Question 6 - Thank you for telling me....

Our contest is closed, and so are the comments. If you would still like to answer the questions we would love to have your answers emailed to mrs.pear (at) cox.net. Thank you.

Ladies, thank you so much for your wonderful answers! I cannot tell you how much they are helping already! So for our next question....


Please finish this sentence:

When I decided to return home (or remain home), the best advice I received was......

Question 5 - Why didn't you tell me????

Our contest is closed, and so are the comments. If you would still like to answer the questions we would love to have your answers emailed to mrs.pear (at) cox.net. Thank you.

Thank you so much for participating in our survey and contest!

Our next question is:


Please finish this sentence:

When I decided to return home from the work world, I wish someone would have told me.....


Please remember to include your email address with your comment so that we may be able to contact you if you win, and that we may use your comment for both research purposes and also as a direct quote in our writings. (Your comment here is viewed as permission to do such.) For the introductory post and information on the contest, please click here.)

Planning Your Freezer Cooking Shopping Session

Here is part 2 of my Kitchen Tip Tuesday (sorry to break them up, but it was too long a post otherwise!) and my Works for Me Wednesday (as this works great for me when I want to plan a freezer cooking session!) (While you are visiting, be sure to check out my contest!)

When planning your freezer cooking session it is important to remember 3 things:

1. Don't cook more than you can store! Be certain you know how everything will fit in your freezer!

2. If you are doing this to save money and time be mindful of selecting recipes that are either inexpensive, or call for ingredients on hand or on sale.

3. The preparation steps are the same no matter how much cooking you are planning on doing!


Preparation Step 1: Selecting your recipes!

When selecting your recipes you want to keep in mind that your family may not like eatting the same thing each Monday night for two months, which can happen if you make to much of something! However, I do make a number of meals if I know they will keep in the freezer for a couple months. You just have to use your own best judgment on this one!

I try to select recipes that have common ingredients and preparation as I showed in the Kitchen Day - Tortilla Soup and Enchiladas (How To) example. If you are doing a Once A Month Cooking day it is obviously impossible to do all the meals like this, but try to pair up each recipe with at least one other one that has commonalities!

While freezer cooking is great because it lets you buy certain things in bulk like meat and cheese, if you don't select your meals carefully you can end up sending more because so little was on sale! When I am planning a bigger cooking day I try to pick recipes where I have a lot of the ingredients already on hand (having picked them up on sales), or that call for ingredients on sale now! If I really need to stock up the freezer I will start my preparation a couple weeks a head of time so I can be watching the sales and spreading the cost over a couple weeks of grocery/household budget. However, this point is one of the main reasons I have settled into My Usual Method of cooking a bit each week, so I can really take advantage of sales and therefore make our grocery/household budget go further!

Once you have selected your recipes, make a list of them (including cookbook name and page number) grouping the like recipes together.

Making you grocery lists

If I am just doing an extra meal for the freezer I just use my usual grocery preparation time for this, but if I am doing two or more recipes in one day, or more, I use this method.

Take 5 sheets of paper (I like to use scrap paper for this) and label them:

1. Meat
2. Dairy
3. Vegetables
4. Canned Goods
5. Other

Go through each recipe and write each ingredient under its appropriate catagory. At this point do not worry if you have it in house! Be sure to include how much you need. For canned goods be sure to write 2 x 14oz cans, or whatever it is because some recipes will call for the 56 oz cans, or maybe you can save by buying the bigger cans, etc. Less room for error this way! When writing down the meat be thorough as well. Often for chicken breasts I end up with a certain number of pounds I need plus a certain number of individual half breasts.

Once you are done your complete lists, total everything up as much as you can, and then start subtracting from your lists what you have on hand.

Now you are ready to make your grocery list however you usually like to make it! (I like to do it with fliers, coupons and coffee at hand, but that is just me!)

Step 3: The Shopping Trip

Please remember that you may be buying more than 1 cart's worth of food if you are doing a freezer cooking session for the entire month. So get all your canned goods and non-perishables first, then get the perishables! Especially in the summer heat. If you have to make a couple stops, take coolers with you!

