More wordless fun at www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/
May 26, 2010
May 24, 2010
Menu Monday
We are in the process of clearing out the food that is in our freezer. Part of this is because it's time to defrost and it's easier if the freezer is empty. Most of it is because we are not moving food with us, so we might as well use it.
That is why we had something new this week (yesterday). A few months ago I caught the vacuum sealed Alaskan Farm Raised Crab packages at a ridiculous price. My plan was to eat it, but we forgot about it in the freezer because it's compact and got buried. As the freezer has been cleaned through, we found it. We decided to do a Cream of Crab soup and are glad we did! Yummy!
So - this week here is our plan:
Sunday - Cream of Crab Soup (used a basic recipe from a cookbook, added/improved recipe HERE.)
Monday - Chicken Rococo (From Frozen Food Party)
Tuesday - Meatballs and Rice
Wednesday - Tuna Noodle Casserole
Thursday - Family Dinner
Friday - French Toast
Saturday - Grilled Chicken and Veggies
I hope to blog this week about our changing diet. We both have unique challenges, and of course trying to get Abby to eat at the same time. Strange stuff.
That is why we had something new this week (yesterday). A few months ago I caught the vacuum sealed Alaskan Farm Raised Crab packages at a ridiculous price. My plan was to eat it, but we forgot about it in the freezer because it's compact and got buried. As the freezer has been cleaned through, we found it. We decided to do a Cream of Crab soup and are glad we did! Yummy!
So - this week here is our plan:
Sunday - Cream of Crab Soup (used a basic recipe from a cookbook, added/improved recipe HERE.)
Monday - Chicken Rococo (From Frozen Food Party)
Tuesday - Meatballs and Rice
Wednesday - Tuna Noodle Casserole
Thursday - Family Dinner
Friday - French Toast
Saturday - Grilled Chicken and Veggies
I hope to blog this week about our changing diet. We both have unique challenges, and of course trying to get Abby to eat at the same time. Strange stuff.
May 19, 2010
Wordless Wednesday - Cutie
More wordless fun at http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/
May 18, 2010
It's Tuesday and Stuff
Wow - so last weekend was busy and I have yet to blog about it. I'm just finishing dinner on Tuesday, having planned to "pen" this yesterday, but alas we had no internet, phone or TV. I seriously don't know what I did with my time before either Abby or the web in my life. Seriously. I do know I was skinnier...
Anyway - busy weekend, I'll recap!
Friday -
Still hurting from my wisdom tooth removal on Thursday, I decided to go to work anyway. My grandmother, who passed away 11+ years ago, always had a rule that if you wanted to play, you had to go to school or work first. So I did.
After work I headed up to school to pick up the girls. We went and grabbed a couple of sandwiches, some fruit and chips and headed off to Tire Park in Catonsville, MD. There was a picnic for all of the students, parents and teachers in the daycare system that Abby attends. Her class is only 22 children, but there are four other preschool rooms and two infant/toddler rooms. It was a blast to see Abby's friends out having fun, and always good to talk with some of the other parents, too.
Saturday -
We got up on the early side for a Saturday so that we could get out to the beach early to celebrate Gramps' birthday. As it turns out, Abby had an even greater thing to be up so early for - to poop in the potty! All by herself, and ALL in the potty! Apparently Abby has been requesting to have our potty books read to her at bed time, and Anny has surely obliged. It caught me off guard when she declared "Daddy, I'm pooping and when I'm done I will show you!
Anny reminded me that in all of the books the child shows the poop to an onlooking dad for approval. In my head, though, is "yeah, kid, I've seen it before. You've dropped quite a stinker, there. So Proud!" Since she showed me, I thought I would take a snapshot and share it with you all, but I didn't want to just put it up here, so you will have to click through if you really want to see it. Click HERE for the doodie.
The good news is that Abby has been pee-potty trained for so long that she does not even think about M&M's as a reward anymore, so I promised a "special breakfast" and to get her "special socks" both in honor of her major achievement! Don't ever tell her that we were getting the breakfast and socks, it will kill my credibility with her!
We got to the beach house and met up with everyone else. My aunts got a new puppy, so we played with Riley for a good while before going out shopping, eating and celebrating Gramps' 78th birthday. Riley is a cutie, and at only seven weeks old he looks just like a doll!
Sunday -
The day began with our normal routine on a Sunday - get up, eat, watch some Little Mermaid, shower (Abby too) and head off to church. The non-routine happened after that. We had lunch with some new folks and their adorable almost-two year old daughter, then headed to find a way to kill time for a few hours while our house was Open for showing. Had a few folks come through, one came back with someone else later in the Open House as well. We ended up at the Aunt's house, since they were all at the beach still and Abby needed a place to nap.
