In my kitchen today: It's not Rocket Science

Hey there! Today I'm going to share a few tips that I use on a weekly basis, in order to keep my sanity intact when it comes to feeding my family, & not having to spend hours in my kitchen daily.

My weekend, meal planning in review: Saturday, I thawed 4 lbs of grass-fed, beef  hamburger. Saturday evening I  fried it up & divided it up into multiple meals. 

I added taco seasoning to 3lbs. of the meat, & 1 1/2lbs of that was put in the crockpot & into the fridge for Sunday lunch Tacos. The other 1 1/2lb. was put in a freezer container for Taco night next week.

...The remaining lb. of plain/fried hamburger was put in the fridge for a casserole, for Monday night supper. Today I took out that lb of hamburger & made a macaroni casserole & doubled the batch. Half of the casserole will be served for dinner tonight & the other half was put in a freezer container, to be thawed for a busy night when I don't have time to cook. The leftover lettuce from Taco Sunday, was used to make a quick tossed salad to go with the macaroni casserole.

I cook many of my meals in double batches & put half in the freezer. The same goes for baking. 

Not everything can be frozen well, & there are days when I have the time to cook a nice meal & make it happen, But I'd say at least 50% of our meals are made ahead & frozen.

I use the 80/20 rule in cooking healthy for my family. 80% is healthy, organic-20% is convenient, ready-made foods. It's all about balance & not stressing about it too much.

Homemade bread is just a given here. Since I've started baking our own bread, the store bought just tastes like cardboard. The homemade bread is filling & nutritious, & keeps my kiddos full longer.

The children are all home today, celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.... So for lunch,

I sliced up some of that homemade bread, & made sandwiches, & cut up some apples to dip into peanut butter. (This lunch is the perfect example of my 80/20 rule) :)

Here is a list of a few staple items that are always in my kitchen, that make for quick, wholesome meals & snacks.

• Homemade bread-for quick sandwiches or a snack of buttered bread
• Deli meat & cheese-gasp! I know that it's not the healthiest thing in the world, but it's quick & easy & makes up part of that 20% I was talking about.
• Soft tacos-for wraps, quesadillas etc.
• Apples & peanut butter-we love our apples! & eat them almost daily.
• Bananas-another quick, filling & healthy snack
• Hard-boiled eggs-for salads, deviled eggs, or just as-is.
• Pasta & Rice-2 items that have a vast amount of possibilities in the kitchen & freeze well.

There are also bulk items I purchase through boxed.com that give me a break when the munchies hit.

• Nature valley granola bars
• Organic Z-bars
• large containers of stick pretzels
• Baked Sun-chips, in portion controlled packages
• Organic fruit gummies

Having canned & frozen foods that I've preserved from my garden every year, makes a huge dent in cooking times as well. We love Taco & Chili soup & I make that there are an abundance of each, every year...

I'm hoping this was even a little bit helpful to all you Mamas out there.

Happy Monday!

River has a Birthday!

We were barely awake, when we heard little feet come running down the stairs & into our bedroom. I pretend to still be sleeping as he comes to my side of the bed & whispers in my ear, "Mama! It's my Birthday today! Can I open my present now?!"

He's been eyeing his gift for quite a few weeks, all wrapped up in sprinkles, & was counting down the days till he could open it.

(I love how hes using his thumb to show how old he is)

...Christmas break had us all in a funk, so I planned a very, spur of the moment, pool party for the Birthday Boy. It was exactly what the kiddos needed to burn off all that Christmas sugar & excess energy!

A few cousins, an Aunt & Uncle, & Grandpa-Grandma Raber, showed up to join in the fun!

Doing back-flips off the side of the pool...

We had the pool to ourselves for almost 2 hours, then it was time to fill hungry bellies with brownies, chips & punch!

Later in the evening, we celebrated with Grandma & Grandpa Hilty & Aunt Miriam...

...We tucked-in some very tired kiddos, every ounce of energy spent.

