This is actually Pretty religious. It's directly from Sunday School this last Sunday. In the book of Ezekiel, 44th chapter and 23rd verse, I discovered something that needs to be done so desperately for people today. Here's the verse:
And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
Not enough people appreciate that there even IS a difference between holy and profane, and that they're on opposite ends of a spectrum. In the middle, I think, is "regular" and then it goes to "casual" and then to "irreverent" and onward toward "profane. On the other side of "regular" it goes to "special" and then to "reverent" and then onward toward "holy."
Profane is a word that could be WAY overused, if people took the time to recognize that it's still relevant. It's not just in speech, as in "speak using profanities." It's also in dress, attitudes, jokes, actions, and events. I love the word profane, for how descriptive it is.
There's your vague religion for the day.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Not Really News, but They're Funny
Doesn't everyone just think they're children are so awesome and of course everyone is going to want to see pictures. Mine are looking kind of blurry.
1. Not very interesting but definitely cute. His second "birthday cake" was those Lemon Bites from Costco. Two of them. He just sat staring at the candles burning even though he's really good at blowing.
2. Army of Ninjas. What boy can turn 11 and not need a new Army of Ninjas? He got them over at Nickel-a-Play. We took him and his two friends for his birthday.
Just a little somethin' to keep ya coming back.
1. Not very interesting but definitely cute. His second "birthday cake" was those Lemon Bites from Costco. Two of them. He just sat staring at the candles burning even though he's really good at blowing.
2. Army of Ninjas. What boy can turn 11 and not need a new Army of Ninjas? He got them over at Nickel-a-Play. We took him and his two friends for his birthday.
3. Even Big Boys Get Sleepy. I don't know why he was so sleepy. Maybe it was early evening. Often in the early evening, he just can't stay awake. His one leg gave out right after I took the picture and he got up.
4. Not in Focus, but Definitely Grumpy. That's my Julesie.
Just a little somethin' to keep ya coming back.Saturday, December 4, 2010
Quilt Retreat 2010
Seth's mom and Aunt live next door to each other, about 4 1/2 hours from my place. A couple years ago I got the brilliant idea to invade their homes and mooch off them during spring break, fall break, a week during summer, or any other time I felt like inviting myself down. The idea is that I stay with Aunt Emma, who's also a quilt lady, and the kids go back and forth between Emma's and Grandma's. This way I get a lot of projects done and the kids don't have a terrible time. Quilt Retreat, I call it. I just went down there over fall break for a Quilt Retreat.
The first Quilt Retreat I did was maybe last year sometime. I don't really remember. I do remember promising details about it here on the old 'Blog. And here I am keeping that promise.
What I do is, I bring tons of half-finished projects, the bigger the better, and then work on stuff every waking hour, with the end-result being tons of finished projects. The first time, I stuffed the van to over-flowing and barely had room for the children. I also brought a lot of unreasonable projects. The last two times, I have brought stuff that's way more reasonable and do-able. Leaves room enough to bring the children's bikes. Anyway, here are some things I got done this last time, over Fall Break, despite feeling terrible because I have a Baby on Board.
1. Baby quilt. Sorry to spoil the surprise, Yara, if you're reading this. It's for Rafael. I started it during my Spring Break Quilt Retreat and it sat in my work room for 6 months. This time I machine quilted it, free-motion, and Emma helped me hand-stitch the binding on.
2. Wool project. I saw a stunning applique "bed rug" in a quilt catalog. It was a block of the month, costing nearly 1000 dollars when it was all said and done. I set about getting the supplies to make it out of 100% wool, pretty sure I could do it for slightly less than $1000. I'm gathering patterns I like from books and magazines, and for the materials, I've spent less than $200. I think I'm on track to achieve my goal. It's slow-going, though, since I apparently think I have until eternity to get my approximately one billion projects done. This is one I'm not thinking of abandoning. It's machine applique with invisible thread. This pattern is from William Morris in Applique.
These are some of the main things I accomplished at my Quilt Retreat this fall. I plan to go again, but maybe not until after school lets out and the baby's here and I feel awesome. But then again, maybe for Spring Break! Who knows?!
The first Quilt Retreat I did was maybe last year sometime. I don't really remember. I do remember promising details about it here on the old 'Blog. And here I am keeping that promise.
What I do is, I bring tons of half-finished projects, the bigger the better, and then work on stuff every waking hour, with the end-result being tons of finished projects. The first time, I stuffed the van to over-flowing and barely had room for the children. I also brought a lot of unreasonable projects. The last two times, I have brought stuff that's way more reasonable and do-able. Leaves room enough to bring the children's bikes. Anyway, here are some things I got done this last time, over Fall Break, despite feeling terrible because I have a Baby on Board.
1. Baby quilt. Sorry to spoil the surprise, Yara, if you're reading this. It's for Rafael. I started it during my Spring Break Quilt Retreat and it sat in my work room for 6 months. This time I machine quilted it, free-motion, and Emma helped me hand-stitch the binding on.
2. Wool project. I saw a stunning applique "bed rug" in a quilt catalog. It was a block of the month, costing nearly 1000 dollars when it was all said and done. I set about getting the supplies to make it out of 100% wool, pretty sure I could do it for slightly less than $1000. I'm gathering patterns I like from books and magazines, and for the materials, I've spent less than $200. I think I'm on track to achieve my goal. It's slow-going, though, since I apparently think I have until eternity to get my approximately one billion projects done. This is one I'm not thinking of abandoning. It's machine applique with invisible thread. This pattern is from William Morris in Applique.
3. I actually made two of this baby quilt. They're close to identical, just with different backing fabrics. The one Emma chose, the cuter one, is up top. This one is backed with the fun red print I chose, which is cute, but not the cuter fabric. I love the fronts of these quilts and envy the little boys who will snuggle with them. There are patches made of circuit-board print fabric, for crying out loud! I got this one machine quilted and Emma helped me bind it also.
4. Mending. I found these kids' jeans in a bag and knew they were in there for mending, not picnic quilts. I've mended the knees, which the children will blow out again within seconds of putting them on.
5. The Main Event: I, along with several friends, am making the O Tannenbaum quilt. I've talked about it before. The "block" for November was to make eight log-cabin blocks. I did the October block, another paper-pieced house, and then used the rest of my awake-and-feeling-good-enough-to-do-anything time to piece these monsters. I really had to push myself. I did them all at once, chain piecing and then pressing each log. I feel terrible for the ladies who did/are doing one block at a time. They will be sewing through the millennium, I think. Each log only comes out to 5/8 inch when it's all sewn in, so these seemed to be about 3 inches square for like two days. They never seemed to get any bigger! But I did it. It's a major accomplishment for me. And then the best part, was arranging them in my favorite log-cabin arrangement. They're stunning. Separately, all I see in each block is toil and sick-feelings. Together, they inspire me to make MORE log cabins!! Maybe...
These are some of the main things I accomplished at my Quilt Retreat this fall. I plan to go again, but maybe not until after school lets out and the baby's here and I feel awesome. But then again, maybe for Spring Break! Who knows?!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Photographic Essay: Smoky Hill High Student Trash
My house is in a neighborhood that's right across the main thoroughfare from Smoky Hill High School. Then Laredo Middle School is just beyond that. I love this. As long as we're here, my children will never have to know the torment of The Bus. I had some Bad Bus Times, in middle school mainly.
So there's a lot of foot traffic through our neighborhood and past our house, with high school and middle school kids coming and going. Plus the High School has a an open campus and a weirdy three-on, one-off daily schedule, so the kids are going by pretty much all the time. Mostly they're kids that live over in Sunburst Townhomes. Bless its heart, some really great people live in Sunburst Townhomes, including the Incredible Zirker Family. But also some not-so-savory people live in there. It's a big place.
Here is my photographic essay of things left by these friends as they traipse past my home. And this is just from this morning, not including the trash I picked off the lawn yesterday and the things I've recently had to kick into the street for not wanting to touch them with my hands.
1. Random scrap of litter. Looks like a gum wrapper.
2. Straw. The kids are constantly going to 7-11 or Taco Bell and ditching their "leftovers" in public places like my sidewalk.
...on looking more closely, though, you'll see why I decided to do this photographic essay.
Because I am enraged at the number of terminally ill students with chronic pain that have to walk themselves to high school! This is an outrage! Yeah. If you can't catch my feelings on "medical" marijuana, then perhaps I haven't been cynical enough here. Maybe I'll do a whole 'nother post on why medical marijuana is a farce and anyone who really thinks sick people need it real bad are lying to themselves and our state. Or maybe I just said my piece, amen.
