Kitchen Fun with Carol

Hi everybody!  Happy 4th of July to everyone. Can you believe it's July already?  I can't! The summer months fly by so quickly.

I like to call this the "Year of Change" for my family. My twins are starting high school this fall and have just completed their first high school class - summer phys-ed. My oldest graduated from high school last month and is preparing to go to college in the fall.. Of course with a graduation comes a graduation party! I made a menu of all of the food we would be serving at the party. There were lots of recipes that could be made ahead and stored in the freezer. I put my 30 Day Gourmet skills to good use! We made Creamy Fruit Dip, Brownie Bites, Freezer Cheesecake, Carolyn's Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sloppy Joes, Turkey Wraps, Swedish Meatballs, Lemonade Cheesecake, Crock Pot Mac 'N Cheese, Apple Squares, Apple Crisp, and Pecan Pie Bars. Then my husband, daughter and I had a second mini-cooking session the day before the party to finish the rest of the food. We analyzed the recipes and decided what could be done ahead of time. It was tiring but it was fun to spend the day together in the kitchen. The next day, the graduation party immediately followed the ceremony. We borrowed crock pots and set everything out on low before we left. The party was a hit and everyone raved about the food! 

Three days after the party, my daughter left to work at her summer job. She's two hours away from home for the entire summer. That brings our family down to four in the house. It's been an adjustment. The house is not quite the same without her! 

It has also been an adjustment in my cooking. I was surprised what a difference one person makes at the dinner table! It has meant adjusting how much food I cook at each meal. Some of the dishes that I cook for five are too much food for four people. That meant scaling back on some recipes or having to deal with a lot of leftovers!. To help solve this problem, I have changed the way that I package foods. I prepackage a lot of meats in meal sized portions. Two recipes serving six people each now becomes three meals for 4 people. Hamburger patties are packaged in four stacks of 4 burgers per gallon freezer bag. I have also experimented with packaging meals in single size servings so that I can just grab what I need. This works well with Cheese-Filled Shells, Pork BBQ, Meatballs and Crock Pot Roast Beef Sandwiches. It has been a learning experience for me and I am sure it will be even different when the twins leave the house. But I prefer not to think about that right now!

Bonus Recipes from Molly Allen

I started cooking the 30 Day Gourmet way back in October 1999, following surgery for uterine cancer.  Nanci and Tara were on a television program and demonstrated sucking the air out of a Ziploc bag containing a quiche by using a straw to prevent freezer burn.  I was captivated - what an ingenious idea!  So I surfed on over to the website and ordered the manual.  My greatest concern prior to surgery, besides the obvious, was how I was going to feed myself and my husband during recovery from major surgery and the radiation therapy that would follow.  My husband would willingly survive on pizza and quarter pounders, but that wasn't going to cut it for me.  Tasty, nutritious meals were essential to a speedy recovery from surgery and the stamina to endure the radiation therapy to follow. 

The manual arrived the day I got home from the hospital, and I spent lots of time reading through all the information and recipes.  I asked my husband to list recipes that sounded good to him.  My mother came to help out about a month after my surgery.  I wanted her to help me get at least a month's worth of dinners in the freezer before I went back to work.  It actually took us three and a half days, but we managed to load the freezer with "Soup"erior Meatloaf, Mom's Chicken Noodle Casserole, Chicken Enchiladas, Cheeseburger Quiche, and Burger Bean Bake.  I returned to work for half days followed by radiation therapy five days a week for six weeks.  Having a good meal ready to pop into the oven while I rested was such a blessing.  I was hooked. Over the next five years, I became a 30 DG Whiz-kid, mainly whipping up dinner entrees. 

I'm a high school guidance counselor, so each August before I returned to work I'd go on a mad cooking spree and put at least 50 meals in the freezer.  With a weekly pizza or take-out Chinese and a leftover or "breakfast for dinner" night, the meals would last till Thanksgiving Break, when I'd do a mini-cooking session to last till Christmas break; then I'd do another big cooking session to carry us to Spring Break.  On July 28, 2005, I was getting organized to do the shopping for my annual August cooking session when my husband announced he wanted to be a "wasband".  Stop the prep work and turn off the oven!!!  Over the next five and a half weeks we legally separated, our house went on the market and sold, I went back to work, the Boys (our two miniature schnauzers) and I moved to an apartment and my "wasband" left the state. Whew.  If cancer didn't kill me, this divorce wasn't going to either.  But how was I going to cook for just me?