If at all possible I like to try to roll in my regular weekly shopping with this, or my monthly Costco run. Less trips save me time, and often money.

If you are doing a large cooking session, make sure you have a place to stash all these groceries - I usually shop one day and start cooking the next so that it all goes in the freezer!

There, now you are all done shopping! Next up, planning your prep work!

Next up in the series, apparently in no particular order:
- Planning your shopping, prep and cooking
- Storing your meals revisited and revised
- Keeping track of what is in your freezer and what is the oldest
- Freezer lunch stash complete with ideas
- Freezer breakfast stash complete with ideas
- Recipes I used in my marathon cook that have not yet been posted
- What little I know about having a group of friends who share freezer meals
- Books and resources I love
- Answers to questions you post for me or email to me (email button is in my profile).


Previously in the series:
Introduction to the series
Why Freezer Meals?
My Usual Method
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pesto Butter and Chicken Cordon Blue
Chicken Enchiladas
Kitchen Day - Tortilla Soup and Enchiladas (How To)
Blessing of Freezer Meals
Lazy Lasagna - A Freezer Meal
Sauce for Freezer Meatballs
Pineapple Tuna Cracker Snack
Freezer Cooking with Limited Space
Orange Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Orange-Apricot Glazed Pork Chops
Converting your Casserole Recipes to Freezer Recipes
Converting your Meat Recipes to Freezer Meals
Triple Chocolate Cookies
Bacon-Macaroni Bake
Once A Month Freezer Cooking Simply Explained

Question 4 - Biggest Issue

Our contest is closed, and so are the comments. If you would still like to answer the questions we would love to have your answers emailed to mrs.pear (at) cox.net. Thank you.

So often what we were afraid of is completely different that what turns out to be the biggest problem! So.....

What did the biggest challenge in the transition home actually turn out to be:

• A) Managing a household budget
• B) Cooking for my family
• C) Cleaning for my family
• D) Filling my days (sorry, I could not resist this one!)
  
• E) Loneliness
• F) Other (Please Specify):

And of course, we would appreciate it if you would spread the word on our contest! If you blog about it and link to us (letting us know that you did via email to mrs.pear(at)cox.net) we will enter you another time in the contest!


Please remember to include your email address with your comment so that we may be able to contact you if you win, and that we may use your comment for both research purposes and also as a direct quote in our writings. (Your comment here is viewed as permission to do such.) For the introductory post and information on the contest, please click here.)

Question 3 - Biggest Fears

Our contest is closed, and so are the comments. If you would still like to answer the questions we would love to have your answers emailed to mrs.pear (at) cox.net. Thank you.

When I returned home, our extended family was facing serious medical crisis on many fronts, it was not a noble decision on our part, but a case of doing what was required to care for our little family of Mr. Pear and I, and also our extended family. But I find that fear is a big issue in this decision!

So, my next question is:

When I returned home full time after working outside the home my biggest fears were:

• A)No longer being able to eat out as much as I would like
• B)No longer being able to buy the household items I would like
• C)Having to cook more meals
• D)Having to do my own cleaning and gardening
• E)Finances in general
• F) Other (Please Specify):

Please feel free to elaborate as any extra information you give me will help tremendously!

And of course, we would appreciate it if you would spread the word on our contest! If you blog about it and link to us (letting us know that you did via email to mrs.pear(at)cox.net) we will enter you another time in the contest!


Please remember to include your email address with your comment so that we may be able to contact you if you win, and that we may use your comment for both research purposes and also as a direct quote in our writings. (Your comment here is viewed as permission to do such.) For the introductory post and information on the contest, please click here.)

Once A Month Freezer Cooking Simply Explained

I am taking a break from our contest to participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays and write more on my freezer series!

Before I even start this let me just say that this is not the method of freezer cooking I usually use, but it is a great method if you have the time and the freezer space! It is reading about Once a Month Cooking that helped me develop My Usual Method, and that my usual method is just a mini-version of a once a month cook! And of course, if you have been reading here for a while, you will know of my fit of insanity I did a double month of cooking in my marathon cook with the help of my MIL where we made 50 freezer meals for our family - or if you ask her, I made 50 meals, and she washed dishes (we are both convinced the other worked harder!)

