Tie shirt

I think I need to make one of these for each of the boys for easter. I have been trying to find an easy tie pattern and this would be so much more them and I think it will be TONS easier.

http://www.saltwater-kids.com/2008/10/tie-shirt-tutorial.html

I think I will use the jelly bean fabric that I used to make Zoe's purse that also matches her skirt. I will have pics when I am done!!!!

This week's Menu

3/8-3/14

M-English Muffin pizzas and fruit
T- Steak and fries for DH's B-Day
W-Salad
T-Applesauce Chicken rice and green beans
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/09/crockpot-applesauce-chicken-recipe.html
F-Apricot chicken in Crockpot

Apricot Chicken in Crockpot

4 chicken breasts
1 cup of apricot jam
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 very large can of apricots (and juice!)

Put chicken into your crockpot. In a small bowl, combine jam, brown sugar, and spices. Pour over chicken. Add the can of apricots evenly over the top. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, or on high for about 4.

Serve with rice to soak up the yummy juice.

S- Left over dinner
S-Out to Dinner for our Anniversary

Yogurt review

I think it turned out great! I am going to try to make some more today and do it alittle different. The first batch I used vanilla yogurt as a started DO NOT do this use plain. It turned out good but didn't really set up so it was more like yogurt drink. Also because my kids and I are used to processed yogurt when I tried to mix it with baby food cause I thought it would be healthier it was too blah for them. So the second batch I blended ripe bananas and strawberry jam and it was a big hit. Everyone loved it! I just got some fresh blueberries so I am going to blend them with some sugar and see how that turns out. Also this new batch I am going to leave for 24hrs to culture and set up more. I also recommend if your kids are stinkers like mine that you save containers from the expensive yogurt and serve them in that.

Yogurt price results and meal change

Well after I purchased all of the stuff I needed to make the yogurt I have a price breakdown.

Cost
Cream $2.29 x2 = 4.60
Milk $1.59/2 = .80
Yogurt $ 2.99/3 = $1

total 6.40

Makes 128 ounces = .05 an ounce for heavy fat yogurt
High fat yogurt purchased at health food store $1 for 4 ounces = .25 an ounce

So it's a pretty big savings for a semi simple thing. I think in the future the hardest thing will be the time it takes to be around to turn off and add things but I can always plan on doing it on nights I am home. And if I work it right I can start to make bread while I make the yogurt.

Also DH decided he wanted to make Carne Asada instead of Hamburgers so we are changing Wed to that and that means I need to stop at the Mexican market to get the meat and onions tomorrow.

I am really excited to know what we are having each night I think it will be relaxing around 5 to know what I am cooking.

Menu Planning

So after going to the store 4 times last week I realized that I needed a better system. Interestingly enough a group I belong to is having a menu/meal planning contest so I am going to start that.

Here is want I have so far.

GOALS


Follow a meal plan so that I don't have to go to the store more than once a week.

Make more things like yogurt and bread from scratch.

Make sure that ODS is getting his yogurt once a day.

Use up food we have in the house.

Get back into using the Crockpot and bread machine.

Keep using the rice cooker/steamer.

Use fresh fruits and veggies from co-ops before they go bad.

3/1-3/7

Weekday Breakfasts consist of Bread, bagels, jam, peanut butter and butter. We also have a TON of dry cereals that we need to eat so I am going to try to bag some of that to be able to grab and go.

M- Mac and Cheese with Green Beans and Applesauce and apple walnut salad http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Walnu....tte/Detail.aspx

T-Pork Roast w/ potatoes, carrots and onions and green salad

W- BBQ Hamburgers and French Fries

T-tortilla soup

F-Costco roasted chicken w/ mashed potatoes, green beans and green salad

S- taco salad w/ leftover chicken

S-Orange Chicken w/ Rice



Shopping List for 2/28

Onions
Green Salad
Walnuts
Balsamic Vinegar

Pick up fruit co-op Monday ($24) order veggie and fruit basket ($15) Monday

Recipes

I am going to try this since my ODS is supposed to eat high fat yogurt everyday and it's about $1 each cup from the health food store and it should be A LOT cheaper this way.

Yogurt in a Crockpot

I got the original recipe from here

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/....r-crockpot.html

Ingredients

--8 cups (half-gallon) of whole milk--pasteurized and homogenized is fine, but do NOT use ultra-pasteurized. (Debbie recommends starting with whole milk until you get the hang of yogurt-making)

I am going to use cream since my son is on a high fat diet

--1/2 cup store-bought natural, live/active culture plain yogurt (you need to have a starter. Once you have made your own, you can use that as a starter)

--frozen/fresh fruit for flavoring

I am going to use the left over baby food we have.

--thick bath towel

The Directions.

This takes a while. Make your yogurt on a weekend day when you are home to monitor.

I used a 4 quart crockpot. This is so exciting. My fingers are shaking!

Plug in your crockpot and turn to low. Add an entire half gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.

Unplug your crockpot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours.

When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of store-bought live/active culture yogurt. Then dump the bowl contents back into the crockpot. Stir to combine.

Put the lid back on your crockpot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation.


Go to bed, or let it sit for 8 hours.

In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened---it's not as thick as store-bought yogurt, but has the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt.

Blend in batches with your favorite fruit. I did mango, strawberry, and blueberry. When you blend in the fruit, bubbles will form and might bother you. They aren't a big deal, and will settle eventually.