Simple.  The way I'd learned to love to cook - the 30 Day Gourmet Way!  I got custody of the freezer, so all I had to do was scale back on the number of batches of each recipe I prepare.  Most of the recipes in the manual and on the website serve 4-6 people.  That usually means four generous individual servings/meals per recipe.  Packaging for one person is a little different.  I used to use a lot of 8 X 8 inch square foil pans.  Now I use mostly quart sized freezer bags or the new disposable containers.  I can pop things out of the plastic bag or container into a casserole dish or sauce pot and reheat very easily.

I still make my favorite recipes, I just package them differently.  For Chicken Enchiladas, I roll two and put them in the flat rectangular foil pans. Super Easy Chicken Manicotti is a breeze.  I flash freeze the stuffed manicottis and put them in a freezer bag.  Then when I want to cook a batch, I take out three or four, put them in a small casserole with some spaghetti sauce (about half a jar), top with grated mozzarella and pop them in the oven.  I freeze the leftover spaghetti sauce in a rigid container, and use it the next time I want manicotti. Burger Bean Bake and Mom's Chicken Noodle Casserole freeze well in a bag or plastic container.  Thaw overnight in the fridge, and pop into a sauce pan or casserole and heat thoroughly.  I make broccoli quiche and when it's cool, I cut it into quarters and freeze in freezer bags.  Thaw overnight and pop it into the microwave for a minute or two till heated through.  I still make "Soup"erior Meatloaf - but now I form the loaves into oval-shaped patties and flash freeze.  Then I store the patties in a freezer bag.  Thaw overnight and cook on a foil lined cookie sheet in the oven, alongside a Time to Spare Spud for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  One of my new favorite recipes is the Chicken/Turkey Patties. They make a terrific quick meal. I heat two frozen patties in the microwave on high for about two minutes. They are great for sandwiches, crumbled over a salad, or served with mashed potatoes, gravy, and a vegetable.

In April, the Boys and I moved into a cute little ranch house with a big back yard and a special dedicated circuit for my freezer in the garage!  30 Day Gourmet has been a life saver for me in so many ways through the changes I've experienced since 1999. The easy adaptability of the system, the great tips in the manual, the yummy recipes, and the camaraderie of the website message boards have removed the stress associated with getting nutritious meals on the table; cooking is an absolute joy!  And, an added bonus - I've lost 40 pounds since last summer.  With 30 Day Gourmet and lots of dog walking, I will continue to my goal weight.  Thanks, 30 Day Gourmet!

Enjoy the bonus recipes!

Super Easy Chicken Manicotti

For singles or doubles, flash freezing the filled shells works great! You can take out as many shells as you need and aren't faced with a huge amount of leftovers. For one, I usually do six shells in an 8 X 8 pan and have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Click here to view/print this recipe!

Time to Spare Spuds

These are great with "Soup"erior Meatloaf! Shape the meatloaf into individual loaves and flash freeze. Reheat the twice baked potatoes along side the meatloaf as it cooks!

Click here to view/print this recipe!

Recipe of the Month Contest Winner

Our winner this month is Kathy from Ocala, Florida, with her recipe for Shredded Roast Beef. My family loves shredded roast beef sandwiches but I would always have a problem packaging up the right portions for a meal. Well, Kathy has found a great solution to the problem. She creates individual servings by lining a muffin pan with paper liners, filling the cups with the cooked shredded roast beef, and then flash freezing them. What a great idea!

You can also freeze the meat without the paper liners. To remove them from the tin, fill you sink with enough hot water to reach the bottom side of the pan. Place the muffin pan in the hot water for about 30 seconds. This is enough time to just loosen them up form the sides of the pan and you can just pop them out with a fork. This method works well for any shredded meat. Another recipe to try this with is Pork BBQ.

Let's meet Kathy:

"There is just my husband and me at home.  I discovered 30 Day Gourmet by accident and fell in love with the idea.  Initially, I used make ahead meals as a way of freeing up time for myself to do other things besides cooking.  We are in the middle of a big redecorating project and I wanted time to reupholster some furniture, sew window treatments, paint walls, well you get the picture.  My husband says that redoing our house is like painting a bridge, when you get to the end, you have to start all over again.  I also sew quite a bit, most all of my clothes and hubby's shirts and pants as well as assorted other things.  I like quilting and am a voracious reader.  I love experimenting with recipes and am committed to cooking low fat tasty meals as hubby has had open heart surgery and must be on this kind of life style.  But above all, healthy food should taste good,
or else why bother."