Good-Night, Sweet boy. May everything you wished for, come true!

<3 <3 <3

Children & Chores

Our church offers a Wednesday evening, Pioneer Club for kids. Not just for the children within the church, but for the community as well.

It's a fun evening of Bible studies, Bible memory, learning life skills & learning how to work together.

This past week in their skills class, the children learned how to sort laundry while doing a relay race.

The kids loved it!

Children learn so much by watching us as parents, as we go about our day, taking care of daily chores that often feel mundane.

What we as parents often forget is, our children are eager to learn new skills, willing & often excited to help if given the chance.

The life skills they learn at home will stay with them forever.

Our children have daily/weekly chores that they're responsible for. 

Such as:

 Cleaning bathrooms

Cleaning their rooms

Emptying & loading the dishwasher

Emptying the trash 

Sweeping the floor

Feeding their pets

Mowing the yard

Picking weeds

Gathering the laundry

Folding the laundry...& the list goes on.

It helps them to feel a part of something bigger. It helps them to feel involved & needed, & most importantly, they are learning life skills that will teach them responsibility into adulthood.

"helping to make applesauce"

Friday is our weekly cleaning day. Today while the 2 oldest & I were cleaning, Asher kept following Gracie around, asking,"what can I do?" ...She finally came & asked if there was something little brother could do to keep busy :)

I gave him a damp rag & had him wipe down the baseboards in the bathrooms.

He did such a good job, & the pride that lit up his face was worth the little bit of extra time it took to get the job done.

Later as I was folding laundry, he came over & asked to help. I gave him all the hand towels & wash cloths & he stayed busy till the task was completed. He's only 3, but there is so much he can help with if given the chance(He also loves putting away the silverware when his siblings are emptying the dishwasher.)

They take turns helping to cook dinner each night as well. Chopping/peeling veggies, mashing tators, stirring soup etc. The older ones are learning how to follow recipes...sometimes it's a flop, but most times we end up with something really good ;)

Daily/weekly chores do not come with an allowance. We don't want our children growing up, feeling entitled to payment, every time they do a job for someone. There are extra chores though that earn them a few dollars here & there.

Like today, Dawson came to me after his chores were completed & asked if there were any extra chores that needed done, that could earn him some $.

(there are always extra chores like that around here:)

I had him trim shrubs & cut off all the dead foliage of the summer, in my flower gardens. He did it every bit as good as I would've done it. He made a few extra dollars & I didn't have to do the one job that I dread every fall. It was a win-win! :)

I challenge you today:

Give your child a chore & watch as his/her face lights up at a job well done.

It may take longer initially, but once they've successfully mastered that skill, that is one thing you'll have help with or may no longer need to do in the future...you'll be doing yourself a favor ;)

River stories

All 3 of these conversations happened just tonight & I knew I needed to document them so I'd have them forever :)

Driving through Berlin, I told the kiddos to be sure that they're buckled cause there is often a police car parked at the edge of town...

"I'm gonna buckle up, mama! Cause I don't want the cops to take you to jail"

"Why don't you want the police to take me?

"cause you're special, & I want to keep you forever" (heart melted)

Walking through Wal-mart, looking for a few items that the boys need for school next week, They're having a drug prevention week & are wearing special colors & types of clothing for each day....

I asked River, why they need special clothes for school, wanting  to see if he knew the purpose...

"Cause we're gonna do drugs at school next week" ;) ...Not quite. I needed to explain it a little further for him :)

Again, in the car...

"Mama, I'm gonna need to get married...yeah, I'm getting married."

"...& just why do you need to get married?"

"Cause the boys are the boss!"

"They are huh?"

"yep! & they take care of the girl, & they are responsible for her, my teacher said so!'

He never ceases to surprise me with the words that come out of his mouth :)

A Weekend away for the Mamas

About a month ago, our brother Gary reserved a Bed & Breakfast for one evening, for the ladies of the family, to get away for a kid-free weekend.

He will likely never know what a treat it was for us all!

