(disclaimer: this is NOT my freezer...but it is an inspiration, isn't it?! How organized and tidy!)

I admit I’m not a freezer cooker.  I love to cook, therefore freezing entire entrees/dinners doesn’t really appeal to me….that’s the honest truth!  I know it saves time (and sometimes money!) but I just like to cook it – then eat it!  :-)

• Breads/Muffins (Banana, Zucchini, Zucchini-Pineapple)
• Breakfast Items (Buttermilk Pancakes -recipe below, Waffles)
• Meats (Cooked and shredded Chicken, Cooked Ground Beef, Turkey Burgers Mixture, Meatball Burgers Mixture)
• Meatballs (Italian Sausage Meatballs -recipe below, Ham Balls)
• Fruit (Rhubarb, Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries, Bananas, Peaches -ready for Waffle toppings, Smoothies, Coffee Cakes, Freezer Jam, or a Dessert)
• Shredded Zucchini (portioned out in 2 cups bags for quick breads)
• Potatoes (cooked and diced to be tossed with Lipton Onion Soup Mix and baked)

Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

3 T. sugar

2 eggs

3 cups buttermilk

1/2 t. vanilla

Combine, let sit 5 minutes and cook on greased skillet!  Super fluffy and YUMMY! (I’m not a pancake girl and I LOVE these!!!)

Italian Sausage Meatballs

2 lbs ground beef

1 T. course ground fennel seeds (I don’t grind mine…too lazy….)

2 bay leaves, crushed

1 T. dried parsley

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

4 T. water

1/8 t. red pepper flakes, optional

Mix, then let stand in fridge for 1 hour.  Mix again and form into balls.  Place on foiled and greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees approximately 20 minutes, or until done.  Meatballs may be frozen pre-cooked or raw.  If you choose to freeze them raw be sure to freeze them completely on the cookie sheet first, THEN put them into a freezer bag for storage.  (Otherwise you will just have a big frozen lump of meat rather than individual balls….).

Enjoy with Spaghetti, in a crock pot with sauce as an appetizer, or with marinara and mozzarella on a stadium/hoagie roll for a Meatball Sandwich.

GREAT sale starting today at my favorite place to buy clothes: DownEast Basics! 

Take an extra 50% off all clearance with code: FALL50.  Get there quick and have fun!  Super cute skirts for $12 are my favorite find.  Remember to check ALL shipping options upon checkout, as I often find UPS to be a dollar or so cheaper than the default USPS.

Happy Clearance-ing!

Here is a recipe for meatballs that my family likes.  I usually double it so I have a really easy dinner!

2 egss, beaten

3/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder (I use a little more)

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 lb ground sausage

1 lb ground turkey or beef

In a large bowl combine all ingredients.  Form into balls and bake in an oven at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Our topic this week is to share recipes that freeze well for making in bulk. I just had a crazy cooking day on Friday, so I will share my chili recipe. We also really recommend the link on the bottom right of the blog for dinnercoach.com. This site explains bulk cooking and group cooking basics. It also has some great recipes. I just joined their group on Facebook.

Flatlander Chili

2 pounds lean ground beef (or ground turkey)

4 cans stewed tomato pureed (can be less if you don’t have enough)

3 cups spaghetti sauce

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp white sugar

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

2 cans red beans, drained & rinsed

1. Place ground beef in deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside. 2. Add all ingredients to large kettle. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Also works well in crock pot.

Our family vacations are usually visiting our families (since they are both out of town!)  The costs of just getting there add up fast enough, so I am glad that they are able to house and feed us when we make it to visit.  To save on costs while traveling we do try to take along as much as we can of disposable things (snacks, wet wipes, medicines, etc) so that we don’t get stuck buying them at airport or gas station prices!  Of course it IS nice to have a treat when away from the house, so we figure a few splurges are going to be a part of the travel expenses.  One way to pre-plan for some of those expenses are by getting gift cards ahead of time.  Since there is a Starbucks on pretty much every other corner, and we do admit to being coffee addicts, it’s always nice to have one of those on hand … you can even save a few bucks buy getting a Costco pack of them, redeeming credit card points or survey points to get them too!  On our recent family vacation we were able to redeem some hotel points (that my husband had from traveling with work … at least there are some perks!) to get a FREE night at a very nice hotel when we were on the road.  It pays to plan ahead as much as you can :)

