Thank you all for your kind words of congratulations following Moshe's birth! I still haven't typed the birth story but am hoping to do that this week, along with taking more pictures to share, rambling about mommy stuff, etc... :)

We've been doing lots of this:

...and loving EVERY minute of it!!

But, let's get down to business. After a couple weeks' vacation, I have a kitchen tip for you!

As I pulled this container of cooked pinto beans out of the freezer, I remembered to snap a picture of what I do to prevent freezer burn on anything in a container with air space:

Press plastic wrap against the food before freezing. This also works great on ice cream in a box, partially used, in a home where ice cream stays in the freezer long enough to get ice crystals on top. (This no longer happens in our house but before we had kids, it did!)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

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Praise Yahweh! We have a sweet little baby boy! Moshe Paul was born at 3:59am on January 23 (Ruth's second birthday). He weighed 7 lbs 14 ounces and he's just the cutest little thing!!

Yehoshua (5) woke up when Moshe was about 45 minutes old, and his first comment upon seeing the new baby was "I missed it AGAIN!" since he also slept through Ruth's birth 2 years ago (and wishes that some day he might be awake when a baby is born at our house!).

Eliyahu (4) woke up not long later, and came to the couch where Moshe and I were resting. He asked a couple questions and then, as Joshua wasn't in the room at the time, said "Does Dad know about this??!!" :)

And Ruth (2) ...well, she wishes that her "birthday present" could be carried around like her doll baby! :)

Moshe Paul was named after Moses and Paul in the Bible. Moshe is pronounced "MOE-shay". And one of these days I'll manage to get a picture when his eyes are open!

My labor with Moshe was longer than my previous two labors, lasting over 8 hours. Very different for me mentally, even though in the end I wouldn't say it was more difficult than my 3-hour labor with Eliyahu. But I'll elaborate on all that when I type up a birth story! :)

I've been resting and enjoying Joshua's immense help with the household and other children, as he's home from work this week. Things are busy, but we're so blessed! :)

I've been busy filling my freezer in anticipation of our new baby's arrival! :) We've been eating more fresh veggies for our meals, and the space that was previously occupied by 5-pound bags of Costco vegetables is filled with meals to lighten my load in future weeks. :)

I've already shared my breakfast menus and made-ahead mixes, so it's on to the rest: main dishes and easy meal ideas! :)

I've taken the plunge and frozen a number of fully made casseroles using the "mold technique" with my 8x8-inch glass dishes. Each dish should be one meal for our family, and I've made a variety of things in hopes that we can figure out what we do and don't like in a freezer meal! :)

For the past 4-6 weeks, I've made a double recipe of a dinner casserole a couple times a week (filling a 9x13-inch dish for dinner plus two 8x8-inch dishes for the freezer). This hasn't really been too much extra work (just extra ingredients!!). I use FoodSaver bags to seal all of my freezer food/meals since they are the BEST at preventing freezer burn and keeping food tasting its finest! :)

Main dishes completely assembled and frozen:

Easy Lasagna (unbaked)
Burritos with beans, rice, cheese, and beef filling (individually wrapped in foil, then sealed in a freezer Ziplock; will warm in the oven)
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese (unbaked)
Three-Cheese Baked Spaghetti (unbaked)
Beef and Spinach Quiche (fully cooked; will re-warm)
Saucy Broccoli Chicken Bake (unbaked, w/rice on the bottom)
Spinach Rice Casserole (unbaked)
My Mom's Meat Loaf (unbaked)

I've also prepared meal ingredients for the freezer. Due to limited freezer space and a preference for freshly-prepared meals, having pre-cooked meat, beans, etc. in the freezer is one of my favorite ways to make cooking "from scratch" so much easier! :)

Meal ingredients in the freezer:

Pre-cooked beef with diced onions (for lasagna, crockpot pizza, stuffed shells, and baked spaghetti)

Pre-cooked beef with onions, green peppers, and taco seasonings (for taco salad, spanish rice with beans, nachos, or burritos)

Pre-cooked pinto beans with Tapatio and salt

Pre-cooked beef with onions and spinach leaves (for quiche)

Leftover diced oven-roasted chicken meat (for cheesy chicken vermicelli, chicken lasagna, chicken pot pie, farmhouse chicken, poppy seed chicken and asparagus, chicken fried rice, or saucy broccoli chicken bake)

Having the meat or beans already cooked, seasoned, and/or diced makes all of the above recipes into "quick and easy" for me! :)

I also have a list of just plain easy meals. When my freezer is depleted of my fully-made freezer meals, I'll turn to this list for last-minute or not-planned-the-night-before dinners!