The Open House was scheduled from 1-4, so we planned to show up at home at 4:15 and hang out outside. The thing is that we got a call from the showing call center that someone wanted to bring a client through between 4 and 6 pm, which meant another two hours to kill. "Great" is the underlying sigh when you realize you have even more time to kill. We ended up at Columbia Mall for pretzels, a carousel ride and the playground.
All in all we were out more than we were home, but it was fun times all three days! I am looking forward to next weekend already - in part because we can hit our Farmer's Market again. Love me some fresh muffins!
Anyway - busy weekend, I'll recap!
Friday -
Still hurting from my wisdom tooth removal on Thursday, I decided to go to work anyway. My grandmother, who passed away 11+ years ago, always had a rule that if you wanted to play, you had to go to school or work first. So I did.
After work I headed up to school to pick up the girls. We went and grabbed a couple of sandwiches, some fruit and chips and headed off to Tire Park in Catonsville, MD. There was a picnic for all of the students, parents and teachers in the daycare system that Abby attends. Her class is only 22 children, but there are four other preschool rooms and two infant/toddler rooms. It was a blast to see Abby's friends out having fun, and always good to talk with some of the other parents, too.
Saturday -
We got up on the early side for a Saturday so that we could get out to the beach early to celebrate Gramps' birthday. As it turns out, Abby had an even greater thing to be up so early for - to poop in the potty! All by herself, and ALL in the potty! Apparently Abby has been requesting to have our potty books read to her at bed time, and Anny has surely obliged. It caught me off guard when she declared "Daddy, I'm pooping and when I'm done I will show you!
Anny reminded me that in all of the books the child shows the poop to an onlooking dad for approval. In my head, though, is "yeah, kid, I've seen it before. You've dropped quite a stinker, there. So Proud!" Since she showed me, I thought I would take a snapshot and share it with you all, but I didn't want to just put it up here, so you will have to click through if you really want to see it. Click HERE for the doodie.
The good news is that Abby has been pee-potty trained for so long that she does not even think about M&M's as a reward anymore, so I promised a "special breakfast" and to get her "special socks" both in honor of her major achievement! Don't ever tell her that we were getting the breakfast and socks, it will kill my credibility with her!
We got to the beach house and met up with everyone else. My aunts got a new puppy, so we played with Riley for a good while before going out shopping, eating and celebrating Gramps' 78th birthday. Riley is a cutie, and at only seven weeks old he looks just like a doll!
Sunday -
The day began with our normal routine on a Sunday - get up, eat, watch some Little Mermaid, shower (Abby too) and head off to church. The non-routine happened after that. We had lunch with some new folks and their adorable almost-two year old daughter, then headed to find a way to kill time for a few hours while our house was Open for showing. Had a few folks come through, one came back with someone else later in the Open House as well. We ended up at the Aunt's house, since they were all at the beach still and Abby needed a place to nap.
The Open House was scheduled from 1-4, so we planned to show up at home at 4:15 and hang out outside. The thing is that we got a call from the showing call center that someone wanted to bring a client through between 4 and 6 pm, which meant another two hours to kill. "Great" is the underlying sigh when you realize you have even more time to kill. We ended up at Columbia Mall for pretzels, a carousel ride and the playground.
All in all we were out more than we were home, but it was fun times all three days! I am looking forward to next weekend already - in part because we can hit our Farmer's Market again. Love me some fresh muffins!
May 13, 2010
Less Wisdom Today than Yesterday
I went to the dentist this morning. I cracked a tooth that has lost a previous filling and went in with the sole intention of having it re-filled.
After getting to the office early, I sat and waited to be called back. 20 minutes late, I got called back and explained what I was there for. The dental assistant took an X-Ray, which was very cool because the image immediately popped up on a computer monitor in front of me. What was not as cool was the image it put up...
That is the upper left side of my jaw. For the dental nerds out there, those are (from L to R) teeth numbers 13, 14, 15 and 16. The one that caught my attention was clearly number 16, on the far right. It is my wisdom tooth.
It's pretty clear that I was not the only cause of my tooth issue, which the dentist confirmed - the wisdom tooth pinched the bottom of my molar and it cracked the top! Insanity. It became clear immediately that one necessity would be to remove that wisdom tooth, no matter what happened with #15. I mean, look at it - it was pointing at the tip of my nose while the others are pointed at my throat!