So there's a lot of foot traffic through our neighborhood and past our house, with high school and middle school kids coming and going. Plus the High School has a an open campus and a weirdy three-on, one-off daily schedule, so the kids are going by pretty much all the time. Mostly they're kids that live over in Sunburst Townhomes. Bless its heart, some really great people live in Sunburst Townhomes, including the Incredible Zirker Family. But also some not-so-savory people live in there. It's a big place.
Here is my photographic essay of things left by these friends as they traipse past my home. And this is just from this morning, not including the trash I picked off the lawn yesterday and the things I've recently had to kick into the street for not wanting to touch them with my hands.
1. Random scrap of litter. Looks like a gum wrapper.
2. Straw. The kids are constantly going to 7-11 or Taco Bell and ditching their "leftovers" in public places like my sidewalk.
3. Cigarette pack. This was technically on the neighbor's lawn and I know they don't smoke... But at least the teens got their money's worth by going for the 100s.
4. Plastic baggie. This is far from the grodiest thing I've seen left by the miscreants...oops! I mean Leaders of Tomorrow!
...on looking more closely, though, you'll see why I decided to do this photographic essay.
Because I am enraged at the number of terminally ill students with chronic pain that have to walk themselves to high school! This is an outrage! Yeah. If you can't catch my feelings on "medical" marijuana, then perhaps I haven't been cynical enough here. Maybe I'll do a whole 'nother post on why medical marijuana is a farce and anyone who really thinks sick people need it real bad are lying to themselves and our state. Or maybe I just said my piece, amen.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Quilt Blockin'
Here's a recent installment in the $5 Block o' the Month. They're really going half-square and quarter-square triangle crazy on these. It's a lot of triangles.
O Tannenbaum
I have become involved in a block of the month, self-administered by a group of quilting and crafting friends. There are maybe five of us and we all went in on the pattern for a fabulous christmas quilt called O Tannenbaum. Here's a link to one of the many quilt shops online that have it:www.quakertownquilts.com/OTannenbaum.shtml
Here's the first month's block. It's paper-foundation piecing. It's fun to see how each lady's fabrics make her block different, plus everyone's interpretation of the instructions...
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Big WibNews!
Baby #6 decided to stick around after all!
That's the whole news.
PS there's actually more: I went for an ultrasound today and there was a baby with a heartbeat and everything. Due date, May 20-something. That is all.
That's the whole news.
PS there's actually more: I went for an ultrasound today and there was a baby with a heartbeat and everything. Due date, May 20-something. That is all.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
I Love Living Here!
We live close enough to DIA, Buckley Air Force Base, the Air Force Academy, and several smaller airports that there is a good deal of air traffic over our home and in our surrounding skies. The cool thing is, you can totally hear when it's something totally cool, as opposed to just some commercial jetliner or somebody's private jet. And at Buckley, the fighter jets periodically go out on training missions or whatever, and they go in sets of two or three or sometimes four. I love this so much. I can hear the roar and run out my front door and see two or three superfast jets in the sky above my neighbor's house. Or else the huge military helicopters. I just love that they're not as diddly and weak as your usual air traffic.
So there's this park, and it's a lot closer to Buckley Air Force Base than my house. It's a major attraction because it has water-squirting features. We were at this park with some friends a few weeks ago. I heard the familiar roar of my beloved butt-kicker fighter jets, so I turned around to where I knew they'd be taking off and THEY WERE RIGHT THERE, right behind us. They were SO CLOSE. It was awesome. They're so loud and roar-y and they could totally kill you dead in a second if they wanted to. I love them. One took off, and then within a minute at most another one roared off the ground and then another one. I can't stress just how cool I think they are and how cool it is to be RIGHT THERE watching them take off from so close. It's like going to the air show but it's all the time.
And so, I conclude this topic with this statement: I love living here. It is the bombiest! Not real bombs. We mostly get fighter jets and not bombers anyway.
Friday, August 27, 2010
I'm No Realtor But This is My Take
There's a new concept in finance lately, and that is the idea of being "upside-down" on your home loan, owing more money for your home than it's worth. I think this is a ridiculous idea and a stupid reason to be alarmed. The fact is, home "values" fluctuate so widely that maybe up to half the time, you ARE going to owe more than your home is "worth." Wah, wah, stop yer whinin' about being so-called "upside down" on a home loan because whatever you could re-sell your home for at any given point is for just that: a given point. It could be back up 50,000 dollars tomorrow (not likely though, eh?).
All I'm saying is that you KNOW when you sign all those trillion papers for a mortgage and home purchase, that you are agreeing to a pretty arbitrary price and that's the amount you're going to be on the hook for, for the next 30 years. I declare the following statement to be true: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BEING UPSIDE DOWN IN A HOME MORTGAGE, THERE'S ONLY BEING ON THE HOOK FOR A CERTAIN AMOUNT.
All I'm saying is that you KNOW when you sign all those trillion papers for a mortgage and home purchase, that you are agreeing to a pretty arbitrary price and that's the amount you're going to be on the hook for, for the next 30 years. I declare the following statement to be true: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BEING UPSIDE DOWN IN A HOME MORTGAGE, THERE'S ONLY BEING ON THE HOOK FOR A CERTAIN AMOUNT.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Squeamish Much?
If you're easily grossed out and/or don't want to know the very intimate details of something I did the other morning, just skip to a different web page. Just go right now. I won't be offended.
But YOU might be offended if you stick around, because my news is GROSS.
I cleaned out my ears. I couldn't hear and my ears were hurting. I used a bulb syringe and some of those cleany drops. What is not in my ears anymore was FOUL. You know those cap-erasers for pencils? That you have to buy for school kids but which never get used? That is the approximate size and shape of what-is-not-in-my-ears-anymore. Yes, it's true. And after the first one appeared in the sink, I made Seth look at it. And then I heard the second one pop out of the other ear.
This is gross. This is truly disgustifying. I know this. But this is my news. For the last two days I have felt like I was wearing a plastic helmet because everything is so loud and echoey with my new ear-situation. Also there might have been a little water left in there because my ears are notorious for having water stuck in them. It's terribly grody news, but it's good news.
But YOU might be offended if you stick around, because my news is GROSS.
I cleaned out my ears. I couldn't hear and my ears were hurting. I used a bulb syringe and some of those cleany drops. What is not in my ears anymore was FOUL. You know those cap-erasers for pencils? That you have to buy for school kids but which never get used? That is the approximate size and shape of what-is-not-in-my-ears-anymore. Yes, it's true. And after the first one appeared in the sink, I made Seth look at it. And then I heard the second one pop out of the other ear.
This is gross. This is truly disgustifying. I know this. But this is my news. For the last two days I have felt like I was wearing a plastic helmet because everything is so loud and echoey with my new ear-situation. Also there might have been a little water left in there because my ears are notorious for having water stuck in them. It's terribly grody news, but it's good news.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
I Made a Delicious Salad
I'm trying to make my weight shift, in any direction. Down is my preferred direction, but not any change has occured since I came home from the hospital with Scott. That's been long enough that I should see SOMETHING. So anyway, it's salad time!
I made a really delightful salad the other day, then made another even more delightful one the next day. Here is the "recipe:"
1 big huge handful of "Spring Mix" greens
2 T. craisins
2 T. slivered almonds
1 T. feta cheese, crumbled up
5 stuffed green olives
2 T. roasted red pepper vinaigrette dressing
Mix it all up in a serving bowl. Eat the whole thing yourself for lunch. It comes out to about 295 calories and leaves you wanting MORE! And that's saying a lot, for me, for a salad. It would also be good with other kinds of greens, plus croutons would be good in there but would add calories and not nutrition.
I dub this salad the "Wib." As in, "would you like the House Salad, the Caesar, or the Wib?"
I made a really delightful salad the other day, then made another even more delightful one the next day. Here is the "recipe:"
1 big huge handful of "Spring Mix" greens
2 T. craisins
2 T. slivered almonds
1 T. feta cheese, crumbled up
5 stuffed green olives
2 T. roasted red pepper vinaigrette dressing
Mix it all up in a serving bowl. Eat the whole thing yourself for lunch. It comes out to about 295 calories and leaves you wanting MORE! And that's saying a lot, for me, for a salad. It would also be good with other kinds of greens, plus croutons would be good in there but would add calories and not nutrition.
I dub this salad the "Wib." As in, "would you like the House Salad, the Caesar, or the Wib?"
Saturday, April 17, 2010
I Stuffed a Pumpkin Full of Hush Puppies
The hush puppies were left over from last week's Taste of Cherry Creek ward activity. I made Carolina BBQ as my ethnic dish. A week out, I didn't think they were worth keeping.
