Back to School Edition

Whew!  We made it!  We survived another summer!  It's the first day of school in our house and probably in yours as well! 

 

My big 8th Grade Boy- Less than thrilled!

                                   My 2nd and 5th Grade Girls!                                              

With a new school year brings new goals, new routines and schedules.  I love the beginning of the school year.  It's like a clean slate, another chance to be the super-mom that I fell short of last year :-0

We are really big on traditions in our house.  We have many that we celebrate.  I'm not sure if it is due to the fact that I want lots of traditions for my children to remember or for the simple fact that I very much, dislike change:-/

Anyway, one of our long standing traditions is that we have Meatloaf for dinner on the 1st day of the new school year.  Now this isn't any meatloaf, this is my mom's meatloaf, which we call Meme's Meatloaf.

I'm sure you could find a different meatloaf recipe for every person that exists on the planet, and there is really nothing all that special about the "meat" portion of this meal, but there are a few secret ingredients that I will share with you today!   I know, you can hardly stand the suspense.

Before we go on let's address the name of said meal.  I know that the name meatloaf does not really do anything for the senses- really the visual is pretty un-appetizing so from now we will call it ML.                    

The secret to this particular ML are these 3 ingredients:

Tomato Sauce, Brown Sugar and Distilled Vinegar

Let me also add that I am cooking for 4 people plus a 13 year old boy who just might have a tape worm.  I also plan for leftovers for sandwiches but you can alter the recipe for your needs.

Meme's ML
3 lbs. ground beef (I use extra lean 4% fat but a ground chuck will work just as well.)
3/4-1 cup of Italian bread crumbs- store bought  (The higher the fat content of your meat the more bread crumbs you will need)
1- 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup dried minced onions
2 eggs
salt/pepper to taste

Basic, easy, nothing special.
Combine the beef with the bread crumbs, can tomato sauce, minced onions, 2 eggs and salt and pepper.  Work the ingredients together well.  I have made this gluten free by making my own GF bread crumbs and using those.  It turned out great and was a hit with the fam, even being GF.  Divide the meat into 2 equal portions and form 2 "loaves".  And Now for the Magic....

Secret Sauce

2- 8oz oz cans Tomato Sauce

4 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp vinegar

combine 2 cans of tomato sauce with brown sugar and vinegar, stir well- baste meatloaf before placing in oven and then baste every 15-20 minutes.  You will baste 4-5 times during the cooking process, using most, if not all, of the sauce.

Place ML in oven that has been preheated to 350.  Cook for 1hr. to 1 1/2 hrs depending on varying oven temps.    

Baste before placing in oven

Basting during the cooking process

end result- a deep, rich and toasty red

So, if you have not been a fan of ML in the past,  try this one,  it is an easy way to get comfort food on the table quick.  

We always serve this with mashed potatoes or scalloped potatoes (box variety:-0) and peas from the 

freezer section.  Easy, Easy and your kids will have a meal that they will take to adulthood with them and they just might make it for their families one day:-)

Happy Cooking!

Jennifer 

Paleo or Potato?

It seems like everyone has jumped on the Paleo Diet Trend or the Primal Diet as I've also heard it called. Well, I have been giving some serious thought to trying it out, I mean, for 30 days I can pretty much tolerate anything! So, I started investigating and do you know that in the Caveman days no one ate bread, Gasp! I mean really, no bread? No carbs? No Oatmeal? Really? What exactly can be bad about Oatmeal??

