Keeping food warm :)

I've learned to accept that birthing babies cost more than my perfect physique (by that I mean my boobs lol). It definitely has impaired my ability to multi-task successfully like I did years ago. I've also adapted things I've learned in the past to work for me now. Case in point - cooking for the family while I'm trying to pull apart bickering children and switching laundry and answering the phone and on and on. Always ends up that only one part of the meal is warm when it's time to eat. Then I remembered the food warmers that commercial kitchens use to keep dishes warm until the entire meal is ready to go out. I started turning the oven on to its lowest setting (170) and using it as a warmer. Now my eggs stay warm while I'm making pancakes and those stay warm while I'm making hashbrowns. French fries stay warm with the burgers until I'm done frying them in batches. :) And most importantly -- mama always gets to eat HOT food even when she's the last to sit down.

Boneless Hot Wings :D

 Ok I've done it. 

After lots of trial and error, I've found the sweet spot -- the perfect boneless hot wings. Crispy on the outside, tender inside. 

I use boneless chicken thighs - chicken breast doesn't have the same depth of flavor that the thigh does when you're talking about wings. The taste is spot on. And they are perfectly crispy from the "breading" technique. Hubby raves. And you get more bang for your buck with thighs vs wings - which makes me rave. :D ok enough chatter, let's make some BL Hot Wings!

You'll need:

Boneless chicken thighs (trimmed of excess fat and cut into strips)

Cornstarch (don't sub with flour! This is what makes them crispy!)

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt/Pepper

Hot sauce

Butter/margarine

Oil (to fry)

Also, have handy:

A gallon ziploc bag

A colander

A plastic Walmart bag

Turn on your oil and get it going. 

Season your chicken with the garlic & onion powders and salt and pepper.

Put some cornstarch in the ziploc bag and add the chicken.

Zip (I leave air inside) and do the hippy hippy shake.. 😂 

Now, put your colander INSIDE the walmart bag and dump your chicken in it. 

(Sorry the photo isn't fabulous at portraying this!) hold the sides of the colander and handles of the bag together and gently shake to get the excess cornstarch off. Toss the bag - no mess baby! BOOYA!!! 

By now your oil should be ready. Fry the chicken in batches and drain on paper towels (brown paper bags or coffee filters work great as well when you don't have PT). 

Microwave equal parts hot sauce and butter/margarine (it goes a long way so I usually start with a few tbs of each). I do this in a bowl that has a lid - which makes the next part a snap. 

Add chicken, put lid on and.... 🎶Shake it to the left...Shake it to the right🎶 Ok I'll stop now. 

And we did it! 

Perfect boneless hot wings everytime! You can definitely just toss the chicken in whatever other wing sauces you want - if you feel adventurous, here's 50 different wing sauces to try in one link! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/articles/50-wing-recipes.html

The chili-ranch, maple-bacon, and cola-glazed ones sound super yummy!

You can make big batches and freeze too! (Spread chicken out on freezer-paper lined cookie sheet and freeze for a few hours --- keeps them from being a large lump of chicken pieces frozen together.) Just bake at 450' for 10-15 minutes on a greased foil-lined pan. 

There ya have it. And more importantly, I now have my recipe documented for future reference. I have a bad habit of not writing down my recipes because I'm SURE I'll remember them. LOL

Til next time, friends....

That time of year!

So I found this on my Timehop this morning -->

And may I digress for a second and just say that I totally LOVE Timehop - it will come in useful when I actually do my Project Life scrapbook that I got for my birthday like 4 years ago and hasn't even been opened yet... *hangs head in shame*

Back to the heating pack. I've found the best filler for them -- birdseed! It stays hot for a long time (nearly all night) and molds to your body so well. :) my kiddos have begged me to make one for each of them. Although if you want one in 2 minutes, you could just pour some birdseed in a pillowcase and knot it. Gets the job done (ask me how I know LOL).

Story of my life...

Yep - again, I started my blog up and said "I'm going to post on this everyday!" And two days later... *crickets chirping*

So. Let's try this again with no "x amount of posts per x amount of days" stipulation. I guess it's too much pressure for willowy me :) 

But I do have some stuff I want to toss into the good ol' blogosphere, so I suppose random postings will keep whoever decides to follow along (probably just my mom LOL - hi mom!) on their toes and coming back in hopes they'll find something new. 

