Freezer Cooking Frenzy

I remember a lot about my first 3 months with Aidan as a newborn.  I remember he cried a lot, I remember he was up every hour all night long for MONTHS (literally a 2 hour stretch was a LONG stretch of sleep), and with him wanting to nurse around the clock I remember being SO hungry.  All. The.  Time.  But of course with a really fussy baby, cooking was practically impossible.  We survived, thankfully my mom came to visit a lot and every time she did she made a couple more things to restock my freezer, but we were in a tiny apartment and didn't have much freezer space. One of my goals when we moved to our town house was to get a chest freezer to be able to cook in bigger batches, shop at Costco etc, and we've loved it.  Since we do have this extra storage space, and I know how hard those first few months can be with a newborn, my goal is to completely stock this freezer with meals that are ready to thaw and pop in either the oven or crock pot before baby brother makes his appearance the week after Christmas.  One of my best friends did a TON of freezer cooking before her little guy was born a year ago and she told me it was by far the best thing she did to prepare for baby's arrival.  We'll have family in town for awhile, and while they are here I'll have them do the cooking (no way am I sharing my precious stock of freezer meals when there are able-bodied grandparents around who are capable of getting something together for dinner!!), and we'll have friends from church bring some meals, but eventually February will roll around and it'll be up to me to get dinner ready on a relatively regular basis--so my goal is to have that not involve much cooking for awhile!

I've done a few smaller-scale freezer cooking projects in the past, and I've learned a few things in the process.  One, make sure you write an inventory somewhere (mine is on a google doc, but a piece of paper on the fridge works great too!) with what exactly is in the freezer.  It's way too easy for things to get buried, and for food to go to waste because I simply forget it's in there.  So on a google doc I have how many of each item I have in the freezer and it's cooking/reheating instructions written right there so I don't have to go looking up recipes on line or try to remember which recipe for lasagna I froze etc.  When we eat a dish, I'll change the quantity we have left on my google doc.  Also, label EVERYTHING!  I have had a few times where I've frozen things in Tupperware thinking "oh it's see through, I'll totally remember what it is!" and that's resulted in some surprises when I thaw what I think is a bean soup and is actually re-fried black beans for burritos.  Once frozen, many items do look alike!

This is a compilation of the recipes I'm freezing this fall, some I have tried myself in the past and know for a fact they freeze well and re-heat while maintaining their flavor.  Others have been personally tried by close friends of mine (AKA, people whose cooking and eating tastes are similar to mine that I trust!) and they have vouched for the freeze-ability of these dishes.  I know it looks like a lot, but that's why I'm starting in October--my goal is to simply pick two meals a week that I was going to make anyway, and double or triple the recipes to add extra batches to the freezer.  So far for the past 3 weeks that's been totally do-able--I've found that if I'm making a lasagna, it's really easy to just make 3--using the same dishes, bowls, ingredients etc allows for batch cooking without really extra mess or time.  So, without further ado, here's what is already in our freezer (or meals that will be soon!)

One of the meals it hadn't occurred to me to freeze is breakfast foods.  I'm not a huge fan of breakfast in general, but while pregnant, and I remember while nursing, I am SO hungry in the morning.  A friend of mine who is nursing a baby right now had the same problem and tried these freezer-ready breakfast burritos and raved about them, so I made a batch.  SO delicious and absolutely worth the time it took to make a big batch!  They reheat without getting mushy, and can either be eaten one-handed while bouncing a baby or with a knife and fork and a layer of salsa over the top.   One batch made 18-24 burritos, and I've been eating these all month--I'll make another couple batches before baby to have a stock pile for bleary eyed mornings. 

Another breakfast food I've already made and have frozen are these cranberry lemon scones.  These actually aren't so much for me to eat post-baby, but they are for those mornings when it's my turn to bring something for MOPS breakfast or a staff meeting snack.  A couple weeks ago I was in charge of the "sweet treat" for MOPS and made a huge batch of these scones (although the stores aren't selling cranberries yet, so I made raspberry-lemon scones instead).  I baked about 16 of them for MOPS that morning, and the rest I formed into scones on a cookie sheet and froze them overnight.  In the morning I placed them in ziplocks and next time it's my turn to bring something all I have to do is bake the night before.  

A meal I have made a few times in the past for the freezer is this apple cider pulled pork.  It received rave reviews from my father in law last Thanksgiving weekend when I served it!  Find a pork shoulder on sale and cook this up.  Enjoy some that evening and then freeze the leftovers in smaller portions (one thing we've realized about pulled pork is it will go a long ways, since you don't use that much on each sandwich, so one batch will last awhile!).  When you want to serve it from the freezer, let it thaw overnight in your fridge and then just reheat.

