Apple-Banana Oatmeal with Pecans

I lost a dear friend this week. The circumstances are as tragic as they come. Death after death after death in her family in a very short period of time, with a tiny girl left behind. It's shocking and heart breaking. I've been in a funk with such a heavy heart. I know I'll see my friend someday in the afterlife, but I'm just sad for the way she left, and the hard life ahead of her daughter. I'll miss her bright smile and contagious laughter.
I haven't felt very excited about eating much. But this oatmeal has been a comforting breakfast this week. Easy on the stomach, with homey flavors:

Apple-Banana Oatmeal with Pecans

2/3 cup water
1/3 cup oatmeal
1 banana
1 apple (chopped)
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp brown sugar
dash of cinnamon
dash of salt
dash of nutmeg
4 pecan halves (optional)

Put your oatmeal and water together in a microwave safe bowl. I stick mine in for 1:45, but it will depend on your microwave. As soon as it's done, I put the chopped apples in, while it's still piping hot. Then quickly place a plate on top of the bowl. I usually do this while I'm getting out the other ingredients. Let it sit there for a couple minutes (it's gives the apples a little bit of a cooked taste). Then add all the other ingredients. Most days I also pair it with some easy scrambled eggs. I usually cook the eggs while the oatmeal is resting with the apples.

It's a solid breakfast and keeps me going for several hours.
To all of you with a heavy heart:
Keep going, keep fueling your body with healthy wonderful things. Life is beautiful!

Veggie Chili- with a meat option

Don't chilly, foggy days just make you want to hunker down with a book, take a little nap or watch a movie snuggled in a cozy blanket? This chili is also the perfect food to go with a cold day. This is also something that always ends up on my menu plan when I'm trying to get the junk out of my diet and I need food that is healthy and hearty to keep me from getting hungry.

I love it because it is super easy, and can be left in the crockpot on low all day if I need it to, or it can be ready in just a few hours on high. It would also be awesome in an Instant Pot. I just haven't tried it yet. I also love this chili because it is so versatile. Whatever you have around the house, you can throw in this stuff. Here's how we make it:

Veggie chili- with a meat option

1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can light red kidney beans
(Or great northern beans can be substituted for any of these. Any bean will do- I like the color and variety of having 3 different types)
1 can kernel corn
1 can hominy
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 small can green chilies (Another option would be getting the diced tomatoes with chilies already added. This will usually be a tad milder)
1 1/2 cups of meat- OPTIONAL (chicken, ground beef, ground turkey, beef stew meat- all work great. Bacon would be delicious, too, but I would take it down to 1/3 cup. I would pre-cook all of these options except for the chicken. It would be fine going in raw.)
3/4 cup chopped carrots
3/4 cup chopped celery (I even use the leafy part)
1 TBSP cumin
1 TBSP garlic salt
1 TBSP dehydrated onions
3 tsp vegetable chicken or beef boullion (I use chicken the most often)
1 tsp Italian seasonings
1/8 tsp pepper

Juice from one lime
1/3 bunch of cilantro (chopped)

If you want a red chili, add in a small can of tomato sauce.
For a green chili, add 1/2 cup of green salsa.
For some more heat, add some chili powder or Tabasco hot sauce.

Our favorite fresh toppings (pick your fave or use what you have on hand):

Sliced olives
Fresh mango or pineapple (Sooo tasty. Especially if you like a sweet and savory meal)
Fresh tomatoes
Avocado/guacamole
Shredded cheese
Dollup of sour cream or plain yogurt
Chopped green onions
Chips
Tabasco (chipotle or jalapeno flavors are our favorites)

Start by adding all the ingredients except for the lime, cilantro and fresh toppings. Dump them all in the crockpot. You can give them a little stir, then let them sit for 6 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.
Once it's done cooking, add the lime juice and cilantro, stir until mixed in. Then put in bowls with your favorite toppings. Last night we served them in snack size chip bags- we call them "walking tacos". Serving with fresh tortillas is also delicious. Or sometimes we serve it on top of a baked potato. You can also add more broth to it and eat it as a soup.

If you like it with more heat- my husband and son love eating it with Chipotle Tabasco on top. I like the Jalapeno Tabasco.

You really can’t go wrong. Depending on what we have around the house, it can be different every time!

Help!! We need better table manners!!

Dare I give you a glimpse of what our family dinnertime looks like? It's pretty scary. While we do make sure to all eat together most nights of the week, it's not a relaxing or enriching experience- at least for me!

First, it starts with the howling fight of how everyone wants to sit by Dad. Even with our weekly award to pick where they sit at the table, it seems everyone else melts and fusses over where they are ending up. 

 Next is the crying of everyone whining they are hungry and to hurry and say the prayer. And then when they hear what's for dinner there are jubilant shouts from some and moaning and groaning from others. Or I'm grabbing the last bit of dinner to bring over to the table, and the kids are impatient. Or sometimes it's the complete opposite and it's like pulling teeth to pull the kids away from their activities to come to the table at all. 

