An answer for everything

So today Super Turtle asked me, "When will our dog die?"  I answered him honestly that I didn't know. When he asked why not, I answered, "Only God knows these things." Discussion ensued about how Mom is not God. Beara announced, "Yeah, because God is a guy." I asked how he knew God was a guy. He shrugged, "God just sounds like a boy kind of name."

I'm not okay.

Super Tater got burnt tonight. It was very minor.

As I was frantically examining him, (Hey! It was the real cry!) he managed to eke out, "I am not okay, Momma." Break my heart.  And yet I couldn't quit laughing!

Playing Catch-up

So I've been a nonexistent blogger lately. We've been staying busy and I've just not had the energy to sit down at the end of the day and write. We also took a bit of a Spring Break, which I found very refreshing.

I got to spend some time with my dad and his family. Quite often when I make it up there it is for some holiday or another. It was nice to be there with no obligations. Princess Little's favourite part of the trip was playing with her baby cousin.

When we got back it was only a short while until my mom came to visit for a couple days. She always manages to ease my stress and it was fun to have someone to run around town with.

Nil has a couple of days off, so we are looking forward to a long and hopefully uneventful weekend. In the coming days, I hope to finally get snow pictures up and start a little series about deployment started (more on that later).

Menu-28 Feb

So the FRG meeting got canceled.  I've decided to view this as a good thing because I got to try out the chicken spaghetti recipe before taking it somewhere.  I made a couple of modifications and it came out pretty much like mine (Nil says it's creamier).  I also made homemade french bread (first time!) to go with it which turned out really well.

Another new recipe last week was the Neely's Dirty Rice.  I really liked it. So much more of the flavour came from the chicken stock the rice was cooked in and the fresh veg. rather thanthe heat and salt that comprise the flavour of the boxed stuff. Nil missed the salt. Next time I would add a little more cayenne.

On to this week's menu:

• Big Sandwich Quick, easy, great for a grocery shopping day. 

• Chicken Tacos I love these. They are super easy and there is normally enough meat left for nachos the next day.

• Meat Loaf This is a favourite around our house.  There's really not a recipe. I use half ground beef and half turkey, eggs, oatmeal, mustard, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. I mix it, adding stuff until it looks right, and top it with a mixture of ketchup, honey and Worcestershire.

• Broccoli Soup I'm so excited about this recipe. One of the ladies at my grandmother's church makes this soup and it is so yummy. Meme (my grandmother) got the recipe and emailed it to me!

• Fruited Chicken Super Tater often sits beside me while I'm at the computer and when I pulled up this recipe he said, "that looks good!" So we are going to try it.

• Fondue One of my favourite dates with Nil was going to a place called Simply Fondue. In addition to what I think of as fondue they had pots of oil to fry meat table-side. I don't think we'll do that, but I thought it would be great fun for the kiddos to have some cheese and chocolate fondues for dinner one night.  Thanks to Simple Bites for reminding me of this experience!

• Philly Steak Potatoes  I use fresh peppers instead of frozen and Mozzarella instead of cheddar cheese. I may add some mushrooms this time as well. The horseradish mayonnaise is our favourite part.

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

Finally!

So about a week ago, Princess Little came into my room before we got up and said, "Guess what! It snowed! Just a little, but it snowed!" This was the scene outside her window. (There was a little bit of frost.)

 

 Today, however, it actually snowed! Pictures of the kiddos playing in the snow as I have time to go through them.

Greek Chicken Nachos

 

I don't think they are even on the menu anymore, but Macaroni Grill's Bella Napoli were my favourite thing at the restaurant. They were Italian nachos, of sorts, made with fried lasagna noodles and then topped with cream sauce, Italian sausage, olives and peppers. Some day I'm going to get brave enough to make them. (I'm not very comfortable frying things. I've just never really learned.) 

