I’ve tried to catch a picture or two when Nathan has his glasses on but he will have none of it. I did manage to snap one of him when he was distracted by his friends and the XBox. I think he looks pretty sharp, but I am his mom so the opinion is a tad biased.
Hey! It’s Fat Tuesday!
Our original plans for this weekend had been to go camping but the weather was not cooperative. Instead we headed to Shreveport again. This time it was to watch one of the many Mardi Gras parades that have been going on the past month. It’s something we’ve talked about going to for the past several years but always seem to miss it.
When I started to look up information (you know, like time and place), I read that the road would be barricaded the night before and parking was not allowed until 7am. This was for a parade that started at 4:30pm. Not quite sure if that was a normal thing, or if it meant you should get their early we decided not to risk missing a place to park. We got there around 9:30am. The street was packed. Almost all areas were already staked out like mini camp sites. One group of ladies I talked to said they were in line outside the barricades at 5:17am. Almost two hours before the barricades opened and 11 hours before the parade was even supposed to start. It sounds like it must have been a little like the Oklahoma Land Run, only with trucks and motor homes instead of horses and wagons. This was our first sign that it must be one heck of a parade.
Such was our luck that it rained from about 10:30 until 2pm. Since it was our first time, we had only ourselves, a cooler with lunch and snacks, and our car. The five of us spent some quality time together in our ever shrinking vehicle.
People had their motor homes, tents, and canopies decorated for Mardi Gras with beads, masks and other crazy things. On some trailers, people had brought their own port-a-potties.
When the sun came out, so did the people. It was like a enormous tailgating party. BBQ and fire pits were fired up. Kids started playing catch, grown ups started drinking and cooking.
Even without the parade it was fun to just sit around and watch all of the people.
The parade made it our way at about 5:45 and lasted until a little after 7pm. It was the longest parade I have ever seen. Beads, cups, and some stuffed animals were tossed our way.
At one point, Allison had so many necklaces around her neck that she was having trouble jumping and dancing to the music.
It was worth the day of hanging around. The only thing to make it more fun would have been our friends there to enjoy it with us.
The kids requested some old classics and because baseball and softball should be starting up this week or next, I was happy to oblige. Most of our meals will be pretty simple things for the next few months and even though there will be lots of repetition, I’m going to post our meal plans anyway.
Spaghetti
Goulash – It’s nothing fancy or anything and really for the most part, goulash is just a pot of things thrown together. My mom made it this way when we were kids and it is a comfort meal as much as anything for me. Elbow noodles, tomato sauce, corn, hamburger, pinto beans, salt and pepper. Easy.
Fettuccine
Pizzas
Sloppy Joes
Lemon Chicken – Going to give this one another try with correctly cooked rice.
Pulled Pork Sandwiches – Both of these recipes listed here are favorites of ours. Because it’s a put it in the crock pot and leave it, I’m sure I’ll be making this one more often as we get busier.
Caesar Salad
Chicken Schnitzel
Bean and Mushroom Stroganoff- This one is a fast favorite. I cooked it for the first time last week some time. Man, oh man it was delicious.
Lasagna with half moon rolls
No pictures, but we have a definite winner in the Veggie Enchilada challenge.
Our first challenger was the Chili and Cheese Enchiladas. These had simple ingredients and were really easy to make. Stir in the few ingredients, put the enchiladas together then microwave. Super fast, really healthy, and everyone liked them.
Next up were the Green Chili Enchiladas. The ingredients for these sounded pretty tasty. Who doesn’t love hash browns with onions and bell peppers? Crazy people, that’s who. I couldn’t find any tomatillo and avocado salsa so made my own by combining an avocado with some salsa verde. I could have just eaten that with some chips and been one happy girl. There were no vegetarian chicken patties to be found in either of our grocery stores so had to just deal with the real thing. I guess that being a vegetarian is not allowed in our town. I liked these but it really felt like I should have just made some breakfast burritos or something. Maybe it was the hash browns.
The overall winner was the Chili and Cheese Enchiladas. We liked them enough that I made them a second time yesterday. For the few ingredients it had, it was really flavorful. The only thing that it felt like it was missing was some texture. I added in some black olives and next time (because there will be a next time) I may throw in a can of black beans.
I have a whole bunch of half written drafts, just waiting until I get the time to fine tune them and make them the best post possible before I send them out into the world. Instead of doing this, I’m just going to get them out here and get things up to date. As my friend Amy says, it’s time for some brain vomit.
From youngest to oldest
What fun ages 4 and 5 are. Allison comes up with some pretty off the wall stuff and never ceases to be a source of entertainment for the rest of us:
As mentioned last week, we have had a few vegetarian meals lately. Some of the tastier recipes will be posted later. While I was cooking up the first of our Vegetarian Enchilada dinners, Allison started describing what she thinks Vegetarians are. You know, other than people who only eat vegetables.
“Because they eat only vegetables, Vegetarians let people know when there is a tornado coming. Because they are so smart, they can sound the alarm.”
I guess that means the rest of us meat eating dummies better make sure we live next to a vegetarian.
She has also lately been telling us, “Don’t call me a nerd. Call me intelligent.”
There isn’t much to report on the Zoey front. Middle child happily making her way through life. She placed second at the UIL tournament in Dictionary and 6th in her other subject. See, that’s how much of a middle child she is. I can’t even remember what that other subject was. Not even worried enough about it to go back through the archives. Lately her favorite song has been “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. She has been singing this song non stop for the past two weeks. I need to find another song that she will fall in love with to take her mind away from it. Softball is starting up soon and then there will be way more to post about this gifted girl of mine.
