The story of a two year old "helping" her mom in the kitchen: PART TWO

(Story continuation from the posted titled, "A two year old helping her mom in the kitchen: PART ONE)

I allowed Keely to help me pour in the dry ingredients in the "dry ingredients bowl". Then, I turned, and reached into the fridge to grab out the eggs and milk. I spun back around to see Keely reaching into the utensils drawer and snatching out a teaspoon. Again, it's not that her taking the teaspoon is so wrong; it's just that I made it VERY clear that she is NOT touch ANYTHING, unless I asked. (I might have control issues, but we'll save that for another post)

Okay, so my husband has been listening to all of this from the bathroom and he is baffled at my patience with her, and not in a good way. (he's always having to remind me to get on my children as soon as they are doing something I don't like, rather than waiting until I am fuming mad and being irrational) He comes into the kitchen and lays the smack down, pulling her down from the chair and telling her she cannot help me because she is not listening. This ordeal brought my Keely into a all out sob, her whole body shaking as she leaned into me for consoling. I couldn't help it. I just had to hold her close and pull her hair away from her wet face until she was no longer shaking. As irritated as I was just moments before with my ornery two year old, I just couldn't help but have compassion on her. I realized how much it meant to her that she get to be by my side, being a part of what I was doing, and my heart just broke for her.

I reached into the cupboards with the big bowls and grabbed one out. I poured some cheerios into the bowl. I plopped a Tablespoon into the bowl and found the cutest polka dot container I could find. I put them all in front of Keely and told her she could "make her own pancakes, while I made mine". She was thrilled. She scooped tablespoons of cheerios from one container to the other. She joyfully nibbled on one from time to time, without anyone yelling at her. She felt like she had the power to control the things around her, and I felt like I had the power to control how the pancakes were going to turn out. We were both happy.

MY POINT IS THIS
Being a mom is a lot of trial and error. We try what we think will work best, or what will make the little ones happy. Then, if that doesn't work, we try something else. We continue doing this until we find what works for us. The process can be incredibly draining at times, leaving the mom wishing she never tried.

This morning I was aware of the struggle. I had been here many times before. I mean, a year ago I would have shook my head and thrown a pity party, crying out, "I can't even make a freaking pancake anymore! I hate being a mom... (and on and on)" That's where Satan wants me. The enemy has gotten me there more times than I can count. I start the day out on a bad note, and I determine that my day is shot. "Why do I even try!?!" I still struggle with this one. I have really bad days from time to time because of this negative, hopeless way of thinking.

MY STRUGGLE
I wasn't going to go there this particular morning. I would control my thoughts, and my emotions. I can handle this. I took Keely into the bathroom where my husband was getting ready and I had her apologize to him and me, for not listening, and my husband and Keely hugged one another. We reminded Keely (for the umpteenth time) that we loved her, but NEEDED her to listen to us. I took a deep breath and brought Keely back into the kitchen. I smiled at my two year old and told her what a good job she was doing of pouring her cheerios from one container to the other, just like mommy does. I scrambled to get pancakes on plates for everyone before my son headed off to preschool. Then, I quietly applauded myself, for making my son's favorite food, but more importantly for diffusing a frustrating, and then intense, moment in my household. When everyone was done eating and I was just about to sit down to eat my own breakfast, I looked around and saw that everyone in my family was EXTREMELY happy, each returning to what they default to each morning (my husband getting ready in the bathroom, Preston running around making superhero noises, Kipton crawling around on the floor admiring his big brother, and Keely being...well....Keely) :0)

MY PRAYER
This is my struggle, and my prayer. Lord, I am sorry for the times when I let my anxiety get the best of me and my children get the worst of me. I don't always handle my hard times with grace and integrity, and there have been times when the enemy has whispered lies to me that downplayed the importance of my role as a mother, leaving me feeling defeated, and angry. I am aware that these thoughts are not from you. I am not defeated. I will be victorious in my own home. Grant me grace, today, to handle the situations that feel burdensome to me. May the moments that could wear my patience down, instead, be used to bring you glory, as I model for my children a mother who has faith in a Lord that redeems, leads, and loves with compassion and patience. Bring peace into my home, as I actively practice the wisdom and control you impart to me. AMEN.

The story of a two year old "helping" her mom in the kitchen, from the mom's point of view: PART ONE.

