Food Stuffs

So I've been getting requests for "how I do it" related to the freezing ahead prep I do for a good amount of our meals.

I typically cook/prep every 2-3 months depending on how busy we are. I use the pre-prepped meals for days I work, and cook from "scratch" (almost scratch) on days I don't work. When I say pre-prepped, I mean I prep most meals up to the point of cooking, then freeze them. This makes it so our meals still taste "fresh"  but still saves a lot of time when it comes to actually preparing the meals. The directions are easy enough that the first person home cooks dinner (as long as they have some basic prep experience, e.g. grilling, turning on and placing in oven, etc)

How I do it:
Planning
-When the inventory runs low, I look ahead at my schedule for a good day or two off when I'll have time to devote to planning, shopping, and prepping food.
-We invested in an extra upright freezer. I did this a couple rounds in our regular freezer which was okay, but definitely a space crunch. This has been amazing and expanded what I can prep ahead.
-I typically search the ads that week (or throughout the time) looking for good deals on meats. What we have that round depends a lot on what's been on sale (luckily sometimes that means steak is even on sale!).
-I pick our 5-6 recipes to prep each time, enough that we have a decent amount of variety with the "from scratch" meals rounding out the weekly meal plans. I try to include at least one meatless and one pasta recipe each time to cut down on overall cost.

Shopping
-To make the list, I will write out all the ingredients for each recipe (probably would save time if I didn't start over each month), cross out what I already have, then what's leftover is the shopping list.
-Typically this is a shopping trip dedicated solely to the prep ahead meals.
-I make the rounds for shopping carrying a cooler in the car for cold things so I can pick up everything in one trip.

Prepping
- I typically start by chopping all my veges/herbs/etc/cleaning up the meats. A separate cutting board for produce and one for each type of meat (typically I have 2-3, but I tend to clean one meat at a time and wash that board in between).
-The meats I cut into individual serving sizes (and aim for the correct portions of 3-4 ounces each).
-Whatever meals require cooking I start on first. I've had up to all four burners going at one time on a really ambitious day.
-While things are cooking, that's when I prep marinades, sauces, etc.

Storing
-Everything gets stored in "one family" serving sizes. For us it's two person servings.
-Those things that require baking typically go in foil "throw out" pans that can be covered and labeled. I thaw everything in those pans, then they go straight into the oven. You can wash them or toss them depending on your budget/how much clean up you want. They make little ones for the smaller families to not waste space in the freezer.
-Marinated meats, veges, rice (yes rice!) and soups (once cooled) go in quart size freezer bags so they can be frozen flat to save space.
-Directions to finish cooking and what the meal is are written on the package so you don't have to go searching for recipes.

Finishing the cooking
- I take out the meal for the next day the night before so it has time to thaw/marinate. The meats will self marinate as they thaw.
-Cook away and enjoy minimal clean-up!
-We generally eat a main course of some meat (generally grilled) and 1-2 veggies. I'm not a huge "extra sides" person, but whatever you do is up to you.

Other tips 
- For rice, I undercook it slightly, package it in one-cup packages, cool it, then freeze it flat. When reheating add a little extra water to help it finish cooking completely. Great for the days when you want stir fry/something with rice but don't have the 25-50 minutes to spend cooking it, and don't want to waste money and nutrition on "minute rice".
-Rotate recipes or you'll get bored and less interested.
-Frozen veggies are a last choice since the textures just not quite right. Each week I will spend the day I go shopping (because otherwise I'll get lazy and not eat them) cutting up/cleaning all veggies I'll use for the week (including cutting up veggies for snacks/lunches) and storing them in individual tupperware containers.

