Three Year Olds

Here is my three-year-old at my daughter's middle school open house.

Any guesses as to the logic behind his outfit??? I'll give you a hint. The first shirt is a black superman t-shirt. That is covered by a superman pajama shirt. Next comes the vest with a nice orange tie to round it out (the plaid shorts? those are just for fun). .............Still haven't got it yet? He was dressed as Clark Kent! (you know because I never let him go places dresseed as Superman)

This also happens to be the day he discovered how to use "air quotes" correctly.

Also, he filled his potty chair bowl with potato chips.

It's been quite the day!

Song Birds

For today's bird project I printed some bird coloring pages from off the internet. My favorite site is:

http://www.coloring.ws/coloring.html

My three-year-old and I used water colors to color the birds (but markers or anything else would work just as well)

When they were dry, I took a blank piece of printer paper and cut out each bird with a "backing" of printer paper. (it's easier if you use a cartoony bird coloring page as opposed to a realistic one - they're easier to cut out!)

Next we added half of a cotton ball to the middle of each bird. Then we glued around the edges and let them dry. Once they were done we taped string to each one and hung them from the ceiling, to make our birds fly!!



For the Birds

This week we are studying birds!!

Of couse, we had to make pincone bird feeders. All of my kids got excited about this one, so we have lots of pinecone bird feeders haning in our trees right now. (It always suprises me what the older kids think is cool!). In case you've never heard of them, you just take a pinecone, smear some peanut butter on it, and then roll it in bird seed:

Just a few tips, if you'd like to try it at home:

Buy bird seed at Walmart, Target, or your grocery store. I bought mine at the pet store and paid ten dollars for it. That afternoon I saw the same size bag of bird seed for three dollars at the grocery store!!

Hang the bird feeders high enough in the tree that only the birds can get them. We have A LOT of stray cats around our home, and unless you'd like to try to explain the whole "circle of life" concept, it's best not to invite the birds within jumping distance of the cats!

And.... it's best to use a small container of peanut butter, because of course no matter what you do bird seed will get in it. (And if you're not quick enough your three-year-old will pour Pine-Sol into it and that will be the end of using it for bird feeders too!)

Taco Salad

Tonight's dinner was a hit. It got four stars from my ten-year-old (who has never given any recipe, besides frozen corn dogs, more than two stars!)

Tonight's menu was:

Taco Salad

Corn

Rice

First, I started the rice and the corn as the two side dishes.

Next I fixed a platter of all of the 'fixins' for the taco salad (shredded cheese, sour cream, limes, lettuce & tomato).

Then I heated up the refried beans.

Next I cooked one pound of ground beef and added store bought taco seasoning.

I took flour tortillas and fried them in about 3/4 " of vegetable oil for about thirty seconds on each side. (I just fried them in a non-stick skillet on the stove top)

This was my kids favorite part of the recipe, since they like to watch them puff up while they cook!!

I gave everyone a fried tortilla, and let them build their own taco salad!!!

Lakes and Ponds

So this week our theme is "Lakes and Ponds." Today we went to Lake Chabot to explore the lake and little creek.  My three-year-old had an ipod that he could use to take pictures of any animals that he saw at the lake. I was pretty impressed with some of the shots he got!

 This one is of four turles on a log in the middle of the water.

 A Goose.

Two ducks. (The second one is in the lower right hand corner.)

We also tried to take pictures of the some of the bugs we saw (but they didn't come out too well). And he also took a picture of a dog (I did say to take pictures of the animals!)

Once we got back, I printed out a simple book for him to put together. The cover had our picture on it and a title.

Each page had a sentance for him to dictate the end of, and then he drew a picture to illustrate it.

My Trip to Lake Chabot

At Lake Chabot I saw______. A turkey that popped his eyes out.

(note: there are wild turkeys at Lake Chabot - but we didn't see any today)

I also saw____. My mommy.

My favorite part was____. Going around in circles.

