Fondue for Two

Supports the Girl Scouts too:-) Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Organized Linen Closet

I posted my disarray last week. Now, this is much better!

I even made a great table cloth hanging system out of an old drying rack!

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Herb-Crusted Pork Loin

This pork loin has a spicy rub and a herb crust that really seals in the juices! I am also doing my menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie. So, here is my menu this week: Also, $5 Dinners inspires us all to make low cost dinners. In that spirit, I am taking what Pick N Save has on sale, pairing it with coupons and coming up with the tastiest money saving around! Pork Loin Roasts were on sale for $1.99/lb. (normally $4.99/lb.) at Pick N Save. I grabbed a bunch to make my featured recipe today: Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Ingredients: 1 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tsp ground cumin 1/4 tsp cayenne, or more, to taste Kosher salt 1 1/2 lbs pork loin roast 4 Tbs vegetable oil For the Herb Crust: 1 sweet onion, roughly chopped 2 cloves garlic, smashed 2 Tbs freshly grated ginger 1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves 1 lime, zested 2 Tbs olive oil 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs Kosher salt 1 1/2 Tbs Dijon mustard Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 2. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, and salt, to taste. Rub the mixture all over the outside of the pork. In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat and brown the pork roast on all sides, just until golden. Remove the pork to a sheet tray, fat side up. 3. Meanwhile, make the herb crust: In a food processor, combine the onions, garlic, ginger, cilantro, and lime zest. In the same saute pan in which the pork was browned, add the olive oil and the onion mixture and cook until softened. Stir in the bread crumbs and cook another 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt, to taste. Spread the mustard on top of the fatty layer of pork and then press the herb crust into it. Bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 30 minutes. Remove to a cutting board and allow to rest, covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Slice the roast, arrange on a serving platter and serve. Servings: 4 Cooking Times Preparation Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 40 minutes Inactive Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 1 hour and 10 minutes Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1/4 of a recipe (8.9 ounces). Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. 3 of the recipe's ingredients were not linked. These ingredients are not included in the recipe nutrition data. Amount Per Serving Calories 548.96 Calories From Fat (49%) 271.17 % Daily Value Total Fat 30.53g 47% Saturated Fat 5.03g 25% Cholesterol 107.16mg 36% Sodium 246.12mg 10% Potassium 926.19mg 26% Total Carbohydrates 26.97g 9% Fiber 2.74g 11% Sugar 1.3g Protein 42.45g 85% Recipe Type Main Course, Pork, Sunday Night Dinner Source Author: Melissa d'Arabian Source: The Food Network Web Page: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/herb-crusted-pork-loin-recipe/index.html

Recipe: $9.32 ($4.81 on sale) Serving: $2.33 ($1.21 on sale) Search for Coupons

Organizing Your Kid's Art Supplies

Simple Mom's Project Simplify is covering kids toys/clothes this week. For us, my youngest's art supplies were a HUGE problem. So, we found this solution:


Now, she has a place for all her markers and crayons and paper and jewelry making supplies and other art supplies. It is AWESOME!!

Indoor Garden

I am getting all my spring plants ready to go back outside:

Now, it just has to warm up!!!

Disarray

I guess I still have work to do:

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Spring Cleaning Part 2

For the second weekend in a row, the family worked on spring cleaning our house. This time, we did the bathrooms and the kitchen. That included appliances, walls, windows, cabinets, linens and floors. It took us a little bit longer (i.e. all Monday) to finish. Not bad. Here is an array of drawers I organized:

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

I am thrilled to be going on vacation this week!! So, my menu planning is concentrating on easy peasy which the Slower Cooker Chicken Stroganoff is:-)

I am also doing my menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie. So, here is my menu this week:



Also, $5 Dinners inspires us all to make low cost dinners. In that spirit, I am taking what Pick N Save has on sale, pairing it with coupons and coming up with the tastiest money saving around! Chicken breasts were on sale for $.2.99/lb. (normally $4.79/lb.) at Pick N Save. I grabbed a bunch to make my featured recipe today:

Chicken Stroganoff
Ingredients:
1 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts, and/or thighs
1 cups chopped onion
1 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic
1/3 cup of water
1/2 cup sour cream
fresh ground pepper
3 cloves minced garlic
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of rosemary
8 oz dried wide egg noodles

Directions:
1. Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. In a 3.5 or 4 qt. slow cooker, combine the chicken pieces, garlic and onion. In a medium bowl, stir together the soup and water. Pour over the chicken and onion. Add the bay leaf and rosemary.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 7 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 3-1/2 hours.

3. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain. Just before serving, season to taste and stir sour cream into mixture in cooker. To serve, spoon stroganoff mixture over hot cooked noodles. If desired, sprinkle with black pepper. Makes 6 to 8 servings

Servings: 6

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/6 of a recipe (7.7 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. One of the recipe's ingredients was not linked. This ingredient is not included in the recipe nutrition data.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 268.84
Calories From Fat (16%) 43.33
% Daily Value
Total Fat 4.92g 8%
Saturated Fat 2.16g 11%
Cholesterol 65.44mg 22%
Sodium 229.94mg 10%
Potassium 626.76mg 18%
Total Carbohydrates 33.01g 11%
Fiber 2.18g 9%
Sugar 2.53g
Protein 23.79g 48%

Recipe: $6.75 ($4.95 on sale)
Serving: $1.13 ($0.83 on sale)



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Paper Clutter

Simple Mom's Project Simplify is covering paper clutter this week. As paper enters my own, it is dealt with. That means, tossed, shredded, paid, read, posted or displayed. So, the paper task is not as daunting for me. So, I am reposting the yearly-purge I do every year:

Don't forget, now is a perfect time to do your year-end filing. I did mine this weekend and I am all ready to start chomping away at this year's bills:-)

Here is what I do:

• I empty all my files into one big folder and label it with the year that just past.
• This folder gets placed in an archive box with the last 6 years of documents.
• Then, I remove the oldest file in that box and shred it.

Now, I have all the documents that I need to retain for the IRS-required amount of time and a filing system that works:-)

This was not so Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom today but more Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

More Signs of Spring!

Keep them coming!!!

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Spring Cleaning Part 1

This weekend, the whole family worked on spring cleaning our house. We did all three bedrooms and the living room top to bottom. That includes walls, curtains, windows, shelving, linens and carpet. We finished everything except for reassembling one shelving unit. Not bad. We were so busy, I only got before and afters of our room:

Before:



After:

Spring Cleaning Tips:

1. Set aside a good hunk of time and involve everyone. I personally made a declaration to my family that this was spring cleaning time and ALL were expected to participate. It ended up being really good clean fun (pardon the pun).

2. Grocery shop, bank, do bills and everything else you need to make sure that the cleaning is uninterrupted time.

3. Have all of your supplies assembled ahead of time including sponges, buckets, squeegees, furniture polish and cleaning solution. I personally clean everything (windows, walls and carpet) with a mixture of one gallon of hot water, 1/4 cup vinegar and a drop of dish liquid.

4. Make sure your vacuum and carpet cleaner are in fine working order because they will be working as hard as you are!

5. Utilize either your crock pot and/or freezer cooking meals while you clean. You don't want to waste time in a long involved meal or worse, eating out! You need energy from a good home cooked meal AND it is cheaper! Check out my list of crockpot meals here for ideas.

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Corned Beef and Cabbage is a classic St. Patrick's Day dish. Since this holiday is on Thursday, I am including this in my menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie. Here is my menu this week:



Also, $5 Dinners inspires us all to make low cost dinners. In that spirit, I am taking what Pick N Save has on sale, pairing it with coupons and coming up with the tastiest money saving around! Of course, Corned Beef was on sale at Pick N Save this week and so was cream cheese! I grabbed a bunch to make my featured recipe today:

Corned Beef Dinner
Serves: 8
Ingredients:
3 1/2 lb Corned beef
4 cups Water
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 small cabbage
4 medium carrots
4 medium potatoes
1/8 tsp pepper
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
4 Tbl horseradish

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425. For meat and vegetables, rince brisket with
cold running water; trim off excess fat. Pour water into a roasting
pan. Place brisket and bay leaf in the pan and top with garlic.

2. Cut onion into thick wedges. Cut cabbage and potatoes into
quarters and carrots into 2-inch squares.Arrange onion and cabbage
around the brisket. Top with carrots and potatoes. Sprinkle with
pepper. Bake 1 1/2 hours or until brisket is fork-tender.

