I made the guys a St. Patrick’s Day Pistachio Cake tonight. I actually made two–one for the guys and one to take to a dance tomorrow night. I got the recipe from Just a Pinch and revised it a little. The guys gave it rave reviews! And it was simple!

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

St. Patrick’s Day Pistachio Cake

Cake ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1 box instant pistachio pudding
1 cup milk
1 cup chopped pecans

Icing ingredients:

1 8 oz carton of whipped cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 small box pistachio pudding
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk
8 oz carton of cool whip

1. Mix cake ingredients and bake cake in 9 x 13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray for 25 to 30 minutes.
2. Make icing by whipping cream cheese with mixer then adding powdered sugar and pistachio pudding. Finish it by folding in milk and cream cheese with spatula (do not beat cool whip with mixer or it will liquify).
3. Ice cooled cake. Store cake in refrigerator.

The post St. Patrick’s Day Pistachio Cake appeared first on Character Ink.

Not long ago my twenty-one year old son was helping me clean and cut fruits and veggies. This is a rare sight nowadays. The boys are either in college all the time or working very full time jobs (well, actually, they both do both at the same time!). I miss those times of cooking and cleaning in the kitchen with my kids.

However, I didn’t expect the boys to miss it! Josiah, the twenty-one year old pediatric nurse I just referred to, said, “You know what I miss? I miss those times that we used to gather around the table with tons of potatoes, carrots, apples, and other fruits and vegetables and peel, cut, clean, and prep them while you read aloud to us for hours!”

So do I, baby, so do I!

In addition to reading aloud while they did produce prep, I loved to cook with the kids and just talk. It didn’t matter whether there were a few of them and we listened to radio dramas or talking books, laughed, and carried on or if there was just one and we quietly went about doing our tasks just talking, talking, talking—rarely a lull in the conversation.

So today I bring you a few tips to get your kids in the kitchen AND talking:

• Start young! Just like talking is more likely to happen with your teens if you started out talking when they were little, so it is with working together in the kitchen.
• Provide lots of opportunities for kitchen work together to happen. In our busy world, just hoping that times will appear for us to work and talk together doesn’t seem like a very good way to be sure they happen. With our kids, we had many opportunities in place for us to work together in the kitchen—chores each day, assistant chef to Mom (helping Mom with the evening meal), freezer cooking day, produce prep, etc.
• If you have kids who do not love cooking, make the sessions short and sweet.
• Just let the conversation go where ever it seems to go. One great thing about talking in the kitchen is that their hands are busy, but their minds are often not. Many great, heart-knitting conversations have happened in my kitchen over the past thirty years with my kids!
• If you are just starting the “cook and talk” approach, you might want to use talking books or radio dramas. This will often lead to stopping it to talk about it—another amazing teaching opportunity!

So go ahead…invite your child in to the kitchen to “slice, dice, and julienne”—and enjoy more talk time with your awesome kids!

Related Links:

[Podcast] Simplified Meal Planning

[Podcast] How Can I Be More Efficient in the Kitchen?

[Podcast] How to Implement Cycle Cooking for Freezer Entrees and Starters

[Podcast] 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start Freezer Cooking

The post 52 Weeks of Talking to Our Kids: Kitchen Talks appeared first on Character Ink.

Cook’s Illustrated: Two Things All People Need to Know in the Kitchen

In a recent Cook’s Illustrated book, I read a “rule of thumb” that I have long upheld for cooks in general but especially for teaching kids to work in the kitchen.

Their thinking (and mine) is that these two “conversion skills” will lead to unlimited other conversions and understanding in the kitchen. (Yes, I did love it when I read this since I have taught my kids this for twenty years!)

FIRST, you must understand that there are three teaspoons in each tablespoon.

That is, 3 tsp=1 TBSP*

SECONDLY, you must understand that there are eight tablespoons in a stick of butter. And, by extension, each stick of butter is a half cup.

That is, 1 stick=8 TBSP=1/2 cup

I know those might seem simplistic. You might even wonder what kind of cook does not know those two things…but you would be surprised!

Also, it isn’t just knowing those two things, it is what you do with that knowledge.

