Freezer Meal Cooking

This was my original draft of this post from a week or so ago. I have provided an update after the first round of Freezer Meal Cooking at the bottom. 

I am absolutely HORRIBLE at meal planning. In fact, I HATE IT with a passion. I hate sitting down and trying to predict what is going to sound good for the week, and I hate going to the grocery store. In a nutshell, I would rather go out to eat 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. The kicker is that we can't afford that lifestyle, it's not healthy, and I'm actually a pretty damn good cook. So, I have decided to take a different approach.

We spend roughly $200-275 a month on groceries. We typically do two really "big trips" of about $100 each, and then the incidental trips to pick up a few things at $20 per trip add up over the month. My goal is to try and cut that monthly bill in half. If we could get away with a whole month's of groceries for $100-$150, I would be very, very happy. Not only would we be able to put that money to better use, but we also wouldn't feel like the grocery store robbed us.

Enter Freezer Meal Cooking! I have read about this phenomenon where people spend one whole day a month cooking meals that they can freeze for the entire month. This means you have one huge shopping trip to buy supplies, one day of a really messy kitchen, and then you are left with a month's worth of meals that you can reheat and eat. I have done some research on what will freeze well and for how long, and thankfully a lot of our favorite recipes from The Pioneer Woman and Pinterest are totally freezable. There are also a lot of really great ideas on the Internet for new recipes.

My goal for this month is to create 24 meals. This means that we will have 6 meals per week that are homemade and premade, which leaves one night per week that we can go out and have a date with our extra money we are saving! So, is it possible to buy supplies for 24 meals on $100...that is yet to be determined, but I would think that planning things out and thinking ahead will help in the money saving department.

Here is my tentative plan for this month's meals.

1. Pioneer Woman's Mac & Cheese (1 recipe will make 2 meals)
2. Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf (1 recipe will make 2 meals)
3. Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells (1 recipe will make 2 meals)
4. Pizza Casserole (1 recipe will make 2 meals)
5. Corn, Black Bean, and Beef Empanadas (1 recipe will make 2 meals)
6. Pancakes (for breakfast-for-dinner)
7. Pizza Stuffed Pretzels
8. Coconut Crusted Chicken Breasts (make enough for 2 meals)
Need more...??

For extra fun, I am going to make 4 Pioneer Woman Pie Crusts and a batch of PW Cinnamon Rolls.
I have my work cut out for me!

UPDATE:

On Sunday, we sat down and created our grocery list for the day-o-cooking. We decided to go to Aldi first and see what we could find, and then we went to Meijer to finish up the rest of the groceries. All told, we ended up spending roughly $120, which would get us about 12 freezer meals and then our general day to day groceries for breakfast and lunch. I am not a couponer (I wish I was), but maybe since I am planning ahead more, I can start to look for coupons to save us even more money.

We did all the recipes as planned above except for #6-7, and I haven't had time to do the PW pie crusts and cinnamon rolls. I am reasonably sure I have all the baking ingredients for those items on hand.

Anywho-- Monday was the day for the cooking. When Noelle fell asleep, I got to work. I started boiling all the pasta and defrosting/browning meat. I did the meat loaves first since they took the most time in the oven, and then I just went from there...preparing and assembling. It was confusing to know which things needed to be baked, then frozen, and which things were just frozen and not baked. Everything looked really yummy when I was making it, but I decided to hold my breath until I actually started using the meals.

For storage, we bought the aluminum throw-away baking pans. For the casseroles and meat loaves, I wrapped plastic wrap tightly around the food (pressing it down onto the food), and then I added foil to the tops and crunched it down tightly around the rim of the pans. I wrote on the tops what the dish was, when it was made, and some brief instructions like baking temp and time and anything that needs to be done to it. I then cautiously put the items in the freezer and hoped for the best (and no freezer burn)!

