Think-Ahead Thursdays

I just finished writing out my grocery list for tomorrow's Kroger trip. As I made this week's list, I realized that this will be my last week of doubling meals to freeze, as this is my last week at home. One week from today, I'll be back to the daily grind and our sweet, sweltering, simple summer will come to an end.

Although the busyness of caring for little ones can make the day seem to tick by slowly, this summer has flown by faster than any I can remember. It seems as though the hours in between nap-time last an eternity, but while that angel-baby is sleeping, I'll find one of his blankets that have his sweet smell, and I am simply giddy about holding him when he wakes up. Goodness gracious, I'm going to miss this little booger everyday.

The days are long, but the years fly by.

But these two beauties get to travel with me to school each day, and I am grateful for the extra minutes of "girl time" we will get to have together each day. I am praying that I be able to cherish these fleeting days as they can easily turn into a blur of panicked mornings, trying to get all of us presentable, fed,  and in the car by 7am.

We are planning to take this next week slow and steady. I'm seeing lots of ice cream, sno-cones, pools, and PJ's in our next week together.

Maybe you can use a few of these recipes and spend a few extra minutes cherishing your last days of summer with those you love.

Next Week's Meal Plan  (You can read about my meal-making schedule here):

Meal 1 - Low-Sodium Beef Stew (recipe below) - Making double for a freezer meal
Meal 2 - Baked Tacos - Freezing extra taco meat

Meal 3 - Chicken Fajita Pasta - Making double for a freezer meal

*No extra meal this week because all of these recipes make large quantities and there should be plenty for lunches each day.

Sunday Night Dessert: Oreo Brownie Trifle - This dessert is incredibly easy AND incredibly yummy! The last time I made it, I could NOT keep the kids out of it! It is so good!! 

Low-Sodium Beef Stew
I do not have measurements or quantities, as this is a throw-together recipe that I made on a whim and it turned out to be delicious. It is one of Russ' most favorite meals!
-Beef Tips
-Celery (diced)
-Carrots (diced)
-Sweet Potatoes (diced)
-1-2 can(s) diced tomatoes
-onion
-minced garlic
-3 packs of Mrs. Dash Pot Roast Seasoning
-2 cups unsalted or low-sodium beef broth

Cook your beef tips in about 1 tsp. of oil. Save the liquid from cooking for your stew. Saute onions, celery, garlic, and carrots until onions are translucent. Add beef tips and sauce to the veggies along with sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and all seasonings. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer for 4-6 hours. If using a slow cooker, let it cook at least 4 hours on low.

Think-Ahead Thursdays

Last week, I posted my thoughts Proverbs 31. My goal was to encourage all of you superwomen out there as you care for your families. I was overwhelmed at the number of texts, calls, and responses. So many tired mamas were telling me that they needed a scriptural reminder that through the piles of laundry, the sleepless nights, the sweeping of crumbs, and the drying of tears, that we are needed. We are valuable. We are being used to do mighty work in the kingdom.

In my efforts to help make your load a tad bit lighter, I am going to post my meal plans each week. I normally plan my next week's menu on Thursdays. I will try to post them each week, but this may turn into an every-other week post as life gets crazy again in August. 

Please feel free to come and snatch up these recipes each week. I can't take credit for any of them - I am just compiling all of my pinterest searches in one place. :)

If you read my last post, you will see that I only cook three days a week, and I have an "extra meal" for Russ' lunches. Below is next week's plan:

Monday - Mexican Chicken Soup

Tuesday - Grilled Chicken Strawberry Salad (grilled chicken, spring mix, strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, pecans, with a light strawberry-walnut vinaigrette)

Thursday - Salmon and veggies (I just season with brown sugar and garlic, and either bake or grill)

Extra Meal - Garden Veggie Soup 

*I order several low-sodium ingredients from HeartHealthyMarket.com

*I'm making lots of soup this week because they are easy meals to double and freeze.

We can do this, mamas.

In the meantime, does anyone know how to get vaseline of the carpet? This silly guy had a field day with a jar of it... 

Perfect Pot Roast + Weeknight Dessert

If you've been following this blog, you read here how Mr. Crawford has had a few medical setbacks. These setbacks have caused us to drastically change our eating habits. We are currently eating gluten free and very low sodium.

We've gotten through the gluten-thing pretty easily, as we've been working on that one for a couple of years now. The sodium thing is new and it is killin' me, yall. I am having the hardest time making meals with less than 500-600mg of sodium. It is in everything!!!!

