Freezer Meals Again

Girls setting the table for dinner.

This new plan of making freezer dinners once a month has seriously been saving my life.  It has drastically reduced my stress level because I know that no matter what happens in a day, I can get dinner on the table.  The dinner will be good.  It will be planned with sides dishes.  I won't be scrambling for take out.  Dinner will take me around 15 minutes or less including setting the table with the girls.  Having the table set with the girls is another added bonus.  It's a great chore for us to do together as long as we use plastic dishes.  We all sit down to dinner together and it's fabulous.  My grocery lists are easier to plan and that keeps us from wasting a lot of food and money.  

The rules we have created for our little group- meat is cooked unless it is something that just get dumped in a pan and put in the oven, or pushed around a pan to finish up.  Everything must be able to be converted to a gluten free meal.  Meat in a marinade tastes better if it is cooked right before eating.  Every thing gets chopped and prepped before it is sealed in it's packet.  The idea is to make it almost completely ready to eat after thawing.  We each buy the supplies for 5-7 meals and then make each one 3-4 times depending on how many people are cooking with us that month.  We seal everything with a Food Saver so that it is vacuum sealed and stay fresh in the freezer.  They all tasted really good last month.


So now that I've told you how fabulous they are... here is this month's list. The list starts with starred dishes that were repeated favorites from last month.  I don't have all of the recipes together to post yet, but I will update the post soon.

*Cranberry Chicken-  4 lb. bone-in chicken pieces (breast halves and/or thighs) 1 can (16 oz.) whole berry cranberry sauce

-->, 1 bottle (8 oz.) French or Russian Dressing 1 env. onion soup mix.  Freeze raw, defrost and bake for 50 minutes at 350º.

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* White Bean Chilli-(2 dinners worth for my family)  1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 medium onion, diced 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 2 cups cooked shredded chicken, (32 oz) chicken broth, 2 cans Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed.  Salt (to taste), 1 can corn, drained, Pepper (to taste), 1 can (4 oz) green chilies, 1 lime, juice                

* Crock Pot Chicken Mix-(2 dinners worth for my family) Shredded Chicken, 1 can black beans, 1 can corn, 2 cups salsa.  Heat through in crockpot.  Add cream cheese 30 minutes before serving over rice.
* Italian chicken- chicken breasts, 1 10oz can COC , 1 8oz package of cream cheese, 1 package italian dressing.  Thaw, bake and serve over noodles.
Spaghetti- Meat, tomato paste, tomato sauce, chopped veggies and onions, spaghetti spice packet.  Thaw and serve over pasta
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Hamburger Stroganoff- 1 lb. ground beef, 1/2 tsp. salt, 3 slices bacon, 1/2 c. chopped onion, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1/4 tsp. paprika, 1 c. sour cream.  Brown beef and bacon - add onion - stir in soup, salt and paprika - remove from heat stir in sour cream - freeze and then heat through after thawing. Serve over hot buttered noodles

Fajitas- sliced peppers, sliced onions, chopped raw chicken, fajita spice packet.  Heat in pan and serve in tortillas.
Sesame Chicken- Chicken, Salt and pepper, 1 cup honey, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (could also use olive oil or canola oil), 2 cloves garlic, minced, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional - doesn't really add heat, just adds more flavor)
4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water, Sesame seeds  -->

Lemon chicken- chicken breast, 2 tbs. flour / gluten free flour, 1 tbs butter, 3/4 c chicken broth
2 tbs lemon juice.  Thaw and bake.
Hawaiian haystacks- Shredded Chicken, 1 10oz can cream of chicken soup, 1 cup chicken broth
(every thing else with this meal will not be frozen) Serve over rice topped with chopped veggies, nuts, shredded cocoanut or a myriad of other options.
Garlic ranch chicken- Chicken breast, 1 package Ranch, 1  c milk
2 tbs dried minced garlic
Teriyaki chicken- chicken breast, Teriyaki marinade
Taco Casserole-will add the ingredients soon
16 Bean Soup-will add the ingredients soon
BBQ Ribs-will add the ingredients soon
Honey mustard pork chops- 1/2 c honey, 1 c mustard, 2 cloves minced garlic
Country style ribs-  1 can tomatoe sauce, 2 bottle bbq sauce, few squeezes of mustard, 2 cans rotel tomatoes and to make it more liquid I Lovely N added V8 juice
Chicken Enchilada Casserole-2 dozen corn tortillas (quartered) 2½ lb. chicken breast (cooked & cubedor shredded) 2 small cans diced green chilies, 1 bunch green onions (diced) (I didn’t use, didn’t know who likes them or not), 1 can cream of chicken soup (diluted with ¾ C. water), 4 C. grated cheese
Chinese Chicken Salad- Sauce: ½ C. oil, ¼ C. apple cider vinegar, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp honey Salad: 1 to 2 C. chicken, ¼ bundle chive onions.  Serve over lettuce and chow mein noodles.

