The SOUP is on!

So, Ma...What's for dinner?

Here's our menu for tonight:

Since it's Lent-the last Friday before Good Friday-can you believe that?--we are having soup again!  My kids are not big fans of soup but don't mind it esp. if there are the yummy pretzels we make so they can dip them into it.  That recipe is following the soup one down below.

Lentil-Veggie Soup

1 cup dry lentils (I used red lentils)
1 cup carrots (2 medium)
1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)
1 chopped onions
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 14 ounce cans veggie broth (or Chicken if not Lent or want to go vegetarian)=3 1/2 cups but I used  4 cups
1 1/2 cups water (I used 3 cups)
1 14.5 ounce (I used 24 ounce can)
parsley (they call for fresh snipped but I used dried)

Put all in CROCK POT on high for 5-6 hours.

Love Crock Pot recipes!!! (well, most of them....those meats all end up tasting the same to me but still easier to just put it on and let it cook w/out worrying about it! :)

THEN....

HOMEMADE PRETZELS

1 tbsp sugar
1 pkg of yeast or 2 1/4 tsp
1 1/2 warm water
 1 tsp salt
4 cups flour
1 egg white for topping and to make the salt stick
coarse salt for topping the pretzels

Add  sugar to water and mix, sprinkle in yeast and stir until it dissolves. Add salt and blend in flour and KNEAD until smooth.

Place in PAM sprayed bowl and let sit till it DOUBLES in size.

Roll pieces of dough into long thin ropes and twist into pretzels.  Place in greased cookie sheet and brushw/the beated egg white and sprinkle w/coarse salt.

Bake at 435 * for 10-15 mins-depending on how you like them. 

YUMMY and FUN!  My girls did all the kneading so it was well worth the effort to make these.  We like to do them on Fridays-perfect for dipping in the soup!

God bless your day,
Mary

Random---ness Quick Takes

1.......My 2 girls and 2 little boys are making tents out of blankets, cushions, couches-whatever....you name it, they are using it.

2......My 2 big boys are playing with matchbox cars and BLUTRACK race car track.

3.....We made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and hot chocolate. Some rainy days just need those 2!!!: )

4......I found a few great links on how to live frugally. For some odd reason I cannot seem to link up anything!!! (very annoying!)

Once it works again, I'll post them for sure...

5.....We made an easy dinner for tonight. So easy my 3 and 5 yr old pretty much did it themselves (well, I did brown the meat first!!!)

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
can or frozen green beans
1 can garbonzo beans
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (do not add milk)
1 bag of french fried onions
2 bags of tator tots on top

brown meat, drain and put in 9 x 13 dish
drain can green beans or just put on frozen green beans
drain and put on 1 can garbonzo bean (chick peas)
smooth on the cream of mushroom soup
put on top the onion and then layer the tator tots on top of that!

EASY PEASY!
Yummy! All my kidos eat tons of this dinner! :)

We always bake up whatever tator tots were not used on top...my kids love love tator tots!

God bless,
M

Busy

I've been busy doing this...

 with the 5 of them...

while my oldest is doing this...

I sure hope he knows that we still love him to bake with us...

but him being in 4th grade now, bigger things are expected of him. 

Please do say a prayer, if you remember, b/c sometimes growing up is just so hard.

God bless,
Mary

Edible Rosary

This was really fun for the kids on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary a few days ago.  They really followed along and anticipated to say their "Hail Mary"!
God bless,
Mary

Recipe to share....*Update*

I have yet to make this.  I am thinking of making it tonight, though.  I have all these ingredients  and there are not so many...so I figured I would try it.  I just have to soak those lentils first.

Here is the recipe:

•1 cup cooked lentils

•1/2 cup raw carrots sliced

•1/3 cup of dry rice (white or brown)

•1 chicken bullion cube

Fill a medium pot with water and add the carrots, rice and bullion cube. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook at medium high heat until the carrots and rice are tender. Depending on the type of rice you use and how thick or thin you slice your carrots this will take from 10 to 20 minutes. Mine took about 20 minutes.

Add the cooked lentils to the mix, heat through and check for seasoning. If the soup tastes a little week you may want to add another buillion cube. Otherwise just add salt and pepper to taste.