Nathan has been testing his boundaries. Perfectly normal for a kid his age. I thought he was only doing it at home until I got a call from his teacher last week letting me know that he had two “tags” in class. The teacher seemed as shocked that she was calling me as I was. She mentioned that the other teachers in her group didn’t quite believe that they were having to call Nathan’s parents. I was pretty worried, I mean middle school is the age to start acting like delinquents, right? Then I found out just why his tags were given to him. Guess he’s gotten so comfortable in class that he started being the class clown. Since he is making an A in the class, not really a huge deal. The main problem was that he was keeping the teacher from doing her job and keeping his classmates from being able to learn. Once he understood that, he toned it down a bit.
We took Nathan and two of his friends to Shreveport. On the drive around the city, the boys decided they needed to form a band. Nathan will play lead, one will be the singer and the other will play drums. I wish I could remember what kind of music they said they were going to play. “Screaming metal, with a Christian message” I think. They planned out their band name along with their stage names. It was hilarious to be in the front seat listening to those guys think out their road to fame. Strings have been ordered for Greg’s old electric guitar so that Nathan can start practicing.
The trip to Shreveport was so that he could have someone’s opinion on glasses besides his parents.
It must be something with those blue eyes. Greg, Zoey and now Nathan all have to wear glasses. Poor guy. As my brother so eloquently put it. “You can’t do that to the kid. First braces and then glasses? You at least have to give him some fighting chance! He’s in middle school and even his friends are going to give him a hard time”. Believe me, I know. His eye doctor wants him to wear glasses for a bit before making the move to contacts. So he’s stuck for a few months. We did tell him that he doesn’t have to wear them at school but he has to wear them when he is home.
I think he kind of likes them now. When he put them on, you could tell they made a difference. His observation was that when he was looking at a tree, without his glasses, he could tell it was a tree. When he put them on, he could see all of the thin limbs stretching out from the main branches.
Alright. That should catch us up to date. Maybe now that I’ve gotten it all out there I will be able to resume with the regular postings. Anything I left out?
I made this last week and everyone seemed to like it. Even though I messed up and the rice was way to watery (gross). There was enough lemon sauce left over that I was able to put some in the freezer for next time.
For Chicken:
1 1/4 lbs chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 egg (beaten)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 tsp red pepper (I added more, we like ours with a little kick to it)
2 tablespoons soy sauce (this almost seemed like too much. Next time I will cut this amount in half)
Lemon Sauce:
1 can fat-free reduced sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 clove garlic, finely chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons cold water
Chopped green onions
lemon slices (to use in sauce or as garnish)
Mix together the egg, 1T cornstarch red pepper and soy sauce in quart or larger ziplock bag. Add chicken, Seal bag and shake to coat. Allow to marinade 10 minutes or more. Heat oven to 450°. Spray nonstick cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken on cookie sheet. Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Meanwhile, prepare Lemon Sauce. Pour sauce over chicken. Garnish with green onion and lemon slices.
Sauce:
Heat broth, sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice, vinegar, and garlic to boiling in 1-quart saucepan, stirring occasionally. Mix cornstarch and cold water; stir into sauce. Cook and stir about 30 seconds or until thickened. Serve warm, or cover and refrigerate up to 2 weeks.
Hey, I know. It’s been a while since I posted our meal plans or anything else for that matter. It’s time to get back into the swing of things. So, here we go.
It seems like you can’t find many healthy recipes that don’t include fish. Since I don’t like fish, this doesn’t work for me. Sure it’s brain food and all, but I like to think that I am pretty smart without it. In an effort to try and eat healthier, I’m going to be cooking a few more vegetarian meals. They are the only other truly light and healthy alternative I can find. Things won’t be strictly vegetarian around here though. I am too much of a carnivore for that to happen.
When planning out our meals, I ask everyone in the house what they would like to have served at least once during that time. With five of us, that almost fills up a weeks worth by itself. Invariably, the kids always pick the same meal.
Sloppy Joes (Nathan)
Fettuccine (Zoey)
Spaghetti (Allison)
Green Chili Enchiladas – (something Mexican for Greg) This recipe calls for veggie chicken patties? I seriously doubt I will be able to find them in our stores so will just substitute real chicken. Also, I may have to make the avocado tomatilla salsa.
Chili and Cheese Enchiladas – Going to have a veggie enchilada cook off. I’ll report back on which is the winner.
Black Bean Burrito (Indian Style)
Braised Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato
Orange Chicken
Lemon Chicken
Bean and Mushroom Stroganoff
BBQ Chicken
Allison and Nathan were being silly in the back of the car. We hear Allison, “Ehhhhhuuuughhhh, Phlphth” over and over. We know that the phlpth is rasberry and meant to be the fart sound.
“What on earth are you doing back there?”, asked Greg. “Fake Farting”, is her response. “Yeah, but what is that noise before the fart sound?”.
“Just the noise you make when you have to get-the-fart-out.”, she replies, “Ehhhhhuuuughhhh, Phlphth”.
“How do you know the difference between when you have to get a fart out or go to the bathroom?”, he counters. Because really, her noises sound like she’s a little constipated with the fake farts.
“It’s just a surprise. You go into the bathroom and just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
And that’s why girls have to sit when using the restroom ladies and gentlemen. Because you never know what is going to happen.
Also, as just a little bonus information. Girlie girls toot and plain girls fart. When asked which one she is, Allison says she is a girlie girl.
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