Goulash
adapted from a friend
I'll be honest, I was never a big goulash lover until I had this version at a potluck where I used to work (before I decided to stay at home, eat bon bons, watch TV all day, and make my kids wait on me HA). It is so simple but so tasty. I thought I would post this now as it would be something fun and easy for New Years Eve!
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 can tomato soup
1 can diced tomates
1/2 to 1 box of elbow macaroni
1/2 of a medium onion
Parsley, Oregeno, and Basil
Salt and Pepper
Brown the ground beef with the onion; drain. Add the soup, diced tomatoes, and spices (to your taste) and simmer for about 30-45 minutes. Cook the noodles and mix with the meat mixture. Serve.
Enjoy!
Friday, December 27, 2013
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Weekly Menu - The one withe New Years Eve and New Years Day
So, planning menus has not been easy lately. My husband, on a hunch, cut out dairy from his diet and, guess what? He hasn't been having near the stomach problems. Do you have any idea how many recipes use some form of dairy? Even butter bothers him. We are in the process of trying some of those Lactaid pills (or whatever they are) along with some other vitamin based on the recommendation of someone else who has been through a dairy "allergy".
I decided to go back and look at last years menu plan for the last week of the year/first week of the new year because, honestly, I'm out of ideas. I should do this more often :-) Here is our plan for the coming week.
Friday - leftovers we have LOTS
Saturday - Today we celebrate Christmas with Darryl's family. We are just doing a cookie exchange so I am going to make Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies - they are loved by everyone, easy, and the recipe makes more than enough cookies. As far as dinner - we will stop and get something on the way home from the Nursing Home (where we have Christmas since his Grandma lives there). Depending on the time, we'll either get something to eat in the truck or make a quick stop for something good.
Sunday - Roast, Carrots, Potatoes, and rolls. A typical winter Sunday Dinner!
Monday - we'll have a pantry meal tonight
Tuesday - New Years Eve! Last year I started a tradition that I want to continue and that is doing soups for dinner. This year, I'm going to make Chicken Noodle Soup and Old Fashion Veggie Soup. I'll add a nice loaf of bread (so the kids will eat HA!). We plan on doing a few fun things with the kids and maybe even letting them stay up until like 8:30 (a whole hour later!) which should be fun. After they go to bed, Darryl and I like to have our traditional snacks. What we will have? I have no idea yet. I'm waiting, at this writing, to see how those pills work since 99% of our favorite snacks have cheese in them HA! IF life is good, we'll have Bacon Crescent Wraps, Nachos, Fruit (because it makes me feel healthy hehehe), and shrimp cocktail. I'm really working on not going over board on our snacks ;-)
Wednesday - New Years Day! In the past I've planned these big dinners that we never end of eating. So, lets keep it real. I'm going to take a pork loin out and make pulled pork BBQ, Cole Slaw, The Best Baked Beans, and some chips. I can prep it all on Tuesday so I just have to cook it all today. With young kids, we tend to still eat at "normal" times so for lunch I'm thinking breakfast (i.e brunch) so maybe eggs, bacon, toast, tater tots and fruit.
Thursday - Leftovers! I know we will have left over soup and most likely, left over pork from earlier in the week so . .. we'll clean out the fridge tonight for dinner so I have room to put new groceries!
I decided to go back and look at last years menu plan for the last week of the year/first week of the new year because, honestly, I'm out of ideas. I should do this more often :-) Here is our plan for the coming week.
Friday - leftovers we have LOTS
Saturday - Today we celebrate Christmas with Darryl's family. We are just doing a cookie exchange so I am going to make Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies - they are loved by everyone, easy, and the recipe makes more than enough cookies. As far as dinner - we will stop and get something on the way home from the Nursing Home (where we have Christmas since his Grandma lives there). Depending on the time, we'll either get something to eat in the truck or make a quick stop for something good.
Sunday - Roast, Carrots, Potatoes, and rolls. A typical winter Sunday Dinner!
