Photo a Day: How You Feel Today

Today, I feel tired...

...just like my cat.

It's been a fairly busy few days.

I cut, packaged, and froze 80 pounds of chicken.

I had an eye appointment, and my doctor said everything is looking good from my surgery.

I sight-read some piano music for a musical number in our ward on Sunday. A few girls that were planning to sing couldn't make it, so the pianist had to step in to sing. She brought the music to my house 15 minutes before church started, I played through it once, and then played in sacrament meeting.

I also taught the gospel doctrine lesson (that's my current calling; I teach once a month), and had helped Jakob prepare his talk in primary as well.

I cleaned at my dad's office.

I had a short piano recital for some of my students. Jakob did great, I messed up a little (but I hadn't practiced all that much-I decided last minute to play at the recital). I decided to take May off of teaching, which is probably a good thing, because Pete just started working Wednesday through Saturday for 12-hour days. 48 hours of work, plus 8 hours of commuting time. He's a good man, that one.

I did my visiting teaching. Yay!

I went grocery shopping.

I'm totally caught up on laundry.

Pete and I watched "First Knight". "The law will judge YUH!"

I made cornbread for our ward's chili cook-off, which won a little award. Here's the recipe, from my kids' preschool teacher, Miss Karla:

Cornbread

1 cup butter melted

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup cornmeal

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

Mix butter, sugar, and eggs. Add buttermilk and stir.

Stir dry ingredients together and add to liquids. Stir just until moistened.

Pour into greased 9"x13" pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

And, I fed the missionaries last night. They ate SOOOO much food! I don't know what I'm going to do when my boys are that age, and eating me out of house and home. Note to self: quantity, not quality.

Today, I've done pretty much nothing. Even moms need days off every once in a while, right?

Photo a Day: Fruit/Breakfast/Delicious

Here are some pictures of the fruit smoothies that my sister discovered during our health challenge.

This one had pomegranates in it, so it was a little seedy (as in full of seeds, not run-down). But it was still yummy.

I'm going to share the recipe again, just because it might be hard to find in the wall of text that was my report on our health challenge.

FRUIT SMOOTHIE

3 cups frozen fruit, any kind (we liked strawberry/banana the best, or a mixed berry kind) 

1 cup milk (or water or juice, but we always did milk)

1/2 cup yogurt (we did vanilla)

1/2 cup sugar

I discovered that when I put the fruit in last instead of first, my blender was a lot happier with me.



I'll make this for breakfast all the time now, especially on the weekends when Pete is at home in the mornings. It makes enough for two people to have their fruit servings for the day.

Kinda Like Lent, Or, 7 Pounds

Well, my family and I just ended our 6-week health challenge.  It was a really great experience. And now I'm going to write ALL about it!

We started January 2, and ended February 12. The different categories of the challenge were: getting 7 hours of sleep every night, eat three servings of fruit and three of veggies every day, no eating after 8 p.m., drink 64 oz. of water every day, exercising, and no sugar. Each part was worth 5 points, except for no sugar, which was worth 10 points.

7 hours of sleep every night. This one is easy for me.  I actually think that I need more like 8 - 8 1/2 hours of sleep. For a while a couple of years ago I was trying to go with about 6 1/2, and I couldn't keep my eyes open by the end of the day. My kids get their own breakfast usually, so when they do and I don't have to set an alarm to get up (like in the summer), I usually wake up at about 8 or 8:30 when going to bed at 11:30. During the challenge, I had one day that I didn't get the 7 hours, and it's because I was out way too late with a couple of my girlfriends, and then we had to get up early the next morning. So I got 6 1/2 that day.

I felt like, during the challenge, that I had really weird dreams the whole time.  Well, I have weird dreams a lot, but it seemed to be more than usual. Maybe I was getting more REM sleep time or something. So yeah, this part of the challenge was not so challenging for me.

Eat 3 servings of fruit every day. This part of the health challenge wasn't all that hard for me, either. The very first day for breakfast, I ate some oatmeal with peaches chopped up on top. It was really yummy! Before the challenge I would have had the oatmeal but no peaches, or no breakfast at all. I also had Life cereal with a banana cut up on top (before would have been Life cereal with a load of sugar on top). I would usually have one of my fruit servings in the morning, one at lunch, and one at dinner.

My sister Kar introduced us to a super easy smoothie recipe. It's 3 cups frozen fruit, 1 cup milk (or water or juice, but we always did milk), 1/2 cup yogurt (we did vanilla), and 1/2 cup sugar. We tried this with different mixes, but my favorites were strawberry/banana, and one that had raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries. YUM! It was an easy way to get all your servings in one fell swoop. (A serving size of fruit is generally 1/2 cup, so when we made this Pete and I would have half a smoothie each and get our servings in.)

I realized that I really enjoy having fruit for breakfast in whatever form, so I plan on continuing with that. I also liked having a variety of fruits so it wasn't just an apple every day or something.

