80 lbs of chicken - 9 ways

Fresh chicken breasts are only $1.69 / lb! Use promo code WAYBACK. Valid until 11:59pm PST 8/9/17.
 Sign up for Zaycon Fresh to get your unbelievably fresh meat!  

Often I am asked how do I save money for my family. Our food budget is something that I rarely skimp on because I think it's one of the best investments we can make for ourselves. However, there are a ton of ways to be able to save money without skimping on quality.

I learned about Zaycon Fresh a few years ago and am a believer! We order chicken breast, chicken fritters, pork tenderloins, wild Alaskan Salmon and a few other meat products. The chicken breast comes fresh and straight from the farmer, so it ends up being a lot fresher than what you buy at the grocery store. For example, my last case of Zaycon Fresh chicken breast had a bar code with a time stamp for the butcher date that was 3 days prior to my receiving it. I recently went to my local grocery store to see what their time frame is - and their chicken was 15 days old and also had 3% water injected. It's really not much of a discussion on which chicken I prefer to buy!

What is Zaycon Fresh? It's super easy. You sign up, enter in your zip code and it will populate "events" near you. Each event will bring fresh or frozen meets to an agreed upon place and time. You place your order for what you'd like and then on the day of the event you bring your order slip and they put your case of bulk meats in the trunk of your car for you. You don't even have to get out of the car! Throughout the year they will offer different products; such as delicious bacon, fresh ground beef, fresh chicken breasts, frozen breaded chicken fritters (I like to make this), select steaks, even turkey and ham! Our all time favorite is their salmon. They are constantly adding more.

When you sign up, they'll send you non-spammy newsletters letting you know what they're adding, great recipe ideas and you can refer friends to get credit for your next purchase. Truly, I haven't bought meat any other way for a long time now.

Ok but then the question comes up with what do I do with 40 lbs of fresh chicken breast? Friends, let me show you what I did for this last order, which I am using to prepare for Baby Boy due this summer.

First, when I receive my chicken I cut it down to different sizes to help spread the meat a little further. Each lobe of chicken breast becomes a cut of breast, a tender and I slice the breast to an even thickness and save the top portion as a "cheek," which is great as Chicken Parmesan Cutlets.  For our family of 2 adults and 2 small kids I package a dinner meal either as 2 breasts, 5 tenders or 6 cutlets. I also use a Foodsaver instead of freezer bags. For each of the recipes below I used 1/4 c of marinade per "dinner package." Some of the recipes are larger than others so adjust the ratios as you need. 

Without further adieu, here are my most recently used recipes:
Brown Sugar Balsamic Chicken

I used about 1/4 c of marinade per 2 breasts.

Lemon Garlic
Chicken TacosUsing a grinder attachment, grind your chicken breasts
taco seasoning recipe

Chicken Enchiladas
1 large can of enchilada sauce
directions: boil your chicken breasts, shred them either with forks or with the paddle attachment on your kitchen aid, pour the sauce in! Freeze the meat as is or prep into enchiladas and freeze individually.

Tangy Teriyaki:
2T of grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce
makes enough for 2 breasts

"Hawaiian Style"  / Moana1 can of sliced pineapple
2 cups of orange juice
4T ketchup
4T soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2T of grated fresh ginger
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c Balsamic Vinegar 

Tangy BBQ

1/2 c Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce

4T ketchup 

2Tbrown sugar

4T balsamic vinegar

1 cup chicken stock

Lime Sweet Thai Chili1 c stock
1 bottle sweet thai chili sauce

1/4 c lime juice

Spiced Rub with Apple Cider Vinegar2t paprika
1t chili powder
1t cumin
1t thyme
1t salt
1t garlic powder
1t pepper
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
Mix all of the ingredients, pour over 12 chicken breasts and rub it in. It should be a loose paste.

Ready to save some moolah? Sign up here! 

Parmesan Chicken Cutlets

Every 4 months, 80 lbs of chicken breast waits on my kitchen island. I spend a whole day, sometimes with
my mother in law, sometimes by myself, processing all that meat into packages of unseasoned, marinated, shredded or ground meat. I have over 50 meals started, and it costs me $135. 

