Sunday Soup Kitchen Partner's in Cooking!

So today was AMAZING and sooo much fun!  Cooking with a friend made it easier, different, and we ended up with TONS of food for our freezer!

In total we spent around $100 between the both of us and made all sorts of goodness for only $50 each!  I can't believe the amount of food I went home with :)

There are many important factors we had to keep in mind to make this go off without a hitch:

1.  Organization
2.  High quantity of food
3.  Grocery list completed in advance
4.  Groceries purchased in advance
5.  Recipes printed/on hand
6.  And for me - loading everything up in the car to bring to her house!

We each purchased our own groceries for two meals each that we were going to make, and double, and bringing enough stuff from our pantry for banana bread chocolate chip muffins, and I bought the fixins for a batch of pizza pinwheels for our kids.

When I showed up on her doorstep I had to take a picture of all that I came with because it was beyond ridiculous.  The hubby asked me where the heck I was going with all that stuff!  Used every single thing in my baskets/bags.  We had so much fun prepping, chatting and catching up, and cooking up a storm in what was only 4 hours in total!

So we made two slow cooker meals which we got prepped and in the crockpots right away as they both took 4 hours on high to make.  Perfect timing with everything else we were making while those meals were on the go.

I made a white bean chicken chili was was easy, and smells divine!  The only thing I did in advance prior to getting to her house, was dice the chicken in advance.  Side note:  I HATE touching raw chicken.  Biggest pet peeve ever!

http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/white-chicken-and-corn-chili.html

My friend made a delicious squash and chickpea curry that made a huge batch as well and tastes YUM!

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/slow_cooker_squash_and_chickpea_curry.php

So while our meals were cooking in the crockpot we began our other recipes.

My friend made a ridiculously yummy stuffed meatloaf.  The recipe is from a cookbook which I forgot to take a picture of, but here is a recipe link that is similar to the one she made:

 http://www.food.com/recipe/mushroom-stuffed-meatloaf-59160

She used a combination of ground beef and ground chicken.  I can't wait to try it out this week!  We didn't cook it, just wrapped the meatloaf in tin foil to be cooked whenever we want to make it.  I have one in the freezer and one in my fridge :)

Next up I was working on a blackbean, corn, and red pepper salad with a lime/cilantro vinaigrette.  We each tried a bowl of the finished product - to die for!  I've placed my baggies of the salad in the freezer to use at a later date :)

http://www.onceuponachef.com/2010/08/black-bean-salad-with-corn-red-peppers-avocado-lime-cilantro-vinaigrette.html

After we finished up these recipes we made some of Miriam's Sunday Soup Kitchen staples:  Banana bread choco-chip muffins, and pizza pinwheels.  Her kiddies taste tested the finished product and they were a hit!  Into the freezer they all went!

We were so impressed with all the food we made, and we've made a pact to keep this up once a month, get together, cook, and share some laughs all while filling our freezer for our families.

This last pic made my day - the complete batch cooking!

And remember, it only cost us $50 each - AMAZING.

Happy cooking to all my peeps!

Batch cooking with a friend this Sunday!

Been a little slacker over the last week..got hit with a mega cold so soup kitchen didn't happen last weekend :(

Thank goodness this Sunday is the day that a friend and I are getting together in her kitchen to cook up a storm!

We've been planning this out for weeks now..what to make..grocery shopping lists...and how to do it!

We're going to get together first thing in the morning and cook in one kitchen, each making two dinners and double batching them so we will walk away with four meals each!  Plus we're going to bake some muffins double batch style, and pizza rolls double batch as well.  We'll have some yummy stuff in the freezer.  Thank goodness for big chest freezers.  Last week when I was sick I had tons of dinners in there that I pulled out!

Over the last few days we had barbacoa beef tacos, chicken noodle soup, shepherds pie, and then one day of "brupper" - a.k.a. breakfast for supper - bacon and eggs!  Kids always love it when it's a brupper night.

So for this Sunday the line up is:

I'm making chicken and white bean chili in the crockpot, and a big batch of blackbean/corn/red pepper salad that goes awesome as a huge side to a meal.

The chicken/corn/white bean chili recipe is here:

www.hamiltonbeach.com/white-chicken-and-corn-chili.html

The black bean salad with corn/red peppers/avocado/lime/cilantro is here:

www.onceuponachef.com/2010/08/black-bean-salad-with-corn-red-peppers-avocado-lime-cilantro-vinaigrette.html

This salad will go in the freezer, but I won't add the avocados till the day we pull it out and eat it - avocados don't freeze well, or refrigerate well in my opinion after you have opened and cut it up.  So unless you want brown avocado mush in it I wouldn't add that until the day of.

Thinking of also making our garlic soup as it always makes a huge double batch and then she can have a batch too in her freezer.

I'll be bringing all my ingredients and my crockpot.  Completed my grocery shopping for everything as well!  All set!

My friend will be making some yummy stuffed meatloaves (will post recipe Sunday) and a vegetarian dish - a squash and chickpea curry which you can find the recipe for here:

www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/slow_cooker_squash_and_chickpea_curry.php

What are you cooking/baking this weekend?

Another post to follow after Sunday's cook-a-thon!

The beginning of something great!

I have wanted to start a blog for awhile now.  Life gets so busy I've just never sat down and taken the time.  I decided a week ago to make it my mission to get it up and running this week and with this first post I officially have completed my goal!

I started what we call in this house "Sunday Soup Kitchen" about 3 years ago after I went back to work after being on maternity leave with my second child.  I had a lot of fear about how our work/school/daycare weeknights would be when we would have two furious children at 5:30 when I get home from work, that just want their dinner and want it IMMEDIATELY.  That seriously scared me.

So after talking about it with the Mr., I decided a few weeks before going back that I would dedicate every Sunday (at least a few hours of it) to cooking a weeks worth of dinners, muffins for school snack, and healthy adult lunches for work (HATE eating leftovers the next day FYI).  It was torture at first - don't forget I used to despise cooking back then.  BUT, it has now become ritual, and honestly it is such a creative outlet that I really look forward to the prepping, cooking, and AMAZING aromas that come with cooking healthy meals for my family.  Dinners have been amazing since I started Sunday Soup Kitchen!  There is still weeknight stress, don't get me wrong.  BUT, it's at least a little more manageable.

Many people ask me "where do you find all your recipes"? The answer is - from all over!  I love social media.  Anyone close to me knows that :)  Pinterest is a great app that has people all over posting and sharing some amazing recipes.  My recipe board on Pinterest is loaded with recipes I've tried once, tried many times, or haven't yet tried.  I also have a lot of friends on Facebook that post some awesome recipes and pictures and I love recipe swapping with them too.  It's great when you know that someone has tried the recipe, it works, and it's good!

On a Friday, I begin my grocery list for that Saturday.  I buy everything I need on Saturday morning usually with one of my little kiddie sidekicks along for the ride.  I also have my list of what recipes I'm going to make and what day we're going to eat them on.  It may sound ridiculous to be this organized about it, but it's the only way to make it work if you want to do batch cooking on ONE DAY.  Organization is KEY.

I also have to say, that my Sunday Soup Kitchen wouldn't be possible without a husband who keeps the kids busy while this mama cooks up a storm!

So sit back, enjoy the recipe ride, and I hope learn some tricks of the trade that I've picked up along the years.  If I can make it easier for one person out there in their kitchen, I'll feel that this blog was worth it :)

Miriam