In the mean time, these are sort of my take on the Bella Napoli with flavours from our Greek dining experiences.  I started making my own hummus because they didn't have it at the Commissary (I say that, and the next my mom comes to visit they will have a huge endcap display of hummus). I really like Rachel Ray's recipe because it has a little smokey kick to it. Also,  previously I had always mixed yogurt and sour cream and diced cucumber for taziki, but yesterday I tried using a recipe and really liked it.

Ingredients 

Rachel Ray's Spicy Hummus

Kalyn's Kitchen's Taziki Sauce 

1 package Pita Pockets

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

3 Chicken Breasts cut into bite-size pieces

Lemon Pepper

Kalamata Olives

Peperoncini Peppers

Feta Cheese

Vinegar (Red Wine or Balsamic)

At least two hours before you intend to eat mix up your Taziki Sauce; it really gets better when given a little time for the flavours to meld. I normally make the hummus at this time as well. (Or you could use prepared products.)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Season the chicken with lemon pepper. Heat a skillet and a small amount of olive oil. Saute the chicken over medium heat.

Meanwhile cut the pita pockets into wedges and separate the halves. Arrange the pita pieces on a baking sheet and drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with sea salt. Toast them in the oven for about seven minutes. I set my timer; this is the only way I can avoid burning them to a crisp.

When the chicken and the pita chips are finished assemble the nachos. I like to spread a bit of hummus on each chip (it helps hold all the toppings on). I then scatter the top with chicken, olives, feta and perperocinies.  I like to drizzle a bit of taziki and balsamic vinegar over the whole thing.

Princess Little has a very different approach. She very carefully constructs each nacho. We're normally finished eating before she's finished creating.

21 Feb 2010

This weekend was sort of the weekend of the child (other than the fact that they had to go to the Commissary with me which none of us enjoy). Saturday morning we took them to a place that had all sorts of bounce houses and slides and other inflatables for them to play on. They earned this trip by doing extra jobs around the house for marbles. Our deal was when their marble jar was full they would get to go somewhere of there choosing.  I think they really had fun. Of course, I forgot to take my camera. When we got home Nil got on the trampoline with the boys (Princess Little had gone next door). They thought it was great bouncing with Dad.

Sunday night we had family fun time. The kids chose to play Disney Scene It despite Nil's best efforts to convince them to play the Star Trek version. Beara's favourite part was trying to knock over the playing pieces.

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.

Photo of the Day: Day 17

Today in history we talked about Ned Kelly.  One of our activities was to make a wanted poster. I told the kids they could choose any villain they wanted. They chose the level bosses from the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game. This morphed into a trampoline game where they jumped around and "ground pounded" (land on their rumps) on top of the "bad guys." Anyone who has spent any time around Super Tater knows bad guys are a big deal around our house.

The Big Sandwich

As I mentioned in my menu post, this sandwich originally had a different name (something like  Muffuletta Po'Boy) and came from Southern Living. When I was young my mom always made one long sandwich on French bread and then cut it into individual portions. I originally made it that way too, hence the name "big sandwich." I now make it on sub rolls. 

Ingredients

1/3 cup mayonnaise
6 Sub Rolls
1/2 lb ham
1/4 lb salami
8 oz Mozzarella cheese, sliced
1 small can sliced ripe olives
sliced green olives

Directions
Set the oven to broil.

Slice sub rolls horizontally and set aside. Whisk together 1/3 cup mayonnaise and about a tablespoon of olive juice. (I don't actually measure when i do this. I put a blob of mayo in a bowl and then whisk in some olive juice until I like the consistency and taste of the dressing.)

Arrange bread on a cookie sheet, cut sides up.  Spread a thin coat of the mayo mixture on each piece of bread.  Put cheese slices on one half of each roll (I always put the cheese on the top halves, but i don't guess it matters).  On the other half of the roll layer the remaining ingredients.  I don't think the order really matters, but I do ham, green olives, salami, ripe olives.

Toast the sandwiches under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted. (I really like a bit of char on the salami and for the cheese to get bubbly with little brown specks, but then I like "burnt" toast too.)

Match up the tops and the bottoms and serve with carrots or other crunchy goodness.

Photo of the Day: Days ....

Day 12
We watched Night at the Museum 2. I'm not really sure how it was. About 10 minutes into the movie Super Tater and I were both sacked out. I woke mid-movie and took this, but ST was out for the night.

Day 15 
I didn't do very well taking pictures over the weekend. This picture is from Monday. The kids were working on Valentines.  

Menu- 8 Feb

One of the first blogs I read regularly was Laura's Menu Plan Monday. Not only does she post her menu each Monday, but she provides a place for 300 plus other bloggers to link their menu posts.  I've decided, since I'm going to have a public blog anyway, it would be fun to participate.


Menu planning is something I've done basically since I started cooking.  (My mom made weekly menus when I was small.) I am constantly refining the way I do things. Recently I discovered the google calendar and have been using that as a meal-planning tool. One thing I love about the calendar is that I can set a dish to automatically repeat once a month. I picked about 15 dishes that our family likes and scattered them throughout the month. As I find dishes I want to try I make a note of those on the blank days. It is also really easy to move meals around if life gets in the way and something doesn't get made.

Here's what is on the menu for this week:

• Big Sandwich This is one of those recipes which resides in my head. My mom made these sandwiches when I was small. I think they came from Southern Living.  I think the real name is something like Muffuletta Po'Boy; they're not real Muffulettas (no olive salad), but they're good.

• Chicken Catch-a-tory Stew One of the responsibilities that the kiddos have the option of taking on each week is planning and cooking a meal. This is one of Princess Little's favourite things to cook. It is from Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals For Kids cookbook. 

• Tuna Pockets Another one from my head. I think this one originated in Southern Living as well, but I can't find a link to it anywhere.  I'll try to write it up later in the week.

• Stroganoff Love this recipe. I don't use 2 pounds of butter. I assumed that was a typo and just use a few tablespoons.

•  Lentil and Brown Rice Casserole Take two. We had this last week and really liked it. I was worried it wouldn't have enough flavour, but it was good. We decided to tweak it anyway. This time I plan to add a can of rotel and maybe some pepper jack cheese to spice it up a bit.

• Corned Beef Nil's favourite. I just follow the directions on the package. 

• Chili Using a box of spices. Some day I'm going to get my dad to teach me how to make real chili.

 If you need menu ideas or are looking for a new recipe check out this week's menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Photo of the Day: Days 10 and 11

Day 10

 

Princess Little and Little Princess Little (they have the same name)

One of the cutest things around my house the past couple days has been hearing this sweet little voice call "Big Princess Little" looking for her pal. Here they were cleaning up a mess. I got Super Tater's sensory box (which is filled with rice) down to let Little Princess Little explore it. I explained how we keep the rice in the box or on the tray under the box and then I walked out of the room. Not smart on my part. When I came back there was rice from one wall of my dining room to the other, no exaggeration. So together we cleaned up the mess. I swept everything up and then the Princess Littles swept up the piles. We had fun playing with these guys and wish them safe travels and happy landings at their next duty station!

Day 11

Beara and Super Tater building tanks. When built they battle one another reducing the tanks to pieces and start over again. This actually entertains them for thirty minutes at a time.  

Princess Little got in on the building action as well, though her creations are less...noisy.

Things Kids Say

I love word-play of all sorts. One of my favourite things is the little eggcorns (I love the proper names for things too) that slip out as kids try to learn the language.  There should be a separate category for them...kind of like outsider art.

When Princess Little was small, Nil would call her the little dictator when she phrased her requests in less than amiable terms. She was a little less than two when she put her hand on her hip and told him, quite sternly, that she was not a duck-tator. We still tease about her quacking. 

Beara is the king of the eggcorns though. My current favourite is "reveal mirror."  He has been designing cars like the "Muck Five" (Mach Five--from Speed Racer). It is very important that cars have reveal mirrors so drivers can see what is behind them.