Summer of the Chicken

One of our projects this past summer was getting set up with Silver Laced Wyandotte chickens!  Back in June we bought four 1-day-old baby fluffy butts!

They quickly (very quickly) grew and when they were fully feathered out they moved from their brooder box  out to the coop.  The picture below is them in their coop outside of their box for the first time.  The bedding hasn't looked that neat and beautiful since then, but it's not as stinky as I would have thought.

 We will be getting some super delicious and healthier than store bought eggs starting in about 2 - 3 months from now!  We don't have a rooster because they are annoyingly loud and from what I've been reading can be aggressive... which doesn't fly well with this lady, especially considering I want our kids to feel comfortable doing the chicken chores and don't want them getting harassed by a cocky rooster.

Our 4 chickens are very gentle except when they get super excited about treats (worms, raisens, fruit scraps) and can get carried away.

 Though our chickens are not free-ranged because I have a business that requires they not roam around and poop on whatever they want, and their eggs won't be quite as magical as a free-ranged pasture-raised chicken egg, I expect some difference to occur.  They get greens, they get fruit and veggie scraps, bugs, worms, and decent feed, so they and their eggs will be healthier than the chickens living in egg-factories.

Supposedly, these are the differences between a free-range chicken's egg and a store bought egg:

• 1/3 less cholesterol• 1/4 less saturated fat• 2/3 more vitamin A• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids• 3 times more vitamin E• 7 times more beta carotene

Plus, chickens are fun. And funny.  And soft.  And quieter than I expected (our kids are a bajillion times louder when outside than the chickens).   

 The kids have really enjoyed getting to raise animals that are a little different than your usual house pet.  They help let them out of their coop by opening the door to their run in the morning, they can feed them, they can switch out the water jugs, and they can scoop poop as well!

 If the winter goes well we might get a couple more chicks to up our egg supply, because we eat a lot of eggs around here, and we're already getting lots of requests from friends and families for eggs!  But for now we're learning as we go, and taking it one season at a time!

I Resolve To: the realistic version

I don't do resolutions.  But perhaps this year I will?  But just one, because I want to be realistic here.

I resolve, in the year 2012, to get super fat.  Not in a baby-in-the-belly kind of way, but an ate-too-many-cookies-and-cheese sort of way.

That way when I fail my resolution I won't be at all disappointed.

Our First Christmas Dinner

Alternate title "It's About Dang Time!"

Since Sweet Pea was a baby, 10 Christmas's ago, Spencer and I have been trying to fit in our family's Christmas celebration on Christmas morning.  But there has never been enough time.  We would come downstairs to the tree and our stockings and open our Santa presents.  Then we would open our presents to each other.  After that we would eat a quick breakfast (though one or two years I made a special breakfast, but it was rushed) and spend the next couple hours getting everyone ready, food for 3 locations ready to go, presents for 3 locations ready to go, and hope we don't forget anything.  Then we'd head over to my mom and dad's, second we'd go to my dad's side of the family, and finally spending the evening with Spencer's relatives.  It was a long day and very very rushed.

Finally this year I gave up on trying to celebrate on Christmas day and planned a special Christmas with my family for the evening before Christmas eve!

I wanted to make a big special dinner, have plenty of time to open and enjoy presents with the kids, and have dessert, followed by more family time.

The morning of the 23rd the kids went with my mom and mother-in-law to Macy's 8th floor display of "A Day in the Life of an Elf" and have lunch at McDonalds, while Spence was out working.  That time alone in the house was a life-savor because I wanted to have the house clean for the weekend and it's harder to do that with kids around!

 I made Pioneer Woman's "Perfect Potroast" and "Creamy Mashed Potatoes", salad, homemade hot chocolate, and a thaw-and-serve cookies & cream pie for dessert!

 People listen!  This is the best pot roast you will ever eat in your life!  Combined with the creamy mashed potatoes (which I put too much butter on but it was extra awesome that way!) it is perfection on a fork!

 When the girls saw the table all set pretty they were so excited, they could tell it was something special and that just made me feel so good!  Everyone loved the dinner, even Little Man who didn't really eat any of the other Christmas dinners we went to all weekend (he's a stinker like that).

 After dinner we opened presents.  Spence and I didn't have the cash-o-lah to buy for eachother so we had just planned on watching the kids open their gifts, but the girls had gone to the dollar store with Spencer's mom to shop for eachother, their brother, and Spence and me!

 I think we got a bigger kick out of watching them open the gifts they got eachother than the gifts we got them!  They were very thought out presents!  They got me bright pink nail polish because they know I like that color on my toe nails, nail clippers (constantly clipping my and the kids' nails) pretty ornaments, cd holder for the car (needed) and some other goodies!

Just Dance Kids

After all the presents were opened and enjoyed at a leisurely pace we had our dessert, and more playtime before heading to bed.  It was truly my favorite Christmas!  I cherished that relaxed quality family time together and can't wait to do it again next year!!

Cookie Baking MY Way

Last week I made sugar cookie cutouts for the kids and I to frost, because Christmas is coming soon, and if you know anything about me it's that I love cookies!

Because my Christmas tree and snowman cookie cutters were dirty, I decided to make candy canes and snow flakes!

 But, even with an excessisve amount of flour they were kind of sticking and getting messed up... so I changed it up a bit... because I can.

Yes those look like Pumpkins, yes they are supposed to be pumpkin cookie cutters, but because it is a highly dependable cookie cutter I used them anyway and called them "bulb ornaments".  Works right?

Then the girls and I frosted them!  Little Man didn't want to decorate, he's not into that artsy fartsy stuff that we are.  I made the frosting with powdered sugar and milk.  I like to start with it a little runny and then add more powdered sugar until it thickens up.  It's still a bit runny, but that's what the paper towels are for!

And because I'm kind of a freak, and because it's delicious, I threw some chocolate chips on a ball of sugar cookie dough and popped the whole thing in my mouth.  YUM!

And yes... they are all gone, and have been for a few days now.  But we made a bunch more (different kinds) last weekend so I'm all good!

Confessions of a Cookie Addict

I've got another one for ya.

Last Friday was Spencer's spike day, mine was the next day.  Friday night he ran to the gas station to by some junk food to snack on and came back with a pack of those big M&M cookies.  I immediately declared my spike day was starting a night early.

He took one out to eat, I took two.

After a little while (like maybe 10 minutes) I asked him to pass me the cookies, which he did, but not before taking two more out of the package for himself for later.

He knows me so well!

Pancakes for Lots of Kids

I like pancakes.

The end.

Just kidding:o)

I like pancakes, and the kids all like pancakes, but they are kind of a pain in the butt to make for many children and then cut up for many children.

Recently I tried something different to make the process more efficient so everyone could eat at the same time and I didn't spend forever-and-a-day cutting up the little kids' pancakes.  Here's what I did...

Pull out the big skillet!

pour your batter into a rectangularish shape, and don't beat yourself up about the irregular shap.

It was at this point that I realized flipping the dang thing would be impossible, so I used the spatula to cut it into 3 flipable chunks

Flip!

but watch the edge!

when done cooking move them to a large cutting board, take out your pizza cutter (it's good for everything!) and cut it into strips that they can pick up with their fingers and dip into a little syrup!

serve with some syrup and fruit

and enjoy!

There's a way to make pancakes like an actual cake, in a cake pan, which makes things even easier, but with the pancake mix I've been buying it just doesn't turn out right.  Also I don't really know how hot to cook it at or for how long :o) 

I hope to return to regular blogging after our taxes get done (should happen next week) and can once again devote some of my brain power to blogging!

Valentine Cookies

Are you sick of bloggers posting all their Valentines Day stuff?

Well.. sorry then. :o)

On Valentines day we made, decorated, and ate cookies!  First we made the cookie dough, and then because I'm not a fan of making cut-outs, we cheated improvised the heart-making process.  We took the two sizes of heart shaped cookie cutters, and filled them with the cookie dough, pressing the dough down with the mixing spoon.  The smaller sized hearts worked better than the bigger sized ones.

Then we frosted the cookies.

Usually I like to make an icing out of powdered sugar and milk, but for whatever reason I grabbed this can of vanilla frosting at the store.  I'm not gonna lie, it was yummy!

Then we added the sprinkles.

Fair warning, it's a messy treat to make, and to eat, but they were yummy and the kids had a blast!

We also did graphing activities with conversation hearts, had special heart-shaped sandwiches at lunchtime, decorated valentine bags and passed out valentines, sang songs about love and friendship, read a couple stories about Valentines Day,  played a hugging game, and thought about ways to show our family that we love them!

Dinner Out With the Family



If there was one thing we used to be able to do when we had just one child, that we are not able to do with three children, it is go out for dinner as a family.  Well, actually there are lots of things that are easier with one child than three children, but that's beside the point.