So our meals consist of rice and beans. Literally. And Mrs. Dash is my new BFF.

I've been on the hunt for freezer meals to start prepping for the back-to-school madness. I found this great site. This chick has a gazillion freezer meals. Instead of doing them all at once, I'm trying to make one fresh and freeze another. That way I have a weeknight meal idea for now, and one in my freezer for later.

One of her recipes was for beef roast and carrots. I am normally not a big fan of roast, but the ingredients were super simple and the no-salt substitutions were easy.  Note: If you are using no-salt substitutions, like Mrs. Dash, you will need way more than one packet of seasoning to get some good flavor. See my notes below. :)

Also, she suggests to only use a shoulder roast and after making this I agree 100%. It was the most tender roast. Liquid only covered half of the roast while cooking and I kept wondering if I should add some broth or water, but I didn't and it turned out WONDERFUL! I am so glad I have another saved in my freezer.

I served this with brown rice and steamed veggies. This served our family of 5 for 2 1/2 days. The kiddos were pleased with it as well. :)


Slow Cooker Beef Roast and Carrot Recipe - Adapted from New Leaf Wellness

Ingredients:

• 2-pound boneless beef chuck shoulder roast (No substitutions!  This is the best cut of meat for the slow cooker!)
• 1-2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
• Chopped Celery
• Chopped Onion
• Garlic Cloves
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar - I used almost half a cup because my roast was HUGE
• one seasoning packet - (I used two packets of Mrs. Dash Pot Roast seasoning and 2 packets of Mrs. Dash taco seasoning)

Directions: Combine it all together and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you also know that I love any and all desserts. I found this recipe on, you guessed it, pinterest! It is Caramel Cobbler and it is by far the easiest dessert I have EVER made. I have made this several times because I normally have everything on hand. It is very easy to throw together and it is wonderful served warm with vanilla ice cream. 

This dessert has a bit of a special meaning to it because Russ' grandfather, better known has PawPaw, requested this dessert on a Sunday evening and he went to be with Jesus that following Wednesday. I am so thankful that I was able to fill his request one last time. Everytime I make it, I will always think about him. We miss you PawPaw.

Caramel Cobbler - orignal recipe from Call Me PMC

Ingredients

• ½ c butter (real butter)
• 1½ c self-rising flour
• 1½ c sugar
• ¾ c milk
• 1 tsp vanilla (or almond)
• 1½ c packed light brown sugar
• 1½ c hot water
• Ice cream or sweetened whipped cream

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1 stick butter in 9x13 inch pan. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, milk, and flavoring (vanilla or almond, both are excellent). Stir to combine, then pour over melted butter. Sprinkle brown sugar over top of batter. Carefully pour hot water over butter and batter. Do not stir. Cook 30 minutes until golden brown.

I hope this helps make meal planning a bit easier for you. And just because I have cute kids...

My Lyla, holding a ginormous bull frog!

Happy 4th Y'all!

If you have learned anything about me from reading my blog, you've probably discovered that I love desserts. It's my thing. I sign up to bring the dessert on every occasion, and for every event.

This 4th I'm attempting a dessert I've never tried before...a three-layer cheesecake cake. Boom. Call me Betty.

I found the recipe from Recipe Girl. I cheated a bit and bought a box cake (gasp!) for the red and blue layers. I found this red and blue velvet mix from Duncan Hines and I just thought this would save me an enormous amount of time and sanity.

Before you give up on me, I added a few things to spice up the box cake so I wouldn't feel like a complete failure as a wannabe baker. And I did make the cheesecake using the recipe in the link. So, there.

Beefed Up Box Cake:

-Box Mix
-3 eggs
-1/2 cup butter, melted
-1 cup of water
-1 tsp almond flavoring

I snagged the above recipe from one of my favorite bloggers of all time, Cara Carroll. She has an adorable teaching blog and store on Teachers Pay Teachers, but her at-home blog, Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour, has lots of good stuff too. In fact, I feel like Cara and I are good friends. I just wish the feeling was mutual. Check her out.

If you do not want an in-depth recipe for your 4th, consider making this Star-Spangled Pie. I've made it several times since my original post, and it is always a hit.

Our Easter

Is this time of year not the most precious? There are so many things about this season and this time of year that put a smile on my face.

