May Days-Menu Plan Monday

May 6, 2013 in Menu Plans, Recipes, Tied Up | Permalink

My kiddos only have a few days left of school. Just seventeen (well, sixteen actually. We have some really exciting news about the Princess’s peanut allergy coming up that I can’t wait to share). I was asked the other day what I thought about the coming of summer. My answer, of course, was that I couldn’t wait. I like having all my buddies home with me. I like having days with no obligations or schedules. I like the days we spend all day in our pajamas in a cool room watching videos. I like the days we run errands or play the whole day long. I love summer. I’m sad when the school year dawns anew because our summer of fun is over.

I want to make something clear. I’m not some perfect, martyr mommy. I like it when my Aunt takes the kids and Big Daddy and I get to do grown up things like Sleeping In and Watching a Movie without Interruptions. I enjoy my time away from my children, but they’re fun little people and I like being with them, too.

My thoughts are already drifting toward the summer and with the temperature creeping upward, my menus are headed that way as well. I love that summer dinner can be such easy fare. Seasoned meat on a hot grill, fresh veggies from the garden or farmer’s market or CSA subscription. It’s so easy. When fall kicks off, I look forward to the heavier, more complicated cooking of the season but right now I don’t want to look at a stew or casserole for months and months.

In other news, our garden is finally growing asparagus!  I mean, only, like, four stalks at a time, but it’s a great start!  As you can also see our strawberries and dandelions are in full bloom.

Monday BBQ chicken salad with creamy BBQ cilantro lime dressing

Tuesday Gnocchi with summer veggies Can I stop for a moment and tell you that I buy my gnocchi from Aldi’s. It’s pretty good, inexpensive and peanut free! I’ve been getting a lot of my produce at Aldi’s as well lately. Some of the things we like to eat; mini bell peppers, persian cucumbers and bananas are cheaper there hands down.

Wednesday Grilled pork tenderloin (I buy the small seasoned ones and then slice into medallions) and creamy spring pasta

Thursday Make your Own Salad

Friday Make Your Own Pizza

Saturday

Sunday

I’m so very glad to be back.

A New Month

May 1, 2013 in Tied Up | Permalink

Two and a half months ago I disappeared into the ether. It wasn’t because I was on a self imposed blogging break, but due to technology problems, I wasn’t able to spend one more second trying to blog on Big Daddy’s stability ball.

While we love technology, we must have been feeling slow about acquiring it this time because it took us this long to decide to order a new lap top (and it took a LOT of pushing and prodding from me. I’m pushy and proddy).

I’ve spent the last two and a half months growing ideas for this blog and missing it so badly I could feel it. I like to write here. And share here. Regardless of who is or is not reading. Writing here makes me feel good and I was sorry that my ideas were jostling around in my head wishing for an outlet.

This comes, of course, on the heels of having just finished a site redesign that I like a lot and that, I think, finally manages to define what I want to write about. It killed me to have sit around with all my ideas waiting for a place to go.

So, I know there’s this huge debate about whether or not you’re supposed to address a prolonged absence on your blog. Apparently addressing it is really narcissistic, but if you and I were meeting for coffee and suddenly you stopped for 2.5 months, I’d want to know where you’d gone. What you’d done in the meantime. I’d miss you. So, there you go. I couldn’t handle Big Daddy’s dumb stability ball or natural keyboard. Now, I can sit on the couch and have a normal keyboard.

I missed you all!

I’m back!

7-up Biscuits

February 22, 2013 in Pinned There Done That, Recipes | Permalink

Well, I used Sprite but it was on sale and on hand it’s close enough.  About, this isn’t about engineering a Pinterest fail.  There are tons of sites doing that, though I do want to talk about ingredient substitution for a minute.

