My First Once a Month Cooking Adventure (OAMC)

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

Cooking this much food requires a bit more stamina than I was prepared for.  I think I nearly died.  That said, I still ended up with this:

And, yes, it all fit in my deep freeze………ers.  Barely.

You may be wondering how this all went down.  I’ll tell you that, but I’m also gonna dish a bit on what I’d do differently and what I’d recommend YOU to do if you want the convenience of all these dinners in your freezer.

How it went down–from the beginning.

I’ve known about Once A Month Cooking since I was pregnant with the twins.  In fact, I was nearly mad that no one told me about this concept after I finally discovered it for myself.  I was at a homeschool meeting/curriculum share night where everyone brought crates of the stuff on their bookshelves and we spread it all out on the floor and had a tour of everyone’s collections.  The 20-year-old book I stumbled upon had an iteresting title about Cooking for Month or something.  (I’m not quoting it because I don’t know the title anymore and when I looked into buying it at the time, it was out of print anyway.) That is where my browsing ended that night.  I think I skimmed/read the whole thing then and there.  I raced home to add it to my cart at amazon.com but when I found that it wasn’t available, I spent hours amazed at how many books there were out there on a topic–of my own profession, no less–that I’d NEVER heard of. Even my mom later told me she knew of people who did it years ago but it always seemed impractical to her. Weird.

As a mom of three at the time (the youngest six months old) and pregnant with twins, I was tearing into the topic.  Then I remembered that I was pregnant with twins.  Right.  There was no way I could endure a project of this magnitude.  (I was also dealing with a hip injury/condition that caused tremendous pain and complicated everything.  I’ve since recovered about 90%–PRAISE THE LORD!!!–a post for another day.)  So, over the next two years I occasionally cooked double of some things and froze off one or two extra meals for the same amount of work.  In that, I got to experiment with freezing…which is a good thing to know something about if you are going freeze $300 worth of food!  Meanwhile, the hip thing kept me from being productive (in all areas of my life) until recently.  And now that Eric and I are on Jenny Craig, I’m cooking *very* differently. No more cream of what-cha-ma-call-it soup and cheese and butter and sour cream and everything else good fattening.  (read:  no experience freezing low fat stuff.)

Fast forward to last month when I discovered a blogger who creates monthly menus for you to freezer-cook with a friend that come with shopping lists, instructions, a podcast that details why she picked these items, and even labels to print to stick right on your foil packages! So intriguing, so marketable, so great!  I spent much time thinking about her business, actually.  (Jen, focus)  I decided I wanted to give it a whirl but I really couldn’t take advantage of her pre-packaged menu because of our diet restrictions and because…well, I cook differently.  I needed to blend my passion for the culinary arts with the convenience of dinner in a flash.  Therefore, I wanted to forge my own way. So typical of me.  And so annoying, too. You should NOT be like me.

Since I was re-inventing the meal…ah-hem, wheel, I should have taken more than a few days to prepare.  Enter stress.  On Tuesday, I started thinking of my menu which meant revisiting some of my old standbys and making them over as lower fat yumm-o-licious meals.  Is that even possible?  I’ll let you know when I thaw them!  Ha!  And, a few hours blog-hopping to find some new ideas.  (Ideas are aplenty when you start blog hopping.)  Then, I patterned my plan from Tricia’s plans with regard to three meals a day vs. just dinner, and planning out who’s doing what and when on cooking day.

This is getting really long…..

I went to Walmart the day before only because it was difficult to cash flow a month’s worth of food for a family of seven unless it was payday, at least.  I also picked up a humongous 13 qt. stainless bowl (you’ll see it in the pictures below) from the restaurant supply store that day.  So glad I did.  Best $8 I’ve spent in a long time.

My 24 year old sister, Chalee, volunteered to help me.  This was super great because she required no payment of 1/2 the food!  Nice to have no pressure for my maiden voyage but still have the help.

We initially crossed off the menu items as we completed them but that didn’t last long because by the time we got the end middle of the list, we were exhausted! The 2nd picture outlines why were so pooped out!  This was 13 hours of cooking for two people, plus prep work a few hours the day before.  The clipboard has my recipes and references in plastic sleeves.  I referred to these a lot and I was really happy I had them all in one place–and protected from the elements :o).  I’m glad that I wrote out our process.  It was a mental dress rehearsal.  We were more efficient because I did this. Typing it out wasn’t necessary but it was convenient that I didn’t have to tell her what to do next all the time.

Here’s a slideshow to fill in some blanks.  (Btw, it’s hard to photograph a day like this…)

(if you’d like to see the captions, go here)

What I’d do differently.

