Spring Reading Thing

Ah, books. I always say that I'll read anything. Then I take a look at my Goodreads 2012 Challenge. 

Wow. That's a lot of geeky books.

My girlfriend told me of a challenge of which she was taking part and it sounded like fun.

I was ready to just take the next few books from my Goodreads list and put them up here when I paused and thought.

Why not really challenge myself?

So I looked through my To Read list and found books that I believe will further my walk with the Lord. I want to know Him better. I want to learn more about how to walk with Him. That's the reason they're on this list.

So here is my list:

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
Francis Chan

Going All the Way: Planning for a Marriage That Goes the Distance
Craig Groeschel

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life
Joanna Weaver

Sacred Influence: How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands
Gary L. Thomas

The challenge begins on March 20th and ends on June 20th. This is my challenge. In June we'll see how I did!

Mondays: Slow Cooker Day

Monday is always a reset day. The kids and I have to get used to Daddy going back to work and there's always a weekend mess to clean up.

Enter Mama's Best Friend: The Slow Cooker.

Menu: Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Mushrooms

I've already posted the recipe once. I truly love this beef stroganoff. It's comforting and creamy. I've taken steps to making it a little more point friendly by tweaking it.

• replace the condensed Golden mushroom soup with 98% Fat Free mushroom soup
• replace the beefy onion soup with Progresso French onion soup
• use half of a chopped fresh onion instead of half of a bag of frozen
• don't add the water
• use reduced fat cream cheese

After making the meal for tonight, I just made a second meal in a labeled Ziploc bag. I put the stew meat, onion, soups, seasonings and Worcestshire sauce in the bag and squished it around. This will go in the slow cooker straight from the freezer.

I also labeled the cream cheese so I would remember to save it for that meal. There's another meal in my freezer stockpile!

Here are our dinners. Mine is the one surrounded by glorious wonderful mushrooms while Ben has the pile of banal mashed potatoes.

*sigh*

Poor boy does not share my love for fungi. I love him still.

Sundays: Roast Chicken

Sunday is a day for the slow cooker. It's a day for a nice big roast. I'll mix it up on other months when other meats go on sale. This month, whole chickens were on sale.

Menu: Roast chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed green beans

First, I realized that I needed to partially thaw all 4 of my chickens. I couldn't pry the dadgum legs apart and get to the giblets to save my life. On Sunday morning, I set up my assembly line.

• 4 chickens, giblets removed ("HEARTS AND KIDNEYS ARE TINKER TOYS!" Name that movie!)
• Spice rub (recipe below)
• 4 slow cooker liner bags
• 3 labeled gallon sized freezer bags
• 2 onions, peeled and cut into eighths

First I put together the chicken for that night's dinner. I put the slow cooker liner in the slow cooker and laid the chicken to rest. Then I rubbed it all over with my spice mix.

• 4 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons black pepper
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

Then I threw the top on and set it on low. All done until dinner!

Next, I did the same thing with the rest of the chickens. This time I twirled the top of the slow cooker bag until the chicken was nicely tucked together. Then everything got stuffed into a labeled freezer bag. Now I have three Sunday dinners waiting to be put into the slow cooker.

I don't add any moisture to the slow cooker as the chicken is cooking. It will create enough of its own and the slow cooker bag keeps everything self-basting. I did go in about halfway and turned the chicken over to let it cook a little more evenly.

And we have chicken! When I pulled it out of the slow cooker, it fell apart. Seriously. I was left holding a leg in the tongs and my shirt was splattered. I served this with potatoes and steamed green beans. The onion was WOOOOONDERFUL with the chicken. The potatoes were just for the hubby since I'm watching my points. I'll try to update points values later.

Enjoy your bird flesh!

Prepping The Meals!

After buying all of the ingredients, the next thing to do was put everything together.

Of course I made a list for that!

This lets me know what to do up until the time I need to put it in the bag to freeze. I also have it listed at the top of the recipe how many times I need to make that specific recipe. I've even reminded myself to mark certain things in the fridge so that 3 weeks from now I'm not staring at a pack of cream cheese wondering why it's there. It will be marked "Beef Stroganoff 4/9" and I won't put it on my toast.

It is destined for better things. Like beef and mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms. Glorious mushrooms.

*drooooool*

Ahem.  So, this is my process! My basic thought is if I'm going to make it once then why not make it twice or 4 times and freeze the excess for other nights? If I have an hour of free time then why not take that hour and make 4 bags of chicken fajitas so that I don't have to do it on a night where Milly is going through her "Mama has walked away and has disappeared therefore I must SCREAM!" phases?

Mama Looks Good In Yellow

Duck Feet

She eats socks. Who needs fries?

The Shopping Lists

After I put together my meal plan, the next step was to break that down into a shopping list. Actually, it was a few shopping lists.

One of the problems that I had before was that I would buy everything at once and about halfway through the month all of my produce had gone bad and my dairy had curdled. So here are my shopping lists.

This is the main shopping list. First I took a trip through the kitchen to see what I had on hand and what I needed. Then I put together this Main List. I'm also prepping ahead on breakfasts and lunches so those are in the shopping list as well. This list is a little longer than most because I needed to restock my spice rack. I also had looked at the circulars to see what meats were on sale and tailored my meal plans around that. Chicken and steaks were on sale at Sprouts and Albertsons. Hooray for lean meats! I'm also easing into this by making a lot of slow cooker meals and meals that know very well. These are things I can make in my sleep.

Each week then gets one of these; a Perishable List. These are the weekly trips I will make to Sprouts and another store for the produce and dairy that is needed just for that week. This is perilous because I am an impulse buyer. I am determined to stick to my lists no matter how much I think I need another bag of Pop Chips. My kids go through about 2 gallons of milk a week. I have seriously looked at the zoning laws and thought about how much a cow costs. Until then, I have to go each week and get their milk along with the rest of the sour cream and whatever produce is on sale. I'm grateful that my kids drink milk and eat fruit rather than ask for soda and candy. It just means I have to practice my resilience when I go through Sprouts and look at all of the wonderful things in the bulk section.

I don't need chocolate covered espresso beans. I don't.

Maybe just a Ritter Sport...