The Challenge is On!

For Christmas, my mom bought us something that I have wanted forever.  A full-size, upright freezer.  Love at first sight does exist.  We sold our tiny 15-year old apartment-size freezer and brought in the monster.  Best addition to meal-planning and sales-stocking-up ever.  However, somehow, just a few months later (it was an early gift) that freezer is full!!  We have quite the stockpile of meat, snacks, fruit, baked goods, etc, to last forever in there!  I don't want anything to get freezer burned and I want to take advantage of the money we saved by buying things on sale, so my challenge for the next two weeks is:

AVOID THE GROCERY STORE

Allowable exceptions to this rule are the following staples that I cannot stock in advance:
- eggs
- milk
- bananas
- mushrooms, bell peppers
- Cameron's lunchbox items (yogurt, snacks, etc)
- baking ingredient if I run out of anything necessary

So any recipes that I choose must use ingredients that already exist in my pantry, fridge, freezer!

Cooking planned for tomorrow will involve some chicken that I cooked in the slow-cooker to be used as an ingredient for multiple dishes.  I made a list of a few ingredients that I have on hand and want to use, so that will guide my recipe selection this evening.  With the abundance of leftovers we had, I also made one too many casseroles last weekend, so one stayed in the freezer and will be saved for a busy week.

Slow-Cooker Chicken
1/2 cup soya sauce
1/2 cup honey
4-5 chicken breasts

This makes the most flavourful chicken for soups, wraps, salads, stir-fries, etc.  If you use thawed/fresh chicken, it doesn't take very long to cook in your slow-cooker.  Mix the sauce in the slow-cooker, toss in the chicken (turning pieces to coat with sauce) and cook on high for about 3 hours.  Then there is a lot of chicken cooked and ready for a few meals.  I tend to portion it in freezer bags and throw some back in the freezer for meals later in the week.

Portobello Mushroom Burgers (again)
We needed a quick lunch before Cameron's swimming class today, so I made Portobello mushroom burgers again.  They're so yummy!  I took pics this time, but followed the same recipe as last time (scroll through the link, it's near the bottom).

Running News!
I gave my new Gel Nimbus a trial on the treadmill this week.  They passed!  These are definitely my favourite running shoe, I have absolutely no desire to try another brand/model.  I hope to buy another pair when we go to San Diego this summer.  I've done a little research and it appears they have a Runner's Den there.  They're almost double the price here in Canada, so I tend to buy them when we go away.

In other running news, I have booked our hotel in Portland (Maine, not Oregon) for the weekend of the Maine Marathon.  I hope/plan/intend to run the half distance.  Depending on Trevor's ever-changing mind, he will either run the half as a training run for a later fall marathon or run the full marathon in Portland.  The weather is so random on the east coast in October.  It could be a gorgeous day or the middle of a hurricane. 

I still haven't signed up for my spring half marathon, but my self-imposed deadline to bite the bullet is getting close!  I am being so careful to keep a good mix of cross-training in my plan along with regular foam-rolling so that I don't suffer from some of the aches and pains that plagued me last year.

Must go get ready to go out for dinner with the family!