by kathilipp | Aug 29, 2013 | Home |
***Give Away Alert! I will be giving away four copies of my freezer cooking cookbooks The What’s for Dinner Solution A winner everyday Tuesday through Friday. PLUS – a Freezer Cooking Prize Pack including The What’s for Dinner Solution and $25 Amazon Gift Card to buy all the Ziploc bags and 8×8 pans you need to get started! Just leave a comment on the blog sometime this week and I will pick four book winners and one grand prize winner – the more comments, the more chances to win! (One comment per person, per day, please!) ***
All this week, I will be giving you step by step instructions on how to have great, tasty meals for you and your family, every night. To make sure you don’t miss a post, subscribe to the blog!
OK – Now we get down to the nitty gritty. I know you all know how to cook, so I am going to just put down some of my Best Practices when it come to Freezer Cooking and preparing all those meals.
- Think Assembly Line When you have four recipes that called for chopped onions, get your food processor (or the food processor that you borrowed from your friend at church) and chop all those bad boys at once. (Another little trick that works well with onions: Light a wooden match and then blow it out. Hold the wooden part in your teeth while chopping onions to keep from crying. I don’t know why it works, but it does.)
Here is another tip on onions from Kelly www.bittybowsboutique.com :
“I despise chopping onions. I use my food processor on “Pulse”, to chop onions to keep in my freezer, freezing them flat in 1 gallon freez
er bags. Whether I need 1 Tablespoon or 2 Cups, I can break off just enough to add to my recipes. It is also a great way to use up a large bag of Costco onions…which is about the same price as a tiny bag from Safeway.”
- Play mix and match – marinade style. When it comes to my marinades, I don’t discriminate on the types of meats I use – If I buy a ½ gallon of Yoshida Sauce (and you all should – it is YUMMY) I will line up my Ziploc bags each filled with a different meat (Chicken Breasts, Flank Steaks, Pork Roast, Pork Chops) and just pour the marinades over the meats. Instantly, I have four different kinds of meals – now all I have to do is come up with side dishes, and that is where I will get a little creative. (For example, with the chicken, I might chop it up after cooking and make rice and mixed Asian veggies for rice bowls. For the pork, I could serve it with veggie kabobs and grilled pineapple.)
Pictured here – Giant Pork Loins that I chop into thirds and get six family-sized meals out of each. For smaller families, your could get up to 12 meals out of these two pork loins.
- Pasta Preparation When I am doing a pasta casserole, I just use up any small pasta I have around – I don’t care if it is penne, macaroni or egg noodle. All of it works. Also, when preparing pasta for freezing, make sure it is al dente so that it doesn’t get mushy in the freezing/cooking process.
- Beg or Borrow Things that will Make Your Life Easier There is no need to chop peppers by hand when your neighbor has a Food Processor that she uses 4x a year. Ask if you can borrow it – and when you bring it back, present her with one of your home cooked meals as a thank you. For years we were frying ground beef and turkey in a stove top pan until I finally invested in a Presto 16” Electric Skillet. Any step that saves me time (and keeps me encouraged to keep on Freezer Cooking) is worth weighing the costs on!
- Play Lots of Loud, Upbeat Music While Cooking
- Do Categories at Once I usually shop and prepare the marinades on Friday, and then leave the rest of the assembly (casseroles, chilis, soups, etc.) for Saturday.
Label EVERYTHING as it Goes into the Freezer No mysteries allowed. That defeats the whole purpose.
For today’s free download, go to my Facebook Page this week (through September 1. 2013) and get our our 50 Dinner Ideas.
Tell me below – What is you favorite thing to freeze? You could win a copy of The What’s for Dinner Solution or the grand prize of The What’s for Dinner Solution and a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
Want more freezer recipes? Did you know you can get a free ecopy of Six Chicks Freeze and Fix: How to Start a Freezer Meal Co-op just by liking my Facebook Page. Once you hit “Like” just go to the tabs and download the booklet. It’s that easy. Over 20 great family-pleasing recipes!
We’ll have a free freezer download every day this week. Stay tuned!
by kathilipp | Aug 28, 2013 | Home |
***Give Away Alert! I will be giving away four copies of my freezer cooking cookbooks The What’s for Dinner Solution A winner everyday Tuesday through Friday. PLUS – a Freezer Cooking Prize Pack including The What’s for Dinner Solution and $25 Amazon Gift Card to buy all the Ziploc bags and 8×8 pans you need to get started! Just leave a comment on the blog sometime this week and I will pick four book winners and one grand prize winner – the more comments, the more chances to win! (One comment per person, per day, please!) ***
All this week, I will be giving you step by step instructions on how to have great, tasty meals for you and your family, every night. To make sure you don’t miss a post, subscribe to the blog!
