A Date With Our New Car

I'm bringing home a special someone on Saturday.  It is our family's new car.  Technically, it is my hubby's, as he traded in his old truck, but I am already head over heels in lust with it.  I even picked out an outfit to wear home in it.  I'm so excited for the size, and how many groceries, plants, ect. I can bring home in it on weekends when I go shopping.  Out here in the sticks, my usual grocery store is 20 some miles away, so I purchase large amounts when I head into town.  Also, with this new mom style car, I  feel like my grown up transformation is complete.  Perhaps I should now get the official mom haircut and highlights.  Just kidding, I am too much of a penny pincher.  Anyways, it is gold, so it should match the outfit I chose, which is pictured below in a dramitization from Polyvore.  Tell me about when you first felt like an official adult in the comments section.  Once again, if you have troubles, it is always easy to post as anonymous.  I love to hear from you!

Heebie Jeebies

This is a horrible surprise I hope none of you find.  Yesterday, when I grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard, there was a huge brown spider in it.  Now, every time I grab a dish, I have the heeby jeebies.  I hope the spider doesn't have any relatives left in the cupboard.  Who knows what dishes it touched.  What if you were to reach your hand into the cupboard, and one came down all sinister on its web?  Although the horrible surprise with the spider totally gave me the heebie jeebies, I would like to know if you have any gross spider stories.  Please comment (if you use anonymous it is extra easy) with your gross spider stories.

Spring Fever

The Spring Fever has taken hold.  I have my little “nursery” of baby plants I started indoors a couple weeks ago.  It was a little later than usual, but they should still be mature in time.  I have been scouring the Burpee and Gurney’s catalogs as well as` my new favorite catalog,  David Austin Roses.  There are such beautiful roses.  In all these catalogs, I have a wish list  total of about $1000 or more.  There are so many cool things, including royal purple potatoes, multicolored carrots, flowering trees, mini greenhouses, rain barrels, compost containers, raised beds, ect.  My ambition is always so big at the beginning of the season.  Then, I go on one out of town summer trip, and come back to weeds and kind of let things slip. This year, however, the weeds will not win.  I hope to give my garden tender, loving care all summer .

  So far, there are baby tomatoes and peppers in a rainbow of colors, herbs of all kinds, and some pretty Dahlia’s and Impatiens.  They are all growing adorably in my little indoor mini greenhouses.  I have seeds out the wazoo that can be planted directly outdoors as well.  There are several kinds of lettuces as well as fruits and veggies.  Hopefully, there will be room for everything.  The new life in the spring gives me little goose bumps of excitement.   The colorful spring flowers have provided the perfect appetizer for what I hope to be my garden’s best year.      

I am always jealous of “green thumbs” and wish my thumb were greener, but, as it stands, I believe a “green thumb” is developed over time, with experience and studying plants.  So, when I am an old lady,  I hope to have a fully-developed green thumb.  I want one of those cute English gardens with flowers everywhere the eye can look.  I want my fruits and veggies to always be plentiful, so anyone can walk out and have a taste straight off the plant.  That isn’t too lofty a goal, right?

Famous Coleslaw

I sometimes dream of coleslaw.  There are certain resturaunt recipes that make you crave them.  KFC Coleslaw does that to me.  It is one of four recipes that does that to me (P.F. Chang’s lettuce wraps, Girl Scout Samoas, and Olive Garden salad are the other three) .  Summertime is a perfect time for coleslaw, and since it is just around the corner, there are plenty of warm days for a picnic.   I know I am not the only person who loves KFC Coleslaw.  So here is a delicious coleslaw recipe, that almost rivals, if it does not surpass KFC’s coleslaw.  Enjoy!

