Gobble Gobble

"Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, let these gifts to us be blessed."

That is the blessing that my Grandpa said from the head of the table at every family meal we ever shared together. This was our first Thanksgiving without him and Grandma, and although it was bittersweet, I am still reminded that we have so much to be thankful for. 

Despite the loss of two family members, we were also graced with the addition of both Kiley and Kinley this year. And as we each experienced and processed our grief, we were reminded by an outpouring of support and love that we remain surrounded by a vast community of family and friends.

I have also learned that the close relationship I had with my grandparents was incredibly rare and special. And although that made the subsequent heartbreak of their loss almost unbearable, I am so thankful that I had so many wonderful years with them.

We spent Thanksgiving this year at my parents' new house, where my grandparents lived for more than 50 years. It was wonderful to come back there again and spend the holiday together as a family. I think it would have made Grandpa and Grandma very happy. 

My sister Erin volunteered to be in charge of the menu and cooking this year, and she did a fantastic job!

I was in charge of desserts, which included Grandma's classic — jello with marshmallows. 

I also made a heroic attempt at her famous blueberry pie... but unfortunately it didn't really turn out. I'll keep practicing!

Getchman ladies in the kitchen. It's changed a bit, but it's still the same space where Grandma prepared us so many delicious meals.

Ryder also starred in a pretty fantastic preschool Thanksgiving program... What a cute little turkey!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with food, family, and friends, and that the coming year brings joy and laughter for all.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!

I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating with all your nearest and dearest.

Merry Christmas from the Getchman Family!
Sometimes it's just impossible to get a 2-year-old to cooperate for the annual family Christmas photo. This is the best we got...

We typically celebrate Christmas in my home town at my parents' house, and this year we arrived a couple days early for some extra quality time and relaxation. 

Almost as soon as we arrived, my brother and his beautiful wife revealed some super exciting news!

YAY! Ryder is getting another cousin this August!

After a day of lounging around doing nothing except eating, napping, and watching Christmas movies, Stew and I left Ryder with my parents for the day while we headed up to Seattle for the Christmas Eve Seahawks game versus the Cardinals.

Bundled up and the icy cold tailgate. I forgot how much colder tailgating is when you're sober...

It was an awesome day out with Stew and our friends, but unfortunately the Christmas miracle we prayed for at the end of the game just didn't end up panning out... 

However, Ryder had a fantastic Christmas Eve at home, baking cookies with Uncle AJ and Aunt Morgan, and making a gingerbread house with Nana. 

After the game, we went home to enjoy our traditional Christmas Eve meal of Chinese take out before we all settled down for our long winter's nap. Of course that was after Stewart stayed up until almost midnight putting together Ryder's Christmas present. 

Christmas morning was quite a blur, at least for the littlest Alway.

Ryder got a three story wooden fire station, complete with all the accessories. He was thrilled and literally hasn't stopped playing with it since.

Sometimes you just really gotta get in there...

And not to worry... Santa brought him his blue dump truck.

Later that morning, we had our traditional Christmas brunch with my dad's side of the family.

Heck yeah, we rock those Christmas jammies ALL. DAY. LONG.

My lovely, adorable grandparents.

Cousins!

Christmas Night family snuggles. Check out that amazing Paw Patrol quilt that Aunt Morgan made for Ryder!

On the day after Christmas, we always go over to Grandma Sally's house. 

My mom has 14 brothers and sisters, and I have almost 30 first cousins, so we typically like to avoid the chaos that ensues over there on Christmas Day. Instead, we head over on the day after for a nice, quiet visit with Grandma. 

Ryder gets an epic fail for his cooperation in family photos this year. This is the best I could get...

Once again I was blown away by the generosity and thoughtfulness of our friends and family this year. 

And a HUGE shout out has to go out to everyone for all their lovely holiday cards! We almost ran out of room on the fridge!

From our family to yours, we hope that you had yourself a merry little Christmas and that from now on your troubles will be miles away.

An Alway Family Christmas

When celebrating holidays with multiple family loyalties, the key is to be flexible about dates. 

The holiday season technically lasts for a couple of months, so as long as everyone is fairly easy-going about the whole situation, it's pretty simple to make time to celebrate with everyone you love. 

This year we had Christmas with the Alway Family the weekend before the "official" holiday, and it was so much fun... like a bonus preview Christmas!

Photography by Mark Alway.

Patty and I spent the morning baking dozens of Christmas cookies, and thanks to her master chef talents, I think they turned out really well! 

Not that I need to be eating any, although Baby Sister probably would have appreciated the holiday sugar rush. 31 weeks and counting...

Finally it was time to open presents!

It was such a generous and thoughtful display of gift-giving this year! Ryder was especially thrilled with his Thomas the Train and Paw Patrol gear.

Although I like presents as much as the next girl, my favorite part of Christmas is just sitting around with family... hanging out, chatting, watching movies, cooking, etc. 

I'm so thankful for the Alway Family and their willingness to be flexible about our holiday traditions. We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with them, and I look forward to making many more memories in the years to come.

Have a holly, jolly Christmas, everyone!

One Month of Freezer Meals in One Day

I love to eat. And I try to cook and eat healthy whenever I can. But I'm also super lazy about food. I hate recipe planning, shopping, and cooking. My most recent solution?

 

A month's worth of freezer meals in just one day!

 

My friend Jessica and I got together one Sunday a while back and spend the entire day preparing healthy, yummy meals for our freezers that lasted an entire month!

 

Here's how we did it.

 

 

We started by choosing seven recipes that we thought would work well as freezer meals.