I always taught my kids as we worked in the kitchen together. Every step was a potential lesson. Every recipe was a goldmine of potential lessons.

And yet, as we talk and work through our cooking and baking, the child doesn’t even notice that you are “teaching.”

Here are some things that I explained or expected/asked my kids with these two key measurements:

(1) If 3 teaspoons is one tablespoon, 1 1/2 teaspoons is half a tablespoon.

(2) If 8 TBSP is in a stick of butter, a half a stick of butter is 4 TBSP.

(3) If a stick of butter is a half a cup, two sticks is one cup.

(4) If a stick of butter is a half a cup, half a stick of butter is a fourth of a cup.

(5) If a half a stick of butter is fourth of a cup, four tablespoons is a fourth of a cup.

(6) If a stick of butter is a half of cup and two sticks is a full cup, then a full cup has 16 tablespoons in it.

And on and on and on….

You’ve heard me say it a thousand times (if you have read much of my material): we have the opportunity to teach all the time.

We have the opportunity to teach our kids how to learn as they go.

We have the opportunity to teach our kids to use what they already know to unlock even more.

It just so happens that Cook’s Illustrated agrees with me—and they are like REAL experts! 🙂

Want to learn how to cook yourself? I mean, really learn about cooking? Check out Cook’s Illustrated amazing book. (affiliate link)

*Another kitchen teaching tip: I taught our kids that teaspoons are what you drink TEA with. Tablespoons are what you use to serve food at the TABLE (i.e. you don’t put a teaspoon in a bowl of peas to serve them).

The post Cook’s Illustrated: Two Things All People Need to Know in the Kitchen (and Two Things to Teach Our Kids) appeared first on Character Ink.

In a previous podcast episode called Simplified Menu Planning, I encouraged listeners to not overthink meal planning. (You may listen to that episode here.)

In this audio, I described how my original freezer cooking, in which I plugged all of my entrees into categories (based on meat types), led me to look at meal planning in a more simplified way. I made my master list of most of the entrees that I fix under each category, and then I can see what meats are on sale, scan my master entrée list, and choose meals to make.

I know there is a lot more to meal planning and preparing than simply choosing a category and “fixing” it. However, one of the things that people say over and over concerning the whole idea of meal planning includes “I can’t think of anything to make when it is time” or “I feel like I always make the same things over and over again.”

This idea of having all or most of your entrees listed under the meat that it is made of gives you a ready list at your finger tips. I found myself saying, “Oh, yeah, I forgot that everybody loves that taco soup. I’ve got taco meat in the freezer. Think I’ll pull it out and make that.”

One of the key concepts that Organizing Wizard teaches in her courses (and one that I have been trying to teach long before I heard of her great products in my workshops for moms) is that we often spend too much time thinking about what we want to do. We can spend a great deal of time on decisions and things that should really be decided quickly and decisively. This will free up our brains for the headier decisions—and make those things we do over and over again (prepare dinner, for example) happen more quickly.

When we learn to think quickly about those activities and tasks that are repeating in our lives, we make them smaller. That is, they do not remain so large and daunting. I have found this to be true over and over again as I have put systems in place, made quick decisions, etc., on things like Daily Tasks, menu planning, and more.

So, once again, I am going to give you those lists and encourage you to spend an hour or so making your own. You can even write them on large sticky notes (one sticky per meat) and place them on the inside of your kitchen cupboards and add to it as you think of more dishes that you make (or used to make).

Note:

Here are some other podcast episodes about kitchen efficiency that you might enjoy:

Podcast: Tips For Efficiency in The Kitchen

Podcast: Simplified Meal Planning

Podcast: Tips for Efficiency

Podcast: How to Implement Cycle Cooking for Freezer Entrees and Starters

Podcast: Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Freezer Cooking

THINK IN TERMS OF MEATS/CYCLE COOKING AND MAKE MASTER LIST

1. What meats (and in what form of the meats) do you regularly use in your meals?

2. How can these be “grouped” (either for thinking purposes or for preparing bulk entrees for the freezer)?

3. Make a master list of things that you EVER make from various meats, print it, and tape it to the inside of a kitchen cabinet or on the fridge in a sheet protector. You want this handy!