The pumpkin I grew in my garden last summer. I had the pumpkins in the boys' bedroom window because I don't have a root cellar. It's a little sunnier in the boys' window than in a root cellar, so some of the pumpkins didn't make it. This pumpkin was dry and tender. You try to pull it off the window sill by the stem and the stem flops right off, creating a perfect little Pup-hole. So I stuffed all the outdated hushpuppies into the pumpkin, en route to the compost heap out back. It was fun to stuff them in. I'd do it again in an instant.
The pumpkin I grew in my garden last summer. I had the pumpkins in the boys' bedroom window because I don't have a root cellar. It's a little sunnier in the boys' window than in a root cellar, so some of the pumpkins didn't make it. This pumpkin was dry and tender. You try to pull it off the window sill by the stem and the stem flops right off, creating a perfect little Pup-hole. So I stuffed all the outdated hushpuppies into the pumpkin, en route to the compost heap out back. It was fun to stuff them in. I'd do it again in an instant.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Block O' the Month
By lucky chance I went to a quilt shop just days before they were starting this year's "Last Saturday Sampler" also known as The Five Dollar Quilt. You pay five bucks. They give you a little kit to make a quilt block, including fabric and pattern. You come to the meeting on the Last Saturday of each month of the year. If you bring last month's finished block with you, you get the next month's kit for free. So at the end of the year, you've been able to make a quilt for five bucks. Plus there are prizes and drawings. At the meeting they just tell you what's going on at the shop and show you new products.This is the finished block for January. I've done this once before, at a quilt shop in Sandy, Utah. Just last fall I put those blocks together into a quilt for my baby Scotty and it was good I already had them done, nine years ago, or else Scott might not have gotten a good baby quilt from me.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Just to Prove I'm a Stand-up Guy
Here's another post, on consecutive days, to prove that I love people even though I don't regularly post items on my blog. Hey, I'm the girl that doesn't even regularly brush her hair. Tasks that must be done every day or almost every day are HARD. Plus my hair is naturally lovely, so...A little info on this picture: This is another one of Eric's Bionicle dudes. He apparently did a whole photographic essay one day starring these guys. Please notice the burly armor at his wrists. Also that blue-flamey pillow case is one I made with the leftover fabric from the puffy-quilt I made for him to get him to give up the puffy blanket that goes with the toddler bed.
Friday, March 26, 2010
This One Goes Out to The Ones I Love
Here is a random picture I just grabbed from a folder full of pictures with number-jumbled names. I couldn't see the thumbnails, so thank goodness it's a super-cool picture.Eric loves to make up his own Bionicle dudes, then pose them and photograph them. In the background of his desk you can see the crystals he's growing. They're from a kit he got for his birthday.
Hope this makes it to anyone clambering for an update in the South Pacific, wink wink!
Monday, February 8, 2010
January 29th
Planned Breakfast: Banana Muffins. I'll have to try these later because I have plenty of ripe mashed bananas in the freezer. It didn't work out for this morning because I used the sour cream for a Green Cake to take to the DiGiorno party instead of saving it for the banana muffins. I'm pretty sure we just had cereal. Plus Scott was sick and had a bad old night, so I was in No Mood to bake anything.
Planned Dinner: Tuna and Pasta Cheddar melt. I can really get behind this dinner, so it'll be on the menu again later. But this isn't what we had on Friday the 29th. No indeed, we made a big Pizza Pocket dinner, because Eric requested it. It was a ton of work, but we made them extra delicious by squirting them with Pam when they were fresh out of the oven and then sprinkling them with Italian Seasoning and Parmesan.
Planned Dinner: Tuna and Pasta Cheddar melt. I can really get behind this dinner, so it'll be on the menu again later. But this isn't what we had on Friday the 29th. No indeed, we made a big Pizza Pocket dinner, because Eric requested it. It was a ton of work, but we made them extra delicious by squirting them with Pam when they were fresh out of the oven and then sprinkling them with Italian Seasoning and Parmesan.
January 28th
Breakfast: fruit and toast. I cracked open a #10 can of Tropical Fruit Salad from Sam's Club. I also put a loaf of bread and the Country Crock on the table. This was the extent of my breakfast-making.
Dinner: Polynesian meatballs. These are from Sherene Winkel out of the Apex/Holly Springs cookbook.
1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
3/4 c. quick oats
5 oz. can water chestnuts, chopped
1/2 t. onion salt
1/2 t. garlic salt
1 t. soy sauce
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
Mix together and form into balls (I use the small cookie scoop). Bake at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes while you prepare the sauce.
8 1/2 oz. can crushed pineapple
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1 c. beef broth (bouillon)
1/2 c. vinegar
2 T. soy sauce
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. chopped cooked carrots
Place undrained pineapple, brown sugar, bouillon, vinegar, and soy sauce in a pot and brint to a boil. Dissolve cornstarch in a little water and add to the pot. Add peppers and cooked carrots (I mash them with a fork). Simmer 10 minutes. Add to meatballs and serve over rice.
Dinner: Polynesian meatballs. These are from Sherene Winkel out of the Apex/Holly Springs cookbook.
1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
3/4 c. quick oats
5 oz. can water chestnuts, chopped
1/2 t. onion salt
1/2 t. garlic salt
1 t. soy sauce
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
Mix together and form into balls (I use the small cookie scoop). Bake at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes while you prepare the sauce.
8 1/2 oz. can crushed pineapple
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1 c. beef broth (bouillon)
1/2 c. vinegar
2 T. soy sauce
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. chopped cooked carrots
Place undrained pineapple, brown sugar, bouillon, vinegar, and soy sauce in a pot and brint to a boil. Dissolve cornstarch in a little water and add to the pot. Add peppers and cooked carrots (I mash them with a fork). Simmer 10 minutes. Add to meatballs and serve over rice.
January 27th
Breakfast: Chili Egg Casserole. I had this at the Visiting Teaching Brunch thinger and it was so good I kept eating it when the event was over and the ladies were leaving. I made a full batch for General Conference weekend, but the children balked at it and I was left eating it for a long time afterward. This time I only made a half-batch, and I blended up the chilis so they were unrecognizable. Scott and Seth both appreciate it as much as I do.
10 eggs
1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
16 oz. cottage cheese
16 oz. shredded Jack cheese
1/2 c. melted butter (cooled)
8 oz. diced green chilies
Beat eggs until smooth and lemon-colored. Add flour, baking powder, salt, cottage cheese, jack cheese, and butter. Blend until smooth, stir in chilies. Bake in a greased 9X13 pan at 350 for one hour. I would probably use less butter next time... so the half batch is only 5 eggs, 1/4 cup flour, and etc., and cooked in a greased 8X8 pan.
Dinner: Kraft Parmesan Chicken and roasted vegetables. Well, I cheated and did chicken nuggets instead of the Parmesan chicken. The children ate those, and then Seth and I had leftover Restaurant chicken with the roasted vegetables. I roasted carrots, cauliflower, and potatoes. They come out so crisp-a-licious and salt-and-peppery.
Heat oven to 450. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil. Toss 1 lb. vegetables with 2 tsp. olive oil and 1/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper in pan. Roast for 20 minutes the following: potatoes, fennel slices, carrots, halved brussels sprouts. Roast for 15 minutes the following: cubed, peeled butternut squash, red pepper strips, cauliflower florets. Roast for 10 minutes: asparagus, red onion wedges, zucchini slices. Except that I just put the cauliflower in at the same time as the potatoes and carrots. And I use olive oil. And these are so delicious. The only thing that keeps me from eating a whole trays-worth is the threat of Southerly Winds, if you catch my meaning.
10 eggs
1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
16 oz. cottage cheese
16 oz. shredded Jack cheese
1/2 c. melted butter (cooled)
8 oz. diced green chilies
Beat eggs until smooth and lemon-colored. Add flour, baking powder, salt, cottage cheese, jack cheese, and butter. Blend until smooth, stir in chilies. Bake in a greased 9X13 pan at 350 for one hour. I would probably use less butter next time... so the half batch is only 5 eggs, 1/4 cup flour, and etc., and cooked in a greased 8X8 pan.
Dinner: Kraft Parmesan Chicken and roasted vegetables. Well, I cheated and did chicken nuggets instead of the Parmesan chicken. The children ate those, and then Seth and I had leftover Restaurant chicken with the roasted vegetables. I roasted carrots, cauliflower, and potatoes. They come out so crisp-a-licious and salt-and-peppery.
