August Monthly Cooking Day

Today I completed (most) of my monthly cooking for August. I love doing the August monthly cooking especially, because, it really does save time. Since I teach, August is generally a very busy month--getting my classroom up and running, meeting new students, lesson planning. The month goes by very quickly. It's great knowing that I don't have one more thing to do when I get home. I know exactly what's for dinner!

My recipes this month included:

Breakfast: Tomato Basil Quiche

Lunch: Chicken Caprese Sandwiches, Chicken Cacciatore, Crockpot Mongolian Beef

Dinners: Lasagna Cups, Bubble Up Pizza, Roasted Tomato Bisque, BBQ Meatballs, Grilled Spinach Stuffed Chicken, and Dijon Baked Chicken

I decided to do mostly dinners this time, to save on my grocery bill and time in the kitchen. It took me considerably less time to do my monthly cooking this way. Since I'm the only one who eats the breakfasts and lunches, it just made more sense this way. We inevitably have leftovers that I take to work for lunch anyway.

I will not be posting the recipes, since they are either from the Once A Month Mom team or from other bloggers, but you will find a link above to get to the August Cooking Menu that they came from. Simply scroll down to the find the link to the original recipe, or download the August 2012 Recipe Cards.

Tonight for dinner, we had the Chicken Caprese Sandwiches. The only part of this that was freezable was the chicken, and I didn't want to waste the fresh mozzarella and basil that I had bought.

I got "mom smart" tonight, and cut up the chicken for my little boy, telling him it was nuggets. He loved it.

DH liked it enough to have seconds. We both decided, however, that we need to use different bread if I make this recipe again. The Italian bread that I used just didn't stand up to the sandwich. A bun of some kind would definitely be a better fit for this sandwich.

Overall, it was delicious, and I now have some left over sandwiches for lunch! :)

PointsPlus: 10 points (1/2 a piece of chicken, a thin slice of mozzarella, a tin slice of tomato, and bread

Husband's Grade: B



Inspired by: OnceAMonthMom

WOW, has it been a long time since I've posted anything on this little blog. I'm hoping to change that in the upcoming months. I have kept up with the freezer cooking, and while it saves time in the long run, it is very hard the day of. I'm currently looking at freezer crockpot recipes, since most of these are chop, bag, freeze type recipes. I'll be updating soon!

October Cooking Day

My friend Ellen and I will be teaming up to do October's recipes. Half the work and both of us end of benefitting from the recipes! Ellen is graciously offering her kitchen, since it's about twice the size of mine. I honestly don't think we could both fit AND cook in my kitchen at the same time.

Here's our recipe plan. As always, go to www.onceamonthmom.com for more delicious recipes!

Breakfast:
Cinnamon Apple Pull Apart Rolls (traditional 2010)
Apple Cinnamon Waffles (Traditional 2010)

Lunch:
Turkey and Veggie Meatloaf Muffins (diet menu)
Baked Potato Soup (diet menu)
Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili (diet menu)
Ham and Cheese Quesadillas (traditional menu)

Dinner:
Light Mac and Cheese (diet menu)
Tuscan Chicken and White Beans (diet menu)
Sausage and Potato Casserole (diet menu)
Salsa Chicken (traditional menu)
Mama's Meatballs and Gravy (traditional menu)
Chicken and Broccoli Casserole (traditional 2010)
Pepperoncini Beef Sammies (September Traditional menu)
Spinach Lasagna Rolls (September Diet menu)

PointsPlus Values and pictures to follow shortly!

September Mini-Cooking Day

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. School started again, and life got crazy! Thank goodness for the month of cooking I did. Most days what to have for dinner consisted of figuring out which delicious thing to defrost from our freezer.

Needless to say, I could not get my act together to do my September cooking. Then a good friend decided she wanted in on this cooking gig. We decided to wait until the menu plan came out for October (which it did this morning! Yay!). I looked through the September recipes I was planning and stuck with only the recipes that I had ingredients in house to cook. Thus spawned my September Mini-Big Day, which is happening as I post.

Recipes:
Beef Stew (September Traditional Menu)
**REALLY good! Especially with biscuits.
**PointsPlus: 5 per serving (about 1 cup)

End of Harvest Stew (September Diet Menu)
**Excellent soup! It's going on my repeats list.
**PointsPlus: 4 per serving (about 1 cup)

Pork and Veggie Stirfry (September Diet Menu)
**Very easy. Excellent with brown rice.
**PointsPlus: 6 per serving (about 1 cup, without rice)

Shepherd's Pie (September traditional Menu)
**Good version of Shepherd's Pie, although I added more vegetables
**PointsPlus: 9 per serving (1/4 of an 8x8 pan)

Maple Oat Scones (September Traditional Menu)
**Added about 1/2 a cup of sugar to this recipe. Very
good.
**PointsPlus: 8 per scone

Freezer Meal Review: Baked Pesto Chicken

Another freezer meal for us tonight. This was better than I was expecting. It went really well with the brown rice that was suggested. Very easy--just defrost and stick it in the oven to bake!

Here's what our delicious dinner looked like:

For this, and for other freezer recipes I made this month, click here

PointsPlus: 3 points for 3 strips of chicken
Husband's Grade: A+

Inspired by: OnceAMonthMom

Pinterest Recipe Review: Gnocchi Mac & Cheese

Holy sinfulness. This was creamy and cheesy and carby. It generally made you want to have the meal go on forever and at the same time want to curl up under a blanket on the couch to eat this. I am definitely in a carb coma right now--and loving every minute of it. I'm sure you can see from the post that this is NOT going to be a low-point meal. Save it for the day after your weigh-in day.

