Skinny Housewife

Salmon Patties

These are simple, and quick (making them lazy as well. *wink wink*) And, my kids all eat them up-which all you moms know is key.  

I do alter the recipe just a tad, because I never have green onion in my house so I use dried onion, or just a smidge of chopped onion from my freezer.  I've made it twice, done each way once, both were fine.  I leave out the dill, and I don't shred the bread I use my magic bullet to make bread crumbs (because a couple of my kids have some food texture issues...)  

A review:  Three eats it and he has proclaimed on more than one occasion that he does "not like fish." 

I put it into the sparkpeople recipe calculator and the patties are just under 200 calories.  

Snapshot Sunday

Sideways Saturday-gnomes and fairies

Today we attended an event to celebrate spring, and gnomes and fairies. My kids didn't really do any of the gnome and fairy stuff. They loved the scavenger hunt, and the kites though.

We also visited the observation deck at the airport, since we were close. The boys LOVE the airport.

Flashback Friday

Holy cow, I'm tired.

Monday:  Pottery Class for the One and Two, Zumba for Mom, Childcare center play for Three and Four.  Bowling League, everyone went, plus THE Bestie's boy.  Two, Three and Four bowled.  I had to help Four.  It was fun.  Three had a t-ball game.  One had dance.

Tuesday:  One and Two took a class at the nuclear power plant, it was awesome.  I learned stuff too.  Three had a class at NC State University on amphibians.  We've attended three of these classes so far, and they are well done.  We both enjoy them, and it's something he and I do alone.

Wednesday:

Thursday:  Preschool Co-Op, Three had another t-ball game.

Friday:   We spent all day out at the park for our homeschool group's field day.  It was a blast.

No wonder I'm tired.  ;)

We also did a lot of school.  I'll put up the pics on Sunday, but we got crafts completed, and worksheets done.  It was a good week!

Thrifty Housewife

Stretching a chicken:

Sunday we had a "big Sunday dinner.". We had a whole roasted chicken, on a bed of carrots and onions. I made mashed potatoes with pan gravy. It was delish.

Monday I pulled all the remaining meat off the chicken carcass and put the bones in the crockpot with the few remaining carrots (there were no remaining onions because those are my favorite part!). Cover it with water and add whatever seasonings float your boat. I add bay leaves, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary. Let it boil all day. I turn it off, let the crock cool, put the crock in the fridge overnight.

Tuesday, skim the fat (I make one I the girls do this) from the top, carefully pour the liquid through a strainer. Then I bag it up in one and two cup increments. Freeze. This is so great for me. I can use this broth in things for Four, which is awesome because of all his allergies.

Wednesday, shred the chicken meat, and prepare one of two ways. In the winter, I do chicken chili. In the summer though, I make a family favorite--BBQ chicken sandwiches. I put the shredded chicken in a pan, add as much BBQ sauce as you like, put in low until just warmed. Slice a loaf of French bread. Butter the slices. Place on griddle (I use my George Foreman grill) and top with a scoop of BBQ chicken and another buttered slice of bread. I serve it with fries (sweet potato or regular) and veggies-last night it was a pan of roasted broccoli but whatever you have or want will work just fine.

Two For Tuesday

Middle School:

Mythology Unit

Human Anatomy Label Me!


Preschool/K:

Starfall  It's hard to imagine there are people who don't know about this site....but just in case.

1+1+1=1

Manic Monday

I started manic Monday off right...Zumba. I've taken a month off and felt myself slipping back into bad habits:  bad eating, only exercising once or twice a week. . I've come to far too watch myself go back!  I feel so much better already. Another thing I realized, I don't feel so tired in the middle of my Monday this way.  I have the stamina to make it through the rest of our day. I even managed to not kill any of the children at the bowling alley. Woot.

Three has Tball and One has dance. Four didn't nap and is being really aggressive so I get to deal with him this evening. You know you're jealous.

