31 July Lessons learned

Lessons Learned July 31

• Homemade Chocolate cake is the best kind of motivation for a 6 year boy to do all of his school work with out complaining.
• Homemade Chocolate coconut frosting is a great motivation for a 3 year boy to play quietly with his "Wrinds" (Toys).
• Boys can surprise you sometimes. I prepared for the great chocolate cake tornado and the boys did not mess a single morsel of cake not even on their sweet faces. It is serious business.
• Just because you buy Cherry tomatoes from the Farmers markets doesn't mean they are going to be sweet.
• Not eating out is a good habit to get into even if it is hard to make dinner every night.
• My kids love Frittatas no matter what I put in the filling.
• I love farm fresh eggs. The thick yoke and hard shells make me swoon a little.

The biggest lesson (even bigger then chocolate cake) came this morning when Damian came and whispered to his dad, "How many scoops of coffee do I use?" My husband got out of bed and went and showed him how to make a pot of coffee. I realized that God gave us these children to make us better people.

I almost forgot about Egg In the Hole. I am in love with them. I made them for the boys for breakfast earlier in the week and we all found our favorite breakfast. I am not the awake until my second cup of coffee in the morning so often I will put a pot of water on for hard boiled eggs with my first cup of coffee. It is easy and requires no thought. I discovered that makeing Egg in the hole is easier then hard boiled eggs and I can enjoy another favorite butter and toast. Yum!

I hope your day is Blessed with Love and Laughter.

When in doubt

Make chocolate cake. Today the boys were running around like crazy little monkeys, swinging from their beds, making silly noises, and fighting over the best toy. Damian decided not to do school work. I decided I was to tired to argue and instead made Chocolate Cake. As soon as the cake came out of the oven, and was covered in Chocolate Coconut frosting the yelling, fighting monkeys turned in to sweet little boys. Damian got busy doing his school work and James settled down to play with his friends. Amazing Chocolate cake! I never knew the power it held. I know that soon very soon my sweet little boys will be telling me how good they have been all day for just a little piece of cake. I will have to post pictures of the carnage of the cake and the chocolate mess that they will become.

I am going to let them eat cake after dinner.

Peace prayer

It has been a long week, a very long week. I think we are in desperate need of a vacation. Rob has worked 12 + hour shifts for most of the month, leaving the kids and I to fend for ourselves. I am smiling because I sometimes it is Mom who is fending for herself. Maybe a I need a Mom's afternoon off but Rob is working all weekend so that is not going to happen. I love my kids, and family never doubt that. I love the life that we live and I am very grateful that I get to stay home and raise our children. So try not to judge me to much when I say I need a break. We home school all year around. We take breaks when we need to a week here and there to break up the endless days off convincing children to sit still and do what is asked of them with out fighting, or making excuses all day. Damian is normally a good sport, which is why we take breaks as needed. When he starts getting tired of school work he lays it thick. Really think! He cries, he yells, he will spend hours sitting at the table not doing anything but staring into space. He is stubborn just like his father. There is no telling them anything when they have made up their minds. This is both one of my favorite things about all of the boys in my house. They are strong willed and independent. Unfortunately this is also my biggest problem. It can take something as simple as writing a daily bible verse to a full out battle. As much as I like to think that I always wind sometimes I am the one defeated. I do not want to make learning a chore and lately I have to force Damian to stop reading to do real work. That is hard to say stop doing something good for you and write. Most of the time Damian loves to do his school work. This week besides form enjoying cursive writing he has fought me on everything else.

So why am I not throwing in the towel and calling a week break you ask. Well because we are hoping to spend a week in Panama City in August. Where the only work that I will ask the kids to do will be to read for fun. We just have to make through another week. Just one more week! So this week I am praying for Strength, and patience. I am not always good at saying a prayer so I look up prayers to help me along. Today I found a peace prayer that seemed to fit perfectly. God is Good and he sometimes he whispers when you are listening for shouts.

Peace Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Catholic/2008/09/Catholic-Prayers.aspx?p=3#ixzz1TVSrHUZl

I hope that your day is filled with peace and Love.

Recipe Tuesday

Since I am now doing a menu plan on Mondays and I post a picture of my favorite meal of the week. I have decided to do a Recipe Tuesday featuring that recipe so that you can try it at home too. I have to admit, if you didn't know by reading my blog already I am a cookbook junkie. So I will share where I found the recipe and if I changed it at all, believe me I change every recipe sometimes a little, sometimes so much it is unrecognizable. This week I have two recipes to share with you. One from the menu and one lovely surprise. The winning meal this week is. . .