 

When spending time in the kitchen, you begin to learn when you can seamlessly substitute something with no change in quality and when you cannot.  If you are a cooking novice, while you can substitute your brand of choice don’t substitute other ingredients unless you are very sure (water for chicken broth or Greek yogurt for sour cream).  The reason why so many of this Pinterest fail site projects, well, fail is because the blooger did not follow the posted ingredients or instructions.  Follow things as written the first time through and then start making changes.

So, after all that, my first batch of these 7-up biscuits were made with changes.  I reduced the butter by 1/2 and used a different sized pan.  I also swapped Greek yogurt for sour cream (which I always do as a matter of face now). The biscuits were just okay.  IN fact, the following morning I threw out three and I never throw out biscuits.  People eat them.  So, while palatable, no one loved these biscuits.  I decided to heed my own advice and follow the recipe as written with the only substitution being the yogurt for the sour cream.

Can I tell you how lovely these biscuits looked while baking?  The butter bubbled up around them and then I pretty much knew they were guaranteed to be better than yesterday’s batch.

They were!  The results were much better than the day before.  They were buttery and loft and an easy alternative to the refrigerated biscuits I usually buy.

7-up Biscuits (adapted from Plain Chicken)

Ingredients

  • 1/4c butter
  • 2c bisquick
  • 1/2c lemon lime pop
  • 1/2c fat free greek yogurt

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and melt your butter into a 8 inch or 9 inch cake pan

Combine the other three ingredients and mix.  Dough will be soft and sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and work a little more flour/bisquick into the dough until it becomes less sticky and rollable.

Flour a rolling pin. Roll out the dough and use a biscuit cutter, glass, measuring cup or any available round item to cut the biscuits into circles

Place into the pan in the melted butter and bake for 10-12 minutes.

An 8 or 9 inch pan will hold 9 biscuits.  I found that I probably could have made another 4 to 6.  These little guys only have 3 Weight Watches Points!

 

Baby, Baby, Baby

February 20, 2013 in Celebrations, Crafts | Permalink

As proof that I am actually getting older, my baby brother is going to be a Dad in a few short weeks. He and his wife are due with their first baby in April. Nothing really makes you feel quite as old as someone who lives in your head at as a 12 year old doing grown up things like getting married and having kids.

I’m excited. Like throw down the gauntlet, roll up my sleeves as battle my sister and my sister-in-laws sister to an auntie duel to the death!!

Or something like that.

Last weekend, my brother and sister-in-law drive down for their final visit before the baby came and Big Daddy and and I threw a baby party for the parents-to-be so our local family could join in on all the fun. Of course, in true throw down the Auntie Gauntlet style, I got a little crafty and, um, cook-y up in here and I want to share with you a few custom made ideas that anyone can do to add a special touch to their baby celebrations.

Diaper cakes? They’re cute but usually a little too frou-frou for me. I like them, but they’re usually a little too over the top for my liking. However, I found a tutorial that made a simple diaper cake that can be made in just a matter of minutes. Now, you’re probably going to need an extra pair of hands. The Princess handed me the folded diapers and I held them together so she could tie them. I’m sure you could go solo, but it’s going to take longer and be more frustrating.  However, the diapers were only folded in half and should make them easy for my sister-in-law to put away when the baby arrives.

 

Of course, you can use as much or as little decoration as you like and the shoes?  Who doesn’t love buying baby shoes.  I used 6, 8 and 10 inch cake rounds and two packages of diapers (one in size newborn and one in size one).

Also, that elephant?  Yes, I made him too.  Isn’t he adorable?

Another super simple project that required few materials beyond the receiving blankets he’s made out of.  Nothing was permanently affixed to him and his eyes are little purple foam stickers that will peel off easily and not ruin the blankets.

And the cake.  Of course, I used my new favorite cake recipe and decorating technique.  However, my buttercream was really wilty and I just couldn’t get it to turn out well.  We frosted the sides and only decorated the top.  I found these adorable elephant cake toppers on etsy and they’re pretty inexpensive if you’re not talented enough to make them on your own.

