Day 21

Nov 21:  Today I'm thankful for a quiet and calm day at work (so far). Happy that I'm almost caught up on what needs to be done so that I can skip out early and enjoy my holiday weekend!

Day 20

Nov 20:  Today I'm thankful for a healthy baby boy! A had his 15 month check up and he is growing just as he should be!! He is tall (70th percentile) which is funny to me -- not really sure how he got so tall!! Needs to bulk up with weight (47th percentile), which will be tough since he is becoming a picky eater! He has his father's big head (81st percentile) which I'm hoping just means he is smart! lol....

This Mama just didn't feel like cooking

I feel bad but this weekend we really slacked at cooking meals! We had a healthy breakfast and lunch but dinners were just blah! Take out Friday night, chicken nuggets for my son on Saturday night... Sunday he was feeling a little under the weather so he had some chicken noodle soup! 

Tonight we hope to get back on track. Although, not going to lie... This mama is tired and has no desire to cook! Not only that but I am selling some baby stuff tonight, and need to go grocery shopping after that! It may be another grilled cheese and soup kind of night! 

Day 17, 18, & 19

Nov 17: Today I am thankful for a baby who takes good naps! I was able to get a lot of work done around the house which made me feel much better.

Nov 18: Let's just repeat day # 17. I am so thankful that I have a baby that takes good naps! Was able to catch up on rest since I had a wild and crazy (not really) Saturday night. Also thankful for such beautiful fall weather! A and I were able to play outside and get a good walk in.

Nov 19: Today I'm thankful for take out for lunch! I get so sick of tv dinners every day! This was a nice change.

So behind

Feeling so behind in housework that it is just giving me anxiety.

No matter how much I get done on the weekends by the end of the day the house is a disaster.

I know why it always turns out this way. Besides the fact that we have absolutely no storage in our home (not one closet is big enough for me even to stretch my arms out in it), but, I have a problem with putting things in their place. I admit it, I get things out and I just don't put it away.

With a toddler it is just becoming so difficult to keep up with things. His toys are easy to clean up because they just get thrown into baskets. But I am just getting so overwhelmed with the amount of housework that needs to be done!

Oh, and why wasn't I ever informed that with a toddler, the kitchen floors need to be swept and sometimes mopped EVERY day! Seriously, how is it that one crushed cheerio (let alone a handful) can create such a mess!!!

Really feeling the need of a couple days off work (with no kid) to get things back in order!!

Day 16

Nov 16: Today I'm thankful for a healthy and happy baby boy. A bring so much joy to our lives and he just keeps us in stitches with his fun personality. Can't imagine life without him, or before him.

Day 15

Nov 15: Today I'm thankful for being able to help people. My career choice has definitely not brought me wealth and glam, but it has allowed me to help people in many different ways. Not sure what it is but this past week I have had some very good sessions with clients. I am thankful that I am able to help them in any way possible. Sometimes it's the little things that count in life.

Baked Ravioli with Spinach

Feeding a toddler can be broken into 2 categories. Foods that he will always eat (i.e. crackers, fruit, and pizza) and foods that they won't eat (i.e. veggies). My 15 month old has learned how to stop chewing, stick his hands in his mouth, and reach in to pull out the food that he doesn't want. After he has picked the food out that he doesn't like (typically a vegeatable), he flings it down on his high chair tray or even more conveniently, the floor!

So, I'm learning how to hide veggies from him. Casseroles are just perfect for this.

Last night I made a really easy dish that had one of his favorite meals, ravioli! He loves ravioli so much we have made up a ravioli dance & song that we do while cooking!

Although the prep time was easy, the cook time was a little long. I'm thinking that the next time I will prep this dish in the morning and leave it in the refrigerator to thaw out while I'm at work. That way I can just pop it in the oven and cut the cook time in half.

I got the recipe from a friend so it's not very detailed with instructions.

(once again the picture is not blog beautiful. But, I just don't have the time to get the fancy camera out and place meal on a dish. I will say that the area with no cheese is the area that I took my son's portion from lol)
INGREDIENTS:

-36 frozen ravioli (I cut recipe in half and used 18 ravioli that came in a pack. Choose the type of frozen ravioli you like. I had ravioli stuffed with chicken and mozerella so that's what I used BUT I think that the regular beef stuffed ravioli would be better!)

