Beef Stew - My way. (well, mostly anyway)

This particular recipe orignates from this one, but, of course, with my own little tweaks here and there.  I can't possibly just use a recipe without tweaking it!  I've made this twice now, and I think this last time I might have hit perfection, well, atleast for me anyway.  The neighbors loved it though, so I can't complain. 


My Version of a Savory Beef Stew!


Ingredients:
-3 (ish) pounds beef stew meat, cut into small cubes

-1/3 cup italian salad dressing (If you have more than 3 lbs of meat, up the amount of salad dressing to 1/2 cup)

-2 cups water

-2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules

-1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, undrained.  (Three to four freshly diced tomatoes work well here too.  It didn't affect my liquid or anything by using that instead.  The only big difference was the peel of the tomato, so peel them if you are using fresh, which can be done like this.  TIP:  for the water requested above, take it from water used to boil tomatoes for peeling.)

-1 10.5 oz can condensed beef broth, undiluted.  (a 15oz can of not condensed broth also worked well.)

-1 8oz can tomato sauce

-1 garlic clove, minced.  (If you have minced garlic as a spice in your cabinet, it is 1/2 tsp worth.)

-1 bay leaf (or two if you like the extra flavor.  I do.)

-1 tsp salt

-1 tsp dried oregano

-1/2 tsp ground black pepper

-6-8 small potatoes, quartered.  (I prefer to cube mine.)

-6 medium carrots, cut into 1/2 inch round pieces

-1 medium green bell pepper, cut into 1/2inch pieces

-1 medium yellow onion, chopped.

-3 (ish) sticks of celery, chopped.  (about 1.5 cups.  I added this and found the celery really complements everything.)

-3 tbs all purpose flour

-3 tbs cold water 



INSTRUCTIONS:


Step 1:

Brown meat in salad dressing over medium or medium/high heat.  Once browned, add the next ten ingredients to include all things canned and all spices.  Next, reduce heat.  Cover and simmer for one to one and a half hours (ish, of course.), or until meat is nice and tender, how you'd like it!  (I always try a piece of meat here, simply because it tastes that good.)

TIP:  If you set a timer for an hour, by the time you are done chopping all those veggies up, the meat is ready for everything to be added.

Step 2:

Add all those tasty veggies you spent thirty minutes chopping.  Then, cover and simmer another 45 (ish) minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.  This time directly relates to how small you chopped those potatoes/carrots. 


Step 3: 

Combine flour and water until smooth.  Stir into stew and bring to a boil.  Cook two or so minutes, until stew thickens.  Once cooking is completed, discard bay leaf.

TIP:  If quite a bit of extra liquid/juice came from the meat during browning and stayed in the pot, mix 4 tbs flour and water instead of 3.  (1:1 ratio)  If after five minutes, the stew still doesn't thicken, add another tbs of flour, but don't add more than 5 total.  Your stew will just taste a little floury if you do.)

Serve and ENJOY!

Ok, so this final picture was taken AFTER we all ate out of the pot, but hey, the stuff was so delicious I forgot to take a wonderful finished photo.  Hope all of you who try this love it as much as I do!



Quiet Busy Books!

Recently, while reading a blog I love reading oh so much, I came across the idea of making my children something similar to this quiet book.  Scarlett's book has to be a huge favorite so far. 

What is a quiet book?

Well, a quiet book is an activity book sewn out of fabric full of little fun things to do.  For example, there can be a shoe tying page in there, as well as zippers, and pretty much anything from tic tac toe to hair braiding.


Examples of Quiet book ideas around the interweb:

Here is an entire blog devoted to creative ideas for these adorable books.  I'm sure a few favorite ideas will emerge from here.

On this blog, I love the frogs on a log idea.  I think one day, I might try to create a nursery rhyme based book to include the 5 frogs on a log song, the ants go marching, and probably hey diddle diddle as well as a few others.

I think I might have to make a jean cover for my daughter's book like this one.  She isn't too big on the ACUs I used for the cover of her brother's.  (see below)

As for this one, I LOVE the cover and, quite frankly, most of the activities.  I'll definitely be looking to that blog for inspiration often.