Besides the financial aspect of vacation there is always the relationship side of it.  It seems that our family can get stressed out just by being on vacation!  (Isn’t it supposed to be relaxing??)  We have found that it really helps when we try to talk through our expectations of what each day may hold (whether it’s a just a quite day with the family at the in-law’s house, or a busy day spent out in the city) before it happens.  When we actually remember to do that it really helps a lot!  Our toddler-age kids even benefit from a little pre-activity discussion too, even though they aren’t usually in on the decision making yet.  This is especially true if they day is going to be too far outside of our normal routine!  On a longer vacation we have found it super helpful to hold on to as much of a scheduling routine as possible with the kids.  While adults are able to flex a few hours later for dinner, the kids can’t quite handle it as well!  It’s also good to remember that just being somewhere different than home can be a vacation without having to plan too many special events into each day!  I love to be on the go and doing things, but especially with young kids, just being somewhere new can be a vacation :)

I love vacation…who doesn’t really though???!   My husband is a teacher so our lives function on the traditional school calendar.  We drive each Christmas, Spring Break, and Summer to visit my family in northern California.  It’s a great adventure for our kids and is a insanely cheap vacation for us to take.   We put a little (a VERY little) bit of money aside each month that we can spend when we are on vacation.  Often this means a lunch date for Eric and I while the kids rest at Grandma and Grandpas’ house, or an afternoon family ice cream date while on vacation with Eric’s family.

This last summer we went camping for the first time, with my parents for support.  :-)  We had a great time and I am convinced it’s partially due to the prep work my mom put in beforehand.  She had several, SUPER SIMPLE, activities for the kids to do each day during the afternoon so that we could stay in camp and rest, without a couple of not-quite-four-year-olds running all over.  Really simple things like bringing army dudes from the dollar store for some good ‘ol dirt play and a glue gun for some nature craft/mobile action.  It was great and the kids ate it up.

We aren’t too sure what our family style of vacation will be in the long run as of yet.  Every family has their own preferences and style of vacationing.   Vacation with my family is a LAID BACK experience, whereas vacation with Eric’s family is a GO GO GO vacation full of once-in-a-lifetime type of back-to-back adventures (could it be anything else with EIGHT kids under 6 years old??).  I’m really thankful that our kids are able to experience vacations with both of our families right now.  I know that memories are being built and relationships are being strengthened with each break we take from the norm…and I am thankful for that.

This week we are talking about how we do vacations!!

We have done vacations a number of different ways, so I will list them and then comment on which way worked best for us so.  I hope you all can learn from our trial and error :)

1.  We have family in Arizona and Montana and Washington State and so we have flown out to visit them and we have driven out.  All of these trips have been quite costly, exhausting and quite an undertaking.  We have also had vacation wrapped into family events such as weddings and reunions.  These are good and necessary but have not been the best for our immediate family.  We have found it hard to really relax when traveling with kids anyway and when visiting family there are always lots of people to see so this can also be taxing especially if you are an introvert.  Also most of these trips have involved moving sleeping locations several times which is challenging with young kids.  During these trips we have experienced extreme sickness (vomit, burst ear drums, high temps, strep throat), being snowed in, car break downs, awkward family drama, and little sleep.  This has just been our comical experience with traveling to visit extended family and for us with family far off and 6 people to transport these trips often become our “vacation.”

2.  Staycation – When I was 8 months pregnant with Francesca it was summer and we wanted to somehow vacation before the new babies arrival so we stayed at home and planned day trips around Minneapolis.  We visited zoos and water parks and little towns.  This was a lot of fun and a vacation the girls still remember fondly.  Not quite as much of a break for me because I still had all the cleaning and cooking to do, but a little less stressful than packing everyone up.  We also put a ban on computer/phone contact during our break just as if we had been out of town.

