Friday, April 20, 2012

Yummy Baby Food

Yummy baby food... that's normally a pretty big contradiction, yes?

What if you could have baby food without all the extra additives, at 1/2 of the cost of store-bought (or less!!)? And if it was easier to make than going to the store, comparing prices, ounces, and how much you need for the next week with 2 kids in the cart?? AND you can do it in your underwear?!

Yes? Yes.

I did this when my older son started on solids - we had needed to switch to formula, so I was now shelling out the cash for formula & wanted to find some way to try and recoup my costs. I tried pureeing produce for him and it was incredible. I saved SO much money, it was so easy, and he loved the fruits & veggies. We went on a trip at one point during his baby food days & I couldn't easily transport the frozen goods on the plane, so we bought some at a grocery store when we got there... yeah... meals didn't go too well that trip - whether it was taste, consistency, or both, he was not a fan of it. I don't blame him, that stuff tasted gross.


I digress...


My younger son is now starting the venture into solids, so it was time to break out the gear & get started. My arsenal consists of a knife, a couple large pots, a dozen ice cube trays, and a hand blender. That's it.


This would be 4 pounds of sweet peas, ready to be cooked.

Pretty much every fruit & veggie in the market can be steamed, boiled, or baked. I prefer to boil & bake, but it's really up to you. Fruits like peaches, plums & apricots do better when you cut them into chunks & steam them. This time, I did sweet peas, green beans, carrots, apples, and a couple sweet potatoes.

I bake the sweet potatoes with the skins on, then peel them while they're warm & mash them. I know people who leave the peels on as there are nutrients in the skin, but as a person who can't stand the idea of eating the skin on a baked potato.... I peel. For peaches and apricots, I leave the skins on, just make sure you wash them before you cook.

If I'm boiling or steaming, I cut the produce into chunks, put it in the pot, and cover with water.

I didn't think to take pictures this time around, so these are apples from my older son. You get the idea, though.

Once your produce is cooked and squishable (If you take a chunk of apple out of the pan & can easily mash it with a fork, you're good), drain the product but keep the water you cooked in. The puree will be really thick and chunky when you get started, and the water will help thin it out and make it easier to put in the ice cube trays, easier to freeze, and easier to digest for your little one.

** Please note that this does NOT apply to carrots - toss the "cooked" water & use "clean" water. Nitrates from the carrots can seep into the water, and is not recommended for babies under 8-10 months. **

Now it's time to pull out the hand blender/blender/grinder, whatever your weapon of choice might be. Add water until you get the texture/consistency you'd like. I do make my purees a bit chunkier so that my kids get used to the texture of food and I can thin it out more with formula at meal times if needed.



Something that I find both interesting & important - it's a lot easier to puree the produce while the produce is still warm. However, it's not the best idea to put the hot puree into your ice cube trays & into the freezer. You're likely to warp (or even melt) your trays, frost your puree cubes, and throw your freezer completely out of whack. Instead, I suggest putting your puree in the fridge for a few hours (I usually leave them overnight), and THEN transferring to ice cube trays.



After some time in the freezer, you can package your cubes up in freezer bags and you're done!

We have a chest freezer in our garage, so I store the large bags outside and keep smaller baggies of 10-12 cubes of each "flavor" in the inside freezer for easy grabbing.

In a regular freezer, the cubes will last 3-4 months.
In a deep freeze or a freezer that's rarely opened, they'll last 6-7 months.



Thanks to some great produce deals, I did this huge batch for a very low price - I spent about $35 and made 525 ounces of food (FYI - 1 cube is approx. equivalent to 1 ounce).

10 lbs of green beans @ $1/lb
10 lbs of sweet peas @ $1/lb
4 lbs of carrots @ $1.25/lb
6 lbs of apples @ $1/lb

That breaks down to about $0.07/ounce. Gerber products tend to retail for $0.18-0.25/ounce. Multiply that if you want to buy the organic or all-natural brands. It may not seem like a lot, but my 525 ounces cost me $35... if I bought that much of plain ol' Gerber, I'd spend upwards of $95. I'll take the extra $60(+), the saved shopping trips, and the comfort of knowing what's in my baby's food, thanks! When I see some deals on peaches & apricots, those will join the arsenal, but 500-600 ounces will likely get us to 9-10 months when finger foods start to take over.

