June 2009 Menu

I think this is one of the most simple menus I've had in a long time. I am utilizing the crock pot and cooking up some simple meals that can be taken to the pool. We are so excited for our town pool to open on Monday. We get to the pool nearly every day that it is open and enjoy the most simple basic and free things in life. I think I only survive the 9 months of fall, winter and spring because I know summer is the reward. There is always something magical about being with the kids away from the house. There are no "to do" list distractions, no laundry that can get done, no house . . . anything. So hopefully this menu will allow us to be at the pool as much as possible this June.

June 2009 Recipes

1st: Asian Shredded Beef over rice w/ broccoli



http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2009/05/crockpot-asian-shredded-beef-recipe.html

3rd Chicken w/ Raspberry Balsamic Glaze over Spinach

½ c chopped red onion (or whatever you have, or nothing if you don’t have)
½ T dry or fresh rosemary
½ t salt
¼ t pepper
4 chicken breasts, trimmed
½ c olive oil
½ c raspberry preserves (seedless is best but I can’t seem to find seedless)
3 T balsamic vinegar

Marinate chicken breasts in rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil.

In frying pan sauté red onions and chicken breasts until cooked. Remove from pan.

Combine raspberry preserves and balsamic vinegar. Using same frying pan over medium heat reduce mixture until thickened slightly (I don’t usually have patience for this and it doesn’t matter and I speed this up by cooking both the chicken and onion in one pan and the raspberry & balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan).

Pour sauce over chicken and serve.
I usually serve the chicken over rice or a bed of fresh raw spinach, then drizzle the sauce on top – the that wilts the spinach slightly and is very good.




6th: Mango turkey burgers (x3 to freeze) w/ Kristin’s strawberry spinach salad & sweet potato fries



http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/perfect-turkey-burgers?autonomy_kw=mango%20turkey%20burger&rsc=header_1



Kristen’s Strawberry Spinach Salad
Dressing:

1/2 cup EVOO
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 tsp. salt and pepper
1/4 tsp. dry mustard

Salad:
2 lbs. spinach (2 bags)
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 - 1 pint strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup chopped, fresh dill

Chill dressing, pour over salad.







7th Chicken Curry Salad (Mark’s recipe)



Curry Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
1 large roasted chicken cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 8-ounce can sliced or chopped water chestnuts drained
2 cup seedless red grapes halved
1 2-ounce package slivered almonds

Directions:
Dressing:
1-cup mayonnaise
1-tablespoon soy sauce
1-tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon prepared mango chutney
Salt

Gently combine the chicken, celery, water chestnuts, grapes, and almonds in a large glass bowl. Combine the dressing ingredients and mix well. Add to the chicken mixture and stir gently to combine. Season with salt, to taste.

Yield: 6-8 servings







8th Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken over rice w/ side veggie



http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/08/crockpot-brown-sugar-chicken-recipe.html







10th Squirrel’s Sirlion v/ veggie kabobs & rice



http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Squirrels-Great-Beef-Steak/Detail.aspx





13th Grilled Salmon w/ orange glaze, cous cous & side veggie





Grill Salmon and top with orange glaze.


Orange Glaze:


2 T balsamic vinegar


2 T orange juice


2 t honey


1/8 t ground ginger





Simmer the above on medium low until reduced by half.


14th Momwiches w/ salad & fries

15th Black Bean & Salsa Chicken soup w/ cheese quesadillas
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/11/salsa-chicken-and-black-bean-soup.html

17th Sesame Noodles

Coarse salt
1 pound thin spaghetti
½ cup smooth peanut butter preferably natural
1-2 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 English cucumber, peeled and halved lengthwise
2 medium carrots, peeled and shredded

1 In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain, and transfer to a large bowl
2 Meanwhile, make peanut sauce: In a blender or food processor, blend peanut butter, garlic, pepper flakes, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil until smooth.
3 Cut cucumber crosswise into thirds: cut each piece lengthwise into ¼-inch slices. Stack slices: cut lengthwise into very thin strips. Transfer pasta to a large bowl: toss with sauce, cucumber, and carrots. Serve at room temperature.

20th Grilled marinated Flank steak w/ poor man’s caviar & pesto pasta
The show is really the "caviar." This is delicious and worth the effort.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Poor-Mans-Caviar/Detail.aspx

22nd Tacos w/ leftovers & dirty rice
Dirty rice is just rice cooked with some cumin and chicken broth for flavor, maybe a little cilantro.

24th Crockpot Fillet of Sole with Pesto w/ veggie cous cous
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/09/crockpot-fillet-of-sole-with-pesto.html

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/steamed-flounder-with-vegetable-couscous?autonomy_kw=flounder%20with%20cous%20cous&rsc=header_1

27th Wraps w/ black beans & corn on side
I just grill some chicken and throw together some veggies (sugar snap pease and sprouts are always good) which all gets wrapped up in whole wheat flour tortillas and slathered in salsa and sour cream. The kids love it but it's messy. It's a good dinner to wrap in foil and take to the pool.

