Saturday Bliss

Saturday morning has to be the perfect time in the Hardy family. We absolutely love Saturday morning family breakfasts. This morning, Daniel came home from a night of work to cook eggs and hash browns with help from his special assistants.

Abigail is the perfect egg cracker.


And, she taught Cooper how to scramble the eggs.


Daddy had to get some sleep for the day, but the kids and I have enjoyed a lovely day of fun and play. After a good workout at the gym, we picked up some groceries and the kids were introduced to moonpies that the scarfed down after lunch. Although, I keep having to correct Abigail who is calling them "man pies". he he he


(Please excuse the "non-manly" plate. I am trying to use up Valentine's Day party leftovers. And, don't tell Daniel I told you this, but Cooper loves the color pink. Ha!)

We even got some playtime outside today. You'd never know it was snowing just four days ago because it's sunny and 65 degrees out today. It's just beautiful!




Now, we're off to wrap up the night with some shrimp linguini and a movie. Yea for Saturdays!

Tuesday Treats - Pulled Pork

I have a new best friend in my kitchen. Her name is Annabel, meaning easy to love. How could I not love something that has made my life wonderfully easy (not to mention, tasty)?!


Annabel is my deep covered baker. I've had her since October, but didn't get to know her so well until last month. Now, we spend time together almost every day. She's just so easy to be with. Ha!

I've been using a bunch of Pampered Chef recipes to cook potatoes, chicken, pork chops, roast, etc., with her. I've even thrown random things into Annabel without the aid of a recipe, which is not my normal style in the kitchen. But, she just makes things so easy. Ah, Annabel... How did I make it so long without you?!

My favorite recipe I've used with Annabel is for pulled pork. Not only is it so easy, but the tastiest meal I've made in a long time.



I rub a pork shoulder roast with some vegetable oil, coat it with barbecue rub and cook it in Annabel at 200 degrees for about 8 hours. Once done, the pork falls apart easily. For the sauce, combine 1 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 T barbecue rub, 2 t cider or white vinegar. Bring sauce to a boil then stir it into the pulled pork. My favorite way to eat this is on whole wheat kaiser rolls, but you can skip the bread to cut the carbs. Yum!

We Love Our Teachers

In an act of cruelty, the kids' schools scheduled "Love Your Teachers" week to coincide with the week of Valentine's Day parties. We were asked to show the teachers that we love them each day this week. Yeah, every day. Don't get me wrong, we love the kids' teachers so much, but this wasn't exactly the best week to throw in extra things to do each day.

I had a lot of creative ideas in mind for the week, but last weekend was not freed up to allow me to complete them, so I ended up throwing some things together at the last minute each night this week. I think it turned out okay, though.

Monday, I used one of my ideas leftover from last year and decorated some hand sanitizer bottles.




Tuesday, I cheated and wasn't crafty at all. Instead, we left the house a few minutes early that morning and picked up a Starbucks gift card on the way to school. (This was probably the first time I've been grateful that Cooper only attends school three days a week. Whew! That saved me on some gifts this week.)

Wednesday, I baked pumpkin bread in my mini-loaf pan. I know pumpkin is not a normal treat for February, but I just happened to have everything in my pantry to throw it together.


If you like pumpkin bread, this is a very yummy but super easy recipe to use.


Thursday, I took another easy road and picked up a Blockbuster gift card and paired it with a microwave popcorn package.


Friday, the kids delivered hand-size apple pies. I was originally planning to make raspberry-swirl cheesecakes for each of our teachers, but when I found this idea yesterday, I decided it looked extremely less time consuming. I was right!


Now, I'm ready for the weekend when I'm not going to bake or craft or do anything! Whew!

Door to Door to Door

To honor the Great Commission on Good Friday, well, as much as we could with a 2 and 4-year-old, we started with cupcakes. (I'll get to the Commission part later...) I tried a trick I found in a blog this week and went with the cake mix, but used fruit punch instead of water. It wasn't fantastic as the blogger had suggested and just tasted like cake mix to me, so I wished I had baked from scratch. But, we had three boxes of batter mixed up with the punch so there was no turning back. 

We ended up with 75 cupcakes.

And though they weren't a taste bud's marvel, I did whip up some butter cream frosting that was very tasty. And, we dipped them in sugar crystals to top them off.

Once they were all ready to eat, we loaded up the wagon and went to the houses on our block and delivered each family a plate of cupcakes and an invitation to our church's Good Friday and Easter services. The kids were so eager to invite people to church and I was amazed at how friendly they were.  Hopefully we can continue this tradition each year. It was a fun way to spend the morning with the kids, and the neighbors all enjoyed their treats. 

Tuesday Treats - Cooking Ahead

We started a terrible habit earlier this year when our house (in South Carolina) was on the market. It seemed almost all showings on the house were done around 5-6 p.m. weekdays, meaning we were kicked out of the house around dinnertime many evenings. We did what any fiscally irresponsible and non-health conscious family would do.  We kicked our eating out habit into overdrive. 

Once the house sold, we were in transit for a few months, which continued to fuel our eating out. 

I could rattle off many more excuses, but the story is that we've been frequenting restaurants way too often for the past six to seven months. It doesn't help that my long workdays usually culminate just in time to eat or even after dinnertime many days. Thus, the option of me cooking dinner every night just isn't realistic. But, we have been faced with the challenge of ending this horrible habit, for budgetary and health reasons.

About six to eight weeks ago, I decided that we needed to find a way to eat at home on a nightly basis. A friend in my weekly Bible study mentioned that she spends every Sunday afternoon cooking their meals for that week, which made me think that the cooking ahead/freezing method seemed to be our best route. We are certainly a leftovers-friendly family, but I've never frozen meals in advance and knew nothing of the ins and outs of this practice. But, I dove right in and took it upon myself to spend New Year's Day grocery shopping and cooking meals for our family that would last us a month. 

I used quite a few Pampered Chef recipes and tips that were sent my way from my friend Emily. And, I also included a few Weight Watchers and Pampered Chef recipes that I cook regularly. I wanted to make sure I didn't go to this effort and end up with meals we didn't enjoy. In the end, it was a messy endeavor...

 

...but, it was very simple and seems to be paying off well. We've only had two of the meals so far, but we have 10 other entrees to choose from that we'll split up into leftovers and ration out over January. 

If you want any of the recipes, just let me know and I'd be happy to share them with you. I made...

Dijon Chicken Noodle Toss

Chicken Stir Fry

Smoky Black Bean Chicken Wraps

Tortilla Soup

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Skillet Lasagna (very tasty and made with Italian turkey sausage)

Beef Stroganoff

Beef Chili

Cheddar Chicken & Rice

Taco Soup

Lean N Green Chili

Tex Mex Chicken & Rice

Beef Enchilada Casserole

As you can see, my freezer isn't even full thanks to the handy (and cheap) Reynolds vacuum bags. Hopefully, this will help keep the frostbite at bay while leaving room in the freezer for cold mugs, a few of the kids' treats and some veggies.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

10 corn tortillas (soft)

2 cups cubed chicken (cooked)

12 oz. shredded fat-free cheddar

1 can Healthy Request cream of chicken soup

1 can fat-free cheddar cheese soup

1 can Rotel

1 1/4 cup skim milk

1 cup chopped onion

Tear tortillas in 1" strips.  In baking dish, alternate layers tortillas, meat and cheese, reserving 1/2 cup cheese. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over layers. Top with 1/2 cup cheese and freeze in dish. To serve: thaw; bake covered at 350 for 20 minutes, uncover and bake 10 more minutes. Servings: 8. WW points: 6.