Speechless

Yesterday afternoon a large bunch of ladies from my church threw me a surprise baby shower. I have to admit that I suspected something strange was going on, not necessarily a baby shower, I just felt something was up because getting me to this 'woman's group' was not all that easy and these gals were WAY persistent. Looking back on it I am finding it a bit on the humorous side.

I was hesitant to leave my husband with our 5 boys because he had tons of studying to do for flight school. The school he is in is very short lived but very intense and I felt a bit of joy in being able to sacrifice time with new friends to serve him. That is why I kept telling these wonderfully generous ladies that I would not be able to attend their gathering at this time but would love to participate after Ryan's school was finished in a week or two.
They were not taking 'no' for an answer and one of the husbands started calling my husband to make sure I got where I was supposed to be.
That was weird.
I was more than a little curious about my new friends and their motives.
Still reluctant to leave, I was pushed out of the house, along with my 13 year old daughter, by my dear husband who had about 2 hours of serious studying he still had to get to. I honestly didn't feel right leaving him with the kids.

A friend down the street picked Kait and I up and away we went. Still feeling a little guilty about leaving I settled on just having fun. Fun is an understatement!
When I walked in I heard a large bunch of ladies chatting and while I said hello and set my purse down everybody yelled surprise. It didn't dawn on me at first. I guess my pregnant brain is really slow. I just stood there wondering what was going on and why everybody was chanting. It took a few seconds for it to all catch up. The pushiness to get me to show up, the secret husband to husband chatter on the phone, the persistence from my husband that I get out of the house, and of course, bringing it all together was the momentary silence and then the 'surprise' shout.
I have to admit that I didn't jump up and down. Number one, that isn't my style - my husband has always been disappointed at his lack of ability to get me worked up, though I always tell him that it isn't that I am not excited, I am just not able to jump out of my skin like he is. Number two, and the main reason I didn't show much emotion was that the sheer shock of it all was more than enough to leave me speechless.
These ladies, many of whom I don't know the names of because we are still so new to the area, came together thinking of me and my family's new baby. It has to be obvious that after 6 kids we probably have everything we need for the impending arrival. Some of the sweetest gals I have ever met didn't let my lack of need deter them. They just wanted to do something sweet. They wanted to give me something from their hearts. Their desire was to serve me, one of the newest members of their church family.

What most of them don't know is their gifts came at a time when my husband and I are financially strapped. Our house across the country is just not selling. Our savings is gone. Our bills are due. We have been relying on God to provide these past few months and He has been so faithful. Money is coming from nowhere just in the nick of time. We haven't hurt for anything and I can state with complete faith that we won't.
I can turn this into a very long story but it really isn't necessary.
The ladies at that baby shower provided my family with $300 in gift cards and cash. We won't have to worry about diapers (I use cloth during the day and disposables at night on our newborns) or replacing worn out baby clothes when I go through the stash. I have no concern for any of those baby needs you always forget you need - a new thermometer, more laundry detergent, wipes, etc... It's all covered by my church family's generosity.

It is enough to bring me to tears while writing this. I have no words to thank them. I have nothing to say. I am still speechless over the whole thing. I can't even wrap my head around the awesomeness of the entire situation.

I am unbelievably blessed. And that is an understatement.

Wifing - Cooking For a Crowd Without Breaking the Bank

Having 8 people in our family means more mouths to feed. For a while our grocery budget was hitting close to $600 a month and we actually felt that was more than reasonable at the time. However, we have had a change of heart and have decided to become more frugal and less greedy. This started with a choice to stop buying stuff, cut up credit cards, and sell many of our non-necessities. While we are still in the throws of doing all this - selling things with the economy in the jam it's in isn't easy - I decided to do what I could to help out and started clipping coupons.

Wow is all I can say. If you have read this blog before you probably already know that I have managed to cut our grocery budget in half. We no longer spend more than $300 a month on food, toiletries, and other household needs. I have been amazed at what a little work and careful planning has done to help our finances.

If you didn't read the previous post on this subject, Cooking On A Budget, you may want to. It is a prequel, of sorts, to this post. Here is how I cook for my own personal crowd without breaking the bank, spending hours in the kitchen, and keeping dinners from getting boring.