One of my very very favorite freezer recipes and comfort food recipes are Annette's Enchiladas from Shauna Niequist's book Bread and Wine.  I have made these so many times, have frozen them, served them to numerous family members and taken them to several new mamas for the perfect comfort-food meal.  I will be making a few batches of them for my freezer between now and December because they are amazing. 

Last November I did a bunch of freezer cooking so that I'd have meals on hand, ready to serve over the busy holiday season when family came into town or people dropped by.  This Skillet Lasagna was delicious, froze great, and was a big hit when re-heated and served to some seminary friends of ours who dropped in for dinner while on their way home for Thanksgiving weekend.  It was awesome to be able to have company for dinner the night before Thanksgiving without having to do any cooking! (Unless you count throwing a salad together or heating up french bread to be cooking!)  You could use any kind of meat and any kind of ravioli that sounded good to your family in this one. 

This past year I decided the new thing I was going to learn how to do was make my own chicken broth and soup from a whole chicken.  Dealing with large pieces of meat is something I don't do, but I read enough on Pinterest that this could be done successfully in a crock pot and was super simple, so about a year ago I gave it a shot.  I'm hooked.   My crock pot gets a big workout for about 24 straight hours, but that's what I love about these recipes and this process--I can add stuff to it, walk away and amazing things happen while I'm gone! It's kind of a multi-step process, but here's what I tend to do.  First, buy a roaster chicken.  Day 1 is all about cooking the chicken, which I do in my crock pot instead of in the oven so it really doesn't need to be baby sat.  This is the recipe/method I use, all you have to do is rub the spice mixture over the outside of the bird, and stick it in the crock pot as instructed.  About 6 hours later it will be falling off the bone (don't throw those bones away!!).  That's it.  So easy.  I personally don't love just eating chicken, so my plan for the meat is to shred it and use it in the above enchiladas that I'll make later this week.  But of course you could just eat the chicken.  Or shred it and put it in freezer bags to have on hand down the line when you do want to throw together a quick meal that involves cooked/shredded chicken.  Or save it for the next day if you're going to turn your broth into soup. After all the meat is off the bones, I throw them back in my crock pot with these other ingredients to make the chicken broth overnight.  In the morning, I place a fine mesh strainer over a big pot, and strain my broth.  I toss all the stuff that lands in the strainer basket, keeping all the liquid.  That's it.  You have chicken broth!  You can either portion it out in smaller batches or you can add it back to your slow cooker and toss in fresh veggies and other ingredients for chicken noodle soup that will simmer all day, and will be a great dinner that evening.  You can find any recipe on line for chicken noodle soup, the ingredients are all pretty similar.  So far I have two Tupperware of soup in my freezer, and another roast chicken in the crock pot as I write this which will turn into broth later tonight.  We found last winter that when any one in our house was sick, this was the most comforting thing to consume so I plan on having a few mason jars of just frozen broth on hand to heat up if sore throats strike. 

Lasagna is always a classic freezer meal, but I rarely make them because in my experience they've been really labor intensive.  A friend of mine brought us a lasagna made with ground turkey while Charles was recovering and it was so delicious.  We all raved about it.  She shared her recipe and I made several, so I have 3 in my freezer as of now.  The secret to the simplicity?  Jarred sauce, and well seasoned ground turkey.  I think I also really liked this recipe because there isn't any ricotta (which I hate) or other creamy cheeses.  But you could always add some if you like them!  I don't have a link, so here's the recipe:  brown 1 pound of ground turkey with approx 2 tsp of garlic powder, about a tablespoon of onion powder, and some dashes of salt and pepper (I used way more pepper than salt but I try to avoid adding extra salt to things). Use any jar of marinara you like but the Classico brand "Traditional" sauce was SO SO good. Layer lasagna noodles (I used the ones you don't have to boil first, but they were still a tiny bit crunchy when I baked it, so next time I would boil them for a few minutes) with ground turkey, a layer of sauce, and a sprinkle of any kind of cheese you like. Repeat 2-3 more times. My 8x8 foil pans only let me do two layers so I had enough ingredients to make an extra dish. Cover and freeze.  To serve, thaw overnight and follow baking directions on your noodle box.  

Macaroni & Cheese.  My son's favorite food.  I made 4 pans of this recipe, and I'm not sure it has the best flavor, so I would add more seasoning next time, but it's good enough!  The best mac n cheese recipe I've found is this one with fresh rosemary and french fried onions on top, and I'm betting it would freeze great, so next time I might go that route instead!  Simply freeze in foil pans, then when you want to serve it thaw overnight and bake according to recipe directions.  