Here's the link to the original recipe: http://thecuttingedgeofordinary.blogspot.com/2010/10/gnocchi-mac-cheese.html#

Given my new obsession with freezer meals--as long as you cook it first, this meal would freeze really well.


What's Needed:
1 lb. gnocchi
2 T. butter
2 tsp. garlic, finely chopped
1 T. flour
3/4 C. milk
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 C. Asiago cheese, shredded
1/4 C. Fontina cheese, shredded
1/3 C. shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. prepare gnocchi according to package directions. Drain and place gnocchi in a single layer 1.5 qt. shallow baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.

2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook garlic 30 seconds. Whisk in flour until it thickens and bubbles. Then whisk in milk and dijon mustard. Cook until slightly thickened 3-5 minutes.

3. Combine Asiago and Fontina cheese. Add by the handful to the pan. Add by the handful. Once all cheese is melted, season with salt & pepper.

4, Pour over gnocchi. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake until gnocchi puff and cheese is golden & bubbly--about 25 minutes.

5. Let gnocchi rest for about 5 minutes.

PointsPlus: 10 for 1/4 of the pan
Husband's Grade: A+

Inspired by: http://thecuttingedgeofordinary.blogspot.com/2010/10/gnocchi-mac-cheese.html#

Freezer Meal Review: Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya

We had the first (of many) freezer meals this month. It was a hit with everyone. Just spicey enough to have a kick, without overwhelming my little guy and myself.

Since I needed Italian Sausage for another recipe this month, I used that instead of plain smoked sausage. It added a lot more flavor to this dish.

Here's the before picture (Just out of the freezer)

I didn't really have time to thaw it out in the freezer. So this meal went from the freezer into a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes. I checked on it after 30 minutes in intervals to make sure it didn't get dried out.

Here's the after picture:

As you can see, there's just enough for one person left. I may turn this into lunch tomorrow.

To find this, and the other recipes I cooked this month, click here

PointsPlus: 9 (for 1/4 of the pan)
Husband's Grade: A

Inspired by: Once A Month Mom

My August/September Menu--with many thanks to Once a Month Mom!

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Here are all of the links to the recipes I used for my August/September Menu. Many thanks to Tricia, and all the girls at Once A Month Mom!

You will notice that there are links to several different menus and several different months. I knew that not all of the recipes for the August Traditional menu would work for my family, so I went through and picked what looked good.

I will do individual reviews of the recipes as we eat them. Below you will find the names of the recipes and links to the recipes on the Once A Month Mom website. I'm also listing the Points Plus values of everything.

August/September Menu
Breakfast:
Blueberry Breakfast Cake (guess who forgot to get raspberries): PointsPlus: 4 for 1/8 of the cake.

Upside-Down Baked Oatmeal PointsPlus: 5 (for 1/6 of the pan)

Strawberry-Orange Smoothie PointsPlus: 4 (for 1 pint-size bag)


Lunch:
Stuffed Pizza Sticks PointsPlus: 5 (per stick)

Chilled Spaghetti Salad PointsPlus: 7 (one packet of dressing and pasta salad)


Sugar Snap Pea Salad (I doubled up my portion size on this one) PointsPlus: 6 (for one bag full)

Homemade Chicken Nuggets Points Plus: 4 (per tender)

Dinners:
Tilapia with Spinach, Onion, Tomato, and Herbs (substituted onions for mushrooms) PointsPlus: 7 (per fillet)

Crockpot Pesto Lasagna PointsPlus: 16 (for 1/8 of the lasagna)

Summer Steak Kabobs PointsPlus: 7 (2 skewers and 1/2 C. brown rice)

Steak Fajitas PointsPlus: 6 (per fajita)

Ranch Burgers PointsPlus: 4 (1 burger, no bun)

Sausage and Pepper Penne PointsPlus: 8 (for 1/4 of the pan)

Garlic-Lime Pork Chops PointsPlus: 7 (per chop)

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya PointsPlus: 9 (1/4 of the bag) Click here for my review

Baked Pesto Chicken PointsPlus: 3 (for 3 pieces)
Click here for my review

Craziness

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I, apparently, was very anxious to start my cooking extravaganza. Not a smart idea. After doing some last minute shopping, I decided to start cooking at 6 p.m. Yes, you read that right P.M.! What the heck was I thinking? At one point I thought I might start and finish up later, but the thought of cleaning everything up only to have to start fresh again in the morning nearly killed me. So, I powered through until I had everything but one recipe finished.

I am exhausted and every part of my lower body hurts from standing for 10 hours, but I have such a feeling of accomplishment, especially when I look at my freezer! A month's worth of meals that I won't have to even think about. Just pop it in the oven or microwave and serve. That's my kind of meal!

This will be a long-ish post, because I'm so excited about everything. I will have links to the recipes I used as well as (some) pictures, that I remembered to take through the process. If you are thinking about starting your own monthly cooking adventure, please take a look at Once A Month Mom. She makes it SOOOOOO much easier!

The first thing I decided to do was to organize all of my ingredients and try to bring in more counter space to my small kitchen.

I brought in every TV tray I had and used all available counter space to organize the ingredients I would be using in every recipe I was planning on cooking.

I laid out my OAMM recipe cards, Cooking Day Instructions, and freezer labels on a TV tray so that they were ready when I needed them.