Yummy recipes

Here are some more of my favorite recipes:
Mandarin Chicken
4 cans mandarin oranges
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/2 C BBQ Sauce
4-8 Chicken Breasts
Blend 1rst three ingredients together in a blender
Place chicken in 9x13" casserole dish, pour mixture over chicken. Cook at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.
This recipe also works great in a dutch oven.

No Meat Chowmein
Heat in a large skillet 1/4 C vegetable or olive oil
add: 1- 5oz can sliced water chestnuts (drained)
1-5oz can bamboo shoots (drained)
2 cups thinly sliced celery
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 large or 2 small cans of sliced mushrooms
1 large green pepper (cut into strips)
1pkg (10 oz) frozen french style green beans- can substitute 1 can drained french style green beans
9 green onions ( 1 bunch) diced 1/2 way up the green part
2 garlic cloves minced or the equivalent of dried minced garlic
1 cup carrots thinly sliced horizontally

Fry for 1 minute then add bringing to a boil:
2 TBS sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups chicken broth from a can or ( dissolve 2 chicken bouillon cubes in 2 cups of hot water
Simmer 10 minutes- or until vegetables are tender
Mix 3 tsp corn starch in 1/4th cup cold water ( to eliminate lumps)- add to skillet and stir until thickened
Add 1/4 cup soy sauce-mix well
Serve over rice. Top with chowmein noodles

Cake mix cookies
1 cake mix ( I like to use chocolate)
3 TBS vegetable oil
1 cup chocolate chips
( You can add anything you think you'd like in them ie: walnuts, macadamias, butterscotch chips etc...)
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Mix ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. Dough will be stiff.
Using a cookie scoop, place onto a cookie sheet sprayed with a nonstick vegetable spray.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until brown.
Yields: 24-36 cookies.


Lemon cake mix cookies
1 pkg lemon cake mix
1/3 c vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 TBS lemon juice
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a cookie sheet.
Combine cake mix, egg, oil, and lemon juice. ( Can add lemon zest or lemon extract for more lemon taste)
Blend at a low speed until well blended. Dough will be sticky.
Shape into 1" balls and place on cookie sheet 1" apart. Bake for 8 minutes
Cool several minutes and then dust with powdered sugar.
Yields: 32 cookies

Courageous Parenting

Tonight  I have been thinking a lot about how hard it is to raise a child in a world that shouts bad influences.
Every where you look, there are obstacles for our children to overcome. I have found comfort and guidance in  the talk "Courageous Parenting" By Elder Larry R Lawrence .It was given in the Sunday afternoon session of the LDS General Conference.
Here are a few of my favorite paragraphs:

The Young Men and Young Women Mutual theme for 2010 was taken from the book of Joshua. It begins, “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid” (Joshua 1:9). This phrase from the scriptures would be a good theme for parents as well. In these last days, what the world really needs is courageous parenting from mothers and fathers who are not afraid to speak up and take a stand.
Imagine for a moment that your daughter was sitting on the railroad tracks and you heard the train whistle blowing. Would you warn her to get off the tracks? Or would you hesitate, worried that she might think you were being overprotective? If she ignored your warning, would you quickly move her to a safe place? Of course you would! Your love for your daughter would override all other considerations. You would value her life more than her temporary goodwill.
Challenges and temptations are coming at our teenagers with the speed and power of a freight train. As we are reminded in the family proclamation, parents are responsible for the protection of their children.¹ That means spiritually as well as physically.
Elder Joe J. Christensen reminded us that “parenting is not a popularity contest.”² In the same spirit, Elder Robert D. Hales has observed, “Sometimes we are afraid of our children—afraid to counsel with them for fear of offending them.”³

It’s so important for husbands and wives to be united when making parenting decisions. If either parent doesn’t feel good about something, then permission should not be granted. If either feels uncomfortable about a movie, a television show, a video game, a party, a dress, a swimsuit, or an Internet activity, have the courage to support each other and say no.
Brothers and sisters, if your spouse doesn’t feel good about something, show respect for those feelings. When you take the easy way out by saying and doing nothing, you may be enabling destructive behavior.

It is vital that parents have the courage to speak up and intervene before Satan succeeds.