3.  Short trip – We often venture over to Chicago which is about 6 hours away.  This is probably another one of our favorite spots to go.  We really like going to cities as opposed to quaint little towns :)  Our Chicago trips have been some of our favorites.  We like to walk around and explore new cities and there is so much to do in Chicago.  Usually our trips to Chicago have been combined with work for Lukas so our lodging has been dependent on where we get put up.  Generally the best times have been when we were able to stay in some kind of suite or campus housing (Lukas has filmed conferences that were held on college/seminary campuses).  We have all stayed together in one very small hotel room which was quite hilarious.  Even if we are cramped I still enjoy not having to clean or cook :) so this is a real break for me.

4.  Time share quaint town – These trips have been such a blessing for us too.  My parents have let us use their time share condo which is located in a small, quaint town.  This is really ideal for a family because it has a kitchen and two bedrooms and laundry!!  We are not generally big fans of small towns but there is something nice about not having to go anywhere.  The only downside for me has been the fact that we still have to cook and clean and do laundry :)

In summary I am sure you have picked up on my favorite vacations but really we just take each year as it comes.  Usually we save each month for some type of vacation but some years this has been hard.  My only piece of advice is to do what you can afford.  There is nothing worse than having to pay for a vacation after the fact :)  It is fun to save up for a vacation but not so fun to have to pay for it once it is  over.  Some years we have used our tax refund or been gifted some type of vacation and we just go with what we can.  We find ourselves wrapping a vacation into a big family event or work for my husband to help defray costs because traveling with 6 people is hard to stay in budget.

Here is a coupon good TODAY and TOMORROW for 50% off all shoes at Payless!  I know I need show boots for one of my kids still and maybe can find some other shoes to fill holes in our wardrobes here.  Check it out here.

What cultivates a deep relationship for my marriage is really simple.  I racked my brain trying to decide what to write in this post because the answer seemed too simple.  The thing that has worked the most for us is a true commitment to TALK.  We really do not get regular date nights and my husband is gone a lot for work.  When he is in town we probably talk for at least an hour everyday.  We talk about everything.  I have learned questions to ask him about work and football and he has learned to listen to me debrief the day or talk in circles (which he hates :) until I find my point about something that I am passionate about.  If we were confused or hurt by something the other did we would stay up and talk it out.  Yes this meant a TON of late nights the first 5 years of marriage.  This also has meant me learning to really understand and like a lot of the things that he likes and is interested in.  It means staying on top of who plays for his favorite team or having his coworkers over for dinner or staying on top of the news or joining a fantasy football league.  This has also meant me learning to text and message and email.  This season of life in particular I have had to learn to keep communication a priority over cleaning or having a craft of my own or many other things :)  We are blessed though through all the bouts of the stomach bug or overseas travel or family turmoil in that we are a team and we have a deep affection for one another.

To piggyback off of last week’s topic, we’re chatting about friendships with our husbands this week. I personally was really encouraged to LIKE my husband, (not just agape-love him) from the book Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney. If you read this before young children, I’d recommend that you reread it. I found it very timely during the mom-of-toddlers time of life.

I like this guy. He is coming up with absurd baby names in this pic.

We like to keep things light as much as possible. Certainly, there are lots of serious things to talk about in life. However, as much as possible, we make each other laugh. We use silly voices, faces, and just generally give each other a hard time about stuff. I think this improves our friendship because we like to be around each other.

I try to make sure to talk through my serious thoughts with Andrew. It is tempting for me to process with girlfriends rather than my husband. They understand me more easily than Andrew does many times. When I consistently turn to friends first, this hinders my friendship with my husband. Not to say that I do not tell my friends what’s going on, but I just make sure I cover those topics with my husband thoroughly so that he knows the deepest parts of me.

Dates. This is where we find time to talk. Andrew has made it a priority that we have a babysitter weekly. (Believe me, I know this is a tricky thing to make happen financially, etc!) The main thing is that we KNOW that we will have an uninterrupted lengthy time to talk on a regular basis. This helps me, an external processor, to make sure I am opening my heart to my husband and getting to hear his heart as well.