I order a lot of my family's meat through Zaycon Fresh. The chicken breast comes fresh and straight from the farmer, so it ends up being a lot fresher than what you buy at the grocery store. For example, my last case of Zaycon Fresh chicken breast had a bar code with a time stamp for the butcher date that was 3 days prior to my receiving it. I recently went to my local grocery store to see what their time frame is - and their chicken was 15 days old and also had 3% water injected. It's really not much of a discussion on which chicken I prefer to buy!

So today I want to share with you one of the ways that I meal prep when I am processing all of this meat. When I prep the breasts to freeze I cut them into 3 separate ways (after trimming the fat off) - a tenderloin, a breast and a cutlet. A cutlet is made by laying the breast down on a cutting board and cutting through the middle of the breast, horizontally.

I like to make my cutlets really small; they are really more like a chicken coin than a true cutlet.  It's about the size of your palm. Cutting that small bit off a breast makes the breast thickness more uniform so that it cooks easily and the "coins" are really tender. They are perfect for Chicken Parmesan Cutlets!

For the breading:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 tablespoon of paprika 
• 1 tablespoon mustard powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/2 c of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

This will bread about 16 small chicken "coin" cutlets. 2-3 cutlets per adult is a standard serving. The remainder can be frozen between sheets of parchment paper and bagged in freezer bags once fully frozen.

Instructions:

1. Prepare three small mixing bowls. Fill one bowl with 3/4 cup flour, fill the second bowl with 1 1/2 cups of Panko, 1 T paprika, 1 T mustard powder, salt & pepper, and the third bowl with the beaten eggs. Set the 1/2 c of freshly grated Parmesan aside. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Dip each chicken cutlet first into the flour, then into the beaten eggs and then into the Panko mixture.
*If you are prepping for a future meal, skip the baking portion and read the instructions at the end.*

3. Place onto a greased broiling pan or cookie sheet.

4. Bake at 425 degrees F and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked. Flip half way through.

5. Remove from the oven and give each cutlet a good sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
6. Voila! I love to serve mine with my lazy girl gnocchi (using left over mashed potatoes!!) and spaghetti sauce. 

**If you are going to freeze these, after step 2 place them in between two squares of parchment paper and freeze them on a cookie sheet. After they are frozen, store them in a freezer safe ziplock bag.**

Get started on saving your family money but not compromise the quality of your meat! Zaycon Fresh is where it's at. Sign up here! Also - check out my favorite Zaycon Fresh product - Wild Alaskan Salmon - and how I love to prepare it!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Affiliate links help keep this blog going and using them is at no cost to you! All images, opinions and the recipe are my own. 

Mama survival hour with Bumble Bee SuperFresh Ahi Tuna

Traveling spouses. I tell ya, it's rough. On all parties involved.

My husband was traveling for at least 30% of his work up until a couple months ago. Every few weeks he'd be off for a convention or project support meeting. While it was a necessary part of his position, it was one that quickly lost it's allure. Travel for business can be fun, don't get me wrong - the schmoozing, new places and prestige. But as my husband and I quickly realized, it wasn't something for us. Missing my husband and co-parent for a week at a time every month or so wasn't fun. The girls weren't happy to see daddy go either.

Thankfully a couple months ago my husband took a new position where he has to travel much less. This past week he was called away to support a project and we kind of gave that collective groan. But just as he had become a seasoned traveler and was able to quickly pack a bag, I too had learned a few tricks on how to handle his absence.

In addition to how to help the children cope with a traveling parent, I gave myself something to look forward to- mama survival hour. It was an hour that I set aside for myself at the end of the day, no matter what, that I would do something for myself. It varied from a show or movie that I never got to watch because the husband or kids aren't interested, a sewing or craft project to getting ahead on the blogging game. On this particular night I planned a grown up only culinary delight.