Going out to eat with three kids gets expensive.  Not only do the adult size sandwich basket meals seem to keep getting more expensive, we're also paying for 3 kids dinners, and fending off pleas for dessert.  Last time my kids asked for dessert when we went out for dinner I told them if they started watering the money tree we'd start ordering dessert.  They then asked, "what money tree?" and I responded with, "Exactly."

I was trying to remember the last time the five of us when out to eat, and I can't remember anything since sometime last summer!  For Christmas one of my daycare families gave me a generous giftcard to Davanni's, a pizza place, and we used that giftcard tonight.

You can imagine my excitement at the end of the daycare day when I looked at my cluttered kitchen table and my dirty dishes and realized that I didn't have to take care of any of that before dinner!  Sure it means that I still have a kitchen left to clean tonight, but it gave me an opportunity to relax a little after work.

Even though Little Man was a bit crabby and restless before our pizzas came, it was a wonderful time out as a family.  Everyone got their fill of pizza.  Little Man kept holding up his pizza and saying, "Wow! kejklsdkfnav Wow!" Babydoll ended up with two balloons to blow up and play with while we waited, and Sweet Pea was making bets with Spencer on whether or not she could finish her second huge piece of pizza.  Not one to give in to peer pressure she was only a few bites away from winning before she decided to lose because she didn't want to finish it.  Anyone who knows Sweet Pea's eating habits knows she could have certainly finished 2 big pieces of pizza if she wanted to!

It was a wonderful evening out, and even though I still have a ton to do, I feel a little more refreshed and ready to take it on!

By the way, Davanni's doesn't know me, read my blog, or ask me to blog about them. But if they did ask I would definitely blog about them some more in exchange for free pizza. :o)

Our Dog is Grounded!!!

I made a batch of sugar cookies this afternoon.  I ate a bunch of them, the kids and Spence had some, and we still had a bunch left.

That is, until Lucy our dog got a hold of them!

15 minutes ago she ate all but one of the cookies that were left, and the one she didn't eat couldn't be saved.  I mean, who wants a cookie that a dog has mouthed and was just about to eat?  I'm a self-proclaimed cookie addict, but no thanks!

Grrr...

The only silver lining here is that now I'll be forced to make chocolate chip cookies, which I'll have to eat some of tonight because if I don't then things will be very difficult for me for the rest of the week. 

While I don't mind making and eating chocolate chip cookies, I'm not going to thank her for eating all my (family's) sugar cookies!!

The Spike Diet - Weighing In

In October I told you about a diet Spencer and I had started, back then I had lost 5 lb in the first 2 weeks.  The diet is called The Spike Diet, and you can read about it on their website.

I'm thrilled to update that I've lost, as of my last weigh-in last Saturday, 18 pounds!  There's no way I'll tell you my actual weight, but the second digit in my weight dropped to a number I haven't seen in years!  I've lost more than 2 inches off my waistline! I bought a smaller belt and am now buckling it at the 3rd hole, and I'm wearing jeans I nearly threw out before because I haven't fit them in a long time and couldn't foresee squeezing into them again... now they fit comfortably!

I'm not the only one who's been losing weight, Spencer lost 25 pounds and is in the best shape he's been in in years!

I'm not going to lie and say it's been a total breeze, but for someone who's never really committed to a diet before... any serious attempt at a diet would not be a total breeze.  But it hasn't been hard at all either!  Once a week I get to stuff my face with whatever the heck I want, and it's a key part of the diet! I've heard from a couple people that they would be worried about getting back in diet-mode after a day of indulgence, but for me it actually makes it so much easier because I know that on Saturday I can eat as many Christmas cookies as I want. 

A few things that have helped me along the way...

I keep track of ALL the food I eat and calories on a spread sheet and enter them as soon as possible.

I snack on protein because it burns more calories in the digestions process. 

Keeping a bottle of water handy helps stretch me to the next meal, and keeps the water weight off... somehow.

We buy Special K Protein Meal Bars for when I don't want to make something... the chocolate chip ones are the best and the convenience of them keeps me from reaching into my kids' halloween candy, or popping a hotdog into the microwave.

I'm trying with all my might to not bake any cookies until Saturday, because I know that before they are even cooled off I will eat like 7 of them... which is ok on Saturdays because that's my spike day!

When I make dinner I add up all the calories in the ingredients and divide it up to get my total calories eaten.

The calculation of how many calories you are supposed to eat can be a bit confusing, so be careful when you figure it out.

