With a hint of sanity!: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

New baby...not just yet

My bags are packed. My car is cleaned out, the car seat strapped in. The baby clothes are washed and organized. The various sundries have been purchased (diapers, wipes, nursing pads, pads). The shower curtain is on the bed (in case my water breaks at night). The nursery is painted, the crib put together, the pictures all hung. The freezer is full of ready made meals. The pantry is stocked with "healthy" post-pregnancy snack foods. Arrangements have been made for the care of my other sweeties. My house is clean (or at least as clean as it is going to get with the 5 of us really living here).

So now what? No baby yet...

I have been having a hard time thinking of anything but having this baby. I am huge. I am uncomfortable. I am ready to be done with this pregnancy. I look forward to sleepless nights because of a baby, not because I have to get up to use the bathroom a million times, and can't fall back to sleep for hours. I look forward to the healing, and pain, because it means I am that much closer to being back to "normal" whatever that is. I just want to meet this little angel, and share her with my family.

But, I also know that things will never be the same in our home again. The dynamics will change, the priorities will shift. The time will be divided differently, and it will not be just the five of us, because there will be six. And so, to answer my "now what?" question, I say, enjoy...

Enjoy the kids I have right now.
Enjoy being pregnant and all the crap that comes with it.
Enjoy snuggling with Derrick and reading stories.
Enjoy doing homework with Lexi and Dillan.
Enjoy laundry, because there will be so much more soon.
Enjoy what I can.

As I try to make this my focus, and really get some good one-on-one time with each of my three children before number four arrives, I have to constantly remind myself that it is okay that the kitchen floor needs to be mopped, or there are so many other things that need doing. I have to recite this little poem to myself and learn to be okay with imperfect, because imperfect is perfect!

Some houses try to hide the fact that children there.
Ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere.
There are smears on the windows, little handprints on the door
I should apologize, I guess, for the toys all over the floor.
But I sat down with the children, and we played, and laughed, and read
So though the windows do not shine, their eyes will shine instead
For when at times I'm forced to choose the one job or the other
I want to be a housewife, but first I'll be a Mother.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

More freezer meals

In preparation for the baby coming in just over a month I made another batch of freezer meals. I started out my evaluating what my family is enjoying these days, and then did an inventory of what I already had in the freezer. I made a 3 month meal plan calendar, and determined what I needed to make to simplify dinners through the end of the year. Then I went to work. I started out by making a list of needed ingredients. Then I eliminated the things I already had on hand. Then I went shopping. It took me an hour and half, but I got all the things I needed, and surprisingly cheap! My total was just under $200. Had I eliminated flank steak from the menu, the total would have been far less, as at about $6.50 a pound, it is not a cheap dinner option, but we love it, and I had seen some new rubs and marinade recipes I wanted to try, so about $50 of my $200 was used to purchase flank steak. This meant I would have roughly 40-60 meals for my family. Combined with the meals I still have in my freezer, it would be enough to get us to the end of December.

So what's on the menu?
Lasagna- Alfredo chicken as well as traditional
Spaghetti and meatballs
3 varieties of flank steak served with twice baked potatoes
Cranberry pork tenderloin
Shepherd's pie
Breakfast burriots
BBQ chicken burritos
Mexican casserole
Jambalya
And the items I already had made in my freezer from the last couple rounds of freezer meals, namely asian themed chicken dishes (sweet and sour, orange, and lemon), a couple pot roasts, enchiladas, and pork chops.

I broke this batch of meals into 2 days. I started in the evening on Monday and made about 18 meals. Mostly the simple ones that do not take a lot of prep work, like the marinades, rubs, etc. Then the next day I made the lasagnas and burritos, which are more labor intensive. Then later that night, I finished the jambalya, etc. I would say it took me about twelve hours total.

Here are the recipes, as well as some of my comments on how they have turned out thus far:

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Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 egg
2 Tbsp. water
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl combine egg, water, bread crumbs, onion, salt and pepper and combine. Add ground beef, broken into chunks, and mush with your hands to combine. Form into meatballs about 1" in diameter and place on a broiler pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until meatballs are no longer pink in center. Cool and freeze, or when baked, use in your favorite recipe.

My kids love meatballs in spaghetti, and while we do not eat pasta often, I have been wanting it more lately, so this is a fast and fun way to make the meal more interesting. I also whipped up a batch of sauce, but I just kind of do it by taste so I do not have a recipe for it. Prego always works well.

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Flank Steak

Rub 1: This is the rub I usually use, and it is YUM!

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
25 grinds fresh black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

marinade 2: I haven't tried the finished product yet, but will update when I do. Looked really good though!

· ¼ c. balsamic vinegar

· 1 T. Worcestershire sauce

· 2 tsp. dark brown sugar

· 1 garlic clove, minced

Marinade 3: I love a good asian themed meal, but I have yet to cook this particular one, so I will update when we try it. Smelled awesome though!