• Add rice or pasta. Both of these foods tend to bulk up meals. Left overs may seem boring but, as my family has told me, adding rice or pasta to leftovers, along with a sauce or some dressing, completely changes up the meal.
• We like to, though haven't done it in a while, cook all our dinners for a month on one day. I have blogged about it in the past and you can read about it here. It only takes us about 3 hours one afternoon a month to keep our freezer loaded with easy, ready made meals that can be thrown into a crock pot in the morning and be ready to eat by dinner. Using the crock pot keeps the dinners from tasting like frozen meals. They always taste fresh after being slow cooked.
• Like the dinner tip above: With the exception of breads, which take a while in a bread maker, try to do all your baking for a week, or two weeks in one day. This takes only a few hours of your time and can save you tons of time on baking and cleaning later on.
• Tortillas. Almost anything is good on a tortilla with cheese, sour cream, and salsa. We often save leftovers up for a few days and then have 'leftover night'. I put tortillas on the table along with some sauces and let the kids make their own. This is always a hit.
• Use less meat. 2 lbs of ground beef can make 3 dinners for our large family. This is where rice and pasta come in handy. Also, adding in potatoes helps to bulk up a meal without the need for a ton of meat.
• Buy a large roast and cut it into thirds or fourths right when you get home. Store them in freezer bags.
• When cooking for more than one night at a time separate each nights meals as soon as they are cooked. Freeze the portion designated for another night to keep your family from being tempted to eat it up early.
• Clearly mark any leftovers you want to use as another nights dinner as off limits. My husband is great about not leaving things to waste in the fridge and will eat up much of my planned meals if I don't let him know it's specifically for dinner.
• Plan out your meals in advance and try to match up store sales with coupons when planning what your weeks menu will be.
• Get a bread maker and use it often. I make bread almost everyday. It is a cheap way to add variety to a meal. Find different bread maker recipes and see what you can do.
• For breakfast, try making your own cinnamon and brown sugar oatmeal. Buy a large thing of regular oatmeal and add brown sugar and cinnamon to the tub, shaking it up well before each use. This way you won't have to worry that you're out of sweetening stuff. It is already in there - ready to cook and eat.
• Keep homemade muffins and pancakes in the freezer. If you get your bread from the bread store it is so cheap and easy to take an entire loaf and make french toast with it to store in the freezer for future breakfasts.
• With the exception of health issues, don't be each person's personal chef - except for your husbands if he desires this from you. Expect that not everything you make will be totally loved by everybody in your family but don't think that grants them license to have you making something different for each person. Children who are taught to be thankful for the food on their plate, tasty or not, are more likely to enjoy a variety of foods. Ben, who we forced to gag down colorful foods for 2 years, now eats all his veggies without complaint and occasionally has seconds. We had to help him develop a taste for them and we had to encourage him to enjoy trying new things. Not only does this help my budget and time but it will help him feel satisfied with a range of tastes as he grows.
• Sit down at the dinner table with your family every night. You may wonder how this will help your budget so I will explain. Think to how you feel when you know there is a big feast waiting at the end of your day. There is no doubt in your mind that hot, fresh food will be served. The anticipation of a dinner meal like this one will keep me from snacking at 4pm. I want to be hungry when that table is set. Eating together at the family table helps to stay off the picking from the refrigerator when you're unsure of dinner plans. Over eating and late afternoon snacking mean more money out of your pocket. Eating together also keeps you in the know about how much good and bad stuff your family is eating. Not only will this cause everybody to devour fewer snacks but they will be healthier. Plus, if your family expects dinner to be served you are less likely to end up with fast food. Eating out is unbelievably expensive when compared with the cost of a home cooked meal.

I am sure there are many good ideas I haven't even stumbled upon yet - and some I have mentioned that will never work for your family. If you have a tip you think would benefit my readers or myself leave a comment and let us know! I could always use a new idea to make cooking on a budget easier.

Matthew Shaves His Mustache - a lesson for everybody

Last week Matthew(5) tried to shave his upper lip. Side to side.

