Make Yourself at Home

Welcome to my fridge! Are you hungry?  Feel free to whip up dinner while you are here.  When I first heard of this idea for a blog post courtesy of Elle the Heiress, who got the idea from Katie over at Cleared for Takeoff, I thought it was a little kooky. (Check out Cameron Crazy Mom too.) I believe my first  thought was, ‘I wouldn’t want to show my cluttered fridge and freezer to the world. Why just the other day I was thinking about how I need to clean it out.  And don’t even get me started on the deep freeze.  I should really clean it out too.  I have no idea what all is in there.  I bet I’m wasting a ton of money buying food we don’t need because it’s hidden in the black hole.’ Okay so it was a rambling thought, but that’s what popped in my head.  BUT the more I pondered this idea, the more I thought what great incentive to get this chore I hate to do done.  So, here we go.  Mi casa es su casa.

First up: the deep freeze.  WARNING: IF YOU ARE A VEGETARIAN YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS PART.  YOU WILL QUICKLY SEE WE LIKE OUR MEAT. We are the stock-up-while-it’s-on-sale kind of people. And you’ll see that when we stock up, we stock up.

Before the Clean-out :

After the Clean-out :

 

This is a collage if the goodies in the nooks and crannies. We have enough mozzarella cheese to make pizza for the entire neighborhood.  (This is why I need to do this little project.) We also have a ton of steak; it was on sale a couple of weeks ago. That deli cheese in the middle there on the left is THE BOMB. We get it at a place on the way to Branson.  We’ll stop to eat at Lamberts, and then we go buy cheese while we wait on our table. In the middle are the pre-made meals—some by me and some store bought. Some nights you just need something EASY, you know? With the buns and bread, I have banana breads and Amish Friendship breads I made and froze for later. My husband smokes the best ribs, so we have four racks of those. And the crown jewel of the deep freeze? The Blue and Gold Sausage.  This is made in Oklahoma and is BY FAR the best sausage around. In addition to all of this, we are stocked up on chicken, pork chops, and ground beef.  There are a couple of roasts in there and a pork roast too.  Should we not be able to leave our house for some reason, no one worry about us going hungry. I think we’ll be just fine. (as long as we don’t lose power.)

Next up let’s journey back into the house to the fridge.  I know there are all kinds of goodies in there.  Meet my fridge. (Sorry these pictures are the best.  I had to do this project quickly while my 1-year-old was sleeping, so I grabbed the first camera I could find, which was my iPhone and got moving.)

After I finished organizing the inside of the fridge, I cleaned the outside.  Here is the reality of what it looks like now. I think it’s a nice compromise of the above two pictures. Because, let’s face it, I gotta entertain the boys while a cook, and they love the magnet toys. Oh, and I have since found the M, so my boys will only have 3 letters they don’t know. The collection of magnets on the side of the fridge are from various places we have traveled.  The little measuring cup on the front is my lifesaver.  it contains all kinds off cooking helps. Substitutions, equivalent measures, those type of things.

And now on to the inside of this monster. Yes, this is going to be a long post.  Go grab a drink and some popcorn. Maybe take a potty break if you need to. And then come on back and settle in again. Go ahead, I’ll wait for you…

Okay, are you back?  Here’s the inside of this bad boy. And, yes, these are after I did a little cleaning and organizing.

Oh my.  The left side of that picture is way blurry.  No need to fret! I have some close ups! Let’s take a closer look at what my family is eating.

                  

We have two open bottles of ketchups and 2 open jars of mayo because we went on vacation and had to buy more.  Those then got brought home and added to our fridge. I have no idea why we have 3 bottles of open BBQ sauce. None. My 3-year-old would not survive this life without his strawberry milk.  We never run out of this. We are trying to eat healthier, which explains the many bottles of salad dressing.  Most of it is light. (A quick apology here to my Dad who works for Borden. Sorry about the milk.  The boys where in meltdown mode, and I wasn’t making another stop. I know you understand.) Of all of that yogurt, we have three left in the fridge as I type this. My boys eat at least one a day and usually more. Oh, and the homemade jarred stuff? Most of it is courtesy of my mother-in-law and my grandmother-in-law. Just wanted to give credit where it is due.

 

 

Almost finished.  Only have the freezer left. This is the one place that I really needed to throw some things out.  There was a lot hiding in there. This is what I pulled out of the freezer. Crazy huh?

And here it is all cleaned out and pretty: 

I was excited to see that we had more fish and seafood than I thought we did. Those Whips yogurts make great little low cal treats when frozen.  I found the pecans, almonds, and walnuts I thought had disappeared.

