Two More Recipes

Nacho Cheese Chicken Chowder

Makes 6 servings.

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 14 1/2-oz. cans Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, undrained (I used Italian style)
1 10 3/4-oz. can condensed nacho cheese soup
1 10-oz. package frozen whole kernel corn
1/3 cup shredded taco or cheddar cheese

1. In 3 1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker, combine chicken, tomatoes, soup and corn.
2. Cover and cook on low-heat for 4 to 5 hours or on high-heat for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Sprinkle each serving with cheese.

(Per serving: 244 cal., 6 g total fat (3 g sat. fat), 55 mg chol., 647 mg sodium, 24 g carbo., 2 g fiber, 23 g pro.)

**I accidentally added a can of chicken broth to the recipe but it was still good, just more soupy than it is intended to be. Both of my kids said that the soup was yummy.**

Cuban Pork Wraps

Makes 12 servings.

1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup grapefruit juice
1/4 cup water
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp. bottled minced garlic
1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 3-lb. boneless pork shoulder roast (I didn't get a shoulder roast, just whatever type pork roast was available.)
1 large onion, sliced
Chopped tomato, lettuce, and/or sliced red onion (optional)
12 flour tortillas, warmed

1. For marinade: In a small bowl, combine lime juice, grapefruit juice, the water, bay leaves, garlic, oregano, salt, cumin, and pepper. Trim fat from meat. If necessary, cut meat to fit into slow cooker.
2. Pierce meat with large fork in several places. Place meat in resealable plastic bag set in shallow dish. Pour marinade over meat; seal bag. Marinate in refrigerator for 6 to 24 hours, turning bag occasionally.
3. Place sliced onion in cooker. Top with meat and marinade. Cover and cook on low-heat for 10 to 12 hours or on high-heat for 5 to 6 hours.
4. Transfer meat and sliced onion to cutting board, reserving juices. Skim fat from cooking juices; discard bay leaves. Cover juices and keep warm. Using two forks, pull meat apart into shreds.
5. Serve meat, sliced onion, and, if desired, tomato, lettuce, and/or red onion in tortillas. Pour hot juices into small bowls to use for dipping.

(Per serving:265 cal., 13 g total fat (4 g sat. fat), 60 mg chol., 280 mg sodium, 18 g carbo., 1 g fiber, 19 g pro.)

**My kids kept asking for more meat (although they called it chicken!) so I guess they liked this one too.**

I guess my cooking lighter meals is paying off...I've lost 15 lbs.

Thank you

Annual Memorial Day Photo

My sister-in-law and I have had a photo taken like this one every Memorial Day and Labor Day since our oldest kids were born.

Tu Tu cute

Seriously, if you haven't checked out 5 Minutes for Mom yet, check it out. They are always doing contests and giving away great stuff. Most recently they are giving away one of these gorgeous tutus that Miss M would just love.

Go check it out!

Conversations

In the car:

M: Mommy, are we going lemon speed?

me: Lemon speed?

M: You know, the policeman stops you if you're not going lemon speed.

Oh. The speed limit.

At the choir school picnic:

K walks off with two tall, long-legged, blonde pre-teens.

me (catching up with him): Where are you going bud?

K: Oh, I'm just going with the girls.

Figures. It's starting already.

Tackle it Tuesday

I've been reading 5 Minutes for Mom for at least a few months now. They have some great contests there as well as some regular helpful features.

Tuesdays are called "Tackle it Tuesday" there and I usually read and think, "wow these women have a lot of energy," close the page and move on.

Today I actually did something. And I encourage you to do the same if you haven't really looked lately.

I cleaned out the medicines that we've had stockpiled. I threw away a plastic grocery bag full of expired medicine. Honestly, some of it expired in 2005.

Let me add a disclaimer: I ALWAYS check expiration dates on medicine before giving it to my children or taking it myself. But obviously some of the medicine I'd bought hadn't been used in quite some time.

So go clean out your old medications...you might be surprised at all the storage space you open up!

My big girl

What happened to the infant who screamed and screamed until her Daddy came home and put her on the removable changing table that came with our pack-n-play? Her Daddy carried her around the house on that changing pad and she would gurgle and coo as though she hadn't just spent the last hour giving her Mommy a headache.

Where is the baby who suckered her Amma into letting her hold pinkies to walk all over the yard until she felt confident enough to take steps on her own?
How is it that I no longer have a one-year-old mountain climber?

Where is that not-quite-two-year-old who fought naps so strongly that she would tear apart her room and fall asleep only after working herself into exhaustion (and in the most interesting places)?
Today, she's a preschool graduate, and ready to move on to even bigger things. . . like Kindergarten.