And last but not least...favorite recipes with stars by *extra* favorite recipes
- Hardly have found a recipe I didn't like from this lady's site: http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/01/freezer-friendlymake-ahead.html
Favorites from this are the asian salmon, baked penne*, beef dip, honey and spiced glazed chops, lemon oregano chicken**, mustard pork*
-Also check out this link for more of the "logistics": http://joelens.blogspot.com/2010/05/freezer-meals-preparations.html
-Marinated chicken http://allrecipes.com/recipe/marinade-for-chicken/detail.aspx
-Honey Mustard Chicken** http://allrecipes.com/recipe/honey-mustard-grilled-chicken/detail.aspx
-Fajita marinade (grill meat, then slice for fajitas, meanwhile saute/grill veggies) http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fajita-marinade-i/detail.aspx
-Thai Beef Stirfry** - http://www.self.com/fooddiet/recipes/2011/04/thai-beef-stir-fry (one small steak sliced feeds two people)
-Brown Sugar Salmon - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-salmon-i/detail.aspx
-BBQ chicken/pork chops - place your favorite bbq sauce in a bag with the meat of choice.

Ranting

The brokenness of this world has become severely evident these last few months. We've had 3 kids commit/attempt suicide in the last 3 months at a nearby school district. Japan has had not one but two earthquakes in the last month or so. I know friends left and right who are losing jobs because of this economy (and isn't Texas supposed to be immune to this recession? Where's the giant budget surplus we supposedly had during the last governor's election less than year ago?!). Our government will likely shut down because of greed and pride and an inability to work for the common good. I can count on all my fingers and toes the number of people I know personally who are sick, both physically and mentally. That doesn't even include the patients I see every week. Pastors everywhere are twisting the pure and simple Gospel to make it "more user friendly" when it was perfect just as it is. And to paraphrase my dear Aunt, when did mediocrity become okay? (Yes even striving for mediocrity is part of a broken world.) I blame it on sin, you can blame it on whatever you want. What I don't blame it on is God.

That might be the most frustrating part. Daily those who believe in something besides themselves are being persecuted (both physically and mentally). Mental persecution of those who believe in God is especially evident in the comments section of any news story. If you're looking for something uplifting, don't read those, ever. It'll just discourage you more with all the hatred in the world and people's self-righteousness that "because I don't believe that there is a higher power makes me a better person". People look for explanations for every event that happens, but bring God into the picture and "Of course that can't be the right answer". They (not all non-believers, just the more vocal ones) call us (Christians, believers in God and Jesus and the Gospel) ignorant because I can have enough faith in something I can't see and it gives me hope and joy. It's a good thing Jesus warned his disciples that persecution was coming or else I think we'd be taken aback even more than we are when we actually face it.

I've learned I can't boast in anything, even in the fact that I believe in God. I am the scum of the earth (according to God) and I'm not even a "bad person" by society's standards. I recognize the brokenness of the world even in myself and realize there is no cure except the Gospel.

All I can boast in is the fact that there is a God and the he loves me and doesn't want me to suffer eternal torment. But really it has nothing to do with me. It does have everything to do with God. Does he hurt when the world is hurting? Absolutely. Did he cause those acts? Not necessarily. Does he want the world to suffer through devastating acts of nature and hurtful acts by humans? Yeah kind of. Why? Because ultimately it will bring people closer to the God who loves them and who fulfills their ultimate desires and needs. Think about it. As a kid when were you more likely to run to your mommy? When you were happy and satisfied in something like playing with your friends? Or was it when you were hurt and broken?

My heart aches for those who can't experience that total comfort of running to someone who can fix you. The stubbornness of the world that rejects the Gospel causes me literal anguish. I guess that's why Christ came and why we become more like Christ as we follow him. God loves people and it hurts Him to see them suffer. So is the ultimate mark of a growing Christian that our heart becomes more burdened for people and for the suffering they face because they have no hope for the future? I wouldn't count that out.

So this was definitely a rant and scattered with no big theme or conclusion. But my heart feels a little less burden (or maybe more burdened towards action...) now that I have this down on pixels.

I hope those of you who are fellow believers may be burdened like I am. For those of you who are not, I pray everyday to that God you don't believe in that you may someday know Him and experience true joy and peace by knowing him.

It's a good thing Jesus never said this would be easy.

