It's All About Redemption Baby

Ok, recently I had a not-so-good day in regards to cooking that I posted about. In my defense I was in a hurry, distracted, and it was one of those days when I was trying to do 50 things at one time...and one of those shouldn't have been trying to get supper on the table.

Well in the hopes of redeeming myself, I will now share with you my most recent attempts. These were much more successful. I have done this type of cooking before, and I really need to stick with this. This works for me, and not many things do.

On Monday, when I had my migraine, I stayed in bed for a while until the migraine improved. It wasn't gone, but at least I was able to be upright. So I grabbed my recipes I've gathered from the internet and my recipe books and sat down at the table. I came up with 20 recipes that I was going to make. "Whoa Dena, that's a ginormous feat to undertake" you say. I know, right??? Even I was going to be impressed if I could pull this off.


We are on the road enough to various kids' activities, that 20 recipes will probably take us most of the way through October. Yesterday I spent an obscene amount of money at the grocery store and came home with a mountain of groceries. This morning I proceeded to make the recipes. Honestly, no I did not get all 20 made. I got tired of cooking and the thrill was gone after 12 recipes. That's ok though...I can do the other 8 tomorrow, or even Friday. Here's how my morning went, and some hints I found helpful in case you decide to try this:

First, gather all your ingredients. It also helps to have them sorted in groups. This is everything except meat and other cooler items that we don't need to have getting all nasty.

Also plan to have plenty of freezer baggies on hand. Gallon or quart size work well, unless you plan to do individual servings, then you should have pint. I like baggies better than things like rubbermaid or tupperwear, because they lay flat, stack on top of each other, and take up a lot less room in the freezer. I can fit all 20 meals on the top shelf of my freezer. No way could I do that with 20 containers.

Next, brown all your meat so that it's done. It will make the actual assembling of the recipes go sooooo much faster.

Do the same with pasta. I put them all in individual bowls so I can keep them separated by weights or amounts. In the picture above I have 5lbs of gr. beef and 1lb of turkey done so far. Plus I have butterfly porkchops in the baggies already marinating and waiting for their trip to the freezer.

***Please pay special attention to the diet coke on the counter. Massive quantities of caffeine will make this project much easier to handle. I am totally serious here!

There are two other things that will help make this project go much smoother and more fun for you...

Forget your swiffer and mops. Keep your dog(s) nearby.

They will lick up every single thing that is accidently dropped on the floor. And if they are like Ringo, that will included raw pasta (I know, I don't get it either). If you don't have a dog, borrow or rent one for the day. Seriously, it will be worth any amount you have to pay. You don't want to have to do more clean-up afterwards than necessary. If it didn't totally gross me out, I'd even consider putting my dogs on the counter to lick up the bigger part of the mess.

The other item I recommend is either a radio, stereo, cd player, or Ipod.

My preference is my iPod that is setting on the iTower Jay gave me last year for Christmas. I L-O-V-E this thing! Grab whatever you want to use, but put on fun upbeat music. Anything that puts a smile on your face. Today, songs like "Love Shack" "Sugar Sugar" "Fancy", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "She Works Hard For Her Money" did it for me. I was singing and dancing around the kitchen. The dogs thought I was completely nuts, but they didn't care because the more I spun, the more I dropped something, so they were barking and cheering me on!

So as you can see, I really can cook. I just have to be prepared and focused - and dancing like one of the Supremes. I have 12 meals in the freezer ready to go when needed. All I have to do is pull 1 out the day before and put it in the fridge to thaw. Then cook it when ready. And after I get those other 8 done, I don't have to cook for another month. Wooohooo!

***edited to update: I typed this message up yesterday afternoon. By last night the remaining ingredients were staring at me, almost taunting me, so I gave in and made up the other 8 meals. So all 20 are now done. Yeaaaaaaah!