Yeah, that's what it is. I'm inspiring spontaneous excitement among others. See how awesome I am at taking a pile of personal poo and turning it into a beautiful flower of giving to others. 

Or some crap like that.

Off to turn 10 random kitchen ingredients into something edible for the people....

Day 1

Day 1 of 0to70 Challenge!

I took my before photos this morning (scary!) and sent them to Jen for accountability purposes. Man, was that an eye-opener. I guess I just don't see myself the way others do and am really excited because I didn't feel as lumpy and blobby as my photos portrayed, so I'm only going to feel better as my body gets better.

I was up this morning at 8 and working out by 8:30 and then straight to the shower. I already found my first of undoubtedly numerous benefits and I love it! It's always freezing in our bathroom, so showering first thing is not something I'm partial to. But, that shower was heavenly once I was all sweaty and gross from working out. Dressed and ready to take on the day! .... and then I kinda slowed down and stagnated because Nathan is sleeping and I'm having to be in the kids' room to keep them quiet enough for him to continue doing so.

I can already tell that the benefits will increase exponentially and very quickly too! We'll be starting school in the next couple weeks, which means our schedules will kind of bulk up a bit with that, especially in the mornings.  Having energy right off the bat will make for better days overall...

Today's message to myself: Remember that ENERGY HIGH you felt after you were done working out! Natural endorphins will help your PMDD, depression, anxiety, sleeping, and overall mood too!

10 week challenge

So a high school friend who is a wicked beach body coach starts a Focus T25 challenge tomorrow and has graciously let me join :) (thanks Jen! You rock!)

I've tried T25 a couple times and each time I died on day 3. Shaun T.-2, me-0. This time I decided I needed some buddies to endure the torture, and sparing my husband the frustration of being my accountability partner is also a bonus! I'm doing T25 to actually complete something - and I picked the thing I knew would be a huge benefit to my life in multiple ways (boosts in energy, flexibility, strength, self-esteem, and hormonal/PMDD regulation) to force myself to foster some self-discipline and continue a commitment to completion despite how I feel in the process.

But if I know anything, it's that I'm a 200/0% kinda girl. And I'm a "tell me I can't have/do it and that's exactly what I'm going to desperately try to do/have" kinda girl too. So if I'm gonna step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to do this T25 for 10 weeks, I'm going to go all out and make it unreachable so I want it more. It's logical in my mind, alright? ;) 

I'm going to call it 0to70 because in 10 weeks (or 70 days!) time, I will complete the T25 challenge but also use the newfound energy to also try a few other things. I'm not drinking Shakeology because it has flavorings in it so I'm going to eat Weight Watchers (Points Plus) style. I'm not starving myself but I don't want to just binge on crap either, so WWPP will help me balance my eating. Also, I picked 10 things to work on in my house over the course of the 10 weeks! Here's a quick look at the things I'm going to work into the challenge:

ME:

1) Focus T25

2) eating healthier

3) blogging daily

HOUSE: 

1) clean 2 hrs per day

2) share out household responsibilities

3) do 1 project per week

Projects--

1) purge clothes

2) kids toys/books

3) our bedroom

4) craft stuff

5) linen/laundry closets

6) pantry

7) rearrange/paint kids room

8) paint bathroom/stain cabinet and dresser

9) hubby's desk redo

10) outside/porch/van

FINANCES:

1) spending freeze

2) OAMC or TAMC

3) save $400 for med supplies

I'm planning on a daily update even if it's just a quote/word of encouragement or a message to myself to come back to when I'm discouraged or tired.

Here goes nothing!!

Pizza pizza!

Finally perfected my pizza (hubby picked it even when he was offered steak!) and being me, I need to write it down before I forget it in a week lol. 

Refridgerated pizza crust from Walmart

1lb package square block whole milk mozzarella (great value); shred with large-holed grater

Tub of Frigo asiago/parm/Romano blend shredded cheese

Sauce/pepperoni/toppings

Garlic powder (or garlic bread sprinkle)

Parmesan cheese

Oven @ 425

Lightly butter bottom of stoneware bar pan. Press crust out and up sides of pan. Top with sauce and sprinkle garlic on. Bake 13-14 min or until light brown. Top with asiago/parm/romano mix and then mozzarella (both conservatively). Add pepperoni/toppings and bake an additional 4 minutes. Pull onto cooling rack, sprinkle with Parmesan shaker and cut.