So, because I might have a slight crush on all things carbs, I searched on for a diet that, even though weight loss would be nice, would produce a healthier me, not necessarily a skinnier me. After searching and finding a diet where I can eat guacamole, queso and chips I couldn't wait to start! So, I decided that the Gluten Free way of life is the diet that I can easily adopt(for 30days) that is. Now, don't get me wrong, I do not have any diagnosed condition that might be caused by gluten but in my reading up on the "G" stuff I really couldn't find anything good about it other than the fact that it held the white stuff(or brown, in my case) together, sigh. So I begin this journey of GF- this symbol has become my best friend:-)

One of the main reasons that I did decide to go with the GF diet is because I read how gluten has severe negative affects on the thyroid. I'm pretty sure I have hypothyroidism to some degree but because I have more of my Mema in me than I would like to admit, I have an aversion to "pill taking". I'm trying to re-adjust my diet and see if that will help with the thyroid issues that I'm experiencing. I'm not even a week into this new "lifestyle" and I've learned some things:

~ I was right, I can eat chips and guacamole for every meal and be happy:)))

~GF does not necessarily mean low-fat or low-calorie, yikes!

~I feel A lot less bloated after eating, It's actually kind of disturbing

how I might have associated bloating with being full.

~I think I'm going to have to learn to bake bread:-0

~Having to think too hard about what or where you can eat will

make you lose your appetite.

That's all for now but in case you're wondering.....potatoes are GF and ketchup isn't, sigh!

Jennifer

25 Random things

someone needs to start a 12 step program for mexican food lovers

being a good parent takes lots and lots and lots of work and dedication

does the President really need a holiday and wouldn't the kids learn more about it by being IN school versus home with ME?

dirt and mulch are miracle workers for a yard

i have more laundry than i can do in a week, maybe 2

weeds can grow in a drought

i want a new camera

don't assume that everyone with grey hair, that is in an old folks home, lives there:0

forget Paleo Diet, can someone invent a Pizza Diet?

i love my husband and can't wait to have our Valentine's Day

i have missed winter

i love snuggling

muscle weighs more than fat, at least that's what i'm told

i have learned that if you are in a carpool you should be in one where everyone is the same type of personality. type a's can't carpool with type b's:-/ I'm not the type a

i'm going to run a 5k in 2012

I don't have time to read a book or watch TV shows because given an opportunity to do those things I will always choose sleep

I love my kids more than life itself

I'm really liking Rick Santorum...hope he is still around for our state primary

i hate lunges and they hate me

i love sleep

if President's Day is a preview of our summer vacation I will most definitely need meds to survive:-)

3 children + 3 pets= a zoo

pajama days rule

calling your children's music "garbage" must be a genetic issue:-0

God is good all the time!

The Front lines

Parenting is definitely the most difficult job that some of us will endure and I can just say

if parenting were a war, I'm on the Front Lines. When you have little ones the parenting is physically exhausting, yes? Can I get an Amen?! And that is met with it's own challenges but as your sweet darlings get older the exhaustion changes to one of a mental exhaustion. Between, trying to be there for them in the hurts and growing pains of life and then parenting them through the attitudes and body changes that are occurring, it is enough to make us want to give up, cry, scream or send them off to boarding school. Just kidding, kinda:-0

But fear not, my momma didn't raise no quitter!

My children are thrilled!

I've heard lots of quotes on parenting lately. I heard an expert on the Today show talking about how if your teen is giving lots of resistance and strife in EVERY situation, that is their way of pushing away and detaching themselves from you. Some children are more connected to you than others, therefore, they have to push away more often and harder-this kinda made sense for our family and was comforting to me, to some degree.

I also have heard (and use as my mantra), If parenting is easy than you must not be doing it

right! This I do believe is on a case by case, child by child basis. But right now, we are hitting a high score on parenting the teenager of the house;-)

Our church has just kicked off a Devoted Hearts and Homes series and boy, it is exactly what we need here in the Evans family. It is helping us to devote ourselves to becoming intentional about our prayer life and our spiritual life. I totally believe in prayer and the power of it- but it's hard to tell that from my daily life. In examining why my prayer life has taken a turn, God made me aware of distractions- does anyone else have those?

Facebook........TV.......Nate Berkus........E-mail...........Volunteer work..........XMRadio.....Blog Reading(this one just hurts) ..........

If it weren't for these distractions my prayer life would be right on track. So, over the next 12o days we have been challenged to the 7-5-2 method of prayer.