Today is Thursday, and this was the first day we used a freezer meal. It worked out great because Luke was on call and I had a photo session, so it was unknown as to how much time we would have for dinner and if Luke would even be home in the first place. So, I set one of the pizza casseroles out in the fridge today to thaw. I put it in the oven to heat it up for about 15 minutes.

The result was really great! I only noticed mild crunchiness of the noodle edges on the top of the pan, and I think that's because I messed up when I baked it originally and didn't cover it so the noodles might have cooked too long in the first place. However, it was only one or two bites where I got a "crunch" and the rest was melty, cheesy, saucy goodness.

For this pizza casserole recipe, for my own notes, I am documenting that next time I will still use 1 bag of egg noodles, but I will use double the meat (I only used 1#) & double the sauce (need 2 jars). I like a lot of flavor, so I will add some italian seasoning to the meat maybe or just sprinkle it in when I am preparing the dish. This original recipe was supposed to be a layered dish, but I decided to just mix it all  together before I baked it to evenly distribute all of the sauce, meat, cheese, and noodles.

Overall, the first meal was a success! Luke really liked it and so did Noelle. The best part was that the clean up was 2 dishes, 2 forks, and an aluminum pan to throw away. It was magical. I am excited to add more recipes to the freezer and shoot for a whole month's worth of meals.

Here is the link to the original Pizza Casserole recipe:
Pizza Casserole by The Dinner Time Divas

I just want to be the Pioneer Woman...

...and because of that, I have decided that these two pieces of kitchen utensils are a MUST and I NEED them right now.

Stainless Steel Flat Whisk

Pastry Blender

And yes I really would use them.

And start to talk in an Oklahoman accent.

Pioneer Woman, I want to kiss you.

I just made an awesome dinner, and I wanted you to have all the instructions if you wanted to make this awesome dinner, too.

Spicy Dr. Pepper "Pork Butt"
Restaurant Style Smashed Potatoes
"The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever." 

All courtesy of the Pioneer Woman!

P.S. I should have worn my maternity jeans.

Finally! Crispy potato wedges!

I love looking for recipes online, and I love looking at the photos of the pictures. Food photography might become a new hobby of mine.

Anyway, what I tend to notice about the food photography is that my stuff never looks like it does in the pictures, especially when it comes to anything that is supposed to be breaded or crispy. Instead of golden brown and even-textured, my food usually looks like the breading is half falling off and not all the way done. Not cool.

However, I found a site that actually shows videos on how to make the food, which was particularly helpful when I wanted to make crispy potato wedges as a side to last night's dinner!

Here is watcha do--

Preheat oven to 425.

1. Get potatoes. I used 4 medium-ish red skinned potatoes (because that is all we had, and Luke didn't have his phone with him when he went to the store last night, so when I called him to ask for Idaho potatoes, his phone was actually ringing under a pillow on our couch).

2. Wash potatoes.

3. Cut potatoes in half length-wise, and then cut each half in half again, length-wise. Now you have four wedges per potato.

4. Put potatoes in a large bowl.

5. Collect 'yer spices. I used paprika, italian seasoning, and plenty of salt.

6. Dump spices on potatoes.

7. Drizzle olive oil on potatoes and then mix around the oil and spices so that each potato is evenly coated.

8. Place potato wedges on a baking sheet. Start them out laying on one of the cut edges of the wedges. HA that rhymed!

9. Bake for 20 minutes.

10. Flip the wedges to the other edges. ;-)

11. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or so.

12. Take wedges out and then flip to the skin side and just let them sit on the warm sheet for a few minutes.

13. Put on your plate and ENJOY! They were soooo crispy and flavorful and yummy! I will definitely, definitely make these again!

Betty Freakin' Crocker

Who the heck am I?

In the past few weeks...I have made some of the most delicious edible creations ever in the history of all mankind. 

Such creations include:

1) Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf

2) Pioneer Woman's Mac & Cheese

3) Pioneer Woman's Potato Skins

4) Bakerella's Cake Pops

I have really been trying to lose weight here lately, so we have not been eating out as frequently. This has allowed me to get creative in the kitchen. I don't get to do very much during the week, but the weekend is when I get to make a huge mess and whip up something fancy. 