After the meal has begun, the baby always seems to get fussy, so I'm either holding him on my lap, feeding him in his high chair or nursing him on the couch- not eating at all with the family. Once I leave the table, it's even more chaotic. Kids leaving their seats to run off who knows where.

And even if the baby is calm, don't even get me started on the ridiculous conversations about bodily fluids or loud and obnoxious singing by one or many of the children, which then leads to a lot of complaining and fighting.

I've had enough!!  

 So today we are going back in time to try something we haven't done since the kids were tiny. It was a tradition we started and it fizzled within a week. But our family has grown up so much since then. My kids are about 8 years older  (4 of them not even born yet- whoa!!), they are great about holding me to traditions now, and we are in desperation here!!
So here is my plan:
We're going to go back to candlelight. My grandmother had a candle light dinner every night. We loved being invited over as a special guest to her house because we knew we could be the ones to snuff out the candle (Maybe I need to buy a candle snuffer if this all goes well?!).  Tonight after dinner whoever has the best manners is going to be able to blow out the candles at the end of dinner.

Also, to help with our conversation, I'm getting out this little box of questions one of my dear friends gave me as a gift years and years ago. I still had it up in the cupboard, and my kids are definitely at the ages where we could get some great discussions going. We'll see how many cards we get through.

We're also going to revamp our weekly award (the one that lets them pick where they sit at dinner). We had a family council about it last night, and decided whoever gets the award picks where we all sit (not just the person with the award) for the whole week. That way there isn't the complaining night after night from everybody else. It's set in stone, and if they want the award the following week, they better not complain about it. We'll see how all these things go.
Family dinner time is so important to me, it's the only time we are usually all together during the day. It takes a LOT of creativity and shuffling around of schedules to make it work with us going in 9 different directions. Hopefully these new strategies will help us all have an enjoyable time together, instead of it being a 3 ring circus!! I'll post later this week to let you know how it goes.

Any things that you do that help your dinner time be successful- please tell us in the comments! We'd love to hear what works for you.

Pancake Bar

In our religion, one Sunday per month we have a "fast day." We abstain from food and water for 2 meals (24 hours), and give the money we would have spent on the food to our bishop. This is how we take care of the poor. It's also a time to deepen our prayers to the Lord and keep our minds more open to Him and his will in our lives. It is a time to fill up your spiritual bucket.

Naturally, at the end of Fast Sunday, the whole family is famished. Our kids seem to feel it even more. Since breakfast has been skipped, this seems like the perfect time to have breakfast for dinner. One of our favorite things to do.

Tonight we had a pancake bar. I planned to make a wonderful whole wheat pancake, made in the blender. But the baby had just gone down for a nap, and I didn't want to risk waking him with the noisy blender. So we got out the trusty old Krusteaz pancake mix and decided to get fancy with the toppings.

We had Nutella, whipping cream (freshly beaten), bananas, blackberries, chocolate chips, maple syrup, buttermilk syrup, mango-peach-pineapple fruit compote, strawberry compote and cinnamon as topping options.

My husband made us some eggs to give us something savory to go with it. And don't forget a tall glass or milk or orange juice. Delicious!!

Simple salad

Briana’s poppyseed has been my go to dressing this week. It dresses up the simplest of salads.

This one:
Coleslaw mix, romaine, avocado with a cutie on the side

Chore Charts

Growing up, my mom was the chore chart queen. She had books full of chore charts that she would photo copy and we would color and laminate them. 

The Happy Carrot Family, or the Busy Beehive were some of our little motivators.

 She passed the books on to me- I've never seen her struggle so hard to part with anything! She loved these books and teaching us to work. We'd take turns picking out the chart we wanted, and she'd run over to Kinko's to make the copies so we could color and personalize them. She did such a great job. We love these books, too, as cheesey as they are.The kids always seem to think it's fun and fresh, especially when they were little.

 I still bring them out for special occasions, but a simple list chore chart is what has been working the best for us the past few years, and definitely easier to keep up with.

Here is what we do:

I created basic list style charts in different colors for each child, with their names on them, and then printed them. At one point I put them in sheet protectors, but I've started laminating them, and it keeps them in better shape. They’re easy to write on with an expo marker, and I love those Mr. Clean magic erasers to wipe them off with.

You’ll notice some jobs are printed on there, those are daily. Tasks such as saying their prayers, reading their scriptures, reading homework, piano practice, etc. They also have a kitchen job every day, but the particular job varies. 

The way I assign the chore can depend on the child’s after school activities, age, or it can depend on what I need done most urgently, or maybe I have a little more time to do some job training for my younger ones that day, so they might have a harder job on their chart. 

 Sometimes I split the chores up by morning and afternoon, depending on our schedule.

Then there are those days that are just going to be those crazy busy days, so we cut back and simplify and catch up when we can.

So, if this looks like a system you'd like to try out, go ahead and enjoy our free printable charts.
Just click on the color you like below, and print.

If you are having trouble with it printing in a good format, please comment below, email us, or message us on Facebook and we'll email you a copy in a better form.