Posted in To Do List
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Posted in To Do List
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Posted in To Do List
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Things to do today:
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Posted in Menu Planning
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Monday: Leftovers Tuesday: Stirfry Wednesday: Baked potato Thursday: Tacos Friday: Spaghetti Saturday: Pizza
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Posted in Menu Planning
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Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
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Posted in Life in General
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I'm trying something new that my husband suggested I do. I have switched lunch and dinner.
I'm really liking this plan so far. For some odd reason it makes prep and cleanup much easier. It doesn't make sense to me. LOL Maybe it has to do with a little less pressure on time. If all of a sudden I decide on baked potatos that take over an hour, instead of pushing our supper back to 7 pm it only pushes our lunch back to 1 pm. What a big difference. And who wants to clean up a BIG mess in the kitchen after a long day? Not me. But now my kitchen is cleaner. All because of switching lunch and dinner.
So now our big meal is in the middle of the day and a light meal in the evening. This is to help in losing weight. So we shall see if this makes a difference. |
Posted in Menu Planning
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Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
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Posted in Menu Planning
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Sunday: Dinner on the grounds at church. I am going to bring salad in a bag with tomatoes, green peppers and possibly chick peas with a vinegerette dresing. Thursday: Pasta with frozen veggies and marinaria sauce (a favorite staple in this house) |
Posted in Life in General
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Posted in Home Remedies
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Natural Cleaners, Herbal Remedies Inspired By God |
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The plan for this next week is to move the big meal of the day to lunch. I hope this works better for us. But I will have to adjust my thinking to feeding 3 instead of 2 (really 1.5 as DS doesn't really eat a full sized adult portion). And I will have to adjust my cooking because BIL is much more picky. He isn't used to our more wholesome eating. My tomatoes are growing. I thought there for awhile that they weren't doing that well. But after a visit to my mother's house yesterday and seeing her tomaotes, from which my two plants came, I'm not feeling so bad about my plants any more. In fact they seem a little bit taller than mom's. I just can't wait to see some blossoms. |
Posted in Misadventures in Cooking
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I did try that tomato and zucchini recipe with the chicken tonight and because BIL was here for dinner I also made noodles. I put my grilled chicken, tomato/zucchini and penne noodles all together. It was FABULOUS. I did know that the boys wouldn't like it so they had chicken, penne, and baby carrots. They didn't know what they were missing. BIL is with us a lot for the summer. Right now he has a TON of baseball games/practices. We are up there almost every night. So, I am going to be having our big meal for lunch instead of dinner and then dinner can be more lunch items. Which means that I will have to come up with something for Wednesdays. LOL But I hear that it is healthier for you to eat your big meal in the middle of the day instead of in the evening. We shall see and give it a try.
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Posted in Life in General
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Nothing. I was going to but my FIL filled up my tank when I wasn't looking. I may have to put another $10 in before church though. Scotts. No nonsense, no fluff, no colors, no scents, and a LOT on one roll. I can't claim discovering anything. I have discovered things that others have done that I thought was pure genius. I like a good solid 8 hours. I have done it on less but can't do that for too many nights in a row. I have functioned on 3 or 4 hours once and was surprised at how well things were going Good friend from church just got married at the beginning of June. I helped to set up and decorate the reception hall
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Posted in Menu Planning
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20 Tue: Fish with rice and garden salad 21 Wed: leftovers/eggs 22 Thu: Pasta 23 Fri: Wild Rice with veggies
24 Sat: Chicken Alfredo Pizza
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Posted in Misadventures in Cooking
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I have never burned rice. Not the rice we eat. In fact, I normally have too much water in the rice and have to drain just a little bit off. Not today. I burnt it to a crisp. I suddenly smelled the smell of burnt food and just KNEW that the rice was ruined. Why not make more? Because the good stuff takes an hour to cook. The hot dog stir fry was pretty good though. It would have been DELICIOUS over rice because it was pretty good all by itself. The recipe called for a TBSP of soy sauce but I only put a few splashes in with the hopes that DS wouldn't notice. He ate it up! This one needs another go round with unburnt rice to definatly make into the keeper pile. Although it would be good over noodles too I think.
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Posted in Home Remedies
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I don't use my microwave very often. But my dad does. It can get quite messy. I saw on a TV show to cut up a lemon and put it in a bowl of water. Put it in the mic for about 2 minutes and then wipe clean. AMAZING!!! You aren't supposed to use cleaners in your microwave as it breaks down the seal and those chemicals could get into your food. This is a great natural way to clean it. And the lemon that I bought today to clean FIL's mic cost me $0.20. Not a bad price for a clean, chemical free, lemony fresh microwave. |
Posted in Menu Planning
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Making my shopping list out today. Need to get to the store. I don't need a whole lot as my schedule is getting changed around. I won't need to make dinner for Friday as plans got changed. Hoping life will settle down a little. I don't want to loose the habit of planning meals before I even get the chance to make it one. Before I make next week's plans concrete I will have to double check with FIL/BIL their schedule. BIL's last day of school is this week and he is going to be spending a lot of time with us this summer. Four days a week actually. And he is on a baseball team and that will mean lots of practices and lots of games and lots of nights that we won't be home to eat. Maybe if I plan ahead enough I can just take my meals preps up to their house. I will have to change my thought process around though if I do that because FIL and BIL have much simpler tastes. That's where my husband got it from. Praise God that DS didn't inherit that nasty little taste gene...pretty much.