Eat 3 servings of vegetables every day. This part was...surprisingly fun. Exciting, even. It was almost like rediscovering all the veggies that I liked, but just didn't take the time to buy or eat on a regular basis. Like broccoli, and green peppers, and cucumbers. We made Veggie Pizza at least 3 or 4 times during our challenge, which is SOOOO good. I also cut up veggies and stuck them in little baggies of one serving in each. That way we could grab a bag that was ready to go and know that it was a serving. Very handy. Though celery doesn't last very long that way.

Another thing that got introduced to me by my sister Lex was individual salads. They're called Ready Pac Bistro Salad. They are a salad that has all the cool, yummy stuff you'd want. For example, the Santa Fe one has little chicken bits, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, roasted corn, and a dressing that's like Thousand Island.  Oooh, yum!

The hardest part of getting my three veggies in was sitting down to a huge plate of veggies at lunch. I would try to get two servings in at that time. I kind of have TMJD, where my jaw will lock up sometimes to where I can't open my mouth, and I have to pop my jaw open, and then it continues to lock and pop while I'm eating. Like 80s robot dancing, but in a way nerdier, crappier, non-productive way. It's SUPER fun. I've noticed it comes on when I'm chewing hard things like carrots, or dense things like steak. (And forget about gum.) So during a lunch of carrots, apples, and celery, my jaw would be hurting and I'd be frustrated. I guess the lesson with that is to chop up my food into smaller bites, like diced celery instead or something. But I do love having a veggie-oriented lunch, which I plan on continuing now that our challenge is over.

And to get my last serving in of the day, I usually ended up cooking something with veggies in it. Most of my dinner meals are like that, so that was a no-brainer.

Here are some FABULOUS recipes you have to try. The first two are family favorites, and the last one is one that I discovered during this challenge:

VEGETABLE DIP

1 cup mayonnaise

8 oz. sour cream

1 Tbl. minced onion

1 tsp. dill weed

1 1/2 tsp. Bon Appetit spice (Shillings or McCormack)

Mix all ingredients together and serve with vegetables. This gets better if it sits in the fridge for a few hours.

VEGETABLE PIZZA

Thaw and flatten 1 loaf of frozen Rhoades bread on a cookie sheet.  Cook at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Mix together and spread on top:

½ cup mayonnaise

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. dry Hidden Valley Ranch dressing

1 Tbl. liquid Hidden Valley Ranch dressing

Then add on top:

1 cup grated carrots

1 ½ cups cut up broccoli

1 ½ cups cut up cauliflower

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top.

CHEESEY VEGETABLES
24 oz. bag frozen California blend vegetables
1 stick margarine, melted
10 oz. Velveeta cheese, melted
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

Cook veggies according to package directions. Mix half of margarine with cheese and half with crackers. Add cheese mixture to veggies. Place cheese and veggies mix in 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Top with crushed cracker mixture. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

California blend veggies is a broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mix of some sort. I tried this with a carrot, corn, green bean veggie mix. I LOVED it.

No eating after 8 p.m. I'm not sure when the bad habit of eating snacks after 8 started for me, but rest assured it was a habit I needed to break. Because it's not like I was snacking on veggies. So the first night at about 7:30 p.m., I was still hungry, so I snarfed down some cheese really fast before 8. After that day, though, I was totally fine not eating after 8. Here and there I would get cravings for things, but I wasn't hungry, and there's a huge difference.

That's one of the really cool things about this challenge, is it makes you extremely aware of what you're putting into your mouth, and when. For instance, now that our challenge is over, Pete bought some Twizzlers Bites, and we were watching Downton Abbey (which is AMAZING: if you haven't seen it then WATCH IT RIGHT THIS SECOND FROM THE BEGINNING). I popped a couple of them into my mouth.  Then about 10 seconds later, I threw a few more into my mouth. And again. And again. I physically had to move them to stop eating them.

So now that our challenge is over, I need to continue to be aware of what I'm eating and when.

Drink 64 ounces of water every day. I didn't struggle with getting the water into me. I hated the aftermath of it though. I seriously had to use the bathroom every 2 hours, and would get up at least once a night to pee. UGH!  I hated that part of this. Drinking the water: good. Going through 500 rolls of toilet paper: bad.

To prevent the multiple bathroom trips at night, I would try to get as much water into me in the morning as I could. I would fill a 20-ounce water bottle, add some Propel or Crystal Light flavoring to it, drink it down halfway, then fill it to the top and drink it down all the way.  That way I figured I got 30 oz. in in the morning. Then I'd have 20 ounces at lunch and 20 at dinner.

Since I'm such a Coke lover, I thought I'd be going through withdrawals or something during the challenge. Before the challenge, I would have a glass (14 oz.) of Coke at lunch time. So roughly a can a day, which to me doesn't seem like all that much. Not good for me, but not necessarily bad for me, either. It was mostly my little indulgence, a way of pampering myself. But surprisingly, I didn't crave Coke at all the whole time. Okay, that's not true. The only time I craved Coke was when we went out to eat like at Chilis or Wendys. That's when I didn't want to drink water.

