beanbag

First a huge thank you to LeeAnn! I ran across her when she was making beanbags for another blogger (A Daily Scoop)… and talked to her (via email) about ordering a beanbag for Iz. She asked about color and size, looked at Izzy’s blog to see her… and then we agreed when she got to it she would let me know how much for the beanbag and shipping. So… yesterday I walked out to put things in the car for the day (pause…)

Saturday I was leaving the house with my hands full and pushing izzy’s stroller. I got to the front door and was trying to manuever all the stuff and her and her chair started rolling down the sidewalk. I took off and realized my hoodie sweatshirt was caught on the storm door handle and I couldn’t move. I accessed the situation in about .2 seconds and forfeited the shirt. I ran anyway ripping the shirt apart. I caught her before she went maybe 5 feet, but it scared me. That’s why I am making multiple trips to the car and not trying to take it all in one swoop. I’m also using the brakes on the stroller!

(resume…) There was this ginormous, seriously huge box on the front porch I could barely carry in. Guess what it was? It was from LeeAnn. It was the beanbag! She sent it without telling me. I emailed her immediately and excitedly asking her how much to send because i know the shipping had to be outrageous for this huge box all the way from Nevada. Guess what she said? “It’s my gift to Izzy and you.” Is that not the sweetest thing ever? I thought so! I’m working on a care package to send her as a thank you! For all the bad things you hear about people and the world I am amazed at all the kind and generous good people!

food and stuff

We’ve been having lots of soups the past several days. Matt heard of then bought a book about volumetrics which is basically eating the same amount of food but redistributing the ratio of vegetables to other food. We had homemade pizza two nights also. The first night I bought a refridgerated crust just to save time (so I thought) and then yesterday I was making several pizzas for the whole fam so I made homemade crusts I saw on orgjunkie.com. This is the crust recipe and a sauce recipe too…

Pizza Crust:
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degress F)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour
Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the rest of the ingredients in and mix. Dump onto a floured surface. Knead into a smooth dough (five minutes or so). Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan. Add some pizza sauce and your toppings. Bake at 450 degress F for around 12-15 minutes until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned. Dough can also be frozen as well.

Pizza Sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine or water
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or olive oil
1-2 tablespoon parmesan cheese

I covered matt’s pizza (2 of them) with tons of veggies… onions, green peppers, olives, mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes and a little canandian bacon aka lean peppered ham. I liked being able to make one for everyone to enjoy. Matt said they were better than carryout pizza. I think we’ll be having pizza often for a while.



Last night I knew I wanted to have something made for after church and had planned to make a soup using chicken. We made beef/veggie stew Thursday and had been eating it for a few days… it was finally gone. It was really good and especially tasty since I have been fighting a cold/sore throat. I put a big container (48 oz) chicken stock in the slow cooker and then a big can of petite diced tomatoes, a can of rotel, a palm full of chili powder and cumin, some salt and pepper, a jar of green chilis, can of mushrooms, can of mexican corn, small can of peas, big can of rinsed and drained black beans and a package of frozen chicken tenders. I diced an onion and sauteed it in a little butter with pressed garlic and added it in when it was translucent. I put it on low and left it for the night. I shredded some cheddar cheese, had tortilla strips (chips) and some advocados. It was a healthy version of tortilla soup and it was delicious! Another new favorite!

We’ll have the soup again tomorrow because there is a ton, plus a lot of pizza leftover…

Tuesday we’ll have turkey burgers (a recipe from the volumetrics book using bulgar which I’ve never used…)

Wednesday I’m going to make a pot of beans and cornbread.

Thursday frito chili pie with turkey.

Friday more pizzas!

It’s freezing cold today and I think me & Izzy are going to bed to read for a while…

What’s on your menu for the week? Making any healthy changes? I need to add walking back in to our schedule this week!

I made bookmarks for my teen girl’s class showing the scriptures to read so that they can read the bible in one year. If they bring it back each week with each day checked off they will be rewarded… I hope they stick with it. I gave them the 15-20 minutes in class today to start to show them how they can actually get it done and it’s not that hard. Since daily bible reading is at the top of my goals for 2009 it helps to have company!