Click here to view/print the July Recipe of the Month.

Freezer Cook of the Month Contest Winner

Our winner this month is Darcy from Manton, MI, who discovered how just one day's work can do a lot of good for someone in need.

Darcy says:  

Last summer, a friend from church was put on bed rest when she was pregnant with twins. She already had a toddler running around and I knew her husband would need some help. Although I couldn't afford to make her a bunch of dinners, I knew I could help out by making freezer meals if someone helped to buy the food. The church gave me $100 for the groceries and I was able to make them 40 freezer meals. They, as well as the rest of the congregation, was amazed at how many meals they received. Since everything is prepared and frozen, I was able to take advantage of what was on sale and get a lot more food. The meals lasted them until she was off bed rest and all it took me was one day of cooking!  

Closing Comments from Carol

Freezer Cooking News from Nanci

Slagle Family Updates

Trip to Alaska 

We were able to fulfill a long held dream this summer and take a vacation to Alaska. My brother and his family have lived in Anchorage for 20 years but we've never been to see them (they usually come to Indiana once a year). Wow - what a beautiful place. I've decided to combine two things about our trip for the theme of my newsletter - South Beach dieting and Alaskan salmon!

South Beach Food Tips
My brother and sis-in-law have been eating the "South Beach" way since January and have had great results. They had tried Atkins but did better when they were able to add the fruits and whole grains and reduce the fat (see South Beach Diet Basics ). Since I'm hoping to write a low-carb ebook this summer, I tried to pick up as many tips as possible.

• Once a week my brother minces onion and pepper and cooks it in olive oil then keeps them in the fridge to stir into his morning eggs.

• Also, once a week Tim and Julie wash and tear up enough lettuce (they mix iceberg, romaine and green leaf) to fill one of those huge Tupperware That's a Bowls. It made it so easy to grab a quick salad!

• Since snacking is usually everyone's downfall I was interested to see how they handled it. We were on-the-go a lot seeing sights which makes it more difficult. They keep a big stash of South Beach snacks around - cookies, meal replacement bars and crackers. The pre-packaged foods can be really expensive, though. I found a recipe for the cookies (see South Beach Oatmeal or Peanut Butter Cookies) which could be made in large quantities and frozen. I haven't yet found a recipe for the bars. Obviously, they could be purchased in bulk and frozen. I guess if they truly are replacing your meal $1.27 isn't too bad. Another thing that they keep around for snacks are low-fat cheese squares. Purchasing them pre-cut and packaged is about twice the price of buying the cheese in a block and cutting your own squares. Just put them in the tiny snack-sized ziplocs and you're good to go. Same thing with nuts. Buy in bulk and individually package them yourself. These packages can be frozen.

ALASKAN SALMON INFO & RECIPES
We had a great time learning about fish in Alaska. On our trip to Seward, a fishing charter had just come in so we got to take our picture with some guy's 150 lb. halibut and then watch the workers cut up all of the fish on the docks. A few days later we visited a hatchery in Anchorage and saw the huge salmon that make the whole river look red.
All low carb diets strongly advocate eating fish and salmon is at the top of the list. According to doctors (see Health Benefits of Eating Salmon), eating fish 1-2 times a week can:

• protect against breast cancer

• reduce the risk of heart disease

• reduce blood pressure

• reduce the risk of prostate cancer in men

• build babies' brains (for moms with in utero and nursing babies)

Using my brother as a guinea pig, I decided to try out a couple of salmon recipes while I was in Alaska. He gave them both an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

 

Alaskan Salmon Muffins
These muffins were quick and easy to stir up. I only used one bowl and had them in the oven within a few minutes. After cooling them, I packaged 2 of them in 3 quart-sized bags. Tim took a bag of them to work the next day and warmed them in the microwave for about 45 seconds before eating.
 

Click here to view/print this recipe!

Salmon Quiche
This quiche was so quick and easy to make. The salmon, cheese and onion goes

straight into the quiche dish. I used a 2-cup measuring cup to mix up the eggs, heavy cream and dill. Pour it over and bake it. Easy as pie! If you are afraid of a strong fish flavor, this recipe is overtaken by the cheese so the salmon isn't as noticeable. Cut the quiche into 6 pieces and freeze them individually for a snack or a take-to-work lunch. I ate a piece for breakfast one day. Yum!
 

