More than 2 Kids and a Dog!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

What to do when ...

you don't really have all the right ingredients for taco night?

I have exactly 8 meals left to cook (counting tonight) before we depart for our big adventure in Ukraine! So, I am not buying any more food, other than what we need for breakfast and school snacks (the kids eat hot lunch at school). This means that I have to make do with whatever concoctions I can create at home ... and if you've known me for very long, or have been reading my blog, this is NOT my forte! :)Never being sure that your creation is going to work out is quite scary for a mom of 4 kids (soon to be 5, possibly 6)!

So, time for tacos, but I don't have lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, beans, etc. any of the normal things one would add to meat inside a tortilla to make a taco. But, leave it to me to try to create something worth eating!

1lb ground turkey
1lb ground beef
2 cups dry rice - make according to package directions (should make 3 cups when cooked)
Bell pepper (any color) *see note below

Seasoning:
1/4 cup taco seasoning (if using bulk or 1 packet)
1 tsp Mrs. Dash extra spicy
1/4 cup freeze dried onions
1 TBSP freeze dried cilantro
Add to meat after cooking and add 1/2 cup water - simmer until water is absorbed

*Since I didn't have any fresh veggies or salsa, I added a package of chopped frozen green bell peppers. These had been on a special at the store and were $1/bag (10oz). I hate chopping things, so I stock up when these are on sale. They work great when I do a sweet and sour shrimp stir fry or for something like this as well, just to add some bulk and veggies to a meal. They also work well to add some bulk to any soup or chili dish.

I mixed everything together before putting it into tortillas and adding some Mexican blend cheese and sour cream (for those who wanted it).

Amanda said it was really yummy! :) I'll have left overs to each for my lunches for the next week . . . or maybe I'll serve it again tomorrow night so that's one less meal I have to cook . . . hmmmm :)

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Thursday, August 11, 2011

I'm so PROUD of Myself!

For those who know me, I'm a "HOT MESS" in the kitchen! I can't do anything homemade and if it requires me to follow a recipe that has more than about 6 things to measure then I'm telling you it AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!

So, I don't know what came over me tonight, but I decided that the stash of almost over-ripe tomatoes from our weekend garden picking needed to be used and guess what I was making ... spaghetti! :) We'd just gotten back from a busy day of dr appointments followed by meeting some friends at the pool, so again I'm not sure what came over me to try something new and possibly complicated. I didn't think I had time to look up a recipe, so I just decided to wing it!

~10 small to medium Roma tomatoes (from our garden) - blended or put into a food processor
26oz jar crushed tomatoes (Costoc) side note: I seriously use these for just about anything that requires pasta sauce or soup base
1 TBS crushed garlic
2 TBS sugar (I use raw organic, but regular sugar is probably just fine)
2 TBS dried parsley
1 tps dried oregano
1 tps dried basil
1 tps dried cilantro
sprinkle of crushed red peppers (if desired to add some spice)
salt & pepper as desired
1/4 cup dried chopped onions
add cooked, crumbled ground beef or ground turkey if desired
Serve over pasta of your choice! :)

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Getting Started Again ... Brunch Dish made with leftovers

Well, the summer is nearly over and our visitors from Ukraine have returned to their country. We had very few meals at home during the month of July due to travel, vacations, and just being out and about instead of being at home. There are only 3 weeks until school starts, so it's time to get started again on the home cooking meals to feed a larger than "average" family on a budget, while saving money for an upcoming (hopefully) trip overseas! :)

I will also post my August menu planner (see sidebar). With so much food stocked up that we didn't use in July, it looks like I won't need to purchase much in August for main dish ingredients. So, I took inventory of my three fridge/freezers and wrote down everything I had and then sat down to the calendar. What I have a lot of is whole wheat pasta and sauce, so we will be having some type of pasta dish twice a week during August. In order to make this work for me, I have to keep it to simple recipes that I know I can fix and every now and then pick something new that works with the ingredients I have on hand.

