Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Mac N Cheese

Let me start with the disclaimer that this is in no way a figure friendly recipe. You could definitely make it healthier (grilled chicken, turkey bacon) but as is it is super fatty. But oh so very delicious!! I will also say that I typically make homemade mac n' cheese but lately have been stocking up on the boxed version due to sale prices and coupons that have made it practically free. This would also be absolutely delicious with homemade mac n' cheese but since I used the box version that is the recipe I will share.

Ingredients:
* 2 boxes Kraft Mac N Cheese (or your favorite brand/homemade recipe)
* 3-5 slices bacon
* 1 pkg ranch dressing mix
* 2 cups shredded chicken (I used fried chicken leftover from a party, but grilled or rotisserie would work great too)

Directions:
1. Cook noodles according to package directions. Layout other ingredients as listed on box (mine called for 1 stick of butter and half a cup of milk).

2. While the noodles are cooking, fry the bacon in a medium skillet until crispy. Remove to paper towels and chop when cooled.

3. Drain bacon grease, turn down heat and add butter. Once melted, stir in cheese packets and ranch dressing mix. Once mixed, stir in milk until well blended. Let simmer until thickened. I added some cream at this point to make it a little creamier. Put in the chicken and bacon and let heat through.

3. Drain the pasta, add it into the cheesy ranch mixture. Stir and enjoy!

I wish you could taste the ranchy, bacony, cheesy goodness of this through the computer!! Truly yummy:) Be prepared for some continued twists on the plain old boxed mac n' cheese as we have quite a few boxes stored up. There is some serious brainstorming going on around here!

Peaches N Cream Crockpot Oatmeal

A few weeks ago my cousin posted a recipe for oatmeal in the Crock Pot that she was raving about. So I decided to give it a shot. Something I can throw in a pot the night before and have waiting for us at breakfast time the next morning? SOLD!! After trying and loving it the plain way (seriously this is creamy good oatmeal) I decided to spice it up for dinner tonight and make a peaches and cream version. It turned out sweet and delicious and makes me excited to try some other variations.

PEACHES N CREAM CROCK POT OATMEAL

Ingredients:
* 4 cups old fashioned oatmeal, separated
* 9 cups water
* 1/3 cup vanilla creamer
* 1 large peach, diced (could use canned peaches as well)
* brown sugar for topping (optional)

Directions:
1. Combine 3 cups oatmeal with 9 cups water in a 5 to 6 quart Crock Pot. Cook on low for 8 hours.
2. After 7 1/2 hours stir oatmeal and add in additional cup of oatmeal, peaches and creamer. Stir. Top with brown sugar if desired.
3. Replace lid and let cook for another 20 to 30 minutes. I usually turn down the heat to warm at this time as well.
4. Serve and enjoy!

This makes quite a bit of oatmeal but I only have the large crockpot right now so this is the amount I make in it. It could easily be cut in half or third for a smaller crockpot. I also find it nice to have the leftovers. We keep it in the fridge and then reheat it in the microwave, adding milk to reconstitute the oatmeal. I am thinking of trying apples and cinnamon as well as bananas with walnuts and caramel. Any other ideas?

Put away, throw away, give away

I have been blogging lately about trying to get organized in my life. While I have backslid a little in some of the daily cleaning habits I had developed, I am overall still on track. I feel like the definite success has been in looking at our life as a whole and deciding where overhauls need to happen. About two weeks ago my husband mentioned wanting to make our time more intentional. This turned into one of those all night discussions where we made big plans and went to sleep feeling totally satisfied with all we had agreed upon. The big points revolve around us making the most of our family time. We have been setting a not so good example for our children of indulging our whims and putting off the "have to or should do" stuff. We decided that a work before play mandate needed to be set for our household. The best way that we thought of to make our time more intentional was to sit down once a week and map out the following week. We plan a few projects, some for the grown-ups and some for the whole family to do together. Family work projects are always followed by something fun (park, board game, etc) to motivate us to get it done. We also plan one night for us to spend time together, not that we don't spend most every night together, but again this being intentional time spent together. Along with all of this we are trying to curb our bad habit of blowing off previously thought up dinner plans to eat out. I meal plan and always have a weeks worth of meals in the house but we tend to indulge our lazy/gluttonous side by eating out and wasting food we already have and money we don't have. So we are trying to make new habits there. Oh yes, and our daily twice daily Starbucks runs had to go as well so we are once again doing the at home coffee thing. When your 3 year old can recite daddy's Iced Venti Quad Skinny Caramel Latte, you know you make coffee runs too often!