Chili.  There is nothing better on a winter evening when you're hungry than a crock pot full of chili with cornbread in the oven.  This kid-friendly turkey chili recipe is a huge hit with my kiddo and the kids of many many friends--they especially like all the toppings that are suggested!  It's not spicy at all so if you like heat and aren't cooking for little ones, you can always add more chili powder or some crushed red pepper flakes.  I'm planning on making at least two crock pots of this over the next couple months and then freezing them in smaller portions, enough for our family for a meal or two.  

The Pioneer Woman is one of my go-to recipe bloggers to follow, I don't know that I've ever made anything by her that I didn't like.  Her sour cream noodle bake is a huge hit in our house--kind of a cross between lasagna and homemade hamburger helper (that's what my husband calls it anyways)--it's a great comforting meal for a cool evening, and a great one to freeze.  It's so simple, I made 6 pans of this last night (two for other new moms who had babies this month and 4 for us) in about an hour.  I promise your kids will like this one!  I made it with extra lean ground turkey instead of beef, but the ground beef is delicious as well.  

One of my favorite snacks is actually a bean burrito, so before baby arrives I'm planning on making a big batch of these bean and cheese burritos to have on hand for grabbing when mid-afternoon hunger strikes.  

Two other breakfast foods I'm planning on making a ton of are these waffles (my kiddo loves waffles with peanut butter for his breakfast, so having them ready made and waiting for the toaster will be a huge help) and these Omelet Breakfast Bites--both of which have been tested by a friend who said her only regret was not making more of them before her kiddo arrived.

What We've Been Into and Up To

Baby Baby Baby!  People told me that things with the second pregnancy and baby would be different in so many ways, but I'm not entirely sure I believed them!  When I was pregnant with Aidan I counted down the days and weeks meticulously.  I always knew exactly what was going on in his development, I couldn't wait for the day when we would find out whether he was a boy or a girl, I wanted him named as soon as possible so we could start calling him by name and I faithfully read What to Expect When You're Expecting from cover to cover.  Yeah...being pregnant with a toddler around is a drastically different experience!  Someone asked me the other night how far along I was and I actually had to check my iphone app to remember if I was 15 or 16 weeks.  We have an ultra sound scheduled for August 4th to find out how baby is growing and what his or her gender is, but I have so many other things going on between now and then (including preaching on the 3rd!) that it hasn't even really crossed my mind much.  When I was expecting Aidan I posted a blog post every week chronicling our journey waiting for him...this time around this is the first I've written on here since before becoming pregnant.  Poor kiddo!  I am excited to think about a name for this little one, but we've decided to not share that with people until baby arrives this time around, especially since the gender will be public and his or her birthday won't even be a surprise since we've decided with the help of my doctor to do a scheduled c-section this time around rather than risk another rather traumatizing labor experience again.  For now, baby is being called Baby Thomas Olaf (because Aidan wants to name baby after thomas the train and Olaf the snowman) and my nieces are calling it a her and have named her Elsa Anna.  Thank you, Frozen.  I think we'll keep those names until this munchkin makes his or her appearance either Friday December 26th or Monday the 29th!

When we were pregnant with Aidan in 2011, the entire year was one of stress, transitions and major life changes.  During the 9 months of his pregnancy we lost a job (5 months after buying a house and starting said job), had our only car totaled (while it was parked on the side of the road--we were on vacation at the time), went car shopping, underwent a nation-wide job search knowing the possibility was we could move anywhere, moved back to LA, Charles started a new job at a new church where we worked to get to know a whole new community of people, we sold our house long distance, changed doctors at 30 weeks, moved in with a family we hadn't ever met, apartment hunted, moved again, and finally got settled in December for Aidan's arrival in January.  Absolutely nothing about that year was easy, so our goal this time around was to simply stay put!  To enjoy this year, cherish the time we have with Aidan, spend our free time taking him on toddler adventures rather than you know, packing and moving 3 times in 9 months.  The good news, is that 2011 showed us we really can handle anything.  When we announced our first pregnancy, it was the same day Charles lost his job, and we were all of a sudden no longer a part of a church community to celebrate with.  This time around we are surrounded by people who love us, who adore Aidan, who were so so excited to hear our news.  We have incredible friends, several of whom have either just had babies or who are also expecting, lots and lots of friends to share baby clothes, play dates, meals and support with.  We are so so grateful and while our families are far away this is where we want to be--right in the midst of this rich community of people whom we love.   What a difference 3 years has made!

