Chewin'

the News

September 2002

by Nanci Slagle

In This Issue:

NOTES FROM NANCI

• My back-to-school cooking day with Tammy

• Message Board features

BONUS RECIPES

• Tammy’s Plan:

  • Sweet & Sour Chicken

• Molly’s Plan:

  • Souperior Meatloaf

  • Mom’s Chicken Noodle Casserole

  • Pasta Crab Casserole

• Susie’s Plan:

  • Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll

  • Parmesan Steak

  • Seafoam Salad

  • Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagna

• Other Message Board Recipes:

  • Cookies & Milk Bars

  • Pumpkin Bars

WEB NEWS

• Freezer Cooking Software Trial Version is Here!

• “Freezer Lunches To Go” ebook is Here!

• Like the New Colors??

• Attention New Cooks - Read the Welcome!

• Attention New Cooks! – More recipes on the boards under “Old Message Board Postings”

MESSAGE BOARD UPDATES FROM TAMMY

• 469 Posts in July & August!

CONTESTS

• Crazy Cook’s Story

• My Cooking Story Contest

• Recipe of the Month Contest

GOURMET Q & A

• Marinade correction from last month

• Freezing PB & J sandwiches

COOKING HUMOR

CONSULTANT NEWS

• Six New Consultants join the 30 Day Gourmet team!

SEMINAR SCHEDULE

WEBSITE OF THE MONTH

COMING UP IN OCTOBER

• Fall foods we love to freeze!

NOTES FROM NANCI

The leaves are falling. The temperature here in Indiana has finally dropped after a record 87 days of above-80 temps. The kids have settled into school and as a friend pointed out recently – it’s only a few months until we set up the Christmas tree! Actually, I’m hoping that the warm weather will hang around just another week or so. Bob and I are headed to Cape Cod on Friday for a long weekend. Did I say that the kids are coming too? Nope, I didn't. Is this our annual marriage building getaway? Nope, it’s the first time we’ve been off by ourselves (farther than the Red Lobster, that is) in too many years. Am I packing freezer food? Not this vacation. Am I leaving a full freezer for the kids and my friend, Lisa, who’s coming to “babysit”? You betcha.

To me, the beginning of school always feels a lot like New Year’s Day. It just seems like a good time to set some goals and make some resolutions. And for those of us who know that “life goes better with a full freezer” planning a cooking day is always at the top of the list. Tammy, our message board moderator, was the one who suggested that we cook together. So even though she lives in West Virginia and I live in Indiana we cooked together a few weeks ago. Check out our cooking plan below as well as several plans from other cooks who have been sharing on our message boards. Hopefully our stories will encourage you to give it a try.

We have 10 new recipes to share this month taken from the cooking plans. Most of them have been posted on our message boards. The 30 Day Gourmet boards are such a great place for freezer cooking info and recipes. If you’ve never visited the boards, take a look. And you may just make some great friends there too.

Many of you have been waiting in anticipation of the new cooking software that we’ve been working on. Sorry for the delay. We decided to have several of our master cooks test it out and we’re sure glad that we did. They had lots of wonderful comments and suggestions that have been incorporated into the software. The trial version is ready and the full version will be coming very soon.

We’re releasing another great ebook with this issue. “Freezer Lunches To Go” is full of great recipes. If you eat lunch, you need this book. It’s not just about packing lunches for kids. This book is for EVERYONE! Carol did a super job.

Check out the seminar info too. I may be coming to your area and I’d love to meet you. Our consultants are doing lots of seminars, community education classes and other classes all over the country too. We’re working on web pages for each of them so that you can check out their schedules as well.

Enjoy the newsletter! And enjoy the coming fall in your “neck-of-the-woods”.

P.S. A few of you e-mailed and asked about the Pastor’s Breakfast that I cooked for. Click here to see a photo of the 9 Breakfast Egg Casseroles and 144 Muffins that I made ahead of time and froze. They were a hit!
 

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BONUS RECIPES

Tammy and I had a great time cooking “together”. We each posted several messages throughout our cooking day. It was a crazy day for both of us. I stayed up late planning, couldn’t print off some recipes that I wanted because I had major computer problems, got up early and took Becky to school (20 minutes away), got the younger two off to school, raced to WalMart, shopped in 90 minutes, hauled all those groceries up a flight of stairs, cooked like a mad woman and went back to Becky’s school to pick her up. Once they ALL got home from school, my cooking came to a grinding halt. Now if you have read the Freezer Cooking Manual you know that I broke several of my own cooking day rules. But ya know what? I “mostly” got the job done and I have a bunch of food in the freezer that wasn’t there the day before and I’m happy. To paraphrase my flylady friend “Cooking days done incorrectly still bless my family”.

