Easy Creamy Chicken

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 2-4 hours (4-qt. slow-cooker)

Makes 8 servings

 

8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

lemon pepper to taste

10 3/4-oz. can cream of chicken soup

3-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

8-oz. carton sour cream

1. Place 4 breasts in bottom of slow-cooker, Sprinkle with lemon pepper.
2. Mix soup and cream cheese together in a bowl. When blended, fold in sour cream.
3. Pour half the sauce over the breast in the cooker.
4. Repeats steps 1-3.
5. Cover and cook on High for 2-4 hours, or until chicken is tender.

You can serve this over rice

Technorati Tags: Chicken,slow-cooker,easy recipes

It is finally Friday!

This has been a very difficult week for us me. Everything has been trying my patience and honestly I’m glad tomorrow is Saturday. The only thing scheduled is baseball at ten. All week I have been absent minded and nerved. I either have the paper and not the pencil or have the pencil and not the paper.  I am looking forward to next week though. There will not be baseball games and only a few practices. I enjoy the excitement I see on their faces when they play ball and meet with old and new friends. I enjoy the nachos and cheese, Italian ice, sunflower seeds and Gatorade. And even though I feel totally guilty about it, I need a small break. Baseball hit us full throttle and my body wasn’t ready.

Of course, we still had good points to the week such as all the boys has won at least one game, slow-cooker meals have saved me time, we have three caterpillars that have built a cocoon in our bug habitat and my new washing machine is great awesome and it deep steams.

Small Glance at the boys week…

• Dylan decided to start reading The Magic Tree House books and this week started his second book. He read “Summer of the Sea Serpent” first and now he has started back at number one, “Dinosaurs Before Dark”.
• T.J. has found a new collection of books he enjoys, Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter, and has read three this week. His reading skills have really kicked in high gear. I was getting worried despite everyone telling me it was normal and he just needed time.
• Tommy also found “Biscuit” books and has read two this week. Math is his stronger points. He has been practicing skip counting and beginning multiplication.
• Wesley has read a couple random books but mostly he sticks to his Hooked On Phonics program. He mostly checks books out of the library from the adult side. He fell asleep watching a documentary movie about Abraham Lincoln. He loves The History Channel and Discovery.

Easy Slow Cooker Soup

Beef Vegetable Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 6-8 hours
Ideal slow cooker size: 4-qt.



1lb. chuncks of stewing beef
28-oz. can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 tomato can of water
16-oz. pkg. of your favorite frozen vegetable
half a 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped onions
1 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4-1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (optional)

1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on High 6-8 hours.


Double this recipe (using 7 qt. slow cooker).
Freeze any leftovers for a quick second meal.

Not Enough Protien

I was making chicken noodle soup and crackers for the boys at lunch. Wesley decides he does want chicken noodle so he comes up with a plan.

Wesley: "I would rather have eggs for lunch."
Me: "I have already made you chicken noodle."
Wesley: "Chicken noodle doesn't have enough protein in it for me."
Me: "Yes it does, chicken has protein."
Wesley: "Well, I can't eat chicken noodle soup because I'm not even sick."

Baseball has hit us full throttle. Last night was T.J. and Dooley's first game of the season. They won with a score of 11 to 8! They were so excited. They really gave it their all. I love to see them get so excited. Here they are in their uniforms. So Cute!

Lapbooking

I always shied away from lapbooking because it seemed it would be very time consuming and expensive. About a month ago I received a free one from currclick.com (one of my favorite sites). It was “Where the Wild Things Are”. We already had the book to read so I read all the instructions and decide to try it. To my surprise, the kids loved it and so did I. I surfed the Internet for books and tips on how to get started. I found a few pointers and gathered supplies. I found a lot of lapbooks on currclick.com and we went at it full force. I wish I would have had the courage to try them sooner. I would have been doing them the entire year.

Since then, we have done speedy lapbooks on snakes and all the continents.

I am already planning the lapbooks I want to complete next school year. I don’t want them to get burn out on it but I now have a lot of ideas to keep them new and different. We used plain m folders on the one we have done so far but I plan to purchase multi-color packs and print on colored paper.

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Saving Money On Groceries

I am always trying to find ways to save us money and one of our big expenses per month is the cost of food. Here are a few ways I have found saves money at the grocery store.

• Find a grocery store with a rewards card. I use Bi-Lo and for every fifty dollars I spend I get five cents off per gallon of gas. Now, this adds up very quick for us and I usually get around seventy cents off per gallon on a tank of fuel.
• Find one that has e-coupons. They load to your card and you don't have to dig through printed coupons. I usually forget I clipped the coupon or forget it at home so this saves us money since I am so forgetful.
• Set a budget and stick with it.
• Always pick up an sales ad to see their current specials.
• Make a list before you leave the house and stick to it. I had a bad habit of grabbing this that weren't on my list and two weeks later they still remained in my cabinet.
• Do an inventory of the items you already have so you can plan meals with those items.
• Eat leftovers. I often heat leftovers for lunch the next day.

I think the best thing I have done to save money, time and stress is make out a menu for a week, bi-weekly or monthly. I use a step-by-step process I found online. It comes with forms to complete each step. It has been so long now I am not sure of the site. I provided these forms below if you choose to use them. When you first start using this it is time consuming but after the first time it goes much faster.

1. Make a list of the meals I usually prepare. I write down every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) I can think of. I write the three columns at the top of the sheet and flip it over to make an list for snacks. I keep this list to add meals and so I can use it the next month.
2. Plan out four weeks of menus. I printed a form that comes with the menu planner.
3. You can transfer step 2’s form to My Weekly Menu Planner form if you choose.
4. Make a master shopping list for each week including all ingredients needed for each meal.
5. Now you are ready to go shopping.

 

Step 2 four week menu form.

Step 3 My Weekly Menu Planner

Step 4 Master Shopping List

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