Cook Once, Eat Twice

OR ten times!!!
I was at Costo a couple of months ago and decided to invest in a HUGE tube of lean ground beef because it was only 1.99 a pound.  I hate dividing raw meat for freezing, but wanted the savings.  When I got home I thought, why not just cook it all and freeze it?  I didn't know how hard it would be to cook 10lbs of hamburger at once, but it was so easy, I wanted to share.  I used my biggest pot, I think it is 8 quarts and just dumped it all in and squished it all in there with a potato masher.  It fit, that was the first concern but it was just fine.  I turned the burner to Medium so that nothing would burn with that large amount of meat. 

Stiring with a big wooden spoon was hard and almost broke the thing, so I switched to a long knife instead.
This worked great.  I stired every 3 or 4 minutes.


Once it was cooked and loose, I switched back to the wooden spoon.

20 or 30 minutes later I had this! I divided into 10 freezer bags, let it cool and threw it all in the freezer.  Over the last several weeks, it has made for some super fast meals, like 5 minutes! I will definitely do this from now on. (What I will do next time: season the meat and add a bunch of sauteed onions and veggies.)  Afterward, I referenced my Make a Mix book which has a recipe for this, but it is for 5 lbs of meat.  Ten is totally doable though.   Another thing I want to try is making this double by making a big batch textured vegetable protein TVP(made from soy) which you can buy in bulk at Winco, and using half of each in each bag.  That would make 20 meals of healthy meat mixtures.

Testimonies and Love at Home

I am excited about a couple of new things we have been trying with our children.

A few weeks ago I heard a couple talking on BYU TV about raising children in the gospel. There was one thing that Peter and I particularly liked that we decided to try. They said that as they raised their family, every fast Sunday evening they would have their own family testimony meeting. Our fast Sunday was this last Sunday because of conference. So before bed we had a little lesson and taught the children what fasting was and what a testimony was. They got it, but I will probably focus our FHE's on these concepts for the rest of the month as well. Then we all took turns sharing our own testimonies. Some needed help, some needed moral support with a parent next to them and Some did fine on the first try. What a wonderful experience! Many benefits: practicing reverence and respect, learning to share testimony, kids hearing what their parents believe, feeling the spirit. It was a sweet experience that I look forward to repeating each month.

Something we have been struggling with lately is fighting. There has been way too much hitting, taking toys, pushing, etc. I usually either make the child apologize, or give them a time out Supernanny style. After really thinking about it and reading about discipline on some blogs and parenting books, I decided to refine my approach and it has been very helpful.

When a child offends another child there are 3 or 4 things that happen. If they take a toy from someone and can't work it out, then I come in to intervene and it goes something like this:

First they must give they toy back and I remind them that "We don't take toys." Then I request for them to 1. Apologize 2. Tell them that they won't do it anymore(repentance). I think the second part is really important. Then, with the other child, they must quickly forgive and I prompt them to say "It's okay" (forgiveness). Usually this totally fizzles the argument, but if the offended child is still crying or upset I encourage hugs and kisses which helps too. Because hitting has been a particular problem with a couple of my kids they immediately have to serve a time out before they follow the repentance process. I think that this approach is teaching them character and Christ-like qualities that will be useful their whole lives. It has brought a noticeable amount of peace to our home as well.

After doing this for a while the children have started doing the process on their own. When I hear something going on, I first listen to see if they will be able to work it out. This is what I heard the other night with Dallin and Eden:

(Eden threw a toy and it hit Dallin on the head)
Dallin: Ouch! (starts crying, the really hurt cry)
Eden: Oh, I am sorry, I am so sorry Dallin.
Dallin: It's okay (still crying)
Eden: I said sorry.
Dallin: I know but it still hurts.
Eden: Mommy, I accidentally hit Dallin with a toy, and he said it was okay but he is still crying.
Mommy: Well, maybe you could have him show you his owie and kiss it better.
Eden: Okay. (She has Dallin show her and he points to his head, which she kisses.)
Dallin: (Stops crying)

All is well and everyone is happy. I think it feels just as good to forgive as to be forgiven and that is the special part.

Blogging Tip

I have been using a blogger tool that has really helped me save time and increase my posts lately. When I empty my camera, I do my edits and then upload any blog pics to the Internet and create all the posts that are floating around in my head. I usually create 4 or 5 posts in one sitting. Then before pushing publish on each one, I click on Post Options on the bottom and change the publish dates so that only one entry will be posted each day. Once the date is changed, you can push publish but it won't go up until that date and time.

This way my blog is always fresh and I really don't have to spend time posting every day. In fact, this is my fourth post that I have written today, but you won't see this for 4 days, and I did all 4 posts in about 20 minutes. To me, more blogging means more memories. Cool trick huh?

Quick Enchillada Trick

We really like to eat enchilladas, I make several different kinds. Last week I wasn't feeling well and my sweet hubby was nice enough to do the grocery shopping. I put whole wheat tortillas on the shopping list, but not what size. He came home with the giant wrap sized ones. I was planning enchilladas so I didn't quite know what to do with those huge things. I decided I would just make them anyway and realized what a time saver it was. I made the filling, rolled it up in 4 giant tortillas in a couple of minutes and that filled up my whole 9x13 pan. It was so fast that I thought it was a tip worth sharing. To serve I just cut the tortillas to size with my spatula and served them.