Recipe: Lite and Simple Pasta Salad

This is my go to recipe when I need something fast and easy. It is especially great when you need something for the next day because you can serve it cold. Tastes great warm, too, though.

Ingredients:

Tri color rotini pasta
Slices black olives
Minced garlic
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Black pepper

Options: diced tomato, feta cheese or parmesan cheese OR if  you really want to do an easy meal reaplace the garlic, olive oil and lemon juice with a light Italian dressing

You will notice I did not add amounts to my ingredients. That is because it is all really dependent upon taste and can be adjusted easily to the amount of pasta you need. I usually make a full box of the pasta when I cook this and take leftovers as a lunch to work. The beauty of this is that if you don't have the money for adding the extra ingredients or just can't get to the store, it is just as delicious in it's most simple form.

• Boil the pasta, strain and run under cold water. 
• Add enough olive oil to lightly coat the pasta and toss it together. 
• Add lemon juice to taste. Do not add enough to create a liquid pool in the bowl, just enough to cover the pasta. Usually this is about 2 teaspoons. If you do not love lemon taste just add a bit. 
• Add the garlic, also to taste. I add about a tablespoon. If you are a garlic lover, go crazy. 
• Drain the can of olives (I get the already sliced ones in a small can) and add them. 
• Pepper to taste, don't overdo it. 
• Also feel free to add other ingredients if you choose. 
• Toss it all again. If you are using a large Tupperware bowl put the lid on and shake. 

Voila!!! 

WHY I AM MISERABLE AT BEING ORGANIZED AND SUCCESSFUL: A story with CATS

Lucy aka "Boogalu"

In this post I will digress a bit. Last night I had the most ridiculously stupid and hilarious conversation with my boyfriend about our cats. It was totally random. And after this conversation I realized it was more evidence of how completely whacked out my brain is and probably a huge contributor to why my mothering and housekeeping skills are so wanting.

First I should give you some background information. We have 3 cats. And we often have conversations on their behalf. Each has a distinct voice and personality.

First is Lucy. She is nearly 17 years old and has been with me from kittenhood. This cat is getting very cuddly in her old age, but when my kids were little she hated them with a passion. She also never is fond of female cats, but will warm up to male ones, when she feels like it. She is very no nonsense and demanding, but sweet as can be too. She talks very straight forward and sounds a bit, I guess, like a truck stop waitress.

Pixie aka "Zoom Zoom Kitty"

Then we have Pixie. The Man adopted her already full grown so we don't know her exact age. She is probably 13 or 14. Pixie is very tiny and timid. She was declawed before he adopted her and she hates to have her feet touched. She did not know how to be a cat until my cats came around. She sometimes would play with her crinkle ball, but that was about it. She hated my cats at first and still barely tolerates Lucy. But she has found Winkie (the male) to be quite fun and chases him around a lot. And she has started to imitate his cuter behaviors. Mostly she keeps to herself, but if one of the other cats wants food when she is already eating she will give them a good old fashioned smack down. When Pixie talks it is very sweet and quiet, if somewhat indignant at times.

Winkie aka "Captain Fluffytail"

Finally there is Winkie. He is a black and white Maine Coon who is almost 4. I adopted him with his sister Tinkerbell who is not longer with us. I had not planned to adopt more than one kitty, but suddenly there was a fluffy tiny kitty rubbing against my foot. I picked him up and gasped in horror. He was missing an eye and I thought something had just happened. Nope, he was born that way. The one-eyed runt of the litter who started purring like mad the second I picked him up. Oh, you better believe I had to take him too. He is no longer a runt. As he neared 25 pounds we put him on a diet and he is now down to around 20. Still huge, but hopefully more healthy.  We tell people he is so big because he is just so full of love. As I type this he just hopped up on my lap purring. We talk for Winkie the most. In fact even my coworkers are familiar with his "voice" since I use it all the time there too. For some reason he sounds a lot like Patrick from Spongebob. I have no idea why and only recently noticed the similarity. We don't think he is stupid, but to us that is just how we think he talks.

