A comment from Bain..Christmas 2011

Well, Bain had a fun night last night. We had our annual family Christmas party which involves most of our family at our house for a big dinner...about 45 people. Bain was in heaven...too many people, too many conversations, too many things going on for Mom to keep track of how much fudge I'm sneaking. So after most of the family had left Bain decided to sample some of the spiced cider.."Why not," he thought "I've tried everything else tonight, including coffee." He realized it was way too hot and quickly spit it out all over his hands and cup etc.. He stood there with a look of surprise and then licked his hands and cup. (Because he HATES to be sticky. Not sure why he cares. He doesn't seem to mind being dirty.) After licking his hands, he looks down and realizes he'd spilled on his pants also and then looks up and loudly says.."OH NO! Now I'm gonna have to lick my underwear!" Sigh...only Bain.

Motherhood Moment of Mortification....2

Well, another post to the ever-increasing list of hilarious/scary/gross/weird things my children do. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one on the planet with children like this, but then I remember..I've seen some pretty unstable moms who seem to be teetering on the edge of insanity so, I reassure myself, there must be others!

Ahh...Bain. Where to even begin? This is the kid who ran stark naked from the locker room and jumped naked, yes NAKED, into the deep end of the Lebanon pool. Did he hesitate for even a second or slow down to look and see if anyone would catch his naked butt? NO.

So...We're at my friend Julie's house. I'm in the house visiting and the boys are out playing with Julie's son Riley. They're throwing balls, playing with the dog, running around the yard. I'm watching from the window. I walk over to the sink to get a drink of water, momentarily leaving my post at the window. And...of course...it happens. Bain has to relieve himself. Now, important to note, this child has been potty trained for a YEAR. Yep, a YEAR. He knows the drill. But, this is Bain. Anyway, I'm happily slurping down a glass of cool water when my friend laughs and says, "You better get over here and look at your son." Sighing, I walk over to the window. There he is, my adorable red-head, standing, peeing a nice, big, manly rainbow of pee. He's standing on Julie's picnic table. MORTIFICATION! It's her picnic TABLE!! The one she found at a garage sale and lovingly sanded and painted. The table she LOVES.
So, after apologizing to my friend, who I don't even think heard me over her own hysterical laughter, I marched outside to deal with the situation. Ya know, the mom-walk. The quick paced, stomping march that says, "you've got some explaining to do and even that probably won't save you." He saw me coming and quickly hiked up his tiny drawers and hopped off the table. As a side note, he didn't avoid stepping on the place where he had just peed. Of course not!
When asked to go inside and apologize to Julie for peeing on her table he said..with his little boy dirty palms turned up and that questioning, defensive look on his face...exactly these words.."But MOM!! I DIDN'T pee on the table!! I peed OFF the table. There are NO drips!" I wanted to explain to him that the "drips" aren't really the concern here, but decided to wait for a better time. Sigh.. Gross. I still made him apologize and then I quietly packed the precious little child into my car and took him home, while trying not to notice the smirks I could see Julie holding back. Ahh...Bain.

Motherhood Moments of Mortification 1

Well, this it the new title of an ongoing series of posts that I am creating solely for my own entertainment and possibly the entertainment and encouragement of others who might be in need.

Motherhood Moments of Mortification...Entry #1

Yesterday was my birthday. Somewhere during the day, my tired mother brain departed from reality and began to live in a fantasy world...an alternate reality where everything goes right for a day because...well, because its your birthday for Heaven's sake!

It was 5:00pm. I was in my bedroom. I had a nice, toasty fire going in the wood stove and the room was warm. Re-runs of Little House on the Prairie were on the TV. I was watching the snow softly drift down and had a feeling of excitement both for me and my children. It was warm, cozy and wonderful. I nice, cold Diet Coke was my only companion as I folded clothes and eyed the ironing pile. Now, in my altered state of thinking, I irrationally expected this utopia to continue. Thinking error #1.
From the next room, I heard my 2 boys laughing and wrestling around, making little boy sounds that seemed harmless. Thinking error #2. Suddenly I heard my oldest son yell in his most authoritative, evil bad-guy voice..."IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'm sucking your BRAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNNS out!! Ha HA!" My mother brain thought.."Hmmm...wonder if I should check on that one?"