He presented me with several options ranging from filling the tooth, if possible, to root canal and crown. Filling cost me about $200 while the other option would run me about $1,300. The concern was that the cavity might be too big to just fill, and the others might be necessary.
I was greatly relieved when he dug in there and figured out that the tooth was indeed fill-able, because I could afford that. I had pretty much decided that it was going to be easier to just have him remove it if it could not be filled, and I was not looking forward to that.
Then cam the removal of the wisdom tooth. The Novocaine had begun to wear off, so I winced almost as soon as he got his hand back in my mouth! He shot me back up and then worked his butt off to rip out that (turned out to impacted) wisdom tooth. OUCH!
It's now 7 pm and I have just finally been able to open my mouth wide enough to eat food, and that was just French Onion Soup. I do not know if I will be up to going to work tomorrow, but pretty much anything is better than sitting around in my house for another whole day. My mouth still hurts, a lot, but the bleeding has stopped it seems. That is a good sign that the healing has begun. Healing brings less risk of infection, particularly for someone with kidney disease that is being treated with immunosuppresants!
(This process took about three hours from arrival to departure, but in the grand scheme part my my fault, part was the dentists. I am grateful to have access to professionals like this, so I take the time and deal with it! I did get to read a bunch more of the book that I started reading last week!)
After getting to the office early, I sat and waited to be called back. 20 minutes late, I got called back and explained what I was there for. The dental assistant took an X-Ray, which was very cool because the image immediately popped up on a computer monitor in front of me. What was not as cool was the image it put up...
It's pretty clear that I was not the only cause of my tooth issue, which the dentist confirmed - the wisdom tooth pinched the bottom of my molar and it cracked the top! Insanity. It became clear immediately that one necessity would be to remove that wisdom tooth, no matter what happened with #15. I mean, look at it - it was pointing at the tip of my nose while the others are pointed at my throat!
He presented me with several options ranging from filling the tooth, if possible, to root canal and crown. Filling cost me about $200 while the other option would run me about $1,300. The concern was that the cavity might be too big to just fill, and the others might be necessary.
I was greatly relieved when he dug in there and figured out that the tooth was indeed fill-able, because I could afford that. I had pretty much decided that it was going to be easier to just have him remove it if it could not be filled, and I was not looking forward to that.
Then cam the removal of the wisdom tooth. The Novocaine had begun to wear off, so I winced almost as soon as he got his hand back in my mouth! He shot me back up and then worked his butt off to rip out that (turned out to impacted) wisdom tooth. OUCH!
It's now 7 pm and I have just finally been able to open my mouth wide enough to eat food, and that was just French Onion Soup. I do not know if I will be up to going to work tomorrow, but pretty much anything is better than sitting around in my house for another whole day. My mouth still hurts, a lot, but the bleeding has stopped it seems. That is a good sign that the healing has begun. Healing brings less risk of infection, particularly for someone with kidney disease that is being treated with immunosuppresants!
(This process took about three hours from arrival to departure, but in the grand scheme part my my fault, part was the dentists. I am grateful to have access to professionals like this, so I take the time and deal with it! I did get to read a bunch more of the book that I started reading last week!)
May 12, 2010
Wordless Wednesday: Face Meets Dirt
More wordless entries at www.wordlesswednesday.com!
May 11, 2010
Stupid is as Stupid Does
A post about modeling.
(Sorry to disappoint you with no pictures of me in the newest clothes to hit the runway - you're welcome. This is not about that kind of modeling.)
We try very hard in our house to value each other as well as every person or animal that we meet. It is not actually all that hard, I tend to view people in their positive light before I ever notice their flaws. I don't think this is a bad thing.
The thing is that we send our daughter out into the "real world" every day by sending her to preschool. We love every aspect about the care she has gotten since she was ten weeks, so don't look for this post to blast that choice. We are extremely happy that we chose to send Abby to daycare, even so young. Many added benefits.
But she learns things at daycare. She learns so much every day that in our house we call it "school" and not preschool. She had learned colors before she could really even say them. She learned shapes early enough that she's already able to draw circles, triangles and squares. She has learned most of the letters of the alphabet in more detail than "The ABC's Song" - what words they start and how they sound and such. She knows many more songs that we even uncover at home because she sticks to two of her favorites and the others don't come up.
But she learns things at daycare. She learned to spit and push at daycare. She may have learned this from her peers, but might have had it in her and it just came to revelation at daycare. I prefer to believe the "blame school" side of things, as I am the first to give school the credit for having taught her all of the great things in her education, like the stuff in the paragraph above.