I'll let you know if my kids actually eat it or not!!! haa haaaa!!!

*Update*:
I did end up making it that night...I found out that the lentils did NOT need to be soaked first, which made it that much easier.  I also added in potatoes that I boiled first and added in extra salt and pepper for taste.  About 1/2 my kids liked it and my hubby raved about it esp. of how it tasted for lunch the following 2 days.  He really liked it!  All my kids loved the potatoes in it so those that did not like the lentils and such just ate the potatoes and I did not need to make any other substitute for them.  So, I guess I would grade it: B.  Yup, I'd make it again ;)
God bless,
Mary

Fast and Easy Recipe

I've noticed some bloggers have been posting some recipes and although I am not really into food lately (or certain smells of food, frankly!).

But I had to post this easy one that even I could whip up for tonight's dinner:

EASY MEXICAN MEAT DISH

• 
  
  Brown 1 lb of meat
• 
  
  drain and add 1 can of drained kidney beans, 1can drained of corn and 1 jar of salsa
• 
  
  Combine all them
• 
  
  put in casserole dish
• 
  
  make 2 boxes of corn bread mix and top it
• 
  
  bake at 350* till corn bread is cooked!

YUM!

God bless,
Mary

GO USA!

I am so glad that I decided to can the idea of going out. Yeah, the kids missed a great time, I am sure. They would have made Mardi Gras masks and had a blast and I would have had some great conversations with other moms. Okay, I have to admit those 2 parts makes me a weeeee bit sad... BUT I got two affirmations that it is okay that I had to say no. It was a great sign to me from up above that it is okay. Everything will be okay. They will survive. It is no big deal.

So, instead my kdis have been wrapped up in writing letters to their cousins who live out of state. This is super to a homeschooling Momma b/c little do they know but....they are practicing spelling AND handwriting AND grammar AND english ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Yeah! They also had a chance to color some great Valentine's Day pics that I will post on St. Valentine's Day on Sunday! So, check back then, ok?

On a different note...I am aware that it is 4:55pm on a Friday night and I have absolutely NO plans for dinner, as of right now. As you can see...I am enjoying some 'blogging' time right now! Funny how my priorities need a little help. SO, I must go.

I have decided to make THESE for dinner tonight. Yummy! They are in honor of Canada-kind of like the Canadian Fluffy Pancakes that lots of people know. I am sorta improvising here.

We are so excited to have the Olympics start tonight! yeah!

GO USA!
GO USA!
GO USA!!!

May God bless the USA!!!

God bless,
Mary

A Donut Cake!

It is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes today! My kids got the privilege of watching The Song of Bernadette, which we are about 1/2 way through. Amazing that they still enjoy those black and white movies! Don't let IMAX fool you! haaaa haaaa!

Anyway, while they watched, I made a bunt blue cake to celebrate this feast day and also my 4 year old daughter's middle name day- Bernadette!

When she saw the cake, her eyes lit up with happiness and joy and a big smile across her face....saying "Oh Momma! A donut cake! I knew you would make me a donut cake! I knew you would!!!"

How precious she is to respond with such gratefulness for making a DONUT cake! I love it!

God bless,
Mary

Tonight for dinner?

Do you think it is a bad scary thing if I made a dinner tonight called "Shipwreck Casserole"?

And...do you think it should be mandatory to eat too?

Just askin'.

On a side note, does anyone have a recipe that includes browned ground turkey mixed with tomato soup? (uh hum, I was planning on making chili or tacos or even Sloppy Joe's, but I am way lacking on some ingredients -bad food shopping on my part. Do YOU have any ideas or recipes to share? It has to be quick-dinner is in 2 hours~!)

God bless!
Mary

Yummy recipe for granola bars

Here is the recipe for “Wholesome Granola Bars” and I just made a batch now adding in Choc. Chips like….and I think that my kids will never go back to them w/out the choc. Chips once they have them!!! ha ha!

