Here’s what I am finding to be a pattern, which is not really a pattern at all, but really a random “take it as it comes and try to keep your head above water” lifestyle:
Some days I have plenty of time to cook and be all kinds of “Little Miss Heavenly Homemaker”. And other days I am so completely busy with family/business/outdoor/appointment/tournament/travel/ministry/school/you-name-it responsibilities, that finding even a moment to breathe, much less put together a healthy meal, is much more than I am capable of. Those are the days you may as well call me “Little Miss Why Pray Tell Do These Children Think They Have to Eat Five Meals a Day and Where In The World Is My Other Shoe?” This is when having healthy meals already prepared in my freezer are a life saver.
(Side-Note: Being a “Heavenly Homemaker” is something I believe you and I always are, whether we’re grinding flour and making bread from scratch, or whether we’re chucking a store-bought snack toward the back of the mini-van to your kids on the way to an event. As long as our tasks are done with love and with God’s purposes in mind, I believe that sometimes we just have to splurge in an effort to stay sane. But because I love being home, and I love being productive in my kitchen preparing healthy foods, I do feel more “Heavenly Homemaker-y” when there isn’t raisin gunk stuck to my hard wood floor and when I have time to stop and smell the butter melting on the stovetop in preparation for baking.)
During the last few weeks, as I’ve grabbed some hours of time in the kitchen as I’ve found them available, trying to get as much done as possible to make up for the crazy days when I don’t have as much time to cook. I have taken some pictures of the food to share with you. As for the dirty dishes these cooking times have created, I have no pictures. You will just have to imagine those in your head. Imagine the worst, then double it, then drizzle some pickle juice and sour milk over them, and that’ll be just about right. :)
One particular day a few weeks ago, I had several hours to spend in the kitchen. I sort of forgot to stop once I got going. I made a triple batch of Whole Wheat Tortillas (recipe in our Totally Tortillas eBook), a double batch of Granola, four loaves of Honey Whole Wheat Bread, one batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies, and two Green Bean Casseroles (recipe in our Holiday Hospitality eBook). I added ground hamburger meat to the casseroles to make them a one dish meal.
After I made all the tortillas, I made three gallon sized bags full of Meat and Cheese Burritos. And then I passed out. Not really. But almost.
Several days later after I had recovered when I had an extra couple of hours, I made a double batch of Whole Wheat Calzones. We ate half of them on our way to a soccer tournament that weekend, and the others are still in the freezer for me to grab and serve on another busy day.
Last but not least, I wanted to show you a Pod Racer that I made with Legos. Just kidding. I really just made some pizza crusts for the freezer, and Malachi made the Pod Racer. But since they were both on the counter at the same time, I just took the picture of both. Be glad it was a Lego creation that happened to be on the counter in my kitchen at picture time and not a dirty sock or a dead bug that one of the boys brought in. Not that either of those would ever be found on my countertop…
I’m excited about these pizza crusts (using the dough recipe here), which I rolled thin and used for Grilled Pizza. I’ll share more about that experience soon. I’m super excited to have prepared crusts in the freezer for future grilling!
Made any extra food for your freezer recently? Had any dirty socks Lego creations on your counter recently?
