvest.

In order to see if all of this fun stuff will actually happen, I went ahead and planted some potato seedlings this week.

Materials needed:

Large heavy duty black trash bag--if it has a few small holes already, even better
Potting soil--good for vegetables
Potato seedlings (don't use eating potatoes, instead use seed potatoes) I picked Red Potatoes

1. Place 8-10 inches of soil in the bottom of the trash bag. Poke plenty of small holes in the bottom and sides of the bag for drainage--I used the point of my heavy duty scissors. I made lots of holes. Scrunch or roll the sides of the bag down/out of the way.

2. Plant the potato seedlings approximately 4-6 inches under the soil line. Water well, and place in a sunny spot.

I hope this works for me! I'll report periodically througout the summer.

Menu Plan Monday April 25th, 2011

2011-04-25T11:41:00.000-04:00

Spring Break is over and we are back to the routine... time to come up with a list of quick, easy meals that can be made while my kids are running all over the neighborhood in this beautiful weather! We all need to burn off the chocolate and Lemon Curd Mousse Cake.

Monday: Mini Hamburgers (from the freezer) with Salt and Pepper Potatoes, steamed broccoli
Tuesday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole, roasted asparagus
Wednesday: Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs (from the freezer) with Green Beans with Shallots and Hazelnuts, and whole wheat couscous
Thursday: Leftovers (making scones for Friday)
Friday: Chicken Casserole (from the freezer-sliding from last week) with salad
Saturday: White Bean and Kale Soup, grilled cheese (sliding from last week)
Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: Sesame Sirloin (from the freezer, recipe from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family) with salad and brown rice pilaf

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

10 Things I Wish I had time to Write About

2011-04-19T08:50:00.001-04:00

I think about sharing stuff on my blog every day, but for the past few months none of those thoughts have made it into an actual blog post. This is a shame, because I have a lot of fun stuff going on!

1. I planted a terrarium. My grandmother gave me a Wardian Case for my birthday last fall, and I am finally got around to planting some tiny plants in it after reading a beautiful book called The New Terrarium: Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature and reading this very helpful blog post by the same author, Tovah Martin. My terrarium is not be as stunning as those pictured in the book (I dumped the dirt all over the leaves on the tiny African Violet!), but I will enjoy my tiny little plants just the same.

2. I made Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies, yet another recipe from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family. To make the cookies, I first had to make lavender sugar with some culinary lavender. These cookies are lavender-scented! Because it is a freezer cooking recipe, I have several dozen more balls of cookie dough stashed in the freezer to bake when I feel the urge.

3. I'm planning a cutting garden. I love having fresh flowers in the house, and I will occasionally buy a $5 bouquet of flowers from the grocery store for my table or mantelpiece. Last summer I kept seeing these beautiful bouquets at the farmer's market--like this--which I didn't buy because they were quite costly, but the flowers were beautiful! I finally realized I was looking at zinnias, which are actually quite easy to grow in my area, so I bought some pretty zinnia seeds and planted them. I will add a few more types of flowers to the cutting garden and hopefully I'll have a nice selection of flowers for vases throughout the summer and into the fall.

4. I'm slacking off in the organizing department. I came up with a list of organizing projects at the beginning of the year, and I planned to post about a project each week. I haven't finished any of them, nor posted anything about them. I need to get motivated and knock some of these projects out.

5. I'm also slacking in the decluttering department. The spring consignment sale went on without me. I haven't sold anything on Ebay yet this year. I did manage to donate some summer clothes to collection drive for an orphanage in South America... but otherwise, nothing. All my efforts from last year will be undone if I don't stay on top of this neverending project!

6. I have been using the Motivated Moms half size chore planner to get a handle on what needs to be done and how often around my house. I also use it to track my menu plans and workout schedule, including calories burned per workout. I'll be honest--I never get everything on the chore list done, but at least some things get done and I am gaining a more realistic idea of how often things need to be done in my household. (Never often enough!)

7. We are planting a raised vegetable garden this summer.We planted a small amount of things last year, and it was so much fun we decided to get more serious about it. Like for the flower cutting garden, I've planted some seeds and we'll see how things develop. I am using this handy site here to plan a square foot garden. For now it's recreational, but I am looking forward to having a prolific supply of vegetables.

8. After many years of studying the room arrangements in The Washington Post's House Calls, I'm finally rearranging the furniture in my living room. This was the room that finally convinced me that I had enough information to improve the layout. This room was also an inspiration. We just need to paint and have the new couch delivered...

