Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday of the year.  Christmas always ran a close second, but in the past ten years, Valentine's Day seems to be running away with race.

I have such fond memories of this day as a child.  I don't remember my parents making a huge deal out of this day for them as a couple, my memories are all about how much fun it was to be a kid.  We made shoebox "mailboxes" to set on our desk at school.  We woke up to our own boxes of Valentine candy at the foot of our bed and a special card just for us.  She put candles on the table one year to be "romantic".  Another year had white crepe paper streamers with red hearts on them  -  the dining room was decked out!  Homemade cookies were available when we walked in the door from school.  Somehow Mom always managed to find a little extra in the budget to spend on Valentine's cards to share with the class and a special one for the teacher.  Public school in my day allowed the entire day off of "regular" work for fun work.  My classmates and I had a "party" where we passed our Valentine's out... we were provided with fun worksheets for math and crosswords and search-and-find pages for language arts or science. We voted on the best mailbox.  We watched the Charlie Brown Valentine's Special.  Nothing "normal" happened on this day - it was all about the fun.  I remember this happening nearly every year in grade school.

My mom isn't really a crafty person - she can SEW AMAZING THINGS - but crafts with paper and glue really aren't her thing.  (I wonder where I get it from??? But I digress...)  When Valentine's Day rolled around, she pulled out all. The. Stops.  Construction paper, paper doilies, glitter, stickers, glue sticks.  One year we didn't have construction paper, and being a one-car family, she didn't have the liberty to simply jet to the store to purchase some (and I didn't grow up in a world with a $1 Store on every corner like my kids are) so she had to think on her feet.  She pulled out the aluminum foil.  I cannot even imagine how much money that took out of her grocery budget to hand that box over and allow us to "waste" so much of it in wrapping up a shoe-box to take to school to set on our desks for a few hours of fun knowing that box would end up in the trash.  What a sacrifice! Oh, how SHINY that years box was.  And what a sweet memory now that I'm a mom.

So I've always made this day a LOT of fun for my kids.  They look forward to this day like not much else... they wake up and run down the hall to the dining room to see surprises they know are awaiting them. Now that they're getting older, it's fun to hear them talk about the past years with each other and reminisce about their favorite memories.  However, I've always struggled to make this day special for my sweet husband.  I think men have a plethora of options to shower on their women... flowers, jewelry, candy, dinner out (or even take out brought home), but women don't really have it as simple.  Or maybe it's just MY situation... He doesn't grill/cook (he'll even admit he shouldn't). He doesn't love sports (that's me in this relationship) and he doesn't love music (also, me).  He's ambivalent toward most books.   He has his hobbies, but they're EXPENSIVE.  I'm not joking.  I asked him about a tool add-on he wants for his lathe... Yikes!  And the amount he told me was only the first part of the add-on... and I cannot even remember the rest of his explanation - it may as well have been Greek.  I heard the cost and KNEW that was out of the "surprise" range in our budget.  Pinterest is NOT helpful in this sort of dilemma - believe me, I searched and searched for something "original" to copy off of there.  I felt defeated - and when I feel defeated - I pray.  So I prayed about this desire I had, knowing my heart desires do come from God, and I asked Him to help me understand what I could do to surprise my sweetheart, or to align my desire properly with His will.   AND HE ANSWERED!  (Why am I always surprised at that?!?)

God gave me the idea (and I know it HAS to be from God because I'm just not this original on my own) of a few tools that my sweet man could use around the house.  Alright, those of you who KNOW him are laughing, and with good reason.  My man has SO MANY TOOLS, but seriously, he actually USES them ALL.  I'm amazed at how his brain works and how much time and money he saves us from being able to fix something.  It's a serious gift.  So, now you know why I was excited about this idea... I am giving him some tools that I KNOW he'll use, and I know he would appreciate duplicates of because they either wear out or we could use them in several places and it would be a privilege to have multiples in different work areas of our home and barn. And the idea doesn't stop there - I was able to pair the tools up with scripture verses to encourage him!  I haven't been this excited for Valentine's Day with my husband since... ever!  And I figured out a surprise gift ALL ON MY OWN!  (Well, I had God's help!  But Pinterest was a total bust!)

