My 1st attempt at freezer cooking

My first attempt at freezer cooking

 

Hi Everybody in my blogosphere (and welcome to those who came from Pinterest).  I wanted to share with you guys my experiences with my first attempt at freezer cooking.

What exactly is freezer cooking you say?

Freezer cooking is where you prepare (and sometimes pre-cook) your family meals in advance for a specified period of time (ex. 2 weeks or a  month), so that you dont have to cook each night.  You simply take out your frozen dinner item the night before you want to eat it, and then you put the thawed food  in your handy dandy crock pot (shown below) that morning before leaving for work.  Or you can put the thawed food into your oven right before dinner time.  Either way, your not physically preparing and cooking food each day. If your in the market for Cuisinart Slow Cooker (Google Affiliate Ad) just click that link.

So how do you get started with freezer cooking?

Well, you want to come up with a list of different things that your family likes to eat, than can freeze well.  Not everything tastes good after being frozen.  After you come up with your family menu, you want to raid your pantry to see what items you have, and what items you will need to purchase when you go grocery shopping.  If your into couponing, grab your coupons and weekly circulars to see who has the best deals, and then go to the supermarket.  I decided to do my grocery shopping primarily at Winco Foods this month (but I also went to Vons (twice), Vallarta, and the .99 store)  

One of my couponing websites I follow, advised me that K. M. Logan had her book the ABC's of Freezer Cooking available for free for Kindle, and I downloaded it.  (not sure if its still free, but check on Amazon)  Yesterday morning, I read it and decided that I would go on my first freezer cooking venture.

O.k, I have my groceries, what now?

Its all personal preference on which order you want to complete the following tasks, but you'll want to do them all.

1) wash and cut up your vegetables

 

2) wash and cut up (if needed) your meats

3) bag them 

4) label them (my handwriting sucks, so I printed out all my labels besides the cabbage one)

I looked online for my freezer cooking recipes.  I started on Pinterest, then I went to a few blogs to get majority of the recipes, but here is what I ended up preparing:

1) meatballs (my own recipe)

2) meatloaf (my own recipe)

3) salisbury steak

4) teriyaki chicken

5) delicious chicken

5) curry chicken and potatoes

6) mediterranean pork chops

7) bbq pork ribs

8) pepper steak

9) beef and brocolli (first installment is in the crock pot now)

All in all I think I had approximately 17 nights off from the kitchen (a.k.a dinners).  

Since its just the hubby and I, each bag contained just enough for the two of us (and maybe a little left overs for lunch the next day).  So you'll want to make sure that all of your recipes will be enough to feed your family size.  

I'm not gonna lie, its time consuming to do all of this in one day.  But just think that if it takes you 1 hour each night to cook dinner, then 1 day of sacrifice is worth it, then you can enjoy whatever you want to during that 1 hour off from the kitchen.  (ex. spending time with the kiddies, gym time, lattes with the girls, intimate time with your husband, boob tube time, or whatever floats your boat).

I think I liked doing it and will most likely do it again.  Here are some pictures from my finished bagged products.

Have you ever freezer cooked? If not, would you try it?

hugs,

Tatiana

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My journey to motherhood: Prenatal

We're officially trying to conceive - (I think, lol)

 

I am now beginning to start this journey towards motherhood.  I think that im finally mentally ready, which hasn't been easy.  But since im 31, I figured it was time to get the mental ready, before the physical was no longer capable, lol.  So we are now trying to conceive (TTC)

I always told myself that because I grew up in a home and my husband grew up in a home, we wanted to wait till we had a house, before we had kids.  Well, we closed on the house back in September 2011, so, i have no more excuses, lol.

So, as a future mother, I want to be the perfect (ok semi-perfect), host for this lil creature, lol, so what am I doing?  Well, i've been religiously taking my pre-natal pills since September because i've been off the pill since then, and if I were to get pregnant, I am trying to knock out any chances of the child getting spina bifida, neural tube defects, or any other folic acid-deficiency related issues. My newest pre-natal pill has DHA as well, which is also good for something, im sure. :)
         s/n Walgreens has the brainstrong prenatal pills for $10 this week, with your walgreens card, and then
         you get back $10 in register rewards (or whatever their called at Walgreens), making them free.
         then they have a $4 off coupon in their vitamin and supplements booklet (right over by the vitamins)
         which makes the deal not only free, but a $4 money maker.  :)   Lets just stay, I stocked up.

I have also been juicing.  I love fresh fruit juice and am learning to love fresh vegetable juices.  I have been slacking on my pimping a lot lately, but I need to go purchase a bunch of fresh fruit and vegetables.  My church is also about to go on a fast, and so I believe that juicing during that time will be a nice detox as well.  (if i can make it pass 4 hours of juicing, lol).

