menu plan monday

Last week's menu was overall a success. I tried three new recipes. Two of them are keepers (the Southwest Chicken Eggrolls and the Turkey Bolognese) but not the Spring Green Risotto. It was good the night we had it but was terrible the next day reheated for lunch so that kinda ruined it for me. It makes a lot too so it would just be so much wasted food to throw out the leftovers. Two out of three isn't bad though!

This week I have a few more new recipes to try out. The meatless meal of the week is the Black Bean Burrito Bake. With more snow on the way Scott requested Taco Soup and Cinnamon Rolls for dessert, a good dinner to have on a cold snowy night. I haven't attempted cinnamon rolls in a very, very long time so hopefully with the Pioneer Woman's recipe they will turn out good!

Breakfasts -
Scrambled Eggs & Toast
Cinnamon Rolls
Strawberry & Banana Smoothies
Cereal
Oatmeal

Lunches -
PB & J
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Hummus with crackers and veggies
Pasta with Parmesan Cheese
Leftovers

Dinners -
M - Saucy Chicken Sandwiches, Apple Slices, Garden Salad
T - Taco Soup and Cinnamon Rolls
W - Creamy Italian Chicken, Steamed Peas
T - Baked Ribs, Baked Beans, Steamed Corn
F - Meat and Potato Casserole, Garden Salad
S - Black Bean Burrito Bake, Mexican Rice, Garden Salad
S - Grilled Asian Chicken Salad

weekend highlights

Saturday morning I went shopping for a couple of hours alone! It was a much needed break after a week of gray skies, chilly temps, and being at home pretty much the entire week with the kids.

While out shopping, I picked up fabric to make window treatments for the play/school room and then came home and sewed them. My new favorite decorating item is ring clips for hanging window panels. All I had to do to get some cute new curtains up was hem the four sides of the material and then clip them up! I'll show you a picture of them soon.

I also picked up a few paint chip samples to find a new color to paint the play/school room. I've decided on the color and hope to get going on that project this week.

I actually got outside and went running again this weekend. My elliptical broke again on Thursday (so frustrating!) and I am waiting to hear back from customer service about that. After I ran outside a couple of weeks ago I wasn't looking forward to it again (read: I could hardly move the next day!). Thomas joined me on Saturday and we hit the trail with the sun shining and the zunes loaded up with some good music. I talked him into going 4 miles even though he hasn't ran near that far yet this spring. We ended up finishing in just over 43 minutes so we were pretty happy about that. He didn't feel like going again with me this afternoon so I went out alone and got another 4 in but am feeling the pain. I figured that I better though because we are supposed to get snow again this week so I won't want to run in that and I don't know how long I will have to wait for the new piece for my elliptical.

I think Ava has watched the videos of herself 20 times times this weekend. She loves them and sings along with herself. Maybe I should take a video of her watching the video! :)

healthy again

It looks like Ava just had a 24 hour bug or something. Elle is feeling fine now as well. I think all of the resting yesterday gave Miss Ava double the energy today. The first video is proof that she watched way too much TV yesterday. Everything she's singing is right off of the Disney channel! In the second video she's singing her ABC's with her Leap Frog Caterpillar. Her serious face in that one cracks me up!

sick

Ava woke up sick this morning. Tummy sick. Yuck. Thankfully that has since passed but she's been crying and complaining all day that her throat hurts and she's running a slight fever. Poor girl! Elle started feeling like her tummy was upset this afternoon so she has joined Ava on the couch and they've been watching Noggin and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together. Hope to be back and report that we are healthy again soon!

southwest chicken eggrolls

I have had this recipe bookmarked for years. Really. I don't know why it took me so long to give it a try but boy am I glad I finally did. These eggrolls are yummy! The kids didn't think so, but they haven't ate spinach, except fresh in salads, and they don't think they like it when it's cooked. I'll keep working on them about that though!

If you don't want to make eggrolls turn this recipe into quesadillas instead. Put the filling on top of a flour tortilla, sprinkle with a little cheese and top with another tortilla. Place in a pan or on a griddle and cook until golden on both sides and the cheese is melted. Hmmm, that sounds like another good, quick, school lunch idea! And if you're kids don't like spinach either, just leave it out and add extra corn and black beans!

