Planning Ahead for Fast, Healthy Food

I recently heard the term "healthy sauté" and was stupefied.  What could be healthy about cooking something down in butter?  Apparently, healthy sautéing substitiutes broth for the butter or oil typically used.  It does a similar job for a fraction of the calories.  Sounds great, huh?  The only problem is that you may only need a couple tablespoons of broth and hate to open a big can/jar/bag of broth for that small an amount and risk the rest of it going bad in the fridge before you get a chance to use it. 

Try this.  The next time you have some leftover broth, pour it into an icecube tray and freeze.  Once frozen, pop the cubes out into a freezer baggie and store.  When you need a couple tablespoons to prep those chopped onions, just toss a cube into the skillet and you're good to go!

I know this seems so basic, but I just thought of it yesterday when I made some broth, stored it in my standard 4 and 6 cup freezer bags and had only a cup leftover.  I hated to waste even a tad bit of it (it smelled so yummy as it was simmering that I was tempted just to drink it!), and the icecube idea came to me.  What do they say?  Necessity is the mother of invention. 

Our Glasses: A Sanity Saver

Our glasses, from left to right is oldest to youngest.

This may seem like a weird thing to blog about, but just let me explain.  Yesterday, our family's set of Tervis Tumblers were in the dishwasher at an odd time, and, as a result, we dirtied 11 glasses while these 5 were out of use.  You know the routine:  "Is that my glass?  I'm not sure.  Guess I'll just get another one."

This is not an advertisement for Tervis.  Any glasses that are distinguishable will work.  We've had colored glasses in the past, but we weren't always the same color, so it didn't work right.  If you go with colors, be sure everyone knows his color and sticks with it. 

Now that we have these glasses, there's no question which glass belongs to which person .   The glasses get thrown into the dishwasher once per day but are used continuously throughout the day.  Switching beverages?  Just rinse and refill.

This cuts down on dishes and saves me a little bit of sanity each day.

Oh, and bonus:  Each glass comes with a snap on lid (or lid with straw for Little Boy) to make our glasses road-worthy.  Rather than packing a bunch of drinks in plastic bottles for road trips, we just pack up our Tervises and hit the road! 

In fact, my Mom uses the same system at her house, so if it's to Nana's house we're traveling, we'll just carry our glasses in and use them the whole time we're there.  ;)

Like I said, this is such a simple thing, but it really does save me time and aggravation, so I thought it was worth sharing.  :)  Sometimes it's the little things, you know?

Oh, and don't forget to comment on this post by the end of the day today to be entered into the drawing for the canning supplies!