Thankful for freezer meals

I mentioned before that we do freezer meals sometimes.  We didn't end up having a baby placed here...yet...but we do have lots of meals ready just in case! Also very helpful for days like today when plans change and schedules get busy- a quick and easy HEALTHY dinner is always a bonus!

Tonight we had spaghetti with a delicious veggie loaded sauce.

Love having my freezer full of ready made meals!

Fajitas and fights...

Tonight we had fajitas- a party indeed! 

However, this weekend has been so busy, we just crammed much into our days, early mornings and late nights. All was fun, but it took its toll on one of my kids. Then, at the flip of a switch, the tears came, and they came in torrents. Then fighting. Fighting with tears. Such a hard part of motherhood!

Thankfully, God is gracious. My husband came home at the perfect time. I know it's not so wonderful for him, but tonight, his peaceful nature was much needed to help our home regain calm. 

Now, I hear peaceful chattering, piano keys making beautiful music and the birds chirping outside.  It's almost as if that 30 minutes of our day didn't happen...I wish it didn't! But I'm thankful, that though it did, God reigned despite my human nature!

The fajitas were from a box! Oops...well, the tortillas, sauce and seasoning....the chicken was on sale today - woohoo! And the peppers were remaining from our 21 freezer meal prep from a few days ago. All mixed together was delicious!

Deep fried avocado

Um. Yum :)

I love avocados...but often have to eat them alone since my family does NOT love avocados...however if I can hide them in something, the chances are greater. 

I really have very non-picky eaters, this is one of the only foods that they do not like to eat, but they are so good for us! So...I make avocado hummus...and just tried this deep fried avocado...delish!

Missed a Monday for these sweets

My sister had a baby this weekend! So I'm an Aunt again :) 

This past Monday, rather than being at home cooking...I was snuggling and crafting...we did make Rice Krispies treats....if that counts as cooking!  I even let the kids be creative and 'shape' their treat...it  was a huge mess, but they seemed to love it, and clean up wasn't sooo bad. :)

The sweet babe is so snugly and fresh and big brother and sister love her to bits!

It was a precious time with my nieces and nephew and my sister and her man too :)

Meatballs

This is going to make my family happy for sure!  Meatballs- again, simple, easy, never been tried in my kitchen before.

This is pretty great, cooking on Mondays, trying new recipes and overcoming those thoughts of things being too hard...

Meatballs are super simple. I didn't have bread crumbs, but I had cornflake crumbs- which worked just fine!  All you do is mix the beef 2 lbs, with two beaten eggs, one cup of crumbs, garlic, pepper, two tsp soya sauce and 1/3 cup ketchup, roll onto a pan and bake at 350- tada! Mmm...now what to serve it with....likely whole grain brown rice, another new favourite :)

Happy cooking!

Brownies and a babe

Today is Sunday...a day of rest.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I love this scripture from Matthew 11. Sometimes I can get so overburdened with things going on in life. It is SO comforting to remember that God's got it. He is carrying this burden. I don't have to. I'm not alone.  I really need to LEARN more from Him!

...Sunday is also a day to celebrate during lent, and have some sugar! Mmm! I'm not huge into cake and pies and such, I do like candy...gum...sugar in my coffee...and such. I have really come to like coffee without sugar, and almost don't like it with sugar!

But, something I have been wanting over the last few weeks is brownies! 

Today presented the perfect opportunity.  We are a babysitting two this weekend, and this afternoon Tim took all the boys to the trailer for a work afternoon- likely movie for the boys, Rachel is at a friends, and the wee one is having a nap- brownie time!

I also happened to do some less than exciting essentials, which somehow seemed almost relaxing in my current situation- dishes and dinner prep.

Enjoying a time of quiet, a time of rest, a time to breathe...and smell, soon eat...brownies!

Perfect timing, I hear the babe stirring!

Burgers !

Mmm! I am so excited for tonight's dinner! Two 'new' challenges for me that I've always thought of making but never made - home made burgers, and burger buns!

We had some ground beef, and I've been wanting burgers! It. Makes me feel that spring really might come yet, even though it doesn't seem or feel like it!  So, I looked up some recipes on Pinterest and chose my favourite parts of different ones ...the result was super easy and super yummy.

I'm not sure why I've always thought some things were just too hard to make - like pasta, burgers, buns even...I've made my own bread for over ten years but have never made buns, except in mass amounts at the bakery last season, but still, they weren't a bun for a burger or sandwich, just a dinner roll.  

It's funny to me, thinking about this AFTER making a few of these 'hard' things, that it was really just my uneducated, not willing to try it, or even look into it- opinion.

I think too often this translates into other parts of my life. Some things just seem to hard, or unattainable, that I don't even want to try, or think about trying.  Or, in the other sense, I get too comfortable with what I know - and really, I think it is this aspect that helps the uneasiness grow.  

When I cracked a rib a month or so ago, at first I was so put off by having to rest, not being able to run, or move around much at all...but then, after a while, I got so comfortable doing not much of anything, it seemed like a chore to even just get out of bed.  

Thankfully, my rib is healing, but now it's my heart and emotions that need to heal as well and get back into things. I need to do these 'hard' things, that really aren't that bad, and enjoy the process, praising God for healing, and for the blessings He has given!

Back to the meal....

So I mixed together ground beef, some spices, soya sauce, Worcester sauce, egg...and voila!

Then I worked on a bun dough, let it rise while I went out for a couple of hours, shaped the buns and baked them!

I know I'm going to have some thrilled family with this meal! 

Try those hard things! Stretch your point of comfort, and in all things, give God thanks!