Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Tasty Tuesday~Cheezy Broccoli Chicken and Pasta


                                                       

 At  least once a week we need a super easy supper.  Here is a yummy, quick and easy to make dish that would be great for any night of the week.  I started making my own Macaroni and Cheese a few years ago.  I guess it has been a while because my daughter actually asked me what a box of store mac and cheese was, since she hadn’t seen it before! Making your own is SO easy!  Adding chicken and broccoli to the mac and cheese creates this complete delicious meal.                  

What you will need:
   5 Boneless skinless chicken breast
2 bags Broccoli florets
2 lb. pasta (like elbow, penne or shells)
2 T olive oil
3 Tbs Butter
24 oz cheese, grated (I like sharp cheddar for this)
3 T flour
2.5-3 cups milk
2 T ground mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut chicken into cubes and place is a skillet cook in olive oil until no longer pink.  While chicken is cooking you can start your pasta, cooking according to the package directions.  Steam broccoli.
For the cheese sauce place butter in sauce pan and melt on medium heat.  Once melted entirely, add flour.  This will be a thick mixture.  Once all the flour is mixed with the butter add milk.  You will want to stir with a whisk and combine until all the lumps are gone.  Continue to cook on medium heat stirring constantly.  The sauce will thicken, you need to keep stirring so it doesn’t stick to the bottom or burn.  Once it thickens you stir in the melted cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 
When pasta is finished cooking return it to the pot you cooked it in, add the broccoli and  chicken and stir until mixed up.  Add cheese sauce and mix until evenly coated.
Great served with a crusty bread and salad!
So easy and yummy everyone will ask for seconds!
Enjoy! 

Monday, January 30, 2017

Menu Mondays~1/30/17

Sunday~
      Breakfast     Cereal with milk and fruit
      Lunch~Ham, egg and cheese english muffins with fruit
      Snack~Ice cream
      Supper~Baked BBQ Chicken, corn, Salad and baked potatoe
      Snack~ Fruit or Yogurt
Monday~
      Breakfast      French toast with fruit
      Lunch          Home made ranch chicken, macaroni and cheese with broccoli
      Snack         Yogurt
      Supper        Chicken pot pie, salad
     Ssnack        popcorn
Tuesday
      Breakfast      Crockpot oatmeal with apples and cincinnamon
      Lunch             Ham and cheese sandwiches, pretzels  yogurt
      Snack              carrots
      Supper              Cheezy Chicken, Broccoli and Pasta with bread and salad
      Snack                angel food cake with strawberries
 Wednesday  
      Breakfast     Eggs with ham and cheese, fruit
       Lunch            grilled cheese with yogurt and chips
       Snack           ice cream
       Supper           spaghetti with salad and garlic bread
       Snack             brownies
 Thursday
       Breakfast  Eggs
       Lunch        pizza
       Snack        yogurt and fruit
      Supper       chicken,  grean beans, rice, salad
      Snack     pudding
 Friday
      Breakfast      bagel egg sandwiches, fruit
      Lunch     ham and cheese sandwich, fruit and yogurt
      Snack    jell-o with fruit        
     Supper    Pork tenderloin,  spaetzel, green beans and salad
     Snack  cream cheese and crackers
Saturday
    Breakfast   Pancakes!!
    Lunch       left overs from the week or sandwiches with yogurt and chips
    Snack      homemade soft pretzels
    Supper    Hamburgers, baked beans and baked potatoes
    Snack   apples with peanut butter                       

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

4-H for us!

   

                                                Image result for free 4-h   

What is 4-H?
         It is a youth development organization!  It teaches kids about responsibility, leadership as well as other life skills that they will need and use for the rest of their life!  
I wasn’t a 4-her as a kiddo.  I lived in the suburbs and want to say that I didn’t really know anything about it.  Don’t worry I was involved..I played sports and was in Girl Scouts!  Sadly, I thought that 4-H was a thing for the rural kids.  I was so wrong!  It is for anyone!  If you check out 4-H.org, you can get in touch with the groups in your state and counties.
    
How did we get involved? 
     We contacted our local county extension office and found a club.  That is how simple it is!  4-H is available to all kids aged 8-18, with a Cloverbud program for kids aged 5-8. I love the fact that the kids will all be in the meetings together unlike other organizations that have different ages at different times!  It is very family friendly!  The kids get to choose what projects they want to work on and how many.  So there is something for every interest and budget!
  