Here it is:
1 ½ cups granola
1 cup oatmeal
¾ cup dried cherries or craisins or raisins-whatever you want
½ cup flour
1/3 cup of flax seed
1/3 cup of wheat germ
1/3 cup nuts-almonds-any kind of nuts
½ teaspoon cinnamon-I put more in b/c my kids love cinnamon
2 egg whites
1/3 cup honey-I put more in b/c my kids love honey too!
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons vege oil

Line bottom and sides of 8x8x2 dish w/foil and spray the foil
Mix it all together and press down into dish w/foil
Bake at 350* for about 20-25 mins till light brown-may take longer.
Use foil to remove bars
Slightly Cool and eat them! yum!!!

God bless and happy baking today!
Mary

Hurry! Only 2 hours left

to enter in to win this:

A $40 gift certificate to Tastefully Simple?

Go check out HERE-only 2 hours left to enter in!!!

Here is a yummy CROCKPOT APPLE CIDER BUTTER recipe:

CROCKPOT APPLE CIDER BUTTER*
*Do the first 1/2 of the recipe the night before so you are ready to finish it up during the day*

16 c. any kind of apples- washed, cored, unpeeled, and chopped
2 c. apple cider
2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
A dash of ginger, nutmeg, mace and (if you have it)allspice to taste

*Put the apples and cider in crockpot. Cover and cook on low heat 10- 12 hours.

Then puree in a food processor or blender.
Put apple mix to the crockpot and add the sugar and spices. Cover and cook on low heat 6-10 hours.
After, carefully pour into mason jars or previously used spaghetti sauce jars and close tightly-seal them up.

FYI-Apple Cider butter can also be cooled and put into freezer containers and frozen for several months.

Makes 4 pints of yummy Apple Cider Butter!

God bless,
Mary

My new best friend, Mr. Distilled Vinegar

Today, as every Friday, is our family cleaning day. We all help do as much as we can to CLEAN our house. Thank you hubby for this gift, so our bathrooms are shiny clean right now but the rest of the house can use some major help.

Meet my best friend, Mr. Distilled Vinegar. Awesome and cheap and all natural. I found this site that gives you advice of his many use. Here are just a few-there are tons more...the link is at the bottom:

• To shine chrome sink fixtures that have a lime buildup, use a paste made of 2 tablespoons salt and 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar.
• 
  Make your own scouring cleanser by combining 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 tablespoon liquid detergent. Add just enough white distilled vinegar to give it a thick but creamy texture.
• 
  Clean counter tops and make them smell sweet again with a cloth soaked in undiluted white distilled vinegar.
• 
  Clean and deodorize a drain by pouring in 1 cup baking soda, then one cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let this sit for 5 minutes or so then run hot water down the drain.
• 
  Deodorize the garbage disposal by pouring in 1/2 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let sit for 5 minutes then run hot water down the disposal.
• 
  Deodorize and clean the garbage disposal with white distilled vinegar ice cubes. Make them by freezing full-strength white distilled vinegar in an ice cube tray. Run several cubes down the disposal while flushing with cold water.
• 
  Clean the microwave by mixing 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl. Bring it to a rolling boil inside the microwave. Baked-on food will be loosened, and odors will disappear. Wipe clean.
• 
  Clean the shelves and walls of the refrigerator with a half-and-half solution of water and white distilled vinegar.
• 
  Cut the grime on the top of the refrigerator with a paper towel or cloth and full-strength white distilled vinegar.
  Avoid the bad smell when you heat up a newly cleaned oven by using a sponge soaked in diluted white distilled vinegar for the final rinse.

To find out more uses....click here to this site

Happy Cleaning!

God bless, Mary

Leftover Easter eggs~!

Hummmm...What to eat for snack today?
How about a hard boiled egg?

What to eat for lunch today?
How about egg salad?

What to eat for dinner?
How about deviled eggs? or ham deviled eggs?

