Recipe Of The Week...

Boeuf Bourguignon

Ingredients:
2 lbs bottom round roast, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 (14 1/2-oz. beef broth)
1 cup red wine
1 (16 oz. pkg) frozen pearl onions ( I used fresh and thought they tasted soooo much better)
1 (10 oz. pkg) cremini mushrooms (I could not find these so I used Shitake)
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lb. carrots, thickly sliced
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh flat parsely

1. Toss beef in flour in medium bowl until evenly coated. Heat oil in large Dutch Oven over medium high heat. Add beef, in batches in necessary, and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl with a slotted spoon.

2. Add broth, wine, onions, mushrooms, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot. Stir in beef and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

3. Stir in carrots. Cover and simmer until beef and vegetables are fork-tender, about 30 minutes.

A great addition is a pound of parsnips with the carrots. I was going to do this but the ones at the store did not look all that great, but I am going to try this for next time.

(Weight Watchers Magazine, January-Febuary 2010)

How do you do it....

I am sending a shout out to all those friends & family of mine that have IMMACULATELY clean homes. You know who you are!!! :)

I need some tips on how to keep my house clean without have to clean 24/7. I am on a mission to not up to my eyeballs in dog hair, toys, and dishes....but need some help from all those super organized, love to clean folks I know that are out there!!!

SO spill it....

On My Way.....

I have been working out each morning now for almost three weeks and I am happy to say that I have FINALLY lost some weight. 1 pound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I shouldn't be THAT excited about 1 pound but I am so thrilled that I am on my way to reaching my goal. Each morning I lay there when my alarm goes off and all I can think about is going back to sleep, but I am so exalted (trying to expand my vocabulary... :) that I have been making myself get up and get active.

I can't wait for it to start getting warmer so that I can walk outside. Getting up before everybody else has been such a life changing thing for me. I have so much more energy, (which is hard to beleive since I am getting up so early) I am more patient, and more relaxed.

Such a simple little thing to do and such a big impact. :)

Silence is golden...

Not long after we got back from our harried trip to Michigan I decided that I was going to start getting up before everyone and have some time to myself.

Most mornings I try to work out. Either by doing walking on the treadmill, or I do some exercise programs on Comcast, or I use the Wii....my goal is to lose 10 lbs, (which would put me at my ideal weight for my height) and would put me to what I weighed before all the kiddies came along. I have realized that I don't treat my body as well as I treat my children's. I am very thoughtful about what goes into there little bodies but don't always follow the same path when it comes to mine.

For the last few weeks I have been getting up at 6 am, only missed a few days here and there and it feels great. When I was younger I was always a morning person...my Dad still laughs about how I used to get up at 5 or 6 am and go into the living room and turn on the TV but with no sound because I didn't want to wake anybody up. So there I was sitting in the living room watching cartoons with no sound. As I aged (ugh doesn't that sound terrible) I came to enjoy sleep more and more. Then after the kids came I REALLY enjoyed sleep.

But it is worth it to me to get up early and lose maybe an hour more of sleep I could get to enjoy some time to myself. As many of you read in my previous post I have been a little off-kilter and I want to say thank you to all amazing friends and family that offered kind words of advice and just helping me see that I really am NOT crazy...well kind of. LOL!

This morning I happen to be sitting here enjoying my coffee. I didn't work out this morning but I did an hour yesterday so I am taking a day off, my legs are about to go on strike, and just vegging on the computer.

Have a wonderful, peaceful day to all of you!

Bah-Humbug!

I am in a funk. I don't know what to do to get out of it. I feel frustrated, irritated, sad, angry, perplexed, and more. But I don't know why.

Sometimes I feel like I am in the movie Groundhog Day - I just keep waking up to all the same things and nothing ever changes.

I feel like I have completely forgot who I am anymore. The things that come out of my mouth and how I react to people amaze even me. It's like I hear the words come out and I know that I sound snippy or bitchy but I can't seem to stop it. I am a hamster running around and around the wheel and never getting anywhere.

There seem to be so many things that I can't get done. I want to catch up on my scrap booking, I want to learn how to sew (and finally use the sewing machine that I got as a gift 2 years ago), I want to learn how to knit - projects besides just scarves, but I can't ever seem to get to those things. Either laundry needs to be done, or the house needs to be cleaned, or someone needs to be fed, or changed, or put to sleep, or the dog needs to go out, or the dog needs to be let back in, or dinner needs to get started, or or or or or or or or...........

ugh. That is how I feel all the time. Even when I get out of the house or I have the chance to go out by myself I am good for a little but it never seems to stay. Like happiness is just teasing me, dangling the carrot in front of me but I can never seem to catch up to it and take a big bite.