28th Salmon & Braised Lentils & Salad
http://healthhabits.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/grilled-wild-salmon-with-braised-lentils-orange-balsamic-reduction/


29th Vietnamese Pho Soup w/ salad fixings
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/05/crockpot-vietnamese-pho-recipe.html

“Efficientize” Kid MealPrep

I get tired of the before-dinner-halt that occurs due to the required cutting up of all of my darling kids’ meals. Sometimes the cooking part is a cinch but getting the food from pan to plate to child takes forever when the little crew is cranky, tired and hungry. So when feasible I get out my handy dandy Pampered Chef chopper! I have heard from many a mom who has been suckered into buying this gadget that they don’t use it. ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!? Just dish out each child’s portion onto plate or bowl and bang bang bang, dinner delivered kitty food style! Here is a picture of the pasta we had last night which reached my kids’ tummies in record time thanks to my chopper. Oh, and if you don’t have one of these handy dandy choppers, I have a friend (Courtney M.) who happens to be a Pampered Chef dealer. I am happy to get you in contact with her regardless of your location.

Time Manage your Kids’ Routines

Your kid isn’t the only kid on the planet that needs to be told TEN times EVERY morning to get dressed, make their bed and brush teeth. I hate it when I start the day getting upset or irritated at the gifts God gave me because they won’t JUST GET DRESSED. Soooo, yesterday morning I played an upbeat dance song that they love and told them that whoever finished making their bed and getting dressed by the end of the song got a little Mike & Ike candy (I just happened to have 3 leftover from decorating some cake with them). It worked! They were downstairs dressed with beds made ½ way through the song. YIPPEE! Then at night I told them that whoever had their jammies on and their book picked out by the time I got upstairs got to watch a cartoon in the morning. YIPPEE! It was better than saying “If you don’t have your jammies on and your book picked out then you won’t get any tv tomorrow morning.” I am quite pleased with these new kid time management techniques. Maybe someone reading will have success with it too. Simple, nearly effortless and it worked!

Designate a High Closet Shelf for Temporary Housing of Items

When you have little ones, there is going to have to be a toy jail or other high up out of reach shelf to place items that must be kept from little ones hands. The last time we moved we had a two year old and the conflicting interest of getting moved in. You know how it is, we were getting pictures hung, painting rooms, hanging shelves, etc. So screwdrivers, levels and other items that we didn’t want our 2 year old to get his hands on ended up on whatever high shelf we could find at the moment. Then when we started another project we had to waste quite a bit of time going around the house checking all the high places to find the tools. Now some things end up high when our kids fight over toys or start to beat another sibling with an object. Generally our fireplace mantel is our designated shelf but sometimes it bugs me that it isn’t more hidden. I suppose it gets me to put the items away sooner than if the shelf was tucked away in a closet. Either way, a designated closet shelf can be the keeper of items that you don’t want little hands to get a hold of or those items that you are using but got interrupted using and didn’t have time to put back in their proper place. This way you have only one place to look for your lost screwdriver and one place to look for those odds and ends that need to be placed back in their proper homes. This can be useful even for households without little ones. If you designate a closet shelf area for such things somewhere on each floor in your home then you will probably spend less time hunting for those things that you didn’t have time to put back.

Just Get a Box, or 2 or 3 and Have At It!

Sometimes getting some boxes or laundry baskets and just hacking away at the clutter that is bugging you is how to get the job done. Categorizing your clutter is often tedious and perhaps boring but it is almost always less painful, takes less time and feels better when it’s over than you initially imagine. If you should just NOT be able to force yourself to do it then call me. I love to do it. Actually I love to do it more if it is someone else’s clutter than my own (as evidenced by my hall closet right now and my desk space – shhh, don’t tell anyone). It is always easier to look at someone else’s situation and see through clear lenses than it is your own, in life or in clutter. So if you can’t afford a professional organizer or you don’t know someone like me who is starting up an organizing business and looking for Guiney pigs, then make a swapping organizing appointment with a friend. Sometimes it isn’t difficult to get organized, it’s just a dirty task that we put off. Spring is the perfect time for getting organized. The air is fresh and it just feels good. Putting off getting organized can waste so much of your valuable time (looking for things) and money (buying things you already have but can not find or don’t realize you have due to disorganization). If you make an appointment or a date with a friend or an organizer then you have no choice but to face the task. Just don’t let the friend that shows up to clear you of your clutter get talked into chips, salsa and margaritas instead. Really make a commitment to each other and you’ll be so glad that you did.

Organizing Your DVDs, CDs and other Disks

I am not sure what the purpose is of saving those breakable-space-robbing cases that CDs and DVDs come in so I haven’t thrown mine out yet. I have placed them in a box in the basement until I feel completely 100% certain that I can toss them. I have taken the disks out and put them in various CD books throughout the house. The kids each have a small book for the music that they like to play in their room (we rip them onto the computer first because they are bound to scratch them up). A larger CD book holds all the other music by the stereo and another book by the tv holds our DVDs. The books with the zippers are great because they prevent CDs from falling out when my kids drag them around. I am a little behind on technology but I do realize that one day we won’t have to have any disks to organize . . . at least for music. It seems that a lot of people, if not most, have fancy tiny things that hold their MP3 files and plugs into a sound system of some kind. One day our house will get up to date on such things but for now we store our disks in CD books.