     So, Why do 4-H?  As I said previously, it is a youth development program.  What does the really mean?  It means that the kids will learn valuable skills that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives!   I have listed ONLY a FEW of the valuable things that 4-H has to offer:  
         Interview skills!  How many time have you been hired      for job an didn’t have an interview?  I am guessing none!  With EACH non-animal project that the kids participate in there is an interview for judging. So if you decided to take a cooking, a sewing and a photography project guess what?  There will be 3 separate interviews!  Each year you can see the kids confidence grow as they learn about their projects and get more comfortable with the whole interview process.  My kiddos take between 3 and 7 projects each  year(yes we do over a dozen projects a year between them all) so they have multiple interviews each year.
     Leadership skills!  As a 4-H member there are several ways that you can learn great leadership skills.  Within each club there sits a kid run executive team including a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer.  There are also many other offices that are available like a news reporter, historian, inspiration and so on.  Each office has its own list of obligations and responsibilities that range from running the club to bringing an inspirational thought.  You can be as involved or not involved as you like.  Of course, for each office there is an election as well so you will also gain the experience of running for office and voting for your fellow club members! 
     Along with the club leadership opportunities, there are others like a Camp Counselor, a Junior Leader, a Shooting sports junior Leader and Junior Fair Board member.  There are many other opportunities for the youth as well.  I am just naming a few.  Check with your local extension office for all that your county offers.
  Project learning!     Going back to the projects for a minute.  There are so many to choose from, really. I have yet to meet a child who said that there wasn’t anything for them as far as projects.  There is also a self determined project for if you are interested in something that isn’t in the book!  See they have everyone in mind!  For example last year one of my boys restored an old tiller and another one wanted to learn about the Reel Mower.  So they signed up for undetermined projects.  There is a general guideline book for this one, however there are very few limitations. 
    Through the 4-H program my kids have gained many skills as well as self confidence and pride.  They are excited to work on the projects THEY have chosen, not designated by a teacher or parent.  They are exited to take their projects to judging and explain what they did and learned.  They are excited to see their hard work on display for all the fair goers to see for the entire week during our fair!  They are so proud to show off their accomplishments to their family and friends during the week of the fair.
    I hope that I have intrigued your mind to look into this wonderful organization for your kiddos!  There is so much more to it than written within these paragraphs you really need to go check it out.  In our county we are gearing up for our kick off in Feb.  There they will have different clubs there displaying different things and you can go check out many clubs to find the one that works for you.  There will also be available each project book so you can come take a look and see what each project entails! 
     Check with your extension office to see  what is available in your area! The website to search is HERE!

   Have a great year in 4-H!

Thursday, January 12, 2017

SchoolhouseTeachers.com Yearly Subscription~Homeschool Review Crew

High-quality, Self-paced, Online Homeschool Resources {SchoolhouseTeachers.com}
   


      I was given the opportunity, as a member of the Homeschool Review Crew, to review an awesome site for homeschoolers!  Have you heard of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine?  Well, they have their own Christian, computer-based homeschool curriculum and resource site called, SchoolhouseTeachers.com!   Think of this as your one stop site for all your homeschooling needs!  
    SchoolhouseTeachers.com Yearly Membership has a plethora of classes as well as resources for homeschoolers~teaching students from preschool thru high school.  Subjects covered with in the site go from Art all the way to Social Studies, including a section for the whole family!  What would work for the whole family, you might ask?  They have classes there like Clean Eating with Sue Gregg and Homesteading.   The Clean Eating class is a cooking class that engages the whole family, if you choose or you could even rotate the recipes with your children and have some fun one on one time with them!  That is something that we have done at our house.  Each one of the kids has a different week of the month and they get to help plan and prepare the meals!  I will be checking out this class!  Homesteading is another thing that I hear a lot of people talking about and am happy to check out.  This class targets anyone who wants to live more independently, preparing your daily needs by hand. 

                                  What have we checked out so far?

     One of the requirements for graduation in our state schools is Personal Finance.  I found this out when our oldest entered the technical school.  So, the first thing I did was scroll down the classes and see what my options were.  They have Money101!  An audio class that has downloadable worksheets and 23 lessons covering topics like budgeting, paying for college and investing.  The perfect class for my high school student, and any young adult (in my opinion).   Another class that we have checked out is history with the middle school students.  They have the Drive Thru History DVD’s that make history fun and interesting.  Along with the video there are discussion questions that you can download and have the students work on as a quiz, worksheet or even as discussion questions for those kiddos who don’t like to write.  We also checked out the guitar classes, however my guitar player is already beyond the content of those classes.  I hope they add more in the future!
    
                       So how does this site work?

