Sushi Night!

Sushi is by far my favorite food. It's pretty, yummy, and relatively good for you! My sister, Lindsay, got me a sushi book/bamboo mat/utensil kit for Christmas and we finally got the chance to use it last weekend!

We made rolls with smoked salmon [so yes, it was fully cooked. I'm not gutsy enough to go for the raw stuff.] and crab meat, scallions, cream cheese, avocado, and cucumbers [from our garden]. They turned out so much better than either of us thought they would! And we were way over prepared. We had a ton left over. This will be one meal we'll be doing again!

If you like sushi, don't be afraid to make it yourself! It looks intimidating, but it's much easier to make and make well than you think.

Freezer Cooking Menu: June 2010

The meals in our freezer are dwindling, which means it must be time for OAMC! I'm hoping to have my major cooking day on Saturday, but it may get pushed to Monday, so my mom can help. She'll be in town all week! I'm so excited to see her!

Our month is going to cost next to nothing because I already have about 10 pounds of chicken and 4 pounds of ground beef that I found on sale last month. I also found dry milk on sale at Smiths for a dollar, so I bought 6. Now I can afford to buy dehydrated fruit for the oatmeal! I can't wait.

Here's what's going down:

Dinners

• Buffalo Chicken Pizza


• Stuffed Hamburgers [Jalapeno Cheddar this time.]


• Italian Chicken Rolls


• Lasagna


• Taco Salad


• Cream Cheese Chicken


• Sweet & Sour Chicken Bowls


• Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches


• Chicken Enchiladas


• Tamale Pie


• Pineapple Chicken


• Macaroni Chicken Bake


• Divine Crock Pot Chicken


• Teriyaki Stir Fry

Sides

• Crystal's Butterhorns

Lunches

• Brown Bag Burritos

Breakfast

• Instant Oatmeal

Need some recipes? Check out my Recipes page!

Note: I've also had requests to come see a Freezer Cooking day in action. I'm happy to open up my kitchen to those who are interested. Contact me for more information.

Leave a comment with a recipe you'd like to see. I'll post a recipe as soon as it receives 5 votes!

Finish It Friday: Join Me!

I stumbled across the concept of "Finish It Friday" on this blog, and I immediately fell in love with it! It looks like they haven't really kept up with it, though, so I'm starting it up again here on Call Me Kristin.

I had a bit of an epiphany this morning. I woke up and thought, "wow! I'm so glad it's Friday. The weekend is almost here and I'll have time to really work on my goals!" Then, I realized I didn't even know what my goals were anymore. It occurred to me that I haven't really been progressing toward much of anything lately, and that's a recipe for some serious creative block not to mention self-pity. [Sorry, C, for the self-pity breakdown Wednesday night. My bad.]

I've decided I'm slightly addicted to the internet. [Phew. I said it. It's out there for the world to see!] In an attempt to fix that, I'm only going to be updating this blog on Monday through Friday [unless a catch up the blog on our real lives post is on my Finish It Friday list.] I'm going to use the rest of that time to go into super productive mode. That way on Sunday night I don't go into an intense bout of depression because the weekend is gone and I have no idea where it went.

Here's the lowdown:

Your Finish It Friday project can be any of the following:

• Any incomplete craft project. I.e.  half-finished scrapbook pages, quilt tops, etc.


• An organizing project that never got finished. Pick an eye-sore that bugs you every time you walk by [*cough* on top of our piano *cough*], organize your magazines by topic, clean out a closet and get a box together for a garage sale or goodwill, etc.


• A nearly complete home decor project. Finally get pictures IN the frames! Put the finishing touches on those pillows, find the candles you need to finish the dining room table, etc.


• A simple item on your to-do list. You know, the ones you put off just because they seem annoying and tend to stress you out way more than they're worth? Yep. Write the thank you note! Send the gas bill! Call your landlady to get the disposal fixed...again. [o wait, that's just me.]


• Basically, any little project or to-do that has been incomplete to the point of annoying that you can finish up by the end of the weekend!