There's also a saying, be careful what you wish for. How many people have prayed for God to give them patience only to be put in situations where their patience is tried? I've been praying for God to re-excite my heart for Him and His Word. I still mean it, even after realizing what I've asked for. I've asked for joy, and trying times. For feeling loved, and feeling convicted. Complacency in your faith is a dangerous thing. You start to believe that everything is okay, and nothing (including yourself) needs work. Then God grants your prayer of bringing a fire for truth in your heart, and you see yourself, and the world for what it is. Broken. And with seeing all this, there is now a desire to move forward and have him work on your heart, and your relationships, and the world. And it's not going to be easy or pain-free, but it's something that needs to be done. So here goes. My heart must be broken to be built up even stronger. It's going to hurt, but I'm glad I have God on my side throughout it. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

This little light of mine...

I'm gonna let it shine. I recently realized I should probably figure out what type of blog this should be. I could write about house projects, but that's kind of boring. I'm not in Africa anymore. And while I'd love to rant and rave about the poor English skills in Texas ("I'm a'fixin' to go to the store"), I can't bring myself to write something like that now that my blog has been RSS fed to Facebook. I'd love for the to be a blog only about my spiritual life, hopefully being a light to the world, but I can't do that only either. That wouldn't reflect my whole life, which is kind of the purpose (I think) of blogging. So it'll be pretty random, as it should be, since that is currently how my brain is functioning. I'm on the tail-end of the semester, with one huge exam to go. With summer, house projects, and more school looming, I can't help but be scattered brained. So here, in relatively organized list form, will probably be the most random post I write.
-I like popcorn. A lot.
-I'm smart and it kind of makes me guilty to share my grades with others.
-I can't stand when people use outright poor English. Dear Texas, "fixin" is not a word. At least not in the sense you use it. "I'm fixin' to go to the store." Not English. That thing is not "broke", unless it has no money, it's "broken". And while I've wanted to use "ya'll" I just can't bring myself to do it.
-These past couple weeks with God have been really amazing for me. I've finally learned (at least for now) how to stop putting pressure on me to be the "perfect" Christian. If I was perfect, I'd be Jesus, and in heaven right now, but I'm not, so I obviously have some huge character flaws. I've realized that by starting my day (and I have every day) with a little devotional is for now, enough to help me focus my day on Him. I'm learning to delight in so many little things, and start to recognize how everything is for His glory. I think I was worrying too much about me.
-I can't wait for this semester to be over. I have a huge list of to-dos for the house, and an entire stack of books to read. That sounds like a perfect between semesters break. Plus we get to go camping and see friends in Colorado!
-I love sarcasm. And that will in the end not serve me well.
-You may only get one post a month for me. It'll be interesting to see how often I feel okay to bare my soul. More often than not, I will. Typing it is much less terrifying for me than speaking it.

Take 2?