I tentatively left the utopia of my bedroom to find a horrifying scene. Bain, my youngest, sat on the floor, laughing hysterically while Brennan, my oldest stood poised over the top of him...sucking his brains out. Any guesses regarding the tool being used for this tedious task? (wait for it......) THE TOILET PLUNGER!!!!!

OH THE MORTIFICATION!!! SICK! NASTY! Wrong for so many reasons!!

(sigh..) I quietly returned to my shattered shards of utopia, took a long sip of my Diet Coke, gathered my wits, paused my show for later that night (after all, they've been playing with it for several minutes...what's a few more seconds?) and proceeded to the living room to confiscate the plunger when I heard myself say, "Brennan, take the toilet plunger off your brother's head. NOW." (No one should ever have to say that sentence!!) Then I launched into an exhausting speech about germs and why we TRY to avoid them. Then, I reminded myself to remain in reality and survive until my husband returned from work.

Good Burger

This is a mixture to mix in your ground beef for really good hamburgers and I mean REALLY good.

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 sm yellow onion
6 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. A1 or BBQ sauce or Worcestershire
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

Mix all together, mold into patties and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw ahead of time and have a quick BBQ on a summer night. We like to BBQ them with some BBQ sauce and cheddar to finish the top. Throw out baked beans or corn on the cob, a simple salad or baked french fries and you're good to go. Yum.

Chicken Enchiladas

Filling:
1 1/2 pound chicken, cooked
1 med. onion
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese shredded
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Sauce:
15 oz. tomato sauce
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup green pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 Tbsp ground cumin
Garlic Salt to taste
1 sm. can green chilies

Mix all sauce ingredients together and simmer for 5 min. or so.

8-10 Tortillas

*pour some of your sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
*dip tortillas in sauce
*fill with the chicken mixture
*roll up and place in the bottom of the pan
*pour the remainder of your sauce on top of enchiladas after placing them all in your pan.
*put extra cheese on top if you desire.

Freeze at this point for up to 3 months.

Bake frozen enchiladas at 350 for about 1 1/2 hours.
HINT: Do not thaw frozen enchiladas and then bake. They will be really soggy and gross. :)

Yummy Beef Stew

No particular measurements are needed, you just judge according to the size of your crock pot. You make as much or little as you want. OF course the less you make the less time you need to cook it.

1 layer of chopped carrots

1 layer of potatoes

1 layer of cut green beans (frozen or fresh)

1 layer of beef stew cubes (about 1 lb. should do)

1 can cream of mushroom soup (do not add water)

1 can tomato soup (do not add water)

1 clove crushed garlic

1/2 soup can of water

DO NOT STIR. Just layer all the ingredients in the order listed and pour the water over the top. Cook on low all day (8ish hours). We like to dip fresh buttered bread in the gravy of this stew. It's really thick. Sounds weird, but my kids LOVE it.

Forgotten Minestrone Soup

1 lb. stew meat
6 cups water
28 oz. can of tomatoes
1 beef bullion cube
1 med. onion (optional..could use a few sprinkles of dried)
2 tbsp. minced dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 med. zucchini
2 cups cabbage (optional..I leave it out)
1 16 oz. can garbanzo beans (I leave these out too)
1 cup elbow macaroni (or other pasta)
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Combine all ingredients down to pepper and cook in crock pot on low 7-9 hrs. Stir in the rest of ingredients and cook on high 30- 45 more min. (if you are in a hurry, boil the rest of the stuff in a pot on the stove until pasta is tender then drain and add to soup..this will only take about 15 min). I garnish the bowls with a generous amount of fresh grated parmesan..that I buy shredded in the bag. It sounds like a gross recipe, but my kids love it. It's got a good blend of spices and tastes very Italian.
HINTS: Stew meat does not have to be thawed, fresh tomatoes out of your garden will work in the summer.