Our family work project today was to tackle Nathan and Jordan's room which looked like Hurricane Katrina had her way with it. And for all you could tell by looking at it, it had been a good 5 years since I tidied up in there because it was truly a mess. We had told the boys the game plan for the day and at lunch we explained how the clean up was going to go. We were going to be putting stuff where it belonged, throwing away the broken toys and giving the stuff they don't play with anymore to Goodwill. That of course elicited the "you are giving our stuff away??!!" response which led to a teachable moment (elementary ed major here....LOVES the teachable moment:). We took this time to talk to them about how fortunate we are and that other families aren't as lucky as us to have so much stuff. We explained to them how we are to live like Jesus and that He gave everything he had to others and that we needed to be willing to do the same. They were okay with that for the most part and the discussion continued on in a fairly productive manner. When it came time to actually put the first item in the give away box we asked Jordan to hug his Tickle Me Elmo and put him in the box so that another kid could have the chance to love him. He was such a big boy about it! Nathan followed in suit with the next item and before we knew it the room was tidy, the garbage bag was overflowing and we had some gently loved toys to pass on to the Goodwill. After that we were able to enjoy a few hours at a park on the river and it felt good knowing we had earned it. It felt even better knowing that we had passed on some valuable life lessons to our kids in the process.

Homemade Baby Wipes

 I finally got low enough on wipes to try out this "recipe" for homemade baby wipes. It was super easy and I had everything on hand but the paper towels. I am extremely happy with the end results, they clean really well. The only downfall from regular wipes is packaging. I started by keeping them in old wipe containers but they wouldn't dispense right since the roll was so big and it was still in a circle instead of layered like regular wipes. I am currently keeping them in a Ziploc which works well. I recommend unrolling some so they are easy to grab in situations where you are in a hurry. If you are wanting to pack them in a diaper bag, pull some off and put them in a sandwich size Ziploc bag or an old travel size wipe container.

Here is the recipe I followed:
*1 cup hot water
*1/4 cup baby oil
*1/8 cup baby lotion
*1/8 cup baby wash
*1 roll Bounty Paper Towels (Everything I read said you MUST use Bounty, they are the only ones that hold up to this. I didn't have baby wash so I used baby shampoo and that worked just fine)

-I actually doubled this putting it in two separate bowls and pouring it over each half. That seemed to saturate the towels just right for me, but you can just use the above mentioned on both halves and it would work well too.

Directions:
1. Cut paper towel roll in half, remove cardboard. *I did this using a serrated knife. My counter looked like the cats had got into the paper towel roll when I was done with it but it got the job done. Let me know if you find something that works better for you.
2. Mix the solution.

3. Insert paper towel in container.

4. Pour solution over entire roll. Seal and let sit overnight. *This will be very oily if you try to use it too soon. I checked it after about 10 hours and it was still very oily. Letting it sit for an entire 24-48 hours seemed to be the best. I then moved it into a Ziploc for easier access.

Those of you who would like to make reusable baby wipes check out this bloggers version.

Edited to add cost analysis as requested:
*Obviously you can use any number of products from dollar store brand to natural brands, which would change the cost ratio. For the purpose of this blog I based this on Johnson and Johnson products. The wipes can also be bought at various prices but I chose to compare to Huggies.

Homemade cost:
-Johnson and Johnson's Baby Oil (20 oz) = 3.74
-Johnson and Johnson's Baby Wash (28 oz) = 4.99
-Johnson and Johnson's Baby Lotion (27 oz) = 4.99
-Bounty Paper Towel (1 regular roll w/ 56 sheets) = 1.97

2 oz of baby oil = 0.37
1 oz of baby wash = 0.18
1 oz of baby lotion = 0.18
1 roll bounty = 1.97
               TOTAL = 2.70 , since you cut the roll in half you get a total of 112 wipes. That comes to a cost of   0.02411 per wipe


Store bought cost:
Huggies wipes (2 pack with 72 wipes per pack) = 6.50 , with 144 wipes in the two packs that comes to a cost of 0.04514 per wipe.


So in general it costs about half as much to make your own. Pretty good deal if you ask me! 

A fresh start

As we get ready to head off to buy school supplies for the boys, I can't help but reminisce about my school days. I always loved that time at the end of summer when we went off to pick up all of our new school supplies for the year. Whether it was elementary school when I was organizing my pencil box or high school when I was making a folder for each class and putting clean sheets of notebook paper into my 3-ring binder, it always gave me a little rush. Some of you may be whispering screaming NERD and maybe there is some truth in that but I think it speaks for my optimistic side. New school supplies always meant new school year which meant new beginnings. A chance to start fresh, to have a clean slate. I would always resolve to make this the year that I stayed on top of everything. Then there was the possibility of new friendships and new crushes *swoon*. And of course new clothes were like the cherry on top of the sundae.