Lastly, before I show you my first cover, I have to share this last one.  I may use some of these girlier ideas in the future.  They are adorable!




And now, for my first attempt (well, the cover anyway):

About a year ago, when the husband came back from Iraq, he had a few pairs of ACUs that were just out of commission.  Being the hoarder I am, I decided to keep them in my sewing box that I would probably never use simply because I've seen so many cute ideas for ACU patterned things.  At this point, I am happy I made that decision, because after a wash or ten, they didn't smell like nappy sand poo, and the back of the top worked wonderfully for this cover.  I plan on making a name tape with my son's name on it to put on the front, as well as finding an iron on rocket ship or related, because honestly, this seems boring.  For the closure and handle, I used a scratched up Class A belt that the husband hadn't thrown away yet.  (I secrently hope I can find another one of these just lying around somewhere for the other book.) 

For the back, I sewed on a pocket cut off from a pair of pants for miscellaneous pieces.   That part was probably the simplest.

For the inside, I used some leftover fabric I had on hand and sewed in some ribbon to hold all the pages in place once I actually make them.  Honestly, there really wasn't much to making this.  Atleast, it seems like it now that I'm done.  I thought it would be ten times harder.




Future ideas with this:

I hope to complete the two books for my children by their birthdays, and providing some fabric and felt my grandmother is sending arrives within the next few weeks, I might be able to get enough done for a christmas gift, followed by more pages for birthdays.  I think the children will love these!

I also think a game book of sorts will have to be made.  This to include, checkers, tic tac toe, chess maybe, a knock off version of monopoly, and small games that don't require a million different everythings and can travel well.  Monopoly will be difficult to create, but I hope I can accomplish it.   

And, if everything goes well, as it is now, I actually wouldn't mind making these and selling them.  And making them for family/friends.  And everyone.  Because, so far, I am having so much fun, and all I did was a cover and am working on a page.  (No, haven't made it very far because I lack a few needed items, like felt.)

I honestly think these will make amazing gifts regardless of who you are.

I would love your thoughts on this. 

Would you buy one?

Unbirthday Cinnamon Rolls - Soul Food!

Before I begin, I must state:  These are probably in NO WAY at all healthy, aside from the nuts. 

This morning, while trying to figure out what to make for breakfast, I could not decide!  We settled on scrambled eggs, but honestly, cinnamon rolls sounded so much tastier.  Now, I can bet sometime in the near future, I will for sure be hunting for a healthy version of these tasty swirly cinnamony goodness, but for now, this recipe by far claims the title of best cinnamon rolls I've had in awhile.

 (Beth, if you ever read this, yours were better.  >_>  I DEMAND THAT RECIPE.)

Anyway.

Without furter rambling, I bring you a tasty, no bread maker needed, cinnamon roll recipe:

Tasty Unbirthday Cinnamon Rolls 

(courtesy of Miss Alex on allrecipes.com with a few adjustments of my own.)


Ingredients:
 
DOUGH:

-1/4 c  warm water

-1/4 cup butter, melted

-1/2ish (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding  (I guesstimated)

-1 c warm milk

-1 egg, room temperature (I'll admit, mine was still cold, and it worked just fine.

-1 tbs white sugar

-4 cups of bread flour

-1 (.25 oz) package of active dry yeast

FILLING MIX:

-1 cup brown sugar

-4 tsp ground cinnamon

-3/4 c chopped nuts. (the original recipe called for pecans.  We used walnuts this time.)

-1/4 c butter, softened

ICING:

-4 oz cream cheese

-1/4 c butter, softened

-1 c confectioner's sugar

-1/2 tsp vanilla extract  (or almond.  Particularly if you used almonds as your nut of choice)

-1 1/2 tsp milk

Side Note:
Might be a bit confusing, so for the record, you will need a total of 3/4 cup of butter.

Instructions:

Step 1:

Dissolve sugar in warm water and melted butter.  (If you really don't feel like melting the butter, boil the water and pour it on top of the water, followed by sugar.)   Add yeast and cover with plastic wrap.  Set aside.

Step 2:

Mix vanilla pudding mix, egg, and milk together until smooth. 