So that brings us to the conversation. We were about to go to bed and The Man starts to laugh. I shouldn't have asked what it was about, but I did. He said, "What if the cats really could talk but actually sound nothing like we think they sound? Like, what if Winkie is actually all sophisticated?"

Well, there you go. Now I can't stop thinking about it myself. We spend the next little bit talking with a bit like Mr. Howe meets Mr. Darcy and cracking ourselves up. Then we move on to Pixie and start talking like some ex-con/gang member. Now we really started laughing. This lasted a half hour. What is wrong with me? This is what I spend my time thinking about? No wonder I am not independently wealthy yet.

Recipe Review: Disney's Epcot Center Whipped Potatoes

I am always looking for new side dishes to try and I usually am not thrilled with the ones I find, but this one is a winner.

First off, I LOVE mashed potatoes AND cream cheese, so what did I have to lose? I did not tell my boyfriend about the cream cheese until after he tasted this. (He hates cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt...the big baby.) He loved them. My oldest daughter, like me, could not get enough. My youngest does not like mashed potatoes. I made her at least try this, though, and although she was not raving about them she did eat all of hers without whining.

I have to say one very important thing: BEWARE!!! These are so good you will want them all the time. Unfortunately, you can see from the recipe that this is full of fat and calories. It is probably best saved for special occasions. I have already made it twice in the last month.

INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds Idaho potatoes, peeled
1 stick unsalted butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1 C. warmed milk maximum (1/4 C. milk recommended)
1 T. salt
Black pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until tender. 
Add all ingredients in large bowl and blend with mixer.

Tips:

• Sit the cream cheese and butter out while you are cooking the potatoes to soften it a little. Then put them in the bowl before adding the potatoes. The heat from the potatoes on top softens it even more. 
• Start with a little milk at a time. I put a little less than 1/4 C. in to start. About half way through mixing I added a little more. This recipe makes very thick and fluffy potatoes. Try not to add too much milk and make them runny. 
• Don't skimp on the salt. I tend to not like salt much, but when I tried this with less salt than recommended it came out a tad sweet because of the amount of dairy in this recipe. 
• If you do not have a standing mixer (like me) pick a bowl that you can easily turn on your counter while you mix. Because this is so thick your hand WILL get tired trying to get it all blended. It is worth sticking it out to get them perfectly creamy, though. 

VALENTINE'S DAY CRAFT: Recycled Heart Crayons

If you haven't yet realized it, I have made a resolution in 2013 to be more domestic. So far that has only consisted of pinning dozens of ideas a day to my Pinterest boards and trying a couple new recipes. Well, today I got busy with a real craft. And it marks the very first time the kids and I made HOME MADE Valentine's for school! (God help us.)

I found some really adorable ideas on Pinterest (of course) and this one really stood out. I have thought about making crayons at home before, but the idea of making them hearts and handing them out really seemed too good to pass up. Plus, I saw a pin where someone attached a tag that said, "Valentine, you color my world"! How adorable is that? The other big plus was that my kids liked the idea. We rarely all agree on something, so that is a biggie. 

SUPPLY LIST:

1. Crayons: if you are doing this just for yourselves then broken pieces around that house are a great idea. We went to the dollar store because we needed A LOT of crayons to make these for a total of 44 kids! (What am I getting myself into?) I found a 12 pack of jumbo fairy crayons for $1 and got 12 packages. 
2. Molds: This can be a variety of things. I read that using a silicone mold is best since you can pop them out better. If you get a silicone or metal mold meant for baking you can do this craft in the oven. I could not find a heart shaped one the right size but I found silicone ice trays that are hearts. They are not oven safe, but I can do this in the microwave. (So, I thought. This is NOT true. See my fail here. I ended up ordering a silicone mold online since the stores were out.)You can also use candy making mold in the microwave. There are nearly unlimited shaped you can find in these. If you are just trying it out for fun at home you can use regular cupcake pans and just fill them about 1/4 of the way. If you are using metal make sure to grease the mold so they come out easier, but be warned, they may be tough to remove.
3. Oven or Microwave.

First things first, you need to take all the paper off of the crayons. I had 2 kids helping and that was a blessing. The other blessing was that since they were cheapo crayons the papers pealed off pretty easily. 