Bumble Bee recently rolled out a new line of fancy-schmancy meals (Bumble Bee SuperFresh) that I had been excited to try out but knew I needed to wait for mama survival hour. Bumble Bee SuperFresh® is a complete line of naturally-seasoned, restaurant quality, “fish-forward” prepared seafood solutions for the home. It raises the bar for what seafood lovers can expect from frozen food! I picked out the seared ahi tuna and thawed it in the fridge for 3 hours. Sushi was a favorite evening girls night while I was in college so I anticipated this with much excitement.

Once the kidlets were down for the count (THANK GOODNESS), mama survival hour began. I poured a glass of my favorite Riesling and festively added a couple slices of fresh ginger. A simple dish with soy sauce accompanied the ahi and I quietly sat down, mulled over the fresh fish flavors and sipped my wine. In peace.

You can also enjoy Bumble Bee SuperFresh® Ahi Tuna with a side of soy sauce and wasabi, in a classic Nicoise Salad or served alongside your favorite seafood accompaniments.  Being a seafood lover (we enjoy fish about once a week), I approach frozen fish with trepidation. Have you ever thawed fish in your fridge? The smell! And you never know how the texture is going to be. I was surprised that not only did my fridge not smell like fish but also that the texture of the tuna was maintained. That's because during the preparation process, Bumble Bee freezes the fish during the processing and never fully defrosts the whole piece while the tuna is being seasoned and seared. Pretty much like what you'd find from the professionally trained sushi chef's cutting board. The SuperFresh line uses the term “fish forward” - you'll find that the fish is simple and eloquently seasoned and very easy to see what you are eating (no blankets of breading or sauces!). When browsing the SuperFresh website I was really happy to see their transparency in ingredients and sourcing. You'll find them in the frozen aisle - there's tons of different dishes available from Bumble Bee.

Tell me - do you have a mama survival hour? What do you do?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Catch the Moment: Week 17

A picture a day, for one year.

 So many things to love about this picture. I'm not a huge Mariner's fan, I mean - I'm from Seattle, have lived here most of my life and I will go to a game for the food and company. There, I said it. However, the grandparents are sports fans so every once in a while I oblige and send them a picture like this one. But seriously, when did my baby grow up? She's wearing K-Swiss sneaks, for gosh sakes.

 These are a few of my beautiful sister in laws. We celebrated a couple birthdays at the local trampoline park, which ended with two glamorous injuries (including yours truly) thanks for a moms vs. dads dodgeball. Yes, on trampolines. It's a long story, but basically an 11 year old sprained my ankle and it was so awesome because the next morning we flew out for our trip to Dallas! Yay! Because babywearing 2 kids and hauling a stroller with carseats and carry ons isn't hard enough to do; we needed to add a sprained ankle into the mix to make it interesting.

 Our trip to Dallas was flight #2 in the last year with both kids - and we have our third trip planned in December to fly across "The Pond" to see my parents over Christmas. Our first trip was to Long Beach in October, which was a mere 2 hour flight from Seattle. Seattle to Dallas is about a 4 hour flight, so we learned a few more lessons about how to fly efficiently and sanely with two littles. One huge travel tip came from That Mama Gretchen, who had recently flown to Texas with her littles too, and that was to put the ticketed non-lap child in their carseat for the flight. Penny was comfortable and calm for the flight. She's used to sitting in her car seat for sometimes hours at a time, so this wasn't that different. Miss Ruby, on the other hand.. well, she was a wiggly 15 month old who wasn't allowed to adventure like she wanted to. Again..more lessons were learned, but this was the exciting start for our super fun week in Dallas, which I will share more full details with you soon!

 Due to that (im)perfectly timed sprained ankle, I had to take it easy for the first part of our trip. But that wasn't going to stop me from taking the girls up to the infinity pool at the Omni hotel. How did I manage a 3 year old and a 1 year old in the water, by myself? Babywearing, of course. 

 Ok, I seriously lucked out on the hotel's restaurant. Texas Spice rocks my socks. The breakfast buffet was to die for. My glutinous, eager fingers made this photo come out embarassingly blurry, but what you'll find on that plate are eggs, breakfast potatoes, breakfast veggies, bacon, bread pudding, rice pudding and waay up there at the top were blueberries and raspberries. Why don't I just eat like this every day??