The only band aid I could find was a neon pink one and since the blood was flowing Matthew had to wear this ultra girly color bandage with a wad of tissue under it. Not only was it very stingy but a bit humiliating - at least as much as a 5 year old can be embarrassed.

I am writing this to say that kids aren't that smart. Seriously, they aren't. Children have this knack for doing really not-so-bright things, even after we tell them not to and warn them what will happen. I am totally convinced that this is why children are meant to have parents.

The sad truth is that us parents don't always make the brightest decisions either. Maybe we have learned not to shave side to side but there are a plethora of other life lessons that we have failed to master.

My daughter loves this saying and it really hits home.
"Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results."

Now, Matthew isn't likely to try to shave again until he is older and wiser. He made the comment that he cut himself because he forgot the shaving cream and I was quick to correct him on that. The truth is, pain hurts. When Matthew felt that stinging pain of consequence for breaking a rule (we typically don't allow our little ones to play with sharp, cutting objects) the lesson learned was swift and very efficient. It would have been nicer if Matthew could have learned this lesson without pain but it wouldn't have been as likely to stick.

Kids may not be all that bright but there are many a lesson learned that make us adults look like idiots.

Why do we adults have habits of doing the same things over and over again with unpleasant results every time, and never learn from our mistakes?
Drive too fast - get a ticket.

Drive too fast again - get another ticket

Drive too fast again - get yet another ticket.

Complain to friends that you have all these tickets to pay and how it really wasn't your fault.

Or -

Spend money on fast food - wonder where your money went.

Spend money on gadgets - wonder where more money went.

Spend money on fancy things - wonder again where all the money went.

Complain to anybody who will listen how you can't pay your bills - you just don't know where all your money went.

Adults aren't that smart. Seriously, we aren't. Adults have this knack for doing really not-so-bright things, even after we are told not to and warned about what will happen. I am totally convinced that this is why adults are meant to have kids. We can learn a lot from them about how not to be stupid. Kids tend to learn from consequences much faster than adults. Which is kinda funny to me because a child's typical consequence is swift and fleeting while an adult's typical consequence is long and rough.

There are two lessons to learn from this.

1. Don't be stupid and try to do the same thing over and over again thinking this time you'll get a different, better result.

2. Train and teach your children while they are young because kids just learn better.

We are given a good number of years to train our children up, to learn from them as well as teach them. Make wise use of this time! These years go by very fast and before you know it they will be out on their own - their mistakes will be their own to make and their childlike wisdom will be fading fast.

Your Funny Clip For The Day

Occassionally I run across something that I find really funny. So, for those of you with a childlike notion you're gonna enjoy this one.
These guys, Barats and Bareta are definitely NOT afflicted with any form of adultitis. They are silly and know how to have fun in life. Although I have watched a few of their short videos and they are all fairly clean, I can't vouch for everything. However, the following short is safe and quite humerous.

My Many Food Related Posts

So, I was just running through my blog making sure things were posting correctly and such and I was struck by the amount of food related posts I have made lately.
I can easily guess why this might be.
First, I am 7 months pregnant. I shouldn't need to elaborate more on that.
Second, it is coming up on the holiday season and I go into bake and cook mode like crazy this time of year.
So, if you are feeling hungry you may be enjoying my blog over the next month or two but if you are on a diet you may want to stay away.

Right now I am making homemade dinner rolls which I am not planning on eating at dinner, I just want to have them around as a snack. Kait made Mexican Wedding Cookies today, too. You can see she takes after me with the holiday cooking. She loves creating sweet treats for us.

Our kitchen definitely earns its keep.

Homemade bagels - a little hmm, a little mmm.

I made homemade bagels the other day using this recipe. They turned out tasting very good but looked a little less like a bagel.

I'm not one to give up so easily and I will be trying my hand at them again soon. If (or should I say when) I can perfect the plain kind I am going to attempt to make a flavored variety.

Sweet Gabe Turns 8

Monday was Gabriel's birthday. He is now officially an 8 year old and he couldn't be happier about the whole thing.

Years ago we decided to stop throwing lavish birthday parties. It was getting to be too expensive with all the kids we have in our family as well as turning into greed fest. So, we changed it up and have found it to be way more fun. This is how the typical birthday party goes in this house.