Shredded Chicken

• Chicken enchiladas
• Chicken tetrazinni
• Chicken broccoli casserole
• Hot chicken salad
• BBQ shredded chicken
• Chicken taco meat
• Chicken alfredo (or starter for freezer)
• Cream of chicken soup (or starter for freezer)
• Chicken rice soup (or starter for freezer)
• Chicken gnocchi soup (or starter for freezer)
• Chicken noodle soup (or starter for freezer)
• White bean chicken chili (or starter for freezer)
• Chicken tortilla soup (or starter for freezer)

Crumbled Ground Beef or Turkey

• Enchiladas
• Cheeseburger pie
• Shepherd’s pie
• Lasagna
• Spaghetti pie
• Beef noodle stroganoff (or starter for freezer)
• Beef-broccoli Alfredo (or starter for freezer)
• Taco meat
• Goulash (or starter for freezer)
• Chili (or starter for freezer)
• Hamburger Stew (or starter for freezer)
• Vegetable soup (or starter for freezer)
• Homemade hamburger helper (or starter for freezer)
• Taco soup (or starter for freezer)
• Pasta e fagioli soup (or starter for freezer)
• Cheeseburger potato soup (or starter for freezer)
• Mexican pizzas (or starter for freezer)
• Layered Mexican dip (or starter for freezer)
• Beef nacho supreme (or starter for freezer)
• Beef taco soup (or starter for freezer)
• Maid rite sandwiches
• Ravioli
• Hamburger gravy
• Mexican pizza

Shredded Roast Beef (or Pork)

• Enchiladas
• Beef stew (or starter for freezer)
• Vegetable soup (or starter for freezer)
• Beefy potato rivel soup (or starter for freezer)
• BBQ beef
• Pot roast w/ veggies
• Beef carnitas/shredded meat taco (or starter for freezer)
• Shredded beef nachos (or starter for freezer)

Chicken Breasts or Thighs (Not Shredded)

• Chick filet knock off
• Parmesan chicken breasts/thighs/tenders
• Cheddar coated breasts
• Monterey chicken breasts
• Chicken cordon bleu
• Smothered chicken (or starter for freezer)
• Yogurt/parmesan chicken
• Garlic chicken bites (for Alfredo, chicken spaghetti, stir fries, subs, chicken alfredo pizza etc.)
• Monterey chicken bites (for fajitas, appetizers, chicken quesadillas, stir fries, subs, etc.)

Shaped Ground Meat/Steak

• Meat loaves
• Ham loaves
• Meatballs
• Salisbury steak
• Florida steak
• Smothered steak (or starter for freezer)
• Steak salad (or starter for freezer)
• Philly cheesesteak casserole (or starter for freezer)
• Steak breakfast burrito (or starter for freezer)
• Steak fajita
• Steak stir fry
• Dried beef gravy

Ham/Sausage/Bacon/Cheese/Pepperoni

• Hamarama (sandwiches)
• Cheesy potatoes with ham
• Broccoli cheese soup
• Cheesy potato sausage soup
• Soup beans with ham
• Ham steak
• BBQ ham steak
• Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches
• Grilled cheese sandwiches
• Cheddar soup
• Pizza (or starter for freezer)
• Pizza subs (or starter for freezer)
• Pizza casserole
• Pizza soup (or starter for freezer)
• Chicken pork creamy soup (or starter for freezer)
• Goulash (or starter for freezer)
• Sausage breakfast sandwiches (or starter for freezer)
• Sausage gravy and biscuits
• Pizza dip
• Sausage cups ((or starter for freezer)
• Pizza cups (or starter for freezer)
• Sausage biscuit balls
• Egg roll skillet (or starter for freezer)
• Kielbasa stir fry (or starter for freezer)
• Egg skillet (or starter for freezer)
• Omelets (or starter for freezer)
• Egg casserole (or starter for freezer)
• Pancakes and sausage
• Sausage sandwiches
• Loaded baked potatoes
• Breakfast pizzas

Seafood

• Tuna casserole
• Tuna balls
• Salmon patties
• Salmon loaves
• Baked salmon
• Baked cod
• Skillet white fish
• Shrimp scampi
• Shrimp Alfredo
• Clam chowder

The post Don’t Overthink Meal Planning appeared first on Character Ink.

