I want to get back into doing my Sunday Scriptures!
Here is this week's-and yes, it's a day late! I chose to spend yesterday outside all afternoon with the kids instead of inside!
Today's scripture is from Hebrews 9:27-28.
"Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."
Our sermon at church was about salvation.
Are you saved?
Monday, March 9, 2015
Friday, March 6, 2015
Quick and Filling School Breakfasts
I'm pretty sure it's a known fact that the kids and I are NOT morning people, early risers, or anything of the like! However, I know with school they need to head out with a good breakfast in their bellies. Since school started, we have been working hard at getting up early, and eating a nice filling breakfast. I thought I'd share some of my ideas for quick breakfasts, because we do not use a microwave, and we don't eat cold cereal for breakfast either. I don't have anything against cold cereal, except that it isn't very filling for breakfast. When I do buy it, which isn't all the time, it's mainly a treat or snack. No one uses it for breakfast around here. I know some people probably think it's impossible to have a good, quick breakfast without microwaving one of those pre-packaged meals.
I have found it's very easy to do these things, it just takes some prep work ahead of time. 'Cause let's just be honest, I won't be up frying bacon, sausage, and eggs every morning at 6 a.m.! I do cook those things some mornings-but certainly not every morning. I have found that on Tuesdays and Thursdays especially, I like having something fast for breakfast because Dustin is the only one eating at 6 a.m. those days!
Fruit ~ First of all, I think it's important to have plenty of fresh fruit for the kids to eat with breakfast. My kids love apples, grapes, and mandarin oranges. I also keep bananas on hand. Emmy is my only watermelon eater, and depending on the day some of them may eat strawberries-but they aren't in season anymore so I don't really buy them often. Applesauce is good too if you are out of fresh fruit.
A smoothie is also another option for a fruit side option, and you can use frozen fruit. I also love putting fresh spinach in smoothies, which is the only way spinach gets eaten around here (myself included).
Meat ~ As far as meat goes, I take a big package of homemade sausage, patty it out, and fried it ahead of time. I will even go ahead and freeze it cooked. The night before, I just pull out however many patties we need and let them thaw overnight. In the morning, I just pop them in the oven or toaster oven to warm them up. Easy, yummy, and filling. I've never tried freezing cooked bacon, but I may to see how it does. For bacon, I just fry up and leave in the fridge till we need to warm it. I do this for BLTs for supper too, or club sandwiches. A big time saver.
Breads/Pancakes ~ Biscuits can be made ahead of time and frozen in a big Ziploc bag so you can also pull out however many you need. If you are going to the trouble of making biscuits or pancakes, you may as well make a big batch and have more for later. I usually pop the pancakes in the toaster, and it heats them up nicely. I have not tried making waffles, but I got a waffle maker a couple of years ago and really need to try making my own Eggos!
My kids love banana bread, so I try to keep that in the freezer, either in mini-loaves (it takes one mini-loaf to feed them for breakfast), or in muffins. We also like blueberry muffins, but banana is definitely the favorite. Let's face it, bananas are much cheaper than blueberries-so that's a no-brainer. Also, it helps keep you from wasting them when they get too brown. If I don't have time to make bread, but the bananas are brown, I will take them out of the peel and freeze them until I have time to cook them. It works just fine and ensures we have no waste. You can also throw them in a smoothie straight from the freezer.
~ I have an overnight cinnamon roll recipe that is really good, and you pop them in the oven in the morning. Yum!
~Breakfast casseroles are great for making ahead. Except my family doesn't like them. Fooey!
~I have also made and frozen quiches for eating later. Again, my family doesn't like them. Are we seeing a pattern here???
~Another option-Burritos! Dustin likes breakfast burritos. I don't really care for them, but I make them for him. I put eggs, sausage, and cheese on them. I freeze them and just pop out however many the night before. They can be heated up in the toaster oven quickly, or he can take them with him and microwave them at work. Yes, we sometimes use other people's microwaves in a pinch. :-) Not often though, ideally. I also freeze burrito "packets", by putting the cooked ingredients in a snack sized Ziploc bag. We then just thaw a couple overnight and put them on a fresh tortilla in the morning. These work great either way you do it.