(A picture of our two year old after my husband made deep fried oreos)

My 4-1/2 year old's favorite food of all time is pancakes. His favorite restaurant to eat at is Bob Evans because he can order pancakes every time. A couple of mornings ago, I decided to surprise him and make chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. We already had all the ingredients, so why not? In a half an hour's time I could totally make his day. Sounds like a worthwhile task for a mom.

Here's the thing, though. I have a two year old daughter too. She loves LOVES LOVES to be my "helper". I want to encourage this way of thinking, obviously, but sometimes her "help" can become a very large burden on me. This morning was going to be one of "those" mornings.

I tried to be positive. I almost always do in the beginning. "YES, Keely, you can be mommy's helper!" I told her, as I pulled up a chair to the counter and helped her up. Now she was at arm's length to everything that I always tell her not to touch. I could see the excitement in her face as her eyes glazed over the feast of untouchables in front of her. Her first thought is, "oooo....what will I touch first!?" I have been Keely's mom for two-1/2 years now, and I know how she thinks. For this reason, I usually have her at the kitchen table, away from the counter. I was hoping that should could handle being at the counter today. I immediately started with all the "what not to do's". "Keely, don't touch ANYTHING unless mommy asks you to," I would say. And, then, just in case if she did not understand me, I rephrased the same command, "ONLY help if mommy asks you to." At the risk of being redundant, I continued to repeat this idea of not touching anything for a third time as I nervously turned and reached into the cupboard to grab out the salt and baking powder. I turned back around to see her sticking her hand in the flour and sprinkling it into the bowl that was for the "wet" ingredients! "What!?!"

It's not that the little bit of flour being in the bowl for the "wet" ingredients was such a big deal. It's just that I have the college education to be an elementary school teacher, and I have been trained to believe that I should lay my expectations out beforehand and then proceed for a successful lesson, and my two year old daughter tries me EVERY SINGLE TIME! So, I start to boil. I remind myself that she is just a two year old. I make it clear, once again, what my expectations are and tell her not to touch anything again without mommy asking her to. (Repetitive consistency with a two year old is essential, and yet, it is by far the most obnoxious thing I have ever had to do...preschoolers are not necessarily my "target crowd", in case if you couldn't tell) :)

...STORY TO BE CONTINUED....

Salad dressing-marinated meat

This post is a reminder to use up the end of salad dressings by marinating meat with it. I had two Bountiful dressings in our fridge that would be past their due dates this week. I decided to use up the rest of the dressing by marinating meat. There is no magic recipe for this concept, because really this simple process can be used on almost any meat, using almost any dressing. Here's what I did...

Ingredients:
One big fat piece of pork
1/2 cup ish of the Wish Bone Bountifuls Tuscan Romano Basil dressing
1 cup ish of the Wish Bone Bountifuls Hearty Italian dressing
Directions:
1. Plop your meat in your crockpot, and cut little slits in the meat so the marinade can really get into your meat.
2. Pour your dressing over your meat, and cover the top of the meat.
3. Cook until meat is thoroughly cooked through. I did about 7 hours on low.

Creamy Beef Enchiladas!! GREAT RECIPE! Freezer meal!

My super, fantastic friend, Michelle, came over one day and brought us enchiladas (A LONG TIME AGO) and I LOVED them! I asked for the recipe and tried to make them myself. They were good, but not as good as hers, because I tried combining chicken with beef. For that reason, I never posted the recipe. Well, I just found these pics and I felt the need to share. The recipe is a dynamite one, when done correctly. Here it is:

CREAMY BEEF ENCHILADAS

Ingredients:
2 lbs. lean ground beef (I had one pound ground beef and one pound chicken that I decided to grind in our food processor. I do NOT suggest this. It definitely tastes better when you stick to just the ground beef. I am only mentioning this so you will understand what is going on in my pictures)
1 cup chopped onion
1 can (10 ¾ oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
30 oz enchilada sauce, divided
12 flour tortillas (8 in.) warmed
Directions:
In a Dutch onion, cook beef (I have chicken in this picture...don't do that) and onion over med heat until meat is no longer pink. Add the soup, sour cream, chilies, 1 cup cheese and ½ cup enchilada sauce, heat through. Place ½ cup beef mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in prepared dish.

