Nesting in the kitchen

Is it possible to nest in the kitchen?  I don't know what has gotten into me, but all of a sudden, I am preparing food like our very lives depend on it.  I mean, seriously...as if we were going to starve next week.

Plus, all this batch cooking talk has gotten into my head.

Plus, my husband is out of town.

And I tend to do crazy things when my husband is out of town...like cook and dust the ceiling fans and organize closets...  But anyway, we had all these tomatoes from the garden and I used a lot of them to make a batch of chili (which, by the way, was AMAZING with fresh tomatoes) but I still had quite a few left that needed used.

See?  Not enough to can and ground beef isn't on special this week to do spaghetti sauce.  And then I saw this link from Once a Month Mom, talking about freezing tomatoes.  So I decided to give it a go and it worked out great!  In fact, it only took me about an hour to get them all bagged up.  Now, I didn't chop them.  I called my resident expert (my mother in law) again and she recommended to just take off the skins and put the suckers in the bags whole (although I cut off the stem).  Once I got a few in a bag, I used my hands to smash them up so they'd lay down in a bag and then sealed them up.

I like having the juice when I'm doing sauce or chili, so I didn't want to lose all that by seeding and dicing them.  Of course, I did save a few...you know, for sandwiches... ;)

Ah...isn't that a thing of beauty...  And while I had the camera out, I found a couple hams at the table as well...

CHEESE!!!

DOUBLE CHEESE!!

So aside from the tomatoes, I've also been dreaming about mushrooms, mainly because I found packages of baby portobellos at the store on manager's special for $1!!  For six big ones!!   So I brought home three packages and have been planning a mess of cream of mushroom soup - which I love to make and bag up for roasts or rice or chicken...mmmmm...

Here was my proof...as if you didn't believe me...

So this morning, as the girls ate breakfast, I started on the soup and still had a ton of mushrooms left over (who knew those things produced so much?!) so I sauteed up the rest to bag and freeze.  I can see these over hamburgers or steaks or meatloaf or roasts...can you tell I'm ready for cold weather food?

Now, the problem then became my freezer...

It takes a strong woman to show her messy freezer, people, and my sudden case of nesting has resulted in a small avalanche every time you open the door.  So I needed to get to work.  I haven't tackled the deep freezer yet, but made some pretty good improvements in the kitchen.

Why yes, my name is Annie and I am anal.  These are long leftover containers that I had lost the lids to anyway and were just taking up space in my cabinets.  Problem solved!!  And don't you worry about where that big box of cookies went...you just calm your pretty head about that one...

In other news, we went to the doctor today - and by we, I mean my posse and myself.  I was just a little nervous about how they might act but they did great and were actually on their best behavior, which just shows that miracles DO exist.  We got to hear the little heart beat and that woosh woosh woosh sound got both of their attention and captured my heart. 

It's hard in these early stages before you can feel the little booger and I just wanted that heart beat as justification, I guess...you know, before it starts punching the mess out of my innards.

We are 13 weeks and yes, plan to find out the sex - mainly because I am the most impatient person in the world.  Plus, if it's a boy, we are in a mess of trouble in the clothes department! 

Hope you all are having a great day and let me know if you have begun experimenting with this batch cooking thing...and if you, too, are a freezer hoarder...maybe we could start a support group.  I'll bring cookies...  ;)