Crockpot Comfort: Hamburger Soup

I love EASY crockpot recipes for picky eaters on cold winter days...here is one of my favorites!!!

Hamburger Soup

• 1 lb ground turkey or 95% lean ground beef
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 can of corn 
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can condensed tomato soup, plus 1.5 cans water
• 1 can beef broth (or 1 beef bullion cube dissolved in 2 cups boiling water)
• 1 small onion diced (my kids don't like onions so I used some onion salt for taste)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 cups wagon wheel pasta (measured dry)

- Brown the ground beef in some olive oil, onions and garlic until meat is no longer pink.

- Combine remaining ingredients into the crockpot (you might choose to wait on adding the pasta until later so it doesn't get mushy). 

- Let it cook in the crockpot until ready to enjoy!! 

- My kids love to sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese on top and some Italian Bread on the side. 

Elf on the Shelf: 23 Days of Jingle "fun"!

Starting last year, I saw posts from friends on Facebook where they hiding some kind of Elf toy from their children and I have to admit that I just didn't "get it". Then it started again this year (and it is ALL over Pinterest!). So, I gave in to the peer pressure and looked into it...on December 1st, we adopted our own Elf on the Shelf - Jingle Charity (because I needed one more thing to add to my holiday to-do list!!!)

Instead of posting this on Facebook, I thought I would keep this blog updated with Jingle's adventure in our rookie year of Elf on the Shelf:

December 1st: Round Table

Jingle's first order of business was to meet with each of the kids favorite stuffed animal over tea to get the "low down" on their behavior this past year.

December 2nd: Traffic Jam

I was attempting to remind the kids of the traffic backups we encounter in our morning commute when they dawdle getting ready in the morning! (Note: unfortunately, this has minimal impact on our morning chaos!)

December 3rd: Read! 

Although I did want to remind Natalie that she needs to read each night....I will admit that I was on my way up to bed when I remembered that I needed to move Jingle and I had not one creative cell left in my body at the moment.

December 4th: Eat Your Dinner!

The kids had been not so great with table manners and finishing their veggies. Although I thought this one was good...it was not such a great hit with the kids (not too fun, apparently plus Jingle tipped over and appeared to be in a food induced coma when they found her!).

December 5th: Study Hard!! 

Just a little reminder to Natalie to stay focused in school and study her spelling words!

December 6th: Jingle Fairy

Natalie lost ANOTHER tooth at school unexpectedly so I had Jingle take on some Tooth Fairy duties (Note: I don't usually give $5 for a lost tooth, but we didn't see this one coming and of course, that is the smallest bill I had in my wallet - thank goodness Jingle Fairy is on temporary assignment!).

December 7th: All Aboard!

I finally got the stockings up and so I had Jingle help me celebrate my Holiday decor productivity...also, it was a Friday night that I got home late after a stressful week and had to get up early the next day...it was not my most creative, but it was the best I could muster!

December 8th: Happy Hanukkah! 

The kids had been learning about Hanukkah at school and also came home with their own Dreidels...so this is Jingle saying Shalom!

December 9th: Jingle is Getting the Band Back Together!

My kids (especially Drew) LOVE music and playing instruments, giving shows, singing, etc. I was trying to make up for some of my less than stellar Jingle adventures and decided that creating a full band might just do the trick.

December 10th: Getting into the Swing of Things! 

I fully admit that this night I fell asleep on the couch....no "Creative Mother of the Year" awards will be granted for this one. But at least I remembered to move her!!!

December 11th: The Great Outdoors

Natalie started Brownies this year so I thought that Jingle could do a little camp out in the wild with her forest friends. (OK...I was also REALLY trying to make up for the previous night's sub-par showing!)

December 12th: And the Joker Got Away!

Jingle is in trouble!!! Good thing that all these Super Heroes live in our house to save her! Maybe after the rescue they can dust off the top of my fridge...yikes!

December 13th: Waiting for the gifts!

Doug had to fill in for me this night so this is his first attempt at Jingle's adventures....

December 14th: Friday Night Featured Flick!

Jingle enjoyed a nice relaxing evening catching up on some classic Christmas movies...

December 15th: Chef Jingle

We had a holiday party tonight and Doug left for a trip to NH...another "not so great, but it is all I can do" Elf on the Shelf night! I didn't even have the motivation to take the picture until the next morning!