9. A friend of mine has convinced me to try growing potatoes in a garbage bag. Apparently potatoes can be easily damaged when you go to dig them up, so if you grow them in a bag, you can carefull empty the bag open at the end of the growing season (or slit your garbage bag open, which is what I'm planning1), dump the soil in a wheel barrow or container, and pull out the potatoes without using a shovel.

10. I did some freezer cooking last week! And I got around to posting about it. Hopefully I will be able to post updates on these other projects, too.

Menu Plan Monday: April 18th

2011-04-18T12:51:00.001-04:00

Rosemary, Pear, and, Asiago Savory Scones

A friend of mine and I decided to try our hand at some savory scones last week.We also made Ham-and Swiss Scones (another variation of the same recipe) with some delicious mustard butter (mix softened butter and gourmet mustard to taste).

When I put my Freezer Cooking Day results in the freezer last week, I identified a few additional freezer meals that I need to use up, so that is my main goal this week. I'll also be making a Lemon Curd Mousse Cake for Easter Dinner, sans fancy toppings.

Here's the plan:

Monday: Mom's Turkey Chili (from the freezer) with homemade cornbread, salad, and cantelope
Tuesday: Bacon wrapped Pork Chops (from the freezer) with rice pilaf and roasted asparagus
Wednesday: Make Your Own Pizza (with homemade pizza dough) and steamed vegetables
Thursday: Chicken Casserole (filling from the freezer)
Friday: Minestrone Soup (from the freezer) and grilled cheese on whole wheat
Saturday: At grandparents' house for Easter Dinner prep
Sunday: Easter Dinner--bringing Lemon Curd Mousse Cake
Monday: Mini Hamburgers (from the freezer) with salt and pepper potatoes and steamed broccoli

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Roasted Chicken with Spinach-Rice Stuffing

2011-04-14T08:10:00.001-04:00

I can't stretch a chicken into 5 meals as some people can, but I do enjoy a roasted bird once in a while. It's really so easy to throw a chicken into the oven and to make a 'stuffing' to accompany the delicious, juicy meat (I don't stuff the bird with stuffing, but I still call it stuffing... would dressing be a more appropriate term?)

My grandmother shared with me the following tips for roasting a chicken:

Salt the bird inside and outside.
Put half of a smaller onion, half a lemon, and a short celery stalk inside the bird's cavity.
Dot the skin of the chicken with pieces of cold butter, and sprinkle with desired dried or fresh herbs (a little rosemary goes a long way here...)
Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minutes per pound. After cooking for required time, tent breast meat with foil and continue to cook until the dark meat reaches an internal temp of at least 170 degrees and the juices run clear--no pink. (Chefs cook to 165, the recommended temp is 180. I find that to be a little on the dry side.)
Allow the chicken to rest in the pan for 10 minutes or so.
Remove the chicken from the roasting pan and place the pan over a stove burner, turn it on medium. Add water a little white cooking wine and scrape the bottom to deglaze the pan. Pour the pan juices into a bowl through a strainer. After the juices settle, you can use a baster to remove the clear layer from the top--this is the fat. Alternate you can place the bowl in the fridge and remove the solidified fat later. (In the above picture, I hadn't deglazed the pan yet.)
You can serve the glaze as 'gravy', add some glaze to the recipe below for flavor, AND save some for another recipe. (Why do just one option?)

In the mean time, prepare the Spinach-Rice stuffing, also a recipe from my grandmother. This was originally from an old cookbook called Sunset Favorite Recipes II, but Grandma replaced the water chestnuts with mushrooms (a wonderful substitution as I detest water chestnuts) and I made my own modifications.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown basmati rice (or if you have 2 cups cooked rice, you can skip Step 1)
2 T olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
8 oz package sliced mushrooms
6-12 oz fresh spinach leaves (to taste)
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook rice separately as you normally would. (I like to cook mine in chicken broth or stock, and/or add a few tablespoons of the pan juices from the roasted chicken above). I remove a portion of cooked rice before continuing to serve to my kids, who despise this recipe.
2. Heat oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add onion and celery, cook several minutes. Add mushrooms, spreading them out to cook evenly. When mushrooms are browned, add spinach, stirring frequently, and remove pan from heat when spinach is wilted.
3. Add rice, rosemary, salt, and pepper to spinach mixture.

After serving the meal, debone and shred the remaining chicken meat, and perhaps use it for a nice chicken salad. Use the carcass to make Chicken Bone Soup--also a recipe from my grandmother.

