Another Wednesday, another blog carnival - this post is part of "Works For Me Wednesday" which is a weekly feature of Shannon's Rocks In My Dryer blog. Shannon's post today is quite a scary and vulnerable topic for most people - Fridge Organization!!
As the weather starts heating up, I find myself wanting to eat salads and fresh fruits for all three meals. Not a bad idea for a person trying to focus on fitness and weight loss. However, I've got these three hungry men in my house - 1 lifts weights daily, 1 lifts weights and is in football training, 1 quickly becomes scarecrow-like if he doesn't pack in the daily calories. And, of course, they all love a hot, home-cooked meal at the end of the day no matter what the season. That bubbling, sizzling meal is appetizing and tasty in the winter and even in the spring. But in the summer and fall seasons in AZ, I literally feel like the 115 degree temperatures during the day are cooking my insides just when I step outside to get the mail. The thought of roasting meat and potatoes, hearty casseroles, and baked anything, is just the catalyst I need to stick my whole head in the freezer!
My good friend, Brenda, showed me the simplest trick in the world for pleasing my hungry men while not heating up the oven or microwave or the kitchen - are you ready for this? Early in the morning, she puts her ingredients for dinner (roast beef for tacos, chicken in green or red salsa for burritos, spaghetti sauce, macaroni & cheese) into a crockpot...THEN...she puts the loaded crockpot IN THE GARAGE, plugs it in on low, and goes on with her day. At the end of the day, the garage isn't heated up any more than it usually would be, the house doesn't smell like a piping hot dinner, and an easy-to-pull together dinner takes just a few minutes. Yesterday, I made the yummiest chicken in green sauce into quick burritos in flour tortillas with cool sour cream and a sprinkling of sharp cheddar. 5 minutes later, dinner was served and my hungry men were more than satisfied!!
