Freezer Meals: Review

Today marks the end of the first week of the Freezer Meal experiment. I think this is working out nicely!

Here's what the first week looked like after a few switches:

Not too shabby!

My freezer is also pretty darn full.

• chicken parm casserole bag
• 2 roast chicken bags
• 4 chicken fajita bags
• 4 marinated steak bags
• beef stroganoff bag

I haven't even started making the other meals. It's a little time consuming and difficult to do with ankle biters. I do still have a lot of chicken that is ready to be pounded, stuffed and marinated in different ways. I think I might have overbought a little this month and I'm ahead of myself for next month. No bother! Chicken was on a great sale and now I can focus on some good fresh veggies for sides. I also didn't take into account how much leftovers I would have. That stroganoff recipe makes enough for 3 nights which is why we had a leftover night.

I looked at the food budget and it has gone WAY down. We haven't been going to the store every other day to get this and that. I might send my husband to the store after work to get a few things but he's much better about sticking to a strict list.

Plus, if I had to listen to my daughter ask for grapes one more time then my brain was going to flee screaming into the night.

Notes to self: Buy grapes on sale and freeze them. Cut down the stroganoff recipe. Congratulate husband for eating spinach.

Fruit Fanatics

Clerks look at me funny when I come through their line with 30 pounds of bananas, 20 pounds of apples, 15 pounds of clementines and 14 bags of grapes.

They have no idea that this is just a weekend snack to my children.

Sophie is just now starting to request little bits of chocolate. It's few and far between. She would much rather have a bowl of fresh strawberries with a cup of apple juice on the side. Gideon would eat 5 oranges in one sitting if I let him. I don't because I know that he would turn himself inside out. Even Milly, my little chocolate milk addict, sets aside cupcakes with disdain because there is fresh pineapple available.

I love my little fruit freaks.

Couch Mater

Weakness

I failed to learn my verse for February. It seems appropriate that my March verse is 2 Corinthians 12:9.

Paul is writing a letter to the church in Corinth. In this chapter, he's talking about seeing other men do great things for the Lord. These men he will boast about he will never boast about himself. He speaks of a "thorn" in his life that he has thrice asked God to remove from his life. We never find about what Paul is suffering. Here is God's answer to Paul's pleas for release:

But he replied, “My gift of undeserved grace is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.” So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am.  (CEV)

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (ESV)

God tells Paul to stop asking for the thorn to be taken from him. He tells Paul that what he sees as a weakness is going to be used by God to show that the power comes from God alone and not from Paul. Paul accepts this and decides to let people know that he is weak, human and flawed so that they can see that every good and powerful thing happens all from God.

I feel so flawed lately. More so than ever. Maybe it feels highlighted because I'm struggling with my thorn. Parenting three children, especially one with special needs and one who is showing signs of the same special needs, with an anxiety disorder makes me want to run screaming for my safe place. It makes me want to shut down and go back to my old and destructive habits.

I then remind myself that God gave these children to me and to Ben. He had a reason for giving these three specific children with their specific needs to us.

I am too weak to care for my children. I am too scared to know what to do when meltdowns happen. I'm get so anxious that I feel myself separate from my body and the world swells around me.

Whatever good things you see in my life, whatever milestones you see my children reach, whatever smiles and laughs come out of my mouth are all from God. His power is made perfect and very evident in my weakness.

 

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!