Two Slow Cooker recipes

Here are 2 low-cal, low-fat, slow cooker recipes I've tried recently. I like the soup better than the potatoes, but I omitted some stuff from the potatoes because I think I don't like them (ie, onion, green pepper). I also didn't sprinkle with cheese (gasp!). It was still good though.

I still like the soup better though. I've got some other slow-cooker recipes to try and will post the recipes if I like them!!


Scalloped Potatoes and Beans

Makes 5 servings

1 15-oz. can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 10 ¾ oz. can reduced-fat and reduced-sodium condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 stalks celery, sliced ¼ inch thick
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green sweet pepper, chopped
2 tsp. bottled minced garlic
1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
3 medium potatoes, sliced ¼ inch thick
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

In large bowl, combine kidney beans, black beans, soup, celery, onion, sweet pepper, garlic, thyme and black pepper.
Spoon half of the bean mixture into 3 ½ - or 4-quart slow cooker. Top with potatoes, peas and remaining bean mixture.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8-10 hours or high-heat setting for 4-5 hours. If desired, sprinkle each serving with cheddar cheese.

Per serving: 272 cal, 2 g total fat (0g sat. fat), 2 mg chol., 657mg. sodium, 55 g carbo., 13 g fiber, 16 g pro.



Spinach, Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Makes 6 servings.

3 cups water
1 14-oz. can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 10 ¾ -oz. can reduced-fat and reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
2/3 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed and drained
½ tsp. dried thyme, crushed
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
3 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
2 cups shredded fresh spinach

In 3 ½ -or 4-quart slow cooker, combine the water, broth, soup, wild rice, thyme and pepper.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 7-8 hours or high-heat setting for 3 ½ -4 hours. Before serving, stir in chicken and spinach.

Per serving: 216 cal., 4 g total fat (1 g sat. fat), 64 mg chol., 397 mg sodium, 19 g carbo., 2 g. fiber, 26 g pro.

The Digital Age

Last week, I sat at our computer with my daughter on my lap and my mother-in-law in the chair next to me. We were looking for the video clips I had shot of Miss M singing in the cherub choir. We had to search through thousands of photos because I couldn't remember the dates that I had shot video.

"Wow, look at all those pictures," my mother-in-law commented.

"Yeah, I take a lot of pictures."

Most of the time I don't delete the "bad" ones either.

There was a Sign of the Times segment on Nightline last week that commented on the danger of extinction of the "bad" family photos with the popularity of the digital camera.

I can see their point, although I purposely keep most of the "bad" photos I've taken of my kids because these photos tell a story that the "great" photos do not. They tell the story of all the goofy faces, poses, crying fits, etc that my children tried out throughout the attempted photo shoot. Those "bad" shots often show much more personality than the perfect shots (those are very rare anyway!)

Of course, I end up with 500 million photos because I keep them all. I don't print the photos very often but I am a bit compulsive about burning them to DVD quite often. I wish I had the money and the time to print all the photos I've taken, but it wouldn't be practical anyway. Where would I store all the photo albums?

Obviously the digital age has its positive and negative aspects but I'm still surprised when someone mentions they don't have a digital camera. I think the ability to take so many photos without added cost (if you don't print them all!) by far outweighs any drawbacks.

An added bonus has been the opportunity for my kids to become the photographers. I love to see their perspectives of what is a photo-worthy subject. If I had to pay for film, I'd never let them experiment and I'd miss seeing their interpretations of the world.

Their "bad" shots are priceless to me.


*It just occurred to me that I completely missed commemorating my first blogiversary...it was May 12th. Oops.

Happy Mother's Day

To all you Mommies out there (including mine!). . .

No that isn't smog.

Our city usually looks relatively clear. The wind shifted today and brought smoke from the fires in the Boundary Waters through MN and into IA.

If it's this smoky here, I'd hate to see what it's like up north.

Apparently we were supposed to stay indoors as much as possible. Oops.

7 weird facts or habits

The fabulous Kate at Eucalyptus Pillow tagged me for a meme to write about "7 habits or facts about me." They apparently don't have to be weird, but if I make them weird things I can play along with Tater and Tot where I was tagged for the "7 weird things about me" meme. We'll just call this both memes.

Fact: I am trying to cook new things for supper and lately have been trying low-cal recipes for the slow cooker. I've tried two so far and they were better than I thought they'd be. Unfortunately I end up eating a "snack" later on in the evening because I tell myself how "good" I was at supper time for eating a low-cal meal. Sort of defeats the purpose doesn't it? I'll probably post the recipes soon.