So I decided that now I'm not going to buy pop for myself to have at home. But if we go out to eat, I'm not going to stop myself from getting a Coke.

And yesterday, I had been so sick of peeing so much, that I went the other extreme and didn't have hardly anything to drink the whole day. And right before dinner, I felt kind of sick to my stomach. Maybe my bladder was cramping up or something, like FEED ME, SEYMOUR! So even though I might cut back slightly on the 64 ounces, I still need to keep hydrated. Also, I need to get more milk into my diet, so maybe I'll substitute that for my water at dinner.

Exercise. These last two categories (exercise and no sugar) were the hardest for me. The original challenge had 5 points for each 1/2 hour of exercise, up to 10 points a day (so an hour of exercise, for all you mathematically-challenged people). We changed ours to be 1 1/2 hours a day (so up to 15 points a day). This was the main category where I lacked in full points. (I got perfect points the whole challenge in fruits, veggies, no food after 8, and water. I missed the one night in sleep, and one day at the very end in no sugar.) I always got the first half hour of exercise in, and usually the hour, but getting that last 30 minutes was a bit of a struggle for me. I did it more times than not, but it was hard.

For the exercise, I did a lot of yoga, walking, and Dance Central. My parents have the Dance Central on the X Box, and it has a fitness section and you can choose the length and intensity of your workout. It was really fun, and I would get super sweaty doing it.

I would go walking with my mom; we mall walk. That's also way fun, because I get to chat with my mom as I push Ivy in a stroller. There are a lot of cute elderly people that are there. One guy that salutes us as he walks by told us that walking next to the walls for 1 lap is 6/10 of a mile. Since my mom and I do 5 laps, that's about 3 miles (we cut corners a little because of the stroller).

Pete and I would do the yoga, which I LOVE. It is so relaxing! I noticed that I got a lot stronger and more flexible after doing it for so many weeks.  At the beginning when I would bend from the waist and touch the floor, I could grab my ankles and that's as far as I could go. At the end, I had my palms flat on the floor.

So now that the challenge is over, will I still get 1 1/2 hours of exercise in? Maybe on some of the days. But I most definitely want to do something each day. Before I would make up the excuse of not having the time, but now I know I can find the time to exercise, even for a half hour.

No sugar. Okay. This is where my "Lent" reference comes in. One part of Lent is giving up something -like a luxury or indulgence of yours- for the 40-day span. In our challenge, we had decided that "no sugar" meant no candy, no chocolate, and no pop, including diet. I already explained the pop part. But that was only part of it.

The other part I had to give up was my weakness: chocolate.

The night before the challenge started, I cleared our house of chocolate...by consuming it.  That's right. That means I ate, like, 12 snack-sized Kit Kats so that they wouldn't be around to tempt me. The first few days were fine.  And then the cravings kicked in.

Now normally, when I would have a chocolate craving, I would have grabbed some chocolate without thinking twice. When there was none to be had during the challenge, and 10 points at stake, I would just have to ignore that craving.  And usually, about 20 minutes later, I wouldn't crave it any more.

There were some days, though, that it was all I could do to stop from jumping in my car and driving down to Sarah's Candy Cottage and devouring a whole pound of fudge. Seriously.

Yes, I missed one day and had a piece of chocolate cake. On day 41. Pete and I went down to Logan, Utah, for a basketball game, and we had dinner at Olive Garden. And the coaster had the picture of the cake on it. It was STARING at me. And Pete was the devil, being all, "Just get it. Just eat it. And get a cherry Coke, too." And you know what?  I figured that I had been great the entire time with NOT giving in, that one time would be fine. And oh, it tasted sooooo good. Which part of me was all, "I should stay strong. I've made it this far, what's another 2 days? Don't give in." But the other part of me was all, "CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!!!" It was totally one of those angel and devil on the shoulders moments for me.

The one thing I noticed about my cravings, though, is that it was always for the really rich, thick, amazing chocolate. Kit Kat or Snickers? Nope. Mississippi Mud Bars and fudge? Absolutely.

So, now that this is over, when I have chocolate, I'm not going to eat the whatever, filler chocolate.  If I'm going to have chocolate, I'm going to go for the big guns. Which means I'll have to make a specialty trip, or bake it, which means I'll have it less often.

Overall. I noticed that I ate more food, especially during breakfast and lunch, but I'm sure I was consuming fewer calories. Before I would crash in the early afternoon, and while doing this challenge I would still get tired then, but not the full-on crash. But I did fall asleep almost instantly at night the whole time too.

I ended up losing 7 pounds, which surprised me. I didn't set out trying to lose any weight, but it happened anyway.

I won the challenge, which means I get 60% of the kitty. (Pete came in second, and my sister Lex was 3rd.) Maybe I'll use my money to buy some new jeans for myself that fit me-mine are loose now, especially in the waist, which seriously rocks.

I think the rest of my family saw some changes, too, with weight loss or how they felt.

I'm glad that I did this challenge, because it changed me for the better. And even though I plan on slightly modifying it for "real" life, for the most part I'm going to keep on keeping on.

