I like....

Every day I visit this site. http://www.mamabargains.com/. They sell one item a day. ( Another one deal a day site is http://www.babysteals.com/ ) Most of the stuff there is not something I find necessary, so I don't buy much. Every once in awhile they have something I just have to have. The first item I bought from them was a time out pad. It is awesome. You can set it for 1,3,or 5 mins. It is pressure sensitive, so if your child gets off, the timer stops and an alarm sounds. Once they get back on, it starts from the time they had left on.

That is not the item I am talking about though. My recent purchase was an "I like..." book. (Please excuse the pics, Phillip had to take them for me, and he doesn't have quite the same "vision" as I do.)

Every night we write something we like about Hunter. Something about him, something he did that day, something silly, etc. Then right after we tuck Hunter in, we read it to him. So he falls asleep thinking about the things Mommy and Daddy like about him. (In theory. In reality he falls asleep after a series of "Hunter, you don't need more water... go... to... bed)

He loves to hear what we have to say. He always giggles in this sweet bashful way. Who doesn't like to hear good things about themselves! I am so glad we bought this, I think it will help us bond with him, and help him feel more secure and loved.

Hair

I want commercial hair. I have tried almost every product advertised, but yet my hair stays dull and flat. Today was a great adventure. I had used coconut oil (IMPOSSIBLE to get out of your hair). I have finally learned how much to use so that I don't get the "haven't washed my hair in a year" look. However, I was unable to brush out my hair since I had not used conditioner. So I decided to wash my hair with vinegar (you can use vinegar for EVERYTHING!) It is supposed to strip your hair of any residue. Wow. It was nasty. The vinegar made some kind of noxious gas that caused me to cough so hard I almost peed myself. (two kids.. you try to hold your bladder!) So, I finally rinsed that out and used some Panteen conditioner. After all my trials Panteen is still my favorite. We will see what my hair looks like once it's dry, but I'm not holding out high hopes. This is the hair I want.

(blonde of course) If I were to bite the bullet and go back to short, this is the hair I want:

Sigh.

First Day of School

School starts WAY too early in Oklahoma. I did not like taking my son to school when it was over 100 degrees! In any case, it did start, and I (like any over zealous mom is on her first Born's first day) was there with my camera to document every moment. I know he went to Pre-K last year, but I was at work for it, and it was only two hours a day. There is something about staying home with him now, taking him to school, and picking up, that makes this first day more special to me.

The morning was supposed to start out with a hearty breakfast of Chocolate Chip pancakes. When I got up, however, I found my two boys (the 32 yr old and the 5 yr old) eating bowls of cereal. So, not wanting to give up my fantasy, I made them anyway.

While I was getting ready Phillip served Hunter his pancakes. With Syrup. So, Hunter didn't like them because, well that is just way to much sugar.




I am not quite sure why, but for some reason, whenever you want Hunter to pose for a picture on an important day, he gets quite sullen. We are starting to build a collection of holiday photos with this look on his face. In any case, here is the Teravskis obligatory front door picture.




Here is Hunter getting out of the Truck at school. Was I a little picture happy? Perhaps.

Here he is walking into the school.

I was so excited to find out that Hunter would be in the portables this year. Fourth grade I was in portables and it was my favorite year of grade school.

I tried to get a picture of him putting his stuff into his cubby, but he was way too fast. I took the first shot and next thing I knew he was sitting at his table coloring. I could barely get him to say goodbye to me. All in all I think it was a very successful first day of school.

Laundry Line

I am so excited about this one. Since I have just started cloth diapering, I decided to get a clothesline, since hanging the diapers in the sun helps with staining/smell. Since we are hoping to move soon, we did not want to buy an actual clothesline, so we decided to jimmy rig one. It turned out pretty good. I can't wait to hang my pillowcases out!

BBQ Cowboy Beans with Biscuits

This meal was made with the same biscuits as before. This time however, I used the correct ingredients and they turned out much better. They were topped with honey the next morning and served with the leftover turkey bacon from the broccoli bacon ranch dish for breakfast the next morning.

BBQ Cowboy Beans with Biscuits

1.3 lb ground beef (we used 1 lb ground turkey)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 cups cooked black beans (we used one 15 oz can, drained)

2 cups cooked pinto beans (we used one 15 oz can kidney beans, drained)

1 cup BBQ sauce

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes (for some reason Phillip did not add these. Which was irritating because I had peeled tomatoes left over from the bruchetta that will now go to waste)

DIRECTIONS:
Brown the Turkey with the garlic (it says drain, but if using Turkey that is not necessary)

Add everything else

Let simmer 5-10 mins

Wow. This was amazing (although was lacking veggies since there were no tomatoes, and I would've served with a salad, but I was tied up with a cranky baby)

This would be good on hamburger buns as a sloppy Joe type thing. Or on Hot dogs instead of chili.