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.

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.

Click here to download the printable handout.

Subscribe to our Wondering Wednesday podcasts in iTunes.

Click here to see our previous podcasts!

The post Wondering Wednesday Podcast: How to Implement Cycle Cooking for Freezer Entrees and Starters appeared first on Character Ink.

The following post is from this week’s podcast, “Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Freezer Cooking”.

(1) What method do you think would work for you?

a. Once a Month cooking

b. Extra casseroles here and there

c. Power Hour—a little in the freezer every week

d. Cycle cooking

 i. Big—a month of a certain type of recipe (i.e. shredded chicken)

ii. Small—a few entrees but all the same type of recipe

(2) What do you want to end up with?

a. Full meals—add a salad

b. Meat entrees—add sides

c. Starters –just to get things going

d. Side dishes

e. Others—muffins, crepes, etc.

(3) What stage do you want your freezer entrees in?

a. Completely cooked—just thaw, heat, and eat (fully cooked meatloaves, meatballs, chicken breasts, shredded chicken starters, crumbled beef starters, etc.)

b. Somewhat cooked but still need finished (lasagna, most casseroles, enchiladas, etc.)

c. Raw—marinated but no cooking done, “thirty-five meals in two hours,” raw meatloaves and chicken breasts etc.

(4) What does your family eat a lot of?

(5) What looks good in the freezer section of the grocery?

(6) What can you afford?

a. How much can you buy upfront to get started?

b. What containers can you afford?

(7) How much space do you have?

(8) What kind of cook are you—social or loner?

(9) How often do you want to use freezer entrees?

(10) How homemade do you want to cook?

Links To Read Further:

Determining The Type of Freezer Cook You Will Be

Shredded Chicken Cooking

Ten Freezer Foods I Don’t Like to Be Without

Listen to the podcast HERE! 🙂

The post Podcast Handout For “Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Freezer Cooking” appeared first on Character Ink.

Click here to download the printable handout.

Subscribe to our Wondering Wednesday podcasts in iTunes.

Click here to see our previous podcasts!

The post Wondering Wednesday Podcast: Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Freezer Cooking appeared first on Character Ink.

I am doing a new series on “back to school” (see the first post here), and as part of that, I am encouraging moms to learn some efficiency and organizational strategies to make the school year better. I look back on my thirty-one years of homeschooling so far and realize that each year, each season, each month was really another opportunity to add another skill, another layer to my organization, efficiency, and home management strategies.

Some of my ideas flopped terribly (the “no breakfast, just fruit followed by brunch” idea or the “lunches made up on divided plates using leftovers” idea—yeah, they didn’t work), but I was not disheartened. I guess I’m a little bit like Thomas Edison in that: “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
“I have not failed fifty-four times in a way to make breakfasts and lunches more efficient. I have successfully found fifty-four times that didn’t work!” 🙂

However, many of my outrageous ideas were successes—and have given me tools to manage my home and homeschool that I have just loved!

So without further ado, I whet your appetite for the coming posts with this list of Ten Ways to Get Things Done FAST for Families…join us! And tell your friends about us. Coz school year 2015-2016 could just be the best, most organized, most heart-affecting year ever!

Ten Ways to Get Things Done FAST for Families

 (1) Have a timer burst
 (2) Institute a horizontal surface cleaning approach
 (3) Have a “dad in the driveway” blitz
 (4) Have at least two consistent chore sessions so that daily things are not always looming
 (5) Announce a “room to room” time
 (6) Make four of one entrée every week—makes dinner super fast
 (7) Have a “do your favorite task” time
(8) Have a “successful next day” routine at night
 (9) Call for two times your age sessions
(10) Instill an “I can do anything for five minutes” approach

The post New Series: Ten Ways to Get Things Done FAST for Families appeared first on Character Ink.