The thing that drove me really mad that she learned at school was the proper use of the word "stupid." "Daddy, you're stupid" is not something that I was prepared to hear from Abby just yet, but it is something I was greeted with during silly play at home. There was nothing to invoke it, we were just playing, but out it came. I was ready to drop all of the good things that I have ever said about how great daycare has been for Abby's cognitive and social development. Gone in that instant were my continued high hopes for her to continue to be the cute AND smart girl. Now, thanks to daycare, she was going to be the cute terror of a child that drives her parents to the asylum.
But then I realized that it was TV.
Abby watches TV, and I am not going to continue to apologize for that. A lot of the movies that she watches - Shrek and The Grinch come to mind - use "stupid" as if it was a prefix to your name. "Stupid Donkey" has to come out in each of the movies, at least twice. I realize that the movies are not designed for toddlers, so I can not and do not fault the movies, but I realized how much the word pervades in other shows/movies, like Madagascar and such. Shocking, but it should not be.
After I realized that, I realized something really sad - it was not the movies, it was ME.
It was me that calls me stupid. I have never, and will never, call Abby (or Anny) stupid. But my self esteem is not the best, so when Anny calls me on something my response is typically "yeah, I know, I'm stupid." Abby was hearing me say something, and she was mimicking. How could she know that she should not say something that her parents are saying? I was the problem. I can pinpoint the spot in my kitchen when I heard myself and winced.
Since that day my attitude has changed. I remind myself that I am not stupid, but more important is that I have changed the way I think about both myself and others. Some jerk on the road driving up the median in traffic? Maybe they are on their way to the hospital to see someone important. Slow wait staff (not THIS slow!)? Kitchen is busy and everyone is probably covering. I have always been positive, but I am actively looking for the good behind the perceived bad. I give the benefit of the doubt to anyone I do not know, and do my best to ignore initial appearance. Clearly I need to work at that - the eyes are powerful - but it has begun for me.
I think that this attitude is showing in Abby now, and that is my whole goal. She has not called anyone a name in my presence since the day that it clicked for me. She is faster to say "please" "thank you" and "how are you" to people she knows and people she meets.
Parents - it's all about modeling. A positive attitude in you will be reflected by the ones you are raising. Practice this and see what a difference it might make in your house!
(Sorry to disappoint you with no pictures of me in the newest clothes to hit the runway - you're welcome. This is not about that kind of modeling.)
We try very hard in our house to value each other as well as every person or animal that we meet. It is not actually all that hard, I tend to view people in their positive light before I ever notice their flaws. I don't think this is a bad thing.
The thing is that we send our daughter out into the "real world" every day by sending her to preschool. We love every aspect about the care she has gotten since she was ten weeks, so don't look for this post to blast that choice. We are extremely happy that we chose to send Abby to daycare, even so young. Many added benefits.
But she learns things at daycare. She learns so much every day that in our house we call it "school" and not preschool. She had learned colors before she could really even say them. She learned shapes early enough that she's already able to draw circles, triangles and squares. She has learned most of the letters of the alphabet in more detail than "The ABC's Song" - what words they start and how they sound and such. She knows many more songs that we even uncover at home because she sticks to two of her favorites and the others don't come up.
But she learns things at daycare. She learned to spit and push at daycare. She may have learned this from her peers, but might have had it in her and it just came to revelation at daycare. I prefer to believe the "blame school" side of things, as I am the first to give school the credit for having taught her all of the great things in her education, like the stuff in the paragraph above.
The thing that drove me really mad that she learned at school was the proper use of the word "stupid." "Daddy, you're stupid" is not something that I was prepared to hear from Abby just yet, but it is something I was greeted with during silly play at home. There was nothing to invoke it, we were just playing, but out it came. I was ready to drop all of the good things that I have ever said about how great daycare has been for Abby's cognitive and social development. Gone in that instant were my continued high hopes for her to continue to be the cute AND smart girl. Now, thanks to daycare, she was going to be the cute terror of a child that drives her parents to the asylum.
But then I realized that it was TV.
Abby watches TV, and I am not going to continue to apologize for that. A lot of the movies that she watches - Shrek and The Grinch come to mind - use "stupid" as if it was a prefix to your name. "Stupid Donkey" has to come out in each of the movies, at least twice. I realize that the movies are not designed for toddlers, so I can not and do not fault the movies, but I realized how much the word pervades in other shows/movies, like Madagascar and such. Shocking, but it should not be.
After I realized that, I realized something really sad - it was not the movies, it was ME.
