Once-a-month cooking

Remember me talking about wanting to do once-a-month cooking to put in the freezer? (Which, btw, that post was intended to be funny, not begging for cookbooks. But that's ok. Thanks for all of your comments on cookbooks you've used or know of!) Well, BJ's mom gave me a birthday present of Dream Dinners. (Which, if anyone decides to give it a try, list me as a reference so I can get credit to do it again!) They tasted really good, but I didn't think I could justify paying for every month. But it was an awesome gift at a perfect time. (Who wants to cook when they have a newborn?) Then my sister, Jalin, tipped me off to Once A Month Mom, a website that plans a menu for once-a-month cooking for two families of four, including a shopping list, menus, and step-by-step instructions for the most efficient way to cook everything. I decided that I wanted to try it. I talked to our friend, Bonnie, to see if she wanted to do it with me. (It is set up for 2 families, after all.) She jumped on the chance, and off we went. Last Saturday was the big cooking day. And now I tell the story… with pictures!

Here is most of the food we started out with. Not pictured are three crockpots already cooking, and several pounds of chicken and hamburger.

This is how Ella helped out. (Remarkably, she was actually really good for the entire time.)

BJ came along to help keep the girls all entertained.

But he also helped out with the cooking when it was needed.

By the end, he was plumb tuckered out. (It didn't help that he did a Lord of the Rings marathon the night before and was running on 1.5 hours of sleep.)

This is Bonnie's daughter Ellie (and Sarah, BJ and Kessa (in a wrap) in the background). This picture doesn't do justice to how messy she got.

Perhaps this picture of Sarah will give you a better idea. Yes, she dunked her entire hand into the carmel dip.

Somehow I managed to not get any good pictures of me, and none of Bonnie at all. I guess the two of us were just too busy working. (Or, perhaps, too busy taking pictures of other people?) Anyway, fun times were had all around. And I somehow managed to get all of my freezer meals into my fridge-freezer with room to spare. I am that awesome.