Habit: Whenever I weigh myself, I step on the scale, get the reading and step off. Then I wait for the scale to zero and step on the scale again. Repeat until I get the same number twice. Usually it only takes twice, but sometimes it takes more for some reason. I should really just stop the weighing habit, it's never a happy number.

Fact: I love 80s movies. The standard ones like The Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink or even Lucas. But I also really like Grease 2. There's just something about the story of a geeky exchange student from England trying to impress Michelle Pfeiffer by learning to ride a motorcycle and keeping his true identity a secret by wearing a helmet. With songs that teach all about Reproduction (where does the pollen go?) or give guys another angle to work into their girlfriend's pants (let's do it for our country, the red, white and the blue, it's not a lot to ask of us, your parents will approve...I'll be a mighty soldier before this night is through; let's do it for our country, our country wants us to) it really sends a wholesome message. When I was younger and saw the movie I wanted to be cool like Michelle and sang in my room if you really wanna know, what I want in a guy, well I'm lookin' for a dream on a mean machine with hell in his eye...

Yeah, I know. I need help. But I'm not the only closet Grease 2 lover. Anyone else want to admit your problem?

Habit: I have a set order that I check or read blogs in. Well, there are a few that I check regularly and those are in the pattern. I won't share my pattern, but I know it's a bit OCD.

Fact: I point out spelling errors on TV news or in print and laugh about them with my husband and mom. I'm sure I have spelled something wrong in this post now that someone else will point out and laugh about. But the thing is, this isn't a paid gig. When I was paid to produce print materials, you can bet your ass I had several people help me proof read. I went over the copy several times just myself as well. In my journalistic skills class in college I was the top student. You would earn an automatic "F" if you spelled a proper name wrong...because that's the worst thing you can do in print...spell someone's name wrong. (It also applied to businesses, etc.) The truth is, you look incompetent if you spell things wrong in an ad or a news story, or even just writing a memo or email. And it ticks people off if you spell their name wrong. Like I said, I'm guilty too.

Fact: I started to cross-stitch a baby blanket for my sister-in-law when she was pregnant with her first son. He's now 5 years old. The blanket is still not finished, but it is getting close. She's totally NOT getting that blanket. I think I might be buried with it if I ever finish it. Or maybe I'll finish it while laying in my casket.

Fact: When my daughter toots, especially in the car, she'll ask me first if I heard it, then if I can smell it. And I actually sniff to see if I do.

So there you have it. Seven more things about me that you wish you didn't know.

I'm going to tag Sandy and Kara.

The Best Mommy

I'm doing well with this mom thing I guess. I know it's not fashionable to say so in the blog world. Let's face it, misery loves company. But I'm doing well anyway. So there. I said it.

The thing is, maybe other parents would disagree.

Because I choose to let my kids eat crap food probably more often than I should. You know, if K has a choice of what he wants to eat, more often than not he'll choose the grapes or the carrots or the apple over the chips or crackers. M makes the same choice quite often, though not as often as K.

Because I let my kids watch TV, pretty much whenever they want to. And if they have a choice of playing outside or watching TV, they choose outside.

Because I don't sweat it that K isn't interested in learning to write his name or even take the time to put his name tag on the letter K at "school" and it didn't bother me that much that M wasn't interested in that stuff and still really isn't into it that much. They'll learn it when they're ready. In fact, I have a hunch that my kids know more of this stuff than they let on.

I had my end-of-preschool conference with one of M's teachers today. She told me all the stuff I already know: M is loving, empathetic, shares, is kind and caring and loves to do dramatic play, particularly with the horses lately. She also told me that M needs to work on rhyming and learning the beginning sounds of words (like that mermaid starts with m). She's totally snowing the teachers. She knows this stuff but doesn't want to do it! She did something similar when I picked her up from preschool a few weeks ago. One of the teachers greeted me with a big smile and pointed at M on the swing "She learned to pump today!" the teacher declared. I couldn't help it, I laughed. And told her M has been pumping her legs while swinging since at least last summer...she just wanted the attention of the teachers pushing her on the swing!

M's no dummy. She sees that if she pretends she doesn't understand something that the teachers will give her more attention to help her learn it.

So there it is. I'm the best mommy ever for MY KIDS. I know how they think. I know what motivates them. I know what's best for them.

It matters little to me what other parents do. They're not in my home. They're not raising my unique children. I'm doing this Mommy thing my own way. And I think I'm doing most of it right.

