Crock Pot Cycle 1: Recipe Review

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I pinned a great set of recipes plus a shopping list for the Crock Pot that made 8 dinners, here. Well, I loved it so much that I am ambitiously planning on doing my own! I've only got 2 meals left in the freezer, so it's time to start planning a new cycle of meals. Before I do that, though, I wanted to review the ones I made already. I'll preface my thoughts with this: all the meals were pretty good and I would make them again with a few minor modifications. The recipes were also all low fat and heavy on the veggies, which I LOVE. Each recipe made 2 freezer bags that fed me, the girls and my husband, with leftovers for lunch or dinner for the girls the next night.

8 (16, really) times I don't need to worry about dinner!

Savory Vegetable Beef Soup
This was a nice, hearty soup. It was tomato based with tons of veggies. The recipe called for pre-browning ground beef, but I used ground turkey. I think beef would have been better, or even uncooked beef cubes instead of ground. The potatoes and carrots were also not soft after 8 hours. I left them on for another few hours (total 10) and they were fine.

Next time: use the ground beef the original recipe calls for, or sub out beef stew cubes.

Teriyaki Chicken
Super yum! I had this once with egg noodles and once with rice. The rice was definitely better! The sauce turned out a little thin, and there was a lot of it, so the rice was nice to soak it up. The pineapple was a little much, maybe because the chunks I used were so big.

Next time: sub crushed pineapple for pineapple chunks, and pour off some of the liquid before adding to the freezer bag. The onion was a little much, too. I needed to cut my pieces up smaller, and maybe fine one more veggie to add for variety. Maybe yellow or orange peppers?

Healthy Barbeque Chicken
Another outstanding recipe. The green peppers turned out a little bitter for some reason, so the girls picked them all out. It's ok, like I mentioned earlier, all of the recipes were heavy on the veggies so there was plenty for them to eat. The original recipe mentions that you can use sweet potatoes instead of regular, so next time I make this I'll give that a try.

Next time: sub red, orange or yellow peppers for the green and try sweet potatoes. And don't call it barbeque chicken. It has nothing to do with barbeque.

Stephanie's Goulash
I saved the best for last. This recipe cooked up with a thick stew-like consistency. The beef cubes pulled apart nicely and weren't tough at all. I used low fat sour cream instead of regular, and I honestly don't think it made any difference. This was by far my favorite out of the bunch.

Next time: double the recipe! It only makes about half as much as the others, and it was sooo good that I missed the left overs.

If anyone is interested in the recipes, they're from The Test Kitchen of Melissa Fallis. This week, I'll find four new recipes and create a shopping list for them. I'm so excited! Aren't you? ;)

Blog Birthday

Happy birthday, my little blog! I went back to re-read some of my earlier posts a few weeks ago, and I realized that my very first post was mid-February. I decided to take stock of where I am right now, and see how I did with my goal of sweeping life changes.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

I cook a LOT more for the girls, we do super fun stuff almost every day, I've cut down on their TV a *little*, and I feel like my attitude is much better in general. There are a few things that have really helped me get my shiz together.

N going to school has brought some weekly routine into the mix. Not only does it get us out and about early in the day, but it gives me some quality time with D. School has also helped N's attitude, I think. She freaks out less frequently, and is a little more reasonable when there's an obstacle in the way. A little. We're still working on that.

I discovered audiobooks! This was a housecleaning epiphany. My husband works very late 4 days a week, so I'm on my own a lot. After the girls are in bed, I feel like I need some *me* time, understandably so. Before, I would sit down for "just a minute" to check my e-mail or watch a short show while I ate dinner. Once I parked my butt, that was all she wrote. This way, I can listen to a book while I poke around the house cleaning. I lose myself in the books and I find myself looking for more things to do while I listen. The house isn't perfect, but it's a LOT better.

I made a conscious effort to not shrink away from "messy" fun. We've been doing more crafty fun things, even if the project requires a lot of clean up. I try to include D, but that's asking a little much, haha! Our messy play time is usually when D is sleeping in the afternoons. N has gotten a lot better at helping around the house. She cleans up her toys when I ask her, and she even empties parts of the dishwasher for me! She's in charge of silverware and sippy cups. What a big girl <3 !

Dried beans and glue! Just a quick little craft for the afternoon. D didn't try to eat *too* many beans. (Really, you would think she was old enough to know better by now!)

