From the Kitchen

Our tastebuds have been on a culinary adventure this past week, and after a freezer meal workshop courtesy of a sweet host and WildTree, there are more tasty dinners headed our way.

Let's have dessert on the docket first, why don't we. I think I posted the recipe (or at least link) for these before but Fall is not complete until these cookies from Bakerella come out of the kitchen. This year, they've made an appearance, but Fall has not. Small details. That just means when it cools off I can make them again. They are and will be on any Fall "Bucket" list our family has! Seriously, so good.

To balance the need for dessert every night (thanks to those beauties above), I decided a nice chopped salad would be fitting. By chopped, I mean chopped. This is bagged lettuce. Not.Small.Enough.

That lettuce pile turned into this spicy creation courtesy of Pinterest. I left out the corn purposefully but totally forgot the black beans in putting it together. The dressing for this salad does not mess around with its kick, so spice-sensitive palates, be warned. 

My pregnant self loves Italian, particularly red sauce, so of course this pepperoni roll from AP's Hey That's Pintastic Link-Up caught my eye. The original recipe didn't call for pizza sauce, but come on, if Momma can't hit the sauce, Momma's gotta eat the sauce! This meal was a huge hit, so easy, and will probably make the rotation. 

On Sunday I spent a little over an hour preparing 10 meals (courtesy of a WildTree party) that would be stored in the freezer for easy use. Sounds awesome right? It was. Totally convenient? No. Completely price-saavy? No.

I spent over an hour on trips to two different stores on Saturday to pick up the meats required for the workshop.  On Sunday morning I spent at least an hour prepping the meats by peeling shrimp and chopping up chicken breasts. 

That being said, I had a great afternoon with friends. It was a wonderful set-up, and you take products home to recreate the meals possibly one more time. 

The process itself was easy. Dump ingredients in bag according to a given list. So simple. 

I have no idea where the Skittles come in! 

I'm pretty excited to try our dishes, and my only qualm is that I can't save these in the freezer until Baby  #2 is born. There is a three month freezer life and we will slightly miss that. I think I have some ideas to prep my own food for those months though.

And then there's this, which technically isn't from the kitchen, but when your Aunt Ali sends Halloween goodies and you check the mail at 10:00 a.m., a certain two somebodies are sharing a Twix bright and early. 

Happy Eating, y'all!