Step 3:

Mix yeast mix (as long as it is foamy, otherwise, you may have a bad batch of yeast) with pudding mix until well combined.  Then add flour.

Step 4:

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.  Put in oiled bowl and turn dough in bowl until covered with thin layer of oil.  Let rise for one hour or until doubled

Step 5:

Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts in small bowl until combined for filling.

Step 6:

Next, place dough on lightly floured surface and roll out to a 17 x 10 (ish) rectangle.  Spread 1/4 cup of softened butter on top of dough.  Then, sprinkle to cover with filling.  Once all the filling is evenly distributed, roll dough up hot dog style (rolling with long side).  Slice rolled dough into 1 inch pieces, thus leaving 16-17ish basic cinnamon rols.  (If you want them smaller, just cut smaller rolls.)  Place rolls in a 13 x 9 inch pan (if you don't have that, use what you do have. I ended up with about 24 rolls, and split them between two pans, 12 in each.)  Let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Step 7:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.   Once preheated, bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until tops are goldenish.

Step 8:

While rolls are baking, stir together cream cheese, softened butter, confectioner's sugar, extract, and milk until creamy and well combined.  Once rolls come out of the oven, top with this tasty frosting.

While these delicious treats may not be the healthiest thing, or really healthy at all, they make a great unbirthday "cake" on those days where soul food is required. 

HAVE A VERY MERRY UNBIRTHDAY TODAY!

Painting Pumpkins

Those cute little pumpkins we picked at the patch had to have some use, so we painted them.  I am so glad I had saved some newspaper to put down on the table.  What a huge mess!  It was exciting and fun nonetheless.

I'm really not sure how he managed to get paint on his forehead, but considering he is 15 months old and a dare devil, I'm surprised paint missed most of the floor.

This cutie continued painting letters on her pumpkin until the thing was completely covered.


The final looks:

What can I say?  I'm a huge fan of that old game Pac Man.  =D

Hope everyone has a wonderful and SAFE holiday!  Enjoy your parties, festivities, and trick-or-treating.  I know we will!  (We might even make it to Frankenstein's Castle!)

A coffee kind of day

Some of my best "worst days" start with a large cup of coffe, or two. These days generally work like this: days in which the kids get up when/before I do, days followed by nights where no one slept, and of course, those days where absolutely nothing went wrong or off, but coffee is calling anyway. Some people may say these mornings happen every day, but for me, I like to only make coffee on days in which it sounds good, otherwise, I just don't drink it and dislike the taste. Well, now that fall has hit, coffee days are sure to appear more often, along with stew nights. I think coffee has a direct inverse correlation with days. The shorter the days, the more coffee I find myself drinking.

Ok, so not the perfect graph, but it proves my point.

That, right there, is the imitation heaven that makes my day go smoothly.  I'm not sure how I'd survive without this amazing orgasmic stuff.

Family Morale: The Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago, we learned a huge pumpkin patch existed just south of here.  Convincing the family of the hour long trip seemed fairly simple, and honestly, it was.  The girl jumped with glee at the thought of seeing more than the pumpkins at the commissary, much more the fact she actually had the opportunity to pick her own.  I was set on going no matter what.  While plans did their best to try to change, we managed to go.  On the way there, the GPS decided to take a "back road" of sorts which turned out to be a tiny, microscopic dirt trail through a forest.  I would have turned around, but that was not at all possible.  I still have yet to figure out what that GPS was thinking.  Alas, the pumpkin patch was indeed at the end of this dirt trail, it was partially worth it. 

You see that huge open field?  Its full of pumpkins, and the kids, right there, are running toward them to pick their favorite.  Here's a little how that went:

"Hmmm... So many pumpkins!"

"How about this one?"

"Too small!"

"Juuuust right."

When everyone finally picked their favorites, we left the patch with five rounded nicely ripe pumpkins.  Quite frankly, I'm not sure of a better outcome to a greatly exciting family fun day. 

I Love My Dog.

