Super easy recipes

These are my two go-to recipes when I haven't planned ahead or I get home late and need something fast and easy.

Stir-fry

1 pkg. kielbasa or turkey sausage (the kind that is kind of horseshoe shaped)
2 pkg. frozen stir fry vegetables (Whatever kind your family likes best)
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
cooked rice

Serves 5 or 6
First, cut the kielbasa into thin slices and cook in a frying pan on med-high heat until browned on both sides (flip after a few minutes to brown each side. Then add the frozen stir fry vegetables and soy sauce. Turn down the heat to medium and cover. Let cook until vegetables are cooked crisp-tender. Serve on top of rice. This takes about 15-20 minutes total...unless I use the rice cooker not minute rice and then it is 35 minutes for the rice to cook and I wait until the rice has been cooking 10 minutes to start everything else.
This is something my mom cooked for us growing up.


Easy but good chili

1 can Nally (or your favorite brand) chili
1 can red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained... these are optional...but they add more fiber and we like them)
1 clove garlic
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 pound cooked ground beef (optional)
1-2 tsp. taco seasoning

Pour everything into a pot and let it simmer for 20 or more minutes. Stir ocassionally. Add cheese on top and serve. Great with fritos sprinkled on top or served with cornbread.

Don't know exactly where I got this recipe...it's slightly possible that I kind of created it myself... but it's good and easy.

Recipes we love

From time to time, I add a recipe or two that we love. Here are a few of our favorites. I, unfortunately, can't take real credit for any of them...I'm quite good at following a recipe but haven't invented any recipes of my own. (Michelle wants me to add yet...although I really have little confidence that I will ever truly invent a recipe of my own...I ocassionally make small tweaks to existing recipes but nothing too original).


One of our very favorites... St. Paul’s Rice (by Carol Stone)..My friend Rachel sent this to me..from one of her friends

1 1/2 lb. sausage (any mild, ground sausage)

Crumble, fry, and drain.

2 pkg. Lipton noodle soup (I usually only put one)
4 1/2 c. water
3/4 c. rice

Place the soup mix, water, and rice in a saucepan and boil for 7 minutes.

5 ribs celery
1 green pepper
1 onion
1/4 t. garlic powder
pepper
1 pkg. slivered almonds (I usually forget these...great with or without)

Chop the celery, green pepper, and onion and mix together in a large bowl. Add the sausage and the rice mixture and mix well. Put into a greased 13 x 9 pan and bake for 1 hour at 350˚, uncovered. The last 15 minutes sprinkle with the almonds. Serves about 8.

Another recipe from Rachel's friend's cookbook:
Tender Baked Parmesan Chicken (Sylvia Ruggieri)

1/2 c. Hellmann’s mayonnaise
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/3 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
2 T. Italian dressing
1/2 c. Italian seasoned bread crumbs
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/2 lb.)

Combine mayonnaise, cheese, garlic powder, and Italian dressing. Spread chicken with mayonnaise mixture, then coat with crumbs. Arrange chicken on baking sheet. Bake at 425˚ for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and tender.

DO NOT substitute miracle whip for mayo - there is a taste difference. The chicken pairs well with the rice above.


Woodland Park Italian Beef
from Don't Panic...Dinner's in the Freezer cookbook

2-3 lb. beef roast (pot, chuck or rump roast)
2 large onions sliced
1-2 green peppers sliced or diced
16 oz. jar of Pepperncini peppers with juice, sliced (the recipe calls for 2 jars, but I think 1 jar is plenty)
1/2 -1 cup water
1 tsp. ground pepper,sprinkled on roast

French rolls, sliced
provolone cheese slices

Cut roast into chunks (about 4 x4) Put roast into large roasting pan with green onion and green pepper. Sprinkle with pepper. Pour jar of pepperoncini peppers and wanter over meat. Bake at 275 for 5 hours. When meat is done and tender, shred with 2 foks. Turn oven to 200 and return beef to pan and stir in the juices and let sitin oven for 1 hour. Then serve on rolls with a slice of cheese. Add pepperoncini peppers and juice to give it extra flavor...for my kids I serve the meat and cheese without the added peppers. The meat has a yummy flavor.

(I also often will throw this in the crockpot instead of the oven and just cook it about 7-8 hours on low...probably 4-5 or so on high.)

