Why Do We Plan Again?

.......because absolutely nothing I planned to do today got done!! Oh well, I guess there is always tomorrow!

Today was full of unexpected things. Madison was up half the night with a sick migraine headache. They seem to be getting worse the older she gets. I decided not to take her to church "just in case" it was something else. I don't want to get anyone sick, just like I appreciate others not getting us sick. Thank you Jennifer Trotter for switching Sundays with me in SS~I really appreciate it!

Then we had an unexpected, but WONDERFUL surprise. My sister called me to see if we wanted to keep Rylee for a few days. She has to work late this week and didn't have anyone to keep her. You know what I said....YES, YES, YES!!! So, Mollie, Margaret, and I headed to Greenwood to meet them and pick her up. We were so happy to see her. Mollie kept asking me if she was really dreaming or was Rylee really here! Then, when I got home with her Madison asked me the same thing. These girls of mine really do think alike!

We have played ALL afternoon, only stopping for Rylee (and us) to nap. We have enjoyed our afternoon and can't wait for tomorrow. School should be fun with a baby! We did some tonight though so we wouldn't have so much to do tomorrow. Madison and Margaret have basketball practice and Madison begins Social, so we have a lot to do. I have not planned to cook tomorrow, but maybe I'll get around to it. I have everything planned, now I just have to find the time to get it done. This should be real interesting with school, a baby, activities, and Brad working nights. Maybe if I don't "plan" to do it, then I'll get it done! The only thing I am planning is spoiling my niece!!!

Spaghetti Sauce

I got this recipe from a dear old friend I've known forever! Thanks Shannon Clark Davis! I can't wait to try it!!!

Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb meat (if you want meat)
2 large cans of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic (less if you are not a garlic fan)
1/2 large onion chopped
some salt and pepper...you know...enough (no clue how much)
a few spoonfuls of sugar

brown meat olive oil garlic and onions. Put tomatoes in the blender and chop up a little and add to the meat mixture with the rest of the ingredients. I cook it for about 3 hours (or the crock pot works too) The longer you cook it the better it will be!

Rebecca's Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

I got this recipe from a friend I used to teach with. Thanks Stacia Nuessle!!!

Rebecca's Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole - Shared by a friend at church
(I double the recipe to get TWO for me to freeze.)

Ingredients
* boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and chopped (3 to 4 breasts)
* 1 box of Uncle Ben's Original Wild Rice, cooked according to directions on box
* 1/2 lb. sausage, cooked and drained
* 1 pt. fresh mushrooms (sauteed with onions)
* 1 medium vidalia onion chopped (sauteed with mushrooms)
* 1 can cream of mushroom soup
* 1/2 pint sour cream
* Nature's Seasoning to taste

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

Sautee mushrooms and onions until tender. Mix all ingredients together adding Nature's Seasoning to taste. Pour mixture into casserole dish and bake for 40 min. or until hot and bubbly.

Planning

Well, today I did not get as much done as I wanted to. It took a while to plan and then I decided to stay home today and cook what I already had in the house. We did 2 weeks worth of menus and made our list. If I double everything then I should get 4 weeks out of it, but I doubt I'll do that on things I'm not too sure if we will like or not. I found some really great menus to print out and plan on. I still prefer paper and pencil to do this part.

Things I did today:

Pumpkin muffins (I left out the chocolate chips since I don't like chocolate unless it is chocolate chip cookies or a brownie.) I made 24 muffins.

Pancakes-I only doubled this recipe to make sure we were going to like the mix. I made 30 big pancakes and 20 mini pancakes. They were delicious so I will be making more tomorrow! Mollie and I mixed them up and Madison cooked them. We make a GREAT team!

Taco Soup-I doubled this recipe too! I'm not sure how much I have to freeze yet because I put it all in a big Tupperware and in the fridge till tomorrow. I used all my freezer bags on the pancakes so I need to get more!

Hamburgers-had some meat left over so Brad grilled 6 patties. He, Madison, Mollie ate this for dinner (he also grilled some deer sausage for him to take to work!), Margaret ate pancakes, and I had Taco Soup. What a conglomeration!!!

Chicken and Vegetables -I really don't have a recipe for this. I had some frozen chicken breast in the freezer so I just threw them in the crock pot and seasoned them with a little of EVERYTHING we had in the cabinet. I had some squash I needed to cook so I threw them in there along with some fresh broccoli, potatoes, and purple onions. I added a cup of water since these are boneless, skinless breast and I wasn't too sure how much water they would release while cooking. This will be our lunch for tomorrow.

My plan for tomorrow is to go to the grocery store and get the things I need to make the rest of the items on my list.

French toast sticks

Waffles

Pancakes

Chicken Rice Casserole

Pasta Primavera

Lasagna

Spaghetti Sauce -thanks to Shannon Clark Davis!

Chili -I use the recipe out of the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook. I use the Easy Chili recipe on page 38. I can post for anyone that needs it.

Whole Chicken -we get 3 meals out of 1 whole chicken. I put the whole chicken in my crock pot with a little seasoning salt, Cavenders, salt, and pepper. DO NOT ADD WATER!! I cook on low ALL day or night. I half this and we eat it as a meal with vegetables, I use the other half and the broth(make sure you save it!) to make chicken and egg noodles, and chicken and rice. I may cook 2 this time since there are so many recipes that call for cooked chicken and I will have it for when I need it. (Chicken Macaroni Bake, Chicken Tetrazzini, Chicken Divan, Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole)

Salmon fillets -I cook these on my George Foreman. I wash the salmon and sprinkle with Blackened Redfish Magic on both sides. It only take a few minutes for these to cook on the George Foreman. I make sure I cook enough so I have leftovers. I use them for Salmon Cesear Salad and Salmon Salad. I also found a great recipe today (thanks Jennifer Earp!) for Firecracker Salad so I will be trying this too. I will probably mix everything up and freeze so all I will have to do is bake them.