Yesterday, the lovely amazing dog we call Mia brought me a mouse.  Not just any mouse, but one she managed to steal from the neighbor's cat, because I'm fairly certain there's no way she caught it herself in the amount of time alloted.  As I walked in the house from giving the neighbor some Coconut Oil, she followed me in and presented a smelly, slimey, over dead mouse. 

As gross as that is, I feel loved.  I am also highly amused she'd gift me a mouse like a cat would.  I never thought I'd see a dog do that, but there's always a first for everything.  I guess she thought she'd get a big fat reward for it, because, after all, it is food.


Oh, just one of the many reasons I love her.

Box Fort Galore!

Last weekend, the cold started settling, and the freezing rain hit hard.  As the lack of sun shown through our windows, the gloomy look on the children's faces gleamed.  What to do on such a horrible day?  Well, good ole' Daddy had the answer!  He suggested we all get together and build ourselves a box fort, complete with locks and possibly a draw bridge.  What better way to spend a rainy cold day at the start of winter?  Building something fun out of cardboard, right?  (Okay, video games and hot chocolate made a close second.)

"Please, Daddy, can I get in the way while you build?"

Yeah, ofcourse, the boy wants to build it all by himself, and by build, I mean make it as difficult as possible to put up the walls, let alone everything else.  All things considered, how could we not let him "help"?  Afterall, it is for the children to play in during cold days throughout the winter. 

"Is it done yet?"

As for little miss impatient, she actually did help.  Our wonderful little duck tape sticker person did a great job at placing the tape so the cardboard held.  Isn't duck tape wonderful?  I'll have to write an entire blog post on that stuff.  As for this little girl, she was estatic when we put the "towers" on top.  Too bad cardboard isn't sturdy enough to build two stories with.

Soon, there appeared one problem.  The monster (our dog) kept breaking into the castle!  We needed a solution, and fast!  Quickly, I was thrown the duck tape to make locks, while the husband made everyone swords for protection.  An innocent german shepard was going to eat us all alive, and even worse, eat our cheetos!  Oh, my! 

"No more monsters getting in!"  -The girl

So, my locks were put into place, and worked rather effectively, I think.  Of course, the bad idea of having our fort complete with locks meant the kids could a) lock eachother out, b) lock their friends out, and c) lock us out.  Oh well, someone had to be the monster/robber/other bad guy, right?

Check out these nifty cardboard swords for protection!  They'll give you cardboard cuts everywhere!  Believe me, those are painful and would keep any sensible person away if they know what's good for them.  Or so we hoped.  Soon, I returned to my puzzle while the kids had fun breaking in their new toy.  Then, the wonderful idea of a draw bridge came up!  I suggested a blue paper mote with drawn alligaters, but that idea didn't stick.  Luckily for the kids, the draw bridge did.

Complete with 550 cord to raise and lower it from the inside (and outside if I felt like it), the drawbridge was complete.  Now, to lock mommy out and keep away those scary monsters who steal cheetos!  Which, by the way, includes mommy now.  sigh.



Next week, or really before it is destroyed, hopefully we make it around to coloring all that cardboard with squiggly crayons and messy paint.  Might as well make it attractive.

Peanut Butter Grape Nut bars

A few years ago, I found myself making this recipe off the side of the box of grape nuts.  It has to be the tastiest healthy snack I've EVER had.  Ever.  (for now)  Last week, I decided I should probably find some healthy snacks to bake, because honestly, cookies are amazing and make wonderful snacks.  The problem?  All the cookies and related snacks I know how to make are high in sugar, low in nutrition.  Considering all my kids actually eat are snacks throughout the day, the time had come to bake some.  And thus, the grape nut recipe came back to me, hopefully for good this time.  Mmm nutritious! 




The Recipe:

Ingredients:


4 cups Grape Nuts Post Cereal
3/4 cup peanut butter  (I've found that skippy natural tastes the BEST with these)
3/4 cup sugar.  (most recipes like this one call for a full cup, but honestly, I like them not as sweet.)
1 cup light corn syrup (like Karo)

Quite simple ingredients if you ask me.  =D




Instructions:




Step 1:


Stove top:
Put peanut butter, corn syrup and sugar in a small pan.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat immediately.


Microwave::
Microwave corn syrup, sugar and peanut butter in large microwavable bowl 2 minutes or just until mixture boils, stirring after each minute. 






