Blogspiration: Choosing Joy in Your Homemaking

I was really encouraged/kicked in the butt by what Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking had to say in this post .

If you are a homemaker or stay at home Mama, you absolutely must, must, MUST read it.

I hope it blesses you as much as it did me.

Weekly Chore Schedule: Get to Work, Woman!

I recently decided that our family needed a little more structure to run more efficiently. Up until now, I've been kind of a easy-going-do-it-when-ya-need-to kinda Mama. But since Mallory was born, it seems like I need a little more of a daily routine so that our home can be a restful, peaceful haven for my husband and kids (and me!)

A while ago I read this post over at simple mom, and it inspired me to develop a flexible daily routine and weekly chore schedule. I've been implementing it for a few weeks now, and I LOVE it!!! I feel like I am accomplishing more, but amazingly I have WAY more time to spend with my kids during the day! Here's what I'm doing:

• Cocka-Doodle Doo! -- The biggest change to my daily life is implementing a morning routine, which starts before my kids wake up... as in waking up EARLY. For those of you who know me well (which is really ALL of you since only 5 people even read this blog), you know how much I HATE waking up early. I think it's downright unchristian. But I've got to say, after I actually get up and get going, I really love the result of being up an hour before my kids wake up. It starts the day on my terms, not theirs and allows me to read my Bible, exercise, and of course make and consume large quantities of coffee, all before Bennett comes clumping downstairs. It has definitely taken some getting used to and some adjustment of my usually-late bedtime. But overall, I feel that starting the day off this way makes for a much more productive and happy day.
  
• Breakfast as a family -- This has been another things we've started doing almost daily, and it has been great. As soon as the kids get up, we all eat together and Neil leads the family in a little devotional. It really seems to start Bennett's day off better.
  
• Weekly Cleaning and Chore Schedule -- I don't know about you other Mamas, but keeping the house clean AND balancing household responsibilities with making sure I'm spending enough time playing with my kids is hard for me. So I decided to make a schedule for household chores. Each day I do only what's on the list, not worrying about other things around the house. If it doesn't get done, then it will have to wait till next week. This keeps me from having things pile up and allows me to clean more often in smaller increments, which is much easier with kids! The best thing is, once I'm done with the day's job, I'm done for the day, and I can enjoy playing with my kids!

My schedule is:

Sundays: plan meals and make schedule with hubby for the upcoming week

Mondays: clean out fridge, grocery shop

Tuesdays: laundry, change bed linens and towels

Wednesdays: dust, vacuum

Thursdays: 30 minute organizing session (For instance, this week I spent 30 minutes going through our toys, throwing away broken pieces, putting games back together and pulling out choking hazards that have weaseled their way into the playroom. Other items on this agenda are: my desk, hall closet, kitchen junk drawer, etc.)

Fridays: clean bathrooms

Saturdays: swiffer and mop floors, do one monthly chore (see below)

Every Day: clean kitchen (wipe counters, do dishes, etc), make beds

Monthly: clean out kids clothes and closets, clean/organize pantry, deep-clean kitchen (burners, oven, wipe down cupboards, etc.), spot clean carpet... I'm still adding to this list, so I'm sure other things will end up on here.

Anyway, this has really been good for me as a homemaker and has helped me to accomplish small, realistic goals each day. The McPreacher has even noticed that things seem to be more peaceful and running more efficiently around the house!

Hopefully this will help out any of you stressed out Mamas as much as it has helped me!

Coconut Chicken, New Recipes and Other Holy Things

I just made these coconut chicken fingers for dinner tonight, and HOLY MOLY! I'm posting the recipe for these suckers so that you all can make them immediately. They were delish to the utmost.

A few notes:

• I'm not a big curry fan, so I substituted the curry powder for paprika... It turned out great and gave a beautiful color!
• My chicken cooked quicker than the recipe said. It only took about 12 minutes. The coconut burns quickly, so watch you chicken carefully!
• I served these tenders with white rice and baked sweet potatoes. I wanted to make this dipping sauce to go with them, but I was out of apricot jam.

And on the subject of new recipes, here are a few I'm planning on trying out in the next few weeks.

• Chicken Soup with Orzo
• Dressed-Up Sloppy Joes
• Carrot Cake Pancakes
• Pizza Rolls
• Best Frosting Ever
• Sundried Tomato Rissoto
• PW's Pot Roast

I must admit, I'm a sucker for new recipes. My Katie lovingly calls me a recipe nerd, and she's right! (she calls me a medical nerd too, but that's a different story for a different time).