Spicy Honey Chicken-·8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 2lbs,  2 tsp vegetable oil
Rub: 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp chipotle chili powder, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp cumin, ½ tsp onion powder, ½ tsp coriander,  ½ tsp Stude Seasoning
Glaze: ½ C. Honey, 1 Tbsp Cider Vinegar

to see what we made last month look at this post.
To see instructions on making last month's list gluten free see my sil's blog post here.

More Obsessions

Here are a few of the different bows I have made in the last few months. I made several of all of these since I have two girls and they lose or break hair accessories at an alarming speed.  Good thing I like to make them.

The Lamination Addiction

Red Fish playing a new game.  New Fish trying her best to distract.

*I apologize that these photos are pretty underwhelming and do not really illustrate the true expanse of my addiction.  It's much more serious than the photography acknowledges.

A couple of years ago I got a laminator.  I was making file folder games for Red Fish for Christmas and getting things professionally laminated is almost prohibitively expensive.  Once I got my hands on bulk lamination pockets and a machine of my own, a sickness overtook me.  I became completely addicted to making and laminating things.  I ended up making 60 file folder games for Christmas, complete with velcro. There are games for matching, counting, reading, sorting, pattern making, letter recognition, shapes, colors etc.  My kids adore them and play with them on a regular basis.

Some of our 60+ file folder games

 Then a friend invited me to joing a family home evening lesson swap group.  It had all of these lovely rules about having fun props, games etc. that would hold up to a lot of use and abuse.  I was stoked.  It fell perfectly in line with my new goal to create memorable, consistent, weekly evenings to share gospel messages and have fun with my family.  Unfortunately the group never materialized.  I decided to work hard on really well prepared lessons I could cycle through with my own family and it became my Sunday afternoon activity.  (I took a hiatus from this when I was helping my grandpa write and publish his life history.)  Two years later, I have a MASSIVE family home evening kit.  We should be prepped for the next 5-10 years.  It is all laminated.

There are over 100 lessons. (Many of the lessons are from here, here & here.) Most of the lessons are in page protectors, with signs and quotes laminated to hand around. They fill three, 3-inch binders completely. There are stick puppets (many taken from here) and illustrations for the lessons.  Most have games and trivia cards.  (The trivia cards are much too hard for my girls right now- most of the lessons have to be simplified for use right now.)  I have an entire collapsible file of interactive pieces and a plastic bin of cards and games.  Laminated, laminated, laminated.  I also made two more of these kits as gifts.

My Family Home Evening Kit

 

The latest project is to try and institute a chore system in our household.  My cute visiting teacher and neighbor made these charts for my girls.  They have pictures velcroed on.  When they do a chore they pull of the picture and put it in the pocket.  Right now their chores will include: Get dressed, make bed, brush hair and teeth. It also includes a "helping chore" which is something they do in the house to help me and a "secret service chore" which is something they do nice for someone in the house.  I have a plan to also post a chart with extra things they can do to earn money.  I don't want them to think they get paid for EVERYTHING but I also want them to get familiar with money and how to use it responsibly, taking their age into account.  So I'm hoping that offering extra chores for money will accomplish that.  Of course, the new chart will be fully laminated.

You would think that all of these projects would have fulfilled my need to laminate.  Not so. Every time the girls want to learn something, I think of a way that project needs something laminated.  Need to learn how to recognize the numbers 1-100 because you can count that high?  Need a game to learn some new nursery rhyme songs? The lamination must not stop!

