Anna's 8th Birthday

Birthday morning! After a lovely breakfast out with Mom and Dad we came home to open a few presents. I think she had 3 new kitties by 10 a.m.

We invited a few families over and had a great party for Anna. Obviously a "Kitty" theme with home made pizza, Kitty Chow, games like "Meow, Meow, Who's My Kitten" and "Find the Mice" and, of course, cake!
Meow ...
Anna, our Rachel and Rachel Cana
We also decorated cupcakes to look like kitties.
Rachel Kitty
Jocie Kitty Belonga
Jennie Trudeau

Me ... I don't know why I'm smiling like such a dork but am willing to humiliate myself to show-off the super cute apron my Mom made for me. The Grouchy Ladybug on one side with Texas Bluebonnets on the other ... I love it!

I really did a terrible job taking pictures. The older kids were outside playing volleyball and Mike was juggling Elijah while the other moms and I were juggling pizzas ... no one to play photographer. Anna had 10 little kitties and then there were 10 older kids playing outside. Erin Cana was a great help and painted all the kids faces for me as the guests arrived. Rebekah Belonga was my photographer during the cake and present opening ... if it wasn't for her I think I'd have 3 pictures. A great party indeed!

Paper Bag Popcorn

How did I not know to do this sooner? I remember trying it before but it didn't stick in my noggin!

Put 1/4 cup popcorn in a paper lunch sack;

Fold top over a few times;

Place in microwave for 1 minute and 40 seconds or so;

Pour into bowl;

Add butter and salt;

Repeat until kids are full which may take a long time ... 1 bag is about 2 servings. You can reuse the bag over and over again or use a bigger bag I guess and add more kernels. I just don't happen to have a bigger size paper bag.

One month plan for cheap, healthy meals

You know how you always think, "well, why didn't an older mom tell me that sooner?!" Well, I am an older mom (comparatively) and here's what my menu should have looked like when all my kids were little:

Breakfast:

Oatmeal, Granola or Toast
Fruit
Hard boiled egg or scrambled egg
Yogurt

*Marcy Singer has the best Granola ever!
*Get a bread machine and once or twice a week make a loaf of bread for breakfast. Check out my recipe under Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread.
*Hard boil eggs once or twice a week for fast easy protein.

Oatmeal is cheap, cheap, cheap. Home made bread has gotten such a bad wrap. It is so easy especially if you have a bread machine. I make the dough in the machine and then bake in a real pan in the oven. It literally takes 15 minutes total work time. That's less time than it would take to drive to the store, it costs much less and is healthier. Now we've outgrown the luxury of a bread machine because one loaf of bread is not enough.

Lunch (one of the following):

Baked Potatoes (put them in the crockpot at breakfast and they'll bake while you play)
Bean Burritos on Whole Grain Tortillas (again toss dry beans in the crockpot at breakfast and they'll be soft by lunch ... no soaking just rinse, cover with a lot of water and simmer)
Nachos (Add beans for protein and fiber and top with fresh salsa
Hummus and/or Bean Dip with Pitas and fresh veggies to dip
Sandwiches

*Buy a platter of fresh cut veggies at Costco or Sams each week and use at lunches.

Dinner:

Spaghetti with Sauce from a jar (gasp) ... if you get bored with red sauce use white or change the shape of pasta or use rice instead of pasta or add a chicken breast or ground beef to the sauce.
Spaghetti Squash as a side or to replace the pasta
Broccoli

Taco Style Lentils and Rice made into either tacos or burritos
Lots of fresh veggies for toppings

Burgers
Veggies and Dip

Quiche or Easy Cheese Souffle (I'm posting this recipe soon. Mary thinks it's the best recipe we have.) or Soup (Check out my post about how to make a soup out of anything ...)
Fruit Salad
Rolls or Biscuits

Homemade Pizza
(Another great use for that bread machine ... pizza dough)

In House Date Night, Kids to Bed Early, Take out for Parents, Freezer Meal for the kiddos like chicken nuggets or fish sticks or whatever

Leftovers

Repeat ...

Once every week or so I'd make something fun and different to shake things up but the above is my fall back. That way I don't have to get stressed or fall to the temptation of going out or whatever.

I also will cook something giant on days that I feel really motivated. Like 3 chickens or a huge brisket or a huge pork loin or a ham or a turkey. Then I take all the leftovers and freeze it to use in all of the above. Maybe chicken quesadillas instead of tacos one night or bbq beef sandwiches instead of burgers.

I had to learn what was cheap and healthy because I was raised in a house full of chefs. We did eat things like tuna casserole but we also ate expensive things like flank steak and sea food. Yum! Beans are cheap and the more mouths we've added to the family the more I've added them to dishes instead of meat. Soup is cheap. One chicken can go from a meal to 2 servings of soup ... that's a lot of bang for you buck! Eggs are cheap and with a souffle a little goes a long way! My grocery budget is one of the things I have control over financially. I can't control how much our insurance is or how much our utilities will be but I can control food.

Here are previous posts to help:

http://kathrynscrew.blogspot.com/2008/06/whole-wheat-oatmeal-bread.html
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/tacolentilsrice.htm
http://somanybunnies.blogspot.com/2008/11/tomato-soup.html
http://somanybunnies.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-have-mastered-pizza.html
http://somanybunnies.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-can-turn-anything-into-soup.html

So much to post ... where to start?

I had visions of posting each week once school started but school started and I've had little time. I guess I'll post as I can in big bunches.

It's a cool, rainy morning in North Texas, Pumpkin Cinnamon Flop is in the oven, the little kids are playing in the rain while the bigger kids drag their feet to get ready. My favorite Fernando Ortega "Hymns" cd is playing and it is a lovely morning indeed. So lovely that I can ignore the screeches from Lizzy like, "I just let the kitten outside!" or "Wait for me guys!"

Most mornings are not like this these days. Mondays we have to be out the door by 8:00 for co-op with everyone dressed, fed, lunches packed, projects done and, most stressful, preparation for my classes complete. I can't wing it with other people's children like I would my own! Tuesdays we recover from Monday and get a late start usually resorting to cereal for breakfast. Wednesdays I am typically panicked because we've gotten so little accomplished on Monday and Tuesday and get everyone up early to get busy. (I refuse to do this today so we can enjoy the cool rain.) Thursdays we prepare for the weekend. Friday we clean the house and do school racing so the boys can go to Chess Club at 3:15 and Mary can help Vicki Cana teach dance. I also watch Vicki's kids during dance while making pizza before the boys get home. The boys live for Friday nights when they can play football until after dark with the neighbor kids in our front yard. Despite some of our delinquent neighbor kids it is a fun time. Having something structured to play keeps the delinquency at bay but give the neighborhood kids idle time and look out! So, all that to say, this is a lovely start to the day.

Things on my agenda to post are the first day of co-op, a few new recipes, Elijah in all his spoiled-rotten glory, our trip to Kansas, my trip to Colorado and Josiah's home coming weekend. That's a lot ... I'd better get busy!