Click here to read all about our cooking day. Here’s a peek at my recipe list. The sources are listed in our posting.

Nanci’s Plan:

• 4 Swiss Steak

• 2 Broiled Roll-ups

• 2 Pizza Burgers

• 2 Taco Pasta Shells

• 4 Spaghetti Pies

• 3 Debbie's Chicken in Marinade

• 3 Parsley Parmesan Chicken

• 2 Chicken Pockets (lunches to go ebook)

• 2 Crispy Rice Chicken

• 3 Turkey Pot Pies

• 6 bags of cooked, diced chicken (3 C. each)

• 9 bags of cooked ground beef (3 C. each)

• Snackin' Mix with M & M's

• Granola Bars

• Fruit Sale Sorbet (budget ebook)

Tammy’s Plan:

• 2 Meatloaves

• 2 Meals of burgers for on the grill

• 3 Meals of sloppy joes

• 5 Meals of Taco Rice

• 3 Meals of Sweet 'n Sour Chicken

• 2 Cheeseburger Quiches

• 2 Chicken Taco filling for burritos

• 3 Country Chicken Pot Pies

• 4 Beef Stroganoff

• 2 Potato Soup

• Spaghetti Sauce... got 6 bags for pizza, spaghetti, etc.

• 36 Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 36 Blueberry Muffins

• 16 Granola Bars

• double batch of Snackin' Mix in snack-size baggies

• 2 Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

• 1 Corn Casserole

• 1 Sweet Potato Casserole

• 4 Creamy Italian Noodles

• double batch of Crock Pot Macaroni 'n Cheese, for 8 side dishes

Other Cooking Day Plans:
Our message boards are full of great Assembly Day Stories along with recipe lists posted by our cooks. I chose four of them to share with you in this issue. Click here to read all about:

• Molly’s Back-to-School Plan – 50 meals, lots of lunches

• Missy’s Back-To-School Italian Day – 30 Meals, lots of extras – CIAO, BABY!

• Susie’s First Full Cooking Day – 32 Main Entrees + Salad and Pie

• 15 Day Cook Lori Takes the Plunge! – 30 Main Entrees, 6 Sides & 4 Desserts

It was hard but I chose 8 recipes from these cooking plans and two more from the message boards. All are great for back-to-school cooking days. The recipes below have been posted on the boards but these are multiplied out. Give them a try on your next cooking day!

10 Back To School Recipes from the 30 Day Gourmet Message Boards:

• Click here to view/print Tammy’s Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe

• Click here to view/print Molly’s Souperior Meatloaf recipe

• Click here to view/print Molly’s Mom’s Chicken Noodle Casserole recipe

• Click here to view/print Molly’s Pasta Crab Casserole recipe

• Click here to view/print Susie’s Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll recipe

• Click here to view/print Susie’s Parmesan Steak recipe

• Click here to view/print Susie’s Seafoam Salad recipe

• Click here to view/print Susie’s Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagna recipe

• Click here to view/print Jennifer’s Cookies and Milk Bars recipe

• Click here to view/print Theresa’s Pumpkin Bars recipe

Click here to see a pix of these yummy Pumpkin Bars.

I sent the whole pan to the church office staff. No leftovers!

Here are just a few of the other ideas and recipes posted on the site recently:

School Lunches and After School Snacks:

Click here to read a great thread on our message boards

about school lunches and after school snacks.

VBS Snack Ideas:

Click here to read a great thread on our message boards about

Vacation Bible School (or any kid event!) snacks.
 

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CONTEST WINNERS

CRAZY COOK’S STORY APRON WINNERS – chosen by Nanci from entries posted on the message boards or sent by e-mail to nanci@30daygourmet.com

Our Crazy Cook for September is Lori M. from Mackinaw, Illinois. Lori is a work-at-home-mom of three energetic children ages 8, 5, and 2. Here’s her story:

My last "BIG" cooking weekend was all planned out. I did my planning Wed/Thurs, my shopping on Friday morning and did my prep work Friday night, which I was up until almost midnight completing. I started in on Saturday morning at 8:30 am with the plan of completing 35 entrees. As the day went on my feet, legs and hips started getting rather achy. I thought, "I need better shoes on". So I put on my good athletic shoes and got back to business. Well by 5:30 I still have 4 recipes/10 entrees to complete but was getting tired so I thought I would call it a day. Cleaned up my mess and sat down to watch a movie with the family. I believe it was 8:30 when I fell asleep on the couch. Just figured I was tired because I had stayed up so late doing the prep work the night before.
Well, I woke up Sunday morning ready to finish my remaining meals. Started out on the first one and by the time I finished it thought I was going to pass out. Turns out I had a fever of 101º. I needed to finish them because the raw meats had already been in the fridge for two days and I am stubborn by nature...LOL! So for the last three recipes my husband was right beside me helping with what he could and after I was finished with each recipe/batch I would sit down and rest while my husband would wash the dishes I had used. It took all day but we finished the remaining meals and then I went to bed. The next morning (Monday) I was even worse so I went to the Doctor - turns out I had pneumonia and was in bed for the next three days!! My husband said that my stubborn nature caused the pneumonia (he may be right), but at least I had a freezer full of food which came in handy while I was stuck in bed.