Freezer Cooking Day Results 4-12-11

2011-04-13T11:35:00.000-04:00

I'm pleased to report that our frreezer cooking day endeavor was a success. This photo shows just half of the meals we prepared yesterday, as my friend took her half home to her own freezer.

Here's the list of prepared food that I ended up with (Most of these recipes are from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family):

Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs (2 meals, 1.5 lbs each)
Cashew Chicken Stir Fry (3 meals, 2 lbs each)
Sweet Asian Chicken (3 meals, 2 lbs each: 2 meals of whole breasts for grilling, 1 meal of chunks for kebabs)
Mustard Oregano Pork Chops (this recipe made 12 chops, we each took 6, I will probably make them for 1 meal)
Turkish Pork Loin Chops with Bacon (6 chops, which I will probably use as 3 meals because they are quite large)
Shrimp Curry (2 meals)
Sesame Sirloin (2 meals)
Roasted Chicken-some carved, some shredded (2 meals)

If I'm doing my math correctly, I have EIGHTEEN meals from about 6 hours of work--2.5 hours preparation, 3.5 hours for the actual freezer cooking event. Cutting and bagging all of the meat in advance was a huge time-saver and kept us very organized. I did mine right when I brought it home from the store, and it took up less space in the fridge than when it was in the (leaky) store packages.

Even more exciting is that my friend decided to package her meat in smaller one-pound portions, so in cases where I ended up with 3 two-pound meals, she ended up with 6 one-pound meals! (Her kids don't eat as much as mine do. I also make more because my husband loves to take leftovers to work the next day.)

In addition, I am using my carcass and neck from the roasted chicken to make Chicken Bone Soup today, and I also saved the juices and deglazed the roasting pan, so I will have a nice supply of chicken stock on hand.

And yes! Everything fits nicely into my freezer... along with all the other freezer meals I've been putting up here and there...

Menu Plan Monday: April 11th

2011-04-11T18:14:00.000-04:00

Tuesday: Roast Chicken with Spinach-Rice Stuffing (Recipe to follow...)

It's Monday and I'm making a menu plan to go with my freezer cooking plan, and I'm taking the time to blog about it!

Monday: Mini Hamburgers, Salt and Pepper Potatoes, steamed broccoli
Tuesday: Roast Chicken with Spinach-Rice Stuffing (recipe to follow)
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Soy-Glazed Salmon, soba noodles, steamed asparagus
Friday: Chicken Casserole w/homemade biscuit topping, sliced cantalope
Saturday: Dinner Out
Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: Grilled chicken from Freezer Cooking Stash (hmmm... which marinade?) with salad and baked sweet potatoes.

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Freezer Cooking: Tips for Meat

2011-04-11T17:56:00.000-04:00

Today I spent some time prepping the meat we are planning to use for tomorrow's freezer cooking day. I wish I could take credit for this bright idea! My friend suggested that we cut the meat and separate it into freezer cooking bags in advance. What you see here is approximately 15 pounds of chicken (my share) and 6 pounds of sirloin (which we are splitting in half). Tomorrow we'll add marinade to these cuts of meat and they will be ready to go in the freezer.

Some additional tips for cutting up large quantities of boneless skinless chicken breasts:

Open the packages and look at all the breasts before starting to cut. I prefer to reserve the smaller, neater breasts for the recipes that call for a whole breast to reduce portion size. To reduce size even further, I'll cut off the tenderloin. Identify the small breasts and bag them for the appropriate recipe.
Cut some of the chicken for the same recipe in different ways. For instance, after I reserved the smallest breasts whole, I cut some of the larger breasts into large chunks to make kebabs. Sometime I also cut chicken breasts into tenderloin/strip-size pieces, depending on the recipe and where I plan to cook it (grill or oven). Another cut is to slice the breast in half horizontally to make thin, flat pieces, which are good for broiling or stove-top cooking. Marinating these different 'cuts' of chicken in the same marinade is easy, and you will end up with more variety when serving the meats for dinner.
This 'messy' double breast is at least ten ounces, and has little pieces hanging off the underside all over. Best to cut it up!
Save the largest, 'messiest' pieces for cutting into bite size pieces for stir-fry. Somehow my packages of chicken always contain at least one piece that is either falling apart or has shreds of meat hanging off in every direction. These pieces would be tough to grill, slice, or chunk into even-size pieces, so they work best as bite-size pieces for a stir-fry.

I bagged everything up and stored it all together in a large plastic container. Now I just need to dice some onion and grate some fresh ginger to finish preparing for the big day.

