Archive for August, 2009

The Difficult Child, Conclusion

Go here to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
Dear friends,
I have received such an outpouring of letters from you telling me that you needed to hear this message.  Here is a small sampling of what I have heard this week:
***

Lovely.  Thanks for sharing.  We do have to be so careful [...]

The Difficult Child, Part 5

We are approaching the end of this mini-series on Teaching the Difficult Child.

Over the last few days, we have talked about the acronym S-T-O-P.

The Difficult Child, Part 4

Go here to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Let’s review the past few days of our discussion on Teaching the Difficult Child:
Do you remember the Acronym?  S-T-O-P?
S-Stop the sarcasm, joking, and belittling of my child
T-truth- I became convinced that from that day forward, I would try to speak only the absolute truth from God’s [...]

The Difficult Child, Part 3

Go here to read: Part 1, Part 2
Teaching The Difficult Child, Part 3 from the Workshop by the same name.
For the last two days we have talked about the first two parts of the Acronym:
S-T-O-P
S-Stop the sarcasm, joking, and belittling of my child
T-Truth- I became convinced that from that day forward, I would try [...]

Cheesy Chicken Bundles

To make Cheesy Chicken Bundles, Mix together bread crumbs, cheeses, salt, and pepper. Dip chicken pieces in melted butter, then in cheese mixture. Tuck sides of chicken breasts under to form an individual bundles.

Wrap each bundle in plastic wrap, then place in freezer bags.

Thaw, place chicken bundles in large, shallow baking dish. Melt remaining 2 T. of butter and pour over the bundles. Sprinkle with ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees approximately 1 hour, until chicken is crispy.

Grilled Sesame Chicken

Using Freezer Quality bags: Add dry spices first, Chicken Breasts second. Finally add liquid ingredients and seal each bag carefully.

Thaw. Grill, bake or broil. If desired, pour thawed chicken and marinade over uncooked rice and bake at 375 for about an hour.

Baked Ziti

To cook Baked Ziti, Cook Pasta for HALF the recommended package time. Drain and rinse to stop cooking. Brown Ground beef; add onion and green pepper to meat mixture and sauté until vegetables are tender. (If dry, add a small amount of olive oil to facilitate cooking.) Add Spaghetti Sauce.

Two Options: Use a disposable casserole pan and layer this mixture on the bottom, add cheeses on top and freeze, wrapping well.

OR put the cooked pasta, beef and sauce in a freezer bag together. Measure the correct amount of cheeses to be added at cooking time into small freezer baggies and attach to ziti mixture.

Easy Beef Stew

Chop stew meat into bite sized pieces. Place in crock pots. Sprinkle some seasoning on meat.

Chop onions, potatoes and carrots in bite sized portions, add to stew meat. Add some seasoning.

Add remaining vegetables (may reserve peas to the end to avoid them getting squishy).

Add V-8 or water as needed to make it moist. Add remaining seasoning to top.

Cook in crock pot 6-8 hours on low. You may want to use a crock pot liner to ease clean-up.

Tortellini Soup- from Sara Woosley

How to make tortellini soup and use it as a freezer recipe.

Black Beans and Rice

How to cook Black beans and rice and make it a freezer dinner.

Chicken Pot Pie

Recipes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 pie

2 pies

3 pies

4 pies

5 pies

10 pies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small Onion, chopped

1

2

3

4

5

10

Cooked Chicken, chopped (2-3 breasts per pie)

2

5

7

10

13

25 chicken breasts

9 inch Deep Dish Pie Crust in Aluminum Pan

1

2

3

4

5

10

9 inch Pie Crust (no pan for top crust)

1

2

3

4

5

10

16 oz bag Frozen Mixed Veggies (peas, carrots, green beans, corn, etc)

1

2

3

4

5

10

1/3 of a small bag  of Hash [...]