Heat oven to 450. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil. Toss 1 lb. vegetables with 2 tsp. olive oil and 1/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper in pan. Roast for 20 minutes the following: potatoes, fennel slices, carrots, halved brussels sprouts. Roast for 15 minutes the following: cubed, peeled butternut squash, red pepper strips, cauliflower florets. Roast for 10 minutes: asparagus, red onion wedges, zucchini slices. Except that I just put the cauliflower in at the same time as the potatoes and carrots. And I use olive oil. And these are so delicious. The only thing that keeps me from eating a whole trays-worth is the threat of Southerly Winds, if you catch my meaning.
January 26th
Breakfast: Overnight Oatmeal. This said to cook it overnight, but I started it in the crockpot before my show-watching time with Seth, so it had a long time to crock. As a result, it was a wee bit over done. Seth trooped onward and ate a bowls-worth, with milk to re-cream it. The children ate a couple bites total, except for Scott, who ate Jules' leftovers and most of Russell's leftovers. Here's the link
http://www.betterbudgeting.com/articles/frugal/breakfast.htm
It's the same place I got the Oatmeal Packets recipe. It'll be better in the future when I add more liquid and crock it for less time.
Dinner: Restaurant Chicken. This is from the George Foreman Grill Cookbook. It's actually called Pineapple-Honey Chicken Breasts, but it tastes like it could be from a restaurant, especially if you marinate the chicken in the sauce for a few hours. Here's the recipe:
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 t. ginger
1 t. oil
1 clove garlic
2 T. honey
4 chicken breasts
4 pineapple slices
Mix ingredients to form sauce. Marinate chicken if desired. Grill for 3 minutes, spooning sauce over chicken periodically. Top each with a pineapple slice and grill for 3-5 minutes more or until done. Serve with the extra sauce. I usually serve this with rice and then put the extra sauce/chicken juice over the rice.
http://www.betterbudgeting.com/articles/frugal/breakfast.htm
It's the same place I got the Oatmeal Packets recipe. It'll be better in the future when I add more liquid and crock it for less time.
Dinner: Restaurant Chicken. This is from the George Foreman Grill Cookbook. It's actually called Pineapple-Honey Chicken Breasts, but it tastes like it could be from a restaurant, especially if you marinate the chicken in the sauce for a few hours. Here's the recipe:
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 t. ginger
1 t. oil
1 clove garlic
2 T. honey
4 chicken breasts
4 pineapple slices
Mix ingredients to form sauce. Marinate chicken if desired. Grill for 3 minutes, spooning sauce over chicken periodically. Top each with a pineapple slice and grill for 3-5 minutes more or until done. Serve with the extra sauce. I usually serve this with rice and then put the extra sauce/chicken juice over the rice.
January 25th
Breakfast: pancakes, as usual.
Planned dinner: Chip's Mom's Meatloaf, from the Apex/Holly Springs cookbook. The name makes it sound like it's so good. BUT, I didn't have all the ingredients or the gumption to do it up. I remember making something else, but what? WHAT? Quesadillas? or something?
Planned dinner: Chip's Mom's Meatloaf, from the Apex/Holly Springs cookbook. The name makes it sound like it's so good. BUT, I didn't have all the ingredients or the gumption to do it up. I remember making something else, but what? WHAT? Quesadillas? or something?
January 24th
Breakfast: cereal. No frills.
Planned Dinner: is blank. I don't know how that happened. Actual dinner: leftover Potato Soup. So that worked out well. Not a very fancy food day, but we're not exactly starving over here in Chubbsville.
Planned Dinner: is blank. I don't know how that happened. Actual dinner: leftover Potato Soup. So that worked out well. Not a very fancy food day, but we're not exactly starving over here in Chubbsville.
January 23rd
Planned Breakfast: fruit? Actual Breakfast: cereal. Seth got up with the children and served out cereal. The rest of the day was spent making the Pinewood Derby car, until RaceTime.
Planned dinner: tacos. Actual Dinner: DiGiorno pizzas. Part of the party was door prizes. Our door prize was a cool clippy magnet and three coupons for pretty much the whole price - off. So on our way home from the Derby, we stopped and got the pizzas for free. Two of them were dinner, and one is in waiting for a very special date-night....
Planned dinner: tacos. Actual Dinner: DiGiorno pizzas. Part of the party was door prizes. Our door prize was a cool clippy magnet and three coupons for pretty much the whole price - off. So on our way home from the Derby, we stopped and got the pizzas for free. Two of them were dinner, and one is in waiting for a very special date-night....
January 22nd
Breakfast: French Breakfast Puffs. These sound fancy, but they're really just basic muffins dipped in butter and cinnamon-sugar. They're easy and as muffins go, pretty quick. Here's the recipe:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmet
1/8 t. salt.
1 beaten egg
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. melted butter
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
Mix dry ingredients together. In another bowl, combine wet ingredients, then add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Fill 12 muffin cups and bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. Immediately dip tops into 3 T. melted butter, then cinnamon-sugar. Two school kids, one accountant, and a toddler can finish all 12 in the blink of a bleary, sleepy eye.
Planned dinner: pizzas. Actual dinner: kids had mac and cheese before we dropped them at Hogues for Babysitters Club. We then went to Hamricks for the big DiGiorno party. They had a bunch of DiGiorno pizzas and we all ate them. That was the party. Then we also played a couple party games. And it's true: DiGiorno does make a better-than-usual frozen pizza.
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmet
1/8 t. salt.
1 beaten egg
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. melted butter
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
Mix dry ingredients together. In another bowl, combine wet ingredients, then add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Fill 12 muffin cups and bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. Immediately dip tops into 3 T. melted butter, then cinnamon-sugar. Two school kids, one accountant, and a toddler can finish all 12 in the blink of a bleary, sleepy eye.
Planned dinner: pizzas. Actual dinner: kids had mac and cheese before we dropped them at Hogues for Babysitters Club. We then went to Hamricks for the big DiGiorno party. They had a bunch of DiGiorno pizzas and we all ate them. That was the party. Then we also played a couple party games. And it's true: DiGiorno does make a better-than-usual frozen pizza.
January 21st
Planned Breakfast: yogurt? Actual Breakfast: I don't remember. I'm going to go ahead and assume it was some kind of fruit and english muffins. That seems right.
Dinner: MexiChicken. This was a risky move, considering my experience with the "Southwest Chicken" just earlier. I did it anyway, because I like to live my life On the Edge. This recipe is from Jenae Bethers (out of the Apex/Holly Springs ward cookbook), whom I freaked out at a Stampin' event by knowing her name and her husband's name even though we had never met. This cookbook is one of the reasons why I knew her name. Plus, last name Bethers. That's a dang catchy little last name. Anyway, the MexiChicken came out way better than the Southwest. It was delicious in leftovers for lunches later in the weeks. Here's the recipe:
4 chicken breasts
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small box frozen corn
3 T. chopped cilantro
1 c. salsa
salt and pepper
chili powder
Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, and chili powder. Brown and add all remaining ingredients. Simmer until chicken is tender.
I blended up the tomatoes to avoid chunk-rejection, and although I usually make it a point not to drain or rinse canned beans, I did this time, to make sure the recipe wasn't Wibis-ized in a bad way. Didn't wanna wreck it. Also I served this with rice. The rice, mixed in with all the beans and corn and whatnot, made it a delightfully complete dinner.
Dinner: MexiChicken. This was a risky move, considering my experience with the "Southwest Chicken" just earlier. I did it anyway, because I like to live my life On the Edge. This recipe is from Jenae Bethers (out of the Apex/Holly Springs ward cookbook), whom I freaked out at a Stampin' event by knowing her name and her husband's name even though we had never met. This cookbook is one of the reasons why I knew her name. Plus, last name Bethers. That's a dang catchy little last name. Anyway, the MexiChicken came out way better than the Southwest. It was delicious in leftovers for lunches later in the weeks. Here's the recipe:
4 chicken breasts
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small box frozen corn
3 T. chopped cilantro
1 c. salsa
salt and pepper
chili powder
Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, and chili powder. Brown and add all remaining ingredients. Simmer until chicken is tender.
I blended up the tomatoes to avoid chunk-rejection, and although I usually make it a point not to drain or rinse canned beans, I did this time, to make sure the recipe wasn't Wibis-ized in a bad way. Didn't wanna wreck it. Also I served this with rice. The rice, mixed in with all the beans and corn and whatnot, made it a delightfully complete dinner.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Quiet Books: the Amazon Pattern Link
So, I got this thing started with my sisters about quiet books and I said that if Amazon had the pattern books for sale that I use, then I'd post a link here. And so I'm doing that with this caveat: Don't buy these books from Amazon. Do not pay 49.50 for a $1.50 book. I will hook you up, sisters. I'm just putting these up in case you wanted to laugh and swallow your own tongue at the same time by viewing these ludicrous listings.