Once a Month Cooking is great if you have the freezer space and can carve out two or three days a month to devote to it. When we have no children under 3 I anticipate doing either this, or at least larger freezer baking sessions than I do now!

Once A Month Cooking is basically a couple of days dedicated to preparing and making your meals for an easier supper preparation each other day of the month! If that is not a great kitchen tip, I am at a loss for what is! :-)

Once A Month Cooking often it looks like this:
Day 1 - Shop (If you have to do a two cart shop, get all your perishables second)
Day 2 - Prep and start cooking
Day 3 - Finish cooking

Usually the cooking day is a very full and long day, and often it requires two cooking days with one day being a lot of preparation such as chopping vegetables etc.

Our Marathon Cook looked like this:
Week leading up: Pick recipes based on sales and good prices on meat and ingredients, make lists
Shopping Day 1: Ralph's and Henry's Market Place for my usual shopping trip and the things I needed for our cooking day
Shopping Day 2: Costco trip - best price on meat and some canned goods that I needed
Cooking Day: One day of craziness with the priority being to do everything that needed the stove or oven before the day got warm! We also had two slow cookers on the go. We started at 8 and were finished in time for supper!

When selecting the meals it is common to try to select meals that use up either ingredients you have been able to pick up on sale throughout the preceding month, or take advantage of current sales on the big dollar items like meat. Also, as much as possible you want to choose meals that have common preparations of common ingredients, like in the Kitchen Day - Tortilla Soup and Enchiladas (How To) example I posted in July.


If you are new to freezer cooking, or want to try freezer cooking for the first time in any kind of quantity of meals, I recommend:
Once-a-Month Cooking: Revised and Expanded: A Proven System for Spending Less Time in the Kitchen and Enjoying Delicious, Homemade Meals Every Day
It has a number of monthly menus available and does all the calculations and math and preparation for you! It is an excellent primer.

Another great example is Bethany who posts all about her experiences! She was posting about the start of her August preparations (and is using two of my recipes) with the promise to post more about August's cooking. If you click on her Once A Month cooking cooking link you will find lots of information.

The important thing to remember is that it is the same preparation whether you are doing two freezer recipes for two meals for 4, or 15 recipes for two meals for 8, or however many people you are preparing for! It is just a case of it being more figuring and preparing depending on how many you are serving!

So my next post on freezer cooking will be on exactly how to prepare your shopping and cooking efficiently! This post is already long enough!

But the thing to remember is that it is all the same whether you are making two different sets of meals that will each provide two meals for your family like I usually do, preparing a week's worth of meals, preparing two week's of meals or preparing a month of meals, it is all the same thought process, it is all the same preparations, it is all the same everything, except the amount of work at once!

The only thing you have to watch as you ramp up to do more meals at once is your cost as it is easy to fall into the trap of not watching your sales, which is why I usually choose to do smaller cooking sessions, but if you plan your freezer cooking around the sales you will do great! And of course, freezer cooking allows bulk buying which often results in big savings!

I hope this helps, I wanted to cover this before I explained the nuts and bolts of preparing your own cooking session!

Next up in the series, apparently in no particular order:
- Planning your shopping, prep and cooking
- Storing your meals revisited and revised
- Keeping track of what is in your freezer and what is the oldest
- Freezer lunch stash complete with ideas
- Freezer breakfast stash complete with ideas
- Recipes I used in my marathon cook that have not yet been posted
- What little I know about having a group of friends who share freezer meals
- Books and resources I love
- Answers to questions you post for me or email to me (email button is in my profile).