For more ideas & recipes, I recommend visiting Wholesome Baby Food.


As always - have questions? Leave a comment!

Can Storage

After this idea on Pinterest a month or two ago, I've been meaning to get my act in gear. I finally got a couple afternoons where the boys' naps overlapped (HOORAY for 2 hours of silence!!) and was able to break out the crafting gear.

I'm a big fan of a stocked pantry, which means a lot of cans in our family. My husband is in the process of constructing a bigger, badder pantry for me. Bigger means more cans as well as deeper shelves. Have you ever tried to stack cans on a deep shelf? If so, then you know how annoying & impractical it is. This really is a great option and I've loved it for our house.



I started with a handful of empty soda boxes - I got lucky when Target had a crazy deal on Pepsi products last month and we stocked up on soda anyways. Of course the "dispenser tab" got ripped off, and I cut a hole towards the back of the box to drop the cans in.

*Sidenote - thus far, I haven't found the drop slot very useful, BUT I cut them in anyways, just in case I want to use it in the future. We go through canned goods pretty quickly, so a huge emphasis on rotation isn't always necessary.*



This was a great way to use all that extra scrapbook paper I have sitting around since I went to digital scrapping. haha. I used 2 pieces of 12x12 for the bulk of the box and 1 piece of 12x12 for the front.


I used Modge Podge to stick everything down, put a label on the front & then brushed on a layer over the top of everything.


I took the original poster's idea one step further. Puddings & Jellos are another item that are ridiculous to store if you keep a lot of them. I cut off the entire top of the box & covered it the same way. Now, I just slide it out, find my flavor & slide it right back in.

The finished product - SOOO much better than a bunch of jumbled cans lined up 24" deep!!

My only complaint with the whole thing is that while the box holds 12 cans of soda, it only holds about 10 cans of corn/beans/etc. It makes for a different fit inside the box, rather than the double stack you find with the soda. Ah well, it's still amazing.





Original idea credit belongs to Then She Made

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Chicken & Rice Wraps

I've gotten some comments about how I left out the recipe for the Chicken & Rice Wraps on my Freezer Meals 101 post. Somehow that got skipped in the compilations, so here it is -

I made a large batch of rice (maybe 3 cups dry rice), added in 3 shredded chicken breasts, and seasoned the mixture with some taco seasoning and a few large spoonfuls of salsa. Place a blop/dollop/spoonful (you get the point) of the mixture into the center of a tortilla and roll.

Voila!

Of course, you can season the whole thing any way you'd like - I love that this recipe is so versatile! To freeze, wrap in foil & store in a big plastic bag. To reheat, unwrap the wrap & rewrap (gee, there's a lot of wrapping involved) loosely in a paper towel. Heat at 10% power for 45 sec - 1 min, then on full for 2 minutes.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Freezer Meal 101 - Shopping List

If you didn't come here for the freezer meal post, you probably came for the shopping list!
I've gotten SO many requests for the quick list of ingredients to make all these recipes.


You asked, I listened -



Freezer Meals 101 Shopping List

Supplies:
* 1 roll heavy duty aluminum foil
* Approx 30 gallon-size baggies
* Saran wrap

Meat:
* 10lb bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (approx 12 breasts)
* 3lb Italian sausage
* 3lb ground turkey
* 7lb ground beef
* 6-8lb pork shoulder

Produce:
* 5 white onions
* 4 stalks of celery
* 2 cloves of garlic
* 3 zucchini
* 2 bunches of basil (can use dried if preferred)
* 1 bunch of parsley (can use dried if preferred)
* 3 green bell peppers
* 1 red bell pepper
* 3 sweet potatoes
* 1 bunch green onions