2.  Stir in cereal until well coated.


3.  Press firmly into 9 x 13 pan, preferably foil lined, or lined with parchment paper.  (The first time, I just used cooking spray, and it came out fine, but be warned, it is extremely difficult to keep in place to form into bars of sorts.)


4.  Cool in pan.  Once cooled, cut into bars and store in tightly sealed container at room temperature.  They should keep well for at least a week.  I wouldn't partucluarly know though, because honestly, mine don't last more than 4 days.

Enjoy these delicious desserts!  I highly recommend them to anyone who loves grape nuts or peanut butter.

Brown sugar oatmeal muffins

       Makes 12.

OM NOM NOM.  That's about all the family had to say about these, and quite frankly, I agree.  While on the hunt for healthy breakfast alternatives to cereal, some Better Oats oatmeal packages cried to be used.

"I must be made into MUFFINS!"

So I hunted for a recipe, and came across a few, but none screamed awesome healthy amazingness, so instead, I just tweaked one until it was the tastiest thing on the planet.  When the husband says he likes something that's full of awesome good ingredients, then it must be a hit, right?  So, without further ado, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Muffins:

-1 3/4 c whole wheat flour  (If you don't care for things made with whole wheat flour, use half whole wheat, half all purpose.)

-1/3 c white sugar  (Dunno what to replace this with to keep the sweetness.  Maybe maple syrup?)

-2 tsp baking powder

-1/4 tsp salt

-2 packets instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal

-1 egg, beaten

-1 cup milk

-1/4 cup applesauce (or vegetable oil.  applesauce makes a great substitue for oil in most recipes though.  Particularly this one.)

Streusel Topping:   (Optional)

3 tbs all purpose flour (or whole wheat)

3 tbs brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbs butter

Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees f.  Grease 12 muffin cups/muffin pan.

2.  Combine 3 tbs four, brown sugar, and cinnamon in small bowl.  Use a pastry blender or two knives to cut the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Reserve.

Tip:  Mushing with your fingers works just as well as knives or a pastry blender.  It just takes a tad bit longer and is messier.

3.  Combine 1 3/4 c flour, white sugar, baking powder, salt, and oatmeal in large bowl.  Make a well in center of mix for wet ingredients.  Pour in egg, milk, and applesauce/oil.  Stir until just mostened.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups/pan, filling each 2/3ish full.  Sprinkle tops evenly with streusel topping. 

(again, optional, but it does taste a bit better.  I advise only adding half of the struesel, or even just enough to add a little bit of texture/flavor.  all of it turned out to be way too much.)

4.  Bake at 400 degrees F for about 15 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack 5ish minutes before serving. 

Lastly, enjoy those tasty muffins, and don't feel too guilty on eating more than just one.  I think I tanked three the first time I made them.

Maximize Your Mornings

As of September 15, I began a maximize your mornings challenge.  Since starting, I've found that it only works if a bed time routine is also in place.  The past week, I've aimed for getting up at 6:30 before the kids do, and while that is working, I've been overly exhausted.  Then, the lightbulb went off.  If I want to manage crawling out of bed a little earlier, I should probably crawl in it earlier as well.  Easier said than done, my friends.  I'm hoping this will even itsself out over time, preferably over the next week, because I'm so tired today that absolutely nothing is going to be done, other than a nap and the dishes.  BUT, I will have had my quiet time, and the day will go so much smoother.

The Good Things: 

Quiet/Prayer Time: 
Before now, I  haven't taken time to do that daily since, oh, probably middle school.  To be honest, I'm not sure if I even took the time to do it monthly.  Now, with this challenge, I have made an effort to spend at least twenty minutes of my hour or so in prayer/reading something spiritual.  I have found that in doing so, I am slowly growing closer to God, and allowing my children to learn and do so as well.  It is a nice feeling when you finally feel back on track with your life.  I guess God, this challenge, and the right timing have hit me just right.  This sure is one habit that will stick, whether I get the queit time in the morning, during naps, or wherever I can squeeze it, it will be squeezed in. 

