Cinnamon Rolls....YUM!!

On Monday in between moving furniture and cleaning I got the bright idea to finally make homemade cinnamon rolls. It was sort of a long process to me but oh so good in the end. It was actually my first "baking from scratch" recipe!! I'm very proud of myself for how they turned out too!!!

I made the dough on Monday but actually finished the cinnamon rolls yesterday. The recipe also gave instructions for an icing but I didn't use it...I experimented and made my own and it was pretty tasty as well!

The recipe I used for the cinnamon rolls can be found here.

For the icing I used probably 2 cups of powder sugar, 2 tbsp. of butter, 1 tbsp. of vanilla extract, and enough milk to make it as thick/thin as you want. I mixed it all together and about 5 minutes after I pulled the rolls out of the oven I poured the icing over them and it was great!!

I'm debating on making some yeast rolls this evening so we will see!

What's on my mind - Monday and a CHALLENGE

The end of a year always sends me into deep thinking. I go over everything that has happened in the current year and what I want to change for the coming year. I can usually come up with a TON of things that I want to change but somehow I always fall back in to the old ways. That is making me think even harder this year about what I want to change and exactly what am I going to do to make those changes happen and stick!! As of right now I have a million and two things that I can think of that I want to change and honestly it sort of saddens me that I can come up with so many things that aren't right to me. I know though that if I can make these changes happen  not only will I benefit from it but so will my family.

Our lives are so chaotic and unorganized that it is stressful at times. We have been through alot this year as a family and I don't think we all quite recovered from the very stressful situations that we were put in. I hope that this new year can bring some much needed peace for us. In alot of ways we have forgotten about each other and merely focused on what we as individuals needed or wanted. That DEFINITELY HAS TO STOP! So as the next week and a half comes to a close I will be thinking about how I can change things for us. Obviously it will take the work of our family as whole to keep it going but as the family manager I can get the ball rolling!!

Now on to something else...kind of...

We are a large family living in a very small house. Right now there is nothing we can do about that so we must make do with what we have and be happy about it! We have to maximize the space available for everything to work properly! We have 2 adults and 4 kids plus a baby on the way which equals alot of stuff crammed in this little space. I try to go through the house every once in a while and get rid of a few things but it never seems to amount to much. Now adding a baby to the mix means getting alot more stuff that we have to find room for. Not an easy task. Our house really has no storage space...anywhere. Everything just kind of sits where it falls because nothing really has place of its own. I plan to change that!

Most of my plans of "change" will begin with the new year...why start now huh? (HA!) But I think this challenge will begin today. What challenge you ask? The Housewife's Declutter Challenge. I plan to go through our house room by room every day and get rid of EVERYTHING UNNECESSARY! Then as I can I plan to "redo" each room adding more storage space and also doing a little more decorating along the way. Since the baby will be in our room that is where I am going to start. Get rid of a little to add a lot more to it...can't catch a break...haha. It will be a little less than Extreme Home Makeover...but will feel just as good when it is all done!

So now I'm going to the bedroom and find some stuff that I can get rid of!! YAY ME!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Ashley

Menu Plan (Dec. 15th-Dec. 29)

So I have been making our menu plan for a week at a time and I'm realizing that it is not working out so well with our family. Maybe it is my pregnancy brain but something always goes wrong!

I have decided to go back to planning meals from the day the paycheck comes to the night before the next paycheck hits the bank...usually a little over 2 weeks at a time! It makes my grocery shopping easier and helps keep my sanity!

As I was typing the title to this post I also realized that I didn't take into account that a few of these days will be spent with family for the holidays and not necessarily in my home so I kind of have to alter it....again! HA!

Here it is....

Wednesday (15th) - Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, homemade french fries
Thursday (16th) - Cheesy Potato Soup, rolls
Friday (17th) - Date Night
Saturday (18th) - Parmesan Tilapia, seasoned rice, corn on the cob
Sunday (19th) - Crock pot Beef Tips, potatoes, carrots
Monday (20th) - Tacos
Tuesday (21st) - Boiled shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob
Wednesday (22nd) - Crock pot Salsa Chicken...will shred to make sandwiches, spicy oven fries
Thursday (23rd) - Chili
Friday (24th) - With Family
Saturday (25th) - Chicken Spaghetti...possibly...might change...with Family
Sunday (26th) - With Family
Monday (27th) - Quesadillas, Mexican rice, refried beans
Tuesday (28th) - Spaghetti Pie
Wednesday (29th) - Sloppy Joes

I will post recipes over the next few days as I have a little bit more time!! Hope everyone has a great day!

Menu Plan...Tuesday??

Doesn't quite sound as good as Monday! HA! I just realized that I had not posted our menu plan for this week.

And I hate to say...I haven't even planned a menu for this week....EEK!!! Well the kids are gone so it's just me and Drew...doesn't require a huge meal for just the two of us!!

Anyways...lastnight we just ate whatever we wanted...he chose some fish fillets...and I ate a tuna fish sandwich.

Tonight (Tuesday) we are going to Drew's sister's house for dinner. I really don't know my plans for the rest of the week! Can't believe I let this get by me!!