 More poor quality, but this was taken with a cell phone in a pretty much pitch black room so you'll forgive me. Both girls nap for 2 hours in the middle of the day and I was very thankful for their flexibility in our routine. I wasn't sure how it was going to go down with putting them to sleep in our hotel room each day, but it worked perfectly. Watching them sleep together on the bed made me dream more about them one day sharing their bedroom and perhaps even trying out sibling co-sleeping if that suits either of them. 

This picture won't do it justice but I hope you can get a good look. This is a pano of the view from the Giants of The Savannah view point at the Dallas Zoo. I actually ended up visiting the Dallas Zoo on two separate days because there was so much to see on the first day that we didn't get through everything. Thankfully I have an annual membership at the Woodland Park Zoo, which gave me reciprocal membership benefits of discount tickets. Zoos are kind of my thing (here's a list of zoos I've visited), so keep an eye out for what we thought of the Dallas Zoo. 

Catch the moment archives

These aren't on Instagram, but most others are!

Polish Apple Pancakes

Taste has such a connection with memory, don't you think? These pancakes bring back so many memories, but my favorite is of visiting my paternal babcia in Poland and her cooking these delights for my dad and I on the night that we arrived. I was about ten years old; tired, grumpy and overwhelmed. We were ushered in, sat at a plain and simple table in her small apartment's kitchen, and she continued to fry these babies up.

They are called "racuchy" (rah-tsoo-hiy) or "placki z jablkami" (pancakes with apples / "plah-ts-key z yab-kahm-eh").

These days I pull it out on those evenings where "breakfast for dinner" is on the menu again or if I have extra apples that should get used. They're like a mix between a pancake, fritters, dutch baby, beignet and a donut. There's just no one way to describe them! But they are super easy to make, use readily available ingredients and are so tasty. Even though they are essentially deep fried, they don't come out greasy.

You'll need:
2-3 apples (peeled, cored and sliced thinly)
2 cups of flour
1 egg
1 cup of milk
1 tsp sugar
vegetable oil
powdered sugar

You'll do:
1. Mix together the 2 cups of flour, egg, 1 cup of milk and 1 tsp of sugar to make the batter. It'll be similar to the consistency of pancake batter. Fold in the apple slices.
2. In a frying pan, pour enough vegetable oil to fill the pan about 1/4 of the way up. Heat it to hot.
3. Ladle drops of batter with 2-3 apple slices into the oil. You don't need a lot of batter, just enough to stick the apple pieces together.
4. Cook until the bottom is lightly golden, then flip. It should take less than 2 minutes total.
5. Place onto a paper towel lined platter. Blot up any excess oil with another paper towel.
6. To serve, give it a good dusting of powdered sugar.

Catch the moment 365: Week 2

This working out the kinks. Ideally I would love to take these pictures with my dslr, but the phone is just handy to capture the small daily moments that catch my attention. 

So perhaps this year, instead of capturing my day with an artistic eye, 

it'll just be a straight forward / this is my life / unedited glimpse. Follow along with my year.

My favorite Christmas present was my 10" cast iron skillet. I've ditched my non-sticks and have taken the cast iron dive. Totally loving it. I will never bake corn bread any other way, ever again.

This little miss turned 10 months old today! I can't believe how time as flown by.

The one time this week where I was able to grab my camera to take a picture. Even though we have conversations about missing naps = grumpiness, and she agrees that both mama and Penny are no fun when we're grumpy. But some days naps don't happen and after enough sassiness, she was requested to stay on the couch until her attitude improves. "Go away, Mama!" "I'm so tired of you!" "I am so disobedient." "Oh, COME ON mom!" This is a 2 year old. She claps her hands very aggressively when she is upset.  Motherhood is not always fun, easy, and sometimes it is a truly thankless job. Sometimes you get that glare and you feel like the worst person ever.

 The following day was Sunday and I managed to convince Adam to take a break from a shop project to go for a quick family walk. It had been raining and we finally got a sunny break. Penny loves to jump in puddles! It's so funny to see her do it because it wasn't too long ago where she didn't know how to jump yet.