Shopping for Your Cooking Day
My shopping system is pretty easy. I triple my recipes, make a list of ingredients and quantities needed, and buy the biggest containers I can to satisfy those need. If I am doing marinades (and I am always doing marinades) I will buy the big Costco-sized bags of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, divide those into Ziploc gallon bags with five breasts each (because that is usually how many people I am feeding – less breasts for smaller kids who will share,)and then pour marinade in the bags with the frozen breasts. Super, super easy. I also do this with those giant pork roasts at Costco – just cut them down into your family-sized portions and you are good to go.
When I got to advanced freezer cooking, I did an Excel spread sheet with my basic menu already tripled – that way I just had to see what I was out of and buy that at Costco and Safeway. My kids are never bored with my cooking and it makes my life SO much easier.
A couple of shopping tips that make things easier:
- Shop at Costco first. I love Costco, but the marinade that was there last month may no longer exist. I tend to buy most of what I can at Costco, and then the remainders at Safeway.
- Know what you have. There is nothing more frustrating than picking up 10 pounds of brow rice, only to discover you had another 10 pound bag hanging out in your pantry. Take an inventory of everything you already have, and then shop from there. (Plus, if you are inventorying everything far enough in advance, you might be able to shape some of your menu around the items you already have.)
- Have a system for “saving” your food. If you live with a pack of hungry teenage boys, those two Costco roasted chickens might prove too great a temptation. I put blue painter’s tape on any food I’m “saving” for cooking that they might want. (The dried egg noodles are safe.)
- Bring the kids. (OK – if they’re old enough to help.) By the time my kids were 12, they were Costco experts. I would send them on “runs” together to go get items we needed. I would say it cut our shopping time by 1/3. The trick is to have a good list and raise your kids on Costco.
- Leave smaller kids with a friend. The trade off? Pick up her food at Costco for her. Just put everything you are buying for her on the conveyer belt first, have them subtotal it, and then add in your stuff.
- Have a spice inventory in addition to your pantry and freezer inventory. You will thank me later!
- Bring a clipboard and pen with you when you are shopping. You may even want to have one of your kids be in charge of the list.
Things you will need besides ingredients
Here are some basic supplies that will make your Freezer Cooking Adventure easier:
- Ziploc gallon bags
- Sharpie Markers
- Clear packing take
- White labels
- Pam or some other non-stick cooking spray
- 8×8 foil pans (if you will be doing casseroles)
- Aluminum foil
- Plenty of kitchen towels to clean up as you go
- Dish washing liquid to clean posts and pans as you go
Tomorrow, we will get cooking!
For today’s free download, go to my Facebook Page this week (through September 1. 2013) and get our new Pantry Inventory Sheet.
Tell me below – do you have a favorite freezer trick? You could win a copy of The What’s for Dinner Solution or the grand prize of The What’s for Dinner Solution and a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
Want more freezer recipes? Did you know you can get a free ecopy of Six Chicks Freeze and Fix: How to Start a Freezer Meal Co-op just by liking my Facebook Page. Once you hit “Like” just go to the tabs and download the booklet. It’s that easy. Over 20 great family-pleasing recipes!
We’ll have a free freezer download every day this week. Stay tuned!
by kathilipp | Aug 27, 2013 | Uncategorized |
***Give Away Alert! I will be giving away four copies of my freezer cooking cookbooks The What’s for Dinner Solution A winner everyday Tuesday through Friday. PLUS – a Freezer Cooking Prize Pack including The What’s for Dinner Solution and $25 Amazon Gift Card to buy all the Ziploc bags and 8×8 pans you need to get started! Just leave a comment on the blog sometime this week and I will pick four book winners and one grand prize winner – the more comments, the more chances to win! (One comment per person, per day, please!) ***
Over the next four days, I will be giving you step by step instructions on how to have great, tasty meals for you and your family, every night. To make sure you don’t miss a post, subscribe to the blog!