Freezer Cooking Day: Meat Marinades

2011-04-11T17:17:00.003-04:00

Freezer Cooking January Inventory

My friend and I are planning a big, exciting freezer cooking session for tomorrow, using a number of recipes from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family. Our focus is on marinated meats, and we expect to assemble 16-18 meals apiece. This supply will keep us grilling for the next two months!

We decided to focus on meat so that we could make bulk purchases and do a lot of meat processing all at once. If we eat 2-3 of these meals per week, they'll last for 6-8 weeks, and we can focus on preparing side dishes and fresh vegetables. I'll most likely focus more on vegetarian meals for other nights of the week, and perhaps do some vegetarian freezer cooking when the freezer starts to clear out a bit.

Here are the recipes we've selected:

Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs (2 meals per family)
Cashew Chicken Stir Fry (3 meals per family)
Sweet Asian Chicken (3 meals per family)
Mustard Oregano Pork Chops (1-2 meals per family)
Turkish Pork Loin Chops with Bacon (1-2 meals per family)
Shrimp Curry (2 meals per family)
Sesame Sirloin (2-3 meals per family)
Roasted Chicken-some carved, some shredded (1-2 meals per family)

Here is our game plan:

1. Roast Chickens (2 in one pan, one per family) (Carve and shred after cooling.)
2. Make sauce for Shrimp Curry--allow to cool before assembling with cooked frozen shrimp.
3. Prepare 3 marinades for the three chicken recipes. Because of advance prep work, all that is left to do is pour/measure the mixtures over the chicken, which is already bagged. Freeze.
4. Prep marinade for Mustard Oregano Pork recipe. Bag and freeze.
5. Wrap bacon around boneless chops for Turkish Pork Loin Chops. Prep marinade. Bag and freeze.
6. Prep marinade for Sesame Sirloin, which is already bagged. Freeze.
7. Assemble Shrimp Curry.
8. Carve roasted chickens as desired, then shred remaining meat. Bag and refrigerate/freeze for future use, or serve some for dinner.
9. Reserve chicken carcasses and vegetable trimming from recipes to make Bone Soup (if there is any room left in the freezer!) This will be done after the freezer cooking session.

Can we do all of this in the three hours and live to tell about it?

Menu Plan Monday Feb 28th

2011-02-28T15:26:00.001-05:00

15-Bean Soup with Homemade Cornbread

Monday: Mom's Chili with homemade cornbread in my cast iron skillet (with steamed broccoli)
Tuesday: Chicken fajitas, using the Sweet Asian Chicken marinade from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family (this chicken is delicious!) and Sesame Baby Bok Choy
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Pizza Night (Parents out)
Friday: Salmon cakes, roasted potatoes, steamed green beans

Saturday: According to Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family, you don't need to cook your lasagna noodles before assembling IF you freeze the lasagna before baking it! I assembled my lasagna recipe the other week, and I am anxious to defrost it, bake it, and see how it turns out. It would be a great time saver if I could avoid boiling the noodles when assembling lasagnas. I hope to serve this with salad and bread if it's edible. I'll report my results next week.
Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: Whole Wheat pasta with turkey meatballs and sauce, served with steamed broccoli. (My son's favorite meal which is why we eat it so often!)

Find more meal planning ideas at orgjunkie.com!

Stockpiling Strategies: One Extra

2011-02-09T07:37:00.002-05:00

The number of items I stockpile feels about right, both for keeping track of in my mind, and for the amount of storage space available in our house for stockpiling.

Still, I really hate having to run out to the store at the last minute when I run out of a crucial ingredient. I have had several traumatizing experiences dragging young and crabby children through the store halfway through dinner prep!

The compromise for me is to keep One Extra of most of the non-perishable items in my pantry. When I use up the mayonnaise, or the hoisin sauce, or the brown rice, I pull out the One Extra from the pantry, and add the item to the grocery list on the fridge, one of the little things I do to keep myself more organized.

Typically these items are condiments and cooking items, and for the most part, it's not worth the savings to buy a bunch of them on sale, and anyways I don't have a lot of space to stockpile items unless they are used frequently. Some of these items cost pretty much the same amount no matter when I purchase them (such as groceries from Trader Joe's).

For example, I recently made Chicken Adobo with bok choy in the crock pot. I used up my apple cidar vinegar, the opened my One Extra one. I promptly added cidar vinegar to the grocery list--this system works better when I'm not cooking in a hurry. I'll buy just a small bottle on the next grocery trip because I don't use it very often. I'm not stressing about getting to the grocery store in time because I still have a mostly full bottle.

