Menu Plannin’ Monday

Monday: MOPS Breakfast (yum!!)

Thai Chicken Pizza (carryover from…awhile ago – made it before, we liked it!)

Tuesday: Pumpkin Waffles

            Oven Tacos *new recipe

Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs

                   Baked Beef Taquitos *new recipe

Thursday: Cereal

               Skinny Fettucine Alfredo *new recipe

Friday: Zucchini Bread (quickly becoming a household fave!)

        Sticky Coconut Chicken *new recipe

Saturday: California Breakfast Casserole

              Chicken Fajita Melts *new recipe

Sunday: Potluck – no cooking, yay!

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Sorry I lapsed a week folks! Sometimes I’m just tired and other priorities take focus. I did cook fairly often last week, just more fly by the seat of my pants type cooking. I think my favorite throw together meal was a loaded baked potato with broccoli, chicken, pinto beans, and a touch of butter, cheese and salt. YUM!! will do again for sure.

Happy Monday…no doubts you, too, are praying for the Boston marathoners and first responders. My heart is heavy for them.

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–10 Uses for your Phone Alarm

Some background regarding this post…and just some fun FYI material. My maiden name was Roach (not as bad as you might think, but yes, I was excited to get married). And the Roach family, well…we weren’t the most punctual of families. Nothing horrendous, but we ran late more often than not. My brother and I would actually place bets on what my mom’s excuse would be when she was late picking us up from school. We thought it was quite humorous. So, naturally, I myself have this “running late” tendency. BUT…alas, there is hope!

My trick is to use the alarm on my phone….FOR EVERYTHING!

Here are the following things I use my alarm/timer for:

1. Morning alarm(s) for wake up

2. Reminder to drop off/pick up Cooper from preschool

(okay, it’s not like I’d FORGET…but this way I have a 5 minute buffer to actually get in the car so I’m not seriously late!)

3. Reminder to take medications (for me or my kids)

4. Time outs

(1 minute/year of age. Cooper’s is seeming awfully long these days)

5. Reminder that it’s time to leave the park, or play date, etc.

(you know, when you tell your kids 5 more minutes, and a half hour later you’re finally leaving? With the timer, it’s the fun little robot voice that’s the “bad guy”. And OCCASIONALLY, they actually are excited to hear said funny little robot voice and leave happily! Gasp! Imagine that!)

6. Reminder that I myself have an appointment!

7. Timer for dinner

(‘cuz let’s face it…sometimes you’re playing outside and won’t hear the oven alarm)

8. Timer for when my husband has to stop playing video games

(hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!)

9. Motivation to see how much cleaning I can get done in 10-20 minutes. Set the timer and you’ll be surprised (or not…sometimes it’s a bust, but more often than not, I work faster when timed).

10. Reminder to start crockpot meals. It’s the worst when you have it planned, and forget to start the crockpot and that day’s crockpot use is a bust. Man, oh man, what a disappointment!

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There you have it, folks. 10 more ways to utilize your phone alarm. May you be ever more on time my friends!

TTFN

Becky Nicholas

Menu Plannin’ Monday

Monday: Carrot Sweet Potato Muffins

            Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries & Salad

Tuesday: Sweet Potato Pancakes

           Rainbow Chard Tortilla Pizza *new recipe

and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert! (comment if you want the recipe!)

Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs

                Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pot Pie

Thursday: Leftover Muffins

             Artichoke & Red Bell Pepper Risotto

(Pampered Chef recipe, it’s delish!)

Friday: Apple Rings

        Cheddar Chicken Spirals

Saturday: Cereal or Eggs

           Thai Chicken Pizza

Sunday: Potluck – no cooking, yay!

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Recap from last week…

dinners…

Monday: Thai Chicken Noodle Salad

**This was a new recipe for me, and if I were to make it again, I’d either put on less sauce, or omit some of the peanut butter. It was tasty, but MIGHTY rich! And that’s saying a LOT coming from me.

