Menu Plan Monday

Last week was pretty busy for me and having a menu made things easier!

We did change it on Thursday because Scott and I took Vincent to dinner and the Omni. I started to stay home, with everyone gone I thought I could really get a lot done but Scott insisted I take a break and I am glad he did! We had so much fun!



Monday Lunch Chicken Salad and wheat thins
Dinner Hawaiian chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and rolls recipe below

Tuesday Lunch grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit
Dinner Stir fry, fried rice and egg rolls

Wednesday Lunch beef qusadillas
Dinner Left overs

Thursday Lunch Salad and vegetable tray with ranch dip
Dinner Pasta Milano, salad and Rosemary bread recipe below

Friday Lunch Soup and sandwich
Dinner Alfredo pizza and regular pizza recipe below

Saturday
Dinner Turkey hot dogs and baked french fries


Hawaiian Chicken This can also be made in the oven using the broiler rack

INGREDIENTS
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 cups teriyaki sauce, divided
6 pineapple rings
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
6 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce


DIRECTIONS
Place the chicken breast halves in a dish with the 1 1/2 cups of teriyaki sauce. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
Preheat a grill for high heat.
Lightly oil the grill grate. Place chicken breasts on grill, and discard marinade. Cook for 8 minutes per side, or until juices run clear. Brush with the remaining teriyaki sauce during the last 5 minutes. When almost done, place one pineapple ring on top of each breast, and brush with melted butter.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix the brown sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Serve with chicken for dipping!


Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

makes 2 loaves

Ingredients
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons rosemary
2 tablespoons butter

Directions
1 Place yeast, sugar and water in large bowl or food processor and allow mixture to become bubbly.
2 Mix in 1 T butter, salt, and 2 cups of flour.
3 Add one tablespoon of the fresh chopped rosemary.
4 Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or in food processor about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
5 Add more flour if necessary.
6 Oil a bowl, put dough in it and cover with a towel.
7 Let dough rise in a warm place for one hour until doubled.
8 Punch down dough and divide in half.
9 Let dough rest about 5 minutes.
10 Spray baking pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray.
11 Shape the dough into 2 small rounded oval loaves.
12 Sprinkle remaining 1 Tablespoon of rosemary over the loaves and press lightly into the surface.
13 Let loaves rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes.
14 Preheat oven to 375°F.
15 Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned.
16 Carefully remove from oven, brush with remaining butter (and salt if desired.).

Pizza Crust Directions are for a food processor, I use my Bosch with dough hook and it comes out great

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup warm water (about 105°F)
1 cup bread flour
1 cup plus 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil


Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together the yeast, sugar and warm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade, combine the cake flour, all-purpose flour and salt and pulse 3 or 4 times.

Whisk 1 Tbs. of the olive oil into the yeast mixture. With the motor running, slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding more. Pulse the machine 10 to 15 times to knead the dough. The dough should clean the insides of the bowl but will be slightly sticky.

Coat the inside of a large bowl with the remaining 1 Tbs. oil. Dust your hands with flour and remove the dough from the food processor. Form the dough into a ball and place in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Divide the dough in half and roll out as directed in the pizza recipe. Makes two 10-inch thin-crust pizzas.


Be sure to stop by and visit the host of Menu Plan Monday

Free Book From Focus on the Family

This is copied from an e-mail I received from focus on the family and wanted to pass it along.

Request a complimentary copy of Tortured for Christ for you and your friends.

It was the book that shocked the nation. After surviving 14 years in communist prisons, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand came to America to proclaim the trials and testimonies of our persecuted brothers and sisters.


In Tortured for Christ, Wurmbrand tells of his imprisonment for his work with the underground church and introduces the work of The Voice of the Martyrs®. Forty years later, The Voice of the Martyrs remains true to its calling to be a voice for persecuted Christians, to serve with them in their time of need and to assist them in their efforts to proclaim the gospel.



We would like to extend this special opportunity for you to request a complimentary copy of Tortured for Christ for yourself and your Christian friends. Help spread the message of today's persecuted church. Simply follow the link below.


Follow this link to request copies.

Be Back Soon

Good news, bad news.

Good news, I have lots of sewing orders this week. About three times as many.

Bad news, I am not sure how I will get them all done and take care of the daily stuff. So... I will probaly not be posting for a few days.

Have a great week!

Menu Plan Monday

We did pretty good at staying on our menu last week. We changed it once because everyone was feeling icky Saturday. In fact we had to cancel Vincent's Birthday party.

