Anyone Really Can Cook!

I really believe that anyone can cook. You need to be able to read and follow directions, and if you can, then you will be able to place delicious meals on the table! The types of meals that you cook, is up to you! Find a cookbook (or cooking website) that you like and begin to experiment and have fun in the kitchen!

The other day, I made a chicken soup, black bean soup and apple sauce. That evening, my mom came over to watch Smiles for about an hour or so and she taste tested the different things that I made, and told me that I was a great cook! That made me smile. The chicken soup recipe was actually hers! I did not puree the whole entire soup base (like she does) - we like to have some chunks of carrots and celery to chew on while we are eating our soup. Did you know that if you do puree part of your soup, it makes your broth thicker? I have learned that probably in the past year.

Chicken Soup - This is such a delicious recipe! I tripled the recipe for this so that I could freeze it. I froze some of it in plastic storage containers and have read that if you place saran wrap over the top of your food before you freeze it, it will help to prevent crystals to form on the top of it. I also froze some of it using the freezer bag method, where you place the bag on a flat surface (like a jelly roll pan) and freeze it completely flat before storing it in another part of your freezer - this helps it maintain a flat shape and not some weird shape.

Black Bean Soup - I wanted to make a soup from my new slow cooker cookbook, and decided to try the recipe, Old-Fashioned Black Bean Soup. I am always a little excited and nervous when I try a new recipe…wondering how it will turn out. I left out the ham bone/ham hock, I did soak my beans overnight, and I did use the optional sherry in the recipe. My beans never came to a boil in the crock pot in the first hour, but I continued with the recipe anyway. To my delight, it was SO delicious! Dawson really enjoyed the taste and I made a second batch of it to share with my family when we watched football together on Sunday! It was a hit. I froze enough for two separate meals, with the freezer bag method.


Applesauce - Everyone should make this! It is SOOOO easy to make! There are a few different ways that you can make it (depending if you have a food mill or not). I do not have a food mill, so I peel the apples and then use my corer/slicer to chop the apples. I throw the apples into a huge pot and fill it to the top! Then I place about a half inch or so of water at the bottom of the pot and cover the pot, turn the heat to medium, wait until it boils, and then I turn the heat down a little bit so that it is simmering, stirring it now and then. After about 30 minutes or so (once the apples are mushy), I take it off of the stove and mash it with a potato masher, and there you have it - fresh homemade applesauce! YUM! You should try it! As you can see, I chose to use plastic containers to freeze the applesauce. The plastic bag method should work too, but for some reason, I wanted to freeze it in these 3 cup containers. This is the first time that I have frozen a lot of applesauce. I am excited that I will have homemade applesauce to feed to my family throughout the year! I think that I have made about 8 quarts of applesauce so far and I have MORE apples to process! I think that I will make some apple crisps to freeze too! :)

So, there you have it - 3 recipes that I have tried (ok, well only one recipe was new to me), have enjoyed and frozen part of it...so that I can enjoy it on another day! One thing to remember - be sure to label anything that you are placing into your freezer - date and name of item. You don't want to try and figure out what mystery meat is in there or what mystery red tomato-y things are in there - I don't think that it is sauce! I have those tomato-y things defrosting in the refrigerator as I type in order to figure out what it is! :)

Reading For "Pleasure"...

Recently, I have purchased about 6 (or more?) cookbooks! I found some great deals at our local bargain outlet and purchased cookbooks that were priced at $14-25 for about $3-7! What a steal! I love to read the intro to the cookbooks before I begin using them. I feel that it gives me an idea of what this chef/cook is thinking when they put the cookbook together, and I think that when I read it, it excites me to try some of the recipes, which is the point of buying the book!

I will probably jump around a little bit with the cookbooks that I am using, but I will be sure to let you know where the recipes came from. At the moment, I am mainly using three different cookbooks (with a few other recipes thrown in here and there!). Which cookbooks am I using? You will find out soon enough!

I hope that you enjoy my journey of trying new recipes and hearing honest reviews of each recipe that is featured. I try to capture my thoughts as I am prepping/cooking/serving the recipes. I have been writing my thoughts down in a paper notebook (and then transferring them here) and have been thinking…I think that I need to get a computer notebook or laptop or something that is easy to transport…any ideas of what I should get? Let me know!

What's For Dinner????

“There is no reason why dinner should not be on the table every night.” That is what I am thinking after surveying the amount of food (mainly meat) that I have purchased on great sales and have frozen in our freezer. However, I do find that it is not always easy to carve out the time to cook a healthy meal and have it ready by the time that Dawson comes home from work. Don’t get me wrong…I really enjoy cooking and I love to try new recipes and delicious recipes. In fact, I am not sure what recipes I really cook “a lot.” Well, maybe taco salad, since it is an easy meal to make with ground meat (turkey for my family!). However, time seems to get swallowed up and before I know it, the clock says 4:30pm…and I am not sure what I am going to feed my family! This does not happen all of the time, but since we started our 4 year old in soccer and preschool, it seems like it has happened more than ever before and I was tired of it and wanted it to change!

So, I have made strides in the past month to changing what has happened in the past. Writing out a menu for the week was not the only thing that would help me (and I really have not done that yet - that will come soon!). I needed to have meals that were already prepped and only needed to be cooked or reheated, and I am not referring to buying frozen or packaged meals. That is not the answer that I was looking for!

