Tuesday, February 26, 2013

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.







Sunday, February 24, 2013

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!







Thursday, February 21, 2013

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...

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

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 
by Melissa & Doug

I like just about anything
Melissa & Doug...

We played this one while we were waiting
for our 
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}