best. stew. ever.

i made stew for supper tonight. yes, in august. i'm aware. but today is dreary and grey and wet and all-around late fall-ish.

and i was craving stew.

so i made some.

and let me tell you how. (normally, i wouldn't post a "recipe" for stew, since it's so basic. but i'm rather proud of myself for this, so i thought i would share my domestic genius with you. lol)

so, back in the day, probably, march-ish, i picked up a giant thing of stewing beef at the grocery store. and some freezer bags. (figured out where this is going? yes, i'm just that good! haha)

i came home and got to work. i divided up the beef into 3 or 4 freezer bags, about 2/3 full.

then i cut up a couple onions, and tossed them in.

then i grabbed some baby carrots (because i hate chopping veggies, and if God gives you a short-cut, i say take it!!) and tossed them into the bags.

and tossed the bags into the freezer.

so this afternoon, with my INSANE craving for stew (of all things!), i got out a covered bowl thing (the name escapes me at the moment), and went to work.

but gah! a problem! no potatoes! and you simply can't have stew without potatoes!! what's a girl to do?!

i'll tell you what a girl is to do... grab a bag of hashbrowns out of the freezer, and pour some into the bowl-thing. then put in the frozen stew-in-a-bag.

next, add a can of diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil. (see "when God gives you a shortcut" comment above.)

add some parsley, thyme and bay leaves.

dump on generous amounts of Worcestershire sauce. (mmm... liquid salt...)

add a bit of water.

cover, and toss into the oven (ok, place it in the oven. otherwise, if you toss it, the lid will likely come off and you'll end up with stew all over your oven, and i don't know about you, but the LAST thing i want to be doing on a saturday night is cleaning my oven) which should be preheated to (what did i randomly turn the nob to? i'm guessing here, folks, but i think it was somewhere around) 375 degrees F.

bake for a couple hours.

remove from oven. remove bay leaves.

and enjoy! :)

seriously. best. stew. ever.

The epic to do list for the week. And i do mean EPIC!!!

Yeah, it's long. If you want to read it, go grab yourself a coffee, take a deep breath, and settle in somewhere comfy... LOL

Dishes
Laundry
Fold laundry
Put away laundry
Compostainer put away
Garbage can put away
Finish mowing front/side lawn
Mow back lawn
Organize craft cart
Clean up wood chips (throughout house, thanks to a dog who loves to eat wood... esterday, he found the kids' blocks. Yeah. Nice, eh? Ugh)
Tidy playroom
Clean floors
Clean bathroom
Buy kitty litter
Clean kitty litter
Make supper (Monday. Enchiladas.)
Toddler bed to Edwin
White chair to my room
Boxes, etc out of boys' room
Dressers to boys' room
Remove change table extension from asher's dresser
Take pic of my bed
Disassemble my bed
Assemble my new bed
Post my bed on freecycle
Corner cabinet to its new home
Book counselling appointment
Container for charlie's toys
Play rugs to playroom
Move TV to living room
Move crate to playroom
Replace curtain rod
Change curtain rod in blithe's room
Pull weeds (driveway, side, garden)
Separate and move hostas
Mortgage payment
Plan this week's menu
Sort/purge shoes
Blog re: self-esteem and standing up for myself
Pack kids' suitcases
Make pesto
Fix mirror in bathroom

That's right. 42 items. Fortunately, a friend of mine has graciously offered to help me, and he and i have come with a reward system to inspire us. One little reward for each item we cross off the list, and when the whole list is complete, one big reward. J hence, my FB status right now: "heather is looking forward to a day of housework and crossing things off a VERY long to do list. ;)" so don't feel too sorry for me. I'm inspired this week, and it will all get done. J

getting you all caught up (aka miscellaneous pics from the last few weeks)

my girlie and me :)

the boys, out for a walk together

the newest addition to our family... Smokey Ribbons (she looks unimpressed here b/c i interrupted her bath for the pic. lol)

asher head-butted blithe in the mouth, and her (already very loose) fell out. is there anything cuter than a kid's toothless grin? i don't think so! :) she just looks so much more mature now. :)

now that asher can sleep in a normal bed, all three kids love to sleep together. and even with asher's feeding tube, they all get a good rest (once they stop playing and actually fall asleep, that is!)

wow, it's been a while!

i can't believe how long it's been since i've posted here! my bad. :( ah, well... i'm making up for it with a couple sweet, sweet pics of my boys, playing in the nearly-empty sandbox in the backyard (you'll note all the sand around the sandbox, though *rolls eyes and laughs*)

i guess the reason i haven't posted recently is because there hasn't been much in the way of simplicity around here lately. lots of appointments and trips to emerg for asher, which has taken up a lot of my time and energy. but... he's starting to improve thanks to some wonderful old-man meds (beta-blockers, gotta love 'em! lol)... so... there is something resembling simplicity in our world again.

and that pleases me.

know what else pleases me? sunshine. and temps in the 20s. awesome!!!!! we just had lunch at the picnic table, and the second they were done eating, the boys practically dove into the sandbox!! it's so wonderful to finally be able to spend time outside... in fact, i'm typing this post outside right now! :)

how much do i love spring, eh?!

