Shhhhh, we're pretending!

In honor of the Autumn Equinox this week, I decided that in spite of the weather here in North Florida (90 degrees) we are going to pretend it's Fall!

The very first thing I did was to print off the free Autumn/Fall thematic Unit from SchooExpress.com.  I will have to tweak it somewhat so that the girls can enjoy it too.  Since we had several errands to run today, I used the time in the car to discuss the difference between the Autumn/Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice.

The next thing I did was to get out some fall decorations.  I need something visual to tell me it's fall because unfortunately, the weather is NOT going to tell me!  Since our yard is overflowing with acorns, I asked the girls to go and find as many as they could.  All I needed was a new candle and here's what we came up with....

The candle is a little big, but when it burns down some, I think it will be perfect.  You might recall that my decorations last year looked something like this....

Yes, it's there, amongst all the homework disaster from last year.  Below is an up close shot.

Not very appealing is it?  I like the one we put together today much, much better!  Don't you?

Next, I browsed through a cookbook I bought while in Tennessee.  I chose Taco Stew!  It was pretty simple.  Here is the recipe.  I doubled it.

Taco Stew

1 lb ground beef
1 med. onion, chopped
1 can (10.75 oz) tomato soup
1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn
1 can (15 oz) chili beans
1 can (16 oz) tomatoes with chiles
1 pkg. (1.25 oz) taco seasoning mix
1 cup water

In a skillet, brown beef and onion; drain fat and rinse.  Add remaining ingredients.  Bring mixture to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips or corn bread and shredded Monterrey jack cheese.

Fresh, homemade cornbread....yummmm!

And this is what was left...

So how are you celebrating the beginning of Fall?

Please join The Idea Room for the Link round up.!!!

Oh My Heavens!

I just hit PAY DIRT!!!  You have GOT to visit Monica at Lick The Bowl Good!!  Browse through her "kid friendly" recipes!  Clearly, I was not standing in the "Photography" or "Cooking" line when God was handing out talent............I was over in the "Procrastination" line...which is in between the "Frumpy Dress"  and  "Gray Hair Early" lines!  Nevertheless, I'm happy to live vicariously through Monica! :0)

Our weekend

We had a very busy weekend! Saturday was the day we celebrated Amelia's 6th birthday! Instead of a store bought cake, I decided to try and make/decorate one myself. The good news....it turned out round (after all...the cake pans were round). The bad news, I tried as hard as I could to make "pink"...but I ended up with this gross orange color. She insisted on chocolate frosting so the only thing I could do was to add some decorations. I dug out all of my cake decorating supplies and got to work! The icing was too thin and my hands were too shaky. I don't think Amelia noticed! She had a great time with friends and family!

Sunday, we took a nature walk as a family! The weather was perfect...not too hot...not too cold! However, it would have been nice if the sun made an appearance.
At the beginning of the trail, I noticed that one of God's little creatures had met with an unfortunate demise! All that was left was a foot and some feathers. There wasn't enough of it left to be able to tell what it was....but we think it was an Egret.

All I can say is that whatever it was....it fought the good fight...FOR SURE. It made whatever attacked it WORK for it!

My beautiful family.....I think you can click on the pictures to make them bigger (can you see Amelia?).

Some critter uses this for a shelter. Dan thought maybe it was a fox or a raccoon.

We must stop and do our exercises along the way!

Interesting little sign post on the way out! I always remember my eighth grade teacher (Sr. Madeline) talking about the Beatitudes. She used to remind us that the Beatitude does NOT say "Blessed are the peace keepers".....it says "Blessed are the peace MAKERS". She always said that meant we are to rock the boat a little. I agree!

And finally, tonight I decided to make breakfast for dinner! I have been so inspired by Amanda at I Am Baker and I Am Mommy, that I had to try these.....Rainbow Pancakes!! This was a lot of fun...even for me! Now...Amanda's are much prettier than mine! Her colors are much more vibrant. The kids LOVED them! They expect them to taste different though and it's hard to explain to Amelia and Olivia that...the food coloring doesn't change the flavor.

Incidentally....Amanda got some very interesting responses from her readers regarding these lovely pancakes. Some people really need to lighten up! BIG TIME! You can read what some readers wrote if you click here.

One other funny story about the pancakes. After we had finished eating, I got a call from a friend of mine who lives in Texas. I was sharing with her about my rainbow pancakes. She asked me if it had anything to do with Gay Pride Month! Are you kidding me ?????? I didn't even know they dedicated an entire MONTH to this group! Since when did the rainbow become exclusively owned by homosexuals? I mean, really!! Honestly, the first thing I think of when I see a rainbow........is Noah and his ark! So there!

Recipe Swap Thursday!

