Grilled Poultry--From the Freezer?

Are you sad to see the beginning of the end of summer? I am, but then I'm not. I love autumn, but I am sad that summer grilling season is coming to a close. So, I've thought of a way to keep that 'summer grill' flavor to last just a little bit longer (it also helps out when dinner sneaks up on you--belatedly reminding you that there's still chicken to cut up and cook).

I talked my husband in to helping me, it wasn't hard, and had him grill several extra chicken breasts the last time we had grilled chicken. Then I cut up, separated, packaged and froze it. Now I when we're having chicken I can just pull it out of the freezer and viola--dinner is made that much simpler (not to mention the yummy grilled flavor that accompanies the meal).

This would also work for other ways of cooking chicken too--just cook some extra chicken one night and prepare it for the freezer. I will admit there's a bit of prep work, but it sure makes up for it on the nights that you don't have to worry with getting all chicken-y (which is a big help especially if you have little ones that like to get into everything while you're busy).

Happy Cooking!

Dinner Prep.

The other day I was making Chicken Stir Fry for dinner and knew I needed to have it ready to eat by the time my husband came home from work since he had somewhere to be later on that evening. While stir fry isn't a particularly difficult meal, it can be hard to cut up veggies and chicken while you have a three year old getting into things and a 7 month old crying for some attention.

So, I had a thought--I could cut up the veggies/chicken and get the rice/water measured out, while Ladybug was enjoying her afternoon snack and Moonpie was napping. (While, I'm sure this isn't a new idea for many of you, and it wasn't totally for me either--I've made treats, crafts, etc. during this time--but I hadn't thought of preparing for dinner.)

It was a success! Although, I had a few more dishes to wash, my hands were chicken free when Moonpie needed attention and while Ladybug wanted help picking up her toys. Then when it time to make dinner all I had to do was turn on some burners and drop the food into the pan and dinner was ready to go. Easy Peasy!