Tuesday: Chicken, Asparagus & Mashed Potatoes

**This is the second time I’ve made this asparagus “recipe”. It’s not like there’s much to it, but it’s DELICIOUS! Our family of 4 ate 2 entire bunches of asparagus, WITHOUT complaint! (well, Allie licked it, hehe)

Wednesday: Roasted Fennel, Carrots & Mixed Rice

**3rd time I’ve made this, also delicious! I add shredded crockpot chicken. It’s sweet, but nature’s kind of sweet! =)

Thursday: Slow Cooker Pork, Chipotle’s Lime Rice & Salad

**I made this slow cooker pork before, but it was WAAY more vinegar-y this time. It may have been because I shredded the chicken in the cooking liquids? I also would NOT pair it with the Chipotle lime rice again, waay too much flavor. I like both of them, just separately. I also ran out of cilantro for the rice when I thought I had some, totally disappointing. It’s amazing how such a tiny ingredient can have such an impact!

Lime-Coconut Macadamia Nut Cookies

**I have made these before as well, but didn’t let the butter cool enough this time, and had sort of flat cookies. Still yummers though!

Friday: Autumn Chopped Salad

**Have made it before, and will make it again! Delicious!

Saturday: Nachos (not what was planned)

**Two sick kids and a mom who was stuck in the house with the two of them for a week straight = not wanting to cook. So we made nachos and watched Wreck It Ralph instead. Superb decision!!

Sunday: Egg Salad Sandwiches

recap breakfasts & snacks

Monday: Cereal & Crispy Roasted Snap Peas

(cereal is ALWAYS a hit in this household…snap pea snack? A TOTAL and complete bust. Oh well.)

Tuesday: Healthy Whole Grain Zucchini Bread (gone in 2 days FLAT!)

Wednesday: Slammin’ Surprise “Green” Smoothie – a hit!

Thursday: Cute “Bear” Toast

(okay, this one threw me. My daughter didn’t want to eat the bear! She kept saying, “Eyes? Ears? Nose?” and wouldn’t touch it. So I gave her all the food items on the side, and she eventually ate EVERYTHING. So…definitely a hit!)

Friday: Scrambled Eggs

(Neither kid wanted them, but I stuck to my guns and they went hungry until lunch. Judge if you want!)

Saturday: Cereal

Sunday: Sticky Lemon Rolls

(DELICIOUS! Don’t get me wrong…these were tasty! But if I’m going to go through the effort of making cinnamon rolls from scratch, I’m gonna go classic next time. They were VERY lemon-y. I’d cut back the lemon juice in the glaze for sure!)

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update on picky eater

A definite improvement! We also tried a few new smoothies, Click on the pictures to try them yourself!

Pina Colada Green Monster Smoothie

Lime and Coconut Green Smoothie

Mango & Coconut Smoothie

Tofu Peanut Butter Smoothie

(This last one sounds GROSS…but try it. I liked it, so did my kids! Husband..could take it or leave it)

Becky Nicholas

Simple Things Sunday No.9

our risen savior

Happy Easter!

We really, truly celebrated Easter all week long, in spite of both kiddos being sick! We delivered eggs to a neighbor’s house (see post here), we colored Easter eggs, and we made Resurrection Rolls! I’m hoping to do a more in depth post on that later (yes, I know, post-Easter, but you can pin it for next year! ).

But I wanted to share this adorable little tool pictured above to help share the Easter story with your littles. It’s from Oriental Trading and it’s called “He Lives!” Easter Figures. Here’s the link (although I’m sure it’ll lapse at some point). The set is only $7, and hearing my sweet little Allie asking for Jesus over and over was worth FAR MORE than the measly $7 (plus it was actually free since my mom bought it for us! Win – win – win!). AND…I’m wondering if it’ll go on sale after Easter, you can buy it and put it away for next year!

Anyhow, this week I’m celebrating the fact that

both of my kiddos are desiring

a relationship with God!

