Cooking Up a Storm

Well, as bad as bedtime was last night, that's how perfect it was tonight. Trey went to bed with Brian and fell right asleep, and Ally, Grayson, and I all fell asleep on the couch watching a movie. I had about an hour nap, put Ally in her bed, and then had all the time and energy in the world to finish up some chores, watch a movie on Netflix that I'd never seen before (uninterrupted and without subtitles, mind you), and now I'm typing this. Pretty dang awesome!

So what to write about...well, since I've been in the kitchen pretty much all day for the last two days, I'll give you a taste of what I've been cooking up (pun totally intended!).

Yesterday, I mentioned that I had made four freezer meals. I am so in love with freezer meals! Best invention ever!! I made 20 freezer meals in anticipation of Grayson's birth last winter, so with that and the meals sent over by the ladies in the ward, I didn't have to cook pretty much his whole first month. I'd just grab a bag from the freezer, thaw it in the fridge overnight, throw it in the crockpot the next morning, and dinner was done! Nothing could be more simple. Such a life saver, and you better believe I spent each second saved from not having to cook cuddling with my sweet new baby. It was heaven!

But freezer meals are awesome any day of the week. Now that I'm working, they're super handy in making sure that my hubby and kids eat well even when I'm not home. I also like to use them on grocery shopping days 'cause I know I'm going to be exhausted by the time I'm done with that; days I plan on being gone in the evening, like out to the movies with my mom or on a date with Brian and my mom or mother-in-law is watching the kids and I don't want them to have to prepare something for them; or on days that I have a lot of projects around the house planned and  know I'm not going to feel up to cooking at the end of the day. They have saved me so much time and our family so much money because we don't resort to eating fast food or ordering take out. Plus, they're healthy with as few processed foods as possible and loaded with veggies. So what I'm saying is, "Freezer meals are awesome and every busy woman should totally look into it!"

Yesterday, I made Chicken Chili, Beef Roast with Peppercinis and Carrots, another Beef Roast and Carrots recipe, and Mexican Chili Cornbread Casserole. I just chopped the veggies and tossed them into gallon-sized freezer bags, added the spices and sauces, topped it with the meat, and done. I laid them flat in my freezer so they hardly take up any room at all. And I used up all my mini sweet peppers which were starting to look a little raunchy. Now I won't have to watch them spoil and go to waste. Bonus!

Another of my favorite freezer meals is Chicken Pot Pie. Best pot pie I've ever had! And I love that this recipe makes two pies, so tonight, I made one for dinner and froze the second. So now I have five meals in my freezer for busy nights in the future. Yeah, I'm feeling pretty accomplished right now.

Also, we had Bean and Cheese Burritos for lunch today, and I froze some extras for Brian's lunches that he can just grab from the freezer and go. And I made these Granola Bars which are oh so yummy and way healthier than Chewy bars you buy from the store. My kids are going to enjoy those in Sacrament Meeting tomorrow!

(As you can tell from clicking on the links above, most of them are from the same website, newleafwellness.biz. I just have to say that Kelly is my hero and really has changed my life! Almost everything I now cook on a regular basis has come from her. Her recipes are so healthy and yummy! And she taught me everything I need to know about freezer meals, so check out her site if you want more information.)

Oh, and yesterday I pureed a sweet potato and today I roasted and pureed a pumpkin for Grayson. Well, half of the pumpkin is for Grayson, the other half I will use to make pumpkin pancakes (my kids love them some pumpkin pancakes!) Yeah, you read that right--I'm making my own baby food this time 'round. I had WIC with Trey and Ally so I didn't worry about it and just used the jarred stuff, but I kinda hate them now and have decided that I may be poor but not poor enough to have to deal with their crap, so I'm saving us some money by making my own. And it's really not that big of a deal. I just buy extra fruit and veggies, cook it up, and throw it in my processor. Then I spoon it into my ice cube trays, freeze it overnight, then move the cubes to a freezer ziploc bag. Then I reheat them in the microwave when it's time to eat. Easy peasy. It probably takes me the same amount of time to do that as it does to shop for the specific WIC items, making absolutely sure that they are the right ones, line them up on the cashier's belt all separated and in the right order, run back to exchange something because, turns out, it wasn't an approved item, use four different checks to pay for them and then my debit card to pay for the rest of my groceries, plus the time it takes to drive to the appointments, have them weigh and measure my kids again (like we didn't just do that at the doctor's office), and then sit through the breastfeeding video one more time (because, having breastfed babies for 2 1/2 years hasn't made me an expert by now). Yeeaahh...the WIC part sounded way more complicated than the whole pureeing up some produce part. I think I'll stick with that. And there's no way I'm spending the same amount of money on a single jar of baby food that I could spend on a single vegetable that'll fill up a whole ice cube tray with baby food. Forget about it!

Whew! Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant there. I guess I needed to get that off my chest. So anyway...

Yep, that's what I've been up to the last couple of days. Can I just say that I'm pretty proud of myself? Seeing it written down makes it look like a lot of work! I just wish I was as good at the clean-up part as I am at the cooking part. And that I had a dishwasher. Oh, how I miss having a properly working dishwasher!

But that's a rant for another day...