This one is for How to Make an LDS Quiet Book by Ann F. Pritt
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0877471169/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1264974503&sr=8-1&condition=used
and this is for the Child's ActivityBook by Rhonda Schomas and Linda Alvstad. It's not as big of a tongue-swallower, but it's still a little pricey. My copy originally cost someone 2.50:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0877477108/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1264974775&sr=1-1&condition=used
I love these books. They're Number One! And I'll hook you up, sisters, so no worries.
This one is for How to Make an LDS Quiet Book by Ann F. Pritt
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0877471169/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1264974503&sr=8-1&condition=used
and this is for the Child's ActivityBook by Rhonda Schomas and Linda Alvstad. It's not as big of a tongue-swallower, but it's still a little pricey. My copy originally cost someone 2.50:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0877477108/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1264974775&sr=1-1&condition=used
I love these books. They're Number One! And I'll hook you up, sisters, so no worries.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
January 20th
Planned breakfast: scrambled eggs and sausages. Ahh! Now I remember what we had last Friday morning. I had had to skip the eggs and sausages on my first Strike day, so I stuck it in on Friday. But I was only going to have the eggs and sausages on the wednesday because I didn't have the ingredients yet that I needed for my actual planned breakfast, Huevos Hyacinth, from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook. And so, I swapped it in for this week. So it was just going to be a simple wednesday-to-wednesday swap until the strike. Got that? So Actual Breakfast: Huevos Hyacinth. This was an adventure in trust, because it's ham with tomato slices, an egg, and cheese over the top, broiled in the oven. The surprise: Eric had to eat his first, since he goes to school early on Wednesdays for choir, and as he was eating his little remekin's worth of Huevos Hyacinth, he actually said, "Hey, this is pretty good, mom!"
Dinner: Potato Soup. It's good we made this, because the children went to the dentist and were advised to eat soft foods for dinner. This is good and soft. And because we went to the dentist, we had to make the dinner early and I went the extra mile and made the butterhorns to go with.
Potato Soup:
6 potatoes, peeled and diced
4 carrots, diced
6 celery stalks, diced
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. minced onions
6 T. butter
6 T. flour
Cook vegetables in enough water to cover them. Sautee onions in butter, in another pan. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Then stir in milk and keep stirring until it thickens. Add this sauce mix into the vegetable pot and simmer until the buns are done, maybe 15 or 20 minutes.
Wib's Buns: (This is just the recipe in the Better Homes cookbook)
1 T. yeast
1 c. milk, warmed up
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. shortening or butter
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs
4-5 c. flour
Proof yeast with milk and sugar. When it's foamy, add remaining ingredients, with just 2 or 3 cups of flour. I do this in the Kitchenaid mixer. Mix, adding remaining flour gradually until the dough isn't really sticky anymore. Knead for 6-8 minutes. Let rise one hour (or until double) then punch down. Divid the dough in half, and roll out each half into a 12-16 inch circle. Butter each circle, then slice into 12 wedges with a pizza cutter. Roll up each wedge from the fat edge toward the point, lining them up on a tray with each sitting on its point. Let rise one hour or until nearly double. Bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes or until goldeny brown.
Dinner: Potato Soup. It's good we made this, because the children went to the dentist and were advised to eat soft foods for dinner. This is good and soft. And because we went to the dentist, we had to make the dinner early and I went the extra mile and made the butterhorns to go with.
Potato Soup:
6 potatoes, peeled and diced
4 carrots, diced
6 celery stalks, diced
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. minced onions
6 T. butter
6 T. flour
Cook vegetables in enough water to cover them. Sautee onions in butter, in another pan. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Then stir in milk and keep stirring until it thickens. Add this sauce mix into the vegetable pot and simmer until the buns are done, maybe 15 or 20 minutes.
Wib's Buns: (This is just the recipe in the Better Homes cookbook)
1 T. yeast
1 c. milk, warmed up
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. shortening or butter
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs
4-5 c. flour
Proof yeast with milk and sugar. When it's foamy, add remaining ingredients, with just 2 or 3 cups of flour. I do this in the Kitchenaid mixer. Mix, adding remaining flour gradually until the dough isn't really sticky anymore. Knead for 6-8 minutes. Let rise one hour (or until double) then punch down. Divid the dough in half, and roll out each half into a 12-16 inch circle. Butter each circle, then slice into 12 wedges with a pizza cutter. Roll up each wedge from the fat edge toward the point, lining them up on a tray with each sitting on its point. Let rise one hour or until nearly double. Bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes or until goldeny brown.
January 19th
Planned breakfast: Oatmeal. Yeah, well, I haven't sat down and made the packets up yet, plus Seth said an unprovoked comment about how much he likes the Bob's RedMill hot cereal, so I made that instead. It was the apple-cinnamon variety. It didn't all get eaten, but that was mostly Russell's fault; there was no whining, I'm pleased to report.
Dinner: Chicken and Fruit Salad Pockets. Trying new recipes. Thank you, Narda Dudley (her real name). This one turned out to be really delicious, especially since I left out the celery. Nothing ruins really delicious chicken salad for me like celery.
Salad mixture:
3 c. chopped cooked chicken
3/4 c. seedless grapes, cut in half
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. slivered almonds, toasted (I forgot to toast them and it was still good)
11 oz. can mandarin orange segments, drained
Dressing:
2 1/2 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 c. low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 c. light mayonnaise
1 T. vinegar
Combine chicken, grapes, celery (bleah), almonds, and oranges. Mix sugar, salt, pepper, yogurt, mayonnaise, and vinegar for dressing. Pour dressing over salad mixture; toss gently. Serve in 6 pita pockets, cut in half.
I used sour cream instead of the yogurt, because that's what we had. I also used full-strength mayonnaise. Again, Narda Dudley, I thank you for this recipe.
Dinner: Chicken and Fruit Salad Pockets. Trying new recipes. Thank you, Narda Dudley (her real name). This one turned out to be really delicious, especially since I left out the celery. Nothing ruins really delicious chicken salad for me like celery.
Salad mixture:
3 c. chopped cooked chicken
3/4 c. seedless grapes, cut in half
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. slivered almonds, toasted (I forgot to toast them and it was still good)
11 oz. can mandarin orange segments, drained
Dressing:
2 1/2 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 c. low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 c. light mayonnaise
1 T. vinegar
Combine chicken, grapes, celery (bleah), almonds, and oranges. Mix sugar, salt, pepper, yogurt, mayonnaise, and vinegar for dressing. Pour dressing over salad mixture; toss gently. Serve in 6 pita pockets, cut in half.
I used sour cream instead of the yogurt, because that's what we had. I also used full-strength mayonnaise. Again, Narda Dudley, I thank you for this recipe.
January 18th
Planned Breakfast: pancakes. Every monday, pancakes. We really like pancakes. Please find our pancake recipe below:
Planned Dinner: Alphabet Meatball Soup. Actual dinner: I was at Dorothy's all day making "chocolate" candy to use up the candy stuff that's been on my counter and in my china cupboard for a year, so I didn't do the alphabet meatball soup. It's good, though, so I'll get the recipe up here in the future. What we had for dinner was the leftover Penne alla Wib, except that Seth had that for lunch already, so I made him his own dinner of Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. The children were jealous, but as per our agreement, they didn't whine.
Pancakes: everybody has a recipe and most are pretty good, but we make this one. Many times we double it and have no problem eating them all.
1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 beaten egg
1 c. milk
2 T. oil
I mix together the dry ingredients, add the liquid ingredients, stir, and cook on a hot griddle. And I NEVER add leftovers (love you Mom!)
Planned Dinner: Alphabet Meatball Soup. Actual dinner: I was at Dorothy's all day making "chocolate" candy to use up the candy stuff that's been on my counter and in my china cupboard for a year, so I didn't do the alphabet meatball soup. It's good, though, so I'll get the recipe up here in the future. What we had for dinner was the leftover Penne alla Wib, except that Seth had that for lunch already, so I made him his own dinner of Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. The children were jealous, but as per our agreement, they didn't whine.
Pancakes: everybody has a recipe and most are pretty good, but we make this one. Many times we double it and have no problem eating them all.
1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 beaten egg
1 c. milk
2 T. oil
I mix together the dry ingredients, add the liquid ingredients, stir, and cook on a hot griddle. And I NEVER add leftovers (love you Mom!)
January 17th
Sunday. My planned breakfast on Sundays is: cold cereal. I don't eat breakfast on sundays because of having to wait an hour after popping my pill and also getting grumpy Russell ready for church.
