In Our House

I received in the mail yesterday a gift from a friend and I have to say I agree with the note that was attached that this saying fits us as a family perfectly. Now to find the perfect place to hang it.

In Our House

We do second chances

We say prayers

We do I'm sorry's

We do loud really well

We give hugs

We do love

We are Family

Menu Planning Monday Dec 27

This week we are working on making some changes to our diet as a family. I learned long ago that it is a waste if the kids won't eat it, so we are making these changes slowly, testing each change as we go along. Since the kids have no school this week some of the bigger changes are breakfast, and since this week is also a shopping week adding some more fruits and veggies.

Breakfast:

Monday- Baked oatmeal with apples, juice, and a banana

Tuesday- Blender Waffles or pancakes, 1/2 apple, orange juice

Wednesday- Cearl , milk, banana

Thursday- Eggs, toast, pears, juice

Friday- french toast, cantaloupe, juice, milk

Saturday- mom's choice

Sunday- Muffin, banana, milk, juice

Dinner-

Monday- Turkey Pot Pie, salad, pineapple

Tuesday- Cheesy Beans and Rice, salad, green beans, applesauce

Wednesday- Chicken and Biscuits, salad, peas, fruit salad

Thursday- Chicken Fajitas, salad, apple slices

Friday- Chicken and dumplings, salad, carrots, watermelon

Saturday- Leftovers

Sunday-Meatloaf, potato, green beans,salad, bread, baked apples

Lunches - are not planned this week, they are more grazing then anything.

This is linked at Organizing Junkie

Thrifty Thursday- Using Leftovers

One big point of waste in any food budget can be leftovers, I really noticed it this summer when I was working. I wasn't home to re- purpose the leftovers , the kids followed the menu, just adding more left overs to the fridge, which usually found themselves in the trash at the end of the week.

We don't usually serve leftovers as just reheated food, mostly because there never is quite enough for all, and they go over better if re-made into another meal. I keep a running list of meals that can be made out of different leftovers right now the list is in my head, but I am working on getting it onto paper.

Ham and potatoes for dinner, turn the leftovers into a egg casserole, layer the potatoes, then ham diced, and then top with some cheddar cheese and enough beaten egg to cover. Bake at 350 till done.

Only left over potatoes - fry them up for breakfast.

Leftover taco meat, cheese, and soft shell tortilla- beat some eggs, scramble the taco meat and eggs together, serve wrapped in a tortilla topped with cheese and taco sauce or even tomato if you have them.

Leftover chili - boil some noodles, mix in chili.

Leftover chicken and rice- make fried rice

Odd pieces of meat save them for pizza night and have chicken or ground beef on top of the pizza.

How do you re- use leftovers ?

Works For me Wednesday - Childern Clothes Shopping

We are a family of eight, six of them children who didn't seem to get the message that growing should be done in a staggered manner, one child every 2 months. These children usually decide to grow in groups, for instance this week three of them have grown out of there pants. I was prepared for one to grow the youngest and had on hand 5T's and regular size 4 which for some reason are the same size. But the other two have been the same size for the last year or more and I had given up hope that they would ever grow any taller, no their bodies were just waiting for the week before Christmas to grow.

I buy most of my children's clothes at the local thrift store for the younger kids and teens, and Plato Closet for the teens. So that means shopping has to be done with a plan, I keep a notebook with there current sizes, and needs. When I do my bi- weekly shopping I usually stop in the thrift store and take a look for what is on the list, if is not on the list I try very hard not to get it, but there are times I bend that rule usually for spider man shirts that a certain boy loves. This allows us to clothe the children in nice clothing that our budget will allow, and not become over run by clothes. This has rubbed off on the teens to, when they have there own money to buy clothes with and head to the mall they go straight to the back of the stores where the clearance racks are. They have learned that if you wait and shop carefully you rarely have to pay full price.

I do get the boys t-shirts in a store that you really wouldn't think of looking for clothes, and that is Ac Moore. I wait until they have there 5 for 10 sale on t-shirts and stock up on solid color t-shirts for them, and if they are ruined in hard play that is ok. I also try to make sure to have clothing money put away for when Old Navy has there 60% off clearance prices sale at the end of each season.

In the case of a sneak attack growth spurt we have Plan B, first we check to see if there are any clothes that might work in the other kids closets for the short term. This usually works for the older three boys, but not so much for the girls. Then we head to the thrift store as soon as we can and try to find at least 3 pair of pants to get them started, if there is nothing there in their size then we will head to the regular store and hope to find some on sale. Then there new sizes and needs are added to the list and over the course of the next month or two we fill out the wardrobe.

