Noelle likes Good Food

The freezers are full and I am done! I did the grocery shopping on Wednesday last week and finally finished today ( Tuesday ). I thought it was a good idea to spread out the cooking with having work/church/etc. But I have to admit that I got really sick of being in the kitchen. I am glad this ordeal is over. Though it was totally worth it, and I know we will enjoy the results in the busy nights that are coming.  Here are the pictures!  Chili is Chris' favorite food, so I made sure to make plenty of it! I got 7 bags each with 8 cups of chili.  I cooked the rice with chicken broth. For the beans I cooked them with beef broth, sliced jalapenos, garlic and onions. I kept some of the beans by themselves, and the rest I added to a bowl with fresh corn, mushrooms, onions and peppers as filling for enchiladas or quesadillas.  It is hard to make a picture of beans to look good. haha Though it did taste really good and will make some delici...

It is that time of year again for freezer cooking! I start school back in two weeks and I wanted to have a few stand-by meals in the freezer for when things get crazy this fall. I will be working part-time and taking a 16 credit hour load at school and Chris will be assisting with the high school marching band. That means lots of late nights at class for me and late night rehearsals after school for Chris.  I am switching things up this year and the only full meals I am making are chili and chicken and rice bake. For the rest I am making more separate items like sauces, blanched veggies, and pre-cooked meats so it will still be a breeze to put dinner together but we have more variety and more options. I am also spacing it out a little more this year. Last year I did everything in 3 days and my poor freezers took forever to catch up. Also, because I packed everything into the freezer without it freezing right away, all the bags got stuck together and trying to get the...

In May, Chris bought me 2 aloe plants from the local high school FFA! I have been wanting aloe plants for a long time but I have never gone out to buy them. It was a wonderful surprise! The best part was that one of the plants had a ton of pups (new growth from the mother plant).  I took the whole plant out of the pot, I knocked off some of the dirt so I could see the roots and separated out each pup with as much root growth as possible for each one. I was able to separate out around 14 little pups!  The four biggest pups were planted in clay pots with leaf mulch, and the rest were planted throughout the garden. Aloe is apparently very easy to care for. I keep my aloe inside, and only water when the leaves feel squishy instead of firm (I give them a good soak once every 3-4 weeks). It can't get any easier than that! The photos above were taken in early May when I got the plants. Today, 3 months later, I took a few more. The transplant is already pr...

This garden update is long overdue. I haven't been out to the garden much lately because I can't walk outside without being attacked by swarms of mosquitos! This afternoon however was breezy and sunny  so I weeded in the garden, harvested a few things and took some pictures!! My cucumber plants look very wilted in this picture, but that is just because of the afternoon sun. The two plants are producing very well.  Okra started from seed on the left, stevia that overwintered on the right. I have loved using homegrown stevia to sweeten my morning herbal infusion s.  All my tomato plants have taken off. However, there is a major shortage of sun where I planted the tomatoes, so most of it is greenery. I have counted about 10 tomatoes on all 8 plants. There are only a few, but I am know they will be delicious! Counting down the days until these beauties ripen. My 4 tomatillo plants have been producing much better. I have already harvested 8 t...