Thursday, October 23, 2008

Great halloween costume ideas #.. I forget

A desperate housewife

No offense ladies.... I am a stay at home mama so you know this is no slam. I dressed as a housewife before I knew what it meant to be truly desperate to escape to the grocery store... or just get a shower :)

Flannel pajamas, fuzzy slippers, and an old fuzzy robe. Curlers in hair, cold cream on your face and carry a coffee mug...... free costume!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Works for me Wednesday- using leftover meats


I am revisiting this from an earlier post. Times are tough and I don't know about you but I hate to see ANYTHING go to waste these days. I also get my little prince to eat some veggies!


I made homemade fried rice! It was easy and delicious and got my little guy to eat veggies and protein. He loved it! I thought I would share.... Either use a little butter or the oil of your choice in a large pan. ( We are Paula Deen lovers over here so you know we use butter :) )


You can then saute a chopped onion or leave it out depending on your little one. - Mine loves the taste of onion but I know not all rugrats do! After the onion or in place of add two eggs and stir until they are firmly scrambled.


Then add a 1/2 bag of frozen peas and carrots and stir until veggies are warm. While the veggies are cooking, prepare whole grain minute rice.


Add the cooked rice to the veggie mixture and stir. Add (or don't add) your leftover meat cubed. Finally add low sodium soy sauce to taste.


The kids seem to love the rice so much they don't realize that they are also eating veggies and protein... woohoo!!!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A spooky tale


I thought it was time for a real life Halloween tale......

I have been getting up now multiple times a night for about eight months now. Her highness, the princess baby, demands my presence for nursing and binky reapplication. This is spooky in its self but what is even more bone chilling is what I see during these nighttime hours.

As I sit in my rocking chair nursing her, I notice that something catches my eye. The first time it was a BIG FAT (I am sure hairy too ) spider. Making its way across my daughters floor like it was taking a stroll in the park. He wasn't even in that big of a hurry!

I freaked out. I let out a scream and lifted my legs in case it decided to change coarse and attack. This of course woke the princess baby sending her into hysterics that took 45 minutes to calm down.

Since then I have seen a parade of creepy crawlers taking walks in my daughters room. It makes me wonder how many bugs come out at night while I am sleeping. I heard a statistic one time about how many bugs we eat while we sleep and now I think it may be true. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!

The most recent encounter was particularly bone chilling. I saw this creature that had to have 116 legs. It was booking too, making a bee line to my rocking chair. I felt my breath catch in my throat. This thing that was making its way to us was freaky. My mind started to race to think what I could do or how I could make my escape...... panic. I didn't want to wake the baby...... I decided to pick up one of my daughters baskets and slam in on top of the assailant, pushing down until I was sure that it was trapped.

I left it there all night long and all the next day because my husband was at work and I wasn't looking at that thing. When he got home I told him of the attack and he went in to remove the vile creature. He went in equipped with a trash bag as I cowered in the door behind him ready to make a break for it.....he slowly lifted the basket as I got ready for the multi legged to bolt and I saw.....................................

nothing.

IT GOT AWAY ! My belief is that it was so strong it simply lifted the basket off of its back and kept going on his way. I am sure its somewhere planning its revenge on me. So now when I nurse I am vigilant. I keep my eyes open, careful not to nod off. The enemy can smell weakness after all!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Menu Plan Monday


We have been doing really well sticking to our meal plan after getting back from NY. Last week I got both buy one get one free pork chop loins and roast so we will be using these this week. The weather is getting colder so I am choosing heavier filling meals. Yum! Happy eating ladies!

For more great menu plans check out http://orgjunkie.com/

Monday- Italian pot roast over noodles with beer bread (recipe to follow)

Tuesday- Leftover night / Breakfast for dinner

Wednesday- Grilled marinated chicken, roasted carrots and salad

Thursday- Beef vegetable soup, cheddar biscuits

Friday- Pizza Night!

Saturday- Spaghetti and meat sauce, salad and garlic bread

Sunday- Breaded pork chops, green beans, mashed potatoes

Italian pot roast with noodles
1 2 to 2 1/2 lb beef chuck pot roast
1 Tbs cooking oil

2 Medium carrots, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs quick cooking tapioca

1 14 1/2 oz can Italian style stewed tomatoes
1 6 ounce can Italian style tomato paste
1 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 Tsp salt
1/4 Tsp pepper
1 bay leaf

4 cups hot cooked noodles


Trim fat from pot roast. If necessary, cut roast to fit into the crock pot. In a large skillet brown roast on all sides in hot oil.
Meanwhile place carrots, celery, onions and garlic in crock pot. Sprinkle tapioca over veggies. Place meat atop pf veggies.
In a bowl combine undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, salt, pepper and bay leaf: pour over the meat.
Cover and cook on low heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or on high setting for 4 or 5 hours. Discard bay leaf. Skim off fat. Serve over hot cooked noodles.

Great halloween costume #5

A lightning bug

This is so cute and pretty easy to do! A white or grey sweatsuit. Then add a pair of store bought wings. For the lightning bug tail you will need those break and shake glow sticks. Get some iridescent see through material at the fabric store.

Link together pipe cleaners or clear tubing found at the craft store or Hardware store. You want to make a large X with them laying flat on the floor. Attach them at the center where they meet. Then take all four ends and connect them with wire or tape. This will give you a bubble like tail in which you want to stretch the iridescent fabric over. Make sure that you leave a hold in the opening in which the light sticks can be placed.

When attaching tail, simply pin the tail onto the back of the sweatpants with large safety pins. ( Tail will droop but that's ok... it looks "real" ) Put sweatshirt over pins so it cannot be seen.

You may even want to add some antennas to the top of your child's head and apply some iridescent makeup around your cheeks...

Great halloween costume #4


This one comes from Marcy as well...

A bunch of grapes.

Grab a purple or green sweatsuit and then start applying the grapes! You can either get material and fill them with stuffing or you can blow up balloons and attach them. You can always fashion a stem for a hat. Great idea Marcy!