Popping in to post some kid lunches!

ww pasta w/jar spaghetti sauce, steamed vegetables, and chicken breast

The kids love eating tortillas and cheese–M wants to eat them for breakfast sometimes. This time I put in some baby spinach.

Lots of times I find half eaten pieces under the table or inside of books–I think I have E-chan to blame for that!

And for the last pic of the day, my clean kitchen floor! It usually has crap stuck all over it and cereal swept to the corner, but I figured out how to get it super clean! I got a magic eraser and went to town on the linoleum. So easy and now it’s squeaky clean!! I have to use gloves to use those things and I’m not really sure how they work, but I’m ok with that if my floor is this easy to clean all the time. Yay!

Wow I can’t even think of a title. lol Running low on brain cells, plus I am finally going to admit that I am sick. It just hits you like a truck when the weekend comes around, doesn’t it? Sorry to leave you that last post with the big plate of hot dogs. Blech. Here is something to cleanse your palate:

We ate tacos for like 3 days in a row. Good thing the people I live with don’t complain too much about the food. I’m so lucky! These just have salmon and cheese, but on a different night I added some black beans. Canned….I’m not that organized, guys. I’ll give you my salsa recipe so you don’t have to buy jarred salsa.

Salsa
2 Roma tomatoes
1 small cucumber
1/4 onion
cilantro
2 stalks green onion
jalapeno peppers
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice
rock salt

Cut up the tomatoes and cucumbers into little cubes and sprinkle on a tiny bit of rock salt. Chop up the onion, green onion, cilantro, and peppers (I never have fresh jalapeno peppers so I just use the dried red pepper flakes) and add them all to the tomato and cucumbers. Add the olive oil and lemon/lime juice and let the salsa sit for about 15 minutes at room temperature. Wow so easy, right? Now go make some and leave me comments on what you eat with salsa. Chips do not count. CHIPS ARE THE DEVIL! I can’t buy them anymore because I seem to eat the whole bag. Must be the salt—mmmm, salt.

K hot dogs are kinda gross (make that really gross), but M wanted to make these from this Halloween magazine we got at Barnes & Noble. Can you tell what they are? Mummies! With mustard dots for eyeballs! They are wrapped with those refridgerated breadsticks that you can bake in the oven. I think these were in there for about 20 min.

I so should not have made these, but M wanted to make some cupcakes. I used yogurt in place of all the oil and they turned out totally yummy! Ok so maybe they would have been healthier if I had not made them at all…

Lunch for the kiddies:

rice with furikake
chicken and vegetables
mini muffin and strawberries

Look at these cool lunch bags we got from Whole Foods! They were only about $1.50. COOL!

I was at Whole Foods the other day buying some fruit and vegetables (pretty much the only thing I buy there because I can easily drop $100 without knowing it!) and there was this display with these mac and cheese boxes and cans of tuna.

So I bought a couple of boxes and for dinner we had this totally easy yummy tuna mac and cheese with vegetables.

All I did was cook the pasta and add the cut up broccoli to the pasta water 4 minutes before the pasta is done. I like to mix the cheese powder with milk in a separate bowl (don’t believe the writing on that box of mac and cheese, there is nothing “natural” about powdered cheese!!!). Then I added some butter to the pot and heated up the tuna and some sauteed kale that was leftover from the night before. Then I put the pasta back in and added the cheese powder mixture. Super easy dinner, and everyone liked it. This is two boxes of mac and cheese, btw. They eat a lot.

Here’s a picture of my plate–of course I dump pepper and chili pepper flakes all over it. Hmmm those are paper plates and dessert spoons…..every single dish and utensil was dirty but I’m not even going to complain about that right now. I figure it’s a success if the kids eat at least 1 green colored vegetable thing a day.

Oh and one more funny picture of E-chan’s favorite thing to do these days…and yes my kitchen floor is always that dirty and cluttered. Okay I admitted it!