-frozen spinach thawed and drained (i'm sick of using a spoon to drain against strainer and then toweling to dry. I just grabbed the spinach queezed by hand lol)

-shredded mozerrella cheese (recipe said 2 cups but I didn't measure)

-spaghetti sauce (I used ragu or prego - whichever was on sale)

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

1. preheat oven to 350

2. spoon a little sauce on bottom of casserole dish

3. place a layer of frozen ravioli over sauce

4. cover ravioli with some spinach (1/2 spinach if you are following directions using 36 ravioli)

5. cover with sauce 

6. cover with mozerrella cheese

7. repeat with another layer of ravioli, spinach, sauce, and cheese

8. COVER with aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes

 

My son tore it up and didn't even realize he was eating spinach... 

 

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken And Rice

As easy as this recipe was... There was just something missing from it... My husband and I couldn't figure out what it was?? More cheese?? More spices??

Not only was there a missing piece to the recipe but... There was just a little bit too much onion for me! And we LOVE onions in our home!! Maybe scale it down to a "medium" onion instead of an entire "large" one??

All in all we will make this again, and will add that missing ingredient too -- maybe garlic?? I modified the recipe a little bit (in parentheses). Even with the missing ingredient our family completely devoured this dish!

(Sorry for the unattractive picture, it's the best I could do with it almost gone)

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (mine were still frozen)
• 1 large onion, chopped (I use Vidalia) (medium would be fine also, or maybe just not as finely chopped as we made it)
• 1 -8 ounce box Zatarain's Yellow Rice Mix, cooked according to directions (I just used white minute rice since I didn't have Yellow available)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1 - 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup (regular or fat free)
• 1 -15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained (I'm all about hiding veggies from my 15 month old so I also added peas and a few left over green beans)

Instructions

1.  Spray the bottom of the crock pot for easy clean up.

2.  Place the chicken in the bottom of the crock pot.

3.  Scatter the onion over the top of the chicken.

4.  Spoon (or should I say plop) the cream of chicken soup over chicken and onions. Doesn't have to be even because eventually it will melt down and cover everything.

5.  Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours.

6.  A few minutes before serving, add in the COOKED rice, corn, and cheese (and anything else you may want to add).

7.  Stir to combine & serve hot.

(Like I said, I think it needed a little something else... Maybe garlic?? or pepper?? I'm not sure!! But I will get it right the next time)

Day 10, 11, 12, 13, & 14

Well, what can I say... I'm behind on being thankful.

Nov 10: Thankful for the gift of music and a sense of community! Alex and I have been participating in Kindermusik classes since June and we have really enjoyed ourselves. Not only do we get some bonding time, we have the chance to get together with others and engage in an organized activity.  So thankful for learning new things, while having lots of fun!

Nov 11: Thankful that I don't have to go to work tomorrow!! But of course on a serious note, I'm so very thankful for all of the men and women who have given their lives and service to our country. Without their hard work and sacrifice, we would not enjoy our daily freedoms & privilages.

Nov 12: Truth be told, I had every intention of taking A to day care today so that I could have a nice and quiet day to myself! Today I am thankful that it was raining and I didn't feel like traveling in the rain to take A to day care. We had such a fun day playing and reading together! I am thankful that I have such a caring, affectionate, kind, and funny little boy! Also happy that he allowed me to get some work done in the house - even though it looks like nothing was touched!!

Nov 13: Today I'm thankful for having friends to get together with. My life in Delaware was much different than in Ohio. Here I don't have the long standing (i.e. decade) close friendships that I had in Delaware. With time I hope to have the close relationships in Ohio that I did in Delaware - everything in time of course. I'm thankful for the playdate that A and I had today with friends.

Nov 14: Today I'm thankful for my health. Even though I'm not in the best shape, don't eat as many veggies as I should, and have had a persistent cold... I am still able to walk, hear, see, and breath!! I see too often young people struggling with their health. I'm fortunate to be in good health.

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

This was such an easy and good dinner! My 15 month old son LOVED it and it was so nice because it had yummy veggies hidden in it! My husband also liked it, yet he said he would have LOVED it if I used "regular" pasta and not "whole grain" pasta. (Honestly, if he didn't see the empty box on the counter he would have NEVER known it was whole grain!!)

I changed some things around because I didn't have all of the iningredients. There was so much that I was able to freeze it for another week!