Once we started pealing I realized that I bought A TON of crayons. I tend to underestimate my supply needs and have to run to the store so this time I didn't want that to happen this time. One note about dollar store crayons: they come in strange colors. Most of the shades in these packages were a bit strange, but no way I was buying that much Crayola brand!

This is like a TENTH of what I peeled!!!

Next, if your crayons are still completely whole start breaking them apart. When you think they are broken enough, break them some more. You really need tiny pieces to fit them into the molds. If you are using larger molds then you don't have to break so much. 

(At this point, if you want the crayons to be all one color or shades of the same color, start separating them. I want rainbow crayons so they are all going in the bag together.)

Next I fill up the mold with the crayon bits. They should be full to just a bit overflowing. As the wax melts it will drip down and fill the empty spaces. 

If you have a metal pan put the crayons in the oven on 275 degrees F for 7-10 minutes. If you have plastic or silicone they can go in the microwave for 5-8 minutes. Make sure, either method, the crayons are fully melted before you take them out.

I tried this both ways and discovered that it is actually MUCH better in the oven. When I did this in the microwave the middle ones melted faster and the outer ones stayed mostly unmelted. I ended up having to let them cool, take out the good ones, rearrange the others and do it again. When I did it in the over they were completely and evenly melted in 8 minutes.

*Note, many of them end up looking black or brown or just plain ugly in the try, but then you pop them out they look really pretty. The bottom side turns out much nicer than the side we see when they are still in the mold.*

You can see here that they melted in the microwave very unevenly. Still, they turned out pretty well. 

Let the trays fully cool. At least 10 minutes but up to 30 then pop them out gently. I put them in the fridge to speed this up because I was in a real hurry!!

Aren't they pretty???? I love them!

To finish off the Valentines I bought heart decorated zip lock bags, also at the dollar store. Then I printed out the card to attach:

Valentine,

You COLOR my World!

(I ended up having to this by hand because after printing one of four pages I ran out of ink! Have I mentioned I am really bad at being domestic?)

We put 2 lollipops and a crayon in the bag. I planned to use a hole punch on the bag and note and tied the note on with some red and pink yarn, but well, I suck. 

Then...VOILA!!

FASHION IS HARD WHEN YOU HAVE NO BRAIN

Part of my quest to be better at things is to also be better at looking presentable in public. I think most moms, at least the ones I know, can relate to this. You spend so much time making your kids look nice that you just don't have time for yourself. I mean, I am happy when  don't accidentally find an unplucked chin hair that has been escaping my view for the last few months!

The biggest problem with trying to be presentable, at least for me, is that it starts from the ground up and sometimes even that is hard to get right. This is very well related by a good friend of mine in her most recent post, "This is not my Underwear," on her blog, Mommy Undressed. When I read this post a light bulb went off. Well, first I laughed hysterically. THEN a light bulb went off. I have had similar moments and I feel like sharing.

First off, let me say that I know we have ALL had our moments of socks that don't match, shirt not buttoned right, or hole in the armpit. And you know what? That's ok. I mean, we are raising the leaders of tomorrow. But sometimes we have those moments that surpass these little accidents and sadly I have had more than one.

Here are my top 3 worst foundation (as in the under structure) moments:

1. How many of you have noticed half way through your day, or even at the end, that you wore your underwear inside out all day? I imagine, and hope, that we have all been there. Today most underwear has no tags so it is easy to do. I have done it multiple times. In fact, I did it last week. But, one day, many years ago, I went to the bathroom at work to discover, for the first time, I had done this. The part I am most appalled by is that these were underwear with a tag and that were white on the inside with a print on the outside. Yet, I had no idea as I got dressed that I was putting them on wrong. 
2. While working in the library some years ago I was sitting in the back room having lunch when I glanced down at my cleavage. I do this a lot. I have great cleavage. That day I noticed that I had a cat hair sitting right at the apex of my cleavage. Not a big deal, really. When you own cats you are usually covered in their hair. I reached up to pick it off and gasped. I gasped so loud a coworker turned to see if I was ok. The cat hair was... ATTACHED. It was not a cat hair. I had a chest hair!!! And it had apparently gone unnoticed for some time!!
3. Also while working in the library, I would occasionally try to look somewhat presentable. My kids were 3 and 5 at this time so trying to look nice took a lot of effort. Most of the time I could wear jeans, but if there was a nice meeting or I had plans after work I would a skirt and tights. Most of the time I was very uncomfortable in tights. Even when they are the right size I tend to get some abdominal pain with anything slightly snug around the middle. On this particular day I was very comfortable and feeling pretty good about the obvious fact that I had lost some weight. Then I went to the bathroom and my whole world imploded. I was wearing maternity tights! They were not huge. In fact, they fit incredibly well. I was devastated. But I also have a good laugh every time I think about it. 

