Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
The Holiday are Just Around the Bend...
The holidays are sneaking up on us faster than I could imagine! We have been busy with work, school stuff, football, girl scouts, just to name a few! Time is flying! I won't gross you out by telling you how many more days before Christmas. Ugh.
But on a brighter note, book your mini session now so you can hang on to those fleeting moments :-)
But on a brighter note, book your mini session now so you can hang on to those fleeting moments :-)
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Oh Snap! Holiday Mini Sessions by FarmGirlFreshDesign
Oh Snap! It's that time of year again!
Holiday Mini Sessions
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
What's in Crock Mama's Crockpot today?! Organic Chunky Red Sauce!
At one of our homeschool co-ops we have an amazing organic garden with all kinds of veggies the kids planted. And, my fav, chickens!!! It was super fun last week when we got to tend to the garden and chickies when everyone 'flew the coop' (hahaha- couldn't help myself) and went on vacation.
They told us to help ourselves to anything we wanted, so with a frost looming every night last week, we did! After baskets full of goodies were hauled home, the thought eventually entered my mind- crap! what do we don with all this stuff?!
So... we decided on crockpot chunky veggie red sauce! We made some, made some more, and more... Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas ;-)
Ok. So. Last night we decided to chop veggies and toss in crockpot and let cook overnight. This morning the house Smells. De. Vine. Yum.
This is how Crock Mama did it--- you can also substitute items to suit your taste or use canned, frozen, fresh veggies. Get creative and have fun!
Recipe:
tons and tons of peeled tomatoes-- really specific huh?
1 huge zucchini, chopped in small pieces
a handful of baby carrots, chopped finely
2-3 celery sticks, chopped
1 large fresh from garden onion, diced
large handful of sliced mushrooms- We used dried from Whole Foods
10 or so cloves of fresh garlic, chopped
2 large cans of organic tomato paste-- you can use tomato sauce to if you like a very thin sauce
spices for taste-- Crock Mama used- fresh basil, and then some dried spices including cinnamon (not to much), dried red peppers, pepper, and Ms Dash italian blend. You can do whatever your little heart desires!
Try the finger taste test... I ended up adding about 1/4 cup of sugar due to the high acid content.
Cook on LOW for 6-10 hours. Amazing sauce when complete! With this amount after it cooked down, we had enough for a few cans of sauce.
Then we canned! Yes, you heard me right. Canned.
Post to follow :-0
You can enjoy this sauce on pasta, rices, meats, pizzas, you name it! Crock Mama amazing!
Ok. So. Last night we decided to chop veggies and toss in crockpot and let cook overnight. This morning the house Smells. De. Vine. Yum.
This is how Crock Mama did it--- you can also substitute items to suit your taste or use canned, frozen, fresh veggies. Get creative and have fun!
Recipe:
tons and tons of peeled tomatoes-- really specific huh?
1 huge zucchini, chopped in small pieces
a handful of baby carrots, chopped finely
2-3 celery sticks, chopped
1 large fresh from garden onion, diced
large handful of sliced mushrooms- We used dried from Whole Foods
10 or so cloves of fresh garlic, chopped
2 large cans of organic tomato paste-- you can use tomato sauce to if you like a very thin sauce
spices for taste-- Crock Mama used- fresh basil, and then some dried spices including cinnamon (not to much), dried red peppers, pepper, and Ms Dash italian blend. You can do whatever your little heart desires!
Try the finger taste test... I ended up adding about 1/4 cup of sugar due to the high acid content.
Cook on LOW for 6-10 hours. Amazing sauce when complete! With this amount after it cooked down, we had enough for a few cans of sauce.
Then we canned! Yes, you heard me right. Canned.
Post to follow :-0
You can enjoy this sauce on pasta, rices, meats, pizzas, you name it! Crock Mama amazing!
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Easter!
With Easter right around the corner, thought I'd post some inspiration from other web searches! I'm loving the centerpieces and everything Spring! I did make a fun centerpiece and video taped myself making it. Stay tuned to watch my attempt at being a film star! Until then, these will have to do :-)
This one actually inspired my Spring arrangement with fresh veggies I made. LOVE.
Eggs!
I love this cluster arrangement!
Dang work- always getting in the way of my craft ideas! If you make something fun for Easter or Spring, post a pic and share!
This one actually inspired my Spring arrangement with fresh veggies I made. LOVE.
Eggs!
I love this cluster arrangement!
Dang work- always getting in the way of my craft ideas! If you make something fun for Easter or Spring, post a pic and share!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA
One person can Inspire and Motivate- Think About It!
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Pinterest Success!
I love Pinterest but most of my attempts at things seen on there are fails. However, this morning, a nice sunny Sunday morning off, I decided to attempt 'donuts'.
