{Minute Monday} Good, Better Best

Question: What happens when you may not be spending your time in the most appropriate manner and that you could possibly be more productive doing something else...but you don't want to admit it?

Answer: Your DSL line goes down and you are without the internet (blog) for five days and your eyes are too old to try and type it out on the old iphone.

{gasp}

But it was good, because I already knew I was not prioritizing the important things in life..and that was making life crazy as things were not getting done and that makes me uptight...even when it is my own fault  and the the kids get grumpy and then then the mister doesn't want to come home....(not really....he just works long hours and then has city government stuff and church stuff and then just stuff)...and then that makes me even more crazy cuz the load is getting a little tiring after a long day.....

So after a break from the computer (read...hedging up....I've learned that is what the good Lord does when I won't stop and listen...you would think I had learned by now......but that is another conversation.)

I am ready to put my best foot forward and remember Good, Better, Best.....

that my devotion to God comes first through studying the scriptures and pondering....

that my family and home then come and where a good majority of my time is and should be spent, followed by church obligations (and really they aren't obligations...I love doing them...or rather I am learning to love cub scouts!

Service and being of help is next......and then....

and then my blog, which often waits as I get lost in all of your blogs.  There are so many out there! They are so fantastic...I don't know why I blog!!  I am inspired every time I read one of your fabulous blogs!!!  Or I laugh out loud...for reals...as my teens would say. You all make me want to be a better mom, a better friend, a better homemaker ad a better person!

SO I need to remember that and not freak out over posting....do you do that or is it just me?  Oh good.....I am not alone...I hope....that wasn't just the voice i my head right??

So or Minute Monday...here are the things I learned

1. Plenty of friends and neighbors will think you are crazy overboard with your Real Food obsessions....and they are probably right....80/20 has to work for right now to save your sanity.  80% eating right and the other 20% you will just try and make good choices and forgive yourself when it isn't a good choice.
2. Cheap pizza from a local chain when wreak havoc on your system and leave you with a migraine because you tried to let loose and live the 20% rule....it reminds you that going hungry would have been better. But I really didn't have too...there was plenty of food in the house and that u didn't need to eat the crappy pizza your daughter requested for her and her friends....because the pain will still be lingering on Monday.  Ouch....
3. 13/14 girls make me laugh as they sing with gusto to the radio, go gaga over boys and giggly squeal at the slightest hint o something funny.
4. Teething sucks. nuf said.
5. Kids will learn to appreciate home made ketchup...and even like it. I wonder if the hubs liked the home made mayo on his sandwich today..I didn't bother telling him....
6. I love cloth diapers...really I do...especially gdiapers......even when she poops....you just have to remember this...

         and then order the little sprayer that hooks to your toilet.......can't wait!!!

          7.  That SweetLeaf Stevia is the real deal!  I started switching the family to Stevia after studying and reading about sugar substitutes. Don't be fooled, but the other marketed stevias....they are made mostly with alcohol/ethanol derivatives. My kids LOVED it on their homemade yogurt!!

         8. The more I learn...the more I don't know!!  But I know more then I did last week.

         9. That we are all human, that we love and loose, hope and wish and learn and grow  pretty much the same way.  As we welcomed two gentlemen from Pakistan and Afghanistan into our home for dinner and a cultural exchange, I always walk away with a replenished hope for the good in the world that exists and that eventually peace will reign as we talk and exchange ideas. (Especially that we Americans don't all live in humungous mansions like on MTV..I'll share more about these diners later..just don't let me forget)

        10. That I can be in more in LOVE with my best friend after nineteen years of marriage then I ever imagined when we first laid eyes on each other....or at least...I laid eyes on his...um...er....wrangler bum. (and it still looks good!)

