Bulk Meal prep in batches

I am truly, madly, deeply in love with this little corner of my fridge. Its where all my prepped food is stashed. This week my project was trying to find a hybrid prep ahead/cook ahead meal system. (p.s. if you don't see the links to click, just visit the blog).

I hate eating out. It feels like a waste of money. It stopped being enjoyable about the time I figured out I was allergic to every possible food allergen. Chili's is really awesome, they have this online tool where you input your allergens, and they spit out what you can eat on their menu. When I input all my allergens, the only thing left is Diet Coke... awesome. But when I am pressed for time and dinner doesn't get done, what do we do? We wind up eating out and I hate it.

I tried doing the cook ahead for 30 days thing in 1 day. It just didn't work. I can't get everything that organized, do that much shopping and invest that much time without losing my mind and I kinda need my mind.

So, onto what I am up to. Today I made main dishes for this evening through Sunday evening. Tonight Chicken Satay was on the menu. Normally, I am not a fan of Sandra Lee's Semi Homemade. Mostly because I am already proficient in the fine art of can opening and don't need a show about it. But her new show "Money Saving Meals" is a winner. She gives you a recipe for one night, and then you cook a double batch to use in another recipe another night. So the chicken satay on the lower right will become Spicy and Sweet Chicken Wraps for Saturday night.

Behind the Chicken Satay are the Hamburger patties I made for Saturday's Father's day Lunch. Next to the hamburgers I have pork chops siting in an apple brine waiting to be grilled for tomorrow night. On top of the pork I have Chicken Breasts seasoned and waiting to be thrown in the oven for Sunday night.

Maybe its a symptom of how myopic my world view is as a stay at home mom, but this really excites me. I like having this done, not having to worry about "is it defrosted?" and "what am I going to do with it?" Especially during the summer when we seem to have more activities that bump right up against dinner time.

Do your kids interrupt? I might have a solution

I don't think that kids grasp easily the idea of interrupting. When they were younger we used the idea of the kids putting their hands on our arm as a signal that they wanted to talk to us. We promised them that we would get to them within a few minutes.

But now they are older, and I think they could wait longer than a few minutes on many things. When I am on the phone, if their Daddy and I are having a talk or if I am helping another sibling with school work and they need me (or Daddy) we can use this system.

I saw a version of this somewhere on a blog, but now can't find it to give credit. I have also used systems like this in the classroom, but never thought of adopting it for the home.

They remove their clip, and come and clip it on my shirt. I explained that I can't forget them, because their clip will remind me. When I have the next free moment, I will come to them and see what they needed. In the meantime, I gave them a list of approved activities to occupy them while they wait.

Works for me Wednesday: Toeless socks Momjacked

Chloe had some tissue removed from the top of her foot by the dermatologist, and so the doctor told us to let her wear flip flops. Well, two weeks ago this was fine, but our area just had a cold front. Looking at her bare feet in those flip flops made me freeze. Even though she said she would be okay. So I came up with this idea. I cut the toes off her socks so she would be a bit warmer. Being a huge flip flop fan myself, I am trying to decide if I can get away with this. So far, I don't think so. but I do knit....

The rest of the day we spent cuddled inside. The kids were SO EXCITED. We had a fire. Now I know those of you who live in colder climates don't understand the thrill. But for our kids anytime we have a fire is EPIC!

Coffee Talk

This is my coffee buddy. We have started a little tradition that I love. Each morning when we get up, I make some coffee for myself and some cocoa for Emma. Then we head out to the porch, or the living room to have our "coffee talk". It is usually very quiet and we chat about whatever is on our mind.

For months I tried to find a way to get some alone time with Emma each day. I tried letting her stay up late. But by that time at night, I am a little burnt out. Since Brian has a whacky schedule, I can't count on being able to take her out by herself.

This was the perfect compromise. Everyone is pretty occupied in the mornings, and we are able to have our time without interruption. I think Coffee time is my favorite time of the day for a whole new reason now.

Works for me Wednesday: the home ear scope

This thing has a really long name that starts with "oto". Me and my spell check don't want to attempt it.

I am a bit of a germophobe, maybe alot, as you can see here in the lovely handwashing unit study we did. If you saw my medicine cabinet, you might try an intervention. Its all sorted like a drug store shelf.

