Happy Birthday To My Girl!

Today is my daughter's 8th birthday. We spent the day at the American Girl place in LA Yesterday. I made reservation for her cafe lunch with her best friend and their dolls. Her Cousin Emma that she is very close too, came down with the flu and was unable to make it, we sure did miss her. The lunch was absolutely beautiful. The way the table was set, the perfect service, it was awesome and the little girls were made to feel like princesses. After lunch the girls went shopping. Alexis got a new doll for her birthday, the Rebbecca Doll. I took a bunch of pictures of her day, so I hope you enjoy her day at The American Place:)

Week 4

This is my Topsy Turvy at week 4. It is has grown quite a bit since week one. I am very happy with it's growth. I have noticed about 5 buds so far.

Easy Sourdough Starter.

Okay, so I did some research on the net and found a recipe that looks pretty simple and easy, so we shall see if it works. I just started it today. All it was, was one cup of flour and one cup of warm water~~I used bottled.

Here is the website, I got the recipe from. You have to peek at this website, tons of recipes on it:)

Sourdough Starter

It says that in 7 days after doing everything I am supposed to I should be able to make sourdough bread. Oh, I hope this works~~Wish my luck...LOL.

Also, I looked at You Tube and watched a few vidoes of how to do it too.

Washing!

Yesterday, I cleaned out the pantry and the shelf in the garage and the second refrigerator. I had a bunch of canisters that had little to nothing in them, so I spent today cleaning all of them up, getting them ready to fill up. I had one filled with wheat flour, that I don't even remember how long it had been in there. I bought the wheat flour in hopes of making whole wheat bread, but when I made it, it always came out very unfluffy, not like the whole wheat bread I get from the store. If you have a whole wheat recipe that comes out great, PLEASE, give me the recipe:) Sourdough is my favorite, but I have yet to learn how to make that too. I need a tried and true recipe for starter and the bread.

I also went through Tony's room and CLEANED it, and yes he knows I do this, and he actually is very happy when it is all done, until he messes it up again. I wasn't the neatest teenager either, always having junk piles every where, but now that I am a grown woman, I love a neat and tidy home. If only I could get it all neat and tidy at once...LOL.....I get the kitchen spotless, and then I go to the living room and clean that and then BAM the kitchen needs cleaning again, LOL..it is a never ending cycle. . I am sure you know how that goes.

...and, don't even get me started on the laundry:) I just adore being a wife and mother, everything about it!!!!

Happy Thursday!

Chicken again for dinner:)

Wednesday!

This post contains a lot of TMI~~~So if you have a tender tummy stop reading now. (it isn't that graphic, but you never know)

In the middle of the night on Friday, I got up to use the restroom and as I was walking into the bathroom in the dark with just the faint light from the window, I slid across the floor---I quickly turned on the light to see vomit all over my bathroom, projectile vomit. I quickly cleaned my feet up and ran to my daughter, she was sick, but able to finally sleep. I then cleaned the bathroom, oh, it was EVERYWHERE. You know that feeling when you are so sick and you just can not make it into the bathroom quick enough. So all Saturday she stayed in bed and I tried to give her the Bratt diet~~~Bananas, Rice, Apples, Toast and Tea. All she wanted was popsicles, so popsicles she got. By Sunday she was feeling better, but I still made her rest and by Monday she was feeling great. Well, she was feeling great, but when I woke up Monday my tummy was very queasy, I mean very! I called my husband and told him how bad I felt. I was supposed to do a few things out of the house, but I just could not force my self to drive, the nauseousness was terrible, and I was scared to drive feeling that way. At about 11:30, I was starting to feel better, I even made a few posts here about my recent makings in the kitchen, and then come 5:00 when I was doing dinner, thank goodness it was leftovers, steak and chicken from Father's day. It was easy for me to warm up, and soon after I prepared dinner, I was very dizzy and had to lay down. About 7:00 is when all the vomiting started, I lived in that bathroom until 1:00 in the morning. My mouth was so dry and I was so thirsty, I would drink a glass of water and in a few minutes it would come right back up. When I thought, I had nothing else to give, bam here it came again. This is probably the sickest I have ever been. I was finally able to lay down at about 1:00 when my baby started to vomit. He vomited once, I cleaned him and he went back to sleep, I proceeded to watch him through the night, because I was scared. Well, that is all he did and he seemed to be himself that next day. I gave him a nice warm bath to make sure he was all clean. I was able to take a shower and do a little housework. My husband stopped at the grocery store for me (remember Tuesday's are usually the day I go) ...and he picked up the grocery's, rather fun grocery's I might add. We always say he is the fun shopper...LOL. He also grilled dinner last night. He made ribs, and I made salad and threw some asparagus in the steamer and baked potatoes in the oven. That was easy. I was able to eat a salad and then I went off to bed at 7:00, I was exhausted.

