Chicken Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup (from Stop and Smell the Rosemary)


6 tbs vegetable oil

8 corn tortillas, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 medium onion, chopped (I do this in the food processor)

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

2 tbs ground cumin

1 tbs chili powder

3 bay leaves

6 cups chicken stock (I buy low salt organic)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4-6 cooked chicken breasts, shredded or cubed


Optional garnishes:



Shredded Monterey Jack cheese



cubed avocado



Sour Cream



2 corn tortillas, sliced and fried crisp (or a few tortilla chips)



Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add tortilla, garlic, cilantro and onion. Saute 2-3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes. Bring to a boil and add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves and chicken stock. Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Add salt and cayenne. Simmer 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and stir in the chicken. Reheat for a few minutes. Spoon into bowls and garnish with cheese, avocado, sour cream and/or tortilla chips.

Best Stir-Fry

Making this for dinner tonight. Subbing skirt steak for flank steak and marinating ahead of time.  Using Costco frozen stir-fry vegetable instead of snow peas.

Baked not Fried Pickles

Made these pickles with turkey burgers this week. Did not use as much parsley or chipotle powder because they would have been too spicy for the kids. Still want to play around with the seasonings but a healthy side to burgers. Would make again.

Penne Rosa with Shrimp or Chicken

Made this tonight but subbed rotisserie chicken for the shrimp. Everyone loved it.

Healthy-ish Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

Ingredients
Whole Wheat Tortillas
Cooked Chicken Breast
Franks Red Hot Sauce
Shredded Mozzarella
Shredded Parmesan
Yogurt Ranch Dressing
Crumbled Blue Cheese
Avocado Slices

1.  Mix chicken and hot sauce to taste.
2.  Mix ranch dressing with blue cheese.
3.  Spread dressing lightly on whole wheat tortilla.
4.  Sprinkle both cheeses on one half of tortilla.
5.  Add chicken to same half of tortilla. Sprinkle some more cheese.
6.  Fold tortilla in half.
7.  Cook in skillet at medium heat. Pressing down on tortilla with a heavy skillet.
8.  Flip when browned.
9.  Add avocado slices.

100 days!

Last year, we celebrated our 100th day of school with a trip to Chuck E Cheese. This year, the kids were expecting something equally spectacular. Since it was Valentine's Day, the kids did a treasure hunt, looking for their Valentine's and along the way had to complete different kinds of "100 activities" to get clues to where we were going. We went to Under the Big Top - arcade/go carts/ laser tag, etc. and to a frozen yogurt place. It was a fun day. Mia kicked Tyler's butt in laser tag which made her day (and mine :-)). Tyler was a little sad that this will be our last 100 day party since he is starting full time school at a private Christian school but I promised him we will still celebrate 100 days every February.

Disney on Ice

Last weekend, we surprised Mia with tickets to Disney on Ice. We had taken Tyler to Toy Store Disney on Ice a few years ago and Mia was terrified the entire time. This year was much different. We all enjoyed it. Tyler, taking after his mother, is the super practical one and says to me as we are walking through the miles of concessions, "Who would pay $20 for a coloring book!?" :-)

Healthy Banana Bread

This recipe for healthy banana bread is awesome! I added cinnamon chips to one loaf and milk chocolate chips to the other.

Baked Banana Oatmeal

Baked Banana Oatmeal - great breakfast for a cold winter morning

Meal Plan January 27 - February 1

I need to get really organized with our meals because we have so many after school activities right now. I am hoping that I can start posting them on the blog and then pull up the blog at dinnertime and have the recipe ready to go. It will also allow me to look back and get ideas when I am searching for meals everyone liked. Maybe I will go back after I have made some of these new recipes and put in a rating so I can remember if we liked it or not.

