Canning success (i think)

I took lots of pictures and will post them tomorrow (I'll try anyway). We only got one batch of jelly and one batch of salsa. I think now we will do better...definitely something I'm wanting to do more of in the future. There was a lot of prep work and reading (and re-reading) directions.

No promises for pictures tomorrow, but I promise it will be soon!!!

just a short delay...

Equipment issues, 2 very grumpy boys, and a sleepy mom and grandma caused a little delay in the canning project!! But do not fret- we're gonna try again tonight. I know you'll be waiting for me to post my updates..haha!!!

We did it!!!

I made it through my first weekend of work!!! And I survived!!! (so did Jason!!). It stinks to be back so soon, but since I crave routine we can actually begin to get settled in.

We followed the meal plan great last week!!! I'm so pleased!! We only deviated 1 night (sunday night)....not too shabby!!!

So this week....ahhh...it feels good to be doing this. I planned to do it this am before bed but that didn't work. So here it is:

Monday: Cook out burgers (Jason's firing up the grill now)
Tuesday: Brinner (breakfast for dinner). It's my chance to restock the freezer of Max's pancakes.
Wednesday: BBQ pork in crockpot and broccoli slaw salad (Jason's working and I have a friend coming to town).
Thursday: Citrus ginger chicken from freezer, couscous and glazed carrots
Friday: cookout (Jason's parents will be here watching boys while Jason's at work and I'm sleeping getting ready for work).
Saturday: Brats and perogies
Sunday: Homemade pizza (from packs in freezer)

We also stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies this week to try our hand at smoothies (both green and otherwise) for breakfasts and lunches. We need easy quick things for those meals. I'll post how that goes. We also got some recipes for some hearty healthy muffins (recipe from Jason's coworker). Those will be stocked in the freezer. I finally feel some clarity and like we're getting it together!! It feels good.

And we've walked with the boys in the stroller nearly every sunny day the last few days!! It also feels good. Our fitness regimen is being tweaked and we're gonna start tracking our workouts and (hopefully) weightloss!!!


For more menu ideas and meal planning tips check out "I'm an organizing junkie" Menu planning monday post!!

So far so good...

The meal planning is really helping out!!! 2 days and we've followed it!! Yay!!! My mini meatloaves were a success and I have some for lunch today (sent some to work with Jason too) and I have some to take to work friday. I put a roast in the crockpot this am so I'll be ready for our dinner and for Jason when he gets home from work!!

I'm hoping I can stick with this!!!

Question for anyone ANYONE out there!! I have a ton of Round steaks in my freezer stash (it's what we have the most left!!). How do I fix it? Any tried and true recipes out there? Please share!!

We went to see the Baby Elephants yesterday at the Zoo- I'm hoping to put some pics on the boys blog soon!!!

Another early morning, another recipe..

I'm hosting a thanksgiving brunch at my house for my dad and sisters so I'm looking for some recipes to try (I'm not tackling turkey-but I thought maybe I could do a ham). My mom suggested looking for a cola recipe so I found one on my favorite crock pot blog!!!! Here it is:

Cola Ham

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
1 teaspoon Horseradish
1/4 cup Cola (not Diet)
4 pounds Precooked Ham

Directions:
Mix the mustard, horseradish and brown sugar together. Mix in a small amount of cola to form a paste and rub all over the ham. Put the ham in the crockpot and pour the remaining cola over the ham. Cook on high for 1 hour and then set on low for 6-7 hours.

Recipe additions....

I've been cooking at home more since we're on a stricter budget (I have mentioned the new kid coming this spring and my desire for a finished basement, right??). So I have been trying lots of new recipes and expanding my cooking options. I have a few recipe blogs I love and I'll post those sometime soon-but I need a place to save some recipes to try and keep. I usually use my laptop upstairs to blog and search online and my printer is in the "unfinished" basement so running down there isn't always convenient to pickup printouts. Also-I want to try things before I commit them to my cookbook. In leui of starting a new blog-I'll just add some recipes to my already filled with thoughts on parenting and mommyhood blog!!! No one minds, right?

So here's the first installment!! Katie-she has an amazing cooking blog and I met her on my mommy chat board-her famous recipe is bourbon chicken which I've made and love. It's nicknamed Crack Chicken on our board!!! Well, someone adapted it to the crockpot...and I love me some crockpot cooking!!! I haven't tried the crockpot version but here it is:


Bourbon Chicken - Crockpot style
3 lbs boneless chicken breasts
1 garlic clove crushed
1/4 teaspoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp of corn starch
Cut chicken breast into bite sized pieces. Mix all ingredients into your crockpot, throw in the chicken. Cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 4.

The recipe isn't that different from the original but I wanted to save the list and directions here. When I did make this-I doubled the sauce-I like sauce over my rice.

More recipes to come-I'm sure!!!

