C-Day

Let me begin by saying that Once-A-Month-Cooking is not for the faint of heart. It was confusing, overwhelming, and exhausting.

But oh, the rewards! All of the finished products looked and smelled delicious and my freezer is brimming over with meals that I won't have to cook after work.

When I say all of the recipes looked and smelled delicious, I mean that they all looked and smelled delicious except for the Chili (which smelled less-than-appetizing) and the Chicken Chow Mein. I must have been asleep at the keyboard when I let this one onto my recipe list. It was a casserole. And not only a casserole, but the casserole that other casseroles have nightmares about. It was a horrid concoction that jiggled ominously and made splurping noises when stirred. Seriously, why oh why would one need Cream of Mushroom soup to make Chicken Chow Mein? Maybe I should have just cut my losses and substituted green Jell-O. But, in the name of frugality (lest we should forget Good Idea #2,) I didn't throw out either the Chili or the Chicken Blob.

Here are some things I learned on C-Day:

What I will do differently next month:
1. I won't come down with a cold on C-Day Eve.
2. I will get all of my advanced preparations done in advance. That ate up a LOT of time on C-day.
3. I will not get all of the ingredients for all 15 recipes out ahead of time. This proved to be a huge waste of my already scarce counterspace.
4. I will not open all of the cans in advance. Due to my cold and my lack of advanced prep, I didn't get all of the recipes made in one day. I did 10 recipes on C-day with the help of my afore-stated lovely friend and her equally lovely sister, 4 recipes on Saturday, and I will do the very last one tonight. I had to put plastic bags over the cans that I had prematurely opened.

What proved invaluable:
1. A healthy supply of paper towels.
2. Burn Salve.
3. Mariah Carey on the iPod....(only those of you who know me personally will know just how much I am kidding when I say that...)

As for my predictions about how I and my kitchen would look at the end of the day, "Cut me Mick" was just about right. I really did feel like I had gone ten rounds. My kitchen, on the other hand, fared a little better than I had predicted. Due to my friend helping with dishes while she was here and my own periodic dishwashing breaks (and my dogs gobbling up everything that hit the floor...), my kitchen looked less like a Hurricane Katrina zone and more like the site of some pansy little tropical storm. Still wrecked, but no casualties.

And last night, I asked The Hubs (as I always do) what he would like for dinner. He asked me (as he always does) what his options were. I simply referred him to the list of meals I had in the freezer, he chose the Chinese Honey Ginger Chicken, I got it out of the freezer and measured the rice and water for the rice cooker so that all I have to do tonight is pop the chicken in the oven and start the rice cooker! No tears or throwing things involved. Tune in tomorrow for my review of our first freezer dinner.

So: all in all, I declare C-Day a success. Even though right now I feel like death warmed up, when I look in my freezer, I feel like a domestic goddess. Bow to me, oh ye kitchen utensils- I am no mere mortal.

Anyone know where I can get a cape?