Canned Goods:
* 204oz tomato sauce (if you're near a Costco, I bought 2 of the giant cans)
* 90oz black beans
* 30oz corn
* 32oz tomato paste
* 30oz cream of mushroom soup
* 30 oz enchilada sauce
* 15 oz diced tomatoes

Pasta/Bread:
* 1 large bag egg noodles
* 1 small package thin spaghetti
* Tortillas (approx 60-70 - I got 2 large packages from Costco)
* 1lb ziti
* 1 package white rice

Other:
* 2 packets chili seasoning
* 26oz spaghetti sauce
* 30oz beef broth
* 4oz jar pimentos
* 2C cheddar cheese (I believe I bought an 8oz bar)
* 12oz dry stuffing
* Bread crumbs
* 3 dozen eggs
* 1 bottle BBQ sauce
* Worchestire sauce
* Small jar salsa
* 1lb cottage cheese
* Parmesan cheese

Seasonings: (I had most of these in my cupboard, but I'll include them just in case)
* Cornstarch
* Milk
* Garlic Salt
* Onion Powder
* Mustard Powder
* Chili Powder
* Brown Sugar
* Paprika
* Cumin
* Cayenne
* Seasoned Salt
* Oregano
* Sugar
* Taco Seasoning
* Salt & Pepper

Freezer Meal 101

I know why everyone's here - freezer meals! Thanks to Pinterest for making this a super popular entry! You're the reason I created a separate blog!



With just about 5 weeks until D-Day, it was time to start on freezer meals. Before Oliver was born, I made an extra batch of spaghetti sauce, a couple meatloafs and some chicken noodle soup for the freezer. Just those couple extras helped after I'd given birth and didn't feel like cooking. This time around, I knew I wanted to do more and to take advantage of the chest freezer we got last year. I've had several people ask for pictures, recipes, and a general breakdown of what the process entails.

There are two ways to do freezer meals - one would be to make a larger batch of whatever meal you're making and freeze the extra. The other would be my preferred method - gearing up for a mass cook-a-thon. I was able to do several meals each night this week in only 2-3 hours each night. One night was beef, one was chicken, one was the random extras.



Total cost - including the foil and freezer bags - was $130. I'd originally estimated $125, but needed more foil and tortillas. That stash produced 35 dinners, 25 lunch chicken & rice wraps, and 40 breakfast burritos. That's a lot better than $15-20/meal for fast food every night I don't feel like cooking. That $3.00 is the main meal only & doesn't include veggies, sides, bread, etc. But since we do dry storage in bulk as well, the cost is still significantly lower than fast food, nevermind healthier. Another great thing for me was that I got everything at two stores - Costco & WalMart. Those two stores make everything possible in our house! :)

Something that seems like common sense, but is always good to keep in mind is your amount of freezer space. We have a decent sized chest freezer in our garage, but that also has to be able to hold our normal stock up of staples (chicken, beef, bread, tortillas, extra butter, etc). Our inside freezer holds our "regular grabs" (ice cream, butter, waffles, etc), so I don't want to bombard it with extra meals. Freeze smart - I used plastic freezer bags so that I could freeze the spaghetti sauce & chilis flat. Consequently, I can fit a lot more meals in the same space.



How about some recipes? Yes? OK!

Chicken & Black Bean Chili (made 4 - 4C bags)
4 chicken breasts - boiled & shredded
56oz tomato sauce
30oz black beans
30oz corn
2 onions - diced
4 stalks of celery
2 packets chili seasoning
garlic

Chop everything up, throw it in a pot/crock pot and let it simmer for an hour or two.

**I purposely didn't add more spice than what's in the mild chili seasoning due to the fact that I plan on nursing and didn't want to go overboard.**


Lazy Lasagna Chili (made 3 - 4C bags)
1C chopped zucchini
1/2C chopped onion
1-1/2lbs Italian sausage
3 garlic cloves, pressed
26oz jar spaghetti sauce
30oz beef broth
1C water
1-1/2C uncooked pasta (egg noodles, radiatore, ziti work well)
basil

Chop zucchini & set aside (I cut it in slices and then cut the slices in half but I like bigger chunks). Cook sausage until no longer pink, add onions & garlic. Add spaghetti sauce, broth & water - bring to a boil. Stir in zucchini, cook 2-4 minutes until tender, add basil.

