Cooking Ahead Without Too Much Complication

Dear friends,

I know a lot of people do "Once-a-Month Cooking" which was popularized in the book by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg.  That sounded a bit much for me, so I tried just once a week cooking over 20 years ago after hearing about the concept on Focus on the Family. (Basically, you are assembling several meals in one day, combining your meats, starches, veggies, and sauces in different ways.)  It was a huge chore since I was pregnant with my third baby and had two preschoolers roaming around.  I eventually had 10 children in 18 years, and still have 8 at home, so for me to fix seven whole meals to feed that many would be quite the overwhelming undertaking.  For me, fixing a double batch of anything (which I often do) is like someone with a smaller family cooking enough for several meals.  

I know you all are busy, too.  Maybe once a month or once a week cooking would suit you just fine, but if you can't manage that, there are less complicated ways to reap the benefits of cooking ahead, even if it is just making a double batch of a dinner and freezing the extra.  

Another really easy way is to cook your meats ahead of time. We usually buy large "economy size" packages of ground beef at Sam's Club or Aldi, cook it up in our big electric skillet or in a pan in the oven, and then bag it up for later use in chili, spaghetti, tacos, etc.

I spotted a copy of the book Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half with America's Cheapest Family by Steve and Annette Economides (gotta love the name!) on the clearance table at the Christian book outlet recently, and they recommend batch cooking and bulk buying, too.  So I've had my eye out for grocery bargains and ways to save time in the kitchen.

A week ago I noticed boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.69 at Aldi, and immediately grabbed four large packages.  The next morning, I rinsed 30 chicken breasts, placed them in four large 9"x13" glass pans, seasoned them with either garlic pepper or rotisserie chicken seasoning, and popped them in the oven.  Cooking this much chicken doesn't take much more oven energy than doing just one pan, and I only had to heat up the kitchen once.  (Yes, this is Florida, otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.)

30 seasoned chicken breasts, ready for the oven

When they came out of the oven, I poured the broth into a large bowl and was amazed at how little fat floated to the top!  I didn't even skim it this time.

Then I cut up the breasts into large chunks and stuffed them into six quart size zip lock bags.

Cut up chicken in bags

My husband made two potpies on Sunday night when I wasn't feeling well.  It was much easier for him to make dinner on short notice since the chicken was already cooked.  On Tuesday, I made a huge pot of chicken noodle soup with chicken, all the broth, a box of shell noodles, a little cream of chicken soup, frozen peas, and diced red peppers.  We had a lot left over, so on Thursday night, I added more cream of chicken soup, topped it with shredded cheddar cheese and bread crumbs, and made a pan of casserole.  Not everyone was home last night, so there are still leftovers for lunch.  

Chicken casserole

And here is the amazing thing: there are still four bags of chicken in the freezer!  So far, I have used about 10 chicken breasts far for three meals serving several people each, plus we used some of that for a few sandwiches.  And I didn't even feel like we were skimping on the chicken.  This was so much more economical than serving each person a large chicken breast.  Nutritionists are telling us that meat should be used sparingly  anyway.


Cooking a large batch of meat ahead of time saves cooking energy, time, and money! 


So if you feel like you can't go "whole hog" into batch cooking, at least try making a double batch or cooking a lot of meat ahead of time and bagging it up.


Do you have any favorite ways to save time and money in the kitchen?  Please share!


Virginia Knowles
www.comewearymoms.blogspot.com

This blog post is linked to Ann Kroeker's Food on Fridays

Learning to Leap (P52)

Open Bible, Open Heart

Psalm 28:6-7

I thought of writing a long poem or an essay or some such thing on the theme of "A Great Leap" for this week's P52 photo theme.  But I'll keep it short and sweet, maybe more memorable and to the point?

The greatest leap I have ever made was a leap of faith, trusting in God instead of myself for spiritual liberty.  There are other leaps that go along with that. I think of King David, leaping and dancing before the Lord with all his might when the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Israel.  His wife Michal was not amused at his lack of inhibition, but I think God must have been pleased!  Isn't it wonderful that it doesn't matter so much what other people think? (2 Samuel 6:12-23)  As I read about this, I realize my heart does not always leap or sing for joy, but then again, I’m not always dwelling on the mercy and majesty of the Lord!  So I know that’s something for me to think about every day!  How about you?

Leap 

Leap into mercy

Leap into grace

Leap into Strong Arms

Leap into praise

Learning to leap...

Virginia Knowles

www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com

P.S. You may also wish to read a post from Tuesday on my main blog:

"Sonnet, Trinity 18" by Madeleine L'Engle, in Honor of My Sister Barb

Click here to see Project 52!

This Friday's theme: A Great Leap -- because yesterday was "Leap Day 2012" 

Last week's P52 post: Sunrise and Camellias on a Chilly Morning (P52 Week 8)

Love, Love, Baby Love -- And Food Love, Too!

Baby love: Mary & Isaac

Dear friends,

My second grandbaby, Isaac, was born last Sunday.

I took a few pictures in the hospital here: 

Baby Isaac is Here!

I took the pictures in this post when he was three days old, 

when I took seven of his Mommy's siblings for a visit at their home.

Aunt Naomi

Mary, Ryan, Jacob, Isaac

I had signed up to take them a meal at www.TakeThemAMeal.com 

as arranged by her friend Katie, 

who also gave her the Blessingway shower 

and was the doula at Isaac's birth.

Mary and Ryan eat kosher and a lot of vegetarian food,

so I decided to bring a chef salad, as I did when Jacob was born.

As soon as she saw it, Mary exclaimed, 

"You remembered the lettuce this time!"

Yep, last time, I packaged toppings in zip lock bags 

and packed them in my basket --

but then forget the big bag with the lettuce!

But this time I got it all in my favorite Longaberger basket, 

a long ago gift from my own sweet mother!

Flowers, salad, Greek dressing, hummus, crackers, heart cookies

Grandma's Heart Salad:

• salad mix in a bag
• fresh spinach
• sliced carrots
• green pepper
• onion
• broccoli florets
• black olives
• hard boiled eggs (more in a separate bowl)
• feta cheese
• pine nuts
• grape tomatoes
• Greek garlic dressing on the side

Homemade hummus

I tried making hummus for the very first time,
making up my own recipe after looking at several on www.allrecipes.com.
It was very yummy, if I may say so myself!
The picture is of a bowl I made for my husband's snack before we left.
He's a good taste tester!
Most hummus recipes call for tahina, a sesame seed paste.
I didn't have any, so I used sesame seeds,
which I buy in bulk at a local produce market to make Orange Sesame Chicken 

Grandma's Hummus
Puree in a food processor or blender:

• 2 cans chick peas, drained
• 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• 3 Tbs sesame seeds 
• 3 Tbs minced garlic (I buy it in a jar, and use a little of the liquid)
• 6 Tbs extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1/3 cup black olives with a little of the liquid
• basil 
• rosemary
• paprika
• red pepper flakes
• black pepper
• salt 

Jacob loves his hummus and crackers!

Food is definitely a way we show love to people, either by fixing it for them or eating it with them, or both!

This morning, it meant interrupting this blog post to make a quick ham and pepper jack cheese on potato roll sandwich and tuck it in a lunch sack with a crunchy Granny Smith apple for my 17 year old daughter.  (She was running late, so I drove her to the bus stop, too.)  It meant making stuffed shells from scratch for my 21 year old daughter's birthday last week, to enjoy after a long day on clinical rotations.  (She's in nursing school.)  It meant making dozens of cookies and brownies for my 9 year old son and 11 year old daughter to take to school on their birthdays. (Yes, we did just have 3 birthdays in one week, plus a new grandbaby born!) It meant bringing a barbecue chicken sandwich to my 12 year old son, who was sick, instead of making him come to the table. It meant preparing a steaming mug of mocha coffee for my 14 year old son, to wake him up for a day of home schooling.  It meant preparing a special "just the two of us" snack of cookies, nuts and root beer for an in-house date night with my husband. It means making dinner for "just the ten of us" almost every night, week after week.

And it's not just for our own families.  What about hospitality?  We used to have people over for dinner a lot more than we do now and we need to start that up again! My favorite time was when we had several students from China and India over for Thanksgiving dinner: Our Thanksgiving Indians.  Shauna Niequist shares a lot of stories about sharing meals in her book Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way.  Tim Chester also wrote an excellent article called Show Hospitality & Share the Gospel.  I have a lot of recipes suitable for hospitality on my main blog here: Recipes. There are so many more things I could say about this, but I'll just leave you with those links -- a little "food for thought."

Grace,

Virginia Knowles

www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com

This blog post is linked to memes on other blogs:

Click here to see Ann Kroeker's Food on Fridays

Click here to see Project 52!

(This weeks's theme: True Love!

Next week: Cabin Fever)

Caramel Toffee Dip on the Blessingway Table

Dear friends,

Last Sunday I attended a Blessingway celebration for my daughter Mary, who is due to birth her second son in less than two weeks.  You can read more about this at Weekend Gratitude: Blessingway for Mary.

I promised in that post on my other blog that I would talk about the food! Here 'tis!

Caramel Toffee Fruit Dip

Want to make it?  Yes, you do!
Katie said:
Blend 8 oz cream cheese (room temp), 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla.
Mix in and top with crushed Heath bars.

Caramel Toffee Dip
with Muffin and Fresh Strawberry
Yummy!

See Shimmer and Shadow for poem and much more...

Cake Pops

  

Cucumber Sandwiches

So Much More!

So elegant!  Thank you, Katie Wadley, for hosting this lovely party for my Mary!  Seriously, go check out the sweetness at Weekend Gratitude: Blessingway for Mary,



Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com


Click here to see Ann Kroeker's Food on Fridays

Self Portrait, Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake and Friday Favorites

Self Portrait by Virginia Knowles in January 2012

Dear friends,

The theme of the P52 photo project this week is Self-Portrait.  The picture above isn't exactly a photo, unless you count that the scanner is a camera of sorts.  But it is an original self-portrait, a quick sketch, plain pencil on plain paper, from a photo on my iPod. I had to twiddle with it a bit, because I wasn't measuring for proportions.  So I had to move the mouth up and the dimple over, shorten the eyes, try to make the glasses symmetrical, add in more hair. As a final touch, I used my finger to smudge and smooth the shading.  I had recently assigned a written comparison of two self-portraits by Reformation artist Albrecht Dürer for my home school co-op English class, so I figured I would give it a decent shot. (See The Art of Albrecht Dürer.)  My attempt wasn't perfect, but it was fun.

Self Portrait by Virginia Knowles in 1979
See more of My Artwork 

I haven't sketched (other than my constant doodling) in what seems like forever, and I drawn myself since high school art class around 1979, wearing a hat I had bought on a trip to Scotland with Teen Missions that summer.

Drawing a self-portrait forces you to think about how you see yourself and how you want to convey to others who you are.  Am I confident?  Friendly?  Pensive?  Enigmatic?

For many of us, self image is tied up in what we do and who our friends are.  It could be related to what church we attend, or how many children we have, or how we educate them.  That has certainly been true for me.  It has taken me a long time to shake that off and realize that while those things certainly affect my life and say something about what I value, they do not define me.  And the expectations should not crush me when they no longer apply to where I am in life.  


I think that especially rings true this week, since I just enrolled two more children (girls in 1st and 5th grade) in the neighborhood public school where their 3rd grade brother started in November. (Here they are on their first day of public school with our next door neighbor in the middle.)  Now I don't have any elementary age kids at home, and the four in public school outnumber the two (boys in middle school and high school) still at home. Since I have written (books, articles in international magazines, my own e-magazine, blogs) and spoken (conferences and support groups) so much about home schooling for the past 14 years, I gained a reputation as a home school guru.  I know many of my friends and cyber acquaintances will not understand our choices and even question my sanity and my morality.  This will not be the first time.  Oh well!  My husband and I are the ones responsible for making decisions about what is best for our family at each season of life.  Right now this is what we can do with what we have.  I think this will prove to be a good move, at least for the rest of this school year.  Then we will reevaluate for next year.  (See Do It Well, But Keep It Humble.)  Anyway, this week has been a flurry of filling out papers, taking kids for medical checkups, picking up immunization records, and buying school uniforms (solid red, navy blue or dark green t-shirts or polo shirts, and khaki or navy bottoms, no denim, no basketball shorts).


With some of my newfound extra time, one of my goals in the next few months is to get the house in order and keep it that way consistently. (No small task with 10 people living here!)  This morning I had to rewrite our family chore chart to accommodate the change in schedule.  I think I made it a bit more simple to follow.  Instead of switching chores every day (for variety), I have assigned chores to be done every day (for simplicity) -- at least for the five younger kids. Let's just see if this helps people remember what to do -- and then do it!


Also, I want to be a little more intentional in the kitchen, focusing on nutrition and variety.  I think we're all getting tired of the same old same old!  Sometimes we have to mix it up a bit, taking inspiration wherever we find it: friends, restaurants, blogs, on-line recipe sites...  This week I tried baked chicken thighs covered with bread crumbs seasoned with rotisserie chicken seasoning and garlic pepper.


Last Saturday, our church organized several Dinner with Friends parties.  Once you sign up, you are assigned to a group of eight. The point is to get to know other folks whom you might not know as well.  My husband and I had met everyone before, but had only had regular interactions with the host couple.  We had a great time chatting, especially when we pulled out some conversation starter questions that the dinner organizers had provided to each group. Oh the stories these peeps can tell!

Our hosts Cathy and Bill,
business people who lived in the Virgin Islands for a long time
and who have a real heart for serving the poor
(see her collection bear for the hungry here)

Mike and Vicki,
seminary professor and Christian school teacher

Candice and Ed,
on staff for nearly three decades with Campus Crusade (now known as CRU),
most of it in Poland and England

Each couple contributed to the meal.  One made delicious beef stroganoff (I'm going to try this out and blog about it later), another brought a lovely gourmet salad (complete with hearts of palm), and another brought grapes, cheese & crackers, and scrumptious hot roll appetizers with cheese, ham and onions baked in. I am making myself hungry just typing this.  We brought the dessert: lemon raspberry cheesecake and blueberry cheesecake.  Yes, I could have made it all from scratch with fresh cream cheese to prove myself as a capable homemaker, since I haven't yet attained the status of Kitchen Guru.  Instead, I chose to go semi-homemade,  starting with a boxed mix.  I'd enjoyed some lemon raspberry cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory (thanks to a gift card from my sister-in-law) and decided to try to replicate it.  I mixed a little lemon juice with enough powdered sugar to sweeten it, then added three tablespoons to the cheesecake mix that my daughter Naomi prepared.  Since this would increase the amount of liquid, we substituted a can of evaporated milk for some of the regular milk to make it thicker.  I'm not sure that helped any since it was still a bit softer than I would have liked. In hindsight, I realized I could have just reduced the amount of milk.  All told, I made two lemon cheescakes and two plain cheescakes, leaving one of each at home for the kids.  At serving time, we set out a tub of whipped topping, a bowl of blueberry pie filling, and a bowl of raspberry sauce (a bag of frozen berries, thawed and smushed to a thick sauce with a little sugar added).  Everyone enjoyed it, so score one for the Kitchen Wannabee!


I am thankful for the Dinner with Friends. Good fellowship, good fun, good food!  Have you ever done anything like this?  Why not try it?


I haven't written any other blog posts this week, but here are three links and short excerpts for Friday Favorites. You won't mind that I'm posting these on a Thursday, will you?  Just a little early!

Riverside Thoughts 

by Sarah Clarkson at Thoroughly Alive 

"I have always known that beauty had the power to drive me to holiness. For me, the ache for what is transcendent, the hunger spurred in me by art, literature, music, nature, has always been a guide that turned me back from distraction, from hurry, even from sin, to the grace of my ever-present God." 

(Sarah's post reminds me of a quote from one of my own posts here: A Sacred Romance in the Deeper Places of Our Hearts. Sarah is cur at Oxford University in England for a special program.  It is interesting to find that my new friend Candice knows Sarah's mom Sally since they both worked for CCC in Poland a long time ago, though at different times -- small world!)

Last Week I Was Wide-Eyed Innocence 
by Tonia at www.studyinbrown.com

Some addictions sneak up on you sly.  Last week I was wide-eyed innocence:  I don't spend that much time on the computer.  I barely read blogs.  I hardly ever post on facebook.  I've been doing this for 7 years, I'm an old hat at this. Second day of changing the tally marks, bowing my head before a prayer bench and not a screen, I feel the itch.  10 AM and I'm jumpy, wondering who emailed, wondering what they said.  I fidget and pass the darkened computer once, twice, three times.  I snap the lid shut and carry it to my room, close the door.  At least I have the presence of mind to roll my eyes at myself... 

I smile broad when the answer comes, because it's so simple, so exactly, perfectly simple. Ora et labora: the motto of the Benedictines. Pray and work.  Pray and work.  Pray and work.  And that's exactly what I do.

Purity balls, Christian princess syndrome, and “mom” haircuts: evangelicalism’s mixed messages for women 

by Karen Campbell at www.ThatMom.com

"We woke up one day last week to the first snowfall of the season, gentle white flakes touching down, slowly covering the muddy front lawn. It continued all day, the wind picking up, forming small drifts here and there.  I was happy for the snow as it made it a little more bearable to take down my Christmas tree and tuck away the family traditions along with it for another year. White and pristine was my world, reminding me of the Lord’s promise that He will make our scarlet sins as white as snow. He is the great Purifier, the Cleanser of my Soul.  Such a comfort that is to me! I have been thinking so much about the concept of purity in the past couple weeks, first as I have enjoyed the sweet innocence of a house full of little ones. They look at everything in wonder, their bright little eyes reflect their own worlds, yet untouched by those things that threaten to darken all of us. How do we protect our precious girls from those things? How do we protect our dear boys, our sons and grandsons? But more accurately, how do each of us, men, women, boys and girls, keep our hearts and minds pure in a world that ignores and even devalues the concept of purity? And how do we do this when modern evangelicalism tells us that it has to do primarily with sexuality and then spends so much time talking about it? ... I believe this is truly at the core of the current discussion on sexuality in evangelicalism: in seeking to promote sexual purity, whether through endless discussions of modesty in dress or in defining their roles ad nauseum, women and girls are, in fact, sexualized and, in the process, demeaned. Under the guise of “purity” the messages are mixed and confusing. In reality, true moral purity comes from a life focused on Jesus Christ and serving others. Why don’t we hear this? Probably because it isn’t sexy enough."

You may also wish to read a related post from last summer:
On Mommy Blogging: Image, Identity, Authenticity and Freedom




You can find more food ideas here: Recipe Box

This blog post is linked to memes on other blogs:

Click here to see Ann Kroeker's Food on Fridays

Click here to see Project 52!

I'd love to see your comments!  Please leave one!


Virginia Knowles
www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com