Previously in the series:
Introduction to the series
Why Freezer Meals?
My Usual Method
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pesto Butter and Chicken Cordon Blue
Chicken Enchiladas
Kitchen Day - Tortilla Soup and Enchiladas (How To)
Blessing of Freezer Meals
Lazy Lasagna - A Freezer Meal
Sauce for Freezer Meatballs
Pineapple Tuna Cracker Snack
Freezer Cooking with Limited Space
Orange Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Orange-Apricot Glazed Pork Chops
Converting your Casserole Recipes to Freezer Recipes
Converting your Meat Recipes to Freezer Meals
Triple Chocolate Cookies
Bacon-Macaroni Bake

Sale at Biblical Womanhood Online!

Crystal is having a fabulous sale over at



Everything is on sale until Friday Midnight!

And, as an added extra special bonus, if you use the coupon code "savemore" at checkout, she will take an additional 10% off!

Crystal has a great selection of things, I just received an order from her last week:

• I signed up for her Supermarket Savings Class
• A Girls 1914 Dress Pattern
• 24 Hours is All You Get CD
• Needlework Skills: Book1; A Hand Sewing Primer
• Created to be His Helpmeet
• The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

Everything was carefully packaged, and my shipment arrived both quickly and safely!

So now that there is such a big sale I am alternately kicking myself for not waiting, and thinking about ordering a couple books for Miss Pear that I had put off when I ordered the last time!

Happy Shopping!

Question 2 - What is it you do?

Our contest is closed, and so are the comments. If you would still like to answer the questions we would love to have your answers emailed to mrs.pear (at) cox.net. Thank you.

We have all been asked that annoying question at exactly the wrong time. You know the one...

"And what is it that you do????"

As a woman who works very hard at home, I am sometimes at a loss for an answer! I know that I am on the go all day, but I am not always sure what I do! I know that Miss Pear was cared for, meals got made, clothing got washed, house got cared for, but did that really take all day? Usually the answer is yes, but what I accomplished feels so miniscule in the scheme of things! Yet I know that what I do has a huge impact on my family!

As a woman who works very hard in her home, how do you answer this question?

(looking for both the humorous and the serious here!)

Please remember to include your email address with your comment so that we may be able to contact you if you win, and that we may use your comment for both research purposes and also as a direct quote in our writings. (Your comment here is viewed as permission to do such.) For the introductory post and information on the contest, please click here.)

Question 1 and Introduction

Our contest is closed, and so are the comments. If you would still like to answer the questions we would love to have your answers emailed to mrs.pear (at) cox.net. Thank you.

We are writing a book for families where the wife would like to leave the workplace and return home full time for one simple reason - when our family made this switch there was very little help available, and a lot of people were far from encouraging! After all, we did not have Miss Pear yet, so what was I going to do all day???

We are not getting into the discussion of whether or not that is the right thing to do, there are lots of valid opinions out there, and lots of information. We are talking to the family who wants to make this change, and needs help and encouragement!

We are using this contest to gauge if our focus is on track, or if we have missed anything! It would be sad to spend all this time writing only to have taken a wrong turn!

So, our first question is a two part question, and is very easy!

1) Which currently describes you the best:

• A) I am a stay at home wife and/or mother, and always have been.
• B) I am a stay at home wife and/or mother who once worked outside the home while married.
• C) I am a wife and/or mother who works outside the home, but wish to be home full time.
• D) I am a grown daughter living in my father's home.
• E) Other, please specify
  

2) What title do you prefer to describe you? Homemaker? Stay at home Wife/Mom? Keeper at home? Queen (this is what my husband jokingly calls me, it is a long story as to why, but it is funny and loving). Whatever it is, please share it with me!

Please remember to include your email address with your comment so that we may be able to contact you if you win, and that we may use your comment for both research purposes and also as a direct quote in our writings. (Your comment here is viewed as permission to do such.) For the introductory post and information on the contest, please click here.)

Menu Plan Monday - August 6

We have an exciting week planned around here at the Pear household - a special event on this blog! Check back Monday morning for the week long event....

So last week I was celebrating the first normal week in our new house. Didn't happen. So we are thinking that maybe this week would be it! I did find out that my new weekly schedule will work well, and is adaptable enough for when things start up again in the fall. So that was great!

