Well, I am at the three week mark in my grocery fast, and at the beginning of this week, I had only spent $35 (of the $50 I had budgeted for two weeks). (See Weeks 1 and 2 here.) I was encouraged about the dollar amount, but I was somewhat discouraged that it didn’t feel like any of our food stores were going down that quickly. That part didn’t really get any better during Weeks 3 and 4 as I went on a five day writing retreat and ate out each evening with my daughter (who was there for her master’s seminar) for my one meal a day. (Interested in OMAD–One Meal a Day??? Check out my Daily Intermittent Fasting videos, audios, slideshows, and posts here!). While I was gone writing, my husband did manage to use up veggies, broth, and tomato juice since he made himself vegetable soups every night! He didn’t use up any of the meat we had shredded and frozen the previous week, so our stores didn’t really get depleted. But…here is what we did use and do:

Holiday cookies in January? When you’re trying to empty the freezer, you bake them and take them!

1) Still trying to avoid the whole “I really want to make these bars with these ingredients” mindset,

so I took Christmas cookies to a dance, using up the dough balls I still had in the freezer. I was also careful to not throw away foods just because we were done having them for leftovers! I froze leftover mashed potatoes that I will use for Shepherd’s Pie and leftover egg casserole. Now the trick is to get into the freezer and use them!

6-acre grocery store during a grocery fast???!! What was I thinking!?

Huge reduced produce section gave me fresh produce to go with all the meats in my freezer!

I had $65 left and spent $66! Yay me!

2) At the end of my writing retreat, my daughter and I traveled home via Cincinnati, Ohio to the largest grocery store in the area

The 6-acre Jungle Jim’s. I tried to talk myself out of my grocery fast, noting that going there is a once-a-year-or-less event, but I really wanted to keep using my food stores. So….I decided to keep my list to a minimum, do some comparison shopping, look some of the foods I was after up on Amazon for future reference, and not buy anything extra pricey. As it turns out, I had $65 left for the month–and without even counting as I went, my total was $66!!! I was soooo excited! You can see my cart and grocery belt in the pics–I really cashed in on their huge reduced produce section! Ray Baby was snapping reduced green beans for hours during Sunday football the next day!

Nothing was wasted! If it didn’t get eaten, it was frozen for a later date!

3) As I mentioned, I have been trying to be super diligent about not just tossing a little of this or a little of that.

When we had seven kids at home, it felt like things just eventually got used up. Not the case with just two of us! So I cleaned out the fridge and made a great 7 Layer Salad for our grandson’s birthday party that everybody really loved–and true to not throwing out soft apples, I made Ray some apple salad.

Apple salad is a great way to use up soft apples!

Mayo-PB Apple Salad!

4) I used the veggies over the next two weeks and am happy to say that I didn’t throw any of them out–not even a soft green pepper!

Yay me! I made stir fried zucchini, peppers, onions, sprouts, and mushrooms (see steak picture). I made roasted green beans. I made salads. I made dip for fresh veggies. I just babied those produce items every day, using them to their fullest!

Parmesan green beans—my favorite snack to open my eating window each day!

7-Layer Salad is a great way to empty the fridge!

5) We had a unique problem that I knew we would have to face–we HAD to eat steak!

For five years, we had accumulated Omaha Steaks that our business received as gifts a couple of times a year. We didn’t really know how to make steaks! With seven kids on one income for over two dozen years, we never bought steaks. We used meat as more of a “condiment” in combination dishes–lasagna, chicken spaghetti, tuna casserole, enchiladas, etc. We didn’t serve that many meats as “per person” entrees (except chicken breasts…oh the chicken breasts! ha ha). So we dug in the freezer and committed ourselves to using them. We started with the most amazing Pan Fried Sirloin, which I was sooo happy with. I learned how to make steak–and make it really yummy tasting! Read all about that experience and the recipe here!

My first pan-fried steak was a huge success! Now I have to make steak every week for the rest of the grocery fast!

I ended the month on budget–with $25 a week average spent! And we ate like a queen and king! 🙂

Jason and I did a great job depleting the ice cream supplies!

