Happy Birthday Taylor!

Happy Birthday Taylor

My children have a bad habit of picking birthday themes that are almost impossible to do. (And also Halloween costumes that are impossible to make, but that is a different story.)

So when Taylor announced that he wanted a Skylanders birthday party, I knew it would not be easy.
That is a new game.
They do not have that birthday theme in the store and they do not have it online.
It does not exist.

But he was insistent.
I tried to order a Skylanders cake but they don't make those either.
I have a lady that I have always used that could have built me a dragon cake, but she closed her shop here in town, so...
I decided to make Taylor some cupcakes with a  "Portal of Power" style like the Skylanders game.

That brings up a strange problem considering that this is a blog about preparing food is mass quantity and freezing it so that your family has home made food to eat.

I cannot bake.


Cakes don't rise.


Pies don't set. 

Brownies dry out.

Even cornbread crumbles.

I cannot bake.

But Taylor did not ask for a lot.
He did not want a lot of people there (just two friends to come play the video game with him).
He did not want a very expensive present (just this one video game).
But my baby wanted a Skylanders cake, so I gave the cupcakes a shot.
They tasted fine and the cake did rise. (I cheated and used a boxed mix!).
They certainly did not look like the Portal of Power from the game but my son was impressed.
Mama made him a Skylanders cake and that was all he wanted.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

When It Really Matters!

I have never really been much of an outdoor person. 
There are bugs there.
And its hot. 
I just prefer my air conditioned, bug free home. 

That is until  I caught a very bad case of  "make the house look prettier by planting roses" from my sister Laurel and my friend Laura.
So on Friday of last week, I found myself outside digging up the last of the weeds in the front flower beds so that I could plant something called Knockout Roses.
Without too much detail, I "lifted, twisted, turned" wrong while working with a shovel and I was down like a shot.
What followed was a blur of  PAIN (that I will not bore you with) and I found myself on the couch at my friend Laura's house until Ty could get to me.

I spent three days in the bed before returning to work on Monday where I walked like an 80 year old woman (according to my 9 year old daughter Lilli).
I still have not gotten to do the bulk freezer cook that I spoke of in the last blog.
And that is the point of this entry.

Because my freezer is a constant rotation of prepared meals, Ty was able to choose from meals that had been stockpiled from the last month's bulk cooking session. So there was never really any stress over what were we going to eat.
We've had pizza (homemade),
chicken tostadas,
sausage in a cream reduction with pasta (that sounds fancy, huh!).
The stockpile allowed me to keep feeding my family when I was down and out for the count:
When it really matters.

I will cook this weekend and this is one of those that will definitely get made.

Key West Grilled Chicken

9 tablespoons soy sauce
6 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons oil
3/4 cup lime juice
3 cloves garlic
6 pounds chicken

Divide chicken evenly into three Ziploc bags. Divide marinade ingredients into each bag (just divide each amount by 3. Its easy.)
Marinate one bag for 2-3 hours. Freeze the other 2 bags.
Grill the chicken you marinated. Save the other 2 for another day.  Look! You just cooked dinner for 3 days!