Even though I am really trying to watch what I eat, I have made all of the Pioneer Woman (aka P-Dub) recipes using the full-fat ingredients. You see, P-Dub is basically a skinny Paula Deen, and she freakin' loves butter and cream. What's that, you say? How can you be watching your weight AND eating butter and cream? 

Well, what I have come to learn is that if I make the recipe using the full-fat ingredients and don't sub in wimpy low-fat substitutes, I tend to not eat as much of the finished product. It is more filling, richer, and satisfies me more, which means I am not prone to go back for 2nds (unless it is that damn mac & cheese. HOLY CRAP)! 

I also find that if I eat what I am actually craving, I don't hunt around the kitchen afterwards looking for something else to fill me up. Snacking constantly really hurts me in the weight loss department. My actual meals are not that horrible...it's really all the junk in between that packs on the pounds.

I am far from an expert, but I am learning more and more each day how to listen to what I am actually needing and wanting, and how to make good decisions when it comes to food. 

Except for tonight. Nachos at Don Pablo's was a bad decision.

Good thing there's always tomorrow!

The Super Epic Cake Pop Saga

I decided a few weeks ago that Noelle was going to have a bird themed 1st birthday. Not creepy black birds...but cute little whimsical birds.

I decided last weekend that I needed to find a way to make a bird-like Cake Pop (the Bakerella variety). How hard could it be??

Well...I took on the task, starting on Sunday. I thought it would be a simple thing to do. Not so much.

First, go to Bakerella's site and look at the main recipe. Then you can browse around at all the amazing cake pops she has made. Go ahead. But make sure you come back here! Bakerella's Red Velvet Cake Balls

So, I made the first batch-o-balls. They tasted great, but they were too big and they didn't stay on the sticks very well. When I dipped them in the chocolate, they were lumpy. I also made the mistake of letting them dry by sitting on a cookie sheet with waxed paper. This created a flat top on each cake pop. Yucky. But...like I said...they tasted great!

I harvested some advice from Facebook from people who have done this before, but they helped me get through some of my issues.

Here's a list to help you if you decide to do this. This second batch was a white cake with cream cheese frosting and then white candy melts dyed light yellow.

1. Make sure you have the right consistency of the cake mix and frosting. I really mixed it will and then let it kind of sit out for a little bit, which made it get a little tacky and rolled much easier.

2. Make the balls about the width of a quarter. Do not make the balls too big!!!

3. Dip the stick in a little bit of the candy melts first (about a 1/2"), and then stick them in the balls. This will help them stick.

4. Refrigerate (or freeze) for several hours.

5. Add a little oil to the candy melts to make it a little thinner so it doesn't tug on the cake ball and make it lumpy.

6. Make sure you put the candy melts in a deep enough cup so that you can fully dunk the cake ball.

7. Twist and tap the cake pop once it is coated, getting the excess off.

8. Stick the cake pops in a block of styrofoam so that they can dry standing up.

9. For the faces of my birds, I used some shaped sprinkles and some black frosting dye. I used the end of a pop stick to get some candy melt on the tip and then use it as glue for the beak and feet. I used the end of a pop stick to make the eyes, too. Granted, I haven't really figured out which face looks more like a bird. Some of these look like birds, some look like crazy clowns, others look like rabbits, and some look like hamsters. Meh. I will get better.

Praise the LORD I did not just decide to make these for the first time the weekend of Noelle's birthday! I would say you need to allow yourself at least a full day to get these made. They are time consuming, but if you put in the extra work, they look pretty cute!

The best part is that they taste as good as they look...or in my case, they taste better than they look!

So I'm not a total domestic failure...

I cooked this week.

Here's the proof (aside from the scale that isn't budging and the pile of dirty dishes in the sink).