And "Thank" YOU, Brock (Plus a Recipe, Because I Don't Know the Next Time I'll Have a Second to Make a Separate Post)

As you may already know, Brock loves to draw.  I got each of the kids a notebook some time ago, with the intent of them taking it to church to keep themselves entertained.  None of them usually remember to take it, until last Sunday.  And then Brock and Jakob decided to make paper airplanes, and then proceeded to fly one through the chapel during Sacrament meeting.  Pete and I were none too happy about that.

After punishments were given (and carried out) at home, Brock wanted to draw some more.  (Which I learned my lesson as well: only scriptures will be brought to church from now on.)  But his notebook was all used up.  So I got him a new one.  On the first page, he wrote me the following note and handed it to me:

"Fac yoo to get me a not book so I am hape."

Yeah.  That's what I thought at first glance, too.  And if you don't see it, then you are a really good person with a really clean mind.

The translation: Thank you for getting me a notebook.  It makes me happy.  (Then the picture is of the notebook, pencil stuck in the spiral part, with a smiley face, as in "I am happy".)  Which really is sweet.

Brock's next note shown was written about a week ago.  In the last few weeks, Brock has been waking up just scared out of his wits.  One night it was a scary monster in his closet that had one red eye and pointy teeth.  Poor kid.  Then there was another night.  We went and got him and had him sit with us (me and Pete), and I kept asking him what was wrong.  He wouldn't answer me.  We gave him a couple of snacks and a drink, and then sent him back to bed.  He came back a few minutes later, with the following:

"Mom becuz I wuz krien I wuz hugry ok Brock?"

I think you get the gist, but just in case, the translation: Mom, I was crying because I was hungry.  Is that okay? -Brock

He's just a never-ending pit.  I call him my Hungry Bug all the time.  That kid could eat all day long, I think.

And speaking of food, I found another fantastic crock pot meal!  YUMMO!!!  I hope it's readable-I decided to scan it in.

I had my doubts about this one.  First of all, Pete bought a stir-fry mix from Walmart called Sugar Snap Stir Fry, or something like that.  It has peas, carrots, squash, red and green peppers, broccoli, green beans, and water chestnuts.  And I'm not a huge squash or water chestnut fan, so I didn't know how it would be.  Second, usually I can smell the dinner cooking, and I couldn't smell it at all, so I thought it was going to be bland or something. 

I was so, SO wrong.  This is one of my favorites that I've come across.  I didn't really measure out the sauce stuff-I used a whole can of the chicken broth, and 3 big heaping spoonfuls of the orange marmalade. The other ingredients I just poured in until I thought it was about right.  And then I made 3 cups of minute rice.  (Which was great, because I dumped the leftovers on top of the rice, which soaked in the sauce.  It ended up being really proportional.)  I had done big chunks of chicken, but shredded it before serving.  Oh, mamma.  So good.

So, yeah.  You should try the meal.  Also, I really need to scan more stuff into my computer.  Maybe I'll do that this weekend as I listen to General Conference, eh?

And by the way, "thank" you for reading my post!

The Gym

I signed my boys up for a gym class for the year.  Jakob had done a hip hop class last year, and really enjoyed it, but wanted to try something new.  And I thought it would be a good thing for all my boys to do together.

It's a tumbling class.  They've all been doing great in it.  It's so funny to watch their different personalities come out while they're doing the class.

(I haven't been able to get very good pictures-because they're so far away, and it's so big and not super bright in there, they all come out blurry.  So, there's a good butt picture for you.  I'm actually kind of surprised at how flexible they all look right there.)

Jakob has been spastic.  He's gotten really good at front rolls and back rolls.  He loves doing the different tricks on the long trampoline they have.

Brock has been exact.  He'll observe the teacher closely and try to do it exactly right the very first time. 

Troy has been important.  Even though he's the smallest kid in the class, you'd think he was the biggest.  He's just so happy to be there.

They just got a new teacher-I think their other one went off to college or something.  The new teacher has them grab onto a large rope at the end of their lesson, and swing out over a pit full of large foam cubes.  Then they let go and fall in.  It's the best thing since sliced bread.  It's very Tarzan.

They have a parent section, that's up above the floors.  One side has video cameras that play on some TVs, and the other side you can look down and watch.  I like watching some of the other classes.  There are some little girls that are amazing gymnasts.  It's like watching the Olympics every week.

One lady comes and cross stitches the whole time.  I asked her about it, and she said her daughter comes twice a week for 4 hours each time.  She was all, "I guess I could be at home cleaning my house, but if she's doing something she loves for 8 hours a week, why can't I?"

I guess I could cross stitch as well, but instead I take my logic puzzles book.  Which, for me, is still very zen.  Ivy comes along as well, and I try to bring crayons or toys for her to play with.  For a while she kept trying to steal a little boy's food and toys.  When I forget toys we munch on TicTacs.  Have you tried the green apple ones?  They're yummy, although they don't necessarily give you fresh breath.

