Join Me in the Take Ten Challenge!

I have been a failthful reader of Heavenly Homemaker for years. She always has great ideas on how to get things done in the kitchen as well as reminding us to eat our veggies. Her new challenge "Take Ten" will help busy moms like us to get dinner on the table without spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Here is the link to get you started.

https://heavenlyhomemakers.com/take-ten-minutes-to-prep-for-tonights-meal-take-the-challenge

Homemade Tortillas

A few weeks ago my sweet husband bought all of the things I had sitting on my Amazon wishlist, On that list was a new tortilla press. Our old one was confiscated by my "adult" children for their apartment. Not that I necessarily missed it. Since it was made of crappy aluminum it was never really heavy enough to produce a thin tortilla like I was used to buying. I had only used it occasionally, and then only for making tortilla chips. I had considered buying a better quality one for years but honestly it was too easy and pretty inexpensive to keep buying them.

My husband likes all things fresh. I remember a conversation when we first got married all the way back in 1995 *gasp* when he told me he didn't want frozen meat. As in he wanted me to get fresh meat daily for our meals.  I shot that one down immediately. First I had a full time job. Secondly it would have been an epic waste of gas not to mention time to go shopping everyday. At the time we lived in Omaha Nebraska. Getting around there was never quick and easy. Third, while I wasn't exactly as frugally minded as I am now, I did realize that meat prices fluctuated. It made the most sense to buy meat on sale and freeze it. Otherwise we just might have starved.

Anyway....

With my new toy, my daughter and I set out to make chips and salsa. For the tortillas I followed the recipe on the bag of Masa and the salsa I used a Chili's copycat and added the juice of a lime. This produces a very mild salsa that even the kids will eat. Which I like because they think they are getting a treat when I know it is loaded with vegetables.

Once I got the rhythm down making tortillas was quick and easy.

They were so yummy that we devoured them immediately.

The next day I decided to make a bigger batch in order to save some for another day. That didn't turn out as well. I guess my air tight containers aren't quite so air tight and some of the chips lost their crispness overnight. I am somewhat frustrated by this because I know I won't always have time to make chips fresh and yet I do not want to go back to buying them. The whole bag of Masa cost around the same as a bag of store bought tortilla chips and I barely made a dent in it.

My next idea is to make the tortillas ahead of time but not fry them until needed. Hopefully that works since it will still save me time. Plus hot fresh chips are the best!!!!

Another disaster

I am not sure why I am voluntarily posting my kitchen disasters. I mean really!! This one I do not actually blame on myself or even my children. Instead the "cool" kitchen gadget that my mom gave me turned out to be not so cool.  *sigh*

 The concept is really neat and I am very disappointed that these did not work at all.  My daughter thought it was probably my fault (She is 13 so I can't do much right at the moment) and stepped in to show me how it was done only to find out that it wasn't Mom being "stupid". See mangled mess!!

I ended up just hand rolling the homemade hot pockets and they looked better but took a long time. So long that I remember why I haven't tried making these since 2001. My family doesn't really care how big of a pain in my rear these are they have been BEGGING for them since 2001 (also homemade marshmallows because they are divine!!).

These look much better. I filled half with cheddar cheese and diced ham and the other half with pizza fillings.

You can find the recipe here.

Since I was in the kitchen for hours I also decided that I would make up some french fries to freeze.

Homemade french fries are super easy to make yourself and much cheaper. I scrub and poke my potatoes then put them in the crock pot until tender. Then let cool. Once cool enough to handle I peel them and either grate them for homemade hash browns or cut them into fries. The best part about doing it this way is that I do not need to par fry them later. It will take only one time frying (or baking) to get them crispy on the outside while tender and done on the inside.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

I don't like touching raw chicken. Which is why it has taken me this long to decide to try making chicken nuggets from scratch. For the most part when working with chicken I just plop frozen chicken into the crock pot so I do not have to feel the raw texture of thawed out chicken. Bleh! I am happy to announce that it wasn't too bad. I used kitchen shears to cut them into chunks.

I was surprised the amount of nuggets I got out of one chicken breast! Man I have been wasting $$ buying pre-made ones all this time. 

Originally I was planning on preparing these as a make ahead freezer meal but once my kids got wind of what I was doing they wanted them for lunch. The rice-a-roni is homemade based loosely off of this recipe. Instead of bullion I used homemade bone broth. I didn't have Italian blend seasoning so I added thyme and rosemary. It was yummy enough even DS#4 (who claimed he would hate it) loved it.

Now to figure out why my kid sized IKEA cup and small dessert plate look so HUGE in the picture. 

Fire!

I tried making my own chocolate graham crackers from scratch. I have no idea how they would have turned out because I had "helpers" take them out of the oven too early. In an effort to get them back in quickly they slid right off the pan and well you can see the results.

Thankfully my attempt at making triple berry pie from scratch was a success. Although there won't be many picture of success posted here because my family devours it before I can snap a picture.

Jumping right back in!

Wowzers! It has been a very long time since I blogged. I am not even sure where to start!?!?!? I think almost all of my readers are family and close friends so there probably isn't really much I need to catch anyone up on but here it goes....

#1
Motherhood has drastically changed for me since I last blogged. Two out of my five children are now adults!! *Gasp* I am still having difficulty coming to terms with it. I certainly don't feel like I am old enough to have not one but TWO adult children. I also do not feel like they were kids for very long. Looking back on the pictures I have posted here makes me long for those days again.  What has surprised me the most is that parenting is always challenging. I guess I always thought that at a certain age they would be so independent that they wouldn't need me any more. That has not been the case. In fact in someways they need me more. I am back to not sleeping all night through as I wait for them to let me know they have arrived home safely. They are quickly figuring out that being an adult is not as fun as they imagined.

#2
Meet my newest baby!

Her name is Layla. She is spoiled rotten. No doubt she will be featured on this blog regularly. I just may be guilty of photographing her more often than my human babies. In my defense my human babies don't appreciate me snapping a bunch of photos. Plus she is the only one who snuggles me like this anymore.

#3
My husband retired from the Air Force! First thing he did was grow a full mustache and beard and stop cutting his hair. You would't even recognize him anymore. He is pretty shaggy now but I LOVE it!

#4 We no longer live in beautiful Alaska. While I miss the beauty it is nice to be in the lower 48. I am able to travel to see friends and family easier. Prices are also better although housing is not (at least not in my area).

I think that is about it for catching anyone up. 

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent our Memorial Day Weekend camping in Homer Alaska. This was our view from out campsite. I love Alaska so much. There are not many places where you can camp right up next to the beach for a whopping 34.00 a night. The kids loved the beach. We spent so much time there that we didn't see much else. I had originally wanted to go halibut fishing but instead settled for this

It's not mine (it is not even real) but hey I can dream that I caught the big one. Instead of fishing we spent the time:

Combing the beach

Finding cool stuff like this:

Digging for razor clams....and actually catching one (boy are they fast!)

Flying a kite...

...And subsequently losing said kite. :( (it's the little dot in the distance)

Building a sand castle

And having a bonfire out in the midnight sun.

All in all a terrific weekend :)