Menu

I feel like I struggle weekly or more bi-weekly with what to make for dinner. I like to plan out two weeks at a time and grocery shop then. I have started making a list of meals for 11-12 days (leaving room for leftovers and going out). I just write the list on the whiteboard and in the morning we pick what sounds good and I know I have the stuff in the house to make it. It’s been working out pretty well but I find that I run out of ideas. Sometimes I feel like I am just copying the menu from the previous two weeks. It’s not interesting at all and we start going out to eat more often because we are tired of the same old same old. So for today I wanted to post a new recipe and would love to hear some new recipes to try! We eat a lot of chicken or beef, but will eat most anything. I love crockpot recipes but don’t mind baking or cooking most of the day either. So let me hear it, what’s a recipe you love or even one that you would like to try?

This is one of my new favorite recipes and it’s even Weight Watchers!

Slow cooker enchiladas 7 pts per serving
1 lb ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 can (16oz) pinto or kidney beans, rinsed & drained
1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
1 small can tomato sauce
1 pkg enchilada sauce (dry mix) (taco sauce mix works well too)
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cyo (4oz) shredded low fat cheese
6 flour tortillas (2 points each)


In a skillet, cook beef, onion and green pepper until beef is browned. Drain. In a bowl, add all other ingredients except for the tortillas and stir. In a crockpot, layer about ½ beef mixture, then a tortilla layer. Repeat layers with all 6 tortillas. Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hrs or until heated thru. (you can also cut up tortillas and stir into mixture). I also add a little shredded cheese on the top. Serve with sour cream.
servings; 6

Simply Sunday

Today was a great day! Hubby had the day off work and we had nothing planned. Grandma was supposed to take Natalie for the day but in the end she didn’t feel up to it. I will admit, I was a little bummed at first. I was looking forward to a whole day baby free so I could clean the house (really). I clean the house day to day but don’t get much chance to scrub everything clean. Hubby wanted to watch football all day. Well we ended up having a pretty nice family day. Dh had the football game on in the background and him and Nat played most of the day. I cleaned the entire house and then snuck away by myself to go grocery shopping. I don’t like grocery shopping but it’s much easier without an almost 15 month old in tow. So I wandered around the grocery store like it was my first time there. People looked at me like I was crazy because I was just taking my time enjoying my “alone” time. It’s weird what alone time turns into when you have a baby. Even still I enjoyed my time at the store.
I came home and made dinner and we had a nice dinner at the table, it was not gourmet by any means but we appreciated one another’s company.
Now we have another football game on, I snuck away to blog and tweet but I’m headed back to family time to play with Natalie while Hubby watches the game.

Here we are....

Well well well.... It's been over 4 months since my last post!! I have told myself I would keep up on here, even promised. But life just gets in the way. After I have had a 12 hour day with the baby and put her to bed, do the dishes, pick up the mess of the day the last thing I want to do is sit down and think! Lately, her nap times have become my nap times. Seriously! I'm not sure what's going on but I've been so tired. At first, I was worried I was pregnant (we are NOT trying!) because I'm as tired as I was when I was pregnant with Natalie. Then faithful old Aunt Flo showed her face, so I know it's not that. I'm going to give it 1 last go and TRY try try to become a better blogger. I feel I need the outlet here so here we go again!!!

Just Life....

This past month or so has been very hectic for me!
We finally closed on our house after two months of waiting, we were about ready to give up. And to top it all off the mortgage lady called us the day of closing and tells us that we have to bring $1300 to closing when we were expecting to have $0 down! Nick was ready to walk away from the house but I was too emotionally attached. So we went and signed the papers and waited some more! We gave the previous owners two weeks to get out, out of respect for them. These next two weeks drug on, we felt like we just made a huge purchase but our day to day life didn't change at all. In the mean time Natalie has gotten an ear infection and decided that nursing wasn't for her anymore. I tried to nurse as long as possible and even supplemented and tried nursing just twice a day. If she was sleepy enough she would still nurse but finally one day she refused nursing completely. I thought I'd be ok with it and be happy to have my body back but this was really hard! I loved the bonding that we had and the "us" time it gave us. When I give her formula she stares at the ceiling or out the window and not at "me" like she used to. It also made me feel very inadequte as a mother. I know I nursed for 9 months but I wasn't ready to stop! To top this all off we were getting NO sleep. Natalie would go to bed ok but wake up by 1 am and be up until 3 or 4 and then go back to bed until 6 or 7. This gave me 4 to 5 hours of sleep each night.

So I'm emotional, trying to figure out this formula thing, trying to pack and sleep deprived all at the same time!

Moving day finally comes and it takes us from sun up to sun down to get everything moved let alone unpacked.

3 weeks later and we are mostly unpacked but still finding things that are packed here and there. We love the house and I feel it was all worth it, now if we could just get some sleep I might feel like a real person again!

If anything I've learned that things don't always go as planned no matter how well you planned them out, or how you "think" they will go. As a mother I've really had to learn to go with the flow and realize I can't plan everything. That's tough for me because I like to be in control and I can't be.
Still, being a mother is the greatest thing I've ever done and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Up, Up and Away!!

That is all Natalie wants to do anymore. She stands at every possible thing she can get her hands on, and even the things she can't. This morning I heard a bang on the wall so I came around the corner to see what it was and Natalie was standing at the wall. I was completely shocked! She had nothing to pull up on and nothing to hold herself up once she got there. I'm so scared that she is going to be walking very soon. I mean I'm glad that she's growing and learning but where is my baby?! I think they go from newborn to toddler way too quickly. Slow down and smell the roses Natalie! There is plenty of time for walking in the future, for now be a baby and stay put! About a month ago Natalie started army crawling and I thought she was never going to crawl now that she knew how to get places without crawling. Well, I was wrong. About two weeks ago she started crawling. The first day she would go a few paces and fall flatly on her face, the next day she was across the room and now she's across the apartment as fast as I can walk. I've decided to enter her in a baby crawling contest at the Gerber Baby Food Festival. We'll see how it goes but I'm pretty sure she is just going to sit and wave or stare at all the other kids. I'm excited still.

Gro Baby

I am fairly new to CDing. I know how to use most everything, have tried quite a few brands and styles. My favorites for at home are actually just prefolds with a thirsties cover. When we are out and about I like to use pockets, mostly BG 3.0. I also bought the BG 3.0 for my husband and mom to use because they are a little bit easier for them to use. That being said, I would love to try Gro Baby. I love how it's a one size diaper, that's huge to not have to size up with your child!! One diaper from birth to potty learning is great!! The snap in soaker is such a great feature. I love PFs with covers but I think that the Gro Baby has the same idea just a lot less bulk! And no diapers to fold, just snap it in and go. It saves money because you can reuse the shell and just change the soaker so you don't have to have 20 of these diapers to make it to laundry day. All around they seem like a great diaper. I would love to try one!!

Here is a link to them http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/grobaby%E2%84%A2-ic-11_16.html
Go check them out for yourself!!

Going Dot Com Birthday Bash

As many of you know I am a huge fan of a website called Tip Junkie. Laurie over at Tip Junkie is offering several Giveaways each day this week to celebrate Tip Junkie’s 2nd Birthday. She is also launching her new dot com. SO head on over to TipJunkie.com and check out all the fun tips and ideas for just about everything in the blogging world. Right now there are some fun ideas for Father’s Day, Birthday Parties, summer, etc. I hope you can enjoy this giveaway too!!