Just a quick tip...

Today and the rest of the week really I'm going to be super duper busy so I may not be on here all that much. BUT...one great tip I wanted to share. Since I'm really busy with training for work and getting ready for my grandmothers 85th birthday, my poor son has to really fend for himself sometimes. Of course I'm always watching him, but he's got to keep himself company playing outside or inside.

I have dedicated the bottom drawer in our refrigerator to Simon. In there I have put individual cheddar cheese sticks, gogurts, and snack packs of grapes and cut up strawberries. That way when he's ready for a snack, he can go in there and get it himself. Of course he has to ask me first but they're available! Oh and I keep the banana's within his reach too. Of course he doesn't eat all of these things all day, but in those times when he's hungry (and lets face it, right now he's always hungry, he's a growing boy!) I like to keep some things handy where he can get it himself.

Fathers day

I know this is a bit late in the day, but we still have 22 minutes of Fathers Day so I wanted to say "HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!" to all of our dads. I have to say I have been fortunate enough to have a wonderful father in my life. I feel sorry for so many who have not grown up with their fathers or those who's fathers chose to stay out of their lives. My dad was such an intricate part of my upbringing and someone who I have much respect for. He's our rock in our family and one that we go to for advice on BBQing, finances, and our how to guy. Much love to my papa!

Simon is extremely fortunate to have a wonderful father in his life too! My dear husband is an incredible father. Simon waits until his dad gets home from work everyday and most of the time at around 5 o'clock, I have a very happy little boy. I truly thank God for Darren being a wonderful father who loves nothing more than being with his boy and will do whatever he needs to do to make sure that we want for nothing.

As for food...almost nothing was cooked tonight. At daddy's request, I made beans on toast with an egg on top. I didn't get a picture of it because my stomach was giving me needless problems so I wanted to just go lay down. Of course dad and son ate it all up which is always nice! It's a traditional English meal that you can eat at any time of the day. It's basically toast, with baked beans (or pork & beans in tomato sauce here in the US) poured on top of the buttered toast, with an egg on top of the beans. I know it sounds weird, gross, or strange, but I assure you, once you try it, you'll like it!

As for last night, I had a request from Simon for some fried rice. I think he was thinking of the curry fried rice I make, but I made him "traditional" fried rice. I can tell you this was NOT good at all. I made it as said, but I did add some peas and carrots and this just tasted too salty and way too much sesame oil. I didn't like it one bit and neither did Simon, although daddy ate it up.

Luckily we had some yummy baked sweet & sour chicken. I have made this recipe a few times and will continue to do so because it's delicious! I did not line my pan with foil, simply because I didn't have any and to be honest, it worked out for the best. Occasionally my chicken would stick to the foil but the one time I didn't use foil and just sprayed the pyrex generously with PAM, it didn't stick. Now bear in mind this DOES make quite a bit. Enough to have at least two full meals (by full meals, enough to feed a family of four). I like to make that amount that way we can have leftovers for lunch or to use it for another dinner.

Wanna see my buns?

I made my own sesame seed buns today and they turned out fabulous!! I really cannot tell you how liberating it feels to make your own food. No preservatives, nothing you can't pronounce, just basic ingredients. I don't feel chained to the grocery store and if I'm out of something, I just make it. I cut our leftover mini meatloaves in half and made mini sliders with french fries (home made of course). It was an absolute hit with the family and something that will be made on a regular basis.

In my kitchen...

I was thinking today how my best investment ever has been my Sunbeam bread machine. I got it about two years ago from amazon.com for $35 and it has saved hundreds of dollars! Now it's double that price, but to be honest, I'd still pay it. I make bread, yeast rolls, cinnamon rolls, and have even made jam. Honestly the jam was a bit of a waste because it didn't make that much and we go through jam like crazy in our household. Anyway, yesterday was a full day of cooking and baking.

First off, I made some chili soup, which is yummy and full of fiber. I didn't have macaroni noodles but did have fideos so that's what I used and it worked just fine! I did also add some cayenne pepper to give it a bit of a kick. I've decided that weekly, I'm going to make a big container of soup to eat for lunch. Lunch has always been my downfall. I'm generally good during breakfast and mostly during dinner, but lunch has always been difficult. I sometimes wait too late to eat therefor when I finally get a chance to eat, I scarf down whatever I can and it's not good so I'm determined to eat some healthy soups. Of course healthy is the key here. There are tons of soups out there that are the equivalent of eating a cheeseburger with fries so I'm sure to look for good soups.

Then I made some buttery yeast rolls BUT...made them for cinnamon rolls. Now I know that's not healthy but I wanted to try them and wanted to make some for my husband to take to work. They turned out pretty good for my first time I must say but after putting the mixture of butter, sugar and cinnamon was very dirty. The yeast rolls are very fluffy and are meant to roll into balls to rise again, but I tried to roll them out which was okay but after rolling them up and then cutting them, my counter, knife, and myself were terribly dirty. That being said, they turned out to be pretty good for my first time.

After that I finally made my meatloaf. This was recommended by a friend and they turned out yummy! I did what my friend Dori suggested and invested in a good muffin pan. Wilton I believe and I'm really glad that I did. I had about two pounds of ground beef, a box of Stove Top Stuffing (chicken flavor), and egg and about 3/4 cup of milk. I mix it all up and made it into little balls then patted them down into my muffin pans. I had too much meat mixture to fit into the twelve slots so I got my little muffin pan that has six and three fit in there. I was going to make creamed spinach to go along with it but was too tired and time was not on my side so I just made green beans and mashed potatoes. Obviously we had too a lot of leftovers so today, I'm going to make homemade hamburger buns and use those little mini meatloaves and make sliders with french fries.