1.  Accept the fact that I don’t have to be perfect at every thing, every time.

2.  Start with a smaller menu.

3.  Use the pre-packaged plans from blog’s like Tricia’s or from books/websites like this one for the first time, at least. (This, by the way, is the first book I bought on the topic of freezer cooking.  Another great use of my husband’s hard-earned cash :o)

4.  Ensure I’m well rested.

5.  That my cooking day would begin, exist, and end all on the same day.  (refer to #2)  Ok, maybe a few hours the night before boiling pasta or making rice would be ok.  It sure helped us out on cooking day.

6.  Cook at my own house.  I hauled everything except the kitchen sink to my mom’s house because–well, she doesn’t have 5 kids, for one.  But also because she has 2 ovens, 6 burners, more counter space, better lighting, you get the picture.  What wasn’t there was the familiarity of cooking in my own kitchen.  Oh, and let’s not forget, the pressure involved in making sure it was cleaned up to meet her impossible expectations.  Ok, it wasn’t that bad, but there was a lot of pressure.  :o)  Love you, mom.

What I recommend you do.

1.  Believe that this is possible to do this without croaking.

2.  Start small.

3.  Team up with a no-stress friend or do it alone the first time to get your groove.

4.  Maybe get a group of friends together and cook for a new mom as a gift from everyone as an opportunity to cut your teeth.  (lots of friends=fun=low pressure=blessing to the new mom)

5.  Spread the word about OAMC because because it’s a bummer that you (or me) haven’t done this sooner!

6.  Subscribe to my blog! A girl likes to know she’s not writing for nuthin’ :o). See the orange button above my head up there?  Click it!  (I’d recommend selecting Google Reader)

7.  Comment (see #6) :o)

Thanks for reading!  –Jen

Recipe: Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

Today was one of those days where lunch time is supposed to be in 5 minutes, the kids have been clamoring for it for the last 15, and my kitchen has no available counter or sink space to speak of.  As background I’ll tell you the reason I let this happen is because I was so engrossed in planning  my 30-meal-cooking-weekend that I have planned for this weekend that I hardly paid attention to my kids!  Ug–a tale for another day. (Btw, stay tuned for posts relating to my upcoming cooking adventure! :o)

All this because you may be wondering why I made Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas for lunch instead of a can of soup!  Well……I was just getting so inspired by the other bloggers out there who had posted great recipes and ideas from their own BIG cooking days.  I wanted to know if this lunchtime favorite would freeze well, thus landing on the upcoming menu.  Phew, now that that is out of the way….

Here’s something you can do with all those black beans you made!  And, these quesadillas do freeze well so make tons of filling, load some tortillas and you’ll have lunch (or dinner) on hand for future days like…well, like the one I just had!

This is a great time to mention that I CREATE while I cook.  I do, however, keep track of what I did in case it turns out great!  I think there is such joy in cooking this way Therefore, I’m going to present my recipes and cooking methods to you in this format.  If you’re a “direction’s follower” or just don’t like creating food (but still like to eat), check back soon because I’ll post an actual recipe page where you can print off a standard looking format that corresponds to each “teaching session”.

First off, chop up an onion while a blob of oil heats in the pan. (I have a posting in the works on how to chop onions very efficiently–stay tuned.) Saute until the onions reach the level of crunchiness you like because this is all the cooking they get.

It is important to generously salt them when they go in the pan because this draws out the moisture which has sugar in it=caramelizing=FLAVOR.

Then add in 1 or 2 cups/1 can of black beans, depending on what you have on hand.  Next, frozen corn.  As much as your little heart desires.

Now for seasoning.  I am a Penzey’s Spices freak!  It is all I use.  Even the generic bottles are filled with Penzey’s bulk spices.  That said, go to Penzey’s or order online immediately! :0) Grocery store spices will NOT taste as good.  You might make this and say, “Hmph, this wasn’t as great as she said.”  That=spice’s fault, not mine :o)  All in fun, right? Spice to taste.  I used about 1 T each of cumin and chili powder.  This all depends on how much onion, beans, and corn you used, though.  Also, freshly ground black pepper is standard for me so that went in, too. If you’re not sure, taste it. Oh, and salt if necessary. Since this lunch was for my kids, I didn’t add cayenne pepper or extra chili powder but both would have been great.

Side note: What is the role of salt in a dish?  To bring out the flavors of the ingredients.  If it ever tastes salty, you’ve added too much.  Salt as you go along  to build the flavors. At the end, here’s what I do to see if I’m good: a bit of salt…take a bite, a bit of salt…take a bite.  You’ll see what I mean.  The flavor will just get better and better.

