Freezing and thawing bulk ground beef

I typically buy ground beef in bulk at Costco, since it seems to be the most reasonable price (other than sales) and good quality meat I can find.  Recently, I've developed a better way to freeze it to save room in the freezer.  This new way also helps with the thawing process, and makes it much faster.

The large packages of ground beef typically come in somewhere in the 5½-6½lb range.  I look through and try to find one that is close to 6 pounds, this makes the division into freezable portions much easier!

Using six, quart size freezer bags, I separate the meat into 6 portions.

Zip the bag, leaving 1-2" open for air removal and begin flattening the meat.

The goal is for it to be even-thickness and fill up the entire bag.  Try to get it as level as possible for better stacking.  Then seal the bag.

Once all six bags are flattened and sealed, stack them.

Then they fit nicely in the freezer.

This also makes thawing the meat so much faster.  Stick it in a dish in the fridge and it will thaw in about half the time a "lump" of ground beef will thaw.  The thinner packing also makes it easier for those occasions when you forget to thaw your meat.  Just pull it from the freezer and drop it into your skillet or pot.  It will thaw quickly once it hits the heat.

This post is linked to: Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Easy peel hard boiled eggs

Do you have trouble peeling your boiled eggs?  I did too, until I learned a wonderful, new trick and I have barely had any trouble with peeling eggs since!!

I'm going to share with you my egg boiling procedure start to finish:

* Choose your oldest eggs (I usually have 2 cartons of eggs in my fridge, and always leave the older eggs in the bottom carton, using the eggs in the carton on top for baking, breakfast, etc.).  Older eggs crack and the shell separates from the egg more easily.
* Place desired amount of eggs in a pot with cold water to about 2" above the eggs.
* Turn on high and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, set your timer for 13 minutes and continue to boil.
* While eggs are boiling, make an ice water bath (large bowl, ½ ice and ½ water).
* Once your timer beeps, turn the eggs off and immediately dip them out of boiling water and place in ice water bath.
* Leave in ice water bath until completely chilled through (this is usually when I move on to another project and come back in an hour or two when I remember that I have eggs chillin'!).
* Remove eggs from ice water onto a towel.
* If you are not using the eggs immediately, allow to dry, slip them into a ziploc and place in fridge.
* If you are using the eggs immediately:
     :: Crack egg on counter (similar to how you'd crack a raw egg) until a dime size area is cracked.
     :: Roll your egg on the counter while applying gentle pressure to crack the egg all the way around.  (It's best if you use your palm, but I wanted you to actually see the egg!).  The idea is to gently 'smush' the peel and release the membrane from the white while rolling.  If you don't apply enough pressure the membrane won't loosen, however, if you apply too much pressure it will actually break the white and then you'll have a heck-of-a-time getting the peel off... ask me how I know!

     :: The cracked egg should look something like this (they don't always work this well, but are still definitely peel-able):

     :: And if you're really fortunate, this will happen:

:: Now, you're ready to peel the rest and prepare that dish!

I boiled 12 eggs and only 2 of them had any white damage after I peeled them. I was making deviled eggs and one of them was definitely not usable (it was absolutely awful to peel) and the other was doable, but the boys came in from playing outside just as I was finishing peeling the eggs, so they ate the damaged ones and I made the rest into deviled eggs!

Total time spent peeling 12 eggs, under 15 minutes!!

This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesday.

Reusing ziploc bags

I am a big fan of reusing ziploc bags.  I reuse all of my ziplocs that have not had raw meat in them.  I use them until they simply give out and get a hole or spring a leak.

If they have held something dry (crackers, cookies, etc.) I usually just empty the crumbs into the trash and stick the bag back in my stash.  However, if they've held another type of food or something messy, I wash them by hand.

My tip for you is to hang on to your bottle/sippy cup drying rack once you're no longer using it for its intended purpose, it makes a really good baggie drying rack.  I also frequently have more bags to dry than will fit on the rack so I move my utensil bucket onto a towel and place bags onto taller spoons and spatulas to dry.  Here's what my kitchen counter looks like on those occasions.