I want to share this sweet little video that a friend shared with me so I could share it with my girls. We do our best to explain to our daughters what Easter is about, but it is difficult trying to explain to a 2-year about sin and death and new life. This little video was not just great for my girls, but it was wonderful for me to watch as well. Hearing the Easter story from a child's perspective was exactly what I needed on this Good Friday. I hope it is equally as heart-warming to you and yours. May we never forget the significance of this event.

Easter involves traditions for us. I'm a gal that loves traditions. I love the Easter bunny. I love getting dressed up for church. I would even put on a hat and gloves and little shiny white shoes if I could get away with. But, my man is a hippie and we have church in the park. I do enjoy the sunrise service with our friends on Easter morning. There really is something special about a sunrise service. We follow that up by coming back to our house for a big breakfast with our church family. Then, we do get dressed up and go to church with my family, the traditional way.

And then there is the Easter bunny. The Mr. is not a fan of the Easter bunny. As stated above, I like him...a lot. I think all of that is nothing but fun for the littles and I want my girls to have those same memories as I did, at least until their daddy tells them otherwise. :) He has great motives, and I agree with him. I don't want my girls to be distracted away from the true meaning of Easter. So we comprise. Our Easter bunny comes on Saturday morning so that he can have more time at church on Sunday. :)

After we open our baskets in the morning, we will follow up with the cutest little "Bunny Rolls" that I found on pinterest.

I've also made a Easter treat tray that I will take to our family gatherings. This works a lot like my holiday cookie tray that I simply refill in between stops to arrive with a plate full of goodness. On this particular treat tray, I'm taking "bunny bark" (thank the good Lord above for pinterest!), oreo truffles (these are the same as the Christmas ones, just with Easter sprinkles and minus the peppermint), and little brownie bird nests. I got the idea from here, but tweaked it to use brownies instead of the cookie dough.

And I just have to share this photo of my girls who were so excited to "help mama in the kitchen". LR wanted to make sure I let her do the sprinkles! What a blessing they are!

Hopefully, I will be back in a few to post post-Easter pics. I'm not promising anything due to the fact that spring break will soon be over and I'll be back in survival mode.

Enjoy your Easter with your families! He is ALIVE!

New Adventures

I've never been much of an adventurer. I like for my days to be planned out. I make lists and I want them checked off by the end of the day. Mr. Crawford, on the other hand, couldn't be more of an adventurer and it makes for a good match...most of the time. :)

We celebrated seven wonderful years of marriage this past weekend. The Mr. took us to the most peaceful little place, Serenbe Farms. A friend of mine at work recommended it, and I wasn't sure what to except. I'm not a "farm girl" to say the least. But, good golly, I could move to this farm and never look back. Well, as long as someone else is managing the farm and I just get to look at it.

This is a picture of the restored farmhouse where we slept. This is not us, its a google image. :)

This is a picture inside the restaurant where we ate. Everything was made from scratch and all organic and natural...so good!

For us, this little retreat was only 40 minutes away through a backroads trip. We stayed in a restored farmhouse and ate the most incredible food that was grown and harvested right there on the farm. There is even a little community that self-sustains itself through the use of the gardens. Russ made us a warm fire and brewed coffee in the morning and it was glorious to be able to sit by the life, drink an entire cup of coffee, and read through scripture...quietly.

We talked about our sweet girls the entire time and both were ready to get them by noon the next day, but I can't tell you the last time I drank an uninterrupted cup of coffee, or had a quiet meal with my husband. It was much needed and I am thankful for the opportunity to slip away. I am so thankful for Russ. He isn't perfect, but he truly takes on the challenge from Scripture to "love your wife as Christ loved the church" (Eph. 5:25). He is a godly man and leads our family to walk closer to Jesus everyday. He's a keeper. :)

On another note, I started taking and selling an incredible new product, ViSalus. I met a wonderful gal at the gym who is extremely "fit" and she told me about this product. I watched a few videos about all of the nutrition packed into a single serving and I knew that I would love to add that to my daily routine. I was very skeptical at first, thinking that it might be just another protein shake, but I'm telling you, I have NEVER felt better in my life. I have so much energy at the gym, at work, at home, and I was turned into a believer within a week. The program encourages you to set a goal and take a "90-day challenge". My goal...a six pack! I've never had one, and I want one...BAD!