There's also a Russian guy that teaches there.  At first I couldn't really hear his accent.  And I was like, dude, I wonder what he says to people when they ask what he does for a living.  "I yell at little girls."  He doesn't mean yell all of the time, but you have to yell to be heard in there-it's very tall and open in there.

The boys' gym class starts right when I would be preparing dinner, and ends too late for me to whip up something afterwards.  So I decided to make that night my crock pot night.  My friend Arin lent me a crock pot recipe book, and I photocopied a whole bunch of 'em.  I've really liked all of them.  And I LOVE being able to just dump everything in either in the morning or early afternoon, and it's ready to go when we get home that night.  If only every meal could be so easy.  (Well, I guess it could be, if we had crock pot stuff every night.)

Here are a few of my favorite recipes that we've tried thus far:

HEARTY HODGEPODGE (a.k.a. Minestrone Soup)
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, cooked
2 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) condensed minestrone soup
1 21-ounce can pork and beans in tomato sauce
1 12-ounce can tomato juice
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup water
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced (I just used a little bit of minced garlic)
Dump it all in a crock pot.  Cook for 7-8 hours on low or 3 1/2-4 hours on high.

COUNTRY STYLE PEACH RIBS
3 pounds country-style ribs
1 medium onion, sliced
1 18-ounce jar peach or apricot preserves
1/2 cup orange juice or water
2 Tbl. bottled teriyaki sauce (I think I used soy sauce)
3 cloves garlic, minced (used minced garlic again)
Put the onion on the bottom, put the ribs on top.  Mix the other ingredients in a bowl, and pour all but 1 cup on top of meat in crock pot.  Put the remaining in the fridge.  Cook for 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.  Heat up the sauce that's been in the fridge, and pour over the ribs before serving.
(I used the leftovers and made a sandwich for myself with green peppers and Swiss cheese the next day. YUM!)

ITALIAN BUFFET DINNER
2 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck
1 medium onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large red sweet pepper, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 14-ounce jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 1/2 cups hot cooked spaghetti or mashed potatoes
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Cut meat into 1-inch pieces.  Dump everything in the crock pot except spaghetti or potatoes.  Cook for 9-10 hours on low, or 4 1/2-5 hours on high.  Serve over spaghetti noodles, or with mashed potatoes.

So there you have it.  My time at the gym.

Like a Fiddler On a Roof!

So, now that Christmas is long gone, one would think that the busyness of my life would have gone along with it (hence the lack of posts as of late). Because I’m usually busy, but you take busy and add, like, 20 million more things to The Busy, and…well, you get the general idea of how the end of 2010 went for me. (And for some reason the fun hasn’t stopped. I need a remote, like Adam Sandler in the movie "Click".  But I think I’d perpetually have it in the pause mode, so maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea.)

Anyway, Christmas was awesome. It always is. But you know how I was whining about how we don’t have any traditions? Well, after I thought about it, I realized that we really do. And we added a few more this year. Wanna hear about it? (YES, Nat! PLEASE fill us in on what happened 3 1/2 weeks ago! We’re on the edge of our seats with anticipation!!!!)

Tradition 1 (old, but tweaked to be new): For FHE after Thanksgiving, we set up the Christmas tree. Usually I decorate it by myself, and try to have the breakable ornaments at the top. I also try to get the ribbon just right, and have all the ornaments all spaced evenly. But by the time Christmas rolls around three weeks later, all the ornaments have been moved (thanks to my kids) and the ribbon has been pulled down (thanks to my cat). So this year I had the kids help me, but we ended up with about 42 ornaments on a single bough. Oh well. They had a blast decorating, and that’s what matters, right?

Tradition 2 (new tradition): In Pete’s family, I guess they drew names amongst the siblings when they were younger, and then exchanged those gifts on Christmas Eve. They still did the everyone open stuff all at once thing, though. So I told Pete that Christmas morning we can have the kids open things all at once, but on Christmas Eve the kids were going to take turns. This is the first year I’ve had the kids draw names and get gifts for each other. So they took turns, and it was really great because they got to see the gifts that they got for each other. They were all, “Thanks, Brock!”, or whoever gave the gift. I loved that part of opening gifts when I was younger-seeing the person’s reaction to what I got for them.

They all did a great job picking gifts out for each other-I only helped Ivy with the selection.  Jakob got a Bumblebee from Brock, Brock got an Ironman from Ivy, Troy got a Batwing from Jake, and Ivy got a Rapunzel barbie from Troy.

Tradition 3 (oldie but goodie): Early Christmas Eve evening, we did luminaires. Which, I guess they’re called “luminaries”, but I think that sounds weird. We also ended up doing them over at my parents’ house as well. I think it looks really cool when they’re all lit up. I didn’t get a picture of it, though, because it doesn’t show up very well in a picture. My whole neighborhood did luminaries growing up, and it looks SO cool.

Tradition 4 (another golden oldie): We went over to my parents’ house and ate a very yummy dinner. And then we had a little Christmas program, where we sing songs, and read stories, etc.