We all met at Mom's & piled into one car & headed out for an evening of shopping & dinner...

"Sisters"

Disclaimer: There were lots of selfies & blurry cell-phone pictures, but not documenting this weekend, was not an option :)

We were greeted at Quail Covey Bed & breakfast by the sweetest little lady.

She gave us a mini tour, then gave us free rein of the place. we had the whole place to ourselves!

We decided on rooms, then got comfy for a few games of Rummikub & a movie. Meanwhile, Sweet Charlie was in the kitchen, baking up some delicious apple dumplings, that she served with vanilla ice-cream, then later, some big bowls of popcorn....

We ended up all sacked out in the largest suite, talking till nearly midnight, when Mom & Sheila left for their rooms.

Fully intending to sleep, the rest of us headed to our own beds as well...

...Instead, a few pranks, & much gut-wrenching laughter later, us 3 sisters all ended up in the big, king-sized bed,talking till the wee hours of the morning...

Morning greeted us with a tiny, breakfast bell, good strong coffee, & white chocolate/raspberry scones set outside of our bedroom door.

...My morning view from the balcony where I took a few moments to just bask in the silence...

About 9:30, Charlie served us a 3 course breakfast of fresh fruit & yogurt, quiche, & baked french toast-it was amazing!

Next on the agenda, was a whole day of shopping! We hit about every store of interest between Hartville & Canton...little boutiques, hardware stores, thrift shops & strip malls!

We all decided that this should become an annual tradition, celebrating Mom's birthday with an overnight shopping trip!

Pumpkin painting & Pastries

The colors of Autumn are my absolute favorite.

The Farmer's Market, just down the road from us, is just a tiny, whole-in-the-wall kind of place, but the produce that is piled high every fall makes it one of my happy places each year :)

Large bins of apples, pumpkins for days, baskets of plums & juicy red tomatoes.

Today, when I walked through the produce tent, the overwhelming, sweet smell of the Concord grapes, stopped me dead in my tracks. They smelled SO good!

Today the Market was offering Free Pumpkin painting for the children, free juicy drinks, donuts & cinnamon rolls & Ice cream cones for 25 cents each.

The children consumed more sugar in one morning, than I think they get normally in a months time...crazy!

We're suckers for freebies, especially if they involve Fall activities & good food ;)

Husband is headed to the hunting grounds, to set up tree stands & trail cams, with the 3 older children. I'm hoping they walk off all that sugar & get it out of they're system before they get home. 

The 2 little guys & I are taking lazy, Saturday afternoon naps while they're gone.(Netflix & the thunder-storm last night, had me up  much longer than I would've liked)

Happy Saturday!

Boys will be Boys...

This one is ALL boy...

From the tips of his dust covered toes, to the top of his buzz cut head(hair)...cause it's less work to wash & care for, of course! (His words, not mine)

He's the creative one...minnow traps out of plastic bottles. Fishing lines from a tin can. Spears carved from sticks. If there is something he wants for his next adventure & doesn't have it, he'll make it from anything he can get his hands on.

Countless hours are spent wandering the woods behind our home, with a BB gun in hand & his four-legged sidekick close behind.

The creek provides endless opportunities for him to bring home freshly caught "pets" such as turtles, sun fish, creek chubs & crawdads...

He's an artist.

The images come alive with the scratch of pencil to paper. Animals & cartoons are his favorite things to sketch. 

Hes not a boy...not yet a man...

This age has it's challenges. Yet, we are embracing them. Remembering not so very long ago, our own years of awkwardness, where we didn't always know where we fit in. Where sometimes we needed to be reprimanded like a child & next thing we knew, we were being told,"you are old enough to be responsible for this, that, or the other" 

We remember, so we show grace.

Give him the right book & he'll read for hours...he's our deep thinker, coming up with questions that I may never have the answer to. Even as a toddler, he could sit for extended periods of time, pouring over stacks of picture books...

...no matter what stage of life you're in or what you're interests are, know that we love you. Forever & always.