Therese from Musings of a Mom has started a Recipe Swap that she will post about on Thursdays! I am very excited as I am always looking for new things to prepare for my family.

After all, the same old thing is....well....the same old thing! However, there are a few things that the kids seem to ask for over and over. I realize that it's the middle of the summer and soup is not the meal of choice. However, this one is easy, delicious and since it's made in the crockpot...the kitchen stays cool!



CrockPot Pizza Soup

1-1/4 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups water
1 can (18 ounces) pizza sauce
1 cup chopped pepperoni
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or 1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup cooked Italian sausage, out of casing and crumbled
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning (oregano, parsley, basil)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
shredded Mozzarella cheese

In large saucepan, saute onions and mushrooms in olive oil 2-3 minutes or until tender. Add everything to the crock pot except the cheese. Simmer on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours. Before serving, add Parmesan cheese and stir in. Garnish with mozzarella.
****I usually double the recipe so we have leftovers and I also add more meat to make it heartier. Serve it with garlic bread/toast. You could also add any other ingredients that you like on your pizza (bell peppers, olives etc......)

I've blogged about this before here (with pictures)! You really should try this! Your kids will love it!

Fruit of the vine

Yesterday, my MIL sent over several pounds of fresh blueberries! Apparently, there is a family connection with a blueberry farmer (who knew?). I can't tell you how much I love blueberries!

Because I couldn't control myself, we ended up having blueberry pancakes for dinner last night.

Every single one of those puppies were eaten. Olivia even licked the bottom of her plate!

Late last night, I perused the internet for more blueberry recipes. I found one that seemed easy enough and this morning at 8:00am...I was baking! I found a recipe for Blueberry Crumb Bars from the Smitten Kitchen. The recipe is simple so I'll print it here:

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

zest and juice of one lemon

4 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

4 teaspoons cornstarch

(Let me tell you right from the start....I did not have a lemon, nor did I have any cornstarch.

The recipe turned out TERRIFIC without either)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

In a medium bow, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and the egg. The dough will be crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently fold in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Cool completely (if you can wait that long) before cutting into squares. I recommend serving it with French Vanilla Ice Cream!!!

Here's how mine turned out. Surely not as nice as the Smitten Kitchen....but I bet mine tastes just as good!

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I would also like to introduce you to my first crop of cherry tomatoes! I'm very proud! Dan and I decided to try one of those upside down tomato plant "thingy's" and, well, it worked!



Here's the bad news.....I think 4 cherry tomatoes will be considered my bumper crop! Yes ladies and gentlemen.....That's it for this upside down "thingy". It cost us $9.99 for 4 cherry tomatoes.
What a bargain! Sigh......

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One last thing, if you haven't entered to win the beautiful Rosary made by Barbara at Praying For Grace, click here to enter!

Sunday Supper!

When I was a little kid, I loved Sundays. That was the day when all my Italian family members would gather for a meal. Sometimes lunch, sometimes dinner but it always involved pasta and meat of some kind. I have such fond memories of the way the house smelled and I can still hear the way my Aunt Tootie laughed.

Then, there came a time when I hated Sundays. My parents were divorced when I was 9 and my mom had full custody of my sister and I, but we spent every other weekend with my dad. Those years were very hard. Without going into too much detail, l was miserable with my mom. I would literally count off the days, hours and minutes until the next time I would see my dad. I hated Sundays because that was the day that he would bring us back to mom's. Then, I would start the count down again.

As an adult, it got better but Sundays was still the day before going back to work....usually after a very fun and active weekend with friends. Not my favorite day by any stretch of the imagination.

Now, as a wife and mother...Sundays mean so much more. It's a day for God and family. I love to have Dan's parents over for dinner. I try to do this as often as I can because I want my kids to have good memories of Sundays. During the week, we often eat off of paper plates. This really cuts down on the dishes (we don't have a dishwasher).....but NOT on Sundays. On most Sundays, I bring out the good dishes and set the table as well as serve from the table.

Tonight, we had Crockpot Cubed Steaks, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and biscuits. For dessert....fresh sliced peaches with ice cream. I got the recipe from The Flowering Dogwood.

Here's a picture of the prepared recipe from the blog:

And here a picture of what our supper looked like tonight:

How'd I do??? (Just so ya know, I didn't need that knife to cut the steaks....the fork worked just fine!).

More wonderful blogs....

