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Showing posts from January, 2013

Asian Lettuce Wraps

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Asian Lettuce Wraps 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breast, trimmed of the fat 5 clove of chopped garlic 1 small onion, finely chopped ¼ cup liquid aminos (a soy sauce substitute) ¼ cup low sodium chicken broth ½ tsp ground ginger 1 dash of allspice (or a dash of each: ground cloves, cinnamon, & black pepper) 2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar Optional: 1 small can of crushed pineapple Bean sprouts & Large leafy lettuce, for wrapping (I used Butter leaf lettuce) Place chicken in a slow cooker.    Add onions & garlic.   Mix the liquid and spice together in a separate bowl, then pour over chicken.   Cook on low for about 4 hours. Shred chicken in slow cooker and serve on lettuce with bean sprouts. 

Peanut Noodle Salad

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Peanut Noodle Salad 8 oz whole wheat spaghetti 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 large stalk celery, peeled and finely chopped 3 scallions (both white and green parts), chopped on an angle Dressing: 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 garlic clove ¼ cup creamy peanut butter 1 Tablespoon Stevia (optional) Juice of 1 lime ¼ cup of water Bring a large pot of water to a boil.   Salt the water and add the noodles.   Cook according to the packages directions, but drain 1-2 minutes shy of the suggested cooking time to achieve the “al dente” texture. Drain and rinse noodles thoroughly with cold water While the noodles are cooking, heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat.   Add celery and cook 2 minutes. Add scallions and cook 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the cooked noodles. Making of the dressing: Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender.   Blend until creamy and very smooth.   Pour the dressi

Slow Cooker: Chicken Burritos

SLOW COOKER: CHICKEN BURRITOS     We had this meal tonight, and I have to say, it was a hit.  Before, I knew it was going to be such a hit, I had missed any photo opportunities for you.  Sorry, I will get one next time and post it for you.    All the kids were loving it, and most of them had seconds on their dinners.  Which doesn't always happen.  Because the Mister and I are changing the way we eat and are trying to get into better shape, we altered the way it was served for us versus the way the kids ate it.  We had ours as a salad and the kids had whole wheat burritos.   Ingredients:   3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, trim off fat 1 (8oz) can tomato sauce 1/2 C salsa 3-4 T taco seasoning (or one package)  Ours is low sodium 1 t. chili powder 1 t. cumin 2 cloves minced garlic     Place the chicken in your slow cooker.  Pour the remaining ingredients over the top of the chicken.  Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until the chicken is t

Rolling With the Punches

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Have you ever had one of those days where anything chaotic that could happen...will happen?   Well, that was us yesterday.  Last week.  Last two weeks.  Can we get a break now?  I'm ready to s-l-o-w   d-o-w-n. We've been battling some colds, tummy issues, NOT THE FLU, and awesomely enough...strep throat.   So, Baby Girl, had a reaction last Friday where she broke out in a full body rash.   Instantly, I assumed it was an allergic reaction to her antibiotics because I have an allergy to one and big sis has an allergy to one.  Oh no, my friends.   Not the case.  Did you know that strep can also cause scarlet fever?   If you did, you are one smart cookie.  If you didn't, well, tuck that away in your memory for future use.  Yup, my sweet little baby girl, had a massive body rash, felt like sandpaper.  It was everywhere.  I felt so terrible for her.  So yesterday, was her follow up appointment, since we stopped the antibiotics early.  Well, the strep is gone.  Thankfully.  Ho

Meal Plan Monday 1/28/2013

Hello lovelies!!!  Happy Monday!   Hope you all had a great weekend!  We sure did.  It was busy, of course, but still great.  My daughters and I got to meet John & Sherry Petersik of Young House Love on Saturday, followed by a sleepover with our cousins.  Sunday we had a couple of soccer games for the kids plus we went to church and was honored to watch one of our good friend's daughter be baptized, and I managed to sneak in another organization project.  :) This week is insanely busy for us.  We have 4 evenings this week that are going to need either a crock pot meal or something light, quick, and easy.  We are also incorporating more fish into our diet and trying to do 2 nights of fish, 2 nights of red meat, and 3 nights of chicken or white meat. Here is our menu for this next week: Sunday :  Baked Salmon, with green beans, fresh green salad and garlic bread Monday :  Taco Night Tuesday :  Crock Pot : Slow Cooker Salmon w/ Couscous Wednesday : Crock Po