 

December 16th: Private Eyes....Are Watching You! 

Not easy to get a picture of this one,but I thought the kids needed a little challenge in finding Jingle!!

December 17th: Wrapping the Night Away! 

I've sorted all our gifts into "Santa Gifts" and "Mom and Dad" gifts...but have not wrapped even ONE!!! If only Jingle's magic could wrap all my gifts over night, what a Christmas Miracle that would be!!

December 18th: Holiday Photo Opportunity! 

As an after thought...I should have propped another snowman taking their picture or figured out how to make Jingle take the Snowmen's family portrait...darn that morning after brilliant idea!!!!!! I'll have to file that one for next year!

December 19th: Words with Friends (Old School Style!)

Our kids love playing board games - so I thought Jingle going head to head with our Tree Angel would be fun. It helps having one child that reads so they truly appreciate the time I put into making it a holiday theme!

December 20th: MIA

My husband and I spent the night in the ER with one of our boys, after getting home at 3am....we moved Jingle to the Christmas tree but taking her picture wasn't exactly a priority!!

December 21st: Jingle Fever

My daughter came down with a fever, congestion, cough... (when it rains, it pours in this house!!!). Jingle came down with something similar to help Natalie feel better!! We asked Jingle to take Natalie's sickness back to the North Pole with her so that we could join our family for Christmas - it was our plea for a Christmas Miracle!

 

 

December 22nd: Jingle Plum Fairy

Only 3 days left for Jingle Adventures!!!! I think this one is my favorite....I took Natalie to see The Nutcracker last year and she loved it. I knew that she would appreciate seeing Jingle in her favorite holiday ballet! Now if I could figure out how to stage Jingle in White Christmas...hmmmmm.....

 

December 23rd: Zip Line with Jeremy

We got to the Christmas House that my family rents in the Catskills and there was another Elf on the Shelf named Jeremy!!! Jeremy and Jingle spent their final adventure zip lining on the stocking line!

Thank you Shutterfly!

I don't think I got the "perfect picture" this year, but I think I managed to capture their personalities!!

 Add one photo or multiple to your Christmas cards this season.

View the entire collection of cards.

Christmas Fun List

A few weeks ago, I wrote about some ideas for a less stressful holiday season. One of the things I found was making a Christmas Fun List to write up at the beginning of the season to help you keep track of all the things you want to do to keep the magic in the season.

At dinner last week, we all brainstormed our 2012 Christmas Fun List. I've re-written it below, thought I would keep it updated as we complete the tasks. I would love any suggestions to add!!!

 

Activities:

__X__ Lights on the Lake
__X__ Take picture with Santa
_____ Decorate Cookies
__X__ Go to Tree Lighting
_____ Drive around to see Christmas lights
_____ Make S'mores in the fireplace
_____ Kiss under a mistletoe
_____ Write letters to Santa
__X__ Sing Christmas Carols
_____ Play in the snow
__X__ Decorate the tree
_____ Shop at local business
_____ Go sledding
_____ Go Ice Skating in Clinton Square
_____ Read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Movies to Watch:

__X__ Elf
__X__ The Grinch
_____ Charlie Brown Christmas
_____ Love Actually
_____ White Christmas
_____ Muppets Christmas
_____ Christmas Vacation

Goodwill:

__X__ Donate gifts to Toys for Tots
__X__ Donate canned food to Food Pantry
_____ Donate gloves, hats, scarves to Vera House
__X__ Put money in Salvation Army Kettle
_____ Make cards to send to Children's Hospital

Holiday Traditions: Molasses Press Cookies

I attended a cookie exchange today and needed 4 dozen cookies to share. When I went looking for some cookie cutters, I came across my Mom's cookie stamps.

If you have never seen cookie stamps, they are Terra Cotta stamps that make designs into the dough. As soon as I found the bag of stamps, nostalgia hit me -I fondly remember making Molasses Press Cookies with my Mom every year and thought they would be a perfect choice to share!



I wasn't really sure of the background to these cookie stamps so I did some research today and found that these stamps are traditional to the Pennsylvania Dutch and also the Scandanavians. In the Scandanavian tradition (which I like best), women pass down the stamps from one generation to the next and the stamps are used to make cookies and cakes for friends at Christmas time.


Here is the recipe I found (it made 52 cookies):

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp cloves

In a medium sized bowl, mix the butter and sugar. Next add the eggs and molasses - mix well.