Planned dinner: Honey Mustard Chicken. We'll have to visit this one later as well, because it's not what we made. I guess the whole Strike thing really threw me off my game plan. What we actually made was the Pioneer Woman's Penne alla Betsy, but Wibisized, so Penne alla Wib. She puts dang shrimps in hers, and I'm gaining more of a shellfish allergy the older I get. So I swapped out the shrimps for pretty delicious Italian Sausages. I've never bought fresh basil before, and it was dang expensive, but in all, this was a pretty good dinner and I'll probably make it again in the future. It's a special dinner, though, since it takes that pricey herb plus the pricey sausage, plus heavy cream.
Planned dinner: Honey Mustard Chicken. We'll have to visit this one later as well, because it's not what we made. I guess the whole Strike thing really threw me off my game plan. What we actually made was the Pioneer Woman's Penne alla Betsy, but Wibisized, so Penne alla Wib. She puts dang shrimps in hers, and I'm gaining more of a shellfish allergy the older I get. So I swapped out the shrimps for pretty delicious Italian Sausages. I've never bought fresh basil before, and it was dang expensive, but in all, this was a pretty good dinner and I'll probably make it again in the future. It's a special dinner, though, since it takes that pricey herb plus the pricey sausage, plus heavy cream.
January 16th
Planned breakfast: waffles? I wrote the question mark on the planning sheet. You just never know if you're going to feel like it on a Saturday morning. Actual breakfast, made by Seth while I slept in just a little bit: waffles. How's that for being on the same page?! Plus we had a super-old jar of strawberry jam, out of which the sugar had migrated, so that it actually looked like a jar of bacon grease in the fridge, and we melted it down and had the kids eat it on their pancakes. They wouldn't eat it as jam in that condition, so GOTCHA AGAIN!
Planned dinner:Pioneer Woman Twice Baked Potatoes. ...and this is what we had. I actually worked hard and made a delicious dinner on a Saturday. She said they freeze well, so I made her full 8-potato recipe and froze the leftovers for lunches. I'll be the judge of whether they freeze well or not.
Here's our waffle recipe:
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. oil
1 T. sugar
4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
Beat eggs, add remaining ingredients and beat just until smooth. Bake in preheated waffle iron.
We sometimes swap out 1/4 c. of the oil for applesauce. This is actually from Betty Crocker. Our waffle iron is pretty big, like almost Belgian, and these rise up and fill it no problem.
Planned dinner:Pioneer Woman Twice Baked Potatoes. ...and this is what we had. I actually worked hard and made a delicious dinner on a Saturday. She said they freeze well, so I made her full 8-potato recipe and froze the leftovers for lunches. I'll be the judge of whether they freeze well or not.
Here's our waffle recipe:
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. oil
1 T. sugar
4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
Beat eggs, add remaining ingredients and beat just until smooth. Bake in preheated waffle iron.
We sometimes swap out 1/4 c. of the oil for applesauce. This is actually from Betty Crocker. Our waffle iron is pretty big, like almost Belgian, and these rise up and fill it no problem.
January 15th
Planned breakfast: German Pancakes. We'll catch up with that one later, because I already bought the special fruit-topping ingredients. Instead of this, though, we had what? Cold cereal? Pancakes again? I honestly can't remember. I do remember getting up and making something, because I had to get the little boys up and go volunteer at school that morning.
Planned dinner: Calzones. Actual dinner: mac-n-cheese for the children, before we dropped them off at the babysitters club. For our date, we had a frozen pizza followed by cream-cheese-and-salsa dip (all you can eat) and an apple pie we threw together. Not at all healthy, but a pretty good date night. It made me feel TERRIBLE!
Planned dinner: Calzones. Actual dinner: mac-n-cheese for the children, before we dropped them off at the babysitters club. For our date, we had a frozen pizza followed by cream-cheese-and-salsa dip (all you can eat) and an apple pie we threw together. Not at all healthy, but a pretty good date night. It made me feel TERRIBLE!
January 14th
Planned Breakfast: fruit and toast. I think Seth got these things out and helped the children. I certainly didn't.
Planned dinner: "Chinese" chicken with rice. I have a jar of Hoisin sauce left over from the big Blue and Gold banquet a while ago and I was going to whip up something vaguely chinese yet distinctly delicious. Here's what happened instead.
After reassuring my family that I was absolutely serious about my demands and my refusal to go any further under the current conditions, and after some tearful hugs and at least one apology (from the barfer, thank goodness), I relented. We discussed the demands and how truly un-demanding they really are, and I think we all agreed that going forward, we can do better. I made them promise and double-promise that the demands would continue to be met. And then I pulled the Greatest Culinary Trick of the year! I made dinner: chicken quesadillas using the scorned Southwest Chicken leftover from Monday night! Haha!, Children! You ARE eating it! I got you!!! And they loved it. Because I DON'T MAKE GRODY FOODS!
And so I'm back, full force, and I haven't had a balk incident yet.
Planned dinner: "Chinese" chicken with rice. I have a jar of Hoisin sauce left over from the big Blue and Gold banquet a while ago and I was going to whip up something vaguely chinese yet distinctly delicious. Here's what happened instead.
After reassuring my family that I was absolutely serious about my demands and my refusal to go any further under the current conditions, and after some tearful hugs and at least one apology (from the barfer, thank goodness), I relented. We discussed the demands and how truly un-demanding they really are, and I think we all agreed that going forward, we can do better. I made them promise and double-promise that the demands would continue to be met. And then I pulled the Greatest Culinary Trick of the year! I made dinner: chicken quesadillas using the scorned Southwest Chicken leftover from Monday night! Haha!, Children! You ARE eating it! I got you!!! And they loved it. Because I DON'T MAKE GRODY FOODS!
And so I'm back, full force, and I haven't had a balk incident yet.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
January 13th
Just to be consistent: the breakfast my family missed today by dissing me last night, was scrambled eggs and sausages.
The dinner they'll miss tonight by dissing me last night, is Penne alla Wib.
I'm sticking to my guns. My demands are not unreasonable. Maybe I'll go eat some Pumpkin Roll right now. Maybe that's one of my demands, too, a piece of Pumpkin Roll. I demand cake rolled up with cream cheese frosting!
The dinner they'll miss tonight by dissing me last night, is Penne alla Wib.
I'm sticking to my guns. My demands are not unreasonable. Maybe I'll go eat some Pumpkin Roll right now. Maybe that's one of my demands, too, a piece of Pumpkin Roll. I demand cake rolled up with cream cheese frosting!
January 12th
...my breaking point.
For breakfast, I made delicious Bob's Red Mill 7-grain cereal, and I mix in honey so it's extra tastey. Seth still stirs in even more brown sugar, but whatever. At least he eats it without whining. Jules also does a pretty good job of just enjoying it. Eric, however, started pouting the moment he came upstairs and saw it. This makes me feel angry. It would be one thing, if it were a foul and disgusting meal I was cooking up, like Scrapple. But this is delightful, honey-filled 7-grain hot cereal, not nearly as disgusting as oatmeal. So this day didn't start off that well, food-wise, between me and Eric.
Dinner was Hamburger Soup. I'll give you the recipe if you want to make it, because it did turn out pretty good. But here's what happened. Eric came home from school and saw that in the crockpot. He instantly started pouting and balking, which of course, makes me extremely defensive. Bud, we've never even tasted this, not one of us. You have to at least TRY it before you start making me feel unhappy with your attitude. Every time he saw it he would try to insist that we'd had it before and that it was terrible. When we sat down to dinner, he put his head down and tried to cover his dish. He sat there eating toast but not the dinner. After Webelos, he knew he was going to have to come home and eat that dinner. Well, at Webelos I guess they were talking about Emergency Preparedness or First Aid or something, because he came home saying how he'd almost fainted, and he'd gotten really pale and cold. So, ok. When you almost faint, is it because of the topic? or is it because you haven't had anything to eat since lunch? Hmmm? So you better get in there and fill your tummy with something warm and delightful.
He went in and sulked and pouted until we made a deal. He's not a baby anymore. Still, this is the deal we made: he would eat 11 bites, because he is turning 11 this year. I estimated that would probably just finish off the whole bowl and that's why I agreed to this deal. He got four bites in, then went to the fridge for a drink of milk. I am convinced that he was more than happy about what he did next, which was to barf the whole thing back up, onto the kitchen floor. He did get the next several heaves into the sink, and he rinsed it down, mostly because seeing yuck makes him ralph, not because he's super-considerate. I sent him away to bed. My rage and disgust were rising in my gut, much the same way the soup and vomit rose in his gut. And so now, with that final insult, I am on strike. I will not make food if you are going to pout and insult me and then vomit it back onto my kitchen floor. You can eat the leftovers from the last two nights' dinners until they are delicious to you. I stayed in my bed this morning and did not make the dinner I had planned out, sausage and scrambled eggs (one of Eric's most favorites). I will not be making dinner tonight, which was planned to be a variation on the Pioneer Woman's Penne alla Betsy, but with sausage instead of shrimp. I will not do any of this, until my demands are met.