This morning I searched the internet for a low-carb breakfast idea for eggs/ham (using left over ham) and found one that didn't use bread or potatoes. SIDE NOTE: I need to loose 15lbs (minimum) before travel time and the only way I know how to do that is with low-carb meals.* On top of this one being low carb, it meets my requirements of less then 6 ingredients and other than chopping ham takes less than 20 minutes to put together. Ashley even helped out.

BREAKFAST BAKED HAM & EGGS
1 lb. ham, cubed 2 c. milk 1 tsp. salt 1 c. grated cheddar cheese 6 eggs, slightly beaten Mix together well and pour into 9 x 13 inch pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake uncovered 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees.

*note on low carb eating ... I have a stock pile of frozen chicken breasts from Costco so on nights that I fix a pasta dish for the family I will eat that instead.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Girls are COMING!!!

Got the news today that the girls' flight arrangements are official! They will be here on June 28th! It's actually a nice time this year so, we'll be able to bring all our kids from home this way - last year they arrived at like 10pm or something like that, which made it nearly impossible to take little kids with us. It usually takes over an hour to get luggage, talk to people, get our family photo taken, and get off towards home ... stop for some grub and then the girls can just crash until they want to get up the next day!

I am super excited about a trip to Smith Mountain Lake. Last time I was at the lake I was with a friend who doesn't like bugs or to get "dirty" so she could barely sleep in the cabin we had just spent hours cleaning and washing sheets just to be sure they were extra clean! I also was taking some medication that made me very sensitive to the sun, so I couldn't spend much time outside. We should be able to take the kids boating, swim in the lake, go on the bike path, play some miniature golf, and there is also a movie theater and some good restaurant, but most of the time we'll be grilling up some good grub! :)

This needs to do on our other blog, but I don't have writers access to it, so hubby will have to just refer to it later! :)

Friday, April 22, 2011

What to do During Spring Break ... ?

Oh what to do during spring break? Well, the biggest factor in this equation is that MOM is out of commission. Last week on Wednesday night during AWANA games, I got hurt! Can you believe it? Well, if you know me very well then you can believe it because I tend to be a bit accident prone. I have several healed broken bones and a couple of surgeries to prove it.

This time doc says it's a ruptured quad muscle - ouch. He said to stay off of it for a week post injury. Fortunately that week has now passed, so I am off the sofa, but he insists that I use crutches to get around until I see him again on May 2nd. Ashley was with me at the dr visit on Monday afternoon and he told her to be sure that I didn't do any cooking, dishes, laundry, etc. by myself because he wants me off my leg as much as possible. Dad isn't buying it! :)

Ashley has been actually really good about helping me out ... bringing me stuff, asking if I need anything, getting ice packs for my leg while I was laid up, etc. If she was able to cook dinner, I'm sure she would do that (she can make a mean coffee cake for breakfast).

Dad's idea of helping out is taking 1/2 of the kids off my hands to go run errands with him. So, while not really my idea of "taking care of me," it is helpful to not have to boss around and prepare food for the missing members of the Macy crew! :) On Tuesday he actually had to be gone all day to do a job for a customer, so I was able to see how helpful not having 1/2 the kids around actually was on the other days.

On Monday and Tuesday I was able to get a teen helper from the church missions team for a few hours each day. The teens are raising money for the missions trips this summer. They do this by being hired by church members for $10/hr and the money goes right to their fees for the summer missions trip. We had a lovely 13 yr old who did well with helping me catch up on dishes and laundry that was piling up since I had been laid up part of last week and all weekend.

Wednesday Dennis had to get his vaccinations updated - they do things a little different in Ukraine as far as childhood vaccinations. So, Dad took care of that and took both boys with him. Thursday I was able to get off the sofa, so Dad dropped me off at the office for a few hours while he took the kids and ran errands. Ashley stayed with me at the office to do things like get stuff off the printer and she helped me sort some things into a binder to take home.

So, today ... last day of Spring Break - thank goodness!!!!! As you can see from the photo at the top, Ashley and the dogs are enjoying some time on the sofa. It is cold and rainy today, so can't go out to play ... and if I may steal some lines from The Cat in the Hat ... so, we sat in the house on that cold cold wet day. I sat there with Sally, we sat there we two, and I said "Oh, how I wish we had something to do!" :)

Blessed Easter everyone!