All of the meals were ground beef/turkey based. So, the first thing I did was cook all of the meat and put it in the fridge until I was ready to separate it out for each recipe. If I had done it Pamela’s way, all of the meat would have been cooked the night before and would have made the actual cooking day a lot shorter. However, because I was doing this in my ninth month, I just didn’t have the energy to cook 6 pounds of ground meat and onions after going to the grocery store on a Friday night. (We’re in the middle of last season’s 24 and it’s SO easy to be persuaded to watch another episode…or 2…or 3…) The shopping part could have been done a few days prior as well…just to spread out the work involved in the whole process.

Anyway, here are the ingredients (most of the canned goods came from my stockpile downstairs and I had most of the spices in my cupboard already):

And…here’s what I made (I couldn’t find all of the recipes online…sorry!):

• Turkey Lasagna
• Cheesy Chili-Mac (delish…we had some for lunch when I made it)
• Beef and Cheese Enchiladas
• Shepherd’s Pie (will make mashed potato topping when it’s time to bake the dish)
• Not So Sloppy Joes (x2) (we love this recipe!)

Of course, there are accessories and sides to each of these meals that will need to be purchased or made later, but it’s nice to know that we have a variety of home cooked meals ready to go in our freezer.

By the way, the whole process (not including grocery shopping) took about 5 hours. And that’s making one meal at a time because I can only use 2 of the 4 burners on our stove. Such a pain.

It’s been quite some time since I last posted a non-Weekly Parker post. Actually, it was on September 11, 2009, when I posted this insightful tidbit. Well, I’m back! Actually, you can thank Heather for keeping the blog interesting and keeping it going.

Anyways, what has brought me back to posting? Heather has been napping for the past couple hours and I already took out the trash and packed lunches. So, I start looking at our blog, updated a link, checked out Google Analytics for the site, and then had a snack.

Can you guess what the snack was? Yes, Nutella. Don’t forget about Nutella. We did, for a year or so, and then last week at the grocery it basically jumped into our cart. It’s very yummy.

Answer: Smitten Kitten’s Cubed, Hacked Caprese salad

I’ve been on a gotta-have-some-GOOD-food kick lately. And when I stumbled upon this recipe, I decided to forget about that whole couponing thing and just get the ingredients I needed to make this. (The fresh mozzarella did come with a $4 coupon off your next purchase coupon…)

I used my new “Elite” Cuisinart Food Processor to make homemade pesto (note to self: always use less garlic than the recipe calls for). Add a little red wine vinegar and…voila!

Deb from Smitten Kitchen calls this a “springboard” salad. I had never heard that term, but totally dig the idea. Once the basic dish is prepared, you can serve it in a variety of ways. Deb outlines 7 different ways to eat it. I chose to serve it with toasted bread sprinkled with olive oil (no salt…there was plenty of flavor in the salad itself).

Also on the menu for this week:

• Tomato Pie
• Quesadilla Pie

I just love the dishes I discover on Simply Recipes. The tomatoes from the vegetable garden we inherited with the house are all ripening and I’ve needed to find ways to use them hide them in dishes that are so good Ross can’t complain that he’s eating tomatoes. We had the Quesadilla Pie tonight. Even though I had to rush the baking time a bit to get Ross off to Bible study in time, it was still delicious. I love Mexican food, but can get bored with the basic quesadilla, burritos and taco salad. This new dish will fit right into the rotation!

Ok…time for some coupon clipping. I’m way behind!

The main reason we were there this time, though, was to attend the wedding of our dear friend, Jen DiAngelis (now Quie)! Jen is the epitome of elegance and sophistication. So, it was no surprise at all that the wedding was just as beautifully done.

Some friends from IU stopped at the Olsen household for a quick dress change before we headed to Cincinnati along with the Balls. We don’t have too many opportunities to dress up, so it was fun to do my hair (with my mom’s help) and feel prettier than I do in stretchy gaucho’s and a tank top (which has been my go-to summer attire). Thank goodness I happened to have a dress that could accommodate a growing baby bump!

I had the pleasure of assisting Jen and Christian with everything paper for their wedding. It was so much fun designing everything from the invitations to poster-sized seating chart to a unique photo guest book (my favorite piece!). One of these days I’ll start that business of mine officially!

Even though it flew by, we had a great weekend. It ended especially well with my favorite meal prepared by my mama – beef burgundy. Or as they refer to it in Julie & Julia, “Boeuf Bourguignonne.” So so so delicious. Had leftovers tonight.