Southwest Chicken Eggrolls

1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 - 3 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlice, minced
1 (10 oz) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup cooked black beans
1/4 cup red pepper, diced
1/4 tsp. ground oregano
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 cup salsa
1 tsp cornstarch
chopped green chiles (to taste)
salt and pepper (to taste)

egg roll wrappers
vegetable oil for frying

Saute onion in olive oil, along with garlic, until clear. Add remaining filling ingredients and heat through slowly. Following the directions on the eggroll package, fill wrappers with chicken filling and deep fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. (Oil should reach 350 degrees before frying them.) Remove and place on paper towel. Serve while warm with Ranch Avocado Dip.

The dip is a must have! Any leftover is really good with raw veggies.

Ranch Avocado Dip

1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
juice of half a lemon
8 oz sour cream
1/2 pkg, Ranch dip mix

Mash diced avocado with lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Add sour cream and dip mix then stir to combine. Chill 1 hour before serving.

Recipe adapted from cookbook titled Keeping Good Company

baby in a basket

While Ava was playing this morning she must've decided that she needed a little cuddle time with her puppy. She emptied out her basket of toys and got inside and covered up with her blanket, then in went the thumb. She stayed in there for about 10 minutes before she decided to start playing again.

Wondering what she's wearing under there? Yesterday we went through the clothes that Elle has outgrown to see what we can pull out for Ava and found a fancy Easter dress and the much loved pink sparkly shoes! She hasn't wanted to take them off since! I'm sure they'll show up in a post of their own sometime.

menu plan

Here's the menu for the week at our house. I stumbled across this blog, My Month of Meals, over the weekend. I found several recipes that I am looking forward to trying and I liked reading her thoughts about menu planning. While I don't plan to make my menus a month at a time because I'd rather plan them weekly around the sale items at the grocery store, she did motivate me to finally get going on a master list of all of the meals that we enjoy. I think it will be so handy to have the list to reference instead of trying to think of things off the top of my head. I also like her idea of meal goals. I'm still thinking this through for us but I have recently been making a few more meatless meals and would like to continue with this. Maybe start out with one a week? This week's meatless meal is the Spring Garden Risotto. I saw Ina Garten make it on her Back to Basics show on Food Network. Peas, asparagus and creamy rice....sounds good to me! I'll let you know if it's a 'make again'!

Breakfasts:
Yogurt and Granola
Biscuit, Egg and Cheese Sandwiches
Cold Cereal
Oatmeal with Blueberries
Toasted Cinnamon Swirl Pear Bread

Lunches:
Quesadillas
Pasta with Parmesan Cheese
Hummus and Vegetable Wraps
Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Leftovers

Dinners:
M – Ham and Cheese Stromboli, Garden Salad, Strawberries
T – Southwest Chicken Egg Rolls with Ranch Avocado Dip
W – Spring Green Risotto
T – Turkey Bolognese, Garden Salad, French Bread
F – BBQ Chicken Pizza, Pepperoni Pizza
S –Roasted Turkey Breast, Baked Potatoes, Garden Salad, Steamed Corn
S – Clean Out the Fridge and Popcorn Night

Dessert:
Peach Pie with Homemade Vanilla Icecream

sunday highlights

It was above 40 degrees here today so in our opinion that is grilling weather! Scott grilled up the first steaks of the year tonight and he hasn't lost his touch one bit over the long winter. They were perfect!

Elle had a fun spa day that she blogged about here. I think she going to be asking for more days like this now.

hello, my name is honey

Today Ava was sitting on the side of the bathtub watching me put my make up on and chatting with me. Here is a snippet of our conversation -

Ava - 'I know my daddy's name. It's Scott!'
Me - 'You're right! What's your mommy's name?'
Ava - 'Honey'

Too cute!

window shopping for summer

There were lots of big, white fluffy flakes falling when we woke up this morning. Thankfully they have already stopped and only left a dusting on the ground. I know it's still March and that we are probably going to get more snow yet but I'd rather be in denial and think that winter is over and done with. It is the first day of spring after all. I'm already dreaming of warm weather and days spent on the lake. I've even been doing a little window shopping online. I'm ready to pack away the sweaters and long sleeves and replace them with these -

This one is especially cute in black!

This one is way out of my budget but isn't it adorable?!

And finally the perfect straw tote for all of our beach towels.