Monday - we'll have a pantry meal tonight
Tuesday - New Years Eve! Last year I started a tradition that I want to continue and that is doing soups for dinner. This year, I'm going to make Chicken Noodle Soup and Old Fashion Veggie Soup. I'll add a nice loaf of bread (so the kids will eat HA!). We plan on doing a few fun things with the kids and maybe even letting them stay up until like 8:30 (a whole hour later!) which should be fun. After they go to bed, Darryl and I like to have our traditional snacks. What we will have? I have no idea yet. I'm waiting, at this writing, to see how those pills work since 99% of our favorite snacks have cheese in them HA! IF life is good, we'll have Bacon Crescent Wraps, Nachos, Fruit (because it makes me feel healthy hehehe), and shrimp cocktail. I'm really working on not going over board on our snacks ;-)
Wednesday - New Years Day! In the past I've planned these big dinners that we never end of eating. So, lets keep it real. I'm going to take a pork loin out and make pulled pork BBQ, Cole Slaw, The Best Baked Beans, and some chips. I can prep it all on Tuesday so I just have to cook it all today. With young kids, we tend to still eat at "normal" times so for lunch I'm thinking breakfast (i.e brunch) so maybe eggs, bacon, toast, tater tots and fruit.
Thursday - Leftovers! I know we will have left over soup and most likely, left over pork from earlier in the week so . .. we'll clean out the fridge tonight for dinner so I have room to put new groceries!
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Some Birthday Fun
There is nothing better then a Christmas time Birthday. It just adds to all of the excitement of the holidays and it is fun finding ways to celebrate.
Nate's birthday was Sunday so we had a small birthday party for him last week and then celebrated as a family on Sunday. Originally we had planned to celebrate with the Grandparents on Saturday the 14th but we got hit with a big snow storm so we postponed it until Thursday.
So, my parents came early afternoon and the in-laws came late afternoon. The boys were so excited to have Nana and Papa coming over plus my Dad brought a new book to read to the boys.
Nate, ready to open his gifts! This was after dinner. So, what did we have for dinner? Only his favorite foods - Mac and Cheese, (blue box, of course), Hot Dogs (well, with some Chili, Onions, and other toppings for the adults), Fritos and Doritos and I added apples and dip even though Nate does not eat fruit ;-)
This gift was so fun because as he opened it he exclaimed with delight, "This is exactly what I wanted - I picked it out at the store!!" And, he was right - it was a Swamp People truck and trailer and is something he saw at the store and asked to get for his birthday.
He got his own MP3 player . . .or phone as the boys call it :-) Josh got one last year and he has been WAITING for one of his own!
More gifts :-) He also got a Semi-Truck, a Memory Game, the movie "Planes", Money from his cousins and . . .I think that was it.
I asked Nate several days prior, what kind of cake he wanted. He informed me that he wanted a Rocket, or horse or balloons, "You know mom, one of the cakes from the store - those are cool". So I picked out, what I thought, was an awesome cake. When he saw it he said, "This is not a cool cake mom, not at all, I need to go to the store with you to pick out a cool cake." Well, then Papa stepped in, picked him and started talking about what an awesome cake it was with orange and blue worms all over it. THEN Nate thought it was cool. :-)
Yes, there are only 3 candles; Yes he is turning 4; I so thought I had more candles and that is all that needs to be said.
Josh had to get in on helping him blow out candles.
The boys had a lot of fun and were said when the grandparents left BUT were asleep in less then 2 minutes once they went to bed.
On Sunday, we enjoyed a fun day with Nate. One of the nice things about a weekend birthday is you get the whole day to kind of pick when you do what. We let Nate decide when to open gifts and eat cake!
Nate (or maybe Josh) wanted to open his gifts in the morning - I think Nate had a little help from Josh on determining this time. Josh wanted a picture with the gifts too.
And the birthday boy with his gifts (Thank goodness for Zoom so I can get JUST the birthday boy!)
Opening his first gifts - some suction cup building . . things. He was so excited because he had picked this out of a catalog.
He also got a game called "Cheeky Monkey". He saw it advertised on TV months and months ago and has been asking for it since. The game is hilarious because they have to chase the monkey around to put rings on his tail - I might make Papa and Nana play it just for Laughs on Christmas Day HA!
Not to be left out, Josh needed his picture taken again before all of the presents were gone.
Nate has informed us ever since going to Vacation Bible School at my parents which was a Soccer Theme that he wants to play soccer. It may not hurt that his favorite person in the world, his cousin Kate, is an awesome soccer player. SOOOO, we got him a Soccer goal. He was so excited.
This was another gift he asked for from a catalog - it is a race car set and let me tell you, it is fabulous. Talk about the perfect gift for this little guy!
