Resolutions & Goals

I learned many years ago not to make New Year’s resolutions. Why set myself up for failure? A resolution seems more like a promise. A goal is something at which to aim.

At the beginning of 2009, I set the goal of reading through the Bible using a daily reading plan. I fell off the wagon a few times, but each time I jumped back on. When 2009 came to an end last week, I had almost reached my goal, lacking only the minor prophets of the Old Testament (beginning with Amos) and the book of Revelation beginning with chapter four. I am thrilled I made it that far and intend to finish in straight shots of reading.

This year I intend to read through again, but this time I will try a chronological reading plan. I found a printable plan here. Hopefully I will remain consistent in my daily reading and will make it through by year’s end.

Another goal I have for myself is to make at least one freezer meal or ingredient per week (for use at another time). I can do this by doubling a recipe when I am preparing dinner, or I can put something on to cook in the morning (like brown rice or beans). This past fall I learned by way of a near-catastrophe just how handy prepared-ahead foods can be.

One day I went to the deep freeze to retrieve something and discovered with horror that the freezer door had not closed completely on my last visit. My best guess was that it had been open about two days. Nothing had thawed completely, but most everything was on its way to being thawed.

After crying, panicking and calling my mother for support, I decided the best thing I could do was to cook all the meat that had begun to thaw. All day long I cooked. I browned ground beef. I sliced round steak into strips and browned it. I boiled chicken breasts and chopped them up. I cooked a whole turkey (and gave one away to a dear family). All of this I packaged into quart bags (about 2 cups of meat per each bag for our family of three). I even saved the broth from the cooked chicken.

I can’t tell you how much of a blessing that catastrophe turned out to be. There have been many days since that I have been able to throw together a quick meal with one of the already-prepared meats. You can throw frozen cooked meat directly into a pan with other ingredients. It’s a great time-saver.

So now I intend to make a habit of having foods or ingredients prepared ahead of time. Why didn’t I do this when I was a working mom?

There are many other goals I have for myself that I will share in days ahead.

How about you? Do you have goals for the new year? Do you care to share? I’d love to hear them. Maybe you have something in mind that would be a good idea for me, too.

Thanks for stopping in today. It’s been a great joy to share time with you.

Postscript

By the way, the spinach lasagna I made for dinner last night was a big hit. I made the sauce from scratch and had enough left over for two additional meals. (This week’s goal met already – woo hoo!) I bagged it in quart-size bags and put it in the deep freeze.