Our week in pictures...my first attempt at a blog post from my phone (which was a partial fail, as I published it to the wrong blog....)

Gnomes and Fairies, oh my!

I'm putting together a unit on Gnomes and Fairies as we (the boys and I) are attending an event next weekend.

My plans:

Watch Gnomeo and Juliet.
Hand and Foot Fairy Craft
Gnome Craft
Fairy House

I also downloaded this:  Fairy Pre-K pack and Gnome Pre-K Pack

The worksheets in both packs are basically the same, just themed for either Fairies or Gnomes.  I printed some of the sheets from each so we have a nice mix.

I am more apt to get things done when I have planned, and printed things ahead of time, rather than trying to throw things together during our busy week.  We are busy every day this week but Wednesday, so it's a good thing I got my mess together today.

Flashback Friday

Time seems to just be WHIZZING by me at an unprecedented speed.  I like being busy, so it's not a complaint really, but sometimes I do wish things would slow down.  The girls are so big (both with babysitting jobs tonight, and tomorrow and Sunday!) and my BABY is about to turn 3.  *big heavy sigh*  It's all good...life is good.

This week....well, I ran away last Friday.  Had a true girls weekend (at a hotel full of marines, located directly across the street from the ocean...it really doesn't get much better.)  Came home late Sunday night, and felt relaxed all week.  Monday Two and Three had bowling league in the afternoon, and as we are normally out of the house on Monday mornings for a class, I just opted to skip school (hey, don't judge me, I had a full on weekend buzz I was trying to maintain.)    Monday night and Tuesday night Three had T-ball games.  YAY!  I love watching my kids "do their thing."  So far, t-ball is not his thing (neither was soccer...I'm thinking we should start trying instruments) but I had a great time watching him anyway.  This left for severely overtired boys on Wednesday because they were up past bedtime two nights in a row (and what are the odds that The Punk put them to bed on-time while I was away, really??)  One and Two had a 4H meeting and the boys and I spent that time at the park.  It was hot, and they were tired.  After some quiet time, we went to pick strawberries on the HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR so far...in the hottest part of the day...yeah, well planned parents.  *eye roll directed at self*   Thursday was our preschool co-op and thankfully provided a craft as I've been really lacking in that department lately.  Three really liked the craft, and Four wasn't breathing well so he stayed home.  Today, the boys painted in the bathtub, always a fave.

Our preschool group lesson was on "feelings."  The printout was of boy/girl heads, and the kids used play-dough to make different expressions to match feelings.  It was a super fun activity.  The hostess told me she found the printouts on Pinterest.  I <3 Pinterest.

 This is Three enjoying licking the spatula from lemon pound cake.  I made lemon pound cake because Four was SO excited about "Strawberry cake!!" that I couldn't disappoint him by making standard strawberry shortcake and telling him he couldn't have any (he's allergic to 5 foods.)  So I made my "go to" cake for him instead.  It is pretty yummy.

Four, Two, and Three in the strawberry field.  :)

Lazy Housewife Dinner and a bonus.

This is not an insanely simple recipe, but it is really yummy.  It's a family fave around here, and I've made it bunches of times.  I've never used the lemon peel.

Parmesan Sage Pork Chops

BONUS:  We went strawberry picking yesterday afternoon (yep, we picked the hottest part of the day, on the hottest day we've had so far this year to go strawberry picking) and have a ton of the MOST YUMMY strawberries I've ever had.  Honestly,  I'm going to buy another bucket from this farm because O.M.G.  I had them over vanilla ice cream last night and it moved good ice cream to an orgasm in a bowl.  For realz.  I made some strawberry infused water with some of them, and turned that into strawberry lemonade this morning.  Oh yeah.

This afternoon I full intend to go buy some whipping cream, and make a strawberry shortcake.  You know, my shorts are all too loose this year, soooo the economical thing to do is just pig out on strawberries until I fit back into my old clothes, right?  :)

Strawberry Shortcake--Sparkpeople recipe

Enjoy!