It was me that calls me stupid. I have never, and will never, call Abby (or Anny) stupid. But my self esteem is not the best, so when Anny calls me on something my response is typically "yeah, I know, I'm stupid." Abby was hearing me say something, and she was mimicking. How could she know that she should not say something that her parents are saying? I was the problem. I can pinpoint the spot in my kitchen when I heard myself and winced.
Since that day my attitude has changed. I remind myself that I am not stupid, but more important is that I have changed the way I think about both myself and others. Some jerk on the road driving up the median in traffic? Maybe they are on their way to the hospital to see someone important. Slow wait staff (not THIS slow!)? Kitchen is busy and everyone is probably covering. I have always been positive, but I am actively looking for the good behind the perceived bad. I give the benefit of the doubt to anyone I do not know, and do my best to ignore initial appearance. Clearly I need to work at that - the eyes are powerful - but it has begun for me.
I think that this attitude is showing in Abby now, and that is my whole goal. She has not called anyone a name in my presence since the day that it clicked for me. She is faster to say "please" "thank you" and "how are you" to people she knows and people she meets.
Parents - it's all about modeling. A positive attitude in you will be reflected by the ones you are raising. Practice this and see what a difference it might make in your house!
Menu Monday (on Tuesday)
Crazy weekend that ended up with me being really sore and not feeling like blogging on Sunday night or Monday morning.
Last week I mentioned that we were doing a new slow cooker brisket recipe, and shortly after that I realized that it took 24 hours to crock pot. It was awesome, and made two complete meals for us!
This week we are intentionally incorporating two of the meals from the frozen food party we went to a week ago. We would likely space them out to once a week, if we felt like we could plan out that far. Right now, with the move coming quickly, we are trying to be sure that we account for everything in the freezer. Maybe with a little luck we will have an empty freezer soon, and resort only to fresh fruits, vegetables and meats for a stretch in June.
So, the menu this week:
Sunday - Leftover Brisket in tortillas (added rice, salsa and sour cream)
Monday - Hearty Chili & Cornbread - From the Frozen Food Party
Tuesday - Macaroni and Cheese with turkey hot dogs
Wednesday - Burrito Pie - From the Frozen Food Party
Thursday - Family Dinner
Friday - Picnic with Abby's Daycare (five centers, ~22 children from each, FUN!)
Saturday - Family Dinner to celebrate Gramps' birthday, in Rehoboth, DE!
All in all it looks like we will not even have a chance to go out to dinner this week - lots of time and money savings going on here! How about you?
Last week I mentioned that we were doing a new slow cooker brisket recipe, and shortly after that I realized that it took 24 hours to crock pot. It was awesome, and made two complete meals for us!
This week we are intentionally incorporating two of the meals from the frozen food party we went to a week ago. We would likely space them out to once a week, if we felt like we could plan out that far. Right now, with the move coming quickly, we are trying to be sure that we account for everything in the freezer. Maybe with a little luck we will have an empty freezer soon, and resort only to fresh fruits, vegetables and meats for a stretch in June.
So, the menu this week:
Sunday - Leftover Brisket in tortillas (added rice, salsa and sour cream)
Monday - Hearty Chili & Cornbread - From the Frozen Food Party
Tuesday - Macaroni and Cheese with turkey hot dogs
Wednesday - Burrito Pie - From the Frozen Food Party
Thursday - Family Dinner
Friday - Picnic with Abby's Daycare (five centers, ~22 children from each, FUN!)
Saturday - Family Dinner to celebrate Gramps' birthday, in Rehoboth, DE!
All in all it looks like we will not even have a chance to go out to dinner this week - lots of time and money savings going on here! How about you?
May 07, 2010
Frozen Food Party!
On Sunday of last week we went to my brother and sister-in-laws house for a different sort of party - a party focused on frozen food! It's an idea that I had a few years ago, when we needed to stock the freezer before Abby was born, but never got enough support to pull it off. I was very glad to have Nadia (SIL) ask me about doing one this spring as they are expecting.
The process was as such -
Decide on an invite list, being sure to include folks that would take it and run with it, but don't let the invite list get too big. Everyone has to bring enough food to send home with each person/family participating, so a party of 12 families would end up being a ton of work for everyone. This task fell to Nadia, as it was her party, but I was sure to get some names in there of cool people that I hang out with too.
Explain the party in detail to everyone coming. I think it would have been greatly embarrassing to have someone show up with no food to share, and would have been awkward to figure out for everyone in the end! Be open to questions, as there will be some since a lot of folks have not heard of such a party before!