        

AND BONUS POINTS: RANDOM FIND

Now tell me how in the world that crayon got on the top self  in the door of the freezer.

And just as I was finishing all of the cleaning and organizing, my toddler woke up from his nap.  He helped me finish the job.

 

Your turn.  What’s in your fridge and freezer?

 

 

 

 

 

Will you help me?

I’m on a mission, and I need your help. PLEASE. PRETTY PLEASE. PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP. My mission is to be COMFORTABLE in my own skin for the first time in a LLLOOONNNGGG time.  We are talking since middle school maybe—20 some years ago. For as long as I can remember, my weight has always been an issue for me.  In middle and high school I think it was more of a negative self image thing than really being overweight, but that still prevented me from being comfortable in my own body.  So, here I am, entering my mid-30’s (Can’t believe I’m going to be 34 next month; I feel like I should still be 23.), married with 2 little kids, &  part of a family chalk full of diabetics.  It’s time to change things. NOW.  Here’s what I  want to do:

1.  Be comfortable in my own skin. I’m realistic. I am never going to be a supermodel.  I just want to be halfway comfortable in a bathing suit.

2. Not be diabetic.  My family is WONDERFUL and I have inherited their sense of humor, their love of family, and their boisterousness. I, however, do not wish to inherit their diabetes. No thanks!

3. Be able to play and run around with my boys and not be out of breath.  I want as much energy as they have. Okay, I’ll be realistic and say half as much energy as they have. There no way at my age I’ll have the energy level of them. They’re crazy! (You moms of boys know what I am talking about and are nodding your heads right now.)

That being said, now I need a plan.  This past week and a half  I have started implementing one (and am already feeling the difference).  Here’s what I have been doing:

1. Drinking WATER.  Yes, I know it is a novel concept, but I was drinking 64 ounces of Diet Dr. Pepper a day.  Now I know this is stupid, but I have a 32 ounces mug I got in the hospital when I had one of my boys and, for some reason unbeknownst to me, I will drink water out of it and not anything else. (I think it reminds me of how thirsty I was when I was breastfeeding.) I’m talking will GULP it down if water is in it.  So, that’s what I did. Got it out and started drinking up! Pretty sure in the past few days I have drank no less than 3 mugs full each day.  And I haven’t totally dropped the DDP, but I have limited it to one a day about every 2-3 days. (Drinking my first Sonic DDP in probably a month while I edit this post, and it is SOOOOO good. I’m sorry if you are reading this and don’t have Sonics where you live.  You really are missing out. But I digress.) 

2. South Beach eating.  I know, I know, some people thing this low-carb thing is from the devil, but let me tell you why this is right for me.  With me already being predisposed to diabetes, I decided to look at this diet a little closer because it focuses on leveling out your blood sugar.  And it makes sense to me.  The focus isn’t on NO carbs; it’s on GOOD carbs.  And the way your body processes the good carbs. In fact, my mom’s diabetic doctor told her this is the way everybody—especially those with diabetes—should be eating.  That all being said, I also believe the saying everything in moderation. (And confession here. I took a break from blogging to eat dinner and I ate WAY TOO MUCH tonight. I feel sick. I’m pretty sure the three pounds I lost in the past week and a half are back. Back on the horse tomorrow.)

3. Exercise. I’ve discovered I really like running.  When my husband and I where dating, he introduced me to running. (I had never been a runner—still wouldn’t consider myself a runner but working on it.)  I actually worked up to about 2 miles at that time.  We also started bike riding.  I’ll never forget the time he took me on a bike ride from our house to Yukon— a 30 mile round trip ride.  I had no idea it was that far and he acted like it was just a little jaunt down the road.  I almost killed him halfway through the ride. Then life happened, the kids came, and now here I am still needing to get my rear up and moving. I needed to quit using the kids and no time as an excuse not to exercise. So, this past week I picked up running again.  I ran one whole mile without stopping yesterday. Yay me!  And that being said, I promise I will go run as soon as my 1-year-old wakes up from his morning nap.