Pray 7 days a week

Pray 5 days with your family

Pray 2 days with your Spouse or some other special person

I recently heard someone say that they are pretty much in constant conversation with God(Tim Tebow) and when I heard that, I remembered a time, not very long ago, that I felt the

same way about my prayer life. I talked to God constantly when I was a new Mom, to

little people who didn't talk to me. I

want that again- and I hope that over the

next few months I will get that back.

If I have ever need prayer it is now, parenting a teenager and covering him in

the protection that only God can give.

Time flies when you're having fun!

While I was not blogging, we celebrated a few milestones in our family!

We had some very "Big" birthdays in 2011.

My sweet Kendra started it off, entering into the double digits, with her 10th Birthday in September. We celebrated it up big time with a trip to The American Girl Store in Dallas, with her BFF who also just turned 10! We had bought an auction item from the school auction that included a shopping spree, the doll Kailani, all of her accessories and an overnight at the Westin Galleria- across from THE store. It was so fun and I have to say, I think I had as much fun as the birthday girls!

Trey then ushered us all into a new phase called, the Teen Years! Lord help me! He turned 13 in October and has been growing, literally, like a weed ever since! He opted out of having a big 13th birthday party and instead we took 7 friends to the Texans Game and had a tailgate. It was a ton of fun! The teen years, not so much, but this too shall pass and until then I just keep my eyes on the main goal!

I finished up the milestones with a big birthday as well. I turned the big 4-0 in November. To celebrate we went to the Wine Country! It was beautiful and such an fun trip. We went with the Komeshaks- they were our unofficial Wine Country guides! It was really nice to have someone that was able to show us the ropes. I learned so much about wine. I also learned that when you go to the wine country you don't drink anything but wine- obvious to most, not to me! I needed my Diet Coke! I truly did not see a Diet Coke or anything other than water or wine that entire trip- except when I went up to a limo driver and offered to buy a Diet Coke from him(yes, I did!) He had one and he didn't make me pay- YEA ME!

This picture was taken at Tamber Bey Estate. I will write an entire post on this trip at a later date- because it was so special.

My Sweet husband also surprised me with a dinner party at our very favorite mexican food restaurant. It was a very fun time with family and friends.

Me and my Mom! I guess I have her to Thank for this Birthday;-)!

This whole turning 40 thing is behind me and now I can focus on what I want to accomplish in this next decade of life. I am working on my 40 for 40 and I will blog about it very soon.

Thanks for letting me play catch-up- Time DOES fly, when you're having fun!

The P-word

Well, I guess better late than never......

So, blogging has not been something that I have been able to make time for recently, or not so recently;-) My absence may or may not have to do with a little something called Pinterest..... If you hear of any 12 step programs out there let me know. Serious addiction here people...although I think the actual definition of an addiction is that something has to cause you to start neglecting yourself or the ones your care for? Well, if that is the Webster's definition then I guess I don't have a problem- yea me!

Pinterest has been a beautiful thing for my family, especially the dinner hour. This thing is like a dream come true for planning my weekly menu! Tonight was the most beautiful night around our dinner table- there was silence- which also means there was food being shoveled into the little mouths, of the babes that I love! I even got a "That was good MOMMA", from my too tough teenager, who never calls me MOMMA! I almost fell out of the chair because he called me MOMMA- did I mention that?

I found this recipe on the internet and pinned it to my board called "What's for dinner?".

If you aren't into the Pinterest craze, but you want to be, here is how you do it:

1. Go to the Pinterst site and send yourself an invite or reply to my post with your e-mail and I will send you one. Once you get your invitation, accept it and it will take you through a series of steps to set up your Pinterest account.

2. To get started you can set up boards(think file folders) that you will then organize all of your "interest" on, get it, Pinterest? I have boards for recipes, decorating ideas, vacation spots, etc.

3. Now that you have your boards set-up you can then "Pin" your "interest" to them. There are a couple of ways to do this. You can pin from the Pinterest site- where you will find lots of different catagories to pin from. You can also pin things from anywhere on the internet- this is my very, very favorite part! A totally genius idea! HELLO? Why didn't I think of this?