It worked!!! And not only tasted great- but looked yummy too! I got so excited that things were working that I developed another 'donut'. A beignet!
I have not seen theses on Pinterest yet so I will officially be starting a new trend ;-) Here is a photo line up of what is needed and how to do...
I forgot to take a picture of the Pillsbury biscuits I used- 1 tube.
Pan with canola oil or similar- heated on medium until a flick of water sizzles
Cut biscuits in to 4 pieces and drop in fryer. They only take a minute or so and I flipped them to get both sides browned.
Then I used a slit spoon to remove and place on a paper towel covered plate for a quick minute before tossing in cinnamon sugar or covering in powdered sugar.
Oh. My. Gosh.
It worked!!! And not only tasted great- but looked yummy too! I got so excited that things were working that I developed another 'donut'. A beignet!
I have not seen theses on Pinterest yet so I will officially be starting a new trend ;-) Here is a photo line up of what is needed and how to do...
I forgot to take a picture of the Pillsbury biscuits I used- 1 tube.
Pan with canola oil or similar- heated on medium until a flick of water sizzles
Cut biscuits in to 4 pieces and drop in fryer. They only take a minute or so and I flipped them to get both sides browned.
Then I used a slit spoon to remove and place on a paper towel covered plate for a quick minute before tossing in cinnamon sugar or covering in powdered sugar.
Oh. My. Gosh.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
18 things that are great about homeschooling
Came across this article today- LOVE homeschooling! BAM!
18 Reasons Why Doctors and Lawyers Homeschool Their Children by KATHLEEN BERCHELMANN, M.D. on MARCH 25, 2013 1K+
I’m going public today with a secret I’ve kept for a year—my husband and I are homeschooling our children. I never dreamed we would become homeschoolers. I wanted my kids integrated and socialized. I wanted their eyes opened to the realities of the world. I wanted the values we taught at home put to the test in the real world. But necessity drove me to consider homeschooling for my 2nd and 4th graders, and so I timidly attended a home school parent meeting last spring. Surprisingly it was full of doctors, lawyers, former public school teachers, and other professionals. These were not the stay-at-home-moms in long skirts that I expected. The face of homeschooling is changing. We are not all religious extremists or farmers, and our kids are not all overachieving academic nerds without social skills.
An estimated 2.04 million k12 children are home educated in the United States, a 75% increase since 1999. Although currently only 4% of all K12 students nationwide are educated at home, experts are predicting an exponential boom in homeschooling in the next 5-10 years. Most states even provide free online public schools, known as virtual schools or virtual homeschools for K12 students. An information site called College@Home provides some useful information.
For a year I was afraid to tell any of my work colleagues that we were homeschooling. People would stereotype me as a right-wing kook. My boss might assume that I couldn’t possibly be committed to an academic medical career. I wasn’t sure I could homeschool my kids well. I feared the whole year would be an academic failure and emotional nightmare. I was so unsure about this homeschooling experiment that I even kept a spare school uniform in case I had to send my kids back to school at the last moment.
This week our kids are finishing their standardized curriculum and we will spend the rest of the school year doing enrichment activities. Alas, I think we can call this success.
We’ve had our kids in both public and private schools, but homeschooling has turned out to be the best option for our family. Here are 18 reasons why we have joined America’s fastest growing educational trend:
1) We spend less time homeschooling each day than we used to spend driving. With four kids in four locations last year (including a newborn at home), school drop-off and pick-up took four hours, on a good day. We’d get home at about 4:30 and still have homework, music practice, sports, chores, dinner and bath to fit into the 4 hours before bed. Now we spend about four hours per day homeschooling, instead of four hours in the car.
2) We can’t afford private education. Even on a doctor’s salary, private education has become unaffordable, especially for larger families. Which choice would you make: save for college, save for retirement, or pay private school tuition? Few families can afford for all three, and most can only afford one. As educational debts loom larger for each successive generation, this financial crunch will only get worse.
3) Our kids are excelling academically as homeschoolers. Homeschooling allows us to enrich our children’s strengths and supplement their weaknesses. The kids’ education moves as fast or as slow as required for that particular subject area. They are not pigeon-holed and tracked as gifted, average, or special needs.
4) Homeschooling is not hard, and it’s fun! We bought a “box curriculum” from a major homeschool vendor, and all the books and the day-by-day curriculum checklist came in the mail. We have a lot of fun supplementing material through YouTube and online educational sites like Dreambox, Khan Academy, and others. Our kids do about half of their math online.