So, here’s the part where I tell you how you can help me if you’d be so kind.  I’d like you to just randomly ask me how it’s going.  If I’m drinking my water. If I’m eating right. If I’m running and riding my bike.  I tend to do better if I know people are going to be checking up on me. Because (Here comes the sarcasm.) believe it or not, this isn’t the first time I’ve said I was going to lose weight and get healthy. BUT I really would LOOVVVEEEE it if it were the last. Will you help me along the way, please? Tell me your tricks? Send me a message on Twitter? Come back to this post and leave a comment every now and again?  That would really mean a lot to me. :)

The Best No-Name Dinner

I remember walking into our former babysitter’s house to pick my boys up on a few occasions and smelling the aroma of something wonderful for dinner.  Come to find out it was roast.  Now this wasn’t your typical potatoes and carrot roast.  It was roast—Mexican style.  You see her mother-in-law is Hispanic, and this was a recipe she taught to my sitter. So, based on the smell and the rave reviews she gave it, I had to make the roast. 

And that was what my family had for dinner tonight. The only word I can think of to describe it is PHENOMENAL. No exaggeration.  It was easily one of the best meals I have ever cooked.  And it gets even better. It is also one of the easiest meals I have ever cooked. Score!  The only downfall is it takes all day to cook, so you have to babysit it a little bit.  But if you are going to be home all day anyway, you might want to need HAVE to make this for dinner.

Note: I’m sorry I have no pictures of this.  I was too excited about making it and then way too excited about eating it to remember to take pictures. Next time I make it, I’ll add some shots to this post.

Here is how simple this is.  Get a roast ( I don’t think the type of roast really matters, but you might find one cut is better than another.  I don’t even know for sure what kind I used tonight; I think it was a rump roast.) Put the roast in a Dutch oven and cover it with water. Chop 4 or 5 or 6 garlic cloves and add to water along with a healthy amount salt and pepper.  Put the Dutch oven on a  burner set on medium-low-ish heat. You kind of, sort of cover the pot with a lid.  Don’t put the lid on all the way; put it on kind of crooked-like.  Leave it so that some of the steam is able to escape. Hope that makes sense.

Now you babysit it.  Let it simmer for 5-6 hours adding water to the pot every so often to keep the roast covered throughout the process.

Isn’t this difficult so far? (Hope you sense the sarcasm there.) Now here come the hardest part. Get ready. You might need a nap after this part. Here we go…

After the 5-6 hours (or when the roast is tender and done) take the roast out and shred it. Pour off some of the water. Put the shredded meat back into the pot. Slice up onion and bell pepper—as much as you like—and add it to the pot .  You should have just enough water to cover the meat and veggies.  Do the kind of cover the pot thing again and let it simmer for 1-2 hours longer.

Make sure you have a margarita while it is cooking because you know you have been slaving away over this meal all day.

When ready to eat, serve in tortillas (We liked the corn best.) with guacamole.  We had sour cream, cilantro, and lime juice with ours too. Yummy!  Go crazy and figure out what condiment-type things you like to serve this meal that doesn’t have a name with.  What should I call this meal???

My Heavy Heart

I can’t quit thinking about this.  It has really consumed my thoughts since I got the news, so I thought I’d write about what is on my mind. Maybe that will help.

Yesterday I woke up to a text message letting me know a student I just had in class this last semester had been in an ATV accident on Memorial Day and had died.  He was 13 years old. 13. So young. Too young. He had so many friends; I know he will be missed.  I can’t even imagine what his family is going through right now.   I just keep picturing his mischievous smile and that ornery look in his eye.  He was so full of life. 

I just keep hugging my boys and telling them I love them. 

Adventures in Motherhood

Well, I’ve done it.  I’ve quit teaching to be a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) for a few years. Isn’t it funny how one thing in life leads to another? And sometimes it’s the decisions other people make that effect your life.  In this case what started out as a terrible morning for me, ended up being the best “bad news” I’d ever gotten.

It all started on Friday morning a couple of weeks ago. I dropped the boys off at the sitter’s (whom my boys and I LOVE) like normal, but, when I told her my parents would be picking them up in the afternoon, she broke the news to me through tears—she wouldn’t be able to watch my boys next year.  She and her husband were going to try to get pregnant this summer, and she wanted a light work load in the fall.  My boys were the last kids she took on (not to mention part-time), so they were the first to go. I didn’t mean for that sentence to sound as flippant as it did, but that’s the gist of it. 

As I was on my way to school after the tearful convo with her, I called my husband to let him know hat was going on.  I had to pull over when the water works started again.  Being a man he immediately started looking for solutions to the problem; one of them being me staying home.  Now, mind you, we’d had this conversation before with it all circling back to not being able to afford for me not to work. I told him that he knew that wasn’t a possibility, but he said he’d “run the numbers”. When we hung up, I was trying not to hold my breath as I realized that staying home with my boys was exactly what I wanted.