I added about 3/4 cup of water to the hot pan right after the spices (sort of like you would with taco meat spice packets).  This helped everything blend together and coat the ingredients.  Once the moisture evaporates, you’re all done with the filling.

Use the same pan here.  Run some warm water on to clean it, wipe with a paper towel and you’re up and running again.  Spray one side of 2 tortillas with non-stick cooking spray and place them in the pan like this.  Remember cheese is the glue so the order is CHEESE–FILLING–CHEESE. Use as much filling and cheese as you prefer. Then close it up and toast on both sides. Cool and cut on the same cutting board and knife you used earlier.

Mmmmm.

If you freeze, I suggest freezing the triangles individually (like IQF chicken nuggets, Individually Quick Frozen) then toss them in a large freezer bag.  Take out as many triangles as you need at a time and bake them at 400 until hot for a crispy crust OR microwave them if you’re in a hurry but willing to settle for soft crust.

Thanks for reading.  What’s your idea?  Try this recipe and leave a comment on what you did!

–Jen

Beans, beans the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot!

I’m not really inspired to write anything of value today but, I do have some fun kitchen adventures up my sleeve!  Here I’m going to show you how it is so simple (and fun!) to prepare your own beans!  It’s not scary.

VS.

It costs nearly $1 for the canned beans and I got this 4 lb. bag for under $4.  It made the equivalent of  14 cans.  Now that is good math!

First of all, don’t fret, the instructions are normally right on the back of the bag, see:

Ok, next, follow the instructions!  For 1/2 the bag (2 lb.) I need about 12 cups of water.  Pour it over the beans and swirl it around looking for odd things to float to the surface to remove.   Oh, and don’t forget to generously salt at this point, it will make your beans taste great!

Here’s where you decide how much time you have.  You can soak all night then simmer for 1-2 hours but I wanted this project checked off my list quickly.  Alas, there was an option for me!  Boil for 2 minutes, Soak for 1 hour, Simmer for 1 hour. (All right from the back of the bag–no magic formula to remember.) Perfect.

You know they’re done when they are soft enough.  Pretty easy.  Then drain them in a colander and portion them into freezer bags.

Boy, I really bagged it! :o)  I measured 2 cups of cooked beans into each bag (which is more than a can contains), labeled and froze.  Easy peezy.

What on earth would you do with all these beans?  Chili.  Black Bean Quesadillas. Black Bean and Corn Salsa.  Meatless tacos.  Refried beans. Variety of soups. Use your imagination.  I do the same for pinto beans, kidney beans, white beans, and chick peas (can you say hummus? :o)

As always, thanks for reading my blog.  I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE if you’d comment back on your own opinions or experience on the topic.  Or, just say Hi!  Oh, and SUBSCRIBE to my blog; that way, you can receive a notice when I update this blog.  See you!  –Jen

Recipe: Caramel Popcorn

Probably one of the best gifts I ever received was this recipe for caramel popcorn from my friend, Elaine.

My family LOVES this!  In fact, my grandpa gets a re-stocking of it every time he comes to visit and my dad will eat a whole batch in one sitting.  Then there’s my kiddos and husband–I have hidden today’s batch in the laundry room and it still managed to be half eaten by the time I wrote this tonight!  It makes a great gift for all sorts of occasions, including Christmas.  I hope your family delights in this as much as mine.  And it is pretty simple.  Takes about 15 minutes to oven.

Elaine is the super creative, artsy, musician type.  I had to show you the original recipe card.  It makes me smile every time.

Ok, now for my recipe commentary (I always change recipes to make them my own) and photo gallery :o)

I had a few helpers today…

The popcorn:  (I use air popped to save on fat–never mind the 2 sticks of butter going in! :o)

At the point where you boil without stirring for 5 minutes is where I diverge.  I found that if you boil for 4 minutes, the end result is more of a toffee crunch coating rather than a smooth candy-like caramel coating.  That is my family’s preference.  The boiling process:

I have messed up this recipe a few times by forgetting to add the baking soda and vanilla when I take it off of the heat.  TIP ALERT:  In order to remember, I nestle those ingredients right in the popcorn (wish I had a pic of that). Here it is! (I made this recipe again today!)

And now for the magical pairing of caramel and popcorn!

Stir, then in the oven.

See that toffee crunch finish? Mmmm!

More recipes forthcoming….

Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below; I’d love to hear from you!  Then, subscribe to this blog! –Jen