This is one of my very best parenting tools. You know when your kids come in whining about the sorethroat/earache/sinus pain/insert your own malady here, and you just aren't sure HOW bad it is? Is it go to the doctor bad? lay on the couch bad? or just I wanna bum a yummy throat lozenge bad? This will give the answers! It is the home version of what the doctor uses to check out the nose, throat and ears at the clinic. They also include a mirror for dental problems.

It has a light that is directed right into the area you are looking at, plus the lens offers magnification so that you can see everything a little bigger. Inside there are pictures of what to look for. They show a healthy ear, and then an infected ear. This is the walgreens brand and the one I prefer. I have tried the one that CVS offers, but in an effort to go green they changed out the normal bulb into an LED bulb. Unfortunately, the LED bulb emits a blue light, which colors the tissues you are trying to view. It makes impossible to see if they are red and inflamed.

Now, I by no means am an expert, if I am on the fence, we go and get it checked out. But this has saved us a whole lot of unneccessary co-pays and worried nights.

Works for Me: Homeade Oxyclean

Oxi-Clean is sodium percarbonate. What is that? It's hydrogen peroxide and washing soda.

I mixed up half a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and about 1 T of washing soda. Works just like the store bought stuff, awesome laundry stain remover. Like any laundry product, be sure to test of color fastness.

Works for Me Wednesday: Mon.thly

I have hormone issues and I really should be keeping track of some kind of calendar, it would be helpful. A lot of the medication dosages I have to take vary according to what day of the cycle it is. So you would assume I am all over that calendar, but I haven't been. Then I found this nifty tool at Mon.thly.com I enter in a few dates, and anytime I want it will tell me what day of the cycle it is and it even emails me two days prior to ovulation and two days prior to the "big event". I think this program was initially designed with natural family planning and fertility in mind. But I have bent it to my will... muahahah...

On the topic of medication, gah, these side effects stink. Its sorta like having the tummy bug. I tried to eat dinner tonight, my appetite fled screaming from the house. The kids have been super awesome about it all, but we haven't been high activity lately. Its supposed to level off soon, it coudln't happen soon enough for me.

Simple Solution Saturday: Sore noses need chapstick

We have recently gone through an epic bout with colds, and along with the sniffling came the chapped noses. Now there is a very pricey product developed just for little kids chapped noses, but I used chapstick and rubbed it under their noses. It provided the exact same relief, for a fraction of the price. Now, I recommend in hindsight clearly labeling the chapstick used for noses, especially if you are a user of chapstick for lips. The other big discovery was eucalyptus oil. If you have ever used those sudafed shower soothers that are really quite expensive, you can get a big honking bottle of eucalyptus oil from the drug store for about 4 dollars. It will last you at least a year. Just throw a little on a washcloth, throw it on the floor of the shower and it will create an awesome steamer, like living inside an awesome vaporizer.

Edit: I forgot to mention, you can use this in the vaporizer in place of the more expensive vicks stuff.

Coppock's Cafe, what can I get ya?

I thought up a pretty nifty idea while I was in the middle of Sam's. My kids LOVE imaginative play, especially when they get to do it with a purpose. I purchased a big pack of these little memo books for us to play restaurant with. I think Emma and Chloe could really pull off the gum popping waitress with attitude. I was contemplating getting the actual order pads restaurants use, and then I contemplated the carbon paper and what that could do to my furniture. So I decided to stick with the memo books. Score one for mom! This evening I printed out the breakfast menus using clip art. I generally make or have available one of these four things, so they kids will be able to "order" their breakfast while one of them plays waitress.

Tomorrow I am going to let them help me design a lunch menu too. Dinner is the tricky one, because we don't eat the same thing every day, but I think maybe I will have to put "blue plate special" for dinner, but put all the customizable options on the menu.



After Sam's we snuck over to whatabuger, or "waterburger".

Works for Me: Starbucks Cup

Before you trash your frappachino cup, you might wanna hold onto it. It makes an awesome, tidy paint cup for little hands. The chunky brushes from Lakeshore Learning Store fit PERFECTLY!
This is now my new excuse for visiting Starbucks.....