 I'm all about food hacks. We don't go out to eat often and if I can figure out the ingredients, I will try to make my own version at home. Mama Chia pouches are one of my splurges if I'm at the grocery store and hungry. A couple weeks ago I snagged a few bags of organic Chia at Grocery Outlet and started jelling it in the jar. Except I left it on the counter for a couple days and forgot.. so when I opened it up, let's just say that this batch of jelled chia went to the chickens. Trying again this week!

 Today we visited a friend in Bellevue, which was also a 10 minute drive from Adam's work. So after a morning of playtime, we visited him for lunch. Then I realized that it was nap time and it would be less than 30 minutes before we get home. But that's enough time for the kids to fall asleep on the ride home, and they haven't been transferring well. So I took the long way home and enjoyed the sunshine as I drove through our valley.

We watched Cinderella for the first time last week and one of the scenes that stuck out in Penny's mind was when Cinderelly was feeding the barnyard animals by throwing cracked corn. So I picked up a bag at the local farm store and this is Penny's chore after her nap each day.

Catch up on previous weeks: 

Catch the moment archives

Follow along on Instagram daily!

Best of 2014! The Pierogie Mama's most popular posts

Here's a round up of the top posts from the blog this year!

Raspberry Creamsicle Popsicle Recipe

Sbarro Copycat Baked Ziti Recipe

Buttons Diapers Review

Boba Mini Review

Honorable mention.. Ruby's birth story! My baby is almost 10 months and I can't believe what a year it's been.

December in photos

This month flew by and I'm realizing that 2014 ends TODAY. So here's a quick recap of our month.

Lots of toddler art // cutting down our tree from the forest and riding it down the slope 

// hide and seek // holiday potty training // 

obsessions with battery powered candles // meeting Santa

 

Sister love x2 // belly off the ground crawling success // baby fairies are the best!

December is the best food month. 

Kozy Shack copycat rice pudding // home smoked salmon // 

It's not Christmas without pierogies! // Bavarian Soft Pretzels

 See you in 2015!

Getting toddlers involved in the holidays

Toddlers are such a handful at times, but when things are good, it's pure magic with them. This year the spirit of Christmas is making a big impact on my 2 1/2 year old, Penny, and I have been going through a list of holiday activities with her. Here's a few ideas to help you get going on how to get your toddler involved during the holidays:

1. Picking out the tree together
2. Creating ornaments (we bought a couple ceramic ones from our local craft store and I let her paint them)
4. Cookies! Check out our experience below
5. More Christmas candy, like dipping chocolate covered pretzels and decorating with sprinkles
5. Make garlands using pom poms, popcorn, cheerios, macaroni noodles, cotton balls, beads
6. Hand print crafts
7. Felt board stories
8. Read Christmas books together
9. Make scented playdoh
10. Create Christmas cards
11. More craft ideas: make candy canes with beads and pipe cleaners, Popsicle stick ornaments, salt dough hand and foot prints, pom pom wreaths

I'm a baker at heart and it's been a long time dream of mine for the day when my daughters can help create goodies for our family. So last Christmas Adam made a kitchen step stool station for the girls that will safely bring them to counter level. While Ruby rode along for the ride, Penny and I got started with decorating our first cookies together.

Because fun and being mindful of the time (for both the toddler's and infant's attention span!) was of the utmost importance, I used Toll House Rolled & Ready Cookie Dough. Toll House has 4 different flavors of pre-rolled cookie dough to choose from, and I chose sugar cookie because that's a family favorite! The dough was already rolled out the the appropriate thickness so from Penny's standpoint the fun was ready to begin!

I showed her how to gently press the cutter into the cookie dough (just like how we practice with playdoh) and I moved the cut shapes to a cookie sheet for her. Following the instructions on the package, we let them bake and fully cool before moving on to the decorating portion of our activity. Meanwhile, we played with the playdoh from item #9 above because she wasn't done using the cookie cutters!

For the decorating portion I made a simple frosting using solid coconut oil.
4 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 cup solid coconut oil
5 T milk
1 t vanilla extract
food coloring
Cream together the coconut oil and powdered sugar until smooth. Gradually mix in milk and vanilla until it is smooth and stiff. Add a couple drops of food coloring until you get the color you desire. 