~You can also cook some type of home fries or hashbrowns fairly quickly. I am not sure why I don't do that more often, maybe I will add them in the rotation. I recently started making my own hashbrowns from leftover baked potatoes. So easy!
~Oatmeal is another great option. You guessed it-it's not popular here. Not sure why. Maybe a texture thing?
I have a recipe for a breakfast pizza which I really want to try. I will have to share if it's good and family-approved.
I have learned that it isn't nearly as hard as I thought it was to get a good breakfast on the table to fill up my family. Here are a few meal combinations that seem to work well and the kids like...to give you some ideas. I just have had to change my routine and make sure I plan for breakfast, instead of just waiting until we wake up and figuring out what to fix/grab. Now, I meal plan all 3 meals of the day, instead of before just actually planning dinner.
If we are running late, Health Valley makes organic cereal bars that the kids really like, and we can eat those on the go, maybe with some applesauce squeezies or some other easy to grab items.
Hopefully this may help everyone avoid those pre-packaged breakfast items that have so much sodium and preservatives and ingredients you can't pronounce. Not to mention how expensive they are! For a treat I bought some of the breakfast "lunchables" for the kids. They did not like them and they were a big waste of money. I was fine with that since I don't like the ingredients in them anyway. Now, they will eat a lunchtime lunchable like nobody's business, but I try to let them only be an occasional treat. I will have to do a lunch post as well!!!
And maybe, just maybe I will become a morning person! :-)
I have found it's very easy to do these things, it just takes some prep work ahead of time. 'Cause let's just be honest, I won't be up frying bacon, sausage, and eggs every morning at 6 a.m.! I do cook those things some mornings-but certainly not every morning. I have found that on Tuesdays and Thursdays especially, I like having something fast for breakfast because Dustin is the only one eating at 6 a.m. those days!
Fruit ~ First of all, I think it's important to have plenty of fresh fruit for the kids to eat with breakfast. My kids love apples, grapes, and mandarin oranges. I also keep bananas on hand. Emmy is my only watermelon eater, and depending on the day some of them may eat strawberries-but they aren't in season anymore so I don't really buy them often. Applesauce is good too if you are out of fresh fruit.
A smoothie is also another option for a fruit side option, and you can use frozen fruit. I also love putting fresh spinach in smoothies, which is the only way spinach gets eaten around here (myself included).
Meat ~ As far as meat goes, I take a big package of homemade sausage, patty it out, and fried it ahead of time. I will even go ahead and freeze it cooked. The night before, I just pull out however many patties we need and let them thaw overnight. In the morning, I just pop them in the oven or toaster oven to warm them up. Easy, yummy, and filling. I've never tried freezing cooked bacon, but I may to see how it does. For bacon, I just fry up and leave in the fridge till we need to warm it. I do this for BLTs for supper too, or club sandwiches. A big time saver.
Breads/Pancakes ~ Biscuits can be made ahead of time and frozen in a big Ziploc bag so you can also pull out however many you need. If you are going to the trouble of making biscuits or pancakes, you may as well make a big batch and have more for later. I usually pop the pancakes in the toaster, and it heats them up nicely. I have not tried making waffles, but I got a waffle maker a couple of years ago and really need to try making my own Eggos!
My kids love banana bread, so I try to keep that in the freezer, either in mini-loaves (it takes one mini-loaf to feed them for breakfast), or in muffins. We also like blueberry muffins, but banana is definitely the favorite. Let's face it, bananas are much cheaper than blueberries-so that's a no-brainer. Also, it helps keep you from wasting them when they get too brown. If I don't have time to make bread, but the bananas are brown, I will take them out of the peel and freeze them until I have time to cook them. It works just fine and ensures we have no waste. You can also throw them in a smoothie straight from the freezer.
- A tip I just recently learned and have loved is that you can go ahead and mix up your muffins, put them in the muffin tins, then pop them in the freezer uncooked. Once frozen, pull out the tins and pop the uncooked muffins in a freezer bag for later. You can do a big variety, then when you are ready to serve muffins, just cook the ones you want. I have tried this and it works great! It's a good time saver, and also nice if you want to cook just a few of each type of muffin.
