WFMW: Can't Stand Defrosting Raw Chicken

I am the "queen" of last minute suppers! Maybe it's because I need to start meal planning a little better, but I feel like I am always in the kitchen before dinner trying to defrost the chicken. Only to an hour later be blowing off cooked chicken for the kids;)

So this week on WFMW... I'm telling you what I like to do with raw chicken NOW:)

While visiting a good friend all most a year ago, they gave me some inspiration:) To make a quick dinner one night they pulled out ingredients for stir-fry and then pulled out cooked, choppped up frozen chicken..... no extra planning, no defrosting chicken for hours before cooking dinner. I was amazed... especially because this "MUCH busier than I am" mom made enough time to cook, cut and store all the chicken to be easily used later!!

Months later during a sale, I STOCKED up on chicken, cooked, cut it all up, bagged and froze it:) it was sooo nice!! And I grilled the chicken on my George Foreman just long enough to be safe to eat right from the bag so it's never been really dry even after recooking;)

As we worked through those pounds of cooked frozen chicken I restocked the reezer with packages of raw chicken... I just stuck them in plastic bags and into the freezer.... what a hassle again to defrost before cooking dinner.

This week I have STOCKED up again.... at one point I had about 20 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts in my refridgerator:) Finally Sunday afternoon, I started cooking, cooling, cutting and bagging:) I actually spent almost 3 hours cooking over 12 pounds while catching up with my siblings on the phone;)

My final batch I cooked in a skillet in some Italian dressing...I got lazy with it... so I kept it in the fridge since the bag only had a little less than 2 pounds!!! And we have totally eaten most of the chicken:) It's sooo easy and convienent to have it sitting and ready for us!!!

I've read that cooked chicken is fine in the fridge for about 3-4 days! And then frozen chicken is good for 4 months:) Make sure you label and date your bags!!! So I'm hoping to stock up and cook up again before Baby Brother makes his debut!! It would be soo nice to NOT have to defrost raw chicken!!!

Oh and in case you are interested this is what we like to do with the frozen chicken..... stir-fry (thanks Coopers), fajitas, on salads (just warm), in spaghetti sauce, extra meat in canned soups and then sandwiches:)

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Welcome to another week of random conversations from my house!
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I blogged a bit of the situation surrounding the conversation... but later in the day I remembered what Anna's conversation with me was!!! (soo glad I remembered) Anyway, as we were reading we were snuggled under a fleecy blanket and Anna started fooling with the tag...

She read the tag and looked up at me in awe, "Mommy, was this really made in China? CHINA?"

And I just hadn't thought about it. Of course most of our Walmart items are made in China, so the awe wasn't there for me... LOL!!

Anna says, "MOmmy, China? Like where they grow rice and where we read about in our history book? Remember that? It's really far away? We have something from CHINA!!"

Oh, to be amazed at the little things like a child. And the innocence and awe that is no longer there when we have an "adult understanding" of how our world now works!

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One of our favorite treats on bagels, oatmeal and banana bread is a mixture of cinnamon sugar that we keep in an old cinnamon container.... really special, huh?

Anyway, Lydia (almost 3) has been asking for the mixture on her bagels and oatmeal for months now. I'm not sure why we've noticed what she actually calls it now (as opposed to months ago).

She'll ask,"Tan I have a bagel with buuuter and some sugar-sugar!" it's too cute and hard to resist quickly filling her request:)

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Christopher (4 yrs old) is easily my food critic of the bunch. He usually is willing to try something and has the broadest range of foods he likes of our 3 children (he enjoys more veggies than his Daddy...LOL)! He'll mix condiments for his chicken and puts grape jam on his biscuits.

This week I brought home some "new" juice. I was pretty sure that we'd had it before but the kids didn't remember the container. So the girls woun't try it. Chris gladly accepted the glass without even knowing what kind it was.

He responded, "Hmmmm, I like that juice. It's really good, but I don't really like it's flavor."

LOL!!! How can you like a juice but not it's flavor?? He cracks me up:)

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Speaking of Christopher.....

He demanded this morning, "When is my baby brother coming out of your tummy? I'm tired of waiting!!!"

LOL.... I reminded him that we have a LONG wait because Brother needs to finish growing in my tummy. And Brother is getting stronger and stronger with his kicks:) Brian can feel Baby's kicks already, so if the kids would sit a little longer then they would be able to feel him kick!!

Our Little Princess

My little Anna is getting more and more selective about the clothes she wears! I'm not sure when the change from contentment with whatever we laid out to "opininated" happened.... but it did:)

She needed some winter dresses (that she would actually wear) and so while we were out last weekend we let her "shop". I helped her pick out a few dresses that were reasonably priced and her size and then she tried them on a told us what she liked.

She used to love little dresses like this:) In fact, Lydia still loves them... bright, comfortable:)

But her "style" has definitely matured... LOL!!! her choices of dresses were very different:)

This what she picked out* and wore to church this morning;)
She was definitely our Little Princess:)

*We got the dress at JC Penneys for $15!! Much better than the orginial price of $50!

I heart faces

The contest celebrating I heart Faces 1st Birthday is Best Face Photo.... and they've asked that we use a recent photo, ie Dec or Jan!!!

I've tried to take some... but with the cold weather and learning a new camera... ahh, I will give you one you've already seen:) But I just LOVE little Hannah's expression on New Year's Day as we tried to capture her newest trick... "sitting alone"!


***This is a picture I took.... but Andrea helped a lot and editted it for me!! She's got the eye, heart, talent and equipment:)

Conversation with Anna

Anna was having a "serious" conversation with me this morning while she we were reading together...

(I just grabbed a library book that was labeled with a level and had her go at it and she DID. Last night she read 2 chapters and this morning she was eager to read another!!! She stumbled over a few words... basically guessing, but as soon as I encouraged her to sound the word out, she knew the words and went right on her way!! )

Anyway, I was looking down at this 5 yr old turned "teenager" and I just started to giggle at her (our) conversation! The concept was soo grown but some of the thoughts and expressions were still from a child.

She looked up at me and asked,"What are you laughing at?"

I just shrugged.... I didn't want her to think I was laughing at her! But it was such a funny, sweet and reflective moment.

I'm kicking myself that I didn't run to a piece of paper and write it down right away.... I knew I would forget it in the midst of our busy schooling morning.

It's funny with Anna.... she's getting soo much more mature now, but in soo many ways she's still a younger girl (only 5). We look at her and know that her antics and conversations aren't "baby cute" anymore... but it's nice to have a "more grown" child to talk to during the day. And that's part of my kids growing up and maturing... the "baby" phases and chubby cheeks pass and the questions and conversations of a maturing child now also are a part of our home.

*The picture is from earlier this week when the kids helped me take down the Christmas tree... they all were eager to help! Then they started to play with the branches.... it was funny all the different things they pretended the branches were.... this was Anna and her branch umbrella:)