The birthday kid does no chores - though Gabe graciously helped with them anyway.

He got to choose what the family has for dinner and chose pizza after consulting with his siblings to find out if they would like that, too.

Then, there is a fun treasure hunt to search for the gift. Here is a mini video of part of that because it was really long - too long for a blog post.

It was completely obvious that he was very happy with his treasure. Papa and Nona sent him a $25 gift card to Petsmart so he could choose his own fish and supplies. With it he purchased a small black bubble eyed fish he named The Whale and a little African Frog he named Jonah. Shopping with him was so much fun.

Then cake and ice cream. Where we smeared cake all over the birthday boy's face. The picture is blurry, grrr, but you get the idea. It was such a perfect evening.

Happy 8th birthday Gabriel!

Wife-ing - Cooking & Creative Use Of Leftovers - part 3

You can read the first two parts of the Cooking and Leftovers series here and here. I started the series to show how we feed our family of 8 on a budget and save time while doing it by cooking the bulk of many meals at one time, then splitting them up for future meals. As I have said, eating leftovers can be boring but when you get just a little bit creative you can change up the same meal to make a new dish each night that will taste great and not even a little repetitive. One of my favorite left over meals was made with Giant Porcupine Meatball left overs, which is the focus of this portion of the Wifing series.

The first night I made Giant Porcupine Meatballs my family of 8 ate up their fill and I had plenty left over for homemade Meatball Subs the next night and a Fried Crust Meatball Pizza (recipe below) on the third night. I used the meatballs 3 nights in a row but you don't have to. You can freeze them for quite a while for meals far down the road if you don't wish to use them up within a few days.
The Fried Crust Pizza was delicious! It was a recipe thrown together by me - I have never seen a pizza recipe even close to this one so I feel safe in claiming it as my very own.

We have a very large round skillet and this made two average sized pizzas. If you don't have an over sized skillet use the largest round pan you have. Make sure to size your crusts according to the size of your pan. The smaller the pan the more crusts you will have. You will want to split up your toppings accordingly.

Fried Crust Meatball Pizza

1 recipe for Fried Crust prepared but uncooked (recipe below)
Leftover Meatballs
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
Italian Seasoning to taste
Garlic Powder to taste
vegetable oil
Cheese - your favorite blend

Step 1 - Prepare your fried crust but leave it uncooked. You can find the recipe for this below.
Step 2 - Heat up your meatballs in a pot on the stove top. As they warm mash them up really well, stirring and mixing.
Step 3 - In a blender mix up the tomatoes, tomato sauce and seasonings until well combined.
Step 4 - Heat vegetable oil in the largest round skillet you have on about medium/high heat. You will want the oil to be about 1/4 inch deep. Sprinkle some water in it and if it sizzles it is ready to use.
Step 5 - place 1 of your crusts in the hot oil. Leave it alone for a few minutes until the bottom is beginning to brown. You will then want to flip your crust over - do this carefully but don't worry if it doesn't flip perfectly. Your toppings will cover any crust issues you have.
Step 6 - once your pizza is flipped you will want to quickly pour some of your tomato mixture over it and spread it around your pizza crust. This is your pizza sauce. Then, take some of your heated meatball mixture and spread it on top of your sauce and top with your cheese. Don't do this sloth-like. The bottom part of your crust will brown much quicker than the top part did.
Step 7 - When the bottom has browned carefully slide the pizza out of the pan onto a waiting surface. We used a pizza pan then cut the pizza up and transferred it to a cookie sheet so we could use the pizza pan again for the second pizza. If you don't have something like this to use you can always cover your counter with wax paper.
Step 8 - If you desire you can put your pizza under the broiler in your oven for the cheese to melt completely, though it should melt at least a little on top of the hot meatball mix. We did this for a few minutes with each pizza.

Slice and serve.

Fried Crust -

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
2 TBS shortening
1 1/2 cup warm water

If you have a dough attachment for your mixer you can use that. If not use a bowl and a fork. Also, my original recipe called for just all purpose flour. I substituted half of it because I was running out of all purpose flour. Although the original recipe tasted just fine the substitution of the bread flour gave it a much fluffier, flakier feel which I liked a lot. The choice is yours - either will work.