I know this for a variety of reasons, but below are a few specifics.

#1. We are working on memorizing a verse each week, and Cooper is not only excited about it, but seems to have an amazing understanding of the verses, as in, “You clearly have the Holy Spirit residing in you, ‘cuz there’s no way a 4 year old should know that!” type explanation.

#2. My daughter has asked to pray, on a NUMBER of occasions! Once was on a particularly challenging day for me on the way to pick up brother from preschool. And you know what? It helped me calm down and have a better day. Way to go God for speaking to me through your little servants.

#3. Both my kiddos enjoy reading the Bible. And while I know they enjoy reading PLENTY of other books, there’s just something about the word of God that’s captivating. At least for those who have God’s help in understanding it. And I hope and pray that my children do…and continue to as well!

So pretty much my goal in life is accomplished, right? Ha! Well, for now…but those of us who are blessed with a relationship with God can probably all agree that it takes not only a lifelong commitment, but also a day-to-day, minute by minute intentional effort. And it’s my joy to begin instilling that in my children’s hearts now!

I’ll leave you with 2 more pictures pertaining to the celebration of our risen Savior and my children’s excitement regarding Christ. The first is of my children looking into the empty “tomb” after making our Resurrection Rolls. The pure joy and excitement melts my heart.

The second one is of Allie playing with Mary (from the Easter figures set) and Venom. Clearly Mary is trying to talk some sense into Venom.

Happy Easter! I pray this holiday does not pass without the true meaning touching your hearts.

Becky Nicholas

Friday Faves - Papa Murphy's & Space Unicorn

I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but it’s worth mentioning again. My first favorite for today is…

papa murphy’s pizza

It’s so much cheaper than any other QUALITY delivery place, and so fresh! And here’s a few helpful hints when enjoying Papa Murphy’s.

#1. They take expired coupons! Did you know this?!

I can’t vouch for every location, but ours does. They’ve never batted an eyelash. So, whenever I get them in the mail, I just stuff them in my wallet for my next trip. The best bang for your buck coupon is the family size for the price of a medium.

#2. For a crispier crust, remove the paper tray after 10 minutes.

I’m pretty sure it says this right on their baking instructions, but in case you breezed over that helpful hint, try it! I only leave it in for about 2-3 minutes longer, but that 2-3 minutes does make the crust crispier. I love it!

#3. Gourmet Vegetarian!!!

If you haven’t tried this kind yet, do yourself a favor and try it! It’s my favorite right now. We get half pepperoni (partially for the kids, and partially for us, it is spicy, so be warned!) and half gourmet vegetarian. Yum!! 

My second favorite is…

space unicorn

This is a throw back to my love of jr. highers and their glorious randomness!!! If you have yet to view this addictive hilarious happiness, please click the picture above to take you to the YouTube link. But be warned, you will have the song stuck in your head for a minimum of 10 minutes!!! But, you can’t help but smile and/or giggle when you hear it or sing it. I love it, my kids love it, and my husband loves it, though he’s too manly to admit it. =)

Enjoy, it’s the perfect send off to your weekend!

Thoughtful Thursdays - You've Been Egged

Last year my kiddos and I “egged” a house…

Click here to see the full post from last year and get the free printables.

Eek! Look how adorable they are! I can’t get over how much they’ve grown in a year!

This year, I used the free printable from the Happy Home Fairy (mostly because I waited too long and didn’t want to make my neighbor “pass it on”). Click the picture below to go get your free printable!

See the pictures from how much fun we had? What are you waiting for?! Go do it! =) Happy Early Easter. Sunday is coming!!

I MAY have taken like 15 pictures before this not realizing the card for my camera was in the computer, not my camera. They were happier at the beginning.

See? They still had some cuteness in them!

And one last shot from before we rang the doorbell and ran!

Cooper was soo excited, and Allie was listening to make sure we weren’t going to get caught!