**Something I do differently when freezing - I don't add the noodles before bagging. When I reheat, I'll add the noodles, another cup or two of water and cook them in at that point.**



Mom's Spaghetti Sauce (made 5 - 4C bags)
120oz tomato sauce
24oz tomato paste
24oz(+) water
2lbs ground beef
6-8 cloves of garlic, pressed
3/4C chopped parsley
3/4C chopped basil
6T oregano
3T sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Brown beef, add garlic, basil, parsley, & oregano. Add tomatoes, water, sugar, salt & pepper. Cover and let simmer for 2+ hours.

**I highly recommend adding 4 small cans of chopped mushrooms to this recipe. Jeremy is very anti-mushroom, so I've had to get used to making it without the offensive ingredient. Also, this is more of a "eh...that looks like a good amount of ___" recipe.**


Chicken Spaghetti (2 - 8x8 casseroles)
4 chicken breasts - boiled & shredded
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
4oz jar of pimentos, diced
3C thin spaghetti, broken into small pieces
2C shredded cheese
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
salt & pepper to taste

Boil chicken, keep 2C of broth. Cook spaghetti in the remaining broth. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Mix in the saved chicken broth gradually. You want the mixture to be creamy, slightly soupy, but not drippy. Press into pans and top with more cheese. Wrap in foil.
Reheating - Thaw casserole. Remove foil & place back in baking dish. Cook at 350 for 45m.

**I found a great idea for freezing casseroles - line the 8x8 pan with foil, fill with casserole, and put in the freezer overnight to get some shape. The next day, you can pull out the foil insert & you'll be able to reuse the pan & save space in the freezer.**



Beef Enchiladas (4 batches of 4)
How you make enchiladas is really up to the family - I cooked up 2lbs of beef, added Target brand enchilada sauce (our favorite), and taco seasoning. I usually soak my tortillas in enchilada sauce, this time I coated the inside, added the beef, and rolled. When I reheat, I'll pour more sauce on the outside along with fresh cheese.
Reheating - Thaw. Remove foil, place in baking dish. Cook at 350 for 20m.


Pulled Pork Starter (4 bags)
6-8lb pork shoulder
1/4C water
2T pepper
2T cumin
4T paprika
1tsp cayenne
2T brown sugar
2T salt
2T chili powder
1T oregano
1T sugar
2T mustard powder

Mix spices together & massage into the meat. Wrap the meat in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge overnight - 2 days. Cook in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hours. Add 2C BBQ sauce for the last hour.

**I cut the 8lb shoulder into 2 chunks (mostly because my crock pot is small), seasoned them, and let them sit for a full day. I put the first chunk into the crock pot one night so that it could cook from 9p-6a. It came out and the other one went in before work the next morning (6a-5p). I shredded both that night and put it in bags. I didn't sauce it so that it stays a versitile starter for later.**



Meatloaf (4 loaf pans)
3lb ground beef
3lb group turkey
12oz stuffing
~3/4C bread crumbs
6 eggs
1C BBQ sauce
5T onion powder
6T Worchestire sauce
4T garlic salt

Mix all ingredients and form into loaf pans lined with foil. Cover with foil, bake at 350 for ~45 minutes. Uncover, coat with ketchup and let cook another 15 minutes. Let them cool, then pull out the foil "packages" and wrap in more foil.
Reheating - Thaw loaf. Remove foil, put back in loaf pan, cover in ketchup & cook at 350 for 20-30 minutes, until warmed through.