Working Mama: This time around I'm also "officially" working--as in, for a real paycheck!  Most people have been really excited for this job opportunity for me, but a few have let me know they think I should be at home full time, and not employed outside.  I totally respect their opinion, but here's what I have found in the past 2 months of my new job.  I am home WAY more with Aidan and have hired baby sitters WAY less in the past 2 months that I've been employed than in the previous 2 years of intense volunteering.  Saying yes to this job means that I have stepped away from all the volunteer commitments I had previously, commitments I loved, but that took me away from home usually one night a week for meetings or events.  Now, I have 1 evening meeting a month instead of about one per week.  I work a full day on Fridays which is Charles' new day off, so he gets a full day home with Aidan each week to go take him to his baby gym class, out to pizza for lunch, share nap time with him and have play time with.  In my view that is so so important.  I work a half day Tuesday and we have an incredible young woman come play with Aidan for 4-5 hours, with me arriving home before nap time.  Aidan adores his "Sammie days!" and she loves him.  I love seeing him so excited when she rings the door bell.  A sitter used to put him to bed about once a week, I think the only time we've had a sitter do bedtime lately was a week ago when I had to run into urgent care at the last minute and we needed someone to stay with Aidan.  I have WAY more free time now, instead of trying to cram all kinds of volunteer things into his nap periods or frantically doing emails after he goes to bed.  I love having a set work schedule and then being able to say "it's Thursday, I'm not at work today, I can wait until my office hours tomorrow to respond to this since it's not an emergency."  I think it's actually given us a better life balance (I know it's helped our evening commitments and schedule!) as a family having me develop a set work schedule and say no to other committees, meetings, volunteer opportunities etc in this season.  I am still thrilled to be involved in MOPS, but instead of coordinating this year I get to participate, and serve as an adviser of sorts as the staff person directly responsible for the ministry.  It's definitely been a fantastic transition for our family and for me as I've been able to use Aidan's nap times to rest and nap myself during the extreme first trimester exhaustion.  

Adventures in Cooking: My little guy's very favorite thing to do these days is to "help" Mommy in the kitchen.  The second I say "I need to start dinner" he immediately drags a chair over and says "I help!" He taste tests everything, wants to smell every spice or seasoning I put in, loves to pour, dump and mix ("I do it all by myself!") and tells me what he thinks needs to be added.  Not too many 2 year olds will say "Mommy we need a teaspoon of rosemary!" even if we're making, you know, pancakes...  He is learning the numbers on the measuring cups ("we need one with a 1 and a 4 on it!") and we count everything we put in the bowl.  Getting to cook something by myself these days is a huge treat, but I know how important it is for his learning to be part of life in the kitchen (you are welcome, Aidan's future wife.)  We're also growing tomatoes, basil and rosemary for the first time ever and every single day he tells me, "Mommy, I need to go check on my potatoes!"  "I pick the red potatoes!"  He loves taking his bucket out to "harvest" our tomatoes of the day.  And we're working on learning to only pick the red ones...

Reading Reading Reading: I have actually started reading for fun again and making time for that each evening, which is something I got out of the habit of for awhile there in a spring season of a ton of evening commitments and busyness.  The best books I have read this spring were:

• The All You Can Dream Buffet, a fun story of 4 friends who meet up on a farm outside McMinnville, OR to each find healing in life.  A great story of friendship, love, food and the northwest!  
• The One Hundred Foot Journey.  I saw a movie preview recently for this book, it's coming out in August, and looked so good, so I picked up the novel.  Parts of it felt slow to me, but overall I really loved this story of food, the clash of cultures (traditional Indian family moves to France), and the coming of age of the main character, a young boy with an incredible gift of cooking.  The movie looks like it will be really really good, with Helen Miren playing one of the main characters.  Definitely would recommend it!
• Girl at the End of the World.  This true story is the memoir of a woman who was raised right here in California in a religious cult that her father essentially runs.  Parts of her story of spiritual and physical abuse are difficult to read, but it's an important story, one of hope, redemption, and her incredible strength.  
• Carry On, Warrior.  This would be my #1 recommended book this year I think.  It's our MOPS summer book club book and a fantastic read by Glennon Doyle Melton, author of the Momastery blog.  If you're a mom especially, this one is a great one to pick up.  The chapters are super super short so you could read one a day even while nursing a baby or before falling asleep.  Definitely recommend it!

Right now I'm reading both Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for our book club and Tender at the Bone--two great books about food, although very different from one another!

Listening: Both Charles and I are newly obsessed with the band Needtobreathe and would listen to them all the time if the munchkin didn't demand the Frozen soundtrack every time we got into the car.  Powerful lyrics and great sound.

