Hey, John....Look What I Did!

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I just don't cook.  Well, I CAN cook, I just don't care to do it on a regular basis.  Fortunately for us, John loves to cook.  In fact, he is an adventurous chef and has gotten me to try things that I've said for years I won't eat - like some fish and peas - I still mostly don't like fish and peas but I've been known to eat them....occasionally.

Anyway, with John gone for the last 11 months, it's fallen to me to cook for myself.  I've subsisted on mostly grilled cheese or fried egg sandwiches, macaroni & cheese, or fast food.  I decided that I wanted to be more of a partner in the kitchen when John and I finally get to live in the same house again - whenever that may be.  With that in mind, I heard about Freezer Meals.  Snazzy little meals made ahead of time and stored in the freezer - requiring only to be defrosted and then cooked or even cooked from frozen.  I decided to try several that my friend Holly uses in her Freezer Meals workshops in Connecticut for Tastefully Simple.  Below you will see 9 Bayou Bourbon Burgers all seasoned and ready to cook.

 Here they are wrapped in foil and labeled and ready to go into the freezer.

Next to them are 9 Bar-B-Que Burgers, again ready to go into the freezer.

 And this is Bayou Bourbon Bake - using chicken and broccoli and some yummy sauces and ready to put in the freezer.  All I need to do when I'm ready to cook it is defrost and throw into an over for a short time and voila!  Dinner is served.  

This evening I made 2 more sets of dinners - Honey Teriyaki Stir Fry with chicken and stir fry veggies and a wonderful Honey Teriyaki Sauce.  And Vidalia Onion Baked chicken....garlic and cheese and ready to cook in the crock pot...served with pasta or rice and I've got dinner! The entire thing took probably 2 1/2 hours total and I've got over 25 meals ready for whenever I want them.  I'm a freakin' magician!

It's finally gotten to be summer here in the Ozarks...heat and humidity are really high and it's pretty miserable.  I'm really glad to have air conditioning - let me tell you.  

As most of you know, I love working on the computer and using social media to keep in touch with family and friends.  I've made contact with folks I went to high school with that I hadn't talked to since high school - and that's a loooooong time ago.  I've made contact with the folks I went to college with and stayed in contact with folks John and I have known throughout our military service.  I also belong to an online group of knitters and crocheters and weavers and fiber spinners called Ravelry.  Through Ravelry, I've made many, many friends from all over the world.  One of them lives in southern California and is coming to St. Louis early next month for some training for her work.  Since St. Louis is only a 2.5 hour drive for me, I'm going up there to have breakfast with her and meet her for the first time in person.  I'm so excited!  And that day happens to be my day off so I don't even need to take time off work.  I'm golden!

Well, enough rambling.  I'm off to work on the Row by Row projects...it's almost over and now it's time to start making up some of the patterns that my posse has sent me.  

Thanks for stopping by.