Here are my demands, in case you were wondering:
An Apology
No more sulking or balking at food. If I were serving grody food, that would be one thing, but I'm not.
Table manners from the whole family, including sitting on your bottom, holding your utensils like civilized people, and using words like "Please pass.." and "May I..."
Spontaneous thanks and praise for the deliciousness of the food cooked
and
appropriate comments to me, such as You look nice, or You smell nice.
This is not very much to ask. I am confident that my demands will be met. I am serious.
Here is the Hamburger Soup recipe:
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 c. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 c. water
28 oz. can tomatoes (undrained)
2 T. beef bouillon or 6 cubes
2 c. frozen hash browns (I just grated up some potatoes)
1 c. frozen peas and carrots
sour cream (optional)
In a crock pot, combine all ingredients except sour cream; mix well. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Stir before serving. Serve with sour cream, if desired. I also added
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
bay leaf
and I topped it with grated Romano cheese. I'm really digging some Romano cheese lately. Also I would add a smidge less onion, maybe 1/2 cup, and I would grind up the tomatoes in the blender next time, because the chunks really were too large.
For breakfast, I made delicious Bob's Red Mill 7-grain cereal, and I mix in honey so it's extra tastey. Seth still stirs in even more brown sugar, but whatever. At least he eats it without whining. Jules also does a pretty good job of just enjoying it. Eric, however, started pouting the moment he came upstairs and saw it. This makes me feel angry. It would be one thing, if it were a foul and disgusting meal I was cooking up, like Scrapple. But this is delightful, honey-filled 7-grain hot cereal, not nearly as disgusting as oatmeal. So this day didn't start off that well, food-wise, between me and Eric.
Dinner was Hamburger Soup. I'll give you the recipe if you want to make it, because it did turn out pretty good. But here's what happened. Eric came home from school and saw that in the crockpot. He instantly started pouting and balking, which of course, makes me extremely defensive. Bud, we've never even tasted this, not one of us. You have to at least TRY it before you start making me feel unhappy with your attitude. Every time he saw it he would try to insist that we'd had it before and that it was terrible. When we sat down to dinner, he put his head down and tried to cover his dish. He sat there eating toast but not the dinner. After Webelos, he knew he was going to have to come home and eat that dinner. Well, at Webelos I guess they were talking about Emergency Preparedness or First Aid or something, because he came home saying how he'd almost fainted, and he'd gotten really pale and cold. So, ok. When you almost faint, is it because of the topic? or is it because you haven't had anything to eat since lunch? Hmmm? So you better get in there and fill your tummy with something warm and delightful.
He went in and sulked and pouted until we made a deal. He's not a baby anymore. Still, this is the deal we made: he would eat 11 bites, because he is turning 11 this year. I estimated that would probably just finish off the whole bowl and that's why I agreed to this deal. He got four bites in, then went to the fridge for a drink of milk. I am convinced that he was more than happy about what he did next, which was to barf the whole thing back up, onto the kitchen floor. He did get the next several heaves into the sink, and he rinsed it down, mostly because seeing yuck makes him ralph, not because he's super-considerate. I sent him away to bed. My rage and disgust were rising in my gut, much the same way the soup and vomit rose in his gut. And so now, with that final insult, I am on strike. I will not make food if you are going to pout and insult me and then vomit it back onto my kitchen floor. You can eat the leftovers from the last two nights' dinners until they are delicious to you. I stayed in my bed this morning and did not make the dinner I had planned out, sausage and scrambled eggs (one of Eric's most favorites). I will not be making dinner tonight, which was planned to be a variation on the Pioneer Woman's Penne alla Betsy, but with sausage instead of shrimp. I will not do any of this, until my demands are met.
Here are my demands, in case you were wondering:
An Apology
No more sulking or balking at food. If I were serving grody food, that would be one thing, but I'm not.
Table manners from the whole family, including sitting on your bottom, holding your utensils like civilized people, and using words like "Please pass.." and "May I..."
Spontaneous thanks and praise for the deliciousness of the food cooked
and
appropriate comments to me, such as You look nice, or You smell nice.
This is not very much to ask. I am confident that my demands will be met. I am serious.
Here is the Hamburger Soup recipe:
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 c. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 c. water
28 oz. can tomatoes (undrained)
2 T. beef bouillon or 6 cubes
2 c. frozen hash browns (I just grated up some potatoes)
1 c. frozen peas and carrots
sour cream (optional)
In a crock pot, combine all ingredients except sour cream; mix well. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Stir before serving. Serve with sour cream, if desired. I also added
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
bay leaf
and I topped it with grated Romano cheese. I'm really digging some Romano cheese lately. Also I would add a smidge less onion, maybe 1/2 cup, and I would grind up the tomatoes in the blender next time, because the chunks really were too large.
January 11th
Here's where it starts. Monday, January 11th.
Breakfast on monday is pancakes, always pancakes. That went just fine. I made the regular batch instead of the double because Russell is spending the week at Grandma's and he's one of the piggiest pancake eaters.
But then dinner: I had planned Supper Nachos. This is one of our party dinners because it involves tortilla chips, but sometimes we have it on weeknights. Instead of this, though, I made the Southwest chicken I was going to make on Sunday, with refried beans and spanish rice on the side. I taught the children how to get your mexican-food-platter going, with cheese over everything. And they balked, and they claimed they were full, and they pouted, and they dragged their feet. I finally had to make deals with both of them, involving them eating the beans and rice and me eating their chicken. Wah Wah!! Mom made something I don't recognize! Wah. Now I admit, this will probably not show up in my rotation again without some major modifications, but come ON!! They were balking before they'd even tried it. Eric especially. Here's the recipe, in case you love tomatoes more than me:
4 boneless skinless chix breasts
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 c. picante sauce
1/3 c. sour cream
avacado slices
chopped cilantro
Sprinkle chicken with cumin, salt, and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken and garlic in oil until lightly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Add picante sauce. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 10 minutes (I left mine for like 45 minutes because the chix was so fat). Remove chicken to serving platter. Keep warm. Stir sour cream into skillet juices until well blended and heated through. Spoon over chicken. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serves 4.
Mine may have been too tomatoey because I'm using a type of picante sauce called Herdez, and it is really tomatoey. Also the chunks are really big. Plus we don't eat avocados and I didn't have any cilantro, so maybe that affected the taste. It wouldn't have mattered for the children though, since they barely even tasted it.
Breakfast on monday is pancakes, always pancakes. That went just fine. I made the regular batch instead of the double because Russell is spending the week at Grandma's and he's one of the piggiest pancake eaters.
But then dinner: I had planned Supper Nachos. This is one of our party dinners because it involves tortilla chips, but sometimes we have it on weeknights. Instead of this, though, I made the Southwest chicken I was going to make on Sunday, with refried beans and spanish rice on the side. I taught the children how to get your mexican-food-platter going, with cheese over everything. And they balked, and they claimed they were full, and they pouted, and they dragged their feet. I finally had to make deals with both of them, involving them eating the beans and rice and me eating their chicken. Wah Wah!! Mom made something I don't recognize! Wah. Now I admit, this will probably not show up in my rotation again without some major modifications, but come ON!! They were balking before they'd even tried it. Eric especially. Here's the recipe, in case you love tomatoes more than me:
4 boneless skinless chix breasts
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 c. picante sauce
1/3 c. sour cream
avacado slices
chopped cilantro
Sprinkle chicken with cumin, salt, and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken and garlic in oil until lightly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Add picante sauce. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 10 minutes (I left mine for like 45 minutes because the chix was so fat). Remove chicken to serving platter. Keep warm. Stir sour cream into skillet juices until well blended and heated through. Spoon over chicken. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serves 4.
Mine may have been too tomatoey because I'm using a type of picante sauce called Herdez, and it is really tomatoey. Also the chunks are really big. Plus we don't eat avocados and I didn't have any cilantro, so maybe that affected the taste. It wouldn't have mattered for the children though, since they barely even tasted it.
January 10th
Breakfast at Grandma's, instead of the cold-cereal we would have had at home. I think she served Biscuits and Gravy, one of Seth's all-time favorites.
Dinner was at home, but it was no big deal. I had planned to make Southwest Chicken with refried beans, but instead we took the we-just-got-home-and-unpacked route with super-easy spaghetti and frozen meatballs. Also salad. I bought lettuce this week, so we're having salads again.
Dinner was at home, but it was no big deal. I had planned to make Southwest Chicken with refried beans, but instead we took the we-just-got-home-and-unpacked route with super-easy spaghetti and frozen meatballs. Also salad. I bought lettuce this week, so we're having salads again.
