:: The Plan ::

:: Yesterday when we were out in the front drive waiting for Paul to return from work, we saw these beautiful blooms coming out of Claudia's garden ::

:: I couldn't help myself, I had to go and take some shots of them, because before you know it the rain will come and they will disappear into the ground for another year ::

:: So this is the plan. Since I didn't send a thank you note over to Claudia when I first received the bag of goodies (which is truly out of the norm for me). I am going to print off one of these photo's of her beautiful blooms and fasten it to a card ::

:: Please help me by voting on which shot you like the best ::

:: Thanks Peeps -- I'm off to continue organizing for the Kidswap (FYI :: it's tomorrow (Sat) at the Cloverdale fairgrounds, doors open @ 9:00 am) ::

:: Today's Provision ::

But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

:: A while back (just after Cole was born) my neighbour Claudia came over with a bag full of miscellaneous baby items. She doesn't yet have any grand babes and so had no reason to keep the items from the pre-schooler that she no longer babysat ::

:: At the time I was consumed with the new baby and just getting through the day, so I said thank you (however neglected to send over a thank you note...bad Shawna) and tossed the bag into the laundry room. After all I had a new born and a toddler to worry about, the bag of items could wait ::

:: Well, Christmas came and went and so did New Years ::

:: Side note to this story - Jacob is potty training, so he has decided. So being that we don't have extra money hanging around I wasn't going to go out and spend a wad of cash on training pants if this was just a brief lapse of judgement for him and the next day he was back into wearing a diaper. So I decided to wait on the trainers ::

:: He woke up the next morning and decided he was still a big boy and still wanted to go on the potty. Good, now on with the story ::

:: So yesterday I am going through bags of clothes and misc. items that I want to sell at the Kidswap this weekend and I come across this bag and open it up, to my delight and see this ::

:: See the training pants, there was a whole stack of them and to top it off they have Lightening McQueen on them - Fabby! ::

:: The story didn't end at the trainers, when I was in Costco the other day I saw the double pack of Kinesys kids sunblock and thought to myself, "It sure would be good if we could afford that - I love Kinesys sunblock". No need to afford it, or work it into the budget for March. God provided it at no cost to me, and he had planned it and provided it prior to me even knowing. And if you think the story stops there you would be wrong....We were on our last package of wipes in our house and even though I had planned to go out today to Costco and pick up a few boxes of wipes (because they are $3 off right now and that's a mighty good deal) we didn't have a single one in our house. There you go again God, providing for us. How great are you!!??! ::

:: apple... ::

:: As I cut up my daily apple today this thought came to my mind... ::

:: Is it hard to believe that we are the apple of His eye? It is for me. It is truly unfathomable that no matter what I do, by my hands & in my heart that He still loves me with unconditional never wavering LOVE :: :: Oh how I don't deserve it, but oh how I am so thankful for it ::

:: Our BigCook Recipes ::

** Edited see below **

We ended up finding some recipes on http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes.php?s_type=%2Frecipes.php&q=Oamc&Search=Search&Searcht=Search

Here are the recipes we used, I have found that most of them are really healthy, a few are definitely what I would call "splurge" meals but everyone needs to splurge every once in a while!

What we found with some of the recipes is that there was still a portion of preparation that needed to happen on the day that you were going to serve the meal. I'm not into that, okay I can make a pot of rice (kinda...I suck at making rice, but I'm getting better!) to add to the meal as a side dish but I don't want to be spending 10-15 minutes on any prep...to me I want to pop the frozen-whatchamecallit in the oven and walk away.

** Edited to add - I also made labels for our dishes -- I forgot to print off some of them, but that's what you get for printing them off at 2:00 in the morning! **


Between the three of us, we have tried most of the dishes and the only one that we probably wouldn't do again was the Hawaiian Chicken, there was too much vinegar in it and so it was very strong (however we replaced the water with the pineapple juice that came in the tins as we didn't think it would make too much of a difference..it did. Oh well).

I found these containers the other day at our local Dollar store. $1 for two containers with two cardboard/foil lids. Such a deal. They were also selling larger pans for lasagna etc. with a clear plastic lid for $1 per pan. I wouldn't re-use these foil dishes but they are worth the dollar and to throw out after (ah, no dishes either - life is good!).


