It Just Needs Less Beans

I have been craving red beans and rice for the last few days.  I get on kicks and I can't help it...I must eat that food.  It's great when I'm craving cucumbers, not so great if I'm craving chocolate.  Oh well, you win some and you lose some.  I've been singing the beans and rice song from when I was a child.  It's bouncing around in my melon & won't stop! 

I love the Red Beans and Rice soup at Newk's restaurant.  It is low in calories but full in flavor.  I decided to see if I could find the recipe online.  No such luck.  I searched and searched for decent recipes, but couldn't find one that sounded right.  There was one that had a ton of bacon, a ham hock, and sausage.  (the calorie and fat count was off the charts)  So I took the ones I did find, and of course tweaked them to fit my tastes.  Heaven forbid and cook anything according to the recipe.  I would get an 'unsatisfactory in following directions' when it comes to cooking.

I needed a quick dinner last night because I had a meeting at 5:30, and I didn't get home until after 4.  Red Beans and Rice it was!  Now my rb & r has turkey kielbasa in it.  Gotta get in some protein.  If you like sausage, but not the fat, try the turkey, it's good.

I arrived home from my meeting at 9:15, a little sleepy, and a little hungry.  As I was eating my dinner I asked Hopson what he thought, and he said that it just needed less beans.  What?  It's red beans and rice.  It is supposed to have a lot of beans, otherwise it would be rice with sausage, onions, and bell peppers.  Silly Hopson.  The children liked it, and I liked it.  My kitchen still smells like it, so I may be having some for breakfast!  Yum.  :)

Y'all be blessed beyond measure!
~ashley

PS~I also made a pretty easy dessert last night.  Here's the recipe:

1 Large box Chocolate Pudding
1 Small box White Chocolate Pudding
1 Large container Marshmallow fluff
Graham Crackers

Mix together 1 large box chocolate pudding and 1 small box white chocolate pudding (both sugar free) according to the box for pie directions

In a Pyrex dish:  put a layer of graham crackers in the bottom
                           spread the marshmallow fluff on top of the graham crackers
                           pour the mixed and set pudding on top of the fluff
                           top with another layer of graham crackers

The 5 P's of Life

Prior   Planning   Prevents   Poor   Performance

My 5 P's of life.  I would love to take credit for them, but I heard them first on the Rick and Bubba Show.  I am a task driven person by nature.  If I have a list going & do things that aren't on my list, I'll add them on there just to be able to mark them off.  Yes, it is a little twisted & sick, but it gives me a great amount of happiness.  You know, that little 'woohoo, one more thing off the list' moment.  I put everything on my calendar which is on my computer & on my crackberry.  Both pop up reminders 24 hours in advance of something that has to be done, attended, purchased, etc.  (I'd staple it to my shirt if it wouldn't make me look silly just so I would have one more way to remember stuff.)

If you are a mom with multiple children, you have to live by the 5 P's at least part of the time.  If you don't, I want to know your secret, because I'm going to market it and make a mint!  :)  Just kidding, but I would love to know if you have to have lists to get through your days too.  Yesterday was pretty busy, and I knew I would not have time to cook dinner tomorrow night.  I actually thought about dinner yesterday morning when I woke up at 4:45 am.   I was thinking something like a jambalaya, but there was no time to cook it the normal way, so here's what I did. It's a busy momma's jambalaya.

poached chicken & sausage

I poached the chicken in the crock pot with some Cajun Injector marinade, tons of garlic, 1/2 a small onion, and some chicken broth.  (I used the creole butter.)   What a beautiful creation my crock pot is.  It's almost 20 years old & still going strong.  I can put the meat in there frozen & it comes out fully cooked.  (which is what I did yesterday.)  I also included a pound of turkey sausage.  To the right is a picture of the finished product.

the roux

I had 30 minutes to complete everything else for the dinner.  I needed a roux with this.  The great thing about a roux is a little oil & flour can make a lot.  The way to make it go farther is chicken broth.  :)  A wonderful ingredient, it will add flavor to anything.  Here is my roux while it was cooking.  I added a little kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, a little ground red pepper & ground pepper flakes, and the secret (my favorite) ingredient is Chef Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Magic.  Yum!  When it was finished I wanted to just eat it out of the pan by itself.  I cooked it to a light brown.  After it was cooked I added 1 onion & 1 green pepper.  (actually you know how lazy I am when I'm in a hurry, so I used frozen onions & green peppers.)