Next time I want to ____. Kill the bad guys (sorry, we're going through a serious super-hero phase...we think a lot about protecting people from bad guys)

The End!

This Week's Menu - Strawberries!

March 18 Strawberries

This week, the harvest of the week is strawberries!! I am hoping that this will be an easy sell for my kids. Most of them already love strawberries. Strawberries are a great source of vitamin C and folate calcuium and iron.

This week's link just has the menu and the recipe links (sorry no shoppig list yet). I'm running a bit behind schedule and wanted to get what I had ready posted!!

Flank Steak w/ Avocado Salsa

Tonight's Dinner was Flank Steak with Avacado Salsa, Rice, and Green Beans (but I used Broccoli!)

I also added a bit of fruit salad, since I had a ton left over from lunch!

For the rice, I just used 3 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of medium grain rice; I added 1 chicken bullion cube, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/4 tsp. paprika and 1 Tbsp. butter. Once it came to a boil I simmered it for 20 minutes and added chopped cilantro and chopped fresh oregeno.

I followed the recipe as written for the flank steak and the avacado salsa. To my suprise it came out too spicey for my family (I'm usually the only one who doesn't like spicey food at my house!) So, if you may want to start out with less red pepper flakes in the spice rub and in the salsa, and add more as you go!

If you'd like the full menu, you can down load a pdf of it on the "Menus" tab at the top of the blog!!

Spaghetti with Suprise Meatballs

So what's the big suprise? Each meatball is filled with mozarella cheese! And I love any suprise that involves cheese! Here's how we did it!!

Ingredients:


1 Jar of Spaghetti Sauce

½ lb. Spaghetti Noodles

1 ½ lbs. Lean Ground Beef

2 Pieces of Bread

1 Egg

½ Small Onion

1 Celery Stalk

Salt & Pepper

Fresh or Dried Sage

2 Individual String Cheese Sticks

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350⁰ F.

In a food processor, combine bread, onion, celery, salt and pepper, and sage. Process until mixture resembles crumbs.

Chop the string cheese sticks into twelve even pieces.

In a large mixing bowl combine bread mixture, ground beef, and the egg.

Form 12 meatballs from the meat mixture, placing a piece of string cheese in the center of each one.



Bake on a baking sheet for approximately 20 minutes or until done.

Boil spaghetti noodles according to package directions, Drain and add spaghetti sauce and meatballs. Serve!

St.Patrick's Day Theme

Here is a link to the pdf for this week's theme:

St. Patricks Day

This theme is a bit simpler than the other themes and would work really well for the two-year-old set as well as the three-year-olds.

I hope you have fun with it!

Breakfast!

Breakfast is a pretty rushed time at my house. I found, that doing as much of the prep work the night before as possible, keeps me motivated to make the rest of it! (as opposed to hitting the donut store on the way to school!). Even something as simple as chopping the fruit the night before makes things go so much smoother in the morning.

This morning we had, chopped fruit (strawberries, kiwi and mandarin oranges) with vanilla yogurt in the middle (yogurt can be a great source of protein, especially if you pick one that is lower in sugar). I sprinkle ours with cinnamon. We also had breakfast sausage and frozen fruit smoothies. Ours were made with bananas, frozen peaches, and a little bit of apple juice. You can use any frozen fruit you prefer (or already have on hand!!).

If you'd like the recipes there's a link on the "Menu" page at the top of the blog, or you can scroll down to Saturday's post and find it there as well!!

Happy Breakfast!

Next Week's Menu: Avocados

It's about time, but I think I'm back up and running again. I want to give a big THANK YOU to all of the friends and neighbors who brought by wonderful meals for my family and I after our newest baby was born. Now that I'm back on my feet, here is the menu for next week!

Our featured produce item is avocados. This is going to be a tough one, I love avocados, but none of my kidlets have been willing to try them. They are super good for you though. They are full of vitamin K and Folate. They also have healthy fat in them! Here's a link to the nutrition information if you're interested: avocado nutrition information

Since avocados lend themselves to texmex & mexican recipes, we have quite a few of them this week.

