This year a lot of our after school activities are soon after school gets out and they last until dinner time...or beyond. This makes feeding the family healthy meals a bit more of a challenge. It is so easy to get into the habit of running through a drive through or grabbing something real quick. This ends up costing more money and more calories than I want to spend. I have been trying to brainstorm on meals that I can prepare over the weekend that are quick, healthy, and that most of the family will enjoy eating.
I was walking through Costco last week and I saw a very large bag of tortilla chips and had an AHA moment that I'm going to test out this week. I've made a taco dip that the kids can eat with chips and the grown ups can put on top of lettuce to make a taco salad (and maybe dip a chip or two too). Ingredients: 1.5 lb ground beef appropriate amount of your favorite taco seasoning sour cream (I got 16 oz container and have some left over) 8oz bag of fiesta blend shredded cheese 1-16 oz can refried beans salsa (I have an 8 oz jar and have some left over) small can sliced olives 1. Brown and drain ground beef. Add seasoning following the directions on the package. Let cool. 2. Put refried beans in a medium sized bowl. Add about a cup of salsa. Mix. 3. Put half of the cooled, seasoned ground beef on the bottom of a 9x13 pam (i used my pyrex). 4. Place spoonfuls of the refried bean/salsa mixture on top of the beef, then spread with the back of your spoon. 5. Sprinkle olives over the refried bean/salsa mixture. 6. Place spoonfuls of sour cream all around, spread with the back of your spoon. 7. Use about half of the shredded cheese, sprinkling it evenly over the dish. 8. Add the other half of the ground beef, spreading it out evenly. 9. Add the other half of the shredded cheese evenly over the dish. Cover and put in the fridge until ready to eat. When I pull this out of the fridge in a day or two, I plan on putting diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and maybe some more olives on the top. I don't want to do that ahead of time because I don't want it to get mushy and yuck. I also have single servings of guacamole so that those of us who like guacamole can add it to our portion of the dip AND it won't turn brown while it waits for us to eat it!
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During the school year between my commitments, my children's homework/extra-curricular activities, and family commitments we seem to be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. During this busy time I'm always longing for a time when there are less activities, places to go, commitments. But as we get to the end of the summer and our "regularly scheduled program" is approaching I'm always so ready and eager to jump in and get going. Why is that?...Because I know that as soon as we get back into our school/work/after school activities/everything else that pops up during this time I'm going to be wishing for less again.
This made a scene from "The Little Mermaid" pop into my head. My sister and I LOVED watching that movie and used to fight over who would sing Ariel's parts. Sebastian tells Ariel "...listen to me. The human world, it's a mess. Life under the sea is better than anything they've got up there..." Wise words...followed by a great song! :) I'm going to read into Sebastian's advice a little more than I probably should. I'm going to say that even though (much to my 7-year-old heart's dismay) I'm not a mermaid, I can learn from his advice to Ariel. If I spend all my time looking for the good somewhere else, I'm going to miss the good right here in the now. The year is gearing up. All of our activities are going to throw up all over my planner (yes, I still use a paper planner) and there are going to be many moments when I'm not going to be sure how I'm going to get it done. But I will, with the help of God, family and friends we will have a great year. I'm going to look for the good right where I am. I have a feeling when I work to do this, I will find great beauty. I'm looking forward to seeing just how green the seaweed is over here in my "lake." ;) How about you?? It's been a busy week. We're getting into the last month and a half of school which, for me, means crunch time with a lot of paperwork that is associated with my job. This weekend is jam packed with amazing, fun things to do. In the midst of t ball and preparing for out of town visitors and a birthday party, my daughter is also attending a birthday party for a friend. I didn't have a chance to go shopping for a gift. I'm always torn when I go shopping because I want to get something that is nice that the child will enjoy and use. But, buying birthday presents for the birthday parties of the year can add up! This morning, instead of heading out to the store I went into our loft and we went "shopping" in our gift box. No checkout lines! :)
About a year ago I was at the Green Valley Bookfair. This is a large warehouse like building surrounded by farm land that is open for a series of weeks a few times a year. They have books, novelty gift items, games, puzzles, etc...all at steeply discounted prices. As I was walking around, some really cool children's games caught my eye. Then, I had an idea. What if I shopped for gifts when I found them on sale? What if I had a plastic bin or a space in a closet that housed these gifts? What if when there was a birthday party I could let my children "shop" for their friend at home? Each gift is still selected especially for the person it is being given to, it is just selected from a store of items that we have especially for this purpose at home instead of an actual store. It has been amazing! I now pick things up that are on sale that I know people in our lives are interested in and I put them in our gift box. This isn't fail proof, there are times that we'd like to give someone a gift and there isn't something in our box that is right for them. Then, we go shopping. Since I have an idea of what is in our box, I'm able to plan for this when they pop up (which is rare). I used to spend about $20 on gifts when we went to a friend's birthday party. I'm now able to give equivalent gifts for $5-10. It feels great to have found a way to be smarter with our money without changing the types of gifts we give. Try it out! Don't live near a place like the Green Valley Bookfair? Target, Kohls, and Kroger are other stores that I like to check out for our gift box. They have clearance sections and items where you can find some great deals! My kids are old enough to start having responsibilities that they tackle independently, but they don't always do it right the first time...or the second...or the third. Much of the time their chores still need close supervision and I need to check to make sure that their interpretation of having done the job is consistent with mine.
Over the long holiday weekend we took the old chore of clearing their place when a meal was done and we added to it and I have been very pleasantly surprised! They call it their mealtime chore. My younger child's job is to make sure that the table is clear. My oldest is responsible for clearing her spot and once the table is clear, she wipes it down and sweeps. They have embraced this and even remembered to do their mealtime chore when they're done eating an after school snack. Hopefully this continues and will rub off a little on their rooms and the playroom.
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my momma hatI always love the way this hat looks on me. It's not always an easy hat to wear, but one that brings me so much pure joy. Archives
April 2020
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