Wrapping it Up – Everything You Need to Know About Freezing Your Food
First – here is a quick list of things that could have problems freezing:
- Cake icing made with egg whites
- Cream filling and soft frostings
- Pies made with custard or cream fillings
- Cooked egg whites
- Fried foods
- Fruit jelly
- Soft cheese (unless mixed into a recipe)
- Mayonnaise (unless mixed into a recipe)
- Sour cream (unless mixed into a recipe)
- Potatoes (you can do potatoes, but it is a bit complicated for the blog and they can sometimes turn a weird color…)
Freezing your food falls into three different categories:
Soups, Stews, Chilli
Let the soup, stew or chili cool for a bit before pouring your portion into a labeled Ziploc bag and get out as much air as you can before speaking.. Bag again with the zipper part going the opposite way of the first bag.. Freeze lying down so it will lie as flat as possible. For soups, stews and chili, I put my bags on a large cookie sheet before freezing so that the bags will not sink down between the grates of the freezer, therefore making them hard to pry off once frozen.If you are making soups, stews or chili and want to freeze them in single serve portions, you can pour them into small plastic containers (Rubbermaid, Ziploc, etc.) leaving some room at the top for when the liquid freezes and expands. Let them cool down, cover with lids and freeze.
Marinades
Just put the meat and the marinade in a Ziploc bag and then put that Ziploc bag in another Ziploc bag with the zipper part going the opposite way. Label your inner bag so the otter bag can be reused.
Casseroles
For casserole freezing, I have used the foil pans pictured below for years.
I think my addiction to foil cake pans started when I was doing our freezer cooking swap with a bunch of other girls (to find out more about our group, Six Chicks Freeze and Fix, check out the booklet on my Facebook Page.) We would each make our dinners at home, and then bring them to a predetermined location, and swap. We didn’t want the hassle of returning dishes, so the cake pans worked for our needs.
But it was a little silly that I was still doing it once I was only cooking for my family. Besides the cost, all I could picture was trees dying in the rain forest because of my wastefulness. (I don’t know why it would be trees dying, but I’m sure the trees would somehow be affected.)
So I finally broke down and bought a dozen of these inexpensive (OK, cheap,) steel pans from Target. Love ‘em.
Here are my instructions for packaging the casseroles:
- Spray the bottom of the serving pan with Pam or some other non-fat cooking spray
- Put your casserole in the pan
- Cover the casserole with foil
- Label the foil with the name and date of the casserole (I’ll tell you why this is bold in a second.)
- Slip into a Ziploc bag with the printing on the bag on the bottom
OK – so here is the money/environment tip of the day: If you label the foil instead of the Ziploc (which is just keeping your food from freezer burn and is not actually touching any food) you can reuse your Ziploc bag for protecting other meals. If you bag your food with a label on the foil, and you put the Ziploc imprint on the bottom of the casserole, you will clearly be able to see what is in your meal.
You see, those baggies are expensive, and it is my goal to make them last as long as possible!
If you don’t have all the pans that you need, here is a great suggestion from one of my commenters Deanna:
To save more $ may I suggest lining a casserole dish in aluminum foil and then preparing the meal in it. Freeze it, lift the meal out, wrap it again in foil, label and stick it in the freezer! When you go to cook it just unwrap the outer layer of foil, pop back in the original dish and cook. Makes clean up a breeze too!
For today’s free download, go to my Facebook Page this week (through September 1. 2013) and get our new Freezer Inventory Sheet.
Tell me below – do you have a favorite freezer trick? You could win a copy of The What’s for Dinner Solution or the grand prize of The What’s for Dinner Solution and a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
Want more freezer recipes? Did you know you can get a free ecopy of Six Chicks Freeze and Fix: How to Start a Freezer Meal Co-op just by liking my Facebook Page. Once you hit “Like” just go to the tabs and download the booklet. It’s that easy. Over 20 great family-pleasing recipes!
We’ll have a free freezer download every day this week. Stay tuned!
by kathilipp | Aug 26, 2013 | Home |
***Give Away Alert! I will be giving away four copies of my freezer cooking cookbooks The What’s for Dinner Solution A winner everyday Tuesday through Friday. PLUS – a Freezer Cooking Prize Pack including The What’s for Dinner Solution and $25 Amazon Gift Card to buy all the Ziploc bags and 8×8 pans you need to get started! Just leave a comment on the blog sometime this week and I will pick four book winners and one grand prize winner – the more comments, the more chances to win! (One comment per person, per day, please!) ***
Over the next four days, I will be giving you step by step instructions on how to have great, tasty meals for you and your family, every night. To make sure you don’t miss a post, subscribe to the blog!
I want your kitchen to go from empty to bountiful.
Everyone I know is looking for solutions to making dinner easier and cheaper and this is the plan that works for me. I feed five adult-sized people seven nights a week and winging it is so not an option.
Especially since my freezer looked like this. (Ben and Jerry’s wasn’t even mine. No fair!)
