Slow cooking Thursday

Every day from about 4:30-7:30 my (almost) 4 week old son is fussy. This is the only time of the day that he is. However, he goes all out! Screaming, crying and doesn't want to be put down. I am unable to make dinner without holding him. With my husband being out of town, I have no one to either A) pass the baby on to while I make dinner or B) make dinner and serve my other 4 kids. Dinner time is now known as the "bewitching hour" at our house.

So I decided to turn to my trusty crockpot. I was eager to post today and join this meme so I looked through my Fix It and Forget it Cookbook. I used a recipe for chicken, adapting it just a little bit.

At dinner time my 8 year old son, who is probably my #1 fan when it comes to cooking/baking said, "what are we having?" I told him teriyaki chicken from the crockpot. To which he replied, "I REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE THAT! IT WAS SO DRY THAT WE HAD TO DIP IT IN RANCH!" Out of the mouth of babes right? Well...to be perfectly honest...it's true!

I have had success with ham, roast, soups, chili etc. But never with chicken. Ever. So instead of posting my less than successful recipe, I just wanted to ask if anyone has tips for cooking chicken in the crock pot? Am I cooking it too high? Too long? Anyone know? Any advice would be appreciated. Next week I hope to report with a successful recipe! :)

Happy Homemaker Monday

Ooh, very excited to find fun new meme's! This is my first time! I know I am a little late so please forgive me! Here goes...

Weather in my neck of the woods: I live on the island of Guam. We are currently in the rainy season! So it is wet, grey and windy!

One of my simple pleasures: going to my inbox and finding an email from my husband (he is out of town right now!)

On my bedside table: does this mean what I am reading? Or is it what is on my table? I'll just do both, book I am reading "The Sane Woman's Guide to a Large Family". On my table...lamp, clock, binky, a burp cloth

On my tv: nothing! Tonight I will be watching the movie "New In Town"

On the menu for tonight: stroganoff, peaches, carrots, toast

On my to do list: put laundry away, clean up kitchen (again!)

New Recipe I tried last week: Chicken Cordon Bleu casserole. Very good!

In the craft basket: **big sigh** nothing

Looking forward to: a nice quiet evening

Homemaking tip of the week:I have an almost 4 week old baby, and I find myself on the couch or rocking chair a lot. With my husband being gone, I find myself sending my 4 older kids to fetch a binky, or a diaper, wipes etc. So I got a basket and filled it with: diapers, wipes, binky, burp cloth, extra outfit, extra onesie, socks, chapstick, a pen, notebook. Every night I look at what has been used and than I restock. It has made it so much easier to have everything right at my fingertips!

Favorite blog post of the week: Hmmm, I am not even sure! I will have to pay more attention next week!

Favorite photo from the last week: It is at the top!

Lesson learned from the last week: With a newborn and my husband gone I have been really tired. I mean REALLY tired. But it doesn't give me an excuse to be grumpy with my older kids. It is not their fault.

On my prayer list: always my husband and kids

Devotionals, scriptures or key verses:once again I will have to pay more attention. Right now I just keep finding that the ones that mean the most are about relying on the Lord and not myself

Show and Tell Friday

Today for Show and Tell, I thought I would share something that my husband built for me.

I am a very lucky lady. My husband is very handy. However he also has this incredible gift, to look at something (a piece of wood, a piece of furniture etc) and see what else it could be. Does that make sense? This was "just a shelf". He built it when our boys needed a little extra storage. Nothing fancy, just a shelf.

We recently moved and I was having a problem finding places to put our office/desk items. At first we just put the shelves on the floor and called it good. But he had something different in mind.

So he took the shelf and added these doors to it. I picked out the handles but he did it all. The colored squares and rectangles were all of his own design. Now I can put the majority of my stuff in and put it behind closed doors. The other great thing about this shelf? The only item that we bought was the hinges. :)

Thanks for looking at my show and tell. I could have a whole series on just things my husband has made! :) If you want to see more, just go over to Kelli's.

In the kitchen...

(Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

( Banana Crumb muffins)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE recipes. From tv shows, to magazines, to websites...I love looking at them. I have a whole section in my favorites devoted to cooking/recipe blogs that I love.

The night before last, I learned a good lesson. Never wake a sleeping baby. I moved Mason while sleeping, and he woke up. And didn't go back to sleep for a looong time. I was so tired and not in the mood to clean. So I baked instead! :) Ethan let me know a few times that the cookie jar was empty, and we can't have that!! I wanted to share the recipes for what I made. Just in case anyone else wants to try them!

First things first...I had bananas that needed to be used. The kids and I love banana bread BUT I like mine with walnuts, they don't. I found this recipe for muffins and it is a good compromise...although no nuts! I found it at the site "There's No Place Like Home". I am not sure of the link but I will link it up later if you want. Here is the recipe:

******Banana Crumb Muffins********* (Ethan's favorite muffins!)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter melted

Struesel topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP flour
1/8th tsp cinnamon
1 TBSP butter

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the first 4 ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the next 4. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture. Spoon batter into muffin tin. ( I tend to oversimplify directions. If you have a question just ask!)

