Peanut Butter Sandwich Escapades.

 My four year old decided (on her own initiative) to make a peanut butter sandwich for her two year old brother today. Since this was the first time she ever attempted at making a sandwich I grabbed the camera and figured I would share the experience with you. Here it is...

"Lessons on how to make a Peanut Butter Sandwich for your Kid brother in four easy steps," as taught by my four year old:

 Step One: Glop a heap of peanut butter onto two slices of bread and stick the knife back into the peanut butter.

Step Two: Smash the pieces of bread together.

Step Three: Slide the sandwich over to your kid brother.

Step Four: Demonstrate for your kid brother how to take apart the sandwich and dig into the peanut butter.

THE END.

Hope you are having as much fun with your kids as we are today. Let the summer fun begin!! :)

Fresh Vegetable Soup: 1 Points Plus Value!

I started making this soup when I was doing Weight Watchers and I fell in love with it. I am finally getting around to posting it today. I hope you all love it as much as I do. It's incredibly good for you and very figure friendly, so you can eat it guilt-free. ENJOY!!!

Ingredients

	2 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
	1 medium onion(s), diced
	2 medium carrot(s), diced
	1 medium sweet red pepper(s), diced
	1 stalk(s) (medium) celery, diced
	2 small zucchini, diced
	2 cup(s) green cabbage, shredded
	2 cup(s) Swiss chard, chopped
	2 cup(s) cauliflower, small florets
	2 cup(s) broccoli, small florets
	2 tsp thyme, fresh, fresh, chopped
	6 cup(s) vegetable broth
	2 Tbsp parsley, or chives, fresh, chopped
	1/2 tsp table salt, or to taste
	1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste
	2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, optional

Instructions

Chop up your stuff.

Put noodles, seasoning packet, garlic, vegetables, thyme and broth into a large soup pot. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to low and simmer, partly covered, about 10 minutes.

Stir in parsley or chives; season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

This soup is going to rock your socks off! It is so good! Freezes well, and reheats well, too, so do yourself a favor and double up the batch!

ONE POINTS PLUS VALUE per serving...so, like, almost nothing for all you "watchers of weight" out there. ;)

One Bag of Spuds: Four Meals

Potatoes

Here are four of my very favorite meals using potatoes as the staple ingredient. I often have a big bag of potatoes in the cellar. Ok, the pantry. I like the word cellar better. It makes me think old world life, living off of the land mountain woman style. I actually do have a cellar in my house, but currently it is where I am storing all of those tubs of stuff that I am not exactly sure what to do with as of yet. Two of those tubs are of little baby boy clothes. I have two wild and rowdy boys and a preciousdaughter on the way....but I can not yet part with those baby boy clothes...hmmm...

Anyway, back to potatoes. This year in my garden I grew potatoes. Correction, I tried to grow potatoes. No luck. I dug and dug and dug for those little red nuggets and not a single one was to be found. So, I buy em' in the bag on sale as much as possible and keep my fingers crossed for next season!
Potatoes can make some  frugal meals. Not only are the hearty, but they are mighty easy to fix up into something special. Below are my four favorite potato meals.

Number One: GNOCCHI
This is an incredibly easy dish that I like to prepare in the morning before the chaos begin, and boy does it ever begin....every morning...all day....chaos.....so it is good to have a warm Gnocchi to put on the table at dinner time with a little candlelight.

Number Two: Potato Taco's
The Heavenly Homemaker Blog, which this link will take you too, is one of my all time favorites. I first used this recipe while meal planning for a trip to Tennessee with my family this summer. We loved it and the best part is that you can spice it up and fix it any way that your family likes traditional taco type meals. Yum!
We have made this with beef, chicken, and often with just a bunch of black beans instead of meat. 

Number Three:Crock Pot Potato Soup 
I went back into the recipe index and found two potato soup recipes that I used to make. I am including the links, but will confess I no longer make my potato soup that way!
One Version of Crock Pot Potato Soup 
Another Version of Potato Soup
Here is how I make crock pot potato soup now:
1.Wake up and stretch, drink copious amounts of coffee while peeling potato and hoping the kids sleep an extra twenty minutes.
2. Toss enough cut up potatoes into the crock pot for my family, usually one spud per person.
3. Add chicken stock, a little salt and pepper.
4. Cook all day long making sure the potatoes stay covered in liquid, add a litlte water is needed.
5. Now~ sometimes I just add a bit of cream to this, mush up the potatoes, and serve. Other times, if I was able to get my hands on some local sausage I brown it up and add to the crock pot. This is my hubby's favorite and I agree it is delicious.
6. Serve in deep bowls with some corn bread.

Number Four:  Fish Cakes
These are made with potato and yet I often serve potato on the side too.....hey, it works!



And, for some very inspirational potato chopping techniques check this out! I did not even remember us posting this on MPM and I just came across it! It will make you crave a good batch of home made french fries!

A School for Ethiopian Children!

