Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Cabbage

Yes, this post is named "Cabbage". Have you ever given this purple or green veggie much thought? If I told you that they have proven that the group of foods that it belongs to actively discovers and destroys deformed cells, including cancerous ones, would you sit up and take note?

We have.

Starting this week we will be eating one or more veggie from this group (with a fancy name that I can't be bothered to look up in my rush right now) at every lunch and dinner.

Off the top of my head this includes:
broccoli (mainly the stem)
cauliflower
turnip
rutabaga
cabbage
bok choy
Swiss chard
kohlrabi
& a couple I can't remember

so on that note here is our Menu for this week:
Monday: Veggie stew (carrots, 2 potatoes, 2 parsnips, grated purple & green cabbage- 1 C each), zucchini, tomato

Tuesday: Veggie (carrots, purple cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, onion, mushrooms) & chicken stir fry over brown & wild rice mix

Wednesday: Veggie (grated carrots, grated purple cabbage, broccoli, onion & tomato) omelet with maple bacon (oven cooked for less grease) & roasted potatoes

Thursday: Beef roast, roasted root veggies (toss together potatoes, parsnips, carrots with 1 Tbs olive oil and garlic & red pepper seasoning) & broccoli & cauliflower

Friday: Burgers with coleslaw (purple, green cabbage & carrots) and tossed garden salad (lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli & grated carrots)

Saturday: Beef (leftovers) & veggie stir fry (same veggies as Tuesday)

Sunday: Crock pot meal of sausage, green cabbage, carrots & potatoes. Apple Pie

Happy Cooking!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Snow,

Blissful, white , pure snow!

Finally we have our winter snow. True its only a few inches but enough for the monkeys to play in. Yesterday school closed for the afternoon and i was secretly pleased. It is such fun to all curl up together and enjoy the snow day TOGETHER!

Snow people, snow forts, snow tag, snow paths, snow shovelling. It all was happening here yesterday and today will probably prove to be a repeat performance.

Hot coco. This milk free mother was really struggling with all the delicious hot coco flowing around here yesterday, so we played with Cocoa, sugar & almond milk and volia:

3 tsp Cocoa
3 tsp white sugar
1/4C almond milk
fill the rest of the large mug with boiling water

It is as thin as water but ever so yummy!

Magoo needs help with Bible marking. Princess needs help spelling & Monkey is "playing the piano" so I must run.

Until next time!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Organization

is now my favourite word. Another sister commented before our fourth was born that you just had to keep doing everything that you can see needs doing when you have four. I've discovered that this is so very true! It is simply impossible to get too far ahead or to get to much ready ahead of time.

But, it is a mindset that I am so glad she pointed out to me. It has made life a lot easier and our days running smoother.

It sounds and seems so simple. Picking up the extra clothes and taking 10 or so minutes to fold and pop them into their drawers. Keeping the kitchen counters clear and wiped. Loading up the dishwasher with any dishes you find during the day. Switching over the laundry. Packing lunches the afternoon before. Crock Pot dinners.

The biggest help is actually so plain and boring. I wish I had done this more often before! Setting our breakfast the night before. Tonight there are bowls full of oats, raisins and even their spoons! So all they need to do is have Magoo pour in the milk and volia, breakfast! Empty plastic glasses wait to be filled with the water from a covered pitcher already on the table. This way I can be feeding Baby and not worry about the others getting fed as well.

Other breakfasts we've done & set out:

Muffins & piece of fruit (just put the fruit bowl on the table and they can help themselves)

Premade & frozen pancakes (to be heated by the kids in the toaster)

Fruit shakes (put out the bag of frozen fruit the night before beside the blender to thaw, add water & a couple bananas and after Mama blends it Magoo can pour it out)

Toast (set out everything, bread, peanut butter, jam, butter, honey, stack of plates & plastic knives BESIDE the toaster on the counter so everything is there for them - major time saver)

Yogurt & fruit salad (make and put in fridge fruit salad in a plastic bowl so that it isn't too heavy for one of the older 2 kids to carry from the fridge to the table)

Of course an equally important part is setting everything you can ahead of time on the table. Everything that the kids or you needs to get out in the morning adds time.