Step 1 - Stir together first 4 ingredients until well combined.
Step 2 - Mix in the shortening until your mixture has a thick crumb-like appearance.
Step 3 - Add enough water to make your dough soft but not sticky. If your dough is sticky add a little more flour.

I walked away for a minute and when I came
back Kait(13) had left me a happy face in the dough.
She often makes me smile.

Step 5 - Mix it for about 5 minutes (or knead it if are not using a mixer)
Step 6 - Divide your dough into 2, 3, or 4 sections depending on the size of your skillet. As I said above, we have an exceptionally large skillet so two does fine for us.
Step 7 - Roll your dough sections out into thin circles about the size of your skillet's bottom. You don't want them paper thin, but more the thickness of a tortilla. They do not have to look perfect, they just have to be round. Once they are rolled out they are ready to be fried according to the Fried Crust Pizza's directions.

Remember, although presentation has a little to do with serving your family it isn't everything. Don't be concerned if your pizzas don't look perfect. The taste is what makes these so good.

Now that you have seen how I creatively used our meatball recipe for three dinners I encourage you to come up with your own interesting left over ideas. Not everything will turn out perfectly but don't give up. Great, new, fun concoctions are just around the corner. Don't be afraid of your imagination.
It is also very important to get your kids involved. Allowing them to throw in their ideas and help with cooking and cleanup will encourage them to enjoy creative food ideas more and help give them a feeling of purpose and importance. I will write on this very soon so stay tuned.

Wifing - Cooking On A Budget

I don't know about you but I am the the primary dinner maker in this house. My husband loves to grill and Kait likes to experiment but the job of grocery shopping and dinner preparation falls 98% on my shoulders. Although my kids are responsible for breakfast and lunch, I am in charge of having the ingredients available for them to prepare those meals, too.

Because we are on a very strict grocery budget - between $250 and $300 a month for our family of 8, I have learned to be very wise with the resources I have, my husband's hard earned money, and my time.

• The biggest money saver, and the one that took me the longest time to learn but seems so simple to me now, is that cooking on a budget isn't just about getting cooking supplies for cheap. I have learned how to budget my spending on everything I buy when I am grocery shopping. This includes toiletries, cleaning products, medicines, vitamins, etc.. I may not ever find a coupon or sale on milk but since I no longer pay for toothpaste, shampoo, or conditioner due to deal hunting and coupon clipping, buying milk isn't as much as a financial burden. Seriously, this one money saving idea has cut our grocery budget in half.
• Another idea I have taken to recently is planning out my weekly meals according to sale and coupon match ups. This can save a tremendous amount of money and even make meal preparation much less time consuming.
• When you find an exceptional deal on something you use often make sure to stock up. We got 25 boxes of cereal two weeks ago for between $.89 and $1.10 a box. When I saw the sales and matched them up with coupons I had been collecting I knew it was a cereal stock up week.
• Don't feel that you always need to stick to the same items every time you shop. Get creative and try a new idea if it happens to be on extreme sale. A month or so ago we found some frozen bagged pasta and chicken meals by Birdseye on sale and with my coupon match ups for $1.25. I bought them and just added more pasta and some easy cream sauce to make a meal that fed my entire family of 8 for under $2. (I had gotten the pasta on extreme sale, too).
• Bake bread. This is super easy if you have a bread maker. We got ours at Goodwill for $12.99 and they had plenty to choose from. Adding bread to a meal will help fill your family up without them feeling the need to have thirds or fourths.
• Cook for more than one night at a time and separate the different night's portions before you put them on the table so that your family isn't tempted to dig into the second night's meal.
• Clip coupons, get a CVS card, don't be afraid of rebates, etc... My CVS card and Walgreen's Easy Rebates have helped tremendously in cutting our grocery budget in half. Just in the past month I have gotten 8 tubes of toothpaste for free and I have almost 20 tubes in the cupboard with more free at CVS this month. We can't possibly use this much toothpaste and are saving the extras up to send with our church on their missions trip in 5 months. We are also stocked up on feminine products, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, dish soap, make up, household cleaners and smell good stuff, and way more. Most of it was free!
• Teach your kids that the kitchen is not their own personal pantry. Not only will this help your pocketbook but it will help you to know what your kids are eating and how much bad and good stuff they are getting. On the same note, it is important for your husband and children to have good snacks available to them. Favorites for us are homemade muffins (I love these dipped in yogurt), homemade breads and bread sticks, granola bars, or anything else found on sale. I always try to keep snacks in the house by finding them on sale and matching them up with coupons. These deals aren't ever the same but my family really enjoys the variety.