Joshua loves to take pictures and video . . .. I'm very sad because we can't find my little "cheap" camera which is the one he is really allowed to use. I remember the last time I used it, even uploaded photos from it, and since that day I can't find it. It is in this house somewhere . .. .
We got hit by a beautiful Ice Storm (good thing we planned on staying in today anyway!). Figured I would include a few pictures of the storm :-)
We had lunch - Chicken Nuggets and Fries because Nate loves them and the boys went right back to playing. About mid-afternoon he was ready for cake. This time he asked for a cake AND Cupcakes so I baked both yesterday (6 cupcakes and a small cake with left over batter)
Wait, isn't he turning 4?? Yep! When we were at the store on Saturday, I let Nate pick out the candles for his cake (since I didn't have any more . .. uuugg!). He liked the #'s so I showed him the 4 and he said it was not cool, he liked the one because it has polka dots and THAT is cool. Therefore, his candle is not a "one" but rather it is a polka dot candle and that is according to Nate.
Nate playing with the suction cups - the boys loved sticking them to the floor!
Part of the favorite toy - this race track is by far the favorite toy of the day. The cars have batteries so the boys just had a ball with them. Best track ever!
One final ice photo - I love how this tree looks in the dark, with the ice and the Christmas lights.
Besides the gifts above he also got a new book called "The Monstore".
I highly recommend this book - it is cute, fun, and interactive.
We really had a great day today and it is a little hard to believe that we have a 4 year old.. . .. who some days thinks he is 24. ;-)
Nate's birthday was Sunday so we had a small birthday party for him last week and then celebrated as a family on Sunday. Originally we had planned to celebrate with the Grandparents on Saturday the 14th but we got hit with a big snow storm so we postponed it until Thursday.
So, my parents came early afternoon and the in-laws came late afternoon. The boys were so excited to have Nana and Papa coming over plus my Dad brought a new book to read to the boys.
Nate, ready to open his gifts! This was after dinner. So, what did we have for dinner? Only his favorite foods - Mac and Cheese, (blue box, of course), Hot Dogs (well, with some Chili, Onions, and other toppings for the adults), Fritos and Doritos and I added apples and dip even though Nate does not eat fruit ;-)
This gift was so fun because as he opened it he exclaimed with delight, "This is exactly what I wanted - I picked it out at the store!!" And, he was right - it was a Swamp People truck and trailer and is something he saw at the store and asked to get for his birthday.
He got his own MP3 player . . .or phone as the boys call it :-) Josh got one last year and he has been WAITING for one of his own!
More gifts :-) He also got a Semi-Truck, a Memory Game, the movie "Planes", Money from his cousins and . . .I think that was it.
I asked Nate several days prior, what kind of cake he wanted. He informed me that he wanted a Rocket, or horse or balloons, "You know mom, one of the cakes from the store - those are cool". So I picked out, what I thought, was an awesome cake. When he saw it he said, "This is not a cool cake mom, not at all, I need to go to the store with you to pick out a cool cake." Well, then Papa stepped in, picked him and started talking about what an awesome cake it was with orange and blue worms all over it. THEN Nate thought it was cool. :-)
Yes, there are only 3 candles; Yes he is turning 4; I so thought I had more candles and that is all that needs to be said.
Josh had to get in on helping him blow out candles.
The boys had a lot of fun and were said when the grandparents left BUT were asleep in less then 2 minutes once they went to bed.
On Sunday, we enjoyed a fun day with Nate. One of the nice things about a weekend birthday is you get the whole day to kind of pick when you do what. We let Nate decide when to open gifts and eat cake!
Nate (or maybe Josh) wanted to open his gifts in the morning - I think Nate had a little help from Josh on determining this time. Josh wanted a picture with the gifts too.
And the birthday boy with his gifts (Thank goodness for Zoom so I can get JUST the birthday boy!)
Opening his first gifts - some suction cup building . . things. He was so excited because he had picked this out of a catalog.
He also got a game called "Cheeky Monkey". He saw it advertised on TV months and months ago and has been asking for it since. The game is hilarious because they have to chase the monkey around to put rings on his tail - I might make Papa and Nana play it just for Laughs on Christmas Day HA!
Not to be left out, Josh needed his picture taken again before all of the presents were gone.