Chicken:

Classy Chicken
3 Chicken Breasts
¼ tsp. Pepper
3 tbsp. Oil
10 oz asparagus or broccoli
10 oz Cream of something soup
½ cup Mayo
1tsp Curry
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 cup Cheddar Cheese

Cook chicken into 1/2 inch cubes in olive oil. Blanch broccoli or asparagus (2 minutes). Mix together soup w/ mayo, curry, lemon juice. Place broccoli/asparagus in greased casserole dish, add chicken on top and then pour soup mixture over veg & chicken, top w/ shredded cheddar cheese.

Make rice to go along with it, cook from frozen for 1 hour @ 450 F.

Chicken Enchiladas
¾ cup Cream Cheese
¾ cup Sour Cream
½ tsp. Salt
¾ cup Salsa
2 tsp. Chili Powder
1 ½ cup Shredded Cheese
1 1/3 cup Green Onion
2 – 5 Chicken Breasts
Tortillas

Cook chicken in 1/2 inch cubes and chop (we used our pampered chef choppers). Mix together chicken, cream cheese, sour cream, salt, salsa, chili powder, shredded cheese (save some for top), green onion. Lay out tortillas (we added spinach at this point on the tortillas). Lop a portion of the meat & cheese mixture in the middle of the tortilla and roll up (with two ends open). Place in greased casserole dish (9x12) I did 5 per pan. Top with salsa and remaining cheese.

Hawaiian Chicken
8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (abt 4oz. each)
1/2 cup flour
Sauce
2 (20 ounce) cans pineapple slices in juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons gingerroot
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
2 large green peppers , cut into large pieces
6 cups cooked white rice

We got this recipe off of recipezaar.com (oamc - once a month cooking) recipes

Chicken Tetrazzini
· 10 ounces spaghetti
· 3 cups cheddar cheese , grated
· 1 1/2 cups onions , finely chopped
· 1/2 cup red peppers , finely chopped
· 10 1/2 ounces low-fat cream of mushroom soup
· 10 1/2 ounces low-fat cream of chicken soup
· 1 1/4 cups skim milk
· 3 cups cooked chicken , diced
· to taste salt & pepper

Cook spaghetti - set to the side. Cook Chicken (1/2 inch cubes) set to the side. Mix together all other ingredients. Add chicken to soup mixture. Lay out a bunch of spaghetti into your dishes and pour mixture over spaghetti (we were going to add peas at this point but forgot as it wasn't on the recipe). So I'll just have to add the veg on the side.

Beef or Turkey:

Turkey Chili - our own concoction...not by recipe just by love
4 cans Mixed Beans
1 lbs Ground Beef/Turkey
2 cans Crushed Tomatoes
2 cans Mushrooms
Seasoning

Shepherds Pie - Recipe from the "Best of the Best"

Stuffed Green Peppers
· 8 green bell peppers
· 1 lb ground beef
· 26 ounces spaghetti sauce
· 29 ounces tomato sauce
· 1 cup water
· 8 ounces cheddar cheese , shredded
· 5 cups cooked rice

Cook rice & ground beef (not together). Mix spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, water and cheddar cheese, add cooked rice and beef. Cut the tops off all green peppers and remove seeds, boil peppers for two minutes (just a quick blanch in boiling water).
Stuff peppers with rice/meat mixture (use ice cream scoop, works perfectly). Place remaining rice mixture in the bottom of dish to hold peppers upright.

Pasta:

Tuna Casserole
Mayo/ Sour Cream
Tuna
Mushroom Soup
Splash of milk
Celery
Peas
Mushrooms (optional)
Peanuts/Almonds (optional)
Egg noodles
Salt & Pepper

Cook egg noodles, mix remaining mixture together, and place in casserole dishes...SO easy!! I like having sliced almonds on mine so I will be doing that prior to baking.

Turkey Lasagna
Noodles
Ricotta
Eggs (add into Ricotta)
Garlic
Parsley
Salt & Pepper
Turkey
Pasta Sauce
Diced Tomatoes
Spinach

Pretty self explanatory, but if you need the real recipe (from my head I will write it out, just leave a comment for me).