With just a little work and some patience I have found that it isn't all that tough to cook and keep snacks available for my big family on a budget. By carefully managing our grocery money I have not only cut our budget tremendously, I have also made meals and snacks for my family more interesting.
What works for us may not work for you - you may have to tailor your budget to suit your husband's wishes. With some prayer and a little creativity you should still be able to put a dent in your spending.

Wife-ing - Cooking & Creative Use Of Leftovers - part 2

Part one of this wifing section focused on an easy recipe that could feed a family of 8 for three dinners. This is the second dinner I made with that recipe.

We made meatball subs with homemade sub rolls with the leftover Giant Porcupine Meatballs from night one. This was a Sunday dinner so I made the sub rolls the day before. I heated the meatballs back up in the crock pot a few hours before dinner.

My sub roll recipe is similar to my French Bread recipe but with a little sugar and butter added. After the sub rolls are done you will want to pile them with meatballs, mayo, catchup, pickles or relish, onions, cheese, lettuce, or whatever you like.

Sub rolls - bread maker recipe: this makes 8 to 10 hoagie style sub rolls

• 6 cups flour (I either use all purpose or bread machine flour)
• 2 packages active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 teaspoons)
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 TBS sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water

Step 1 - Put the first four ingredients in your bread maker on the dough setting, don't cook it. This takes about 1.5 hours. When the dough is finished it should be very risen and touching the top of the bread maker if you have an average sized machine.
Step 2 - Dump it out on a lightly floured surface and separate into 8 to 10 equal size portions. Let the sections rest for about 10 minutes.
Step 3 - Roll out each half into a 6 or 7 inch long rectangle with your rolling pin. This doesn't have to be perfect.
Step 4 - Starting from a long end roll the rectangle up jellyroll style, pinch the ends closed, and place it on a cookie sheet, then do the same with the other sections. Many directions call for a greased and cornmeal dusted cookie sheet but last time I forgot to grease it and mine turned out just fine. Don't put the rolls too close together. They will rise and double in size and you don't want them to rise into each other. I use two cookie sheets.
Step 5 - Set the cookie sheet(s) on the stove top, cover the rolls with a towel, and preheat your oven to 375. Let the rolls sit and rise for about 30 minutes.
Step 6 - Brush them with your egg mixture very gently and put them in your oven for 15 minutes. Take them out, brush them with the egg mixture again, then cook them for another 5 to 10 minutes. Pay close attention, once they are light brown on top they are done.
Step 7 - Take them out and let them cool. You can serve them right away or store them in a sealed container or bag for a few days. They will last in the freezer for a very long time.

Tips:
**Make sure you don't make your sub rolls more than 6 or 7 inches long. If you do this you are likely to have long, skinny rolls. They are still usable and taste just as good but they don't look as much like sub rolls. Your 6 inch rolls will rise and expand and turn out just fine.
**Add food coloring to your rolls in the beginning in the bread maker for added fun for the kids. This can be a festive addition for the holidays!
**Don't expect sub roll perfection. Most people aren't going to make perfect looking rolls the first time they try. It's okay because they will still taste very good and beat store bought rolls in taste every time - no matter how they look.
**This recipe makes great bread sticks, too. Make smaller sections of your dough and roll them up in a snake like fashion. Cook them the same - this will make a lot and they taste very good.
**My family likes me to split the sub rolls open, add cheese, and toast them under the broiler just before serving. This isn't hard and only takes a few minutes.

The final dinner in this recipe is Fried Crust Meatball Pizza. It is very good and is super quick to throw together. Stay Tuned!

Homemade Frozen Yogurt - I DID IT - and it's GOOD