More meals...

8 crockpot meals.

4 green beans, potatoes, and ham
4 pork roast, apples, pears, and apple juice!

Yum!!
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Friday finals!

This week has been tougher than I thought it would. I've been crampy and had braxton hicks all week! Wednesday I made a batch of pea soup for one of my bff's and a crockpot full of chicken. We ate the chicken wednesday night and the rest was put aside for casseroles. I have a bag of chicken bones and parts in the freezer for when I need to make more broth! Thursday we all ran to the store then the rest of the day was a bust!
So this am I got up super early (I tend to feel best as soon as I get up!). I made 3 bags of chicken in marinade for the crock pot, 2 casseroles of chicken enchilada to freeze (and 1 for dinner tomorrow), and 4 casseroles of taco bake!!! I'll post recipe/links these weekend or next week, along with next weeks plan!

So that's a total count of 21 meals (or parts if you wanna call the manwhich just a part- but we'll easily put beans from the stash or corn from the freezer with it for a meal) ready for when baby gets here!!! Such a relief!!

Pictured is just fridays stash!
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Tuesday results:

I went to 4 stores today for grocery shopping!

I did a whole bunch of prep work (with Jas's help) and got stuff ready for tomorrow and thursdays cooking!

9 quart bags of Man*which &
3 gallon bags of bacon cheese burger (its like homemade hamburger helper- we eat it with brown rice) are all ready for the freezer. I hope to post the recipes soon.

Tomorrow I'm making split pea soup for a friend that is having a c section a week from friday (yay) and chicken in the crockpot for our dinner (and will be used to assemble some meals thursday!!!

I'm actually pleased- I got more out of the sloppy joe crockpot than I anticipated!! 12 meal starters in the freezer!!

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Busy week

This will hopefully be the first of many posts this week. If all goes well I hope to have 17 meals or kits in my freezer by the end of the week! I'm hoping to space it out, use the crockpot, and not kill myself or go into labor!

First things first- I gotta go to the grocery this am. And I'm doing a real trip- multiple stores- coupons- the whole 9 yards!!

Here's to a good week!!

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Overall update....

I finally had a few minutes at the laptop with no interruptions (at least the boys are asleep still for now)....too bad I have to get up at 5am to do it. It's ok, since I work tonight I'll be back in bed soon.

I had my 31 week checkup yesterday. Everything looks really good. I'm measuring ahead which means I will have an ultrasound in 2 weeks. She didn't seem concerned...I kind of remember measuring ahead with Max....I have little babies though so maybe my body just progresses faster...or I'm just big. I feel huge.

I'm not sleeping well at all. My sciatic pain is still there...a little better than before but still there. I fell wednesday (slipped on one of Max's toy motorcycles)...I bruised my foot and pulled some muscles in my belly. I'm having lots of braxton hicks and feeling lots of kicks...this baby is a soccer star I tell ya!!!

I still feel like it's a boy...not sure why. Just my gut. We'll be pleasantly surprised and pleased with whatever this baby is!!!

I'm afraid I'll be having to take some time off before the due date (10/17) so I'm hoping to stock the freezer over the next few weeks (mainly because I'll then be on FMLA for a bit at the end of my 6 week postpartum). I have a grand scheme to have 2 months worth of meals planned (broken into little chunks). It will really help our grocery budget during the postpartum if I can accomplish that.

We've moved the boys into the same room and it's been quite successful. Max is going through a dramatic phase which I think is just his no napping phase coming to and end. He seems excited about the baby...kisses my belly and knows Jake's old room is where the baby will sleep.

Inspired by this post, I've decided to color code the kids. Max is green, Jake is blue, and this baby is red. I've been working with Max on which color is his. He seems to know who each color belongs too!! We have name labels for the 2 boys in their colors so getting new ones for this baby should be simple. I also have been organizing some things around the house and put some plastic drawers in our coat closet to organize the kids stuff. Each kid has 2 drawers (in their color of course). I've also got some home pre-schooling ideas here and here and I'm trying to organize the activities for each kid in their color. I plan to post on the boys blog more about that as I get it together.

We have the nursery almost ready and just have a few more projects to get done before baby gets here. Of course, we're ready for baby anytime but I'd like to get a bit more organized.

Jason and I are taking a "Bringing up Boys" Bible study at church this fall and are soooo excited about it.

Ok, long update. So much easier to update from my computer rather than blackberry!!!!

Tomato sauce....and soup

Knowing we couldn't get it all done in one day, and dealing with the fear my tomatoes were gonna go bad...we started the process with the crockpots and clean whole tomatoes!!

We mashed them down and ran them through the food processor and got out the chunks.

My new waterbath canner for pint size jars!!! Yay!!!

Here is the recipe and instructions I used. I loved that she gave me permission to not peel and seed the tomatoes!!! It actually worked well and the crockpots for the long cooking helped break up the process for me!! We got 14 pints out of this batch. I also put a teaspoon of lemon juice just to make sure the acidity was right (I found the recommendation on another canning site).

We didn't add any seasoning to these recipes...just tomato sauce. We like to fancy it up on cooking day by adding meat and veggies and seasoning at that time. Also, this way I can use it for my chili. (which we'll probably have often this fall!!).

After the initial batch we had another mess of tomatoes come on so I did the process again. I was too exhausted to can it so we have 11 pint and 2 quart ball freezer jars in the freezer (I love these freezer jars).

I also used Laura's recipe on that same link to make a batch of homemade tomato soup. Since I was gonna freeze it too, I cooked it in the crockpot all day then ran it through a strainer. I probably could have cooked it longer, but again, only so many hours in a day and so much energy this pregnant lady has!!!

I'm trying to save it for postpartum...but I'm very tempted to take some to work tonight!!!

Salsa 2010 (finally)

Here is what we started with...all from my garden and my in-laws garden!!! (except we bought 4 jalapenos- we'll add one plant to the garden next year!!)

I wanted this pic posted to show how we did the peppers. Even the mild-er ones have the same burning affect on your hands!!!

I borrowed my friend Meghan's cuisanart...definitely on my christmas list this year!!! Made it so much simpler!!! Thank you Meghan!!!



Here is the salsa put together...all looking yummy!!!

I found on a canning site that you can sub lemon juice for vinegar but not the other way around so the only change I made was lemon juice instead of vinegar. I googled recipes until I found one that looked good and had all the ingredients I wanted to use!! Here is the winning recipe (and I'll definitely use it again next year). I halved the recipe but then made it twice (on 2 days). I got 14 half pints and some fresh (which the fresh is all gone!!). I have even opened one of my jars and eaten all of it!! Salsa is a craving this pregnancy!!!

Unfortunately the canning process took all week because of the sciatic, back and foot pain this pregnancy!!! But we got it done!!! Yay!!!

This week's accomplishments.

It didn't feel like a big week as far as checking stuff off the to do list...but at 30 weeks pregnant I'll take what I can get!

I did roast a whole organic chicken in the crock pot wednesday while Jas was at work (I got one from Trader Joe*s - they haven't had any local ones at the farmers market lately). Then wednesday night I put the carcass back in to make broth. I let it cook all night and day today. The picture is all my broth. An ice cube tray (that I'll popout and bag- I like those for adding to rice and couscous) and 5 pint size (I think) Ball freezer containers full (I love these things!!). The small half pint is the veggies from my garden I had thrown in for the last 2 hours. I'll use those when I make soup next time!!

All in all it was a simple process. One I think I'll do often.

My mom had today off and we worked on sorting the boys clothes. My boys have way too many clothes! Lots of hand me downs and clearanced bought ahead stuff. It will be a multi day project as I couldn't finish it today!!

I still have a hefty to do list before baby gets here. I think I need to re-evaluate it!!

And I promise...I will post links to the 2010 salsa recipe (yum) and directions I used for the broth (I want them for my own records too!!).

I updated both blogs with new pics from Mandilyn!! Make sure you check them out!

Have a good weekend. I may update with some thoughts this weekend!!

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I lied...

Ok. So I got everything all done. I promise I was gonna post pics and my final counts. But our power flickered and shut the laptop down. Not sure if it was a power surge, accident down the road, or wind, we opted to not turn on the computer.

I'll get the post together hopefully this weekend and get it up early next week. I'm exhausted. It was a productive and tiring week. Sad thing is- there is still more baby prep to do...the canning this week was just bonus because the veggies were ready!!!

On to a fun filled weekend of work!

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Canning update

I did the 7 half pints of salsa monday and 7 more on tuesday. Tonight I did 7 pints of spaghetti sauce and will hopefully do another batch tomorrow. Would probably be easier to do this all in one day but my feet, back, and sciatic nerve can't take it!! My mom helped me monday and tuesday after work. I did the sauce tonight by myself after Jas got home. In addition to sauce tomorrow, I've got 2 big zucchini to shred and freeze, a bowl of peppers to chop for freezing, some acorn squash (probably freeze) and some cucumbers to do something with!! I'm exhausted just thinking about it!! I'm hoping by tomorrow evening I can muster up enough energy in this pregnant body to post the pictures I've been taking of the process and some great links/resources as well as the recipes I've used this year!!

The boys went to bed late last night because mom and I were working later- poor pumpkins were in bed by 7:15 tonight...and its bedtime for mommy and daddy real soon too!!!

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Round 1 done!

7 half pints of homemade salsa done! Recipe and photos to follow tomorrow!! And more canning!! Yay!!

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It begins...

The canning process begins...hopefully updates to follow!!

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