You Cooked it How Long?!?

My whole chicken turned out pretty good and I survived touching the raw chicken as well. Luckily, my husband stepped up to the plate and was willing to stick his hand into the chicken to get the bag of stuff out of it! I wanted to touch the chicken as little as possible and so the packaging went out with the other parts ASAP.

I was not sure how long to cook it or when it would be done, so I called the Perdue hot-line. The woman asked me how I had cooked the chicken and when I started by saying, I put it in at 400 degrees....she replied "Oh, no! Let me send you a $5.00 coupon." So I am not one to turn down a free coupon, even if I had no plans of buying chicken ever again, but I am sure I can find some way to use it!

I almost called the Mrs. Smith's hot-line as my pumpkin pie remained watery in the middle even on the following day. I put it back in the oven and after about 20 minutes it was done correctly. I guess I should not try to cook something I have not cooked for the first time on Thanksgiving! Thankfully, they have the hot-lines available for people to call, even if you are a somewhat experienced cook!!

Chicken Count Down

My husband and I have decided to go even more vegetarian at the end of the year. By this I mean, we have both given up red meat about two years ago. Now we have decided to give up chicken as well.

Personally, I have never been a big fan of meat and survived most of my 20s as a vegetarian with a rare, but occasional piece of chicken. When I married a carnivore, I began to eat more meat. When I became pregnant, I ate ALOT of meat, particularly hamburgers, which probably had something to do with the fact that I could smell them cooking all day at work. At the end of my pregnancy, my cholesterol had skyrocketed.

I have always been a little grossed out by raw meat. I have never cooked any meat that was on the bone or eaten it off the bone for that matter. All of the gristle, bones, and veins don't do it for me. So the plans to stop eating chicken is a welcomed decision for me.

Of course, I have stockpiled chicken in my freezer. I last purchased chicken in August and we decided to drop chicken from our diet in October so I have been using up the chicken we have with the knowledge that I will not buy anymore.

Yes, my daughter will also go vegetarian with us as well. When she first started going to daycare we told them she was not to eat red meat or hot dogs. (there's nothing good about a hot dog) Although, we will still allow her to eat chicken at daycare. I will make an effort to make sure she receives all of the nutrients she needs to grow at home.

At this point in time, I have one baggie of frozen raw chicken, seven baggies of cooked, chopped chicken, and two bags of breaded chicken nuggets. So we will definitely run out of chicken before the end of the year.

Waste Not

This past weekend, I hosted a party where I made several appetizers. I ended up spending more than my weekly "allowance" when I bought all of my ingredients. So I have decided to not grocery shop this week.

I went to the store on Sunday and purchased milk and bread. I have plenty of food in the pantry and freezer. Because I have practiced "stockpiling" for over a year now, I am able to skip a week or two of grocery shopping. The only thing that I am low on for the week is fresh veggies. But I have plenty of leftover carrots, radishes, and peppers that I can use. I also have plenty of frozen and canned vegetables that I can add to my meals.

I reviewed my menus from weeks past and was surprised at the quality of the meals I will be able to prepare. There are a few things on sale that I'd like to get at the store, but will keep away for the week to save a little money. Now all I have to do is make sure I do not spend double next week!

Planning Plan A

I'm a planner, I admit it. I love to plan things, meals, shopping lists, parties, events, and outings. I have always been the one in my immediate family who does the planning. Get together for someone's birthday or for the holidays.

I don't mind doing this and actually enjoy it. What I don't enjoy is people who can't commit. You tell me you want to do something and when- it goes on my calendar. It's done and planned. I can't understand why this is not how everyone else works. If someone asks me if I want to do something and I don't want to I simply say no or no thanks. Why is it so hard for others to do this? Why does it have to be drawn out over weeks? Well, we're not sure if we can make it. Or yeah sure it sound like fun. But no commitment! Am I one of those people who is good as a back up plan? So are they saying, "we'll come if nothing else better comes up."

Honestly, I find this hemming and hawing absolutely frustrating and would much rather be told no upfront immediately than to be led on for weeks. (or days). So please, just say no, you won't hurt my feelings at all. Actually, I'd appreciate your direct answer. "No thanks, it does not sound like something I'd want to do." Or even simpler "No." Then I can get on with my planning and not worry about whether or not you'll make it.

Buy Once Cook Twice

Lately I have been on a roll with recipes and cooking. I have been meal planning and adding new recipes to our family meals. Because of this, I have purchased ingredients for the recipes. And since I have been cutting recipes in half, I have ended up with leftovers of these ingredients.

After I use the ingredient, I search for recipes and ways to use the remainder. I have found some really great recipes! For instance, after one particularly exciting day of reorganizing my pantry. (no really) I realized that I had too many cans of creamed corn. So after searching the internet for recipe ideas that used creamed corn as an ingredient, I found a great recipe for corn/chicken chowder. And the added bonus was that it was easy to make! Now of course, I keep finding recipes for creamed corn and have used it all!

One week at the grocery store, I had a coupon for pesto sauce and it was on sale. So we had a meal with pesto, polenta, and shrimp. This week I will use the remainder to make pesto pizzas. Is it wrong to become excited about these things?

A Pot to Pee In

I think that I should probably be trying the potty training thing with my daughter about now. It seems as though friends of mine have trained their little ones who are my daughter's age but also some who have younger kids are contemplating starting. At my daughter's school, she goes to the potty when the other kids take a visit there. Sometimes, she takes off her diaper and sits on the potty.

I really don't think she has gotten what really happens in the bathroom. Like most kids, she likes to unravel the toilet paper and put it in the toilet and watch it when she flushes. But does not seem to understand that you have to "produce" potty. THIS is why I do not think she is ready for potty training-- ok maybe I am a little lazy too. But I really think that she needs to understand the concept or what you do in the bathroom before we start trying. I mean if she does not understand that potty comes from inside you, then how can she be trained??

She has learned how to pull her pants up and down and take off her diaper. Which is good most of the time, not so good when she is supposed to be napping.

Maybe part of this is me being an older parent. I really don't feel like pressuring her to become potty trained right away. I figure she will do it when she is ready. And when she is ready to do it, it will happen almost overnight! I see too many people say their kid is potty trained and they have "accidents" all the time- to me that is not potty trained.

So I don't really feel pressured to potty train my 32 month old daughter. Like everyone says, she won't get married wearing a diaper, right?

Serving Says...

About a month ago, my husband ate a snack that consisted of 4 pieces of pizza. A day or two later, I talked to him about it and how 4 pieces of pizza is probably not a snack and more like a dinner. At that point, we decided that we needed to change our eating habits and fast!

So we sat down and discussed what changes needed to be made and how we could go about making the changes. The first thing we needed to do was figure out what a real serving looked like!! We had been eating too much for too long! With the two of us on board cheering each other on as well as keeping an eye on the other we set out to change our eating habits and hopefully change our bodies and weight.

We made a few small changes: measure servings of cereal and dressings, eat only the serving size of something and no more, eat more veggies and fruits, have 1 serving of fruit per meal, no seconds, and reduce cheese intake.

My husband began dropping pounds almost instantly, I , however took a little longer to start loosing weight. It has been about 6 weeks and we both can see noticeable changes in each other's midsection. This is not a diet, but a change in diet so hopefully the weight will continue coming off.