Meal Planning

For years I've wanted to try cooking a ton of food on Sunday to last through the week.  What's been holding me back is a general slackass procrastination that I've perfected.

To do all of that cooking, one needs to plan.  What's on the menu?  When will you go grocery shopping?  What ingredients do you need?  How will you store the cooked food?  WHERE will you store it?

That's waaaaayyy too much planning for my head, too much commitment for my moody appetite.

But then my spousal unit suggested something that made preplanned meals a reality.  I was grilling something for dinner (yes I am the grillmaster at our house - I love playing with fire) when he thought I should go ahead and grab the pork roast and toss it on the fire too.  He asked that I not cook it all the way through so he could finish it off the next day in the oven.

No longer do I feel guilty about having a perfectly good fire in my grill, wasting away because I only made hot dogs.  Now I grab all sorts of meat and cook it.  Not all of the cooked food has to be eaten immediately.  We decide what we'll have in the next day or two, the rest divvied into meal sized portions and frozen.  This is more awesome because of the vacuum seal bags allowing to store food in the freezer even longer.


It still allows me to not be in the mood for any given meal on a particular night, so no guilt when I break the schedule.  With all of the pre-cooked food waiting in the freezer we have quick answers on those nights when we're both exhausted and staring at each other wondering what the hell to make.  Seriously, how can that not sing to a slackass procrastinator's heart???

Best of all, I get the yummy grilled taste with lots of my meals and that's just... well, fabulous.

Friday Fragments 11/18/11

Aaaaand let the shopping season begin!

Yesterday The Husband went grocery shopping (he thrives on this being the Coupon King).  He said everyone was out in droves - of course, there is that major eating holiday just a week away.  Now I have several bags of stuff to put away and I'm pretty sure I need to reorganize the freezer because he just shoves the stuff in there and my daughter who frequently reads this knows that just shoving stuff anywhere makes me twitch.

Our menu is mapped out and I have Wednesday off work - Woot  BAKING DAY!  Yeah I'm a little excited.

Of a little concern is my mother-in-law who rattled off everything that needed eggs in her Thanksgiving preparations.  By the time she was done, she's going to require 3 dozen!  I'm suspecting more than a few calories swimming in the bowls on her table.  I might bring a green salad.

Do you go to any of the Black Friday sales?  I've gone twice and thought it was an interesting experience.  That's saying a lot for this non-morning person.  Instead of being a shopper this year, I'm a retailer.  But I will NOT be opening our store before sunrise.  Hell no!  Our little furniture consignment store will open at its regular time, but we will be offering several items on sale.

We are quickly coming up on time to put up the Christmas Tree.  Do you have any traditions about putting up your tree?  In my family it was just something my mom took care of.  My ex's family always had a big tree decorating party and that was a lot of fun, even if I did manage to break more than my share of ornaments over the years.  I've tried to keep the tradition for the kids in our own way.  It's not a big party like their grandmother would host, but a small gathering.  I haven't really scheduled anything yet, but I guess it's time to whip out the calendars and find a time we can mutually agree upon.

Here's my latest facebook status:

He may not remember it, but Ian used to sit next to me when I would use the sewing machine. We didn't always talk, but we contently sat side by side doing our own thing. For as much as I detest having people in my bubble, he never bugged me. Tonight, I retreated to my sewing machine. Ian needed to study so he knelt next to my sewing table as we hashed out the details he had to review. Eventually, he fell into silence and just like ten years ago, we silently worked on our own projects. Granted he was there under duress, but it was a sweet memory for me.

Now everyone keep your fingers crossed that he actually passes the test that caused him to study at my side. 

Baking

Don't get all excited, these items weren't done all in one day.  I've been sitting on the pictures for a while.

First up, one of the prettiest pies I have ever made.  I tweeked the recipe a little... a lot.  On the upside, it was beautiful and tasted wonderful.  Downside?  When I sliced into it, it was basically apple soup.  It was a great way to use some of the oodles of apples out of our CSA box.  I also added a dash (or a bit more) of apple cider also out of the CSA box.  Next time I'll have to cut back the liquid a bit. 

Next up - COOKIES!  I was excited to use my new Pampered Chef baking stone.  We were very pleased with the results despite not having room for more cooking implements of torture.

