I can stock the freezer.

Having a deep freeze has changed my shopping, my budget, my cooking, my LIFE.

My husband came home from a garage sale one day so proud of himself you'd have thought he shot a deer from which we could subsist for the rest of the year.  That romantic man of mine bought me a deep freezer.  For merely $40, I have freedom.  Freedom to buy as much of what's on sale as I please.  Freedom to stock up on the ingredients for our favorite meals.  Freedom to have convenience foods on hand for those nights when I just can't muster up the energy to really cook but don't have the energy (or money) to go out to eat either.   Freedom from having to stop at the grocery store every couple of days to get just one or two things. 

Before we had this freezer, we jammed frozen produce, meat, and the very occasional pizza in various arrangements in our refrigerator/freezer on a semi-weekly basis it seemed.  It inevitably ended in failure.  I would open it, and food would fly out like projectile missiles on a mission to kill.  One of my favorite things about our Sam's Club membership is that we can stock up on things (like frozen blueberries and strawberries for smoothies, snacks, desserts, cereal, or oatmeal) and not run out for quite a while.  But that does you no good without the luxury of the space to store those items.  And when I was breastfeeding, forget it.  That thing was stocked with those little bags of b-milk, and space for the liquid gold took precedence over anything else that could enter the precious, chilly real estate. 

Now, things are different.  I won't have to call Alex to check if we have room in the freezer for the 4 pounds of ground chicken that are on sale for $1.29/lb (what a steal!).  I won't be dodging flying frozen loaves of bread from the Oops We Baked Too Much section at the Kroger.  I can calmly open my freezer door and know that it will not result in death or injury to any nearby toddler, adult, or dog toes.  I have fewer random craving trips to the fast food chains to get a burger or ice cream, since I can keep MorningStar Farms Spicy Black Bean Veggie Burgers and generic frozen dairy treats (in more appropriate serving sizes than in the restaurants) on hand.  Hey, maybe this freezer will help me lose the baby weight faster this time around!  It hasn't solved all of my problems...  I mean, it isn't Jesus or anything....  but it sure is nice to have. 

July is a month to celebrate our freedoms.  This year, I celebrate with my freezer.  If you are a Mom and you don't have one, but you have the space for one, start cruising the garage sale ads for one.  You will be so very glad you did.

I can impress my husband with a meal for less than $5.

I just received the best, most unexpected compliment from my husband.  He LOVES the new recipe I came up with.  It is super simple, I think it's fairly nutritious, AND it's cheap.  I came up with it while I was at the grocery store, trying to find creative ways to feed my family well on the cheap.  I recently told  him that I was working on my budget, and he replied saying that was the sexiest thing a woman could say to a man.  Complimenting me unprovoked while gobbling from the baking dish had that same affect on me.  Clearly, we are in need of some excitement in our house...  Regardless, here is the illustrious recipe, with ideas for modification:

Angie's Chicken Pasta Salad 
1 package Ronzoni Garden Delight Vegetable Rotini Pasta
1 can of chunk chicken (or 2 if you like more meat)
Kraft Ranch Dressing to taste 


Boil the noodles as directed.  Drain noodles and rinse in cold water.  Drain the can of chicken.  I like to break up the pieces of chicken into smaller pieces.  Toss noodles, chicken and ranch dressing in a bowl.  Serve room temperature or chilled.  Probably tastes even better the next day if you can keep it in the fridge that long before people eat it all.  

I LOVE that the noodles are made from veggies and that they don't taste like dirt.  You get a veggie serving and a protein serving all together with this dish.  And my toddler likes to stab the rotini noodles with his fork.  It's a challenge, but an achievable one for his little hands.

I have also thrown in diced seasonal veggies from time to time:  tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, avocado, baby carrots...  Do what you want to add more flavor and texture from your garden.  Oh...  some fresh herbs from the garden might be nice too if you happen to have them. 

We are trying to cut fat calories lately, so we may be switching to low-fat or no-fat ranch dressing.  Obviously, this will alter the taste (let's not kid ourselves), so we'll see how that pans out.  A better option might be to try substituting with Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing.  I may go that route first.  