~ I have an overnight cinnamon roll recipe that is really good, and you pop them in the oven in the morning. Yum!
~Breakfast casseroles are great for making ahead. Except my family doesn't like them. Fooey!
~I have also made and frozen quiches for eating later. Again, my family doesn't like them. Are we seeing a pattern here???
~Another option-Burritos! Dustin likes breakfast burritos. I don't really care for them, but I make them for him. I put eggs, sausage, and cheese on them. I freeze them and just pop out however many the night before. They can be heated up in the toaster oven quickly, or he can take them with him and microwave them at work. Yes, we sometimes use other people's microwaves in a pinch. :-) Not often though, ideally. I also freeze burrito "packets", by putting the cooked ingredients in a snack sized Ziploc bag. We then just thaw a couple overnight and put them on a fresh tortilla in the morning. These work great either way you do it.
~You can also cook some type of home fries or hashbrowns fairly quickly. I am not sure why I don't do that more often, maybe I will add them in the rotation. I recently started making my own hashbrowns from leftover baked potatoes. So easy!
~Oatmeal is another great option. You guessed it-it's not popular here. Not sure why. Maybe a texture thing?
I have a recipe for a breakfast pizza which I really want to try. I will have to share if it's good and family-approved.
I have learned that it isn't nearly as hard as I thought it was to get a good breakfast on the table to fill up my family. Here are a few meal combinations that seem to work well and the kids like...to give you some ideas. I just have had to change my routine and make sure I plan for breakfast, instead of just waiting until we wake up and figuring out what to fix/grab. Now, I meal plan all 3 meals of the day, instead of before just actually planning dinner.
- Sausage patties, banana bread, fruit
- Eggs, fruit
- Overnight cinnamon rolls, fruit
- Pancakes, bacon, fruit
- Eggs, Bacon, fruit
- Eggs, Sausage, fruit
- Banana bread, fruit
- Eggs, biscuits, bacon or sausage, fruit
- Sausage, muffins, smoothies
If we are running late, Health Valley makes organic cereal bars that the kids really like, and we can eat those on the go, maybe with some applesauce squeezies or some other easy to grab items.
Hopefully this may help everyone avoid those pre-packaged breakfast items that have so much sodium and preservatives and ingredients you can't pronounce. Not to mention how expensive they are! For a treat I bought some of the breakfast "lunchables" for the kids. They did not like them and they were a big waste of money. I was fine with that since I don't like the ingredients in them anyway. Now, they will eat a lunchtime lunchable like nobody's business, but I try to let them only be an occasional treat. I will have to do a lunch post as well!!!
And maybe, just maybe I will become a morning person! :-)
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Another Snow Day!
Oh my goodness-it is going to snow AGAIN! I am about over the whole snow thing this year. I honestly am. It has been beautiful and the kids have loved it, but sometimes enough is enough, you know?
We ran to the grocery store to get our weekly groceries before we potentially get snow bound. We also met my mom, step-dad, sister, and nephew for a Mexican lunch. Yum. Henry's idea! He woke up first thing and asked me to take him to the restaurant. Funny boy could live on chips and salsa I think. The restaurant knows to bring him his own personal bowl of salsa because he doesn't like to share and no one really wants to share with him anyway-he takes double dipping to a whole new level! Ewww!
My dad had his surgery last week, so Henry and I took him to his post-op appointment and first physical therapy session this week. I enjoyed spending time with him & I also got a lot of reading in-which is always nice! Uninterrupted reading time can be hard to find around here and is something I really appreciate!!!! I love being at home so I can jump in and help where needed. It really is a blessing.
Some days when I can't see over my laundry pile and dishes are piled in the sink, I forget how blessed I really am!
School has still been going great-despite all the snow cancellations. It's hard to believe it will be over before we know it! May 18 is their pre-school graduation! This week has been different with their teacher being out of town, but they have adjusted well. Even Carson, surprisingly. I think I was more worried and nervous than they were.
It's Dr. Seuss' birthday week, so there have been lots of school activities surrounding that. I made thing 1 & thing 2 cupcakes and also fruit kabobs. The kids dressed as cat in the hat, which turned out cute I thought. I made their costumes. I will have to post how they turned out. I thought they were okay for what I spent on them.