½ cup Mayo

1/3 cup Sugar

¼ cup Milk

¼  cup Buttermilk

2 tbsp Lemon juice

2 tbsp Vinegar

Dash of Salt and pepper

8 cups finely shredded Cabbage

¼ cup diced Carrot

2-1/2 tbsp minced Onion

Cut cabbage, carrot and onion into tiny pieces, and mix together.  Mix rest of ingredients in bowl with whisk, then add to cabbage mix.  Mix well and refrigerate overnight.  So yummy!

Spring Break, Spring Cleaning, and Taxes

Starting today, my family and I are fortunate enough to have a five day break from school.  Sounds fun, right.  Wrong!  This is when I am finally making myself do taxes and Spring Cleaning.  Weirdly enough, even these tasks can be made fun.  I found the cutest site to help me with all my Spring Cleaning tasks in a fun, effective way.  Go check it out yourself, as it seems to have everything. http://housekeeping.about.com/cs/cleaning101/a/springclnngguid.htm

 As for taxes, perhaps they can’t be made fun, but you can get them done for cheaper if you do it yourself.  I am a fan of Turbo Tax.  I seem to get the same results as when I paid to have them done, for less than half the price.  You don’t even have to go to the store to buy it.  It can simply be downloaded on a rainy day.  If you already have your taxes done, hooray for you!  As for us procrastinators, we better get to it.  Happy Spring!

Tooth Fairy Fail

My son lost his two front teeth in the same week. I was sneaking into his room in the early morning to exchange the tooth for the money, and I stepped on an old baby doll his sister had given him.  It started playing a lullaby in a horrible distorted tone.  The batteries were very old.  It sounded like a tune from a horror movie.  I froze, hoping he wouldn’t wake up, but the demented doll just kept playing the tune.  It was awful.  He woke up.  “What are you doing in here?”, he asked.  I was afraid he was going to find out the tooth fairy was false.  I replied, “I was just going to wake you up, but it is early and you look so cozy, why don’t you go back to bed.”  As I said this, I leaned in to give his little precious head a kiss, and stealthily made the exchange-cash for tooth”.  I am still worried he knows, and it was a hilarious moment.  More care must be taken next time.

A Week of Slow Cooker Meals, Chopped Today...Includes Weight Watchers Points

Today was a busy day of chopping veggies and preparing for the week.  I decided to create seven days worth of meals for the crockpot, to simplify my week.  To give me ½ hour of beauty rest each morning, I went ahead and got my chopping over with on a lazy Sunday.  Above, I have included a picture of the Morrocan Chicken, Cheesy Garlic Chicken, and Chicken Noodle Soup freezer bound. If you want to do this, here is my menu, and  the recipes follow….P.S. I’m doing weight watchers to get my swimsuit figure back by summer, so I have added the weight watchers points next to each meal.

Sunday: Mexican Chicken Soup  (9 WW points)

Monday: We are attending a dinner/program for the Library Association

Tuesday: Beef Stroganoff (11 WW points)

Wednesday: Moroccan Chicken (6 WW points)

Thursday: Beef Stew (8 WW points)

Friday: Cheesy Garlic Chicken (7 WW points)

Saturday: Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup (6 WW points)

For these meals, I chopped a big bowl of carrots (5 lg carrots, peeled), one of celery(5 stalks), one of onion(3 onions), and then minced five cloves of garlic.  I stirred together my herbs for the Morrocan Chicken, and placed them in a small bowl.  I went ahead and rubbed three to four chicken breast with the spice rub, put it in a labeled freezer bag, and washed my hands with soap.  Then I divided up the rest of the veggies to the other labeled bags, and stuck it all in the freezer.  I didn’t chop my chicken, as I figured I could just tear it apart with a fork after it cooked.  Chopping frozen meat is no fun!!!.  However, I did have my hubby chop my stroganoff meat for me.  Thanks honey!!!