I will be posting my homemade roll and bread recipes later this week so be sure to stop back by.


Monday Lunch Grilled Cheese and salad
Dinner Bavarian pork chops, scalloped potatoes and green beans recipe bellow

Tuesday Lunch chicken pitas
Dinner Spaghetti, salad, french bread

Wednesday Lunch tossed Salad
Dinner Black bean tostadas and Spanish rice

Thursday Lunch vegetable platter and fruit cocktail
Dinner Parmesan Chicken, steamed broccoli, corn, rolls recipe bellow

Friday Lunch Chicken salad, fruit
Dinner Pizza and Greek salad

Saturday
Dinner Subs on home made Kaiser rolls


Bavarian Chops
4 boneless pork loin chops, about 1/2-inch thick
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 cup chopped green onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1/2 teaspoon thyme
8 ounces beer, room temperature or apple cider vinegar
Salt Freshly ground black pepper
Butter noodles (optional)
Minced fresh parsley (optional)

Lightly flour chops. Melt butter in nonstick skillet over medium-high
heat until foaming. Brown chops quickly on both sides. Remove, reserve.
Add green onion, garlic, mushrooms and thyme; saute for 2-3 minutes, until
onion is soft. Return chops to skillet, add beer; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover and simmer 7-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with buttered noodles, garnished with parsley, if desired.

Baked Chicken Parmesan

6 boneless chicken breasts
1 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. pepper
Salt to taste
1 clove garlic or 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup melted butter
Combine bread crumbs, cheese, oregano, pepper, and salt; set aside. Lightly saute garlic in 2 T. butter then stir in remaining butter. Dip chicken in garlic butter then roll each piece in bread crumb mixture. Place chicken in 9x13 pan and sprinkle with remaining bread crumb mixture. Pour on remaining butter. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes.

Looking for more meal ideas? Be sure to visit The Menu Plan Monday Host

Coupons, Coupons, and More Coupons

Over the last few months I have seen several people mention finding certain coupons in the magazine All You on their blogs, I kept thinking there is no way I am going to buy a magazine for a couple of coupons. Boy was I wrong!

In the check out lane a few weeks ago I noticed a copy of the magazine and decided to take a peak at it. Imagine my surprise when I found that almost every other page had a coupon on it. I noticed that few of the coupons were for free items and the cost of the magazine was $1.97 but rang up for $1.77.

At home I attacked the magazine with my scissors. All together I cut out 39 coupons; many valued at $1.00 and several for free Kraft items.

So... today while I was out I ran by the store and picked up 10 more copies. I know it may sound crazy but I like to stock up when items are on sale so having multiple coupons is a must for me!

Moral of this post... check out those magazines and watch for new sources for coupons. The Internet and newspaper are just the beginning.

Free Sewing Patterns

One of the expensive things about sewing can be acquiring good patterns. I often try to get mine for $1.00 or less. I stock up when they go one sale and watch the Internet for free ones. Well, tonight I was in search of some crafty fall patterns and came across these.

Right now if you visit McCall's Pattern Co site you can receive 10 free patterns just for visiting and entering your e-mail address. Click on link above and then enter your e-mail address; once you do the page will refresh from images only to including the patterns as pdf's. The patterns include easy to understand directions and pictures that guide you step by step .

I am planning on making the pumpkin and gourds for either a dinning room table center piece or to put on our fireplace hearth.

I bought Sydney some nice Gingher scissors for Christmas so I think I will make her this case to keep them in.

Butterick has some free patterns here I like the winter wreath idea.

So, how do you aquire your craft stock pile? When do you start your holiday crafts?

Golden Bannanas

Hmmm.... Golden? Ripe?

Vincent and I got a good laugh out of this sign in front of the bananas at Sav-A-Lot today.

Menu Plan Monday

I have not posted my menu in a few weeks because I have been working on freezer meals and we have had several nights where only Scott, Vincent and myself were home. Often times Scott and Vincent are happy with a salad, fruit and a sandwich. Anyways here is what we are doing this week.