P.S.  SHHHHHHH!!  If you see my husband BEFORE VALENTINE'S NIGHT please DO NOT tell him!!!  We have a busy day that day and presents might wait until just before bed time!  Don't spoil my surprise!  ;)

Easy Sausage & Tortellini Soup

This is one of those "almost" homemade recipes.  It was emailed to me a couple of years ago (I printed it on January 6, 2010...  apparently I like to collect new recipes more than actually try them) when I signed up to receive a recipe-a-day via email.  It's from BetterRecipes.com.

Ingredients:
5 links sweet Italian sausage
1 can (10.5 oz) condense French Onion Soup
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, Italian style
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 9-oz package fresh three-cheese tortellini **
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Remove casings from sausage links.  Cut up meat, then brown in a 4-quart Dutch oven.  Drain fat.  Add all remaining ingredient, except cheese.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Spoon into bowl & sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4-6

** Notes from the Cook:  You can substitute an 8-oz box of dried cheese tortellini or 1 1/2 cups of frozen.  This soup is wonderful served with fresh salad and warm garlic bread.

Review:
I knew better than to try the cabbage with my kids, so I omitted it.  Honestly, I thought it sounded pretty gross myself.  So I added more pasta (I used 2 generous cups of frozen) instead, and this makes for a hearty, filling meal.  Perfect for this time of year.  I paired it with Pillsbury Crescent Rounds, brushed melted butter and sprinkled garlic on top before baking.  Delish!!  I was so excited about how this turned out I shared it with my folks.  My expectations were high... I honestly used the sweet Italian sausage, but my mom said her mouth was "on fire".  Her tongue is a bit biased and has been known to exaggerate how spicy things are.  I think she could find a single speck of pepper in anything!   My dad shrugged, "Eh, it was okay".  I can read between the lines... that's code for "not my favorite thing you've ever cooked".  

Kid Review:
O: I ate all the pasta... but my tongue is rejecting the meat and red things (ie. tomatoes).
E:  Can I have more bread to dip, please?  Nothing else tastes that, um... as good as the bread. 

**sigh** 

I ate this soup two days in a row, and went back for seconds BOTH DAYS! I am looking forward to making it again, even IF I'm the only one who will eat it.

Living In The Future

One of my closest girlfriends, Lindsay and I, along with our children, usually go away together for a week or two during the summer.  This summer the plans to get away just didn't work out, so we created a "Stay-Cation" and did several sleep overs at each others homes and had a calendar of events filled with fun-packed days and a variety of activities that kept us busy all week long.   At the end of the week, her fabulous husband (and my super, duper friend-in-law) Jason kept our five children (well, THEIR three and MY two... this is NOT an episode of "sister wives") all day long on Saturday while Linds and I cropped the day (and night!) away at the local scrapbook store.

During our scrapbook stay-cation day, we had dinner out at a local Asian diner called Pei Wei.  Have you ever been?   It's fabulous!  (And they provide gluten free options for my girl, Linds!)  While waiting for our food we were walking to the soda machine and noticed it was different from the last time we scrapped and dined on Asian cuisine.  Different as in SERIOUSLY COOL!   It looked like it could have been derived directly from a Jetson's episode.   It has a touch screen and about a million options of soda, lemonade and tea.  I might be exaggerating a tad about the million options, but it did have quite the variety.  More than your average 8-option selection.  For example, you have a hankering for Sprite... so you touch the Sprite logo.  Then about 10-12 different flavored Sprite options are available for the choosing... diet Sprite, Sprite Zero, Raspberry Sprite, Strawberry Sprite, Orange Sprite, Grape Sprite, Root Beer Sprite... okay, I'm joking about the Root Beer Sprite, but you get the idea.  Options previously UNKNOWN to us were now available for the choosing.  Right at our fingertips!! 