All in all it was a lovely affair and I was glad to be able to be a part of such a happy time for my brother and sister-in-law and my new baby niece.

One more recipe, for my sister-in-law.  I made a stuffed bread recipe and it got great reviews.  This another quick thing that really turns out a good result and doesn’t take a lot of effort or skill. Just for you, Amanda.

Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens-Menu Plan Monday

February 18, 2013 in Menu Plans, Recipes | Permalink

Today, I stole Big Daddy’s laptop and am using it at the kitchen table.  It means I’m having less trouble tapping and I don’t have to balance on his damn ball chair which I’m about a foot too short for.

Big Daddy and I had a budget meeting over the weekend.  I’m feeling positive.  He still looks slightly ill, but I have faith that things will work out fine.  Being a bit more tight fisted with our budget means I’ve been trying hard to cut that weekly grocery bill.  I can’t help that we’re food snobs but I can help the bill.

This week our local grocery store has chicken breast on sale.  And I’m on a diet!  It’s meant to be!

But, Big Daddy isn’t a big fan of chicken all the time.  Keeping that in mind, while the chicken is a good price and we’re going to be eating it a lot this week, I need to make sure I’m mixing up the preparation and flavors so no one gets sick of it.

In all honesty, I don’t like to eat the same things over and over.  It just doesn’t appeal to me.  The idea of eating the same breakfast several days in a row?  No matter what it is?  Gross.  Cannot do it.  So, making sure the menu is varied is about me too, I guess.

As an aside, I made creamy chicken and dumpling soup last week out of some left over smoked chicken.  Everyone LOVED it (except for Littlebit who refused to eat the dumplings for reasons I cannot understand, but no worries!  The rest of us took care of that business!).  I used an old standby recipe and I highly encourage you to consider making it. It’s hearty and delicious and contains cream of no crap (or no egg as shown in the recipe.  I used a roux).  I used one pre-cooked breast and two pre-cooked thighs for the five of us, so it’s a great way to stretch those chicken leftovers.

As a note, in situations such as this when I’m making a one pot meal, I do my best to include a half of a cup of veggies per person.  That’s a serving of veggies!

And now?  The Menu Plan!

Monday Tahini chicken with couscous and veggies

Tuesday Chicken with chimichurri sauce and grille dveggies

Wednesday  Chicken Tortilla Pie and corn

Thursday Avocado Enchiladas 

Friday Autnie Awesome has had some sad news and while she processes things, the girlies haven’t been over to stay.  However, I know the girls miss Auntie Awesome AND that Auntie Awesome misses the girls and I’m hoping for a date night this week

Saturday  Pizza Night!

Sunday Smoked chicken wings, crash hot potatoes and veggies

It’s Monday. Again.

February 11, 2013 in Tied Up | Permalink

Clack, clack, clack WHOOPS.

It’s unseasonably warm today.  The sun is shining and despite all the snow and cold the grass doesn’t look totally dead yet.  You can almost imagine it being spring.  But, I’m a Midwestern Girl, born and raised (on the playground was where I spent most of my days) and I know that winter just isn’t over yet.  Soon, the temperature will plummet and the snow will fall.  I’m always happy to have days like this, though, as a reminder of things that are soon to come.

 

My young lady turned thirteen last week and Big Daddy and I were both struck by the bittersweet passage of time.  Like every birthday. Like always.

We were lucky enough to be able to host a baby party for my brother and his wife this past weekend, and I’m looking forward to sharing with you some of my homemade goodies (including another plug for the best white cake you’ll ever eat).

But, we’re back to the menu plan.

Last week, I talked about how we’re trying to be more conservative with our grocery budget.  Only Big Daddy’s spread sheet at the end of the month will tell that final tale.  I feel as though we are spending less (and eating out less which is good too). It’s hard, sometimes, to not turn to quick, fast food dinners.  OUr evenings are busy and sometimes you feel like you just can’t.  My remedy?  A box of pasta and a jar of sauce in the pantry at all times.  It makes a quick, fifteen minute dinner that everyone likes.

