Food Swap

Well ever since hearing about Once a Month Cooking last year at MOPS I have wanted to do something to have meals in my freezer...but I just didn't want to dedicate an entire weekend to cooking. So some friends and I decided to do a food swap. We decided that we would each make two recipes. We would make 5 batches of both recipes (one for every body that was doing the swap) and then we would all get together and swap meals and end up with 10 different meals for our freezer. This was our first time to do this and I haven't had the meals yet...but I can already tell you that I LOVE this. I think we are going to try to do this once a month.

Now let me tell you the story of how I had to throw my first meal in the trash. I will try not to cry as I relive this. Ha!! I made a family recipe called mexican delight--think a mexican lasagna type casserole. We love it. I make this all the time so it isn't a new recipe. I was cooking everything but the noodles in one huge pot. I guess there was so much in it that I wasn't stirring the bottom of the pot. And then as I went to add in the Velveeta the pot started to overflow and make a mess so I was taking care of that. When I went to mix it into the noodles I noticed that there was a little bit burnt to the bottom of the pan but the all of the rest of it looked perfect so I mixed it with noodles and put it into 11 pans. (This recipe makes a ton so I was splitting it up so they would have the option of having it for two dinners if they wanted.) I wrapped it in foil and wrote the heating directions on them all and was giddy at being done with the meal.

The next night I pulled my two out of the fridge because I was making dinner for the small group and thought I would be smart and just cook those in the oven so I could finish my second meal for the swap (turkey and black bean chili). I put it in the oven. Just as I had finished my chili and was just overjoyed that I was already done and could just leisurely clean and hang out the rest of the week, I took the mexican delight out of the oven. Matt had just walked in and snuck one of the noodles. His face winced. Winced, people. My heart sank because I knew something wasn't right...He very gently told me that it tasted "burnt and smokey". I was like, "well we haven't melted the rest of the velveeta on top...maybe that will help." So we tried. It didn't. Sigh. We got them out of the freezer to see if it was just a couple of them. IT WAS NOT. It was ALL ELEVEN pans!!!!!!! This hurts to see. Guys...if it would have been in the least bit edible. We would have just kept them in our freezer because I can not stand to waste food. It tasted like charcoal. I wish I could tell you that I handled it like a "big girl". But it would be a lie. I broke into a flat out ugly cry. Matt was very sweet for about thirty minutes...and then he told me it was time to move on...nobody died. Ha! I said I had to go to bed because I was too tired to pull myself together.

My AMAZING husband cooked went to the store the next day at lunch and then after we got back from our date last night he cooked 10 pounds of taco meat for our swap. He is my hero!!

Even with that fiasco--I am SO EXCITED about this food swapping thing. My friend Rebekah made lasagna and chicken enchiladas, Jennifer made taco soup and spaghetti sauce, Brittany made southwestern eggrolls and three cheese pasta, Stacey made chicken chili and chicken spaghetti and I ended up making turkey and black bean chili and taco meat. (Jennifer has links of her post of the different recipes.)

My freezer is full of yummy meals and I am looking forward to 10 cooking free days this month!!

Also local friends--if you are reading this and thinking--I want to do this! We would love for you to join us!!!