P.S. What do you like to make to “use up” produce? What is your family’s favorite stir fried veggie combination?

The post Eight Week Grocery Fast – Weeks 3 and 4 appeared first on Character Ink.

When we had three young children four and under, we went to a parenting seminar in which the wise teacher (Gregg Harris) taught us how to manage our day—and get in the things that are truly important to us: “Attach things that are important to you to something that is already in your schedule.”

I was a struggling young mom, trying to teach our little ones to obey, love each other, enjoy learning, be helpful, desire God’s Word, play creatively, and more. However, like many young stay-at-home moms, I had prioritizing and follow through problems. Mr. Harris’ advice helped me get a handle on my preschoolers’ days.

We came home from the seminar and began attaching our “priorities” to the things that were already in place. Some things are predictable in a day automatically; they are “constances,” so to speak. Children get up in the morning, eat three meals (and snacks!), take naps (more on that later!), and go to bed at night (more on that later, too!).

We chose the things that we truly wanted to make happen in our littles’ daily schedule: Bible reading in the morning; chore training; afternoon story time; etc. We attached these to the “constances” of our kids’ days, and before we knew it, we were having successful days…and we soon attached more things to our attachments until we were attaching to our attachments. And our days became one big, long attachment—getting to many of the things that were priorities in our hearts but were not happening in real life.

I have talked a lot about doing things with our children that teach them important Christian virtues and behaviors. It is easy to hear someone talk about these things, and think, Yeah, that sounds great….but it is easier said than done!

I’m here to tell you today that you can do this! If something is a true priority in your family’s life, you can make it happen, regardless of children’s ages, work schedules, financial situation, and more.

Take the most important thing to you that you know you should do with your children but never seem to get to. Daily devotions? Prayer time? Read aloud? Story time? Chore time? Morning routines? Talk time? Only choose one—and decide that this one thing will become a habit in your home.

Now choose the most constant scheduled activity in your family—rising, breakfast, lunch, after school snack, bedtime, etc. And attach your priority to that. Be realistic. Do not try to do everything at one time. Do not make it a long, drawn-out affair. Just start tomorrow doing the highest priority item attached to the most consistent “constant.”

Keep your activity short at first. If you choose to read a Bible story aloud while the kids eat breakfast each morning, get one of those One Minute Bible story books or some other quick read, and dig in and do it. Do not be discouraged if it is a five minute read. Do not be dismayed if you miss occasionally (the “more often than not” principle will be explained tomorrow!). Just do it!

Once you have some consistency with this, you can tackle another “attachment.” And so on and so forth. Before you know it, your home will be a center—a learning center, spiritual center, fun center, heart-affecting center—all of the things that the Christian home was designed to be. Don’t worry if you mess up—our children are quick to “catch us in inconsistencies,” and they will be sure to let you know that your “attachment” is slipping!

How have you managed to be consistent with important things in your home? Give us some of your tricks!

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I used to have a couple of different egg casseroles in my freezer meal rotation. They were simple ways to make eggs for many, and it wasn’t uncommon for us to have the for a weekday breakfast simply because it was about as easy to stick four of them in the freezer as it was to make “yolky” eggs for seven kids on a given morning! Efficiency, mama, efficiency! 🙂

Unfortunately, my two favorite egg casserole recipes were loaded with carbs—one had shredded potatoes (or shredded hash browns) in the bottom and the other had toasted bread cubes. So I really haven’t made a lot of them lately.

Enter this amazing recipe. I made it for a ladies’ brunch, and a low carbing friend said, “This is so good. It’s a shame it isn’t low carb.” She thought it had to have potatoes or something else in it. But it doesn’t!

This recipe can also be frozen in 8 x 8 or smaller pans for smaller families, like some of the smaller pans shown here.

I will put the ingredients for one, but if you have read much of what I have written about household efficiency and kitchen/menu planning, you know I don’t like to make one of anything. So the ingredients for four (one for now; one for the freezer!) are in parentheses following each ingredient.

Each pan serves six to eight people well.