Frank's Buffalo Chicken Dip
(I had a hankering for some buffalo chicken dip...sooooo something the former Ashley would never touch...so I made some last weekend rather than pay $8 for an appetizer at Scotty's Lakehouse or O'Charley's. It was real good.)

8 oz of cream cheese (I used 1/3 reduced fat)
1/2 cup of Frank's Hot Sauce
1/2 cup of reduced fat ranch dressing
1/2 cup of reduced fat shredded mozzarella
2 cans of white chunk chicken (from a can...and it does in fact smell like tuna, so I can see how Jessica Simpson was confused)

Soften the cream cheese and stir it in the bottom of a pretty deep baking dish (give yourself at least 4 inches deep).
Add the hot sauce, ranch, cheese, and chicken, and mix it all around all smooth-like.
Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake about 20 minutes...until there's a golden brown crustyness to the top.

Eat with multigrain tortilla chips. YUM.

Simple Shrimp & Pasta
(I like to just throw things together and make things up myself. For example...this recipe.)

1/2 a box of whole wheat thin spaghetti
10-12 cooked shrimp (get the kind without the poop veins and take the tails off, weirdos)
1 tablespoon of red pepper (or more if you're feeling crazy)
1 medium Vidalia onion (I am really into Vidalia's these days), cut into thin rings
Spoonful of minced garlic
2 tablespoons of butter

Cook the pasta like normal, then drain. Melt the butter on medium heat. Add the garlic. Let it get a little toasty. Add the onion and saute for a few.
Add the red pepper and the shrimp. Only cook the shrimp enough to get it warm.

Add the drained pasta to the sauce/shrimp and let it soak up all the goodness. Serve & eat. Drink water because it has a kick to it!

Pizza Rolls
(not Totinos...though those are good, too)

1 can of Pillsbury crescent dough in garlic butter flavor
1 small can of tomato sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
turkey pepperoni

Unroll the dough on the baking sheet. Separate all the triangles. Add a thin layer of sauce to each triangle. Then add about 3 pepperoni to each. Lastly cover with cheese (not too much!). Roll up the crescent and bake according dough directions. Sprinkle with some parmesan cheese when you're done.

Red Chicken Chili
(I have made this a  lot over the past year or so. It's really good this time of year.)

Recipe too long. Google it.

I also made Fruity Nut Muffins from the Flat Belly Diet book. You can look that one up, too.

Look at me, I'm Rachael Ray!

Cooking with Grandma

Before my grandma died, she made sure that I have her 1956 Betty Crocker cookbook. This cookbook, with its stained and tattered cover and half torn out pages, guided many baking sessions with my grandma and me when I was little. I have fond memories of watching her bake with shortening, put the fork marks in peanut butter cookies, and roll up "bumble bees" out of left over pie crust. It was with her that I learned that hamburgers can be fried in a skillet and pizza can be cut with scissors.

It meant a lot to me that I have this cookbook. I have set it in my kitchen as sort of a decoration for the past couple of years, but after talking with my dad about how much he loved grandma's butterscotch meringue pie, I decided to put it to good use. I carefully turned to the pie section, trying hard not to lose any loose pages. I love seeing her handwriting on the pages and the occasional greasy finger print. I also love seeing how old-fashioned this cookbook is....assuming that the woman of the house was to be the domestic goddess. There are weeks worth of meal ideas, tips on how to keep your man happy and full, and how to brew coffee for 40 people. My how the times have changed. Nearly everything calls for a hearty dose of lard...no margarine in sight.

Anyway, I set out to make this butterscotch meringue pie as a belated Father's Day gift for my dad. I carefully followed all of the directions, and, after using nearly all of my pots and pans as well as every measuring device I own, this was the finished product:

I think my dad was pretty surprised that I actually made the pie. It was pretty good, too. I had so much fun making it that I turned around and did a mixed berry pie with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. This pie was pretty awesome, especially warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I have plans to do a chocolatey pie next. I just love the way the crust tastes, and I don't care that I put like 1/2 a cup of shortening in it. It's what makes it amazing. I eat diet ice cream, diet cookies, diet chips, and I drink diet coke. Having a piece of full-flavor, full-fat, homemade goodness every now and then won't kill me.