Nate has informed us ever since going to Vacation Bible School at my parents which was a Soccer Theme that he wants to play soccer. It may not hurt that his favorite person in the world, his cousin Kate, is an awesome soccer player. SOOOO, we got him a Soccer goal. He was so excited.
This was another gift he asked for from a catalog - it is a race car set and let me tell you, it is fabulous. Talk about the perfect gift for this little guy!
Joshua loves to take pictures and video . . .. I'm very sad because we can't find my little "cheap" camera which is the one he is really allowed to use. I remember the last time I used it, even uploaded photos from it, and since that day I can't find it. It is in this house somewhere . .. .
We got hit by a beautiful Ice Storm (good thing we planned on staying in today anyway!). Figured I would include a few pictures of the storm :-)
We had lunch - Chicken Nuggets and Fries because Nate loves them and the boys went right back to playing. About mid-afternoon he was ready for cake. This time he asked for a cake AND Cupcakes so I baked both yesterday (6 cupcakes and a small cake with left over batter)
Wait, isn't he turning 4?? Yep! When we were at the store on Saturday, I let Nate pick out the candles for his cake (since I didn't have any more . .. uuugg!). He liked the #'s so I showed him the 4 and he said it was not cool, he liked the one because it has polka dots and THAT is cool. Therefore, his candle is not a "one" but rather it is a polka dot candle and that is according to Nate.
Nate playing with the suction cups - the boys loved sticking them to the floor!
Part of the favorite toy - this race track is by far the favorite toy of the day. The cars have batteries so the boys just had a ball with them. Best track ever!
One final ice photo - I love how this tree looks in the dark, with the ice and the Christmas lights.
Besides the gifts above he also got a new book called "The Monstore".
I highly recommend this book - it is cute, fun, and interactive.
We really had a great day today and it is a little hard to believe that we have a 4 year old.. . .. who some days thinks he is 24. ;-)
Monday, December 23, 2013
Nate's Birthday Photos! (Homeschool Corner - the picture version)
We are wrapping up our Count Down with the Grinch this week - the boys have enjoyed it. Especially Josh. He even peeks to see if he can figure out what little gift is coming up on future days. I now have to focus on getting ready to start school after the new year - yikes!
BUT today, I wanted to finally share Nate's birthday photos. We took them at the end of October when we did Josh's and other photos as well. (I'll share soon!).
I just love his photos :-)
BUT today, I wanted to finally share Nate's birthday photos. We took them at the end of October when we did Josh's and other photos as well. (I'll share soon!).
I just love his photos :-)
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Things my Kids Say (and do!)
First up, I want to wish Nate a very Happy Birthday! Hard to believe that little guy turns 4 today!
* The boys and I made cookies last weekend - Peanut Butter Kiss cookies. On Sunday, I was putting some in storage bags to add to neighbor goodie plates this week when I noticed that all of the tips were gone on the Kisses. At first I just thought they melted like that until I took a closer look . .. and discovered teeth marks on every single cookie. Yes, the boys had bitten the tops off of ever single Kiss on every cookie. Seriously???
* The boys and I were outside shoveling snow and hanging some lights on Sunday. We were finally done and heading back around the house when Josh laid down in the snow and said, "Mom, I just ran out of gas, you will need to pull me back to the house." LOL
*Nate will get sick if he drinks our water (don't worry, we are getting a new well) so one night, after drinking bath water and getting an upset tummy, he told us that the people that live in his stomach, choke on the water and then make him choke. I had a hard time not laughing especially as the story grew to a whole house living in his stomach with a mom and dad that look just like his real mom and dad. :-)
*I recently asked Josh if he was 15 (because he was acting like a teenager) and he very seriously replied, "No mom, not yet, I'm really only 6". Now what makes that even more funny is that he is only 5 but ARGUES with us that he is 6. :-)
* I mentioned in yesterdays post that the boys love Dot-to-Dot books right now . . .so much so that this is what I found one day last week:
Yes, dots. Everywhere. His face, hands, legs, feet. Thankfully it was washable marker but I will say it sure was hard to take him seriously all day long - especially when he got mad about something . . .it just made me want to laugh!
And. .. . .the latest Train Circle - they boys had a lot of fun with some new train supplies :-)
* The boys and I made cookies last weekend - Peanut Butter Kiss cookies. On Sunday, I was putting some in storage bags to add to neighbor goodie plates this week when I noticed that all of the tips were gone on the Kisses. At first I just thought they melted like that until I took a closer look . .. and discovered teeth marks on every single cookie. Yes, the boys had bitten the tops off of ever single Kiss on every cookie. Seriously???