I cooked 2 cups of rice, and shredded the chicken and cut up the sausage and added them to the roux.  Here is the finished product.  It's  hard to see the chicken because it literally fell apart in my hands as I was trying to cut it up.  Henry had 2 or 3 helpings, I couldn't get a firm confirmation, but it was a lot.  The picky one said it was good but not amazing.  He liked the sausage the best.  (I would have used 2 pounds, but I only had one in the freezer.)  Harry said he didn't like it already mixed in with the rice.  He would have liked it all separated.  Picky eaters...

the finished product

Do I use the 5 P's everyday?  No, and  you know what, on the days I don't I'm not nearly as streamlined and productive in what I have to get done.  The day's I use the 5 P's, I can totally rock this mom thing out!  Well, now I can go mark a few things off my list.  :)  And so it begins...

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

A Jack of all Trades

I often have commented that Hopson (daddy Hopson), is a CPA who likes to pretend he's an:  attorney, electrician, plumber, farmer (he does this one quite well), yard boy, and bug man, just to name a few.  It is really impressive, I think the man can do and fix almost anything!  He's also very smart.  I've finally learned, after almost 18 years of marriage, how to verbally spar with him.  It's no easy task.  He's the calming force and logical thinker when I'm about to blow my lid.  (it's usually dealing with a child(ren), surprise...)  He'll talk me down and we'll logically talk it out.  My children should thank him on a daily basis for keeping them from not getting a beating or two.  (I don't really beat my children, but a few whacks with a wooden spoon, aka Mr. Do Right [thank you Cathy DeBard] have done wonders for my kids.)

My job is mommy.  That really means:  taxi, short order cook, nurse, rule enforcer, school homework monitor, fight referee, laundress, maid, pet caregiver, etc.  My main job this summer has been taxi & short order cook in that order.

The cooking part has been interesting.  Usually during the summer my children eat their weight in tuna and mac & cheese.  It was a staple of mine growing up & my kids have been addicted to it since they were old enough to eat solid food.  This summer has been the year of homemade pizzas.  I think I've finally nailed how to make a pretty good homemade pizza.  If I'm really feeling daring I'll even toss the dough in the air.  Of course everyone has to have a try & it usually gets dropped a time or two, but hey, it's fun. 

Today I made one cheese pizza and one 1/2 turkey pepperoni & 1/2 turkey pepperoni, onion & tomato.  So YUMMY and easy, just a little time consuming.  Needless to say, there was zero left.  I'm sure they'll ask for it again tomorrow...it's a good thing I have the car gassed up & ready to go.  :)

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley 

...Hey, gimmie that back

I have enjoyed my children during all stages of their lives, but lately, the older they have gotten, the more I enjoy them.  I can sit and watch a movie & have an intelligent conversation about it; talk to them about a book; watch them grow in their relationships with friends; and watch their interests develop.

One minor side note to this posting is that I enjoy reading.  It relaxes me before I go to sleep, keeps me occupied while I am exercising, and if the book is even only semi-decent, is better than watching tv. 
Hoppy has a bad habit of taking my books that I am reading to read for himself.  I doesn't matter what genre it is, if it has print on a page, he'll read it.  He is a speed reader, and I am not.  His first sentence was 'read more mommy'.  We would literally read for hours.  After a few hours I would have to tell him to go play, because my eyes needed to uncross.

There are days that I will walk around my house thinking I've lost my mind (this is happening more each year as my children become older, do you think there's a correlation?)  because I've misplaced my book.  What I now know is that the first place I need to look is with Hop.  Over half the time that big rug rat takes my book I'm reading to read it himself.  He never denies taking it, and he usually finishes it in twenty-four to forty-eight hours.  One day as I was about to do some cardio, and was searching for my book, which of course I couldn't find, when I spot him on the couch reading it.  I told him that I would love to have my book back so I would have something to do while exercising.  He had the truthful audacity to tell me that I just needed to let him finish because he was going to be done with it in a few hours.  He gets a big, Hey Thanks, for making your mom feel like a complete dummy.  He reads in a few hours what takes me days.  :P  (that's me being juvenile & sticking out my cybertongue at him) 

Harry, my picky one, does not care to read, shocker there, not.  He is getting better & at least doesn't complain when he has to read books for school now.  Elizabeth's goal is to be like Hop.  Henry is showing great potential to love reading as well, as long as he can pick-out what he reads.  Henry reads poetry every Monday for school homework, and he knows exactly which one is my favorite.  He's read it so much he has it memorized.  I have motions that go with it.  We make a great team. 