Here's my Finish It Friday list:

1. Make Almond Milk Yogurt [link to recipe on my inspirations tab]


2. Pictures in the frames in the kitchen


3. Quilt this bad boy. Haven't touched it for almost a year. Here's to finishing!

To play along with Finish It Friday, simply:

1. Choose a project. It seriously doesn't have to be a big deal. It could be as simple as trying that new recipe you've been meaning to make, or sweeping the porch.


2. Post your plan in the comments.


3. Complete your to-do by the end of the weekend. That’s right, simply check this item off your list before you go to bed on Sunday (and be sure to let me know you did it in the comments section!)!


4. Enjoy the power of completion!

Sound like fun? I can’t wait to hear what you finish this weekend!

Make Ahead Stuffed Hamburgers

No, really. C actually grilled the burger like that. Impressive, eh?

These burgers were a brand new recipe for us, but we're 100% sold after just 1 bite! I'm excited to try different combinations of fillings.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of ground beef


• 1 T. oil


• an onion


• 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms


• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese


• 1/4 c. parmesan cheese

The How-to:

1. Make 10 super thin patties out of 1 pound of ground beef and lay them on a cookie sheet


2. Sautee the mushrooms and onion in the oil until onions are translucent and everything smells awesome.


3. Throw in the cheese until it's melty


4. Spread equal amounts of the mixture on the 10 patties


5. Cover the patties with another layer of ground beef


6. Freeze uncovered for an hour, then bag

On Cooking Day:

1. No need to thaw, just throw these on the grill!

Alternative Fillings we're planning on trying: Jalapeno Cheddar, Bacon & Cheese, and Mushroom & Swiss. If you come up with any other ideas, I'd love to hear 'em!

Poppyseed Chicken

This recipe has been C's favorite since the very first time I ever made it. It used to be the meal we ate on the major cooking day, but since converting it to a freezer cooking recipe, we can have it whenever we want!

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, cooked & cubed


• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup [we also like this with cream of chicken. depends on what we have on hand most of the time!]


• 1 cup sour cream


• 2 cups crushed Ritz crackers


• 3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine [margarine kind of makes the crackers soggy, but it's up to you!]


• 1 heaping tablespoon poppy seeds

The How-to:

• Put chicken in the bottom of a casserole dish


• Mix soup & sour cream; spread over the chicken


• Combine crackers, poppy seeds, and melted butter in a zip lock and mix


• Spread cracker mixture over the sour cream & soup


• Cover & freeze!

On Cooking Day:

• Thaw


• Bake at 375 degrees [uncovered] for 30 minutes

May 2010 OAMC: Spicing Things Up!

C helped me with OAMC this weekend! It was wonderful to not be alone in the kitchen all day. Happy Saturday to me! We only had 16 meals to make and I grossly miscalculated how much chicken we already had, and so we're left with an extra Costco bag for next month. True to form, I definitely modified almost every recipe from the cookbooks I told you about in my plan. So stay tuned for my version of these delicious freezer meals!

We made:

• 2 Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches* [Homemade BBQ sauce that made our mouths water every time we opened the crock pot to stir it. YUM!]


• 2 Chicken-Asparagus Pot Pies [More on this later.]


• 2 Poppyseed Chicken [YES. C's favorite dish gone freezer style. I was giddy when I figured out this could be frozen!]


• 2 Italian Chicken Rolls*


• 2 Cheese Mushroom Burgers* [Really excited to try different combinations of fillings for these! Jalapenos are next on our list!]


• 3 Lemon Chicken Marinades*


• 2 Souvlaki Marinated Skewers


• 1 Buffalo Chicken Pizza*


• Homemade Refried Beans*


• Homemade Baked Beans


• Lemon-Dill Rice Mixes*


• and 20 Whole Wheat Brown Bag Burros

We finished in just a couple hours so we decided to go ahead and make up the salsas we'd planned for Sunday. Holy Cow they're INCREDIBLE. We like things spicy! These salsas are about a 5 on a 1-8 scale. [The book's scale, not mine. Who makes a scale up to 8? Really.]