Laundry:
So, I'm rather convinced laundry wasn't a part of the whole maximize your mornings challenge, but I have found it a big part of mine.  In the past four days, I have started a load the second I walk down to the basement.  By the time I'm done with my quiet time and what not, it is ready to dry.  After breakfast, it is dried and ready to be folded/put away.  Yay for progress!  Now, Mount Washmore has nothing on me and will soon be reduced to a molehill simply because I now know how to accomplish more than one load at a time.  (This can be saved for another post on a day I don't have much to write about.)  Three cheers for a work in progress.

The Rest of the Day:
It has been about two and a half weeks since starting.  In these two and a half weeks, my days have gone so much smoother.  I don't feel like I'm hunting for ME time, and I don't feel like I need the entire day for that.  I have a house to clean, kids to feed, kids to entertain, and overall, there just isn't much time for ME at the end of the day.  Now that I've started this, the ME morning time has solved my hunt issue, and now, I have that sense of, well, personality.  I'm not just the wife/mom; I'm ME too.  That feeling, right there, is amazing in every way.  Knowing who you are and that you can find time to figure out who you are on a regular basis makes everything much easier, or so it seems. 



The Bad Thing:

Sleep Patterns:
My sleep patterns are so out of whack.  I am only getting up about 45 minutes earlier than pre-challenge, but that 45 minutes is less time for sleep.  Like I stated above, hopefully this one just smooths itsself out over time, because I cannot handle being so exhausted all day every day.  Luckily, this is a small itty bitty problem, and I can handle it easily.  It in no way cancels out all those good things.








Overall, I love this idea, and even when the challenge "ends", it won't be over for me.  I always keep things that work hanging around as much as I can.  If you haven't already started something like this, I highly recommend it.  There's even more good that can come if you allow that. 

Dream Menu Planning

So, my last post was about how I currently menu plan and, quite frankly, it isn't cost or time efficient. 

Time

If you go back and read, you'll realize it takes about three or so hours to plan my menu from brainstorm to list, and I left out "go through coupons" in the steps.  In my dream plan, it would only take an hour to do that.  The problem?  I can't possibly see how to make -that- take an hour!  There's so many different things I have to check and make sure we have, or don't have for that matter, and after awhile, the amount of time starts multiplying.  Maybe if I were better organized, it wouldn't be so difficult.  I'm thinking if I make a bunch of weekly menus, and then have everyone pick one per week I'm shopping for, we might make some progress.  At least, I won't have to hunt down each recipe, and then see what ingredients I have for each recipe. 


Money

Of course, food costs money, and money, as much as we wish, doesn't grow on trees or can be pulled out from behind us.  If I ever find a way to do that, I'll share, don't worry, but for now, this is still an issue.  For starters, the high cost in meat keeps devouring our budget.  We could turn into vegetarians, but then our cost of veggies would skyrocket, and, well, no solution there.  Also, I can't think of a single meal my husband will eat, aside from beans and cornbread, that is without meat.  He'd be the one to notice this fact too, regardless of how quiet I make it. 

Veggies.  These things are also expensive.  I swear grocers think, "Its fresh? OVERPRICE ALL THE THINGS!" when they decide the cost to sell sometimes.  Of course, they have to make their profit too, but man, I wish things were a little more budget friendly.  This spring I'm going to attempt a garden, but I don't have much hope for myself.  We will see how it goes though.  Have to plant the strawberries on the 15th or they won't be blooming come spring. 

Lastly, the frozen things are eating my budget alive, and god forbid hubby not eat pizza rolls.  Those are one of those foods I wish I could prepare at home.  It can't possibly be that hard, right?  Ha!  Maybe some more reasearch and the right recipe will help me out here.  And I'll keep the pizza roll bags to put them in, just so he will eat them and not notice I made them. 

Overall, all that little bit of food to last two or three weeks adds up fast.  If you buy a hundred things priced at three dollars a piece, that's three hundred dollars.  Maybe a fresh garden will help out some, but considering I don't plan on it working well, we will see.





So, next time I menu plan, I'll have to work harder and making it more efficient in these categories.  Wish me luck!  Also, any tips and tricks are welcome.