I also saw that my paprika was getting low, so I added that to the grocery list too. I dont keep One Extra for spices and flours, because I like my spices to be relatively fresh, and some take a long time to use up. Instead I add them to the list when I see that the quantity on hand is running low.

This system has been working really well for me for several years now. I love that I can reach into the pantry and pull out whatever I need! The system would work even better if I didn't have to spend precious minutes finding things in the pantry. I'm hoping to deal with that problem soon!

Menu Plan Monday January 31st

2011-01-31T09:11:00.000-05:00

Last week's Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs

Monday: Chicken Adobo with bok choy (for the crock pot), a new recipe
Tuesday: Pizza Delivery, weather permitting
Wednesday: Baked Fish Pieces, Baked Potato, and steamed vegetables
Thursday: Pecan Crusted Chicken Strips--a new recipe from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family
Friday: 15 bean soup- in the crock pot, made with holiday ham from the freezer
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Broccoli Salad (Super Bowl potluck)- recipe to follow
Monday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole, steamed vegetables

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs

2011-01-28T15:14:00.000-05:00

I love this recipe--based on the recipe in The Sopranos Family Cookbook. It is time consuming to make all those little mini meatballs, but so worth it in the end! I like to make enough for 2 large pans of ziti--which could also be made into 4 8 x 8 pans to stretch the meals even further.

Ingredients for the Mini-Meatballs (I usually double this recipe, freezing half for a Future Ziti):

1 lb ground meat (I use beef, but want to try a mixture of beef and pork sausage next)
1/2 cup panko (or other dried breadcrumbs)
2 large eggs
1 tsp garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano (or plain old Parmesan)
2 Tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
1 teaspon kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
(for the frying pan) 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Combine all ingredients (EXCEPT olive oil) in a large bowl. Mix gently with hands until combined. Roll mini meatballs to preferred size--I like the size of a small grape as suggested in the recipe. Try to avoid compressing the meat-roll it very lightly.

Add the olive oil in batches to a large skillet and brown the meatballs on all sides over medium heat (I find this cooks the meatballs all the way through.) If you are making sauce, you could add the meatballs to the simmering sauce for 30 minutes to cook further/add flavor, then strain them out with a slotted spoon (actually quite easy to do with a thin sauce). Otherwise, place cooked meatballs on a paper towel after cooking. Freeze, refrigerate, or use immediately to assemble Baked Ziti.

Ingredients for Baked Ziti:

5 cups red pasta sauce of choice (or more)
1 pound Ziti
salt (for pasta water)
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano (or plain old Parmesan), divided
1 cup ricotta
8 ounces mozzarella, cut into small cubes

Cook ziti as instructed on box, adding salt to water. After draining ziti, return to cooking pot and add approximately 3 cups of sauce. Mix in 1/2 cup grated cheese and mini meatballs, stirring to combine. The pasta will absorb a lot of sauce, so feel free to add more if you have it.

Place half of pasta mixture in 13 x 9 pan (or two 8 x 8 pans). Spread 1 cup ricotta on top, then sprinkle with the mozzarella cubes and 1/4 cup of the grated cheese. Pour on 1 additional cup of sauce, spreading to lightly cover. Add remining half of pasta mixture, pressing to fit into pan. Pour remaining cup of sauce (or more) on top, then sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of grated cheese.

Cover dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil and bake for an additional 15-30 minutes. Serve with hot crusty bread and salad. Try to save some for leftovers the next day, they're worth it!

Freezer Cooking Plans: Snow Day

2011-01-27T14:43:00.001-05:00

We're experiencing Inclement Weather later today (hooray!), so I thought it would be a good time to get some freezer cooking done and out of the way. It will also be a good time to inventory the freezer and, er, clean up the results of some messes that my kids inform me were 'Science Experiments.'

Lovely.

I'm looking forward to making some dishes from this weeks meal plan as well as a few bonus items if I have time.

The Plan:

Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs
White Bean and Kale Soup
Bean and Cheese Quesadillas
Savory Ham and Swiss Scones (new recipe)
Bouchons au thon (mini size)
Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hopefully I remembered to buy everything I needed from the store...

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

2011-01-25T22:45:00.003-05:00

I've modified the banana bread recipe from The 1997 Joy of Cooking to accommodate using 100% whole wheat flour. The secret to the delicious bread is to add the flour mixture to the butter mixture before adding the other wet ingredients.

