Perfecting Imperfection

Okay, not really . . . we have a day or two, but I will say that I have to start planning what we are going to eat during the big game.  (Oh...and for those of you who aren't into football and don't live in either Pittsburgh or Green Bay...I'm talking about the Super Bowl!)


I also wanted to use this post to try out a new site called Say Mmm ~ and link up over at I'm an Organizing Junkie to try to snag some prizes!


Two of the items I'm planning on making for the game were served at the latest Mommy Group we had in January.  There is a kid friendly one and one that is more for the adults...here they are - w/printable grocery lists!


Pizza Pinwheels


Ingredients ~


1 (8oz) can of refrigerated crescent roll dough - if you can find the sheets that aren't perforated they work great!
2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
24 slices of pepperoni
Pizza or Spaghetti sauce for dipping


Directions ~


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
Pinch the 8 crescent roll triangles into 4 rectangles. (skip if you found the sheets)
Layer the cheese and pepperoni (about 6 slices on each rectangle or use all of them if you found sheets)
Roll tightly lengthwise and slice into pieces
Arrange on baking sheet and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, around 12 minutes.
Enjoy with the pizza sauce for dipping!


Printable Grocery List for Pinwheels


Mini Reubens - recipe from my good friend over at Sweet Uncertainty  (these were YUMMY!)


Ingredients~


1 loaf (8 oz) mini rye bread slices
about 6 tbsp butter, melted
about 6 tbsp Russian or Thousand Island Dressing
1 lb corned beef, thinly sliced (you can also use canned corn beef, but I like fresh)
1 lb swiss cheese, sliced
2 c. drained Snow Floss kraut (16 oz can)
parsley, if desired


Directions ~

Arrange slices of bread onto cookie sheets. 
Brush one side of bread w/melted butter. 
Spread dressing on each slice. 
Cut corned beef and cheese to fit slices. 
Top corned beef with sauerkraut and cheese. 
Broil until cheese is melted. 
Garnish with parsley, if desired. 
Makes 3+ dozen.


Printable Grocery List for Reubens


Hope you enjoy and GO STEELERS!

I woke up at 7:15 this morning with a blog post forming in my head.  I was going to tell you, in some witty way, about all the emotions that I experienced yesterday – it was a roller coaster kind of day.  Since it is now two hours later, dear internet, and you have sucked up my entire morning, I will have to just do the quick rendition of the whole thing.

I had a lump in my throat for about an hour and a half yesterday – I guess it wasn’t an hour and a half solid, but it was on and off for that long.  You see…yesterday was Nate’s last “regular” day of 3-year-old preschool.  This had me choked up for a few reasons…but it all comes back to the fact that my kids are getting bigger – they are growing up.  I was Nate’s teacher this year – although if you ask him he will probably name every other person who had anything to do with preschool this year…the wonderful women that are aids in the classroom (He LOVES his Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Schwartz!) or the subs that have been in the room at various times (He always talks about Mrs. Merrick and the things she would like when we see them – for example, when we were reading a book from the library the other day he said, “Mommy, I bet Mrs. Merrick would like to see this book.”)  But technically, I was Nate’s teacher this year and yesterday was the last day before our program/graduation next week. 

While we were practicing for the program yesterday, Nate caught my eye and I was his Mommy for a moment, not his teacher.  I sat watching my 4-year-old son sing his little heart out…it kind of sucked…I had to swallow pretty hard in order to not have to explain to 14 darling 3 and 4-year-olds why their teacher was crying.  I did it…but it happened 3 more times that day before we got home and the chaos that is my house prevented me from thinking about it again ~ until now.

Next year, Nate will be with his Mrs. Merrick in the 5-day class.  Danika will be in the other 3-year-old class ~ because I think she will do much better without me to cling to all the time.  Who knows what I’ll do with the twins when their time comes…but I know that this could very well be the only time I had one of my kiddos in my class.  It’s an interesting experience to see them in that setting.  I’m glad I had the chance to do it.  Next year, though, I get to go through the experience from the other side.  The expereince of “giving” my children to other people for a few hours a week…letting other people take care of them…letting other people be important parts of their lives. 

I get it now and I’m sure I’ll get it even more next year.  I get why the beginning of the year is so tough for parents…why they want to walk their kiddos in and peek at them through the windows.  Why they ask so many questions that border on personal but are really just questions that help them understand, know and trust the person who will be responsible for their baby for however long they are in our care.  I know the women who will be with my children (and they are all wonderful) and for most or part of the time my children are there I will be in the building – it still makes my chest a little tight and my throat close up…my eyes water because I won’t be right next to them if they need me.