Be sure to head on over to Kitchen Tip Tuesday for more wonderful tips to make your kitchen time go more smoothly.

Cinnamon sugar shaker (say that 5 times fast!)

It's Kitchen Tip Tuesday time and I haven't participated in quite a while but I have a good one for you this week!

Here it is:
It's my cinnamon sugar shaker (a repurposed sea salt shaker). I keep it premixed so that it's readily available whenever I'm making cinnamon rolls, french toast, cinnamon toast, oatmeal, etc. Then there's no extra work involved in sprinkling it right on.

I use Rapadura/Sucanat/evaporated cane juice (whatever you want to call it, it's all the same stuff) and ground cinnamon. Our personal taste is approximately 3/4 sugar and 1/4 cinnamon. I like a LOT of cinnamon! Sometimes I mix it stronger than that. Just use a funnel and pour in your cinnamon and sugar, leaving about 1/2 inch at top. Replace shaker top and cap and then shake and roll it around until you have it mixed evenly.

Now it's ready for whenever you need a cinnamon sugar mixture!

Homemade chicken stock - the easy way.

We love chicken around here and I love making one chicken go as far as possible.

My new favorite and super easy way to cook a whole chicken is in the crockpot. It's so simple and so delicious. You throw the chicken in, season and put on low for 6-8 hours. Really, what could be simpler?

So, in keeping with stretching that chicken as far as it can possibly go, I make chicken broth/stock from it. And I do it the easy way, also!

Note: this is usually done just after dinner since I've cooked the chicken to have some for dinner. Once I remove the chicken from the crockpot, I let it cool until it is manageable, then get to work separating it. I remove all the good meat (to freeze), then put EVERYTHING (skin, giblets, bones, etc.) back into the crockpot with whatever liquid the chicken has already given off. I then chop an onion, 2-3 celery stalks and 2-3 carrots and throw them in (you don't have to bother peeling the veggies since it will all be strained out later). Add enough COLD water to fill my pot about 1/2" from the top and add desired seasoning. Put the lid back on and leave it on low until the next morning (I usually don't have time to tend to it until after breakfast).

I turn it off and let it cool for a while, then strain the "stuff" thru a mesh strainer into a large pot.  I do discard all the "stuff" that gets strained out and then I strain the liquid once more through a super fine mesh strainer. Once cooled a bit more, I then transfer into pint (2 cup) jars or pint freezer containers (whichever I have available). I then let it cool completely in the fridge and skim off the fat that has floated to the top.  The following morning, once I'm certain it's cooled completely, I transfer the containers to the freezer for later use.

Tip: If you start with a cold chicken and don't add any water to it while it's cooking (it will give off it's own broth), the stock you make later will be more gelatinous because the bones release their gelatin better when they start off cold, rather than shocked with hot water. 

Be sure to visit The Stock Exchange over at Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles today for more great recipes and tips for making stock.

Recycling tip

Since my trash collection company started a new and much better recycling program a few months ago, I have been having the issue of making a zillion trips into the garage to dump items in the cart.

I originally had a plastic grocery bag hanging on the pantry door and would just place items in there until it was full and then I would take it out and dump it. However, this wasn't working extremely well because the pantry door is on a 90º angle to the right of the garage door. This made the garage door collide with the plastic bag full of things each time it was opened, thus creating clanging and banging and just an annoyance.

I realized something had to be done and started scouring the house for an alternative and came across a plastic bag/bin thingy that I was using for as a temporary home for paperwork and other things that needed to find their way to their home upstairs in the filing cabinet.

This is what my trash area looks like now. The orange container is the recycling and I now only make 1 or 2 trips into the garage to dump it each day. It's working really well and even the boys are getting the hang of it and learning what can be recycled!

Be sure to stop by over at Tammy's for more wonderful tips.

Rice, rice, rice

I do not enjoy cooking rice. There, I said it!

Brown rice takes so long to cook and I usually forget to start it in enough time to be done when dinner is ready and that just frustrates me. So I came up with a solution: cook a batch of rice in the middle of the day when I'll be home for a while (ie. nap time).