Lazy Lasagna

Recipes:

1

2

3

4

5

 Servings:

10

20

30

40

50

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

 

 

 

 

12 ounces Lasagna Noodles uncooked

12 ounce box

2 boxes

3 boxes

4 boxes

5 boxes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cream Cheese

8 oz

16 oz

24 oz

32 oz

40 oz

Parmesan Cheese

½ cup

1 cup

1 ½ cups

2 cups

2 ½ cups

Finely Chopped Fresh Parsley

¼ cup

½ cup

¾ cup

1 cup

1 ¼ cup

Mozzarella Cheese Grated

12 oz

24 oz

36 oz

42 oz

54 oz

Ricotta Cheese

2 cups

4 cups

6 cups

8 cups

10 cups

Commercial or Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

1 jar or [...]

What are “Swagbucks”?

I’ve just learned about a way to search the internet and win/earn really great prizes. swagbucks.com is an online search engine to helping you earn digital dollars called “Swag Bucks”, which can be redeemed for exclusive swagbucks.com merchandise. The merchandise includes  Amazon gift certificates, t-shirts, postcards and rare lithographs to the latest ipods or digital [...]

The Difficult Child, Part 2

Do you have a difficult child? Is everything a struggle? What do you do when one of your children is just “different” and you struggle daily with self-control, patience and loving kindness?

Malia Russell, a home school mother of four children ages 4-18, talks about this deeply personal issue and shares biblical precepts and examples to offer you encouragement and practical ideas to make loving the difficult child and the smooth running of your home school a reality.

The Difficult Child, Part 1

Do you have a difficult child? Is everything a struggle? What do you do when one of your children is just “different” and you struggle daily with self-control, patience and loving kindness?

Malia Russell, a home school mother of four children ages 4-18, talks about this deeply personal issue and shares biblical precepts and examples to offer you encouragement and practical ideas to make loving the difficult child and the smooth running of your home school a reality.

16 Back-To-School Dinner Tips

Is school really just around the corner? You know what that means - early morning scrambles, after-school tizzies and ragged nerves at dinnertime.

It’s still possible to have pleasant family mealtimes even after school has begun. Check out these back-to-school dinner tips for busy moms.

9 Simple Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat More Veggies

It seems like a never-ending battle with the kids. Although you and I know veggies are delicious and they’re also good for you, they act like vegetables are a plague they want to avoid at all costs.

Five Easy Toning Exercises You can Do Anywhere

As you know, with my recent diagnosis of diabetes, I started a daily exercise routine.

In addition to needing to lose weight, weight bearing exercises are important also for increasing muscle mass and bone density as you age.

Most of us have learned what to do when it comes to exercising. The problem is where and when to get the job done. With a busy lifestyle, making time for exercise is a challenge.

Freezer Cooking Exchange- The details

Hi Ladies!  Here are the details for the freezer cooking exchange (for our local friends, here in Louisville, KY):
Each woman is to bring 10 frozen meals.  All of these should be identical meals.
Each meal is to feed approximately 5 people.
The meal should be frozen when you arrive.
You can freeze the meals in Plastic FREEZER quality [...]

Basic Budget Ideas

Many of the readers of my website are single income families. And when there are multiple spenders that make things much more confusing. This is one of the main reasons that families lack a formal budget. But having a budget and sticking to it can greatly improve a family’s financial outlook.
Making a family budget may [...]

Top Ten Power Packed Foods

One of the main factors in our health is in the food that we eat. As you well know, all foods are not created equal. Choosing and eating the right foods may help increase your life expectancy as well as the quality of your life.

Frugal Family Outings

The time we spend with our families is priceless. But most popular family activities are quite expensive. Even a simple night at the movies can put a serious dent in the budget by the time you buy tickets, popcorn and drinks for everyone.

From Chaos to Order: Bringing Organization to Your Home (Part 5)

Go here to read; Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4,
Now we have taken Chaos, subtracted distractions and decisions, divided, using delegation and added in our goals.  The remaining part of this equation is:  Spiritual Disciplines.
“Psalm 42:7 reads ‘Deep calls to deep.’ Perhaps somewhere in the subterranean chambers of your life you have heard [...]