Here is the link to the pdf menu, shopping list, and recipes:

March 11 Avocados

There's also more information on the "menu" page at the top of the blog.

Thanks!!

Helpful Hints

If you happen to have an ant trail in a bedroom for several days, and you cannot find the source of it, despite several thorough cleanings.......check the window sill behind the dresser for corn dogs, you may just find the source of your problem.

And....

When making smoothies for breakfast: Do not assume that your 15-year-old food processor will replace the broken ice-crushing blender.... it won't.


You're welcome!

James Henry Oakman

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

6:17 am

10 lbs 13 oz.

You would think that it wouldn’t be quite as amazing the fifth time around, but it is. It is the same feelings of wonder and awe as the first time, when you hold a little person in your arms for the very first time. It’s the moment you realize that they are half you and half someone else, and completely new and unique. Someone you’ve never met, and yet someone you’ve lived with for nine months. And the most amazing part: I grew him in my belly!

Our newest little guy was born last Tuesday. We went in for an induction at 11:00 am on Monday. Once we got settled they started the Pitocin and settled in to wait. It took about 17 hours of waiting. In the meantime I had an epidural (which went considerably better than last time!). I also had an issue with my oxygen levels, so I ended up needing to wear an oxygen mask for the last few hours.

When it was almost time to deliver the midwife came in to do an exam and realized that the baby was OP (occiput posterior – it means that the baby’s head was down, but he was facing the wrong way) They called in an extra nurse for the delivery since there are sometimes a few complications associated with this position.

A few minutes later it was time to deliver. By this time the baby had rotated again and was now facing the side. Unfortunately, when he rotated the umbilical cord got wrapped around his chest and shoulder. When we tried to deliver him he had what is called shoulder dystocia. His head came out fine, but his shoulder was stuck. (Shoulder Dystocia) At this point we went from a room of three people attending us (a midwife and two nurses) to a room of about eleven people in less than 60 seconds. Everyone, was extremely busy and there were two nurses trying to reposition the baby so that we could get him out quickly! We were definitely on the clock, but we were able to deliver our little guy (in one minute and 27 seconds after they called the dystocia – we know because they were definitely timing it – we only had 2 minutes at that point). It was a bit chaotic since the midwife kept telling everyone to push, but I couldn’t figure out if she wanted me to push, or if she wanted me not to push and one of the nurses on either side of me to push to re-position the baby. But we figured it out!

After he delivered, they wisked him over to the baby warmer to make sure that he was okay. It took a while but they got him breathing on his own and he was okay after a couple of minutes. It's hard to write, as a mother, about what those moments are like. When things go from fine, to not fine in a matter of seconds, and everything stops, and everything starts spinning at the same time. But, through those moments I felt a sweet spirit of peace and assurance. It's hard to explain, but I knew that things would be okay. I didn't know what the outcome would be, but I knew that it was in God's hands. And that feeling of peace, that feeling that God was real, and knew about what was happening, never left until the doctors were sure that everything was okay.

He had a lot of facial bruising and looked a bit like a blueberry for the first day. (In fact when we went to the regular recovery floor, I dozed off with him in my arms and the first nurse who came to check on him tried to resuscitate him, because the bruising made him look so blue!) They were worried that the bruising would cause significant jaundice as it broke down. But, two days later, his color was fine. He did have a bit of jaundice, but not enough to need any additional treatment.

So our newest little man made it into the world just fine! He is healthy and happy, and I am back up and around. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to blogging this week!

Thank you so much to everyone, who has been helping us out! We’ve had wonderful support from family, friends, and wonderful people at church. We’re so grateful for the baby sitting and the meals and everything else!!

Shepherd's Pie

So this is from Tuesday's Dinner. I made the shepherd's pie and salad. We skipped the apple crisp. Even though it had a full serving of fruit and the oatmeal, I had one kido making cookies for a friends birthday (and I knew we would end up a percentage of those!) and I had to bribe another kidlet with icecream for doing homework (I know...I know....but the homework got done). And when I bribe one kid with icecream the deal is everybody gets some. Which ends up creating quite the cheering section for the one being bribed!

