Modified Once-a-month cooking

Summer vacation is about over!! We are back from our Summer Adventure in PA (see previous posts), and just finished a week of summer fun activities w/ our NC friends that we missed while we were in PA. School started today in Union County, but we will be starting Levi's preschool and Wyatt's Pre-K next week at home! I'll be using ABC Jesus Loves Me 3 yr old curriculum for Levi (used it last year for Wyatt and loved it!), and I'll be teaching Wyatt to read w/ the book "How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". Wyatt and I started this book over the summer and he has already begun to read many words and has already read 2 sentences! We will also be using the Abeka Phonics flashcards sent home w/ him from his Pre-K program at the Methodist church down the road from us. Yes, he is going away-from-home for Pre-K. It is 3 days a week, 3 hrs a day. He is excited...and that is an understatement!
All that to say, that we are back in town, and I need to get back into the swing of all things "household management"...cleaning schedule, clipping coupons (to build my stash back up), and batch-cooking/freezer-cooking/once-a-month cooking...whatever you want to call it! I don't go all out and set aside a whole day to make a month's worth of meals...at least I haven't gotten to that level of skill yet! ha!
But it's great to have a few days of the week that I can just pull a meal out of the freezer and have little to no kitchen time! Very helpful when working from home, homeschooling, mom'ing and wife'ing.

The way I modify this batch-like cooking is to make 3 or 4 meals at time. While I am making whatever we will be eating that night, I get 2 or 3 other things going at the same time. Sometimes it's just as simple as cutting up chicken breasts and putting them into bags of marinade (see link below). Or separating ground beef and seasoning it for either burgers or meatloaf.
The picture below was taken sometime back in May...I need to do this again...SOON!! Having this in my freezer often keeps me from wanting to take the "easy" way out and get fast food or put in a frozen pizza!
I have "cut-up chicken" labeled in the picture--that is just diced or cubed chicken with or without marinade. Taking the time to cut up multiple meals-worth of chicken and then freezing it makes it wonderfully easy later! This also means I found chicken on sale and bought a ton of it and then cut it up into different sizes and labeled accordingly.
Also in the picture are 2 bags of meatloaf...so easy to pull it out 2 days in advance to thaw in the fridge and then the night of the meal, it's just oven-time to bake...no meal prep dishes that night! yay!
And then the burritos in the picture...Southwest Rollup recipe...they freeze and re-heat wonderfully!



Below is a list of what I plan to make over the new week or so. I have made them all before and have frozen them all as well. And they all taste just fine after defrosting them.

-Yankee Spoiler (see recipe below)

-Bread Machine Buttery Rolls

-Chicken Marinade
-Modified Lasagna
-Meatloaf with Heavenly Sauce (see recipe below)
-Southwest Rollups

-THE Best Choc. Chip Banana Bread
-Pumpkin Choc. Chip Muffins

Yankee Spoiler
1 c. cooked grits (1/4 c dry)
1 3/4 c. milk (warm in microwave 1-1 1/2 min)
3/4 stick melted butter (cooled)
4 eggs, beaten
1 box jiffy corn bread mix
1 lb sausage, browned & drained
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

Mix together everything but the cheese. Put into greased 9 x 13 casserole dish. Top with cheese. Bake at 325 45-50 mins.


Meatloaf with Heavenly Sauce
1 ½
lbs ground beef
1 c. milk
Onion, to taste (I used ¼ of the onion soup mix packet)
1 ½ c. bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Sauce:
3 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ c. water
½ c. ketchup
2 tsp. dry mustard (I use 1 tsp. of liquid mustard)

Mix 1st group of ingredients together. Put into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Take out and drain off any fat drippings. Cover with sauce and continue to bake for 30 minutes.