Chicken Soft Tacos

:

1 can Safeway Select Peach Pineapple Salsa
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast (right out of the freezer..do not thaw)
1/2 to 3/4 cup water

In your crock pot, put the chicken on the bottom and dump 1/2 the jar of salsa over the top. Add the water making sure there's about 1/2 inch water in the bottom to prevent the chicken from burning during the long cooking process. Cook chicken on low...NOT HIGH..it will burn on holy cow it stinks! Cook for 6-8 hours. Then drain off any excess liquid, shred w/ 2 forks. Throw out some tortillas, sour cream, shredded cheese, and any other toppings you like. Serve w/ green salad and maybe some refried beans and you're in business. One of the easiest, yummiest meals I know. My kids dance when we get to have this. Guests have all loved it too. HINTS: Must use the Safeway Peach Pineapple salsa, if you need to use thawed chicken, only cook on low 4 hrs. and then check every 1/2 hour or so to make sure you aren't burning.
Enjoy!

Freezer Meals and Crock Pot Ideas...

A friend recently posted on her FB that she needed some ideas for crock pot meals and/or freezer meals so she could have quick, easy meals. I promised I would post any ideas that I had. So, the following posts are some of the recipes we like at our house. My 4 criteria for a recipe to be a family fave are: Cheap, Easy, Healthy, GOOD. These are not all a 10 out of 10 in every category, but they are pretty good and we like them well enough and eat them often. Ok! We'll see how far I get today and I'll continue in the next few days until I'm done...

Great Article about Freezer Meals...

This appeared in my inbox today from Jenny Ahlstrom Stanger the author of Fabulous Freezer Meals and the creator of the www.FreezerDinner.com website. She has some great ideas and I think there's a lot of usable, practical information here. Enjoy! (Recipes and more ideas can be found at her website mentioned above...wonder how much longer this information will be free?)

WHAT'S IN YOUR FREEZER?

A few questions I hear quite often are: How do I get started with freezer meals and what are your family favorites that cook up in 15 minutes or less?Diana sent me this email a few weeks ago and she was willing to let me post it.

Question:

Hello, I purchased your book about a week ago (a birthday gift for myself) and I am anxious to start some of the freezer meals. I have a few questions about how you personally make it work for you. Before I bought your book, I spent some time researching OAMC online and freezing meals. Some of those sites talk about how they make 15 dinner meals, 10 lunch meals and 10 breakfasts. How do you organize how many meals to make? Right now, our family is my husband, our 1 year old, and myself. We are very health conscious and after hitting the year mark from my son’s birth, I am down to losing my last 10 lbs. So, I want this to be healthy for us and make my life in the kitchen easier. Since you are a mother, and have older children who eat real food (my son is barely into the eat what we eat stage), I would appreciate any further tips regarding health or feeding your kids.

Thanks so much!
—Diana

Answer:

Thank you for emailing Diana and thank you for purchasing a copy of my book! Happy birthday. I hope you had a good one.

Your question is a great question, one that I think a lot of people have.

I first tried the OAMC (once a month cooking) method to stock my freezer and it was very difficult for me. In fact, I vowed I would never do it again. I’m sure it gets easier the more you do it, but I chopped vegetables and cooked meat for a week before meal assembly. The next week I spent assembling and I only had one set of pots and pans so I had to wash them and re-wash them 4 or 5 times a day during that week. With 2 small children needing my attention during it all, it was exhausting.

My method is to take it slow. Don’t try to do it all at once just one or two recipes a week. It is also smart to double any recipe you make. Serve one meal and freeze the other. If you do this, a variety of meals will start to stock quickly in your freezer. Start with the basics in the bulk recipe section of my cookbook “Fabulous Freezer meals”. Stock up on things such as cooked rice, browned ground beef, sweet shredded pork, re-fried beans, salsa etc… Then make the pot sticker recipe, wheat bread and cook a spiral ham and bag up all the leftover meat.

Some great quick 15 minute meals are: the BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, Orange Chicken, Freezer Pizza, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chicken Alfredo, Stromboli, etc… Make the fajita mix or pork roast and shred it for quick nachos, Chim-Changas or taco salads. Also, I would make a cookie dough recipe. It is always convenient to have cookie dough in your freezer.