A few days ago I pulled a Hop & stole Elizabeth's book to read while I was exercising.  It's called The Wide Awake Princess.  As you might guess, it is a very easy read for an adult, but it is a very cute story.  I finished it in 2 days which wowed E.  My confidence level went up a few notches.  :)   Ha, my crazy kids, they do keep me on my toes, even if every once in a while I have to chase them down saying, gimmie that back.

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

Tonight we're having Crockpot Turkey breast.  So easy, and yummy.  It's not even a recipe so I'll just list it all here.  I hope you enjoy it!

1 turkey breast that will fit in a crockpot
kosher salt
lemon pepper
olive oil
aluminum foil

Cut 2 sheets of aluminum foil. 
Wash & pat dry turkey breast & place on foil.
Sprinkle with salt & lemon  pepper.
Drizzle with a little olive oil
Wrap-up in foil.
Place in crockpot & cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Sore arms and toddlers

I have forgotten how precious & high maintenance toddlers are.  There is a reason God made them so cute.  Before I get into this story, I need to set-up some background.  A few years ago, while under the house, Hopson noticed a leak coming from our shower.  It has gotten progressively worse over the years and he decided that before we fall through the floor, it was finally time for  us to have it properly fixed.  The way you completely fix this kind of problem is to have the shower ripped out, a new pan put in & re-tiled.  For those of you who know Hopson, the thought of this killed him.  For those of you who don't know him...Hopson is a CPA.  Accountants are notorious for being tight with money.  Blood from a turnip kinda tight.  He somewhat fits that description, it just depends what he's spending his money on.  He was not excited about this fix.

Chris was our tile guy last year when we added onto our house.  He does excellent work; he's trustworthy; and he cleans up his mess.  (this makes me thankful.)  It was a no-brainer that we contracted him to do our bathroom.  Chris has two precious children:  Alexis 7 & Ashton 2.  We were able to hangout with Chris' children yesterday.  Ok, this is where we pick-up the story. 

I love my kids.  I have loved each stage of watching them grow up, but I have to say that being out of the toddler stage is no hardship.  I love toddlers in moderate doses.  What are a toddler's two favorite words?  No & mine.  Oh wait, those are a teenager's favorite two words too.  LOL!  I forgot a toddler will put anything & everything in their mouth.  I forgot that a toddler had to be entertained or they will find their own ways to entertain themselves.  They like to be held and loved and get down and go.  They are walking contradictions.  I love when they laugh because there is nothing fake about it.  They are exhausting.  Flitting from this to that & leaving a trail toys, food, & whatever else in their wake.

Chris needed to take his children to the doctor yesterday for their check-ups, and knew that we were fine with him bringing them back over to our house to hang out until he finished his work for yesterday.  Bless that baby's heart, he had to get 4 shots yesterday.  Ashton was such a trooper.  I loved watching him interact with his sister & my children.  But there were times last night when he wanted me to hold him.  It's been a long time since anyone wanted me to hold them for hours at a time, and my left bicep is not very happy with me this morning.  :/  Don't kid yourselves, I loved every second of it.

It took Chris a little longer than he thought to get done last night & I was a very bad hostess.  I didn't have any dinner ready for my kids or his.  I would love to say it was because we were just so crazy that I didn't fix dinner, but it was because I was playing with a 2 year old.  If I had been better prepared I would have served this recipe but would have changed out the bacon with turkey sausage, sliced and sauteed with garlic and onions.  Next time I will be better prepared.  It's a recipe a toddler can easily eat & little ones always like to eat noodles.

I love my children so much.  It's hard for me to fathom how quickly they've grown up.  It makes me a little sad knowing how quickly they are changing, but I am also going to enjoy every minute of it!

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley