Resolution Revisit

So...I figured it was time to check myself with these resolutions I made...why, why, why did I make so many?  So, here's my rundown, excuses and all!

• Be more grateful (more on that in a future post)-So, yeah, I have been thinking about what I am grateful for most days, but haven't taken the time to write it all down as I'd planned...hmmmph...looks like I have some catching up to do.  I do think that taking a moment a few times a week to notice every day things that make me grateful and happy is a great first step, but writing them would help me remember on those days I'm feeling less than grateful.
• Lose 5 lbs (or exercise more-again)-Well, you see...hmm....I am watching my portions, thanks to my month-long stint with My FitnessPal.  I got frustrated with seeing no weight loss results after a few weeks.  The logging can be tedious, as I cook a lot from scratch, but I think it's a great app and website!
• Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains-Not too bad on this one.  I can always do better.  I am making my own bread and sometimes sub out some whole wheat flour.  That counts, right?
• Spend more time outside with the family-find more nature trails near and maybe even a little far away-Yeah, so this one's a little tough to report on with the winter we've had.  Once it warms up I will have happier news to report on this one!
• Make my family eat more good stuff and less bad-ha!  Well, that will at least be easier when all this Christmas candy and treats are finally out of the house....it is trash day, hmmm....-I am cooking a lot more these days, no drive-thru trips at all this year!  They asked for fruit salad (made from fresh fruits, not canned!) just this week. Score one for mom!
• Read more books (goodreads says only 8 books in 2013...say what??  I swear I read more than that!)-So far, I've read 11/2 this year...on track for 12 books this year at this rate.
• Begin meditation and yoga again...it was unbelievable how calm my school year started out when I was taking just 10 minutes to be still and quiet before I started my day.-Nothing to report here...
• More dates with my husband.  We've not done this nearly enough in 2013.-Well, we've had a couple of quiet meals at home after feeding the kids and one official night out.  We also had a quick 36 hour trip out of town. So, I'd say we're doing well so far!
• Actually do for others rather than plan and think about doing for others.-Our visit to Matthew 25 was a good start!  We're taking our Girl Scout Troop there next month.   Looks like I have work to do here, too. 

All in all, not a bad start.  I am giving myself the whole year and I am continuing to work on all of these things at some point.  Slow, and steady wins the race...right?

A Fancy (Valentine) Dinner

We've never been ones to make a huge deal out of  Valentine's Day, though I did get a special delivery at work! It's rare to fall on a weekend, so this year was different.  We planned a nice dinner at home with our boys.  Our oldest had plans with friends (how we're there already, I don't know!).  I'd decided I wanted to make the night a little nicer and more special and thought I would pull out some candlesticks that, honestly have never been used for more than decorative purposes in the 16+ years we've owned them.  Actually, they've been hidden in my candle stash for years.  So, they were happy to see the light, I am sure.  I set the table with placemats, cloth napkins and lit the candles just a few moments before dinner was ready. 
I was amazed at how that really set the mood for our usually, how shall I say...."spirited" 4 year old.  He sat still (only happens when he's sick...really, really sick), used nice manners and his napkin.  He thought the whole candle thing was so cool.  We all enjoyed this nice change of pace for mealtime.  We had nice conversation as usual, but those candles really made for a nicer night.  I hope to do more dinners like this, just to change things up a bit.  I know it won't be hard, as the little one has already asked twice this week for another "fancy dinner."  He loved it so much and was sad his sister didn't get to experience it, so we did it again the next night for her!  Who knew some candles could make such a difference! 
I'm always looking for fun little ways to treat my family.  This was definitely fun and different and will likely be a lasting memory.  I know the night felt more special than any words I can find right now...

"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory."

~Dr. Seuss

Snow Day Pretzel...fun??

So, another snow day is upon us.  Last night, I suspected this would happen and announced to my kids we'd be making soft pretzels the next day.  I wanted to ensure they'd have warm, happy memories of mom and snow days.  Interesting experience.  That's all I can say. 

It all started with Pinterest (stop....you're not that shocked, are you?).  Of course, the two recipes my pins linked back to were unsatisfactory to me.   Probably too many steps, time or something like that.  So, I go to the Food Network.  Trusted source, right?  I am sure Alton's recipe is fine, but I was saying bad words to him in my head almost the whole time...well, not the time the dough was rising...I stopped because it started to look promising at that point...maybe it was all fine and how it's supposed to be, but it sure didn't look or feel like it.  I mean, those pretzel bakers at the mall are never covered in sticky, gooey dough...

Anyway, here's how it all went down...

I found Alton's recipe here...http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe.html and proceeded to gather ingredients and supplies.  I quickly scanned the recipe, rather than reading step by step, nice and slow...against my better judgement.  I mean, how hard can it be...plus I have three kids waiting for their turn to make their pretzels.  So, I added the ingredients as the recipe stated (I think...).  It looked like this:

Yeah, I know.  Hard to see as my mixer was whirling so quickly.  Something seemed off, so I continued, after checking the recipe (oops!  Didn't quite follow Alton's instructions) to let it whirl away, but at a slower speed.  In the meantime, I prepped a bowl-lightly greased it, as instructed.  Upon transferring the dough (okay, attempting the transfer...), this is what I got...

 

 

Ummm....still, something's off, but being a pretzel novice, I scraped off what I could from my hands and the mixing bowl and got this...Did I mention I had three kids in the kitchen wanting lunch, asking questions about everything under the sun, needing this, that or the other?

 

 

 

Then, it was time to let it rise!  I put it in my warm oven, covered with a towel.   This is when it started to look like things were turning around.  Isn't it beautiful?

 

Did I also mention that I decided to try a new bread recipe today?  And that I made changes to the new recipe I am trying this day?  So, this beauty had to wait while I finished up with the bread dough.  Then, I turned it out onto my counter...still looks promising-ish, right?

Yeah, not so much, huh?

 

This is where it gets stressful.  My delightful children think I can do and know everything.  At least I think that's why they were making me feel like we were playing 20 questions after I called them in once I'd "divided" the dough.  They took turns shaping their pretzels as I dunked them in the boiling mixture for 30 seconds or so...I was wise to make the 4 year old wait.  Things weren't looking like I thought they should.  It was sticky, icky and gooey.  It was hard to shape.  It was not looking good.  Not at all.  All I could do was a simple pretzel "stick" because it was so sticky and didn't go where I wanted.  Of course, my older two persisted (impressive as they are not always so persistent) and got pretzel-like shapes eventually.  Still, I wasn't convinced this was going to be worth all our time and wasted ingredients, not to mention the mess we were making.

 

Then, suddenly, as some of the pretzels were boiling in the solution, all hope, well, a tiny little sliver of hope, actually, was restored.

 

 

That smell...oooh....must be the yeast?  Whatever it was, it smelled like pretzels....Fingers crossed!

 

Little one took his turn.  Too stressful for little hands to do much with the dough.  "You do it, mommy, " he says as he runs off.  So I finished up and, ta daaaaah...

 

We had pretzels!

 

 

 

"...no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing."

 

~Julia Child





Accidentally delicious!

I needed a quick, easy, healthy-ish last minute (like half my dinners) idea for dinner.  I had a few things on hand that I hoped to use up-roasted chicken breasts and a tiny bit of black rice I'd picked up some time ago.  The kids freaked out a little at the color the last time it was a side, and I swear it tasted like regular rice, but I can't serve it plain, so I gotta use it in some kind of casserole to camouflage it. :)  Again, I searched my Pinterest boards.  I found a recipe for cheesy chicken and rice from laaloosh.com.  It looked good, but I didn't have any broccoli and I didn't want to use 3 saucepans, because, let's be real here-that's a lot of dishes to wash and they won't all fit in the dishwasher!  So, I searched my pantry, did some thinking and got to work... 

...and voila!

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 1/2-2 cups  cooked rice (I had black rice on hand, but any rice you like will do.  I followed the directions on the package to cook 1 cup dry rice)

 

2 cups cooked chicken (shredded, cubed, whatever you've got on hand)

 

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

 

2 cups frozen green beans

 

1 can or container of cream of chicken condensed soup (I used Pacific Natural Foods Organic soup and it comes in a little box)

 

1 -2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I'm always a little heavier on the cheese in any recipe...I was closer to 2 cups for this recipe

 

 

 

1. Cook the rice according to the package directions.

 

2. Meanwhile, boil a small pot of water and blanch the frozen veggies for 3-4 minutes.  You don't want to overcook, just get them thawed and somewhat soft.  Remove them from the water immediately. 

 

3. Put half of the cheese and the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and toss them gently to mix.  To eliminate another dirty dish, I just mixed it in my greased 9x13 casserole dish.  That worked just great!

 

4. If you aren't as lazy as I am, and you mixed in a bowl, spread the mixture into a greased 9x13 casserole dish. 

 

5. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

 

6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

 

 

The great thing about this recipe is you can use whatever veggies you have on hand, fresh or frozen.  If you use fresh, I recommend cooking them a bit as well.  You can use up leftover chicken, roast your own, or pick up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery.  If you don't have cream of chicken, cream of anything else will do the trick.  This happy accident of a dinner will definitely be put in our rotation.  I'll be making this with broccoli for sure since that's one of hubby's favorites.

 

In case you're counting calories, the dish as I made it was only 192 calories per serving.  This should serve 8, or in our case, our five and several dishes of leftovers!

 

Enjoy!

A Walk in the Woods

So, all this snow and unusually cold temperatures have me thinking ahead to warmer days.  Thinking of warmer days reminds me of  a wonderful experience we had last summer in the Smoky Mountains.  My mom shared a post by the National Park Service about the synchronous fireflies that show up for just a couple of weeks in the Smokies in early-mid June.  We just happened to be planning a trip in June to this, one of our favorite destinations for outdoor fun.  It was too late to get tickets through the park service-they sell out amazingly fast!  It was then I thought of one of our favorite small businesses in the area-A Walk in the Woods.  If you like nature, even a little tiny bit, they've got a hike for you!  They do one hour walks, or days on the AP!

We'd previously been on two hikes with them in the past.  The first time, my husband, ever the skeptic, couldn't believe we were paying someone to walk us through an easy hiking trail with our kids.  Well, that first hike more than exceeded my expectations.  Our older two children, 5 and 7 at the time, were completely engaged for the entire hour or so we were with our guide.  We were joined by 3 other families, whose children were all equally engaged.  The coolest thing the parks had to offer my kids were the salamanders...they could have searched under rocks in the shallow creek beds all day long.  They also saw bear claw marks on trees, old settlements, since grown over and most likely hidden to most passers-by.  The guide even provided a great snack-trail mix (of course!) during the hike.  When it was over, we were all sad...but I knew we'd be "hiking" with them again.  My husband, after paying the guide, got into the van and exclaimed that it was worth every penny.  I love him so!

Our second outing with A Walk in the Woods was another short hike, but this time, we were guided by Vesna, who is co-owner of the company.  What a special surprise-and, unlike our first hike, we were the only family on this particular trip.  She connected immediately with all three of our children.  We put our youngest in one of those backpack carriers we'd borrowed from friends, but he had lots of opportunities to safely get out and walk along with us.  Vesna was genuine in her interest of our children and her love of what she does was so obvious.  She shared so much information about the park, the animals, the history...I wish I'd brought a notebook to write it all down...Unfortunately, my "mommy-brain" does not go away, even in the middle of such beauty!  We were all sad once the hike was over, even though it ran long...Vesna apologized and hoped we'd not had any plans.  Ha!  Not when we're down here...we go with the flow!  We were thrilled with the gentle flow she'd gifted us that day! 

This brings me to our most recent (though certainly not final) trip with A Walk in the Woods and those fireflies I mentioned a while back.  Well, it was the most unusual, amazing and memorable experience we've shared as a family, by far!  We met our guide, Jamie at a pre-determined spot, took a potty break (no potties for a couple of hours) and followed her to another spot where we parked our cars and set out to see the fireflies.  We were all looking forward to this amazing trip.  It was like nothing we'd ever done before.  Again, our guide Jaime connected with our kids, making me feel like we'd known her for years.  She also knows her stuff.  I don't know how they fit all this into their brains!  She knew something about everything we laid our eyes on!  this hike was amazing!  We saw and heard (on her special echo-locator thing) bats, birds, rushing water, and then came the dark. Once dusk had passed, we found a spot, sat and waited in great anticipation.  Even our then three-year old was quiet and waiting-now that is something because that kid is only quiet when he sleeps!  Finally, we started to see them.  All flashlights went out.  It was so dark, we couldn't' even see our hands in front of our faces.  Yikes!  I will admit, that freaked me out a little, though I acted quite brave.  Plus, we were with Super Nature Girl, aka, Jaime, so there really was nothing to be afraid of.  I did notice a certain husband who kept looking back behind us-you just never know when a rogue bear might jump out and get you! 