January 9th
Happy Birthday, Bro! You know who you are! We bought a van on your birthday!
So we were at my in-laws, though. Which means I didn't cook squat. I did toast me a bagel, but that doesn't count.
For breakfast I had planned french toast, because I also went a little bread-crazy at the bread store, but that'll have to wait until we're home on a Saturday.
For dinner I had planned Seth's favorite casserole, which is a standard at our place involving carrots, potatoes, and hamburger meat, and oddly-enough, named after a different Seth. I'll shoot you the recipe later, because it's bound to show up again.
So we were at my in-laws, though. Which means I didn't cook squat. I did toast me a bagel, but that doesn't count.
For breakfast I had planned french toast, because I also went a little bread-crazy at the bread store, but that'll have to wait until we're home on a Saturday.
For dinner I had planned Seth's favorite casserole, which is a standard at our place involving carrots, potatoes, and hamburger meat, and oddly-enough, named after a different Seth. I'll shoot you the recipe later, because it's bound to show up again.
January 8th
Breakfast: apple pumpkin muffins. These I got from Cindy Savoldi, and they're really delicious. The streusel topping really does it. The only problem is that it takes for-evah to make them. I got all the wet and dry ingredients all measured out and ready the night before and it was still 40 minutes until they were in the oven next morning. Here's the recipe:
2 1/2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 c. finely chopped apples
In a large bowl, combine first 5 ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin, and oil. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Stir in apple. Spoon batter into 18 paper-lined muffin cups; sprinkle streusel topping over batter. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Streusel topping: 2 T. flour
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
4 t. butter
knife or pastry-blender this until it looks like coarse crumbs.
Dinner: planned Burgundy Chicken which I'll have to try and give out the recipe for later, because instead of having dinner at home, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend so we could buy our new van. It's about a four hour drive away. Instead of this dinner, we had Bagel-Meat sandwiches and cheese and crackers in the van on the way down, it being one of our goals not to spend money on eating out in January. But the bagel-meat sandwiches were delightful. Also we ate Grandpa's leftover San Luis Valley Pizza Company pizza when we arrived, and it was Fabulous!!
2 1/2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 c. finely chopped apples
In a large bowl, combine first 5 ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin, and oil. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Stir in apple. Spoon batter into 18 paper-lined muffin cups; sprinkle streusel topping over batter. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Streusel topping: 2 T. flour
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
4 t. butter
knife or pastry-blender this until it looks like coarse crumbs.
Dinner: planned Burgundy Chicken which I'll have to try and give out the recipe for later, because instead of having dinner at home, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend so we could buy our new van. It's about a four hour drive away. Instead of this dinner, we had Bagel-Meat sandwiches and cheese and crackers in the van on the way down, it being one of our goals not to spend money on eating out in January. But the bagel-meat sandwiches were delightful. Also we ate Grandpa's leftover San Luis Valley Pizza Company pizza when we arrived, and it was Fabulous!!
January 7th
Breakfast: Fruit and toast. Pretty easy. I just open a #10 can of peaches from Sam's, put a loaf of bread near the toaster, and get out the butter. This morning we actually had bagel toast because I went slightly bagel-crazy at the breadstore on Tuesday. 1.89 bagels were buy-one-get-one, so I bought two and got two. So, four total. But then if you spend so much you get one free, and I got two free, and all that was on the free shelf was, you got it, Bagels. So two more bags, for a total of six. We were pretty liberal with the bagels that whole week.
Dinner: Quiche. I got a bag of some kind of yellow stuff with chunks from The Place last summer. I just squeezed half of it into a pan and baked it, only to discover when I took it out of the oven that it was quiche filling. Then this next part still has me buzzing with how fantastic it is: on our way home from Webelos, Eric and I stopped at the store for a certain meat deal that was sold out. Ok, so be it. But PIE CRUSTS!! Pie Crust 2-packs were on sale for a buck!! I put four in our basket. Then on the back of each box I noticed a coupon for a dollar-off-two-boxes, bringing the per-box total to 50 cents and the per-crust total to 25 cents. I came home with eight boxes-- and I'm still super-psyched about having so many pie crusts ready to go!! Anyway, that was serendipitous, because I had already planned quiche for thursday, and therefore had the crust all ready to go. I told the children it was a fun breakfast pie called quiche and they ate their pieces pretty well. I thought it was astonishingly delicious, especially for something from The Place.
Dinner: Quiche. I got a bag of some kind of yellow stuff with chunks from The Place last summer. I just squeezed half of it into a pan and baked it, only to discover when I took it out of the oven that it was quiche filling. Then this next part still has me buzzing with how fantastic it is: on our way home from Webelos, Eric and I stopped at the store for a certain meat deal that was sold out. Ok, so be it. But PIE CRUSTS!! Pie Crust 2-packs were on sale for a buck!! I put four in our basket. Then on the back of each box I noticed a coupon for a dollar-off-two-boxes, bringing the per-box total to 50 cents and the per-crust total to 25 cents. I came home with eight boxes-- and I'm still super-psyched about having so many pie crusts ready to go!! Anyway, that was serendipitous, because I had already planned quiche for thursday, and therefore had the crust all ready to go. I told the children it was a fun breakfast pie called quiche and they ate their pieces pretty well. I thought it was astonishingly delicious, especially for something from The Place.
January 6th
Breakfast: Toad-in-a-hole. I sometimes call this Pig-in-a-hole because it sounds funny. Funnier. Anyway, I got the "recipe" for this from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook, and I really like it. My family really likes it. Seth had two this morning, so, his compliments to the chef.
Dinner: Pioneer Woman Comfort Meatballs with mashed potatoes. Obviously from her cookbook. These were delicious. I would add a smidge less onion next time, but next time is still two times away, because I had to double the recipe, which I then divided into three dinners-worth. Confusing? I know. It's a pound and a half of meat, and we usually just go One Pound. So when I doubled it, it was three One Pound sections, two of which are in the freezer. Does anybody know if mashed potatoes freeze well? Because then I could just have the whole dinner ready to thaw and serve. Look into these meatballs. They're like little mini meat-loaf-balls or something.
Dinner: Pioneer Woman Comfort Meatballs with mashed potatoes. Obviously from her cookbook. These were delicious. I would add a smidge less onion next time, but next time is still two times away, because I had to double the recipe, which I then divided into three dinners-worth. Confusing? I know. It's a pound and a half of meat, and we usually just go One Pound. So when I doubled it, it was three One Pound sections, two of which are in the freezer. Does anybody know if mashed potatoes freeze well? Because then I could just have the whole dinner ready to thaw and serve. Look into these meatballs. They're like little mini meat-loaf-balls or something.
Tuesday January 5th
Breakfast: planned cream-o-wheat, actually had oatmeal. I make my own instant oatmeal packets with a recipe I got online at http://www.betterbudgeting.com/articles/frugal/breakfast.htm and the children tolerate them reasonably well. I dehydrated my own strawberries and blueberries to put in them, too, to make fancy flavors.
Dinner: Pioneer Woman Simple, Perfect Chili, from her cookbook. My friend Jess went with my sister-in-law Gretchen and me to the book signing. We had to leave without getting our books signed because of the extreme enormity of the crowd and due to Jessica's curfew of 10pm. The missionaries were coming for dinner and we fed them chili last month when they came over, too, but I forged on, because New Recipe! It was pretty good chili, made especially delightful by sour cream, cheddar, and fritos piled high. Even the children thought it was pretty good. No big tomato chunks.
Dinner: Pioneer Woman Simple, Perfect Chili, from her cookbook. My friend Jess went with my sister-in-law Gretchen and me to the book signing. We had to leave without getting our books signed because of the extreme enormity of the crowd and due to Jessica's curfew of 10pm. The missionaries were coming for dinner and we fed them chili last month when they came over, too, but I forged on, because New Recipe! It was pretty good chili, made especially delightful by sour cream, cheddar, and fritos piled high. Even the children thought it was pretty good. No big tomato chunks.
The Explanation
Here is what I did: I sat down one day (January4th) and wrote up a list of all the breakfasts we'll have for the months of January and February. Then I also wrote up a list of all the dinners we'll have for January and February. Lunches I left to chance and leftovers. Many of the dinners and several of the breakfasts will be new recipes, gleaned from ward and community cookbooks. So I'll be web-logging my success or anti-success with the menus and the recipes. Looks like I'll have to catch up a bit...
Monday, January 4, 2010
Speaking of AWESOME~
I can't come up with original web content myself, but I can poach stuff like this from other sites. This is, once again, from verydemotivational.com .
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