That night I took a video of Jake playing the piano, but I held it sideways, thinking that there was some button I could push to make it be upright, but apparently not. So sideways it is, and I know better for next time around. I’ve been teaching Jake piano this year, and he is doing so well at it.  (I tried to upload the video of Jake playing the piano 4 times, and for some reason it won't do it.  So tilt your head to the left and pretend you're watching Jake play "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night".)

Tradition 5 (a yummy oldie): For Christmas morning, I made butterscotch rolls. They are called different things by different people-I’ve heard Sweet Rolls, and Monkey Bread, and Breakfast Rolls, but to me Butterscotch Rolls is the most descriptive. (My kids say “butter-squotch”. Super cute.) What was that? You say you want the recipe? Happy to oblige:

BUTTERSCOTCH ROLLS

Place about 12-15 frozen Rhoades rolls in the bottom of a greased bundt pan. Melt ½ cup (one cube) butter and pour over the rolls. Sprinkle one 3.5-oz. package of Cook N’ Serve (NOT instant) butterscotch pudding on top, along with ½ cup packed brown sugar. Add nuts if desired. Let it sit overnight with greased Saran Wrap on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes with a piece of foil loosely on top.

Like I said before, we had a great Christmas. Jake got a Robot Cop:

Brock got a Megatron and a new Woody from Toy Story:

Troy got a Batcave:

Ivy got a “Tih-chin”, or a kitchen:

We all got movies, too:

And, the grand finale, from my parents-a Wii! We bought Dr. Mario for it, and I totally got my mad skills back. (Can we say Level 20 on Hi? That's right, baby.)

So, like I said, Christmas was great. Add to it the elementary school program, my piano students’ recital, and doing Brock’s school party (where we did the star thing like in Jake's kindergarten class), and you get why I was feeling a little overwhelmed.

The week after Christmas was a lot more relaxed. Though, that’s when I started potty training Ivy. That story coming soon to a blog near you. Meaning this blog.

Memory Monday: Cookie Monster

First off, here is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I've come across.  The cookies stay plump and soft.  Though, after this post, you might not want to use it.  D'oh.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Combine in bowl: ½ cup butter, ½ cup shortening, ¾ cup sugar.
Add: ¾ cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 eggs.
Then add: 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. salt, 2 ½ cups flour.
Stir in: 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes.


Maybe my cute sister Brianna can help me with the timeline on this story.  I'm going to say early teenage years for me, and she's 3 1/2 years younger than me.  So if I was 13, she'd be 9 ish.  Beej, if you read this, maybe leave a comment if you remember.
My family often made little goodies to munch on. Lemon bars, Mississippi Mud bars, No-bake cookies, etc.  And cookies.  I love me some cookies.  And now I'm getting all hungry thinking about cookies.  They are a definite weakness of mine.

After devouring one (or most likely more than one) cookie, I had a bit of phlegm built up in my throat.  Anyway, Beej and I were being dorks, and I was telling her how to make a loogie.  It's like that scene from Titanic.

So, I was joking around, and was like, "Dude, what if I spit a loogie at you?"  And she was like, "No way!" and started running off.  So I grabbed her, did the whole Leonardo DiCaprio loogie-making moves, and had a humongous loogie in my mouth.  Brianna goes, "Nooooo!" with her mouth all wide. 

And I spit.  And it landed right in her mouth.

I promise I wasn't aiming.

Of course she ran over to the sink and tried to clean her mouth out.  I felt bad, but it was also really funny (well, to me, anyway).  I've never been able to get that good of a loogie before or since.  And I've never been able to spit very far at all, except for that one time.  I attribute that to the cookie phlegm in my throat.

So there you have it.  Fun with phlegm.

(Go to about 1:15 on this video to see how I normally spit.  Not that I'm all out there practicing or something.)

New to Me

I got some new Sunday clothes for my kids. Some of their stuff was really craptastic. Now they look so very dapper!


I earned my Young Women medallion. And it has a new design, FYI. Cool, huh?

Saturday I accidentally washed Pete's wallet. Good times with that. Hey, at least it wasn't his phone, too. So he's going to need a new one of those.

I tried a new recipe last night for dinner. I think it turned out pretty good. And it's super easy. Here it is:


CREAMY CHICKEN BROCCOLI SKILLET

½ cup Miracle Whip
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 cups water
1 16-oz. package frozen broccoli florets, thawed and drained
½ pound Velveeta cheese spread, cubed
2 cups Minute rice, uncooked

Cook chicken in Miracle Whip in skillet, about 8 minutes, until done. Add water, broccoli, and Velveeta. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.


I am in love with this new song, by The Script, called Breakeven. It's one of those songs that I could listen to over and over and over right now. Truth be told, I think it came out a long time ago, but I've just barely heard it on the radio this last week.