Rating:

We all loved it ( I think, Hunter was in a bad mood because he got his "Tick Shots" that day)

Snickerdoodles

After dinner I usually get a craving for dessert. In order to not balloon up to 300 pounds, I try to not keep any such items just lying around. So, if I really want dessert I have to make it. So this night I decided to try Snickerdoodles.

This is my Mom's wonderfully explicative directions.

1 cup shortening

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cup flour

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

Roll in Cinnamon sugar

400 degrees.

Sooo, since I had not much to go on, I had to wing it. These are the things I discovered.

First of all, a recipe that doesn't use shortening is in order. I could taste it as an aftertaste and did not much care for it.

You should blend the shortening/butter with the sugar until smooth first

Then add the eggs one at a time while mixing

Then add the rest of the ingredients

If it is too difficult to roll into balls, refrigerate for awhile.

Roll into small balls (I made mine too big) and roll into cinnamon sugar

I greased a pan, not sure if it was necessary.

Baked for about 15-20 mins, until the edges were golden brown.

They were ok. I would find a different recipe, but it would call for butter, and I think using margarine instead would still have an after taste.

Bruschetta

MMMMM MMMM. I had Bruschetta for the first time in Italy, so mine will probably not compare, but it sounded good. There's just something about basil in the summer.

Take 6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (hmmm, don't know what they are, I have five regular tomatoes) ( WAY too many tomatoes, only need about 3 regular)

2 cloves garlic minced

5 or 6 basil leaves (I used more cause I love love basil)

1 Tbls Olive Oil

Par broil tomatoes ( I guess this is putting them in boiling water that has been removed from burner for about a min)

Remove skins, quarter them, remove seeds and juice and stems. Chop up finely ( this whole step is WAY harder then I imagined. I ended up peeling, removing juice and stems and seeds, and food processing them. Mushier, but easier)

Mix everything together and serve.

There is much more to this when you are serving on a baguette, but I am putting it on my homemade tortilla chips.

Rating: Not so great on chips (probably cause of spices)

So we cut up our baguette, put olive oil on one side, toasted olive oil side down, then ate with tomato mix olive oil side up. Yummy!

Baked Black Bean Salsa Chicken

This recipe was pretty cut and dry. Easy and good.

Baked Black Bean Salsa Chicken:

1 1.3 lb package chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups salsa

2 cups cooked black beans ( I use canned)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste ( I forgot to put this on)

Directions:

Place the chicken breasts into an 8X8 glass baking dish. Pour the salsa over top then add beans, cumin, and garlic powder. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Bake at 350 for 55-60 mins (until the chicken is no longer pink)

dice up chicken and mix with black beans and sauce

Serve with rice

I also made a salad and we had the bruchetta as well.

Rating:

I thought it was ok

Phillip liked it

Hunter put soy sauce on it, mixed it up with his salad, and said it was super good! ( He wanted me to take a picture of it)

Tortilla chips

I am trying to adventure into making my own snacks. I've already tried granola and granola bars, so I thought I'd try tortilla chips.

Tortilla Chips

Take some flour, or corn, tortillas. Spray with cooking spray (I used PAM, but I am going to get some olive oil spray) Season (I used salt and paprika, but you can use whatever you would like) and stick in the oven at 400 degrees)

The recipe said to only bake a few mins. I think because I used the thicker flour tortillas it took longer, over 15 mins. Next time I will use thinner.. maybe corn. The ones I made today will definitely need to be dipped into some kind of salsa or dip. OOOh! Maybe I'll make brochette and use it on my chips instead of baguette.. mmmmmm!

Zucchini Bread

Yummy Yummy! I had a craving and didn't know how many zucchini I would need so I had Phillip buy me two. Turns out 1 zucchini is enough for 2 loaves. I now have three loaves in my freezer, and one almost completely devoured already.

Zucchini Bread:

Mix 3 eggs, 1 cup oil, and 1 tsp vanilla

Stir in 2 cups grated zucchini (about 1)

Mix and add in two parts:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp baking powder (I accidentally did one tsp and it turned out fine)

Bake at 325 for about an hour let cool in pan, then dump onto rack. ( we didn't let cool in pan and our middle fell out) Makes 2 loaves.

Bacon Broccoli Tomato Pasta Salad

I missed a few meals, One I forgot to take a picture, one was hot dogs, and we ate at the In Laws. I think that is it.. In any case our first meal back is Bacon Broccoli Tomato Pasta Salad.