Anyway...back to those fireflies.  They are so special because they are synchronous and can only be found in two places in the whole world, one being right here in the Smokies.  That name is a bit deceiving, as I was expecting them to flash all around us like Christmas lights, off, on, off, on.  It was so much more amazing than I'd imagined.  They are synchronous in that they light up in sync with those around them, but to me it looked almost like a stadium full of baseball fans doing the wave.  We could look down the trail from where we sat and see total darkness, then, they began to light up.  We could follow the trail of lights all the way up toward where we sat.  I tried to get some video, but total black was all I got on my little camera-phone.  No matter...it's a memory forever etched in all our minds.  We walked back after the "show" continuing to learn and hear about all that was around us...and of course, we searched for salamanders. 

If you're headed to the Smoky Mountains, or need an excuse to visit the Gatlinburg area, I highly recommend you check out A Walk in the Woods and all the different hikes they have to offer.  You won't be sorry for all the wonderful memories you make.  I can promise you that!

Our Day of Service

With today being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I wanted to finally make the day more meaningful for my kids and honor Dr. King and the Day of Service.  I decided last week, and shared with a couple of friends (so I HAD to follow through) that I would take my two older kids to Matthew 25 Ministries, a local organization that helps people everywhere.  By everywhere, I mean everywhere!  I'd always planned to make it meaningful in some way in the past, but, well, I guess I got lazy, indecisive, nervous, or well, lazy...But, no more.  In my earlier post about resolutions, I said this year I want to actually do rather than plan to do more for others. So, here we are!

We arrived as walk-ins along with some scheduled groups. It was less than 15 minutes that we waited and were on our way to our station.  This place is simply massive.  And well-oiled.  And the people working there were so nice and happy to have us.  We were told that today is their largest day for volunteers-how fitting that we were here today.  We put on our aprons and got started on our important project of the day...soap.  Before we got started, we were schooled in how and why this project was important.  I love how this place educates their volunteers.  We knew from the start the why of what we were doing.  I think it gave my kids a deeper understanding of why we were here today.  The soap we emptied from lots of small bags (think those hand soap pumps in public restrooms) went into 5 gallon buckets and then into large, 4'x4'x4' plastic drums.  Those drums then are shipped to a variety of places that need soap to keep the areas sanitary.  These could be remote villages that have endured some natural disaster, or areas that are poor and are receiving help regularly.  It could be a hospital in a third word country with little soap available to keep things safe, sanitary and healthy or a place for families to come for soap rations for the same reasons.

So, my kiddos worked hard.  For 1 1/2 hours.  No complaints, whining, arguing or fighting.  Doing something for someone else, somewhere else.  I am beyond proud of them not just for that solid length of time with nothing negative whatsoever, but also for the matter of fact "okay" I got from both of them when I told them what we were going to do today.  We don't (yet) make a habit of volunteering our time like this, but they know that when we can, we do for others. So I am so proud no one complained that they couldn't watch TV, play Minecraft, Wii, or any number of other things they maybe would have liked to do today.

The only reason we stopped working was because some of the workers came around looking for volunteers to take a tour of their Global Village to learn more about the organization. This was a great tour that again, helped explain the why, where and how this organization helps others.  My kids learned a lot today and hopefully feel good about how they spent a couple hours of their day.  I hope to make this an annual event for us, but I don't want us to wait 364 more days until we return.  They both said they'd like to go back and we'll take dad and their 4 year old brother. 

After reflecting on the day and what I hope my kids' hearts will be like when they grow up, I am feeling optimistic and proud of the work my husband and I have done so far.  I suppose we're doing something right... 

Life's most persistent and urgent question is this: What are you doing for others?

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Easy, Tasty Shrimp Cocktail Sauce

My husband and I have hosted a New Year's Eve party at our home for 16 years now.  This year, I realized at 5:00 pm that I'd neglected to worry about the cocktail sauce to go with the shrimp that were thawing in my fridge...whoops!  What's cocktail shrimp without the accompanying sauce?

Well, I did what any girl would do and searched Pinterest for a quick recipe.  I mean, really, what's in it but ketchup and horseradish, right?  I had both on hand, but wasn't sure of the ratios I should use.  Well, it was after about 5 long minutes of looking at cocktail sauce recipes (with more than just those 2 ingredients, mind you) that I decided to make my own!  It was delicious...so much so that I could have eaten it with a spoon! 

What you'll need:



1/2 cup ketchup

1 tbsp. hot sauce

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. onion

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tbsp. creamy horseradish sauce (I had a jar of this in my panty-hubby likes horseradish, so I had it on hand!)

Mix well and enjoy!

***tip-to keep my shrimp well chilled, I fill a glass bowl with ice and nest a smaller bowl, filled with the shrimp inside of the larger bowl***