A short list of ingredients make it simple to whip up a single loaf early in the morning for brunch or play date snack time. It's also easy to double or even triple the recipe for those times when you want to use up all those blackened bananas that have built up in the freezer!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups whole wheat (or other whole grain) flour
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
5 1/3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar (or less to taste)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (I use 4!) including juices if defrosted
1/2 chopped nuts (optional)

Instructions:

Grease an 8 x 4 loaf pan, or 4 mini loaf pans (pictured above), and line with waxed paper. (Alternately, grease a 12-cup muffin pan, the batter makes excellent muffins as well. It's worth it to grease the muffin pans rather than use baking cups as the outside texture of the muffin will have a nice crisp crusty texture.)

Whisk together flour, salt, soda, and powder. Cream butter and sugar, then add flour mixture, mixing until the consistency of brown sugar.

Add eggs individually, mixing until just combined, then add banana mixture and optional nuts, again mixing until just combined.

Pour batter into loaf pan(s) or muffin pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes (less for smaller pans or muffin pans). Bread is done when inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Recently I made a triple batch of this bread in a variety of pans:

I froze nearly all of them and we have enjoyed pulling out loafs and muffins as needed. They are best when reheated in the toaster oven until crisp on the outside, moist and cakey on the inside, although my daughter is happy to eat the mini muffins in their frozen state.

When I make a single large loaf, we eat it within 24 hours without fail. I don't mind so much since it is loaded with fiber and potassium, and contains a minimal amount of butter and sugar. It's a great breakfast, and a great snack!

Menu Plan Monday: January 24th Comfort Food

2011-01-24T12:25:00.000-05:00

(Last week's Spiced Seared Stuffed Chicken Breasts)

This week I am hoping to strike the balance between easy meals and comfort food, and to make enough of the comfort food to stock up the freezer a bit. The crock pot will be helping me twice!

Monday: Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs (courtesy of Trader Joe), quinoa pasta, and steamed broccoli
Tuesday: Salmon patties on whole wheat buns with baked potatos and steamed green beans
Wednesday: Ziti al Forno with Sunday Gravy and Mini Meatballs with salad (recipe to follow!)
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Dinner Out
Saturday: Crock Pot: White Bean and Kale Soup, Grilled Cheese
Sunday: Bean and Cheese Quesadillas, fresh fruit, steamed vegetables
Monday: Crock Pot: Chicken Adobo with bok choy (new recipe)

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Good bye, Gina

2011-01-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

Continuing a season of loss, my friend Gina Popp died January 14th, after living 14 years with a terminal illness. I have been living the 'Just The Basics' life since then. Now, after a very memorable memorial service, it's time to get back to some semblance of regular life.

Menu Plan Tuesday: January 18th

2011-01-18T13:09:00.000-05:00

Monday: Hamburgers, Salt and Pepper Potatoes, steamed green beans
Tuesday: Frenched Lamb Rack, leftover potatoes, steamed broccoli
Wednesday: Meeting (pizza)
Thursday: Pork Loin Cutlets, roasted sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli
Friday: Attending Potluck, baking Chocolate Chip Cookies
Saturday: Salmon patties on whole wheat buns
Sunday: (dinner guests) Spiced Seared Stuffed Chicken Breasts, with simple brown rice pilaf and salad
Monday: Spaghetti with whole wheat pasta and turkey meatballs (Trader Joe's), with steamed veggies

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan Monday: January 10th

2011-01-10T17:40:00.000-05:00

Salt and Pepper Potatoes

Seeing as we got a little off track after Clearing up Christmas this weekend (take-out two nights in a row!) it's time to get back to a Plan...

Monday: Roasted Pork Chops with Polenta (bumped from last week)
Tuesday: Pizza (play date/meeting)
Wednesday: Dinner out (College Basketball game)
Thursday: Chicken Casserole
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Bean and Cheese Quesadillas with steamed vegetable and fruit
Sunday: Frenched lamb rack, baked sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli
Monday: Hamburgers, baked beans, salt and pepper potatoes, salad

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

52 Weeks of Organizing: Clearing up Christmas 2010

2011-01-10T17:32:00.000-05:00

Before I can work on any of my numerous household projects, I need to clear up everything from Christmas, which we allowed to run a little longer than usual after our tough season. I know if I take the time to organize now, things will go much more smoothly when I pull out the Christmas containers 11 months from now!