Well, Rob, what IS the detail? That's the fun part! Each person/unit plans out a meal that they prepare or organize that can be stashed in the freezer and brought out on a night that you don't want to have to cook fully! Then they cook or prepare it. There are whole websites dedicated to "Freezer Meals" and the like, but it is amazing how many things you already make that you could double when you have time and freeze some of for later! We did a crock-pot meal (recipe below), dished it into a freezer bag and included tortillas and cheese for a whole meal. Everyone must label their bag with reheating instructions, and the recipe is optional but nice!
Once all of the RSVP's have come in, or the RSVP date has passed, let everyone know how many meals they are bringing. If six families are coming, each family needs to bring five of their dish to share - one for each other family. (For the one we went to, the number six was passed around, so most folks had an extra of their own to take home, too!)
So, for a total of about 30 minutes of work on my part - deciding the meal, preparing it, overnight in the crock pot and assembling for the freezer - we gotfive six meals that we get to take home and try over the coming weeks! Throw in about two hours of hanging out with some fun people and their fun children!
The meals we got were:
Chili
Burrito Pie
A Red Chicken with Cous Cous (I missed the name!)
Rico Chicken
Creamy Chicken
Chicken Soup
The meal that we took was one that we have adapted from a kidney-friendly blog. It calls for pork, but we had chicken and used that. So, here is our recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken and Green Chili Stew:
Serving size: 3/4 cup stew, 1 tortilla
Ingredients
* 1/2 cup all-purpose white flour
* 1 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 pound chicken, cut into bit size cubes
* 1 4-ounce cans green chili peppers, rinsed, and diced
* 1 garlic clove, crushed
* one 14-ounce can low-sodium chicken broth
* 6 flour tortillas, burrito size
* 6 tablespoons sour cream
* 3/4 cup iceberg lettuce, shredded
* 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Preparation and Serving
1. Place chicken, flour, pepper, peppers, garlic and broth into a slow cooker.
2. Cook for 10 hours on low heat.
3. Place 3/4 cup of stew on a tortilla and roll burrito style.
4. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream, lettuce and cilantro.
The process was as such -
Decide on an invite list, being sure to include folks that would take it and run with it, but don't let the invite list get too big. Everyone has to bring enough food to send home with each person/family participating, so a party of 12 families would end up being a ton of work for everyone. This task fell to Nadia, as it was her party, but I was sure to get some names in there of cool people that I hang out with too.
Explain the party in detail to everyone coming. I think it would have been greatly embarrassing to have someone show up with no food to share, and would have been awkward to figure out for everyone in the end! Be open to questions, as there will be some since a lot of folks have not heard of such a party before!
Well, Rob, what IS the detail? That's the fun part! Each person/unit plans out a meal that they prepare or organize that can be stashed in the freezer and brought out on a night that you don't want to have to cook fully! Then they cook or prepare it. There are whole websites dedicated to "Freezer Meals" and the like, but it is amazing how many things you already make that you could double when you have time and freeze some of for later! We did a crock-pot meal (recipe below), dished it into a freezer bag and included tortillas and cheese for a whole meal. Everyone must label their bag with reheating instructions, and the recipe is optional but nice!
Once all of the RSVP's have come in, or the RSVP date has passed, let everyone know how many meals they are bringing. If six families are coming, each family needs to bring five of their dish to share - one for each other family. (For the one we went to, the number six was passed around, so most folks had an extra of their own to take home, too!)
So, for a total of about 30 minutes of work on my part - deciding the meal, preparing it, overnight in the crock pot and assembling for the freezer - we got
The meals we got were:
Chili
Burrito Pie
A Red Chicken with Cous Cous (I missed the name!)
Rico Chicken
Creamy Chicken
Chicken Soup
The meal that we took was one that we have adapted from a kidney-friendly blog. It calls for pork, but we had chicken and used that. So, here is our recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken and Green Chili Stew:
Serving size: 3/4 cup stew, 1 tortilla
Ingredients
* 1/2 cup all-purpose white flour
* 1 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 pound chicken, cut into bit size cubes
* 1 4-ounce cans green chili peppers, rinsed, and diced
* 1 garlic clove, crushed
* one 14-ounce can low-sodium chicken broth
* 6 flour tortillas, burrito size
* 6 tablespoons sour cream
* 3/4 cup iceberg lettuce, shredded
* 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Preparation and Serving
1. Place chicken, flour, pepper, peppers, garlic and broth into a slow cooker.
2. Cook for 10 hours on low heat.
3. Place 3/4 cup of stew on a tortilla and roll burrito style.
4. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream, lettuce and cilantro.