I think that is the hardest part about being a wife and mother, no matter how bad we feel or how sick we are, life is still happening all around us and we have to do what we have to do to take care of our children, especially when our husbands are hard at work. I know my husband wanted nothing more then to stay at home with me, but he just couldn't. My kids were pretty easy. While I lay on the couch little Kevin just rolled and flopped all over me playing with his toys...LOL.

Kevin seemed to have got just a touch of it, he never threw up, but he was feeling Ill on Saturday...and Tony, He NEVER gets sick anymore, thank goodness:) Well, that is what has been happening these past few days.

My husband was also out of town for a week, he was in Florida and then to Oregon on Business the second week of June. I don't like to post when he is not here. I am just so happy when he gets back home.

Tonight for dinner, we are going to have grilled Chicken for dinner, my husband got a super deal on chicken breasts, buy one get one free. So I will make that with Corn on the cobb (Is it cobb or cob?) and rice. I would make mashed potatoes but I am out and I am not going to the store until tomorrow, too much to catch up on here~~and my husband bought plenty for us for awhile, but I do need some miscellaneous things, like potatoes, and creamer and things like that.

Well, did you manage to get this far?
You all have a fantastic Wednesday!!!!

Bisquick Easy Cheeseburger Pie

Bisquick was on sale the other day, so I decided to try one of their recipes, the hamburger pie. It came out wonderful and tasted good too:)
Ingredients
1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1. Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.
2. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in salt. Spread in pie plate. Sprinkle with cheese.
3. In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients with fork or wire whisk until blended. Pour into pie plate.
4. Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Bake 30 to 35 minutes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I served the pie with a fresh green salad and some baby peas:)

Homemade Rice A Roni

Years ago, I saw Rachael Ray make homemade Rice a Roni, I can't find her recipe on the net any more, but this is how I make it:) I made it the other night for my side dish at dinner, it comes out very good:) I also add salt and pepper to taste.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 pound pasta, vermicelli or spaghetti~~Broken up into small bits
1 cup long grain rice
2 cups chicken or beef broth
Directions
Begin by placing the oil in a pot and breaking the dried noodles into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces. Turn on the heat and stir the noodles in the oil until they begin to brown slightly. Add the rice and mix all together for a few more minutes, then add the broth. Stir mixture, cover tightly, and cook as you would regular rice, approximately 20 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork and serve.

Topsy~Turvy~~Week 3

Ciabatta Bread Update:)

This is what the dough looked like after 18 hours of rising This is the bread right out of the oven

Look how nice and rustic it looks on my cutting board.

Look at the inside--It tasted wonderful. I still have some left, so I think it would make perfect croutons!

Thanks for looking and let me know if you make this bread. I will definitely be making this again, and again, and again....:)
Oh just in case you missed it, the recipe and video on how to make this bread is in the post below this one.
Happy Wednesday!

No Knead Ciabatta Bread~~This looks Awesome!

I am going to try this!! This bread looks so good, and easy to make:)



Ingredients:
4 cups bread flour (I used 3 1/2 cup white and 1/2 cup wheat)
*Note: you can use All-purpose flour if you want
1/4 tsp yeast
2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp salt

One Week Later

Here is my Topsy~Turvy just after one week of planting it. It has grown a lot in one week, Oh, I hope this works!
Can you see the little bud?



Happy Sunday!

Eat the Colors of the Rainbow!

Some nutritionists came to Alexis's school and discussed to the children about eating the colors of the rainbow. I thought it was so neat. I googled it and there is a plethora of information about this way of eating.

I got this info below, from eHow.