In a seperate bowl, mix the dry ingredients and then add it to the wet ingredients slowly (the dough is pretty thick - I had to take a few breaks!)

Once dough is fully mixed, form the dough into balls (about the size of chestnut). Roll the ball into sugar and place on a cookie sheet.

Press the cookie stamp onto the ball and flatten it.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

If you are looking for a new twist on cut outs or just looking for a unique cookie to bake...I highly recommend these! These are also a great gift idea - I found a website that sells these stamps - Rycraft Cookie Stamps. The site also includes recipes for different cookies you can use these stamps with.

My kids LOVED pressing the stamps into the dough and I have to say that in comparison to traditional cut outs, these were alot easier to do!

All I Want for Christmas is to be Stress Free

Twas the eve of December 1st and all throughout my mind, all the events, shopping and plans we had this month were putting me in a bind!

Ever feel that the hustle and bustle of the Holiday Season leave you with more stress than enjoyment? You are not alone!!

Once I got through my first Thanksgiving Dinner, I spent this past week listing some of my biggest Christmas season stresses. Then I brainstormed and researched some ideas I think will help conquer them. In case you haven't noticed, this isn't a blog where I appear to have it all under control...my life is controlled chaos and my goal is to manage it the best I can!!

So, here is goes....my top 3 Holiday Season Stresses.....

Holiday Stress #1: The Packed calendar

• Doug and I just filled out our calendar with all our events - boy's hockey practices, get a tree, company parties, friend parties, etc. I always find that a common calendar with everyone's events and committments in one place keeps us all sane.
• Once we had all our committments on a calendar, we can fit in all the "to-do" items and create a timeline on when things need to be done (as always, I will get it done in the final minutes...but it will get done!)
• Say "no"! My company has a kids Christmas Party (which I plan and coordinate), a Holiday Brunch and an adult dinner party. I opted out of the adult party this year because I just can't fit it in and I am good with that - keeping sane this season is also knowing your limits.
• When we were dating, Doug and I used to make a list of everthing we wanted to do together on our summers home from college. I thought doing something similar for the Holiday season would let us get in those activities that make it such a romantic, magical and memorable time of year. I found this Christmas Fun List  on Pinterest and I love it! I'm going to have our family make a list of things we want to do and then we will fit in as many as we can before Christmas.

Holiday Stress #2: Shopping!!!!

• Family - one thing my husband's family does is have everyone send out lists of things they want (or better yet, create a wish list on Amazon.com or another site!). I know some think that this takes out the joy of finding the "perfect gift" but isn't that exactly what gives us so much stress??? My side of the family is for-going presents this year in exchange for renting a house in the mountains where we can all spend Christmas together. The memories of Christmas in this house together are honestly a gift that can't be wrapped.

• Co-Workers - last year I made home made peanut brittle for my general co-workers and got more personal gifts for the few closer friends I have at work. This year I am thinking of making this Peppermint Popcorn recipe on Tasty Kitchen from make-it-do.com

• Neighbors- I think that the Peppermint Popcorn could work for some neighbor gifts too, but I also found this cute idea for Reindeer  bottles - I bet you could do this with a bottle of wine too!) from Fingerprints on the Fridge

• Teachers- I found a couple cute ideas for teachers that I thought I would share.
The best teacher gift I gave was a personalized clip board for Natalie's Pre-School teacher (she still uses it today!). Here is one that I found on Mod Podge Rocks

• Another great gift that I found was from Create Art Studio - a local business. You could get a gift certificate for a painting session or you can purchase one of Karyn's paintings (I posted one of the paintings from her gallery below) If you aren't from my town, I'm sure there are plenty of small businesses you can find small gifts in too!

• I've taken some informal surveys of friends who are teachers and they overwhelmingly say that gift cards are their favorite gifts. Seem impersonal? Last year I found gift card boxes that you could record a message with and I had the kids sing a 30 second Carol and little message to the teacher. Or, wrap it up creatively! Here is a link to some adorable wrapping ideas that I found on Pinterest from Carolyns Homework!

Holiday Stress #3: Please Bring an Appetizer to Share

• There is something about Holiday parties that make me really want to bring a special appetizer, but it doesn't mean I have more time or money to put towards it!! Here are two ideas that I have used in the past that have turned out fabulously!!!
• Brie recipes - I love brie for special occassions and there are so many easy recipes for it. Here is one from Not Derby Pie that is a take on my usual Brie en Croute, but I like that they are bite sized!