May I express my personal warning about a practice that is common in many cultures. I am referring to sleepovers, or spending the night at the home of a friend. As a bishop I discovered that too many youth violated the Word of Wisdom or the law of chastity for the first time as part of a sleepover. Too often their first exposure to pornography and even their first encounter with the police occurred when they were spending the night away from home.
Peer pressure becomes more powerful when our children are away from our influence and when their defenses are weakened late at night. If you have ever felt uneasy about an overnight activity, don’t be afraid to respond to that warning voice inside. Always be prayerful when it comes to protecting your precious children.
Courageous parenting does not always involve saying no. Parents also need courage to say yes to the counsel of modern-day prophets. Our Church leaders have counseled us to establish righteous patterns in our homes. Consider five fundamental practices that have the power to fortify our youth: family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, family dinner together, and regular one-on-one interviews with each child.
It takes courage to gather children from whatever they’re doing and kneel together as a family. It takes courage to turn off the television and the computer and to guide your family through the pages of the scriptures every day. It takes courage to turn down other invitations on Monday night so that you can reserve that evening for your family. It takes courage and willpower to avoid overscheduling so that your family can be home for dinner.
One of the most effective ways we can influence our sons and daughters is to counsel with them in private interviews. By listening closely, we can discover the desires of their hearts, help them set righteous goals, and also share with them the spiritual impressions that we have received about them. Counseling requires courage.
Try to imagine what the rising generation could become if these five righteous patterns were practiced consistently in every home. Our young people could be like Helaman’s army: invincible (see Alma 57:25–26).

Satan and his followers are striving to bring this generation down; the Lord is counting on valiant parents to bring them up. Parents, “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid” (Joshua 1:9). I know that God hears and will answer your prayers. I testify that the Lord supports and blesses courageous parents.

I hope that as my children grow up and are faced with the challenges they will be faced with, that I can implement this council and keep up the five fundamental practices in my family.
I hope this post gives you courage to be the best parent you can be.

Rest and Relaxation as a Mom: Oxymoron?

You think your life is busy until you start having kids. Then you have a baby. Now you are taking care of yourself and another human being. Then you have another one. There's three people you are taking care of. Add another one? Now you have four people you are taking care of. There is dropping them off at school or daycare. Changing diapers, washing dishes, doing laundry. I better stop before you decide you don't want anymore kids now.

It does get easier as they get older. They can start clearing off the table when they are done eating, they can clean their rooms, they can help you put things away.

But now to the topic. Is Relaxing as a Mom an oxymoron? If you wait to find the type, yes. A lot of days, getting a chance to relax may not come on it's own. If you make the time to relax, it can happen.

I have one child in elementary, one in preschool two days a week, one in diapers still, and a dog. I make sure that most days, I take the time to relax and just be me. Not Mom, just me. Here are some ideas to help.

1) In order to fully get to relax, play with your kids. They want your attention. They want you to play with them and be with them. Read them a few books, play a game with them. Then tell them that is mommy's time to relax on the computer, or reading a book, or whatever your choice of relaxing is. A lot of times they will still interrupt you. As everyone gets used to this, the older ones will start knowing that Mommy makes time for herself to relax. The little ones will still cry for a diaper change, but we love them enough to give up our time for a moment.

2) Take time when you can get it. The kids are all in bed and the house is quiet. You need to get some milk at the store. If dad is home, take the chance and get out. Turn the radio off in the car and enjoy the silence. Or turn the music up loud and enjoy not having to keep turning it down because your child wants to talk with you.

3) Take a nap or a shower to refresh I realize this one is a lot harder for a lot of moms. You don't feel comfortable sleeping while your three year old wanders the house. If you have kids at school, you don't have to worry about those. If you have a little one that still uses the crib for naps, you can put them in there. It's the ones in between you have to worry about. You know your kid and whether you can trust them while you take a quick nap or shower.

4) Take one minute. All children in your house can be okay left alone for one minute. Occupy them with a toy or snack. Go to your room, shut the door, and just breathe. Relish the quietness. Take a deep breathe. Clear your mind. Enjoy. Then go break the fight that started while you were gone.

Top Secret Cleaning Tips

Cleaning can sometimes be a pain, but with these fantastic tips, it can be a breeze.
* Do 10 messy minutes a day- find a spot in your house that is cluttered or is often neglected. Devote 10 minutes a day to getting it organized and under control. Once your 10 minutes are up, you're done for the day. You will be surprised at the difference it makes.