The only change I made to this recipe, was that I couldn't find my cheddar cheese to put on the top, so I used american instead. The cheddar would have looked prettier, but alas, I didn't find it in the back of the refrigerator until the next day. I did have to use a larger pan, than what the receipe called for, I baked mine in a 7x10 pan instead of the 8x8 in the recipe. And, I do think that it needed salt and pepper in both the potatoes and the meat mixture. Of course, that's just personal taste!!!

The kids gave it mixed reviews. I had two who liked it, one who didn't and one who refused to try it on principal. He decided that anything with "pie" in the name should never, never have meat or vegetables in it. So we may have to re-name this one a casserole next time!

The recipe is in the link to the menu on the menu page, or you can scroll down to the earlier post and find it there as well!!

Planes, Trains and Things that Go!

Sorry this is late....I'm still figuring out how to do this with different software.
Here is the PDF for the weekly theme: Planes Trains and Things that Go!

Planes Trains and Things that Go

The format is slightly different from the others I have posted. If you click on any square on the schedule that has underlined words, it will take you to an outside webpage. Even the pages that I created myself still take you to another pdf document. Hopefully this will work just as well or even better!! Since I'm still testing this out Please Let Me Know if you have any problems, or if any of the links aren't working so I can fix them!!

And of course, let me know how the activities work for you!!

Thanks!!



Pear Bread

This morning's recipe was pear bread (I made it the night before!) The recipe link is below:

Pear Bread

I made a few minor changes to the recipe when I made it. I didn't bother peeling the pears (I figure the skin has more nutrition in it, and it "melts" into the bread when it bakes, so you don't notice it - Plus it's a lot faster to make if you don't have to peel the pears!!)

I also left out the nuts, since my family doesn't paticularly like nuts, and I put in about a cup of chocolate chips instead.

The recipe does make two loaves. So, you can serve one and freeze the other. Or, serve one and suprise a friend/neighbor with the other. Or you can bake half the batter as bread (to serve or freeze) and the other other half as muffins (to serve or freeze) Whatever works best for you!!



January 28th Menu

Hello Everyone!

Here is the menu for this coming week. Sorry it is a bit late in coming. I'm using a lower version of my pdf reader, while I am home on maternity leave, so it will look a bit different. When you open the pdf link, the first page will still have the menu, but instead of clicking on the menu square for the link to that recipe. All of the recipes and links will be listed on the first page under the menu. You should be able to just click on the link from the pdf, but if that doesn't work, you can always copy the link into your browser.

This week's produce item is New Potatoes (because Safeway has them on sale this week for $.99 per pound!) Here's to hoping for a great week!!





Menu Jan 28 New Potatoes

Menu for January 14th: Broccoli

Hi Everyone!
Here's our menu for this coming week. This week's produce item is broccoli! This is one vegetable that my kids either love or hate depending on the day of the week. We go through phases like that. This week, I tried to mix it in with a variety of recipes so that it didn't get too redundant.

If you'd like to look through the recipes. here's a link to a pdf menu. It also includes a shopping list. Just a note, if the ingredient is listed in a recipe, I put the amount before the ingredient, if the amount you need is specific to the number of people you're cooking for (like apples for snack time) I list the amount we buy for my family of 6 after the ingredient. That way you know to adjust for your family.

Jan 14 Weekly Menu

Next Week's Theme: Arctic Animals

In case anyone wanted to follow along with next weeks preschool theme: Arctic Animals, here's the link to the pdf with all of the materials and instructions.

Arctic Animals

One of Those Moments

This is my first official week of maternity leave! It has gone really well.
Except that somehow in the past two days I've managed to strain my sciatic nerve. Which means that far from getting everything done, that I dreamed of accomplishing while on maternity leave, it now hurts to do anything but sit still. (Oddly enough sitting still was not on my list of things to do on my maternity leave.)