Organization: Family Games

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Games.  We have LOTS of games.   All kinds of games.   But they were getting out of control.  Some downstairs, in the play room, in this basket.   Some upstairs in the family room, in this cubby. Both a hot mess.   Both unorganized and really, didn't make family game night all that fun.  So, you know what that means.  TIME!  TO!  ORGANIZE!   Ya!!!!  My new favorite thing to do!  Seriously!  It is! :)   We have this coffee table, that has a hollow middle and opens up with all this potential for great storage.     So, I got to thinking ..." Why, don't we just put the games in the middle of the coffee table?   So when we have game night, everything is there and at our finger tips?"   Genius.  Right?  No running up and down the stairs, from this room to that room, to find the game we want to play for the night.   Luckily, most of the games were in the same size boxes.   So I just stacked them up on their side and lined them up. Most of the games

Geeking out

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Okay, I've been a blog addict for a while now.   Those of you, that are close to me...know this obsession about me.  It all started with, somehow falling upon this one blog.  Young House Love .  I read their blog every morning, with my cup of tea, just part of my routine.  These two, fun to read about, drool over projects, inspirational people, parents to the adorable Clara, John and Sherry, it's hard to not fall in love with them/their blog.  Then they wrote a book. I then bought that book.  Then, they put Portland on their book signing tour.  (squeal!!!) And then...the geeking started!     Today was their day in Portland.  And I geeked.  I brought my girls with me, and they watched me geek, not a pretty site.  Sorry girls!  We had ceramic birds signed.  My Valentine's decoration... Love birds.  (Get it?  haha, I'm a dork, I know)   We had a book signed.  Photos taken.  My little, meet a blogging celebrity, moment has. Made. My. Day! They

A Week In Review

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It's been a busy week for us over here at the Mix household.  We are really working hard on getting some good organization and routines in place and also managed to sneak in a fun little craft project!   Check out the last week, in case you've missed all the posts.   Bubba's closet makeover and organization was completed.  From Messy and Disorganized To Donated, Organized and Labeled!   My first blogging Meal Plan Monday ....and stuck to it, to a T!!!!   Another Organization tip to make more room in your dressers . Two drawers worth of shirts, into one drawer First Kitchen Organization  post , with the Queen Bee of the kitchen, the fridge.  It was quite the make over, and so functional this week. My Sweet Valentine's Day mantel, which I am totally. In. Love. With!!!  Finally, a How-To on the Heart Garland used on my mantel. Can't wait for what the next week will be bringing!!  What was your favorite thing this w

Heart Garland How-To's

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Good Afternoon, Lovelies!  I'm going to show you how I made that adorable Heart Garland! I actually had these colors of felt downstairs in my craft room.  I just took two of each color and did a straight line at 1/4 inch from the side of the felt.  I used the lines that are already on my sewing machine and just followed in a straight line. Then I flipped them over, as you would when hiding a seam.  See how it's already forming the heart? I trimmed the felt down the size that wanted the heart's to be and then did another straight stitch at 1/4 inch. I happen to have some quilting supplies, so for me I used the 1 inch mark on my ruler and used my rotary cutter to cut them all.  You can totally mark these out with a 1 inch and a pencil or a chalk pencil from your local fabric store, and then cut with your scissors. Love all the little hearts.  I ended up getting 12 of each color. I then took some pom-poms that I got at the Dollar Tree and threade

Sweet Valentine's Day Mantel

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Hi friends! I cannot believe we are already half way through this week!  I know   I've been doing a lot of posts on organization and getting things orderly lately.   I hope that they have been helping you as much as they have been helping me.   The donation pile is quickly growing at our home, which I have to admit, feels so good...with the exception that it's living in my formal room, the first room you see when you enter the house, so it's gotta go!  Soon!     We have been super busy around the house.   Kids are switching beds, some getting bigger beds, and others handing down better mattress to others, and all kinds of furniture movement happening in our house.  However, I have managed to squeeze in a little bit of Valentine's Day mantel decorating and a few craft projects to go with it.  It's a little intimidating to show you my Valentine's mantel; there are so many beautiful decorations and mantels out there in blogland, but since this is my first year

Organization: In the Fridge

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  That's right.  In the fridge.   I have organized my fridge.  Let's take a look inside, shall we? I am embarrassed to show you the inside of my fridge, prior to organizing it, so you'll just have to pretend that you see a picture of an icky fridge.  There were a few science experiments growing, (may or may not have been some leftovers from New Year's Eve) and there were some empty containers in there (thanks kids, for putting away empty containers). I started with taking every thing out.  Because that's how I roll.  You'll notice there is a pattern in my de-cluttering, organizing process.   I take everything out, so I can see what I have in front of me and then I re-group every thing into small piles, then I sort through each and every individual piles until every thing has a home.  Whether it's in the recycling bin, trash, donation, etc.  Nothing will be left in a pile. I started with sorting through all the food, proud to say there was only a few,