Monday Lunch Soup and fruit
Dinner Quick Lemon Pasta and fresh bread

Tuesday Lunch grilled cheese and fruit
Dinner Waffles, hash browns and eggs

Wednesday Lunch tossed Salad
Dinner Lasagna, french bread and salad

Thursday Lunch chicken salad sandwiches
Dinner Tortellini Soup and rolls Recipe below

Friday Lunch Taking Vincent out for lunch
Dinner Enchiladas, rice and beans This is Vincent's 13th Birthday and his requested meal. Recipe below

Saturday
Dinner Pizza and tossed salad and Vincent's party with family


Tortellini Soup

Ingredients
1 package fresh, frozen tortellini or fresh, frozen tortellini
1 can diced tomato (or peeled, diced fresh)
2 cans chicken broth (or equivalent bouillon cube)
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped (or slightly less frozen)
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons fresh basil
1 teaspoon fresh parsley
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
2 teaspoons crushed, chopped garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons good quality olive oil
1 cup water


1. Saute celery, onion, carrots and garlic in oil.
2. Add spinach and tomatoes and simmer 10 minutes.
3. Add spices and chicken broth.
4. Simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender-crisp.
5. Add water and tortellini and simmer 10- 15 minutes.
6. Remove bay leaf and serve.



Chicken Enchiladas with tomatillo salsa and queso fresco
(you can substitute the fresh sauce with canned green enchilada sauce)

INGREDIENTS
2 bone-in chicken breast halves
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 white onion
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound fresh tomatillos, husks removed
5 serrano peppers
1/4 white onion
1 clove garlic
1 pinch salt
12 corn tortillas
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup crumbled queso fresco
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan, combine chicken breast with chicken broth, one quarter onion, a clove of garlic, and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil, and then boil for 20 minutes. Reserve broth, set chicken aside to cool, and discard onion and garlic. When cool enough to handle, shred chicken with your hands.
Place tomatillos and serrano chiles in a pot with water, enough to cover them. Bring to boil, and continue boiling until tomatillos turn a different shade of green (from bright green to a dull, army green). Strain tomatillos and chiles, and place in a blender with another quarter piece of onion, 1 clove garlic, and a pinch of salt. Pour in reserved chicken broth, so that liquid just covers the veggies in the blender by about an inch. Blend all ingredients until they are completely pureed. Pour salsa in a medium saucepan, and bring to a low boil.
Pour oil in a frying pan, and allow to get very hot. Slightly fry tortillas one by one in hot oil, setting each on a paper towel afterwards to soak some of the oil. Finally, dip slightly fried tortillas in low-boiling green salsa, until tortillas become soft again. Place on plates, 3 per person.
Fill or top tortillas with shredded chicken, then extra green sauce. Top with crumbled cheese, chopped onion, and chopped cilantro.


Be sure to visit the host of menu-plan-monday

Encouraging A Love Of Reading

As I have said before I feel very blessed to have all three of my children love reading. They all learned to read at different ages, one at 6, one at 7 and one at 10. Regardless of when the learned to read independently they loved being read too from a very early age.

I truly believe their love for reading came mostly from being read to. I can still remember all of us crawling into bed and me reading to them. Another thing that I know helped was that they saw me reading. Children love to imitate. We have all see children looking at books upside down babbling to themselves.

We all know that children who enjoy reading have an easier time in school, so how do we encourage them to want to read? Well first we need to teach them how to read. It is not near as scary or as hard as you may think. Basically there are two approaches to teaching people how to read, phonetic and whole language; I found that mixing them worked best for my children. The ideas below implement both approaches.

1. Relax about your child learning to read. Some learn later than others but by third grade it seems to even out. If you are having problems relaxing try reading Better Late Than Early by the Moore's.

2. Let them see you read

3. Go to the library starting at an early age

4. Teach them to respect books

5. Let them out pick some of their books

6. Read Honey For a Child's Heart for a list of great books

7. Read to your child, pick books above their reading level to keep them intrested. They can usually comprehened about 3 levels above what they can read

8. Let your child read to you even if they can't read

9. Encourage environmental reading, Point out words on signs and labels

10. Label your house with index cards

11. Help them sound out words but stay calm, after a few tries just gently read the word for them and move on

12. Limit TV time and encourage a daily reading time, books with tapes or cd's that accompany them are fun too.

13. Set up a shelf on your bookcase just for them

14. Play rhyming games

15. When you teach them their alphabet also teach them the sound each letter makes. For vowels start with only teaching the short sound.

I also used Sing Spell Read and Write with my boys. They enjoyed the readers that came with it and had fun using the racetrack. Each new sound equaled another spot further along on the track.

A great set of readers to invest in is the Pathway readers, they all have a great moral basis, and the children are always helping their parents and each other. The entire family is featured in the story; mom and sister are always shown in a dress and the men and boys are well groomed with neat and clean hairstyles.