So, I've just been taking everything a little slower than usualy and stopping every 10-15 mintues to sit down and rest for 15-20 minutes. Fine. Everything was going well, until it was time to pick up the kidos from school.

My husband switched one of his night shifts to a day shift this week, so he was at work and would need to be picked up after his shift ended at 4:00. I realized as I was heading out the door at 2:30 that the younger kids had try-outs for the school play and would not be getting out until 4:30. So, knowing we would need to coordinate this, I hastily call my husband. He answers the phone but says he can't talk. Hmm... well, I don't have a cell phone at the moment, and we're out of minutes on the car phone, so we'll have to wing it.

I go pick up my eleven-year-old at middle school, and since we have an hour-and-a-half until the younger kids get out, we stop for milkshakes and then drive to the elementary school. She wants to go inside and see former friends and teachers, so I turn around to get the three-year-old out of his seat, and realize that he has no shoes. Really?? Okay, we usually have a few pairs in the back seat, but you guessed it, one of the first things I accomplished on my maternity leave was to clean out the car!

So, I send in my eleven-year-old and try to find something to entertain my three year old in the car for over an hour. I end up letting him move to the middle seat (since the car is parked) he can sit in his brother's booster seat and play with the ipod. This makes him happy. After the hour and a half is over, I'm anxiously waiting for the eleven-year-old to bring the eight and nine year old back to the car as planned. Only they haven't come yet. I'm starting to get worried that my husband is stranded at his work with no way to call and tell me. So, I start getting my bare-foot three-year-old out of the car to go look for them. (Remember the whole sciatic nerve thing?? Yeah, also means I can't lift anything -especially three-year-olds - so now he has to walk bare-foot into the school) Only now he mentions that he peed his pants. Really??? But he had a pull-up on, only aparently not a very absorbant one. Now his brother's booster seat is wet with pee. Great!

Well now, I take my bare-foot dripping-with-pee three-year-old into the school to find my other kids. Who are on their way out. They are late because my eight-year-old was the very last kid in the entire school to audition! Of course, now he remembers that he borrowed a pencil from a teacher, so he immediately turns around and runs across the corner of the parking lot to return it to her. Only he slips and falls on the asphalt because his back pack strap has broken off. (A fact he mentioned this morning as we were late getting into the car) A fact also pointed out to me by the teacher who saw him fall, and ran to help him before, I his pregnant limping mother with the wet, bare-footed three-year-old in toe could get to him.

He is of course sobbing, he's scraped his elbow, both forearms and the palms of his hands. We're late, I have to tell him he can't sit in his regular seat, because his brother peed in it. He now has to sit by his nine-year-old sister who is very indignant that she has to sit next to her brother, because he is upset, and she doesn't want to have anything to do with him. As soon as he sits down he wants his new ipod. Which causes another torrent of sobbing because apparently his three-year-old brother has changed the settings on his favorite game and now it is in French.

We finally get everyone buckled, albeit in the wrong seats, and we get moving as fast as we can to get home to see if Daddy found another way home from work, or if he's walking by this point, or if he's just hanging out waiting for us. Only we seem to be completely out of gas. And the only gas station we pass on the way home is the gas station that only takes cash or debit cards. (You guessed it, I only had a credit card with me!) Now, we're headed down the freeway, just hoping we make it home, and my three-year-old decides to unlock the car door. This does not sit well with me at this point, so now, I'm yelling at him about being safe in the car, and how the last time he didn't listen in the car he had to go to bed, and how none of us want that again, plus this day would really not get better, if we lost a car door or a three-year-old on the freeway. About five minutes later, he starts to gag, and all I can think is if we start vomiting in the too-clean-to-find-shoes car I am going to quit this motherhood gig once and for all!

Thankfully, he did not throw up. We did make it home without running out of gas. We found my husband at home, who forgot to mention that he had already made arrangements with a co-worker to drive him home. Of course his next comment was: "What's for dinner?" followed closely by: "Did you know there are ants in our closet and they are all over my white dress shirts?"