One draw back on the CD books that I use is that the pages do not come out to rearrange things. I like to have my music disks and DVD disks in alphabetical order (probably doesn’t surprise you, right?). If a new disk is acquired it is nearly impossible to alphabetize it without moving every single disk in the book and who has time for that. So I am on the hunt for 3-ring binder inserts that hold disks or for an inexpensive CD book holder with pages that can be removed and rearranged. I am certain it is out there, I just haven’t seen them yet.

My neighbor keeps a small CD book for his computer system disks. You know, those important-if-disaster-should-strike disks that float around in a box somewhere. Keeping those important CDs in a zipped up little CD book will certainly help you to sleep better – that and a reliable external backup system of course.

May 2009 Menu

Well I’ve had some computer problems. Thankfully they have been resolved so I can finallyshare my May 2009 menu with you. It's amazing how much I rely on my computer. Some sleep was lost but all is well. I will get the recipes together asap.

I am still enjoying a lot more leftovers than I am used to which means less cooking (perfect for good spring time weather) and less shopping. The menu looks so sparse compared to menus prior to April but it’s working. I am just trying to cook extra so we can stretch leftovers. A couple times last month I ran low on leftovers so I just threw some chicken breasts on the grill with a big salad. Simple. Easy. Healthy. That’s my new spring and summer motto.

Organize your Family's Library Books

As most people with kids, we are frequent library patrons. My mother-in-law has passed on some wisdom to me for keeping track of our library books. Pick a number, any number, one that you feel is a manageable number of books to have checked out. I like the number 4. It’s my birthday month and it’s just a nice round number. So each time we visit the library each child may select 4 books. If they choose less than 4 books I just grab a couple on our way out so our total is 4. This way I always know how many books I need to return. Our school’s library has a similar system but the limit is 2 books per child. If a child returns only 1 of her 2 books checked out then she may only check out 1. So the total checked out is never more than 2 per child.

Thankfully my kids love books. Many months ago I deviated from my 4 book system because one of my kids wanted to check out a gazillion books. I decided that it would be an opportunity for him to appreciate my system. I allowed my 7 year old to check out as many books as he could carry thinking that the heavy load would be enough for him to want to limit his book selection. He carried a pile of books up to his nose all the way out to the car grunting and struggling! He didn’t care! He was thrilled! So much for that experiment. I got loosey goosey on limiting the kids to 4 books after that but it got out of control and a bit confusing so now we are back to the magic number 4 system. It certainly is easier to manage.

At home you can make a habit to read your library books in a designated spot like a favorite couch and keep a tote, bin or what-have-you to keep them in. Then you don’t have to go hunting for them. I am all for being organized but if my child wants to dig into a book in her room I am going to let her. So I don’t have any one designated spot for ours. Our limit of 4 is a sufficient system for us.

Make Deadlines Work for You

A couple months ago I thought we were going to have a new guest staying at our house. I got some of those little nagging projects done thinking that the guest would be arriving soon and I wanted the house to be, well, fresh. I got a fireplace, a bedroom and a stairway painted and finally got to putting a much needed new toilet seat in the guest bathroom. The guest ended up not coming but I was thrilled to have been pushed to get some things done.

This reminded me how effective deadlines can be. I’d like to have some self imposed deadlines on these little nagging projects. It is really the lack of deadlines that keep us from completing them. I have a few more small inside paint projects I would like to get done and I am thinking that they ought to be completed in time for the warm weather that is approaching. I don’t want to (and probably won’t) spend warm sunny days inside when I can be outside gardening and playing with my kids. I know that I will be able to appreciate God’s outdoor creations even more knowing that everything inside is taken care of. We’ll see how it goes. If I can meet my inside projects deadline then I can see how imposing the same annual deadline for inside projects could be productive. I also like to keep to a monthly menu deadline of the 15th of the preceding month. If I can complete next month’s meal plan by the 15th then I am not rushing to get it done and I can spend a little time tweaking it to make the most of the fresh ingredients and such. It just works better if I stick to my deadline. Most people have a January 1st deadline for packing away their Christmas decorations. These deadlines just keep us ticking some times.

A wise neighbor once told me that it is of no use to get all those little nagging projects completed because new projects will just step into their place. Her statement made me realize that I operate on the belief that one day all these projects can actually be done! Complete! Finito! I don’t want to start thinking that her wisdom is correct because then I may never attempt to get any of them done. I am determined to win!

Whenever I see a well kept home I point it out to my husband and he says that if his home ever looks that perfect then he’s spending his time the wrong way. Maybe he is right but I enjoy getting house things done, after all one of us should.