Please, don’t think I’m not going to be able to handle this.  I’ll totally be fine.  In fact, once it starts I’ll probably enjoy a little bit of a routine and a little break from 4 kids every morning!  Plus, I’m not completely ruling out the possibility that PMS has something to do with this feeling right now.  It’s also probably in part due to the fact that I’ve been oddly aware of how wonderful my children are at the age they are right now.  My mother is good for the, “This is such a nice age” comment and I know what she means – although, I’m not looking forward to finding out about the no-so-nice ages that are in the future.

So ~ I have to just share some pictures with you and let you know about my wonderful friend, Erin!  Erin and I met through the book club I’m in that meets once a month.  We started talking through facebook and then started going to Mommy Group meetings together.  We are a lot alike – we both have quite a few kids and we are both super busy.  Erin LOVES to stamp – and she’s really really good at it, too!  I mentioned on her blog once that I liked the recipe boxes she had made.  So, she made me one for my birthday!  She gave it to me yesterday, so I just have to share some pictures!

Here’s a picture of the top of the box – she did a garden theme because she had read that Jerry and I like to garden!
 
This is the front of the box – isn’t it ADORABLE!?!
She made it big so that I could fit a full size sheet of paper in it!  Which is awesome because most of my recipes come from allrecipes.com or magazines!

Here’s the inside tabs –

And this is her “stamp” on the back!


Too cute, right?  I’m planning on filing and filling it up later today.  I’m so excited about it!  It’s beautiful and I can’t wait to find the perfect place to show it off in my kitchen!
Thanks again, Erin!

I haven’t written a blog post since SUNDAY!  I think that’s the longest I’ve gone since having the twins…It’s not because I haven’t wanted to – I’ve just been too tired to do it.  I was more tired yesterday than I have been in a long time.  Not really for any reason I can pinpoint…but it’s not what you are thinking.  I’m not pregnant.  I’m NOT! 

 

Anyway…so another reason I haven’t written is because I’ve been busy.  More busy than  I have been in as long as I can remember.  The twins are eating 3 meals a day now…and feeding everyone (and cleaning up from all those meals) is really taking up a ton of time!  Not to mention planning for them…which is where E-Mealz comes in.  I mentioned it in my last blog post and said that I wanted to give it a fair chance before I told you all about it.  I read all of these reviews saying that it was the most wonderful thing in the world.  I wasn’t sold right away.  Here’s my honest review…good and bad.

 

First of all – I was introduced to E-Mealz by my cousin-in-law, Amy, when I was complaining about having to make a grocery list.  I can’t grocery shop without a list.  My mother very rarely followed a detailed grocery list – but she seemed like she was (and still is) stopping at the grocery store every other day.  I can’t do that.  I have trouble getting to the grocery store once a week!  

I love to cook.  I love cookbooks.  I love when my husband smiles at me and tells me something tastes better than his mom’s version.  (It’s happened twice – in the last 6 years!)  I don’t , however, love grocery shopping or menu planning or grocery list making.  So, Amy suggested I check out E-Mealz. 

My favorite part of E-Mealz is that the planning is done for you.  I still pick which of the meals I want to make on which day based on our schedules.  For example, I’m home all day today so I’m making Slow Roasted BBQ Chicken.  Every Wednesday, not only does E-Mealz give you the menu, it gives you the grocery list AND the recipe!  Plus, it all fits on 2 (or 1 front to back) sheets of paper!  The instructions are easy to follow and the grocery list is super easy to make sense of if you want to cook some meals but not others.

Now, the part I’m not so crazy about is the QUALITY of some of the meals.  Some of them have been really great – like the Breakfast Pizza and Bacon Cheese Strata.  However, some of them have been AWFUL or almost a joke when I think about having to feed 6 people someday.  Pepperoni Loaf for dinner?  Ham and Cheese Crescent Roll-ups, seriously?  The nights Jerry and I tried these they were SIDES to another meal…then again, we don’t eat lightly very often.

E-Mealz charged me $15.00 for the first 3 months of their service.  Dave Ramsey approves it as a way to help you save money…and I will say that (if you can stick to the list) it probably does help to cut down your grocery bill.  I use coupons in combination with E-Mealz and have been saving about 20% of my grocery bill every week.  They also have other plans that you can use.  We are trying the Any Store plan, because we shop at Giant Eagle and get fuelperks and get gas for our cars at GetGo to get foodperks.  However, they also have Wal-Mart (and other grocery stores, too) plans that matches the meals with their weekly specials to help you save even more money.  There are also plans if you are dieting or prefer vegetarian meals.  I can’t comment on the quality of these meals, because I’ve only used the Any Store plan.

So – here’s the bottom line…I like E-Mealz and will continue to use it until my 3 month subscription runs out…I’ll make a decision then if I want to continue or not.  If I had to decide right now, I would probably pay the $5.00 a month and keep trying it out.  It’s a lot more convenient, but with all of the Food, Inc. and Food Revolution talk I’m hearing (neither of which I have watched) I get nervous about what I am cooking with and feeding my children (so, just imagine if I HAD watched them!).