As I mentioned last year, now is the best time to record the things that worked and didn't work in 2010, and then I 'send' the letter to myself to be sure that I read it in early November 2011. Last year's highlights included:

Buy new lights for the Christmas Tree (great reminder as lights sell out in my area before we buy our tree)
For the English Trifle: buy TWO boxes of ladyfingers and only ONE box of blueberries (I guess I bought the wrong amounts in 2009 ;)
Family photo must be done by October or it will not happen (true!)
Gift Wrapping always takes about twice as long as I think it will, so schedule accordingly. (much better this year!)

All of this was valuable advice! I am adding a few new tidbits to the same list for next fall. In the mean time, I've been implementing my other Christmas wrap-up strategies:

Ornament Removal Procedure: I take all of the ornaments off the tree at once, carefully accumulating them on the bar in my dining room. When I unplug one from the light string, I immediately replace the plug with one of the original light bulbs. (We have a few Hallmark Magic Ornaments)

Now that the ornaments are down and the tree has been cleared for removal (don't forget any small ornaments!), I can stand in one position to invidually box the ornaments: find the box, locate the corresponding ornament, wrap up, store. I can stand in one place and work on this over the next few days whenever I'm talking on the phone or have a few minutes of extra time.

This takes much less time than searching for the correct box each time an ornament is removed from the tree. It also helps me to identify dirty or damaged ornaments that either need to be cleaned up, superglued, or thrown out. (Ebay is a great place to find replacement ornaments.) Most of our ornaments fit in 3 identical storage containers, except for a handful that don't have boxes, which will all be stored together in a labeled cardboard box (I should find a plastic storage container to replace that old box!)

Now is a great time to declutter Christmas decorations and supplies. If something is worn, broken, or just unused, weed it out now rather than storing it for another year. If something worn or broken needs to be replaced before next Christmas, you'll most likely pay less for the item now than if you wait and buy one in December.

Wash and neatly fold Christmas linens so that they will be ready for use right out of the container next fall.

If a kitchen item is used exclusively during the holiday season, consider storing it away to free up space in the kitchen. (cookie baking supplies, etc.) pic Be careful to store food type items (decorating sugars, etc.) in sealed containers to protect them from pests.

I'm hopeful to participate often in the 52 Weeks of Organizing challenge, with a variety of decluttering and organizing projects!

Stockpiling Strategies: A Series

2011-01-07T18:01:00.000-05:00

I am sure I am not the only person who has reached for the shampoo in the shower... only to realize suddenly that the bottle was used up during the previous shower. Or to simultaneously discover that I am out of both workout clothes AND laundry soap at the same time.

Before I had kids, these pitfalls were no big deal. I could easily run to the store whenever necessary to pick up shampoo and laundry soap... often paying full price for the item.Now that I have young kids, a trip to the store has become more challenging to impulsively add to the schedule. It seems like the hardest shopping trips are the ones when I only need a few small items.

In the past year, I've managed to simplify my errand list by purchasing large quantities of each item that we regularly use all at once--at a discount price. This has helped me to cut down significantly on:

stressful last-minute dashes to the store when we run out of something crucial
paying full or high prices
trying to keep track of everything we are 'low' on
getting stuck in the parking lot trying to wrangle kids and large items (toilet paper packs, etc.) at the same time

By removing the pressure to purchase something that we are going to use immediately, I am freed to purchase stockpile items when it is convenient for me to do so (aka when the kids aren't with me) and to wait for lower prices. Often I am only actively looking for 2-3 types of items at a time during any given month, rather than buying 10 different items each month. It feels almost luxurious to nonchalantly reach into the cabinet and produce a fresh toiletry when the one my child is using has run out--definitely less stressful that searching for an alternative or adding an unexpected shopping trip to an already hectic schedule!

Here are a few stockpiling tips that I've found to be helpful:

Identify stockpile-friendly items. For my household, these items include paper products, laundry soap, dishwasher soap, certain cleaning supplies, dental hygiene supplies, certain non-perishable foods, and my special brand body wash.