Amazing Breakfast Casserole

1 pound sausage, turkey or regular (4 lbs)

1/4 to 1/2 cup onion, chopped (1 to 2 cups)
1/4 to 1/2 cup bell pepper,chopped (1 to 2 cups)
6 eggs (24 eggs)
1 cup half & half or almond milk (4 cups)
1/2 cup water or chicken broth (2 cups)
2 cups cheese (8 cups)

Directions:

1. Brown and drain the sausage.

2. Saute onions and peppers in a little of the sausage grease until tender. (They will finish cooking in the casserole.)

3. Place sausage in bottom of greased 9 x 13 casserole dish. (If making for the freezer too, I use foil pans and just divide the meat evenly among four pans.)

4. Spread onions and peppers over the meat in the pan.

5. Mix eggs, half and half, water/broth, and cheese together.

6. Pour egg mixture over all.

7. Bake at 350 degrees convection for 30 to 40 minutes covered (regular oven 45 to 60); uncover last ten minutes.

8. Cover, label, and freeze remaining ones if you made four.

Amazing Breakfast Casserole

DATE: _____________________

1. Defrost in fridge overnight.

2. Bake at 350 degrees convection for 30 to 40 minutes covered (regular oven 45 to 60); uncover last ten minutes.

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Since I had my bout with very symptomatic pre-diabetes a couple of years ago, I have been trying to learn to cook and bake dishes with fewer carbs/lower glycemic index. About a year into this cooking (several months ago), I realized that one of the things that I missed the most were my one-dish meals.
I have been a *freezer cook* for twenty-five years now, and one of the greatest benefits of freezer cooking is pulling a nearly-complete meal out of the freezer, adding a salad, and calling it dinner. With lower carb cooking, this was seldom a reality for me.

Instead, I would pull a meat entrée (meat loaves, meat balls, marinated chicken breasts, cheddar coated chicken thighs, etc.) out of the oven then try to figure out what low carb/healthy sides I could put with it—while still keeping college and high school boys and my husband satisfied and full.
I missed the ease of the one dish entrée desperately, so I have been on a search for more “casserole-y” types of healthy entrees for the past several months. I have a few for you that will be coming up in the next few weeks—and this is one of those.
 
With some veggies already in it and the addition of cheese, I have what can only be described as a “nearly-one-dish-low-carb-entrée”! 🙂  And one that my guys like! Yay!
I wanted to add that this entrée can be completely assembled and frozen in 9×13 foil pans—oven ready. However, when I did that, the dish was pretty liquid-filled. Not sure if it had to do with the freezing or not, and by its nature (onions and green peppers), it is somewhat liquid-y anyway, but I changed it up and froze the prepped ingredients in separate bags to assemble and bake after defrosting. It only takes an extra five minutes, but it seemed to reduce the water-laden aspect of the dish some. If ease is more important to you and draining off some liquid is just no biggie, by all means, assemble and freeze as a casserole! (I do love my stacks of foil pans in my oven way more than assorted zip-lock bags!)

Oh, and as I put healthier entrees up, I will be doing just what I’ve done below (and in my mix recipes up so far): putting the regular recipe for one entrée in the main ingredient list and putting the recipe times four in bold-font parentheses for those who want to make four for the freezer.
(Do this. It doesn’t take four times the amount of time! You will be glad you did!)

Philly Cheesesteak Casserole

(serves 4 or 5 hearty appetites)

 
16 ounces steak* (ribeye, skirt steak, or top sirloin) (4 {16 oz} steaks)
 
Marinade (makes 1 1/3 cup or 5 1/3 for freezer entrees)

• ½ cup olive oil (2 cups)
• 1/3 cup lemon juice (1 1/3 cup)
• 1/3 cup soy sauce (1 1/3 cup)
• ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce (1 cup)
• 3 TBSP Italian Dressing Mix (see Store Bought Stella if you do not have this mix on hand or follow the link for the recipe) (3/4 cup)

 
Other Ingredients

• 3 medium onions, sliced (12 onions)
• 3 green peppers, sliced (12 peppers)
• 1 tsp garlic (4 tsp)
• 1 tsp salt (4 tsp)
• 1 TBSP Italian Dressing Mix (4 TBSP)
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (2 tsp)
• 1 (16 oz) package of fresh mushrooms, sliced (4 pkgs)
• 8 to 12 ounces Provolone or Swiss cheese slices (32 to 48 oz)

 
*Note: One of the three recipes that I used to develop this recipe called for a 12 ounce package of Hormel’s Thick Cut Beef for one entrée of this. See Store-Bought Stella note below the instructions for ideas for making this a quicker entrée.