Traveling: It's been a season of surprisingly little travel for me!  I know, so strange!  In June I took Aidan to my parent's for a week while Charles was in Costa Rica, and in August we're going back to Minnesota for a quick 4 day weekend to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday with my aunts and uncles and grandparents, but otherwise we haven't gone anywhere since my trip to Colorado at the end of March.  No wonder I am feeling antsy these days!

That's about all we've been up to lately!  It's been a season of exploring a few new places in LA, delighting in Aidan's new grasp of language (the other day he told me the airplane came around the bend and startled him...) and thinking about this new little one's arrival into our family as we enjoy the summer evenings playing with friends. 

What We've Been Into, Upto and About this Month (February Edition)

I know February is only 2 days shorter than other months, but for some reason it seems to fly by every year and before we know it March is upon us.  We hadn't seen rain in ages until these past two days, so February felt more like springtime with 70 degree days, crystal clear skies and lots of outdoor play time.  There may be some drawbacks to Southern California, but the weather isn't one of them this time of year!  (We won't talk about October when it is still over 90 here and dry and smokey and the rest of the country gets fall!)  Here's what has been happening in our kitchen, on our bookshelves and elsewhere this month...

Reading:
Reading for me is often feast or famine.  I seem to have seasons where I fly through books and then other seasons where I don't have any interest in reading anything; where I feel tired and drained and can't seem to make progress in a book.  These past 2 months I've actually read quite a few books that I really enjoyed & would highly recommend.  Since I didn't write a post in January, here's what I've made my way through in this new year.

Cracking Up: A Postpartum Faith Crisis by Kimberlee Conway Ireton I wanted to read this one because it's written by a friend of mine, and I adore her, her family and her writing.  I loved this book.  Kimberlee and her family attend the church I am "under care" of in Seattle (has to do with the ordination process), and I've known them for a long time.  In her memoir she shares her journey as a mom of two, wanting to be done with having children when she finds herself pregnant with twins.  She is honest, funny, and incredibly thoughtful as she sheds light on what postpartum depression can look like, where God is in the midst of all this, how her faith community literally carried her through the twin's first year, and how there is no shame in asking for help when depression strikes.  After I read it I knew other moms needed to as well, and we chose it as our book club book for MOPS this semester.  I can't wait for our discussion night in May to hear what others thought!  I also may have loved this book because I know so many of the people she mentions, and I know where she changed names, which is just fun as you read a book!

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan This was one of our January book club selections and while I couldn't make the discussion I really enjoyed reading this book.  I think most of the group did as well.  It's the perfect style of mystery for me--nothing creepy or gory but more of a puzzle, like The DaVinci Code or other Dan Brown style books, which I really enjoy.  It's a super quick read that merges the world of technology and ancient literary traditions if you will.  Definitely a fun read!

The Rosie Project:  This was our February book club selection and almost all of us really enjoyed it.  All we kept saying about it was it was "adorable," it was a super cute romantic comedy in book form (rumor has it a movie might be in the works, it would be such a sweet movie if that happened!) Don, the protagonist, is a gentleman with Aspbergers and has decided to find a wife.  His quirks and routines endear the reader to him almost immediately, but he struggles to get to a second date with women. Through the help of some interesting friends, a few twists of fate, and a lot of learning and growing on Don's part, he embarks on quite the journey towards finding love.  It was the perfect February read!

When We Were on Fire by Addie Zierman I had been waiting and waiting for this memoir to come out.  I have loved Addie's blog "How to Talk Evangelical" since I stumbled upon it over a year ago, and this is her story in book form.  Addie is almost my exact same age, and grew up in an evangelical culture much like the one I found myself in.  It's her story of journeying from being an "on fire" high school student to dealing with depression and alocholism in her early 20s, to finding her way back to making peace with the Christian community again.  It's a story of what can happen when we are perhaps a bit too over-zealous in our faith when we're young, without the developmental ability to sift through what might be good vs. incredibly harmful (manipulative or even abusive) theology.  I loved this book.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett: Do you ever have those books that you know you are supposed to love because everyone else did, but you just can't get into them?  That was this book for me, for years.  Every time I visit my parents I pick this up off my mom's bookshelf and try to read it.  And every year I couldn't make it past chapter 1.  This time around I picked it up and made myself sit and read for a full hour, to get into the story, and I found that once I did I flew through it.  I will say it's still not my favorite book, but it was beautifully written and had some incredibly engaging characters.  It's been out for a long time though, so most of you have probably read this long ago!

The Antelope in the Living Room: The Real Story of Two People Sharing One Life by Melanie Shankle Apparently reading people's memoirs this year has been a theme of mine.  Melanie writes a blog I've followed for awhile (BigMama) and this is her second book.  Her first book was an hysterical story of parenting and this one is on marriage.  I love reading other people's stories, it makes my own experiences seem "normal," like "oh they have that discussion in their house too??" Yes, her hunting husband actually hung an antelope head in her living room while she was away.  She's real, she's funny, and she weaves the grace of God through the whole book.  Definitely a fun read!

