This week's menu

Thought I'd share what's on our menu for the week:

Sunday: 

Breakfast-baked oatmeal and boiled eggs

Lunch-EMFH (Every Man For Himself--aka leftovers)

Dinner-slow cooker French dip with salad and homemade bread

Monday: 

Breakfast-cereal

Lunch-cheeseburger cresents

Dinner-lettuce cups (The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook) and rice balls (Basic Asian)

Tuesday:

Breakfast-biscuits and sausage

Lunch-leftovers

Dinner-cheddar & potato soup with spicy spare ribs (cooking double to use in fried rice on Wednesday) and homemade bread

Wednesday:

Breakfast-cinnamon bread

Lunch-homemade Mac and cheese

Dinner-stir fried rice, potstickers, and chocolate wontons--recipes from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook
(due to other commitments, we're celebrating CNY tonight, it's on Thursday.)

Thursday:

Breakfast-toast and sunny side up eggs

Lunch-leftovers

Dinner-chili taco salad

Friday:

Breakfast-pancakes

Lunch-sandwiches or homemade lunchables

Dinner-Dh is hunting, so it's leftovers and sandwiches for the weekend...

Saturday:

Breakfast-banana nut muffins (the boys make them!)

Sunday:

Breakfast-grits 

Lunch-??

Dinner-PW chicken spaghetti (cooking extra chicken to make 2 chicken pot pies-one to eat this week and one to freeze)  Both recipes are from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl

Our newest gizmo is a popcorn popper and we're loving it.  The kids are into having popcorn with nuts/seeds for a snack and we were going through the microwave bags too fast!  I also bought a Kindle book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I made my first batch of bread today and it turned out great!  One of the kids said it tasted as good as Great Harvest Bread Co.--I'll take that as a compliment!

We (Troy) ended up grinding 53 pounds of venison from one deer!

Ingredients for baking bread today (minus the oil)

 This is what it looked like right after I finished mixing it:

This was 2 hours later--it had tripled in size!

Getting ready to go into the oven...

Fresh out of the oven.  I sprinkled a little too much flour on top, not a big deal...

The kids LOVED it!

~Excitedly waiting on popcorn~

What we do in our spare time...

As I emerge from the battle...

I feel victorious over the kitchen!  I thought you might appreciate some before and after pictures.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures before we unloaded the island, but I think you can imagine what it looked like with every thing in the chairs, on the floor, and on the island INSIDE the island!  FULL and stuff falling out every time we opened cabinets!

BEFORE:

This one wasn't too bad on the top, just the bottom had bottles falling out every time we opened it!

All this and more was under the island!!  (I had 2 wonderfully silly helpers.)

All this--25 coffee mugs, 2 sake sets, travel mugs, coffee, tea mugs and accessories, and 2 escargot plates (don't ask...we've used them once in 15 years and I don't eat them!)....

Came from this small corner cabinet!

 AFTER:

One of my favorite kitchen places now--all my measuring spoons in one place, all the many chopsticks in one basket, AND only the items I ACTUALLY use--novel idea!

(Above and below back up to each other.)

 (The above and below back up to each other.)

And my 2 helpers going strong.  What hams!

 

Tomorrow I think I'll tackle the sunroom (where we actually spend most of our day).

Word/Verse for my year

A few days ago one of my friends from the ChattyGirlsGroup mentioned how she was choosing her word and verse for the year.  She directed us to this blog that she follows.   I'd never really thought about it or read much about it.  Then in a totally unrelated confirmation, I "stumbled" upon this blog that also talked about it.  Hmmm...  I am learning that when God has things show up a few times, it probably means that I need to take notice!  After thinking and praying about it, I have come up with my word and verse for 2011:

Simplicity

Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.  Proverbs 15:16 (KJV) 

How appropriate considering so much of what I've been into lately--natural, simple, back to basics...  From the books and magazines that I read--Mother Earth News, Grit, Suburban Farmgirl, MaryJaneFarm--to cooking from scratch and raising chickens--thanks to Pioneer Woman and the above magazines--to the products I use--homemade lotion, lip gloss, natural shampoo & conditioner, cleaning supplies, etc... 

After reading Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider, I am inspired to regain control of my stuff and put it in it's place--literally and figuratively!  She gives a 10 day "plan" to go through your house.  The goal here is based on a quote from William Morris "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."  To go through your house one room at a time completely emptying it of stuff (except furniture and wall hangings, unless you want to), cleaning it from top to bottom and then... THEN comes the hard part.  Going through your piles and filtering it through those 2 things:  useful and beautiful.  It doesn't mean living with nothing or a barren house, but making the decision--is the item worth more to me or is the space and having less to care for worth more?   Oh how attached we are to stuff... She also addresses souvenirs and momentos, giving us "permission" to let go of them, that it doesn't mean we loved the trip or our time with family any less.

Please understand me, the goal is doesn't deal with just the stuff though.  I recently read this about simplicity:  the simplifying of one's life in order to focus on things that are most important and disregard or avoid things that are least important.   I want my focus to be about the "things" that are important, that have true significance--God and people/relationships.  But by choosing to deal with my physical stuff and it's hold on me and to live simply, I free up my time, resources, and attention to pour into the most important things--loving God and loving people!  I want to be free to be used as God sees fit without the stuff holding me back.  You know what I mean, that thought that "oh, I can't invite them over, the house is cluttered and a mess" or "I can't make a meal, drive her somewhere, spend an hour or two listening to her, etc for her I've got laundry, cleaning, etc... to do."  Can you tell I've heard those in my head before?  By getting rid of the excess and waste, the house should run more efficiently, freeing me up to spend more time in God's word, more time seeking His face (and not His hand), and more time loving and worshiping Him which will overflow into loving others as God loves them, not as I see them, but as He sees them.  

The beginning of the year seems like a good time to do this, so I started it a couple of days ago.  I did the living room yesterday.  Should be heading on to the front room (library) and dining room today, but I feel that the kitchen is REALLY what needs it.  Time to get rid of all those extra gadgets that I know don't get used!  If in doubt, I love the suggestion to put it in a box somewhere else and if I haven't gone to get it in 3 or 6 months, apparently--I don't need it!  So time to go empty the kitchen, if you don't hear from me in a few days, you may want to send in a search and rescue team!

Simplicity