This has saved us so much stress and time in the morning. Instead of having to get up earlier to see to baby we can still stay in bed unit 7:30 and then get everyone going.....thankfully since none of us are morning people!

well, speaking of morning, its time for bed ! ! ! Till next time :-)

Friday, January 13, 2012

Hello again

Oh dear, I though of something to write, but it's flown out of my mind at this second. Which probably has something to do with the fact that currently Magoo is attacking long division outloud, Monkey is "practising" piano and Princess is working on spelling while walking around on tipoes.

Enough said.

We finally have some snow. Not much, the grass is still peeping through, but enough that our winter village that is set up on the hutch no longer looks so hideously ridiculous.

Well, I haven't the foggiest about what I was going to write. Probably something important. Or amazingly brilliant. Or hilariously funny.....

Instead I'll bore you with the details of today. Banana-chocolate chip-peanut chunky waffles for breakfast. Oh wait, that ain't boring! That's delicious! we thought that snow = celebration so since we usually celebrate with food we did. The monkeys are trying to get back into the Friday home schooling routine and so far so good. Princess is nearly done and Magoo will be as soon as the martians land of Pluto!

Or he memorizes his multiplication tables.

Which ever comes first!

Poor boy!

The piano teacher should be arriving any minute and after lunch we have an adventure planned. Since the kids lost out of their holiday (flu twice & the "100 day cough") I'm aiming to do something extra fun every second Friday. Over and above the usual library visit. Of course I love the library and so do they but it's got a bit old hat.

They cannot figure out where we are going! They have guessed everything BUT the surprise. There is a huge pet store in the next big city where they even have sharks! Okay miniature ones but still, very cool. So we're going there to see all the crazy fish, birds & dogs and pick out some new ciclids. We need some more in our tank (a full tank is a happy tank) and I'm hoping they have some nice small ones because those are cheaper. AND if (huge big if) Baby is happy we will stop at Tim Hortons for a snack! Yahoo!

Our weekend is going to be packed. Study day tomorrow for the whole day, meeting & Sunday school on Sunday, and the next thing we know it'll be Monday morning again.

See you then :-)

Sunday, January 08, 2012

Hello to anyone still checking this.

My we have been terrible at updating haven't we!

There is hope though, Hubby got me a mini laptop so that I can work while nursing and so now I don't have to wait 10 minutes for the OLD one to boot up and finally maybe perhaps work!

We have indeed been blessed at the beginning of December with another wee girly. She looks just like Princess did as a baby and We'll just call her baby on here for now until she gains a nickname.

Like the last little girl, we have named her after a very special town in Israel which has very important themes attached to it in the Bible. We only knew of one other girl with this name, only to find out that 2 other babies were born that month in Australia that were also given that same name! So funny

Baby is sleeping in her front pouch right now, her favourite place to be other then in Mummy or Daddy's arms. Yes it kills the back after a while, but with three other olive plants to care and tend to it is essential!

So after giving ourselves a month to get used to this new reality, and the flu going through the household TWICE! We are now full of colds and ready to get back to the usual routine. Well, as much as usual is around here!

A wonderful and very special sister is still willing to drive the older to to school most of the week so that is a huge help, I cannot imagine how I would do it otherwise. School starts up again tomorrow and the 2 have enjoyed their new responsibilities of packing their lunches (with supervision) and getting their backpacks & uniforms ready for the morning. I really miss the children when they are at school, but until the day when we are up to homeschooling this is life.

I have discovered that with 4 you really need to be organized, so the weekly menu has returned to our household as well.

Monday: Shepherd's Pie
Tuesday: Chicken Burgers and Salad
Wednesday: Chickpea Tacos
Thursday: Quiche & Salad
Friday: Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce
Saturday: Veggie Stew with Herb Scones
Sunday: Sausage Bake

It's bedtime for Monkeys now so I will sign off to go and say prayers, sort laundry & collapse!

Until next time :-)