Apparently I'm on a roll for 2014!  That seems to be almost as many books as I read in all of 2013!  Next up on the list are Grace Based Parenting, The Invisible Thread, Ender's Game, and Think Orange (a family ministry book).


Watching:
Of course the Olympics garnered quite a bit of our attention during February, but actually not as much as I thought I would watch.  I think I get frustrated with having to watch snippets of whatever NBC decides to show me.  And with a child who wakes up about 6 (and sometimes throughout the night still) there is no way I could stay up til 11 multiple nights in a row! My must-see TV for January and February have consisted of Nashville, Parenthood and I just watched the pilot of About a Boy on NBC and thought it was adorable.  I never actually watch these shows "live" since they don't start til after 10, but I play them over the course of the next week while I clean the kitchen or fold laundry.  Charles and I are also still plugging through The West Wing and have made it to about the mid point in season 5 (out of 7 seasons--we are getting there!)  Season 5 is where the writers changed and I'm sad to say I can tell a difference. The pace is slower, it's not keeping my attention quite like it did, but I still love the characters and we're committed to finishing!

I found myself home alone for both 3 days weekends this winter and watched several movies in the evenings while he was gone.  Craigslist Joe was a documentary I watched and LOVED.  A guy decides to live for a month based solely on what he can find on Craig's List--shelter, food, rides, volunteer opportunities etc.  It completely restored my faith in the kindness of strangers.  When Charles was gone over Valentine's Day weekend the college girls I hang out with hooked me up with The Proposal and He's Just Not that Into You--two very cute romantic comedies.  Last night we finally watched a movie I've been wanting to see for awhile now--The Way Way Back.  I loved it.  It was by the same studio who did Juno and Little Miss Sunshine, two other films I really liked.  Back in January I watched The Butler with my parents and I think I was the only one who truly enjoyed it--I think they thought it was a bit choppy, but I enjoyed the history and the story.  I honestly think that is more movies than I watched in all of 2013...apparently this winter has found me with more free time since I'm reading more and watching more (or maybe I've given up having a clean house with a toddler and have stopped trying as hard!)

Listening: I just discovered Mat Kearney (I know, WAY after the rest of the world) and can't get enough of his music.  He along with Ed Sheeran (another new discovery for me this winter) have made up my Pandora playlists these past two months.  Anyone else have any other similar artists I should check out?

Cooking: I learned how to make my own chicken stock from a chicken carcass this winter and my husband could literally eat homemade chicken noodle soup every single night.  It is amazing to me how different it tastes than the canned broth. I started by using the bones from the roaster chickens you buy in the deli, and would make broth in my crock pot overnight, and then soup the next day (also in the crock pot--SO simple!).  Last week I got brave.  I bought a raw chicken and was determined to figure out how to cook it myself.  I discovered on pinterest that you can cook a chicken in a crock pot, so I went ahead and gave it a try.  It was SO good.  A tiny bit dry, but I put it in way too early, which was my own fault.  This is the recipe I followed and would absolutely do so again!  So I cooked the chicken Saturday, made the broth overnight in the crock pot Saturday night and then turned it into soup Sunday after church.  My $6.00 chicken fed 7 of us Saturday night and gave Charles, Aidan and I soup for a few days.  Totally worth it!  In January I was super sick two different times and this homemade soup was all I wanted to eat--so soothing.  I feel quite domestic saying I make my own chicken stock--that is definitely not something I thought I would EVER do!


Travel: New Year's found us in the Fresno area visiting with my sister and her in laws, and probably infecting all of them with our germs since both Aidan and I were battling a nasty bug that week but didn't realize it until we were already there.  Lets just say I rang in the new year in bed with a fever...my two year old right next to me with the same fever.  Good times.  Aidan and I headed back to Minneapolis at the end of January for 9 days when my mom had surgery.  It was so unbelievably cold you could not leave the house.  My out-door loving toddler did not understand why he couldn't go play outside.  (Because mommy does NOT love the -15 wind chill thank you very much!)  My sister brought her girls up for a couple days and the kids had a ball.  Aidan asks daily when we're going to have "shoe parades" with Lily & Brooke (the kids kept trying on my parents shoes and parading around the house in them). Our next trip is at the end of March for a quick weekend trip to Denver to see my grandparents.  They have been asking for Aidan to come back to their house (he was last there a year ago) and I am really looking forward to seeing them and all my cousins who live in that area (with all their little ones--to let the next generation of Hansons play together--or steal toys from one another and scream at each other...)