* The boys and I were outside shoveling snow and hanging some lights on Sunday. We were finally done and heading back around the house when Josh laid down in the snow and said, "Mom, I just ran out of gas, you will need to pull me back to the house." LOL
*Nate will get sick if he drinks our water (don't worry, we are getting a new well) so one night, after drinking bath water and getting an upset tummy, he told us that the people that live in his stomach, choke on the water and then make him choke. I had a hard time not laughing especially as the story grew to a whole house living in his stomach with a mom and dad that look just like his real mom and dad. :-)
*I recently asked Josh if he was 15 (because he was acting like a teenager) and he very seriously replied, "No mom, not yet, I'm really only 6". Now what makes that even more funny is that he is only 5 but ARGUES with us that he is 6. :-)
* I mentioned in yesterdays post that the boys love Dot-to-Dot books right now . . .so much so that this is what I found one day last week:
Yes, dots. Everywhere. His face, hands, legs, feet. Thankfully it was washable marker but I will say it sure was hard to take him seriously all day long - especially when he got mad about something . . .it just made me want to laugh!
And. .. . .the latest Train Circle - they boys had a lot of fun with some new train supplies :-)
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Our Book Advent - Week 3
December 16
Several years ago, a blog I followed prepared a set of drawing pages to go along with this book. We may only do 1or 2 pages this year but I think it is a good introduction for the boys into this type of craft.
I knew going into this project that the boys would not draw much ;-) I just wanted to use this to introduce the concept of drawing pictures for a story . We WILL do this again next year. This book tells the Bible Story almost word for word from the Bible which is such a great thing.
December 17
Today we started working on some Christmas presents so while I worked with each of the kids individually, the others worked on putting together a cute Elf.
December 18
We worked on a fun beading project. Well, I thought it would be fun . . the boys could have cared less.
Ok, not beads - but this shows how interested he was in the project - he went and got a cheese stick HA!
Nate's ornaments - he started with just two beads on a pipe cleaner but then made a couple more that were better.
Josh Filled his pipe cleaner but really was glad to be done with this one.
December 19
So, we skipped this book - Today was Nate's Birthday party with the Grandparents so we didn't do class.
December 20
We tried a new style craft today and it did not go well. Thankfully this book was fantastic :-)
I wanted a nativity scene . . .so Popscicle sticks seemed fun . . except this is what I heard, "Mom, I'm done now" LOL Oh well. My boys are not crafty at this point. They are more into Dot-to-Dots right now.
They really enjoyed the books, though, and I look forward to doing this again next year. I do want to pick out a few new books for next year and maybe steer it even more towards stories surrounding the Manger verses Santa Claus . . .not that Santa Claus isn't fun :-)
Several years ago, a blog I followed prepared a set of drawing pages to go along with this book. We may only do 1or 2 pages this year but I think it is a good introduction for the boys into this type of craft.
I knew going into this project that the boys would not draw much ;-) I just wanted to use this to introduce the concept of drawing pictures for a story . We WILL do this again next year. This book tells the Bible Story almost word for word from the Bible which is such a great thing.
December 17
Today we started working on some Christmas presents so while I worked with each of the kids individually, the others worked on putting together a cute Elf.
December 18
We worked on a fun beading project. Well, I thought it would be fun . . the boys could have cared less.
Ok, not beads - but this shows how interested he was in the project - he went and got a cheese stick HA!
Nate's ornaments - he started with just two beads on a pipe cleaner but then made a couple more that were better.
Josh Filled his pipe cleaner but really was glad to be done with this one.
December 19
So, we skipped this book - Today was Nate's Birthday party with the Grandparents so we didn't do class.
December 20
We tried a new style craft today and it did not go well. Thankfully this book was fantastic :-)
I wanted a nativity scene . . .so Popscicle sticks seemed fun . . except this is what I heard, "Mom, I'm done now" LOL Oh well. My boys are not crafty at this point. They are more into Dot-to-Dots right now.
They really enjoyed the books, though, and I look forward to doing this again next year. I do want to pick out a few new books for next year and maybe steer it even more towards stories surrounding the Manger verses Santa Claus . . .not that Santa Claus isn't fun :-)
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