Alex was convinced that I had put parmesan cheese in it as well.  For the record, NO I DID NOT PUT PARMESAN CHEESE IN IT (that's just some strings of the chicken with ranch dressing on it), but it might be a good idea to try putting some parmesan, romano, or asiago (or all three!) in there.  Mozarella is always a hit, too.  Salt and pepper may also prove useful, although I find that there is usually more than enough of that in the store bought dressings. 

This is a quick, cheap, easy summertime recipe that my lazy, 24 weeks pregnant butt can pull off.  You can do it, too.  Don't go out for pizza tonight.  Impress someone you love.  Make this instead.

Trying not to kill my family

A piece of advice:  if you are cooking a chicken and the smoke alarm goes off, maybe you should heed its warning... 

I did my usual chicken roast on Thursday evening.  I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but somehow the garlic began to burn very early in the hour-long cooking process.  I kind of liked the charred, campfire-like smell, so I just proceeded as usual.  The smoke alarm started going off about halfway through the cook time.  Luckily this did not disturb Aidan's afternoon nap.  He sleeps like a rock.  I took care of the alarm as most people do while cooking dinner...  I turned it off and removed the battery, but it was also plugged into the wall.  It kept beeping every minute or so, but I knew there was no fire, and I had dinner to prepare -- I would take care of that later. Finally, dinner was ready and we ate a partially charred chicken, but honestly it was just fine.  It was actually quite good.  The garlic was burned, but the chicken itself was quite tasty and juicy.  In fact, I used a meat thermometer to make sure it was fully cooked since there were still some suspicious looking pink areas.  170.  We were pathogen-free.  

During dinner, Grace lay beside the table panting and shaking a bit.  "Crazy, nervous dog," I thought, "she needs water."  I got her some water, but she wouldn't drink it.  Fine.  Took her for a walk with the family after dinner.  She still acted strange, but doesn't she always for one reason or another?  We came home, and she didn't want to go in the house.  "Crazy dog, what the hell is wrong with you tonight?"  I said.  Shortly after that, there was more beeping from the alarm in the hallway.  "Why is THAT going off now?  I'm done cooking!" I thought.  I tried to "fix" the alarm, and in my struggles with that, we realized it was actually the carbon monoxide alarm.  "Ugh."  (I should share a bit of history regarding this particular alarm...  The last time it went off, I called the fire department.  They sent 3 firemen to the scene.  In 30 minutes, they assured me there was nothing wrong, and they changed the batteries in the alarm.)  So... I struggled with trying to turn off yet another annoying alarm.  My husband took over the job, using his manly skills to dismantle and disable it.  After a few minutes of fiddling with it, he informed me that the alarm was probably going off because we might actually have carbon monoxide in the house. 

OHHHHH...  THAT'S why the alarm is going off.  DUH. 

So I suppose, the next time the alarm goes off (or in this case alarms), I shouldn't ignore it.  And the next time my dog tries to warn me that my family might be in danger, I should pay attention to her as if she were Lassie.  And the next time I cook a chicken, I'll try not to kill my family.
 

Hello, world. "I Can Cook A Chicken" is here for your dining pleasure.

This blog is an attempt to document my journey into working-motherdom.  An independent dance artist turned working mother, I fear I am becoming a cliche, but I question if that is always such a bad thing.  In any event, I am attempting to cook good, wholesome, "mostly" organic meals for my family as often as possible throughout the week (and yes, there are several leftover nights scheduled as well -- I'm not that crazy). 

"I Can Cook A Chicken" is a line from a song in Ruthless! The Musical, a hilarious musical that I choreographed a few years ago.  The director and I got slap happy over that line one night, and now I can't get the song out of my head whenever I cook a chicken, which tends to happen once every week or two.  It seems that something dramatic and/or funny happens on nights when I cook a chicken, and I am using this space to share those moments and others like them with you.  

Bon appetit!