Tips For Saving Money

Budgeting/Saving Money

 Feeding a family can be expensive. If you're like me, you like to find ways to get the most for your money.
Bountiful Baskets is a great way to get fresh produce for a cheap price. I also like that it helps you add more fruits and vegetables into your diet. The way it works is you visit the site below. Create an account.  Click on the state you live in and it brings up a list of different locations to pick your produce up from and when they will be delivering to that location. Select the site. Then you can place your order. On the pick up date that it lists, you go to the site you signed up for and you get one basket of fruit and one of vegetables. The cost is $15.00 for both baskets. They also have an organic choice for $25.00- Check it out, I think it is well worth it!

 Http://www.BountifulBaskets.org/

 Plan your menu's
 Another great way, that I like to save money, is to plan my menu's for the entire month. I use my calendar to plan my meals. I keep it on the side of my fridge so that I never have to wonder what is for dinner. I buy all of my ingredients once a month, with the exception of fresh ingredients.
When planning my meals I look at all of the ads that were sent to my house. I write down all of the things under the stores name that I feel are great deals.
Then I look at what is on sale and decide what kinds of dinners I can make with those ingredients.
Then I look through my coupon organizer for other coupons that will help to save additional money on those items.
*I buy my meat in bulk when it is on sale, I separate it into what I need for each meal, and then wrap each portion tight in saran wrap or freezer paper- meat stays good for a long time when frozen. Usually I have enough meat, that I don't have to buy more until I find another great sale. It's also great, because you usually have the meat you need for any meal.
*Stock up on items when they are on sale, try to get enough of the product that it will last until the next sale.
* Take advantage of case lot sales. A lot of my recipes use different kinds of soups, beans, tomatoes, rice etc- most of the things that they sell at a case lot sale. Stock up on these items so that you get a great deal on them, and so you will always have them when you need them.
* Buy your bread on sale! Bread can be frozen.
* I try to freeze or bottle fresh fruits and vegetables, when they are on sale, or when I pick them out of my garden. This saves a lot of money down the road. Most fruits/vegetables need to be blanched before freezing them in a freezer bag. I made soup this winter that called for zucchini. I had zucchini out the ears from my garden during the summer, that I diced up and froze. It saved me a lot of money to be able to pull out a bag of frozen zucchini out of my freezer. It tasted great!
* Learn how to use coupons to your advantage. I like the website:  
http://www.grocerysmarts.com/
The passport code is g84ctw. This site lists all of the adds for an area and then rates them with a star system, so you can find the best deals. It also tells you what coupons you can use with each deal if there is one.
Another great site is:
http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/

Surviving Meals

Surviving Meals

Surviving meal time with a young family, can sometimes be very chaotic. Here is a list of different recipes that have been suggested, to save you time and headache.

One of the easiest recipes I have in my recipe book is

Red Potatoes and Pork Chops
4-5 Potatoes (Peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces)
1 regular can Tomato Soup
4-5 Pork Chops

Preheat your oven to 375*
Place your pork chops in the bottom of a roasting pan.
Add your diced potatoes. Pour 1 can of tomato soup(undiluted) on top of the potatoes.
Place lid on roasting pan and bake for 1 1/2- 2 hours, or until potatoes are soft.

Enjoy! My family loves this recipe and it only takes 5-10 minutes to prepare. Then you can walk away and come back around dinner time to a great meal. It also has few ingredients, which makes it fairly cheap.

.

Chicken and Rice-Submitted by Ashley H.

1 1/2 cups real rice

1 dry onion soup packet

Spread uncooked rice on bottom of caserole dish. Add onion soup mix and 1 can of cream of chicken soup. thawed chicken (desired amount) salt and pepper and arrange on rice. Add water (about 3 cups total) to consistency. 350 degrees for 1 hour. sprinkle cheese on top cover with foil and cook 15-20 minutes more. 

Chicken in sour cream sauce (crock pot)-Submitted by Ashley H.

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp lemon-pepper

Combine in a bowl

rub over chicken breasts.

Place in a slow cooker.

In a medium bowl, add

1/2 cup chicken broth (1/4 tsp. chicken granules plus 1/2 cup water heated)

1 cup sour cream

1 can mushroom soup

1/2 lb fresh mushrooms (optional)

Pour over chicken, cover and cook on low 6-8 hours til juices run clear. Serve over rice or noodles. We like the rice the best.