Hope Ethiopia from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

I am so excited about this opportunity from Lifesong for Orphans.
After watching the video this is what came to mind?
1. Is Lifesong hiring because I could dedicate my life to this work?
2. Can we move to Ethiopia and be a physical part of the amazing things that are happening there? Just watching that video made me miss my time in Ethiopia and it also made me eternally grateful for the connection that I have to that land through my son.
3. A small Christmas gift, will turn into something so big if we share it here. No one I know really needs another sweater, but these kids need what they are receiving through this school.

To help build 12 new class rooms, make is so that 420 less students have to be turned away, and make a huge impact on the lives of Ethiopian children that can change the world please visit the Lifesong blog. The video takes a little over two minutes. If nothing else, please watch it and pray!

Here is a little more~  A generous donor is matching up to $130,000!!!

Get your family involved, tell the kids! Eat beans for a week, I don't know! Be a part of this opportunity, be it little or big. Tell me  if you do, or even if you just blog about it. I am so excited to see this goal reached!

Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salad

Here's a fun little recipe that a mom brought to my Mom to Mom meeting a couple of weeks ago. It is simple to make, healthy, and it was a big hit at our meeting. Hope you all enjoy it as well!!

Salad Ingredients:
2 cups cooked corn, fresh or frozen
1 avocado, cut into 1/2 -inch cubes
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup finely diced red onion

Dressing Ingredients:
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. grated lime zest
1 Tbs. fresh lime juice
1/4 chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions:
Combine the corn, avocado, tomatoes, and onion in a large glass bowl. Mix together the dressing ingredients in another bowl and pour over the salad. Gently toss to mix.
*(picture complements of www.lifewithcake.com)

This salad goes great with tortilla chips!! :)

The most Delicious muffins on Earth!

Katie posted this awhile back, but since I am making them today I wanted to re-post them so you could all enjoy them too! If you have never made these muffins, you absolutely have to.... today.  They are sweet, moist and healthy! The combo of apples and carrots may sound strange to you (they did for me too!), but seriously, amazing!!!!  Perfect fall muffin!  Bake some, bake a lot- stick them in your freezer and pull them out for snack or breakfast time!  It's baking day for me!  
                                         
                                        

 Apple Carrot Muffins (a.k.a. the best muffins on earth!)

Do you ever have just a couple of carrots in your fridge, lingering, peering up at you wanting to be used, and you just keep ignoring them? I do!
So, if you happen to be like me then stop whatever you are doing and make these muffins now!

What you will need:

One apple
3-4 carrots (uncooked)
Pecans (about 1/2 cup) *optional
2 cups whole wheat flour (or white... whatever you have on hand!)
1 1/4 cup of sugar
3/4 Tsp baking soda
1 1/2 Tsp baking powder
1 cup of unsweetened coconut*optional
Pinch of salt
Couple shakes of cinnamon
3 Eggs
3/4 cup oil (i use yogurt or applesauce as as substitute)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup flax seed(optional)

What to do:


Step one: Peel your apple and carrots. Grate them. I used my great grandmothers grater. As I did this I wondered if she knew that someday it would be a staple in my kitchen and I would be using it to make muffins for her great-great grandsons. It made me think of her hands busy in her kitchen, which smelled permanently of pecan pie. It made me think of all the things that we don't need to buy new, but can use time and again for generations. But, if you don't have great-grannie's grater handy you can use a food processor. :)
Set aside when finished.



Step two: Place your pecans into a pan and cook them over the stove. Let them toast until a nice fresh aroma fills your kitchen. Cool and chop them up.



Step three: In a big bowl mix all your dry ingredients together. That would be your flour, baking powder, baking soda, coconut, sugar and toasted pecans.



Step four: In another bowl mix your oil, flax, egg, and vanilla together.



Step five: Add your apple/carrot shavings together with the wet ingredients. Stir. Now, add this to your dry ingredients. Stir.

TIP: Don't overmix your muffins. This will make them hard. Stir them just enough to have a decently blended batter.



Scoop the lumpy batter into muffin cups and bake at 350. I used the small muffin cups, cooked them for about 8 minutes (about 12 min. for regular size muffins) This recipe made 100 little muffins perfect for eating in the moment, sharing with friends, and freezing for later!



We found a special treat in putting a little dab of butter, followed by heap of peanut butter onto the piping hot muffin. MMMM, yummy!

Easy Baked Macaroni & Cheese

(straight from the Reggano Macaroni box) :)

8 oz. Reggano Elbow Macaroni
4 Tbs. butter
4 Tbs. flour
2 cups. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (mild or sharp)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Prepare pasta as directed on package. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add flour mixed with salt and pepper, using a whisk to stir until well blended. Pour milk in gradually; stirring constantly. Bring to a boiling point and boil for 2 minutes (stirring constantly). Reduce heat and cook (stirring constantly) 10 minutes. Gradually add shredded cheddar cheese and simmer an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Turn off flame. Add macaroni to the saucepan and toss to coat with the cheese sauce. Transfer macaroni to a buttered baking dish and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake 20 minutes until the top is golden brown. Makes 4 servings.