Recipe #12: Taco Salad

We have been making this one for a long time, but I wanted to record it here for reference (because I actually sometimes look at the recipe link on my blog when I'm trying to plan meals for the week).

We usually make it by cooking ground beef in a pan according to the directions on the packet of taco seasoning.  But this time we had leftover steak and chicken so we used that instead.  It's great either way.

Other than cooking or warming the meat, and warming the beans, this meal is actually more preparation and assembly than actual cooking (which is why I like it).

We pretty much just top a bed of lettuce with tomato, avocado, shredded cheese, and the warmed beans and meat.  We dress it with green enchilada sauce and sour cream.

Chips and guacamole on the side (or crumble chips on top of the salad).

Of course the kids eat theirs a la cart!

Megan: 8/10 - good, standard meal
Adel: 7/10 - it's a salad
Isaac: 10/10 - likes all the parts, and the fact that he can eat them separately
Abby: 7/10 - loves the cheese; tolerates the rest

Valentine's Day Pics.

The kids looked pretty cute yesterday for church and our family Valentine's Day so I dragged them outside for a photo shoot.  Isaac was reserved, but Abby was hamming it up all over the place.

Okay, and one of Bitsy.

Family Valentine's Tradition

This is the third year in a row that we've played our "For the Love" Valentine's game.

Making the Game:
1.  Simple Step: Take a cube-shaped box .  On each side of the cube, write one of the following instructions: 1. Give a hug, 2. Give a kiss, 3. Tickle, 4. Give a Valentine, 5. Say "I love you!", 6. Say "You're special because ______."  
     Get Creative: If you can find pictures or clip art to go with it, that would be good to help pre-readers.  

This year I used a kleenex box from the recycling bin that I stuffed with newspaper and covered in printouts with the 6 Instructions.  

 If you plan to use an oblong cube like a kleenex box, I recommend putting Instruction #5 and #6 on the top and bottom ends because they will get landed on less frequently than the regular sides (and the action-oriented instructions are more fun than the word-oriented ones).

2.  Simple Step: Make a stack of cards. Each card should say the name of a family member. 
     Get Creative: Or, better for pre-readers, each card can have a picture of a family member.

This year Abby helped me cut out the list of names I printed on cardstock for our cards.

I recommend putting double the number of the kids names as grown up names as the kids have more fun the more their names gets picked.

 3.  Simple Step: Get cookies, individually wrapped candies or conversation hearts.
     Get Creative:  Or have the kids help make a pile of Valentine hearts.

This year we pulled a bunch of treats out of the pantry.

Playing the Game:
Take turns rolling the dice and picking a card.  The dice will tell you what to do.  The card will tell you who to do it to.  (If you pick your own card, just pick again.)  For example, you may "Give a hug" to Daddy or "Tickle" little sister.  You may even have to "Give a Valentine" (the ones you made or the candies or cookies you bought) to Mommy.  Little kids will not think this is at all cheesy.  They will LOVE it.  Super simple family fun.  No one loses and even babies can play.  The game ends when the kids lose interest or you can't stand the love anymore.

Pictures from this year:

A hug from Daddy.

The chance to tickle big brother.

He waited a long time to get this "Valentine" from Mommy.

A silly hug from brother.

Enjoying her "Valentine" from Daddy.

(Before she got excited and sat on it!)

My favorite quotes from the game this year:

Isaac: "Daddy is special because he works really hard."

Abby (after tickling Mommy): "I always wanted to tickle a grownup!!!"

Abby: "Mommy is special because she cooks a lot."

This year, we added one new tradition to our Valentine's Day family fun.  We watched The Princess Bride for the first time together.  As you can see by the picture, they were scared at a few parts (I forwarded a few that were too scary), but it's a good action/adventure/love story...a perfect choice for a Valentine's story that both the boy and the girl will enjoy.

Viewing an R.O.U.S. (Rodent of Unusual Size) for the first time!

Isaac's favorite part: The sword fight between Wesley and Inigo.

Abby's favorite part: The happy ending.