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I wrote this in response to Rebecca's post at Girl's Gone Child. I really had some wiser things in mind to write, but this is what came from my fingertips today...maybe this will spark another posting later.

Organize me

I spent my weekend cleaning and organizing a bit in my home. My reasons for this attempted cleanse and purge are several.

One, I watched Mission Organization at my Mom and Dad's house on Friday and that show always inspires me to want to get organized. The trouble with that is that the urge generally wears off by the time I get home and have a few moments to actually do something like that. Apparently the urge stuck with me a bit longer so I started going through the kids' toys and picked some out to give away and some to try to sell at our future garage sale. I successfully weaned the kids of a big plastic tub full of toys. Now they only have 325,534 left. (And then we added about 6 after going to a few garage sales on Saturday...oh well.)

Two, I've been wanting to get my scrapbooking supplies more organized for a while. I still don't have an ideal set-up for it, but someday I'll figure out how I want to set it all up. I think a trip to IKEA would do the trick. I actually think I have an addiction to buying things to organize. I think I get a little high each time I bring something home and put it to use organizing. It's a sickness. Why is my house still unorganized??

Three, my in-laws are coming. And they appreciate having a scrapbook supply-free bed to sleep in for some reason. Cleaning off the bed in our basement is a huge undertaking...because the bed is such a great catch-all for all my crap. So anyway, I'm preparing for their arrival on Tuesday. I always get all tense when they visit, because apparently I am more a creature of habit than I think I am and breaks in my routine throw me into a bit of a cranky fit. My husband knows. Poor guy. And he chose to marry me anyway.

The best present

This morning I was sitting on the can and heard some conspiratorial whispering followed by my children appearing in the doorway. Since I was indisposed at the time, I asked them to perform an encore so I could record it.

Enjoy!

Craig took us to Best Buy last week and we got a new video camera (a really cool one with a hard-drive and one-touch transferring to DVD) since our old one went kaput a while ago.

And my kids (husband) brought me a dozen roses yesterday too.

I'm a lucky woman. But I'm not telling my age. Let's just say I'm old enough.

Before I Write

I have to write a post about motherhood. And I kind of wish I hadn’t agreed to do it.

I know better, really.

I’ve never been able to find the right words before. I’d rather stick a fork in my eye sometimes than figure out what to say about my mother, and what makes me think the words will come now, anyway?

Because truthfully? I have a hard time describing my relationship with my mother.

I remember when I was a kid, the newspaper had a contest every Mother’s Day where you could write a letter telling about mom, and win her a free breakfast at Denny’s. It was gut-wrenching finding a way to say positive things about mom. I desperately scratched insincere words on paper, crumpled it up, started over, and wracked my brain. I wanted to be able to do it. It just wasn’t there.

So now I am sitting here repeating history. Struggling, just like when I was a kid. And why? For what? So I can prove to myself that it can be done?

I mean, when I write this post, do I share the way that my mom made me feel inadequate while I was growing up? How the comparisons she made between me and my sister were painful? That no matter how hard I tried I was never quite good enough?

Do I say that there were no sharing of secrets, very little talking over of problems, and almost no girl talks or snuggles when I was sad because it usually ended in some kind of judgment?

Is it okay to tell how I felt largely misunderstood by my mom? Can I mention that I have no recollection of her expressing her pride in me or giving me a compliment?

Is it mean to say that much of the time I wished for a different mom?

I can’t say that.

I think that when I write this post I should probably leave these unflattering unmentionables out. It might be too difficult for others to understand the full affect that my mother’s kind of mothering had on me. I wouldn’t be explaining it well and I would risk offending someone. Namely my mother.

They might not see how, even though I felt that my mother’s mothering lacked certain qualities that I craved, I did know deep down that she loves me. That she wants the best for me, although she has the greatest of difficulty showing it the way I would like her to.

That because of all this, I found inner strengths that I might not have otherwise. Strengths that I draw on daily to be the best mother, and person, that I can possibly be.

That in spite of all this, I love her, too.

I think that when I write this post I will say that. Now I just have to figure out how.
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My name is Kim and I am a guest at Heather’s place today for the monthly Blog Exchange. You can usually find me over in my space, In Full Bloom, where I rant, rave and reminisce regularly. And today you can find Heather there! If you would like to be a part of the Blog Exchange or just read about some other thoughts on motherhood, click here. And thanks for having me!

*Note: In no way do I mean any disrespect to my mother by my post. My goal in writing it is to honestly share a very real side to motherhood that many people can be uncomfortable with. Myself included. And frankly, I found writing it to be very liberating.