www.mealplanningmommies.blogspot.com

Doing another blog right now that is more fun than this one. :) Check it out...www.mealplanningmommies.blogspot.com
Here's me...
I love to experiment with all different kinds of recipes. I have been blessed with a very easy-going husband, who will eat just about anything I put in front of him. While he is not picky, there are certain meals that I cook that get me a wink across the table and others that we just choose not to talk about. My husband and I have two children. Keely eats homemade baby food and is still nursing. Preston is a two year old and would prefer that we eat Lucky Charms, suckers, and chocolate all day long. When planning for a week's worth of groceries, we have decided that it works best for us to work in a couple of meals that take time and several meals that take less than 10 minutes to prepare. (Can't go wrong with PB &J) On the nights I feel inspired I go all out and prepare a meal that I am excited about and sometimes even light a candle and play music, but you can bet the next night we'll be eating something very simple, cooking out of the box, I like to call it. I don't have a problem with hamburger helper and frozen pizzas (especially if it cost us less than $2 to feed our family) but I must mix it up with a thought out home cooked meal every once in a while to keep from getting bored. I have found over the last few years that I get really excited about one cookbook and cook several recipes from it, and then I put it away for a while and forget about it again. I cook out of a large library of cookbooks that I personally own, but I also enjoy getting creative when I find it necessary to substitute ingredients. I am hoping that by sharing this blog you will be inspired to cook meals for your family, but I am also hoping that as I take pictures of our meals, I will be inspired to make them look more fun. I would like to see our darling two year old gobble down "real" food because it looks like it should be fun to eat, and stop begging for candy as soon as we are done eating. :) Okay, dear friends, prepare to salivate. We've got a meal to plan!

Mexican Cornbread Pizza

Ingredients:
I Jiffy Box of Corn Muffin Mix
1/4 cup Flour
1/4 cup Milk
1 egg
2 Tbs. Chilli Powder
1 tsp. Parsley
1 can Chili (they said with no beans, but we used beans)
2 cups Shredded Cheddar cheese


Mix all the ingredients in a bowl except for the can of chili and the cheddar cheese. On a floured surface knead the dough 10-15 times until it is easy enough to work with.







Roll out dough into a 9"x11" pan that has been greased. I had to use extra flour to get rid of some of the stickiness. Use the back of a spoon if you do not have a one-handed rolling pin.






Use the back of a spoon to spread the chili over the corn bread mixture.







Sprinkle cheese over the beans. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.









Taken from a Jiffy mixes Recipe book. Husband loved it, I loved it, and Preston pretended that all he had in front of him was the blueberries. When asked to take just one bite he declared that he was done over and over. We did get him to take just one bite, but that was all. Maybe tomorrow's pizza will go down better.








Dinner is served.

What to munch for lunch

Make a lunch that will smile back at you...
Cheeseboat sandwiches with a tomato half cut in half to make eyes, tomato soup makes nose, and apple slices make the smile. Serve with milk. Mmmm...yummy. For those of you who do not know, cheeseboats are like grilled cheese sandwiches, but you put a couple of slices of bacon on top of the cheese before you cook the sandwich. I thought my two and a half year old would get a kick out of this. I was wrong, but my husband loved it! :) He even took the picture for me.

My two year old puts the toys away

Our precious 2 and a half year old son, Preston, was very busy while I was on the phone today, which is why I had such a great conversation, uninterrupted. I was not paying much attention to what he was doing to keep himself busy until I was wrapping up my conversation. I watched Preston as he waltzed into our kitchen with a pair of socks in his hands. He opened our kitchen cupboard and tossed them in there and slammed the cupboard door shut. I opened the door and this is what I found...
... just thought I would share. This must be his idea of putting the toys away. :)

Hangin' out to dry...

My darling friends from college, Katie and Sarah, are very influential in my life and probably will be as long as I am on this side of earth. They came over not too long ago and we talked about my clothesline in my backyard. Up until now it was always just something else to try to maneuver our lawn mower around in a yard full of too many over sized trees. I have always felt that with a baby and a two year old no one should expect that I would hustle my booty outside to hang clothes and then to get them back down in the same day. :) I had several sheets and tablecloths to wash the other day, though, and I decided to take the plunge and haul my basket all the way up our stairs and bobby pin them to our line. I took pictures as proof. Aren't we all so proud? I am everyone's hero on this day.

I love my children.

I love my children...but I also happen to love when they are sleeping and I am staying up until midnight stealing away every last second of quiet I can. At midnight, though, I must decide that I cannot stay up any longer and make my way back upstairs. I wish I went to bed at 9:00 or some time like that. When I do finally hit the bed at midnight I think, "ahhh...I should have done this a long time ago" and yet the cycle continues day after day and night after night. Am I the only one?