Spread small amount of enchilada sauce into bottom of baking dish. Pour additional sauce over top; sprinkle w/ remaining cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.

Makes 12 - 2 pans (Eat one, freeze one)
Works well to freeze the enchiladas individually, without the sauce and cheese so you can easily pop them out and add the sauce and cheese when you are ready to make the recipe for the second time.

Soup and Garlic Bites

Ingredients:
Soup from a can. :)
1 tube refrigerated biscuit dough
2 Tbs. Butter
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

Directions for the Garlic Bites:
Melt butter. Add Italian seasoning, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Cut biscuits into triangles. Stir the biscuit triangles into the mix until the biscuits have soaked up the butter mixture. Cook until the biscuit triangles are browned.Serve with soup. Tastes delightful with Mexican soup, but we used the chicken noodle soup we already had here at home.

Italian Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

This recipe comes from my "Kid Approved Meals" notebook that I bought when I was at a Mothering conference. For more meals by Christine Steendahl and Jenn Caligado, you can go to her website, www.kidapprovedmeals.com
(did I mention that I was using my camera that I did not like, because it takes REALLY bad pictures? I was.)
Ingredients:
4 slices of Italian bread, 1 inch thick (I used 1/2 inch thick because it cost half as much at my store)
4 slices of mozzarella cheese (I just used the shredded cheese that we already had on hand)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
3/4 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. minced garlic
2/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs (or you can make your own bread crumbs and add in about 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning)

Directions:
Cut a 3-4 inch pocket in each slice of bread and stuff pocket with cheese. (See picture below to see my make-shift version of this recipe, using what was cheap and what was on hand)(I hate this camera. I promise our bread was not blue.)

In a bowl, beat together eggs, milk, Italian seasoning and garlic. Soak bread in egg mixture for 1-2 minutes on each side. Dip bread into bread crumbs to coat on both sides. Grill sandwiches in hot skillet or griddle until golden brown on each side and cheese is melted.
(We served ours with spaghetti sauce to dip them in)

Here's what is coming up this week on Meal Planning Mommies

I do not feel like getting into all the ways that these past couple of weeks have been ironically disappointing for me, but I DO want to mention that my camera broke. The one that I LOVED! So, these recipes are old ones that I took a long time ago with my old camera and forgot about, and some new ones that I made and took pictures of with my old (not very cool) camera. I promise the recipes are good, even if the pictures look like a 2nd grader took them in a dark alley. :0) Oh yeah, and a tree fell on our house right smack in the middle of the most pleasant day of the year. No joke. Here's a picture of it before my hubster rolled it off of our roof with our neighbor's help.

Here's what is coming your way this week:

MONDAY> Italian Grilled Cheese
TUESDAY> Soup and Garlic Bites
WEDNESDAY> Creamy Beef Enchiladas (Great freezer meal)
THURSDAY> Salad-dressing Marinated Meat
FRIDAY> Cheese Stuffed Pasta and Sauce

BBQ weinies

I will be posting pictures from my bummer camera this week, since my nice camera is broken. (I blame my two year old, although I have no proof) I just picked up the camera one day and it wasn't working. So, I reached for my stupid camera that I do not like, and guess what!? I found pics of recipes from a very long time ago. I will posting some of those recipes this week. The first one being a super easy and extra yummy recipe for little BBQ smokies. I found this one on Cooks.com and I made these when my mom and dad were coming over and they would be arriving between lunch and dinner time. I served these with crackers and cheese. YUM! Here it is:

1 16 oz package cocktail weiners
1 13 oz can pineapple chunks (in syrup) (I left this out)
1/2 cup chili sauce
1/2 cup currant or grape jelly
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons pineapple syrup (from can)

Directions according to Cooks.com recipe I found:

Drain pineapple, reserving 2 tablespoons syrup.

In a skillet, sauté all ingredients for 15 minutes on medium high heat.

Transfer to a chafing dish and provide toothpicks when serving.

What I did instead:

Put all the ingredients in my slow cooker.

Cooked on low for a few hours until my family arrived.

Looking for something to do this weekend?

Looking for a fun dessert for this weekend?

Why not treat your family to some deep fried oreos or some creamy cappuccino cheesecake? When you are done, work it off by going for a family bike ride while the weather is still nice.

Have a GREAT WEEKEND Mommy friends!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to Bukisa for the use of this very appetizing picture.