Once a month cooking

that's my goal. But for now until we can find room for a 3rd freezer, I am going to try my hand at once a week cooking. Not only because of freezer space, But I want to try out some recipes before I commit us to food that ends not not being so tasty. So My grocery shopping days are Thursday nights..and I am hoping to put my meals for the week together at some point this weekend. So far Sunday is my only free day. But I may be able to swing it tomorrow. Here is a list of our dinners for next week. I will try and post at the end of the week with the taste test results. any ideas are more than welcome, as I am always looking to change things up. a quick note: I already buy loaves of Italian bread and freeze them. I make my own garlic spread and then just pull out the loaves and defrost them and make my own garlic bread. one loaf will last us two meals.

Friday- lasagna with green salad and garlic bread
Saturday- tacos with beans and rice
Sunday- Johnny marzetti with noodles,green salad
Monday- tangy marinated steak with baked potato and green salad
Tuesday- spicy honey chicken with potato salad and garlic bread (maybe)
Wednesday- pork roast with apples and sage and green salad and a veggie of some kind ( whatever I can find on sale)
Thursday- baked chicken burgers with potato salad and watermelon

I will keep you posted. Thanks Doreen for recommending the sight onceamonthmoms.com . they had some yummy recipe ideas. let me know if you try any :0)

just for fun

I love this age! Riley is so goofy and funny right now. Dave was telling him the other night that it was time fo go to bed so he told dave that he needed to put his wings on his back so he could fly there. A typical conversation these days. So here are a few pictures I have taken that I am posting just for fun.

fun at the park!

My cousin found this great park in hillsboro...it has some really cool play equipment...a water play area and a sand area with it's own water facet for making castles. I liked it because there weren't a lot of big kids in the water area..so he didn't get trampled..and one whole side was blocked by seating..so it was easier to keep an eye on him! we will deffinatley be visiting this one again soon!

ahoy!

wow it's been awhile. we have been crazy busy lately. one of the fun things we have done is going out on our neighbors boat. a little nerve racking for me...but fun just the same. Riley loved it. he got to see some really big boats, drive the boat, and float behind on the intertube. they have a party boat and only goes about 10 miles per hour. he wasn't jumping wakes! he wasn't too sure about the tube. here a few pics!

Ka-Chow!

OK. So Riley is absolutely in love with this guy:



He will watch the movie and line up all of his characters from the movie and plays with them all day long. I am a total enabler! I am constantly on the hunt for the characters he doesn't yet have. horrible I know. He gathered all of his trains up the other day and brought them to me and said "no trains mommy". I think Lightning McQueen and all his radiator spring friends are here to stay awhile. So I was curious If I am the only one who indulges my little one with his obsession ( which clearly is becoming mine!) and If you do what is it? I know in the near future I need to stop, as to not make it a habit. But for now, Oh Well :0)

Melt in your mouth Pork carnitas

I am always on the look out for new inexpensive tasty recipes. And ways to stretch my dollar. I came across this recipe in a book I purchased Awhile ago ( and use often). There are a few recipes in there worthy of passing on. This one is super simple, but because of cooking time takes a little bit. But it is totally no fuss. Let me know if you try it. It is one of our new favorites!


one 3lb pork shoulder ( at winco they call it pork carnita)
1 can lemon lime soda ( acts as a meat tenderizer)
2 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
12 8 inch tortillas warmed
salsa, sour cream or guacamole for serving


1. trim pork of excess fat and cut into 2-3 inch cubes. combine pork cubes in a large heavy pot with soda, water and salt. bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to low and continue to simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours. Do not stir.
2. after 2 hours, turn up heat to medium and cook, covered, until all liquid has evaporated and pork fat has rendered, about 45 minutes. Stir a few times, just to keep the pork from sticking to the bottom of the pot. If it starts to stick, add a little more water as you complete cooking time. When done, pork will be brown on both sides, and just a little liquid fat will remain in pot. pork will be so tender it will fall apart to the touch.
3. serve pork in warm tortillas with salsa or sour cream or guacamole.

that's it, super easy and soo yummy. it lives up to the name. melts in your mouth!

New Bike

Dave and I have been going back and forth for awhile about getting Riley a strider bike. If you haven't heard of the before..they are way cool. It looks just like a regular 2 wheel bike, but it doesn't have pedals. So it is like a balance bike. It teaches kids to ride without training wheels. You start out by sitting and walking and then as their balance and confidence increases they start gliding and picking their feet up. check out the website www.stridersports.com. we are lucky enough to have a dealer not far from us so we were able to pick it up. So i took riley to go pick out a bike helmet (he chose a lightning mcqueen one) and then saturday afternoon we went and picked it up. the lady came out holding it and he just kept jumping up and down my blue bike my blue bike ( he chose blue). We havent been able to pull him off of it since. he constantly asks, where's my blue bike? anytime we leave the house he thinks it needs to come. His helmet, he won't take it off. I have gotten some strange looks because he wears it EVERYWHERE! Last night dave took riley across the street to "ride his bike" and he actually starte trying to pick his feet up! the gal said not to expect him to for a couple of months. But our little fearless daredevil had to give it a go. He put his feet right back on the ground. Here are a ew pictures from saturday afternoon. My camera died so I only got a few pictures.