Facebook Questions

Every now and then a questionnaire comes across Facebook that I would actually like to fill out. This is one of them and I thought I would share it here.

1. How many children have you had?
Four
2. Have you ever had any stillbirths/miscarriages/pregnancy losses?
one miscarriage in our first year of marriage
3. What gender are your kids?
Two boys, Two girls
4. What are their full names?
Miles Geoffrey, Owen Daniel, Fiona Susan, Gweneth Leeann
5. What would they have been called had they been the other gender?
Levi was the name we didn’t use if the girls had been boys.
6. Did you get the genders you wanted?
Well, I thought I wanted all boys….
7. How much did your babies weigh when they were born?
Miles        8lb. 4oz.
Owen        8lb. 7oz.
Fiona        7lb. 14oz. 
Gwen        8lb. 7oz.
8. Did you have natural births/ c sections/forceps etc?
All four naturally thanks to my Bradley method birthing classes and pure stubbornness on my husbands part. He made sure the doctors listened to what we wanted! 
9. What has been your favorite age so far?
Anything but 3!
10. Do you want any more children?
ABSOLUTELY!

Have I gone crazy?!

Wait don’t answer that!

Look what I picked up last weekend. This piece has been hanging out in the antique shop down the street for 4 years! The first time I saw it is called to me and said you must take me home. At that time the price of 250.00 was just to much for me to pay, Every time I walked into the shop(which is often) I would see it and every now and then the price would be lowered just a bit. Then we though we were moving and I said my good-byes. How could I purchase another piece of furniture and take it to some unknown location where I may or may not have room for it?

Well you know what happened next or at least you can guess. :) We decided to stay and the price was lowered a bit more and then I had a coupon. So she finally came home for 120.00! Now I need to decide how to fix her up, as her counter is a bit damaged and she is missing a shelf.  The top cabinet hangs on the wall and the leaded glass is in excellent shape. All the drawers pull out smooth, and the two square ones are metal inside. Written on the back are these words, For Dr. Clymer, Philadelphia, sugar, bread, two corner shelves. This was obviously a custom piece as she is almost 4 feet wide.

I can’t wait to return her to her former glory, she just has to wait in line.

Linking up to

Brother, Protector, Friend

Cooking Day

Now that you have spent the past few days planning and preparing it is time to cook! I try to start cooking about 8:00 after a good breakfast and go for as long as I can. I wear my most comfortable shoes and make sure to drink water and eat. Will all the food in front of me I can forget to eat and then I am likely to make a mistake.

I started with the marinades this time around. There are a lot of them due to the fact that we will grill a lot over the summer months. All of my meat was all ready placed in the labeled bag from my prep the night before. I just pulled out the meal I was working on put the ingredients in and  mixed up up to coat the meat.After I mixed everything up I try to get as much air out as possible and flatten. It saves so much space in the freezer to do it this way. I weigh all my meats so that the portions are correct since I am making more that one meal at a time and it helps with my portion control when serving the meal.Some recipes call for a sauce that you put on while cooking or grated cheese to be added.  I freeze these separately in a smaller bag and then tape it to the main meal. My marinades took me 4 hours to complete. I then moved on to beef dished that did not need to be cooked. I made seasoned hamburgers and little cheddar meat loaves.Then I moved on to the more involved meals. I had 4 things going at once. I browned ground beef for burritos, taco salad, and taco pizza while I started making the gumbo. Gumbo is an easy recipe but it needs to simmer and then cool before packaging. So I put it on one of the back burners while I work on the other things. You an see that I have all the ingredients I need right in front of me so I don’t waste time. Now my kitchen looks like this. Normally my husband does the dishes to help out but he was away for the weekend camping. I could tell I had come to rely on him for this part as I didn’t wash as I went and then spent an hour catching up so I could use the bowls and measuring cups again. Lesson learned!!  Here I am putting the baked burritos together. This recipe makes 10 burritos and I tripled it to make 30. We only eat 7 burritos at one meal so instead of to many leftovers I made 4 meals with a small portion for my husband to take to work. This is a nice way of stretching you meal count that you couldn't do if you didn’t cook in bulk. I ran out of 9x13 storage containers so I had to put a couple in glass. Here you can see it made four meals. This is one of the last meals I made. I always seem to leave the most time consuming meals for last. At least I can sit down while stuffing the shells!Here is what my freezer looks like today! After everything is frozen I organize it and stand up all the Ziploc meals to make it easier to find what I am looking for.        Here is a list of what I made and how many meals.

• 
  
  Szechwan Chicken
• 
  
  Thai Peanut Chicken
• 
  
  Greek Feta Chicken
• 
  
  Chicken Lo Mein
• 
  
  Heavenly Chicken
• 
  
  Blackened Chicken
• 
  
  Chicken Gyros
• 
  
  Lemon Garlic Chicken
• 
  
  Chicken Gumbo
• 
  
  Honey Baked Chicken
• 
  
  Garlic Roasted Chicken
• 
  
  Creamy Ham and Pasta
• 
  
  New Potatoes with Peas and Ham
• 
  
  Spicy Green Beans with Pork
• 
  
  Brown Sugar Chipotle Roast Pork
• 
  
  Asian Pork Tenderloin
• 
  
  Pork Tenderloin Tandoori
• 
  
  Taco Pizza
• 
  
  Korean Fire Beef
• 
  
  Baked Burritos
• 
  
  Taco Salad
• Hamburgers
• 
  
  Haystacks
• 
  
  Chili Crusted Flank Steak
• 
  
  Cheese Steak Casserole
• 
  
  Manicotti
• 
  
  Shepherd’s Pie

I will share some of the recipes soon! If you see something that interests you let me know and I’ll try to share those first!

Preparing for your cook

This is what my fridge looks like when I stuff it full of groceries. I try to make sure I don’t have a full fridge to begin with but if I run out of room I have a small mini fridge that I can use, or a cooler. If you are still short on space take everything out that doesn't need to be chilled, like mustards, drinks, soy sauce, etc. The canned goods I will be using I set up on my breakfast table where I can grab them quickly. In previous homes I pulled out my card table for this purpose. The first thing I do to prepare is clean off the counters of anything I won’t be needing. For me that is my mixer, coffee pot, plant, and decorations. They will just be in the way when I am working. I then pulled out all of my spices, measuring cups and spoons, flour, oil, and eggs. These are the items I will use the most and I don’t want to have to bother with opening cabinet doors and drawers all day long.    I also pull out all of my mixing bowls and put them in a convenient place. I use and reuse these all day also, especially the large ones when tripling recipes. You will want to prepare as many ingredients ahead of time as you can. I chop onions, garlic, and peppers, shred cheese, and crumble crackers. Then when I am cooking I can just measure out what I need instead of chopping or shredding for each recipe. I also prepare my meat. Some of my recipes call for sliced steak, diced chicken or chicken strips. I wear rubber gloves when cutting so much meat as it starts to make my skin itch form handling it. My husband helped me this time, he likes to play with raw meat. This step takes a lot time!Some of the other things I do to get ready are create a place for all of the recycling that the cook will generate and make sure the trash can is empty. I gather all the containers I will use to store my meals in and get out my kitchen scale. I also get my sharpie for writing on my containers so I will know what I have my my freezer. I don’t bother with the dishwasher when I am cooking but I do make sure it is empty. It is easier to wash by hand when cooking all day. I don’t have time to wait for the dishwasher to wash things I will be using over and over. I store my meals flat in Ziploc bags or in the plastic containers you see below. They are made by Gladware and come in an 8x8 or 9x13. I have had trouble finding them in some areas but they always seem to have them at the stores around Thanksgiving.   The last step is to order your cook. I decided this time to make all the marinades first as they are easiest and don’t generate a lot of mess. Then I moved on to my beef and chicken dishes.  I made the Manicotti and Shepherd’s pie last as they are my two most time consuming meals this round.

There have been cooks where I have not prepared well or did not have the time to prepare and I always wish I did. It just makes things so much easier. It’s like your very own cooking show with all the little bowls of ingredients waiting for you to use. Now if only I had someone to prepare them for me.

Yard Sales!!

Finally the season has begun here! It seems like I have been waiting forever for the sales to start and seeing everyone else’s finds in blog land was NOT helping. :)

We grabed apples and granola bars to eat in teh car and off we went. My two litle shoppers were quite excited to come along. They love yard sales!

I met with a friend and our first stop was a sale advertising Bitty Baby things. I paid 14.00 for these items. Matching Bitty Baby dresses, and a Disney princess gown for my Fiona.

Then we went to a couple of neighborhood sales. At one I picked up a stack of games and books for 10.00

At another this beautiful painted shutter from a local building.

And here are the rest of the finds, a blue Ball jar of old buttons, lots of milk glass for my dining room hutch, a stoneware pitcher, little pot, 4 luncheon plates, Southern Living holiday hangers, and some old milk bottles for my empty holder.

It looks like the season is off to a good start!

Shopping for your cook

I know I said I would post this a couple of days ago now. I tried, really I did and my computer ate it up. I had my post all typed out, all I needed to do was press publish and my computer shut down. Uggg. So here I am attempting it again.

You have written your list and are ready to shop. The first thing you’ll want to do cross off anything that you won’t need until the meal is eaten, for example if you are making a taco pizza you will wait to buy the tomato's and lettuce on the week the meal is planned for. Before you leave the house, review you list so you are familiar with it, grab a water bottle, a snack, and some comfortable shoes. My average shopping trip takes about 2 hours, and the cart gets heavy. I try not to take my children with me when I shop for a cook like this. I have have many decisions that need to be made and the cart is heavy enough without extra weight. That being said I took mine with me this time because there was no other time to go. It took me 30 minutes longer with them along and I bought them ice cream on the way home as a reward.

When you arrive at the store go get your canned goods first. This way you won’t have to rearrange your cart to make room. Next I get my dry goods, like crackers and baking goods.

I do not but my spices at the regular groceries as they are so expensive. I get mine out at an Amish grocery in bulk. If you can get them this way you will save a lot of money. Some natural food stores carry them and there might be some on-line options to help you keep the costs down.

Your next stop is the meat department. This will be where the bulk of your money is spent. The most important thing to remember is to enlist the help or your butcher! I bought 45 pounds of chicken this time and he was kind enough to go get me a fresh box out of the cooler and put it on the bottom of my cart. He also made some meat selections for me that helped me save money. Sometimes they can even give you a discount if you order enough of something. There are times when I shop different stores for the sales and don’t buy everything at one stop.

Once you get your meat then move over to the dairy section and then the produce. This way nothing gets squished on the bottom of your cart. You may end up with more than once cart full of groceries depending on the types of meals you are making and how much you make from scratch.

Now that you have all of your items review your list one more time, then check out and take your groceries home.

Next up preparing for your cooking day.