Red Fish playing a number recognition game

Slow Starting Morning

More Shape Recogntion

Notice the shapes are all painted.  That's how desperate for more projects they are.  We have to paint all of the shapes before they do the matching collage.  Anything to keep them busy and entertained!  Red Fish did most of the painting.

Tub Full Of Hearts

 You may have noticed there aren't many pictures of the girls painting during the winter.  The reason is that they paint in the bathtub during the winter.  Then they get a bath right afterwards.  Our bathroom counter is usually covered in some sort of drying creation.  Last night we made watercolor hearts to put in our front window.
Colorations Liquid Watercolor Paint 8 oz.

Indoor Fun

 New Fish took the net out of this little racket and has been carrying it around pretending it is the mirror from Beauty & The Beast.  She holds it in front of her face and says "Show me the beast!" and then makes a scary face.  Or she will say "Show me the princess" and make a pretty face.  It's hilarious.

 During the winter we have to keep a lot of art supplies on hand that the girls can use at the kitchen table, without me shadowing their every move.  They use a lot of foam pieces and glitter glue.  They have been using do a dot markers to make masks, crowns and all sorts of accessories.

Dragon masks for Chinese New Year

New Fish/Red Fish

They have also been drawing with oil pastels a lot.  They leave a different mark than crayons and have more pigment.  We also go through crayons like crazy.

Weekends

Playing Uno in their fort.

Baking Brownies

I'm kind of in love with early church.  I hate waking up but I love having the rest of the day to spend together as a family.  The girls have dubbed Sundays "Daddy Day" and they demand his undivided attention to play games, build forts, dance, read and do their bidding.  We also must bake something on Sundays according to Red Fish.  We made brownies this week.  The girl loves to cook.  I need to figure out more ways to involve her in food prep because she is so excited about it.

Red Fish has decided that her Dad must be trapped in a giant net at work, otherwise he would come home earlier to play with her.  When he was late one night last week she cried because something terrible must have happened to him.  There is no way he would be late for playtime unless dire circumstances prevented him from attending.

Another Day

8:30am- Pick up house, get girls dressed,
9:30am-11:30am- My brothers come to my house to work together.  The girls play and make faces at my brothers.  The girls eat lunch.
11:30-12:00pm- Do 30 Day Shred DVD with the girls bouncing around me.
12:00pm- I eat lunch and the girls play in the toyroom.  We play several rounds of Go Fish and Old Maid.  Red Fish loves playing games.
1:00-3:00pm- Friends invite us out to ride bikes and play.  We stay until New Fish is too tired to function.

Playing red light green light

 

3:00-5:00pm New Fish naps and Red Fish paints at the kitchen table.  She makes 12 paintings while I am working and take a quick shower.  It is very nice that I can trust her with the paint even when I am in the shower. 
6:00pm- M&A come over with pizza and Baby C.  Two Fish brings home cheesecake and a movie for later.  We play hide and go seek with the kids and card games.

7:30- Kids in their jammies.  Story time with M.
8:15pm- Red Fish in bed.  New Fish and Baby C rebel.
9:00pm- Start movie and spend the rest of the night trying to watch it and get New Fish and Baby C to sleep.
11:30pm- Bedtime

Year Of The Dragon

 Today we made a batch of red playdough with red sand and multi-colored glitter in it.  The girls love helping to make it.  We used this recipe.  We decided to make dragons out of some of it.  The girls and Two Fish cut up a bunch of foam sheets to use for spikes, wings, teeth etc.  And the girls poked them into the playdough.  We also used popsicle sticks, feathers, sequins, and yarn.  I love the final products.  I'm trying to think of something fun to do for Chinese new years tomorrow.