And then I was reminded of the valuable lesson about toddlers. Even when your plans are laid out perfectly, things hardly ever go as planned. 

Once the cookies were done baking and had cooled, I showed Penny the frosting that I had made and laid out all the sprinkles for her to choose from. SUPER excited. I slathered on the frosting onto each cookie and laid them out onto a piece of butcher paper for her.

And then things took a 180° turn. Suddenly, according to the toddler, all sprinkles MUST be put away and the frosting MUST be removed from the cookies. NOW. Like "mama give me a wipe, no no no no frosting on these cookies pleaaaaaaaaaaaase!"

Friends, life's greatest mysteries are not about Nessie, the Bermuda Triangle or Stonehenge. It's toddlers. No one will ever understand why.

And there you have it. Mothers dream about the day when we get to bake cookies with our sweets for the first time and how magical it will be. In my case, I was spared the flour dust parties (thanks to the pre-made cookie dough!), and I even thought it was smooth sailing until the end...and then true to form, my daughter makes it interesting at the very end!

Find out more about Rolled & Ready Cookie Dough Sheets 

Share your favorite toddler friendly holiday activity (or toddler friend holiday activity fail!)

Disclosure: Thank you to Nestle Toll House for sponsoring today’s post and inspiring me to create and decorate delicious cookies with Nestlé Toll House Rolled & Ready Cookie Dough Sheets!

Healthy Transformations

Today's discussion is sponsored by Sara Lee®. Read on for my transformation, learn about 45 Delightful People and healthy options from Sara Lee® Delightful Bread!

Is it an understatement to say that this year has been a year of big changes around here? But isn't it for everyone, every year?

With Ruby's birth in March and Penny turning 2 in the same month, I learned quickly that I had to re-evaluate what is important to me and how to best manage my time. After all, not only did I need to survive the sometimes harrowing journey of motherhood, I wanted to thrive. I didn't want this year to be a "hard year," instead I focused on it being a "learning year." And that meant making some serious changes.

The biggest change that I made is accepting that I can't do it all myself. I can't always be the #1 caretaker (as I had tirelessly been with Penny), I finally admitted that I'm not a tidy person and never will be, laundry (especially cloth diapering 2 at the same time) will always be a daily chore and honestly (as much as I take true joy and pride in it), not every meal snack and treat will be made from scratch. If I wanted to maintain my sanity, keep a sense of myself, be a good wife and mom, I needed to just let it go and accept help when it's offered...

Can't all moms take a lesson in that? It's so hard!

Many of us use new year resolutions as a way to change for the healthier. Eat better, go to the gym more often, lose that holiday weight. This year's goal will be for an improvement in mental health. I will take time for myself more and not only accept help but ask for it. My hope is that I'll be a less-stressed mom and it'll show in my parenting and relationships.

Do you have a transformation that you want to share? 

Enter it in the Sara Lee® 45 Delightful People campaign and automatically get a free t-shirt and possibly be one of the 45 winners semi-finalists or the grand prize winner of $4,500!

If you're looking for ideas for other healthy transformations, check out Sara Lee® Delightful Breads. They are delicious and only have 45 calories per full-size slice. You can find them in oatmeal, whole wheat, Healthy Multi-Grain and wheat. They are heart-healthy and provide an excellent source of fiber and best of all...no artificial colors, flavors or high fructose corn syrup.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sara Lee®.

Lazy Girl Gnocchi

There's definitely a legit, old school, traditional way to make gnocchi. Friends, this is NOT a tutorial on how to do so! I'm positive that there are several really good Italian girl blogs that share their nonna's passed down recipe.  This is my lazy girl / busy mama / using all the leftovers recipe for gnocchi. Take what you will, but I promise that it's a delicious way to use your leftover mashed potatoes for a new meal that your family will love!