3. For sauce, combine cream cheese, milk and horseradish in a small
saucepan. Wisk over medium heat until warm.

4. Carve brisket diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Serve
with vegetables and sauce.

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 569.16
Calories From Fat: 319.82
Total Fat: 35.69g
Saturated Fat: 14.42g
Cholesterol: 123.65mg
Sodium: 2221.81mg Potassium: 1274.83mg
Total Carbohydrates: 31.38mg
Fiber: 3.44g
Protein: 31.25g

Recipe Author: The Pampered Chef
Recipe Source: The Pampered Chef: Main Dishes

Recipe: $13.68
Serving: $1.71



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Organized Bedroom Closet

Spring Cleaning starts this weekend for our family! To that end, playing along with Simple Mom's Project Simplify and showing my organized bedroom closet.

Here is my before:

And my after:

My shoes were a mess, my purses need to be restuffed with tissue paper and I did carry out 3 bags of clothes to either give away or toss. So, I think it was successful. What do you think?

Weekend at the Art Museum

My youngest had the awesome opportunity to display her artwork (along with her classmates) at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Here is her beautiful work:


And here is where it was displayed:

Breathtaking!!

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Organize the Basement

I usually organize this area in January but things have been so crazy busy. With spring cleaning next weekend, I had to check this off my list. Here are the afters:

This is our short term storage.

And this is Christmas and long term storage.

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Slow Cooker Chicken and Mushrooms

Girl Scout meeting nights deserve a hot dinner on the table when you get home:-)

So, I am including this in my menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie. Here is my menu this week:



Also, $5 Dinners inspires us all to make low cost dinners. In that spirit, I am taking what Pick N Save has on sale, pairing it with coupons and coming up with the tastiest money saving around! This week, they have chicken on sale for $1.99 lb. (normally $4.79/lb.). I grabbed a bunch to make my featured recipe today:

Slow Cooker Chicken & Mushrooms
Ingredients:
8 skinless chicken breasts 1 1/2 lbs button mushrooms (cleaned)
1 large onion diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 ½ cups of chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 ½ tsp of dried thyme
2 Tbs dried parsley
3 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp of pepper
2 Tbs corn starch
1/2 cup dry white wine, optional (decrease chicken broth by 1/2 cup if you choose to add wine)

Directions:
1. Spray slow cooker with nonstick spray. Arrange chicken pieces on the bottom. Add mushrooms, onions, garlic and spices. Pour in chicken broth (and wine if you choose to use it).

2. Cook on low heat for 6 hours stirring once.

3. Serve over rice or pasta with your favorite steamed veggies.

Servings: 8

Cooking Times
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 hours
Total Time: 6 hours and 40 minutes

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/8 of a recipe (8.3 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 208.76
Calories From Fat (15%) 31.66
% Daily Value
Total Fat 3.55g 5%
Saturated Fat 0.86g 4%
Cholesterol 57.27mg 19%
Sodium 1088.63mg 45%
Potassium 712.21mg 20%
Total Carbohydrates 23.45g 8%
Fiber 2.54g 10%
Sugar 2.75g
Protein 20.55g 41%

Recipe Type
Chinese, Girl Scout Recipe, Main Course, Simple Supper, Slow Cooker

Source
Author: Stephanie Hansen
Source: The Daily Blarg
Web Page: http://www.isthisreallymylife.com/2011/01/slow-cooker-anyday-chicken-mushrooms/

Recipe Cost: $15.66 (on sale $10.06)
Serving Cost: $1.96 (on sale $1.26)



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Hope Springs Eternal

In direction contrast to yesterday's post:


I celebrate my first signs of spring peaking out:-)

My House is Crying

Because:

1) It is sick of winter.

2) It is sad because it hasn't shed its Christmas wardrobe yet:-)

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

A Message to My Family

I hereby declare by this decree that the weekends dated March 12th and 13th and March 19th and 20th are reserved for spring cleaning for the wife/mother/caregiver, husband/father/capital provider, daughter and care receiver. This reservation will include but not be limited to washing walls, carpets, cabinets and organizing basement and storage areas and outdoor cleanup. Expect purging of unused and deteriorated items.

Participation by the wife/mother/caregiver, husband/father/capital provider, daughter and care receiver will be required. No social or medical emergencies should be submitted during this timeframe. Submitting either will result in the loss of peace of mind of the wife/mother/caregiver and subsequently, future requests by the husband/father/capital provider, daughter and care receiver will be delayed.

Cooperation in this decree will result in a healthier home for all involved and a happier wife/mother/caregiver thereby making future requests by the husband/father/capital provider, daughter and care receiver possible.

I am submitting this decree to Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom !