Food Friday - Bacon Holiday Appetizers

Bacon Holiday Appetizers
adapted from The Pioneer Woman

I've seen these Bacon Holiday Appetizers on the Pioneer Woman Site for probably a year but just wasn't convinced that Bacon wrapped around a cracker could ever be good.  Well, when I was planning snacks for Christmas Eve I tried to think of a few things that we could also use on New Years Eve so, since these could be frozen, I decided to finally try them.  All I have to say is that I am now a huge fan.  Not only do these make your house smell amazing they almost melt in your mouth.  

Ingredients

• 1 package Club Crackers
• 1 pound Thin Sliced Bacon (or More Depending On Number Of Crackers)
• Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Optional Alternative: Brown Sugar Instead Of Parmesan Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Lay crackers (as many as you want) face up on a cookie sheet.
Scoop about 1 teaspoon of grated Parmesan cheese onto each cracker. Cut your package of bacon in half (or cut pieces individually) and carefully, so the cheese doesn’t fall off, wrap each cheese covered cracker in one half piece of bacon, completely covering the cracker. It should fit snugly around the cracker.
Place the bacon wrapped crackers onto a baking sheet that has a rack on it.
Place in a 250-degree oven for about 2 hours.

 

Weekly Menu

We are slowly getting back on track with meals, planning, and grocery shopping.  It always seems like the last few weeks of December/First few weeks of January are crazy.  We tend to be running to the store every single day to grab just one thing we need.  Well, I went to the store last Saturday (to beat the storm of the "century") and we have not been back.  I planned, figured, and bought what we needed.  I'm hoping to get back into that plan and, with the exception of bread and Milk, not make midweek runs to the store.  (If I had room for a second fridge . . and had one . . .we wouldn't go for those either!!)  We are still adjusting to the "no dairy for Darryl" but I'm slowly transitioning into a new mindset with cooking. I went through my two recipe binders and changed them from "Main Dish Meals" and "Treats and Drinks" to . .. "Things Darryl can Eat" and "Things I can still Eat" HA!  It has helped me with planning, to be honest.  I do plan on working on some of the "off-limit" recipes and turning our favorites into things that he can eat too.   Then, things like Lasagna, that I love but cannot remake, I will make and then divide into lunch size frozen dinners for me.  I did that in December and really enjoyed my single serve lasagna dishes :-)

With all of that said, here is the plan for this week:

Friday - Tacos!  Finally :-)  And chips and Salsa

Saturday - Darryl is going to his sisters after work to help her with some internet stuff so it will just be me and the boys for dinner.  The boys truly love Mac and Cheese and ask for it every day so I will make that for them.  I usually get a pizza on Saturday so either I'll have Darryl pick it up on his way home if he is late or I'll go out and get it after the kids go to bed. 

Sunday - Stuffing Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Mixed veggies and Biscuits.  I highly dislike cooking on Sunday evenings so we'll probably do leftovers or sandwiches.

Monday - Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin in the Crock Pot, Baked Brown Rice, Green Beans, and biscuits

Tuesday Chicken Scaloppini, Spaghetti Noodles, and a Canned Veggie

Wednesday- Nate as an appointment at 4:30 and then I have a haircut at 6:15 so I think we will do something simple for dinner . . .Like Taco Bell. 

Thursday - Crispy Orange Beef with Broccoli, Rice, and Egg Rolls (Store bought!)

Treats: Finding Sweets that Darryl can eat has been a little bit of a challenge but I'm slowly finding good recipes.  So, this week I'm going to make Molasses Cookies (which use shortening, not butter). Tie Dye Cupcakes (more for the boys since they are cool looking).  A Chocolate Chip Cheeseball  . . .for me :-)  (I enjoy having a snack in the house . . .Darryl didn't like this cheeseball anyway so he really isn't missing anything!)
 

My Book Goal for 2014

I love to read.  The problem is that I don't take time to read books to help me improve in so many ways.  I tend to read lots of "fluff" - those fun relaxing books - but not a lot of non-fiction.  I want to pick back up with my goal of reading books.  So, instead of picking books per quarter like I've done before, I'm going to pick 24 books I want to read this year.  That is just 2 books a month.  It's really not that big of a deal - it just means I NEED to set aside time to read.  So what is on my list?  First, I gathered books I had on hand from last year (or the year before YIKES) that I wanted to read.  Then I went to a long list of books that I've been keeping and pulled some from there as well.


1. The List by Marian Jordan
2. Totally Desperate mom by Wendy Hagen
3. Wild Things - The Art of Nurturing Boys by Stephen James and David Thomas
4. It Starts At Home - A practical Guide to Nurturing Lifelong Faith by Kurt Bruner and Steve Stroope
5. Conversation Peace by Mary A. Kassian
6. The Virtuous Woman - Shattering the Superwoman Myth by Vicki Courtney
7. The Vow by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter
8. Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
9. Anything by Jennie Allen
10.  The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
11. The Power of a Positive Mom by Karol Ladd - Currently Reading
12. 7 - an Experimental Mutiny Against Excess Complete 01/24/14
13. Women Living Well by Courtney Joseph - currently reading
14. Becoming your Spouse's better half by Rick Johnson
15. Sparkly Green Earrings - Catching the Light at Every Turn by Melanie Shankle
16. The Greatest Gift - Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas by Ann Voskamp
17. Unglued - Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotion by Lysa TerKeurst
18. Desperate - Sally Clarkson
19.The Mom Walk - Sally Clarkson
20. The Five Love Languages of Children by Chapman and Campbell
21. Good and Angry - Exchanging Frustration for Character in you and your kids by Scott Turansky
22.   Everything - What you give and what you gain to become like Jesus by Mary DeMuth
23. Let it go - How to stop running the show and start walking by faith by Karen Ehmen
24. Cleaning House by Kay Wyma
25. Hands Free Mama (added later) - currently reading

Bonus Books
Loving our Kids on Purpose by Danny Silk
Praying for Boys by Brooke McGlothlin
Honey for a Child's Heart Gladys Hunt
24/5 Matthew Sleeth



That's quite a list!  I do not have all of those books at this time.  I have a good handful of them and plan to pick the rest up over the next couple of months so I have them in hand or on my kindle - depending on the best price I can get :-)  One of my goals I'm working on is . . well, Me. . . and taking time to read books that will encourage, teach and help me is a big thing.  Looking forward to sharing what I learn in the weeks (and months) to come!

On a side note - Courtney Joseph is doing a book study at her blog, Women Living Well that coincides with her book by the same title (listed in the list above!) that I plan on doing which will make a great study AND make sure I get the book read!  It starts on January 13th so feel free to join up and read her book :-) I plan on linking up with her on Wednesdays where I'll share both what I'm learning through her study and progress on my other books as well . .. at least that's my goal :-)


* Disclaimer (haha) - I do reserve the "write" to remove or add a book(s) through the year if I find one is not interesting or come across something new and REALLY good!

Winter Wonderland

I love winter.  No, I don't ski or snowboard or even really play out in the snow that much but I still love the crisp, clean look of the world after a snow.  What I love even more is a snow storm especially when we are all at home like we were this past weekend.  The midwest has gotten hit hard with snow and cold.  We had an great snow storm this past weekend and now are dealing with friged temperatures like -30 below wind chill.  We put a thermostat in our basement to make sure our pipes don't freeze . . .the basement is at 41 degrees right now.  No wonder the floors in the house are cold!  Any way, here are a few photos from our weekend.

 In total we ended up with about 12-15 inches of snow.  There was a lot of blowing so it was hard to get a really accurate total but based on what I saw build up on the rails of the deck two different times that is a close estimate. 

 Sunday was the only day that it was even remotely warm enough for the boys to go outside.  Last week we dealt with ice cold temps (below zero wind chills) and the temps dropped on Sunday throughout the day until we hit those arctic cold temps once again (and are supposed to stay there all week!)

 Josh asked me to take his photo laying down on the porch licking the snow . . .

 While Nate just licked  the snow off the porch railing. 

 This photo is of the boys and they are falling into the snow to make snow angels. 

 It was so deep (or as Josh said, "It is as deep as people!" that Nate crawled through the snow despite wearing his dinosaur Snow Shoes.

 Nate managed to get himself up into the treehouse which he loved.  He sat up there and ate ice to his hearts content.  Eventually he slid down the slide into the snow :-)

 Even China had fun in the snow.

 Josh was busy digging out snow but stopped to give me a photo!

 Or two!  He LOVES to be outside in the snow and one of these days we have to build a snowman because he is WAITING to do so!

 After coming down the slide . .. Nate was "stuck" in the snow.

Josh loved falling into the snow :-)

That is what is keeping us busy so far this week.  :-)

Homeschool Corner

Welcome back to Homeschool corner!  We are starting back into our school routine TODAY!  Wow!  We took a few months off, first because I was taking care of my husband and then because we did special things for Christmas.  I've spend the last month or so organizing everything and trying to get things into a setup that would actually make it easier to keep up with things.  I've printed, filed, and prepped.  I've laminated, cut, and added magnets to little puzzle pieces.  I've even organized my pinterest boards related to homeschool to get stuff ready to actually use.  Added to that I've been working on stuff with the homeschool board getting ready to start classes in a couple of weeks.  We also want to get swim lessons started so I need to get Nate signed up for his first round . .. . WHEW!  And it is only January!

Funny thing . . . .  Due to a big snow storm . . . We are taking today off and starting school tomorrow. That is the nice thing about only planning a four day week!

Things My Kids Say

* This is the first year the boys have gotten into the Santa thing (thanks to all of the cartoons on Nick Jr and Disney HA) but, boy was it fun.  They talked about sneaking out of their room to see Santa on Christmas Eve.  Neither did but, Nate told me on Christmas morning that he thought he heard Santa come in the house and then he heard him say, "Ho, ho ho" so he knew he was here.

*The boys were also concerned  because Darryl happened to be sleeping in the living room on Christmas Eve night (due to his back injury).  They said Santa wouldn't come if he was in the Living Room - Darryl told them not to worry, he covered his head and his so Santa had no idea ;-)

* When the boys came out of their room on Christmas Morning, first I heard, "I don't think Santa Came . .", then they walked out and Nate exclaimed, "Look, Santa brought us two presents".  Now, here's the deal, I had wrapped all of the gifts and they were in my room - the boys saw them.  What they didn't see were two gifts that were in gift bags so they think Santa only brought those and I did the rest to help Santa out.  Next year, I will need to change how I wrap stuff :-)

* Josh informed us today (Thursday, Dec 26th)  that he wished he didn't have a butt so he didn't have to poop.  He doesn't like it and it stinks.  Darryl then explained why it is important why we poop so I foresee a book in our future  . . ."Everybody Poops" HA!

*Nate pulled a sweater out of his closet to put on - he told me he was sweating so he needed to wear a sweater to not swear any more.

* Josh put on a concert for us recently and informed us that we could not even "whisker" while he was playing his songs but when  he was done we could "whisker" as loud as we wanted.  Hehehe

* Words uttered at the table tonight:
Josh: mom, what is that delicious smell?
Nate: that smells icky, I want Doritos and ketchup please.
Josh: when will you eat real food Nate?
Nate: when I am 6.

*I gained some insightful information this past week.  When Nate poops, he likes for someone to stay in the bathroom with him as he has a fear of falling "in".  Anyway, one day, as I was standing there, he says, "Mom, that was a small one . . .on, and that one was bumpy."  Then he said, "Mom, the smooth ones mean my poop is clean; you'll see that I'm right when you wipe me." Guess what?  He's right HA!

*I find it interesting to hear my kids say new phrases.  The one that makes me giggle currently is when I hear Josh say to whomever, 'Oh, did I startle you?"  LOL  I know, I know, it is only funny to me. 
 

Goals and My 2014 Theme Word

I was going to review my 2013 goals from last year but, lets keep it real, I fell off the wagon last year when it came to goals.  I started out the year ok and got some things done; then summer came and it got hot.  I was ready to get back on the goal track but we started school in September and it took up a lot more of my time than I expected.  Follow that up with my husbands back injury and I'm not even sure where September-November went.  One thing I DID figure out during those months, though, is that I needed to go back to a concept I hit a few years ago which brought me back to "Simplify".  I need to simplify our lives once again in order to keep my sanity ;-) 

I just picked up a book called "7 An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess" and am looking forward to reading it and applying it to my life.  I also started an organizational book called "Organize Now, Live and Think Clutter Free" which is a year long study on organizing everything from your dreams to your closet.  AND I have an e-book I picked up awhile ago called "Project Organize Your Entire Life" that I want to finally read.

So with that in mind, I thought I would just highlight a few areas I really want to get control over this year and work toward making them, well, more simple.  Less is more (except with money - than more is more but if life is simple then you WILL have more because you spend less WHEW!).  Each year I tend to focus on the same basic areas and then grow my goals from there; I then look attempt to look over them at the end of the month and plan things to get done the following month.  At the very least, it helps me focus on some projects. 

The basic areas I will be looking at are: Home, Kids, Darryl, Homeschooling, ME, Money, Organizing, Memories and Time.

I'm still working on where I want to go with each of those areas but will share my January goals soon.  I usually have these done already but . . .well, I'm running a little behind already HA!