Gnocchi is a versatile dish. You can serve it with your favorite red sauce, or make a delicious pan sauce with the meat that you are cooking that night and pour it over gnocchi as a side. On this night I experimented with making an Alfredo style sauce with lemon essences, which needs some tweaking. A couple summers ago I shared a Gnocchi Mac n Cheese recipe that I found on Pinterest, which uses Gruyere, Fontina and Parmesan. Delish. Truth be told, that was my first pin ever. You know how you remember your first CD? Well, I guess I won't be forgetting my first pin either!

This recipe will make enough for 2 adults. If you have more mashed potatoes or want to make extra to freeze, just follow the ratio of 2 cups of flour : 1 cup of mashed potatoes.

You will need:
1 cup of leftover mashed potatoes (it's ok if you seasoned them with cream, sour cream, salt / pepper, whatevs. Again, this isn't traditional gnocchi so everything goes!)
~2 cups of flour
1 egg yolk

You will do:
1. Make a little volcano of mashed potatoes on your work surface. Dump your yolk into the crater.
2. Work the yolk into the potatoes using your hands.
3. Add 1/2 c of flour at a time, working the flour into the dough. You might not use all of the flour, it just depends on the consistency of your potatoes. Continue to add flour until your dough is firm but not hard. Keep your hands and working surface well floured to avoid sticky dough.
4. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into a log, about the width of your finger.
5. Cut 1/2" long pieces (perfection is not necessary).
6. Bring a pot of salted water to boil.
7. Using a fork, gently roll each piece up the fork to create the trademark indentations. Keeping your fork floured will help prevent the gnocchi from sticking to it. Fun fact: the ridges on gnocchi are there to hold sauce to the noodle better. All pasta noodles were developed with different shapes to compliment the type of sauce they are served with. You can freeze them on a floured cookie sheet at this point for later use.
8. Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and wait for them to float, should be about 2 minutes.
9. Scoop them out and allow them to drain.
10. Most people top them with their favorite sauce at this point, but I like to give them a quick pan fry in a bit of olive oil to give them a slightly crispy side.

One last Lake House Dinner + Lavender Lemonaid Recipe (with Essential Oils)

“I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for the Beef Checkoff. I received products to facilitate this review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.”

7 days.

That's all the time that my parents have until they take off for a fabulous two year assignment to Germany.

Between the mixed emotions of their departure, we knew one thing was for sure - we had to take one last family trip to Mount Rainier and we had to have a one last hurrah dinner on the deck of their lake house. The house that hosted our wedding, the house where we lived for the first nine months of my daughter's life. There's a ton of memories tied up here, and farewell dinner was a little bit of closure for this life changing event for them.

What did we serve?

Filet mignon wrapped in bacon, seasoned with Williams & Sonoma Butcher's Rub
Baked Potatoes
Sourdough bread
grill roasted corn on the cob
and my new favorite.. Lavender Lemonaid.

You'll need:
1 large, juicy lemon
1/2 cup raw honey
1/2 cup water + 6 cups water
6 drops of doTERRA Lemon Essential Oil
3 drops of doTERRA Lavender Essential Oil
ice

You'll do:
1. Juice the lemon into your pitcher
2. Gently heat the 1/2 cup of raw honey with 1/2 cup of water in a small sauce pan. Heat just until the water and honey combine well, you don't want to boil it. Remove from heat.
3. Add your drops of lemon essential oil and lavender essential oil to the honey mixture.
4. Pour the honey mixture into the pitcher with the lemon juice. Mix well.
5. Add the 6 cups of cold water.
6. Fill your pitcher with ice.
Now let that cool down and garnish with a sprig of lavender from your garden and you've got an absolutely delicious spa-like drink!

This was an excellent, hearty meal after our day trip to Mount Rainier. After an unexpected 4 mile hike from Narada Falls down to Longmire, it's an understatement to say that we were tired and hungry!

The Beef Checkoff was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. It's a national marketing and research program funded by America's cattle farmers and ranchers. Cattle farmers, ranchers and importers direct the national checkoff program, which uses funds toward research and promotion efforts designed to increase domestic and/or international demand for beef. The Cattlemen's Beef Board and USDA oversee the collection and spending of these beef checkoff funds. You might be familiar with "Beef. It's What's For Dinner."