So, what's on your menu this week?! :)

God bless,
Mary

Lenten food

What kinds of meals are you fixing this Lent? It would be fun if we can combine some great Lenten recipes.
Here are a few of my favorites:

Fish is our favorite meal. Since we are not big on the traditional famiy meal of Tuna casserole, we tend to stick with delicious fish. It amazes me b/c my kids really enjoy eating fish! Our favorites are salmon, swordfish and tiplapia...oh, and fish sticks! All I do for salmon is let it sit in lemon juice and dill for 1/2 a day then broil it till it is easily broken up if poked at with a fork. Totally easy. For swordfish, I lightly put some mayo on it and a little chunk of butter and broil that too. Tilapia- I like to dip it in egg then bread crumbs and bake it at 350 for 20 or so minutes- 10 mins each side. My hubby and I also like tuna, shrimp, and just about any other fish. We always said that if we could afford it, we'd eat fish every night! :)


Rice and Beans is also a yummy meal. I chop up an onion, sautee it over some oil or butter, add a can of mexican red chili beans and an extra can of tomato sauce. Stir that, then add a can of corn (drained). Mix it all together and heat to a boil for a few minutes. Then I serve it over tortillas w/ lettuce (if we have some) and roll it up. We use chedder cheese on top that my kids love. Or we just have rolls on the side.



This sounds great. It is not a meal per se, but it sure looks yummy. I have never tried it before. Maybe this year, the kids and I will give it a good try, on a Friday!
Did you know that the easy recognizable and tradition “twist” of the pretzel has its roots in religion?! The folded twist is meant to resemble arms crossed in prayer. At one time, people crossed their arms across their chests in pretzel fashion when praying instead of simply putting their two hands together. In fact, in Latin, the word for these braids of bread was “bracellae”, or “little arms”. The word was later said in German to “bretzel”, and then became “pretzel”. Many people would only eat one meal a day during Lent, but would ease the in between time by snacking on pretzels.


How cool is that?
Now I am getting a bit hungry. I'm off to munch on some pretzels now!
God bless,
Mary

Raw Chicken Alert!

Does this picture bother anyone like it does to me?
It totally grosses me out.
I am a die hard "RAW CHICKEN ALERT!!! Mommy" in this house. What does that mean, you ask? I am so disgusted by the thought of how raw chicken can contaminate anything we touch after we touch that nasty "bawk bawk" chicken. I am not at all against meat. I thouroughly enjoy a good meal including chicken. I know what good protein it provides for my family and I. But once it is out of the bag, watch out! I disinfect everything! I make sure that everyone under this roof knows there was RAW CHICKEN in the sink! Okay, so a bit of a fanatic. I know. I know. But there has been way too many stories of other people (including family and friends) having a reaction b/c of touching it or it touching somewhere in their kitchen that they did not clean properly. I, for one, do not want to end up in any ER anytime soon.

So go ahead and think I am a crazy woman afraid of a little RAW chicken. And I'll prove to you that in this house, we keep our food inside! Yes-sir-ee.
And I'll prove to you that I can make a mean chicken casserole.
(But maybe not on a Friday---that fasting thing, ya know....!)

Enjoy the day!
God bless,
Mary

Recipe Anyone?

Is there such a thing as messing up just about the EASIEST recipe in the world ever?!?! It is SO easy that there is ONLY 3 items necessary: pretzels, yummy Hershey kisses and ..ta da...the oven. How could a mom with three little helpers mess up and ruin this super easy recipe?!
Let me tell you...instead of 275 degree oven, I started it at 300 degrees inching its way up to 350 degrees and why, you ask? I was waiting for the yummy Hershey kiss to melt. After waiting almost 15 mins and not melting yet as from what I saw OUTSIDE the oven, I thought this was a warning for me that just maybe I was doing something wrong-uhm..yeah, hello?!
So, calling my sister up frantically "What is going on, what did I do wrong?!?!" She fills me in on the CORRECT recipe directions- 275 degrees for 3-4 mins. That is it. Easy enough? I hastily took the 60 or so out of the oven, only to find out as I squished the M&M on top to smooth down the 'melted' chocolate, it crumbled all over. Each one crumbled. I was so not happy about this Christmas gift idea that needed to be sent out ASAP to arrive BEFORE Christmas. What a bummer, we were snowed in so no going out to replenish our supply and start over!
So, what is a mom to do about this? Nothing other than, say to your loving family that you need to clean up and change the sheets in your bedroom (uhm...or hide out in your bedroom with a bag full of incredibly dry, crunchy pretzels and evaporated dry chocolate! Yes, I am a total wimp to resist even dry chocolate. No sense in it going to waste!)
Only a mom who has 200 million things on her mind can pull this stunt off.
And that mom is me.
And I sure am glad I can laugh about it now.
God bless,
Mary