The Big Cooking Day

The idea of cooking a big batch of meals and freezing them has intrigued me for quite a while, even years. (remember that Leanne Ely menu I shared, Christine & Lisa?) Anyway, I had yet to do it. Well, I got a good cookbook and a Sam's Club membership with best intentions. Then, Lisa shared an awesome website with me: http://www.onceamonthmom.com/. It fulfilled my need to be guided step-by-step! :) It has the recipes, the grocery list and very detailed "cooking" instructions to make best use of your time, ingredients, and cooking utensils.

I did my cooking on February 24 using their February menu, while Mark was out of town. I even wore an APRON for the first time - I got it, after all, at my bridal shower almost 14 years ago! :) Here's the breakdown of what I did:

• I chose 12 recipes of the 15 menus for the month of February (I skipped the soups, pizza dough, and tuna casserole). The recipes are meant for 4 entrees to be split between 2 cooks. So, I cut the recipes in half and basically had 2 entrees of each recipe.
  
• I purchased $160 of groceries, including some freezer friendly container/bags.
  
• I prepped the night before: chopped 9 cups of onion, green peppers, and tomato. I also made the pancakes (1/2 banana, 1/2 chocolate chip) the night before. I also cooked 6 lbs of chicken and 5 lbs of ground beef in 2 crockpots overnight. This took about 1.5 hours.
  
• On "game day," I baked and cooked for about 10 hours in total, making 15 dinners, 26 breakfasts (the pancakes go a long ways and they are awesome), and 18 lunches/light dinners. This works out to be $2.71 per MEAL of four servings. Not bad...however, side dishes are not included. I also made the granola....a very yummy topping on yogurt.

The ironic thing is Mark came home from his business trip with 2 smoked trout and 1 smoked pheasant, all frozen. I was able to squeeze those into the freezer, too!!

So far, the food has been great. The Pork Roast with Apples & Pears is awesome. The Curried Chicken Tidbits remind us of our favorite Thai recipe. I've been eating the Stuffed Pancake Cupcakes and Beef Empanadas for breakfast and lunch, respectively.

I did mess up a couple things: The Easy Taco Bake just didn't turn out right. The topping never baked like it should. I also misread the quantity of soup in the Sue Sue's Casserole, so I have a note to add more when I go to bake it. And, I was short on ground beef. I cooked it all at once, but the recipes called for 1 or 2 lbs. at a time. I am not sure how much COOKED ground beef equals 1 lb. However, my last recipe to use the beef was sloppy joes. So I just cooked up another pound when we ate them last week, added it to the prepared sloppy joes, and it was perfect. Very good.

The website has published their March menu and I am considering cooking it once the freezer empties out a bit. The menu/instructions are made for 2 people to work together, so maybe I can convince Lisa to do it with me next time!

Here's some pictures:

Kendall helping with the Beef Empanadas

Trays of Stuffed Pancake Cupcakes...ready to be flash-frozen.

March 8, 2010

Obviously, I'm not keeping up with the 365/daily blog like I did last year. I am working on getting the blog printed into a hardbound book. I will post those pictures when I get the book finished.

The month of January and February were spent battling my back issues. At points, I couldn't walk. Mark had to help me in the bathroom (ugh). I still am not 100%...even slept with a pillow beneath my knees and motrin last weekend. I should go see my family doctor to get an opinion: physical therapy (Christine) and an inversion table (Joe and cousin, Brad) have been suggested to me as well. I have not returned to the chiropractor...I'm just not fully comfortable with that solution. The most odd thing is that my right leg has been numb for about a month now. Yes, I know, I should be calling the doctor rather than blogging! But, I am functional and can do most things with caution.

Kendall and Jacob have started swimming lessons. Their second lesson is tonight and they are very excited to go. We ended up getting a family membership to the YMCA. I can envision swim, dance, basketball classes are in our future.

Jacob is enjoying school and has grown taller recently. Oh, and we got his feet measured for shoes a couple weeks ago and his shoes jumped 2 sizes! I even let him ride his bike last week to a neighbor boy's, Frankie's, house. He did not have to cross any streets and I can see the back of the other boy's house from ours. Frankie's mother did tell me that she was on the lookout for him to come over and saw that he went up the sidewalk of the wrong house - right next door! I guess the houses look different when Mom isn't with him! :)

Kendall has a little playmate, Lauren, in the neighborhood. Lauren is a little porcelain doll! She and Kendall play very sweetly together and enjoy their time together about once a week or so. Kendall is still dancing her heart out when she can. And, you can either find her in a swimsuit or a frilly dance dress most days....when we're at home, of course! She cannot wait for warmer weather to play in the sandbox. She asks me constantly if it is warm enough to do that.

Mark is enjoying the basement. He hosted a poker night with some coworkers a few weeks ago. He either plays wii (Guitar Hero) or watches TV down there most nights. He is also looking forward to golf season starting next month.

That's the update for now. I am going to post about my big cooking day next. :)