Tough Beans

Photo credit: alocuba.com


I'm so excited! I was beginning to think that I was the only person who could not cook dried beans. I have tried many recipes "maybe I used the wrong spices", and all the methods I could find "maybe I read it wrong"; they always turn out tough, and dry inside. I just discovered the reason! The calcium in hard water doesn't let the beans cook through. Oh!

Well, at least it's not just me.

AND THEN I also found the cure... a heaping tablespoon of baking soda in the soaking water and in the cooking water!

The first time, I put only a pinch of soda in the bottom of my crockpot and cooked it on low for 11 hours. The bottom beans were sort of done. The top beans were not.

Second time, I put a heaping tablespoon of soda in the soaking water and stirred to distribute the soda evenly. After soaking, I drained the beans and added another heaping tablespoon for the whole crockpot of dried beans. Stirred again and then cooked it 11 hours on low and they were WAY overdone. Yea! Baking soda works!


As a side, a friend told me that she lets her beans soak 24 hours and it has eliminated any gas "after affect" problems. Worth a try!

Menu Monday... Feb 28

This had been a crazy week! Monday, I went shopping and froze 80lbs of chicken. Tuesday I had the flu. Wednesday and Thursday I sat in meetings and ran errands. Friday I stayed home for once! And Saturday I went shopping (there was a big sale on clothing). By Sunday the house was a wreck!! And we wanted to throw an imprompto party! Thankfully, an hour of help from my husband went a long, long ways!

This week I'm going to focus on taking 15 minutes to play with the children every day. I love being a mother, but they won't be small forever. I want to enjoy them while I have them!


Here's a few things I've made in the past two weeks:
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oh, yum!! An egg free cookie that won't crumble!

Hot and Sweet Drumsticks

White Chicken Chili
I used leftover Hot n Sweet for the chicken and it was good! We aren't huge chicken fans, so we liked this better than eating the whole drumsticks.

Baked Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes
These are good! My husband even said they were, so they really must be. :) I've actually used this ideas to make other pancake recipes also, when I didn't have time to flip pancakes.

Menu planning this past week was sort of a joke; we survived from the freezer! This week I actually made a plan. Here are a few meals on the menu...

M... Meatballs and potato rounds

T... Baked macaroni n cheese

W... Salsa chicken

Th... Mexican chicken

F... Tex mex chicken n rice

S... Biscuits n gravy

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday and Susie QT Pie meal planning .

Paige

Chicken marinade day...

I buy my chicken in bulk, so I was thrilled to come across this wonderful post on freezer meals. From it, I gleaned the idea of adding marinade to the chicken before freezing it. Then it will marinade while thawing!

Twice as fast! And, for me, twice as easy! I have to repackage my chicken anyway when I buy it, so why not add a few more ingredients to the ziplock bag, and be another big step ahead??



I put the ziplock bags in old containers, for ease of filling. Can you tell that we eat lots of cottage cheese? And that I'm a pack rat who can't throw anything away? :)

Put the marinade in first, then added the chicken. Mushed it around a bit and it's ready to freeze!

My New Weekly Routine

I have been working my brain for the last 6 weeks trying to make a perfect weekly schedule. This is the first true trial week. I'm not sure if I like it or not; I'm more stressed out then before.

But I think my problem is trying to deal with the future instead of just this week. "How am I ever going to get everything done when it's gardening season? When I start homeschooling?" Panic!

Or maybe I feel like I must finish EVERYTHING on my schedule each day, whereas previously I shrugged and said, "I've done my best; tomorrow's another day."
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Whatever the case, I have GOT to relax in order to keep a shred of sanity!

I'm going to stick with it another 2 weeks, tho, and see how it goes. I think, deep down in, that I really do like my plan. I just need to realize that I'm not super woman and stop cramming too much into one day!!

Here's my schedule:
Everyday Wash dishes. Unload/load dishwasher. Laundry (at least one load).

Monday Cleaning Day. I usually have a lot of Laundry, too. Basically, I pick up clutter, Sweep n vacuum the dirty areas (entry and kitchen/dining room), and Swish n swipe the bathroom.

Tuesday Errand and Desk Day. You know, pay bills and go to town. This isn't new; I started doing this years ago.

Wednesday Mini Clean n Prep Day. Split purpose today: pick up clutter, swish n swipe the spare bathroom, do all I can to prepare for a big day tomorrow.

Thursday Cooking Day. I try to cook 12-20 meals to eat/freeze. Sometimes, when I get ahead, I'll use this day to make breakfasts or to bake instead.

Friday Cleaning Day. Pick up, swish n swipe bathroom, sweep n vacuum each room, wash bedsheets and other extra laundry.

Saturday Catch up Day. I lay out our clothes for tomorrow and then I use this day to do whatever I didn't get done all week. Or if I go away on Wednesday, I can shift all my days and still manage. I also want to work on sewing projects, which desperately need done. Baking, cheese making, etc.

Sunday is church and no housework! But even this day is seldom long enough; maybe child care takes more time than I thought. :)

For the rest of the week, I'm going to attempt to calm my spirit by
(1). getting a nap shutting my eyes for 15 minutes every day and
(2). Remind myself daily that "My schedule is not a to-do list that I must accomplish; it merely tells me where to set my focus for the day."
(3). Whenever I start to feel panicky, I'm going to stop what I'm doing, set the timer for 2 minutes and enjoy my family.

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What do you do to remain calm in spite of your mountain of work?