Mexican Chicken Chowder: In the crockpot or bowl, mix a 14oz can of chicken broth, a 28 oz can corn, 1 cup water, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 4oz can diced green chile pappers, ½ package taco seasoning mix, ½ cup each celery and onion and 3 boneless skinless chicken breast.  (If you are freezing this, you might spray the freezer bag with cooking spray before putting the mixture in there to prevent sticking)  When you are ready to cook it, dump the contents in the slow cooker, and turn on low for six hours.  If you will be at work longer than six hours, it will probably be fine cooking a couple hours longer(especially since it started frozen).  It is just soup, after all.  When you are ready to serve it, add an 8 oz carton of sour cream and ½ cup to 1 cup cheese.  I’m serving this with grilled cheese quesedillas.

Beef Stroganoff: Take 2lb beef round steak and cut off the fat.  Trim the meat into bite-size pieces.  In a bowl, stir one 10-3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup, 1 chopped onion, and the meat.  Add this to your sprayed, labeled freezer bag.  When you are ready to cook it, throw it in the crock pot for 8 hours on low.  When it is almost dinner time, boil three cups of egg noodles to use as a bed for your stroganoff.  Also, make a veggie or salad.

Moroccan Chicken: In a small bowl, stir together 1tsp salt, ¼ tsp black pepper, 1-1/2 tsp cumin, ½ tsp cinnamon, and ¼ tsp turmeric.  Rub this on three to four chicken breast and freeze in labeled freezer bag.  When you are ready to make it, add it to the slow cooker, pour ½ to ¾ chicken broth over it, and cook on low for 6 hours.  I’m serving this with couscous and green beans.

Beef Stew: Brown 1-1/2lb stew meat in 1 tbsp oil. In a bowl, mix together ¼ tsp each salt and pepper, 1 tsp dried thyme, 2 to 3 tbsp Worchestershire, 3 tbsp quick cooking tapioca (to thicken stew), 1 chopped onion, 28 oz beef broth, 1 -3 chopped potatoes, 3 chopped carrots, and pour gently into labeled freezer bag.  Add the meat, and then add the two bay leaves, seal it up, and freeze it.  When you are ready to cook, pour it in the slow cooker and cook on low for nine to eleven hours.  Make or pick up some hearty bread to go with this.

Cheesy Garlic Chicken: This one only takes 3-1/2 hours on low, so you might make this on a weekend, or throw it in on your lunch break if you get a chance to go home.  In a bowl, combine 4 to 5 minced garlic cloves, 2 tbsp quick cooking tapioca, & ¼ tsp salt.  Put in the labeled freezer bag with a bag of frozen cauliflower, ¾ cup chicken broth, and 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  When cooking, empty the freezer bag into the cooker, cook on low for 3-1/2 hours, Stir in a small package of frozen green beans, cover, and cook for 30  minutes more, turn off the slow cooker, stir in 4 oz of Neufchatel cz (or cream cheese if you are feeling naughty), and cover for 10 min.  Then stir, and serve, sprinkling each serving with mozzarella cheese and chopped tomatoes.  Serve with a green salad and some garlic bread.

Chicken Noodle Soup: In a bowl, stir 1 10-3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup, 1 minced clove garlic, ½ tsp each dried sage and dried thyme, ¼ tsp dried rosemary, 1/8 tsp black pepper, 28 oz chicken broth, 2 chopped stalks celery, 2-3 chopped carrots, and 1 chopped onion.  Put a couple boneless, skinless chicken breasts into the labeled, no stick sprayed freezer bag, and pour the bowl mixture over it.  Seal the bag, and stick it in the freezer.  When you are ready to fix this, empty the bag into the slow cooker, and cook on low 6 hours.  Add ½ a 16oz package of frozen egg noodles and cook for one hour more on high.  Serve with some saltines, and fresh chopped carrots.

Enjoy your easy dinners this week!!!

P.S.  The inspiration or recipe for most of these meals came from the cookbook Better Homes And Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes Volume 2.  There were tons of recipes and even some really good Italian pasta ones I made last week.  If you want more, get this book.  It is wonderful.