Test before stocking up. Be sure that you and your family like the brand of the item that you are planning to stockpile. I tend to stick with familiar brands when stockpiling as I want a quality product that my picky eater and soap-sensitive kids will tolerate.
Focus on stockpiling only 2-3 items at a time (or fewer!) The idea is for stockpiling to simplify your life, rather than overwhelm your shopping trips and your budget. Look for sale prices, and start getting a feel for what is a 'good price' and what is a 'great price'. Stop buying the item when it costs more than you want to spend.
Don't forget to shop online! Especially when shopping for items that don't typically go on sale, I check online and see if I can get a better price at an online retailer. If I can use a discount code and get free shipping, I can sometimes find prices that are better than what I would find in my local stores. I also shop online for certain items that local stores may or may not carry. This reduces my time spent going from store to store looking for the correct size vacuum bags, for example.
Store your stockpiled items together in a logical, accessible place. The stockpile won't be effective if you don't remember where you put it! It will be even more effective if other family members know where to look for things, and will help cut down on the, "Honey, do we have any [item]" conversations.
When the storage area is full, stop purchasing the item. Other great discounts and sales will come along eventually. Don't let your stockpile exceed the size of your storage space and spill into your living space (and your life!).
Rotate your supplies. Use older items before using newer items. Check expiration dates and make sure that you will use the item before the deadline passes.
If you can't use it, donate it. Desginate a spot in your storage areas for items to donate. Items that we decide we don't like, or don't use anymore, or that we develop allergic reactions to, or free samples, etc. can be passed on to someone who CAN use them, which I love to do.

Next week, I'll share my 10 favorite items to stockpile, as well as a few of my stockpiling failures, and my new stockpiling ideas for 2011!

Liven up Leftovers: Salmon Breakfast Bagel

2011-01-07T07:49:00.001-05:00

I had some leftover cooked salmon patties which I cut into quarters and froze. I heated them and served them with wasabi mayonnaise on a toasted whole wheat mini bagel. The wasabi mayo gave breakfast some exciting heat, and the protein filled salmon held off hunger well until lunch. You could just use cream cheese for a low-spice alternative if the wasabi mayo is too much for breakfast.

A tasty way to liven up a small leftover bit of salmon!

Fitness Goals and Strategies 2011--and Wrapping up 2010

2011-01-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

Things did not go as planned in November and December of 2010, to say the least. I managed to attend 13 Jazzercise classes in November, but when December arrived, chaos arrived with it, and I managed to attend only 3 classes in the first 17 days of the month before giving up entirely. (To give you an idea: One day my sister came to watch the kids so that I could work out, and I fell asleep sitting up on a chair rather than going to class!)

Total Classes Attended in 2010: 136

My total was 14 short of my goal--so close, yet so far away! If I hadn't given up, and I had gone twice a day in the last week of the month, etc., I would have made it... I probably would have collapsed as well.

It was hard to let go of my goal, but I think I made the right decision to prioritize some other things (including rest!) 2011 is a new year with plenty of time and opportunity to strive for new goals.

I am going to aim (yet again) for 150 classes. Seeing as November and December are such crazy months, I am going to aim to finish 140 of the 150 classes by the end of October. This works out to 14 classes per month for 10 months, or 3.5 classes per week. It's doable so long as I never get sick/injured, leave town, or lack childcare (aka Spouse late getting home from work...)

I've come up with new strategies to help me get to class more consistently:

Write it on the calendar. Each week I will write down on the calendar when I plan to go to class, as well as other types of workouts (DVD, walking, bike riding. etc.).
Go in the morning. I am not a morning person, but it has come to my attention that when I drag myself out of bed in the pitch darkness to get to a 7 AM class, it sets my day off to a great start. Sad but true! I want to do this at least once a week, ideally on Wednesdays. The Reward: I get to drink coffee on these days.
Go on the weekend and on holidays whenever possible. Holidays and husband's days off are great times to fit in an extra workout.
Do a double class once a month. I want to try to attend 2 classes back-to-back at least once a month. This will be challenging to schedule, but I think it will be worth it. I am very curious to see how many calories I can burn at a double class!
Count calories. I plan to use my heart monitor watch to count how many calories I burn at each workout and add up the total calories burned each month. (Way more fun and much less time consuming than counting food calories, which I did only for a few months last year before burning out.)

I'm not including weight loss in my goals, but that doesn't mean that I couldn't stand to lose some weight. I learned over Christmas that 2 weeks of no workouts + copious amounts of Christmas Cookies, Chocolate, Standing Rib Roast, Yorkshire Pudding, Ham, snacks, pizza, potato chips, and more than a couple glasses of wine = About 4 Pounds.

I don't do well with dieting or weigh-ins, or other such strategies. I either overdo it and don't eat enough, or get frustrated when attempting to track changes. My strategy is to boost my mood and energy with consistent exercise and eat what I like, moderately, while not paying too much attention to a scale.

I'm hopeful that this plan will hold together for 2011! I'll post montly updates.