     It is a membership site, that you can pay either a monthly payment of $12.95 or annually of $139.  I would totally do the year because I would save a few dollars and I don’t like to have to make payments Smile
   What else do you get for your money?
     Here are only a FEW of the things that come included with your membership...
    *access for the whole family on one membership
   * Full year and semester courses, as well as unit studies
   * Help with struggling students
   *  Schedule creators as well as credit and transcript support
   * Over 300 classes
   * Access to streaming videos
   
       The site features a quick links for easy navigation of the site for all your classes.  Listing them alphabetically makes them super simple to find!  They do not offer live classes, however, I think that is better.  With the prerecorded classes you can start and stop then as you need to (or as your schedule requires) or listen to them any time anywhere (as long as you have an internet connection). 
     Doesn’t this sound like something you should be checking out?  I think it would be a mistake if you don’t!  Right now, you can try out the site for only $1 for your first month, by clicking SchoolhouseTeachers.com
                              You can check them out on:
                                       Facebook
                                        Pinterest 
                                       Twitter
                                       Google+

My fellow Crew members have tried different courses.  Visit the Homeschool Review Crew to find out what they have to say!
      
          
                    
High-quality, Self-paced, Online Homeschool Resources {SchoolhouseTeachers.com}
Thank you to the Homescschool Review Crew for the opportunity to review this product!

Thursday, January 5, 2017

L’il Critters Gummy Vites~A Smiley 360 Review

  1        I support supplementing your diet with vitamins!  I believe that are bodies are machines that need to be equipped with the proper vitamins and minerals.  I also believe that when eating a balanced diet your body will get most of the proper nutrients it needs.  That being said, we are all busy, right?  Look at the drive-thru likes of local restaurants.  They are pack with people running errands, going from school to practice, meetings etc.  At times we do not eat as healthy as we should.
     During these crazy times we have vitamins that we can take to help supplement our20161210_152412 diets.  L’il Critters Gummy Vites are the perfect ones, especially when you have children.  You can take them anywhere as you don’t need any water.  They are just like those fruit snacks, gummy candy. 
     L’il Critters Gummy Vites come in different flavors: cherry, berry and citrus.  From the picture above of the empty bottle, you can tell that my kiddos loved them!  They are not very big and they are packed with Vitamin A (helps to support eyes), B Vitmains 6 & 12 (that support cells), Vitamin C (Antioxidant), Vitamin D (supports strong bones) and finally Vitamin E (another antioxident).  They also don’t have some of the other fillers that we don’t want that are added by other companies:  No High Fructose Corn Syrup, Synthetic Dyes or Gluten!  Making that a great addition to anyone’s diet!
You can pick up these gummies wherever vitamins are sold! 
Thank you to Smiley360 for the opportunity to review this product! 
Disclaimer:  I received the above mentioned product for free, in exchange for a frank and honest review.  All opinions are my own.  A positive review is not guaranteed.  Your results and opinions my differ.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Happy New Year!

    
 
   This time of year (as every other New Years Eve)  you hear people talking about things they are going to start in the new year….
   
                               I am going to eat healthier/loose weight …

                               I am going to actually use my gym membership
               
                               I am going to start cleaning and decluttering my house/office
              
                            I am going to make it a point to spend more time…
                               …..with family…doing “said” thing
      
     You may or may not have heard the song by Tim McGraw, “My Next 30 Years”.  It starts out “I think I’ll take a moment to celebrate my age,  end of an era, the turning of a page.”  The song talks about different things in the past like drinking to many beers and staying up late, not eating healthy foods and the like.  I have to say I love this song as I think that it relates to so many people!
     Every year on New Year’s Eve, I am sure that the next 30 years’ later verses relate to those same people, in the form of resolutions.    As the song goes on it talks about drinking more lemonade (not so many beers) and eating more salads, and not staying up so late, raising a family and so on.  Every time I hear this song I have to laugh to myself.  I think of all the old broken resolutions and new ones that will be made on New Year’s Eve.
       
            I have a question…   
     Why is it that such a big deal is made about those resolutions? 
     
      The older I have gotten I have realized that we are so blessed to wake up to a new day. Each new day is a gift that you are not guaranteed to get again.  I think that instead of making a list, and if we are being honest with ourselves it won’t last the whole year (maybe not even for the month of January!)  we need to focus on each day.  Each day is a new gift that we can do with as we choose.  We can choose to make it better for ourselves or others.  We can start a with a clean slate. 

SO I CHALLENGE YOU!    
        
        Start off 2017 by making a resolution to yourself..…  to be the best that you can be!
  
             …..  start each day looking in the mirror and at yourself.  Asking yourself  what can I change today
       ..... how can I help someone today, make their day a bit easier or brighter:  your spouse, child, parent, friend, neighbor or stranger.

      …How can I ensure to those people that matter to me that they are an important part of my life 
 
       …What do I need to do to become that person that I was ment to be? 
   
      Just something to think about because as I said a few paragraphs up, you are not guaranteed a tomorrow.  Make your today, the present time,  the true gift to yourself and all those that you come in contact with, count.  Embracing what time we have, treasuring those important to us and using our time to the wisest, fullest capacity that we have.

                       Wishing you many blessing in the new year to come!

                                                             Happy New Year!