Instructions for One Fresh Casserole
 
1. One hour ahead of time: Place defrosted meat in freezer so that it is easier to thinly slice it.
2. Prepare marinade by mixing all ingredients thoroughly with a wire whisk or in a food processor. Be sure all ingredients are completely processed together.
3. Cut meat against the grain into as thin slices as you can.
4. Place meat in the marinade. Sit in fridge to marinate for thirty to sixty minutes or until you have the rest of the ingredients ready.
5. While meat is marinating, cut onions, peppers, and mushroom into slices, sort of fajita style.
6. Remove meat from marinade and place all veggies along with the meat and listed seasonings into skillet.
7. Stir fry just until onions are translucent, adding more marinade for the “oil” as needed. Be sure beef does not fully cook as it will be cooking in the oven.
8. Transfer everything from skillet to 9x 13 pan.
9. Top entire casserole with slices of cheese. Cover with foil. (I usually place a layer of parchment over first, then foil so that the foil does not take off all the cheese when I remove it.)
10. Bake in oven for 10 to 15 minutes convection (20 to 25 minutes regular) until cheese is melted.
11. Note: It is also possible to simply cook meat all the way through in the skillet, cover the entire pan of ingredients with cheese slices, cover, and continue heating until cheese is melted over all of the meat and veggies, making this a “skillet” dish.

 
Instructions for Four Freezer Entrees

 
1. One hour ahead of time: Place fresh meat in freezer so that it is easier to thinly slice it.
2. Prepare marinade by mixing all ingredients thoroughly with a wire whisk or in a food processor. Be sure all ingredients are completely processed together.
3. Cut meat against the grain into as thin slices as you can.
4. Divide meat among four one-gallon zip lock freezer bags.
5. Pour marinade over the bags evenly. Zip the bags, releasing the air completely.
6. Cut veggies up fajita style.
7. Toss the veggies with the remaining seasonings and divide them among four one-gallon freezer bags.
8. Divide cheese among four one-quart freezer bags (or just keep them in their package in your refrigerator until using this meal if they have a late date on them and you would rather not freeze them).
9. Secure two one-gallon bags together (one veggie bag/one meat bag) and one bag of cheese or place each set down into a two-gallon bags for a total of four entrees.
10. Label bags according to your desire (based on who is going to be cooking it, how often you make this entrée, etc.).

Here is a suggested label:

Philly Cheesesteak Casserole
Raw meat and raw veggies DATE
Place drained meat and vegetables in skillet. Cook until onions are done. Use marinade for “oil” as needed. (Do not fully cook beef.)
Transfer all to 9 x 13 casserole dish. Top with cheese slices. Cover with foil. Bake for 10 to 25 mins (convection vs. regular) until cheese is bubbly.

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Recipe Labels & Variations

Low Carb (LC): This is a very low carb recipe though some consider onions to be “moderate” carbs. The total dish is still extremely low carb.

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): While this is a very low carb entrée, you could make it a more moderate carb/family-friendly carb meal by using a low carb bread or bun, making a low carb garlic bread, serving with brown rice or quinoa for children, or making another side dishes (such as cooked carrots or a vegetable medley).

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS): You may use two packages of Hormel All Natural Beef slices; cut into strips (you can use another brand equaling 12 oz of meat) without the marinade or precooking steps. You might want to sprinkle the beef strips with seasoning. If using these beef slices, you will need olive oil and some seasonings (sprinkles of Italian Dressing Mix?) when stir-frying the vegetables.

Homemade Hannah (HH): This is very homemade! You can make this pretty whole-foods as written above—or make it even more homemade by using your own dried herbs.