   The whole metabolism boosting thing must be working because I feel like I'm losing weight more easily as I go along, although I'm not expecting much weight loss in the next couple weeks with Christmas coming up.  I'm not really worried about it though because a couple times during my diet I've fallen off the bandwagon and gained a couple pounds back, but the next week those pounds were gone.  One of those times was when I had the flu (or whatever it was) and I was eating whatever I could grab or was given to me, like really yummy and bad for you creamy chicken and wild rice soup.  Once I was well enough to prepare stuff I was back on track.

Oh and, a small Christmas miracle occurred on Sunday.  I took the girls to go see the childrens' play How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and there were cookies for sale, and I didn't get one!  Most people wouldn't consider that a small miracle, but if you know me then you know I'm obsessed.  Coffee and cookies get me every time, but not THAT time!

I'll check back at some point again, hopefully it will be because I reached my goal of 25 lbs lost!

Oh, and because tips are always good, what diet tips do you have?

One of my Favorite Kitchen Tools

Recognize this?  This, my friends, is one of my favorite kitchen tools.



You may think this is a pizza cutter, right?  It is, but it is also so much more than a pizza cutter!

I use it to slice quesadillas.  I cook the quesadilla in a pan sprayed with pam, throw it on the cutting board and slice it up quickly and easily with my pizza cutter!

I use it to cut pancakes as well!  instead of cutting up pancakes for 6 kids with a knife and fork, I make quick work of it with a pizza cutter on a cutting board, slide the cut-up pancake onto a plate, and drizzle a little syrup on it!

It works for other foods as well, like turning french toast into french toast sticks!

What's your favorite kitchen tool?  What handy little tricks do you have to share?

The Spike Diet - It's Already Working!

Before I got pregnant with Sweet Pea I weighed a certain amount.  Pretty quickly after she was born I lost the weight and was back down to that certain amount.  I stayed there until we started having trouble having another baby, and gradually put on 30 pounds.  I've lost weight before but my body keeps settling in at the 25 lb weight gain point. 

While doing The Sound of Music last summer I got to know Russ Branjord.  He has developed a diet called The Spike Diet, which allowed him to lose 50 lb in about 6 months, and go on to lose over 100 lb!  Check out his blog here.  A while back he had a giveaway on his blog and I won a copy of The Spike Diet book.

Winning that book was the push I needed to get motivated to lose these pesky 25 pounds.  The very basic idea of it is 6 days of specific to your weight/height/age calorie restriction, followed by 1 day of calorie surplus - or your spike day.  You watch what you eat for 6 days, and then so that your metabolism doesn't tank, you eat whatever you want on the 7th day.  The details of the diet are best found on his websites, along with testimonials, but it's about burning fat and boosting your metabolism.

I've been doing it for 2 weeks now, and I think this could really work for me.  It helps that Spencer is doing it too, though he actually goes and works out, I'm just dieting at this point - hopefully the workouts will start soon.  In two weeks I've already lost 5 pounds, and am wearing jeans that I haven't been able to button up for years!  And my belt is too big!

It's easiest for me to count calories at this point by eating prepackaged protein/fiber snacks and shakes, and eating dinner based on how many calories I have left at that point (always leaving room for a snack in the evening!).  Once I get used to counting calories I'll start branching out with my snacks and meals.

The best part? SPIKE DAY!!  Throughout the week I'm surrounded by a lot of bad food choices - foods that would ordinarily cause me to throw my hands up in the air and say, "It's not worth it to give up all these foods I love!  It's too hard!"  But now I see them and just tell myself I can have as much as I want of it on Saturday.  Saturday's are my spike day (at least until Thanksgiving and Christmas) and this past Saturday I ate the following:

candy
pb and j sandwich
piece of cheese pizza
little bag of Fritos
handful of fruit
little cheese and meat
handful of Combos
can of pop
more candy
2 enchiladas
small white pumpkin mocha
and more:o)

Doesn't look like dieting food does it?  If my weight loss keeps going like it is, I'll be down to my goal weight in just 10 weeks!  By Christmas!

The Spike Diet blog was helpful in getting to know the concepts of the diet, but the book has been great for getting a more in depth understanding of the diet, and lots of yummy, and easy snack and meal ideas.

My favorite part, other than the losing weight part? Spike day!

Spencer's favorite part?  Center cut bacon is encouraged throughout the week!

Now that you've read my blog post, check Russ's out with the link above!  I'll keep you updated on my progress!

Coffee Impatience

Today I needed a coffee, well I always need a coffee, but today I needed a Caribou coffee. 

Not just any Caribou coffee, but a white pumpkin mocha.... yum!

There was just one little thing standing in my way... I was home alone with 4 kids.  I didn't let this stand in my way for long though!

I called parents and checked travel permission forms, loaded up the kids in the car, and drove to the Caribou near my house.