Vegetable Soup

Hamburger meat-plan on cooking this so I can make Taco meat, Sloppy Joes, spaghetti sauce, Chili

Let's hope I can get it all done tomorrow after church. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Now, do I have room in my freezer for all of this?

Baking Day Plan

Thanks to an idea I got from Money Saving Mom I am going to attempt to make a plan and have a baking day. I absolutely LOVE having things already cooked and in the freezer. This makes for very quick dinner nights. Also, we seem to be getting busier with our school work and extra activities so I want my life to be as easy as possible. The girls and I are working today on our lists and menus for the next 2 weeks to see how this is going to go. If all goes well, my next challenge will be to follow her $40.00 week grocery budget. We are an "eating" family of 5 so I will probably spend a little more than this, but I really want to try to stick with her budget.I know this sounds impossible, but it is working for Money Saving Mom so why can't it work for us too? I'll post our list and plan when we get finished. Wish me luck!!!

Taco Soup

Anyone love Taco Soup? We love it at my house! I haven't had it in awhile so I decided to make up a big pot today. I have seen several recipes for Taco Soup and they all looked so good. My secret when looking for a recipe is ....SIMPLE!! I won't usually fix something if there is a lot of steps and/or a lot of ingredients that will only be used for one recipe. I do like to try these types of recipes sometimes, usually it goes to waste because no one will eat it but me.

Here is the recipe I use for Taco Soup. I usually double/triple the serving so I will have some to freeze. If I am making it, I might as well make a lot of it. If I could remember where I got it from, I would be glad to give credit to that person or site. Since I did not write down where or who it came from, I can't do it this time. Please feel free to post your favorite Taco Soup recipe here too! If you make this, let me know how it turns out~I can assure you it will be DELICIOUS!!!!

The Very Best Taco Soup Recipe

1 1/2 lbs. Hamburger meat
2 cans Corn
2 cans Pinto beans
1 can dark red Kidney beans
1 can Ro-tel (mild or hot)
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix (not the dip mix)
1 8oz. pkg velveta


Brown hamburger and season as normal, I use garlic powder, salt, and pepper, in a large pot. Drain. Add the ranch dressing mix and taco seasoning to the meat and stir well. Do not drain any of the canned ingredients. Add all canned ingredients (including the juice) to the meat. Bring to a boil. While thats coming to a boil, cube the velveta and add to the soup. Once the soup has been brought to a boil cover and simmer on low for 30-45 min. Serve with tortilla chips. You can also serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa etc.

Out of the Mouth of Babes!

Mollie is the sweetest child~sometimes! She seems to always have something to say about everything. I thought it might be neat to blog about some of these so I won't forget them and to see if you might find them quite humorous/sweet too. I really think I named her right when I named her after my grandma Bess, Bessie Evelyn~~Mollie Evelyn~~because they are a lot alike in so many ways, especially when it comes to their words. They both seem to say what's on their mind at any given time no matter what, gotta love em!! Her nickname is Mollie B because my grandmother says I should have named her Mollie Bess. Cost too much to change her name and what's the point~we know her as Mollie B and everyone who knows us well knows what the B stands for.....BESS!!!!

"Good Golly Miss Mollie!"

She looks at our wedding picture and asks me where she is in the picture. Before I could answer her, she answers herself. "God and Jesus hadn't made me yet?"

When I couldn't get on my farm on farmville she says, "Be glad you got children to spend time with."

When she says things like this, it is hard to imagine her any other way but SWEET!

Fun at Kackleberry Farm

On Monday a small group of homeschoolers from our neighborhood went to Kackleberry Farms in Louisville. We had such a GREAT time. There was so much to do on this small farm, the children didn't know where to go first or what to do first. That's OK, because first off we had an explanation of the farm and what all there is to do here. Then we had some pumpkin education and a story. This was really geared towards the small ones, as I could see the older children got bored quick! When I say small ones I mean 1st/2nd grade and under. If I hadn't already completed a pumpkin unit with Mollie, she might would have enjoyed it more. Either way, the story was cute and I want a copy for my bookshelf at home. One can NEVER have too many books!!! After all of this was over, the children chose the corn maze first. After this, everyone just scattered because there was so much to do and everyone wanted to do something different. I didn't mind it too much because the farm isn't that big and I could keep my eye on everyone from a distance. Also, we were only 1 of 2 groups on the farm this day. It is only opened on Saturdays and Sundays to the public. During the week, it is reserved only for field trips. I was able to speak with the owner for a few minutes and she said this was their 3rd year and they have reserved trips for over 3000 students so far. The first year they had a little over 1000 and each year since have added 1000. They have also added new stuff each year. The first year they opened, they only had the animals and the corn maze. Now they have added lots more things and lots more children! If anyone is thinking about going, I highly recommend it!

I think I had just as much fun as the children!

Madison's favorite thing on the farm was the slide that went 40 mph because it was fast AND the baby rabbits and baby goats because they were so soft and cuddly. She didn't like the life cycle of the pumpkin or the story because she thought it was boring and everybody already knew this except for the little kids. (See where I got my review from?)

Margaret's Favorite thing on the farm was the baby animals because she liked feeding them the baby bottles. She didn't like the "Buckeroo Riding thingie" because it was impossible to sit on~thought the owners should have made it more stable. (I think this is the point of the ride though!)

Mollie's favorite thing on the farm was the corn maize because you follow tracks and look at patterns. She didn't like the pig races that much because you just have to stand there and be still and you can't do anything. (Can you tell she doesn't like to be still?)