• Tomatillo Salsa Verde


• Salsa Mexicana

Still to make:

• Blackberry Jam [Got a good recipe that uses Sure Jell? Please send it my way!]


• Strawberry Jam [These were on sale $4.44 for 5 lbs. Jam time it is!]

The [*] indicates that the recipe will be up soon! I realize that almost the whole list is marked, but the [*] is more for my own notes than anything else. I have to remember what I promise! If you see one you'd LOVE the recipe to that isn't starred, just let me know in the comments and I'll add it to the list. The starred ones are just my favorites for now. If you need more ideas for OAMC recipes, be sure to check out my recipes page!

Also, be sure to come visit later this week for a series on realistic money management and a Dave Ramsey giveaway!

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

This salsa was easy, smooth, spicy & delicious! If you've never used tomatillos before, don't stress. We hadn't either. They're right by the chilies in the produce department and cost about $1 a pound. They often have a little husk on them, but it peels off really easy. For this recipe we washed and quartered our tomatillos and then threw everything in the blender.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound tomatillos [husked, rinsed, quartered]


• 3 serrano chilies with seeds


• 3/4 cup cilantro leaves


• 2 tablespoons lime juice


• 1 teaspoon sugar


• 1 teaspoon salt

The how-to:

1. Throw everything in a blender and go for it!

We had this with taco salad on Saturday night. This salsa + sour cream made for some serious magic on top of those chips! [So much so, that C requested taco salad for dinner on Sunday night, too. Yep. It's that good.]

Freezer Cooking Menu: May 2010

Beth at Penny Pantry gave me the great idea to check out OAMC cookbooks from the library during the #oamc twitter party yesterday. I found 4, but only 2 are usable because apparently the idea of cooking for convenience is a *new* idea... Let's just say that when I'm busting out 30 meals in one shot, I'm not exactly going to have time to perfectly mold a "Layered Salmon and Cucumber Mousse" or a "Savory Chicken Cheesecake." [Do either of those even sound edible? blech.]

The two I'm trying out this month are: Girlfriends on the Go by Suzie Roberts and Betty Crocker's Do-Ahead Cookbook. I rarely follow a recipe 100% through, so if I change a recipe enough to honestly claim it as my own, I'll post it on here. Otherwise, check your local library for a copy of the book!

C requested that I prepare meals that he can grill. [You bet I can do that! Lol. I love "not having to cook!"] We're at the point where we really need to eat up the meals in our freezer, so I'm starting out with 14 meals done. I'll be making 16 dinners and some sides.

Here's what's on tap:

Dinners

• Buffalo Chicken Pizza [C's Request. And 1 of the 2 things I make better than Chef Jessica. I'm gonna hold on to that for as long as I can! Recipe to come!]


• Mushroom Cheese Burgers


• Italian Chicken Rolls


• Chicken Asparagus Pot Pies


• Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches


• Lemon Chicken


• Poppyseed Chicken


• Souvlaki Marinated Chicken Skewers

Sides

• Old-fashioned Baked Beans


• Twice Baked Potatoes


• Dill-Lemon Rice <--Dry Mix! Super excited to try this one. :)


• Whole Wheat Brown-n-Serve Rolls

Lunches

• Brown Bag Burritos [If I can con C into making his amazing refried beans. That recipe is coming too!]

Need some recipes? Check out my Recipes page!

Whole Wheat Blender Banana Pancakes

C earns the husband of the year award every Sunday morning when we get to pay tribute to the one and only Jack Johnson. Not only does C take the time to sleep in with me, but he gets out of bed first and makes pancakes for us.

Yesterday, he tried a new recipe. It makes me so HAPPY that he's on the eating healthier band wagon with me. He opened up a can of wheat from our year supply [more on that later] and whipped up these banana pancakes in no time. The man even made homemade syrup. Can I get a hoo-rah? That's who I married ladies. Be jealous. :)

We got the original recipe from Lorna Nevitt, C's aunt. They are SO good!