Trim Healthy Mama (THM): This would be considered an S entrée for THM followers. The fat in the beef, as well as the oil in the marinade and addition of cheese at the end, makes this a healthy S (but not too heavy).

Sugar Free (SF): Sugar-free and healthy option!

Gluten Free (GF): No fillers so no concern about hidden gluten.

Low Carb Mixes (LCM): Uses my Italian Dressing Mix!

Freezer Cooking (FC): This is a new freezer recipe in the past year for me. I am happily adding lower carb “casseroles,” one-pan, and crock pot freezer entrees to my repertoire that are not so carb-laden, but are still family-friendly!

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I have been talking extensively in podcast episodes (see Five Tips for Efficiency in the Kitchen HERE) and in blog posts about my cycle cooking (PODCAST) and just the general idea of preparing meats to be used in dishes. (See my Shredded Chicken post here.)

Having meats ready to use in recipes is one of the best kitchen efficiency tips that I can give people. It truly makes creating a quick meal doable.

I am going to be posting tons of recipes for using crumbled ground beef, ground turkey, or a combination of beef and turkey. So, here are some steps to help you cook ground beef in the crock pot quickly to either freezer in quart bags for later use or to use immediately.

Here is what I do:

1. I place six to twelve pounds of ground meat in small chunks in my crock pot, depending on the size of crock I am using.

2. I cook this on high for three hours or so or low for six hours or so. (My crock pot is super hot!)

3. Then I drain this meat into a colander and let it cool a few minutes or more in the colander.

4. As soon as it can be handled, I crumble it up with my hands (you can use a potato masher, if desired).

5. Normally, I do one of any of the following at this point:

a. Place all of the meat back in the crock pot and make something—chili, sloppy joes, spaghetti sauce with meat, taco meat! Ideas are endless.

b. Bag and freeze part of it and put part back in the crock pot and make a soup—chili, pasta e fagiloi, ground beef stew, etc.

c. Put part in the fridge for a meal later that week and use part in the crock pot as described above.

When I was a homeschooling mama with lots of kids in school, this method forced me to come up with a meal. I mean, the meat was already ready!!! Easy peasy.

Try it. You’ll like it! And check back often (or subscribe to the blog!) for dozens of recipes using crumbled meats!

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Revolution rolls. Oopsie buns. Cloud bread. Variations of this bread/bun/roll are all over the internet. Some have said that Dr. Atkins himself invented the original recipe, the revolution roll.

I’m not sure where the recipes originated, but I do know that when I added a little bit of my Basic Flour Mix (or finely-ground almond flour, see note below), these “Not-So-Oopsie” Rolls had more structure, were less “wet” to hold as sandwiches, and tasted amazing!

I have to classify this bread as one of my low carb finds of the year. I didn’t have to tweak it for weeks and make twenty to thirty versions of it (like I did for pizza crust!). I didn’t have to figure out a way to mask some taste that I couldn’t stomach. It was “just right.”

Make extra and store them in the freezer to have on hand anytime!

This bread has a mild flavor—not too non-grain-flour-tasting yet not too airy. I am one of the pickiest eaters I know—seriously, we are talking three or four non-starchy vegetables, and that is it! So when I say that you need to make these every week and put them in your freezer, you can trust me!

(I tell my kids that these taste sort of like King’s Hawaiian rolls without the flour and without bread texture or really any texture {that is why they are sometimes called cloud rolls!}. They don’t really believe me!)

Need suggestions on how to use these? I carry them in my lunch bag (I always carry a lunch/snack bag with low carb options in it) and pull one or two out whenever I get a sandwich from a fast-food place or even when I have a sit down lunch with friends or my kids. (I know a lot of people love the bun-less burgers or lettuce-wrapped sandwiches, but I like to feel like I am eating a real sandwich!) They make amazing buns for breakfast sandwiches. I don’t even drool over my son’s Mickey Dee’s bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuit any more. A turkey sausage patty (that I also pulled out of the freezer, pre-cooked and ready to go—are you seeing a theme here—low carb secret? Be prepared!) on one of these is a perfect breakfast. I really love all sandwiches on this.