**I stole the idea of using beef & turkey from my sister-in-law. It makes a lean, juicy meatloaf, even after freezing. I also like to use stuffing & bread crumbs - you can use one or the other, if you prefer. Our family also prefers onion powder over chopped onions. We would have had 5 mini-meatloafs, but they smelled so good coming out of the oven that Jeremy couldn't resist.**



BBQ Chicken (Crock Pot) (2 bagged meals)
Everything for this recipe goes into the bag raw.
Chop the following ingredients & divide them between the 2 bags...3 sweet potatoes, cubed
1 zucchini, chopped
1 onion, sliced
2 green bell peppers, sliced
1 red bell peper, sliced
4-5 chicken breasts, diced

In each bag, place...8oz tomato paste
1T Worcestershire
2T brown sugar
1T mustard powder
1 garlic clove
1/4tsp salt

Close up the bags, mix a bit and voila!
Reheating - This can go in the crock pot while still frozen. Add about 3/4C water or chicken broth. Cook on low for about 8 hours.



Breakfast Burritos (40 mini burritos)
Tortillas
2 dozen eggs
60oz black beans, rinsed
1 bundle green onions, chopped
Salsa
Cheddar cheese

Scramble eggs with milk/water & cook. Add the black beans & green onions towards the end of cooking. Assemble in the tortillas with cheese & salsa. Wrap each burrito individually in foil or wax paper.
Reheating - remove from foil/wax paper, wrap in a paper towel. Heat for 2m on defrost, then 1m30s on high.
My husband suggests a toaster oven/oven if you have the time - he puts his in for 20m @ 400 degrees and says they come out perfectly. That's from frozen, so I'm sure you could cut that time if you put some in the fridge the night before.

**As with most of these recipes, there is a lot of versitility with this recipe. You can add other veggies if your heart desires - onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, etc. I prefer to keep mine simple and small so that I am encouraged to add to my meal.**


Chicken & Rice Wraps (about 20)

I made a large batch of rice (maybe 3 cups dry rice), added in 3 shredded chicken breasts, and seasoned the mixture with some taco seasoning and a few large spoonfuls of salsa. Place a blop/dollop/spoonful (you get the point) of the mixture into the center of a tortilla and roll.

Voila!

Of course, you can season the whole thing any way you'd like - I love that this recipe is so versatile! To freeze, wrap in foil & store in a big plastic bag. To reheat, unwrap the wrap & rewrap (gee, there's a lot of wrapping involved) loosely in a paper towel. Heat at 10% power for 45 sec - 1 min, then on full for 2 minutes.


Baked Ziti (2 - 8x8 casseroles)
1lb cottage cheese
2 eggs, beaten
3oz + 1-1/2C Parmesan cheese
1/2C onion, chopped
28oz tomato sauce
1lb ziti
8oz mozzarella
20oz Italian sausage/ground beef
5 garlic cloves, pressed
1T olive oil
15oz diced tomatoes
1/2C + 2T basil
1C whole milk
1tsp oregano
1tsp sugar
3/4tsp cornstarch
salt & pepper

Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, & 1C Parmesan together in a medium bowl; set aside. Bring a large pot of water to boil, cook pasta until it begins to soften but is not yet cooked through, 5-7m. Drain the pasta.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook meat until nearly browned. Add in the onion and garlic and continue to cook until the onion is softened and meat is completely browned. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and oregano; simmer until thickened, about 10m. Off the heat, stir in 1/2C basil and the sugar, and season with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl stir together the cornstarch and milk. Transfer the mixture to the now-empty stockpot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, 3-4 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the cottage cheese mixture, 1-1/2C of the tomato sauce and 3/4C mozzarella. Stir to combine. Add the pasta and toss to coat thoroughly with the sauce.

Split the pasta into 2 foil-lined 8x8 baking dishes and spread the remaining tomato sauce evenly over the tops. Sprinkle the remaining cheeses over the tops.

Reheating- Thaw. Remove from foil & transfer back to an 8x8 baking dish. Cover with foil, bake at 350 for 30m. Remove foil & bake for an additional 30m.