So, as I said this doesn't exactly qualify as a "embarrassing moment" as you stated in the opening post. But this is definitely a weekend that looking back on my husband continues to point out was "Crazy"!!

"My Cooking Story Contest" $25 WINNERS
 

Our Cook of the Month contest is changing to the “Do a Good Cooking Deed” contest. Tell me how you use 30 Day Gourmet cooking to help others and if your story is chosen I’ll send you $25. Again, you can submit your story by e-mail or on the message boards. It’s okay to nominate someone else, too.
 

The September “My Cooking Story Contest” winner is Barb H. from Cincinnati, Ohio. Her story was sent to me just before Grandparents’ Day and really reminded me of the privilege that many of you have in caring for aging parents. Others of us need to be reminded that there are elderly people in our churches and neighborhoods who could also benefit from our freezer cooking. Here’s what Barb did for her widowed Dad:

I would like to begin by thanking you for such a great program. I went to the bookstore to find a book that would help me know what would freeze well.

My father is in his late 80's and has been alone for the last three years since my Mother passed away. I worry that he doesn't eat very well. He lives in Florida, and doesn't want to come north. I live in Ohio, and can't get down there more than every few months. When I am there, I try to leave lots of leftovers for him to eat. I was hoping to find a book to give me ideas to freeze food so it would last him longer.

I found your book and it seemed to have lots of "normal everyday" recipes that he would like. I took it with me and read it on the drive down (when it wasn't my turn to drive!). By the time we arrived in Florida, I had a grocery list ready for the week. Instead of cooking all day for one day, I picked six meals from your book. I then cooked 2-4 recipes of each, instead of just one each night for supper. Dad didn't notice I was cooking a lot so he didn't complain I was working too hard. It was really no harder to fix a couple batches of the recipe, than it would have been to just cook the evening meal! After supper, I left some food in the fridge, but put the rest in single or double serving sizes in the freezer for later. Before we left, I showed him what all I had put in the freezer and he was so surprised. He didn't even realize what I had been doing during the week. It's so good to talk to him on the phone and hear how much he has enjoyed pulling home cooked food out of the freezer and fixing his dinner.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH $25 WINNER – chosen by Tammy, our message board moderator.

Submit your recipe for the Recipe of the Month contest!
You too can submit a recipe for this contest! Just post it on our Cook’s Corner message boards under the appropriate recipe category. All submitted recipes are considered, as long as your profile contains your email address so we can reach you. The winner receives a check for $25.
 

September’s Recipe of the Month comes from Cheryll in Columbus, OH. Her winning recipe is for Frozen Peanut Butter Pie. I’m sure most of us have been in restaurants with Peanut Butter Pie on the dessert menu. Now you can have it in your own freezer, and very easily, too!

Once you have your pie crust baked and cooled, you can mix this pie up and get it in the freezer in 5 minutes! Most creamy-filling pies like this have a graham-cracker crust, and I like that this one has a regular pastry crust. And the filling… oh my! Rich and creamy peanut butter flavor, but yet it’s light and fluffy too. I knew as soon as I licked the bowl that my family would love this dessert!

Peanut butter cookies are Rob’s favorites, and Reese’s Peanut Butter cups are his favorite candy. So he knew he was going to love this pie! He tried convincing the kids that it was really yucky and they wouldn’t like it, so they shouldn’t even taste it. But they caught on quickly… “Why would mom pick a yucky recipe for Recipe of the Month?” He admitted he didn’t want them to eat it so there was more for him. But the kids weren’t about to be left out!

I drizzled a little bit of chocolate syrup over each slice of pie before serving it. Oh, it was so delicious!!! Rob was trying to get the kids to look up and smile for a picture for the newsletter, but they were not about to be distracted from their dessert! Click here to see a pix of Shanna enjoying their pie! Grandma is here visiting, and she agreed it was a wonderful dessert.

If you like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, I think you could easily add some coarsely chopped candy to the filling, or on top, to replace the peanuts. Drizzle with some chocolate, and you’d have the ultimate chocolate-peanut butter dessert!

