Recipe Corner: Oven Roasted Veggies!!

This is a HUGE family favorite 

around this house!

We have discovered that this is a wonderful

way to cook and serve

veggies 

and 

ALL the kids LOVE them!

We have used this method for all

sorts of veggies:

brussel sprouts

asparagus

broccoli & cauliflower mix

green beans

Our two favorites are 

the broccoli & cauliflower mix

and 

the green beans.

Enjoy!

Let me know what you think!!

Oven Roasted Green Beans

The players:

(salt, pepper, olive oil & thyme leaves)

(2-12 oz pkgs of WHOLE green beans)

Preheat oven to 425°.

Dump *whole* green beans out onto foil lines cookie sheet.

Sprinkle with olive oil

then toss.

Then spread beans out into a SINGLE layer

on cookie sheet.

Liberally sprinkle with salt, pepper & dried thyme.

(my family goes through 2-12 oz packages a meal!)

Bake for about 10 minutes

then toss

and bake another 10 minutes.

And this is what you get!

Sometimes I will mix it up and add

slivered onion

or mushrooms!

Oven Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower

1 pkg frozen Baby Broccoli

1 pkg frozen Cauliflower Florets

4 tbsp Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

1 tbsp Dried Thyme

- Preheat oven to 425°

- Spread frozen veggies out on foil lined cookie sheet

in one even layer

- Drizzle with olive oil (approx 4 tbsp)

- Mix with hands to coat veggies

- Sprinkle liberally with salt & pepper

- top with approx 1 tbsp dried thyme

- Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes

- Stir halfway through

Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese if desired!

*Tip:  Follow your nose!  Your nose will tell you when 

they are getting done and when they need to be tossed.

Pinewood Derby

A few weeks ago,

we were blessed with the opportunity to

participate in the annual

Cub Scout Pinewood Derby!!

This was our second year participating

and we are all learning how to do this!

Daddy jumped on line and allowed the boys

to peruse a few websites full of pictures

to get some ideas of how they wanted their

cars to look.

We let Ms. Priss pick out a design too.

Daddy picked Mr. T's design for him.  ;)

Daddy cut all of the cars out 

then the kids got to paint!

(J looks SO young here!)

Look how hard Mr. T is working!!

Then daddy discovered a little trick

to get it to go faster 

(I think).

It required a drill

and 

sand paper.

So he and R got to work

fixing 

16 "axles".

Daddy even put Hello Kitty 

in the driver's seat of Ms. Priss' car!

Then we headed off to the races!

J had a hot rod!

He won almost every race he was in!

 Look at all this excitement and 

anticipation!!

What a proud car owner!  

R wasn't quite as lucky with his car.

And he was very disappointed.

Especially after watching his 

younger siblings do so well.  

But we did our best to remind

him that he came up with the design,

he designed his car,

from scratch!

He was proud of how his car looked!

So we attempted to lessen the disappointment as

much as we could.

Mr T and Ms. Priss did GREAT with

their cars too!

Mr. T proudly held his winning car up for all to see!

Daddy modeled Mr. T's after his truck.

J won first place (out of 6) in his den.

Ms. Priss got second place in the 

"open" division.

She was up there with two grown men!

But being my husband's child,

(and tired)

she was NOT at all satisfied with her medal!

She wanted a trophy!

She was not happy with coming in second place!

There was no reasoning with an almost 4 yo girl.

So we just let her have her moment.

Then she was over it and feeling better.

Mr. T passed out,

so this is all we could get out of him 

posing with his car.

 He did wake up right before we left

so I snapped a quick

group pic with their cars

and awards!

Recipe Corner: Steel Cut Oatmeal - fiasco!

Well, 

this is more of a
"What Wasn't For Breakfast"

post.

A few weeks ago,

we got an insert in the Sunday paper 

from our local 

(and ONLY)

grocery store

full of recipes

and 

ideas

for back to school.

I am always looking for ideas.

I don't like being stuck in a rut.

I saw an interesting recipe

for an oatmeal.

My kids like oatmeal,

all 4 of them.

I thought I would give it a shot.

I had most of what we needed,

except steel cut oats.

Here is the recipe:

The ingredients:

(I used dried cranberries instead of fresh)

I combined most of the ingredients,

Except the oats:

Then put everything

and the oats into the slower cooker,

right before I went to bed

I gave it a quick taste,

tasted good!

I was excited!

Got up the next morning,

and it didn't look right.

The recipe stated that you might

have to add a little milk to get it to 

the right consistency.

So I did...

and I did...

and I did...

Still didn't look like the picture.

The hubs said it appeared overcooked.

But I did it how the recipe said.

I couldn't figure out what happened!

Then it hit me...

There was an extra 1 1/2 c of water

required but it was not listed in the ingredients...

it was in the instructions...

I FORGOT THE WATER!!!

I am hesitant to try this one again...
I still have the steel cut oats
sitting in my pantry...
waiting to be used on SOMETHING!

I might have to give this one another try...
maybe...

Finally 2013

Yep,

my posts are FINALLY

up to events that happened in 2013!

But...

I am back to the beginning of January...

so only about 45 days behind.  

Aye!

I had to share two little snip-its in this post.


Game Time

Santa brought us a couple of new family

games this year.

One of them was 

Suspend

by Melissa & Doug

I like just about anything

Melissa & Doug...

We played this one while we were waiting

for our 

Turducken

to cook.

It is a game of
strategy
and
balance
and
concentration.
And by the looks of that tongue...
he was concentrating
pretty hard here!

There wasn't a whole lot of strategizing going on

with the two younger ones playing.

But daddy and mommy had fun anyways!

Another Milestone

While we were visiting in NC,

Mr. T started climbing out of the crib

that my folks had!

He would surprise us by coming into 

the room we were in

AFTER

I had put him in the bed!

I knew his crib days were numbered

when we got back to Texas!

Oddly,

he didn't try to climb out of "his" crib.

But when I started to realize that he

was the only one of our children still in a crib

at this age...

I decided to start figuring out the transition.

R got kicked out of the crib at about 20 months old,

we wanted him good and out before the next baby arrived.

R graduated to the bottom bunk on a set of bunkbeds.

Then J didn't get kicked out,

but when he was around 2,

we promoted him to the bunkbeds too!

Then A got kicked out of the crib at about 18 months old,

for Mr. T.

So here he was, 2 yrs and 3 months

and still in a crib...

it was time.

And he was using is as a tramopline!

So that was it.

I hunted CL for a toddler bed,

but they are expensive!

And we have an entire bedroom set for the crib...

I would have to replace the entire room

and that just wasn't in the budget

(and I might or might not be alittle attached to this furniture).

So I started hunting for a railing to put on his crib,

after taking the side off.

Those, too, aren't cheap!

Even on CL!

Then guess what I found in a closet!

I thought it was going to be too big,

we have used it on big beds in the past...

but it was PERFECT!

So daddy took the side off,

we put the railing on

and 

viola!

He can get in and out by himself!

He was so excited and feels like such a big boy!

And yes,
this is a double edged sword...
he can get in
AND OUT
by himself,
so now we have 4 kids
that can pitter patter their way
into our room
to my side of the bed
and wake me up in the middle of the night.
But I wouldn't have it any other way!
{sigh}