Getting Ready

I wrote this on Sunday, thought I hit post, but apparently saved it as a draft. I'll share it anyway. 

So many thing have happened since my last post.  The idea of putting them all down is overwhelming. And it would be quite a long post.  So I'll start with where we are now. 

Life has been going by at a dizzying pace. I have been caught unprepared more than once recently.  So today, I'm getting prepared for the upcoming week. Hopefully having spent a day doing some cleaning, laundry and prep cooking will keep us from scurrying around at the last minute trying to find something quick to make for supper or school lunches.

This morning I took a bit of time and made a big batch of meatballs and a couple meals worth of chicken strips to put in the freezer.  I also put fresh cut up pineapple in individual containers and froze a pan of brownies. Our bases are now covered for keeping meal prep the rest of the week quick and simple.

Fruit to go.  Cut up pineapple and some cinnamon applesauce for school snacks.

The meatballs are just my standard semi-recipe. Most of the measurements are estimations, sorry, I'm one who eyeballs most things.

1 lb. Ground beef
1.5 lb Ground pork
2 eggs (the one I picked was a double yolker)
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Dry minced onion
Garlic powder
Savory herb rub
Salt & pepper

Mix it all together with your hands.  Put golf ball size meatballs on a parchment lined baking sheet (with sides) and bake for about 30 minutes, turning halfway through.

The shape of the meatballs is almost as exact as the recipe ;)

The chicken strips are almost as complicated.

Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
Salt & pepper
Savory herb rub
Paprika
Oil for frying

Mix milk & egg in one pie plate.  Mix flour and seasonings in another.  Roll the chicken strips in flour, then dredge through the egg mixture, then back through the flour.

Place in a heated skillet (the oil should already be in there and hot).

Fry til golden brown.  They don't need to be cooked through, since you'll be reheating them and they will finish cooking then.

Drain on paper towels.

The chicken strips are as uniform as the meatballs.  I like to think of them as "rustic" and "home style".

After the chicken strips and meatballs were done, drained and cooled, I put them in Ziploc bags. I popped them in the freezer and when I'm in a pinch for supper on the fly, I can pull them out and whip up a couple quick sides. And done. Onto spelling words or whatever comes my way.

I took a pan of brownies I made a few days ago and cut them into squares to go in the freezer as well.  They weren't disappearing as quickly as I thought  and I didn't want them to go to waste. I'll pull those out later on too.

The whole gang all set and ready to go.  There were 2 brownies that didn't fit.  I had no choice but to eat them.

The last thing I did before I threw everything in the dishwasher was to go through my little bin in the fridge where I keep single serve stuff for school lunches and tidy it up a bit.  I threw the little containers of pineapple and some applesauce in there so it's ready for the quick morning snack grab.

The fridge "snack bin".  Yogurt, cut veggies & fruit and cheese sticks live in here.  And sometimes, juice boxes & pudding cups.

Like I said, lots going on here lately as winter is finally releasing it's grip.  Here's hoping for a smooth week.

Happy Springtime Sunday!