Click here to view/print the Peanut Butter Pie recipe.

Let’s meet Cheryll, our prize winner…

My name is Cheryll, and I'm from Columbus Ohio. I've been married for 16 years. We have 3 busy boys ages 6,5, and 2. I worked outside the home until my 6 yr old was born. My first day back from maternity leave I told my husband "I can't do this". He said quit! So I did. I've been home loving every minute of it. I'm an avid scrap booker. I'm currently working on a scrapbook for my grandmother's 96th birthday. A friend introduced me to 30 Day Gourmet a few years ago. I'm not a consistent freezer cook, but hope to change that this fall, now that 2 of my boys are in school. I love the message boards! We attend New Life Church where we are very involved. God has truly blessed our family!

Congratulations, Cheryll, for winning this month’s Recipe of the Month contest. Your $25 prize check is in the mail!

I finally caught up by email with Jill, our August Recipe of the Month winner with her recipe for Taco Roll-ups. Let’s meet Jill this month, since we missed her last newsletter!

My family consists of myself, my husband of 17 years and our five children. DD age 13, DS age 8, DS age 5 and DD & DS twins age 2. Needless to say I am a busy mom! We live in Arizona and our three older children are active in soccer and basketball. DH is the coach for several of their teams so we are
on the go a lot. I have been freezer cooking regularly for about 18 months. I Love It! There is nothing like not having to worry about what to fix for dinner! It is especially nice when we have games or practices to attend.
I love to garden, read, play with my kids, and cook, among other things. I am a stay at home mom who feels like she is never home!:)

Thanks, Jill!

You can get in on the winning too! Just post your favorite freezer recipe on the message boards under the appropriate category. Be sure to include freezer directions. Happy cooking! And freezing!!
 

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GOURMET Q & A (from the E-mail Bag)

Correction from our last newsletter:
A few of you wrote in to correct me on the Ziploc Chicken recipe’s suggestion to use the marinade to baste the chicken as it cooks. You’re right! That’s a no-no.

Here’s what the USDA says about the subject:

Always let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator, even if you only plan on letting it soak for 30 minutes. Do not baste the cooking chicken with marinade you've already used on the raw chicken: either make extra marinade and set aside a portion for basting only, or boil it for 2 to 3 minutes to kill any bacteria that might be present. Read more at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/chicken.htm

Thanks for writing. What cracks me up is that they tell us to be SO careful of meat juices and the potential risks and yet by the time you get 20 packages of on-sale chicken into your kitchen you have dripped yukky chicken juice on the shopping cart, the grocery store floor, your other groceries, the checkout belt, the grocery clerk (if you’re lucky) and your van floor. When will they start putting ALL of the chicken into vacuum sealed plastic containers? Somebody should start a letter-writing campaign! ☺
 

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COOKING HUMOR

As a tribute to the moms out there who were counting down the days until school started, here’s a hilarious little essay that Tammy just sent me. Click here for a good laugh.

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CONSULTANT NEWS

We had six new consultants join us in the last month. Click here to check out the whole list with contact info on the website. Please contact them if you’d like a 30 Day Gourmet speaker for your local group of frustrated cooks!

Welcome to:

• Christy B. from Westfield, Indiana

• Holly G. from Clinton, Utah

• Christine D. from Barboursville, West Virginia

• Ellen S. from Sylvania, Ohio

• Norma S. from Carson City, Nevada

• Valerie H. from Rochester, New York

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SEMINAR SCHEDULE

I forgot to update the schedule last month. Sorry ‘bout that. Click here to check out the schedule details. If any of these seminars are near you, please come! I’d love to meet you and hear your cooking stories!
 

• Crawfordsville, Indiana - September 19, 2002

• Blissfield, Michigan - September 24, 2002

• Hearts at Home Minnesota Conference - October 11 & 12, 2002

• Cicero, Indiana - October 29, 2002

• Hearts at Home Michigan Conference - November 1 & 2, 2002

• Plymouth, Michigan - November 19, 2002

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WEBSITE OF THE MONTH

How about OURS?! Just kidding. But really there are about 675 pages on our site now and lots of great info and recipes there. Stop by and stay awhile.

The FoodTV site has some good recipes for back to school ideas. Click here to take a look.

www.familyfun.com

Some gals on the boards were talking about this website recently and it reminded of how much I used to love the Family Fun magazine when my kids were younger. They have all kinds of great ideas for making fun food!
 

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COMING UP IN OCTOBER

• Freezer Foods for Fall

• Harvest Cookie Fun
   

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FINAL THOUGHTS

30 Day Gourmet

This page was last updated on Thursday, August 28, 2008.

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