Fresh homemade salsa-Submitted by Ashley H.

28 oz. stewed tomatoes

1 can green chilies

1/2 c onion

1/2 c or less cilantro (optional)

Juice from 1 lime

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp sugar 1 clove garlic

throw all in blender and enjoy

Night Terrors

 Last night, my son woke up around 10:30 screaming and crying. When we went up to talk to him, he had a blank look on his face. We would ask him questions and he would just ramble the strangest things that didn't make sense. The only thing we could figure, was that he was still asleep. My husband tried clapping, and shouting his name to try and wake him up, but it still didn't work.
It was kind of a scary experience. After he laid back down, we looked up night terrors on the internet. It described his behavior perfectly.
Has any one else out there had this happen with your child?
The website said that this is most common in children ages 3-11 and that it usually will go away on its own as the child ages. It said that it happens for many different reasons: if a child is overly tired, if they are experiencing emotional stress, anxiety, or a poor diet, it also mentioned that it can be hereditary.
The site said that you should not try to wake your child by shouting or making loud noises, because this will just confuse them. ( That is exactly what happened with us, the more we tried to wake him up, the more upset he got.) Instead try to soothe them by talking calmly, hold them if that helps. Try to help them go back to bed.
This has happened a few times before with my son and I didn't realize what was going on- it really made me worry about him. It was good to know that this can be a normal thing for children to experience.
I just wanted to pass this information on in case any of you ever experience this with your child.
If you have had this happen, please comment and let me know what you did to handle this kind of thing.

New Recipe

 If ya want a nice restaurant style dinner with your family that is inexpensive and easy..Try this recipe..We had it last night for dinner and we all loved it!

Go to the store and buy a package of the Tyson Country Fried Steak Patties and follow the directions (like 13-17 minutes in the oven)..I also got a package of Rhodes rise and serve rolls.

Get a couple of big potatoes cut them up and boil them. Once they are tender, mash them with half a cube of butter and salt and pepper and a little milk til light and fluffy.

For the perfect rolls: Take the rolls out and get a muffin pan, spray the pan well and put 2 frozen rolls side by side in 1 muffin cup. I take them out at 10 in the morning. Put a dry kitchen towel on the top and let them rise all day until dinner time...The package says to cook 350 for 15 minutes but I only cook them for about 12 minutes then once they come out, brush them with butter..

Homemade country gravy:  Take 1/2 cup of water, bring to boil. Add a little more than 1/2 tsp chicken granules (Bullion) and then set aside. In another pan, take 1/2 cube butter and melt then add 4 Tbsp flour, stir til creamy then add 2 cups of milk and whisk till all smooth (will be liquidy but with thicken up) keep on med to low temp. add the chicken broth. salt and pepper I also like to add McCormick's white pepper.

top on whipped potatoes and steak. add some fresh steamed veggies and voila!! yummy food!

Motivating kids to do chores and rewarding them for good behavior

So yesterday I was looking at blogs and found this awesome idea at this link:
http://www.theidearoom.net/2009/08/reward-points-system-and-home-store.html
This ladies idea for rewarding and motivating your children to do chores was in my opinion ingenious!
I am definitely going to try this. I told my boys about it and they were so excited about it.
Check it out :)

What is your love language?