Over due update

I was doing great with the Couch 2 5K for a few weeks and then life just caught up!! Jason and I are trying to keep walking and continue to get healthy!!
I plan on doing a cooking marathon this week for stocking the freezer!! Jason's sister Jenny is due a week from today and I want her to have plenty of food in the freezer for those first few weeks of bringing a baby home!! Plus-Jason and I have slipped into the eating out is easier mode-so I need to stock our home with food again!!!
Not sure if I've mentioned-but we're working on getting out of debt using Dave Ramsey's method. We've gotten rid of the credit cards and things are going well. A budget it tough stuff-but I know it'll be worth it to be able to buy what we want and not have looming debt!!!
I'm hoping to post vacation pics from camping on Max's blog this week...make sure you check them out!!! And I hope to blog more this week. I hate that I've let it slack. So much is happening and I'd love to have a record of it!!!

Mama Monday - travel

It's been way too long since I've blogged in this blog and I've decided to participate in Erin's Mama Monday posts. I'll post the same disclaimer-I'm no expert...far from it!!! But I love her blog and especially Mama Mondays!!! I've been waiting for a topic I can participate in!!!

We just got back from a short road trip to Buffalo (from Columbus). It was only a 5 hour drive but it was Max's first real vacation!!! He did great!!! Here are some things I learned!!

1. Several music options are necessary!!! We had an awake CD (For the kids) and a sleepy CD (Sing over me). These are my absolute 2 favorite CDs of Max's!!! Sing over me is beautiful and great background music. We made it louder in the back so he could listen to it. We played the sleepy cd until he fell asleep and then shut it off and listen to our podcasts (Dave Ramsey) while he was sleeping. When he'd wake up and be fussy-we'd turn on For the kids and Max, mommy and daddy would rock out!!!

2. His toy bag was full of toys-old stand by's and brand new toys. We rotated them often.

3. We made the mistake of opting out of solid food for him during the drive. When we go camping in august we will definitely be feeding him during our stops.

4. We made a changing station on the backseat. Max hates getting his diaper changed so I'd rather not do that by myself in a restaurant! I think we'll try to use the back end of the trailblazer next time-making an area that is easily accessible for us!

5. Max doesn't need a DVD/movies yet-but I am aware that that will be in our future!!! I'm watching for sales!!!

6. We spent all day on wednesday at Fort Niagara and he slept great in his Ergo. It was so much easier than the stroller! I also had the sling and we used that too!!!

7. Not totally related-but we decided that when we travel-instead of buying t-shirts or other souvenirs we will buy Max a patch that we'll later put on a backpack for him. We also decided for us we'll buy a Christmas tree ornament. This is a cheaper alternative and smaller with less waste-he'll grow out of t shirts so fast and we really don't need anymore knick knacks!!!

Max and Mommy at the waterfront in Buffalo

Mommy, Max and Daddy at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo-home of the original Buffalo wing!!! Yum!!

Thanks for letting me join Mama Monday!!! Be sure to check out her post and the buddy posts!!!

Thursday night....

Thursday nights always get me. I work weekend nights, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That allows me to be off monday-thursday. It's just not enough time. I feel like I'm cramming a ton of stuff into those 4 days (which really isn't 4 days because I have to recover on Mondays).

I feel like we got some stuff done this week. You saw my yard/garden post. We also got the under sink area cleaned out and organized. Each week I want to tackle some sort of project-just to feel like I've accomplished something. Next week it's the medicine cabinet and/or laundry room. We'll see.

I found some Ice Cube trays to make baby food!!! (found them at Container Store-afraid I was gonna have to order them online!!) Woo hoo!!! I have a food processor (in red) and a baby food mill. I have everything I need now and I have no excuse. I plan on using www.wholesomebabyfood.com and several books from my library. I'm actually eager to start making purees for Bubby Max. I will then continue it into our food (a la Sneaky Chef style). I'm actually looking forward to it. I've just been hesitant to start for some reason. Fear of messing up, laziness...who knows!!! Well, that's a project for next week!!

Well, The Office's season finale is tonight. I can't wait to watch it!!! We're tivo-ing it and watching it commercial free!!! Woo hoo!!!

More next week.....

Update

I had a great first Mother's day!!! Jason and Max got me a shirt from So Cool Mom. I love the theory behind these products-Live Happy, Love Well!!! Kate wears them on John and Kate plus Eight!! (I love this family BTW!!!).

So we finally had a day without rain-so Grandpa and Great-grandma came up and helped us in our yard!!! We mulched, I planted Wave Petunias, and we finished our Square foot Garden!!

I've planted a sweet pepper, hot pepper, yellow pepper, green beans, lettuce, onions, carrots, cilantro, oregano, cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes and marigolds. I've mentioned before the Square Foot Gardening method-I'm so excited to see how we do. I would never have imagined planting that much stuff ever before-I'm so excited to see how we end up!!! I'm excited because we bought organic plants from neighbors and many of the other plants were in compost-able pots. I'm hoping we will save some money this summer on produce and I think we're helping out the environment by using green methods!!
Here are some more pictures around the house:

My Lilac Bush:
Another shot of the square:

My Wave Petunias:

(in the last shot you can see my lilies in the background!)