I love making new family traditions.  And after the kids are in bed, the mommy and the daddy finally get to have a well-earned romantic dinner for two!

Whole Lot of Nothin' Going On

I love to blog.  It's part of what keeps me feeling creative and busy.  And I haven't posted a new blog in almost 2 weeks.  That's very unusual and when it gets to be too long between posts, I start to get a little blue with the feeling that I've got nothing interesting going on in my life.  Well, that's not entirely true.  It's true that there really isn't that much going on, and it isn't really all that interesting...unless you happen to be me...or to love my kids like I do...because really we've just been hanging out and going through our days without much to distinguish one from the other.

So, today I thought I'd record a little bit of our "whole lot of nothin'." It's pretty sweet when you stop to think about it.

We celebrated the unusually gorgeous weather with a backyard picnic.

The kids made a trail of toys because they hate the feel of our dry, nasty grass on their feet (I hate the grass almost as much as the weeds).

Sassy girl.

Isaac played ball for a while.

My pretty.

Chasing bubbles.

This is the oak seedling I planted last year.  It's still alive!  And yes, I planted it in an old motorcycle tire because I am that classy. 

When I wasn't looking, Bitsy ate the rest of the boiled eggs.  Doh!  It's a good thing she's cute...for a poof ball.

Hope you have a whole lot of nothin' going on too.  Thank God for it!

Money, Money, Money: Part 3

We've been doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University in my small group and the assignment for the past week was to take steps in teaching our kids about money.  Since I have already started this concept with my kids (here are the links to my 1st Money Post and my 2nd Money Post), I thought this would be a good time to fine tune.

The big weekly/biweekly chore has been going really well.  That's where the kids earn the bulk of their money.  In January, they helped pull weeds one weekend and wash the cars on another weekend.  When we do this weekly/biweekly chore time, we have the kids divide their money into their "spending," "saving," and "giving" containers.  (We typically do 20% Savings, 20% Giving, 60% Spending.)

Isaac has learned a lot since the first trip to the store with his first dollar.  He now has a goal to save even his "spending" money in order to buy a $10 Lego set and is highly motivated to work hard and save for it, rather than wasting his money on a junkie toy that he will likely lose a few days after he buys it.  I have learned that Abby, being younger, needs more immediate gratification to motivate her work.  She will work with the prospect of an immediate trip to the store for a candy purchase.

 So, after the car washing, we went to the grocery store and the kids brought along their wallets.  They lucked out and found gingerbread house kits marked down from $11 to just $1.  They each bought one.  Isaac, who had $8 at that point toward his $10 Legos, said, "I still have $7 and I'll earn more."  And I know he will.

They had a great time decorating.

Abby was fast and indiscriminating about it, eating almost as much as she decorated.

Isaac was uber-precise, pre-planning every step of the way.  He took so long I finally had to tell him we were out of time for decorating!

One change I decided to make was to the chore chart I had created earlier.  I added new chores, took off some old ones, and increased the pay on some (no more penny wages).  This chore chart is for the kids to do as needed.  These are things I do daily or weekly and if the kids want to earn more money, they can opt to do it for me to get paid.  They are pretty motivated by it and I let them choose whether the coins they earn go into their "savings," "earnings," or "spending" containers.  (They usually choose "spending!").

We have decided that all of their "savings" will be saved from now until they are old enough to purchase their own car.  I know that sounds incredible since they are only 3 and 5, but as their abilities increase with age, the chores will become more complex and the commissions for their chores will increase with it.  And think of the payoff 10+ years from now when they are able to buy their own car with their own savings!

Finally, although we started a "giving" container for their commissions, we have yet to actually take it to the church to "give" it!  We really should be reinforcing this behavior by doing this on a monthly basis.  So, we finally remembered to bring in their coin purses this Sunday to church.  We talked about how we give to the church to let God know that we know our blessings come from Him and so that we do not become too selfish and want to keep it all for ourselves.

Obviously, with such a big concept as money, this lesson will be a continuous work in progress, but so far, they are learning good life lessons at a young age.