There you have it - easy freezer meals for maternity leave! I plan on doing another batch at the end of my leave so that I have a stock of easy-grab meals for when I go back to work. Jeremy was impressed with the low price tag & high volume of food and says that he wants to do it every few months and save some good money & time for our family. And yes, he did help - watching Oliver and cleaning all my dishes made him the perfect helper!!

Oliver's Room

When we bought our house, I sent some pictures to my mother-in-law. Her first question - you're not leaving it that color are you? She knows I can't do white (or tannish-iced-coffee-like) for long. We'd just finished painting the old house back to white for our landlords, I was 5 months pregnant, and it was the middle of summer in Las Vegas... painting the nearly 2,000 square feet was NOT on my list of things to do. However, I really can't deny my love of paint, so we made it until September and the paint came out. Yeah it was cooler, but navigating step stools and drop cloths at 7+ months pregnant is a slightly entertaining sight!


The before shot...

We got this dresser from my sister-in-law. She used it for herself as well as her daughters. I tried sanding it down by hand, but it was too hot & I was too frustrated. So my husband took out the power sander and took it down to the wood. Thanks, dear!

A couple of coats of bright red paint and a spray of gloss later, we're almost done with the toolbox dresser.

Add a matching red chair, and some cars decorations...

Notice the now finished dresser, complete with Craftsman emblem. It took awhile to get the dresser completely finished - it involved a trip into California for a visit to IKEA for the perfect drawer handles.

We love the result - simple & fun!

Riley's Room

I'd love to do a dinosaur nursery. Why? Because I love dinosaurs! However, our nursery pieces are an ocean/under-the-sea theme. My sister-in-law passed the set onto us, and since I'm too cheap to go buy new stuff when I've got something that's barely worn that was free... sea creatures it is.

Again with the iced-coffee-tan-blah color. Way to go seller on the "mass spray paint" job. Better than old, peeling, random paint jobs, I guess.

First things first - furniture. Hooray for more hand me downs - this was actually my dresser/changing table when I was born.

Again, from my sister-in-law, a side table. We've used this as a phone table in the kitchen, a bedside table, an entryway table... It's been moved around a bit, for sure.

Time to sand & prime (note Oliver's dresser in the background). Our garage was a sight for a week or two.

2 coats of brown followed by two of off-white. If I ever do this technique again, I'll only use one coat of off-white - it would be easier during the sanding step. After the white had dried for a day, I got my turn on the power sander (oh. my. goodness. I loved the power!).


The furniture got left in the garage for awhile while I headed upstairs to paint. 2 walls are a light blue, the other 2 a darker, more teal. You can sort of see in the picture below, but the closet is on a dark wall, so I painted the inside of the closet with the light blue so that it'd pop.

I'm no artist - all the creatures are the result of Google and several hours penciling outlines. I used craft paint for the animals and it's held up really well thus far.

This turtle is my pride and joy. Even if he wants a robot room later in life, he's got to work the darn turtle in somehow...

The finished dresser.


The finished project.

Washer/Dryer Stand





I'll admit it - I love Pinterest. I've gotten so many good ideas - some of which I've used already, some of which are on the calendar or in the works. One that I found & fell in love with was the homemade washer/dryer stand. Did you know the drawer units for under the units cost $200-$250 A PIECE?!?! I don't know about anyone else, but I don't have $500 laying around for 2 drawers. So you can imagine my drool when I saw one made for a fraction of the cost that had a storage option that I liked even better - basket storage/sorting! Yes please! I'm such a sucker for organization.

The original link can be found here (no way am I taking full credit for this idea!)...

I was finally able to convince Jeremy to take a crack at this puppy & when our best friend was in town visiting last month, they set to the project. A little bit of brown paint (that I already had), and we were out the door for $80 and about 4 hours of labor. I love it. The units are now at the perfect height for me - I'm 5'8" for heaven's sake - and the baskets underneath make sorting a lot neater than piles on top of the washer/on the laundry room floor. I've got a big basket for the clean & dry clothes, plus 2 for dirties waiting to be washed - baby & non-baby.

I am sooo happy with the results and definitely grateful to Jeremy & Erik!