What Is A Mom To Do

We had such a good day today! We went to the pumpkin patch with Kara and played at the petting zoo. It was a perfect October day with some clouds and the temps in the 50’s.  I had made this week’s meal plan before I realized we were going to go but I didn’t have to change a thing. I wanted a good tomato soup recipe for the crockpot and so that is what I set up last night before going to bed. This soup is made in a crockpot with a small amount of additional prep right before serving. All in all it is pretty easy to make and I think that Josh will be able to do it in the future when baby comes in January. Ingredients: 2 (14oz) cans of diced tomatoes, with juice 1 cup diced celery 1 cup diced carrots 1 cup diced onions 1 tsp oregano 1 tsp basil 4 cups of chicken broth ½ cup flour 1 cup parmesan cheese ½ cup butter 2 cups half and half, warmed 1 tsp salt ¼ tsp pepper Add all of the veggies and the broth into the crockpot. Co...

This week I caved and bought some store bought peanut butter brownies. They were okay but they were missing something.  They were missing TLC. So this morning the baking bug hit me and I decided to try making my own peanut butter brownie. It has been forever since I have made brownies from scratch and I forgot just how easy it is! So here is the recipe and pictures. I hope that you have as much fun as I did making these. Half a stick of margarine, melted Half a cup of granulated sugar Half a cup of firmly packed brown sugar Two eggs One teaspoon vanilla (All I had was imitation but it works) Half a cup of AP flour One teaspoon ground cinnamon Half a teaspoon of baking powder Half a cup of peanut butter (Crunchy is really good in this but all I had was creamy) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth. In another bowl combine flour, cinnamon, and baking powder; add the dry ingredients to the butte...

Today I feel inspired! I will admit that part of this feeling came from me Needing to be inspired. You see, we are almost at the end of our groceries but not at the end of our week. This isn't a bad thing though! It means that I have been cooking more from home and eating out less, this in turn saves us money! So even when we had to spend $200 on the van this week I didn't panic like a normally do. This did leave me wondering what I was going to cook for today. I hate having to serve PB&J all the time, (even though I am pretty sure Kara can survive on it) so I started digging in the refrigerator. Eureka! I found soome leftover chili. Hmmmmm.... what can I make with chili that was different than burritos. I turned to my books for inspiration. I didn't find anything specific but I did start peicing an idea together. I took the chili and added a can of italian diced tomatoes, I wanted rotel but like I said we are out of just about everything lol. Then I added some ...

Who loves to get up early on a Sunday morning and make cinnamon rolls for their family or church group? Well, I think that we all would like to deep down but in all reality it isn't very likely to happen. A couple of weeks ago I was feeling a little more zealous. I wanted to make something special for my Sunday School class. I had heard of making cinnamon rolls in the waffle iron. The idea intrigued me and so I set forth to experiment! First, I went to my local HyVee and got two rolls of my favorite quick cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. I just got the cheap kind. I'm sure any other brand will work too.  Then, I preheated my waffle iron. I also lightly sprayed it with PAM. I only did this once it didn't need it.  Next, I started putting one roll for each waffle square. I put the top down and cooked them until the steam stopped coming from the sides. This is what they look like fresh out of the iron. I put butter on mine and ate them plain. They wer...

I love oatmeal. I could eat it most mornings for breakfast if I only had the time. Josh is not a fan, he thinks I am a bit old fashioned in some ways. In fact, one day he told me that only old people eat oatmeal! I know why I have grown to like it, growing up in a large family oatmeal was a pretty cheap meal to prepare for the whole family. Of course, mom would always add sugar and cinnamon and other assorted goodies to help spice things up a bit. But I digress.... In an attempt to eat healthier on a budget I began looking for some different ways to prepare oatmeal besides cookies and your typical morning bowl of goodness. I have found several and I am planning to make one or two each week and talk about my results here. None of these recipes are original with me so I will be linking you to their original authors, but I will add my own comments. I hope you enjoy the start to this new series. I would love to hear some of your favorite oatmeal fixins. Or maybe some of your favorite...

1 package Swiss Miss 1 stirring spoon filled with hot fudge hot water a sprinkle of nutmeg mini marshmellows (we like the freeze dried variety) Put all of the ingredients together in you favorite mug. Enjoy in front of a cozy fire, or wrapped in a blanket with a good book. This is pretty good! And although I normally try to make stuff from scratch this is something that my husband likes to make for us and I like being lazy sometimes. And if you by the Swiss Mimss at Sams or Costco its actually pretty cheap! Do you have a favorite hot drink? I love to hear ideas and new recipes!

Okay readers, you may have to hang in there with me tonight. I am not feeling to good I want to go bed but it's one of those things where I can't sleep. So I decided to take some time for myself to write and relax. I lit a candle, changed into my jammies and have slow music on Paandora. See, I am feeling better already! Yesterday was great day and Kara was being so good that I decided we would cook together! Now that is something we had not tried until yesterday so I was taking a big risk. I knew that we would most likely end up in disaster. I was pleasantly surprised though and we only had 2 incidents that involved tears. She doesn't really understand the whole taking turns thing yet. So by now you must be wondering what we made. I started out looking for ingredients for dinner but then I found a can of pumpkin. I turned it around and found that I had all I needed to make a pie! Pumpkin Pie is one of Josh's favorite foods. I don't really like it but because I...

Hello Friends! I do a lot of my menu planning on different websites. I love stumbling across a new recipe. Sometimes I simply google the ingredients that I want to use then PRESTO! Well the dish that I am going to talk about today is one of those good finds. I will give you the original link because I am not claiming this one to be original with me, but I did change it some and after eating it I know there are a few things that I will do differently next time too. So here is the original link:  http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/pan-roasted-chicken-lemon-garlic-green-beans-10000000780291/index.html And here are my thoughts, changes, and pictures: I really, really liked this dish! It was pretty easy to put together and cheap too. (Well, the original was a little more but after my substitutions it helped a little.) Instead of chicken breast I used thighs. (They were on sale for like 94 cents a pound whereas the breasts were almost 2 dollars a pound.) ...

Okay! As promised here is my first recipe. I love grilled cheese sandwiches, I mean REALLY love them! You know how they are one of the main things on the childrens menu in most resturants, sometimes I would steal Kara's or order my own because they are just that good! I hope that all of you have had the simple joy of a perfectly made grilled cheese sandwich growing up. I could eat them everyday. My husband was probably a little tired of my lack of creativity though. So I started trolling the web for a more "grown up" grilled cheese. I tried several different mixes and none seemed to work. It was then that I decided to make up my own, pulling my favorite aspects ffrom different attempts. Let me tell you that I am not a girl who can just pull ingredients out and make a perfect dish. I need a very clear plan! I am hoping that the more I cook the more I can improvise in the future. I took pictures as I worked. Sometimes I get so frustrated when my dishes don't look ...