Click here to view/print this recipe!

Website News

Consultant News

We've had several consultants join on since our last newsletter. Here are their names and cities. As their websites become ready, we'll publish those too. Please welcome:

• Susan Freeman from Tacoma, Washington

• Dorothy Tatum from Grand Junction, Colorado

• Linda Wiles from Austin, Texas

• Denise Henderson from Hattiesburg, Mississippi

• Veva Guthrie from West Des Moines, Iowa
  Visit Veva's website here!

• Nola Bengry from Andover, Minnesota

• Karalyn Barton from West Lebanon, New Hampshire

• Christine Finn from Davenport, Iowa

• Amy Peterson from Braham, Minnesota

• Lynn Walauski from Warren, Maine

• Anne-Marie Pfligler from Phoenix, Arizona

Closing Comments from Nanci

I hope you're enjoying the new format of the newsletter. Carol, Tammy, Shelley and I are committed to helping you be great freezer cooks! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact one of us. Have a great rest-of-July. My next newsletter will be coming right before school starts. Yikes! By then I hope to have a BIG cooking day to tell you about, a low-carb ebook almost done and at least 10 lbs. lost - ha! See you then!
      

Cookin' at the Keyboard with Shelley

I am a committed (dare I say addicted?) freezer cook. Our family couldn't survive without some level of inventory in our freezer. Unfortunately, every meal I serve my family and guests can't come from my freezer - like when we go camping - tomorrow! When I pack the cooler in the morning, I'll pull out the frozen hamburger patties I seasoned last month, as well as a recipe of Debbie's Chicken Marinade for the grilled chicken sandwiches. I'll toss in any package of cookies or bars that haven't already been discovered since our last cooking day.

But there are lots of things we eat at camp that can't come from the freezer. Just like I use the Advantage Cooking software to generate my grocery list before a big cooking day, I also use the software to create my grocery list before we go camping! It's a little unorthodox, I know, but it gets the job done.

Each meal becomes a recipe in the software, for example, "Camp Breakfast - French Toast." I even create a special "Camping" recipe category. The recipe ingredients become everything I need to fix the meal (e.g. bread, eggs, butter, syrup, orange juice, etc.).

To start building a grocery list, I add a new cooking day and select all the camping recipes and "camping meal" recipes I want. On our trip this weekend, we've invited several single guys (who don't want to cook - imagine that!) to eat with us. All I have to do is change the recipe quantities on my cooking day plan and my grocery list automatically expands. Wow, this makes packing for camp almost fun! OK, maybe "fun" is a little extreme, but you get the idea.

I'll be back next month with some freezer-friendly recipes. For now, since I've got camping on the brain, here's a couple of our favorite desserts for the campfire.
 

Return to Top

Campfire Apple Spice Cake

This dessert was a huge hit with the family (in spite of the fact that it preempted the s'mores) and it seems to be fool proof. I was reluctant to bake a cake in campfire coals, but it has worked every time. I used a carrot cake mix in this picture (instead of the spice cake recommended.) A delicious dessert to warm the family on a cool evening.
 

Click here to view/print this recipe!

Campfire Banana Boats

The kids have fun with this one! Slit the banana with a plastic knife, push in at both ends to make a boat, and fill it up. Wrap in foil and heat on a grill over coals or an open fire. Caution: don't cook 'em too long!

Click here to view/print this recipe!

User's FAQs

MASTERCOOK IMPORTS

< Note: this article was originally written for the newsletter last March. Although Christmas is now a distant memory, the import features of Advantage are just waiting to be unwrapped. Please excuse the context and read on!>

It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I m finally finished with Christmas! Just last week I returned a gift that was never wrapped because I had hidden it too well and couldn't remember where to find it. Fortunately, I was able to exchange the now out-of-season fleece-lined winter hat I bought for my daughter for a pair of summer sandals that she loves. Isn't it a great feeling to trade something good for something else that works even better?

The MasterCook. Import feature in the Advantage Cooking software does exactly that; it takes a MasterCook. recipe (something good) and converts it to the Advantage Cooking recipe format (something better)! If you have access to MasterCook. version 4/.mxp files, the import procedure is simple. (Note: the import of .mx2 files will be included in the next release of the software.)

