The Obligatory "Hey, It's Been a While" Post

Do you ever do that thing where you forget to return someone's call, and because life gets hectic you just keep on forgetting until maybe 3 months have passed? Maybe you thought about that person a lot or kept telling yourself you were going to get in touch, but it just kept not happening. Then, because you took so long you started to feel sort of awkward and guilty and it became all about you and how you felt and not really about your friend at all. So you continued to not call.

I do not encourage behavior such as this, but I do admit that I fall into this pattern from time to time. I was definitely doing this with my dear friend, freezer blog.

Oh, freezer blog, I've thought about you a lot. I've missed you. I've brainstormed ideas for you. And then Sam started pulling all of the keys off of the computer and we started hiding the computer and vacation happened and school started and marathon training got for serious and... it just got awkward. But we should really get together soon... I'll call you. Ok?

So what I never really communicated to you, mom and uncle loyal readers, was that I actually mostly filled my freezer over the summer. And then I mostly emptied it over the past 3 months of chaotic Tuesdays and Wednesdays. My two thumbs up go to the slow cooker salsa verde chicken and to the three meatloaves I made in August but never told you about. Oh, and the granola bites -those things are a life-saver. Oddly, what is still literally chillin' in the deep freeze is that triple-batch of pancakes that I had a premature mid-life crisis over. I can't even bring myself to look at them. Just kidding. I think I'll bring them upstairs to the fridge-freezer for use during the final push of the semester and finals week.

By the way, meatloaf is really easy to make ahead and freeze. I just make a triple batch of some variation (usually I replace 1/2 pound of the beef with chopped veggies) of the Quaker Oat meatloaf recipe. Instead of baking, I shape into loaves and put on a cookie sheet to freeze. After about an hour of freezing, I wrap them up and put them in the chest freezer. The night before I want to make it, I put it in the fridge. Then in the morning I stick it in the crock-pot with 1/4 cup of water and let it cook all day. Steam some veggies. Dinner.

Here's the plan - I have about a month off in December and I plan to use it wisely. I will re-stock this month and maybe even write some posts about it. And maybe about some other things too. We'll see. I am hesitant to recommit to you, freezer blog. I just don't trust myself...