Open-Face Ratatouille Sandwich

ingredients

• 1 small eggplant, cut in 1-inch pieces (I used two regular eggplants from the farmers market)
• 1 small zucchini or yellow summer squash, cut into 3/4-inch slices (I used two of each)
• 1  medium red sweet pepper, cut in strips (I didn't have a pepper oops)
• 1/2 of a small red onion, cut in 1/2-inch wedges (I used the whole thing)
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil (I just drizzled and guessed)
• 1/2 tsp. herbes de Provence or dried thyme, crushed (I don't have thyme growing, but I do have oregano and rosemary for the herbs de provence)
• 2 medium plum tomatoes, each cut lengthwise in 6 wedges (I diced up three roma tomatos)
• 8 small or 4 large 1/2-inch slices whole wheat or white French bread, toasted ( I baked my own bread and sliced up 8 nice sized slices and then toasted)
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar (again I drizzled and guessed, I added more because I love balsamic)
• Fresh thyme sprigs (optional) (none)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a large shallow roasting pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add eggplant, zucchini, sweet pepper, and onion to prepared pan. Drizzle olive oil; sprinkle herbes de Provence, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Toss to coat. Roast vegetables 30 minutes, tossing once. Add tomatoes to roasting pan. Roast 15 to 20 minutes more or until vegetables are tender and some surface areas are lightly browned.
2. Meanwhile, rub toasted bread with cut sides of the garlic clove. Place two small slices or one large slice of the bread on each of four serving plates. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar over vegetables; toss gently to coat. Spoon warm vegetables on bread. If desired, garnish with fresh thyme sprigs. Makes 4 servings.

Really I followed the directions using the ingrediants that I had. It was very enjoyable. I used extra ingrediants because I have to feed a hungry family of four, three of which are boys! This recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens Annual Recipes 2008 page 162.

The lovely surprise is . . .

Apple Cheddar Bread (muffins in my case)

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( I used pecans and almonds)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup margarine, melted
• 1 apple - peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese ( I guessed on the cheese so I am sure there was more then 1/2 a cup)
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon walnuts, apples, and cheese. Add the eggs, melted butter or margarine, and milk; stir until well blended. Pour into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until done. If loaf starts to brown too much, cover with foil.               

I made muffins because I think they last longer than a loaf of bread. Also you can tell how much you have eaten then a large slice of bread. I know I always cut gaint pieces of bread and then everyone wants more and there is none. 45 minutes for the muffins. I didn't have a problem with them over browning. This recipe came from Allrecipes.com here is the link http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Cheddar-Bread/Detail.aspx?src=ShareOnFacebook&recipeID=7241

 I hope you enjoy these recipes. If you make them I would love to hear how it turned out and if you liked them as much as I did.

I hope your day is filled with Love and Laughter

Meal plan Monday

Last week went off the menu maybe three different times. I enjoy something a little different occasionally. I noticed that my family looks at the menu and likes knowing what is for dinner. So instead of the horrible question, "What's for dinner?" I hear are we having _____ tonight? Fill in the blank with a menu related item. Which is nice. My husband even made dinner one night although his were grilled sausages which were no where on the menu, I am always happy when he cooks. My favorite meal of last week was Open Faced Ratatouille sandwiches.

Monday

Pan Sausage and spinach frittata

Tuesday

Beef Tacos and Spanish rice

Wednesday

Spaghetti

Thursday

Open Faced Ratatouille

Friday

Pizza

Saturday

Lamb Meatballs in rich tomato sauce

(I didn't make this last week but I love these meatballs)

Sunday

Hamburgers and grilled veggies from the market

Amazing Grace

This morning I came across this beautiful version of Amazing Grace by Celtic Thunder. It literally made water leak from my eyes while I listened to it. I guess it reached in and touched my heart unexpectedly. I hope that you enjoy it too.

24 July Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned this week.

Just because a book store is closing doesn't mean that they are giving away free books. Although the book store rush might take away the quiet ambience that you have grown to love. Also most people rushing to the book store for a good deal may not care about books, as I witnessed when one women gently stepped on a book on the floor next to my son.

I have a serious problem, really it is a full blown family addiction! Books, add the fact that our book store is closing and we have no idea where to find another bookstore and we buy $200 dollars worth of books. I just wish they were discounted down more then 10%. Here are my two new cookbooks. I can not wait to try them out!

Sometimes off the weekly menu can be fun and very delicious. This week I made Apple Cheddar muffins. It was the first time I had made this kind of bread and honestly I wish I had known about it all before.

I love these silicone muffin cups. They slide right off and leave perfect muffin lines.

Coffee is best when served in bed by a six year old boy, He is so careful and can not wait to make my coffee in the morning. I love how sweet and thoughtful he can be.

I love to walk into the quiet living room to find this...

Last but not least this week. Iced Peppermint Schnapps, with water and fresh mint and stevia from the garden helps cool you down in 100+ degrees.

I hope you have a Blessed week full of love and laughter.