May 06, 2010
Our Little Family
Abby is getting better at repetition when it comes to her art work. Her lines are straighter and her circles are more rounded than eggs now.
In the last few months she has even moved on to drawing "people," as defined by Abby. Earlier this week she was tasked with drawing her family, and that she did. Here is the picture, and below I will give you her words to me about it:
I asked her this morning about her picture. She explained to me that the one on the left if "My Mother," "Abby Minroe" is in the middle and "Dally" is on the right. There was no explanation for the green blob up there, believe me I asked.
As you can see clearly, we all have eyes and mouths. Only recently have we begun to develop legs, and the arms are new as of this week. Maybe we are merely tadpoles in her mind! Some day I'll be able to hop!
In the last few months she has even moved on to drawing "people," as defined by Abby. Earlier this week she was tasked with drawing her family, and that she did. Here is the picture, and below I will give you her words to me about it:
I asked her this morning about her picture. She explained to me that the one on the left if "My Mother," "Abby Minroe" is in the middle and "Dally" is on the right. There was no explanation for the green blob up there, believe me I asked.
As you can see clearly, we all have eyes and mouths. Only recently have we begun to develop legs, and the arms are new as of this week. Maybe we are merely tadpoles in her mind! Some day I'll be able to hop!
May 05, 2010
Daddy Daughter Date
We have always been fans of Chick-Fil-A, and last night that appreciation grew even more!
About a week ago I saw on Facebook that the Chick-Fil-A in Columbia Mall was going to have a Daddy Daughter Dinner night. I popped an email over to Anny and suggested that she go out with a friend of ours and I would take Abby to dinner. She agreed and I signed up! About an hour later, though, I got a phone call from their PR person asking me if I was open on the time or had one specifically in mind. I told her that I could be open on the early side, but too late and Abby might be a Crabby. She then told me that they "hoped" it would be successful, and were now down to one open spot and a wait list for everyone else. The last slot they had was at 5:30 and I took it! (Sorry other dads, I won't be around next time, you take those slots.)
I hung up and then realized that on Tuesday I had a staff retreat at work. Argh. On a normal work day I would be able to sneak out a little early to try and beat the traffic. On a retreat day I would have no control over my time. That is okay, just something I did not factor in when agreeing to a 5:30 dinner date!
As it turned out the retreat ended right on time, which was a little late for my preferred plan but not going to stop me. I flipped on the traffic. Backed up the whole way from where I was to home. It would easily take me an hour to get home, then an hour to get to Columbia. That would be 6:00. Anny and I had talked about this on Monday, though, and agreed that we could meet somewhere and swap cars. We met close to the middle, but clearly at a convenient place in Calverton, made the swap and headed our separate ways.
Abby and I got to the mall a few minutes early, or in Abby time "just right" for getting on the merry-go-round! So we did that once and headed down to the potty. We both did what we do in such a place and still ended up at Chick-Fil-A about ten minutes early. They are close to the play area, and closer to a shoe store. I mentioned that we were in the 5:30 seating and knew we were early, but I thought I would give them a heads up. They noted that a lot of the 5:30's showed up a little early. All of them, actually! The tables were ready for us, though, so we sat immediately.
Our table - in the food court remember - was set our right for a date, even down to the doily! Abby was given a long stemmed rose to celebrate, too!
We had a table to ourselves, and even had a waitress! That is a little funny at a fast food joint, but appreciated because I didn't have to wait in line! We had our normal fare - Abby got nuggets, I got a grilled chicken sandwich. Abby at the strawberries, oranges and grapes from the fruit cups and I got the apples. Then we both share a chocolate shake. Delightful!
I was sure to thank the PR person, whose name is escaping me. It was a fun event and gave me an excuse to take my daughter our and spend time with just her.
We went and played in the play ground for a while, Abby even found an older girl to chase for a while. It was funny, but made it hard to drag her away! The only thing that worked was the promise of a trip to the pet store (we look, don't buy). After that we went over to the merry-go-round for a final ride and then headed home.
It was fun and I look forward to more Daddy/Daughter dates in the future! Maybe next time I'll upgrade the restaurant - a stand alone Chick-Fil-A instead of the food court!
About a week ago I saw on Facebook that the Chick-Fil-A in Columbia Mall was going to have a Daddy Daughter Dinner night. I popped an email over to Anny and suggested that she go out with a friend of ours and I would take Abby to dinner. She agreed and I signed up! About an hour later, though, I got a phone call from their PR person asking me if I was open on the time or had one specifically in mind. I told her that I could be open on the early side, but too late and Abby might be a Crabby. She then told me that they "hoped" it would be successful, and were now down to one open spot and a wait list for everyone else. The last slot they had was at 5:30 and I took it! (Sorry other dads, I won't be around next time, you take those slots.)