Around the Blogging World:
My two favorite blog posts I read this month were:
Why Our Response to Coke's America the Beautiful Matters by Beth Woolsey
I LOVED this post--for the record I loved the Superbowl ad, and was shocked when I learned how much controversy it caused, but this response to that controversy is spot on.

Save Your Relationship: Ask the Right Questions by Glennon Melton Doyle


Whew!  It's been a busy two months!  I'll be amazed if anyone is actually still reading this!  I mostly write these posts because I really do love getting to look back and see what kinds of things make up my life in various seasons.  So until next month, happy savoring of the little things that make life beautiful my friends!

As always I'm joining the link up at the lovely Leigh Kramer's page!

The Best of 2013

I love the idea of a new year.  Each Christmas break I generally find myself motivated to examine the different areas of my life and make goals for growth in each area.  I take time to journal and pray and think about this next year.  This year was a bit of a different story.  For the first time I feel as if I haven't stopped running since Thanksgiving.  I haven't done any reflecting, goal setting, menu planning, house cleaning or preparing for a new year.  I feel as if we've been in survival mode around here a bit--running from one event to another, traveling, preparing for Christmas, hosting others, grading a massive stack of papers, hosting parties, preparing for Aidan's birthday and other things I'm sure I am forgetting.  Rather than entering the new year fresh and ready to take on a new task, I find myself limping across that starting line.  December 31 found me in bed with a 102 degree fever, and here it is 3 weeks later and I've been battling sickness #2 of the year.  Forget menu planning and organizing, it's been Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets, chicken noodle soup and Mac n Cheese around here!  I love taking time to look back over the past year and record some of the high lights, but I never got the chance to do so in all the busyness.  I have a few minutes free right now, and thought I'd take a quick look back at some of my favorites from the past 12 months.  None of this is earth shattering, but mostly I enjoy having this written down so in the future I'll remember the words, sounds, songs, and events that shaped this year.  So without further ado, here are the things I loved in 2013.

Books:  This has always been my favorite category to look back at, and many of you know I've tried reading the number of books each year that correlates with my age.  Yeah well, then I had a toddler.  I didn't come close to the 32 books that would have been my goal this year, but that's okay.  I made it through 17 books this year, and most of them were really good.  I started and stopped a few others, realizing that I now had such limited time to read I wasn't going to waste it on a book that didn't hold my interest.  But I finished 17, and out of those, here are the top 5 I'd recommend:

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist  

Sister of my Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

When We Were on Fire: A Memoir of Consuming Faith, Tangled Love and Starting Over by Addie Zierman 

I wasn't the only one who did a lot of reading this year though!  Aidan is turning into quite the little story-listener and here were his 5 favorites from the year--and mom and dad loved all 5 too, no annoying kids books on this list (you know, in case you need to ever buy a gift for a 1 year old boy--these were all well tested in our house!)

The Little Blue Truck

Steam Train, Dream Train

Good Night Good Night Construction Site

Bear Snores On

The Good Night Train

Movies: I saw exactly 2 movies in the theater this year, one in January and one in November.  Hello, life with a child!  In January I saw Silverlining's Playbook and LOVED it, and in November we saw Catching Fire which I also really really loved.  I guess Jennifer Lawrence is a common theme of this year for me, she was phenomenal in both films.  We ended up not renting a ton of movies this year either because we got sucked into watching The West Wing back in May, and have been working our way through each season.  We're up to the middle of season 5 with a couple more to go, so that's been taking our priority when we have tv watching time.  We did rent Lincoln and Argo, and if you haven't seen them they are both absolutely worth it.  But most of America probably saw them in the theater, so yes, we are way behind the times!  (I do have a Pinterest list going of everything I want to watch but Netflix on-demand streaming doesn't let us watch the newer movies which is dumb in my opinion...so I'm still waiting for most to be available).  