Another Day

7:30am- Out of bed with sweat suit on and smoothie made.  Go to meeting at office.
8:50am- Two Fish drops the girls off at my meeting and we switch cars.
9:30am- Go home and answer emails, serve snacks.
10:00am- Do Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred video with the girls.  Pause several times for tantrums.
10:45am- Clean upstairs bathrooms.  My tiny assistants scrub the bathtub from the inside with rags (they have to have their own wet rag when I am cleaning.)  They sing: "Cleaning the tub is fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do.  How often do you clean with little people who really believe that.
11:15am- Read several Fancy Nancy books (one of their current favs) aloud and shower while the girls look at the rest of the library books and chat about Fancy Nancy and Clifford The Big Red Dog.  Dress the three of us and fix our hair.
11:45am- lunch
12:15-2:15pm- Visit the aquarium with friends and see the new river otters.  So cute.  New Fish fell asleep on the way home.
2:15-4:15pm Make macaroni and cheese with Red Fish and work on my laptop.  Red Fish has quiet time playing a computer game, drawing and reading books until she falls asleep for a little while.
4:15pm- Serve snacks, read stories, play games
5:00- fix dinner
5:30pm- Supervise the setting of the table (Red Fish's favorite chore) and have dinner.  We had lemon garlic chicken with red potatoes with rosemary and asiago cheese and salad.  Clean up from dinner and pick up house.
6:30pm- Let the girls have Daddy time in the toy room and do puzzles and speech while I work on my laptop.
7:00pm- bathtime
7:30pm bedtime- jammies, scriptures, songs
8:00pm- Two Fish runs a couple of errands while I finish working
9:00pm- Watch tv with Two Fish
10:00pm-Surf web for stock images for work, Get ready for bed, read a little, scriptures, wash face, brush teeth etc. and bed.
11:15pm- Bedtime- I listen to relaxation music on my ipod to fall asleep.

2:00AM

2:00am- New Fish is screaming in her room.  We are trying melatonin.  It is working some nights, not all nights.
4:00am- New Fish is screaming in her room.  
8:30am- Red Fish ready and out the door to school, do some training with my dog.  I am training him on and off all day right now trying to "fix" him.
9:15am-11:15am New Fish and I are ready and out the door to my office.  She colors, plays on her sister's toy computer and builds with blocks while I work. We pick up Red Fish from school on our way home.
 
 
11:30-12:30pm We go to the library.  Some weeks we are there for five minutes, others an hour.  It depends on how long they need to look at the books.  This week was an especially good library week because they were quiet and delighted to spend time looking around at books and showing them to each other. 

 12:30am- The girls play a singing and dancing game while I fix lunch and set up an art project.  They eat lunch and spend some time grooming the dog.  They are really into "fixing his hair" right now.  Good thing he loves to be brushed.

 

1:30pm- The girls do a matching shape collage.  It's mostly for New Fish's benefit but Red Fish likes making things so she doesn't care if it's to learn about shapes.  New Fish turns all of  her squares to the side and tells me they are diamonds not squares.  She will not accept any other opinions.

2:00pm- New Fish goes down for a nap and Red Fish has quiet time while I work on my laptop.

3:30pm- Red Fish and I play several rounds of go fish.  

4:00pm- New Fish wakes up and I'm trying to clean the kitchen.  Somehow I really need to get it into my head that I need to plan time to do nothing but hold New Fish when she wakes up.  I don't know why I try so hard to get anything else done when she so obviously desperately needs me to do nothing but hold her right then.

5:00pm- I desperately try and clean up the kitchen and get dinner ready. 

5:30pm- Give up and turn on tv for girls.  It helps mildly.

6:00pm- We scramble to eat dinner.  Grilled spicy honey chicken with salad and peas.  I ruined the potatos and they are inedible- I guess that's what happens when you try and clean, cook and take care of a cranky kid at the same time.

 

 6:30-7:45pm- Mommy is a little stressed as the cub scouts arrive and I'm trying to shove dinner's dishes into the washer.  Red Fish tells me "It's okay mommy, it's just the cub scouts.  This is not a big deal."  Thanks for the reminder.  We practice writing stories and thank you notes with the cub scouts to pass off one of their achievements.
7:45pm- Clean up from cub scouts.
8:00pm Start bedtime routine.  Reading, songs, jammies, teeth brushed, prayers etc.  Red Fish gets knocked off the bed.
8:30pm- Take injured Red Fish to my room to cuddle because she is so upset.
9:00pm- Red Fish in bed.
9:30pm- Watch tv and surf internet for intersting pictures to use in my design work.
10:30pm- start getting in bed.  Read a little, read scriptures, talk to Two Fish.  Wash face etc.
11:20pm- Bedtime.