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes

• 1 cup milk or 1 cup water and 1/3 cup dry milk


• 1 cup wheat or 1/2 cup wheat and 3/4 cup rolled oats or 1/2 cup wheat and 3/4 cup six-grain cereal [<--this is next on our to-try list. YUM.]


• 2 eggs


• 1/4 cup oil


• 1/4 cup honey


• Banana, Peaches, or Apples


• 1 tablespoon baking powder

1. Blend milk and wheat together for 5 minutes.


2. While it's blending, preheat the griddle.


3. Add eggs, oil & honey and blend well.


4. Add sliced banana, peaches, or apples. [I'm thinking bananas and walnuts would be delicious too!]


5. When all is blended, add baking powder and pulse 4 times.


6. Griddle 'em up!


7. Serve with strawberry jam, or butter and syrup.

If you try these, let me know! I'd love to hear how you like 'em!

Tales From An Ill-Equipped Kitchen: Jam

One of the left-over recipes from my April OAMC day was strawberry jam. I love this recipe! C took a break from studying to help with it. It took about 30 minutes start to finish and resulted in a lot of giggling. My sister, Jessica, is in culinary school. I'm 99.9% sure this post is going to make her cringe.

Sliced Strawberries.

It was C's job to mash the berries. The recipe said to use a potato masher for best results. I'm thinking they meant the old fashioned metal mashers. I doubt they even make those anymore. Our plastic one made a good effort, but was pretty pathetic and just slopped berries over the sides of the bowl. We actually found that the pizza cutter did some serious damage. The beater was it's right-hand man and the potato masher ran the anchor leg. We did end up with a really nice puree with fruit chunks. Yum.

We combined the pectin & everything and it was time to put the jam into jars. Do we have a funnel? no. In the past, we've rolled up a piece of paper, but we figured this needed something a little more sturdy. A while back, we found sobe lifewater for free. So now we have 30 of them. We cut open one of the empty bottles, rinsed it out & voila! funnel! [We'll wait while Jessica finishes crying. Sorry, Jess. At least you know now what I need in my stocking!]

However, right tools or not, the jam is delicious! We let it set on the counter over night & I made myself a sandwich with it for lunch today. Considering the cost benefit & how easy it was [no, really. Despite everything, it was super easy!] we probably won't be buying jam again, just looking for clearance berries.

I'm sorry for the poor quality photos. I'm still trying to figure out the settings on our new-to-us camera.

Here's the recipe for those interested:

Freezer Strawberry Jam

2 pints strawberries, hulled (2 cups crushed)
4 cups sugar
1 box fruit pectin (Sure Jell)
3/4 cup water

In a large bowl, crush one cup of strawberries at a time, use a potato masher for best results. If using a food processor, pulse to a very fine chop. Do not puree. Jam should have bits of fruit.

Measure exactly 2 cups of the prepared fruit. Place into a separate bowl. Measure exactly 4 cups of sugar into another bowl. Stir sugar into prepared fruit.
Mix well.

Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a small saucepan stir together one box of pectin and 3/4 cup water. Pectin may start out lumpy. Bring the mixture to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Stir the pectin mixture into the fruit mixture.

Stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy, about 3 minutes. A few sugar crystals may remain.

Pour into prepared jars or containers, leaving a 1/2-inch space at the top for expansion during freezing. Cover with lids.

Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

— Source: Sure Jell recipe

Make Ahead Chicken Tortilla Soup

One of my favorite ways to knock out three meals for the month in about 10 minutes is to make my own mixes. This also saves freezer space, but takes the same amount of time [or less!] to prepare on cooking day.