I had lost over 20 pounds last year, but I found them again.  So I need to start back exercising and eating healthier.  Next topic, lol.

Then, of course, more sex :)  Seeming as we are just now starting off with TTC, and time is not of the essence just yet, I will not be using ovulation predictors/calculators etc.  I just want to enjoy the process for the time being.  Maybe if by January 2014, we still aren't pregnant, then o.k., time to look towards science, but till then, we'll just keep practicing.

Besos!

Tatiana

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Happy New Year - its 2013 BABY!

Happy New Year Everybody!

Its now 2013!  How did you bring in your New Years?  Well, this is how I brought my news year in:


I brought it in thanking God for closing out last year and for his grace and mercy allowing me to see 2013!  Hall a lu jer! (in my Madea voice)

90% of my life, I have been at watch night service for New Years Eve, the other 10% were in Vegas or at home avoiding the drunk drivers.

But 2013 is here!  What are some of your resolutions?  I am not so much of a resolutions girl, but rather a goals type of girl.  The only difference between a dream and a goal is that a goal has a deadline.  So I prefer to set goals.

This year i'm believing God for a prosperous, blessed and healthy year.  Hallelujah!

I'm so excited for the things to come.

Besos!

Tatiana

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Gift ideas for your parents

Christmas gift ideas for your parents

 

I will be going out Christmas gift shopping today, but I dont really know what to get my parents this year.  I even tried to google "gifts for adult parents", and they all have the generic gift ideas.  So, I thought that in case anyone else was in the same boat I am in, I would post a list of some past gifts that me and my two sisters have given our parents.  Some were individual gifts that we gave, and some of the more expensive gifts - the sisters came together to give a group gift.

1) BBQ Grill - when their previous grill died

2) massages

3) gift baskets (for example from wine country gift baskets) 

4) movie night/dinner gift certificate combos

5) surround sound system for watching movies at home

6) Sirius/xm subscription

7) Netflix subscription

8) patio swing set

9) Coach umbrella (for mom)

10) Coach wallet/purse (for mom)

11) Digital picture frame with pics already loaded

12) mini ipod with music already loaded

13) Scentsy candle wax tarts and candle warmer

14) Coffee bean grinder

15) Electric shaver (for dad)

16) Electric toothbrush (for mom)

17) perfume/cologne

18) ties

19) high heels (for mom)

20) clothing

21) butcher block knife set

22) cufflinks (for dad)

23) bath and body works sets

24) Pac-man atari system (my mom used to love to play it when I was a baby - so i've heard)

25) Retro candy gift box (from the years when they were kids)

What are some gift ideas that you can think of?  Please share.

Besos,

Tatiana

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Cranberry apple juice

I am so excited for this time of year.  This is my favorite time of the year. Why you may ask?  Because, there's my birthday, Thanksgiving, black friday, and of course CHRISTMAS! The time we choose to celebrate the birth of my saviour.  AND ALSO because I get to make cranberry apple juice.

I got my Breville Juice Fountain Plus earlier this year and I immediately ran out to buy apples and cranberries...but...uh... it wasnt cranberry season.  :(    BUT NOW is cranberry season and I just made my first cranberry apple juice and it was sooooo good!


I didnt use a specific recipe but i probably used approximately 1/2 - 3/4 cup of cranberries and 2 Rome Apples.  I was a lil worried, cuz there didnt seem to be a lot of cranberry juice being made, but it was just the right amount.  Then hubby saw me drinking mine and of course he wanted some, so I made him a batch, and he was like "we need to make more of this".  So it was really good.  Plus we all know that juicing has healthy benefits to it as well.

Im excited because Tuesday is my birthday, not exactly sure what im going to do (besides Court - and I'm upset - because I never work on my birthday - but what can I do?)

But, peace, love and light!

Tatiana~

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DIY Petroleum free jelly aka body jelly

Petroleum is not good for us and Dr. Oz says that it can cause cancer...BUT there are so many wonderful uses for vaseline....so I decided to create my own version of petroleum free jelly.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of beeswax (I ordered my beeswax on Amazon)
1 cup of carrier oil (or combination of oils: ex...coconut, almond, jojoba, olive, avocado, apricot, vitamin E oil etc.)
essential oil - if you desire - I didnt use any on mine.

So here's how to do it....

First, gather all of your ingredients.

My beeswax was in a big block and was VERY HARD to cut, so I ended up using my potato/apple peeler to just shave what I needed.... If you can find the beeswax pellets, the extra cost is worth the trouble...believe me

I threw my beeswax and my carrier oils (almond, apricot and coconut oil, with a lil vitamin E oil) into a metal bowl that I would be placing over a pot of shallow boiling water (dont want the water to be high enough to boil out of the pot and into your oils).  I turned the heat on low and let the oils melt into each other - approximately 1 minute...maybe less.  Be VERY CAREFUL to ensure that your oils dont burn.  I watched the oil the whole time, so that I pulled it off the heat just as it was finished melting.

Then you can either wait for the oil to harden up a bit....takes approximately 30 minutes, or you can throw it in the deep freezer for 4 minutes.  Any longer than 5 minutes and your creation will be h.a.r.d!

There you have it.  Your petroleum free vaseline jelly.  I wanted to re-create the Carol's Daughter Body Jelly (because its too expensive), and I actually like my end creation, makes my hand so smooth.

I hate the smell of the Carol's daughter body jelly, so I always added an essential oil to it to make it smell a little better, perhaps if she recreated the Tui hair oil smell, then I would be a prisoner of carols daughter body jelly, but NOPE, this is wayyyyyyy cheaper and you can make bigger batches for all of your family members. I didnt add any essential oils to my petroleum-free jelly, but you can certainly add a few drops of your favorite.  I believe that lavender, vanilla or some citrus combination would be good) 

If you like your petroleum-free jelly to be harder, then add more beeswax.

This would also be awesome as a chapstick/lip balm type of thingy, if you have a smaller container that can fit in your purse.

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Fish bowl - The Adult Beverage

I was recently in Virginia and my sister got a call inviting us to a bar to drink fishbowl drinks. We were super tired and decided not to go.  I just kind of thought that it would be whatever drink that you wanted and they place it in a fish bowl.  Little did I know, that they make it to actually look like a fish swimming in a bowl.

SOOOOOO you know I had to try to make it.

Ingredients: You can use anything - as long as it can be turned blue/green (ex. blue curacao/vodka).  But I used:
lemonade
rum
swedish fish
minature fish bowls
ice
food coloring
lemon slices

ingredients to make Fish Bowl alcoholic drink



Fishbowl drink


I couldnt quite remember my color combinations from school.  So at first it was too dark blue, then too light, then i gave up, and I ended up with this green fish bowl drink.  Some of my fishies died (can you see them at the bottom of the fish bowl?)  And then there were a few who swam up to the top. 

But the drink was delicious and such a cute idea.  Next time, i'll perfect the food coloring.

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How I organize my makeup, earrings and nail polishes

Today, I decided that I would share with you all, how I organize my girly things.  I still dont have enough room for everything, so this organizational feature is still a work in progress.

HOW I ORGANIZE MY NAIL POLISHES:


Nail Polish Organizer
(sorry I cant figure out how to get it to rotate on Blogger, its rotated on my camera disc drive) 

I have 2 of these nail polish holders hanging on my wall.  I've always thought that these were so functional when I went to the nail salon - so why not own my own?  I ordered these online.
HOW I ORGANIZE MY BRACELETS AND MAKEUP BRUSHES:

Bracelet Organizer

Makeup brush organizer

 

 I found the bracelet holder on Ebay a few years ago.  And I found the makeup brush holder at Ikea.  It was a set of 3 different canisters, so I chose to use one of them to hold my makeup brushes.

HOW I ORGANIZE MY MAKEUP:

                                                       Front view of makeup organizer
                                         

                                                    Bottom baskets of makeup organizer

                                         center of makeup organizer - holds lipsticks and eyeliners

Top of Makeup organizer - holds eyeshadows and foundation

I was doodling around in Target one day, when I saw all of these items sold separately, and thought, what a wonderful idea to house my makeup.  So I snapped them up. So delicious!

HOW I ORGANIZE MY EARRINGS:

Earring Organizer

I love earrings! (and accept donations :) )  I was perusing ebay one day, and came across this big baby.  It holds a lot of pairs.  and the bottom has little hooks so that you can put bracelets/necklaces/rings on it.  This has been an organizational lifesaver!

 

 

So, how do you organize your girly things? feel free to share!

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My Review: Jack Lalanne Juicer vs. Breville Juicer

I just juiced myself a nice carrot/persian cucumber juice and decided that I should right a review of my thoughts on the Jack LaLanne vs. Breville Juicer.  

 

I had heard of juicing before and my interest in juicing was kind of peaked, but then I watched Fat, Sick and nearly dead on netflix and was convinced that I needed to get a juicer.  I have researched the benefits of juicing, and realized that it can help with so many different health ailments.  Im currently juicing to assist with my weight loss efforts, and i've  heard that it can also assist with hair growth. The hubby and I also just decided to attempt to conceive, so I want my lil alien baby to have a nice host environment, lol.

I personally own a Breville Juice Fountain Plus.  My parents own a Jack Lalanne juicer. I'm not sure of the exact model but its the $100 version. When I was home visiting my parents, I used their juicer (since they never even opened it - after having it for 6+ months), and now I base my review on those experiences - and NO I was not paid to do this review and the makers of Breville or Jack Lalanne dont even know that I exist.

For those who are impatient and want to know which one wins...in my opinion, its the Breville Juice Fountain Plus, for those who want to know why....keep reading.

So lets get started:

Color:  The Breville is a silver type color.  The Jack Lalanne that my parents own is White.  Depending on your kitchen decor, you may be lead to choose one or the other.  BUT...I caution you, the white color can get stained. When making my parents third juice, I decided to do a carrot/apple etc. combo.  It immediately stained their white juicer.  I have been using my Silver juicer for quite a few months and always throw colorful fruits and vegetables in it and it never stains.

Cleaning:  Before I purchased my juicer, everyone said, clean your juicer immediately because you dont want stuck on hell later.  So, immediately after I juice, I clean all of the parts and when im done, my reward is that I get to drink my juice.  With both juicers, there is a lil debris/remains catching basket.  I lined both of them with a plastic bag, so that you can just dump the bag and not have to clean that part.  Easy peasy.  My breville came with a scrubby brush to make cleaning the other parts easier. The Jack Lalanne did not.  No biggie.  After using theirs the first time, and realizing the convenience of this brush, I went to the dollar tree and brought a kitchen brush.  

Juice feeder size:  The breville's juice feeder size is much bigger than the Jack Lalanne's.  So for most of my fruits and vegetables, I can just throw them right in (example apples, pears).  If there's a pit, then I have to cut the fruit, but otherwise, its just wash and throw in the shoot. I noticed that I wasnt able to do that with the Jack Lalanne juicer.  So I had to (well I asked my dad to) cut the fruits up into smaller pieces, which can make juicing take a lot longer.

Amount of Juice:  I believe the Jack Lalanne wins this category.  I didnt do a side by side measurement comparison, but it just looked like the Jack Lalanne put out more juice than my Breville did, so thats a plus.  Plus the Jack Lalanne box said that that it produces 30% more juice than other juicers. 

Juice Storage:  Freshly squeezed juice is best when used within 15 minutes of juicing.  So when I say juice storage, i'm talking about being able to distribute it to everyone who wants juice right then and there, but i couldnt think of a category name for it...so deal with it. :) The breville comes with a juice pitcher, so that after all of the juice is made, you can distribute some to your family members.  The Jack Lalanne did not come with a pitcher.  You have to put a cup that is short enough to fit under the spout to catch the juice.  If juicing for one person, that is not a big problem.  But if your juicing for more than one - than everyone doesnt get the same juice experience.  Some may have more apples, some more carrots, etc.  So to circument vent this problem, I placed each cup of juice in a pitcher my parents owned, stirred it up, and then distributed it amongst us all.  That could be annoying though.

Speed:  The Breville juicer has a high/low power switch.  High is used for harder fruits/vegetables like apples/carrots.  Low is used for softer fruits/vegetables like grapes/strawberries.  The Jack Lalanne only has one speed.

Price:  The Breville Juice Fountain Plus was approximately $150, and the Jack Lalanne version I used was approximately $100.   For the extra convenience, I believe that the $50 price increase was worth it.

Overall:  I believe that if I had to choose all over again, I would definitely pick the Breville over the Jack Lalanne again.

Do you have one or the other? what are your thoughts on them?

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31 Day Reset - Day 1

Hi Everybody,

I am going to do my best to follow the 31 day reset as posted by Happy Black Woman. It may take me more than 31 days because I have some vacations coming up (Thank GOD!) that I wont have internet access, or I will be too busy having fun to check the internet. But here goes.

Todays homework has 3 parts:
1) Choose a reset notebook
2) Choose a personal mantra
3) Choose a theme song

So lets get started:
1) Choose a reset notebook - Part of my journey will be documented on this blog.  For the stuff that is too personal, I have a nice lil notebook that Oprah Winfrey sent me for her lifeclass series!

2) Choose a personal mantra - If you dont like your situation, change it! I have been saying this since undergrad.  I truly believe it as well.  If you dont like your situation, then do what you gotta do to change that situation!

3) Choose a theme song - when I first read this assignment, I chuckled. Because I immediately thought about Ally McBeal and how her therapist, Tracy suggest that she choose a theme song. Well i've thought long and hard about it and i've decided that my theme - dont laugh! - will be - "billionaire" by Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars.  For anybody that knows me, they would say this song would be most appropriate! lol.

Are you doing or considering doing the 31 day reset?  Send me a link to your blog, so I can check it out.

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