Follow-Up Friday

Here I sit, hanging my head in shame. It has been three weeks since my last Follow-Up Friday post. Yikes...

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The ninth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: Darn it! I keep forgetting to take pictures of my scrapbook! Anyway, I printed out the rest of my February pictures at Walgreen's last week and will be putting them into my scrapbook this weekend. Pictures next week - I promise!
  
• Book Clubs: I came to an important realization over the last few weeks: I was trying to do too much. I needed to make a choice, and I decided that my priority right now, in terms of reading, is my Bible. So, instead of feeling guilty that I haven't logged into Bloom in a while or am behind in my Simple Mom Book Club reading, I decided to concentrate on finishing my Bible and I'll pick up everything else once I'm done finishing His Word.
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily and posted to 365 Days of Ng as frequently as possible. I wasn't as good this week about taking photos, so I'm not completely happy with some of my pictures, but I did manage to get a few good ones, including this one from Walgreen's last Sunday.
• The Bible in 90 Days: Day 64! I'm over two-thirds done! Wow! I must admit: I found this week very challenging. As I mentioned on Twitter, Ezekiel was kicking my butt. I think that I hit the wall, and it just happened to be while reading that book of the Bible. But, with words of encouragement from some of the other readers on Twitter, I was able to plow through and move on to Daniel and, starting this morning, Hosea.
  
• Grocery Budget: We're doing pretty well with our grocery shopping. Carey is a sucker for a good sale on meat, so I find that no matter how much meat we consume, my freezer never seems to get any emptier... But, we're also learning ways to make good use of what we have. Case in point: turkey breast. Carey did an awesome herb rub and cooked a turkey breast last week. We ate some of the meat for dinner a few nights last week (Abby LOVES turkey), but then we put it to some other uses as well.
  
  My mom makes an awesome casserole-type dish with turkey and stuffing. Very simple: stuffing on the bottom, layer turkey over it, and cover it with some gravy. Heat and serve, or freeze for later. While I love this dish, the turkey tends to get kinda dry, even with extra gravy on top. So, I added a little twist to it: mashed potatoes. I put my stuffing on the bottom, layer sliced turkey breast on top of it, slather it with gravy (we Ngs are definitely fans of gravy!), and then put a nice think layer of mashed potatoes on top. (My secret: I use my hand-mixer to get the mashed potatoes super smooth. While normally I am a girl who likes some lumps in her taters, for this dish I find that the smooth texture of "whipped" potatoes is much better than lumpy potatoes.)
  
  We had enough turkey to make two casseroles, which are now foil-covered and in the freezer for when we need a quick meal. I usually thaw the dishes in the fridge for about 48 hours before putting them in the oven - the small Corningware dishes that I used this time will probably need 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees to heat all the way through. I re-heat them covered for the first 30-40 minutes, then remove the cover and the foil, put a few pats of butter on top, and stick it back in the over for another 10 minutes or so. This ensures that the potatoes don't dry out. And, well, frankly, while the Ngs are big fans of gravy, we're even bigger fans of butter. (I do try to use a heart healthy spread, just to make myself feel a little bit better...) When the dish is heated through, remove from the oven, spoon out, drizzle (or drown) with additional turkey gravy, and enjoy!
  
  
  
  So, we've enjoyed turkey and now have turkey - stuffing - potato casseroles in the freezer for later. What to do with the turkey carcass? Make soup! We are big fans of making your own broth. While you can find all sorts of recipes on the Internet for making your own poultry stock, we just wing it. We just put the carcass into a pot with water, salt and pepper, and whatever fresh (or dried) herbs we have on hand. Then, turn on the heat and let it simmer. For a few hours, at least. (Since Carey and I both work, we usually do our soup making on the weekends, when we can let it sit in the pot for 6-8 hours.) We test the broth occasionally and add additional seasoning as necessary. After about 6 hours, you'll notice that meat will be coming off the bone. At this point, we strain the broth and pick all the meat off the bones. Once we've cleaned off the bones, we put the meat back into the broth, add whatever we want (usually carrots and pasta) and let the add-ins cook through. Then, you have delicious, homemade soup. We put some in the fridge for the week, and then we freeze some for later. (Space-Saving Tip: freeze soup in a freezer bag on a cookie sheet. Once the bag is frozen through, remove the cookie sheet and you have a flat bag of delicious soup that takes up minimal space and can be stacked in your freezer.)
  
  (For some reason, the soup looks really oily in this picture - it didn't look so bad in person... You can always skim off the oil before you store it, but we usually leave it alone and recheck it when we re-heat it.)
  

So, this was Week #9 of 2010. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!