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut the butter into mixture with a fork. It should resemble a corn meal type texture. Sprinkle over muffins. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Way yummy!

The next one is a very easy shmeasy recipe from one of my favorites, Paula Deen!

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies
1 (8oz) brick cream cheese, at room temp
1 stick butter, at room temp
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 box (18oz)moist chocolate cake mix (any kind)
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg, then vanilla. Beat in the cake mix. Cover bowl and refridgerate dough for 2 hours. Roll firm dough into balls and roll in sugar.
Bake for 12 minutes.

**My new oven doesn't cook things as fast as my others. I had to up the time to 15 minutes. So start with 12 and than go from there.

** I was trying to do more than one pan at a time. One batch I baked on my baking stone from Pampered Chef. The other batch was on a regular cooking sheet. The ones on the stone did not set up right. They tasted fine but were flat and very soft. It was hard to keep them together. The others were perfect. I don't know what happened but I transfered the ones from the stone to the other sheet and baked them a little longer and they turned out fine. Hmmm...

Enjoy!

road map

As I have been reading about getting my home clean and organized, there is one thing that I find repeated over and over again. That is that you need to have a routine. Something really basic. I have tried to have routines. I have. For example I will have a morning routine that looks like this...

Make bed
unload dishwasher
start load of laundry
make breakfast

And I know what you are thinking. That seems pretty easy. And it does. But...what happens? I will get up and Ben will be asleep. So I can't make the bed! So I will go unload the dishwasher. I will think yeah I am on a roll. I go in to start a load of laundry but wait, we haven't taken showers. I don't want to use the hot water on laundry. I will wait on that and go to make breakfast. But then one of the kids wakes up and I haven't made anything. So they eat cereal and then the milk gets spilled and we have to clean it up but they got it on their uniform shirt so now I have to send them back upstairs...you know what I mean? Or I sleep in. Or someone gets sick. Or I spend too much time checking my email or, or, or...you know what I mean? LIFE gets in the way of my routine.

BUT I see the importance of a routine. I was looking at a fun site called simplemom and in her back to basics she talks about designing your routine around your day.

This is much more fitting to me. Every day is different for me. And now that Mason is here, and to young for a schedule...well things are kind of a mess.

The only things I know for sure today (time wise) is that I need to leave our house around 4:15 to pick Harmony up from camp. I also know that Mason gets fussy every day around 5. Of course...dinner time.

So my road map for today? (and btw Mason is asleep)
**finish blogging :)
**start a load of laundry (showers are already done)
**do a load of dishes
**plan and make as much dinner as I can during the day

As time (or should I say kids?)allows:
**sweep floors
**clean out van
**put laundry away (mine, towels &blankets etc)
**vacum living room

Kids jobs for today:
**put their laundry away
**living room clean up
**whatever else I come up with...

What about everyone else? Do you follow a routine or just go with the flow and do what you want?

Show and Tell Friday

Wow, it has been a loooong time since I updated this blog!!

I don't know if this really counts as a show and tell but...I am hoping I will be forgiven! :)

When I first got this blog up and running, I participated in a lot of meme's. I really enjoyed doing challenges, planning menu's etc. I got a lot done and enjoyed my time at home.

Last October, I found out that I was pregnant. I was very happy and excited but found morning sickness and exaughstion to be my constant companions! Taking care of 4 kids, my husband and all that they require...well blogging and home care took a back seat.

I am one of those women, and I know it sounds awful, but who doesn't enjoy being pregnant. But once the baby comes I have this newfound energy. It is amazing to me, how much better I feel when the baby is born.

Now, with 5 kids to take care of, I find myself craving cleanliness, organization, home cooked everything...so I am going to start participating in meme's again!! I am so looking forward to it. So for my show and tell, I am introducing the "newest thing" to come into my home...

Mason Charles born on July 10th. He is a sweetheart and I am enjoying all the fun that comes with having a newborn in the home!

Looking forward to sharing something just as fun next week!

Making your Home a Haven

Oh how happy I am!! I missed the Making your Home a Haven series the last time it was done. So I was really happy when I looked on Biblical Womanhood and found that it was on again!

This morning the challenge was too pick 5 things that you want to have as your morning routine. I am the kind of person who tends to have a list of 15 items on her routine, and than only gets 1 or 2 done! So I am excited to start small and go from there! So here are my morning five...

**Normally I would have laundry & dishes as a first thing in the morning BUT we are having water heater issues. I have talked to our housing (we are in military housing) and they have told us it is "fixed." Such is not the case though. So I don't do anything having to do with water until after my DH has taken his shower! :)

1)make my bed
2)"swish and swipe" (Flylady's term) the Master bathroom
3)gather up all dirty clothes from upstairs
4)make kid's lunches
5)unload the dishwasher & reload if necessary