I try to put it on when the boys go down for naps, that way it's done in just over an hour. Then it has time to cool and I can put it in the fridge before the boys get up (hopefully). Then I don't have to think about it until I am working on dinner and all it needs is reheating!

Here's how I do my rice:

2 cups homemade chicken stock
1 cup water
1 cup brown rice

Bring water to a boil and add rice and give it a stir; Reduce to medium for 5 minutes; Then reduce to simmer for appx. 1 hour (depends on where you live - altitude makes a difference). I set my oven timer for 30 minutes, then check it, just by lifting the lid and looking (yes, I know you're suppose to leave it alone, but I find that it takes different times to cook each time I do it.....). After the first 30 minute check, I set the timer for 10 minutes or more at a time and check until it's done. I realize it takes a little longer this way because I let the steam out every time I take the lid off, but it's better to take longer than have burnt rice - ick.

For more kitchen tips, be sure to visit Tammy!!

Yet another use for plain ole' vinegar!

It seems as though vinegar is becoming my new best friend!

Most of us know of the common uses for vinegar - loads of cleaning recipes for the kitchen and bathrooms, it's a great fabric softener, great laundry stain remover and countless other uses that we use vinegar for.

BUT, did you know that vinegar is absolutely the go-to thing for a sting or bite (bee/wasp/ant, etc.)?

How do I know this you might ask?..... Well, I have a 2 year old and we have lots of wasps!

We have guniea wasps (a/k/a paper wasps). I usually don't worry too much about them - they have their hives in the cracks of our retaining wall in between each of the stones (because the stones aren't square it leaves a triangular space in between the stones) and paper wasps are the least aggressive kind. Pretty much, as long as you aren't bothering their hive, they don't sting. Michael has been so busy that he hasn't had time to 'take care of them' yet, but because they aren't typically aggressive, I usually don't worry about the kids getting stung. Until......

The boys were outside playing with their water table a few weeks ago and all of a sudden Eli was screaming. He ran over to me and said something about an owie on his finger and I asked him what happened and he said "lady bug bite me." (Lady bug is his description for all bugs right now!) I knew that the wasps like to hang out around the water table, but usually they fly off when the kids are playing there, so I kept asking him what happened and he kept saying the same thing.... He wasn't screaming that blood curdling, think he's dying kind of scream so I just held him for a few minutes and kept inspecting his finger and in a little while he calmed down and was ready to play again. I really didn't think he had been stung (maybe he pinched it somehow or something) because of how quickly he calmed down so I didn't think much else about it.

Fast forward about a week. I was sitting out on the patio while they were playing and Eli looked at me kind of strangely, then grabbed his thigh and started screaming. This time I KNEW he had been stung. He was playing out by the retaining wall and was swinging his plastic golf clubs around and just the way he looked at me and then grabbed the area where it hurt told me he'd been stung. He then ran over to me and I could see the sting mark, so we went inside and I immediately called my mom because I remembered being stung by a wasp when I was little and she put something on it that took the pain away. She said to soak a paper towel in plain vinegar and apply to the area. The next thing that happened shocked me...

Eli stopped crying in less than a minute - while I was still on the phone with her - and was ready to go back outside to play!!

I am so thankful for a mom that remembers home remedies that her parents and grandma used when she was growing up!

I know this isn't a true kitchen tip, but because this is a common kitchen ingredient I thought it would be good to post on Kitchen Tip Tuesday and maybe someone else will find it helpful.

Cast iron skillets

Let me see a show of hands of you out there who use cast iron regularly?........ Uh huh, that's what I thought, there aren't very many of you, are there? I have to confess, I haven't used mine in several years and you know what my silly reason was? They started sticking and I thought seasoning them was too much of a hassle. HA! I've done some reasearch and found it to be super simple.

Cast iron skillets are wonderful assets to any cook's cupboard. Mine are actually hand-me-downs from my grandma and a garage sale. I have 3, a 12", 8" and one that's about 5". We'll get to the easy how-to of seasoning them in a minute, but first a few reasons why everyone should have AND USE them.

~ Flavor! Cast iron does not impart any artificial "metallicy" taste to your food.