BTW – E-Mealz also has a referral plan…I’m not exactly sure how it works, but if you are thinking about giving it a try please click on that little banner up there on the left or one of the links in this post when you sign up.  It should give me credit for it then.  :)  (oh – and no one asked me to write this review or gave me any kind of compensation for it…I just did it all by myself!  Aren’t I special? hehehe)

So ~ how ya doin’?  It’s been a few days . . . but I warned you all earlier that this was going to be a busy week for me.  I was serious.  It’s been hectic to say the very least – and I have a ton of things I can’t wait to share with you! 

First of all, though, I’d like to show you what I did today.  For some reason, I was a cooking FOOL today.  I blame it on 3 things.

1) I went to the grocery store yesterday with Danika…so there was actually food in the house to be cooked.

2) I really really wanted to bake these.

3) I started using E-mealz (there is a little banner on the left that you can click on if you are interested in checking it out – I’m holding off on my review of it because I’ve only been doing it for 2 weeks…I want to give it a fair chance before I talk about it)

So ~ for some reason only God knows, everyone was awake and downstairs by 7:30 am…everyone except DH, that is.  I decided that I was just going to start cooking.

We started with Breakfast Pizza:

First ~ we used a Boboli Thin Crust Shell

Topped it with some bacon – I fried a bunch this morning for both the things I’m gonna show you.

Next, top it with some Italian Blend Shredded Cheese

Slice some tomatoes and arrange them around the pizza.

Beat together 1/3 C. milk and 1 large egg.

Drizzled the egg/milk mixture over the pizza and bake in a preheated oven @ 425 for 20 minutes (mine was done in about 15 mins)

 

Here is the finished product.  We ate it for breakfast with some strawberries and cantaloupe.  Mmmmm….yummy.

I think that I’ll add some fresh basil once it starts to grow outside.  I like basil, especially when it’s paired with tomatoes…which reminds me – this would be a really yummy way to use up some homegrown tomatoes, too! 

Next, I made the Chocolate-Chip Bacon-Pecan Cookies.

First, I had to make sure I had my recipe…

…and my favorite helper!

I was really excited because it gave me a chance to use my hand mixer!  I never use my hand mixer – I hardly ever bake from scratch!  If you are interested in the recipe, head on over to No. 504 Main where I found it when I visited her on her SITs day!

Here’s the batter…with the chocolate chips, pecans AND bacon in it.

   

Cookies headed into the oven…

 

…can you see the bacon in there?

Finished product – yummy and not at all strange, really.  They are good.  Not amazing or incredible, but good.  To tell you the truth, it’s kind of hard to taste the bacon.  I would probably put less pecans and more bacon to really make it more noticeable.  They were good enough that I would try bacon in other desserts, though. 

For lunch – I made crescent rolls with ham and cheese in them and Caesar salad. (I didn’t take pictures, though.)  Jerry actually told me that I don’t have to make dinner!  We have enough leftovers to finish up and the kids can have something they like that is easy to fix.  Whoo Hooo! 

I am looking forward to a great week!  I have book club tomorrow (we read The Help by Kathryn Stockett) and Mommy Group on Friday!  I’m going on a field trip to the library on Tuesday with my pre-school kiddos!  I’m also going to give Marla 1 week to convince me that I should wear shoes all day long…I usually don’t wear shoes when I’m at home, but I’m willing to give it a shot.  I’ll keep you posted.

So - we are having some friends over tonight that we haven't seen in a while. I'm making dinner and need to go grocery shopping. I found a recipe on Flylady that requires me to only buy ketchup and an onion! How cool is that!?! Here it is:

Florentine Chicken This recipe is amazingly easy! Almost everyone has the ingredients on hand! Tastes like you slaved for hours and yet only takes a few minutes!! Enjoy!

8 pieces of Chicken
1 Cup Ketchup
1/4 Cup finely chopped onion
1/4 Cup Vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 Cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 Cup water
4 Cloves Garlic minced

Brown the chicken pieces in a frying pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. While chicken is browning mix all ingredients in a bowl. Place browned chicken in a backing dish and pour sauce over chicken. Bake for one hour.

I serve this with garlic mashed potatoes and stir fried broccoli. YUM!

This recipe is from Kelly!!

I'm also making Green Bean Casserole and maybe some kind of potatoes. Should work out well.

I'm also in the market for a new bathmat - the one we have is pretty gross. I can't seem to keep them from getting moldy. Just like my shower curtains...any ideas? I know that I should probably take it out of the tub every time someone takes a shower or bath. I just don't have anywhere for it to dry - and with the kids it's tough to do anything when I get them out of the tub. Guess I'll have to give it another shot. :)

Wish me luck tonight and GO PENN STATE! My hubby really needs them to win to help his mood. He's been having a really rough time at work these days. He needs to relax and kick back a little tonight. I'm gonna do my best not to stress him out.