First Day of School Thoughts

Happy Monday, Everyone!

The boys started back to school today.  There is something about the start of a new school year that makes life feel fresh and new and fraught with possibility.  Perhaps its because I WAS a student for so long and then worked IN schools for so long and because the Teacher is, well, a TEACHER.  I always think of the First Day of School as the REAL New Year (sorry, Jan 1st!) 

Anyway, this year the Diddle started 3rd grade and the Nugget started Kindergarten, which, in our district, is full day.  So, for the 1st time in 8.5 years, I have NO ONE at home....and I'm a little (ok,  a lot) sad.  

That being said, I love. love. LOVE school supply shopping and organizing (not so much the paying for it part, though.  Those lists keep getting longer and more specific!!)  This year, THIS was my favorite purchase:

 I saw these months ago at Vons (my regular grocery store), but at 8.99 apiece, I was going to wait until they went on sale.  Then, very randomly I was shopping at Old Navy this summer and, lo and behold...I found them THERE (weird right???)  and they were only 4.99...so I snagged 2 and put them away for this year's lunches.  They are BPA free plastic, bento boxes made in New Zealand (I'm not sure why that makes me feel better than Made in China but it does).  This is how they open:

I've been using little tupper-ware-esque containers from Ikea to create my own bentos for years, but I love THIS box because there are no lids!  Everything is attached so there is nothing to lose!!  I did buy some little silicone cupcake liners in case I need some extra separation, so I suppose those might get lost...we'll see!  I also saw that these are available at Bed, Bath and Beyond too for $4.99.  Cute, eh??

Food Challenge is going well, the slow cooker Cheeseburger Soup was a hit last week.  The Nugget informed me that it was even better than lentil soup (which is high praise from him!)  No one scoffed at the celery inside and I made it with ground turkey so it was high in the protein but low in the fat departments.  Here is the recipe in case you are interested!

Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup

In a large slow cooker, combine:  1 lb. ground turkey*, 1/4 t pepper, 1/4 t italian herb blend**, 1/4 t Mrs. Dash or other seasoned salt, 1 envelope dry onion soup mix, 3 C water, 8 oz tomato sauce***, 1 T soy sauce, 1 C sliced or diced carrots, 1 C sliced or diced celery.  Cook on high for 6-8 hours, periodically breaking up the turkey.  
Add 1 Cup raw noodles (I used whole wheat elbow macaroni).  Cook another 20 minutes or so (until noodles are tender). 
Serve topped with shredded cheese.

*I put my turkey in frozen and it was fine!  I just chopped the whole thing into quarters first.
**I buy this instead of "oregano, thyme etc." separately.  You can use whatever you have.
***I used the sauce I made in the slow cooker in the middle of the week! 

Hope you like it.  The Teacher requested it get put into our regular rotation since it made his "Top 5 soups that I make" list.  haha

I'll leave you with a picture of my kidlettes, acting silly on their way to school.  

~Bean

Slowcooker Tomato Sauce (amongst other things)

Happy Tuesday!

I don't know about you guys but I'm wiped out already!  I had a LOT of cancellations at work today, which would make you think that my day was easy right??  Nope, when I have cancellations, I feel like I need to use every single second at the office to catch up on my never ending "To Do" list.  After soccer, I was sooo happy to get home to an almost-ready dinner.  I say almost-ready because the star of the show worked hard all day (just like me!) in the slowcooker (ok, maybe not JUST like me.  All I needed to do when I got home was throw some egg noodles in a pot and some broccoli in the microwave to steam, and VOILA!  Garlicky-Lemon Chicken over egg noodles and broccoli!  

Here's the recipe (adapted a little so it wasn't sooo lemony)

Combine in a crockpot:  4 Chicken breasts, 2 T butter, 1/4 C water, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 t oregano, t Mrs. Dash (to taste), 1 Chicken Bullion packet, and a couple of T of lemon juice.  Cover and cook until done.  Shred.  Serve over egg noodles and steamed broccoli.

FOOD CHALLENGE:  We are starting a food challenge at my house this week.  The boys are pretty picky eaters and we tend to fall into a rut in terms of what I make for them (how many combinations of cheese and starch can you come up with?  I've got a million).  More specifically, I'd like to expand their repertoire of protein and veggies and get OUT of the habit of making 2 meals (one adult and one kid) every night.  I know, I know, I know...I read those chapters in the parenting book too but STILL fell into it despite the best of intentions!!  Anyway, this recipe was a HIT!!!  My kids ate the chicken (EVEN with the NEW sauce) AND the broccoli (ok, they weren't stoked about it but they powered through it...I may have bribed them with the promise of dessert...or more accurately, the absence of dessert should they NOT choke down, consume the portions on their plate....sue me).  I got an "mmmm, this chicken is delicious!!" and an "I love eating trees" from the Nugget (he's the easy one for sure) and an "I'm not thrilled with the lemon on this chicken, Mom. but its ok" and a dramatic holding of the nose while the Diddle literally forced the broccoli down...whatever...THEY ATE IT, no one made gagging noises and I was met with VERY minimal resistance so I'm chalking it up as a WIN!