Summer hurry up and get here! Clothing found at Garnet Hill, straw tote at Athleta. Click the pictures to go to the exact page where you can order them, just incase you were wondering.

simple granola

One of my favorite breakfasts is yogurt and granola. I found this recipe on a blog a couple of years ago and after a few changes it's become my favorite granola. It's the perfect addition to a serving of plain yogurt with a generous drizzle of honey. The whole family likes it except Ava prefers it without the yogurt.

Simple Granola

4 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups slivered almonds
3/4 cup coconut
1/4 cup turbinado sugar (also called sugar in the raw)(can also substitute light brown sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries (or any dried fruit you'd like)

In a bowl, mix the oats, almonds, coconut, sugar, salt and cinnamon. In a saucepan, warm the oil and honey. Stir in vanilla. Pour liquid over oat mixture. Stir gently. Spread on a large baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely. Stir in dried fruit. Seal granola in an airtight container at room temp for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

a happy sunday

It is currently 50 degrees here and Monday and Tuesday are looking like they will be even warmer! It is absolutely wonderful! It was a good day to -

• Take down the Christmas lights that were still up on the porch!
  
• Go for a run outside. Talk about pain! I worked a whole different set of muscles than I usually do when I'm on my elliptical. I hope I can move tomorrow.
• Stomp in puddles. Ava put on Elle's rain boots and did a little stomping and splashing around.
• Grill! That is the dinner plan for tonight. We are having some friends over for burgers and brats.
  

how to keep a boy entertained for hours

Our VCR/DVD combo player broke so I gave it to Thomas and told him to go have fun tearing it apart. He has all of the parts spread out all over the utility room floor and started drawing diagrams of the pieces. It's been a fun project for him. He's looking forward to another electronic device to break around here now!

going a little wild

Several months ago a friend mentioned that a zebra print rug or window treatments would look really great in our family room. I loved the idea but was scared of it at the same time. I don't usually go too wild in my decorating. I saw this rug when I went shopping in the cities last November but didn't buy it. Instead I came home with a dark chocolate brown and cream traditional print rug. I ended up taking it back because I bought the wrong size. Also, my dark coffee table disappeared on top of it and it made the room feel too formal.

Last weekend Scott and I went shopping in the cities, just the two of us. (We were celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary!) We stopped in at Pottery Barn and both rugs were still there. After contemplating it for a long time, and making a call to my friend who talked me into buying it, we came home with it and I love it! She was right! It changes the whole mood of the room and makes it kinda quirky and fun. Now I need her to help me with window treatments. (I had purchased some in November but ended up taking them back with the rug! I have issues when it comes to decorating.)

homeschooling preschool

I have had this post in the works for a long time now. A few people have asked me about ideas for homeschooling preschool and I thought it'd be a breeze to put the post together. There are just so many ideas though! I homeschooled Elle for her two years of preschool. She wanted to 'do school' just like Thomas so it was really easy to teach such an eager learner! Ava will be starting next year. She's already been doing several things like learning her colors, sorting, learning her ABC's, counting, puzzles, etc... but we will start a little more structured routine with her in the fall.

As far as a curriculum plan for homeschooling Ava next year I plan to start the Math-U-See Primer book. I went through this book with Elle when she was 3 and it took us two years to get through it. Mastery of concepts is not required like it is in the other Math-U-See books. The Primer is just a good book to use to introduce your child to math. It gets the child familiar with counting, shapes, place value, skip counting and basic addition and subtraction. The use of the manipulative blocks makes it fun for young ones. Elle could not write her numbers a lot of the time we were in this book which was fine, I just wrote them in.

We will be using Handwriting Without Tears manipulatives to learn how to make letters. I did not find Handwriting Without Tears until Elle was in kindergarten. She was struggling so much with writing her letters and numbers backwards. This program really helped change that for her. Hopefully by starting Ava with the wood pieces maniuplatives next year she will not struggle as much when it comes time to actually learn how to write them later on.

I am most excited about starting Before Five in a Row with her though. I love literature based learning and even though I have never used this curriculum before it sounds like it will be right up our alley. It is divided up into 23 different unit studies using classic, quality children's books geared toward 2 - 4 year olds.

That is probably the only formal curriculum I will use. There are plenty of free (amazing!) ideas all over the internet. Especially on mom blogs! One of my favorite blogs for teaching ideas for toddlers is Chasing Cheerios. There are so many great ideas there. If you have a toddler you have to browse through her archived posts! She also has a great list of links to other teaching blogs in the sidebar. One other site that will keep you clicking link after link is - My Montessori Journey.

