Freezer Cooking News from Nanci

Hurricane Relief
It’s been quite a month hasn’t it? One day we are lamenting about the end of summer, the start of school, the refrigerator that needs to be cleaned out, the kids who don’t pick up their clothes, the car that needs repairs (again!) and then WHAM! something like Katrina happens and none of those “problems” seem like much anymore.

To those of you who have been directly affected by the hurricane our hearts go out to you. Please e-mail me and tell me your stories. We have a large community of cooks here who would love to help you.

I won’t list websites or tell you where to give your money. Most of us have plenty of opportunities to help. We have a monetary collection at our church on Sunday and a “goods” drive going on at school. I challenged my classes yesterday to bring 500 items for babies and their moms. When they bring the 500 items, I will have them all over to my home and cook them dinner. That’s 95 kids! Good thing I know how to cook in bulk, eh?

I did find a website that has a good database of volunteer opportunities for people in lots of different cities who would like to help victims of Katrina.
http://www.volunteermatch.org/opportunities/hurricane.jsp
If you know of places where our cooks could serve, please e-mail and let me know.

School Lunches Update
After my last newsletter, many of you ordered a lunches ebook for yourself. Please let us know how it’s going for you. Each of our ebooks has a corresponding area on our message boards where you can e-mail the author, ask questions and share tips and stories. 

Cooperative Cooking
Here’s my next venture. I’ve never tried Coop Cooking but ever since Jan Limiero, our Coop Cuisine ebook author, told me about this I’ve been intrigued. It’s a great option for people who would rather cook alone and swap recipes than cook in the same kitchen with another person. Right now my schedule is so crazy that the best time I can find to cook may be on a Friday night from 8 pm till 2 am. Another person who might benefit from this is the cook who doesn’t have enough cooking knowledge or experience to make 10 different recipes but she could make her killer chili or her famous chicken divan and just make 10 of them.

I put out the word to the teachers and staff at the school where I teach limiting the group to ten.

Meet my group and the recipes that we chose to make:

• Stacy, one of our Guidance Counselors making Vanilla Coke Pork Ribs
• Debbie, our treasurer making Taco Meat
• Jason, our freshman Bible teacher making Pot Roast
• Lisa, our head librarian making Poppyseed Chicken & Pork Roast Slices
• Theresa, our art teacher making Sweet Carrot Nut Bread
• Danni, our computer teacher making Turkey Cranberry Meatloaf
• Jamie, our yearbook and newspaper teacher making Teriyaki Chicken
• ME making Spaghetti Pie and Cheeseburger Quiche*

*We had two drop out so Lisa and I are going to make 2 recipes and then take two at the swap.

Following Jan’s ebook makes it easy to start a group. I asked everyone to read the ebook so that they understood the concept and knew what to expect. For our first cooking session, I also asked that cooks choose a recipe from the ebook. Having “tried and true” recipes that are already multiplied out to “1-5-10-15-20-other” makes it so much easier (trust me on this:)).

Click here to download a free 7 page sampler of Coop Cuisine including these three free recipes: Ham Steaks, Wild Rice Quiche and Carolyn’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. You can also use this link to see a complete index and recipe list from the ebook.

To order your Coop Cuisine ebook ($6.95 to download immediately) click here. Ebooks include a zip file for quick transfer of recipes for software users.

Our Freezer Cooking Manual and online newsletters also have lots of great recipes that work well for Coop Cooking. It’s best to choose recipes that don’t have very many ingredients and can be assembled quickly. If they don’t have to bake and can be packaged in a freezer bag, that’s a big plus! Here are some suggestions:
From the Freezer Cooking Manual and Members area:

• Cheeseburger Quiche
• Beef in Marinade
• Swiss Steak
• Debbie’s Chicken in Marinade
• Chicken in a Pot
• Chicken Divan
• Pork in Marinade
• Sweet and Spicy Kielbasa
• Chicken-Filled Shells (members section)
• Cheddar Broccoli Soup
• Crock Pot Beef Sandwiches
• Pork Barbecue
• Easy Apple Pie Filling

 

From the online newsletters:

• Sweet & Sour Meatballs
• Layered Mexican Chicken Casserole
• Favorite Chili
• Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Closing Comments from Nanci

Enjoy the last days of summer. Fall is my favorite season! Next month (believe it or not) I’m going to encourage you to start on your holiday freezer cooking!
Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to all of you affected by Hurricane Katrina.

        Nanci