 

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

• 8 oz uncooked rigatoni (used whole grain penne pasta)
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 c chopped onion
• 1 (10 oz) pack frozen spinach, thawed
• 3 c cubed, cooked chicken breasts
• 1 (14 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (8 oz) container Philadelphia chive & onion cream cheese
• ½ t salt, ½ t pepper
• 1½ c shredded mozzarella cheese

Prepare rigatoni (or penne) according directions on box.  Spread oil on bottom of 11×7 in baking dish; add the chopped onion in a single layer. 

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or just until tender. (makes the house smell so good)

Transfer onion to large bowl & set aside. (when the directions say large, they really mean large!)

Drain chopped spinach well, pressing between paper towels.

Stir in rigatoni (penne), spinach, chicken, undrained diced tomatoes, Philadelphia cream cheese, salt & pepper into onion in bowl.  

Spoon mixture into dish & sprinkle evenly with shredded mozzarella cheese. (which I attempted to do but it came out a little uneven... What can I say, This Mama Can't Cook)

Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes; uncover & bake 15 more minutes or until bubbly.

I tried this recipe and posted about it previously. This time I actually followed the instructions, used the right kind of diced tomatoes & the chive & onion cream cheese. It made all the difference in the world!

Day 9

Today I'm thankful that my little A is ok after his first real fall yesterday evening. As I was chasing him, he slipped on hard wood floor and banged his mouth pretty good. Had a fat upper lip and cried and cried! Luckily he was fine after a little bit.

Day 7 & 8

November 7: Today I was thankful for having a healthy family. A was a little under the weather this morning and I ended up picking him up early from day care. He wasn't his typical active self which was sad to see. Although since he wasn't feeling 100% I was able to sit and cuddle with him on the couch!

November 8: Today I am thankful for having extended family in the area to help out when we need it. A woke up this morning feeling well, but just to be on the safe side, his Grandma came over to watch him. A will definitely enjoy this day with his grandma playing, reading, and just having fun!

Day 6

Today I'm thankful for the right to vote. I'm also thankful that I live in a country that allows me to take part in such an amazing right/privilege.

Day 3 & 4

I realized this weekend that I can't access my Blog on my iphone. Need to set it up, but honestly, it just looks too complicated.

November 3, 2012 I was thankful for a baby who slept in and gave his mom a little extra sleep. Although waking up late meant that we had to rush to get to music class. I am thankful that I have the ability to expose A to different activities. Not only does Kindermusik get A and I out and about socializing, he is also learning so many new skills. It brings me joy to be able to see A learn new things.

November 4, 2012: Thankful for the roof over my head and food in the refrigerator! Caught up on a lot of housework and even though I was dreading it, I was happy to be fortunate to have a home to come to. 

Jumping on the Thankful Wagon... Day 1 & 2

Well, it's November and of course it's the month of being Thankful. This is honestly my favorite month of the year! I'm not sure what it is about November that makes me so happy!! Maybe it's the fresh & crisp fall air? Or that my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving? Or maybe it's the fact that we get an extra hour of sleep! Whatever it is, I look forward to this month!!

Facebook has a 31 Days of Being Thankful, but I post enough on facebook so I thought I would give being Thankful a shot on here. Since I'm late my first Thankful entry will be for 2 days.

November 1, 2012:
Yesterday I was thankful for having had opportunity in life to get me where I am today. I am thankful for having 2 parents who were positive role models in my life and showed me that hard work pays off. I'm thankful that they were able to provide me with me with years of excellent education, the ability to distinguish between wanting and needing, and how to live an honest life. 

November 2, 2012:
Today I'm thankful for it being Friday!! I'm also thankful that I'm starting to feel better and getting some energy back so that I can enjoy the weekend with my baby! 

Keeping it up...

Started using the menu planner and so far it's working out just fine!

I work on it on Fridays so that it's ready to go for the new week.

One thing I have to take into account is leftovers! With only 2 adults and one toddler, we typically have leftovers. I stopped taking them to work with me for lunch the next day because I figured I would be sick of the dish by the time I had it 3 meals in row.

Also, I am going to start putting some things in the freezer. My husband made a beef stew last week and we had plenty of leftovers. We probably ate it for 2 dinners and a lunch. Needless to say we were tired of it after the 2nd day! So, I just put the leftovers in a Tupperware dish, and put it in the freezer. Mid month I'm sure we will be needing something to eat and it will be so easy to take out and reheat!

I've also found that preparing the meal the night before, or first thing in the morning really helps with saving time.  When cooking isn't your thing, and you don't necessarily enjoy it, any little thing to make it easier is such a joy!!