This post is linked at Works for Me Wednesday

Teacher cookie box recipies

The teacher cookie boxes were a success, all the teachers loved them and I like to give teachers gifts that are consumable to not add clutter to there homes.

The first cookie is a very yummy chocolate cookie with chocolate chips, topped with a Hersey kiss. With that much chocolate it has to be yummy.  Aidan was in charge of placing the Hersey Kiss on top and he did a very good job.
                                                  
                                                 Picture from The Farm Girl Recipes Blog

Chocolate- cookies with Christmas cookies

Next up was these coconut cookies, the only change I made was instead of frosting them I dipped them in melting chocolate.

Coconut Cookies

Then it was Chocolate covered graham crackers, and that is easy, just dip graham crackers into chocolate, let dry on wax paper, then using a fork dipped in white chocolate drizzle the white on top.

Next up snickerdoodles, and that recipe comes from my old red checkered Better Homes cookbook, Snickerdoodles and you can tell it is a favorite around here as the page is splattered and there a pencil markings showing how to triple the recipe. I like snickerdoodles as they are a easy cookie to make with young children. Rolling a ball shape and then rolling in cinnamon sugar is fun for any kid and easy on the mom to. We did change it a bit this year by dipping the top of the balls in Andes mint chips instead of rolling in cinnamon this year.

Sugar cookies were done using this recipe Best Rolled Sugar Cookies  the best one I have ever worked with, thank you to a friend the same one with the coconut recipe, that made me aware of that recipe. You don't even need to roll it, it is soft enough to flatten out with your hands.

Another kid favorite is dipping pretzel sticks in chocolate and then rolling in sprinkles, that is a bit more of a mess but is a lot of fun. And once you run out of sprinkles just dip in one color chocolate and drizzle with another color. Quick and easy, when I had forgot that I was supposed to take cookies to church, I made a bunch of these up in the time it took the kids to get ready to leave the house.

Picture from Google Images

       This year I did end up getting clam- shell containers from the local restaurant store, that made it easier to move the cookies from home to school and made a nice presentation, with some tissue paper added.

Sorry no pictures of the sugar cookies as the camera died, but each box got 2-4 sugar cookies added.
                     

Menu Plan Monday 12/20

My college aged son who is home for break requested that we not have chicken this week, as that is all he has eaten for 3 months. So this weeks menu is heavy on the beef  , there is a bird in the menu but it's a turkey.

Dinner-

Monday- Spaghetti and meatballs, stuffed pepper

Tuesday- Meatloaf and mashed potatoes, corn

Wednesday- Hamburgers and Mac and cheese, carrots

Thursday- Sloppy Joe's and French Fries, green beans

Friday- Potato and Corn Chowder, cheese and crackers,

Saturday- Turkey, stuffing, potato, veggie, cranberry sauce

Sunday- Leftovers

Breakfast-

Monday- Wednesday- cereal as the kids are still in school

Thursday- egg burritos

Friday- Waffles

Saturday- Daddy cooks- eggs, hash browns, sausage, toast,  croissants , juice, hot coco

Sunday- Muffins

Lunches-

Monday- Wednesday - Packed Lunches

Thursday- leftovers and/ or ramen noodle soup

Friday- pasta and beans

Saturday- cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, tea sandwiches - since breakfast is more of a brunch and dinner is earlier then normal.

Once again highlighted items are ready to go meals or meal parts from the freezer.

This post is also linked up at  Organizing Junkie

Saturday is for Books - The Dragon and the Turtle

This week's book is called The Dragon and the Turtle, written by Donita K. Paul and Evangeline Denmark, illustrated by Vincent Nguyen. This delightful children's book is about a young dragon named Padraig ,and a young turtle named Roger. Padraig  loves eating his bugs, but when he comes across a turtle named Roger who is lost he takes the time to help his new friend.

 Even when finding Roger's home is harder then he thought it would be, he keeps on looking with a cheerful attitude. The storyline also covers the lesson that even though two people do not like all the same things you can still be friends.
The illustrations were detailed and helped to tell the story, after reading the story my 4 year old was able to re-tell the story using the illustrations to guide him. I also found the  discussion guide in the back helpful in asking him guiding questions, and the recipe in the back for the cookies mentioned throughout the book was a nice addition.

Any book that has my 4 year old  willingly picking it up and looking at it, belongs on our shelves.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.