Mommy quick tip

Put on Monkey's pants today and though they were great for length, the waist was a little loose on her teensy bum. Haven't had a chance to fix the elastic in her new pants my MIL bought her but had a random lightbulb moment and dug out a mitten clip. Bam. Easy as pie.

Rockin' Chicken Bacon Quesadilla Rolls with Smashed Avocado Dipping Sauce

Okay so these are A-MAY-ZING. I wanted to make those chicken quesadilla rolls you see in the freezer section from scratch (Hubby has allergies to egg, preservatives, and MSG) and after getting lost on foodgawker.com and Pinterest, I managed to find a couple recipes that I liked parts of, so I pulled a little from here and there and added a little bit of what I figured would taste good (and tweaked with what I had on hand).. and O.M.G. these were epic. EPIC. more after the jump...

you'll need:
tortillas (get them from Aldi - trust me.. thick enough not to rip, soft, and only 99c/10pk)
1 chicken breast
1/2 can black beans, rinsed
handful of shredded cheddar (or whatever you got)
4 oz softened cream cheese
green onion (or chop up a small onion)
salsa
cumin
bacon (i used bacon bits b'c i was lazy and didn't want to have to cook/crumble bacon)

1/2 c. fresh avocado (I used a packet of plain guacamole from Aldi - again, Aldi's guac rocks)
1/4 c mayo (yeah, just glob some in there)
1/4 c sour cream (again, a glob)
salt, pepper, parsley, onion powder, dillweed, garlic powder to taste

flatten your chicken breast (stick it in a big ziploc, seal and beat the snot out of it with a rolling pin). season with whatever you want (i used garlic pepper seasoning and some cumin) and cook it up. let it rest for a few & chop it up (i used my pampered chef food chopper, but you can just run a knife through it). mix in black beans, cheddar, cream cheese, salsa (i think i used about 1/3-1/2c), green onion, cumin, bacon, s/p if needed. warm your tortillas, spread a spoonful down center, fold tortilla in half and then roll into cigar shape. insert toothpick to keep it shut. repeat. heat about an inch of oil in a pan until screamin' hot, then fry each quesadilla roll until lightly golden, turning as needed. drain on paper plate/towel/bag. mix together the avocado dip. take out the toothpicks and DIG IN! (i ate mine with extra sour cream, but i'm a sour cream addict.)

PS - here are the 2 recipes i pulled from/tweaked (click to open in new window): cream cheese & chicken taquitos and chicken avocado enchiladas

*also, i would have added chopped bell peppers, but Hubby can't eat them.

Shrimp Scampi with Broccoli & Parmesan

I normally hate seafood and fish (with the exception of scallops). Pregnancy has me craving fish fry, but that's the extent of it. So I made this for my boys (hubby and 6 year old) and popped in a salisbury steak/macaroni & cheese microwave meal for me that I bought on my last shopping trip I made while hungry (bad idea normally, absolutely uncontrollable when pregnant lol). It's a little semi-homemade (which I've been doing a lot lately, being 8.5 months pregnant) -- I bought a box of frozen shrimp scampi at Walmart and doctored it up a bit. Also, the measurements are a little Rachel Ray -- give & take. I used up a couple near-empty boxes of spaghetti and a couple handfuls of broccoli.. but I'll give you the best approximates I can. It's so easy to tweak to what you need or have on hand. Here's the recipe:

Shrimp Scampi with Broccoli & Parmesan

box of frozen shrimp scampi (I used the 16oz SeaPak shrimp scampi because Aldi was closed and I couldn't buy their version - which Hubby loves)

1/2 pkg broccoli florets

1/2 stick butter/margarine

1/2 box of pasta (I used spaghetti, anything will do)

cornstarch (just have the box handy!)

parmesan cheese

Cook your pasta as directed. While cooking, melt butter in skillet. Nuke broccoli for a couple minutes to thaw. Toss broccoli and shrimp into skillet; saute on medium until sauce is melted off shrimp. (At this time, if you're using the SeaPak shrimp, you'll need to take them out of the pan and chop off the tails -- the Aldi brand comes with them already chopped off.) Sprinkle some cornstarch over sauce (couple teaspoons or so), stir around a little til it dissolves in, then let it cook (while stirring) for a couple minutes. If it's still too thin, add a little more cornstarch. Cook until shrimp are opaque, add cooked/drained pasta and toss to coat. Serve topped with parmesan cheese (and salt/pepper if you want). This is a great meal that can be stretched (add more veggies) and tweaked (leave out the butter for lower fat or switch up the veggies) however you want -- and it's on the table in under 20 minutes! Serve with a colorful salad for a great meal.

