A new recipe

Dylan is still not feeling himself, I was up all night getting sick to my stomach, and Kate woke up with croup. A relaxing Saturday it is.




Plus it snowed.



We made a new recipe for dinner. Chicken quesadillas. We're loving our Food On The Table app, saving a ton of money and discovering new dinners.

So we really liked this recipe but when we make it again we're going to add some rice for extra filling. But these were so good.

Ours sort of turned into burritos rather than quesadillas. Here are some photos of our cooking adventures.









And everybody--even Dylan--liked it.

New year, new recipes

We've been snowed in for the last few days and it has been quite cold. So we've been having fun inside building snow trucks and working on learning how to walk.







This one is a riot:



It was nice to stay in pajamas for a few days but hard not to go stir crazy.







2014 has been awesome so far. Sean and I have implemented a new budget for extra savings and are having a great time cooking new recipes with fresher food. My goals for this year are to feel healthier and to simplify. Four days in and I've been feeling amazing. I woke up this morning feeling human again. No pain in my legs, zero exhaustion. I can't remember the last time I felt this perfect. And Sean and I are like newlyweds. Our kids are asleep in their beds by 7PM and Sean and I cuddle up and watch Weeds at night. Last night I even enjoyed a beer. I felt twenty.

Here is Kate today getting bundled up to go grocery shopping.



We made pizza pasta in the crockpot and then went outside for a few minutes.



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Crockpot Pizza Pasta

1 lb ground beef
1 6oz package sliced peperoni
1 26oz jar pizza sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 16oz uncooked rigatoni pasta
1/4 cup chopped onion


Brown ground beef and onion, drain, mix everything in the crockpot. Cook 1-3 hours on high or 3-5 hours on low.

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This recipe isn't exactly healthy, but it's fun and new so we're expanding our horizons. We're making a fresh salad with it to balance out the bad with the good.

I've discovered a really neat food planning app called Food On the Table. It makes shopping and meal planning easy.

It was too cold to be outside this morning, dangerously cold, but later in the day brought 25° and so I took Dylan outside.




We came inside to find these two cuties relaxing on the couch.



I also cut off data to my iPhone and switched my phone line to an old basic flip phone. My iPhone is still fully functional--aside from text messages and phone calls--when I'm in a WiFi area (which is always, practically) and now we save $30 extra a month. I'm kind of on a saving money kick. I've given way too many things to charity this year that I bought but didn't use and so I'm determined in 2014 to appreciate what I have. I've already got everything I need right in front of me.

Get the skunk out of your dog

Two of our three dogs were sprayed by a skunk yet again this morning. For the third time. The baby woke up at 5:30, Sean let the dogs out at 6, and by 6:15 the smell of skunk had invaded the house. Sean immediately came upstairs to get me and we changed into clothes that we could throw away and brewed up our favorite skunk stink removal remedy as Avery and Jasmine waited outside.



The key to this is to get it on your dogs as fast as possible because the longer the skunk stays in their coats the harder it is to remove.

1 quart hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup of baking soda
2 teaspoons of dish soap



We usually use an old plastic watering can that we save for such an occasion because it is easier to pour the solution onto the dogs. Our guys were sprayed so badly at close range this morning that we used the garden hose on them to get it right off since Avery was puking his brains out and Jasmine had obviously been sprayed in the mouth, too. It wasn't too cool, probably about 50°, but I felt bad having to spray them with cold water after such an ordeal.

We washed them again in the shower and they still smell--as they will for weeks, I'm sure--but at least now the smell is very minimal. The first time Jasmine was sprayed we bathed her with pasta sauce and she smelled like skunk and garlic for the longest time. This remedy is much less invasive. Just make sure you don't get it in your dog's eyes and leave it on for five minutes for best results.

Here's hoping you never have to use the skunk remedy!

Snow cream

A few weeks ago a friend mentioned that I should try to make something called snow cream. Basically homemade ice cream using snow. So, I thought this recipe was going to turn out to taste absolutely repulsive.

A shock: it tastes exactly like vanilla ice cream!

Here is our homemade ice cream, Paula Deen style.

We collected 8 cups of fresh snow using a casserole dish.  We had about 2-3" fall this morning so it was a perfect day for snow cream.

And all you need is 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 can of 14 oz sweetened condensed milk.

We measured out exactly 8 cups.

 

Dylan ate the leftover snow...he calls it "ice" and will eat buckets full if allowed. 

So here is the final product with the condensed milk and vanilla added.  I was afraid to try it but it actually tasted delicious.  Exactly like sweet vanilla ice cream.

And after we ate ice cream Dylan had a hot bath and enjoyed a cucumber by the fireplace.

All in all a beautiful snow day at our house.