Crockpot Cooking

Last week my friend Leeann posted recipes that she has found that she wants to try. Since I love finding new recipes, I looked at those and found that most of them were from a blog that she had found. A mother vowed that she would use her crockpot everyday in 2008 and so she started a blog and posts the recipe with pictures and what her family thought of it. It's pretty cool. I should use my crock pot more to reduce stress and time in the evenings cooking, so I spent a little time looking at her blog to find recipes that I would enjoy trying. This goes well with my new attempt to plan what we are going to eat each week, so I have already incorporated some of these new recipes into the coming week's plan. I can't wait to try these recipes. There are even several that are breakfast recipes and some that are for desserts.

Do you have any crockpot/slow cooker recipes that you love? If so, please share them with me.

Here's my favorite taco soup recipe (that my friend Nathan shared with me several years ago...)

1 can chicken broth
1 can Rotel
1 cup salsa
1 can black beans
1 can Mexicorn
1 lb of ground beef, browned

You can either mix all this together in the crock pot and cook it or you can cook it on the stovetop. It is great topped with corn chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, jalapenos, etc. Of course, I would recommend that you use the corn chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese in moderation. This is a where you could really go wrong (calorie wise) with this dish. I use fat free sour cream and reduced fat cheese. Consider using only 1 of the high fat ingredients in your bowl of soup instead of all of them.

There are lots of variations to taco soup but this is the first recipe that I tried and I love it.

New Recipe - Mexican Dip

Last night I tried a new Mexican dip. I think it was yummy and I think that others will too.

Here's what I did -

Put the following into a small saucepan over med heat - 16 oz fat free sour cream, 1 can fat free refried beans, 1 packet ranch dressing mix, and ~1-2 cups shredded cheese.

Serve warm with tortilla chips.

It was yummy, easy, and not too unhealthy.

Daring to Dream by Nora Roberts

I read this entire book on the way home from the beach yesterday.

It is the first book in a trilogy. The series is about 3 girls being raised together with each book being primarily about 1 of the girls. This first book was awesome so now I have already started the next book - Holding the Dream. I can't decide but I don't think I've ready any Nora Roberts books. I will have to start catching up on all of her books...I think I should own a bookstore or work at the library!

The Virtuous Woman by Gilbert Morris

This book was loaned to me by my mother. It was a great book...set in the early 1920s and from a series. It is the 34th in the series so I have some serious backing up to do!! I usually do not like historical fiction but this was well done. I really love Christian fiction...it is a great way to combine Bible study/devotion/prayer with the love of reading novels! I am happy that I discovered this series. I'm not sure which book it is supposed to remind me of, though, mom...I need a little hint.

This past weekend...

We had a fabulous time camping at Ocean Lakes this weekend with Kevin and Kim. My mom and Bill were nice enough to take the boys to the mountains camping, so this was a weekend for me to relax. Good thing, because I turned 30 on Sunday!!!

We really enjoyed getting to spend the quality time with Kevin and Kim. They are great friends! We did a lot of laid back, no cost things...riding around in the golf cart looking at the other campers and the houses at Ocean Lakes, teaching K & K to play Rummikub, going to Camping World to DREAM about our next camper, sitting outside and talking, etc. They took me (actually I took them...) to Senor Frogs for supper. We had a great time there and I was not happy at first about Kevin telling them it was my birthday, but luckily they didn't make me get up and dance or do anything stupid in front of the entire restaurant. Personally, I enjoyed starting my new Bible study with the book Experiencing God by Henry and Richard Blackaby and I enjoyed reading 2 other books that I brought along for the trip. (more to come in next post) Also, the weather was perfect for riding my bike. I looked at the map and determined how to best ride around the perimeter of the entire Ocean Lakes property. I think I rode 5 times...got some great exercise and quiet time.

I didn't take any pictures...what was I thinking???...so Kim will have to send me a couple to post later.

Thank you for making my birthday special!

Menu Plan

So, to go along with my goals (see previous post), here is my first week of planned meals -

Monday B/L - eat out for brunch on way home from beach; D - supper with Crotts' family

Tuesday B - bacon (leftover from beach...not a usual habit), egg, cheese, toast sandwiches; L - not much of anything (oops!); D - leftover chicken pie, mac and cheese, salad

Wednesday B - cereal (Brent at work so it's just me...the boys eat at Kountry Kids); L - turkey sandwich, strawberries, salad; D - crock pot chicken (no recipe yet but working on that)

Thursday B - cheese grits, toast with jam; L - cheese and crackers, strawberries, nuts, carrots; D - spaghetti

Friday B - eggs, hashbrowns, bacon (leftover from beach still...not a usual habit); L - leftovers; D - supper at Cheri's

Saturday B - misc, whatever you can find in cabinet; L - sandwich or leftovers, etc; D - chicken (again not sure what recipe...)

Sunday B - cinnamon rolls; L - eat at Grandma's house; D - eat out OR something easy that we have at home

New Goals

I know it isn't time for New Year's Resolutions yet but due to several things going on in my life (reading the Children the Challenge book, trying to be a better wife and mother, making bible study/prayer a priority every day, getting back to my nutrition ROOTS and eating better, wanting to exercise, etc) I have come up with several goals that I going to work on in the next few months -

1. Develop a general daily routine for our family.
2. Exercise at least 3-5 days per week.
3. Prayer/Bible study every morning before work.
4. Lose 2 sizes by Christmas.
5. Play with my kids daily.
6. Get rid of Elijah's pacifier (went cold turkey TODAY!!)
7. Teach Nolan to tie his OWN SHOES!

This may sound repetitive or crazy or something else, but I am serious about all of these. As I said, various things going on have led to these goals. After reading the chapter in Children the Challenge on routine, I knew that this is something that needs to be done in our house. We have some routines for specific things (bedtime, etc) but no routine for the general outline of our day. I think that it will help all of us to feel better. Also, I've been needing to make a set time to study my Bible every day so this works in with that nicely. I just started going through the Experiencing God study book this weekend in preparation for the upcoming Ladies Class study. It is AWESOME by the way and I recommend that all of you work through it. It is changing my life already and I am only on day 3! Also, I LOVE to teach people about nutrition and I want to teach my family how to take care of their bodies by eating healthy foods and including exercise in their lives...BUT...with the day to day stress and goings on, I have not been putting a focus on that. So, the routine is going to help with that also. I am going to begin making a weekly meal plan to help me choose yummy, healthy foods for my family and I am going to start exercising both alone, with my kids, and with Brent. I started riding my bike this weekend at the beach and that was an excellent start. Hopefully this is going to go hand in hand with losing 2 clothing sizes and being a better mother/wife. My husband's love language (we decided with our good friends Kevin and Kim this weekend) is service and words of affirmation. So, I am going to work on showing him how much I love him by doing acts of service for him. I quickly scanned The 5 Love Languages for Kids once, so I know that you can apply this to your kids as well...so I'm going to be thinking about what their primary love languages are. (just in case you are interested - mine are quality time and words of affirmation) I am going to include playing with my kids in our daily routine so that they know that they have my full attention at times in their day. Elijah NEEDS to ditch the pacifier...need I say more? A 6-year-old should KNOW how to tie...I'm a slacker - that's my fault...so we are going to be working on this.

So, what do you think of my new goals? Are they reasonable? I hope that I can stick to them!