And the long awaited recipe for

OPULENT CHICKEN

• chicken tenders
• ½ cup sour cream
• 8 -10 ounces swiss cheese , sliced thin
• ½ cup melted butter
• 3 (10 ½ ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cups Ritz cracker crumbs
  Clean and skin breast and place in bottom of 9X13 dish, cover completely with sliced/grated  cheese. Mix together soup, sour cream and lemon juice and pour over top of chicken covering completely.Mix cracker crumbs with butter and sprinkle over the top of sauce. Bake at 275 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. Now this is the original recipe...and it is GOOD...but it has canned soup in it.....what to do what to do...since I don't even have caned soup in the house.  I just up the sour cream (mine was homemade, but all natural from the store will work just fine) to four cups, mix with homemade chicken stock, salt, white pepper and onion powder to taste. 
  AND PLEASE  don't mess up the cooking time like I do (twice now...it hasn't been pretty!)....you cannot be on a rush to do this...you just can't...slow cooking at a low temperature will make this your favorite dish! But if you do mess it up like I have...twice now...maybe even three times, I just don't want to admit it....I just remove the chicken from the pan and pour the juices into the "white sauce" that I have made, stir and gently lay back over your naked chicken. 
  Side note: [Dear friend that I got this recipe from...please forgive me with messing with it....it is a wonderful recipe....you know how I am though...slightly psychotic about  what is in processed food. Maybe one day they will make a soup I can feel good about, till then I just won't tell you how I desecrate your recipe.I love you always!]
  When I have cooked the chicken at too high a temperature.....the sour cream has cooked down to a liquid...still okay to eat...(unless your husband sees it and proceeds to ask/tell you what is wrong with the chicken....depending on which side of the conversation you are on...anyways....) but none of the creamy heavenliness that your want to pour over your rice...hence the white sauce.....and let me tell you white sauce is our friend......It saves me many a time.
  
  
  You can find the basics of White Sauce here.
  
  
  Most of all...don't be afraid to learn and try new things...and if you mess up.....fix it...and don't tell anyone...or throw it away and don't tell anyone. Either way you tried something new......and that's what counts!
  
  
  Love yer guts
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Crossing Over

OH MY GOODNESS....

I have officially crossed over....

crossed over to the dark side....the side that is often misunderstood...the side that I thought was kooky...

the side my husband and family call....

wait for it......tree huggers...

the side that talks and thinks in terms of food...that side that I wished I had studied earlier....the side that is making daughter #1 call me a food nerd...which is better then a food nazi....which my husband has referred me too...remember soup nazi...yep....that long ago...

The side that believes in the sanctity of pure food... not processed cardboard junk...the side that sometimes looks a little wild eyed as they watch the latest government move to control food....

but I can't help it......I was already on the path to a better pattern of eating,  and thought I was making better choices.....then I watched this...

Food, Inc 

has altered my view of food, the big corporations that run these food monopolies and the government. I already questioned the government being my over all guardian...but this stamped it closed for me.

After feeling frustrated and helpless as I felt like my hands were tied because of the prohibitive cost of trying to feed a family of ten not only nutritiously but on Real Food and because...don't forget...I live in a town home  that plowed under our community garden so that they could build some ugly box homes (another story for another time)...but I picked up myself....and realized that even small changes are a start.

So here are a few....

• Create a garden...even a small one...and work on starting another community garden.

• Buy local and only in season, no more buying tomatoes in the winter because we are longing for that warm sunshine sweetness that is only an illusion in tomatoes form Mexico...or even California.
• Purchase meat and eggs....even if it is only small quantities...from local resources....not from a grocery store, on a side note....I had felt better about myself for buying chicken that said minimally processed, nothing added, go me...and then my #3 suggested we go to their website...um...yeah....the chicken may be minimally processed but they are still bred in the same horrific conditions that have made farmers allergic to antibiotics and produced chickens that are nothing more then walking breasts...
• Add a lot more veggies to our diet.
• Sign up and support Farm to Legal Defense Fund.....even five bucks a month will make a difference.
• Start writing letters on the school lunch program....I already hear my kids complain about it...but I am sure it is even worse then they or I imagine.
• Continue to educate myself on food....and anyone else that will listen...or I can pin against a wall!!

Do you hear that groaning in the background?  That is the hubs at work thinking about his wife that has drank the koolaid...metaphorically.....I really don't drink that stuff.... and wondering what is next?  First the plastic is going and now the meat? NO, NO...I still believe in meat....I love a big ole steak, lamb chops...(yes even lamb chomps), almost any kind of fish or seafood, pork, venison.....and you name a couple of other meats and I have probably tried it....but they will be Real Food...meat that is grass fed, chicken that scratch for bugs and worms...and on and on...and yes, honey dear.....I will still have you eat less meat, and more veggies......

Please bear with me, yes, dear, I am talking to you and to you out there in blogosphere..as we continue our journey back to the farm...it may be longer then it like, I may be taking more detours then I want, but maybe that is all for the good, maybe, most definitely I will appreciate and be ever so grateful, when and if I make it to my goal...my dream.