I just want to warn you right now – I am a Freezer-Stuffing Master. I am super advanced when it comes to meal prep. I did 51 plus meals this week. Do not try this at home. Start small with a dozen or so after reading through this week’s posts.
Bulk cooking to get yourself ahead a few nights a week is a great idea. Tripling recipes that you already love will help you get ahead and take some stress out of your evenings.
After you have success with your first attempt at freezing and get comfortable with the procedure, then you can pull out multiple recipes stock your freezer for a month or more.
Day 1 – Pick Your Recipe
Today all you need to do is pick your recipe!!
The absolute easiest type of dinner to prepare ahead is a marinade. We do several chicken and pork marinades each time we freezer cook –they are super-easy and everyone in my house will eat them – a double bonus.
So go through your recipes and find the one that your family will love and will be easy to prepare. When you find it – please share it here. I will read through them all and let you know if they will freeze well – I am here to serve.
Tomorrow – I will share the shopping strategy.
Let me get you started with a Lipp family favorite:
Pesto Chicken
1/2 cup Prepared pesto sauce
6 Boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
6 slices Mozzarella cheese
1. Prepare: Pour pesto over chicken breasts in a one-gallon bag.
2. Freeze: Double bag the chicken. Place the Mozzarella cheese in a separate freezer bag and attach to the chicken bag. Freeze lying flat.
3. Serve: Thaw chicken overnight in the refrigerator. Drain marinade. Place chicken breasts in a pan sprayed with light cooking oil. Place one slice of Mozzarella cheese on each chicken breast. Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes.
And here are a couple of recent blog posts about great marinades for chicken and pork.
Tell me below – what is your favorite marinade recipe? You could win a copy of The What’s for Dinner Solution or the grand prize of The What’s for Dinner Solution and a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
Want more freezer recipes? Did you know you can get a free ecopy of Six Chicks Freeze and Fix: How to Start a Freezer Meal Co-op just by liking my Facebook Page. Once you hit “Like” just go to the tabs and download the booklet. It’s that easy. Over 20 great family-pleasing recipes!
We’ll have a free freezer download every day this week. Stay tuned!
by kathilipp | Aug 19, 2013 | Uncategorized |
Chicken marinades were a big hit so let’s talk pork recipes, sauces and marinades.
Raspberry Chipolte BBQ Pulled Pork
Suggested by Heather Smith
I put a pork roast or tenderloin in the crockpot with a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s raspberry chipotle BBQ sauce. Cook on low 6-8 hrs until it falls apart.
Pork Chops Alabama
Suggested by Shari Steel
Pork Chops Alabama, my then 13 year old son had to make this for a home economics class and I have been making it since.
6 large pork center loin chops
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 can (28 ounce size) crushed tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
Brown the pork chops on both sides. Drain off any rendered fat.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the skillet or Dutch oven, cover and cook over medium heat for 1 hour or until very tender. Can be done ahead and reheated later.
Onion Pork Chop Bake
Suggested by Jennifer Edwards
Dip your pork chops in bread crumbs, then dip in egg, then dip in Lipton Onion soup mix and bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160degrees.
Two Way Pork Chops
Suggested by Jay Nevitt Geiger
Thin and boneless pork chops marinated in with Vidalia Onion BBQ sauce and grill.
Dip pork chops in olive oil and then seasoned panko crumbs and bake for 350 for 30-35 minutes. These are easy to do as a freezer meal- just coat, wrap individually in saran wrap and store in a freezer Ziploc.
Grilled Pork Chops & Peaches
Suggested by Tami Mixon Slipher
Grill pork chops and peaches and then top with sprigs of mint.
Captain Crunch Breaded Chops
Suggested by Lauren Meyer Plain
Crumble Captain Crunch to use as your fry batter and season with garlic salt and pepper in a cast iron skillet.
Baked Mushroom Chops
Suggested by Jenn Stanaway
Sprinkle pork with garlic powder, seasoning salt and rosemary and cover with the following mixture; 1 can golden mushroom soup, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 tsp sage. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.
by kathilipp | Aug 18, 2013 | God |
So as some of you may know, I’m not the biggest Duck Dynasty fan.
I watched the first few episodes, and loved the family (especially loved me some Uncle Sy…) but the production of the show drove me crazy: the producers seem to put these very smart family members into some really dumb situations (making wine in a week!?!) It’s just not my Tupperware cup of sweet tea. And that’s OK -some of my best friends LOVE Duck Dynasty.