Sad

It amazes me how silly I can really be at times. Especially when it comes to death. If someone dies that I haven't seen in a while, I am of course instantly sad when I first hear the news, but when I hang up the phone, I kind of go about my business thinking of that person and when I last saw them. In my mind, they're not gone and it's not real. To me, they're hundreds of miles away doing their thing and I'm doing mine, the way it's been done since the last time I saw them. That is until I actually see the obituary. Then, it becomes real and the sadness becomes real.

A family friend that I have known literally all my life lost her husband, Ricardo Torres, Jr. Monday. He was too young, she was too young, it's just terribly tragic. 41 years old is too young to have to plan a funeral for your husband. 41 years old is too young to die. Ricardo was married to my sisters best friend, Melissa. As I said, I've known Missy all my life and wanted to be like her when I was younger (still do lol). She met Ricardo and they married in 1995. He was a great compliment to Missy because she always had and still has a great smile with perfect teeth, just like my sister. He had an equally wonderful smile and was just a decent guy with a calming demeanor. I really cannot imagine the loss that is felt by Missy and their families and I pray for them.

May our brother in Christ finally be at peace and may the Lord accept him with open arms.

Sittin' pretty

Finally, at 11:29pm I'm sitting down to "relax". Is relaxation even something we moms are able to do? I'm watching a Young & the Restless episode on DVR and trying to think what else I can do to tweak my latest English Chinese Curry recipe attempt. This one was pretty good, but definitely needs room for improvement, as with anything. You really have no idea how difficult it is to get an English style recipe for food that's not English if you get what I'm saying. We haven't been to London in about 4 years and that's the longest we've gone so naturally my husband starts missing his comfort foods. I naturally want to make him comfortable so in I go giving it the old college try.

He was gracious in his review and gave me some great constructive criticism which I already knew about the recipe but needed confirmation in his critique. I didn't have the luxury of curry paste so I had to make my own. I had a bit of coconut milk, curry powder, ground tumeric, ground cardamom seeds and a bit of cinnamon. Next time I will definitely add some honey for the sweetness and I did add some flour to thicken up the sauce. I didn't cook any veggies with this, well other than the peas that were in the recipe, but I will definitely cook some veggies. Birdseye Asian Medley is delicious and would go great with it.

I think I could probably eat Asian or Indian food every night of the week so finding new recipes is a must!

Tomorrow is my final day in the Amish friendship starter bag so I can make some yummy Amish bread. I have to say I'm really taking to cooking, especially from scratch. I don't see the need to buy anything prepackaged because it's a waste of money and definitely doesn't taste as good. In fact, a lot of the time it tastes like what it is...processed.

Speaking of bread, I'm having difficulties with my Amish white bread splitting. I found an awesome website with some great tips and I can't wait to try them. I think I'll probably be cooking a lot tomorrow...again.

As for dinner, I have no idea what will be on the agenda tomorrow. Since I plan on baking a lot, I may as well do a meat loaf, something easy. A dear friend of mine came over for dinner Saturday night and brought some mini meatloaves made with milk, egg, and stove top stuffing in 2lbs of ground beef. It was some of the yummiest meatloaf I've ever had. I usually make an Italian meatloaf but for a more traditional meatloaf, this hit the spot. I made this with a corn/cream cheese concoction (again, another friend recipe). It was a quick, easy, yet yummy dinner so I think that's what will be on tomorrows agenda.

Hey good lookin...

What am I cookin'? I used to listen to Anthony Bourdain and thought that Rachael Ray was a lame chef/cook whatever you want to call her. Bourdain might know a lot about cooking, and food, but does he know how it is to cook a yummy meal on a budget with a toddler running around? Probably not. I was recently in a slump and had Food Network on TV and Rachael Ray was on. I admit her voice is a little annoying but I thought, what the hey...I'm gonna check her out. SO...I watched her and lo and behold she had an awesome recipe that used pretty much everything I had. Mind you, this is when I was watching my friends kids and I wanted to make something healthy and good, something I'd want my son to eat if he was at someones house. Anyway...she had this recipe and I made this simply by watching what was on her show.

Mind you...I didn't do the whole thing verbatim. I substituted the white wine with chicken stock, and I made instant mashed potatoes minus the apples and brie. For one, I didn't have brie and I didn't add the apples because I didn't have apples LOL. But I followed everything else the way it was written. I got glowing reviews from all at the table and it was a very simple dish. And yes...I am a Rachael Ray fan now.

And on to everyday life...I have been super busy training for a new position with Westathome. If anyone is looking to work from home, feel free to click on that link and check it out. Now that I work at home, lots of people are asking me how I do it and that is how! It's wonderful that companies like these give moms like me an opportunity to actually DO some work from home so we can be home with our little ones. I remember being small and wishing my mom stayed home with me and sometimes faking sick just to be home with her. I know she did what they had to do and I appreciate it all but I have always wanted to stay home and be with my kiddo no matter what age he is and now that he's going to start school, I feel it's double important that I am here when he gets home. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to bring in much needed money AND be home for my son. No one to answer to if he gets sick or just needs extra attention and NO office politics!!

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me and I'd be happy to help any way I can.