10 Steps to deal with 40 lbs of Chicken

1.   Be really thankful for a second frig to stash the chicken in after your husband kindly picks up the chicken from the truck.

2.  Get sick the next morning and head two hours away for an all day event the day after you get your chicken

3.  Spend the next 4 days feeling lousy

Seriously that is what happened to me starting last Saturday.  I'm so thankful that I only ordered 40 pounds instead of my usual 80 but we just didn't need it this time.  So finally last Tuesday and Wednesday, I really did process the chicken to go in the freezer.

4.  Open box.  Cut open the bag.  Smell????  Nope nothing.  The chicken is so fresh from Zaycon I have yet to smell that "ewwww this chicken needs to be dealt with quick" smell. 

5.  Cut up HUGE breasts in to smaller pieces.  I usually get 3 nice size pieces out of one breast.

6.  Cook around 20 pounds in the crock pots over night.  I add lots of water so I end up with some no fat chicken broth which we use in soups.

From Zaycon's website

• 100 % natural chicken with no added hormones, additives or artificial ingredients

• Comes directly from the processor

• Sold by the case — 40 lbs in each case

• Case dimensions—18 in wide x 12 in deep x 7 in tall

7.  Cut up raw chicken for meals.  Cut up cooked chicken for meals.  FREEZE!

8.  Make Lemon Chicken & FREEZE.  We eat a bunch of this recipe and I only had 1 left so I made 6 more.  This is the only recipe I made this time around.  We still have plenty of Chicken & Zoodles.

9.  Arrange the shelves so you can find chicken when you need it!

10.  Bake chicken for lunch, have chicken for supper & be THRILLED that the box is finally empty!

If you use a bunch of chicken for meals, then I highly recommend ordering from Zaycon.  If you use the link below then I get a $1 for referring you! 

I'm always willing to earn a dollar.  Especially recommending this great chicken!   Check it out!

Zaycon Foods

P.S.  They have great ground beef too.  LOL!

**I'm not being compensated by Zaycon to write this(unless you decide to order using my link).  . 

Recipe Notebook Pages

Last week I posted about how helpful my new Recipe Notebooks have been in keeping me organized.  I need a paper copy of our "Family Favorites" so I don't have to go to Pinterest or another website every time I get ready to fix a snack or a meal.  My big 3 ring binder was bursting at the seams and this has been the perfect winter project as I look outside and dream of green grass and flowers!

Once I got my notebooks from Staples I was ready to put the recipes together so they were neat and tidy.  I created my format then got to work copy and pasting from Pinterest. 

Here is the finished product. 

I'm so close to being able to make these available for others to use!  It is so fun to create something useful!  These are 5 x 8 inch size but I'm working on a 8.5x11 inch size for those who want a larger notebook. 

Here are a few previews of the section pages!

Stay tuned.  Follow my Facebook page so you don't miss when these are available. 

Back to Scrapbooking!

Mondays are usually a day where we are home all day.  We get TONS of school done on those days. 

That is super important right now as we’ve used most of our vacation time for the year.  That is the wonderful privilege of home schooling.  Sometimes our priorities are not multiplication tables or biology experiments.  So we rearranged our schedule because the lesson that people are more important than school a priority.

I mentioned last week how we have a new normal.  Well in the old normal I was a pretty organized person.  The kids had assigned chores, did laundry on certain days & regularly cooked & helped with dishes. 

We still get all almost all that done now but it is not organized.  I am okay with that.  That is one more lesson that God has taught me as we go through cancer with my mom.  He doesn’t care if my floors are mopped(they aren’t) but he does care if I’ve taken the time to call or stop by.

Needless to say that my extra time is not devoted to my favorite hobby.  I usually sleep, snuggle with kids or do laundry(never done).  I haven’t touched my scrapbooking since October when I went on a weekend getaway with friends.  BUT I did get my stuff out of the closet this weekend.

Now if I can just sneak away for a few minutes to journal or work on a layout.  So thankful I had time for the first step to getting some time to indulge in my hobby.

Organizing Time with Teens

Last week I posted about spending time with teens.  The question was Can Teens be . . . .

Noisy—certainly

Encouraging—what?

Have love for all ages—are you kidding?

I wanted to address this because I had a friend on Facebook who was horrified amazed that Steve & I would willingly spend time with a group of 25 teens for a couple of hours! What do you think of when you imagine spending a couple of hours with teenagers?

Steve & I have been privileged & blessed to help guide an ever changing group of pre teens & teens in an activity called Bible Quizzing.  I have said this many times but I will repeat.  These kids are the best kids in the world.  There are few thins I am more thankful for and I wouldn’t trade my time with them for anything. 

However they are teens & it is a huge help to approach this activity & any activity with teens with a plan.  If you let them they will get off track & follow whatever bunny trails they can find!

HOW to organize time with teens

1.  Purpose/goal—This applies to adult activities too!  If there is not a focus then the time will be fun but not necessarily productive. 

Since chaos is not our idea of fun, we’ve discovered that it is absolutely necessary helpful to have a purpose.  Here are some questions to ask.

What are we trying to do?

How long will this keep their attention?

What can we do to break up the time?

2.  Time break down—2 parts are essential

Fellowship—build this in to your time because if you don’t then the teens will do it any way & you will be frustrated. 

It seems best to give them some time at the beginning of the meeting to greet friends & chat for a bit.  That way they can reconnect before we get to work.  Often we will be setting up & greeting people also during this time!  Let it be fun but be ready to guide them to the next part.

Goals & Projects—there needs to be a purpose for your meeting.  Know what you want to do & how long it will take.  Explaining the plan to the teens is a great idea because it lets them know what is expected.  Rewards are good too.  Time to be social again at the end if they work hard is always a good reward.

NECESSARY elements in time with teens

1. Leadership—This is SO important. It is work to organize time for teens to be together. Often by utilizing several families skills and talents the work of running an organization can be delegated. By working together the leadership can set long term & short term goals. Rules can be established & it creates a place of safety for kids to be involved.

2.  Parental involvement & support—One of the reasons that Bible Quizzing is successful is that parents are directly involved.  There are more parents that help than ones who drop off their kids.  Everyone knows the purpose & goal.  There is a lot of work that goes on at home prior to our meeting times so the parents often want to see the end results at the meetings.

3.  Routine—We meet on certain days of the month.  It is consistent and there is little change.  Also each meeting has a routine.  Fellowship time(5-10 minutes), Quiz 1, 2(1 hour), Team meetings or devotion(20 minutes), Quiz 3(15-20 minutes), Clean up time(10 minutes.

4.  Communication—Reminders, updates, calendar changes are all vital for keeping everyone on track.  An initial calendar and information sheet that is available on paper & then can be emailed. 

After that most communication is done via email.  It works to have each person reply & if a family doesn’t reply then a quick phone call can be done to verify they have the necessary in formation.

These ideas are geared toward any teen activity.  However if you are interested here are 10 Reasons Bible Quizzing is WORTH it!  Hope this helps you as you navigate the teen years & I encourage you to get involved in your teens lives and the activities they are enjoying.

My prayer for my children—Fear not. Stand firm and see the deliverance of the LORD.  Exodus 14:13