That first sip is always the best, unless you take it too soon and you burn your tongue, which is what happened to me today.... I can be darned impatient when it comes to coffee.

One example of this coffee-related impatience:  Back when Little Man was a baby and was drinking formula bottles, I poured myself a cup of coffee.  Usually I pour a little milk in it to make it a touch creamy and cool it down so I can drink it, but this particular morning we were out of milk.  Option two is water from the Britta filter, but of course it was empty and would take a few minutes to filter some fresh water. 

Then I saw Little Man's pre-made bottle sitting on the top shelf of the fridge.

Just an ounce or so would cool it off enough to drink it right away!

I was very tempted to pour a little in my coffee so could drink it right away.  That's what the coffee addiction was telling me to do anyway!

Luckily I quickly regained my senses and left his bottle of formula alone, knowing that it would certainly make my coffee gross and totally ruin my morning.  A few minutes later I took a sip of hot black coffee, burned my tongue a tiny bit, and felt relieved to have made the right decision.

The moral of the story: If you are lucky enough to have a Caribou nearby try the white pumpkin mocha, don't drink it right away or you'll burn your tongue, and always make sure there is milk in the fridge or water in the filter before you go to bed at night.

Real Fruit Popsicles

I had some frozen fruit in the freezer, and wanted to make a fun little snack for the kidletts, so I took about 2 cups of frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries), 2 cups of orange juice, and blended it up.  Then I poured it into little dixie cups, and the kids put popsicle sticks in them.

Then we put them in the freezer, which took far longer than it should have because things kept sliding off the freezer shelves at me and I nearly spilled all the popsicles more than once.

Several hours later it was snack time and we had real fruit popsicles! 

At first they tasted, well, like frozen fruit.  But as it thawed out a little it tasted pretty decent. 

Little Man liked them though!

The Hunt for the Perfect Sugar Cookie

Last week, and the week before, the theme at my daycare was baking!  Specifically cookies!  First we made peanut butter cookies, then it was time for sugar cookies, and finally decorating those sugar cookies! 

Confession:  I love cookies.  I am addicted in a way that if they are in my vicinity, I can not, under any circumstances, have just one.  It is impossible.  Usually at home I eat about 5, or more.

It's bad, and I know it.  This is why we rarely have cookies in the house anymore, it's just a bad idea.

That said, I am on the hunt for the perfect sugar cookie recipe.  I want to make a sugar cookie that tastes yummy and sweet even without icing.  I also want them to be sturdy enough to package/decorate/store without falling apart.

I know, I'm picky.

I've tried several sugar cookie recipes since last Christmas, and so far this is my favorite, but it must be tweaked!  I paid attention to the reader comments for the recipe and tried it two different ways, because I could tell be reading it that it was going to be just as boring as every other recipe I've tried. 

The kids and I made the first variation together.  The changes I made were: instead of just 2 C of sugar, I used 3, and I upped the vanilla to 2 tsp.  And chilled the dough for an hour.

Oh yeah, and there was my favorite suggestion ever!! instead of rolling them out and making cut-outs, we did this:

We rolled the chilled dough into balls...

Placed them on the cookie sheet...

Dipped a measuring cup in sugar, and squished them to about 1/4 inch thick

I don't know about you, but I hate the process of making sugar cookie cut-outs.  The shapes are fun and all, but I don't like having to re-ball up the dough and re-roll it out each time. 

This way was SO EASY!  Which is especially helpful when the kids stop helping after the first 2 trays are filled!

OH! Also, I baked the cookies for 8 minutes on my Air Bake sheet, or 7 minutes on the disposable sheet, and allowed them to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing them.

And then we each ate one because  I the kids couldn't wait until they were decorated.

The next day we decorated them!  I was going to make royal icing but never made it to Walmart to get the meringue powder, so what we did was this.  I mixed a couple heaping spoonfuls of powdered sugar, with about a teaspoon (I never measured it) of milk, and adjusted as needed for desired consistency.  I wanted it to be thick, but paintable.

Then I took out 4 brand spankin' new watercolor paintbrushes and put one in each bowl of icing, and let them "paint" the cookies!

The cookies sat and dried for several hours, and the icing hardened, and they tasted delicious!  Not quite the perfect sugar cookie, but very very delicious! 

The batch I made the other night was a different variation.  The only difference from the previous batch was I used 1.5 C of granulated sugar, and 1C of powdered sugar.  These cookies are not as sweet, and they crumble really easily. 

Back to the drawing board!

Oh darn :o)