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments you leave regarding my menu each week, you make me feel like I have it all together!

Saturday

Breakfast - Cinnamon Swirl Toast and Cereal
Lunch - Out
Supper - Tortilla Soup

Sunday

Breakfast - Pancakes
Lunch - Sandwiches
Supper - Pesto Chicken and Rice and Veggies

Monday

Breakfast** - Waffles from freezer
Lunch - Chicken Salad Sandwiches (from last night's leftover Pesto Chicken)
Supper - Cheater Chicken Parmesan and Pasta

Tuesday

Breakfast - cereal and fruit
Lunch - Tuna Sandwiches and fruit
Supper - BBQ Hamburgers and sweet potato fries

Wednesday

Breakfast - Pancakes (freezer)
Lunch - Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Supper - Italian Mac and Cheese (modifying a recipe, will let you know!)


Thursday

Breakfast - Granola and Yogurt
Lunch - Tuna Sandwiches
Supper - Waffles with strawberry syrup and turkey sausages

Friday

Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - Chicken Turnovers ~
Supper - Orange Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry and rice

Saturday

Breakfast - Cinnamon Buns
Lunch - Quesadillas
Supper - Chicken Fried Rice

Breads
3 Four Bread~
Winnipeg Rye Bread if I can ever track down cracked rye!


Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin

Loaves and Muffins
Raisin Muffins
Apple Loaf ~
Orange Loaf ~

Other
Lemon Pie
Brownies
English Muffins~
Cinnamon Buns
Hamburger Buns

~ from the More with Less Cookbook (can be found on my sidebar if you want to check it out).
** During the week it is just Miss Pear and I for lunch, so we eat some strange lunches....

Bacon-Macaroni Bake

This week for Frugal Friday I want to share a wonderful old family favorite recipe that my mom made for me that I now make for Miss Pear!

It is delicious, it is inexpensive to make, and it freezes well, so I can make a double recipe and freeze another supper plus lunches! While it calls for bacon, I have also substituted ham, and it has been delicious!

1 lb of pasta (you can use less if it is not enough sauce for you) - cost free
1/2 lb of bacon - cost $1.50
1/2 cup onion - cost I am guessing about $.30
1 cup grated cheddar cheese $0.25
1 cup milk - not sure, I am going to guess no more than $0.25 you could substitute powdered milk in this recipe if you remember, I always forget.
1 can condensed tomato soup $1

Cook pasta per directions (we like macaroni or medium shells in this recipe), drain and rinse.

Cook bacon until crisp, drain reserving 2 tbsp of drippings, crumble bacon (I usually cook the bacon up earlier in the day. If I am taking cooked bacon out of the freezer or using ham I use 2 tbsp of oil rather than bacon drippings).

Cook onion in bacon drippings until tender and translucent. If your frying pan is big enough, add in the bacon, 3/4 cup of cheese, soup, and milk, and mix well. Add pasta and mix well. Pour into 2 qt casserole, sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Bake at 375 F for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

You can easily get this ready ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until it is time to put it in the oven.

If I am freezing this recipe instead of pouring it into a casserole I pour it into a zip top bag, put the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese in a zip top sandwich bag and slip it inside the bigger bag. Then when I want to cook it, I have everything together.

Once it is cooked I put lunch time portions for Miss Pear and I in smaller freezer bags and freeze them flat. They thaw very quickly that way, and I can just warm them up in the microwave.

Oh, cost for meal: about $3.30

Head on over to Crystal's for other great frugal tips!


Next up in the series, apparently in no particular order:
- Once a month cooking - at least it is my explanation of it!
- Planning your shopping, prep and cooking
- Storing your meals revisited and revised
- Keeping track of what is in your freezer and what is the oldest
- Freezer lunch stash complete with ideas
- Freezer breakfast stash complete with ideas
- Recipes I used in my marathon cook that have not yet been posted
- What little I know about having a group of friends who share freezer meals
- Books and resources I love
- Answers to questions you post for me or email to me (email button is in my profile).