I was so pleased with the program that I decided to begin selling it myself, which has turned into a blessing for our family. I told you all in my last post that I was starting to work out 5 days a week before work and I can proudly say that I have stuck with it. Now, in combination with my ViSalus shakes, I am truly seeing changes and differences in my body and my energy level.  We have a group of teachers at school that have joined with me and in the first two weeks, our little group lost 19 pounds and over 19 inches!!! Isn't that amazing? If you are interested in seeing these same results or adding a whopping amount of energy and nutrition into your day, please visit my website http://www.alisoncrawford.bodybyvi.com/ Watch the video "What do I take" and it will show you all of the goodness in just one shake! If you would like more information, please don't hesitate to fill out the form on the site. I can even mail you a sample to try!

Because of my challenge, I'm really cleaning up our meals at home and trying to come up with healthy dinners that are as yummy as they are healthy. Well, I've got a recipe for Mexican Chicken Spaghetti that I think you will love. What I love is that it fed our family of four for THREE days!! We even had guests over on the first night and they raved about it.

Mexican Chicken Spaghetti
3-4 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
1 package whole wheat linguine (cooked and drained)
1 bell pepper, diced
1 onion, chopped
One small (I don't remember the ounces) package of 2% Velvetta - cut into cubes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can Mexican rotel
1 can cream of mushroom soup (fat free)
Garlic

Saute your onions and peppers. Add your garlic to taste. Add the rest of the ingredients except your linguine. Once everything is mixed well, add your linguine and let it simmer for about 30 minutes on med-low. I served this with corn and a small salad. I can say it was even tastier the next day.

I hope you like it!

Holiday Cookie Tray

Tomorrow is the day I start baking away! I love the day before Christmas Eve, or Christmas "Adam" as the Mr. calls it. Those last few days before the big celebration begins are so much fun to me. I normally stay in my PJ's and bake until my heart's content. But with two busy little "helpers" this year, I've decided to make cookies this year that are much easier to manage and a hit with kiddos!

I always include four different types of cookies on my tray. I make four full batches, but just put enough of each one to fill the tray. Then, as we travel from house to house, I can simply refill the tray in between house visits in order to arrive with a beautiful cookie tray. The four cookies I've chosen for this year are very "semi-homemade" but look and taste great! :)

#1 - Peppermint Oreo Truffles : My FAVORITE!

-1 package of peppermint oreos (The cool mint ones work too, but you'll need to add a few drops of peppermint extract)
-1 package of cream cheese, softened
-1 package of chocolate almond bark or dark chocolate candy wafers
-Crushed candy canes

*Crush your oreos into fine crumbs. Mix with the cream cheese. Add peppermint extract if desired and roll into balls. Please them on a cookie sheet and stick in the fridge or freezer until firm.
*Melt your candy wafers.
*Using a fork, roll the oreo balls into the melted chocolate. Tap the excess off and place back on the cookie sheet to dry.
*Immediately sprinkle with crushed candy canes and place in the fridge or freezer to set.

#2 - Candy Cane Mint Milanos - Semi-Homemade, but not semi-yum!


1 or 2 packages of mint milano cookies
1 package of red candy wafers
crushed candy canes

So easy: Melt the candy wafers. Dip the tip of each cookie into the melted chocolate and coat with crushed candy canes. Place it on wax paper until set. I first saw this idea on pinterest and I had to steal it! My dad came by as Lily Rain and I were making these and he thought they were terrific! Below is a pic of the finished project and the link to the original inspiration.

#3 - Dark Chocolate Peppermint Marshamallows - Kid Pleaser

I saw the recipe for these bad boys on the back of a jumbo bag of peppermint marshmallows. Not the minis, but the huge ones. These only need three ingredients as well:
-1 bag of peppermint marshmallows
-1 bag of dark chocolate candy wafers
-crushed candy canes

Directions: Melt your chocolate. Dip each marshmallow into the chocolate and tap off excess. I think using a fork works best. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes and let it set. Enjoy!


#4 - Candy Cane Sugar Blossoms - The "pretty" cookie


I saw the recipe for these cookies on pinterest as well and I thought they would be great to set out for Santa. I love the red and green combo and how easy they are to make.

-1 bag of sugar cookie mix and the ingredients listed
-red and green sugar
-Candy Cane Hershey Kisses

Prepare the sugar cookie dough as directed. Roll into one inch balls and then roll in the sugar color of your choice. Place the colored cookie dough on a cookie sheet as bake as directed. Once baked, immediatley place a candy cane kiss on the center of each cookie. Let the cookies cool completely and store in an air tight container.

I hope you are able to use some of these easy and yummy cookies this year. If not, store it until next Christmas.