:: I'm still here! ::

:: And it's feeling like Springtime! :::: Hello All -- I'm here I've just been busy managing two little boys and working for Cranberry Creek doing year end. So that has left me little time or energy to be on here ::

:: I promise to be back here though to post on the following ::

* Secondary post on "The Big Cook" {recipes to be included}

* Weekend Re-cap {Beth Moore}

:: I hope ya'll got some sun on your face and are enjoying hearing the birds sing and seeing the earth bloom with new life ::

:: Off to the City ::

:: Tonight my Mom, SIL Lindsey, Cole and I are heading into the city to attend Beth Moore's event called "Living Proof" ::

:: So I'm off to prepare a bag for Jacob as he's staying with Grampy until Daddy get's of work tonight ::

:: I may be back before I go, if time allows. As I would like to post about something that I was inspired to bake last night ::

:: Have a wonderfully blessed Day! ::

:: The Big Cook ::

:: Well a few weekends ago Lisa, Jenn & I had a day of cooking which we called "The Big Cook" ::

:: There were three of us "Yummy Mummies" on board for the adventure ::

:: In days prior to our actual big cook day we organized recipes and got an estimate of how much of each ingredient we would need. Then on Friday night we all went out grocery shopping together to Costco, Superstore & Safeway. That is where we really saved the cash, we were able to buy those huge cans of items that you pass right by in Costco if your just shopping for your immediate family. But since we were making 8 entrees (making at least two meals from each entree for each of us) we were able to buy everything in HUGE quantities ::

:: Here are the girls before it really got messy (thanks for letting us mess up your kitchen Lise!) :::: Here are our peppers for our Stuffed Green Pepper dish :::: Here's the finished product :: :: Our tools for the day :: :: Look at how full that kitchen was, but we were productive. We started cooking (after a brief Tim's coffee break prior to starting *thanks to Jenn!) at 10:00 am and we were putting the finishing touches on our Lasagna at 5:30 and preparing for dinner with all 13 of us as we invited the Dad's and all the kids over for dinner - the last thing any of us wanted to do at the end of the day is cook another meal! And we figured since the Dad's had the kids for the day they would feel the same! :::: Classy Chicken all lined up :::: Chicken Enchiladas :::: Here I am chop, chop, chopping! :::: Here are my meals from the day - I took home 19 entrees all together. What a productive {& fun} day, thanks ladies!!! ::
** Edited to say :: The total cost of each entree turned out to be $7.30 - unbelievable hey!?!?! Where can you get a good wholesome homemade healthy well-balanced dinner for $7.30??? Maybe back in the day, but not in my day! **

:: Happy Birthday Jordan ::

:: We celebrated my {much} older brother Jordan's birthday on Monday night with a roast beef dinner with all the trimmings @ Mom & Dad's place - it was a delish meal and we had a great time visiting with GG (My Mom's Mom) and Uncle Jord & Auntie Linds...oh and of course Grammie & Grampy :: :: Jordan is a great brother, very protective. I guess by nature since he is the eldest of the family ::

:: However I have to say he is a much better Uncle - does that sound bad, if so I don't mean it that way. But Jordan has being an Uncle all wrapped up...rarely does a week go by that he doesn't take time out to visit "#1" (jacob) and "bubba2" (cole), and on those visits he plays, chases and tickles Jacob, Jacob just loves it. Often times he also comes over with a gift, he loves anything miniature and if he finds something that he may wear in one of the boys sizes he buys it, for instance one of their many Christmas gifts was a polar fleece vest from the VPD - today was Jacobs first time wearing it and he LOVED it ::

:: Happy Birthday Uncle Jordie! You are a great Brother and a superb Uncle ::

:: I'm baaaackkkkk! ::

:: And it looks like Spring is just around the corner...::

:: Hello all of my loyal readers ~ I am back. Life around here has been crazy and full of many "blog worthy" moments, just time does not allow. And to be honest, life and survival has been more important than blogging (no offence!). But I have a pile of things to blog about so stay tuned and get yourself a cup of something and enjoy the reading! ::

:: Bah! ::

:: Trying to plan a "Once a Month Cooking" day with Lisa B. & Jenn V. tomorrow....I left my most favorite cook book on my desk open to the Classy Chicken recipe ::

:: I'm sure you can see what happend, need I say more??? ::

:: Happy Friday ::