Previously in the series:
Introduction to the series
Why Freezer Meals?
My Usual Method
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pesto Butter and Chicken Cordon Blue
Chicken Enchiladas
Kitchen Day - Tortilla Soup and Enchiladas (How To)
Blessing of Freezer Meals
Lazy Lasagna - A Freezer Meal
Sauce for Freezer Meatballs
Pineapple Tuna Cracker Snack
Freezer Cooking with Limited Space
Orange Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Orange-Apricot Glazed Pork Chops
Converting your Casserole Recipes to Freezer Recipes
Converting your Meat Recipes to Freezer Meals
Triple Chocolate Cookies

Triple Chocolate Cookies

When you need a good boost of chocolate like I did this week, this is the cookie recipe you want. It is sweet, delicious, doubles beautifully, and freeze fabulously! Life is good when these are in the freezer!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

1 cup margarine or butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/3 cup cocoa
1 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips of your choice
1 cup chocolate chips another of your favorite, but different that the one you already used!

(when I made the cookies this week I used semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips, yum! My MIL always uses white chocolate chips and milk chocolate and throws in a cup of nuts if we will not be around).

Cream margarine.

Add sugars, egg and vanilla.

On low speed blend in the dry ingredients.

Mix in chips.

Drop heaping spoonfuls on your cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes.

Usually makes about 4 dozen cookies that freeze wonderfully - provided they don't disappear immediately.....


Next up in the series, apparently in no particular order:
- Once a month cooking - at least it is my explanation of it!
- Planning your shopping, prep and cooking
- Storing your meals revisited and revised
- Keeping track of what is in your freezer and what is the oldest
- Freezer lunch stash complete with ideas
- Freezer breakfast stash complete with ideas
- Recipes I used in my marathon cook that have not yet been posted
- What little I know about having a group of friends who share freezer meals
- Books and resources I love
- Answers to questions you post for me or email to me (email button is in my profile).


Previously in the series:
Introduction to the series
Why Freezer Meals?
My Usual Method
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pesto Butter and Chicken Cordon Blue
Chicken Enchiladas
Kitchen Day - Tortilla Soup and Enchiladas (How To)
Blessing of Freezer Meals
Lazy Lasagna - A Freezer Meal
Sauce for Freezer Meatballs
Pineapple Tuna Cracker Snack
Freezer Cooking with Limited Space
Orange Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Orange-Apricot Glazed Pork Chops
Converting your Casserole Recipes to Freezer Recipes
Converting your Meat Recipes to Freezer Meals

Converting your Meat Recipes to Freezer Meals

On Tuesday I posted about Converting your Casserole Recipes to Freezer Recipes, and promised to tell you yesterday about how to convert your meat recipes to freezer recipes, and well, I got tied up and distracted and completely disoriented. My day was already upside down when we heard about the bridge collapsing in Minneapolis, right by the University where a dear friend of ours works (and she lives right there too!) We were very thankful to hear last night that they are okay.

So after much delay, here comes the promised instructions!

To convert your meat recipes to freezer meals, there are a number of ways, depending on your recipe.

For hamburgers, or turkey burgers or anything I want in a patty, I make them up, and freeze the patties on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper or parchment paper, putting a layer of said paper between each layer of patties until I am out of meat. Then I freeze them. Once frozen I cut the stacks apart and move them to zip top bags.

If it is a recipe for meatballs I have found it easier to just cook up a big batch of meatballs and freeze them in meal size portions in zip top bags. Then you just need to thaw the meatballs and make the sauce. A friend disagrees with me, and freezes the raw balls in zip top bags. If you are going to do that, I would skip shaping them into balls, and just freeze them like you would meatloaf which is to.....

Meat loaf is best frozen by mixing all the ingredients together, then putting one meatloaf worth of meat into a zip top bag, squeeze out all the air and seal, then press as flat as possible, and freeze flat. Then thaw and cook as per directions! If you are going to make a meat pie, this is also the best way to freeze the filling. (You can freeze the other layers the same way - see the Converting your Casserole Recipes to Freezer Recipes post on this).