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Posted in Life in General
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1. How many meals does most of your family eat at home each week? On average 18-20. That is counting breakfast lunch and dinner. I can count on my one hand the number of times I've eaten at a resteraunt in the past several months. But occasionally I do eat at a friends house and on Sunday afternoons I'm not at home, but it is still a home meal that I'm eating.
2. How many cookbooks do you own?
Several, do I look at any of them? Rarely. I tend to get more recipes off the Internet than out of the cook books
3. When you cook, do you follow the recipe pretty closely, or do you use recipes primarily to give you ideas?
I try to follow the directions very closely. But as you can see in my post about the chicken enchiladas, I rarely am ever able to do just that. And I do try to substitute healthier options for some ingredients. Non bleached flour, whole wheat flour, organic sugar can, honey...
4. What's your favorite kitchen task related to meal planning and preparation? (eating the finished product does not count)
I like the planning for the meal the most. I don't like the preparation all that much and I hate the clean up. But I do love to plan. I'm getting better at the prep and now that I have a dishwasher...YEAH!!!!
5. Do you plan menus before you shop?
Yes. I have only recently started this. I have done a meal plan for the month of June and it has helped my shopping.
6. What are your three favorite kitchen tools or appliances?
Dishwasher! Pampered Chef mixing bowls, PC Kitchen shears 7. If you could buy one new thing for your kitchen, money was no object, and space not an issue, what would you most like to have? Wow, just one? Hmm. I would like to get a bread machine. I would love to have a blender (which I'm supposed to get one soone). I really want a new stove...one of those glass units. I think that would make cleaning SOOO nice. But the thing I like the most about kitchens that I don't have the space for is an island. An island with a pot rack over it! A more feasible thing would be more outlets or at least better placed outlets. LOL 8. Since money and space probably are objects, what are you most likely to buy next? If I come across a bread machine at good will or very cheap.
9. Do you have a separate freezer for storage?
Yes. I have an upright in the basement. I need to defrost that thing.
10. Grocery shop alone or with others?
I always shop with DS. I have tried to go alone a time or two and I end up running around the store talking to myself...out loud! So at least when he is there it looks like I'm talking to him. I prefer doing it with him anyways. He is learning to be a great helper! But I don't really care to shop with anyone else. My mother has been there once or twice and I feel like I need to rush. If they are there doing their own shopping then maybe it wouldn't be too bad. 11. How many meatless main dish meals do you fix in a week?
A few. I have beef, chicken and fish almost every week for at least one meal.
12. If you have a decorating theme in your kitchen, what is it? Favorite kitchen colors?
I would love to paint my kitchen a very soft sunny pastel yellow. Right now it is a funky 70's mint green, with very dark, DARK brown cupboards. But redoing the kitchen isn't high on the priority list.
13. What's the first thing you ever learned to cook, and how old were you?
Not a clue. I do remember making "chef salad" when I was in Kindergarten. Mom and my younger sister were taking a nap and I decided to make dinner. I think I put everything that was in the fridge into that salad. Doesn't sound very appetizing but I thought I was quite the chef. |
Posted in Misadventures in Cooking
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I made up the mixture the way I was supposed to. I sautéed my onions and peppers while I put together the cream of chicken soup, broth and yogurt. I added the chicken that I had previously grilled and shredded and added the onions and peppers. I was a little shy about adding spices to taste but I thought it tasted very good. I only had 4 tortillas instead of 6 but thought that would still be ok. I put the mixture in and rolled and they lined up so nicely in my dish. I had messed up. I forgot to add the cheese. But I didn't realize this until after I had made a different mistake. I had a lot of enchilada mix left over and ended up pouring it over the tortillas and the pouring the set aside mixture over top of that. LOL That's when I realized that I was supposed to have added a cup of cheese to the stuff before I put it in the tortillas. Hmm, what to do now? The tortillas are SMOTHERED under the remaining mixture. So I just added the whole 2 cups to the top and hoped for the best. The other part that made me nervous was the "cook until bubbly" part. I'm not a good guesser. I like exact directions. So I set the timer for 5 minutes...5 times. When I thought it was getting closer to done I called in DS to get washed up for dinner. He took one look in the oven and said, "Do I have to eat that?" That boy had himself convinced that he was going to hate it without even know what it was!!! I gave him a half serving. I thought it was DELICIOUS. I was so pleased, even with my mistakes, with the way it turned out that I was almost patting myself on the back and congratulating myself left and right. It could have used a little more spices but it was still very good. DS on the other hand was starting his annoying gagging routine when he is trying to get out of eating something. I don't know why he does it. He's never gotten out of eating things that way. It just takes longer and no one is having a good time with it. He hadn't even taken a bite! So after some tears, discipline and a big jug of water, he ate his entire portion. I wouldn't say he loved it but he liked it. Good thing I have me to pat myself on the back. LOL.
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Posted in Menu Planning
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13 Tuesday: Frankly Good Stir-Fry
14 Wednesday: leftovers or eggs 15 Thursday: Baked potatoes and garden salad 16 Friday: Cheese pizza with veggies 17 Saturday: Going canoing!
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