The Well-Stocked Freezer

A huge part of home keeping consists of keeping a well-stocked and efficiently-run kitchen. I have seen so many articles discussing the pantry and what you should have on hand, meals made exclusively from it's contents and how to organize it, so I thought it would be fun to focus on another area of storage; the freezer.

The following list chronicles the contents of mine when it is well-stocked, and affords me many wonderful things to eat no matter what the situation.

1. A stash of breakfast foods.

When making pancakes, I normally take the leftovers, spread them out on a cooling rack, and when frozen solid I put them all into a gallon-sized freezer bag. Remember, they must be frozen individually or they'll turn into one giant pancake slab! To reheat, I put a couple into my toaster oven and "toast" until thawed and warm. If I'm short on time, about 20 seconds in the microwave brings them back to life. **This works wonderfully with the banana pancake recipe I posted previously **

I also like to make & store French toast this way. I'll normally make an entire loaf's worth, again freezing the slices individually on a cooling rack. Then, I stack the pieces together and put them back into the original bread bag. Essentially I am left with a "loaf" of French toast. Again, a couple of minutes in the toaster oven is all it takes to thaw and warm any number of slices my hungry family needs.

Smoothie ingredients are also nice to have on hand. You can buy bags of frozen berries in the store to have them available always. Those, coupled with some frozen sliced bananas (the ones that got too over-ripe in your fruit bowl) and some yogurt in ice cube trays (the stuff you bought on sale absolutely sure that you would eat a dozen cartons before they went bad) make a delicious breakfast beverage. Simply toss some fruit, the banana slices, and a couple of yogurt cubes into a blender with a splash of milk, and you have a smoothie!

Muffins also freeze extremely well. Just pop a few in a baggie and put them in. Another quick defrost in the microwave and a hot, homemade breakfast is on the table in 30 seconds.

2. Low Maintenance Lunches

I have so many recipes for soup that I absolutely adore! Creamy potato-cheese and cream of tomato are my favorites and I always make an entire stock pot full each time I cook them. I put what I think I'll eat in the fridge, and the rest I freeze for easy lunches throughout the week. Simply make your soup, then pour into quart-sized baggies, stack, and freeze.

What goes with soup? Bread, of course!

Bread freezes beautifully. I almost always have a giant loaf, or "miche" of French bread on hand. I also normally keep a loaf of our regular sandwich loaf, some hamburger buns, and dinner rolls ready to reheat at a moment's notice.

3. Dinner in a hurry

I love to keep a few of my favorite casseroles on hand for nights when I don't have a lot of time to make dinner. To do this, first take your Pyrex dish, or whatever you're using, and line it well with plastic wrap. you may need to use a couple of pieces depending on the size of your dish. Assemble your casserole inside, but don't wrap it up--just leave the plastic hanging over the sides. Pop it in the freezer, and when it's solid wrap it in the plastic. Then pull the casserole out of the dish so you essentially have a "casserole cube" Wrap it in another layer of plastic, then in foil, then take a permanent marker and write the contents on it. Stack several of them neatly on a shelf. When it's time to eat, simply unwrap your casserole cube, put back in it's original dish, and cook until piping hot. You'll never have an casserole dish "out of commission" because it's in the freezer.

4. Miscellaneous things that are nice to have

Cookie dough rolls; take a drop cookie recipe and lay all the dough in a line on a piece of parchment paper. (For the longest time I had no idea where to get parchment--I buy mine at Wal-Mart, right by all the other foils and baggies). Roll the dough up in the parchment forming a nice solid log. Twist the ends like a candy wrapper. When you're ready to bake, let the dough sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, slice with a serrated knife, and bake as normal.

Frozen juice in cans; great to use in a pinch

Fresh herbs in a baggie

Mashed potatoes; they're such a pain to make from scratch, so when you do, make a ton and then freeze the rest. They are kind of watery when defrosted, so after you thaw them, heat them up in a sauce pan right before you serve.