My body can't keep up with my brain today! Does that ever happen to you? I have many posts rolling around in my head which may or may not ever get written. So, to pass the time, I have more of my favorite blogs to share with you! Since I love pictures in blog posts....feast your eyes on these:

1. Foodgawker I dare you to visit this blog when you're hungry!

2. Cake That! Unfortunately, the creator of these lovely cakes does not live in the U.S.

3. PLAYING WITH SUGAR Is there a better name for a blog than that?????

4. Butter and Sugar Ok...maybe the name of this blog is better!

5. Jenn Cuisine All I can say about this one is.....Mmmmmmmm.

6. CakeCentral Check out the children's birthday cakes!

7. The Sporadic Cook Yummy, yummy, yummy!

8. The Italian Dish This needs no introduction!

9. The Decorated Cookie Fun stuff!

10. Sweetopia Waaaay out of my league!!

Well...these should keep you busy for awhile! Enjoy!

What's for dinner?

Crock pot Pizza Soup! I may have blogged about this before, but, it's worth mentioning it again! This is one of our family's favorite meals! Even the kids have more than one helping! Personally, I LOVE the crock pot! I'm starting to use it more and more because of the time it saves. The recipe for this Pizza Soup is below.....Enjoy!

***One more thing....visit Stephanie's A year of Slow Cooking Blog for tons of wonderful recipes for the crock pot! She also has a brand new cookbook coming out!

Crock pot Pizza Soup

1-1/4 cups sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 cups water

1 can (18 ounces) pizza sauce

1 cup chopped pepperoni

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or 1 can stewed tomatoes

1/2 cup cooked Italian sausage, out of casing and crumbled

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning (oregano, parsley, basil)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

shredded Mozzarella cheese

In large saucepan, saute onions and mushrooms in olive oil 2-3 minutes or until tender. Add everything to the crock pot except the cheese. Simmer on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours. Before serving, add Parmesan cheese and stir in. Garnish with mozzarella.

****I usually double the recipe so we have leftovers and I also add more meat to make it heartier. Serve it with garlic bread/toast. You could also add any other ingredients that you like on your pizza (bell peppers, olives etc......)

Our plans

I thought I'd share with you a few of our plans for tomorrow. It's usually a very quiet day for our family. We will go to Dan's sister's house. There are usually about 15 of us and my house is too small. She's is going to make the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and I'm in charge of the green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and some appetizers!

I know that there are probably lots of variations on the traditional green bean casserole, but, I think I'll just stick to the normal recipe. The last time I made it with fresh green beans....I had complaints that they were too "squeaky" on their teeth!! Go figure! So this year...I'm going "extra" easy and using canned beans.

I've been searching for just the right sweet potato recipe for weeks! I finally found what I was looking for over at Recipe Zaar. I'm going to do a sweet potato casserole. It sounds really yummy!

I picked a couple of appetizers...

1. Crackers and a Seafood Salad
2. Pigs in a blanket
3. Nancy's Deli Spirals

As you can see....I raided Sam's Club the other day!! However, there is one appetizer that I am making myself....they're called Antipasto Kabobs and I found the recipe from http://www.tasteofhome.com/ . Here is a picture of them...

As I type this, I am marinating my tortellini's. I'm going to use cubes of cheese instead of the black olives though. I bought some really cute decorative toothpicks at Hobby Lobby. I'll post some pictures of our feast tomorrow.

In the meantime, I wish all of you the most blessed Thanksgiving you've ever had!

I should probably be arrested!

Seriously. I've been home all afternoon....not doing much of anything really. I folded some laundry and straightened up a bit...nothing major. So, tell me why I didn't plan better for dinner! This is what I ended up feeding my family tonight.....feast your eyes on this:

Up first is.......canned french cut green beans.

Next we have boxed, frozen pierogies sauteed in olive oil and butter.

And...drum roll please....packaged, microwaved kielbasa.

I wonder what the fat content of this meal is. Or, for that matter, what the nutritional value is. What I'm embarrassed to tell you is that, we were in a rush this morning as I had something to take care of at church...so they had pop tarts for breakfast. And....since they were with me at church for almost three hours without fussing very much....I treated them to McDonald's for lunch. I wonder if I'm actually treating them to a future heart attack? I know that if I planned better, I could serve my family more nutritious and healthy meals. In all honesty, Dan and the kids loved dinner and I must admit that the pierogies were pretty darn good...frozen or not! There are recipes out there for fresh, home made pierogies.....like Bethany's. Still, I feel guilty for not doing better in this area. I mean, I'm a little worried about the eating habits that I'm teaching my children. I shudder to think of the other habits they're learning. Why is it that pre packaged foods are so much more economical than fresh or "organic"?

When Dan and I visited Rome last year, we noticed that most Romans go to the grocery store everyday. They buy the ingredients that they need for just that day. Honestly, I just don't have the time or the inclination to go every single day. On the other hand, fresh fruits and vegetables don't last all that long and I find that sometimes, these things go bad before I can use them. I guess I justify my pre packaged purchases with the thought that it is less wasteful.

Well, whatever my motives or excuses...I'm going to make a real effort to become a healthier wife and mom and to try and take better care of my family.