Go to the Recipes tab, click the Import button, and specify the location and filename of a MasterCook. (.mxp) file. The recipe information is converted and displayed for editing. Wherever possible, the text from the original recipe is extracted and placed in the new recipe (e.g. title, source, serving size, prep time, amounts, measures, ingredients, comments, instructions). If an exact match does not exist, the conversion program will attempt to assign a best guess entry. Ingredients that do not have a match will be automatically added when the import is complete. The original text from the MasterCook. recipe can be viewed by clicking the Original Recipe tab at the top of the window.

To leave the conversion without importing the recipe, click Cancel , otherwise, click Import to add the recipe to your Advantage Cooking database. For more detailed instructions, see page 34 in the software manual.

Even if you don t use MasterCook., you can continue to add recipes to your software by importing them from the website or any one of the ebooks. It doesn't take much to go from good to even better !
 

Click here to download a free trial version of the software!
 

Closing Comments from Shelley

One freezer cook writes, "I have been using your system for about a year now and love it (thank you) and when I finally broke down and bought the software it made the whole freezer cooking idea a great reality for me and my wife." If you've been waiting to check out the software, now is a great time to download a free trial version. With Nanci's special offer of 20% off your shopping cart order, you can save $7 on the software through 7/31/05. If you have any questions, email software@30daygourmet.com. My husband, Gaylen, and I are here to help.
         

Notes from Tammy

Bonus Recipes from Tammy

Through this all, I've been very glad to have 30 Day Gourmet and my freezer food!  At least that was one part of our lives that I didn't have to worry about!  And I will admit that I had a "DUH!!!!" moment a few months ago about our Advantage Cooking Software too.  The only time I used the software was when I planned to cook for a month.  I never thought about using it for smaller cooking sessions, and I don't know why.  But Shelley made a passing comment to me about using the software in an email that made me think about using it more.  

Even if I'm not cooking for a month, I still use almost all 30 Day Gourmet recipes when cooking for my family.  So when I needed to get groceries for 2 weeks, and needed to include a couple recipes in that to supplement what I had in the freezer, I pulled up the software to use it.  Less than 5 minutes later, as my grocery list was printing, I said "DUH!!!  Why didn't I think of that sooner??!?"  

I tend to do "assembly" days instead of "cooking" days.  But I decided with all the heat and humidity we've been having, that I'd rather do a cooking day, and heat the oven and the house once, instead of heating it every few days to cook something.  Then I could use the stove top or microwave to heat the meals and really cut down on heating the house.  That turned out to be a great plan!  I made some family favorites...  BBQ Beef Loaves, Creamy Italian Noodles, Homemade Cincinnati-style Chili, Crockpot Mac 'n Cheese, Italian Chicken, and Parsley Parmesan Chicken , as well as a couple pans of Granola Bars, which make great snacks on the go.  

My neighbor happened to be in my house the day the Cincinnati-style Chili was cooking in the crock pot and she said "Wow!  Your house smells good!!  What are you making?!?"  Since I had a 6 quart crock-pot full, I invited them to dinner that night. They had never had anything like that before, but they all really liked it.  The 10 of us put a serious dent in that crock pot full!!

It's been great to come home after running errands or doing stuff with the kids, and grab a bag of BBQ Beef Loaves and some Creamy Italian Noodles out of the freezer.  I let it sit for an hour or so while I get in the pool with the kids, and then a few minutes at the microwave and dinner is ready.  I may need to do this type of cooking day more often!!

Message Board Updates

The message boards continue to be a great resource!

Do you have a favorite summer recipe to share?  Please do!

Need some ideas or encouragement for the South Beach Diet or Weight Watchers?  Check out our Special Diets category!

How about some more summer cooking ideas to avoid heating up your kitchen any more than you have to?

Almost 3 years ago, MizMolly started a thread on the boards with her "Where's everyone from?" post.  It's still going strong!!  Please join us there if you haven't already!

Check out the rest of the message boards when you get a chance… they are a great source of ideas, recipes, tips, and encouragement! If you have any questions about the message boards, please email me! You can reach me at tammy@30daygourmet.com.

Final Thoughts

Well, I guess that about sums it up for this month for me!  I hope you're enjoying the new format of the News... we are!!  Email me at tammy@30daygourmet.com with any questions, ideas, suggestions or problems. I enjoy hearing from you all!

You all have been SO kind with emails and message board posts of support for my family and I... I was so touched!  What a great community we have here!  Your prayers and words of encouragement are so appreciated... thank you!!!

              Tammy