We used 31 bags of mulch-holy cow!!! Thank goodness Great Grandma was here to spend the day with Bubby Max b/c we just finished and we started early!!! (well, we did have breakfast, went to Lowe's twice, took 2 trips to get mulch and stopped for lunch).

This is the first time I've really taken an interest in my flower beds, the mulch and a garden!! I'm so excited!!!

Naptime is better!!!

Max seems to be doing so much better napping. He's definitely a boy that needs his sleep!!!! I can feel myself get anxious around naptime-but after a few cries he calms down. (Now today it was more than a few cries-but still....)

Jason, Max and I went to the greenhouse this week and bought some Wave Petunias for our back and front flower beds!!! Then it started raining so I didn't get them in the ground yet...hopefully next week!!

On saturday, there is a plant sale near our house and I'm so eager to get my plants in my Square Foot Garden!!! I hope to have pictures of it up next week!!!

I'm hoping to update Max's Blog with some pics here soon!!! Make sure you check it out!!!

Where did Spring go??

Max and I will be off to Bible Study soon. His napping has been so much better-yay!!!!! He actually slept 3 hours in his crib yesterday!! Woo Hoo!!!

We've been reading Babywise and Babywise 2 which have totally helped. Also Heathly Sleep Habits, Happy Child has been a huge help!!!

Since it's been so darn cold here and we all have been sick we haven't been walking at all!!! I even had to cover one of my bushes tuesday night because of a frost warning!!! I'm ready for that sunny weather we had a few weeks ago!!!

We are putting our garden boxes together today!!! (and by we I mean Jason). I mentioned before that we are using the Square Foot Gardening method. I'm so excited and hope we can get them planted next week!!! I can't wait to try to make Spaghetti sauce this summer and eat all our veggies!!! Jason is even better eating veggies!!!

We're getting there!!

Parenting is a process!! We're learning each day a little more!!! It's tough sometimes though. Max is doing better napping. We're reading a ton of books and looking at all the theories.
Our current read is Babywise II. I know it's controversial-but it has given me some confidence and a little hope!! At some point I'll do a review of all the books we've read and what we like!! We do need continued prayers-but we're getting there!!!
Oh-we bought a jogging stroller!! Its great and I love it!!! Since we've had it we've been walking tons!!! I feel healthier every day!!!
And we've been trying to eat healthier too!!! We went to Whole Foods (which was fun BTW) and got some veggies and frozen fish which we grilled out. Yum!!!! And Jason has converted to brown rice!!! Yay!!! Again-it's all a process but we're getting there!!!

the Market today

Well-Melissa and I did go to the North Market today and I had a great time and learned tons from her!! We first went to the coop and it was pretty much what I expected. She had warned me that it was quite crunchy:). She showed me several different kinds of grains that would be great alternatives to white rice-none of which I can remember right now. (Jason and I eat a lot of white rice and I'm hoping to convert to some sort of healthier side dish-maybe a whole grain). At the coop there was everything possible organic and wholesome. Even interesting books about Vegan eating (which I do not at all do-but it intrigues me in a bad accident kind of way). I did see a lady wearing her child (which is pretty much my limit in crunchy-ness). It was nice to see someone "babywearing" in a practical setting. I mean-I wear Max around the house-but I haven't tried it out in public much. I watched her to see if I could catch any tips or hints in how she was doing it.
Then at the Market Melissa showed me the places where she buys local eggs, milk and meats. I was impressed that in the downtown of a major city you can find local products. There was also many organic vegetables. This is where I'm confused and need to make a decision - which is more important to me - organic or local? I need to do more research but right now I'm leaning towards local. I like the idea of really knowing where my food is coming from. I have though learned about the Dirty Dozen and what actual foods I should look for in organic. It's all very confusing and tough and if anyone has any insight-please comment!! It seems like there is so much more to it-like what it takes for a farm to be "labeled" organic and how much it costs to get that label. At the same time-how can I give Max peaches when I see on my handy shopping guide (click that above link to find it) that peaches have some of the highest pesticide content!! I just want whats best for my family!!!
In the meantime-I'm in the market for a new stroller. I don't want to replace my current stroller-I want one in addition to it!! I want a jogging stroller (a cheap one) so when I walk daily (as I have been) my current stroller (this one only green) stays nicer!! It's funny that I want a new stroller right now-I'm trying to get fit-but in the morning I get to go to Bible study and the lesson for this week is about contentment and greed. Do I need a new stroller? Probably not. Am I rationalizing my desire for more? Maybe... Again-the balance of being a mother....ugh!!!