We played with it for awhile before I decided I MUST take a picture of us with our Jetson-esque discovery.  (For the scrapbook of our Stay-Cation adventures, OF COURSE!)

And with all those choices in front of me, I still decided on which soda???  Any guesses??

Crockpot Sesame Chicken

It's Recipe Review Thursday again...  I missed last week.  Actually, I CHOSE not to post last week.  I made this recipe with last week in mind but was so heavily disappointed I just could not bring myself to write about it. 

I had such HIGH HOPES for this recipe.  When I first pinned it on Pinterest, it garnered 6877 repins, 804 "likes", and 13 comments from friends and strangers alike.  It is by far, my most popular "pin".  With that many people interested in trying the same recipe I thought for sure this meal would be a huge hit!  I was expecting an "out of the park home run" and what I ended up with was a disappointing foul ball.   (Can you tell I'm ready for baseball play off season??  Go, Tigers!)

Here is the original link - and below are the recipe instructions.

Crockpot Sesame Chicken

2 1bs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs.
1/2 c. low sodium soy sauce
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Place chicken thighs in the slow cooker. Whisk together remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over chicken.Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours or on high 3 or 4. Serves 4 - 6.

 

Review:
Now that photo is from the orignal post... I am not going to post my photo, but please trust me that it does not look at all similar, except for the rice. In fact, the rice was the best part of this meal. I have recently purchased a rice machine and I will never go back to the typcial rice-in-a-minute box type of rice. The real stuff in the massive bag from Costco is amazing - fluffy, not sticky... tender, but not slimy... delish, delish, delish!! The chicken, sadly, ended up tasting like soy sauce - all salt, and zero flavor.  I saved the leftovers with hopes of slicing the chicken up and revamping for a stir fry mixed with fresh veggies, but sadly could not bring myself to serve that salty chicken again.  There was no saving it once it sat overnight in the fridge.

Kid Review:
O: How many bites do I have to actually eat?
E: May I have only rice please?

Next week will be something new, and hopefully much, MUCH better.  If anyone has a similar recipe that is supposed to turn out like the photo above, I'd be willing to try again.  :-)
 

Chocolate Cheesecake Pie

Okay - back to school means back to blogging.  Hopefully. Probably. At least a little more consistently.  We'll see...

Recipe Review Thursday is back...  and with something seriously decadent and super easy!

Back in July I hosted a BBQ with my ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) friends and I had signed up to bring a dessert.  However, I'd forgotten that I'd commited to a dessert and was scrambling at the last minute trying to figure out something to make with what I already had on hand.  Google to the rescue!  I typed in a few "staple" ingredients I always had on hand and then scoured the options.  Then came Pinterest... and I searched there.  VOILA!  Discovery revealed the recipe for this Chocolate Cheesecake Pie, and because it was from "Taste of Home" I trusted it would be divine.  I was not disappointed!

Ingredients:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips, melted and cooled
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)
Chocolate dessert decorations, optional

Directions
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Beat in melted chocolate. Fold in whipped topping. Spoon into crust. Chill until ready to serve. Garnish with chocolate decorations if desired. Yield: 6-8 servings.

 

Review:
This recipe is just as simple to make as it reads.  I didn't have a pie crust on hand, so I made my own.  It crumbled a bit, but it didn't distract from the deliciousness of this treat.  It was creamy, chocolaty, and cool - perfect for the hot summer day we devoured it.  I didn't have chocolate garnish, nor did I feel like making any, so I served fresh raspberries instead.  The berries were a beautiful contrast of tartness to the sweetness of the pie.  The flavors blended perfectly.  It also serves more than 6-8; it is so rich it easily serves 10, possibly 12.  (I used a standard 10" pie plate).

I will make this again... after all, I need a reason to perfect that crumbly crust!  

Kid Review:
O: Can I have another piece, please?
E:  I could eat that whole thing up, it's so GOOD!

So... I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, it!!! (Just like I thought I would!)

Guess what???   I LOVE BEING A HOME SCHOOL MOMMY!!! 

Okay.... so I know it's only the first day.  And I know that there are going to be days that I won't love it as much (if at all...).  But today was a GOOD day.

It began with morning snuggles.... at 8am!  In years past, when my kids attended a local school, morning snuggles were a privilege reserved only for snow days, sick days, and summer vacation days.  But today - the FIRST day of (home)school - we had morning snuggle time.  It didn't slip my consciousness that it was happening at the exact time the local school was beginning their day.  I silently thanked God that I was able to spend some quality time WITH my children in the morning instead of rushing them out of their beds before they were ready to rise.... instead of rushing them out the door with barely a breakfast inside them because they weren't up long enough to even BE hungry yet.... instead of a heart (mine) breaking in two.  Yes - that's right.  This is the FIRST first day of school this mommy has NOT had a broken heart. 

After our morning snuggles we took our traditional "first day of school" photos.  Then I decided we should begin a tradition of the "first day of school breakfast".  So we did - and I treated them out.  Yumm!  The kids toasted the beginning of their day with chocolate milk with their meal.  Not a bad start to the day.  I also was able to get the traditional "picture with their teacher" shot... only ONE of those this year!  And then I capped it off with some "learning in action" shots. 

*** (Disclaimer about the photos: for some reason my oldest child is in a stage where it is NOT at all "cool" to smile for any photo.  This is the best I could get out of him.  He will grow out of this, right??   RIGHT???)

**sigh** from one contented Momma.... AKA "Teacher".   Have I mentioned that I LOVE that?!?

Stress Cleaner turned... Stress Crafter??

I admit it, I am a "stress cleaner".   When I am stressed out, I have the ability to transform my home into a museum.  It would pass Mary Poppins' "white glove" test.   Since my home is currently on the market (any takers for a super cute, updated 3 bedroom ranch with finished basement?? Anyone??) it's in a state of perpetual cleanliness.  Just ask my kids - they'll tell you I'm not giving an inch where clutter is concerned.   I've been feeling a bit stressed out the past couple of days - nothing major, just dealing with a few of life's curve balls.  You know the kind I'm talking about... you think you're headed in one direction and WHAM!  Out of nowhere, you're hit with something you didn't put in your day planner.  It's not a comfortable situation for us "type-A" people, but with God's perfect grace and mercy, I'm learning to deal with it. 

Since the house is clean, what is a God-loving, stressed-out, type-A, girl supposed to do?   Movies don't distract - I often find my mind wanders too much and I discover I have no idea what's happening in the plot and all I've accomplished in my mind is borrowing trouble for things that haven't happened.  Yet.  ;-)   Books don't distract (I was shocked, too!) - and I find I'm re-reading the same paragraph over and over.  I trust that Isaiah 26:3 is true, and I have learned to keep myself busy so my mind doesn't wander where it shouldn't.   My house may revolt against me some day now that I have discovered that I am indeed a "stress crafter"... I can see the bathrooms getting less attention and scrapbooking receiving MORE.

After all my Excel planning for homeschooling this fall, it was nearly time to print schedules, attendance sheets, note pages, and curriculum plans.  But these ugly, old, wrinkled binder dividers from long-since-passed financial analysis days looked too sad to use for my super-fun homeschool planner!  All that time I'd spent at the computer deserved something PRETTY to organize it!!

 

But don't these scrapbook papers look super fresh and inviting??

 

 

 

Add some adhesive, and VOILA!!!   Pretty new binder dividers!!  (And all the while I was praying over my stress, praising over my stress - thanks to K-Love, and being productive).   Win-Win-Win!

 



 

If you haven't heard from me in a few days, check under the piles of scrapbook paper and adhesive.  Bring Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi and chocolate - I'll need some bribing to come out.