yummy!

homemade ice cream sandwiches were a much bigger hit with my girls than this yummy quiche...

oh well, i loved it.

aunt beth's gift

my sister gave the girls a big bag of old ponytail holders. we're talking the old school kind. well, abby took one look at the bag and then ran to grab the picture of wendjina, our compassion child from haiti. "i want hair like hers!" and so, i began to braid, and braid and braid some more. for three days in a row, my abby wanted to be like wendjina. seeing as she felt rotten, i thought it was the least i could do.

what a man!

two weeks ago (yes, i'm that behind on blogging my thoughts!), i came home from taking abby to and from ballet to find that my dear dear jon had swept and mopped my more than repulsive floors. he also documented julia's participation. that one act of kindness meant more than a dozen roses!!

goggles

my girls have decided that goggles in the bathtub are great fun. cracks me up.

we makin' helpers!

while julia and i were mixing something up the other day, she looked at me and said, "we makin' helpers!" i think she combined her thoughts. "i'm mommy's helper" and "we makin' pizza," but it hit me smack in the gut. all my frustrations at that moment of trying to get it done quickly was erased. this job of mine isn't to get the food in the oven. it's about makin' helpers.

out of the mouths of babes, yet again.

cooking marathon!! day two.

well, day two didn't go as well as i hoped as i was knocked out by a migraine. however, i did get a good bit done. what never ceases to amaze me is how much i can cook in so little time with about the same amount of effort as making dinner! so per becky's request, here is a breakdown of what i did with details added. :)

1. Cooked my chicken. I took four packages of chicken breasts and put them in a big pot of boiling water with some celery and onions for about 25 minutes.

2. While the chicken was cooking, I put my cooked beans in the crockpot with all the other ingredients to make refried beans.

3. Then, I assembled my big bowl of veggies (one bag frozen peas, two cans of corn, one bag of frozen green beans and some chopped carrots) and got out four gallon sized bags which I labeled (8x8 chicken pot pie 10/2009).

4. By this time, the chicken was done. I pulled out my food processor and chopped up the chicken the same way that you would slice a cucumber with the food processor. I LOVE this method of "shredding/chopping" chicken as it is fast!

5. Assembly of the pot pie filling was next. I mixed the broth, cream of chicken and chicken. Then I used my measuring 2 cup and put in the veggies and chicken into each bag. I actually mixed them together in the bag with it sealed. I let all the air out and stack them flat. When they sit in my freezer, I will actually store them upright like files (once they are frozen) so that I can easily flip through and see what I have.

6. I assembled the poppyseed chicken casseroles next in pretty much the same manor as the pot pies.

So at this point, I had 8 square casseroles made and frozen and two bags of 2 cups shredded chicken plus a bag of celery that I had flash frozen and bagged for later. Not to shabby for a little less than two hours of work.

Insert nap.

My beans were done cooking, out came the food processor from the dishwasher (man, got to love that invention!) and within minutes, I had 16 cups of refried beans (see earlier post about my underestimation of how much beans you can make with six lbs of beans!)

Last but not least, I assembled the super delicious brown bag burritos. The only thing I change in this recipe is that I use about 1/3 cup of the mixture per burrito instead of her recommended 1/4 cup. We love these burritos!

Thus ended the second day of cooking. I just found out that my Bible Study for tomorrow morning has been canceled. So, I just might get the rest of my list finished tomorrow! I'll let you know if I do. Plus, major thanks to my Jon who helped occupy the girls for the second half of my cooking day and who washed more than one pot for me in the last few days. Thanks babe!

cooking marathon!! day one. beans.

okay, i'm in the midst of a cooking marathon! with our schedule getting fuller, i need some food that i can pull out of the freezer and just pop in the oven. last friday night, i made 3 meatloafs and 2 lbs of meatballs in just a little over an hour which inspired me to take on a bigger chunk of time to make more.

yesterday and today i have a long list of what i want to accomplish:

cut and freeze celery (from the produce co-op)

broccoli-some for now and some to freeze

cook beans-some to freeze for winter soups, some for refried beans

chicken pot pie

poppyseed chicken

brown-bag burritoes

chopped chicken

blueberry muffins (?)

lettuce prepped for week ahead

well, yesterday, i started on the beans. i have never made dry beans before. i was inspired by moneysavingmom who bought 6lbs of dried beans for a mere $6 at sam's. she showed that she had 5, 2 cup containers of beans. i was thinking that for all those beans, she sure didn't have alot. but i started working.

first, i soaked my beans. they kept expanding. i kept having to add more water and pull out more pots to put the beans in that were overflowing. by the time they were done soaking, i had 2 crockpots, 1 stock pot and my two largest cooking pots FULL of beans. i have not 10 cups of beans...oh no. i have 60 cups of beans. yes, 6. 0. sixty. good grief!! pretty hilarious. so, now i know about how to make beans. :) and now, i'm going to learn how to make refried beans. anybody need some beans??

(this is less than half of the beans that are cooked!)

today has already gotten off to a better start. i'll let you know how it all winds up.

thrifty thursday is BACK!

okay, i've got a great one for you!!! ted's montana grill is giving away certificates for free lunches. really, it's super easy. and you can get EIGHT! you take their little quiz (there is a new clue each tuesday and friday-and remember google is your friend!) and then they will e-mail you a certificate for a free $8 lunch off of their new lunch menu. i got my first certificate this week and it doesn't expire until 11/29. not too shabby. just look for the link to discover ted's 8 wonders and win.

anyone want to go to lunch?

for my aunt gene

when we went to prattville this summer, my aunt gene taught my girls this song...

julia first.

notice the intensity of concentration as abby sings and wants to get the motions just right.

and our MANY attempts of both of them together always resulted in madness. like this.