Monday, January 31, 2011

Another Go

After making pretty damn good fajitas last night for dinner (mom's idea, my cooking), I have decided to give my chicken/rice/casserole dish-thing another go. I'll probably alter the recipe a LOT and really get annoyed with it and end up crying. As long as I give it a try I should feel better about last time and finally be able to let it go.

Migraine continues to linger, causing much grief to everyone in the household sadly.

Good news though! Step-sister has finally moved out. Wish she wanted to get help and actually do what she promised and said about turning her life around, but she didn't and was a bitch, disrespectful, thief, dangerous, greedy, bitchy, gross, and above all a disappointment. I am sorry to say things turned out the way they did, but she is out of the house.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Hamburger Helper and Chair

Since my head has been a bitch and wont leave me alone, mom has been a saint. Not only have she and Neil been looking after the kids while I take it easy, she also has been making dinners.

Not tonight.

Tonight was my night. I didn't know till 2:03pm that I was to do dinner, and seeings how I've had this damn head be a bitch all day I did the only thing I could think of. Like a heavenly light, the pantry lite up when I flipped the switch and angels sung (damn TV). Lo and behold there it was, Cheesy Backed Potato Hamburger Helper. Frozen broccoli from the freezer (coupons from the other day, knew getting them would come in handy!). And you have a meal to please a family.

Given that it was a success, give me my props, I have only one thing on the brain now, where can I find a good computer chair? I suffer from migraines and am thinking that a good computer chair may be a good weapon ageist(sp?) it in this war.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

I'm Not Ignoring You, I Swear!

Honestly I'm not. Migraine was kicking my ass so doing dinner stuff and basic functions was taking all my energy up. (finally had to go in and get a shot, second visit is tomorrow)

Third Dinner was meatloaf (rather good I thought). Fourth Dinner was pizza! We didn't time the cooking between the pizzas right so there was a rather long waiting period, but we were all fed well. Fifth dinner was my mom's creation of mixed leftover veggies (some from the other nights and some from partially used frozen bags in freezers), and some baked chicken. So it was good.

Tonight I have NO idea what mom is cooking, but she's doing the dirty work. I get to watch the kids and do the dishes... but I'm going to TRY and tackle some of a C.E. today. Headache, but I'm going to try non-the-less.

Knitted dad in CA a hat, and completely winged it... I think it doesn't look that great but it's really warm and thick.
From mobile

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Second Dinner

The second dinner I have made since Dave has gone down to CA to go to school is a complete failure.

I made my "chicken bake thing", it's more like a cassarole. I took boneless, skinless chicken breast and fried it ever so slightly in a pan. While that was going on I made some white rice, combined it (cooked) with three cans cream-o'-mushroom soup, about 1/2 cup milk, and nearly 1lb of frozen mixed veggies.

I coated the cassarole dish with foil (easy clean up) lared the bottom with a layer of the rice mix, layed the chicken on top of that (don't overlap) then poured the rest of the rice mix on to it.

Cover with foil, cook at 400 degrees for at least 1 hour. I did mine at 45 minutes, the recipe says so, and while the chicken looked cooked, it was just barley cooked. They took the chicken out and cooked it longer in the microwave. Please make sure yours is cooked.

The kids ate it but didn't like it, parent's ate it but you could tell they didn't like it. Megan even said "Mommy, this is gross." So I'm the only one that liked it (aside from the chicken part, I just like the rice mix, don't know why but I do).



I hate chicken. I blame this whole disaster on the migraine fairy. Her and Drew's Cancer.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The First Dinner

Already the obstacles have started! See, I came home, with the head hurting and all that jazz and didn't think of dinner till about 1pm. So I made a mad rush to the pantry where I found hamburger helper (family favorite). Thinking I could get mom to stop by the store on her way home from work to get non-frozen ground beef wouldn't be an issue. Sadly, it didn't work that way, she forgot to call me back after her meeting and came home. Finding non-frozen ground beef in this house is like finding a specific sock from the kids sock drawer; while not impossible, it is highly improbable.