~ Safety - there's a reason people have been cooking with cast iron since WAY back - it's a natural substance that can be turned into pans that withstand very high heat and don't give off toxic chemicals or break down (if cared for properly)

~ There may even be a potential health benefit from using unglazed cast iron - it actually gives off iron when you heat it and imparts iron into your food -a valuable nutrient

~ Heats evenly and retains heat better than traditional cookware and can go straight from stovetop to oven with no concern

~ Very easy to care for once seasoned properly

When choosing cast iron, the best is to find some at a thrift store, estate sale or garage sale that have already been used and seasoned because these are a little easier to keep in good shape. Buying new takes a little more work.

If you can't find any previously used/seasoned cast iron, try to find cookware with the smoothest interior surface possible, this will make the seasoning process easier.

If you have old cast iron, here's the easiest way to care season it:

1. Scrub the inside with a stainless steel pad (you can also use a cloth with coarse salt) to scrape away any excess food, spills, possible rust, etc. (You don't have to do this every time you use it - I would suggest doing it the first time and then if you happen to notice it starting to stick or at least a few times a year)

2. Rinse clean with hot water ONLY - you can use a mild soap occasionally, but it's not necessary every time. NEVER SOAK IN WATER OR PUT IN THE DISHWASHER.

3. Sit the skillet on the stove top and turn on the eye/burner until the pan gets warm and all the water dries out. This will ensure it gets completely dry before oiling it.

4. Once it is completely dry, coat with a neutral oil (I use coconut oil - but not extra virgin because I don't want my pan to taste like coconut - or you can use canola or some other oil that doesn't have a strong taste). I just pour about 2 Tbsp in and wipe around with a paper towel coating the entire inside with it.

5. Place in a preheated 250F oven for 2 hours.

6. Let cool a bit and wipe clean with a paper towel.

7. Once completely cool, store with a paper towel inside (especially if stacking several skillets) to prevent any moisture from seeping into the skillet.

Seasoning a brand new skillet is a little more time intensive, but well worth the end product (you'll need some sandpaper - 80-120 grit (medium) for very rough surfaces or those with imperfections such as pits, grooves, or sharp points; 120-150 grit (fine) should work well for smoothing surfaces that don't have too many imperfections):

1. New skillets come with a coating on them that must be removed before seasoning (or the oil won't soak in properly).

2. Scrub the entire skillet (inside and out) with a stainless steel pad.

3. Rinse

4. Sand the inside surfaces until you get a decently smooth surface and there are no sharp points or other type of imperfections left.

5. Rinse

6. Follow seasoning steps 3-7 above

7. You many have to do those seasoning steps several times to get the non-stick quality of a heavily seasoned/well used cast iron skillet. The only way to find out if it's seasoned enough is to cook with it and see if what you're cooking sticks......

Regular (in-between-seasonings) maintenance is very simple:

1. Rinse with hot water (can use mild soap and a green scrubby pad if you NEED to, but don't do it often or you'll find yourself needing to re-season)

2. Dry on the heated eye/burner on the stove top

3. Let cool completely

4. Store with a paper towel inside to absorb any potential moisture.

For more kitchen tips, be sure to visit Tammy's site!

Electric kettle, how do I love thee....

Let me count the ways!

I LOVE my electric kettle. I never had a kettle until we went to Australia visiting Michael's family over Christmas and everyone there uses a kettle. They all drink hot tea and instant coffee all the time (all day long) and every household has an electric kettle. Not the old-school-take-forever-to-heat-on-the-stove type. No one drinks freshly brewed coffee, they all drink instant!

While we were there, we decided that we too needed an electric kettle because I could think of several other uses for it (other than tea and coffee). And it boils water (up to 60oz) in a snap!

Super Target came through. They had 3 different ones to choose from. We chose a middle of the road model and it was about $30. Totally worth every penny. I use it on a daily basis.