I think I am liking this preschool thing. I get to drink a lot more coffee AND I have time to blog now! Blogging makes my blog happy, it’s been so neglected lately. Once a week M goes to school 30 min early to eat lunch with the other kids. Here’s her food for last Wednesday. Grandma in Japan sent her a brand new hello kitty lunch box with a bunch of bento accessories, isn’t it cute? VERY pink. LOL I kind of worry the teacher might get annoyed with M and all her “stuff” that needs to get put back in the bag but I figure I’ll wait until I get a complaint before sending something with a little fewer parts. Plus M is really into tying knots these days–you never know when you will find something completely tied in knots around here.

And little sister’s:

rice balls, frozen vegetables, boiled eggs, fruit, cheese, and tea

M went off to her first day of preschool today! Being the good mother I am (ha ha ha) I took some pictures. But then I got irritated when they wouldn’t smile at the camera at the same time (Bad Mom). I finally got a good one after about the 50th picture. Totally not kidding about the number of pictures I took. And I got a pic of a super funny stop sign. HAHAHAHAHA

I finally jumped on the Twilight bandwagon. Then jumped off. The book did not really live up to all the hype, I am sorry to say. Or maybe I just need more blood, sex, violence, and swearing in the book. Can someone write an R rated version? I went searching around for more vampire series (I will read the rest of the Twilight series, though…eventually). I started in on Laurell Hamilton’s Anita Blake series. They hit the spot–the heroine is awesome and I like the author’s writing. I’m not very good at book reviews but it’s totally what I want to read right now. Thanks to paperbackswap I can get pretty much all the books for free, and then not have to wince when my wallet takes a hit at the bookstore. I actually stopped reading for a while because I blow through books like toilet paper. Seriously, dudes…I read Twilight in one day. Don’t worry the kids are still alive, they might have even gotten fed and taken care of that one day. I just happen to be able to read really really really fast.

I’ll be moving on to the Sookie Stackhouse books next, but I’m really enjoying the True Blood tv show so maybe much later. I think I got some Sherilyn Kenyon books in the mail today too….yummy.

Sometimes I get some really awesome stuff on paperbackswap. I put a ton of books on my wish list and every so often I get lucky! Lookit!

And the patterns are totally still intact! Crazy.

I have been eyeing this book every single time I go to the bookstore. I just didn’t buy it because I know I probably won’t make much out of it. Eri is already too big for most of the clothing plus Amy Butler patterns tend to be more complicated than necessary. M wants to make the kitty stuffie on the front, though. How cute is this little girl???

Anyway, free time is over–baby monster just woke up from her nap. Why is it that my children wake up screaming? What did I do to them? Both my kids are like that–wake up and start bawling like something is trying to eat them. Hmm. I better get to work on this WIP, too. Poor dolly is still headless.

Alright so this post has nothing to do with Chicken in a Biskit but every so often I see it in the store and I have to restrain myself from buying a box. Why a cracker should be chicken flavored is beyond me, but they taste soooo good. Too bad it is sprinkled with msg otherwise I’d go get some right now. ANYWAY here is an easy chicken recipe, good for those pieces you don’t know what the hell to do with–like leg quarters, for example. DISCLAIMER: You should probably use a meat thermometer to figure out if your chicken is cooked all the way through, 165 degrees, yadda yadda yadda. Personally I think if you cook chicken to that temp you get rubber, but whatever…it’s your kitchen so cook at your own peril. I know I do.

I was using Spike seasoning for a while but it’s too salty. So I picked up some Braggs Sprinkle Seasoning at the supermarket and I like this stuff much better.

Roasted Chicken Pieces (ok that sounds totally gross but anyway…)

preheat oven to 350 degrees F
butterfly the chicken pieces to expose the bone
Shake some Braggs Seasoning all over both sides of the chicken pieces (dark meat is gonna taste better, just so you know)
Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, skin side down
When there are a few minutes left, broil both sides for a few minutes to make the skin crispy

YAY You did it. I used to be scared of using my oven but now it’s a piece of cake. Hmm I’d rather be eating cake…

Sometimes I get lucky and win giveaways on blogs! Look at this huge box of loot that came in the mail a few days ago!!


It is all from Lauren at enjoylife. You can check out more stuff here and here.
So the timing is totally perfect because I need to make some cards and I had nothing to stick on them. I did lose the sparkly gem flowers to M, though…she decided they were perfect for her little animal house. How can I say no to some crafty embellishment?

Thanks so much for all the stickers! We love them