1/2    C rice vinegar
1/2        C   oyster sauce
1   2/3   C   soy sauce
3/4        C   mirin
3            T   garlic puree
4            T   ginger puree
2            T   honey

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Cranberry Pork Tenderloin We haven't tried this one yet

1 can of whole cranberry sauce (not jellied)
1 package of onion soup mix
1 (3-4lb) raw pork tenderloin (or pork roast)
2 Tbs Dijon mustard

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Shepherd's Pie

1lb lean ground beef- browned

1 medium onion, chopped- sauteed

2 cloves garlic, chopped- sauteed

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup heavy cream

4 Tbs butter

2 cups frozen mixed veggies (I used 1/2 cup green beans, 1/2 peas, 1/2 cup carrots, and 1/2 cup corn)

1 can of cream of mushroom

Salt and pepper to taste

3 cups of mashed potatoes (seasoned with butter and salt/pepper to taste)

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes

When I made this one, I basically cooked the meat and the onions and garlic. Then I added the cream and butter, and cream of mushroom soup, then took it off the heat, and stirred in a bag of mixed frozen veggies. I think the more veggies the better. I really enjoyed this one when we prepared it. My kids were less than thrilled because they like their aunt's version which is basically hamburger, potatoes, and cheese. But they said it was yummy, just not what they expected. This made a lot, so it actually served us two meals, and my lunch a couple days later.

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Burritos- Breakfast and BBQ chicken

Burrito sized flour tortillas- 2 packages

Black beans

Frozen corn

BBQ shredded chicken

Cheese

Onion (optional)

Peppers (optional)

24 eggs

1 cup spinach

18 slices of bacon fully cooked and cooled

8 cups of hashbrowns

shredded cheese

burrito sized flour tortillas

For these I prepared everything, and put it in separate bowls, then assembled, froze, and bagged according to how many my family would eat at a meal. I made the blackbeans from dry, in my crockpot, and cooked and shredded the chicken, then topped with a homemade BBQ recipe that my family loves, but any BBQ would work. The corn was frozen, the cheese a mexican blend. When I cooked the eggs for the breakfast version I chopped up a bunch of spinach and added it in to make them healthier, but you can't even taste it. These have been my favorite thing in the freezer. From frozen I just pop them on a cookie sheet for 30 mins at 350, and they come out crispy on the outside, delicious on the inside. My kids love breakfast food, but not me so much, so I just make a few of each when we have had this for dinner, and all are happy. While labor intensive, I think I got about 50 burritos of each, which resulted in about 20 dinners covered, or lunches, or after school snacks. I did make a few smaller ones in taco size flour tortillas so that when they were used for snacks they would be the right size. What a hit!

Mexican Casserole- For this I basically used all the leftovers from the BBQ chicken burritos (I ran out of tortillas), added a can of rotel, mixed in some spices, and put in a casserole dish, topped with cheese. I made these in smaller container so they would work for lunches when it is just me at home! I have prepared one dish so far, and it was pretty tasty. I topped it with fresh avocado!

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Jambalya

1/2 cup butter
1 large onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (6 ounce) can tomatoe paste
3 bay leaves
3 tablespoons Creole seasoning blend
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
7 cups chicken stock
3 cups chopped cooked ham
3 cups cooked Keilbasa sausage, sliced
3 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 cups frozen cooked shrimp
4 cups uncooked long-grain white rice

Directions

Melt butter in large stock pot. Saute onion, green pepper, celery and garlic until tender, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add tomato paste and cook to brown slightly, stirring constantly. Stir in bay leaves, Creole seasoning blend and Worcestershire sauce. Pour into a large roasting pan. Add in tomatoes, chicken stock, ham, sausage, chicken, shrimp and rice. Mix well. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Freeze
Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 1 1/2 hours, stirring once halfway through baking time. Remove bay leaves before serving.

For this one I left out the ham and chicken, and forgot to buy Creole seasoning, so I just made up my own seasoning with spices I had on hand. It looks yummy but we haven't made it yet.

Lasagna
I basically just make these up. I shredded chicken, mixed in broccoli, and used alfredo sauce, cottage cheese, and ricotta. For the other one I sauteed zuchinni and carrots, browned ground beef with some garlic and seasonings, and used prego, ricotta and cottage cheese. I made both roll ups and pan lasagna. We used two of them last night for my brother's mission homecoming, and they were really tasty.

Pictures to come!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Annual Cornbelly's Day!

Every year we spend a day together at Cornbelly's having a blast. It is something my kids look forward to all year long. It is probably their favorite thing we do. Traditions are so much fun! This one in particular. There are so many activities, from duck racing, to the actual corn maze (which we totally got lost in and were in FOREVER), bouncy houses, and oh so much more! The kids think it is the best, and I enjoy it as well. This year, my belly got in the way some, but I took a neighbor along so that there would be plenty of fun all around, and I could skip the bouncy stuff. Derrick kept wanting me to carry him, and I told him, "I am already carrying CC" Then he started saying, "CC, get out of my mom's belly right now so she can carry me." Haha, 7 more weeks. Hopefully he isn't too jealous when she actually comes!