stocking the freezer~

Upon finding out the news, my brain kicked into prepare mode. I have this thing that upon finding out I'm expecting, I do major mass cooking in order to have meals stocked up in the freezer for those days where I don't want to smell, cook, or taste anything, not to mention the days I feel exhausted. I am usually able to do enough cooking to have main dishes prepared to last approximately five or six months of using two or three per week. I just have to pull it out, cook it, and prepare whatever veggies, salad, etc. I want to go with it. I will do another major cooking round two months before I'm due. OCD, I know.

I felt a little silly making a grocery list and major grocery run so soon, but I knew it was now or probably never. Seeing as how I knew my family probably would want to continue having dinner over the next few months, I decided to go ahead. Next week I will be doing a major house clean and packing for Florida. The following week we will be gone, and when we return, I need to jump back into school. By that time, I'll be about eight weeks, and probably will not be up to schooling and mass cooking.

So, yesterday afternoon, Anna, Haven, and I made a run to Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Publix, and Jason's Deli for good measure. (A girl's gotta have her broccoli cheese soup, sandwich, and pickles you know.) Throw in getting rear-ended and that about sums up our night. No joke, I have been rear-ended four times while pregnant, I think. And I've never been rear-ended while not pregnant! Weird.

So today I spent all day in the kitchen. I think I sat down for 15 minutes. Today's tally:

*One gallon of chicken soup with lentils

*Two gallons of white chicken chili

*Two pans of chicken enchiladas

*One gallon tomato basil soup (thanks, lori!)

*8lbs bbq beef brisket

*10lb bag of onions chopped and in the freezer

*20lbs chicken cooked and chopped (I will use this to make chicken casserole, bbq chicken, tacos, etc.)

*5lb hamburger meat browned with onion in the freezer

(all gluten free, thank you very much!)

Whew. I'm exhausted. Glen and Caleb spent all evening working on putting our cabinets together for the school room, while Anna and I spent most of the evening cleaning up the kitchen.

Tomorrow we're going to visit my grandmother.

Friday's plan is to make and deliver a meal to a friend that just had a baby. I also need to finish my cooking plans, and on Saturday I am making meals for three more friends that have had babies. I normally do not make this many meals for other people, I just happened to have four good friends have babies within a few weeks of each other. Sunday we are planning to go to my grandparents' house in Kentucky.

Sing with me....

"Food, glorious, food..."

The other meals that I'm planning on making for us are:

*at least one more pan of chicken enchiladas

*5 more lbs browned hamburger w/ onion (spaghetti is a staple around here and having the meat already browned makes it like a ten minute meal)

*3 meatloaves (w/ shredded zucchini...shhh...they don't know) mixed in gallon bags in the freezer

*4 chicken & broccoli casseroles

*4 pans of sesame chicken

*20lbs marinated chicken breasts (I'll put a family sized portion in a ziploc w/ various marinades....thaw & grill...yum!)

*i have lots of frozen broccoli and stir fry veggies as well

I may do some more after I go through my recipes. I have a lot of gluten free recipes saved that I'm wanting to try. Kind of hard to commit to making them in bulk. Mostly everything I've tried so far has been good, though. I also just discovered this blog of a woman who is using her crock pot every day this year....and it's all gluten free! Yes :o)

When I found out I was expecting Haven, I went to Super Suppers, but now with the celiac issue in our house, that's pretty much out. We didn't care that much for most of the stuff anyway, and it's much easier to just make what we like in bulk. It sounds excessive and obsessive, but it comes in sooo handy when you're not feeling well. (I actually do this even when I'm not pregnant as it's really nice to spend a couple of long cooking days and not have to worry too much about dinner for the next five or six months. I still do make fresh dinners, but it's great to just pull something out of the freezer as well.) I don't usually have a problem with being nauseous, but I am usually completely wiped out until about sixteen weeks. (That's what clued me in that I might actually be pregnant. Normally, I do not like naps. Four days in a row of really, really wanting one mid morning was a big sign. That, and being freezing cold. I freeze when I'm pregnant, regardless of the time of year. I sleep in pants, a tank top, a sweater, with a heating pad and quilt. I think my body diverts all its energy to growing a baby. I can never seem to get warm. :o) Anyway, being tired along with starting a new school year, and well, I can use all the help I can get in any department. I'm so glad I got our new job schedule worked out already.

On a side note, I'm abandoning my Atkins diet. I am glad I did it, and by no means am I going back to my previous way of eating. Cereal, drinks other than lemon water, junk food all tastes pretty gross now (yes, I tried all of it - ha ha). It feels so good to have some self control in the food department. I've never been a super unhealthy eater, but I liked chips and the occasional Dr. Pepper as much as the next girl :o) I've been enjoying lots more fruit and veggies the past two days, though, and I am really looking forward to making a yummy green smoothie in the morning!

Happy Wednesday...

Good Night :o)