Introduction
Most health experts agree that in order to take in the broadest spectrum of essential nutrients, it’s important to eat as many colors of fruits and vegetables as possible. Here are a few ideas to help you enjoy a broad palate of produce.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Steps
1Step One Red: Cranberries, strawberries, radicchio, tomatoes, red peppers.
2Step Two Orange and Yellow: Carrots, pumpkin, yellow and orange peppers, squash, and sweet potatoes.
3Step Three Green: Dark leafy greens such as kale, bok choy, spinach, and arugula, as well as broccoli, green beans, and snap peas.
4Step Four Blue and Purple: eggplant, raisins, blueberries, red cabbage.
5Step Five White: bananas, mushrooms, cauliflower, potatoes.

Tips & Warnings
Top your cereal with berries or raisins.
Have a large salad at lunch or dinner and aim to make it as multi-colored as possible.
Instead of pasta or rice at dinner, try sweet potatoes or butternut squash.

Happy Saturday!

Tomorrow I am going to take a picture of my Topsy~Turvy and show you it's progress. It already has a little bud on it, I can not believe it.

Anyway, this week has been a normal week, and I am counting the days until school is out!! For those of you that home school, do you take off for the summer or just keep going. I don't know if some of you remember, Kevin and I were torn about homeschooling Alexis. We are thinking more about it with Little Kevin. I am so nervous to send him to school with a peanut allergy. That is quite a few years off, but it is still on my mind.

I was so happy I got some organic chicken, it was on sale, so it was just as cheap as the regular. I will be making it tonight for dinner. Then tomorrow I will be making pork chops.

....ohh, and ANTS!!!! It is that time of year again, when those little buggers are invading my home, ugh!! I have Terro placed everywhere (Safe from the kids and the dog)..and then I put every thing in plastic containers yesterday that they could get into. Everything looks nice in the pantry. The first year I was here, the ants invaded everything, before I could save my food. Hopefully this year I am on top of it.

2 more months until our consolidated debt is over~~~Kevin and I are so excited.

Oh, and this was funny. Kevin called me up one day and said, Honey, what did you do today, I did not have time to read your blog. LOL:)

Happy Saturday!

Topsy~Turvy

I am so excited and I hope it works. My husband got me the Topsy ~Turvy yesterday and he put it together for me too. We were going to get more, but with mixed reviews we are going to try one and then go from there. I will keep you updated on the progress of my Topsy Turvy. We paid 12.99 for one at Lowes:)

Pasta Bake Dinner

Olives

Salad

Garlic Bread

Baked Zitti

Google Baked Zitti for the recipe, there are so many recipes out there for this~~~Mine was similar to lasagna:)

Friday

I can not believe it is Friday already~~~YaY!

Last night I made White Chilli, I think it turned out really good:)

Here is the recipe~~~>

(This is the picture from the recipe sight)

Ingredients
1 lb large white beans, soaked overnight in water, drained
6 cups chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium onions, chopped (divided)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies
2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 cups diced cooked chicken
3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, chopped (optional)
Method


1 Combine beans, chicken broth, garlic and half the onions in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are very soft, 3 hours or more. Add additional water (or watered-down broth), if necessary.


2 In a skillet, sauté remaining onions in oil until tender. Add chilies and seasonings and mix thoroughly. Add to bean mixture. Add chicken and continue to simmer 1 hour. Check seasoning, add jalapeno or serrano to level of desired hotness.

3 Serve topped with grated cheese. Garnish with cilantro, chopped fresh tomato, salsa, chopped scallions, and/or guacamole. Serve with fresh warmed flour tortillas or tortilla chips.

8-10 servings

This the Chili in my crockpot, sorry about the picture being so dark. I topped it with sour cream and avocado.

Over the weekend, I always make big breakfasts for my family. This is a cheese omelet with some jalapeno peppers in it for my husband.

All plated up

Next I made French Toast

This is a lunch I made, grilled cheese, with french fries and some tomatoes and Cucumbers

...and this is a chicken stock I was making with what was left of my chicken.

Tonight's dinner will be something with ground beef, stay tuned for that:)

I already vacuumed the living room and straightened it up, then I vacuumed the hard wood, and cleaned the bird's cage.

After I post this, I am going to vacuum the stairs and put the wash in the dryer:)

It is supposed to rain today too~~OH, I hope it does.

You all have a fantastic Friday!

XO