Fast forward to that same afternoon.  My phone rang while I was on the bus with 130 eighth grade boys on my way to a sex ed field trip.  Yes, that was loads of fun. But I digress.  So, my phone rang.  It was hubs. He told me he figured it out. The finances.  He figured out how to make it work so I could be at home with my boys.  I never in a million years would have believed we could figure out how to afford for me to stay home, but, thanks to my wonderful, number-savvy husband, we did! 

Gotta be honest here.  As much as I knew this was what I wanted, I had mixed emotions about it.  I was super excited about getting some of these treasured years home with the boys, but I was also nervous.  Nervous about money and nervous about the lack of adult interaction in my coming days as a SAHM.  I was also sad about leaving my fellow teachers whom I love.  But, I have to say, as soon as this decision to stay at home was final, and I saw the smiles on my boys faces as I played with them that night, I knew hubby and I had made the right one. 

And besides, I always have Twitter and Facebook for my adult interaction, right?

Feeding Frenzy 2

Here we go. My family’s dinner menu for this month.  (I’m a little late in posting it, sorry.) I lived and learned with last month’s. And now I will pass my new-found knowledge on to you.  (I’m a giver; what can I say?)

1.   It’s okay not to stick to the menu EXACTLY. I found even when I digressed from the menu, it was still helpful because I knew exactly what was in my freezer.

2.  Having a menu REALLY did the trick on helping us not eat out.  Dinner no longer felt nearly as overwhelming every night now that I had a plan.

3.  I have re-discovered my crock pot.  And, oh how I have missed it!  I have a friend who was gracious enough to share some of her recipes with me.  I’ll let you know how they turn out.

4.  I found in making the menu out for a month that if I went from what I had in the freezer and pantry already and then filled in the rest, my grocery shopping list wasn’t nearly as large and expensive.

Have you ever meal planned?  What tips do you have? Recipes?  I’m always up for new recipes.

Super Simple Brunch Ideas

This is actually the menu I served for a family brunch we had one Christmas morning. I needed something E.A.S.Y. since it was such a busy time (And did I mention this was my son's first Christmas?), but I also wanted something that was nice since it was Christmas. So, I made this menu and broke out the china. I think it turned out beautifully if I do say so myself.

All of these recipes are ones that can be made ahead of time which makes it nice the morning of the brunch because you won’t be rushing around trying to get everything prepared and cooked. (I even set the table the night before.) I promise they are just as tasty as they are simple.

Almond Bread

(I got this recipe from Claudine—see Haunted Texas. She made this for us before our San Antonio Trip.)

Do the prep work (as simple as it is) on this gooey bread the night before you want to eat it. Then in the morning pop it in the oven.

24-28ish frozen Rhoades dinner rolls
1 stick butter or margarine
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. Almond extract
1 small box dry vanilla pudding
¼-1/2 cup sliced almonds

Liberally (And I do mean liberally) coat a bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray. Place the frozen dinner rolls around the pan. Melt the butter and brown sugar in the microwave. Add Almond extract. Pour mixture over rolls in pan. Sprinkle dry vanilla pudding over rolls. Sprinkle sliced almonds over rolls. Spray a piece of plastic wrap with non-stick cooking spray and place treated side down and cover pan. Let rolls rise over night. In the morning, remove plastic wrap and bake at 350 for approx. 30 minutes. Let cool for ten minutes and turn out onto platter.

Sausage Balls

My dad has been making these for years, and they are a family favorite. I’ve seen a lot of variations out there, but these are the easiest to made and, trust me, they are just as good if not better. These little treats only have three ingredients and are simple to make. Make two or three batches and freeze them. Then you can pop them into the microwave to defrost and reheat as needed.

1 lb sausage
2 1/4 cups Bisquick
12 oz. shredded cheese (I like cheddar and pepper jack the best.)

Preheat oven to 375. Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and combine using your hands. Roll into balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Doesn’t get much easier than that!

Fruit Salad

Ok, so I know fruit salad isn’t the hardest thing to make anyway,but this truly is the EASIEST fruit salad ever. It’d be something you could really just throw together at a moments notice. It’s the canned fruit cocktail that is the base. You can basically add whatever other fruits you like. Here’s how my mom always does it.

2 cans fruit cocktail, drained
3 bananas, sliced (If you aren’t serving this right away, dip the slices in lemon or lime juice to keep them from turning so fast.)
1 apple, chopped
3/4 cup miniature marshmallows

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, chill, and serve. Walla! Fruit Salad!

Try them and let me know what you think. :)