Once-a-Month Cooking

Saturday I treated myself (and subjected myself) to an all day cooking experiment.  It was part of what's called a "blog tour".  It's a new form of a book tour for authors except they don't have to be away from their families for long periods of time and the publisher doesn't have to spend alot of money on traveling expenses! They send a free book to a designated number of bloggers who agree to read or, in my case, try out a few recipes and review it. The book is Once-a-Month Cooking Family Favorites. The concept is to buy all the food you will need for a month and prepare all the meals in one day.  Think about it- a whole month where you knew what you were having for dinner and with a little thawing and a few addons like muffins or applesause you've got a great meal. 

This is not the first cookbook for Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg.  I met them in the 90's in the pages of Once-a-Month Cooking when they first introduced this concept. My family loved a number of the recipes from that cookbook so I was excited to hear that a new one was on the horizon. I have to admit I never succeeded in conquering the concept but I love the idea that it looms ahead of me waiting for me to attempt it one more time. With my choppy schedule I wasn't sure I could attempt a whole month but Mimi and Mary Beth have thought of that.  They have several 2 week cycles as well as gormet, gluten free and summer cycles. I picked 2 Week Cycle D which included a number of chicken, pork and beef dinners. They have planned your shopping list and what equipment and freezer supplies you will need.  They even have figured out the order in which you prepare all the food to maximize your efforts.It was quite fun shopping, and anticipating how it was going to work.

Some of the ingredients.

Browned chicken for the Chickon Dijon .

Orecchiette with Tuna

I couldn't find this pasta so substituted small shell pasta.

The pasta gets attached and cooked at the time you serve it.

On the left -chicken strips simmering in a broth for Poppy Seed Chicken, on the right-the cream sauce for the Chicken Dijon.

As I finished preparing each entree I would put it in a zip-lock freezer bag and attach any additional ingredients like cheese or a sauce. The night before my cooking day I did some of the chopping and I labeled the bags with the recipe name, date it was frozen and page # in the cookbook.  I also marked how many it would serve.  Some of the recipes I could split in half to give one away or have an additional  meal, and some I froze in the large amount so we could have folks over. I was surprised to find how much flexibility there is in this system. The authors really just want their readers "to enjoy time together over delicious, economical, home cooked meals". Check out their website www.once-a-monthcooking.com for a one week cycle (which is a good way to test this out), and helpful tips as well as shopping lists and menu charts.

The end of my day!

In case you are wondering , we did have one of these tasty meals(Gnocchi with Turkey Ragu) that night.

Fancation Sunday

We love to check out C&MA churches when we get a chance so we visited Bible Alliance Church of Cape Cod.

This was a nice outdoor cafe in Brewster (where we went to church).  It was 1:30 and they said they only served breakfast on Sundays so breakfast it was!  Our next stop was the Brewster General Store which was interesting but very over priced!  They did direct us to Drummer Boy Park which had a windmill and some unusual trees.

This tree looked like our sycamore at home but was a deep rust colored bark.  Anybody know what it is?

Since we were near the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History we decided to use our Explorer Passes that cost us $42 and got us 3 venues each. Normally it would have cost us $8 each. I usually don't like wildlife but after checking it out and talking to the volunteer we decided to go for it. We had a docent to take us around to the different exhibits and fill in the details. This is a coyote and not native to the Cape. They come across the bridges at night. The locals don't like them because they eat their small dogs.

I thought this was interesting that God's Word would be displayed on the wall in the form of these beautiful wood carvings, one on the sea and on on creation .

 

 This is an Opah.

 

 This guy looks cold, huh?

I love jellyfish. They are so fluid.

We got tatooed at the museum!

First seafood of the week.  I miss Friday night fish fries in Western NY. Even had some malt vinegar.

Chatham Lighthouse

Beautiful little village at sunset.

The black dots are seals.

We thought these road signs were a hoot. Loosley translated-densely populated.

From Chatham we drove along the bottom shore on Rt 28 to West Dennis where our motel was located.
Wonderful end to our second day.

Fancation (fantastic vacation)

We got a great deal through some friends to go to Cape Cod.  It was a logical choice since I love beaches and lighthouses and Dave loves history.

This is what we saw after we crossed the bridge.  "Rotarys" were everywhere it seemed.

 

Supposedly this was the slow season!

 

Not elaborate but very clean and pretty.

The backyard.  There is a pool too.  Had it been a tad warmer we would have spent time out here.

This was comfy but very high. I could have used a stepstool. There were two of these beds.

My sister made me promise I would go to the Christmas Tree Shop while I was on the Cape so that is how we ended our first day.