I'd love to hear from you too! Tell me your favorite ideas/books/websites for teaching preschoolers. Most of my favorite homeschooling curriculum has come from talking with other homeschooling moms!

it's still winter here

This is the scene at our house today. There are no flowers starting to poke through the ground, no flowering trees like you see on so many other blogs. Nope, here in Minnesota we are still seeing the snow fly. I have no idea how much we are supposed to get anymore. First it was 10 - 14 inches, then 8 - 13, and now it looks like that number has dropped again but I can't tell to what.

I tried to be a good Minnesota wife and plow the driveway for Scott before he got home from work but truth be told the 4 wheeler is sitting in the garage stuck in low gear and I can't get it out. :) Last time I tried to plow I was stuck at the bottom of the driveway for a long time because the 4 wheeler kept dying on me. I didn't know about the choke or where it was located. At least I made it up and down the driveway a few times today so it's mostly cleared. Ooftah!

(That is the first (and probably last!) time I use Minnesota slang on my blog!)

Update: Well, it turns out that in order get our 4 wheeler out of low gear when it gets stuck like that is to get off of it and rock it back and forth, pick the back of it up, or kick it. Just kidding on that last one.

school lunch: ritzy chicken tenders

I thought it would be fun to start sharing recipes for quick and simple lunches that are kid friendly and easy to make during the school week. It's nice to be able to serve something other than sandwiches or leftovers a few times a week but I also don't want to spend much time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up in the middle of the day.

I've linked to the recipe for Ritzy Chicken Tenders on my blog a couple of times when I've posted my menus. I found it at Divine Domesticity. The original version of the recipe is here. I love this recipe! My kids think they are the best and are always excited when I make them. It is so easy to make a large batch of these and keep them in the freezer ready to reheat for lunches.

I often find fresh chicken tenders at a reduced rate in my grocery store's meat dept. so I buy them to use for this recipe. You could just buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cut them up as well. The original recipe calls for you to pound the chicken breasts thinner before slicing them so that would be a good idea too.

One more thing about this recipe....do not try to make these without first marinating the chicken in buttermilk for at least a day, preferably two. It makes the chicken so tender and moist and is definitely worth the bit of extra effort.

Ritzy Chicken Tenders

chicken tenders or breasts (pounded fairly thin and sliced into 6 - 8 pieces)
buttermilk
Ritz cracker crumbs (I agree with Ali that the Vegetable Herb Ritz are especially good!)
vegetable oil for frying

Prepare chicken if necessary. Place in bowl or ziptop bag and cover with buttermilk. Allow to marinate in the fridge for up to 2 days. Crush a couple of sleeves of Ritz crackers into crumbs. Place in a wide, shallow bowl. Roll each chicken tender in the cracker crumbs (shake some of the excess buttermilk off if necessary first); coat well. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan and fry for about 2 minutes per side or until golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate when done. I prefer to wipe out the pan with a paper towel between batches when I'm frying them otherwise the coating that falls off tends to burn.

If you'd like to freeze these I think it works best to lay them out on a cookie sheet and flash freeze them, then transfer to a freezer bag. Reheat in a 350 degree oven till hot.

peanut butter face

My wild child has discovered yet another art medium. Food! Yesterday at lunch she painted her face with the peanut butter in her sandwich. She's a creative one for sure. The other day she painted her chair with milk, making sure to rub it into all of the nooks and crannies. That was fun to clean up. Last night she was on a roll, she finger painted on the counter with my bottle of lotion that sits by the kitchen sink and later she walked around and gave all of the windows kisses. She must've moisturized her lips with some of that lotion too.

I actually can't help but smile when I see those little kiss marks. They are everywhere as she does this frequently. I even have her little footprints on the window by the couch. She likes to lay on the back (top?) of the couch and put her feet on the window while she watches TV sometimes.

There aren't a lot of places in the house where she's hasn't left her mark. This is her newest 'wall art' piece. She got the container of crayons and colored away until someone found her. Then she took off running! Oh well, this room needs painting anyway. :)

This is Ava's prayer every night -

Dear Jesus thank you for this day. Help me learn and teach to be a biiiiiig girl. Help me not to make messes and not to fight. AMEN!

fried ice cream

It's time again for The Recipe Box Swamp, hosted by Randi at I Have to Say. I decided to share the recipe for Fried Ice Cream that I made a couple of nights ago. It was a perfect dessert after these spicy shredded beef tacos. I think the kids said 'mmmmm' after every bite!

