What is your STAPLE dinner you have when you didn’t plan ahead?
I’m curious… Do you have a favorite dinner staple you can pull out when dinner doesn’t turn out as planned (or never GOT planned)??
Here is mine…
Soft Tacos – Whenever I cook ground Turkey, I cook extra with Taco seasoning and stick it in the freezer for a quick ‘unplanned’ meal. We also make sure to always have these items on hand:
tortillas
cheese
beans
sourcream
salsa
tomatoes
If the meat is cooked ahead of time, this meal can be ready to eat in less than 10 minutes! We just heat up the meat and beans – then put everything on the table for a ‘build-it-yourself’ taco night! The kids love it… and I love it because it is so quick and easy!
What favorite meal do you fall back on in an emergency?
Wireless Amber Alert – Help Recover Abducted Children!
We just saw a commercial for the wireless amber alert – allowing you to get amber alerts on your cell phone… how cool is that?!? The first 3 hours after a child is abducted are critical… with amber alerts sent directly to your cell phone, you might be able to help.
Learn more here: www.wirelessamberalert.org
Have you Tried Apple Nachos?
I often sit and try to find new and different snacks for my kiddos to eat. While looking around one day I cane across this odd looking recipe, Yes at first I thought wow that does not look very good. However I was in a pinch for time so I decided to try it. After trying this is now a favorite here. I hope you enjoy.
Apple Nachos with Peanut Butter Sauce
Ingredients:
1 apple (diced)
1 banana (halved and sliced)
2 whole pita breads
1/4 cup butter, melted (1/2 stick)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup of whole milk
1 tablespoon of honey
Instructions:
Cut the pitas in half so you have two half circles, then
cut in half again, creating 4 triangle shapes from each.
Separate and pull bread apart at the edge where it’s still attached. Brush pita chips with butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 400 degrees F for 5 – 7 minutes. While baking, prepare sauce by melting together peanut butter, honey and milk in a small saucepan. Serve chips drizzled with sauce and add sliced apples and banana to the plate for a fun lunch or after school snack.
Happy Snacking
Spring Cleaning and Toddlers
Well it’s about that time of the year again when many of us begin to spring clean. All too often a hard task because we have our little ones under foot not really helping since we are trying to get things done quickly it raises our stress level. This can cause us to begin to go a little stir crazy trying to entertain her as well as get things done.
How about stepping back and regrouping and including her in a task or two. Yes these tasks may take a little longer but in the end you are teaching her how to clean and having some fun while you are at it.
Have a few baskets one for keep clothing, one for give away and one for unsure. Then have her help put the clothes in the right basket. If they are different colors this would be a great time to work on color identification with saying things like Can you put this shirt in the blue basket, or these pants go in the green one. This also helps them when its time to give them away especially to a friend or younger sibling that these clothes we are giving away.
Get a spray bottle of water and a rag or paper towels and let her clean the windows. If you house is like ours the windows that she can reach are never really clean anyways with them wanting to peek out the window.
Taking Time to Relax
As a Mom of a toddler I am sure you often feel as if you’re running on end and have no place to relax. As mom we need to take care of ourselves or things will start to get more and more stressful. I thought it would be fun to share a few ideas that I use when I need to relax.
First of all, tell yourself it is ok to relax and take a few minutes to you. I think that a lot of times moms find it difficult to allow ourselves to take time for us. We feel that we are supposed to be super woman and take care of everything first. So sit back and tell yourself ‘I can take care of me and take a little bit of time to relax’.
A few things that have helped me is getting up a little early so I can sit back enjoy my coffee and take time to wake up before I am mom. This helps get a fresh start to the day with a clear head. Often times I will sit and listen to a favorite song or two to help put me in a better mood before waking the kids.
Keeping something that relaxes me in my purse or car. I have my headset to my phone so I can listen to a favorite song or a podcast I have not had a chance to listen to while waiting someplace. I also keep a bag in the car with a few magazines, sketch pad and pencils, and good book but nothing related to parenting, business or anything to heavy. Instead it’s a pleasure book that I can get lost in for a few minutes. I just grab something when I am waiting outside the school or someplace waiting for the kids to come out.
I learnt to say ‘No’. This was a tough one actually but it is possible. Saying no helps keep your work load down if it’s a business or a house thing. If you have enough on your plate that day and someone calls to do something for them say no, you may want to word it a little differently rather than just no, maybe I can’t do that right now I am busy or something like that so you don’t hurt feelings. If it is a friend you can always say you have too much on your plate and you need to take care of you. I am sure they will understand.
So I hope this helps you find a little time to relax or at least not add to your plate. Keep in mind something I remind myself often that is ‘If Mom isn’t happy No one is happy’
Do you have any tips that help you get a few minutes of relaxation? Let us know we would love to hear.
Until Next time
5 Tips to Help Prevent Your Toddler From Getting Overwhelmed
Having a toddler often means having a ton of toys in your house, it may even look like Toys’R’Us exploded in your living room. This may be a cool thing for her when she has fun new toys but looking and trying to decide what to play with can be a daunting task for a young one. Just like us when we have a long to do list we don’t know where to start or what to tackle first.
I have found some these things to help not only keep her from getting overwhelmed but also keep things a little more organized.
Small Rubbermaid buckets or cubbies
With these you can group like toys like all blocks, dolly and clothes, and legos. This helps keep them from getting lost plus it helps save time when she wants to play with them. Then back in the box and put back so they are ready to play with next time.
Larger Rubbermaid buckets
Having a few only put enough toys in there to close the top that way you can rotate the boxes of toys. Rotate them out once every few weeks it’s like getting new toys she won’t get board and you don’t have a ton of toys laying around the house.
Schedules
OK this may be having you wondering why schedule something like playing with toys. It does work; if you say make different days for different toys then only pull those out. Another idea is to make it a certain type of play before lunch or nap time then something else that afternoon. This works best for stay at home moms, it can help them keep their days a little more organized.
Reading with Your Toddler
Teaching our children to read is probably one of the most important thing we can teach or little ones. Most of us begin at a very young age usually when they are babies. As your child grows in to the toddler years they begin to get restless and not want to sit for a story. However as a mom you may think well how can I get her to learn to read if she is not interested.
Bed time is the perfect time to begin the process of enjoying books. During this time they are beginning to slow down for the day and get snug for sweet dreams. Curl up with a book and begin reading, another option is to have her read the story to you by explaining what she is seeing in the pictures. Her vocabulary may not be very far along but doing this together can help with her vocabulary, show her how fun books can be and she is learning to read.
Play time is another option while she is playing with a couple small toys still read to her. It may appear that she is not listening or paying attention, keep in mind she is. Just sitting reading softly she will listen, a lot of times if your speaking softly she may stop just to listen. During play time sometimes story telling does not even have to come from a book, sharing ideas of what she is playing with can help spark that interest which can lead to wanting to hear more.