• I also like to try and keep my appetizers somewhat healthy, here is a fabulous list from one of my favorite sites Skinny Taste (I made her Chicken Sausage and Herb Stuffing for Thanksgiving).

I vow that this Christmas season I will stay organized, stay in budget and take some time to truly enjoy "the most wonderful time of the year".  May these ideas for my top stresses be a good place to start!!!

The Non-lame Play Date - Spa Day

My 7 year old daughter has been begging me to have a play date with friends from school. We had an opportunity for her to have a play date today without her little brothers in the house (rare event!) so I really wanted it to be fun for her.

We brainstormed some potential ideas that would not be "lame". Maybe it was the anticipated peace and quiet of a non-brother afternoon, but Natalie decided she wanted a spa day for her play date. With two hours to put it together, off to Target we went!

Snack

Every play date needs to have a snack (especially if Natalie is in charge!). We decided that a yogurt smoothie would be a healthy spa themed snack.

• 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
• Choice of fruit ( we had bananas, blueberries and strawberries)
• 6 ice cubes
• 1/2 cup orange juice 
• Blend together and serve in a fun goblet

Activities

After the girls had their smoothies, I turned on some relaxing spa music, had them sit on the couch and brought them gel facial masks that were warmed. I really thought that I was going to get my turkey soup into the crockpot while they enjoyed their moment of zen...apparently, a 7 year old can find her zen in about 3 minutes because they announced that they were "relaxed" and ready for the next activity in the time it took for me to get the crockpot out of the cupboard!

Next up...Mani/Pedi time! I had some Dead Sea Salt and Dead Sea Body Butter from when I got completely suckered at the mall by those people who show you all the gross skin cells that come off with their "amazing" product...I purchased it just so they would let go of my hand!! So glad that I end up using it on two 2nd Graders. Seriously though, their hands and feet were super soft when I was done with their treatments, although one lesson I learned is that these girls have very ticklish feet!


Now that their hands and feet were baby soft, the girls picked their nail colors and I also got nail stickers to jazz up their mani/pedi's.

The end result.....

A very non-lame play date!!! I had two girls with very fancy finger nails and toe nails but more importantly, a nice afternoon for two friends to giggle, enjoy some fun time together and have some much needed time away from their siblings!!!



 

The Turkey Virgin Diary: End Results

Well, my first Thanksgiving dinner is behind me!! I'm glad to report that there more successful moments than disasters but here is the overview:

Needing improvement : "Crazy Steph" was not fully eliminated but that was due to the fact that I decided to move my dining room to the living room and haul the furniture around myself! I also shoved the peels of 5lbs of potatoes down our garbage disposal which caused a clog and then the pipe dislodged itself spraying water and potato peels everywhere! (At that point I poured a large glass of Cabernet and took some big sips and then deep breathes!). By Thursday morning, I still had quite the list to do!

My successes: Lists. All the to-do lists I kept, the timeline of when things needed to go into the oven and what temps, the grocery list and the Honey-do list i gave my husband so he could help me out with tasks...

The turkey. My first turkey turned out great! I would like to take a moment and credit Reynolds Oven Bags and my fabulous Co-worker Candice who told me about them!

The herb rub was delicious and made the finished product look oh so Martha!!! (1tbsp Sage, 1 tsp Thyme, 1 tsp rosemary and 1tsp seasoned salt).

Meal prep. All the food prep Wednesday made for a low stress Thanksgiving where I felt able to mingle with family and not be a slave to the oven.

I've been so focused on this meal for weeks and now that it's over...I feel like I need another project to focus on!!!

Hmmm...

Turkey Virgin Diary: Operation Preparation

All the food prep is done!!!


Mom's homemade applesauce (Granny Smith, Gala and McIntosh apples with apple pie spice and two Splenda)

10 lbs of mashed potatoes!!! I kept it healthy and only added skim milk, Smart Balance margarine, garlic and salt/pepper to taste.

Chicken Sausage and Herb Stuffing from Skinnytaste.com
Recipe at http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/11/chicken-sausage-and-herb-stuffing.html

Green Bean Casserole - recipe from French's

And here sits my first turkey...feels defrosted (fingers crossed!)...until we meet tomorrow!