My list of easy dinners:

Baked chicken drumsticks
Easy Tuna Noodle Casserole
Grilled burgers
Easy pizza
Beans and rice
Baked beans
Meatloaf and baked potatoes
Rice lasagna
Baked cod or salmon 
Salmon potato casserole
Grilled cheese sandwiches
Italian Cream Cheese Chicken over Pasta

I had planned to freeze some soups, homemade bagels, pre-made garlic bread, etc. but my freezer space wouldn't accommodate all that. So, I tried to stick with main dishes and main dish ingredients, and will make soups or breads as time and ability allows when the time comes. :)

I feel so blessed to have food prepared ahead in the freezer -- much more food than I had with previous childrens' births. Cooking large amounts of ground beef, making a double batch of something, or just freezing the leftovers (like leftover chicken meat from a roasted chicken!) isn't double the work, with some extra effort and only a few extra dishes to wash. :)

I also tried to only make/plan things we really love to eat! :) I'll have to update after we've tried some of the casseroles, since most of those I have not frozen before. Freezing a casserole took some bravery on my part! :)

Do any of you have tips to share regarding post-birth meal ideas, freezer meals, or easy (from-scratch) meals? I'd love to have even more ideas! :)

As I was baking molasses spice cookies yesterday, I thought of a couple butter tips to share! :)

I have two Rubbermaid butter dishes (so handy, with a lid that snaps tightly!) and I keep them both filled and not refrigerated, so that we never run out of soft butter to spread on bread, etc.

Ever open the butter dish to realise that it's almost empty, and the rest of the butter is in the fridge? This happened to me way too many times growing up, so I have always kept two butter dishes out in our home!

Having extra butter at room temperature is also handy for those last-minute cooking-baking frenzies. Without a microwave to soften butter, I've frequently raided one or both butter dishes for some soft butter for whatever baking project I hadn't planned ahead!

And finally, when I'm cutting a stick of butter for a recipe and there's, say, 3 tablespoons left over, rather than wrapping the little piece and putting it back in the fridge, I check to see if it can fit on a partly-empty butter dish. If so, I add it to the butter dish, and avoid all the random pieces in the fridge. :)

By the way, these cookies are so delicious! My mom has made molasses spice cookies with raisins for as long as I can remember, and they're one of my dad's favorites. Now, I make them especially for Joshua -- although we all really like them! :)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Cold butter tips (Harper)
2. Removing baked-on grease (Annie)
3. Refried beans tip (Kolfinna)
4. Cleaning cookware (Kirstin)
5. Ground beef in bulk
6. Making powdered sugar (Cammie)
7. Bulk food storage tips
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Birthday dinner for Eliyahu last week (with chocolate cake and homemade pizza!): Check!

Dinner ready on time most evenings: Check!

School work done, laundry clean, bills paid, house picked up and semi-clean: Check!

Enough sleep at night (or supplemented with naps!): Check!

Turning on the computer and blogging: Ummmmm. :|

This also means that if you've emailed me in the past, oh, 6 months or so... it's probably buried in my inbox. I want to make the time for blogging and answering a few emails (at least!) but I've just not figured out how to manage all that while still going to bed on time!

It seems there is always something more that I could (and probably even should!) be doing... so life remains the tricky balance of trying to do the best I can in the most important things. :)

Have you ever grabbed a carton of eggs from the fridge, and nearly dropped it because inside, it looked like this??

Well, that's what used to happen to me... until I started taking out eggs in a balancing pattern:

Just use from the middle first, and take out every other egg. Don't leave 3 or 4 or 5 eggs all at one end -- or someone might grab the empty end of the carton -- causing the heavy end to drop unexpectedly!

Am I the only one who has a method for taking eggs out of the carton? Tell me this isn't silliness, and that you, too, have had the "Oh no, I nearly dropped the eggs!" scare!