And finally, a new site, that I think is so awesome, and I wish I'd thought of it first. But I could never write the commentary like she does. Sadly, I think my uterus was the body organ that held my sense of humor, and when that got taken out my amazing wit left with it. I used to be so funny. (Well, to me, anyway. But I am my own best audience.) The site is called Promtacular! ; I've been a long-time blog stalker of the personal blog of the chick that put it together. Hi-larious. I think we all have doozies of prom/dance pictures; she has endless material to work with.

Also, I decided I need to re-new my zeal for projects. I keep looking at all these things that I'd like to do "someday", and go "eh" about 'em. I'd like to do them, but right now I keep not having time. I don't think my life is going to settle down any time soon, though, so I need to integrate them (somehow) into my life. Now.

So, since I've been gone a while, what's new with you?

Can You Smell What's Cookin'?

I am about to proudly present my project that I've finally finished. And because I'm counting it toward one of my Young Women projects, you get to hear all the nitty gritty details. Lucky you!

Behold:


Yes, that would be my super organized, super amazing recipe book. Isn't it pretty? But wait, there's more!

Here's the before shot:


At one point I was trying to hand-write all my recipes and keep them in a box. But my writing sucked on some of them, my pen sucked on others (where it smeared or bled all over), and the contact/lamination paper also was not helping things. I also had other recipe books and recipes from Relief Society, etc. I decided I wanted all of my most-used recipes in one spot. So I started typing. I even typed up the recipes that I don't have a written recipe for. That way, someday when my boys start to cook, they can't pull a "I don't know how" excuse on me. (Also someday, when everything I do is electronic, my recipes will already be on my computer.)

After I typed everything up, I categorized them all, but I kept it simple: dinners, breakfasts, desserts/pies/cookies, and sides/salads. I decided to put all my dinners together, but then arrange them so that they are chronological instead of like chicken all together and burger stuff all together. That way, in one week, we'll have a chicken meal, then something with rice, then a pasta meal, then another chicken meal, then a beef meal, etc. (Does that make sense at all?)



I was really surprised when I ended up with about 6 1/2 weeks' worth of dinners that I like and are easy to make. Sure, some things are similar (like burgers and cube steaks), but those things I also spread out as best as I could. I stretched the meal schedule out to 7 weeks, inserting a night here and there where I try out new recipes or we go out to eat somewhere.

I also threw in easy side dishes that can go with that dinner. For example, next to chicken noodle soup, I put "bread", which could mean rolls, or scones, or French bread, or muffins, etc. And not that it's set in stone, but just as suggestions.


After I got all that done, I decided to make a grocery list for each week. I wrote down all the things I need for each meal. Where things repeated I just added them all together (if I need 2 cans of tomato sauce for one meal and one for another, I put down "tomato sauce x 3" for that week). Then I made it all nice and neat, where I mentally walked through the grocery store; so I listed all the meats together, and all the canned goods together, and all the produce together, etc.

Also on my grocery list, I wrote down things to check on. For instance, I might need bread crumbs for one meal, but I don't need to buy a container of bread crumbs every time I go to the store. But I do need to make sure that if I'm getting low, I need to pick it up when I go shopping.

After that, I wrote down things to prepare. Someday, I will get to the point of having a lot of freezer meals added in to this fabulous little system of mine. (Also someday, maybe I'll get breakfasts and lunches rotating and going in here, too.) But until then, it would be nice to at least have a few things done ahead of time, mostly cooking the meat that needs to be cooked. I have a bunch of meals that call for cooked, chunked chicken. If it's already cooked and chunked, then I don't have to spend the time that night doing it; I can just scoop it up and stick it in, or pull a pre-measured bag out of the freezer. Badda bing.

Even though I've still been putting this together this week, I started following my first week's meal plan. I loved not having to think about what I wanted to make/eat for the week. I loved having it all right there. I love the idea of eating something only about 7 times in the whole year. I love that I won't get in a cooking rut. I will love having things pre-cooked, so there's not a rush to get things in the oven or whatever else. And I love that there's still some flexibility with trying new meals, because some of my favorite recipes have been new ones.

Doing this has also helped me realize that I have a lot of really yummy dessert recipes, so I decided that either Sunday night or Monday for Family Home Evening I'm going to make a dessert of some sort.

D&C 109:8-Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.

And because I've rediscovered some fabulous recipes, here are a couple that I'd like to share:

WILD RICE SOUP2 Tbl. Butter

1 cup celery, sliced (2 stalks)

1 cup carrots, chopped

½ onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

3 Tbl. Flour

¼ tsp. pepper

3 cups cooked wild rice

1 cup water

1 can condensed chicken broth

1 cup half-and-half

1/3 cup slivered almonds, if desired

1 Tbl. Parsley

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook celery, carrot, onion, and green pepper in the butter about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Stir in flour and pepper, wild rice, water, and broth. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in half-and-half, almonds, and parsley. Heat just until hot. (Do not boil or soup may curdle.) May also stir in 2 cups cooked chicken with the half-and-half.

Mmmm, so yummy, and so easy!

TEXAS BROWNIE SHEET CAKECombine 2 cups flour and 2 cups sugar in a bowl.