I don't have oodles and oodles of warm fuzzies about that side of the family, but I do have my grandma's cookbook, which is really all I need.

Tasty Tuesday - Pizza Sandwiches

I am starting a feature on this blog called Tasty Tuesday. What is Tasty Tuesday, you ask? OK, no worries. I will tell you.

This blog has become a great way for me to 1) share my feelings, 2) share some pictures, 3) share my opinions, 4) share Noelle. However, I don't want it to be come stale and redundant. I would like you, as the reader, to remain interested and wondering, "I wonder what that Mrs. E is yapping about today?"

Thus, Tasty Tuesday was born. I enjoy cooking. In fact, I rarely feel more womanly and powerful than when I am whipping up something delicious in my kitchen. I am a self-taught cook who enjoys finding new recipes and buying fun ingredients like Dill Weed.

My food tastes have really evolved over the years, and I find myself interested in a whole new world of food. If this were me 6 years ago, I am pretty sure the only thing you would find me making is chicken fingers. I have now been introduced to the world of cheese, beef, vegetables, and an abundance of other things I would not have touched with a 10-foot pole. However, you will NEVER find me cooking with either of these two ingredients-- FISH or MUSHROOMS. So, if you're looking for that kind of thing, I hear www.foodnetwork.com has a great site.

Anywho...please enjoy as I have posted my first recipe for Tasty Tuesday. I made these for Luke's birthday party over the weekend, and they were a hit. They are customizable, so if you HAVE to have an offending piece of fungus (i.e. mushroom), you can add it in as you please. Just don't tell me about it.

Bon Appetit!

Pizza Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1. Crescent roll dough (I used Pillsbury's crescent roll sheets-- not perforated like regular crescents) -- you will need 2 cans per pizza, and I made 3 pizzas with this...so...my math tells me SIX cans for this exact recipe!

2. 1 jar/can of pizza sauce

3. 1 bag of Italian cheese (I used that 5 cheese Italian blend)

4. Pepperoni (or whatever you want to put on...I don't recommend a lot of toppings as the dough is thin)

5. 1 egg, beaten

6. Herbs such as basil, oregano, garlic powder

7. Parmesan cheese

Process:

1. Preheat to 375 degrees

2. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray

3. Roll out 1 crescent roll dough sheet on the cookie sheet. If you cannot find the roll sheets, you can use crescent rolls, just push the perforations together with your fingers to make them one long sheet.

4. Spoon pizza sauce on the dough in a thin layer. Leave about a 1/4" border of dough around the edges.

5. Place pepperoni evenly on the dough.

6. Sprinkle cheese evenly on top of the pepperoni. I don't recommend piling it on, as again the dough is thin and these are meant to be a "light-ish" snack.

7. Roll out a piece of parchment paper on the counter. Then roll out another can of crescent roll dough on top of the paper. Stretch it to the size of the other dough with all the toppings on it.

8. Lift the parchment paper and turn it over so that the dough is now on top of the pizza toppings. Peel back the parchment paper carefully. Now you have made a pizza sandwich!

9. Press the edges of the dough together.

10. Brush the beaten egg on top of the dough.

11. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, basil, oregano, and garlic powder.

12. Place in oven for about 12 minutes.

Repeat for the additional two pizzas you are going to make.

When they come out, cut the pizzas into even squares (I cut mine into about 8 squares). Then cut the squares diagonally so that you have 16 triangles.

Serve with marinara sauce for dipping!

YUM!

Cooking with Paula

I love Paula Deen. I love her voice. I love impersonating her with Elizabeth. "Let's deep fra this buttah in oll (oil), roll it in sugah, and wrap it in foll (foil)." I have made several recipes of hers. I get them from www.pauladeen.com. On Saturday night, I was feeling ultra domestic, so I made her mashed baked potatoes, and on Sunday night I made her gooey butter cake. Needless to say, Luke and I have been eating light ever since...