Meals: I love beautiful meals, and more than that I love the conversation that happens around them.  It was a year of learning to cook new things, reading a few fantastic books about food, and experiencing a couple of fun outings to restaurants we hadn't tried.  Probably our "fanciest" meal was our 4th anniversary dinner back in March to The Castaway restaurant in the hills above Burbank.  We both enjoyed incredible steaks, wine and appetizers while watching the lights come on all over the city.  But I have to say I think the meals that stand out the most this year were the spontaneous ones we ended up sharing with friends.  One Friday back in August, only a couple weeks after we moved in, I texted a friend at 3 and said "you guys want to come over for hot dogs tonight?"  Two hours later our two families were together enjoying hot dogs, potato chips and watermelon, and it hit me, we have friends that live close enough now and we have a home large enough that we can do that.  And that's a dream come true.  The thai food trips after play time at Gummy the Bear with two different friends--I took Aidan the other day just the two of us and he kept asking where Luke and Sienna and Joshua were, I love that he equates going to get noodles with his friends.  The spontaneous backyard bbq held with other young families from church one Sunday afternoon.  And probably my very favorite meal of the year was our MOPS Bread and Wine night.  About 15 of us read Shauna Niequist's book and each cooked a different one of her recipes so we could taste them all.  The food was incredible but more than that I hadn't laughed so hard in a very long time, as each of us relished a night away from our kids, our homes and responsibility.  My soul was so richly fed that night--laughter mixed with the sound of clinking forks and the splash of wine in a glass as we shared stories around the table.  

Best Pinterest Attempt:  I realize this could be food related or not, so I'll share both.  The best pinterest recipe I found that is now in the regular rotation around here are these Oven Tacos  They are super easy, and incredibly delicious.  When you bake the taco shells with the filling inside, the shells soften enough that Aidan can eat them without me worrying about how hard they are and Charles went nuts for them.  We'd highly recommend them! 

The one "activity" idea from Pinterest I tried this year was this thankfulness banner in the month of December.  Aidan LOVED it, he kept asking to write on leaves (and every night when we asked him what he was thankful for the first thing he always said was "Adelaide and Ezra!"  He loves those kids!) I used her free printable to get the leaf template and cut them myself, which ended up being a LOT of work, so I might look for already cut leaves next year :)  But the fall colors made a gorgeous garland in our kitchen that I was sad to take down.

Travel: It was a year of taking advantage of the "kids under 2 fly free" rule!  2013 started with us in Hawaii with Charles' family, which was amazing and beautiful.  In February Aidan and I went to Denver to see my grandparents and other family members for a long weekend.  In April he and I met my parents in Sacramento and visited childhood friends and family both there and in Reno.  In June Charles headed to Costa Rica and Aidan and I spent 2 weeks in Minneapolis and Iowa with my family.  In July I hopped a quick flight up to San Jose and met my sister and her in laws at their home in Santa Cruz for a week while Charles was house boating at Lake Shasta.  The end of September brought another mid-west trip for Aidan and I--to Minneapolis and Kentucky this time to meet up with Charles' family.  Then we began a long stretch (2 1/2 months!) of not getting on an airplane until Christmas in South Carolina.  Our child LOVES seeing the suitcase come out of the closet and knows the drill at airports that's for sure.  He doesn't ever sleep well on vacation and it's usually exhausting for me, but totally worth it to see so many people I love.  This year's goal is to make it to the Northwest, there are WAY too many people I love in Portland and Seattle who I haven't seen in WAY too long!  I don't know when, but it's my goal!

Music: It wasn't the most eventful year music-wise.  I spent a lot of time listening to Elizabeth Mitchell and other folksy kids artists, and in December I introduced Aidan to my favorite Christmas song, The Little Drummer Boy.  Big mistake.  He's asked for it on repeat every day.  It is no longer my favorite Christmas song.  I discovered Daughtry's song Waiting for Superman, and for some reason I absolutely love it.  I don't know if it's the words, or sound but it is a great one.  I discovered the Derek Webb Pandora station and can't get enough of it.  Mellow, beautiful, worshipful songs that are a great way to start the day. 

Outings: I have tried getting out and exploring with Aidan as much as I can this year, now that he can walk and play it is so much fun!  And we've tried going on some fun family adventures when we can carve out the time.  The zoo was probably our most frequented spot, that season pass has more than paid for itself.  Aidan is obsessed with the play ground there, and I have to keep reminding him that the zoo also has these things called animals that we are going to see first.  I have found the gorillas to be my very favorite, and I really could stand and watch them for a long time.  Aidan and I are slowly learning the names of all the gorillas in the exhibit and he'll now point out Kelly (the big daddy gorilla).  We've found some amazing parks and play grounds around LA--any playground under the "Shane's Inspiration" design will be fantastic--all handicap accessible, lots of sensory things to experience, and ways to play at various skill levels.  I just found out they are building one about 1/4 mile from our home, complete with a splash pad and it will open this spring--we are quite excited!  We found Carney's Hot Dogs and enjoyed eating delicious dogs inside a choo-choo.  We stumbled upon the LA Holocaust museum by accident and were both in awe.  Trips to the train table at Barnes and Noble and Underwood Farms were our other favorite locations.  I love living within 30 minutes of SO many different options!

It was a year of learning, exploring, and growing, and we are looking forward to what 2014 holds for our family!