Meat that requires marinating is best if you put the meat in zip top bags in meal sized portions, prepared however you need (sliced, chopped, etc), then pour the marinade over top. Squeeze out all the air, seal, and freeze flat. (This also works with roasts). As the meat is freezing and thawing it has time to marinate. Once again, thaw and cook per directions.

Meat that has to be cooked before you do the next step is a bit trickier, but I like to put the raw meat in a zip top bag, put the sauce in a smaller bag (sealed with all the air out), slide the smaller bag in with the meat, and freeze the whole thing together. When I am ready to cook it, I thaw the meat and prepare as per the directions.

Fancy stuff like Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pesto Butter and Chicken Cordon Blue is best if you just assemble all that you want, freeze it on cookie sheets, and then put the chicken or whatever else in zip top bags. I would also use this method for breaded pork chops and the like, even though you could use the method above. And, at the risk of repeating myself, thaw and cook according to directions!

For something like fajitas I like to cook up all the meat, and divide it up into zip top bags, then do all the onions and add them to the chicken in the bags, and then the peppers. If you are really good, you would then take a large zip top bag, add the necessary tortillas (wrapped or in a bag of their own), and bag of cheese, and bag of filling and freeze altogether! This one has everything cooked already, so I just thaw it, heat through, and assemble.

I think this covers everything I can think of regarding converting your favorite recipe to a freezer meal. The only thing I have found does not freeze as well as I would like is potatoes in stews, so I just use sweet potatoes, which I now have to because of allergies in the family.

If you have a recipe you want to convert, and it is NOT covered in either Tuesday's post or todays, or if you are just not certain, post a comment either describing the recipe, or even better yet, with the recipe, and I will try to help!

I will be posting an old family favorite that I converted very soon!

Next up in the series, apparently in no particular order:
- Once a month cooking - at least it is my explanation of it!
- Planning your shopping, prep and cooking
- Storing your meals revisited and revised
- Keeping track of what is in your freezer and what is the oldest
- Freezer lunch stash complete with ideas
- Freezer breakfast stash complete with ideas
- Recipes I used in my marathon cook that have not yet been posted
- What little I know about having a group of friends who share freezer meals
- Books and resources I love
- Answers to questions you post for me or email to me (email button is in my profile).


Previously in the series:
Introduction to the series
Why Freezer Meals?
My Usual Method
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pesto Butter and Chicken Cordon Blue
Chicken Enchiladas
Kitchen Day - Tortilla Soup and Enchiladas (How To)
Blessing of Freezer Meals
Lazy Lasagna - A Freezer Meal
Sauce for Freezer Meatballs
Pineapple Tuna Cracker Snack
Freezer Cooking with Limited Space
Orange Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Orange-Apricot Glazed Pork Chops
Converting your Casserole Recipes to Freezer Recipes

Maybe not...

...I was all set to do a Works for Me Wednesday about parenting advice - start reading when your baby is a newborn (read whatever you are reading at first) and keep on going....

But that is not going to happen today.

Today is a very blue day.

As many of you know, we miscarried (what a horrible word!) the end of February. Now, each month, when it is clear that we are not pregnant, I have this horrible feeling of disappointment, and feel like sitting down and sobbing until I cannot cry any longer, but I don't because I don't want to freak out Miss Pear.

I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed us with Miss Pear. She is a constant delight! On Monday, after breakfast, I left her Bible open at my place while I washed her hands with a damp cloth, and then set her down. She immediately climbed into my chair and said, "(Miss Pear) needs to read Bible." (She said her own name of course.) It was so sweet! I love being her Mommy!

Yet part of me aches each month. Part of me is bitterly disappointed each month.

Yet I keep reminding myself that God has a plan for us, and it is a good plan. My head understands that, but my heart is having a hard time today.

Reader Feed?

Hi,

Is anyone else having trouble viewing posts through a reader? I have it set to just be the first paragraph because for some reason if I use full it has a tendency to freeze readers - or at least mine when I try it to make sure it works.

Please let me know, and include which reader you use!

Thank you so much for your help!

Mrs. Pear