I guess I turned out to be not much of a blogger. Not really surprised. But part of me was thinking about it recently. I really love reading other people's blogs, and I think part of is because people who blog are in general not afraid to bear their soul. That could be why I haven't written. I know that at times (okay, most of the time), I become so self-absorbed that I worry constantly about how people are going to react to what I say, do, think, etc. Am I afraid to let people know that I love God? This thought has been a constant in my life. The answer varies with the season. Right now, no. I spent a long portion of the year (since coming back from Africa) on a letdown from the most amazing spiritual high of my life. I told myself I was going to take a little break from being so intense about study, then get back into the swing of things. I never got back into the swing of things. Life happened, and excuse after excuse came about why I wasn't reading the Word.
Luckily, God is not one to give up on people. And thankfully, I am one of those He's chosen to not give up on. He waited patiently for me to figure out there is no excuse to not spend time with someone I love. I would never tell Blair, or my family, sorry I'm too busy to put life on hold a bit for you, but that's exactly what I did to God, who I'm supposed to love more than even life itself. So I finally got the message thanks to my wonderful friend Erika, who let me hash out all of this for about 4 hours while I was back in MI. There are no excuses, and every one I tried to give was really lame. So I started. I figured out the I can look at getting into the Word just I like approach running. God isn't going to expect me to start off on a marathon. I start by training for one. 1Cor9:25-27 says " Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." I can look at training for being like Christ, like training for a race, start small, build up your endurance, then work to not just finish, but finish well. Runners know that to race instead of run, you don't just look to complete the race by building up distance. You do short runs, speed work, and rest. It all trains your body to work. To fully enjoy God and what he wants to do with my life, I need to be prepared for it. I need to be prepared to do long runs, short runs, and rest in His glory.
I've also been thinking of our mortality a lot lately. Our pastor Matt, had a seizure on Thanksgiving, then was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor. He's been given 3 years, and he's only 35. His illness hit me like a ton of bricks, but what more, is the vivacity he's continuing to live life with, and the glory he's giving to God throughout all of this. I keep thinking, if something like this happened to me, or if someone I loved got sick or died, is this how I would react? Would I go out glorifying God? I like to say that I would, that I would go out with people saying, "There's a woman who loved God". I think that's the glory I really want. Not to be the best at everything (although that's another topic I could write about), but to be the best that I could be with what God wants for my life. To show my love for him outwardly, and to let everyone I know how much I love God, and what He's done for us all. Now to do this in a smart manner, and to not scare people away from God, but point them to Him, is something I'm going to need some training on, and is why I am not like Christ yet. I can only hope that I keep going that way, even though I know what I'm asking for is suffering, and trials to help me persevere and remain strong.
I think that's all for now. I could probably go on for a long time, but then it'd be less organized and more rambly. God's really working on my heart right now. He needs to, and I'm finally up for letting him. Thanks for sticking through this to the end. If no one reads, I guess that's okay too, since I've finally gotten out what I've needed to say for a while.

Home Again

So after 39 hours of traveling and every single one of my planes landing late (luckily, it only made me 2 hours late to get home...) I am back at home. I've had a day already at home and am still feeling some jet lag. As Blair put it when I came it "she's a disaster".
Overall the trip exceeded expectations. We as a group took lots of small steps towards creating an established Navigator ministry. The trip's best verse can be Zechariah 4:10 (NLT): Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. Look for my follow letter with even more pictures in a month or so (it might take me that long since we'll be traveling to/from MI Aug 9-24 and I start grad school Aug 25). Thanks for all your prayers and support! God is working in Namibia, and I got to be a part of it because of you!

Me again

Blair's apparently been really busy trying to get everything settled so he can leave to go back to MI 3 days after I get home, so I'm copy/pasting an email I sent to him. Funny how I have more time than he does right now.
Things are going well here. Some people are starting to get sick (colds, coughs, etc) so I'm really trying to avoid that since I was sick at the start of the trip! So far, just a little sore throat, but nothing that's not relieved relatively quickly. We've started a little running club and that's been fun. I wish I had brought better running shoes, since I can't run too far (1. it's really hilly 2. my feet hurt way too much at the end of 20 minutes), but the goal is to get to the top of this mountainish hill. I'm okay getting there either by running or walking, but some are really dedicated to run the whole way. I'm going to try to take pictures of it before going. Hopefully I'll get a chance to hike up it and sunrise and get some video. This past week we've been at Polytech and UNam. I have been at Poly, working with some girls that are not yet believers. I've been encouraging them to start reading the Bible in hopes that the Word will have it's usual effect of working on their hearts. We spent Tuesday morning/early afternoon at an orphanage called Hope Village. It's a really cool concept which I hope to write more on later. We helped them out by doing some "spring cleaning" and doing a deep scrub of the boys house, girls house and baby house (yeah, there was a house fulllll of babies, no I didn't keep one). The boys shoveled something, I don't know what still....We have a new member of the team. He's a friend of Ed's from Woodland Park and he's called Karate Ken:) His purpose is to share the Gospel by teaching people self-defense principles and using those same principles against spiritual attack. It's pretty cool and we've learned a couple useful moves for escape and defense. I can't believe it's only a couple days until we leave. Time flies! This Saturday is the one day conference, so I hope we have a good turn out! So far we have over 100 people signed up.