Boil: ½ cup butter, 3 Tbl. Cocoa, 1 cup water. Stir into sugar and flour while warm. Add ½ cup buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1 tsp. baking soda, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Pour mix into cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

For frosting: Combine ½ cup butter, 3 Tbl. Cocoa, 6 Tbl. Milk.Bring to a boil. Add 3 ½ cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 1 cup chopped nuts (if desired). Spread on cake while frosting is still hot.

Oh, how I love you, Texas sheet cake.

And one more, for good measure:

LIME JELLO COTTAGE CHEESE SALAD1 6-oz. package lime jello (or other flavor, if preferred)

1 20-oz. can pineapple tidbits, drained (or other fruit, if preferred)

1 24-oz. carton cottage cheese

1 12-oz. Cool Whip

Mix dry jello into drained fruit. Add cottage cheese and fold in Cool Whip; chill. Add 2 cups of marshmallows, if desired.

This week I made this cottage cheese salad with strawberry jello instead of lime, and I put in fresh cut-up strawberries instead of pineapple. I also did not add the marshmallows. Oh, it was SOOOO good! Yum.

So there you have it. The thing that's been keeping me away from the internet. But aren't you so glad that I shared my tidbits of wisdom and yummy goodies with you?

Cut!

So. I've been making an effort to save money recently, mostly in the food aspect. Some weeks I do great, like this last grocery trip. I bought two weeks' worth of groceries (I may have to go back for milk, but otherwise good to go) and came in $25 under budget. Woo hoo! Other weeks...well, we won't go into details. "Dismal" is a good description.

What I would like, my dear friends, is some meal ideas of the dinner variety. Cheap. Easy. Hey, I'll even start:

Shepherd's Pie
1 lb. ground burger, browned
1 can cut green beans, drained, or 1 can corn, drained
1 can tomato soup
salt and pepper, to taste
4 servings of instant mashed potatoes

Combine the burger, green beans/corn, soup, and salt and pepper in a casserole dish. Prepare the potatoes; scoop and spread on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

See? Easy: a dump together dish. Cheap: overall, the cost is probably around $4-5. And nutritious to boot. So if you would be so kind, could you please share some ideas with me? And if you don't want to type out the full recipe in a comment, just maybe tell me what you make to point me in the right direction, and I can look up recipes online or in my small assortment of cookbooks.

Those "Chili" Days

Here's my sweet Jakob on top of our floor vent. When we stayed at my Grandpa's cabin growing up, it was always cold in the mornings. The cabin had little heaters along the wall, and we'd sit in front of them and get warm. For some reason, Jakob gets cold in the morning, usually while or after he's just had breakfast. I taught him the trick of sitting by the vent in the floor to get warmed up again. He loves it!

So, it snowed again yesterday. In mid-April. Maybe Mother Nature is mixed up and thinks we're in the Southern Hemisphere. Though I'm sure it's too early in the year for snow down there, too. Basically, there should be no snow falling on the earth right now, except for maybe on either pole, but nowhere else. Where's the warmth, dangit? But it gave me a good excuse to make a yummy and fast dinner. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Clea's Chili

1 lb. browned hamburger
1/2 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 can creamed corn
1 can kidney beans
1 can chili con carne
2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce
1 Tbl. chili powder

Combine the above ingredients and simmer for one hour.

A tip: I put the onion and green pepper in the pan first, and kind of cook them. Then you don't have to have it simmer an hour, unless you want to.

Pampered

The other night I went to a Pampered Chef party. I've gotta be honest-my idea of "pampered chef" is when a chef comes to my home to cook for me while I'm getting a pedicure or massage. But they have all sorts of cool gadgets, some of which I'd never even think of. The demonstrator, named-not joking here-Mary Kae, made this fabulous salad, and I wanted to share the recipe. I don't know if I'll get in trouble, but it was printed in the catalog of overpriced kitchen tools, so I'm probably safe. It was really light and scrumptious, and believe it or not you can make it without all the special bowls and measuring spoons, although we did use this and it was rather handy. Enjoy!

Chicken, Avocado, and Grapefruit Salad

Chicken:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp. citrus and basil rub (basically just basil and lemon pepper)
1 tsp. olive oil

Dressing and Salad:
1 large ruby red grapefruit
1 Tbsp. orange marmalade
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Salad:
4-6 radishes
1 ripe avocado
1 (6-oz.) bag spinach leaves
1/2 cup sliced red onion

For chicken, combine basil and olive oil to make a rub; rub it on the chicken. Cook the chicken on both sides over medium heat until done.

For dressing, zest grapefruit (grate the peel) to get 1 tsp. zest. Cut the grapefruit in half and remove the sections. Squeeze the grapefruit for 1/4 cup of its juice. Combine zest, juice, marmalade, oil, salt, and pepper.

For the salad, slice the radishes and dice the avocado. Slice the chicken into thin strips or chunks. Combine spinach, chicken, grapefruit sections, radishes, avocado, and onion. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss until coated; serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.