Menu- 21 Feb

 

We had a lot of leftovers from Jambalaya (hope everyone had a great Fat Tuesday!) and Corned Beef so again I rolled some meals over from last week.  Here's what we have planned for this week.

• Random Appetizers for family fun night  The Commissary had a sale on different frozen appetizer stuff. I rarely buy it and the kiddos think this is a huge treat. We spent this evening eating appetizer sort of stuff and playing Disney Scene It!

• Moroccan Lentil Soup (from last week) 

• Crock-pot Sloppy Joes (from last week) 

• Dirty Rice I normally buy a mix for this. I'm trying to cut the boxed foods from our eating a little at a time. I figure this one isn't that hard to make from scratch.

• Orange-Honey Glazed Chicken This is a Cook's Illustrated recipe. Unfortunately there's a subscription service for their older recipes.  If you happen to have access to their older recipes, this one is awesome.

• Chicken Spaghetti Some how I've lost my chicken spaghetti recipe and I haven't made it in about a year and a half. It's one of those dishes I forget about, but it's great for a crowd. We have a Family Readiness Group (more on that later maybe) meeting this week and I thought this would be the perfect thing to make. I may also have to make a pan of brownies. I'm an over-achiever that way. It drives Nil crazy. But hey, I love to cook for people. Anyway I think this recipe is basically it.  Though I know my recipe had bell pepper in it.

• Leftovers/YOYO (You're On You're Own)

For many, many more menu ideas visit Laura at www.orgjunkie.com!

Tuna Pockets

Originally I had a recipe for this (Southern Living maybe). This is one of our family's favourites. The recipe could be easily halved to feed fewer people. I also eat it as a salad with just a little drizzle of vinegar and olive oil.

Ingredients
2 family size pouches of tuna (I think they're 11 oz or so)
2 apple
8 oz Feta cheese
1 cup walnuts, chopped  
1 package pita pockets
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar

Directions
Core apples and cut into bite-size pieces. Cube feta cheese and roughly chop walnuts. Combine tuna, feta, apple and walnuts.

Slice pita pockets in half and toast. Stuff pita with tuna mixture. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar.

Last Saturday

  Did you guess where we went?

Two Saturdays a month Lowe's has a building clinic for kids. So we spent last Saturday morning at Lowe's building jewelry holders.

Nil tried to spend some time helping each of the kids. He showed Super Tater how to hold the hammer. ST likes his way better. 

Beara is pretty independent at these things. I think he got the least help. Super Tater put each peg in its hole. I wish I could have captured the I-did-it dance that followed each peg, but I was laughing too hard.Princess Little tried hard and got hers mostly done, but Nil had to fix a few things for her in the end. 

 

The only bad thing about these clinics is the noise, noise, noise!

In the end though, you get to take home a really neat project and the kids have fun. 

PL was a little bit frustrated that hers didn't quite come together like she had wanted (Nil had to step in and help her fix a couple things). I thought this was a really sweet moment. You can tell how much her daddy loves her. (I asked her if I could share this.)

Next week the project is a "Lowebot."  I think Nil is as excited about it as the kiddos. Admittedly it does look pretty cool.

Where has the week gone?

I really don't know. This is Super Tater being silly one morning (I think it was Thursday). His hair has decided to stand straight on end for some reason.

This is one of the reasons I love homeschooling. History (today) flowed beautifully into an unplanned science lesson.  We started with a discussion of the diamond discovery in South Africa and then moved on to the structure of the earth (crust, mantle and core), the depth of the deepest hole ever dug,  and where in the earth diamonds are formed. We observed and discussed crystalline structure and started some rock candy (which was our actual planned activity).  Princess Little is so fascinated by the rock candy I think we may grow some other crystals as well.

Menu- 14 Feb

So somehow I didn't get to all our meals last week. Part of it is the Commissary was out of several things and it was the middle of the week before I got over to the other one.  Anyway. So we have several hold-overs from last week.

• Corned beef I saved this since it's Nil's favourite. I'm going to make this Sunday (Valentine's). The plan is to make a favourite dish for each person. 

• Stroganoff I didn't have the wine to do this one last week. 

• Jambalaya In honour of Mardi Gras. My kiddos, especially Princess Little, are in love with the city of New Orleans, so I figure, "Laissez les bon temps roulez!" 

• Greek Chicken Nachos I'll have to write this one up.  It's sort of my take on the Macaroni Grill's Bella Napoli with greek flavours instead.

• Slow-cooker Sloppy Joes  From Southern Living. I can start this after lunch and it's ready in time for dinner.

• Baked Penne This is one of my go-to dishes when I'm tired of spaghetti (Nil and the kids would eat that every week). I found it as an ad in a magazine years ago. 

• Moroccan Lentil Soup I love this soup. It's from Stephanie O'dea's cookbook Make It Fast, Cook It Slow.  

For many more menu ideas visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Photo of the Day: Days 19 and 20

Day 19

Can you guess where we spent our morning? I plan to write more about this. The pictures were too cute to pick just one. Beara was totally amused by the fact that the tubs here had nowhere for the water to come out.

Day 20
Today we had a Valentine's hunt (saw the idea over at How Does She).  I had treats for each child, but to find them they had to follow the clues.  Each clue centred around one of the children (there were two per child) and extolled one thing that we love about that child.  My rhymes were silly. I'm really not a poet, but we had fund doing this. I really hope it made them feel special.  The rhymes follow; each was written on a red heart-shaped doily.  The first rhyme I slipped under Princess Little's door when all three were in there. The last rhyme Nil had with the candy. (For those who don't know me, I actually do find turtles cute and my kiddos know how cool I think turtles are.)

Today is the day we celebrate love,
So of course it is you three we're thinking of.
Together we should all have some fun;
Come see Mommy for clue number one!

You're our big girl, so pretty, so smart,
But my favourite thing is your generous heart.
Now on a treasure hunt you all can embark;
Go and check in the pockets of your chore chart.

Questioning, reasoning, always  you think,
It is so amazing the things that you link.
Continue the hunt! From this task do not shrink!
Go look for a clue upstairs under your sink.

Some wake in the morning all groggy and crabby,
Not you, my sweet love, you always wake happy.
Go to the couch where Daddy gets comfy.
Look under the cushion; I hope it's not crumby!

Even at two with your blocks you were meticulous;
It is just one of the things that makes you so dear to us.
Now there is no need to search every crevice;
What you seek is in the closet that doesn't hold blouses.

Galant and brave and certainly fearless,
You greet life's adventures both mundane and perilous.
For this clue there's no need to get boisterous.
Go look downstairs near the phone that is cordless.

You're clever and helpful and cute as a turtle,
but most of all you give the very best snuggles!
Now find Dad; tell your siblings to follow.
There's treasure involved, make sure they don't dawdle!

Your treasure is here, but before you shout hooray,
There is just one thing that we want to say:
You are each so loved in your own unique way;
You're our greatest treasure this Valentine's Day!

Photo of the Day: Day 18

Princess Little cooked dinner tonight. She did a great job. She made Chicken-Catch-a-Tory Stew from Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals for Kids. One of the things that I really love about this cookbook is the food appeals to adults as well.  While the dishes are very simple to prepare, the flavours are a bit more complex than what you often find in kid's cookbooks.

We served this soup with french bread. Nil took the first piece off one of the loaves of bread and Beara asked if he could have the other "end of that stick of bread." I corrected him saying that he could have the other heel of that loaf. After a short while Super Tater wanted another piece of bread. He asked could he please have the knee of the bread.