This week, my local grocery store has bottom round roasts on sale and I got a little bit excited.   A lot of my favorite cold weather fare involves slow cooking hunks of beef.  This week, though, starts out with dishes made from Big Daddy’s delicious smoked chicken.  So, here we go.  The menu plan

 

Monday Puff Pastry stuffed with smoked chicken, avocado, cream cheese and salsa

I’m currently having a love, love, love, love LOVE relationship with puff pastry.  It seems like anyone will eat anything that is stuffed in puff pastry.

Tuesday Baked chicken tacquitos with spanish rice and veggies

Wednesday Knock Off Chipotle Barbacoa bowls with rice, beans and veggies

Thursday Shrimp and Grits

Friday Lo Mein and egg rolls

Saturday Guinness Beef Stew

 

Enjoy!  I hope you have an unseasonably wonderful week.

 

Family Movie Night-Snow Day!

February 9, 2013 in Family Movie Night | Permalink

Do you remember when snow days were magical? A bonus day. Anything could happen, which is sort of the theme of the Nickelodeon movie from the early 00′s. After the holidays, I knew we needed to do something just a little special. Everyone seems to head into the doldrums a bit after the Christmas tree comes down and the magic in the house fades away. I knew the Princess would mutiny if we watched The Snowman again (though it may show up in a Family Movie Night to come) so after wracking my brain, I remembered the movie Snow Day which I hoped would appeal to at least two of the three.  And, I think it did.

No Family Movie Night is complete without themed fun and, in our house, that means a dinner, dessert and craft that goes along with the movie.  The recipe for the dinner to go along with this movie night couldn’t be more simple.  Snowman shaped pizza! Now, these things are making the round on Pinterest and I know that my snowman pizza only has a head and a body and not a top, bottom and a middle, but I a terrible at rolling out pizza dough.    Like, I’m lucky that these two are mostly the right shape.  However, I do want to give some kudos to my new french rolling pin which did make the job a lot more simple.

The sky is really the limit for these guys as far as toppings go, but I tried to keep in mind what I thought the kids would eat.  Getting fancy with toppings doesn’t take you very far if your kids pick everything off before they eat it.  And, may I also say that our light eater, Baby Bee, couldn’t get enough.  I can’t tell you how many pieces of pizza she ate that night.  A lot.  LIke, a week’s worth of calories, for her, in one sitting.  She’s asked for snowman pizza on more than one occasion since we made this, so it left an impression.

Family movie night also requires dessert.  I was mourning the loss of the plates of cookies we’d had sitting around the house for weeks.  Our house is FULL of cookie monsters.  We can’t get enough of them, so it made sense to make some snow man cookies.  I debated pulling out my snowman cookie cutters, but decided to make melted snowman cookies instead.  I used this recipe for no chill sugar cookie dough and I have to say it was really good.  I don’t know how it would up to cutting out more complicated shapes, but it managed the simple circles we cut without issue. I oped to half the recipe, and it made 15 tennis ball sized circles which were perfect for creating our melted snow men.
snowcookie1
Now, here’s where that simplicity comes in.  I wanted to make cookie frosting for the cookies and realized I was out of everything I needed to make it. I didn’t even have the ingredients to make buttercream.  So, I did the next best thing.  I sent Big Daddy to the market for a container of frosting.

Making the faces and arms couldn’t be easier.  I opted to buy a bag of large marshmallows and used my kitchen scissors to cut each one in half.  For eyes, arms and noses we used small tubes of orange and black decorator gel (available in the baking aisle of your grocery store) and I pulled out lots of those leftover Christmas cookie sprinkles for buttons.  Baby Bee didn’t want to help, but LIttlebit and the Princess had a nice time making their snowmen.

snowcookie2

And, they were as cute as they were tasty. But, not so cute we couldn’t eat them.  They were yummy!