I Need A Bigger Car

More Schedule

8:00-8:30am- Get Red Fish ready for school and out the door.  Two Fish drops her off at school on his way to work.  She loves being able to ride with him.
8:30-9:00am- Get New Fish and myself ready and out the door.  Make a smoothie on the way out.
9:00-11:15am- work at the office while New Fish plays with toys, eats snacks and colors next to me at my desk.
11:20-11:30am- Pick Red Fish up from school and head home for lunch.
11:30-1:00 Lunch,  drawing with the girls at the kitchen table, chat about school.  The girls play in the toy room for awhile.
1:00-3:00pm New Fish goes down for a nap.  Red Fish goes to a friends house to play for a couple hours.  I work on my laptop
3:00- Red Fish has quiet time upstairs and plays with her baby dolls, while I keep working on my laptop.
3:30- Play with girls in the toy room
4:00- Play file folder games with the girls and do speech with Red Fish
5:00- Get dinner started and put on music for the girls.  We had soft shell tacos.
6:00- Two Fish should get home but he has to work late.  (This rarely happens.)  Red Fish is distraught and positive something bad must have happened to him because she can't think of any reason that would keep him from coming home to play with her.  We ate dinner without him.
6:30pm The girls watch tv while I clean and vaccum the living, dining and family rooms and the main floor bathroom.
7:30pm Get the girls ready for bed.  Two Fish came home just before eight, in time to read stories and scriptures with us.  I fixed his dinner while he finished putting the girls to bed. 
8:30pm- Watch tv and work on my book writing project.  I usually try to make that a Sunday afternoon project but I had a migraine on Sunday.
9:30pm- Watch tv with Two Fish, Blog, check facebook etc. print things for morning meeting.
10:15pm- Convince Two Fish to do a yoga DVD with me.  Laugh at cheesy yogi sayings.
10:45 Get in bed, talk with Two Fish, Read, Read scriptures, wash face, brush teeth etc.
11:15pm Bedtime

What Life Is Like Right Now

This will really only be interesting for me but every once in a while I like to keep track of my schedule to try and keep track of what life is like right now.  I find it interesting later and I just finished making two blog books (with several to go) and I liked seeing the last time I did this.  So I'm doing it again.  The days won't be in order.

8:45am-  Sort laundry and put in 1st load of the day.  Make smoothies (V8, oatmeal, flax seeds, yogurt, frozen berries, honey) and let them melt a little bit.  Do Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred video with the girls. They dance along next to me and stop to color a bit in between exercises that interest them.
9:40am- Change linnens and remake all beds.  Change towells and fill soap dispensers in the bathrooms.
10:00am- Switch laundry, dress girls and self for swim lesson.  Pack up swimming bag with towells etc.  Bundle for the elements.
10:30am leave for swimming, get the girls changed into their wetsuits and wait on the side of the pool for their teacher.
11:00-12:00pm- The girls take turns having swimming lessons.  I sit on the side of the pool and sing (actions and all) with them and read stories.  I generally look like an idiot but I've decided to ignore that fact because the singing is working so much better than our routine before.  Sometimes if there is time left over, we draw for a little while. 
12:00pm- Deal with the drama of the dressing room and get the girls dressed and bundled for the ride home.
12:30-12:45 Arrive home and deal with wet clothes.  The girls change outfits. Switch laundry.

12:45 lunch, Girls drag out art supplies and make collages

1:15- The girls dance in dressups (requiring another costume change) while I clean the bedrooms and put away some laundry.


1:45pm- Get out some music things for the girls. 
2:15pm- Paint with girls in the tub and then bathe them and wash their hair
2:50-5:00 New Fish goes down for a nap and Red Fish has quiet time.  I take the world's fastest shower (I know it's pathetic but at least I got showered and dressed!)  Switch laundry and I work on my laptop for  2 hours.