Feel free to leave any ideas you have in the comments section.

Sewing Is Not Just For Grandmas! Part 2

In Part One of this series we established anyone can sew. In this post, as promised, I am sharing some tips, book recommendations and helpful links.

First some helpful tips I wish someone, anyone, had given me.

1. Start small- if you have never sewn do not start off trying to make a dress that has a collar and zips up in the back.

2. Choose an easy to follow pattern, Simplicity's are very to easy to use and have great directions as do some McCalls and Buttericks. Save Vogue patterns for latter.

2. Read ALL the directions first, then actually follow them.

3. Use the best quality products you can afford. If you watch for sales and coupons you can set up a basic sewing basket with quality product for the same price you would for cheap ones that will fall apart or deliver inferior results.

4. Use decent thread and change your needles frequently. Most machine problems can be solved by either re-threading the machine or changing the needle.

5. Take your time- if you become frustrated get up and walk away from the project.

6. Keep your pincushion near you while sewing

7. Avoid sewing over pins.

8. When using a seam ripper go slow, getting to the other end of a seam is not an Olympic event. I can not tell you how many times I went through the fabric, ruining an item before I realized the few minutes it saved to go fast was not worth it!

9. Designate your fabric scissors as fabric ONLY.

10. Wash and dry your fabric prior to cutting it in the same manner as it will be in the finished projects. Meaning if you are making a skirt out of denim do not prewash the fabric by hand, use your washer and dryer.

Now for some fun and helpful links:

This link is for Singer but the tips and videos on using accessory feet will be the same for most machines Singer sewing Tips. I use to be afraid to try my different machine feet, then one day I had some free time and decided I was going to learn how to use the ruffling and gathering feet. I found this link for the ruffler and I am not sure now where I found the gathering feet instructions but it was equally easy to learn to use.

Looking for a way to save on machine repairs? Click Here for a easy to understand e-book that will save you hundreds of dollars and lots of time. I honestly can not think of anything as frustrating, sewing wise, as when you need to get a project done and you have machine issues. It happened last year to me in the middle of an order for 15 pair of culottes. Three days and over $100 later I got my machine back, not any more thanks to this book.

Intimidated by zippers or need help with other garment construction issues, check out The Sewing Room.

Threads site is full of ideas, tips and fun projects.

Simplicity has their pattern catalog online along with many shortcuts. I often browse their catalog online making notes of patterns I want prior to heading to Jo Ann's. It saves me time and I do not have to wait to look at the in store catalog. Never a fun thing when he are on sale!

And here are a few of my favorite books.

Bend The Rules Sewing

Sewing For Dummies This book is great and well laid out!

Sew What! Skirts If you enjoy skirts this is the best book! It shows you how to make some cute and modest skirts and teaches you how to make your own pattern.

Looking for a book that covers EVERYTHING? This is the one, New Complete Guide to Sewing
Got any tips you would like to share or favorite links, just leave them in the comments section.

Sewing Is Not Just For Grandmas! Part 1

Many people avoid sewing or stick to simple projects because they fear their machine or never learned to sew. I think somehow the message has been sent that if your grandma or mother did not teach you to sew you are doomed to never thread a needle or feel the adrenaline rush from a sewing machine peddle under your lead foot.

Well, I am here to set the record straight. For the most part no one taught me to sew, I got a cheap machine and began playing with it. I made some funny looking things but I had fun and refused to give up! In a few months my kids were willing to wear what I made and after a year they were asking for me to make things.

Truly, if I can do it anyone can. Get yourself a decent machine that can do a few stitches and has a one step buttonhole. You do not have to break the bank but get the best that you can afford, check out some sewing videos or books from the library, grab some scrap fabric from the remnant bin and start playing.

You can even dig some stuff out of your closet that you don't wear and play around with it on the machine. This post is from my daughter's blog where she explained how to turn an old pair of jeans into a modest and cute skirt. Seriously, you can do so much if you will allow yourself to.

Draw some straight lines and practice sewing down them. Pillows are great first projects as are a-line skirts with either an elastic or drawstring waist. Remember it does not have to be perfect!

Just be creative and have fun, after all sewing is not just for grandmas!

Tomorrow I will post part two which will include some tips, book recommendations and some of my favorite links.

For now I am off to sew~!

Homeschool Tips Part 1

Homeschooling can be a bit overwhelming when you first start out. I remember going to my first book fair, I was so overwhelmed and spent triple what I had planned to only to find out I didn't need most of it. Well as they same live and learn. Here I am 12 years later with a few tips that I think may save you some money and will definitely save you some frustration!