5) Use whatever public school services you like. Need speech therapy, the gifted program, or remedial academics? Homeschooled kids are still eligible for all these services. Some homeschoolers come into public school daily for “specials” like art, music, PE, or the school play. Your kids can even join high school sports teams once they are old enough. Our kids are still in sports and scouts sponsored by their old schools.
6) I like parenting more, by far. As a mom of school-aged kids, I felt like my role as parent had been diminished to mini-van driver, schedule-keeper, cook and disciplinarian. And there was no mercy from the schools– six minutes late for pickup and they’d be calling my husband at work, unpaid 5 cent library fine and they’d withhold my child’s report card. Every day I’d unpack a pile of crinkled notice papers from three backpacks and hope that I didn’t miss the next permission slip. I was not born, raised and educated to spend my days like this. Now, I love being a mom.
7) Our family spends our best hours of each day together. We were giving away our kids during their best hours, when they were rested and happy, and getting them back when they were tired, grumpy and hungry. I dreaded each evening, when the fighting and screaming never seemed to end, and my job was to push them through homework, extracurriculars, and music practice. Now, our kids have happy time together each day. At recess time, the kids are actually excited about playing with each other!
8) We yell at our kids less. Homeschooling forces us as parents to maintain a loving authority in the household. We stopped spanking our kids. You can’t get your kids to write essays or complete a large set of math problems if you don’t have their respect and obedience. Spanking and corporal punishment establish fear, not effective, loving obedience.
9) Our kids have time for creative play and unique interests. Once my kids entered school, they seemed to stop making up their own creative play together. They didn’t have time for creative play during their busy evenings. Now they build forts and crazy contraptions, play dance parties, and pursue their own unique interests. My eight-year-old has taken up computer programming and taught himself how to play the organ. My six-year-old is learning to cook.
10) We are able to work on the kids’ behavior and work ethic throughout the day. My son’s poor work effort at school was nearly impossible to address. The teachers didn’t have time to make my son repeat work they felt was average quality. We wouldn’t see the work until days after it was completed. Finally, we’ve been able to push him to his full potential.
11) Get rid of bad habits, fast. Dirty clothes dropped on the floor? They used to stay there all day. Now there is no recess until they are cleaned up. I never really had the time to implement most behavioral techniques when my kids were in school. I knew what I needed to do to get my kindergartner to dress herself, but it was easier to dress her myself then deal with the school complaining that she was improperly dressed or late. Now, if she takes too long to get dressed, she misses out on free play time.
12) Be the master of your own schedule. Homeschooling provides a great deal of family flexibility, which is a tremendous asset for our busy family. For example, we save a lot of money on plane tickets because we have the flexibility to fly almost any day of the week. Zoos, children’s museums, libraries, parks, etc., are far less busy on weekdays as they are on weekends. Scheduling anything is eons easier—doctor’s appointments, piano lessons, vacations, etc.
13) Younger children learn from older siblings. For larger families like ours, even toddlers are learning during school time. Our four year old sits at the same table during school time as our six and eight year old. He wants to do his worksheet, too. Some of that math and phonics work rubs off on him, and he’s learning how to read. When chore time comes, he asks, “What are my chores?” And our one-year-old recently tried to clean a toilet.
14) Save money. Committing to homeschooling requires at least one parent at home for most of each day. Although you may lose an income with this commitment, you save (a lot) of money since younger children don’t need daycare and older children don’t need private school. We also save a lot of money on gas now that we drive less. Many homeschooling parents still work part-time. We pull off homeschooling because I work nights and my husband works part-time from home as an independent IT developer. I know many families homeschooling on family incomes of 40-60K.
Homeschoolers save tax payers money, too. According to The National Home Education Research Institute, homeschoolers saved the taxpayers $16 billion in 2006.
15) Teach your kids practical life skills. Homeschooled kids learn parenting skills, cooking, budgeting, home maintenance, and time management every day. Time management skills are learned out of necessity. Our kids have to keep their own schedules and budget their own time. If they waste time, they have less time for play and their own special interests. We use old smart phones with alarms to help teach time management. Our kids help with younger siblings while under our direct supervision. What better way is there to learn parenting? I learned to write a fake grocery budget once as a home economics exercise. My kids write real grocery budgets and help me shop.
16) Better socialization, less unhealthy peer pressure and bullying. Our kids no longer beg for video games we don’t want them to have or clothes we don’t like, or junky snacks they saw at school. One of our children struggled socially in school, and his schoolmates were ruthlessly mean. Despite a school anti-bullying policy and our best efforts to work with the teacher, nothing changed. Last year he played alone on the playground everyday. Now he’s organizing playground games at our homeschool co-op, and he’s smiling again. No one has ever said an unkind word to him at our co-op, because every child is there with his or her own parent. Our kids have plenty of time with friends, but without the unhealthy peer pressure and bullying.