I joined a MOMS Club! It's been awesome. There are playdates available just about every weekday, if you want to go. There are also Mom's Nights Out once a month, but since A works late just about every night, I never get to go. Boo! I host at least one playdate a month here, so it's also a good motivation to get the first floor presentable once a month. I've met a lot of great moms that live in my town, and N & D have a bunch of friends that they get to play with regularly. Not only are the playdates super fun, but the support has been fantastic. When I have a question about ANYTHING, there's 20 other moms that have an opinion (and aren't afraid to share it!). They all have kids. They all live near me. They've all been where I am, and know how hard it can be. They also know how much fun it is, too. :)

We still eat mac & chee sometimes. D still has chronic diarrhea (nasty, I know!). I still get frustrated. But I feel like I'm floating through the days less and less. I feel like I have a Purpose. I know that this is largely due to the girls being one year older and a little easier to handle. N & D can play together, and now that D is talking a little clearer, they can have actual conversations. (SO freaking cute!!)

Those little heads bent together are just the sweetest!

I would love to bottle this positive feeling and keep it in a jar for those days when the grumps come creeping in. Bad days are a part of life, but they've been less frequent and for that I'm grateful.

Valen-times Day

We had a nice one!

The day before, we made faux sugar cookies out of boxed white cake mix, neon food dye and red sprinkles. N was a big help rolling out the balls of dough and squishing them flat. Of course, she also helped enthusiastically decorate the tops! I cut a heart out of cardstock and used the hole to create the hearts.

While the cookies were baking, N made the Valentines Day cards for her pre-school class. I folded the paper and drew a half heart and N did the rest. She cut the hearts out all by herself...

and really got into decorating them! I thought she would just stamp random hearts on them, but after a few she created a design that she liked and made the rest the same. The row of hearts at the top with a small break in the middle are eyes, and she drew smiles and frowns on the bottom. (That girl LOVES a good sad face!) We talked about love, and why she loves her friends and family.

She instructed me to take a picture of her stamps after she lined them all up.

Here are the finished Valentines. Cute! I made little bags of Mini Teddy Grahams to go on the back. I was going to write something about "bear hugs" or something, but N got so into her designs, I didn't have room! In the back is a rice hand warmer for her teacher.

The next morning, she let me make her hair pretty for school. It was supposed to be a heart, but I think I pulled a little too much hair back. Still cute, though. She had so much fun at school exchanging Valentines. I should have done something special with D, but sometimes that girl exhausts me! We went to a playdate with her cousin, so she had a super fun morning, too.

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. We should take time every day to remember those we love!

The Power of Bacon

This was supposed to be my triumphant post of how I overcame monumental obstacles with the help of... bacon! Unfortunately, one of my largest hurdles that I THOUGHT I had cleared has tripped me up again.

But first, the successes.

1. What to make for dinner?
This was an easy one, but I figured I would include it to make a nice round number of goals to post about. I definitely get stuck in a dinner rut. Steam broccoli, make pasta, repeat daily. I bought some squash and asparagus at the grocery store the other day, but was tired of the usual roasting method. Enter bacon!

I don't have the words for how super yummy this was.



2. Mice infestation.

Recently, we've been dealing with a few mice in the kitchen. They ate my Double Stuf Oreos, so it was game on. A friend suggested baiting our mouse traps with bacon grease, so I figured what the heck? The next morning the trap was gone and the mice were no more. We only ended up catching two or three, so hopefully it was just a small group of them. It's been quiet since then, so I'm hopeful that they're gone. Thanks, bacon, for your supporting role!

3. N's nose.

This was supposed to be my coup de grace. The apex of my shrine to bacon. We promised N bacon for breakfast if she didn't scratch her nose open. It worked for a week. A whole WEEK!! I was dancing the cha cha every morning, I was so excited that her nose was healing up. This has been a two and a half month ordeal for us. Just about every morning and/or waking up from naptime, N looks like she's been attacked in her sleep by Freddie Cruger. Blood everywhere. Her pillows and blankets are stained, it's gross. Not to mention the big scab on her face that's going to leave a big scar. This whole thing bothers me a lot, but we try very hard not to make it a big deal for N. Low key. I'm also worried that it's going to get infected and BECOME a big deal, whether we like it or not. Anyway, a week of leaving it alone goes by. Then D gets pneumonia and a few days later, N sounds like she's hacking up a lung all night. I don't think she's developed pneumonia yet, but it has definitely disrupted her sleep. This coupled with the fact that she spent the night away from home the other day proved too much for her itchy fingers. Back at the nose. Damn. It's been another day or so since then and she's left it alone, so hopefully she's out of the habit of it. I hope to post my success picture soon. It's very disappointing, though.

Other than N's nose, she has been super good lately. Her temper tantrums are way down in frequency and intensity. I credit the success to... bacon. Just kidding. I made her a new chart that she gets to put stickers on when she's good. At the end of the week she turns it in for special "Daddy Time". I'll devote a post to it later, because I'm so proud of how well she's doing with it. :) I'll also touch on our visit to her future preschool, her garden, and some new fun crafty things we're getting into!