Wii had a great Christmas...

in which my kids received 7 new Wii games along with plenty of other gifts and toys. Michelle was excited to receive makeup and clothes and two webkinz. Ella's biggest gift was her much anticipated kitchen. Gabby, on the other hand, just wanted a pink zhu zhu, which Santa happily gave her. Perhaps one of the most special gifts was that we got a piano.

Christmas Eve

As is tradition, we spent Christmas Eve with Alfredo's extended family. It was a lot of fun. We went home at 2 in the morning. Long, but fun night.

Sensitive

My girls are sensitive...which is mostly a good thing...but not always. Two examples I wanted to remember. On Tuesday, I picked up the kids from their after school program. My friend Brenda picked her daughter up at the same time so we were walking outside together. The kids were being silly as they climbed in the car, and Ella hurt Michelle accidentally (it has already slipped my mind how). Anyway, both girls burst in to tears. My friend Brenda exclaimed, "Oh, no, what happened to Ella?" since we knew how Michelle got hurt. I explained that she was crying because she hurt Michelle. She always cries when she hurts one of her sisters...It didn't even phase me when she began to cry because it is so typical.

Last week, Michelle was reading Marvin Redpost: Why Pick on Me. In the book, one bully starts saying that Marvin picked his nose although he really didn't. The other kids all start teasing him, his two best friends stop playing with him, and even the teacher writes on his report card that he is having social issues because the kids don't like his unsanitary habits and lack of personal hygiene. Michelle was sobbing by the middle of the book. She started saying, "This is horrible. HORRIBLE! Horrible. Those kids are so mean. He should tell the teacher what they've done. The teacher should help him. But she believes the other kids. This is so horrible. I hate those kids." Fortunately, by the end of the book Marvin solves his problem and they all learn a valuable lesson. But it was the first time Michelle had been moved to tears by a book. She really felt empathy for the characters (well, at least Marvin). I have seen similar reactions from her when real life situations happen as well.

64 Years

I'm behind on my blogging. So I'm going to try to catch up a bit this weekend. I wanted to be sure to include photos and write about my grandparent's 64th wedding anniversary. We were able to have a nice family dinner with them. My grandparents (my dad's parents) are very special to me. As young children, we lived only a couple of miles from them. My grandma was our babysitter after school while my parents worked. We spent daytime summers at their house and often visited on weekends. Their home was a second home to me, and I was very close to them. They are such wonderful people. My grandpa was always such a hard worker. He also loved to tell jokes. He was a Bishop and even years later people came to him for advice and counsel. He was also a kind and gentle man. My grandma was such a kind woman. She regularly did things to help others...she babysat many of her grandchildren as well as a few neighbor's children and had her own children and grandchildren live with her at various times (my mom, sisters and I moved in with my grandparents after my parents divorced). She had a good friend that was disabled who she would run errands for, take to doctor appointments, and help in other ways on a regular basis. I remember her telling me that she usually prayed that the Lord would give her an opportunity to serve someone and that nearly every day He did. She spent her life in service. My grandparents aren't/weren't perfect, but they are good people whom I love and admire.

Now they are near the end of their lives. Their health is deteriorating and their memories are slipping. But it was wonderful to spend some time with them to celebrate 64 years of marriage...to see them hold hands and to see them look at each other with love in their eyes. When I go to visit them, they usually stay near each other...when one goes to bed, the other follows. When one of them goes to watch tv, the other is nearby, watching tv or reading. Their love for one another is clear.







My kids also got to open their Christmas gifts from their grandpa, my dad. Grandpa Bryan got Gabrielle a zhuzhu pet Wii game along with a zhu zhu pet...a perfect gift for her. Michelle and Ella got the Super Mario Bros. Wii game and Lego Harry Potter Wii game. They love them!


My Uncle Dan and Aunt Suzanne were there, along with my cousins Melissa and Emily. My kids had a great time with Melissa and Emily. They've always really been good to my kids.



It was such a special night.

Hungry

A common refrain when Gabby is around is "I'm hungry." She is (often, not always) a bottomless pit. Where she puts all the food is anyone's guess because she is quite petite. But anyway...

Yesterday morning when she woke up, she grabbed one foot and said, "My toes are hungry for cereal." Then she grabbed her other foot and said, "These toes are hungry for pancakes." Too funny!