3 in 1

In the 3 weeks we've been back from Asia, a lot has happened. My parents, sister, nephew, & niece came to visit for a weekend, Jake got a great job (praise the Lord!), and some dear friends from college came to visit as well! All that along with the day to day happenings of settling into a new town (figuring out where to grocery shop, how to get around, setting up health insurance for a new state, finding a church, getting to know people in the community...).

I have been trying to figure out what my days should look like. I haven't found a job and don't think I will. It just doesn't make sense to drive the trooper (talk about a gas hog) a half hour into town for a job that probably wouldn't even cover the gas to get in to it. So I have began to settle into my role during this temporary time in life. I've been learning to enjoy this restful, no commitment season rather than let the expectations of what the world says is a productive day make me feel guilty. My days have been floating by just being able to do what I love - cooking, crafting, sewing, spending time with the Lord & friends. I even decided to open an etsy shop to try to sell some of the items I've been creating. Check it out here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/practicalperspective. Maybe doing what I love can bring in a little side cash!

Anyways, to get to the title of this post... Yesterday I spent the majority of the day cooking. Do you ever buy too many groceries for a week thinking you'll make more meals than you actually do only to have produce and meat products start to go bad before you can use them? I had done this once again, so I decided to make three different meals in one day planning to eat one for dinner that night and freeze the other two. BONUS: this consolidated the prep time (by being able to chop up multiple ingredients just one time during the week), and I dirtied the kitchen in one fell swoop rather than 3 different nights!

Here's what I made: beer cheese soup, ham potato soup, & a cheesy beef & potato pot pie

I froze the two different soups in mason jars (I got two full ones out of each pot) to use at a later date, and shared the pot pie with friends for dinner. How exciting to have homemade meals already prepared for a later use - soup is a great meal to take to new parents, people who are sick, or anyone you just want to bless with a night off from cooking.