The Food Strategy

Call me crazy, but I really enjoy meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. I like finding ways to use what I have in my garden, my pantry, and my freezer. It taps into a creative part of me and often gives me the same high as a successful round of a strategy board game does (nerd alert). I still have days where I don't want to cook and where I use any excuse I can think of to get a pizza or go through a drive through, but overall, I find joy in managing the food in our family (aside from the mess - I make huge messes when I make food, and if I were to employ a helper in my home, it would be someone to follow me around and clean up after me).

This week has been quite triumphant in food. I'm probably going to sound like a braggart, but you know what? I'm excited and passionate, so I'm going to tell you about it.

First off, I went on a trip to Cedar City last weekend, and on the way home, we stopped at Rowley's Red Barn in Santaquin because they had strawberries for $1 a lb (remember when that used to be "normal?") I bought 8 lbs of strawberries, and then Sunday night, I bottled a double batch of jam. 

Now that the weather has "cooled" a bit, our garden has sprung back to life. On Monday I picked about 25 green peppers and two gallon-sized buckets of tomatoes. Scotty and I chopped up the peppers, bagged them, and froze them. I also froze some cherry tomatoes, which I use in the winter to make Chicken Margherita Skillet (which will make Cyndi happy because she introduced me to that recipe). Then I made a double batch of tomato soup, which I froze in individual portions for grab and go winter lunches (we also sampled some for lunch this week for quality control). 

My friend Julie brought me two boxes of apples from her tree (she is heaven sent - she even washed them!), so every day this week, I've prepped a bag of sliced apples (soaked in salt water to prevent browning) for everyone in the family for lunch/snacking. Then last night, Scotty and I made two batches of dehydrated apples, and I have two more batches drying as I am writing this (with six apples to spare). 

We had baked potatoes with last night's dinner, so I baked six extra potatoes because Zoe has been begging for Loaded Baked Potato Soup. Personally, I'm sick of that soup and won't want to eat any, but it's so easy to make when you have extra baked potatoes, and Zoe loves it, so I promised her I would make her some (despite it being 85 degrees today). 

Also on the agenda today, I will be browning 4 lbs of ground beef to prep sloppy joes, taco meat, and spaghetti sauce for an upcoming trip. They will be frozen, packed in a cooler, and then heated in a microwave in a hotel room. 

Tomorrow is our annual Dip Night - which will bring together three of my favorite things: food (DIP!), friends, and strategy board games. 

I will be trying out three new dip recipes:

Creamy Pork Pulled Pork Dip (strategy-wise, I have a batch of pulled pork in my freezer already, and I have all the other ingredients already and didn't have to buy anything - WIN!)

Easy Fried Pickle Dip (I also already have all the ingredients for this - WIN!)

Pumpkin Dip (I might not have pumpkin pie spice, but I feel like I can fake it - WIN!)

Chad's plate from our last Dip Night

His plating techniques needed to be documented

Today when I check the garden, if it's time for another mass tomato picking, I will be making taco soup to freeze.

(Update: there will be soup). 

But first, I need to pick up my grocery order from Smith's where I will be attaining 4x fuel points and getting $30 off a $75 purchase (which gives me the same rush as taking out an opponent in Risk).