The mashed baked potatoes were really good. It combines instant mashed potatoes (which I personally am I huge fan of on their own), frozen hash browns, french fried onions, and lots of cheese. They were really, really good! We even used the left overs (we had plenty) for breakfast the next morning by just tossing them in the skillet for a few. I recommend this recipe for sure!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/mashed-baked-recipe/index.html

The gooey butter cake...I knew Luke would probably not be a fan of just because of the title. He's not into butter the way I am. It was pretty good, but VERY rich. I would recommend eating this with ice cream or something to tame it down. The ingredients consisted of TWO sticks of butter, cream cheese, eggs, a yellow cake mix, and a whole box of powdered sugar. Can you say sweet? I had a small glob of the cake and it was enough for me. I am not sure who is going to eat it with me because Luke hasn't touched it. I recommend this for a family gathering where lots of people will be there to enjoy it.

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/view2/gooey_butter_cake

Signs of Spring

For a couple weeks now, Luke and I have anxiously awaited the blooming of our bradford pear tree in our front yard. Unfortunately, in the fall, the tree suffered some damage due to a wind/rain storm and a huge section of branches broke off. This was really upsetting to us, and it made us question the livelihood of the tree come Spring. Lucky for us, the tree has survived and looks beautiful! It is the biggest and best on our street, and we were dorks yesterday and took pictures of it. :-)

Additionally, we are waiting on the blooming of our weeping cherry blossom tree in our side yard. Of course this tree has special significance as it represents the child we lost in our miscarriage about 6 months ago. The tree has looked pretty puny throughout the winter and has worried us a lot, but we see signs of budding and we are very excited for it to bloom. The due date is approaching, April 13...and I hope we see blooms by then. 

Luke and I have had quite the wonderful weekend. Friday night we enjoyed some Puccini's, which is a local Italian restaurant with a few locations in the surrounding area. We ate it a few times last year on the northwest side, and we discovered a location right off 116th street so we dined there on Friday. Yummy! Luke then got the awesome idea to rent "The Brave Little Toaster," the 1987 classic tale of discarded electric appliances who go looking for their master. We absolutely loved watching the 22 year old movie and laughed the whole night. 

Saturday we spent a good 20 minutes laying in our driveway in the sun, and I think we both fell asleep! We also did a lot of productive things around the house like laundry and cleaning and putting the trim up in the bathrooms and entryway. YES we are STILL finishing up the tile job! It has taken forever! But I see the end...it is near!

I made some absolutely STELLAR crockpot ribs for dinner and really want to share the recipe with you.

Use anywhere from 2-3.5 lbs of pork back ribs. Do not use spare ribs as they are not as tender and don't do a nice job with this recipe. I made that mistake a few months ago.

Cut off any excess fat you see (I don't like doing this as I don't care for handling bloody animal parts, so I leave the fat on usually...)

Spray a crockpot with nonstick spray and turn it on low. Cut the ribs into 3 sections (about 4-6 inches long.

Mix 1/4 cup of brown sugar with 3 tablespoon of liquid smoke and some garlic (how every much you like, chopped up), as well as salt and pepper to taste. Rub this mix into the ribs and then layer the ribs with sliced onion. Red onion works nicely.

Pour a can of coke, diet coke, Dr. Pepper, pepsi, diet pepsi...any dark cola....into the crockpot with the ribs. 

Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours. The smell in your house will be amazing!

After 8 hours, take the ribs out carefully, probably with tongs or a slotted spoon because they will literally be falling off the bones at this point. Dump out the liquid from the crockpot, then put the ribs back in the crockpot. Dump in BBQ sauce (I like the Jack Daniels brand) in the crockpot over the ribs. Cook for about another hour.