Sunday, January 27
Chicken Pot Pie

Monday, January 28
Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Soup

Tuesday, January 29
Leftovers

Wednesday, January 30
Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries, Kale

Thursday, January 31
Cheddar Jack Bacon Chicken, Brown Rice and Broccoli

Friday, February 1
Caputo's Pizza

Making a Cake

One of Mia's favorite things is cooking of any kind. Tyler was a friend's for the weekend so we embarked on making a cake from scratch. It turned out delicious and she was very proud of her creation.



Mia Nap

Mia can nap anytime, anywhere. I prefer her not to nap because when she takes a nap, even a 10 minute nap, she is up until 10pm and I like to be sound asleep by 10pm. This week, before lunch, I had her bathe and Tyler take a shower. I got her out of the bath, laid out her outfit and told her to get dressed while I made lunch. 10 minutes later, I go upstairs and find her sound asleep, in a ball, at the bottom of her bed. I tried to put her under the covers but she said, “No, just let me sleep her for a minute.” She slept like that for 2 hours!

Basketball

This is Tyler’s second year of playing basketball. It is so fun to watch him learn the game and improve. His first game, he scored 6 out of the 12 points and shot the game winning shot with 3 seconds left on the clock. He won player of the game for that and I was one proud mama. More than anything I was proud to see him being a good teammate – passing to other kids, getting the rebound, and encouraging his teammates. This is a vast improvement from last year where it was really a free-for-all with every kid just taking shots. They are playing him almost the entire game because he is good which is great for getting practice but come three in the afternoon, he is cranky and tired. He also started a conditioning program two times a week to work on gaining speed, strength and agility. I was happy for him because they usually don’t let seven year olds into the program but felt he had the attention span and coordination to keep up in class. He likes it and really thrives on doing lots of physical activities but it’s amped up our schedule again so that every day we have something after school. I guess the good thing about that is it makes the slooooow months of January and February go super fast.

He is number 12

Our Curriculum 2012 - 2013

We are about halfway through the year and I would say it's our best year yet. Overwhelming most days, exhausting all days but the kids are learning and it's a magnificent thing to watch. We are doing 2 solid days at Homeschool University. Those are the two days that I get to work out, run errands, do laundry, prep school for the rest of the week, work and once in a great moon, meet a friend for lunch. And that's okay with me for now. The time I get to spend with the kids is fleeting. The weeks go by so fast. It's a collaborative effort between their school and the parents to develop a curriculum that works for each student. Here is what we are doing this year.

Kindergarten - Mia
All About Reading
All About Spelling 1
Explode the Code - done with book 1, starting book 2
Handwriting Without Tears K
Math U See Primer and Horizons K Math - still deciding which one to stick with
My Father's World K / Unit Studies
Tag along with Tyler for Story of the World Ancients and Apologia Science Bottany and Astronomy
Reading through Old Testament


Electives
Dance Jazz and Hiphop
Horseback Riding
Art Classes
PE Class
Awana

2nd Grade - Tyler
First Language Lessons 2
Writing with Ease 2
All About Spelling 3
Horizons Math 2
Handwriting Without Tears 2 and Draw Write Now
Apologia Science Botany and Astronomy

Story of the World Ancients and Mystery of History 1
Reading Comprehension
Unit Studies
Reading through Old Testament

Electives
Spanish
Young Explorers
Math Fun
Basketball
Football
Gymnastics transitioning to Strength and Conditioning
Art Classes

PE Class
Awana

So now it's quite clear to me why I am so tired by the end of the week.

Let's try this again

After two years, I am going to give this blog another try. I really want a way to document the kids growing up, the crazy funny things they say and our homeschooling adventure. I also have a ton of recipes all over the place and want to organize them in some way. We'll see if I can keep it up as the weeks go by.

Some Favorite Pics from 2012

Cancun

Bella and Fern

Fern adopted February 2012

Annual Pumpkin Picking

Tyler meeting his cousin Liam for the first time in Arizona

Mia riding bareback this summer

Mia and Tyler First Day at Homeschool University

Mia  - Kindergarten

Tyler - 2nd Grade