2 days left in 2010

Hard to believe there's only 2 days left in the year! At 32 weeks, I only have 6-8 weeks to go before this little one comes and it seems so much stuff left to do. Will keep me busy up til the moment I go into labor most likely.

Every year jillions of people set their New Year's Resolutions -- and follow them for a week before giving them up. I want to do it a little different this year. I don't want to set a resolution for the whole year - and then flake out a week into January. I want to try a 21 day challenge for myself. The reason I'm picking 21 days is because supposedly that's how long it takes to form a new habit -- and isn't true change really changing your habits? Einstein says that it is insanity to do the same thing over and over while expecting different results. People will say "I want to lose weight" or "I want to stop smoking" and expect it to happen without changing their habits. Just doesn't work that way. So yes, the next 21(+) days will be a lot different than normal - and probably super hard to drag myself through - but it may mean changing some of my crappy habits into good healthy ones that will make me a better me (and therefore a better wife & mom).

Sometimes I wonder why it is so hard to form new habits. We're prescribed a new medication and we take it faithfully every morning because our doctor told us it is a necessity to make us better in one way or another. But we so often opt not to choose to change our habits so that they too can improve our lives in some way. Something to ponder.

So, I've said it before -- and I'll say it again (because I didn't follow through enough before)...

SIMPLIFY. PURGE. PRUNE.

Here are some quotes I found that I think are great to think on.

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. - Vernon Howard

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so the necessary my speak. - Hans Hofmann

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction. - E.F. Schumacher

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. - Leonardo DaVinci

He is rich who rejoices in his portion.

We don't need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it. -Donald Horban

Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves. -Edwin Way Teale

And I think this one is my favorite.. It seems to cross over to a spiritual truth, with God being the Great Sculptor.

"The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination." -Elbert Hubbard


So, 21 days to new habits - which hopefully means improvement!  Here are some things I want to accomplish - and the help I'm going to use along the way (I'm not silly enough to try it on my own!).

1. Time with God. This will mean a change in attitudes of the heart -- which is what ultimate change is truly about. Find a daily devotion. Read a chapter of Scripture daily. Study a portion of the Bible (either a person or a character trait). Keeping in the Word will help keep me in His presence - and there is no better guide in discerning true simplicity.
2. Better housecleaning habits. I'm going to use Flylady to help me with this. Also, The Husband and I have agreed that he will point out things that he feels need done in the house, helping me to have direction and motivation to complete higher priority chores. I'm hoping at the end of the challenge, I will have better habits (and even maybe a routine!) and not have to rely on his direction as much.
3. More organized. Hang cooking utensils. Purge & organize Elijah's toys. Trim fabric scraps from scrap clothes. Update household binder. Write up weekly menus. Just a few of the many little things I plan to do to simplify and organize not only my physical house, but my household and how it runs.
4. Stock the thrift store. No more going into the thrift store and buying useless crap that will just take up more space in my house. Time to GET RID of stuff - stock the thrift store and let them make some money off the stuff that's cluttering up my home. The less stuff I have, the easier it will be to clean it, as well as anyone finding it when they need to (including husband and son).
5. Simplify. Two sets of sheets per bed. Toss food storage containers without lids (and lids without containers). I don't really need all those shoes. Figure out a simple wardrobe - and pare down to the basics that are classic, multi-use pieces (and that goes for Elijah too). If servicemen/women can live out of a duffel bag, it is possible for 4 people to live comfortably in a 600 sq ft home. And, that $5 pizza cutter will last years as opposed to buying 5 of them from the $1 store over the course of a year because they keep breaking (or you lose them in the abyss of the utensil drawer).When less is more, you can invest in the little that you have (quality over quantity). 