I like to try several new recipes each week! I actually have a hard time finding a balance between making the old standbys and trying out every new recipe that comes my way. Anyone have a great system they'd like to share? I'm all ears!

A Snack Solution: Do You Know The Muffin Pan?

A few year ago, I heard Dr. Sears speak on childhood nutrition, and I really liked what he had to say on this subject.

One of his philosophies was that if you always have healthy snacks out and available, then your kids will eat them. His theory is that if you just provide healthy options and leave kids to themselves, they will eat the healthy food.

He shared an idea for kids' snacks, which I have just recently started implementing in our house, and it's working great!

The idea is to fill the cups of a muffin tin with a variety of healthy snacks each morning, set it on the kitchen table and just let the kids munch away throughout the day.

Here's a photo of our muffin tin.

Please note:

• The piece of bagel in the upper left corner. Bennett insisted on filling one of the cups with the remainder of his breakfast.
• For some reason silly Blogger refuses to post this picture in landscape even though that's how it's saved.
• I doubled up on a few of Bennett's favorite items like grapes and banana chips... I like to live on the wild side.
• Bananas are well represented in this morning's muffin tin, with both the fresh and chip variety in attendance.
• I realize there is only one veggie in this tin. Not to worry... veggies have been better represented in other muffin tins. Some great veggie ideas are: celery sticks with peanut butter, baby carrots, snap peas, etc.

The first day I introduced this, I told Bennett how it worked:

• When he's hungry, he can grab anything he wants from the snack tray.


• When one of the cups is empty, we won't refill it. He has to try something else in the tray if he's still hungry.

He was very excited about it! At first he ate all the "best" snacks (grapes, cheese, banana chips). But after those were gone, he started eating other things he normally wouldn't snack on... like carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes and walnuts. Buy the end of the day, a good amount of the tray was empty, and I was satisfied knowing that he had filled up on super healthy foods.

Play Room Cleanup: Mary Poppins Style, Yo!

You know what our girl Mary always says: "Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down."

Well true dat, Mary P.

Teaching Bennett to clean up his toys has been a struggle. He just hates to clean up. I've tried everything from time-outs, to losing toys, to sticker charts, but we always end up with the same result: a whiny boy, a messy playroom and a frustrated Mama.

So a few weeks ago I decided to take a page from Mary's book and turn clean-up time into a game. And amazingly, it really works!

Here is the bizarre, unorthodox, slightly disturbing game I invented. For some reason, my quirky, funny, creative boy just loves it.

When it's cleanup time, I run into to the play room with a scared look on my face.

Me: "Bennett, Oh No!"

Bennett: "Whatsa matter, Mama?"

Me: "Captain Hook is on his way here to steal all our toys! The only way we can keep him from getting our toys is by putting them away where they go. Come on!"

Bennett: "Hurry! Hurry! Don't let him get my dinosaurs!"

At this point, Bennett starts manically putting away toys while I go set a timer, telling him that Captain Hook should be here in 10 minutes and we need to get all the toys away before the timer dings. We keep telling each other, "Hurry! Hurry!" or "I've got the cars, you get the books!" or my personal-favorite Bennett quote, "Captain Hook's not getting this toy... No Way, Jose!"

Okay, at this point you are probably saying to yourself, "What kind of mother scares her child into cleaning up toys, telling him that an evil villain will steal them all away if he doesn't comply?"

My reply to you nay-sayers is simple: "The kind of mother that wants a clean playroom, that's who!"

Seriously, though, Bennett isn't scared at all. He knows we are just playing pretend, and he thinks Captain Hook is funny, not scary.

Anyway, we are usually just finishing up putting the last few toys away when the timer dings. At this point, I go call out the front door:

"Captain Hook, you can just turn around and go home. All our toys are put away
and you can't have them. You might as well just get back on your ship and sail
home."

Bennett is usually standing behind me with his pirate sword ready to defend our newly clean playroom if need be. But amazingly, Captain Hook usually just goes home without a word. And we go back to our nice, clean playroom with smiles on our faces.

So thank you, Mary Poppins, for the reminder that work doesn't feel like work when you make it fun.

Use-Up Month: An Update

Just a quick update on use-up month...
Things are going swimmingly.

So far I've been able to use up a lot of canned goods that would have probably expired within the next few months.

I made lasagna soup, using up frozen ground beef, canned tomatoes and noodles. This is one of our favorite soup recipes.

I made the aforementioned mandarin orange chicken recipe, and it turned out pretty good. McPreachy seemed to like it.