Chill in a plastic container(s) in the refrigerator. Your fresh yogurt will last 7-10 days. Save 1/2 cup as a starter to make a new batch.


After I make it I will post the results.


My Tortilla Soup Recipe

1-2 cups of chicken* any kind is fine canned, bottled, diced or shredded
1 cup of diced or canned tomatoes
optional minced chillies a few tablespoons
1 can or 1 cup of corn
1 can of refried beans* and/or 2 cups of your favorite beans
*refried beans make it thicker!
tortilla chips
cheese

What ever spices you use to season your taco meat. I use taco seasoning, garlic and onion

add small amount of oil to pan or crockpot
add chicken and spices
cook until chicken is browned
add everything else cook until boiling
if using a crockpot cook on low for a few hours

Serve over tortilla chips and with cheese

Crafty Craziness

I have been busy with learning how to knit on a loom and making some fun sewing projects.

I knitted a hat for each of the kids for Valentines and then knitted a few extra for Zoe. She also knitted a hat for a friend and a hat for a friends American Girl doll for her birthday. It's great to see her excited about something that she made for a friend.

The two blue and white hats on the left are for the boys, the two in the middle for Zoe, cream colored one for a baby, and the three on the right are for Zoe's friends birthday's two for dolls and one for her friend.

Zoe's twirl skirt I made for her for a late birthday present.

I made a matching skirt for her doll.

Birthday Fun

The boys had a pirate birthday party and it was a blast!

We had a fun pirate ship cake and some fun games.
Lucas loved his cake! He started small but soon had it everywhere!

Zach actually ate his cake with a fork this time. But really enjoyed it!
Lucas enjoyed a small bath in the sink after eating his cake.

We played a game with donuts on strings. They were supposed to just use their mouths and not their hands but the little ones got tired and cheated.
Where is the donut?
Lucas' smash cake!
He loved his cake and we were smart this time and blew out the candle before he could reach it!

Zach blew out the candles and was very excited about the ship cake.

My sis D and her new guy.

Pre-Halloween fun!

We found this cute costume at a thrift store and it was perfect with his ears we got 2 years ago at Disneyland! After putting it on he smiled a great smile then stated "Let's go!" "Where?" I asked "To my clubhouse!"
I made pumpkin seeds while they carved pumpkins. They turned out yummy this year!
Zoe carved two pumpkins all by herself this year! She pick the designs and did everything herself.
Jerry helped Zach carve this. What that means is that Zach tried to stab the pumpkin Jerry stopped him a few times and tried to redirect him to where he needed to cut then he ran off to play and Jerry finished. :)

Zoe carved this ghost too!

My little bat baby!

Zach playing on the tractor at the farm

Lucas' fun Halloween outfit I made the leggings out of knee high socks.

I made this dress and bow for Zoe and we found these cute tights to go with it!

Fun Halloween Cookies and Diapers

Zoe had fun decorating some Halloween cookies and I decieded that is how we are doing cookies from now on. Buying the store bought sugar cookies and then decorating them with fun gel icing. Less stress and no tears from burnt or broken cookies.

I have been working on some fun Halloween diapers and I think they turned out really cute.

I made two jack-o-lantern ones and then one candy corn diaper. I am going to try to finish one more so they will have five Halloween diapers. (one for last year)

Please ignore the mess. That is just a few mins after I cleaned it. The boys love to dump out their toys :)

Birthdays

So Zach just turned three and he had a fun Birthday but can you believe I forgot my camera! We took him for lunch at McDonald's and he played in the playplace, then we took him to Jumpin Jack for 3 hours and he was all over that place! He loved it! After that I lost my mind and tried to take him for Birthday pics and they didn't really turn out. We got one cute one of him with his Lala sucking his fingers. I will post it later.

In less than a month Lucas turns 1! I took his pics with a cupcake for the invitation and boy are they cute! I am biased though.

New Pics of Zoe

Zoe takes better pictures with other people lately and a new photographer was doing a good special so we got so CUTE pics of her. Check them out at

http:// www.myframedphotography.com

go to the clients link password is Blue Fish

It is only good for 5 days so check it out soon.

Lucas Dancing

Life this last month....Crazy buzy!!!

Bows and Flowers for Zoe's hair. This year I decided to get a jump on holiday bows.

A very tired Lucas has started to fall asleep in his high chair at dinner because he refuses to sleep until he has to hold still to eat then crashes hard.

Then Zoe started at her actual school building the second week in September. She is really starting to make new friends and love her school. I knew she would once she got over the two things she didn't like 1. leaving her friends from her old school 2. Wearing uniforms (no High School Musical shirts or Jonas shoes :( )

Well this month started with a fun mini vacation "camping" in Enterprise with family over Labor Day weekend. The reason I say "camping" is cause we stayed in a hotel and camped during the day. We cooked out, roasted marshmellows, the boys (Zachary, Lucas and Dallas) played in the dirt and Zoe have fun with her cousins.

Isn't he so cute while learning how to walk on lumpy grass!

Silly boys being silly.

I have been a slacker but here goes

I am going to add a couple of pics about what we have been doing lately.

Starting a new school!

Starting Dance classes
Going to the fair and doing the 4H talent show again.

Sewing, Sewing and Sewing.

And learning to walk and climb.