I have been experimenting with making various sizes of these. I love to make mini ones to use for mini sausage breakfast sandwiches or mini chicken salad or chicken finger sandwiches. Perfect!

But savory isn’t the only use for these babies! Roll them in cinnamon-sugar (after baking or even when defrosted out of the freezer) and drizzle cream cheese frosting over them. Top them with sugar-free jam or no-sugar added pie filling. Sprinkle sugar-free chocolate chips over them, microwave until the chips are somewhat melted, and top with homemade whipped cream. Yum! Most recently, I have been making “jam sandwiches” out of two of them and packing them when I go teach. Makes me forget that I am on a “diet”!

An amazing low carb treat is this Not-So-Oopsie Bread toppied with my BEST Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam and whipped cream!

Yeah, you need to make these!

Not-So-Oopsie Rolls

2015-07-28 06:37:20

Yields 12

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Ingredients

1. 6 eggs, separated
2. ½ tsp cream of tartar alone
3. 4 TBSP cream cheese (half a bar), softened
4. 4 TBSP butter (half a stick), melted
5. 4 TBSP Basic Flour Mix* (or finely ground almond flour—see note)
6. 1 TBSP sugar-free bulk sweetener**
7. 1 tsp baking soda and ½ tsp cream of tartar mixed together
8. 1/3 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 F, and spray cooking spray on parchment that is placed on large cookie sheet(s) or jelly roll pans. (May omit parchment, but who doesn’t love using parchment?)
2. Separate egg whites from yolks.
3. Place whites in one mixing bowl, and yolks in another mixing bowl.
4. Add first cream of tartar (1/2 tsp) to egg whites and whip with stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form. (I love my Kitchen Aid for this—and most everything!) Set aside.
5. Beat egg yolks in separate mixing bowl.
6. To the beaten egg yolks, add softened cream cheese, melted butter, Basic Flour Mix*, bulk sweetener**, baking soda & cream of tartar mixture, and salt.
7. Beat this egg yolk mixture until thoroughly combined.
8. Gently fold egg yolk mixture into egg white mixture until combined (be careful not to stir or beat {should still be a whipped meringue texture}).
9. Spoon mixture mounds onto cookie sheet (twelve to fourteen total mounds).
10. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes convection (20 to 30 minutes regular), or until tops and edges are slightly browned. (Check at shortest cooking time.)

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*Basic Flour Mix—a non-grain flour, low carb flour mix. Find the recipe here. You may also use finely-ground almond flour by itself for this recipe, but the Basic Flour Mix combines non-grain, low carb flours so that no one type is too strong while still keeping a low carb count.
*Bulk sugar-free sweetener—sweeteners that can be used cup-for-cup like sugar work well in baked goods. These include THM Sweet Blend, erythritol, xyilitol, Splenda, and Swerve (or any combination thereof!). To learn more about choosing flours and sweeteners, check out my post “Low Carb Baking and Treat Making—What I Wish Someone Had Told Me.”

Recipe Labels and Variations

Low Carb (LC): This is a very low carb recipe with a potential of only ½ to one carb per roll depending on whether you use the Basic Flour Mix or almond flour and how many you make per recipe.

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): I can’t say much about how FFLC these are as I only share them with my husband since they are a little time-intensive (compared with, say, a muffin in a mug!). Both of us like these!

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS): To save money, some cooks might prefer to use Splenda rather than a natural (but more expensive) sweetener like erythritol or xylitol.

Homemade Hannah (HH): This is very homemade! You can make this completely whole-foods as written above.

Freezer Cooking (FC): This isn’t in my monthly freezer entrees because I make it nearly weekly! And yes, I do freeze them with parchment between them, and they turn out great!

Oldie Goldie Family Recipes (OG): I have just begun making these with our low carb cooking and baking over the past year; however, if you are looking for a way to get more protein into your kids (and have less carby breads) or a way to utilize eggs or feed your kids more eggs, this recipe would be a great family recipe. You could even use white, wheat, oat, or gluten-free flour in place of the extremely low carb Basic Flour Mix—and still have a bread that is much healthier and lower in carbohydrates than most breads.