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream
4 tsp cinnamon
3 cups cornflakes, coarsely crushed
vegetable oil
honey
sweetened whipped cream (Reddi Wip)

Combine cinnamon and crushed cornflakes in a bowl. Shape ice cream into 8 balls and then roll in the cornflakes to coat completely. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze until very hard. When ready to serve, heat enough oil in a pan or deep fryer to cover ice cream balls. Heat oil to 375 degrees and then fry each ball, one at a time, for 5 - 10 seconds. Place each ice cream ball in a bowl topped with whipped cream, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

A few tips I learned when I made this is that it's important to have all of your bowls ready on the counter because the frying process goes very quickly. I had thought that the cold ice cream would cause the oil temp to drop a bit but it doesn't. Also, if the oil gets above 375 degrees, turn down the heat and wait for it to come back down otherwise the cornflakes coating tends to fall off at too high of a temp. Also, I only made enough ice cream balls for each person to have one and put the leftover topping in the freezer for next time.

Be sure to check out Randi's blog for more recipes. There are always lots of good ones!

rest or reading time

I learned early on in homeschooling that we need a break from each other. That's when we started Rest or Reading Time. Almost everyday after lunch (Monday - Friday) as soon as Ava is down for her nap, Thomas and Elle pick a spot somewhere upstairs and they can either rest or read, that's it. It lasts anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on what we have going on that day. When Elle was in preschool she would often end up falling asleep after she'd looked at books for awhile so that is how we got the name. This has been such a great thing for us. It has really helped to cultivate a love for reading in the kids and having an hour of peace and quiet does a mama good! :)

It's a good time for me to clean for awhile, flip through a magazine, blog or even take a quick nap if I'm feeling really tired. We set a timer and when it goes off the kids know that it's time to finish up any school or chores that aren't done yet and then the rest of the afternoon is theirs to do what they want.

It's fun when the weather is warm to let them pick a spot to read outside. It's kind of an adventure to read in the playhouse or while your sitting in the swing.

smoky beef tacos

I picked up the latest issue of Everyday Food while standing in the grocery line check out and planned most of our meals this week from this issue. I still haven't subscribed to this magazine but after last night's meal I definitely am going to! I made the Smokey Beef Tacos and they were SO good! I have been looking for the perfect recipe for shredded beef ever since Scott and I went out for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and I had the best shredded beef burritos. I've finally found it! I made just a couple of changes to the recipe that is posted below. Here is a link to the original. It could easily be made in the crockpot all day instead of cooking it in the oven. I love any chance I get to use the Le Creuset dutch oven that Scott surprised me with at Christmas so I made it in the oven as directed. It was perfection!

2 Tbsp chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1/2 cup ketchup
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 boneless beef chuck roast (about 3 pounds), excess fat trimmed
flour tortillas
toppings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid, stir together chiles, ketchup, 1 cup water, garlic, oregano, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Cut beef into 4 equal pieces. Add to pot, and turn to coat. Cover, and bring to a boil; transfer pot to oven. Bake, covered, until beef is fork-tender, about 2 1/2 hours.

Transfer beef to a bowl. With a large spoon, skim off and discard fat from cooking liquid. Shred beef with two forks; moisten with cooking liquid as needed. (This is spicy! I only added back half of the cooking liquid as I didn't want it to get too hot.) Serve beef in warm tortillas with desired toppings.

Recommend toppings:
shredded white cheddar cheese
chopped avacado
diced tomatoes
steamed corn (Sounds weird but it's very good. Martha recommended serving it with a corn and tomato salsa which I'm sure is excellent but I wanted the kids to be able to eat the corn as a side dish as well.)
sour cream

This made a lot so there is plenty for 2, if not 3 meals for our family. I am going to freeze a portion of it and use it to make burritos sometime soon.

For dessert I made fried icecream! The kids want it everyday now. :) I'll be sharing the recipe for that soon!

Photo Source - marthastewart.com

washin' up

While I was preparing lunch on Sunday I heard the water running in the bathroom so I walked around the corner and found Ava on the counter washing her hands. She looked so cute I had to run and grab the camera quick!