And of course, ICE CREAM! My favorite flavor ever is Coldstone's "Sweet Cream." It tastes uncannily like ummm....sweetened cream (ha ha!). It's perfect for eating on its own, or for topping with just about anything from crumbled cookies to fruit syrup.

I'd love to hear what you keep on hand--what are your "musts?"

Looking Good All of the Time

Do you have an outfit (or several) that you just never seem to feel good in? For me that outfit consisted of at least 3 tee shirts and a few pairs of sweatpants. Although I love the "idea" of a white shirt and all the crisp, fresh, clean things I associate with them, they just don't look good on me. The white makes my skin look yellow and my freckles look muddy, and it makes me look, well....wide. The other two tee shirts were a light blue and a red one. Neither looked particularly good on me, but they were on sale. And I got them at The Gap which I considered to be very fancy indeed. I owned all of the above for about five years, until it finally dawned on me that I felt unattractive every time I wore them. In fact, I think the final straw was when I wore the red one with a pair of khakis to Target and couldn't figure out why I kept getting strange looks. It turned out it was because I was actually wearing the Target uniform! I'm sure everyone was wondering where my name tag was and why I wasn't being friendlier to the other customers! As for sweatpants--does anybody actually look good in them?


Once I realized why I felt so unattractive, I decided that I would just do the simple thing and throw them all away. I couldn't believe how easy it was! And I had just ensured that I wouldn't have to feel like a slob in public anymore! Empowered, I also threw away my baggy sweatpants. Then I had a radical idea. Why not move on to the rest of my wardrobe? Why not get rid of everything that didn't make me feel good, or that I knew wasn't in fashion (even if I secretly liked it just a bit).

I replaced all my tee shirts with nicely cut and fitted Merona ones from Target. In fact, I believe I have one in almost every color. Except white, of course! My ugly jeans with baggy knees have been replaced with always cute-and-sassy capri's. I have stocked up on yoga wear, which is nicely cut, nicely fitted, and looks so much more polished than slobby sweats. Now, no matter what I grab out of my closet, it's guaranteed to look nice.

I strongly suggest that you go through your own clothing, and with your most critical eye decide if something really looks good or not. If it doesn't, donate it and replace it with something nice. If you are on a budget, as I always am, it's still possible to replace what you need to. I think I purchased all of my new things for under $200, over a period of several paychecks. I have found most of my things from places like Target, Ross, Wal-Mart, and the like. The only item I can think of that cost more than $10 are my Levi capri pants!

As for shoes, my goodness! Get rid of the worn flip-flops and the graying sneakers! They have such lovely sandals these days that go with everything. Pick something up in a neutral color with a little heel. They take no more effort to put on than a pair of flip-flops, but they look a million times better.

Some people don't wear make-up, but I find it necessary to fool people into thinking that I don't have beady eyes! I have it down to an art and it takes no more than three minutes to put everything on. The first minute I do my foundation. I use a mineral makeup that L'Oreal recently put on the market. The second minute I do my eyes. A quick swipe of eye liner, some brown eye shadow on my lids and some pearl-pink to blend everything together and make it look nice. Then a little mascara. The last minute I use to apply some blush, bronzer, and my lip gloss. And I'm finished in less time than it takes to make popcorn.

As for hair, don't be afraid to try color (it will grow out!), a dramatically different cut (it will grow back!), or some new accessories (headbands are back in! Yay!). Last time I got a cut I asked the stylist for something above my shoulders, with layers around my face, and lots of movement all over. She gave me a perfect cut that I don't even have to blow dry. I'm sure your stylist can do the same if you ask for it.

Looking good, even all of the time, doesn't really take much effort if you plan. If you don't own any ugly clothes, you will never wear ugly clothes. If you have a good hair cut and a head band or pretty elastic, your hair will always look good. If you have just a little bit of make up, but know how to use it, you will always look fresh and well-rested.

And if I, a mother of three-under-four, sometimes single, never well-rested,
budget-minded, full-time student, frequently frazzled homemaker can look good darn near all of the time, you can too.

I promise!