About 3 Hours And Totally Worth It

Oh me achin’ bones.
That’s pretty much how I felt last Saturday evening.

I did it again. I totally went against my own best advice and did everything I’m not supposed to do.

I made a grocery list, and shopped, and cooked for the freezer all in one day. And my kitchen was not clean before I brought in all those groceries, which is a no-no and a nightmare.  And the list making didn’t happen as quickly as I had hoped so the trip to the store went much later into the day than it should have. And at the end of the day I spent an hour getting a “hair cut” from my 5 year old, which means I had my hair pulled for an hour while my sore neck was hurting so bad that nothing besides making my son happy would have kept me from the bed.

It was not a bad day. Just a poorly Planned day.

All in all, I probably cooked for about three hours. That’s the closest I can figure once you account for interruptions from children and other non-cooking emergencies. And I took a few minutes to eat lunch. Which is good because I needed the strength!

Oy! When will I take my own advice and stop trying to live my whole life in one day?

You won’t do that though, will you? You’ll focus on just one project and do it with your sanity intact right?

Moving on;  here’s what I ended up making, besides a mess.

Before heading to the store, I put 3 cups of dry black beans and 1 tsp salt into the Crock Pot, covered them with water (actually about 2 inches of water covering the beans) and turned it on. High–I think.

I used two cups in the enchiladas and had two bags to put into the freezer for other recipes.

Next, I put two whole chickens into my largest stock pot, along with some carrots, celery, and an onion. And probably a teaspoon of salt. I promise, I’ll start remembering to write this stuff down for you.
I get this way of cooking from my grandmothers and my mom. My grandmother taught me how to make bread by telling me to use “Oh, about 10-12 sifters- full of flour”… Ahem. Have you ever noticed that bread baking is kind of particular? And that there are different sizes of flour sifters? And you wonder why I don’t know how much salt I used for two chickens!

Now you know.
Let’s get back to Saturday.

So while all of that was happening, I  listened to this episode of  Kat Lee’s “Inspired to Action” podcast. Love her! Thanks for keeping me company Kat!

And I made some smoothie packets.

Eight servings of Berry-Banana

Nine servings of Pick-Me-Up smoothie
These were a lot of work. I’m not convinced I’ll make multiple packets of this recipe again. I think I’ll just have this one fresh once in a while.

I have no idea what happened next. All I know is that I used some of the chicken to make  BBQ Shredded chicken to use in various recipes. And somewhere along the way I also made:

• 3 meals’ worth of Chicken Enchiladas–using 5 cups of the chicken I just cooked.
• Enchilada Quesadilla Filling–These were so good! We had them for supper and then lunch the next day!
• 3 Pints of Chicken broth– no need to spend money on chicken broth, dear friends. Just put those empty bones back in the water with the veggies you started out with. Simmer a few more hours, then strain it into a container and refrigerate overnight. The next day, Lift of the layer of fat that came to the surface and viola! you have homemade (FREE) chicken stock. If it’s the texture of jello that’s totally OK. It’s from the bones. It will liquify as soon as you warm it. I pour mine into pint sized jars (leave some room at the top for expansion) and freeze.
• 2 bags of Three Cheese Mexican Blend-that’s what I had left after using 4 cups for the enchiladas.
• And a batch of granola bars. These were pretty close to a recipe I’m willing to share. Give me some time to tweak it and see what I can come up with.

I think maybe that’s it.

About three hours. And totally worth it.

I can say that, now that the mess is cleaned up and I’ve got meals in the freezer.

———-

So that was last week. Here’s what I’m making for the freezer today.

Nothing! Yes. Nothing. You heard it here first. (Actually you heard it here first). My freezer is full and I’ve got tons of work to do on this site. So I’ve declared it a non-kitchen day.

I plan to enjoy my day, I hope you do the same. Meet you back here in two weeks.

I’d love to hear about your freezer-cooking escapades in the comments.