We somehow had three half-empty bags of tortilla chips in the pantry, so I made chicken nachos the other day! I used canned black beans and frozen chicken breasts that I seasoned, broiled and chopped. They were delish!

I made my friend Katie's pineapple chicken. You make it by sauteing cubed chicken and then adding 1 small can of crushed pineapple and one 1 packet of onion soup mix to the saute pan. That's it... super simple but super delicious!

I've made basics too, like the big batch o' spaghetti I made last weekend. (We've been eating leftovers for the past few nights).

I used up the remains of my meat and cheese drawer by making Monte Cristo sandwiches the other day. They were magical.
Here's how you make 'em:

• Lay down a piece of plain old white bread. Top it with Swiss cheese, ham, turkey and another piece of bread. (You can also add Dijon mustard to the sandwich if you like)
• In a shallow dish, mix together a few eggs and a splash of milk (like you would for French toast). Add salt, pepper and a dash of cinnamon.
• Heat up a skillet or griddle to medium high heat. Butter it 'till it begs for mercy.
• Finally, yep... you guessed it. Carefully dip the sandwiches in the batter, completely coating them. Be careful to keep the sandwich in tact, and place it on the hot griddle. Cook until golden and then carefully flip it (have I mentioned yet that you need to be careful?). Cook until golden on the second side and until the cheese is melted and the sandwich is heated through.
• Slice the sandwich diagonally and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with a dollop (one of my favorite words) of raspberry jam on the side! Enjoy!
• I just also feel the need to mention that Disneyland makes the BEST Monte Cristo sandwiches in the world, and you MUST get one the next time you're there. You can get one at The Blue Bayou or Cafe Orleans.

On the menu for this week:

• Lasagna (I have frozen sausage in my freezer and 3 half-used boxed of lasagna noodles in the pantry.)
• Pizza (another favorite way to clean out the meat and cheese drawer of the fridge.)
• These sandwiches from my favorite website of all time. (I already have bacon and cheese on hand, and I have some frozen hamburger buns I want to use up).
• As you can see, it's low-cal week at the McPreachy home! :0) Come on over if you are in the market to gain 5 pounds.

Whoops.. did I say "quick" update at the beginning of this post? Sorry!

So how are you guys and dolls doing? Anyone else successfully cleaning out the pantry one meal at a time?

January: Use-Up Month

As 2009 comes to a close, I thought I'd share a little plan I'm cooking up for January.

It seems like my cupboards and freezer always get over-stocked during the holiday season with all of the cooking and baking that goes on. And of course in January, we are all pinching our pennies trying to make up for all that spending that we did in December. So... this January I'm going to kill two birds with one stone... or should we say "love-tap" two birds with one stone (I don't really want to kill them). Anyway, in order to get a fresh start in 2010 and save some buckaroos, I'm designating January as "Use-Up Month." The goal of this month, as the name implies, is to buy as little food as possible and use up all the food in my freezer and pantry. Then come February, we will have saved a good chunk o' change, and we will have freed up some space in the pantry and freezer too!


Obviously, I will need to buy some groceries, such as milk, fruit and other fresh items to keep my family healthy. But my goal is to buy as few ingredients as possible and work around what I already have.


To make "Use-Up" month a success, it's going to require a little creativity on my part and a big shift in the way I cook and plan meals. See, usually I go through my recipes and cookbooks, decide which meals I want to make and then purchase the ingredients. This month, everything will be backwards... I'll look at the foods I already have and try to come up with recipes that use those ingredients. I am excited for this fun cooking challenge. I feel like an Iron Chef! Just call me Mario Batali, everyone. I plan on getting a lot of inspiration from web sites like allrecipes.com, where you can type in the ingredients you have on hand and find loads of recipes that use those things.


For instance, I have several cans of mandarin oranges in my pantry, along with tons of rice... so I'm thinking of trying out this delish orange chicken recipe. I also have some evaporated milk and some boxed stuffing mix in my pantry, so I might try this recipe for chicken and stuffing casserole.

Even though it'll be use-up month, there's just NO WAY I can forgo baking for an entire month. These jam bars are a great use-up for the 12 gajillion jars of jam I have accumulated over the last 6 months. The recipe calls for apricot jam, but any old jam will do. (P.S. If you use blueberry jam, they taste exactly like Blueberry Oat Bars from Starbucks! My fave!)

Another item I have loads of is canned pumpkin. I have at least three large cans that I can see, probably more buried in back of the canned goods. I'd like to try this zucchini pumpkin bread, since I also want to make things healthier this month AND I have a whole bag of oat bran I need to use up! Also with pumpkin, I love making the pumpkin oatmeal and pumpkin coffee cake from from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (love this book!). These pumpkin cookies sound divine, and I have all the ingredients on hand already.