Research continues to show that homeschooled kids do well socially. Our kids have no shortage of time with friends—each week they attend homeschool co-op, scouts, sports, dance, choir, piano, religious education and have plenty of time to play with neighborhood friends. Add in the birthday parties and homeschool field trips, and we find ourselves having to decline activities so that we can get our homeschooling done!
17) Sleep! A research study by National Jewish Health released in March, 2013 showed that homeschooled students get more sleep than their peers who attend school. The result may be that homeschooled kids are better prepared to learn. Parents get more sleep, too! Now we don’t have to get up early to meet a bus schedule, prepare sack lunches, etc. Our mornings are great times together to snuggle with our children and talk about our plans for the day. No more “Hurry up and get your shoes on or you’ll be late for school!”
18) Teach kids your own values. According to the national center for education statistics, 36% of homeschooling families were primarily motivated by a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. Our family is not part of this 36%– we never objected to any values taught in either our public or private schools. Nevertheless, we’ve really enjoyed building our own traditions and living out our family values in a way that wasn’t possible before homeschooling. For example we make Halloween a little holiday without too much decadence, but we spend an entire week celebrating Easter. When our kids were in school, the Halloween parties went on for 2 weeks and they had a Halloween vacation from school. In contrast, they didn’t get any time off for Easter, and there were no Easter celebrations or even decorations at school.
Homeschooling isn’t right for every family or every child. I can’t even predict what the future holds for our family—will we continue homeschooling through high school? I don’t know. But for now, we’ve found a way for our family to be very happy growing and learning together.
18 Reasons Why Doctors and Lawyers Homeschool Their Children by KATHLEEN BERCHELMANN, M.D. on MARCH 25, 2013 1K+
I’m going public today with a secret I’ve kept for a year—my husband and I are homeschooling our children. I never dreamed we would become homeschoolers. I wanted my kids integrated and socialized. I wanted their eyes opened to the realities of the world. I wanted the values we taught at home put to the test in the real world. But necessity drove me to consider homeschooling for my 2nd and 4th graders, and so I timidly attended a home school parent meeting last spring. Surprisingly it was full of doctors, lawyers, former public school teachers, and other professionals. These were not the stay-at-home-moms in long skirts that I expected. The face of homeschooling is changing. We are not all religious extremists or farmers, and our kids are not all overachieving academic nerds without social skills.
An estimated 2.04 million k12 children are home educated in the United States, a 75% increase since 1999. Although currently only 4% of all K12 students nationwide are educated at home, experts are predicting an exponential boom in homeschooling in the next 5-10 years. Most states even provide free online public schools, known as virtual schools or virtual homeschools for K12 students. An information site called College@Home provides some useful information.
For a year I was afraid to tell any of my work colleagues that we were homeschooling. People would stereotype me as a right-wing kook. My boss might assume that I couldn’t possibly be committed to an academic medical career. I wasn’t sure I could homeschool my kids well. I feared the whole year would be an academic failure and emotional nightmare. I was so unsure about this homeschooling experiment that I even kept a spare school uniform in case I had to send my kids back to school at the last moment.
This week our kids are finishing their standardized curriculum and we will spend the rest of the school year doing enrichment activities. Alas, I think we can call this success.
We’ve had our kids in both public and private schools, but homeschooling has turned out to be the best option for our family. Here are 18 reasons why we have joined America’s fastest growing educational trend:
1) We spend less time homeschooling each day than we used to spend driving. With four kids in four locations last year (including a newborn at home), school drop-off and pick-up took four hours, on a good day. We’d get home at about 4:30 and still have homework, music practice, sports, chores, dinner and bath to fit into the 4 hours before bed. Now we spend about four hours per day homeschooling, instead of four hours in the car.
2) We can’t afford private education. Even on a doctor’s salary, private education has become unaffordable, especially for larger families. Which choice would you make: save for college, save for retirement, or pay private school tuition? Few families can afford for all three, and most can only afford one. As educational debts loom larger for each successive generation, this financial crunch will only get worse.
3) Our kids are excelling academically as homeschoolers. Homeschooling allows us to enrich our children’s strengths and supplement their weaknesses. The kids’ education moves as fast or as slow as required for that particular subject area. They are not pigeon-holed and tracked as gifted, average, or special needs.
4) Homeschooling is not hard, and it’s fun! We bought a “box curriculum” from a major homeschool vendor, and all the books and the day-by-day curriculum checklist came in the mail. We have a lot of fun supplementing material through YouTube and online educational sites like Dreambox, Khan Academy, and others. Our kids do about half of their math online.
