Domestic Diva Friday

You'll be glad to know today's edition will not involve the crock pot! In the spirit of this holy week, let's talk about Easter dinner.

This year, our celebration will be with family, our 5 plus two in-town family members. I am hosting a formal dinner at our house. I purchased some new spring green table linens for the dining room and I have an arrangement of fresh tulips for the table.

Here's the menu:

Spiral sliced ham

Mushroom risotto

Steamed asparagus

salad

Sister Shuberts rolls & butter

Dessert (provided by a family member, and I don't know what it'll be yet)

I hope you all have a blessed Easter and that you worship the King, Jesus Christ, who makes all this possible. And I hope the Easter Bunny brings all your favorite candy!!

Domestic Diva Friday

Before the weather really turns warm, let's have one more family chili night. This recipe is a winner all around: it's super healthy, super tasty, and it cooks in the crock pot! (I know, crock pots are becoming my theme. When the weather turns really warm, I will put it away and focus on other things, I promise.)

I took this to a church chili cookoff a couple of years ago and it got raves. I received several requests for the recipe.

Without further ado, here 'tis:

Pumpkin Turkey Chili

(recipe from Fix It and Forget It Recipes for Entertaining, page 177)


1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper (I use frozen "stoplight" pepper strips)
3 garlic cloves, minced (I used jarred minced garlic)
2 Tbsp oil
1.5 tsp. dried oregano
1.5 - 2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
2 15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 lb raw ground turkey, low fat (or you may use 2.5 cups cooked chopped turkey)
1 16 oz can pumpkin
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
3-4 cups chicken broth
1 cinnamon stick

In a skillet, saute the ground turkey, onions, peppers, and garlic in oil, until cooked and soft.





Stir in oregano, cumin, and chili powder; stir and cook for a minute more. Transfer to crock pot. Add all remaining ingredients to crock pot, stir, cover, and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Before serving, remove the cinnamon stick and stir in a few dashes of ground cinnamon, if desired. It's terrific, I promise! This will feed 6-8 people generously, with leftovers to spare!


Here's the finished product:


Happy Chili night, everyone!

Liz's 5th Grade Play

Liz had a speaking part in her 5th grade play! Some nice mom put some clips of it on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1GsIKPjams

Fast forward to 2:20 min, she is on the back row.
FF to 2:35, she is speaking.
FF to 7:15, she has a brief singing appearance on the back row.

Enjoy!

Quote of the Day

This is my new favorite quote, because I seem to be "living it" on a daily basis:

"It's my personal observation that we moms function at a rate slightly above the land speed record, and perspiration and wilt are the natural result." Vicki Iovine

(fellow moms: so now you know why your hair is flat!)

Domestic Diva - Bonus Edition!

Ladies, I couldn't keep this one to myself. We had the most awesome breakfast today. Even Elizabeth liked it, and she's picky in the morning. I love having a healthy breakfast with lots of whole grains and no added sugar. Here's a great recipe....get out your crock pots again!

Five Grain Breakfast (recipe from //recipes.sparkpeople.com)

Combine the following ingredients in your slow cooker:

2-1/2 tbsp bulgur wheat

2-1/2 tbsp brown rice

2 tbsp barley

2 tbsp quinoa

1/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup apples, diced

1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 cups water

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Cook on low for 6-8 hours, overnight. Add more cinnamon to taste and stir well before serving. You could also add in raisins. I put a handful of chopped nuts on top. Serves 3 generously, double it for a family of 5-6.

Here's the finished product:

If you are not familiar with whole grains like bulgur wheat and quinoa, you can find them in bulk bins at Whole Foods or Earth Fare. They are worth trying!

PetsMart vs. Babies R' US

Ok, this is an opinionated rant. Some of you may not agree with me, and that's all right. Feel free to add comments.

I wonder how many pet supply stores existed in 1950. 1960? Even 1970, the year of my birth? I’m not talking about pet stores, like the small, mom n’ pop type portrayed in the movie Because of Winn Dixie, attended by musician-turned-actor Dave Matthews. No, I’m talking about pet supply stores, like PetsMart, that exclusively offer pet toys, pet food, pet collars, pet rick-rack, pet books, “green” pet treats, ad nauseum, all under a mere 35 thousand square feet!

