Our winner this month is Cinnamon from Valencia, PA. This is a story that was posted in the Crazy Cooks section of the Cook's Corner message board. The story is titled "and there is food in the freezer??????". I enjoyed the story. I hope you will too.

Let's hear from Cinnamon:   

I ordered the Advantage Cooking Software and was VERY excited when it arrived. Everything got planned and purchased basically 'on schedule'! However, cooking day started off with a cranky 1 yr old and 4 yr old to match! 1 yr old began by dropping and breaking a baby food jar of split pea soup - gotta clean that up! Downstairs for broom and pan. Done! Baby won't stop fussing and since she hadn't slept night before, call the doctor because I'm sure it's an ear infection. (8:50 am) Put Apple Squares in the oven to bake. Brown some ground meat, take apple squares out of oven and clean up the mess from them spilling over (must be in the wrong size pan). Drop it all, turn everything off and head off to the doc at 10am. Hmmm, nope ears are fine, just teething! GRRR! Home by 11:45 when DH tells me that I need to take him to the doc for 2:00 because he's too dizzy to drive (even longer story!). Ok, dear! Cut some onions, feed 2 kids (and the dog) bag a few things (how did they get cooked? not sure!). Drop a pound of meatball mix on the floor - guess the dog is happy! Now I pack everyone in the van at 1:45 and zoom to the 2nd doc appt of the day! Race home to get 2 more kids off the bus (just beat them home!) I'm not sure how I did it, but in all this craziness, I actually managed to get 20 main dishes into my freezer! AND I even stopped to play Polly Pocket with my 4 yr old at some point (though I can't remember when - it's more of a blur!) Even though I didn't start off in the order I planned (I wanted to put my cheesecake in the oven 1st), things still worked out! So I woke up Saturday a.m. and stuck the cheesecake in to cook. Smelled good, looked good, cooled off nicely. Cut into slices - looked great! However, once it hit the floor, it didn't look too nice! Yep, it slipped out of my hands and onto the floor! My dog is going to get fat if I continue like this! Oh, well, better her than me!

I hope my crazy day encourages others to stick to it! If I had given up after the 1st doc appt, all I would have in my freezer would be 2 - 1/2 gallons of ice cream and a meatloaf. However, I have 20 main meals (plus a few to give away! love that part) apples squares (the ones that didn't burn on my oven floor), and a bunch of soup--all happily chillin' out in my freezer! THANKS 30 Day Gourmet! Love the Advantage Cooking! Now I'm off to clean my floor - the dog did a good job, but I'm thinking maybe I should scrub a bit, too!

Thanks for the sharing this great story with us!  

So, how do you make 30 Day Gourmet work for you?  How do you use it to help you deal with a challenge in your life?  How do you use it to help others?  Do you have a funny cooking story to share? Email me at  carol@30daygourmet.com or post your story on the Cook's Corner message board to be entered in our contest.