Well, I got a lot of cooking done last week. I don’t have a lot of food to show for it, as we did our fair share of eating last week too. But, eating is a good thing, and I was able to stash a little bit in the freezer for quick meals later on too.
I am happy to report that I was able to make everything on my list (except for the Ranch Dressing), plus a few extras. What I’m not so happy to report is that with some of the cooking…I got a little bit lazy.
Take for instance these Corn Dog Muffins. They’re so easy to make and are great to have in the freezer for a grab and go meal. My problem though came when I just didn’t feel like taking the time to cut the hotdogs to the right size. I was in a hurry and just cut them all in half (instead of into thirds). This means that the dogs did not fit into the muffin cups at all and instead just sort of sat on top of the cornbread.
Thankfully, my family doesn’t mind eating ugly little Corn Dog Muffins, but let’s just say these fellas wouldn’t win any prize at the fair.
Nor would my Honey Whole Wheat Bread this time around. Want to know what happens when you’re too lazy to knead your bread for as long as you should knead your bread?
It get’s all funky in the oven and comes out looking like this:
Again, my family doesn’t mind funky looking bread, especially if I slice it before they notice. While making our bread, we took a little extra time to make some loaves of Cinnamon Swirl Bread – always a favorite. My kitchen helper loaded it up with cinnamon…the more the better right?
And again, I have to say…if the bread is ugly, slice it up before anyone can see it. It doesn’t look nearly so ugly when it’s toasted and has butter melted all over it…
For a snack while the boys were having an art lesson (because drawing and eating at the same time is a great way to creatively sketch animals), we had Cream Cheese Apple Dip with sliced apples. That stuff tastes SO good.
I made six pounds worth of Turkey Sausage, browned it and bagged it up for future use with Pancake Sausage Muffins and Easy Breakfast Casseroles. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have pre-made Turkey Sausage on hand to grab out of the freezer for a quick meal!!
Of course, while I was at it, I went ahead and made two batches of Pancake Sausage Muffins. We ate a batch the next morning and froze a batch for later.
Again, my lazy side took over and instead of making Mini Apple Pies, I made one big apple pie and an apple crisp. The boys decorated the top of the pie using cookie cutters with the leftover pie crust dough.
I made a batch of Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns, which is probably one of my favorite foods to have in the freezer! They’re great to have ready to pull out for Sloppy Joes or Ranch Burgers or just plain sandwiches.
Because I had talked about stretching one chicken to make six meals…I decided I’d better cook a chicken to prove it to myself and to experiment with the best way to get six great meals from one chicken. After eating some of the chicken and broth, we still have some chicken and broth in the fridge for future meals. I’ll be working on the “How to Stretch Your Chicken” post, and in the meantime, I hope you are all picturing us in the kitchen with a raw bird, seeing how far we can stretch him…kind of like a tug of war. Just kidding…don’t picture that. And please, whatever you do, do NOT give my children any ideas.
I made Warm Vanilla Soother one morning to go with our breakfast, so with the leftover egg whites, I made a batch of Coconut Macaroons for a friend who can’t have wheat. We did a little “quality control” before sending the cookies off, and we declared that the cookies were certainly fit to eat.
The Poptarts finally got made toward the end of the week…and there is exactly one left. These Poptarts are a hit…and I’m just sure they freeze well…but in my house, they have yet to make it to the freezer.
So what do you suppose is the loudest activity in our kitchen? Give up? It’s making Homemade Peanut Butter. Peanuts flying around in a food processor is really, really loud. Of course, then it gets even louder because my kids tend to like to try yelling over the noise. It’s a highly effective way to communicate.
With our fresh Peanut Butter, we made some Healthier Rice Crispy Treats for snacking. Then we made more (loud) Peanut Butter to fill our jar for the fridge.
So let’s see…what did I learn from my week of cooking? Don’t be lazy. Cut the hot dogs smaller, knead the bread dough longer. Don’t try to draw animals while eating apples and dip because you’ll end up with a very sticky horse. And never tell your kids you’re going to see how far you can stretch a chicken, or they’re likely to grab the bird and yank the legs off.
Kristie S. says
Well, at least they are not making the chicken dance. Every year (when I was a kid) my mom would make the turkey dance. I think I need some more upper body strenghth to be able to do that. Great post!
Michelle Shadden says
How do you store your bread? I love making it but am unsure on storage! Thanks so much for this blog!
Laura says
I put it in ziplock freezer bags and put it in the fridge. You can freeze it this way too, but mine never lasts that long!
Wendy Renfrow says
I made a double batch of poptars before Christmas and since I have just one child, we eat one for snack (hot out of the oven – yum) and freeze the rest, then put one in the toaster for breakfast. Fast and easy on our homeschool cop-op days.
Heather says
This is my new favorite blog! Thanks for all your posts. I’m really excited to try a lot of these recipes.