After you stock your freezer with the basics, I would recommend making these recipes once a month: Chicken Pot Pies, Chicken Manicotti, Lasagna, Cheesy Ham Bake, Turkey Bake, etc..

For my family size (2 adults 4 small children), I have one of these: and one of these in the garage. and it is enough freezer space for us. It may be a mis-conception I have, but I feel like you just fill up a deep freezer and only use the top 2 inches of food while the bottom frozen food gets old. Please leave a comment if you think I missing out by not owning a deep freezer.

What’s in my freezer right now?

Pot Stickers
Frozen Burritos
Cookie Dough
Cooked ham (use in eggs for breakfast, sandwiches, soups)
Marinated Chicken
Frozen berries, peaches, and pineapple
Frozen broccoli, carrots, & peas
Shredded cheese
Freezer Jam
Wheat bread
Cooked rice
Bananas and shredded Zucchini to make breads with
Tortillas (flour and corn)
Large tubs of whipped cream (we make a lot of french toast and top it with whipped cream and fruit)
Chicken Pot Pie
Frozen Pizza (homemade…not the cardboard, store-bought kind)
Tator Tots (once in a while we use these but fry them in olive oil)
Walnuts, pine nuts and cashews
Yeast
Muffin batter in muffin cups
Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken and Rice
Beef Sirloin Tips in Mushroom Gravy
Butter and Margarine

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t use something from the freezer for each meal. Most often I take something out that is frozen and add it to fresh ingredients.

I attended a Cinco De Mayo party Saturday night at my neighbors house and I was in charge of bringing a dessert. Because I was at a book signing all day I had no time to make something from scratch. I pulled out some frozen cookie dough when I got home (I had 1 hour before the party started). In 20 minutes the cookies were done. I had time to get ready and do all my kids hair before the party started and then I topped the cookies with whipped cream and strawberries and off we went to the party, on time.

Anyway, it’s getting late. I’m starting to not make sense anymore. I better get to bed. Let me know what questions you have about getting started. I would like to answer this question for everyone out there that wants to start, but is not sure where to.

Thanks again for the great question.

WWW.FREEZERDINNER.COM

This girl has it together! She can also be found on blogspot as Fabulous Freezer Meals, but she has recently moved all her information and recipes to the new website listed above. She's GREAT! I find myself agreeing with her philosophy on eating, dieting and exercising. She's also a Christian. Definately check it out! I'm always looking for a good recipe to have in the freezer for a night when I don't want to cook or I have a friend in need :)

I'm Gonna Have to Write a Book...

I'll title it "Things I Wish My Mother Would've Told Me"....or somthing to that effect. Included in this list of priceless gems would be: Never attempt to fry jalepenos, never put an onion through a salad shooter, if you go to a generous friend's house to pick tomatoes from her garden...don't pile them all into a paper or plastic bag and then leave them sit for 2 days in your garage, meaning to can them as soon as the weekend is over...they can't breath in there and will all rot...yes, in only two days. Then, dear daughter, don't attempt to pick up the bag, lest you have rotten, smelly, gooey tomatoes all over your floor, clothes and bare feet. You'll be so sad, dear daugher...don't do this. Yes...I wish my mother could have imparted this wisdom to me! I wish she would have told me that...Someday, dear daughter, you may have a young child who forgets to flush the toilet and in a moment distractedness, you'll miss your young, toddler 15 month old wander into the bathroom and sample small chocolates from the TOILET!! Don't panic, dear daughter, and call poison control and ask in a shreaking, high pitched voice if you should wipe out the baby's mouth with lysol wipes. This will cause the poison control person to shout "NO! Do Not put lysol in the baby's mouth!" And the posion control person will think there is a half witted, out of control, idiot woman somewhere trying to mother 3 helpless children. Remain calm, dear daugher, and all will be well. Yes...I'll have to write a book. More on this later...there's many more pearls of wisdom I wish I could've had...