What I decided to start doing (again) is referred to as freezer cooking or once-a-month cooking (although I do not cook for the whole month!). There are many different ways to do this. You can plan and prep/cook the meals by yourself or with a friend or two. Cook for 1 or 2 days straight, or break it up into many days, maybe by simply doubling a recipe and freezing half of it for another day - whatever works for you. I decided that the best way for me to do this was by myself, plan the meals out with using a specific type of meat (either ground turkey, cooked chicken, boneless skinless chicken breast, etc), and cook each week or every other week, or whenever I felt led to cook or if the freezer is getting a little low! Some weeks I don’t only prep/cook the main course meal. I have also cooked/frozen apple sauce, muffins and healthy cookies. It has been fun, and I have begun to become more organized in dinner planning and prep. I am definitely inspired by the recipes and the process and my family has been enjoying the benefits of it…a homemade, delicious dinner every night!

What have I been making??? Stay tuned!

Throughts About Banners and other things...

I should be working on the banner for my son's first "All Sports Parade," but instead, I have been procrastinating a little bit. Scratch that. I have been taking a little break from my busy (but good) day.

Today, I decided to take the boys to Hershey Park. We met some of our good friends there and did not get home until about 3:30ish. It was a really fun day today. The kids were all well behaved and I enjoyed watching them smile as they rode the rides, talk with each other, and ask me to go on a ride with them too! :) I also enjoyed talking a little bit with my friend, Thrills...in between helping the kids on and off the rides or riding the rides with them! :) The monorail was a lot of fun - we were able to ride it two times in a row! I learned something while I was riding it - don't point out something to your kids if they do not have the same view as you, because they will want to see it...and you have already passed it! (Thrills taught me that one!)

Well, I need to get back to figuring out what beetle pattern I am going to use for this banner and I need to stop stressing about the banner! It is very simple and basic, so I don't know why I am stressing about it. And yes, the name of their team is the "Beetles." I know, your knees are shaking at the sound of their team's name! These 4 and 5 year olds are so cute! :) We have a great group of kids that we were blessed with. Ok, I am really getting off now and getting to work on this banner...or maybe going to sleep!

Smoothie Time!

I am praying for my Dad today and you can join me too! We are praying for complete healing and peace for my Dad.

On another note...I made a smoothie for my kids today. My kids love smoothies! (So do I!) I decided to make a peach smoothie. To 1 cup of plain yogurt, I added 3 large peaches...and then I decided to add 1 apple and 1 medium carrot. Why not!

Guess what flavor stood out the most???

The Carrot!!!

I don't think that the kids noticed too much, but that is what I tasted, and you know what? It was pretty tasty. It reminded me about the juice drink that my dad has been drinking: carrots and apples juiced together. It made me smile.

I love my dad.

Feeling a Little Emotional

Tonight is one of those nights where I feel so full of emotions. I don't know whether I am going to cry or just have this feeling for a little bit. I don't mind crying. In fact, I feel really good after I have that kind of emotional release, but I just don't feel like I am actually ready to cry yet...just have that lump sort of in my throat.

I am not really sure why I have that lump in my throat. There are so many things that can be attributing to it...my Dad's health has definitely been on my mind a lot lately. He has been battling cancer for about the last 12 years. You would probably not realize that he has cancer when you are around him because he has a positive attitude about it and does not look sickly. I don't talk about it with people either...I guess I have not really known what to say, except, "He's doing okay and please pray for him to be healed here on earth." Various drugs have helped to control the increase in the cancer multiplication, but they are no longer working, so he is not on any type of medication at the moment. Right now, a second opinion is being looked into, and diet changes have been made. I know that this is not about me (well, I guess this post is!), but I am definitely effected by what is going on, and it is really hard for me. This is my dad, and I love him. I don't want him to leave this earth yet. I cannot imagine life without him and his stories, his laughter and his hugs. I know that I have to take advantage of getting all of that from him and all of my family members, because truth be told, we don't know how long that any of us will be here on this earth. I wish that I could do something more than pray for his complete healing here on earth. Okay, so I have cried a little bit while writing this. The lump in my throat is gone...although the emotions are still there.

I know that I need to lay my burdens and feelings down before Him. I need to release everything to Him, and I know that He will fill me with His peace. No matter what happens, God is God. I have to trust Him and look to Him in all things.

What's For Dinner???

I was doing so well with making my weekly dinner plan a few months ago, but then "things happened" and I got tired and then sick with strep throat, and I got out of the habit...and I LOVE that habit...planning dinner is a GREAT habit to get into!

So, I sit here - for only a few more minutes - with a sad little face, because I do not know what we are going to have for dinner tonight. Well, I actually did decide what we will have for dinner tonight (just made the decision - it will be chicken that is in the freezer that is already in its marinade and maybe couscous, because it is easy to make and a salad and fresh veggies).

My point that I am trying to make, to myself, is that I need to start making weekly (or monthly) plan for dinners so that I do not have to "panic" about what I am going to serve my family in about an hour or so from now! Maybe I will have to plan some more freezer cooking days. I LOVED having meals that were ready and waiting for me to cook in the freezer. One thing that I will have to do different is plan when I will do freezer cooking ...Once a week? Every other week? I have realized that I really do need a plan and schedule in place for myself...it makes my life so much easier!

Well, off to make dinner...and decide what the rest of the dinners will be for this week! :)