I know I don't have to go to the store for anything but milk, bread, eggs, and cheese...just ran out of all that! So figuring out what to eat shouldn't be that hard for me!

Next week will be better! I will do my planning over the weekend!!

Hope everyone has a good evening!

Ashley

Banana Muffins

As I was cleaning the kitchen today I realized that I had 3 bananas that were starting to go bad. Rather than throw them away I thought about baking something with them. I started looking for some good recipes and just about all that I found needed more items than what I had here so...I improvised...and they actually turned out pretty great!

Banana Muffins

3 bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Mix bananas, sugar, egg, and butter. In a separate bowl, mix baking powder, salt, and flour. Then mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Pour into greased muffins tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

You can see where I took a bite out of one of them to taste it! HAHA! They were really good. I'm thinking that I will keep a few out for us to eat in the morning and I'm going to freeze the rest!

December Freezer Cooking

It's time again for some freezer cooking! My plan last month didn't go so well...I actually only made the pancake muffins so I hope that this month goes alot better! I'm keeping my list pretty simple this month because we are going Christmas shopping this weekend too! I will probably start working on some of this tomorrow while the kids are at school.

Breakfast
Waffles ( I bought an awesome waffle maker during the black Friday madness )
     - Just going to use Bisquick and cook according to directions this time...maybe next month I will make my own mix!

Lunch
PBJ Sandwiches (I've made them this week for the kid's school lunch...plan to do many more)
Ham and Cheese Sandwiches (also made a few this week)

---Each night this week I made a sandwhich for each of the kids and froze it over night to put into their lunch boxes. I wanted to try it out before I made a whole bunch and the kids not like them! The sandwiches went over VERY well with my picky eaters so I will be doing alot more this weekend so I don't have to make them every night!

Dinner
Quesadillas (might do some with chicken and just some with cheese)
     --For chicken--
             4 boneless chicken breasts, diced
             1/2 tsp. garlic powder
             1/2 tsp. pepper
              2 c. shredded cheese
              (might also add green chilies?)
Cook chicken with garlic powder and pepper until cooked through. Remove from skillet and set aside. Use a small amount of olive oil and fry tortillas on each side in skillet. Place on a cookie sheet and top with chicken, cheese, and another tortilla. Press gently and place in zip lock bag then freeze.
*Cooking Day - Preheat oven to 375 degrees . Do NOT thaw the quesadillas. Place on a cookie sheet and bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut into wedges and serve!

Black Bean Soup
-- 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed well
1 1/2 c. vegetable broth
1 c. chunky salsa
1 tsp. cumin

Combine all ingredients into blender and blend until soup is desired consistency. Place in freezer bag or container and freeze!

Snacks/Sides
Mashed Potatoes ( cook potatoes and mash then place in muffin tins and freeze. After frozen pop out of muffin tin and place in freezer bag. When ready to eat take out however many servings you need. 1 "muffin" equals 1 serving.

French Fries
Grapes ( did these this week for kid's lunch and they went over well with them too!

That is my plan...hopefully it will work out like I want it to! I need to get my freezer stocked up before the baby comes because I know I will NOT want to cook for a little while and I can't let the other family members starve or live on ramen noodles!! HAHA

For more freezer cooking ideas/tips visit the following sites:
Life As Mom
Mom's Plans
Meal Planning Mommies
Goodness Gracious

Advent Calendar and Elf on the Shelf

I quit procrastinating today and actually made an advent calendar...since it will start today! I already had my activities planned out on note cards to put in the Letters From Santa Box but I decided I didn't want to do that anymore. Our boys are getting a little older and were skeptical about the box appearing and disappearing...so I'm going to do something different!

I started with a large sheet of green foam. I then printed this sign that I found on this blog. Her advent calendar is really cute too! Then I glued the sign to a piece of red foam that I had cut out.

Then I printed off these numbers. I used plain printer paper because it's all that I have but they would look better on white card stock!



I then cut out all of the numbers. I was going to use the whole box but my foam sheet wasn't big enough to keep them that size. I found my scrapbook scissors that have decorative cutting edges and used those to cut out just the number with a little of the color left around it.

 

After I had all of the numbers cut out I wrote an activity on the back of them and arranged them on the foam sheet.

Then I took the ribbon and glued it to the back of the foam sheet so that I could hang the calendar up! And that's all it took....somewhere in between the two pictures the number 24 came off and I can NOT find it...I do believe it got up and walked away!

Also today our Scout Elf Ollie Elfkins showed up! I went to pick the boys up from school and when we got home he was sitting on the Christmas Tree with his Elfing License, a letter from Santa, and his Magic Elf Report.

The oldest boy (7) swears that I put the elf there but the other 2 boy (6 and 5) keep telling him there is no way because I have been at the school. They all keep telling each other that they have to be good or Ollie will tell Santa and they won't get any presents. Boys are too funny!

The boys and I are about to make homemade cookies. This is a first for me as well as them so we will see how it goes! If all goes well I will post the recipe pictures tomorrow!

Have a good evening!

Ashley