We are almost done with our circus reading, which is good since the circus is next week. Henry has decided he doesn't want to go, which was somewhat of a relief. He did fine last year, but my sister and I are going alone with all the kids, so it will be easier with just the twins and cousin Hunter. My mom thankfully wants to hang with Henry! Where is their sense of adventure? Yep, I will be packing my bag with my contraband snacks-ha! I have it down to a science. I don't feel a bit bad about it because they charge like $15 for a snow cone, and all the prices are like that. Trust me, we will end up buying some things there, but at least we can save a little! And they sure aren't hurting for money-obviously!
I have gotten a lot of freebies lately, I think I need to post about them! My best find was a free copy of the new Disney movie-Big Hero 6, which we are watching now since we are stuck indoors.
I am trying to order Luke Bryan tickets also, but that is not going well and I don't have my hopes up. I would LOVE to see him though, I've never been to one of his shows. We will see what happens with that. I can only order VIP tickets right now, which are a little more than I'm willing to pay. I may have to get my cousin Brandy to help-she is the queen of getting front row seats for good shows! :-)
Well, I am off to read a book I think. There are plenty of things I should do, but I think I am going to relax for a bit. I have learned the dishes and laundry will always be there when I'm ready-ha!
I do love when my mom babysits because she cleans and washes clothes/dishes. It's the best and helps me SO much! :-)
All for now.....more later and hopefully pics too!
We ran to the grocery store to get our weekly groceries before we potentially get snow bound. We also met my mom, step-dad, sister, and nephew for a Mexican lunch. Yum. Henry's idea! He woke up first thing and asked me to take him to the restaurant. Funny boy could live on chips and salsa I think. The restaurant knows to bring him his own personal bowl of salsa because he doesn't like to share and no one really wants to share with him anyway-he takes double dipping to a whole new level! Ewww!
My dad had his surgery last week, so Henry and I took him to his post-op appointment and first physical therapy session this week. I enjoyed spending time with him & I also got a lot of reading in-which is always nice! Uninterrupted reading time can be hard to find around here and is something I really appreciate!!!! I love being at home so I can jump in and help where needed. It really is a blessing.
Some days when I can't see over my laundry pile and dishes are piled in the sink, I forget how blessed I really am!
School has still been going great-despite all the snow cancellations. It's hard to believe it will be over before we know it! May 18 is their pre-school graduation! This week has been different with their teacher being out of town, but they have adjusted well. Even Carson, surprisingly. I think I was more worried and nervous than they were.
It's Dr. Seuss' birthday week, so there have been lots of school activities surrounding that. I made thing 1 & thing 2 cupcakes and also fruit kabobs. The kids dressed as cat in the hat, which turned out cute I thought. I made their costumes. I will have to post how they turned out. I thought they were okay for what I spent on them.
We are almost done with our circus reading, which is good since the circus is next week. Henry has decided he doesn't want to go, which was somewhat of a relief. He did fine last year, but my sister and I are going alone with all the kids, so it will be easier with just the twins and cousin Hunter. My mom thankfully wants to hang with Henry! Where is their sense of adventure? Yep, I will be packing my bag with my contraband snacks-ha! I have it down to a science. I don't feel a bit bad about it because they charge like $15 for a snow cone, and all the prices are like that. Trust me, we will end up buying some things there, but at least we can save a little! And they sure aren't hurting for money-obviously!
I have gotten a lot of freebies lately, I think I need to post about them! My best find was a free copy of the new Disney movie-Big Hero 6, which we are watching now since we are stuck indoors.
I am trying to order Luke Bryan tickets also, but that is not going well and I don't have my hopes up. I would LOVE to see him though, I've never been to one of his shows. We will see what happens with that. I can only order VIP tickets right now, which are a little more than I'm willing to pay. I may have to get my cousin Brandy to help-she is the queen of getting front row seats for good shows! :-)
Well, I am off to read a book I think. There are plenty of things I should do, but I think I am going to relax for a bit. I have learned the dishes and laundry will always be there when I'm ready-ha!
I do love when my mom babysits because she cleans and washes clothes/dishes. It's the best and helps me SO much! :-)
All for now.....more later and hopefully pics too!
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