One more thing before I sign off for today, here is the slowcooker tomato sauce recipe...which, as I look back, was the name of this post...which is an accurate picture of my ability to stay on track in my every day life...HA!  Woops!  I'm leaving it....just keeping it real, folks.  

Yummy Yummy You Will Thank Yourself For Making a Big Batch of This Nearly Effortless and Keeping It In Your Freezer Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce:

Combine the following in a big slow cooker: 

1 Medium, finely chopped onion (which you hopefully pulled out of your freezer since this would be the only step that requires effort!!)

6 cloves minced garlic

7 Cups of diced fresh tomatoes (ok, this takes effort too) OR a 56 oz can of crushed tomatoes (yes, I buy the low sodium one and use this)

3 t Italian Herbs

1 t salt

1/2-1 t ground black pepper

1 T sugar

Cook overnight on low! I use this as a base for spaghetti, pizzas, soup...the possibilities are ENDLESS!

Woot Woot!

I just realized that I don't have any pictures for you!  Hmmmm, the Teacher and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary this last weekend so here is a picture of my honey and I before our date!

The Diddle took it.  Not too bad for an 8 year old!!

G'Night All!

~Bean

Hello, Friends!! A Bit of This a Bit of That!

Honey, I'm hoooome!!

We are back from vacation, I'm back at work, the Teacher is back to school and the kidlettes have one glorious week left of summer break.  I, for one, am NOT enjoying this hot and humid weather...hey Mother Nature!  I don't live back east or in the midwest for a reason...I just don't do well in the heat!  That said, we are keeping cool.  

Today was the Teacher's first day of actual classes so I had fully intended on getting the house back into order, organizing school stuff and just getting into the basic swing of things.  I was pretty productive. Before 9:00 I'd already made some lovely breakfast muffins that I found on pinterest:  My number one priority when selecting the recipe this morning was that it included bananas, since the number of frozen bananas in my freezer is getting out of control and my feet are attacked with frozen banana torpedoes every time I open the freezer door (anyone else have this problem??)  

They were a hit with the boys and at just 1/2 C of sugar and NO flour for the whole recipe, I'm sold!  I'd also fake-canned the sauce I had going in the slow cooker all night:

I'll share this recipe later this week.  I hate buying jarred tomato sauce for pizzas and pasta...do you know how much sugar goes into one jar?? You'd be amazed!  This way I know exactly what goes in, AND, its PENNIES a serving!!  BTW, if you don't have any of these little ball jars, they are AWESOME!! They remind me A LOT of the Avent jars that I used to use to freeze breast milk (too much info?? sorry!) but bigger.  They come in 2 different sizes (these are 16 oz) and I use them for everything from storing snacks to freezing!  LOVE. THEM. (You can find them near the canning supplies at most big box stores.)

Also by 9:00, I'd already completed 2 loads of laundry, had dinner working in the crock pot AND cleaned the kitchen.  At about this time I decided I was done and that the kids and I were going to sluff off the rest of the day.  We called some friends and went to see the new Wimpy Kid movie and then ran off some extra energy at the park.  My kids are now at their friend's house playing since, apparently, movie and the park was not enough time with their buds.  SCORE!  I get a couple of minutes to document my day AND provide you with this week's meal plan and grocery list.  I'm trying 2 new crock pot recipes this week so I'll let you know how they pan out.

Here ya go:

Monday:  Redneck Salad (yes, again...we love it and haven't made it all summer!!)

Tuesday:   Lemon Chicken and Brocolli over egg noodles

Wednesday:  Hamburger Soup

I'm only planning 3 meals a week now because we always have enough left overs for at least another day and that way nothing goes to waste if the plans change (and with 3 days worth of soccer practices now, that happens a LOT!)

What I had:                                           vs.       What I Needed:

chicken  (freezer stash)                                     Buffalo Wing Sauce

romaine                                                             baby carrots

Ranch dressing                                                 celery

brocolli                                                              2-3 onions

1 lb ground turkey (freezer stash)

egg noodles

8 oz tomato sauce (from supply that I just "canned")

whole wheat macaroni

parmesan

packet dry onion soup mix

Not too bad!

I thought I'd also share a picture of Victoria Winters (from Bird on a Line) and I on her recent trip.  Join me in wishing her luck on her new adventure as she started back to school this morning!! 

It was so fun to watch our kids play together and I'm so proud of her!!!

Anyway, Happy Monday!  Talk soon!!

~Bean