5) Use whatever public school services you like. Need speech therapy, the gifted program, or remedial academics? Homeschooled kids are still eligible for all these services. Some homeschoolers come into public school daily for “specials” like art, music, PE, or the school play. Your kids can even join high school sports teams once they are old enough. Our kids are still in sports and scouts sponsored by their old schools.
6) I like parenting more, by far. As a mom of school-aged kids, I felt like my role as parent had been diminished to mini-van driver, schedule-keeper, cook and disciplinarian. And there was no mercy from the schools– six minutes late for pickup and they’d be calling my husband at work, unpaid 5 cent library fine and they’d withhold my child’s report card. Every day I’d unpack a pile of crinkled notice papers from three backpacks and hope that I didn’t miss the next permission slip. I was not born, raised and educated to spend my days like this. Now, I love being a mom.
7) Our family spends our best hours of each day together. We were giving away our kids during their best hours, when they were rested and happy, and getting them back when they were tired, grumpy and hungry. I dreaded each evening, when the fighting and screaming never seemed to end, and my job was to push them through homework, extracurriculars, and music practice. Now, our kids have happy time together each day. At recess time, the kids are actually excited about playing with each other!
8) We yell at our kids less. Homeschooling forces us as parents to maintain a loving authority in the household. We stopped spanking our kids. You can’t get your kids to write essays or complete a large set of math problems if you don’t have their respect and obedience. Spanking and corporal punishment establish fear, not effective, loving obedience.
9) Our kids have time for creative play and unique interests. Once my kids entered school, they seemed to stop making up their own creative play together. They didn’t have time for creative play during their busy evenings. Now they build forts and crazy contraptions, play dance parties, and pursue their own unique interests. My eight-year-old has taken up computer programming and taught himself how to play the organ. My six-year-old is learning to cook.
10) We are able to work on the kids’ behavior and work ethic throughout the day. My son’s poor work effort at school was nearly impossible to address. The teachers didn’t have time to make my son repeat work they felt was average quality. We wouldn’t see the work until days after it was completed. Finally, we’ve been able to push him to his full potential.
11) Get rid of bad habits, fast. Dirty clothes dropped on the floor? They used to stay there all day. Now there is no recess until they are cleaned up. I never really had the time to implement most behavioral techniques when my kids were in school. I knew what I needed to do to get my kindergartner to dress herself, but it was easier to dress her myself then deal with the school complaining that she was improperly dressed or late. Now, if she takes too long to get dressed, she misses out on free play time.
12) Be the master of your own schedule. Homeschooling provides a great deal of family flexibility, which is a tremendous asset for our busy family. For example, we save a lot of money on plane tickets because we have the flexibility to fly almost any day of the week. Zoos, children’s museums, libraries, parks, etc., are far less busy on weekdays as they are on weekends. Scheduling anything is eons easier—doctor’s appointments, piano lessons, vacations, etc.
13) Younger children learn from older siblings. For larger families like ours, even toddlers are learning during school time. Our four year old sits at the same table during school time as our six and eight year old. He wants to do his worksheet, too. Some of that math and phonics work rubs off on him, and he’s learning how to read. When chore time comes, he asks, “What are my chores?” And our one-year-old recently tried to clean a toilet.
14) Save money. Committing to homeschooling requires at least one parent at home for most of each day. Although you may lose an income with this commitment, you save (a lot) of money since younger children don’t need daycare and older children don’t need private school. We also save a lot of money on gas now that we drive less. Many homeschooling parents still work part-time. We pull off homeschooling because I work nights and my husband works part-time from home as an independent IT developer. I know many families homeschooling on family incomes of 40-60K.
Homeschoolers save tax payers money, too. According to The National Home Education Research Institute, homeschoolers saved the taxpayers $16 billion in 2006.
15) Teach your kids practical life skills. Homeschooled kids learn parenting skills, cooking, budgeting, home maintenance, and time management every day. Time management skills are learned out of necessity. Our kids have to keep their own schedules and budget their own time. If they waste time, they have less time for play and their own special interests. We use old smart phones with alarms to help teach time management. Our kids help with younger siblings while under our direct supervision. What better way is there to learn parenting? I learned to write a fake grocery budget once as a home economics exercise. My kids write real grocery budgets and help me shop.
16) Better socialization, less unhealthy peer pressure and bullying. Our kids no longer beg for video games we don’t want them to have or clothes we don’t like, or junky snacks they saw at school. One of our children struggled socially in school, and his schoolmates were ruthlessly mean. Despite a school anti-bullying policy and our best efforts to work with the teacher, nothing changed. Last year he played alone on the playground everyday. Now he’s organizing playground games at our homeschool co-op, and he’s smiling again. No one has ever said an unkind word to him at our co-op, because every child is there with his or her own parent. Our kids have plenty of time with friends, but without the unhealthy peer pressure and bullying.