Play Time

This weekend we finally hung up the dartboard Isaac got for Christmas.  He was so excited to play it!

Taking aim.

Action shot.

Thank you Uncle Allen and Uncle Adrian. 

He LOVES it!

Meanwhile, Abby had fun setting up a tea party for all her dollies.

Enjoy, everyone.

Recipe #11: Chicken Tortilla Soup

This soup recipe was passed to me by my Aunt Teri.  I'm not sure where she got it but it's really yummy and healthy and we've gotten a lot of mileage out of it recently.  Due to the amount of ingredients and chopping, I would not normally consider this an "everyday" dinner recipe.  However, if you devote an hour or so to making a large pot of it, you can freeze it in smaller containers.  Served with a quesadilla and some sliced avocados or tomatoes, my family can get 3-4 meals out of 1 pot of soup.  It is great to pull it out of the freezer and warm it up, knowing my family is getting a well-rounded meal with very minimal effort (after the initial cooking-day).

Chicken Tortilla Soup

chopped de-boned meat from a rotisserie chicken

4 cloves minced garlic

1 large onion, chopped

3 large carrots, diced

4 sticks celery, diced

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1 teas cumin

1 teas chili powder

1 can RoTel tomatoes

2 teas lime juice

about 10 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup masa (corn flour) 

fresh cilantro

1 tbls butter

in a big pot on med heat, saute onion, garlic, celery, and carrots in butter until the veggies are tender......add flour and masa....it will be a gooey sight......slowly stir in about half of the broth.......add chicken, RoTel, beans, corn, lemon juice, and spices.....add almost all of the remainder of broth......simmer for about 45 minutes......then add oh, about 1/2 cup of washed and chopped cilantro.....simmer 5 more minutes, and then it’s ready!

And here are Aunt Teri's notes for adapting it in various ways:

*i usually keep a little of the broth to the side, just in case i decide it doesn’t need all of it.... that way you can control the thickness or thinness of the soup..... 10 cups is just a “ball park” figure

* sometimes i add about 3 diced corn tortillas, just to give it a little extra tortilla taste

* sometimes i crush a few fritos or doritos to give it extra flavor

* it might need salt, but if your chicken broth is salty enough, there’s no need to add to the soup

* sometimes, i add thinly sliced zucchini or squash during the last 5 or 10 minutes.....


Our Scores:
Megan: 9/10, if a healthy soup is going to be the main course, this is a good one
Adel: 7/10, not exotic enough to be a favorite, but it's a good meal
Isaac: 10/10, he LOVES it (which is great, because he's eating mixed ingredients!)
Abby: 6/10, picks out and eats only the beans and chicken, but it's growing on her

Teaser!

I'm so very thrilled to have finally started a new writing project.  This idea came to me around Christmastime and I have just started working on it this week.  It's a book for 5-10 year-old girls and the working title is...

God's Real Princesses: A Bible Storybook for the Real Princess in You

And, for a teaser...here's the introduction as of now (of course, we know that in writing, all things are subject to change until the day the book gets printed):

This is a book about princesses.  

Now it may surprise you to learn that these princesses do not speak to fluffy forest creatures.  Song birds do not routinely perch upon their dainty fingers.  Most of them do not even sing or wear pretty dresses.  And (this is really going to shock you), almost none of them end up marrying princes.  

With that description, you must be wondering how this book can even claim to be about princesses at all.  But we must remember that God’s ways are not the world’s ways.  This book is about women who loved God and chose Him above everything else.  And because they loved God, He made them His princesses, princesses even more real than all the gown-wearing, sweet-singing, prince-marrying princesses of this world.  

The book will have 8-10 Bible stories that focus on women who loved God.  Most of these are stories that I have not found in any of the kids' bible story books that we have owned.  The coolest part is that my friend Jennifer has agreed to illustrated it for me.   We plan to self-publish the same way I have before and sell it on amazon.com.  It feels SO good to be writing again!!!

And, to not have a post without a picture, here's Isaac showcasing his own creativity:

It's an alien.  I told him it looks like a praying mantis so he said it's a praying mantis alien.