I have a few cans of white (cannellini) beans to use up, so I was thinking of making this soup recommended by my friend Gina.



Hopefully by the end of the month, I'll have a few new recipes in my repertoire. And all month long, I'll be updating my extensive readership with the ups and downs of "Use-Up Month," so stay tuned!


For now, I leave you with a "before" pic of my busting-at-the-seams pantry, hopefully to be followed by a much-less-cluttered "after" pic about a month from now!


It's embarrassing to show the extreme messiness of my pantry to the droves of you reading this... but I just gots ta keep it real, yo!

Finally, my dear friends and patriots, I invite you to join me on this adventure! Let's trek across this uncharted territory together.


Happy New Year from my embarrassingly messy pantry to yours!

Faux-Fancy Dessert: Trick Your Friends and Co-horts!

No pics today, friends. But I wanted to share this wonderful idea for a faux-fancy dessert.

In case you hadn't already guessed why I call it faux-fancy, don't worry... I'll clue you in. I take sympathy on people who don't immediately put things together on their own... who stand scratching their heads while everyone else is laughing hysterically. You are not alone; I am one of you.

Anyway... I call this dessert faux-fancy because, like faux-fur...


or a faux-hawk...


...it is only pretending to be fancy when it is really quite simple. (Oh look at me... I said no pictures but I just couldn't help myself!)


Here's what I did when I needed dessert in a snap:

I took a box of one of my favorite fall staples, Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread Mix.

I prepared it according to the package directions and baked it in my mini muffin tin. Which brings us to step one for creating a faux-fancy dessert:

1. Make It Mini!
Have you ever noticed that fancy restaurants always serve tiny little portions? Or think about those darling little mini-tarts or tea sandwiches at tea houses. Those are sooooo faux-fancy! I mean come on, all they are is cream cheese and cucumber slapped between plain white bread. Ahhh, but cut them into cute little triangles and... voila! Fancy little delicacies. So next time you are getting ready to bake up a packaged-mix but you want something a little more special, consider baking them in your mini loaf pans or mini muffin tins.

Next I made a glaze for these darlin' little pumpkins... which brings us to step two for creating a faux-fancy dessert...

2. Top it, Baby!
Create a snazzy topping for your simple, out-of-the-box dessert, and your guests will be none the wiser!
In the case of the mini pumpkins (Hmmm... that sounds like a film noir waiting to happen), I made a quick and simple, yet fancy-sounding glaze. Here's the recipe:

Brown Sugar Caramel Glaze
courtesy of The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn

3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp light brown sugar
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

• Place all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
  
• Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring. Let boil for one minute, stirring often.
• Remove the pan from heat, and let the glaze thicken slightly. Spoon or spread the warm glaze onto the cake (or faux-fancy mini-cakes) of your choice.

So, like I was saying, I whipped up this delicious, DELICIOUS concoction to drizzle over the tops of my cakes... but there is still one more very important step to creating a faux-fancy dessert...

3. Dish It Up!
As with anything, presentation is everything. The way you display your dessert will really determine whether it deserves the title of faux-fancy or not. Even if your dessert isn't anything super special, you can make it special by serving it on a pretty platter and/or giving it a fancy title. On this particular occasion, I wrote out the name of the dessert on a small piece of white card stock and laid it in front of the dish. (I don't always do this, but I know some people don't like pumpkin desserts, so I took this extra step). I called them, "Mini Pumpkin Cakes with Brown Sugar Glaze." Super fancy sounding, but it took no time at all!

So there you have it! 3 easy steps to a fabulous, faux-fancy dessert.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: A DUTIFUL DISCLAIMER
Don't Forget... fanciness is fun and all, but what your guests will remember most is what a gracious hostess you were and how welcome you made them feel in your home. That's what true hospitality is all about. I really do enjoy making things fancy and special for my guests, but not when it overshadows my ability to be truly hospitable. It should be about making your guests feel special, not about impressing everyone with your mad skills (like nunchucks, for instance). And that's my two cents...

Frugal Frannie: Make Your Own Taco Seasoning

I hate to admit it, but I'm not usually the Frugal Frannie of my family. I'm more like Convenient Constance or Aesthetic Annie.

Mc Preachy fills those shoes.

He's very McFrugal.