But I just read an article that is the reason why I’m giving Duck Dynasty another chance. (Like they need me as a viewer…)
In this story Jase, one of the bearded brothers
on the show, is staying at the Trump Tower Hotel in New York. When he asked a staff member to point out where the restroom was, the bushy-bearded cast member was escorted to the front door, directed to the park, and told “Good luck.”
My immediate thought was “Oh wow. I bet Donald Trump is going to have to issue an apology to the entire family in order to avoid a national uproar of Duck Dynasty fans!”
But the family, talking about the employee who escorted Jase from the building calmed the potential fury:
The Robertsons said they were “absolutely not offended” by the incident and said they love staying at Trump Hotel.
“We were laughing — wait until the Donald hears about this,” he said.
And for what it’s worth, they hope the staff member doesn’t get in trouble.
Amazing. For many, many people, (including many Christians, which it’s well know that the Robertsons are,) would have threatened lawsuits, or at the very least demanded a public apology.
But instead, they acted about as Christ-like as any celebrity, Christian or non, I’ve ever heard of.
“I think it was a facial profiling deal,” Jase said.
Humor, and grace. Our churches would be overflowing if we had that kind of response all the time.
Yep – I’ll be tuning in to A&E.
by kathilipp | Aug 13, 2013 | God |
Teaching Children Bible Memorization
Proverbs 22:6
Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
Psalm 119:11
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
The Bible instructs us to teach and to train up children according to God’s will and verse memorization is part of that. We are to think on what is good and pure as Paul instructs us in Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
So what are great ways to teach children Bible verses? I asked the question on my Facebook page and so many responded with great ideas. Music was by far the most recommended way to get the Bible into their cute little minds. Here are some reader suggestions.
Cyn Rogalski
“MUSIC! Set the words to music, even Twinkle Twinkle, it really helps them to remember.”
Heather Van Nortwick Faulkner
“When we were doing AWANA and my kid’s had to memorize a verse each week I got a little voice recorder (from Target in the toy section). They said the verse into it and would listen to it over and over and say it along with it.”
Carol Daniels Boley
“Definitely music. Even in high school when they had to memorize verses in Bible class, we would pick tunes that fit. Did you know Esther 4:16 works perfectly with “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina?”
Randi Schmid Seeds
“Family Worship CDs are awesome; we use those to memorize (without them realizing it!) and then we memorize the old fashioned way too just writing it down and saying it every day until we memorize it.”
Murphy Baumann
“In my classroom, when we had a long passage, I would give each child one word written on a small dry erase board and then have them get in order by saying the verse with them. I would have them change words with someone and do it again. After a few times I would time them to see how quickly they could get in order. For individual memorization it helps to have the words on paper. Have the child cut the words out, mix them up, and then put them back in order a few times. This could work for adults too!”
Sabrina Martinez
“I post a sticky note on their bathroom mirror with a scripture every day. With 3 girls getting ready in there, at least one of them is likely to memorize it.”
Stephenie Hovland wrote a blog post memorizing scripture. May be something some of you could use Faith-Filled
Teresa Svatos Drake friend in Washington created a wonderful book for kids called Alphabet of Promises. The story behind the book is precious, as well.
Ronda Jones Doug Jones Knows the creator of Memlock and she says his system is awesome!!
Be sure to check out my Pintrest Board for other resources and great ideas on how to memorize verses and get your kids excited about it.
by kathilipp | Aug 13, 2013 | Me |
At almost every event, women have come up to me and said, “I want to do what you do!” And I want to help. I’ve want to coach, I want to encourage.
And then life and family hi and my best of intentions go out the window.
But now, thanks to my amazing co-author, Cheri Gregory, there is a way you can see what the process of writing a book looks like from every angle.
“Write Beside You” is your chance to hang out (albeit virtually) with me and Cheri as we write The Good Girl’s Guide to Breaking Bad Rules.
You’ll have access to a secret Facebook page where we’ll regularly post status updates about their progress. We’ll share what we’re learning about the writing process (i.e what’s working well and what’s not!)
You’ll be able to ask your questions about writing, speaking, platform-building, marketing, etc. and receive specific answers.
Plus, you’ll be hanging out with a bunch of like-minded women who will (we are confident!) become a source of support, brilliant ideas, and even accountability.
You can participate as much or as little as you like. All we ask is that you be respectful of everyone in the group and keep everything confidential.
If you’re interested, fill out the application here and you’ll hear from us soon!
er bags. Whether I need 1 Tablespoon or 2 Cups, I can break off just enough to add to my recipes. It is also a great way to use up a large bag of Costco onions…which is about the same price as a tiny bag from Safeway.”