Our last little bit of fun before the movie involved making Borox crystal snowflakes.  I’ll be honest, while easy this craft isn’t for the inpatient as the snowflakes must soak overnight for the crystals to form. I’m thinking this would be a super fun Valentine’s craft because the heart will be easy to shape from pipe cleaners.    Martha says you need all sorts of fancy supplies, but you don’t.  We had some fine gauge floral wire we used as the holders and I used pencils to dangle the snowflakes into the borox.  The instructions say not to let them touch and this is true, but if they do touch the sides of the pot or each other they can be easily pulled apart without damaging the snowflakes themselves.

If you’re more science minded, I’m sure there’s a science lesson in this, but Big Daddy was busy and he handles the Science.

The girls were excited to get up in the morning and see what their snowflakes looked like, so the family movie night fun lasted just a little longer than usual.

 

 

Thirteen Years

February 5, 2013 in The Biggest One | 1 comment

Just after midnight on a snowy evening thirteen years ago, a Princess was born.

 

In her we learned our lessons.   They weren’t always easy.  She taught us how to sleep three to a bed and how to survive on little sleep.  She taught us how to do a million practical little things and a million impractical ones.

We both only ever wanted a family.  And she made us one.  We celebrated everything. She made that easy.

It’s not always been easy.  Oh,can she be contrary.  She can argue and argue and argue a little more.  She’s smart as a whip and a good student.  She always has been.

But, she’s magical.  She’s sweet. Her heart is soft.  She works hard.  She goes out the door and makes us proud.

She doesn’t get in trouble.  No, not our girl.  She follows the rules.  She plays it straight.  She toes the line.

She’s not always graceful in action or deeds, but she tries.  She angers quickly, but forgives mostly quickly.   SHe has last word syndrome. She has inherited some of our best and our worst.  But that’s okay.

Thirteen years have gone by so quickly.  In just a bit of a blink of an eye.  She’s not a baby now.  Nor a toddler.  Not a preschooler or even a little child.  In our house, we call her the big kid, but she’s a teenager.

In just a few years, she’ll venture forth and she’ll leave us behind a little bit.   Which is as it always should be.  We hope the roots and wings are enough and that she’ll flap hard when she leaps from the nest to do things without us.

em1

Thirteen years have gone so fast.  Do you see how she’s grown? It feels just as quickly to me as the time it took you to scroll down this page.  Our girl.  More than half grown.

em2

But, no matter what, Princess.  No matter how far you go or how far your wings strech you and your sistes can always land at home.

em3

For every breath.  Every sigh. Every tear.  Every smile.  Ever second in the rocking chair.  For every step.  For every moment of your hand in ours.  For every hug and kiss and giggle.  For it all.  We love you.

Happy Birthday, Princess.

 

Menu Plan Monday-Back to those damn 99 problems

February 4, 2013 in Menu Plans, Recipes | Permalink

My laptop is dead. Second time in about a year. This time it’s out of warranty, so changes have to be made and I have to readjust and I hate change and right now I’m typing this from Big Daddy’s office on his stability ball chair and his natural keyboard. And, I keep typing the wrong things and I keep almost falling off of this darn ball so it’s clack, clack, WHOOPS, clack, clack WHOOPS!

Last year, an old “friend” on facebook told me that my “charmed” life was disgusting.  That I had no awareness, self or otherwise, about how hard the world is.  I try not to let him rent much space in my head.  I realize that a broken lap top and a stability ball is small in the scheme of things. I’m not that spoiled.

clack, clack, clack WHOOPS!

The past few weeks for Big Daddy and I seemed to revolve around money.  Have you had those seasons in your marriage?  We seem to.  A lot of little issues are coming to a head while we are fine it means Big Daddy is stressed, so I am stressed.  It means canceling our spring trip to South Carolina and eyeing our December 2013 trip to Disneyworld with worried suspicion.  We won’t be hungry or cold or homeless.  Just less comfortable while all the piled up little things work themselves out.