Research continues to show that homeschooled kids do well socially. Our kids have no shortage of time with friends—each week they attend homeschool co-op, scouts, sports, dance, choir, piano, religious education and have plenty of time to play with neighborhood friends. Add in the birthday parties and homeschool field trips, and we find ourselves having to decline activities so that we can get our homeschooling done!
17) Sleep! A research study by National Jewish Health released in March, 2013 showed that homeschooled students get more sleep than their peers who attend school. The result may be that homeschooled kids are better prepared to learn. Parents get more sleep, too! Now we don’t have to get up early to meet a bus schedule, prepare sack lunches, etc. Our mornings are great times together to snuggle with our children and talk about our plans for the day. No more “Hurry up and get your shoes on or you’ll be late for school!”
18) Teach kids your own values. According to the national center for education statistics, 36% of homeschooling families were primarily motivated by a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. Our family is not part of this 36%– we never objected to any values taught in either our public or private schools. Nevertheless, we’ve really enjoyed building our own traditions and living out our family values in a way that wasn’t possible before homeschooling. For example we make Halloween a little holiday without too much decadence, but we spend an entire week celebrating Easter. When our kids were in school, the Halloween parties went on for 2 weeks and they had a Halloween vacation from school. In contrast, they didn’t get any time off for Easter, and there were no Easter celebrations or even decorations at school.
Homeschooling isn’t right for every family or every child. I can’t even predict what the future holds for our family—will we continue homeschooling through high school? I don’t know. But for now, we’ve found a way for our family to be very happy growing and learning together.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Chicken tortilla soup!
A go to favorite around these parts is Chicken Tortilla Soup!
Since I do LOVE my crock pot, I usually throw things in in the morning and and viola! finished and ready to serve in the morning. But the other day we had all been out running around- grocery shopping- and 6pm rolled around when the kids started to melt down and hunger melt downs kicked in.
-Side note----- Why is it that one goes grocery shopping to get food for dinner and by the time ones arrives back home with said food, one is entirely to exhausted to make any of what was just bought?! Tell me I'm not the only one guilty of this!
Ok, back to my woo's about hunger melt downs. As I was saying, this soup is often requested at our house and ALL 5 of us enjoy it! WORD. All 5! I will include the crock pot recipe and the 'got to eat in 10 minutes before I waste away to nothing' recipe.
Crock pot for 5 with left overs:
- A few handfuls of cooked shredded chicken ( I usually cheat and get one of those rotisserie chickens from the store and use some of that yummy meat)
- A cereal bowl full of mixed dry beans that I have soaked over night before adding. I use whatever is on hand but like black beans.
- 1 Can of diced tomatoes. I use plain because of the kiddos but you can use a can the ones that have diced chili in them if you like more kick!
- 1 packet of dried mild taco seasoning.
- 1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup- optional, just makes it more creamy.
- Water to cover everything.
- A handful of chicken bullion cubes or a few cans of chicken stock.
- Handful of frozen corn.
Cook on low for 8 hours or so and serve with shredded cheese, smushed up tortilla chips, and sour cream!
BAM!
Must eat like yesterday recipe- for 5
Stove top- 1 large can of canned chicken chunks ( I use Sam's club brand)
1 can of corn
1 can of condensed cream of chicken
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans
1/2 packet of mild taco seasoning
Water
Bring to a boil, cool down, and garnish. 10 minutes and done. I have also added a handful of uncooked instant rice before boiling to soup. Delish!
Since I do LOVE my crock pot, I usually throw things in in the morning and and viola! finished and ready to serve in the morning. But the other day we had all been out running around- grocery shopping- and 6pm rolled around when the kids started to melt down and hunger melt downs kicked in.
-Side note----- Why is it that one goes grocery shopping to get food for dinner and by the time ones arrives back home with said food, one is entirely to exhausted to make any of what was just bought?! Tell me I'm not the only one guilty of this!
Ok, back to my woo's about hunger melt downs. As I was saying, this soup is often requested at our house and ALL 5 of us enjoy it! WORD. All 5! I will include the crock pot recipe and the 'got to eat in 10 minutes before I waste away to nothing' recipe.
Crock pot for 5 with left overs:
- A few handfuls of cooked shredded chicken ( I usually cheat and get one of those rotisserie chickens from the store and use some of that yummy meat)
- A cereal bowl full of mixed dry beans that I have soaked over night before adding. I use whatever is on hand but like black beans.
- 1 Can of diced tomatoes. I use plain because of the kiddos but you can use a can the ones that have diced chili in them if you like more kick!