Coke Pork Chops

1 cup ketchup
1 cup coke (or miscellaneous cola-type beverage, but we all know coke is best!)
2 tbsp brown sugar
8 pork chops
salt and pepper, to taste

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. mix together ketchup, coke and brown sugar.
3. place pork chops in a baking pan, and cover with coke mixture, coating well. sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. bake for about one hour, depending on the thickness of the pork chop.

prep time: 10 mins
bake time: 1 hr

**this is also a good recipe for chicken. for chicken breasts, cooking time is approx. 40 mins for thick breasts.

i am SOOOOO making this for supper tonight!!! i'll update later with the verdict!

Super Easy Donuts

Ingredients
2 Tbsp white vinegar
3/8 cup milk
2 tbsp shortening
½ cup white sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 quart oil for deep-frying
½ cup confectioner's sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Stir the vinegar into the milk, and let stand for a few minutes until thick.
   
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture alternating with the vinegar and milk. Roll dough out on a floured surface to 1/3 inch thick. Cut into donuts using a donut cutter. Let stand for about 10 minutes.
   
3. Heat the oil in a large deep skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Fry donuts in the hot oil until golden, turning over once. Drain on paper towels. Dust with confectioner's sugar while still warm, and serve immediately.
   

Review

"Super Easy Donuts"?! more like "Super Yummy Donuts"!!!!

Now granted, i'm not a baker. In fact, i ran into a minor glitch when i realized i don't even own a sifter! but i have one now, likely only to be used when making these donuts!!! They're yummy! Be warned, they're not like timmie's donuts. These are old-school, homemade donuts. So crispy and good..... sorry, started drooling there. Yeah. Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum. (and yes, staci, that's 7! Le wink) so, yeah. These are lovely.

One minor complaint though. I don't think they were very realistic when they said "serve immediately." To be honest, you're going to want to eat these all yourself. Make a separate batch to serve, and sneak the rest of the batch into your mouth before anyone notices!

We’re gonna give this a whirl, and see how it goes

OK, so if you know me, you know that if there is one thing on this earth i hate, it's housework. I mean, really, blech. Can't stand it. I think the lack of a housework fairy was a grave oversight in creation. So, needless to say, if i had to choose something to do with my time, it would not be housework. And oh, look how! Every day i end up falling further and further behind in this area.

And i hate it.

So it's gonna stop.

Now.

But really, i hate it enough that i can't simply say, "oh, yes, i know i hate it, but i'll be uber-diligent from now on." I know you'd think i could do it, but really, i can't. And i'm not going to say how i know this about myself, but trust me, it's true. So here's what i'm gonna try. A schedule. Break up the housework by day, and then set aside a certain time in the day for it.

So, here we go:

Daily Routine

Kids to school at 8:45

"homeblessing"

pick up Bram/lunch

work while boys are napping

pick up Blithe/snack

homework

supper

dishes and tidying

bedtime

"me" time

 

Oh, i suppose i should have mentioned something. "Homeblessing" is what my dear friend Annie calls housework and chores. I like it. So i'm stealing it. Maybe it will help change my attitude about it if i call it something else. That's the theory, anyway. We'll see if it works.

Now, for the "homeblessing" time block: every day, i'm going to do one major task, and then of course the little things like sweeping, etc. My grandmother had a weekly "homeblessing" schedule, and it worked for her, so i'm giving it a whirl. Besides, if i have a day for laundry, i'll know the kids will always have clean underwear, and NO ONE wants to run out of clean underwear! lol

Weekly Routine

Monday: menu planning, groceries

Tuesday: cooking, baking (it happens... sometimes!)

Wednesday: laundry

Thursday: clean bedrooms, wash bedding and towels

Friday: bathroom/kitchen, floors, dusting

 

So, yeah, i'm gonna give this a whirl. But haha, you'll note that this morning, i'm blogging instead of menu planning and groceries! So i'm already off to a rip-roaring start! LOL but now i'm going to get to work on the menu, and take the boys shopping this afternoon.