Because I'm not a fan of peanut butter cookies, I make two different batches - peanut butter for him and chocolate chip for me (no nuts).  For the peanut butter I used some of the peanut paste from our CSA box (they called it peanut butter but it's a little too organic for my tastes, but great for cookies!) along with Jif and a cup of roasted peanuts.

I have to show off my cooling racks.  I bought these ages ago, probably from Pampered Chef, and use them allllll of the time.

Finally, the beginning stages of fruitcake.  If you've been following my blog for any time you know that I do a homemade fruitcake that has received lots of favorable feedback from friends and family.  In previous years I buy dried fruit and spend approximately forever chopping it up.  While picking up our CSA box one weekend we decided to load up on the dried fruits.  We turned a corner and found these pre-chopped trail mix bags.  Total time saver!  AND they cost less!

I added some of the leftover dried fruits I still had from last year along with more raisins and cranberries.  Then I added the spices, rum and wine.   Everyday I shake the tub to mix them up as the fruits soak up the liquor.  It really takes only a couple of days but I won't make my cakes until next week so more shaking.

Friday Fragments - Oct 21 2011

Why is my mind blank?  There is so much going on in my life but when I go to remember all I come up with is NUTHIN!

Hmmmmm.....

1.  I'm interviewing interns.  I don't enjoy interviewing.  I feel like I forget the important questions even though I have them written down in front of me.  I always forget to take notes.  And then I have to make decisions.  Folks, I cannot make a decision to save my life.  Ugh, this is not the role for me.

2.  The baking bug is hitting pretty hard.  There are enough apples in my fridge for two pies and we're getting an organic peanut butter in tomorrow's CSA box that made perfect peanut butter cookies over the summer.  And if I bother making peanut butter cookies then I should make chocolate chip as well, right?  The Husband has started hinting that it's time to start working on fruitcake.  Maybe we'll pick up the dried fruit over the weekend.  I really don't need to start it for a couple more weeks.  I'll make sure to take pictures of all of my adventures.

3.  We've started running the furnace in the house.  Mornings are just a tad too chilly to ignore any more.

4. OH!  An observation I made while driving to Springfield Illinois last week - I don't drive nearly as much as I used to.  My poor right leg felt like it was going to fall off!  I used to drive long distances a lot - I love driving.  But wow, this was on the edge of painful.  This means we need more roadtrips.  Or I need to get back in shape.  No, it means roadtrips.

Well, like I said I'm busy but it must be with boring stuff.  Take a virtual roadtrip by visiting everyone else in bloggo land:

My Favorite Kitchen Utensil

...is a fork!

Yesterday I made bacon and french toast for breakfast.  Don't faint, I don't always force the fam to eat cold cereal for breakfast.  On weekends or sometimes for dinner I will make breakfast, it is my favorite meal after all.  But anyways, I managed to use three different forks in the meal preparation.

I always make bacon with a fork.  It is just easier to flip the pieces over with a fork than with tongs or a flipper.  Yes, I even use a metal fork on my non-stick cookware, causing my husband to flip out every single time.  Listen, I make perfect bacon with even brownness and no floppy fat and I never scratch the pan.  He simmers down when the results are on a plate in front of him.

Now if I'm also making gravy with bacon drippings I will switch to something plastic to stir, but honestly I prefer to use my all metal skillet so I can continue using my fork.  The metal skillet also has better drippings since pieces of bacon stick to the bottom.  Again the fork is the perfect utensil scrape up all that goodness. 

The fork is also my weapon of choice when mixing up eggs.  I have two different whisks that I love.  One is a standard whisk but the wires come straight down to the handle and is perfect for hand whipping.  The other is a spring looking thing introduced to me by my aunt.  I'll frequently use this one for jobs like mixing the eggs and milk for french toast, but it's just as easy to grab a fork.

The third fork was a spur of the moment inspiration.  We had a pack of berries bought last week with the intention of making fruit salad... that never came together.  So I grabbed a fork and mushed up the berries with a few scoops of powdered sugar - voila, sweet berries for our french toast.

I won't brag about my dish fairy, but he's not very happy about my excessive fork usage.  We won't talk about my child who eats soup with a fork.