Here are just a few things I can think of that I do with it:

* Hot Tea
* Instant Coffee
* Fresh brewed iced tea
* Boiling water for stove top sauces (making them faster to cook)
* Boiling water for pasta (boiling it in the pot takes SO long), just fill the kettle, turn it on and turn on the eye on your stove and heat your pot while the water is heating that way your pouring the boiling water into a hot pot
* Boiling water for things like ramen noodles (boil the water, then pour over the noodles and let sit for about 3-5 min.) also works the same for bread stuffing
* Warming water to warm up your dishwater that's gone cold (instead of wasting water by running it until it gets hot - just heat it in the kettle)

That's my kitchen tip for today! If you don't have a kettle, I highly suggest investing in one if you can afford it. Visit Tammy's site for more wonderful kitchen tips.

My Tip for the Day

My 'food' book is my lifesaver lately. I don't really know what to call it other than 'food book'. It's just a spiral notebook with 3 sections that has become one of my best friends.

About a month and a half ago I took a few days and gathered all of my 'go-to' recipes and all of the other ones that I throw in occasionally and even some new ones I'd found that I wanted to try. I then organized them in my recipe box by category, mains: beef, chicken, meatless; desserts; sides; sauces, breads, etc.

Then I decided what to use those 3 sections for in my book:

* Section 1 has my permanent daily schedules written out - it will eventually be one page for each day of the week M-F, but for now it's 2 day's/page b/c my schedule will be changing near the end of May because I will no longer be babysitting and I didn't want to waste the extra pages in the book (I include my food prep. time in my schedule so I thought the best place for it would be in my food book).

* Section 2 has lists of EVERY meal that I make (not recipes, just what they are). It's broken down just like my recipe box - by type and each type is on a different page.

* Section 3 has my menu plans in it. I just write each week out and once I've filled up the page (front and back), move on to the next page.

So, on the weekend when I am getting ready to do my meal planning for the following week, the only thing I need to get out is my notebook. Everything is right there in one place and I can just pick and choose from Section 2 (the list of foods) what I want to put together for each meal. I typically plan 2 weeks at a time because I only do my major meal grocery shopping every other week, then I just pop in for fresh fruits/veggies, or minor things we need on the off week.

Then after I've written out my 2 weeks worth of menus, I take it one day at a time and go thru the menu/recipe and my fridge and pantry and write down anything I'm out of that is needed to make that meal and then do the same with the next day and so on. Then I go thru and add things to my list that we typically use every week (snacks for the kids, basic kid friendly things I like to keep on hand in case one of them hasn't been feeling well and isn't up to eating what I've prepared and any lunch items I need to get the kids and I through those 2 weeks since Michael takes leftovers to work).

Doing this has cut a tremendous amount off of my monthly grocery spending. So much that we're probably going to lower our budget since I know I can come in WAY under what I originally had budgeted. We'll put that money toward the final debt that we're paying off.

For more wonderful kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Kitchen Tip Tuesday post.

My first Kitchen Tip Tuesday

This is what the 'hub/command center' of our house looks like. This is one corner of my kitchen counter that is reserved for running the household. Yes, we have a desk/office, but it's in another room. The kitchen is where we enter/leave the house (through the garage) so it just makes sense for me (and I'm too organized to let it get messy) that I keep everything near where we enter/leave the house.

Before I go to bed I also have a look at the calendar and to do's for the next day to make sure I'm remembering everything for the next day (and to prevent forgetting early appointments!).

So basically, everything gets dumped here during the day (mail, Jacob's school papers, any papers I receive from appts., etc.). I try to keep it organized during the day, but that's not always a possibility given the sometimes hectic nature of my day. So, at the end of the day everything is sorted and dealt with. Once I come downstairs in the morning after my shower, the only time I go up is to put the kids down for naps or when I'm putting away laundry (and I never remember to take anything with me to put away) so when I go up to go to bed every night, I take anything that needs to be put away with me.

I do plan on eventually moving everything over to a better space in my kitchen (the top shelf of the bakers rack). This is a perfect spot for all of my 'running the house' stuff, but I want to get a sorter to hang on the wall and have yet to remember to go to the right store to look for one when I'm ALONE (ie - NO KIDS talking my head off while I'm trying to think)!

You can find other great kitchen tips at Tammy's site.