- 1 packet of dried mild taco seasoning.
- 1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup- optional, just makes it more creamy.
- Water to cover everything.
- A handful of chicken bullion cubes or a few cans of chicken stock.
- Handful of frozen corn.
Cook on low for 8 hours or so and serve with shredded cheese, smushed up tortilla chips, and sour cream!
BAM!
Must eat like yesterday recipe- for 5
Stove top- 1 large can of canned chicken chunks ( I use Sam's club brand)
1 can of corn
1 can of condensed cream of chicken
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans
1/2 packet of mild taco seasoning
Water
Bring to a boil, cool down, and garnish. 10 minutes and done. I have also added a handful of uncooked instant rice before boiling to soup. Delish!
Friday, March 1, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
TENT camping! Yikes!
So, as some of you may know, I don't camp...let alone TENT camp.
Why??? Because I will be mauled by a bear of course!
Or a child of mine will be- which do you help first?! Someone will have a tube of toothpaste uncapped in the tent, or one of our kids will have sticky peanut butter and jelly fingers, or or or... Idk. But the thought is terrifying! Well, mostly just to me- OK only me :-)
Yeti's. How could I forget Yeti's? GASP!
But alas, our family went TENT camping last week and survived... we dodged any crazed yeti-bears and made it back to tell the tale!
I guess Big Sur and coastal California are safe from ravenous grizzly bears after all!
More pictures-lots!, details-stops at aquarium and hiking!, observations-it's all about quarters!, and tricks for camping with kids soon!
Why??? Because I will be mauled by a bear of course!
Or a child of mine will be- which do you help first?! Someone will have a tube of toothpaste uncapped in the tent, or one of our kids will have sticky peanut butter and jelly fingers, or or or... Idk. But the thought is terrifying! Well, mostly just to me- OK only me :-)
Yeti's. How could I forget Yeti's? GASP!
But alas, our family went TENT camping last week and survived... we dodged any crazed yeti-bears and made it back to tell the tale!
I guess Big Sur and coastal California are safe from ravenous grizzly bears after all!
More pictures-lots!, details-stops at aquarium and hiking!, observations-it's all about quarters!, and tricks for camping with kids soon!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Oh Snap!
Some of you may know that I love to take pictures. Kids, babies, places, weddings, leaves, cupcakes, smiles... well, you get the idea.
It all started in high school when I got a really cool FILM camera, that's right folks, FILM camera :-) That was before digital pictures were around!
Check out Farm Girl Fresh on Facebook for a glance at some of my recent photography sessions.
Facebook.com/FarmGirlFreshDesign
It all started in high school when I got a really cool FILM camera, that's right folks, FILM camera :-) That was before digital pictures were around!
Check out Farm Girl Fresh on Facebook for a glance at some of my recent photography sessions.
Facebook.com/FarmGirlFreshDesign
Lasagna slow cooker
Slow Cooker Lasagna
This is one of our favorite recipes that I blogged about last year...
I'm in love with my slow cooker. So much in fact that my honey bought me a new fancy one for Christmas to go along with old faithful. Since I'm a nurse who works 12 hour shifts and has a young family, I love my slower cooker even more! Tonight I tried lasagna. I have always been a little nervous about cooking noodles and other "oven" type meals in my cooker. My thought was that the noodles would get over cooked and soggy. Not true. I was so impressed! With a little more prep than my average Crock Pot meal, it turned out to be a winner with everyone in my family of 5.
What you'll need:
1 lb of ground meat cooked- we used buffalo
1/2 onion, diced to hide
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
handful of frozen mixed veggies- to make me think we are healthy!
2 cans of your favorite pasta sauce- we used canned Hunt's
garlic, basil, house blend- to season to your families taste
1 1/2 C of Ricotta cheese, give or take
1 1/2 C cottage cheese
3 handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 can of water- mix in with sauce
1 box non cook lasagna noodles
1. Cook your meat. I added the garlic, onion and spices. Since we used Buffalo meat there was no need to drain fat, but do so if needed. 2. Add pasta sauce and all other veggies. 3. Simmer for a few minutes while you spray your slow cooker with non stick spray. 4. While sauce is still simmering, mix all cheese ingredients in a different bowl. This all should take less than 10-15 minutes. I already had cooked the meat and it was actually a left over. 5. Spread some of the sauce in the bottom of the slow cooker. Then a layer of your uncooked non bake noodles. Then I did- sauce again, cheese mixture, noodles, sauce, cheese, noodles... until I ran out of noodles and other stuff. 6. Top last layer with sauce and a few handfuls of mozzarella cheese. 7. Bake on low for 3-5 hours or until noodles are soft. You can add more or less to this recipe- that's the fun.