Trails End Camp 2011

Many people have asked about Adam's summer job and why we have come up to PA for the whole summer. And yes, this is the 4th summer that we have spent in PA! It does sound like quite the crazy idea especially w/ 2 littles in our family! But since the camp is only 2 hrs from where I grew up and where Adam worked for 3 yrs, it makes a little more sense as to "why PA?"
Let me back up...
In order for me to be a full-time stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) and only have a part-time job, Adam needs a substantial summer job. While browsing thru the NCAA websites looking for coaching job, he came across Trails End Camp hiring a basketball director. The only reason he looked into it a little further was b/c of the proximity to my old hometown.
It's a huge camp located up near Lake Wallenpaupack, in Wayne County, PA. It's a summer-LONG (8 weeks) camp. And that's for the campers!! They stay ALL SUMMER. It's not an option to just go for 1 week. Something that neither of us had ever heard of or experienced.
Most of the campers live in Long Island, NY. They get to enjoy so many awesome experiences at camp...with 11 tennis courts, 4 basketball courts, 3 ball fields, a golf course, gymnastics arena, hockey pavilion, gym, arts & crafts building, climbing wall, mountain bikes, lacrosse field, soccer field, sand volleyball court, pool and lake. Oh, and at the lake, they have sail boating, wake boarding, water skiing, paddle boats, water trampoline, water slide, and water blob! C-R-A-Z-Y!!!
The camp has 6 periods per day (similar to a school-day schedule complete w/ "bells" to signal the end of a period and the start of the next. except at camp, they use "trumpets" over the loud speaker as my kids called it--like the Reveille and Taps type bugle calls)
The camp is 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for 8 weeks straight!! Adam gets 5 days off the whole summer, but they cannot be sequential. He usually is able to request a Sunday off and come down to my parents' house and spend the day at our "old" home church with us.
Adam is only "working" about 12 hours/day as he does not have to stay in the cabin w/ the campers as a counselor since he is one of the sports area directors (and this year was also the overall Athletic Director of all the sports in addition to his area of bball).
When we go up to visit him at camp, we stay in his cabin which has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and screened in porch. We are able to eat all meals w/ him in the cafeteria, which btw, has GREAT food--at least I think so, but then again, I don't have to eat it all summer like Adam does. So besides meal time, Adam can also spend "rest hour" w/ us when the campers are in their cabins and after dinner when there is "free play" for the campers, he can also be with us. And then he is done w/ his responsibilities for the day by 10pm. Days of the week mean nothing up at camp. Saturday and Sunday have the same type of schedule as Mon - Fri.
So, yes, it is quite hard on our family unit being away from Adam so much...but every year we have been able to spend more and more time up at camp "with" him even if he's working most of the time. The first summer, Levi was only 2 months old, so we lived at my parents house and only got to see Adam when he came to visit us on his 5 days off. This 4th summer, we were at camp for a total of 20 days (broken up into 3 different visits (one in June, July and August).
The pictures below give an idea of all the fun the kids have at camp!

The main reason for going to camp!! We love Daddy!

This is actually a pic from last year...at the lake, water trampoline and slide in the background.

The uneven bars in the gymnastics arena! one of their favorite places!

Homemade waterslide!


Both of the boys learned how to dribble, and Wyatt can also dribble while running.


Shooting at a 6 ft. basket!

He actually made quite a few!

Special Tradition at Camp is the "Breakout" of Olympics...always a surprise and always a different theme. This year the theme was Circus. Complete w/ a REAL elephant!!

Summer Fun!

We have had tons of fun these past 2 months! We are now quite used to packing up every week or 2 and going to a new location whether it be to Grandma's house-we-go, or to camp to visit Daddy while he works, or to the beach for some fun in the sun!
2 months ago, we packed up our vehicle in NC w/ most everything from our house besides the furniture, appliances, and wall hangings/home decor. 2 months worth of various clothes we might need for those 50 degree AMs here in PA, or for the "heat waves" in August (term they use in PA for 3 days in a row of 95 degrees). We packed it all...toys, sippy cups, books, clothes, towels, sheets...but NO diapers!! Yippee! Our first summer w/o anyone in diapers! No diapers = very carefree and totally awesome...except of course when the newly potty trained child needs to go "NOW" and it's a 4 block walk from the beach to the beach house! But overall, of course a diaper-free summer was great!
Below are some pictures we captured of our summer memories so far, and just a few more days up here in PA before making the 600 mile trip back to NC!

Pictures from a great day-trip to Ocean City, New Jersey (OCNJ)

Wyatt loved to karate kick the waves and Levi was very into his "shu-bul" and digging for treasure.



Wyatt making a path for his truck to drive on.


We had lots of fun days at Aunt Marianne's pool. The boys finally run and jump in the pool w/o any fear! And it's especially fun w/ Papa jumps in w/ them. All 3 at the same time.

They loved climbing these trees in my parents' back yard.



Love this of Levi! Just chillin' in the tree!

And of course lots of corn of the cob and cookouts to make the summer complete!