Pay it Forward

A couple of years ago I saw the movie, Pay it Forward.

I know, I know… super behind the curve.

The movie of course, had me sobbing at the end. In fact, it was so touching, I became super dramatic and all I could think about was how I could change the world.

Have you all seen the movie? I know I am not the only one. I have real live proof, and here it is:

I was craving a smoothie from Smoothie King and I did not have enough energy to possibly get out of the car to get my smoothie. Nooo.. I had to go through the drive through.

There were a few cars in front of me, and I was late for something ( I cannot even remember what it was now) and the line was taking forever. Horrible things were going through my mind such as: how the people working must not know what they are doing and that the woman in front of me is obviously one of those obnoxious people who change their minds about their order at the last second.

So when FINALLY I get up to the window, I am all huffy and the man gives me what I interpret as a smirk. As if he knew, that he had ruined my entire day by taking so long. I grumpily accept the smoothie. He apologizes for the wait and explains that the woman in front of me paid for my smoothie because she tries to do at least one nice thing a day for a stranger.

Guilt came over me for all my terrible thoughts and impatient attitude. This woman reminded me that there is goodness in people. Then the man says, “the woman’s only request is that you treat others with the kindness and generosity that she showed you”.

I occasionally remember this kindness and even the memory of it makes my day. Since then, I have been doing my best to “Pay it forward” in small ways.

Have you ever been shown kindness and generosity from a complete stranger?

Small Successes for the Week!

Here are my small successes for the week!

1) Keeping my cool when “C” decided to have her own “lenten fast”, that lasted 3 whole days. Yes thats right, I remained relatively calm when my daughter refused to eat for 3 days.

2) Made it to Ash Wednesday Mass.

3) Successfully planned dinner for the week!

Grocery List Template

How many of you have trouble making a list for the grocery store? Perhaps you just right it down on a random sheet of paper and then shove it into your purse, hoping to fish it out during your trip?

That was the story of my life. I just decided to create a template that I can print out to write my list on to help save me time. I thought I would share it with all of you. Just click on the link below to get a PDF printable form to help you make your own list!

Hope it helps!

Grocery List

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I tried this soup for the first time yesterday. It turned out really well and was very easy to make! I actually found a couple of recipes and combined them together to create this one. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 TSP chili powder
• 1/8 TSP cayenne pepper
• 1 TSP cumin
• salt and pepper (to taste)

• 1 onion chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic (can also use garlic powder)
• 1 TBSP of olive oil
• 1 TBSP chili powder
• 1 TSP cumin
• 1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
• 2 (10.5 oz) cans of chicken broth
• 1 (10.5 oz) can full of water
• 1  (15 oz) can of corn
• 1 (15 oz) can of hominy
• 1 (4 oz) can of  green chile peppers
• 1 (15 oz) can of black beans
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 Tortillas

Directions:

1. Combine first 5 spices and sprinkle on chicken breasts.
2. Place chicken in skillet with olive oil and cook on medium heat until cooked through

meanwhile

1. place all other ingredients, except tortillas, together in 5Q crock pot
2. After chicken is cooked through, shred it and place in crock pot.
3. Cook soup on low heat for 8- 10 hours. ( or 4-5 on high)
4. When you are almost ready to eat place tortillas in the oven for 4 minutes on medium broil
5. Sprinkle on top of finished soup

Let me know what you think!

 

Grocery Aisle Nightmare

Being the obvious super mom that I am, decided to finally take the plunge and plan out a menu for the week (which you can see at the top of the site). Of course many of you have been doing this for ages and it comes naturally to you.

But I however, have never gotten it together long enough to make this happen. Unfortunately it ended in me feeling like a major newbie. I got my recipes together (which, I will post with pictures throughout the week), made a list and set out to the store this afternoon. Obvious recipe for success. WRONG.

Here are the major mistakes that I made:

1) Created the list in order of recipes, not by category. So once I finally got finished with all the ingredients to one recipe, I had to go BACK to the produce aisle to retrieve yet, more vegetables.

2) Not understanding the layout of the grocery store well enough. I was constantly searching all over the store to find what I needed.

3) Taking C when it was not her prime time of the day. End result: both of us nearly losing our cool.

For all of you who feel like me, I took it upon myself to search the internet to find what a common grocery store’s layout is. Here is what I found:

I hope this helps many of you spare yourself the embarrassment that I endured.

Note: The picture does not seem too clear, but if you double click on it, it will enlarge.

Toddler’s Science Class

Now before you think I am crazy, hear me out… I do not instruct C in science classes. The smart little cookie has figured out GRAVITY all on her own. She has figured out: what goes up must go…

SPLAT!

In fact her teachers in her Mother’s Day Out program have even insisted that I must have signed her up for softball. Yup, she has that good of an arm.

So what do I do you might ask? Google.. “what to do when your one and a half year old child throws food and you don’t know how to discipline her”. Of course, I am very short and to the point in my google searches.

Rest assured the Experts at Baby Center tell me that I should distract her or tell her “no” firmly when she throws things she is not supposed to. Lucky for me, C puts on a grin, while of course repeating no, just long enough to throw more food. And when I distract her, well then she is also distracted from eating.

The mean mom I am, started the dreaded “time-outs”. We reached a peak of 4 today during the 20 minute duration of lunch.

I guess I am no expert. Maybe this is just a phase… Google also told me that.

Fiery Pork Skewers

Here is a perfect spring or summer time recipe for outdoor grilling! I found a similar recipe to this on Allrecipes.com, but I made a few tweaks to make it my own. As a note you may have some extra sauce left over, or if you are like me… you can double the sauce to make it extra flavorful. You can even add some on top of the rice! This serves 4-6 people.

Ingredients:

–       4 tablespoons teriyaki sauce

–       2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

–       2 tablespoon vegetable oil

–       2 teaspoon brown sugar

–       1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

–       ¾ lb pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes (any pork can work)

–       1 red pepper

–       1 green pepper

–       ½ onion

–       1 cup of brown rice

Directions:

–       Marinade pork in half the mixture for at least 30 minutes

–       Follow directions to cook rice

–        Preheat grill on high heat and oil lightly

–       Place pork, onions and peppers on wooden or metal skewers; brush with the sauce; cook 10-12 minutes on grill while brushing every once in a while

–     Serve over rice

Let me know what you think! Hope you enjoy.

Note: You can also double the recipe and before grilling, place half of the skewers in the freezer. Then when you are ready to serve again, just take them out of the freezer in the morning, make a little extra sauce and place on the grill!