New Recipe

I tried a new recipe tonight and it was a big hit! We love Mexican food, so my husband and I just started talking about what ingredients we like best in mexican dishes. I cooked some hamburger with mexican seasoning and some mexican rice on the stove. While they were cooking I layered in a casserole dish refried beans (we like the green chile and lime flavor), then corn, then the cooked rice, black beans, hamburger and topped it off with cheese. I threw in some green enchilada sauce on top of a few of the layers. I baked it at 375 for about 20 mins and served it with tortilla chips. I topped mine off with sour cream, my husband likes hot sauce. It was a really quick meal and everyone loved it!

2 for 1

I think it's pretty common for most people (especially women) to be concerned with their weight, it seems to be the never ending battle! Also, most couples I know are struggling with finances and if you have children time alone! My husband and I are always looking for cheap and creative dates to go on. Lately we've started combining exercising and dates! We go for walks while our kids are in school....this would also work in the evenings just leave your kids at home! We stick our baby in the stroller and go for a walk....no phone, computer, t.v....just my hubby and I getting healthy and having time to talk without interruptions. Today we walked to the local convenience store and got a non-fat frozen yogurt to share on the walk home. We plan on walking together everyday, it's a great way to re-connect and support each other in having a healthy lifestyle!

There's nothing to eat!!!

How many times a day do you hear that?!?!? I love watching my kids stand in front of a fridge or cupboard full of food and exclaim, " there's nothing to eat!". One thing we've done to combat that constant question has been to get our kids individual baskets. Each child has a basket with their name on it, we try to refill them twice a month, but usually our budget dictates that. We go to Wal Mart where they have chips, cookies and soda for about $1 each. We let each kid pick out their favorite of each to keep in their basket and they have to budget their treats to last the 2-3 weeks between shopping trips. This has really cut down on the extra snacking and whining about wanting snacks. When they eat all their snacks, they're done! Again, depending on our budget that month we'll put different things in, favorite cereal, beef jerky, pop tarts..you'd be surprised the snacks kids come up with (like a bag of pepperoni!).
This also helps with mommy snacking :). If the kids have their treats in their own basket and not just sitting on the shelf, it doesn't tempt me. I can keep healthier snacks like fruit, cheese or just goldfish crackers on hand for when they've had enough sugar or have run out of treats. Some of the kids go through their whole basket in a few days and spend the rest of the time eating the healthier snacks and others budget really well and just have one treat a day. It has worked for us pretty well.
So here's my question to all moms...What are some of your favorite quick recipes? A family favorite that is quick, simple and made from ingredients you usually have on hand?
In our house the quickest, most common meal is probably "Italian Casserole". We just cook whatever noodles we have, ground beef with spaghetti sauce, pour it all in a pan, throw some cheese on top and bake it in the oven until the cheese melts. The kids love it, especially as a change from spaghetti.
We are also a family of pizza lovers so we're always looking for new ways to create that. We recently were making english muffin pizza's...yummy and pretty cheap to make. Just the other day my husband was in the mood for pizza but we didn't have any muffins so he used a tortilla! That's the new fav....a little bit of pizza sauce, either motzerella or just blended cheese and we like to use mini pepperoni's...bake them right on the oven rack and they come out crispy like a thin crust pizza!

3:30...the crazy hour

I'm always surprised at just how crazy life gets right around 3:30! I went from being a single mom with 2 kids..fast forward 2 1/2 years to me being a mom of 6 kids! Wow and I thought I was busy before. I have one kid on a computer doing a report, one on my floor doing homework, my almost 2 year old climbing around my bed yelling about wanting to draw and 2 others in and out with almost constant questions...whew, is it bedtime yet? Or the better question might be...what's for dinner?
Does anyone else ever wake up with Nick Jr. songs in their head? I do every single morning...Yo Gabba Gabba, Wow wow wubzy, Backyardagains....you name it, it's running through my head in the morning. It's interesting to see the effect us having a baby has had on our household. When she was born we had kids ranging from 8 to 17. All of our kids now sing Yo Gabba Gabba songs and have no problem sitting through many episodes...I LOVE this! When I think about all the garbage on t.v. I'm very thankful that my kids are happy watching "kiddie" shows and singing songs about the weather, not biting their friends and being brave :). This little girl has really brought our family together, she's got everyone wrapped around her finger. There's not many things better than seeing every kid in the house grinning from ear to ear and laughing because there's a little girl dancing in the room!
I think my 15 minutes of "sitting" are up...i've got to prepare something for dinner, family night and if I'm lucky i'll get the folded laundry that's been sitting on my chair for 4 days put away!