To be able to pin from the internet you will need to add a "Pin It" button- The registration site will walk you through adding this to your bar on your computer.

4. Now you are all ready to start pinning and staying up way to late dreaming of things that you will never have the time to accomplish because of this crazy addiction called Pinterest!

HAPPY PINNING!

Jennifer

The Kindergarten Blues

Wow! What a difference a year makes! This time last year, I was in a totally different place. Quite honestly, I have been a little hesitant to write this post for fear that "I'm counting my chickens before they've hatched", but I now think the time has come- and I feel confidant that I'm on the other side.

Everyone knows about the "Baby Blues", that weepy feeling that some of us have had after having a child. It is temporary, but I think after experiencing them, that they are very real but they are usually worked out over time. I was fortunate enough to only have them once, after the birth of my sweet Kendra.

We hear a lot about the baby blues and how to deal with them; get more sleep, get a pedicure, eat a better diet, get help with the baby. We hopefully move on and out of those days, fairly quickly, but last year I had something similar to the baby blues and I had no baby. It wasn't until this summer I realized I was suffering from the Kindergarten Blues.

I can look back on it now and see it. I knew I was having a hard time with my youngest starting Kindergarten, but I now see just how much it affected me. For 12 years, I had been a stay-at-home mom and that was my identity. Not that my identity of "Stay at Home" mom was changing, I was still that, but suddenly I wasn't needed(as much) between the hours of 8:00-3:00 and that was a bit of a shock to my maternal system!

I have always wanted to be a Mom- I had tons of baby dolls as a little girl and I started babysitting the minute I was old enough. I have always loved children and couldn't wait to have my own. What no one told me was at the age of 5 these precious little ones haul off and leave you for 7-8 hours a day!

Here I am with 2 of my favorite babies and my older sister Terri

Now, I know that I could home school and I joke about it a lot. I really do think If I was dropped on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, say Oklahoma, and had a husband who was a rancher, and I just happen to have 4 children, and we all worked on the ranch, and I was an awesome cook, and I had a cookbook(:-)), I could home school my children and do it quite well. I think my kids would actually like it. But since I live in a metropolitan area, and my husband goes to a desk job, and we live in an area where great schools are located, I think sending them off is the best for us at this time.

Sending my children off to kindergarten(I've sent 3) has been met with totally different feelings each time I have done it. With my first child, it was more excitement for him and for me. He was so ready for the busyness of school and the social aspect was exactly what he needed. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't excited to have a little more "me" time. I was sad, sure, but there was an awe factor, as we really didn't know what was in store.

With #2 it was sadness and excitement only because I was fully aware of what starting Kindergarten meant. I knew that now she would be more influenced by her peers and teachers than by me, her mom. I also new that school meant a busy schedule of activities. I was excited for her because she was so excited to get to go to school like her big brother.

Now, last year when I realized that my last little one would be starting school, there really wasn't much excitement. Sure, I tried to put on a good face, but inside I was miserable. Emorie Claire is a May birthday and I was convinced that we should hold her back(grasping at straws). I am so thankful for her pre-school teacher who was sure she would do fine, convincing me to go ahead and start her in Kindergarten and sure enough, she did great!

So, even though I have never read any article in Ladies Home Journal on the Kindergarten Blues, I want you to know that they are real and they do go away. It was a rough year of trying to occupy myself, I even had someone(can't remember who) say just wait until 1st grade, before you make any rash decisions about what to do. I wish I would have listened.

I have already spent more days at home, just in the 2 weeks that school has been in session, than I did the whole year last year. I could not stand to be at home last year. The silence made me crazy and I would usually just wanted to nap. This year, I love to be home, in the quiet and I have been so much more productive this year. I haven't taken a nap yet, but the year is just starting;-)

I have made a peace with my little ones going to Kindergarten. I know with each stage of parenting the adjustment may be more than I think it should, but that even though it is difficult at times, I know that this too shall pass.