 

{click titles for printable recipes}

 

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

Creamy Chicken Quinoa and Broccoli Casserole

Pizza Quinoa Casserole

Skinny Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese

Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo

Slow Cooker Quinoa Chicken Chili

Thai Red Curry with Chicken and Snow Peas

 

Then we doubled each recipe and compiled a shopping list in Excel that incorporated all of the ingredients we would need. It ended up having 55 line items (not including some items we already had at home in our fridges, pantries, and spice racks).

 

While shopping, we also stocked up on disposable aluminum freezer trays and gallon size Ziplock freezer bags.

 

 

$180 later, we were ready to start cooking.

 

 

We started by organizing our recipes and ingredients, washing our produce, and dividing up the recipes between the two of us. We still weren't quite sure how long this was going to take, or exactly how much we had committed to...

 

 Then we spent some time chop chop chopping while we pre-cooked the breasts of about a dozen chickens.

 

 

We each took on three recipes and worked alongside for about six and a half hours, teaming up at the end for the final recipe. By that time we were definitely over cooking, but we were glad we pushed through and finished everything.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each dish got a specific label including cooking/re-heating instructions so they could easily be popped in the oven or slow cooker by a spouse as needed.

We were curious to see if freezing, thawing, and re-cooking would have any effect on the dishes.

Reviews

{click titles for printable recipes}

 

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake -- Yay!
This recipe might have been the least healthy of the bunch, which is probably why it was so delicious. It made a TON, which meant meals for several days, and although it got a little dried out with re-heating, adding some sour cream, guacamole, or salsa fixed that right up.
 

Creamy Chicken Quinoa and Broccoli Casserole -- Meh.
This one had a lot of promise and probably would have been very good fresh. Unfortunately, freezing and re-heating really did a number on the broccoli, which was mushy and yucky by the time we ate it. In hindsight, I probably would have made it without the broccoli and then served some fresh veggies on the side instead. That being said, this one was pretty labor intensive and the portions weren't very big, so I probably wouldn't make it again.

Pizza Quinoa Casserole -- Boo.
I had made this recipe before and absolutely loved it. However, it did not make for a great freezer meal. Upon reheating, the quinoa got super mushy and the veggies seemed much less fresh. I ate it the first night we made it, but after that I couldn't choke down any more (although Stew did finish a bit more over the next couple days). Jessica said she had better luck by cooking it in the oven for much longer to dry it out a bit. But I'd say this dish is definitely better enjoyed fresh.

Skinny Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese -- Yay!

This was definitely my favorite of the bunch (but I'm a sucker for mac 'n' cheese in any form). I don't know how "skinny" it actually was (it sure used a lot of cheese) but it was so ooey-gooey and delicious. For some reason the broccoli didn't seem to get as ruined by re-heating in this recipe as it did in the others. But just to be safe, I would probably skip the broccoli when making this again and just add fresh veggies on the side.

Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo -- Meh.
I actually really liked this dish, but that may be because we ate it the week after our freezer meal prep marathon, which means I never actually froze it. Jessica ate hers a few weeks later and said that the pasta got really dried out. Additionally, this recipe was pretty labor intensive and didn't make huge portions, so I think we'd probably skip it as a freezer meal in the future.

Slow Cooker Quinoa Chicken Chili -- Yay!
I've made this one before as well. Slow cooker chilies are my favorite, so I was pretty excited about having some on hand in the freezer to just dump into the Crock Pot. As a freezer meal, it turned out really well! Basically all we had to do was combine all the ingredients in a big pot and then portion it into freezer bags. After a quick thaw under running water one morning before work, I just dumped it over some chicken breasts and then when I got home we had delicious chili ready for dinner. It was better cheese added on top (of course).

Thai Red Curry with Chicken and Snow Peas -- Meh.
This is another one I have made before and absolutely loved. But unfortunately, it didn't turn out so well as a freezer meal. My main problem with it was that the snow peas got all yucky after being frozen and thawed. However, I think you could make the curry sauce, freeze it, and then add fresh chicken and veggies when you re-heat it later, and that would still be yummy.

Costs

A quick cost/benefit analysis clearly shows that our little cooking adventure ended up being worth our time.

Each freezer meal ended up costing $12.89 on average. However, many of the larger ones provided a couple rounds of leftovers, which brought the cost of each meal down even further. For example, Stew and I had enough Skinny Baked Broccoli Mac and Cheese to eat over three different sittings (so six good-sized portions overall). That breaks down to just $2.14 per person, per meal (complete with protein, healthy carbs and veggies) -- a steal!

Granted, we had to take into consideration the cost of our time. It took time to research recipes, develop a grocery list, shop, and then do the actual cooking. But overall, everything probably didn't take any more time than one typical workday. And as a reward, we had a bunch of healthy, delicious meals on hand -- a wonderful alternative to picking up fast food or eating out. We didn't eat freezer meals every single day, but chose to space them out over a month, heating one up every few days or so when it was most convenient.

Thoughts

We did learn a few things. When we do this again (which we plan to), we will definitely do some prep work on our own in advance. Pre-cooking chicken breasts, quinoa, and brown rice the night before would definitely have saved us some time.

We also learned that unless the meals were pulled out of the freezer in advance and thawed overnight in the refrigerator, cooking times needed to be dramatically increased.

In the future, we'll definitely be a little more selective about the recipes we choose, making only those that are actually meant to be frozen and eaten later. Or, alternately, if recipes call for veggies, we would leave them out and then make a note to add them when the dish is re-heated instead.

Overall, I definitely think our first adventure in freezer meals was a huge success. We learned a few things for next time, had a really fun day hanging out, and looked like domestic goddesses to our husbands every time we served another delicious meal with seemingly almost no prep.

Yum Yum!