Jess says
Lazy, hahahahaha…. you’ve got to be kidding right? You got so much accomplished. By the way you are awesome and I love your blog. You make eating healthier less intimidating.
Hezzie says
I’m looking forward to the six meals from a chicken post. I’m up to 3~ hubby could eat most of the chicken himself, if I let him.
Your blog just keeps getting better and better!!
bakingmama says
I’m sorry, but the hot dogs on top of your corn muffins remind me of those Gerber baby meat sticks! (-:
The poptarts look great, though. I tried the recipe, but had problems keeping the jam inside. Most of it oozed out the cracks. (Maybe it’s the type of jam I’m using – seems to just turn to liquid when heated) Will have to keep working on it.
Kim says
You got so much done!!!! Even if most of is eaten up it is still an accomplishment. I’ve done your poptart recipe also and frozen some. They work great just being warmed up in the oven or microwave. I did them for my son who is in college & cooking for himself most days. He really liked them!
Maggie says
Are all your recipes in your cookbook, pop tarts, corn dogs, cinnamon bread, etc? What kind of hotdogs do you buy? Do you take one day to bake/cook?
Laura says
Some of the recipes on my blog are in my ebooks, but not the ones you mentioned. It is a goal of ours for me to put together a cookbook, and we are working on it. :)
I buy hotdogs from Azure Standard, either the Shelton Turkey Franks or they just came out with a Beef Hotdog that is really good and has pretty good ingredients (can’t remember the brand name off the top of my head).
And no…it took me eight days to make all of this food. I did it a little bit at a time!
Amanda says
Lol! I just made (for the fourth time this month) a double batch of your vanilla muffins with cinnamon crumb topping and they were gone within 12 hours…between three people. They are great though, obviously!
Renee says
I enjoyed looking at your baking accomplishments! It’s great to see other moms out there making homemade goodies for their family! No preservatives when it’s from scratch!
I wanted to share today’s challenge to get organized: organize the laundry room.
link is: http://renee-joyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/01/three-easy-steps-to-organizing-any.html
Blessings, Renee
Dawn says
I aspire to be as “lazy” as you! I have 5 kids whom I homeschool 10 and under and I drool over your homecooked meals and dream of the day when I could pull off even 1/2 of what you do! Your recipes inspire me to cook healthier meals and your meals seem simple enough just not in the numbers you do in one week. If I could do 3 or 4 a week I’d been ahead! As far as a chicken lasting 6 meals – my 10 year old son can almost finish one off himself in 1 meal so I don’t think I’ll be getting 6 meals out of one!
Courtney says
If your crew is anything like mine, they don’t care what it looks like as long as it tastes good :)
Karen says
Laura,
I’m so appreciative of your recipes and have included many in our regular meals! I have a question…where do you store all the frozen food? How many freezers do you have? We have a large upright and then 2 small freezers attached to our 2 fridges. I actually thought about getting a chest freezer, and then thought maybe it was crazy to need so much freezer room?! Between freezing produce, meals, and storing the coop order it can be a challenge!
Laura says
I have three freezers (plus my little freezer that is attached to my fridge). I have felt a little bit crazy about having that many but it saves us SO much money! Two of my freezers are upright and one is a chest type. All are used, all are old…all are FULL! :)
Jesse says
I know you just took a long trip, what do you guys eat on the road? Just wondering how well you are able to keep eating good foods on the road. We eat fine at home, but it seems like restaurants and eating on the run is tougher.
Dr. Laura @ WhoIsLaura.com says
WOW Laura! I stand in awe of your cooking week! What an inspiration you are to me!
Dr. Laura
susan says
Thank You Laura, for your honesty in the kitchen…now i know what i do wrong with my bread…i don’t knead it long enough….
Erin says
I was just going to post the same. I have been making this bread for about 6 months now, and everyone loves it. Even made some when I was with the in-laws in Mexico and everyone there loved it too. Didn’t know I was not kneading it long enough. Its been trial and error with it, but I pretty much have the bread making down. I have to admit to being lazy with it and often asking hubby to knead!
Christy says
Made the corndog muffins for dinner-very yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
Ami says
For loud food, I keep a pair of sound-blocking headphones sitting handy on my Nutrimill. I gave some of my kids’ friends a good laugh last week because they said it was too loud when I was making their smoothies. I just popped on my big ‘ol headphones!
Laura says
You just crack me up! I love reading your blog when I take a break from work. Since I work at home, YOU are the co-worker I “talk” to about cooking and family life. Thanks for joining me on another coffee break, Laura!
Sooner Rosario says
Hi I was wondering how you store all the food you freeze, especially the casseroles, pasta meals, and meats, etc. do you use a bunch of zip lock freezer bags or foil pans or the glass dishes you prepare them in…? Thanks for you blog, it is so encouraging and such an inspiration!
Laura says
Here’s a post I wrote explaining some of these things: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/how-i-freeze-food :)