I'm still considering this motherhood gig and weather I'm really cut out for it!!!

One of the things I like about having a pre-planned menu, is that it makes it easier for me to be flexible with dinner! We had pork chops tonight, but I switched out the side dishes. I usually print out a copy of the menu and put it on the refrigerator for the week. Then I cross off the dishes as I make them during that week. That way if I have to go out of order or switch something around, I can tell by looking what I have left to choose from (and I know I'll have the ingredients on hand!)

For tonight's dinner, I made pork chops. I bought boneless chops and pan fried them in a non-stick skillet. Then I put all of them in an 11"x 7" baking dish, covered them with foil and finished cooking them in a 350 degree oven. I have an electric thermometer that you can put into the food while it bakes, and see the read-out on the outside of the oven, so I just cooked them to 165 degrees and served.

The sides I "borrowed" from Sunday's dinner.

If you're interested you can click  on the menu tab at the top of the blog and download any of the weekly menus.

 This week we started our Ice and Snow projects! At the beginning of the week, I usually print out the activities I'd like to use and put them in a binder. The binder has tabs for the days of the week. Then the night before, after the kids have gone to bed, I usually gather everything I'll need for the next day and put it in a basket. That way, when I sit down with my three-year-old to do the projects, I've got everything I need. I also cut out anything I want to pre-cut the night before! This is great to do when I'm watching TV.

 We were a bit of an over-achiever with our glitter snowflakes. We decided we needed glitter, stars, and more stars, but we had fun with it!!

This was our story board. My three-year-old was interested for about three minutes in it, until his older brother came home from school and wanted to play with it. Then all of a sudden he wanted it all to himself, and it was the coolest thing ever!

If you'd like a pdf document with all of the Ice and Snow activities here's the link:

Snow and Ice

This morning's breakfast was waffles. I thought it would be a good back to school treat for the kidos who are headed back after Winter Break.
There's a great basic waffle recipe at all recipes.com if you'd like to make them from scratch, but making them from a mix is fine too!! Classic Waffles
I just had to include a picture, since my mother-in-law gave me a Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Waffle iron for our wedding, and it's still our favorite! Who doesn't love Winnie the Pooh pancakes in the morning!
I decided to go with fresh strawberries, but if they are hard to find or expensive you can always use frozen. I just put frozen fruit in a saucepan. Add a little sugar if necessary, and bring it to a low boil. Then I add a little cornstarch mixed in water, bring it back to a boil, and let it thicken up. Voila! Fruit topping!

Preschool Theme: Ice and Snow

With all of the frost we've been having in my little neck of the woods, I thought this week would be the perfect time to do all of our ice and snow activities.


Here's a link to the pdf, which includes a materials list:

Ice and Snow

For some reason I'm not able to upload pictures at the moment, so hopefully this afternoon, I'll be able to post some of the pictures of the ice and snow activities!

Menu for the week of January 7th

Next week's menu will feature oranges as the "Harvest of the Week."

Once you click on the link, it will open up an interactive pdf document. Clicking on any of the items that are underlined will automatically take you to the recipe.

If you'd like more inforamtion on how I create the menus, feel free to click on the "Menus" tab at the top of the blog.

Here's the link to the pdf:

Menu Jan 7 Oranges

Of Shower Curtains and Boys

First of all, let me just say that I really do watch my children......really I do.
Last night, while waiting for my eight-year-old to fall asleep, my three-year-old was running around. He had just gotten out of the bath a few minutes before and was running around waiting for his turn to go to bed (they share a room and they cannot go to bed at the same time, or they will keep each other up FOREVER).
I was finishing something up on the computer when I heard my three-year-old coughing. As I got up to see what was going on, he met me half-way in the kitchen and threw up all over my shoes!! This is not an uncommon thing in my house......it happens every now and then, but this was a bit out of the blue. He hadn't been sick, it had been a while since dinner. For some reason I kept asking him if he had put anything in his mouth. Nope, he was sure he hadn't. He said his tummy hurt, but that seemed obvious. 
Once he was done throwing up, I took him into the bathroom to give him yet anther bath. As I pulled back the shower curtain, I realized that the liner was torn.......and missing a piece. (It's blue, and super-thin, and I suppose looks a bit like a giant fruit roll-up.....sort of??)
"Jay...........did you put the shower curtain in your mouth?"
"NO! I'm not talking about it!"
"Jay...mommy needs to know what goes into your mouth or your belly...... did you put a piece of the shower curtain liner in your mouth???"
"NO, Nope, no."
"Okay.......let's get you washed up"
A few minutes later my twelve-year-old comes up to me and says "Jay just told me the wierdest thing....he says he ate the shower curtain"

Seriously...........he ate the shower curtain liner!!! I have absolutely no response to this.....are shower curtains poisionous? They can't possibly be good for you.......yeah....try searching on the internet for whether shower curtain liners are poisonious if injested...Okay...so they are made out of some very icky stuff. Umm...try calling your husband at work to tell him your son ate a SHOWER CURTAIN LINER!!!!!!! Should I take him to the emergency room ('cause I'd just LOVE to be that mom that comes in and has to explain to the ER staff that I think my kid might have eaten a shower curtain!) Wow... no the house is waaay too messy for a visit from CPS. Let's just call his doctor at home and see what he says.

Bottom line: He's fine.....I think he may have tried to eat a piece of the plastic, but I don't think it went down. (As icky as it seems it wasn't in any of the throw-up) I'm hoping he just gagged on it and that's what caused the vomiting!

New Rule: NO EATING SHOWER CURTAINS!

And we now own a very thick, non-tearing, NON-EDIBLE shower liner!

"Wednesday Night Suprise"

This week I haven't posted a menu, since at my house it's time to use up all of the odds and ends left in my cupboards, refrigerator and freezer. Every so often they just seem to pile up! You know the extra cans that somehow made it into the shopping cart, or the leftover half of a cucumber.
So instead of sharing a whole menu this week, I thought I would share some of the tips I use when I want to use up most of the odds and ends.

1) Soup - soup is a great way to use up little bits and pieces of leftovers. I stock up on chicken broth when it's on sale and keep it in the pantry. That way, when I have leftover meat, I can just simmer it with whatever leftover veggies I have in the fridge. Add in some kind of starch (chopped potatoes, rice, or dry pasta) and whatever fresh or dried herbs you have in the cupboard, and you are good to go!

2) Salads - much the same thing, as long has you have some greens and a favorite salad dressing on hand you can add in pretty much whatever leftover raw veggies you have on hand. To make it the main dish add in any shredded meat you have and you're set!

3) Omelets - again, good for adding small amounts of leftover veggies and cheeses. (If omelets are challenging, just scrambling the eggs with the other ingredients works just as well - especially when topped with shredded cheese!)

4) Fried Rice - you can take day old (or 3-day-old) rice and add veggies, eggs, and meat (optional). Just fry it up in a little bit of oil in a wok or a non-stick frying pan.

5) When I have more challenging ingredients left over, I turn to one of my favorite online recipe sites:

www.allrecipes.com.

They have an option at the top of the page to search by ingredient. I prioritize my extra ingredients because I want to use the ones that might go bad soonest first. I pick two, and enter them into the search by ingredient page. Then scroll through the options it gives me. If none of them appeal, try a different combination. Many times, it gives me options I never really thought about. Sometimes I end up needing just one or two ingredients from the store in order to make whatever looks good (okay with me, since I'm trying to avoid wasting the ingredients that might otherwise go bad and get thrown away). The last example I have was typing in "carrots" and "sour cream" and coming up with a great recipe for sheppard's pie that I didn't even know I was craving!

If you have other hints or tricks for using up the odds, ends, and leftovers; let me know in the comments, and I'll post them for everyone else!!