A Tea Party for Bailey

Monday morning Bailey hosted a Tea Party in honor of Great Grandma Helen...we call her GG Helen :) She and Ron are here from California for a week. We had heart shaped tuna sandwiches, heart shaped jello jigglers, brownies, jelly beans and tea...Bailey's tea was chocolate milk. Grandma Diana decided on a "Garden Theme" and wore all her gardening gear that Brennan gave her for Mother's Day. Bailey gave us concert and sang "If You're Happy and You Know It". She had a blast and was a very good hostess :)

Brennan's First Summer Camp

Yay! Brennan's first summer camp. Brennan earned a scholarship through church to go to "First Chance Camp" at camp Koininia in Sweethome. We dropped him off on Sunday, June 28th and will pick him up on Wednesday morning. He was SOOOOO excited! I was worried he would be shy and have a hard time making friends, but another boy in his cabin appeared as Brennan was laying out his sleeping bag and offered to show him around. They were engrossed playing basketball in about 3 min. and Brennan didn't even see me leave. Hope he has a blast!!

Coast Pictures

Hmmm...Too much Hannah Montana?

Ok...we do not watch Hannah Montana at our house. Really. She's on the occasional commercial and featured on several items in the stores now so Bailey is vaguely aware of who she is. Bailey knows that she's "cool" and "pretty".

Today Bailey wanted to look like a big girl. She wanted to roll her pants up to look like capris and wear her new sandals. I couldn't blame her cause they are really cute sandals. I agreed and helped her with her pants. This is what followed...

Brennan: "Bailey! You look really good...like...a mom or something. Like a big highschool girl....you look like..."

Bailey: "Hannah Montana?"

Brennan: rolls his eyes and walks away. (smart boy)

The words of Bailey Marie...

Today during lunch...we're munching contentedly on tater tots when Bailey says..

"Mom, when I grow up to be a rock and roll star, do you want to be in my band?"

Mom: "Absolutely Bailey!"

Bailey: "Ok. You can play the fork and cup. It's good for making music because it's different and you can use the cup for a drink if you get thirsty."

Mom: "I'll look forward to that, Bailey dear. Eat your tater tots."

Why I DO NOT take out the trash...

In our home, Marc and I have struck a deal. I do not take out the trash and he is never asked to clean toilets. In the area of helping with house work, Marc is a true gem. But I have solemnly promised to never ask him to clean toilets. He would refuse anyway, so why bother? This seemed like a reasonable deal. However, sometimes my busy gem-of-a-husband "forgets" to take out the trash. So...Friday I decided to help out, go above and beyond and take out the trash. There was 4 inches of snow on the ground and Brennan and Bailey were enjoying themselves immensly throwing snowballs. I headed out of the house with two heavy bags of trash. Marc's leave-a-lot-to-be-desired trash system is a few barrels with a huge piece of plywood on top. This plywood is extremly heavy when wet...heavier still with snow on top...heavier still with huge fallen tree limbs precariously balanced on the roof of the pump house and hanging down onto the plywood. I carefully labored to lift the plywood and heaved in one bag of trash (I'm panting now)...all the while being pelted with snowballs by Brennan Jake (very funny Brennan). I lifted the second bag of trash and then....the giant limbs fell onto the plywood, knocking snow and the huge piece of plywood onto me. I fell onto the second bag of trash with the limb, snow and plywood on top of me. The dog started licking me, a Fruit Loops box fell out of the barrel and onto my chest, dumping the wonderfully sticky and fragrant powder from the bottom of the box down onto my neck and chest. The dog started licking me and Brennan capitalized on his opportunity to hit me in the head with snowballs, while laughing devilishly (really Brennan...you should stop now!). It was WONDERFUL. I had coffee grounds on my elbow, I was sticky and smelled like fruit loops and dog slobber and there was snow between my face and glasses, so I couldn't see. Fabulous.

And this is why I DO NOT take out the trash....EVER.

Merry Christmas!

Each year we drive to Coburg (near Eugene) and buy poinsettias from a local nursery. They have so many varieties, like none you will see in any store. They are healthy, huge and cheap! We also stopped in Harrisburg on our way home and bought our Christmas tree. The kids had a great time. Here are a couple of cute pictures. Merry Christmas!

Oh...by the way...the name of the nursery is Johnson Brothers Greenhouses.

The Best of Summer 08

Kindergarden Graduation

Bain's first bite

Motorcycle rides!

Mmmm...hanging out at T-ball games