It's so ridiculous for me to feel this way. I have a fabulous husband, two beautiful and healthy children, a roof over my head...blah, blah, blah. What the hell is wrong with me. I sound totally selfish - especially when I watch the news and see situations like what is going on in Haiti....I should be thankful for all that I have. But I cannot seem to shake these feelings.

How do I get out of this rut? Am I totally crazy and insane?

Yum, Yum, Yum...Delicioso!

Emma had cereal for the first time yesterday! She did pretty well, I think a little bit even stayed in her mouth....plus she slept from 10 pm till 5:08 am! Bonus for me!!!!

She had some more this morning before her bottle and I put her down at 9 am for her morning nap and she went to sleep after just 5 minutes, no crying just a little fussing. Usually she will only sleep for about 20 minutes but this time she slept for 45 minutes! Woo-Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recipe Of The Week...

A new twist on an old classic....Max even loved this one!

Italian Pot Roast
1 3 lb. boneless beef chuck pot roast
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon fennel seed, toasted and crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed, cored, and cut into thin wedges
3 medium carrots, halved lengthwise and bias-sliced into 2" lengths
1 large onion, cut into thin wedges
1 26-oz. jar pasta sauce
2 to 3 cups hot cooked penne pasta
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Trim fat from roast. In a small bowl, combine garlic salt, fennel seed, and pepper. Rub into roast on all sides. In a 5- or 6- quart slow cooker, combine fennel, carrot, and onion. Place roast on top. Pour pasta over roast in cooker.

2. Cover and cook in low heat for 9 to 10 hours or on high heat for 4 1/2 to 5 hours.

**The recipe says to reserve 1/3 of the roast and 2 cups of sauce....I did not do this because Karl takes leftovers into work and I always schedule 1 or 2 days a week on my monthly menu for leftovers. **

3. Toss pasta with parsley. Serve roast and sauce over hot pasta mixture. If desired, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bon Apetite!

Wearer of Many Hats....

"We're a generating of list makers & jugglers., women who wear many hats. Perhaps we should reserve on our lists of -things to do today, a bullet point for ourselves. A place in our closets for a hat that says not 'Mother' or 'Wife' of 'Writer' but 'Your Name Here'...not to mention a fabulous party to wear it to."
~ Rebecca Woolf

This was part of an ad in a magazine I was reading and it is soooo true! Thought I would share it with all of the other amazing Mothers I know!

45 Minutes of Hell...

This morning started out so nice...did some time on the treadmill, enjoyed some coffee, and had some quiet time on the computer ~ all before anyone got up. It was great.

Then I had the bright idea to make some muffins with Max while Emma took her morning nap. That is where things started to go awry...at one point while we were measuring and mixing Max ate about a teaspoon worth of flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda....can't even imagine how that tasted. Then before I had a chance to stir the eggs in he ate a teaspoon of that as well....ugg! Then he proceeded to turn into Damien, horns and all...screaming, hitting, and biting all at the same time ~ it was truly beautiful scene. That of course ended with lots of time outs and time in the naughty chair.

Then I heard Emma crying, I went in and she was laying on her side, almost on her belly, crying. Let me just note she was still swaddled. I totally freaked. I whipped her out of that blanket with superman speed and took her out to the living room so she could listen to Damien continue his rant.

When it came time for her afternoon nap I decided that now was the time we stopped swaddling her and she was just going to have to figure it out~ by figuring it out I mean crying it out. We did this was Max and had amazing results...he used to take two naps a day (both for about 2 hours) then he would go down about 6 pm and sleep till about 7 am. It only took 3 days for him to go right to sleep. The first day we started he only cried for 15 minutes. The longest point he ever cried was 52 minutes....

Emma cried for 45 minutes....today was the first day. The last 15 minutes had us both crying. I keep thinking that it should be easier for me to deal with but it's not....I feel like the most monstrous mother right now. Ugh.

Recipe Of The Week...

Old Fashioned Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef of ground turkey
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 large eggs
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (this is my secret ingredient...added it on a whim)
1 cup breadcrumbs
4 cups of spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil or fresh parsley
1 pound spaghetti or linguine noodles
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350'. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (I always spray with PAM so they the meatballs don't stick).

2. Combine beef/turkey, onion, eggs, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, cinnamon, breadcrumbs in a large bowl; mix well. Form the mixture into 1-inch meatballs (about 24). Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 25 minutes. Blot well with paper towel.

3. Put a large pot of lightly salted water on to boil.

4. Pour sauce into a dutch oven and bring to a simmer. Add the meatballs to the sauce and cover, simmering for about 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti until just tender, 7 to 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a serving bowl. Top with sauce and meatballs and serve with grated Parmesan Cheese.

Bon Appetite!