Once a Month Cooking

I'm no stranger to cooking. It's something I enjoy doing and doing often. I am also no stranger to prepping freezer meals. It makes me feel good to have delicious, go-to options just waiting in my chest freezer.

So when I came across a Pinterest post directing me to a once a month cooking site, you can imagine my elation. I can spend a marathon day cooking and have meals for a month???!?!?

Get out!!!

The site I used is Once a Month Mom.
www.onceamonthmom.com
There are loads of free recipes on the site BUT if you pay the $8 monthly membership fee, you get access to the customizable grocery lists, recipe cards and labels. In the spirit of going "all in," I signed up for a membership. I then entered the amount of people I am cooking for and BOOM I have recipes, a grocery list complete with amounts needed (sorted by department just how I like it), labels, and a step by step guide on how to tackle your marathon cooking. I was impressed and even got to use a bright folder to organize my meal stuff. (I'm a planner. These things make me happy)

Side note: this website also offers vegetarian, gluten free, and healthy menus. I chose the traditional menu to start.

I dove head first into my cooking, beginning Sunday night with the prep work. I continued Monday with a marathon day (my mom was around to help with my kids but I did take breaks). I probably cooked for 6-7 good hours. I was sore and tired AND wasn't done. Today, I cooked more casually. I assembled meals during nap-time and while my kids played nicely. I probably put in another 4 hours today AND I'm still not done.

But I am close. I only have 2 more recipes to finish up tomorrow morning and then I will be done...WITH enough meals to provide go-to options for the next MONTH !!! (Probably more since cereal, grilled cheese, and sandwiches will still make the rotation from time to time). I am hoping to try another "mini" set of meals near the end of February to restock my freezer before this baby comes in March.

The recipes I have taste tested so far have been nummy. We had a chicken pot pie for dinner tonight. It was a hit.

I am also excited about this adventure in cooking because I used new recipes. It will hopefully help me get out of a cooking funk and expand my family's exposure to different dishes that I wouldn't have thought of myself.

I had to make an inventory to put on my freezer so as to keep track of everything I was putting in there. Here's what I made:

Freezer meals:
Pecan Cinnamon rolls (2 bags of 6)
Pigs in a blanket (2 bags of 24)
Greek Omlette Pitas (2 bags of 6)
Pizza stuffed potatoes (3 bags of 8)
Sesame lime Chicken egg rolls (3 bags of 8)
Chicken Taquitos (3 bags of 8)
French Dip croissants (4 bags of 8)
Chicken pot pies (4)
Ham and veggie frittata (2 square and 3 mini pans)
Taco stuffed shells (2 pans)
Chile pot roast (2 bags)
Ranch pork chops (3 bags)
Spicy cashew chicken (3 bags)
Frito taco pie (3 pans)
Buffalo chicken Shepard's pie (3 pans)

The undertaking of monthly cooking is not for faint of heart or non-cooking individuals. I recommend starting with a smaller set of meals if you are new to freezer meal cooking. Also, the work is cut down a lot if you have help. My mom helped with dishes which allowed me to keep on cooking. It was very helpful.

Here's a picture of my prep work and my (almost) finished stash!!

Creative Kitchen- Homemade Playdoh and Flubber Recipes

As you may have noticed from my pictures, Tanner and I do a lot of “cooking.”  He helps me make edible food along with some creative creations.  He loves pulling up his step stool, dumping in ingredients and stirring things up.  Since he is Mr. Independent, this is a great way for him to feel much older that his (almost) two years.  If you ask him, most of the time he will tell you he is five.  Occasionally he is four, but never two.  In the neverending world of Pinterest, here are the best playdoh and flubber recipes I have found.

Just Like the Real Playdoh (so they say)

1 cup Flour

1 cup water

1.5 tbsp oil

1 tablespoon alum

1/2 cup salt

2 tablespoons vanilla

food coloring

 

Mix all dry ingredients.  Add oil and water.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until reaching the consistency of very thick mashed potatoes.  Remove from heat add vanilla.  Split into balls and add desired drops of food coloring.  Work color in by kneading the playdoh. 

 

 

Tips:  While cooking, the goop goes from soupy to thick very quickly. I may have had my burner on too high, so just watch out.  Also, when it was in the pot, the playdoh appeared a little lumpy but as soon as I started kneading it, it became smooth.  Also, I store the playdoh in sandwich baggies in a gladware, in the fridge.  I read somewhere it stays better if refrigerated.  I don’t know if this is true or not but our playdoh is a week old, been played with everyday, and still soft and good as new.  Also, any food coloring stains left on your counter can easily be removed with a Mr. Clean Magic eraser.

 

 

Flubber Recipe

Mixture 1:

3/4 cup warm water

1 cup Elmer's glue

Food Coloring

Mixture 2:

2 tsp Borax

1/2 cup Warm water

  

 

Stir mixture 1 in one bowl and mixture 2 in another.  Make sure both are mixed very well.  Pour mixture 1 into mixture 2.  No need to stir, just reach in and pull out a glob of flubber.  Work it for 2-3 minutes.

Note: 1 cup of Elmer's glue is almost exactly what is in the big bottles you can buy.  it might take 2 of the regular sized glue bottles.

 

This was a fun one.  Tanner liked reaching in and picking up the slime.  I have this stored in a gladware container as well to bring out and play with.  Not sure what the shelf life is of Flubber but we will see.  Tanner calls it “mud” and likes to put his animals in it.

 

Play Cooking

Another thing T-man likes to do is just pretend cook.  I will put a small bowl of flour, a small bowl of dry oats, and a small cup of water out for him that he can then dump into a larger mixing bowl and stir it to his hearts desire.  This will keep him busy for literally 25-30 minutes.  It makes a nice pasty concoction that he thinks is really cool.  I add food coloring drops for him so he can mix it up and see the color spread.

If you don’t feel like making anything real, try having your kid do some pretend cooking with real ingredients.  I bet they will LOVE it too!!

 

Happy creating!!

Just call me Mrs Claus

I love Christmas!

I mean I really love it!!  Like, get giddy when I think about it sort of love!

This year I especially love it.  Maybe it is my new surroundings or the fact that I have a wonderful family and friends that I just can’t wait to spend extra time with. Or maybe it is the fact that I am ULTRA prepared for it with all my presents beautifully wrapped and made, just waiting to be distributed.  I love being prepared. Just look at my pretty tree.

It has been for 2 weeks now and has so far survived Tanner.  He doesn’t even go for unwrapping the presents either.  He just picks them up and says how pretty they are, then puts them down (sometimes in different locations around the house).

I usually do a pretty good mix of homemade and store bought presents.  This year I feel I have really outdone myself.  I won’t give away ALL of my secrets because some of my friends and family who read this will be the lucky recipients of these presents but I did some pretty awesome homemade with LOVE gifts.

I got some freezer meal ideas from the Fabulessly Frugal website!  AWESOME!  I honestly felt like I had invented the wheel and wondered why I haven’t always done freezer meals.  A friend from high school also has a bunch of really great freezer meal recipes HERE on her blog that I just can’t wait to try now!  Of course I had to try some of the recipes out before gifting them.  Here is the Ham and Cheese Braid…DELICIOUS!!

 

I also made these little gems- Homemade Brownie mix in a Jar.  I think they are so cute!

 

Whether buying or making your presents, I hope your holiday preparations are going just as well!!

Merry 11 days till Christmas!!

A Day late...

I know St Patrick's day was yesterday and I am actually not even Irish. However, that does not stop this stay at home mom-to-be from cooking up some traditional St Patrick's day grub. I have some corned beef and cabbage brewing in my crock-pot right now. And since I couldn't partake in any of my normal (pretending to be Irish) traditions like getting surprisingly drunk of green beer and specialty cocktails I thought I would celebrate with a pregnant lady's only available vice- FOOD!!

Click HERE for a link to the recipe I am using.

(** Please note that since I NEVER follow a recipe EXACTLY, I have tweaked this one too. I was not up @ 5 am to start my Crockpot so will NOT be cooking it on low for 10-12 hrs. I will be cooking it on low for 5hrs then Hi for 2-3. Also, I don't have Dijon mustard for the sauce so will be improvising with yellow mustard and some spices I may be able to wrangle out of my cupboard**)

Baked Potato Soup Recipe

I got this recipe e-mailed to me from my friend Bonny. Being the preggo I am, if I hear something that sounds good or get a food idea in my head, I will obsess about it until I get it. (Just ask Paul- I had strict instructions to pick up Raspberry Sherbet and he got me orange instead...I almost cried then ran to the store the very next day to get me some Raspberry)

I made this recipe (with a FEW adjustments/tips of my own-marked in PINK). I will give myself some credit for being a pretty good cook most days but this soup was one of the best tasting things I have made in a while!!!

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter

2/3 cup flour

7 cups milk

4 large baking potatoes, baked, cooled, peeled and cubed, about 4 cups

(I didn't have 4 baked potatoes just lying around my house so I used raw, peeled, and cubed spuds)

4 green onions, thinly sliced

10 to 12 strips bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled (I used turkey bacon because I like it better)

1 1/4 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese (I probably added a little more than this- I LOVE CHEESE!!!)

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preparation:

In a large Dutch oven or stockpot over low heat, melt butter. Stir in flour; stir until smooth and bubbly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly, until sauce has thickened. (I like to use a wisk to keep it from getting clumpy) Add potatoes and onions. (I added the bacon at this time too to get the bacon flavors cookin) Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until soup begins to bubble. Reduce heat; simmer gently for 10 minutes. (If you use raw potatoes you will need to simmer it longer-until the potatoes are soft enough to eat...but not too cooked-think potato salad potato texture) Add remaining ingredients; stir until cheese is melted. Serve baked potato soup immediately.

I topped mine with a little more cheese and some sour cream.

This baked potato soup recipe serves 6 to 8. (It makes A LOT of soup...I plan on freezing some to bust out when I have a newborn and don't feel like cooking. Definitely cut the recipe in half if you don't want lots of left overs)

ENJOY!!!!! There's not too many winter days left to enjoy a nice, warm, tasty soup!!!