To live on our own farm, to feed my family with pure God given materials because we work hard and we work together to make it work.  We don't go to the grocery store to just pick up a cellophaned Styrofoam package of grain and soybean fed meat product...but yet again..that is  story for another day...

Start small, but start somewhere....love ya are what ya eat guts....

Veggie Lasagna

12 whole wheat/whole grain lasagna noodles (I want the machine to start making my own...aaahem...hint hint)
1 carton whole ricotta cheese
1 cup whole cottage cheese
3 cups marinara sauce (I use my own bottled...or you could make it from scratch ..or you could buy a healthy one in a bottle..whatever works for you!)
1 egg
1 cup of mushrooms (I used canned)
1/2 onion
1 red or green pepper
1 small package of spinach
1 lb of colby cheese (and yes..I need a cow..because I know how these poor dairy cows are treated)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

and any other veggies you want to throw in there.  Cook noodles according to instructions. Lightly saute onions, peppers and mushrooms (I threw garlic in there too), thaw, rinse and then squeeze water out of spinach. Mix veggies with ricotta, cottage cheese, 2 cups of sauce and egg. (I did it all in the pan to dirty less dishes.) Pour a little sauce on bottom of 9 x 13 pan, layer 3 noodles, then veggie mixture and cheese, repeat three times. After laying the last of the noodles, cover with marinara sauce, remaining amount of colby cheese and sprinkle with Parmesan. Cover and Bake at 350 for 60 minutes. Serve with warm french bread......

the hubs said it was restaurant quality....not anything that he would order....but restaurant quality...thank you I think....

crazy corn dogs

In the last 15 hours I have heard.....

are you crazy? do YOU need your head examined?  Glad it is you and not me! SUCKER! do you know what you are doing? Really?! Aren't three babies under two enough for you?  WTH? and a few more choice ones....

Is your interest piqued? Why you ask are they looking at me like I have two heads? have i really gone crazy?

Well yes, crazy runs in my family, so far i have been able to control it with chocolate and blame the rest on eight bambinos, but no more, i have clearly crossed the line in  few peoples eyes......

we added two little four footed friends to our already chaotic world....




two little two pound rat terriers...

they look like this...though this one isn't it....and we have two of them...Halle and Boo.

Since they came home with us on Halloween. At this very moment the twins are in the kennel with the puppies, this is a good thing...maybe the puppies will potty train the twins....here's hopin!

My husband clearly feels I have lost all good sense, but I for one am done waiting....

waiting for life to begin when we have a farm/house/land...blah, blah, blah.....


maybe this is only my problem, i hold this dream out there and all will be well and good and wonderful when we have met that goal.  meanwhile life goes on and I do not enjoy it to the fullest....

no more...well at least for this week, we/i will seize the day and make the most out of it...with what I have...not what I am waiting for....

and with that being said, i will leave you with Ree, the Pioneer Woman's corn dogs and cheese on a stick.....they were in celebration of two new puppies, halloween and because lets face it i was being lazy, so don't judge me on the pancake mix part...I know it is processed...but it was one of those days...and they tasted so good!!!!

so pray for me. love yer guts,
crazy mama

..because I can't seem to finish a blog post.....

I may not be able to finish a blog post.....

but I have made these......and yes....technically...I made the said above

they are wonderful.....and home made...and not full of preservatives.... and neither are the cheesy crackers! GO ME! though they are just circles and not cute fishy shapes! thank you Erin.....she blogs here..I will be visiting again!

So at least I got one thing done besides this post....besides the beets that I have started and yet to de-skin and pickle and the floor to be mopped and the scholarships to be found for Numero uno boy child......

AND  I have sat here with my #5, (a dead ringer for his dad which makes me melt when he bats his big eyes at me when he is in trouble)...and practiced letters...and drawn pictures...GO ME!  AGAIN!

AND all three babies had a bath.....and their hair done!  GO ME! AGAIN x THREE! and fed...they kinda like that...

and wait for it....I took a shower AND shaved my legs.....tmi?

and for those worried..I even let #8 nurse a bit....

my point??  sistas be good to yourselves...you are lovely and busy and doing things everyday that are worth while and wonderful and of good report, but one of my favorite speakers says it even better here.....

luv yer overworked and under appreciated gutzsss!