So, it's a little obvious that I'm TERRIBLE at keeping up with my blog. But yet I can check Facebook 12 times a day. Something could be wrong with me. I'm at a point in life (I've been at plenty a time before) where I feel like I want things to change PERMANENTLY for the BETTER. I've been thinking about things that worked in the past, that for some reason (mostly laziness) I've gotten away from. One of the things that used to help A LOT was posting my "to do" list online at mommysavers.com. The forum is full of other mommies doing the same thing as me, so we could keep each other accountable to get done what we needed to do for the day. It was great, though I didn't realize HOW great until after I stopped doing it. You know, the whole "hindsight" thing. Anyway, I want to do that again. My house has gotten away from me, and at just shy of 27 weeks pregnant I'm racing against the clock to gain control over something that will be an added pressure once the baby has arrived. I have posted my daily do list on the mommy board, but I'll post it here as well:

1. switch dishwasher
2. laundry (unending pile it seems!)
3. clean clutter off table & counters
4. change lightbulbs in DS's bedroom and closet
5. change furnace filter
6. put away clean laundry
7. put out solar spotlights
8. wash down front door/doorway
9. dust
10. wash down bathtub
11. mop kitchen floor
12. mop bathroom floor
13. vacuum
14. mix sugar cookie dough
15. make spice cake & brownies (for truffles)
16. figure out what's for dinner

 Also, I have started to declutter the house. I have a BEFORE BABY PROJECT LIST already - and a lot of the things on that list involve decluttering. At times I've found myself frustrated because Hubby and Little Man don't get things on their own - they are often asking me to get things for them. I realized that by everything having a home -- and things going back to their home after use -- my boys will become more independent and get things on their own (and put them back where they belong). It won't be an immediate thing, but I'm tired of having to do everything because I'm not fostering a clean, uncluttered home. So, I'm working on it. I've bought shelving units to store Little Man's toys and also one for our bedroom (for my crafting stuff, etc) and I've found it to be so much easier to know "it's on the shelf" even if I have to search for it for a couple minutes. My most recent change was to turn the living room closet into a storage closet/pantry. They now know that the towels are in there, as well as any extra bottles of juice or napkins we have on hand. It's working, slowly but surely. We're getting there. Now, I think I'm going to start noticing the things that are continuing to give me troubles and try to find solutions for them (which I might have to keep finding until I find one that really works for me). Hooray for the internet!

Here's the first one: plastic grocery bags. How I loathe them. I really would like to go to cloth ones (or even ones made out of fused plastic bags!) but I haven't made them yet. And until I am exclusively using them, I have to find a solution for the gobs of plastic ones that make it into my house. So, here's my first CLUTTER-BUSTER SOLUTION.

FOLDING PLASTIC BAGS NEATLY

This awesome little solution takes a crumpled (or tied) grocery bag and shrinks it to about the size of a matchbook. I'm figuring the same technique can be used with cloth grocery sacks as well. I imagine an empty kleenex box would hold dozens of these folded gems!

Next up --- finding a cleaning solution that WORKS to replace the dozen-or-so bottles/cans of random cleaners under my kitchen & bathroom sinks.

62 days down, 218 to go...

It is officially the last day of Week 8. The "Little Raspberry" has kept me quite nauseas this week and seems to be all about refusing most of the foods I want to eat. Little bugger. Speaking of the little bugger, here he/she is -- in all their 8 week gestational glory! ----------------------------->

We still have 10 days to go until our first appointment with Dr. Kim. We're going nuts waiting to hear our little one's heartbeat. I'm also hoping that she gives me the green light to travel north to my sister's baby shower, which is just two days after the appointment. (And maybe even green light a trip down to Florida a couple weeks later for the MOPS convention?? One can pray/hope right?? hehe)

I spent the morning just resting in worship. It was a good way to combat the nausea and strange room's-a-spinning feeling. Seems like it has really hit me harder the past few days. With tomorrow being the start of week 9, hopefully the morning sickness will dissipate in the next few weeks. I'm crossing my fingers and saying a prayer...

So I think that to keep myself busy while I'm doing all this OH-SO-FUN WAITING, that maybe I'll make a handmade crazy quilt for the baby. I could make 1 square a week from now until the end and the blanket would be about 32-36 blocks (ish). I think it may help to have something for me to turn to and focus on when things start feeling like an emotional avalanche is about to fall on me. A good distraction. :)

Hello :)