Bacon Broccoli Tomato Pasta Salad

2 cups pasta ( I used whole wheat penne)

6 strips bacon/turkey bacon (we used turkey bacon, and made 9 strips so Hunter and I could nibble :))

2 heads broccoli cut in florets (I used a few hand fulls of frozen)
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes (come to find out, it would be better to drain them)

1/2 cup ranch dressing (the addition of the ranch is why I would drain the tomatoes)

Directions:

Cook pasta

Steam broccoli

cook bacon then tear to bits

Rinse pasta with cold water

Mix together Pasta, Broccoli, Tomato, and bacon. Add dressing and toss toss toss.

Rating:

I hated it. I do not like cold broccoli, or really cold pasta for that matter. It would have been ok warm, but probably not with ranch

Phillip thought it was ok

Hunter did not like it.

The only complaint was that it was served cold. I also served a side of steamed asparagus, but I was the only one who ate that.

Penne with Asparagus and Parmesan

This meal was a potential disaster, turned into a pretty good meal. Tobin is teething, and is demanding a lot of time, especially all night long. Working on little sleep in the kitchen is not a great idea for me. Thankfully I was able to produce something edible. The plan was to make Penne with Asparagus and Parmesan (of course minus the Parmesan) While I was cooking I realized "my goodness, this is just noodles with asparagus" which obviously is not a meal. So I decided to add some of our abundant supply of ham to the mix. ( Hopefully I will use the last of it for breakfast this weekend) While cutting up my new ingredient, I burnt the garlic. Oh well, I don't want to eat chunks of garlic anyway so no harm done. Then I decided to put some of my 99 cent frozen day old baguette in the oven. Which I also burned. I had more though, and only put it in for a few mins (the inside was still cold, but at this point I no longer cared) All in all, it turned out much better then it should have!

Penne with Asparagus and Parmesan

Ingredients:

1/2 pound penne (we use whole wheat)

1 Tbls olive oil

1 garlic clove thinly sliced

1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes in their juice (of course you can use fresh, but I am saving my fresh tomatoes for brochette)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 pound asparagus cut on diagonal in 1 inch pieces

1/2 cup coarsely cut basil (Basil is the one herb I will shell out some money to buy fresh. I do not no what coarsely cut means, so I just chopped it up)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (omitted)

Directions:

1) Cook penne

2) Heat oil in large skillet and brown garlic

3)Add tomatoes and broth and bring to boil

4) Let simmer for five mins uncovered

5) Add asparagus, cover, and let simmer for five mins ( here was another error, I covered and let simmer for five minutes without adding the asparagus!)

6)Pour over the penne and add basil and Parmesan cheese. Toss to coat. ( I just poured it over the noodles like a spaghetti sauce and topped with basil.

Rating:

I really liked it

Phillip thought it was ok (not a fan of veggies)

Hunter ate it all (in order to get home made chocolate chip cookies) but didn't really say what he thought.

"Fennel" crusted flank steak

This nights meal was supposed to be a Tuscan white bean salad, but we discovered we were out of white beans, so we fast forwarded a day. So, we made "Fennel" Crusted Flank Steak, Fennel is in quotations because we used basil instead.


Fennel Crusted Flank Steak

Ingredients:
1Tbls crushed Fennel ( I just poured in some Basil flakes)
1 Tsp chopped Thyme
1 Tsp chopped Rosemary (all herbs should be fresh, but we just use the jar kind until I can grow my own)
1 minced garlic glove (I did use fresh)
2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp pepper
1 (1 pound) flank steak ( I am clueless when it comes to different types of meat, so I just used the meat we had in the freezer)

Directions

1) Combine herbs and spices

2) Heat large non-stick skillet, meanwhile rub mixture onto both sides of steak.

3) Sear one side til browned, then flip over and cook until done ( I kept flipping the whole time)

We then made homemade french fries (baked) and served with a salad.

Rating:

We all loved it.

Chili Spiked Rice and Bean Salad with Chicken

I am trying to find as many yummy bean recipes as I possibly can. This one looked like it would be great for a hot summer day.

Chili Spiked Rice and Bean Salad with Chicken

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked boil in bag rice ( I just used normal brown rice, took longer, but is better)

3 tbls chopped fresh parsley

2 Tbls cider vinegar

2 Tbls extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbls chili powder

1/2 Tsp salt

1/2 Tsp ground cumin

2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast

1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup seeded and chopped green bell pepper (did not use)

2 large scallions chopped (did not use)

Directions:

1) Combine rice, parsley, vinegar, oil, chili pepper,salt, and cumin into large bowl.

2) Stir in Chicken, bell peppers, beans, and scallions, toss to combine.

This meal was a huge learning experience for me. Our family does not particularly care for spicy food, so I decided to cut back on the chili powder a tad. Well, after tasting it, I realized that the chili powder counteracted the vinegar, thus in using less chili powder the vinegar was overwhelming. I also am starting to realize that you can not simply omit ingredients you do not like. I am sure the bell pepper and onion would have soaked up some of the sauce/flavor, and also would have helped with the vinegar overload. In conclusion I have decided that the next time I make it, we will use WAY less vinegar. It was still quite good, and was indeed perfect for a hot summer day.