1. Make sure you and you husband are on the say page! I can not stress how important this is. You both must be in agreeance for this to work well.

2. Know why you are homeschooling. Trust me down the road when you get frustrated and burned out it helps. If I had simply started out saying "because we hate public schools" it probably would not have helped me stick with it. After all when you are frustrated and you remember you are doing it because God has led you to it and because you want a close knit family it is easier to say "I can do this"!

3. Have a plan as to what you want to accomplish with homeschooling. Do you simply want to educate your children, do you want to make them great public speakers, do you want them to be math geniuses, do you want them to develop Godly character? I have found for myself this is best accomplished with lots of prayer for each child, because what I want is not always what God wants. HE cares more about their character than their math test grade.

4. Evaluate your plan often. It took me several years to realize that each year I need to reevaluate myself, the kids and the curriculum we were using along with the activities we participate in. Trust me there is so much out there theses days that you can easily over schedule just as much as the public and privates schools do.

5. Make a schedule-kids need some predictability. Without a schedule it is easy to get sidetracked all day and never get school done.

6. Do school- do not go into this without the intentions of actually teaching your children.

7. Keep records even if your state does not require it. It will make getting into college later easier if you have transcripts and records. I have lots of pictures, writing assignments, field trip "stuff" and much more in my children's records. Another fun thing to do is to make a scrapbook of what you do. You are not just educating them you are building memories with them.

8. If you plan to keep grades and I suggest you do at least in middle school and high school, keep up with your grading. This is probably one of my greatest weaknesses;I get behind and then have to spend hours trying to catch up, NO FUN!

9. Let your children pick some of their readers. I feel very blessed that all three of children love to read. I think that much of their love for reading came from me allowing them to choose some of what they read.

10. Have fun, take breaks and enjoy each day; as my children get older I find myself trying to do this more and more.


Stay tuned this week, I have several more post almost finished including one on how to help your child love to read and one on saving money while homeschooling.

My Baby Girl

My baby girl is growing up! I can hardy believe she will be a senior this school year! Sydney is a total JOY to be around almost all the time.

She works at JoAnn's part time and has been saving for a car, the goal has been that the car would be paid for prior to college that way she could focus on school and not trying to pay for a car and college. (Yes, we do plan on helping her and we do plan on scholarships.)


Well last night she announced that she now had the $1000 be asked her to save prior to even looking at vehicles. She was so excited! Imagine in 3 months she saved that much! I am so excited for her. She has shown so much self control. She has given her tithe, and other than an occasional thing (yarn) she has saved the rest!! The sad part was explaining to her she now has to wait two more weeks so that she can afford the down payment for insurance and not wipe out her account.


She looked so defeated! I hated saying it, I also had to remind her that she would need money for gas set aside. UGH was about all she could say. However like a trooper she deposited her check today into savings and then headed off to work.


I must admit it has been hard for her dad and I at times to see her work so hard but we know she enjoys where she works and we know that the experience is one that she will need later in life.

We keep telling all three of our children that learning to take control now of their money will be so much easier than trying to learn it as adults. We have never let them think debt is OK and have kept tithing first! They know that all they have is from God not just their hard work. After all where did they get the health to work?

You can read Sydney's post here on growing up from her view point.

Back To Homeschool

It's that time again..... back to homeschooling. I have 3 posts still in draft form that I had really wanted to get up last week but instead I decided to get my ducks in row.

We start back to school the week of the 18th so I spent last week and most of this week tying up loose ends. I ordered the last of my materials, set up binders, and bought all our supplies minus what ever items we find out they need for private lessons.

I have my teacher’s guides set up, the kids have all their books minus the few that should arrive any day and we have slowly begun the process of getting up earlier.

Even though we homeschool and have for 12 years I still love to stock up on supplies when they go on sale. I usually get enough to last the entire year and pick up crayons and such for my Wednesday night class at church. You may be amazed at how fast 1-3 graders can go through crayons, honestly I had forgotten.

We will be using Bob Jones Homesat again this year for everything except literature, we use Sonlight for that.

As I got things ready I suddenly became overwhelmed by the fact that this will be the last year I homeschool my daughter, she is a senior this year! As if that was not enough by baby will be 13 in a few weeks. The older they get the faster time goes.

Stayed tuned I plan to get those three post finished up over the next day or so and posted, including some homeschooling tips.