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful and blessed Christmas. I pray that through the busyness of it all, we can each take time to remember what this amazing holiday is truly all about. I pray we are able to recognize the miracle of God coming to earth as a baby in order to establish a relationship with each one of us.

^" Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." Luke 2:11

Oh so thankful...

I am oh.so.thankful.

At this moment I am particularly thankful that I have ONE day of school left for the week. So even though it's Monday, it feels sort of like a Thursday. Plus tomorrow is payday. I'm smiling.

I need to apologize for being absent from blog world. As you all know, life is crazzzyy. I'm hoping to get a few good posts in during my Thanksgiving break. I have been doing a lot of cooking and baking, but it would take four or five posts to fill you all in, so I'll let those come as needed or when I'm simply out of blogging ideas.

Since Thanksgiving will officially be here in 3 days I'll share some of the cute school things we've done in my classroom.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at school this year by having a "snack" and not a actual feast. At first I was really saddened by this because so many children don't get to experience a real Thanksgiving meal, but I can say that my students had a blast today and I don't think anyone went home disappointed. We made quite a few snacks that they really enjoyed and of course finished it off with Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.

#1 TeePees
These adorable snacks were pinterest-inspired and super easy for the kiddos to make.

#2 Pilgrim Hats
These also were incredibly easy. We do a "witches hat" version at Halloween using a Hershey's kiss instead of the Reese's cup. We just used yellow M&M's for the buckle on the hat.

#3 Crunchy Cornucopias
I've done this snack for the past 3 years and it always turns out so cute! I don't have a picture of these (sorry!) and I couldn't find one on pinterest...

You need:
Trix cereal
Ritz crackers
Cream cheese or peanut butter
Bugles

Spread your cream cheese or peanut butter on top of the cracker. Place the bugle on top with Trix pouring out.

Super easy and very cute!

For those of you that are already finished with your cute Thanksgiving treats, save these for your 2012 files. I'll be posting a great recipe for a yummy and easy sweet potato casserole later this week. Also, be on the lookout for a pumpkin cheesecake recipe. :)

Fall=pumpkins

For those of you that read yesterday's post, you know that I'm a fan of fall and all the cozy goodness that accompanies it.

Pumpkin is one of my most favorite foods and I love it in just about anything as long as it's on my plate between the days of October 1-December 1. None before, none after.

To welcome the arrival of fall temperatures, we went a little pumpkin crazy today. I have two WONDERFUL recipes to share and I can assure you they will be made multiple times before our December 1st deadline, in which I switch to solely mint chocolate recipes.

We started our morning with drum roll please....Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles with Cinnamon Cream Syrup. Yes, it was as good as it sounds, maybe better. You can find the recipe that inspired me here. But, I changed things up a bit so we didn't have heart attacks before 9am and so the hubs would actually eat them. Basically, I substituted the flour for whole wheat, omitted the butter altogether, and only used the egg whites, no yolks. The recipe also says to separate your dry and wet ingredients and do crazy things like beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Well, I have children and don't have time for stiff peaks, so I piled it all in the bowl, mixed it, and put in on the waffle iron. It was still TO DIE FOR. Perhaps the extra steps would have changed the texture, but I didn't have time for that today.

My recipe is as follows:
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice.
2 egg whites
1 cup milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tablespoons oil ( I used smart balance)


Mix and pour into a hot waffle iron.


You can follow the syrup directions as stated on the website. But please, use a 5oz can of evaporated  milk. I only had a 12oz can and didn't realize it until it was too late, so I had to go back and add more corn syrup, etc. and the syrup part ended up being an epic fail. But, I can tell that it would've been divine if I had followed instructions. :)

I also made a two-ingredient cake today that was equally as grand as the waffles. I use the same two ingredients when making the best pumpkin muffins that my friend Beth first introduced me to. I found the inspiration for this recipe here, but adapted it just a bit by using spice cake instead of yellow.


Apple Cider Pumpkin Cake:
1 box spice cake mix
1 can of pumpkin


Mix together, pour in cake pan, muffin tin, bundt pan, whatever suits your fancy!
Bake as instructed on the box.


Apple Cider Glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons apple juice/cider
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice


Mix until well blended and drizzle over cake. Let it set before serving. I took this cake to a family get together tonight and it was a BIG hit!!! 

 (please ignore the over-pouring of glaze) :)


I leave you with some pics of my cuties playing outside in this wonderful weather.

Happy Fall Ya'll!