Trim Healthy Mama (THM): These could be used in an S setting or an E setting (if lower fat cream cheese were used). I think that with fat-free cream cheese, with only 1/3 of an egg yolk per roll and 1 tsp of butter per roll, you might be able to use one of these as a fuel pull (especially if you make the smaller version ones).
Sugar Free (SF): Sugar-free and healthy sweetener options!

Gluten Free (GF): This can definitely be gluten-free if using the gluten-free option of Basic Flour Mix and/or almond flour.

Low Carb Mixes (LCM): This recipe uses my Basic Flour Mix, a combination of low carb grain-less flours, such as almond flour, oat fiber, coconut flour, golden flax, protein powder, etc. This is a very low carb baking mix.

DISCLOSURE: I am an affiliate for these products that I recommend. If you purchase these items through my links, I will earn a commission, but you will not pay more when buying a product through my link. 🙂

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I have been doing some podcast episodes about efficiency in the kitchen and freezer cooking. I wanted to have this as part of our back-to-school 2015 series, but I knew that auditory presentations would work better.

There are many things in the summer that you can do to set your kitchen up so that you can work more efficiently during the school year thus giving you more time for homeschooling, school activities, and heart training.

In this post I would like to share some links to those things to help you be able to go back and listen to podcast episodes and find the new posts (and old!) containing this information.

1) Podcast Episode: Five Tips to Be More Efficient in Your Kitchen

In this podcast episode, I get my five tops tips for efficiency in the kitchen including using the crockpot (even for all kinds of meats, such as ground beef and shredded chicken), having ten meals that you always have ingredients on hand for, making combination meals whenever possible, and putting something – even if it is just a casserole or two – in the freezer each week.

2) Podcast Episode: Ten Questions to Ask Yourself Before Beginning Freezer Cooking

In this podcast episode, I present you with ten questions to ask yourself before you begin freezer cooking. These questions will help you determine what kind freezer cook you are and which methods, types of dishes, containers, and more will help you the most. If you have questions about state in which to freeze something, freezing entire casseroles versus just parts of meals, and what to put your freezer entrées in, this episode will help you.

3) Podcast Episode: Learning About Cycle Cooking for the Freezer 

In this podcast episode, I explain how I do cycle cooking with various types of meat. If you truly want to be efficient in putting things in your freezer, this episode is for you. I describe the four types of cycles that I have: shredded chicken, crumbled brown beef, chicken breast and fish fillet, and shaped (roasts, swiss and smothered steaks, meatloaves, etc.). Then I give ideas under each cycle type so that you can see what you are already cooking and how you can start putting those in to freezer meals.

4) Blog Post: Ten Freezer Meals That I Don’t Like to Be Without 

This old blog post will at least get you thinking about some freezer meals that are important to growing families. These are some of my very favorites both for serving my family as well as for giving to others in need, using potlucks, and serving at parties, etc.

5) Blog Posts: Using Mixes

I have been a mix user for twenty-four years – ever since I got the book Make a Mix Cookery. We all know how convenient store-bought cake mixes, Bisquick, bread mixes, brownie mixes, and seasoning blend are. Making homemade mixes allows the efficient cook to enjoy the ease of using mixes while controlling the ingredients. I have a few mixes and seasoning blends at the blog now, but please check back often as I’m adding my healthy cake mix, Healthy BakeQuick mix, and more.

6) Blog Posts: Ten Ways to Help Your Family Work Fast 

I have been working on a series of posts about helping your family learn to work fast. Check back with that series frequently because many of the tips that are there, such as kitchen blitzes, horizontal surface cleaning, and more will help you become more efficient in the kitchen as well.

I hope these links will help you in your quest to become more efficient in the kitchen this summer. For me personally, in my thirty-one years of homeschooling, each time I added an efficient method or tip, it improved another area of our family, homeschool, and life.

The post Getting Ready For School 2015: Become More Efficient in Your Kitchen appeared first on Character Ink.

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Over twenty-five years ago,  with four children eight and under, we learned the value of a timer. We began using them to teach our children time management. We would have them do various tasks and set the timer so that they could see how long things take when they really applied themselves. For example, in setting up their morning routine charts,  we would have them run and do each task that was going to be on their chart as we timed them, then when we made the charts, we would put the time that it should take (based on our timing session) in parentheses following each line item on the chart. (This also helped us to know what was reasonable to expect in a certain time period.)  Read More→

Donna Reish, author of forty curriculum books for homeschoolers and Christian schools and co-author/co-presenter of “Raising Kids With Character” Parenting Seminar (and blog), brings you another practical episode of Wondering Wednesday!

In this week’s episode, Donna explains her “cycle cooking” for freezer entrees and starters, including how to freeze entrees, how to freezer cook efficiently, how to utilize “meal starters” and “soup starters,” and much more. She takes the listener through all of her cycle types—shredded chicken, whole chicken breasts and fish pieces, crumbled ground meats, and shaped beef/roasts and teaches the ease in which a cook can get started and continue to fill the family freezer with meals.  Listen to the podcast HERE!

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Making things with crepes or torts as the base is an amazing find for the low carber because these are either (1) easy to make (in the case of the crepes) or (2) easy to find (in the case of buying low carb tortillas). (Here are two of my faves to purchase: Mama Lupitas* (they are brownish but I like them best—and I usually prefer “white”—they have a more nutty taste and make better tort chips and crackers imho and Mission* (available in local stores too)—these are more acceptable to my teen sons.)  Get the recipe here!

*affiliate links

Our newsletter archives on the blog are now full-color, and clickable!  A great way to re-read old newsletters!  Click here to check it out 🙂

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The post This Week’s Character Ink! Newsletter {July 3, 2015} appeared first on Character Ink.

The following post is from this week’s podcast handout: “How to Implement Cycle Cooking for Freezer Entrees”.

Shredded Chicken

Meals

Chicken lasagna
Chicken strata
Sour cream enchiladas
Chimichangas
Chicken noodle casserole
Chicken tetrazinni
Arroz con pollo

Starters

Shredded chicken
Chicken taco meat
BBQ shredded chicken
Hot chicken sandwich filling
Chicken rice soup starter
Chicken gnocchi soup starter
White bean chicken chili starter

Chicken Breasts and Fish Pieces

Meals

Chicken cordon bleu
Breaded fish fillets
Cheddar-coated breasts
Chick-Fil-A copycat
Parmesan chicken tenders
Marinated pork chops
Monterey chicken breasts
Smothered chicken breasts
Marinated salmon filets
Grilled flounder
Shrimp scampi
Chicken cacciatore
Marinated breasts

Starters

Monterey chicken bites
Garlic chicken bites
Chicken stir fry starter
Chicken sausage soup starter
Chicken flat bread (chicken pieces & veggies)
Pork chop cubes

Crumbled Ground Meats—Hamburger, Turkey, and Sausage

Meals

Spaghetti pie
Lasagna
Ground beef enchiladas
Cheeseburger potato or carrot soup
Taco pie
Cheeseburger pie
Mini cheeseburger pies
Pizza cups
Pizza casserole

Starters

Precooked hamburger
Sloppy Joes
Spaghetti sauce with meat
Taco meat
Egg roll skillet starter (sausage & onions)
Precooked sausage
Pizza toppings (onions, peppers, ground beef, sausage
Mexican pizza toppings
Pizzadilla starter

Shaped—Beef and More

Meals

Meatloaves
Ham loaves
Florida steak
Swiss steak
Salmon patties
Pizza burgers
Smothered steak
Philly cheesesteak casserole

Starters

Smoked sausage stir fry (sausage rounds, onions, peppers)
Braised beef cube mix (for stew and stroganoff)
Beef stir fry (onions, peppers, marinated beef bites)
Meatballs
Meatball sub starter (meatballs, veggies)
Shredded roast (for soups, BBQ, and pizzas/flatbread)

Listen to the podcast HERE! 🙂

Links:

• Last week’s podcast episode:
  Ten Freezer Entrees I Don’t Like to Be Without
• Pizzadillas
• Shredded Chicken
• Potato Casserole

The post Podcast Handout for: “How to Implement Cycle Cooking for Freezer Entrees” appeared first on Character Ink.