Rating:

I could tell I would really like it if cut back on vinegar

Phillip felt the same, he said it was so far his favorite

Hunter really liked it (wow!!!)

Mom's product Review

VEET:

While grocery shopping I saw that they had Veet on sale. Since I can not pass up a good sale, and my legs hadn't seen a razor since the day before I went into labor. I decided to test it out. The following are my thoughts.

* It worked. My legs are smooth.

* If you have any kind of sore on your hand, it will hurt.... a lot.

*It didn't really tingle/hurt at all until some time passed. While I was "razorlessly" shaving one leg, the second leg started to itch.

* It smells HORRENDOUS.. like a beauty parlor with hundreds of people all getting perms at once.

* It actually takes longer then shaving even before you add in the three minute wait time.

All in all, I am not a fan. It is Nair with a special tool to get the foam off instead of a washcloth. My legs itch, and my hand hurts. My legs are smooth though, so it does serve it's purpose.

Chicken and Ham "Pot Pie"

We had a ham that the Navy gave me for Easter, we finally cubed it up last weekend, which is why we are having tons of ham dishes for the moment. This one is not actually pot pie, but a much simpler version. I mixed recipes since the one in the book called for instant biscuits and I wanted to use homemade. I made a double batch so I could freeze the dough and have easy biscuits next time.

Easy Drop Biscuits

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 Tbls sugar

1 Baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbls dairy free margarine

1 cup almond milk

Directions:

Mix together flour, sugar baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter. Add Milk slowly while stirring to form dough. Cook at 400 for 10-12 mins. I put mine in muffin tins, but you can just drop them on a baking sheet as well.

Chicken and Ham "Pot Pie"

Ingredients:

1 7 1/2 ounce pck buttermilk biscuits (obviously I did not use these)

1 tbls dairy free margarine

1 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs trimmed of all fat and cut into 1 inch cubes (I used chicken breast)

1 (8 ounce) ham steak cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 minced garlic cloves

1 onion

1 10 oz package frozen mixed veggies (I just used some green beans and some broccoli)

1 cup fat free reduced sodium chicken broth

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 pepper

2 tbls cornstarch

3/4 cup almond milk

Directions:

1) Put biscuits in oven

2) Melt butter in skillet and add chicken and ham, until chicken is almost cooked through.

3) Add garlic onion and veggies until veggies are tender

4) Add chicken broth thyme and pepper

5) Blend the cornstarch with milk in small bowl and stir into skillet. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring until thick.

6) Top with biscuits and serve.

TIP: Use a REALLY big skillet. By the time I got to the last step I could barely stir.

Rating:

I liked it, although I thought the biscuits were quite salty

Phillip liked it

Hunter said it was sooo good, and then by the end said he hated it, so who knows!

I have just realized that I used baking soda instead of powder (a mistake I have now made twice) That is why I did not like them. Now I am angry that I made a double batch!

Pasta with White Beans and Broccoli

Now that we are going to be living off of a considerably lower income, we need to change our consumer ways. We used to just go to the grocery store, and see what looked good. I was also really bad at just grabbing stuff, that I had no idea when I would be using it. We are now trying out a "two week plan". The plan is to make a menu plan to last two weeks, go to the grocery store, and only buy what is on our list. I then realized it would be beneficial to keep track of these meals to remember what was liked or hated. Our first night of this plan was Pasta with White Beans and Broccoli.

Ingredients:

1 pound pasta (original called for bowtie, but we used penne)

1 Tbls vegetable oil

1 bunch broccoli

1 Tbls minced garlic

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups cooked diced ham (original was no ham, so if using ham may want to use water instead of chicken broth)

1 15oz can cannelloni or white beans

1 tbls fresh lemon juice

1/4 to 1/2 grated Parmesan cheese (since I am currently dairy/soy free we did not use the cheese)

16 oz bag frozen corn (did not use)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions

2. While Pasta cooks, heat oil in large nonstick skillet. Add broccoli and garlic stir over medium heat 3-4 mins until broccoli is bright green. Add broth ( or water) and cook 2-3 mins or until broccoli is crisp tender. Stir in diced ham,beans and lemon juice.

3. Drain pasta and place into warmed serving bowl. Add broccoli mixture, sprinkle with cheese, toss to mix well.

This is where we stopped, but if you were to use corn, you would now cook corn according to instructions and add.

We were not quite sure what to do with the water, since we didn't want it to be soupy, so we just used a slatted spoon and scooped the mixture onto the noodles.

Rating:

I loved it

Phillip liked it

Hunter did not like it (not surprising, as he does not eat anything lately)