We did find a 3lb tube of ground beef tucked away in the freezer, god only knows when we got that thing, but it's still good. It takes a few more minutes in the microwave to thaw after a few minutes in near-boiling hot water from our hot water tap thingy.
Overall a very good success! The kids ate, the adults ate, the pets ate. The corn and hamburger helper are both gone! No leftovers! Talk about a boost to my self-esteem!

Everything turned out pretty damn good if I say so myself.

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Dinners

Coming on the 11th my brother will be leaving to go to school down in California. Now while this is a great opportunity for him, it means I will be left with a great responsibility of cooking for the family... and taking care of the kids more so then I'm doing now.

I'm thinking of documenting dinners each night on this blog to show the adventures of cooking for a BIG family. Since I haven't cooked for big families before this will be a rather big deal. Recipes, budget, and of course, reactions to the meals themselves. I have a couple of ideas, like Friday Night Pizza Night (used to do that with my other dad, the one in CA who's house burnt down). Another is having Mix-It-Up Monday's where a kid gets to choose what they want (i.e. grilled cheese with tomato soup, or sloppy joes).

Any ideas are welcome. Advice on how to handle meals for kids is especially needed. Please help!

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

40 Inches Gone

From mobile

I started this "last year" and decided that the 40 inches wasn't worth it! Plus it's soft and blue, perfect for my dad's hat. As you know his house burned down and lost everything, so I'm on a quest to knit him some socks, scarfs, and some awesome hats!

Maybe I can make a hat that will get rid of this migraine! What a way to start off this new year.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

New Years Resolution Projects

It's been fun. To commemorate the past, here are all the projects I have completed:

No. 001 Scarf

No. 002 Toothbrush Braclet

No. 003 Bunny Pillow

No. 004 Scarf

No.005 Bunny Pillow

No. 006, 007, 008, 009 Gun, Heart, Heart, and Cat head Pillow


No. 010 Bag

No. 011 Bag

No. 012 Chocolate Dipped Brownie

No. 013 Tagged Teabags

No. 014 Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

No. 015 Jello Mold

No. 016 Scarf

No. 017 there is no picture, but there was a project, Megan's jeans needed fixing!

No. 018 a pair of underwear that needed hemming.

No. 019 Socks!

No. 020 Lauren's Pink wristwarmers.

No. 021 Megan's Jacket (mending)

No. 022, 023, 024, 025, 026, 027 Straw Curtines

No. 028 Scarf

No. 029 Scarf

No. 030 Same Pattern as #29 but different colors

No. 031, 032 Wristwarmers

No. 033, 034 Wristwarmers

No. 035, 036 Toothbrush Braclets

No. 037, 038 Wristwarmers

No. 039 Purse

No. 040, 041, 042 Toothbrush Braclets

No. 043, 044 Wristwarmers

No. 045, 046 Wristwarmers

No. 047 a mini "calico" sweater from the left-over yarn from dad's calico socks.
No. 048, 049 Wristwarmers

No. 050 Colorful Cupcakes

No. 051 Bunny Plushie

No. 052 Teddy Plushie

No. 053 Your Favorite Enemies (rock band) pillow

No. 054 Swirl cookies!

No. 055 a pink, brown, white, green scarf.

No. 056 (part one of 66)

No. 057 Wristwarmers

No. 058 Attempted washcloth

No. 059 Jenny's black "arm chaps"

No. 060 Scarf

No. 061 Scarf

No. 062 Banana Bread

No. 063 Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

No. 064 Dad's Hat

No. 065 Apple (with leaf cut-out crust!), 2 pumpkin pies, and a pecan with a cream-cheese crust!

No. 066 (see 56)

No. 067 Mini Cheesecakes

No. 068 Christmas Cookies, Megan decorated!

No. 069 Mini Sweater (left over sock yarn)

No. 070 Yellow Fuzzy Barbie Sweater

AHH! Looking back on those projects, it seems that I am very un-creative! I did make it 70 tho... that is something that makes me happy!!!

It's been fun, and hope this next year is better!