Originally posted in 2007

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Double boiler substitute
2. Tips for eating plain yogurt with less sweetener (Katie)
3. Kombucha tip (Donna)
4. Entertaining children in the kitchen
5. Clean hands when breading/flouring (Jennifer)
6. Fast way to peel potatoes (Nancy)
7. Clean up as you go along (Mary Jo)
8. Snowflake food tips/ideas (Laura)
9. Carry-in dinner tips (Kolfinna)
10. No-mess chopping tip
11. Cream of tartar substitution (Kirstin)
12. Low-fat cooking tips (Harper)

Before our last child was born (nearly 2 years ago) I made extensive menu plans. These included 2 weeks of easy meals and 12 weeks of "regular" menus, rotating our favorites and including lots of meals that we prefer to enjoy on a more infrequent basis.

Even though I didn't follow the menus exactly as I had planned, it was so helpful to have already thought about our meals and have something on paper to turn to as needed! :)

This pregnancy, rather than making weekly menu plans, I have made lists of meal ideas. I've then set about preparing as much of these meals in advance as possible!

Here is my breakfasts list:

Breakfasts made ahead:

My mom's homemade granola (double batch!)
Cinnamon Crunch Granola (quadruple batch, already half eaten though!)
Breakfast Burritos (ran out of freezer space to make these)
Homemade waffles (no freezer space for these either...)
Homemade bagels (again... no freezer space left!)
Energy Bars (still need to make these)

Breakfasts partly made ahead:

Challah French Toast (our favorite; still need to make Challah and freeze the leftovers for this if possible!)

Easy breakfasts:

Scrambled eggs
Oatmeal
Cold or hot cereal
Whole wheat berry pancakes

Dry mixes made ahead:

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (done!)
Oatmeal Apple Raisin Muffins (done!)
Mocha Frappuccinos (for Joshua) (done but gone... need to do again!)
Hot cocoa mix (for me!) (done!)
Herbal pregnancy tea (on the list for tomorrow!)

Coming next: Lunches and Main Dishes

I've posted one other update during this pregnancy, back in November, and time has managed to slip by without any new pictures... until this week! :)

Here is Ruth watching me try to photograph myself, her, and the "baby belly"! :)

Read more...

Yesterday in my kitchen tip about homemade bread crumbs, I mentioned my friend Jamie's macaroni and cheese recipe. Jamie made us a dish of macaroni and cheese a couple months ago, and it was so delicious! I had to ask her how she made it. She said she hadn't really measured any of the ingredients, so I wrote down her basic instructions and experimented! :)

I've made this Creamy Macaroni and Cheese three times now, and we LOVE it!! It's creamy, cheesy, and has a great flavor. Jamie uses cayenne pepper, garlic, black pepper, and crushed mustard seeds in her sauce.

Mustard seeds! This is why I love learning from other cooks. (And what better way to "learn" than to get to sample their food in person! ;D) I wouldn't have thought to crush mustard seeds and add them to macaroni and cheese, but it sure is yummy! I use my suribachi/mortar and pestle, which is quick and easy.

I've made my mom's homemade macaroni and cheese, which is easier, but not nearly so creamy or flavorful. This recipe is worth the effort!! The flavor is amazing and wow... this is definitely the best macaroni and cheese I've ever made or eaten! We all love it!!

Jamie said she has frozen this Creamy Macaroni and Cheese (unbaked) and later thawed and baked it with great results -- just like fresh! I'm taking her word on that as I've been working on filling our freezer before the new baby's born. Using the "mold technique", I've put four 8x8-inch dishes of this in our freezer. Macaroni and cheese is easy to double the recipe, saving prep time later. :)

Coming soon (hopefully tonight, if I'm not too tired again!): pregnancy update/photo and more details on the freezer cooking I've been doing for the past 3-4 weeks! :)

This week's kitchen tip was passed to me from my friend Jamie, who gave us a dish of delicious creamy homemade macaroni and cheese topped with her homemade bread crumbs.

Here's her easy method for making homemade bread crumbs:

1. Save any stale or dry bread, crusts, or heels in a bag in the freezer.

2. When bread crumbs are needed, pull the bag of bread out of the freezer and use a food processor to crumble the bread.

3. Season the bread crumbs as desired. For topping her homemade macaroni and cheese, Jamie seasoned the bread crumbs with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and onion powder.

4. Store unused/unseasoned bread crumbs in the freezer until needed.

Do any of you have more bread crumb tips to share? I'd love to hear! :)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Food storage tips (Katie)
2. Cooking chicken (Kolfinna)
3. Kitchen safety tips (Annie)
4. Vinyl gloves (Elaine)
5. Variety in meals (Cindy)
6. Breadcrumbs tips (Harper)
7. Freezing sweet potatoes (Mary Jo)