So there you go. Those three incidents are only the tip of the iceberg and completely why I have a hard time being fashionable. I can't even find the right tights!

VALENTINE'S DAY CRAFT FAIL

I have been preparing a post about this awesome Valentine's craft  that I am making with the girls. We are making heart shaped rainbow crayons to give out to their friends.

I made a BIG mistake. I bought ice trays because that is all I could find and was hoping that they would hold up in the microwave.

They did not:

The tray melted!!

Yeah, that didn't turn out so well!!

Yummy Beef Tips update

Tonight I tried the beef tip recipe in my crock pot. If you did not see the original recipe post please click HERE.
I put all of the ingredients in the crock pot EXCEPT the broccoli. I didn't want it to be too overcooked. I added a few layers of paper towels under the lid to catch the excess moisture. Then I cooked it on low for 8 hours, adding the broccoli at the 6 hour mark.

A few observations:

• Ten hours would have been better. The meat was not as tender as when I made it in the oven. It was still delicious, though.
• I was home to change the paper towels a few times. There is a LOT of moisture. Make sure to put lots of layers under the lid, especially if you will be out for the day. 
• The broccoli should probably only be in for one hour. It was fine, but a bit overdone for my taste. 
• I used Campbell's cream of mushroom this time instead of the organic brand I used originally and there is a difference. It was still very yummy, but not as irresistible as the first time. 
• This time I served it over egg noodles. It wasn't bad, but I prefer it over rice. It felt like fancy Hamburger Helper over the noodles.

Verdict:

It is still a great meal and a nice option if you want something that can be left cooking for 10 hours, but for the best effect you want to cook it in the oven as originally intended. 

Book Review: The Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents

THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS FOR PARENTS
by Deepak Chopra

I am one of the few people who has not read Chopra yet. Frankly, having worked in a library I avoided a lot of the "mainstream" self help type books because of the type of people who were usually checking them out. You might know the type: Oprah followers who check out every book she mentions, but rarely show any evidence that these books impacted their lives.





And you know what? Who am I to judge? I never really knew these people. So, I realized that avoiding these books was an injustice to myself as much as it was an injustice to judge these people I do not know.

So, now I am working hard at finding peace and happiness. Part of that is not judging so much. Another part is learning and Chopra seems to be a great place to start.

This book is my first foray into Chopra and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is not a long book, and most parents will probably relate when I say that was a blessing. I have no time to read thick volumes on parenting.

The "laws" are simple and relatively easy to follow. He includes things like, Everything is Possible, Go with the Flow, and Enjoy the Journey.  And he also set out easy ways to show these laws to your children each day in a natural way. It is about demonstrating though your own behaviors what is expected rather than a Do as I say, Not as I Do environment, which is so easy to fall into. It will take some practice to implement them into daily life, but they won't take extra time from your day.

My only issue with this book, and it is based on my circumstances rather than the information, is that I share custody of my children with their father. The book is so easy to implement when you do one law per day, but when you don't have your kids every day that complicates things. In addition to that I worry about how to implement these things when they will not be reflected in my girl's other home. As I said, though, that is a personal issue.

I have decide to purchase this book, which is a big deal for me. I try to cut down the clutter and not own books unless I know I will open them up again and again. This is one I will refer to regularly because I feel the message is well worth it. And with some study I am sure I can implement them into our half week with the kids.