DAY version B- The weeks we have speech therapy
1:20- New Fish goes down for a nap while I get Red Fish in the car.  My Mom usually comes over to watch New Fish while we are gone.
1:30-3:30- Speech Therapy with Red Fish
3:30- 5:00 Try and get some work done on my laptop.


5:00pm Start dinner -We had italian chicken over noodles with salad, peas and garlic bread
5:15- Practice writing or drawing with Red Fish.
5:30pm-  New Fish wakes up and we read stories together until Daddy gets home
6:00pm -Dinner
6:30pm Family Home Evening.  We sing more songs, and tell a scripture story with stick puppets.  Then the girls color something related to the lesson.
7:00pm- Either Two Fish or I play puzzles or go in the toy room with the girls while the other cleans up from dinner.
7:30pm- Start bedtime routine.  Put on jammies, brush teeth, read books, sing songs, read scriptures, say prayers, and get girls in bed.
8:30 or 8:45pm- Make grocery list and go to the store
9:45-10:00pm- Get home and put groceries away
10:00pm - Finish putting laundry away and talk to my husband
11:00pm- Wash face, read scriptures, brush teeth and go to bed.

Shape Matching Collages

O Dandelion

New Fish

Red Fish

O Dandelion, yellow as gold,
 What do you do all day?

I just wait here in the tall green grass
Till the children come to play.

O Dandelion, yellow as gold,
What do you do all night?

I wait and wait till the cool dews fall
And my hair grows long and white.

And what do you do when your hair is white
And the children come to play?

They take me up in their dimpled hands
And blow my hair away!

(Author unknown)


Colorations Liquid Watercolor Paint 8 oz.

Red Fish's Room Complete

 I finally finished painting Red Fish's new dresser and go the last few things hung up on the wall.  I got these cute prints at a local art fair.  I love the cinnamon ink one on the right that hangs above her bookbag.  It says: "Whatever you are, be a good one!"

 Her big doggie (gift from Gammie) and favorite fish blankie are set in her "reading corner" as she calls it.  She likes to lay on the doggie and check out her books.  The temple picture was a birthday gift from Mimi.  It's a picture of the temple Red Fish was sealed to us in.

Red Fish's new comforter and pillow shams are from JC Penny.  I can't decide which way to put it on so her bed looks different every time I help her make it. The quilt at the end of the bed is a gift from my grandparents for her birthday.  She also has to have her tiger that Pop Pops got for her 1st birthday.  I just finished painting her little dresser in the corner.  It has a fish aquarium lamp on it that was a gift from her grandma, her piggy bank, and a handmade wood puzzle.  She also has a little wood carving that was a gift from her birth mother.  I made her curtains, and the pillows on her window seat. 
Her room is full of gifts from all of the people who love her.  She has a little bulletin board in the corner to hang her artwork on.  Her art is displayed all over the house and we still run out of room. The mobile hanging from the ceiling has postcards from famous paintings on it.  The metal letters above her bed spell out her name.  I think overall, the room is very cute and colorful.

Church

What did you learn in church today? "We learned about choosing the right.  If you choose the left, you get in BIG trouble." - Red Fish

Something

Today I went on a ski/movie date with the husband.  Then I got the urge to go to the hardware store and buy supplies.  Can't explain what exactly it is that I am working on but I'm hoping it's the start of something. I don't have time to do art other than my design work because, I'm a full time Mom with a job, but I'd really like to fit more art in. 

\

I have high hopes for this year.  I just lost my babysitter so I'm a little worried about that and how I'm going to get all of my work done.  Acutally, I'm a lot worried about that.  The girls and I are finding a rhythm and I feel like they are getting a lot of attention and stimulation right now.  We've been swimming and visiting our usual haunts (dinosaur museum, aquarium, library etc.)  My dog seems to be on a path to becoming reformed. (This is a serious miracle right now.) Time will tell. I'm working out for the first time in forever, and I like it.  I have a new book writing project. I'm not reading at all- too tired.  It's lame. I have some plans for my house.  I scrubbed my whole house, did all of the laundry (and put it away) and had dinner on the table every night this week.  The house is already a disaster but, at some point this week it was very very clean.  It's going to be a good year.