Our food budget is huge.  HUGE.  I’m sure Big Daddy has the specifics, but it’s a large point of our monthly expenditure.  One place where I feel as though I can and should pitch in as a stay at home mom is getting that food budget down.   It’s not easy.  The things that are the cheapest, tend to be food we won’t/can’t/shouldn’t eat and trying to give a nod to our desire to eat whole foods while balancing the seasonally higher costs of fruit and the overall costs of leaner meat.  The menu plan, for while, is going to be focusing on how to feed your family good, healthy, delicious dinners without wracking up a 1k a month grocery bill.

So, without further ado, the Menu Plan

Our local grocery store had roasting chickens on sale buy one get one free.  We bought four.  They were HUGE chickens.   One chicken was tucked into the freezer for smoking on a later date and I roasted three and pulled off the meat.  We ate for several meals off of those three chickens and I’m going to share what/how we did it.

Monday Easy Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

Tuesday Baked Chicken Flautas

Wednesday Chicken Packets

Thursday Chicken and Oven baked orzo (I added a few cups of diced chicken to this recipe)

Friday  Puff pastry pizza.  Big Daddy and I had chicken, pesto and tomato while the girls had pepperoni.  Littlebit lamented that we weren’t getting pizza out, but I think our pizza was a LOT better.  One box of puff pastry dough will make two slightly smaller than cookie sheet sized pizzas.  Be sparing with your sauces!  The pizza WILL get soggy, but it is crazy delicious and, I must say, the dough is so much easier to roll than traditional pizza dough.  So.  Much.  Easier.

There’s enough chciken left over for one more meal.  We’ll have eaten six times for our $21 meat purchase.  Now, let me be clear.  I know there are bargain divas and coupon quens who would scoff at meat coming in at 3.50 a meal, but it is a big change for us.  How do you save money on your grocery bill?

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Simplicity.

January 20, 2013 in Tied Up | Permalink

A few weeks ago, I was in the shower. I do my best thinking in there. I realized that I was missing the mark here. I’ve always struggled with what to write and what direction I should go in. It becomes even more difficult when I realized I didn’t have a “niche”. I blog about my kids and am a Mom, but I don’t think I’m strictly a mommy blogger. I blog about food, but not enough to be a food blogger. I blog about crafts, but not enough to be a craft blogger. The list of things I blogged about but didn’t blog about enough to be considered in that genre was long. All My Loose Ends really did describe this blog and how I approached. It was a place to hold everything. All my interests and ideas.

When I married Big Daddy, I didn’t know anything about how to be a wife and mom. I didn’t know how to make a home. I had nothing but a vague idea of comfort and light and happiness and I’ve spent the last 13 and a half years trying to figure out how to bring that idea to fruition.

 

My mother was an impeccable housekeeper. The furniture was vacuumed every week. Her knickknacks were always dusted. The cob webs were always pulled down. She washed her drapes and blinds and linens on a schedule. She vacuumed the baseboard and would strip the wax from and rewax her floors. She would scrub the walls down in the entire house twice a year. But, when I married Big Daddy none of that rang true to me and while I knew I wanted a pretty house, finding my way was difficult and confusing.

In the shower, I realized that I did have a direction for this blog. That, the things I take the most joy in is finding a way to do it all.  How do I have time to read?  Well, it’s by finding simple, delicious recipes that don’t take a million hours, steps or ingredients.  It’s by finding techniques and routines that work to keep my house clean without having to devote my entire life to it.  It’s about finding order in our schedule with the girls to ensure that my time is maximized for all of our benefits. It’s about identifying where your effort makes the most sense.

It’s not hard to make the home you want for yourself and your family.  And, I’m going to help you along with way, by offering the best, simple ideas to get the most bang for your buck and your precious time.  I’m going to be honest about recipes.  If they work or not.  I’m going to be honest about time and money and spent.  You really can do it all, but it has to be simple.  I hope you enjoy.

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