Freezer Cooking News from Nanci

Slagle Family Updates 

Well my first year of teaching is finally over! Am I glad? You betcha. I have a whole new appreciation for summer vacation! All in all, the year went wonderfully well. I really do LOVE being back in the classroom. We are having a busy summer as I’m sure most of you are. Our oldest, Kaytee, is getting ready to head off to college at Ball State University to study Criminal Justice. Becky will be a senior in high school this year and has already started working on college applications and scholarships. She just got her first car and her first job. Adam will be a freshman at the high school where I teach. Since Bob works mornings at Covenant, 4 out of 6 of us will be there for half the day. That will be nice (for the parents anyway:)). Jenna will start middle school in August. It doesn’t seem possible. 

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.

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!

Website News

Special Offer – 20% off your shopping cart order through 7/31/05
To celebrate the return of our newsletter and thank you for your patience, we’re offering you a great deal. Until midnight on 7/31/05 you can save 20% on your total order. This offer is for our newsletter members only so you won’t see it advertised on the site anywhere. Just type the following code into the “Coupon Code” box under “Sales and Discounts”. Ready? Here it is – newsisback
Use lower case with no spaces or punctuation.
This is a great deal so order now. Think Christmas and birthdays!
Click here to go to our shopping cart where you can choose from our manual (save $3), ebooks (save $1.40), freezer labels (save $.80 each), software (save $7), calculators (save $6-7) and notebooks (save $2.60).

Freezer Cooking Manual ebook Coming Soon
We’ve decided to offer the manual as an ebook. So many people are jumping on the ebook download bandwagon and are used to reading a cookbook online and then just printing the recipes as they try them out. We’ll let you know when the ebook is ready and what the cost will be.

Low-carb eBook
Although the summer is going by really quickly, I’m still hoping to write a low-carb ebook before school starts. If you have any tips, success stories or recipes that you’d like to share please post them on our boards under the Cooking-Special Diets category. If I use yours, I’ll send you a free ebook!

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!
      

        Nanci