Take the ribs out and ENJOY! They are so amazing. They fall off the bones and would make excellent pork BBQ sandwiches, too. This is Luke's favorite thing I make, and he even compares them to Loon Lake Lodge ribs, which is a high compliment! 

I just wanted to include a couple pictures I found of Edna on my camera. Look how pretty she is!

 

Chocolate Covered Strawberries (super easy!)

I made chocolate covered strawberries this morning (ironically after going to the gym), but this is a healthy recipe from my Flat Belly Diet book.

Mix 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of fat free milk in a double boiler. Reduce the heat to medium and stir the chocolate until it is smooth. This only takes like a minute, and you DON'T want to burn chocolate! It is so gross (and smells nasty, too!).

Take the chocolate off the heat and then dip the strawberries in until your heart is content. Place strawberries on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

I think this chocolate recipe would also be good for dipping pretzel rods. I made chocolate covered pretzels to go with Christmas presents a couple Christmases ago, and they were SO good. This version of the chocolate recipe is healthier because it uses semi-sweet chocolate chips with fat free milk...no cream or additional sugar.

Yum!

Sweet Potato Fries

I never ate sweet potatoes before I tried sweet potato fries at Amazing Joe's (a local Muncie restaurant) last summer. I fell in love with this wonderfully delicious variation of my favorite food, fries. I have tried a lot of my own recipes for sweet potato fries over the last few months, and my favorite so far is this:

This recipe is good for 2 people.

1 large, huge, ugly sweet potato (or 2 smallish-medium ones)

Chili powder

Garlic salt

Sea salt

Cumin

Olive oil

Peel the sweet potato and chop it into 4ths, then chop it down some more into 1/2 " thick strips. They don't have to be perfect, just about 4 inches long.

Put them in a bowl, toss with olive oil, then shake a lot of chili powder, garlic salt, sea salt, and cumin on them. 

Put on a cookie sheet, bake at 450 for about 20 minutes...flip halfway through. 

They are SOOOO yummy!

Spring Cleaning

This weather has really inspired me to get my butt in gear and start organizing the house for the spring/summer season. Today has been kind of rainy, so what better day than to dig in and weed out TONS of old, out of style clothes and finally utilize the closet organizer system that has been in the trunk of my car for about a year. It has been fun to "purge" the old stuff, in hopes that in just a couple of months, I can shed the remainder of this "college weight" and buy some new clothes. I lost another pound today, making it 14 lbs total! 16 more to go...

Anyway, an update to the last post...I said I would calculate our monthly spending and usage on our electric bill. Since June/July when we moved in, our average bill has been $69.84, and our average usage has been 722. I look forward to watching that go DOWN (even though once I looked at it, I guess our bills aren't that expensive). However, every little bit counts. 

The tiling project is going well. The entryway is almost completely done (minus the grout and a couple corner pieces that require the use of a rented wet saw). It looks really, really great. 

Also, one of Luke's med school friends, Clay, gave him a bag of Amish Friendship Bread mix last week. I hadn't ever participated in this before, but it is really cool. The idea is to start the mix on your own, then after a few days, you add some ingredients and then split it into 4 additional mixes that you can give to friends. The friends then need to wait 5 days and then begin adding other ingredients and bake the bread. We finally baked ours, and WOW...it was amazing. It made nearly 3 loaves of bread, and it has this wonderful cinnamon sugar topping. Needless to say, between Abel being over here last night to help with tile, an impromptu visit from Eric & CeCe last night, and Luke and myself, the bread is nearly gone! Just Google "Amish Friendship Bread" and you will lots of recipes and variations.

I enjoyed a wonderful night of catching up with some sorority sister friends, Carly, Dani, and Kelley. We went to Bravo and had wine and great food, plus some great "adult" conversation. It's nice to hear other women my age talk about the same things I am always thinking/talking about. We will have to do it again soon! In Luke's world, he, Abel, Eric, and CeCe saw Slumdog Millionaire and loved it.