Don’t get me wrong. I love pets. I am the previous master to two dogs and numerous beta fish, may they rest in peace. I don’t begrudge anyone their choice to love and adopt a pet (or two) as a member of the family. But since when, as a culture, have we become so nuts for our pets?
I propose that a big part of this issue is the decline of nuclear families and rates of reproduction in this country. In 1950, 68% of the population was married and the annual birth rate per 1,000 people was 24.1. In 2003, about 58% were married and the annual birth rate per 1,000 people was 14.1. Way back when, most adults got married young and large families were the norm. Now a large family is considered anything more than 2 kids. Many adults choose not to marry or to marry much later in life and then choose either not to have children or to limit their childbearing.

We were created by God to be in relationship -first with Him, then with others. God gifted us, both men and women, to nurture life. When our homes are not full of children, often we turn to a pet to fill this need. This can be a beautiful thing! I know that the love and companionship provided by a good pet lowers blood pressure and soothes the emotions. Pets who need regular walks challenge us to improve our fitness. Special dogs are used to bring joy to sick children in hospitals and the elderly in nursing homes. All of this is wonderful, a gift from God. But since when did our pets need so much junk from the big box pet supply store??

My beef is that, as a society, we have more heart for puppies than we do for babies. Don’t think so? Then why, in the Triangle area of North Carolina, are there 16 big box pet supply stores (10 PetsMart, 6 PetCo) and a mere 5 big box baby supply stores (2 Babies R’ Us, 3 Baby Depot)? In the same geographical area, why are there more than three times as many pet supply stores than baby supply stores?

I have a friend who used to work as a nanny. Suddenly, her employers started giving her a hard time about her salary. They complained to her that the only way they were able to continue to pay her from their monthly budget was to take money from their children's college funds to pay for other expenses. Can you guess what those "other expenses" were? Their dog needed surgery. I don't know the nature of the dog's medical problem, but our priorities are certainly out of whack when we'll sacrifice our children's futures to prolong the life of a pet. My friend eventually left their employment.

I’d like to issue a challenge to all of us living in the modern, Western world: be about your family. God sets the solitary in families (Psalm 68:6). Love your pets, but love your children, even those unborn, even more. Make your offspring your priority. Maybe Babies R’ Us will need to expand to a location near you.

Domestic Diva Friday

I promise this blog will not ONLY contain Domestic Diva Friday entries. This has been a busy week with one child sick and another with a school play. My free time this week has been zilch!

Domestic Diva Friday – 2nd edition!

Top 5 Household tips:

1) Not sure what the leftovers are in the Tupperware in the back of the fridge? Scared to open it up and get blown away by the smell and mess? Tempted to just throw the whole thing away but you hate to lose the Tupperware? Put the item in the freezer, marked so you’ll know not to eat it later. When the contents have frozen, run the Tupperware under warm water to help the contents release, then throw the leftovers away. They won’t smell and they usually pop out in one clean chunk.

2) Does the mail pile up as fast at your house as it does at ours? The piles of mail seem never- ending sometimes. If you have a recycling bin, make a pass by it on your way in from the mailbox. Immediately dispose of any and all junk mail, catalogs, and coupon mailers that you won’t use. Open the bills and throw the envelopes into the bin, too, as well as all the annoying “add ins” usually found with the bill. You will also spend less if you don’t even look in all those tempting catalogs! I only keep the ones that I know contain something I need.

3) In the warmer months, keep cans of chickpeas or other beans, artichoke hearts, canned chicken or tuna, olives, and fruits (like canned pears) in the fridge. When you need a quick,healthy meal, add all the chilled ingredients (drained) to a package of pre-washed salad greens. Voila! Instant dinner!

4) Do you dread decorating for Christmas because the Christmas lights are a tangled mess? Here’s a tip to help keep your lights untangled . When you take them down at the end of the season, coil them around your elbow to hand, like you would the vacuum cord. Then use tin foil to secure the entire strand into a circle. Your lights will not mysteriously tangle up during the months they spend in boxes, and best of all, this is a very inexpensive to implement. Hooray!

5) If you have kids and pets, own a dustbuster (hand held cordless vacuum). ‘Nuff said.