Make Ahead Chicken Tortilla Soup

Snack Baggie 1:

• 1 cup of rice [white or brown, you pick! In an effort to be healthier, we'll be opting for brown]

Snack Baggie 2:

• 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules


• 2 teaspoons sugar


• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper


• 1 teaspoon dried cilantro leaves


• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1/4 cup dried minced onion

Gallon Sized Bag:

• 1 can of chicken


• 1 can of corn (15.5 oz)


• 1 can of tomatoes and green chilis (10 oz)


• tortilla chips

The How-to:

1. Label Ziploc Bag


2. Place Can of Corn & Can of Tomatoes & Green Chilis in bottom of Gallon-Sized Ziploc


3. Put snack bags next to cans vertically-nice & snug


4. Put Can of Chicken sideways in top of bag.


5. Stuff remainder of bag with tortilla chips. Slightly crush them and zip tight!

On Cooking Day

1. Pour everything except tortilla chips into a pot with 10 cups of water. [Drain the chicken & the corn first!]


2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, & simmer for 20 minutes.


3. Throw half the chips in, remove from heat, cover for 5 minutes.


4. Serve with remaining chips.

Making this soup from scratch takes forever because you have all the spices to measure out, but if you make 3 at once... catch my drift?

Enjoy!

Freezer Cooking Menu April 2010

It's going to be a yummy month! I'm still building my freezer cooking year supply rotation, so even though I've got over two weeks worth of meals already made, we're still looking at a 30 meal Saturday.

Breakfast:

• Bagels


• Instant Oatmeal

Lunch:

• Brown Bag Burritos


• Freezer Strawberry Jam

Sides:

• Crystal's Butterhorns


• Artichoke Dip [This is a surprise for C. If you see this, love, hope you're as excited as I am!]


• Cheesy Potatoes

Dinners: [The Motherload]

• (3) Chicken Azteca


• (2) Sweet & Sour Chicken Bowls


• (3) Tamale Pie


• (2) Cream Cheese Chicken


• (2) Tortilla Soup


• (2) Lasagna


• (2) Caribbean Jerk Chicken


• (1) Stroganoff


• (3) Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake


• (1) Pork Roast


• (2) Oriental Chicken


• (2) Ranch Chicken


• (3) Lake Powell Chicken


• (2) Crab Pasta

I"m so excited to get this one underway. Since this weekend is General Conference, though, I'll have to wait until next week. What's on tap for your OAMC day?

http://amysfinerthings.com/brown-bag-burritos

Blondies that will Knock Your Socks Off!

So, I've recently stumbled upon a Freezer Cooking recipe that is absolutely ridiculous. How often can you pull soft, delectable, chewy bar cookies out of the freezer? At our house, the answer is about once a day for 4 days. They don't last long! [Though, we don't really have any will power either. heh.]



Blondies
2 3/4 c. brown sugar
15 TB butter
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking pd.
3 c. flour
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. walnuts

1. Combine butter and brown sugar in heavy sauce pan.


2. Cook until sugar is dissolved and mixture begins to boil remove from heat.


3. Mix butter, brown sugar, with spoon, until cool


4. Add eggs and vanilla mix on first speed


5. Sift dry ingredients.  Add to mixer. [Or for those of us without a Kitchen-Aid *sob* elbow grease it is!]


6. Add nuts and chocolate chips till combined.


7. Spread batter in greased/sprayed/floured rectangular pan.


8. Bake @350 approximately 25-30 minutes. (Jessica calls this-until GBD-golden, brown and delicious)

Note: This recipe is courtesy of Jessica McGuire, an extremely talented chef attending JWU Culinary Institute. It is also adjusted for altitudes around 7000ft, but I made it at around 4500ft. The extra butter & brown sugar are what make them chewy and wonderful even when they're cold. The only change for lower altitudes is reducing the butter a little bit, but it's up to you!

Sidenote #1: When we were down to one last bag of these blondies, C looked over at me in desperation and said, "K! Make me stop!" Then, the entire bag went down the chute. Sometimes I think willpower is over-rated.

Sidenote #2: This may be the only treat that makes it past our becoming-a-chiropractic-family lifestyle change. (More on that later.)