I wrote yesterday how Nathan had my same crazy love for school supplies. He has yet to actually experience school so I know they don't hold the same meaning for him yet but I can just see that he too will be a nerd optimist when it comes to school. I hope that each year will be full of excitement for the possibilities it brings and that he takes the opportunity to embrace each new beginning. Watching them grow can be hard it times but I love how it brings me right back to that time in my life. It lets me linger for awhile in a place that is long gone. It is that gift of seeing the pieces of myself that live on in my children. 


Unwrapping with Emily:


  

Letting life happen

This weekend we received a letter from our son's preschool. He was to be starting his first year in September but it turns out the program did not get enough interest and they weren't going to be able to keep it going. My initial reaction was shock. Then anger and frustration. Finally the worrying set in. How were we going to get him into a school this late in the game? What weighed even heavier on my heart was how were we going to tell him? He has been psyched about starting preschool since we signed him up in March. Many of his strides in potty training (wiping himself, standing to pee, putting back on his own pants and underwear) were because he wanted to be ready for preschool. He has talked about it nonstop and I did not want to break his little heart.

In the midst of all this emotion I stopped to pray. My favorite verse to pray when I am worried is Matthew 6:25-27. I realized that this too is a minor bump in the road and that I needed to put it in God's hands. Jeremy and I discussed it at length and decided that I would just home school him for preschool. He is a very independent learner and I don't worry at all about him being prepared for kindergarten academically. The one area I do worry about is socially. I always said that if I stayed home with my kids I would put them in preschool so they could get used to another adult's authority and interacting with other kids. So we decided to use the money we put away for this year of school and sign him up for extracurricular activities. He is starting Soccer Tots in September and we are looking into Karate. We definitely plan to do swim lessons as that was going to be something he learned at preschool and we want him to learn to swim as he is seriously fearless when it comes to the water. That combined with his weekly classroom experience at church makes me feel good about the social aspect of things.

I still feel bad having to break the news to him. He will be bummed. But we are going to soften the blow by taking him shopping for his very own school supplies. Believe me, he will love this! He is a little nerd like me and when we were filling backpacks for our church he went crazy over the school supplies. I am also going to make a routine for school time. He likes things structured and I think making it as much like school as possible will be good for him. I am planning to use this curriculum (recommended by one of my friends and a fellow blogger) and am thrilled that it is Christian based. It also includes two workbooks so Jordan can join in if he wants to.

After having worked this all out I feel such peace about this change. It is not what I had originally planned. It wasn't my first choice. But it feels right. I can see that this could be a huge blessing in our home. I get more time with my boys and I think that getting to spend the time teaching them will feel amazing. My degree is in teaching and I always thought I would focus more time on the boys' learning. I teach them a lot but it has never been a focused thing and I have kind of felt guilty about that. Not because anyone has made me to feel that way, it has just been a self-induced guilt. This is Nathan's last year at home full time before school starts so I am going to soak it up. I know that I am lucky to have this option of being home with my kids and teaching them myself. Not everyone has that option so for that I am thankful. I am sure this will have its ups and downs but I am choosing not to worry. God's word reminds me that I don't have to!




 

That kind of dad

I am one of the lucky ones. I ended up with a man who not only is an amazing husband, but is also an incredible father. The kind of dad that the boys will brag about one day when they realize how truly lucky they are. The kind of dad that I was blessed enough to have and that I hope my sons turn out to be. Really it is the seemingly small things that make a great dad. Yesterday for instance; Jeremy had been up 24 hours because of night shift and came home to get 5 hours of sleep but asked to be woken up so he could take us to Kids Day (something the boys had been BEGGING us to go to for 2 weeks). He was tired and would have been justified in sleeping in, but knew it was important to his sons and chose to sacrifice for them. There is no way they are able to comprehend what he did for them, but one day they will know. I know. And it fills me up with such great joy.

I made sure to tell him in the simplest text while he was at work last night. He responded in typical man fashion with a brief "Thanks," but I knew it really meant something when I woke up this morning to a box of doughnuts with a note attached saying how much that text had made his night. I am so glad I followed my heart and spoke out loud what I was thinking. It seems so often it is much easier to tell him the things I don't like or the areas that he could do better but those times when he really shines just pass by with nothing said. This is my attempt to spend more time focusing on the good. Realizing what I am so lucky to have. Love you babe!!