I hung up and then realized that on Tuesday I had a staff retreat at work. Argh. On a normal work day I would be able to sneak out a little early to try and beat the traffic. On a retreat day I would have no control over my time. That is okay, just something I did not factor in when agreeing to a 5:30 dinner date!
As it turned out the retreat ended right on time, which was a little late for my preferred plan but not going to stop me. I flipped on the traffic. Backed up the whole way from where I was to home. It would easily take me an hour to get home, then an hour to get to Columbia. That would be 6:00. Anny and I had talked about this on Monday, though, and agreed that we could meet somewhere and swap cars. We met close to the middle, but clearly at a convenient place in Calverton, made the swap and headed our separate ways.
Abby and I got to the mall a few minutes early, or in Abby time "just right" for getting on the merry-go-round! So we did that once and headed down to the potty. We both did what we do in such a place and still ended up at Chick-Fil-A about ten minutes early. They are close to the play area, and closer to a shoe store. I mentioned that we were in the 5:30 seating and knew we were early, but I thought I would give them a heads up. They noted that a lot of the 5:30's showed up a little early. All of them, actually! The tables were ready for us, though, so we sat immediately.
Our table - in the food court remember - was set our right for a date, even down to the doily! Abby was given a long stemmed rose to celebrate, too!
I was sure to thank the PR person, whose name is escaping me. It was a fun event and gave me an excuse to take my daughter our and spend time with just her.
We went and played in the play ground for a while, Abby even found an older girl to chase for a while. It was funny, but made it hard to drag her away! The only thing that worked was the promise of a trip to the pet store (we look, don't buy). After that we went over to the merry-go-round for a final ride and then headed home.
It was fun and I look forward to more Daddy/Daughter dates in the future! Maybe next time I'll upgrade the restaurant - a stand alone Chick-Fil-A instead of the food court!
May 03, 2010
Menu Monday
I missed last week - things were crazy around here! Anny had a phone interview on Tuesday, but I was at a work meeting so a friend came over to play with Abby then they went out to dinner. The rest of the week we stuck to the plan, though.
Yesterday we went to a fun party based around frozen dinners. Will do a whole blog post about that because it earned it, and will include a recipe for a slow cooker stew that was requested on Facebook!
So, this week there is a special Daddy/Daughter night at Chick-Fil-A in Columbia, so I'll be taking Abby there. We got the last spot, so it's pretty popular and I am open to seeing what they do with it! Also a change this week is that we let Abby pick up okra at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. She was excited to see something new, and we are trying to try new things this year, so we got enough for a side for dinner. Will probably do that with the brisket.
Here is our plan this week:
Sunday: Out with the big family - 11 of us at the table!
Monday: Frozen Stroganoff on Egg Noodles
Tuesday: Daddy/Daughter dinner/Anny out with a friend
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Brisket (recipe over at Sarahlynn's Blog)
Thursday: Family Dinner
Friday: Pancakes
Saturday: Kabobs
In looking at our freezer yesterday morning in preparation for the Frozen Meal Party I noticed that we have things in there that we have had for a while and really need to eat, so our plan next week should include the use of frozen crab meat!
What are you eating? What is in your freezer that you have been avoiding or forgetting about? What are you going to do with it?
Yesterday we went to a fun party based around frozen dinners. Will do a whole blog post about that because it earned it, and will include a recipe for a slow cooker stew that was requested on Facebook!
So, this week there is a special Daddy/Daughter night at Chick-Fil-A in Columbia, so I'll be taking Abby there. We got the last spot, so it's pretty popular and I am open to seeing what they do with it! Also a change this week is that we let Abby pick up okra at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. She was excited to see something new, and we are trying to try new things this year, so we got enough for a side for dinner. Will probably do that with the brisket.
Here is our plan this week:
Sunday: Out with the big family - 11 of us at the table!
Monday: Frozen Stroganoff on Egg Noodles
Tuesday: Daddy/Daughter dinner/Anny out with a friend
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Brisket (recipe over at Sarahlynn's Blog)
Thursday: Family Dinner
Friday: Pancakes
Saturday: Kabobs
In looking at our freezer yesterday morning in preparation for the Frozen Meal Party I noticed that we have things in there that we have had for a while and really need to eat, so our plan next week should include the use of frozen crab meat!
What are you eating? What is in your freezer that you have been avoiding or forgetting about? What are you going to do with it?
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