But I just came across a great money-saving tip, tried it out... and I'm a believer! It's a recipe for taco seasoning that you make yourself to use in chili, taco meat, fajitas, etc. If you're anything like me (Convenient Constance), you probably buy those taco-seasoning packets at the grocery store when you want to whip up your favorite Mexican dishes. The problemo is, those packets can be quite expensive. Well bienvenidos, Frugal Frannie. Welcome to my world. This mix is fabulous and much more budget-friendly.

BONUS: This tip will not only turn you into a Frugal Frannie, it will also make you quite the little Healthy-Hattie. Because those packets at the grocery store are loaded with TONS of salt, MSG and other gross, unpronounceable additives. This mix is au' natural and much more healthy for your family.

Here's the recipe. My one addition was... SALT! Okay, I know I just mentioned Healthy Hattie, but seriously, taco meat needs salt! And look at it this way, even if you add a good amount of salt, it will still not even come close to the amount of salt in one of those store-bought packets. So pat yourself on the back for saving on sodium and then shake it, baby, shake it!

Here's what I'm going to make this week with my sauteed and delish-seasoned ground beef:

Taco Salad a' la' Casey Crocker:

• Romaine lettuce-- washed, dried and chopped
• Ground Beef-- browned and seasoned with homemade taco seasoning mix!
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 avocado, cut up
• tomatoes, chopped
• black olives, sliced
• dressing of your choice (I like spicy ranch for this salad.)
• crushed tortilla chips

Mix all ingredients together and toss. Top with crushed tortilla chips. Enjoy!

My Nordic Friend: Things I've Done While Wearing a Baby Bjorn

I have a best friend. He is Nordic. His name is Bjorn.

Bjorn and I have done lots of fun and interesting things together. Here are just some of the things I have done with him tagging along:

Used the restroom (I'll just get that one out in the open right from the get-go)

Cooked dinner

Eaten dinner at a restaurant

Vacuumed the couch

Made pancakes

Gone on a walk

Gone on a hike (*see photo below)

Carried Bennett upstairs (with Mallie in the Bjorn)

Helped Bennett go potty (Sorry to say, but I think Bjorn got squirted ...)

Cried

Gone grocery shopping

Blow dried my hair

Painted my toenails

Mopped the floor

Watched a Movie (in a movie theater)

Airplane ride

Airport security check

Been utterly humiliated

Taught children at church

Fed the dog

Cleaned up toys

Played cars and trains with Bennett (while Mallie is in the Bjorn)

Played ball with Bennett (while shielding Mallory's head from near-concussions)

Packed boxes

Unpacked boxes

Rehearsed for a stage play (really!)

Checked my e-mail

Put on my makeup

Rocked my babies to sleep (my personal favorite)

Any many more...

I have often been asked how I can devote so much time to domestic things while caring for my newborn baby. The answer, my dears, is simple... and his name is Bjorn!

The picture up top is Bennett when he was around 4 months old. Ahhh... I remember those days, when Bjorn only came out for walks and the occasional fussy moment at the grocery store. Those days are long gone now that we have two kiddos. Bjorn makes an appearance much more often these days. Take for instance...

Our trip to Lake Tahoe, where Bjorn came through yet again. Thanks to my Nordic friend, our over-tired and cranky little Mallory fell asleep, and we were able to stay at the beach and visit with family.

And for the record, McPreachy and Bjorn are buddies too! Especially when we are hiking. (McPreachy doesn't trust me with baby-carrying duty while we are hiking because I am SOOOO klutzy!) So I guess I haven't actually hiked while wearing a Bjorn, but McPreachy has... and according to the Good Book, we are one.

So, I've Finally Joined the Gazillions...

...I've started a blog! My husband (Pastor McPreachy) is not a huge fan of blogs because they tend to be "random diatribes of nothingness" (Pastor McPreachy is quite the philosopher!). I think he has a point. Still... I really want one! Of course, wonderful, supportive husband that he is, he said "Go for it!" when thoughts of this blog popped into my head. Look forward to his philosophical, preachy, book-readin', theology-lovin' comments from here on out!


I am dedicating this blog to the good old domestic life. What can I say, I love to cook. I love to bake. I love raising my kids. I love crafts. I love entertaining. I even love cleaning. But what I love most of all is my family. All of my domestic efforts are really just ways that I make my husband and kids a priority... whether it's cooking for them, cleaning the house, doing the dishes(again) or decorating to make our house an inviting place to come home to. It's my hope to use this blog to chronicle my adventures in suburbia, to share some of the things that make my home a happy place and connect with all the other Suzy Homemakers out there... Happy Home-making!