YUM!
This is one of our favorite recipes that I blogged about last year...
I'm in love with my slow cooker. So much in fact that my honey bought me a new fancy one for Christmas to go along with old faithful. Since I'm a nurse who works 12 hour shifts and has a young family, I love my slower cooker even more! Tonight I tried lasagna. I have always been a little nervous about cooking noodles and other "oven" type meals in my cooker. My thought was that the noodles would get over cooked and soggy. Not true. I was so impressed! With a little more prep than my average Crock Pot meal, it turned out to be a winner with everyone in my family of 5.
What you'll need:
1 lb of ground meat cooked- we used buffalo
1/2 onion, diced to hide
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
handful of frozen mixed veggies- to make me think we are healthy!
2 cans of your favorite pasta sauce- we used canned Hunt's
garlic, basil, house blend- to season to your families taste
1 1/2 C of Ricotta cheese, give or take
1 1/2 C cottage cheese
3 handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 can of water- mix in with sauce
1 box non cook lasagna noodles
1. Cook your meat. I added the garlic, onion and spices. Since we used Buffalo meat there was no need to drain fat, but do so if needed. 2. Add pasta sauce and all other veggies. 3. Simmer for a few minutes while you spray your slow cooker with non stick spray. 4. While sauce is still simmering, mix all cheese ingredients in a different bowl. This all should take less than 10-15 minutes. I already had cooked the meat and it was actually a left over. 5. Spread some of the sauce in the bottom of the slow cooker. Then a layer of your uncooked non bake noodles. Then I did- sauce again, cheese mixture, noodles, sauce, cheese, noodles... until I ran out of noodles and other stuff. 6. Top last layer with sauce and a few handfuls of mozzarella cheese. 7. Bake on low for 3-5 hours or until noodles are soft. You can add more or less to this recipe- that's the fun.
YUM!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Pinterest Fail!
Hi my name is D and I'm addicted to Pinterest. Hi D.
Like most of you I'm sure, I was introduced to the fantastic website that has become a black hole of time! Anything you could imagine is on there- total eye candy! I could spend hours looking at everyone's pins and letting my mind skip and dance from thought to thought. With my daughter's birthday rapidly approaching I thought I could find some awesome ideas for cupcakes to bake. I did. Super cute watermelon cupcakes that looked relatively easy to do. I thought it would make her and our guests swoon. Very 'Pinteresty' as I say. Well... Pinterest Fail!
After over baking the cupcakes a bit, I figured the cute frosting and chocolate chips would mask that. Then the fantastic idea to make green icing, put it in a pastry bag and swirl the tops sounded reasonable. The bottom corner with the fittings decided to clog and as any normal human would do, I squeezed harder. What proceeded to happen was the bottom blew out! Leaving large blobs of green frosting slipping off the cupcake tops. Panic. Then, my sister- in - law came to rescue. She is a perfect type A personality- read patient. When she swooped in the spread the tops and fix blobs, I happily kept squirting the ghostbuster-esq frosting. Until, I noticed that I had been slimed too! Yuck! Guests arriving, green frosting running down my shirt and cabinets. AWESOME! In my rush to get the clog out and Hercules style strength bounding, not only did the clog come out,but so did the top of the bag! Check out these pictures. Hahaha. Do I need to say that guests nicely asked, "What are these suppose to be?"
After over baking the cupcakes a bit, I figured the cute frosting and chocolate chips would mask that. Then the fantastic idea to make green icing, put it in a pastry bag and swirl the tops sounded reasonable. The bottom corner with the fittings decided to clog and as any normal human would do, I squeezed harder. What proceeded to happen was the bottom blew out! Leaving large blobs of green frosting slipping off the cupcake tops. Panic. Then, my sister- in - law came to rescue. She is a perfect type A personality- read patient. When she swooped in the spread the tops and fix blobs, I happily kept squirting the ghostbuster-esq frosting. Until, I noticed that I had been slimed too! Yuck! Guests arriving, green frosting running down my shirt and cabinets. AWESOME! In my rush to get the clog out and Hercules style strength bounding, not only did the clog come out,but so did the top of the bag! Check out these pictures. Hahaha. Do I need to say that guests nicely asked, "What are these suppose to be?"
Saturday, January 5, 2013
City Chickens
We have chickens and yes we live in the city. Not a high rise apartment nestled in downtown, but a normal home with an HOA none the less. Chickens- yes please. For a few years now I have had a thing for the fuzzy birds, so this is our second attempt at keeping backyard cluckers (the last time they "flew" south to farm across town). We have three little ladies now and have been looking at building a new coop. Where do you go to find an array of wonderful clucker housing options- Pinterest of course! What do you think? I die.
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