I have been reading the book The Five Love Languages  By: Gary Chapman.
This book is fantastic for understanding that people need to be loved in different ways. It is written mainly for marriages, but I feel that a lot of the advice also applies to loving our children as well.
Here is their main website: ( Although you can buy the book almost anywhere)
http://www.5lovelanguages.com/
I believe that a good family starts with a solid marriage foundation, and so this post is directed towards strengthening your marriage relationship.
Life gets really busy and I am sure that all of us agree that raising children takes a good portion of our time.With this month being the month of love, I would like to list one challenge for you to do daily to help strengthen your relationship with your spouse.
1. Write them a love letter- ( Make sure to tell them things you appreciate about them, that often times get overlooked.)
2.Give the gift of time today. Spend some good quality time together. Give your undivided attention                ( Watching TV does not count!)
3. Buy or make your spouses favorite treat. Surprise them with it.
4. Reminisce today about fun times you've had together. Maybe watch your wedding video or look at your wedding album together. Talk about times you've been through that have brought you closer together. ( Good or Bad)
5. Share your goals with your spouse. Come up with ways you can be supportive in helping your souse achieve their goals and dreams.
6. Tell them verbally today that you love them.
7. Make some love coupons at this website:     http://valentinelovecard.com/pg_coupons_page.php
8. Today let your husband choose something you do together.
9. Today let your wife choose something you do together.
10.Go on a date during the month
11.Write a list of 100 things you love about your spouse.
12.Talk to your spouse respectfully today
13.Surprise your spouse by doing something for them they would want done.
14.Don't sweat the small stuff
15.Be a good listener
16.Make your spouse breakfast
17.Do something to lighten your spouses load
18.Give your spouse a 15 second kiss
19.Back your spouse up
20.Fix a nice dinner that they like
21.Call or e-mail your spouse during the day so they know you are thinking of them
22.Cuddle for awhile
23.Kiss hello and goodbye
24.Pray for each other
25.Slow dance
26.Watch your spouses favorite movie with them
27.Forgive each other
28.Give your spouse a massage

I am going to try and do one thing each day during the month of February.
You can also go to my link at the bottom of this page for the Dating Divas Website. They have lot's of great ideas for striking up the romance.

Teaching Young Kids to Clean

Housework is something you do that nobody notices until you don't do it.
~Author Unknown

Ain't that the truth! You work hard all day and the kids and husband comes home. “What did you do all day mom?” You get sick and suddenly the house is a mess. Hopefully most the time we have kids and a spouse that help out.

I like hugs and I like kisses,
But what I really love is help with the dishes!
~Author Unknown

If you are a stay at home mom typically the house workload is put on you. That's okay to a point. I mean, you are home during the day. Other family members are at school or work. But... if there are 4 people in your family, you are ¼ of the family. Yet sometimes it feels like you are doing most 3/4 of the work. If your kids are all at school, then cleaning is a little easier to get ahead. If you have little ones at home still, you need their help.

Cleaning sometimes isn't fun. But why not make it fun? Kids like to play. Make cleaning into a game. If you are stuck in a cleaning rut, here are some ideas that hopefully will make it go smoother. (FYI, my kids are 5, 6, and 2. The older ones love these games. The 2 year old doesn't understand the games yet.)

1) I Spy: I spy with my little eye something that you build. The kids look around and try and figure out what it is that you might build with. They race trying to find it. One of them gets it. They put it away. You could do something that is green. Something that goes quack quack. Have fun with it.

2) Hot or Cold: Have the kids take turns. Pick out an item. Then tell them if they are hot or cold. I'm sure we all know how this game goes. And to make it even more fun for the kids, let them have a turn picking out an item and you find it and put it away. Make being in charge of cleaning fun to.

3) Pick up (X) items: Sometimes we just tell everyone to stop what they are doing. Everyone picks up 10 items and put them away from every room that needs it. That's 40 items per room (2 year old doesn't quite get it, but we encourage her to pick up something.). Let's say you need to clean up 4 rooms. That is 160 things picked up and put away. You could spend 30 minutes doing it yourself. Or you divide it up between everyone and get it done in 1/4 the time.

4) Make cleaning a race: Sometimes when we've all fallen behind a bit we'll race to see who can clean their room the fastest. I clean my room, the kids clean their rooms. We have had whining on this one sometimes because one of them feels bad that they didn't win. But it's a good way to encourage being a good sport when you don't win. Sometimes the winner gets to pick out one small treat from the treat bag. Sometimes the winner gets two treats and everyone else gets one treat. Sometimes we don't win anything. Because sometimes we clean not to be rewarded, but because that's what you do.

I don't have experience yet with cleaning with older kids. But, I have read Don Aslett's book "Help Around the House". (If you go to Amazon, you can preview the book to have an idea of what's in it.) He has lots of great ideas of getting your family involved with cleaning. The nice thing about this book is that he has ideas sent in from readers. Some of them completely contradict each other, but it really is about finding what works with your family.

Here are a few more quotes to leave you with that I found about housework.

"Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy.
~Author Unknown

"The Rose Bowl is the only bowl I've ever seen that I didn't have to clean." ~Erma Bombeck

"If the shelves are dusty
and the pots don't shine,
it's because I have better things
to do with my time."
~Author Unknown

"I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.... I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby."
~Nancie J. Carmody