Mac & Cheese with Bacon

Let's face it, everything tastes better with bacon! I mean they even make donuts with bacon crumbles on it! This recipe is relatively healthy (other than the bacon) and yummy! My kids are eating it for a snack as I type this....and are excited to have it again for dinner tonight!

Mac & Cheese with Bacon
12 oz whole wheat pasta (shells or elbow)
1- 12oz can evaporated milk
1/2 t dried mustard
3 eggs
1/2 t hot sauce
12 oz shredded cheese (I used 1 8oz bag Mex mix and 1/2 bag sharp cheddar)
salt, pepper to taste
10 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Cook the pasta in large pot according to directions. While pasta is cooking, whisk eggs, milk, hot sauce and seasonings in a separate bowl. Drain pasta and pour back into pot. Promptly add a scoop of pasta to liquid mixture to temper the eggs. Quickly add all the liquid into the pasta. Mix and add all cheese until thickened. Add all the bacon crumbles to the mac & cheese OR serve in separate bowls with bacon sprinkled on top for a crunchy meal! This makes a big batch of yumminess!

Simplified Kitchen

So since becoming a stay-at-home mom again, I have started being more creative with the eating out to eating at home ratio. My husband and I took a look at the number of times that we had been eating out lately and WHOA...we were eating out 3-4 times a week for various meals...and that was a low estimate! Something had to change going down to one income if our kids still wanted to participate in their activities. So, it begins....but I am having fun!

First, I have always been able to whip up meals with what we have on hand. Most of the time it turned out really well, thanks to my creativity, but there were a few doozies in there! I decided to try something new and plan weeks of meals, ones that I know the whole family likes, and create a grocery list to go along with it. That way all I have to do is print out the week I want and I have the meals for the week (lunch and dinner because my kids eat lunch at home each day) and the list of stores and items ready to go! Simple, right?

Here's what I did and you can, too:
1. Create a new Excel spreadsheet and create a few tabs at the bottom titled week1, week2, etc. Create the following template in week1 and cut/paste into the other weeks.
2. Then figure out the stores you are WILLING to regularly shop at and write those names at the top of each column (we have 4 stores that we shop at so the first 4 columns have those store names in bold and underlined).
3. Then in the next column (mine is E) create a wider box about 20 lines long, outlined in bold (don't merge cells) and this will be your "Meals" list. I put Lunch at the top, skip about 9 lines and then write Dinner. I automatically have "leftovers" down for 1 lunch so I just need 6 more.
4. Then figure out what meals you want to cook for the week and write them in the under the meals section so you have a nice menu for your family to look at. I try and make a variety of meals each week like chicken, beef, pork, veggie, pasta, crock pot, turkey, Italian, Mexican, etc. so it doesn't get repetitive.
5. Then I go through each recipe and add ALL of the ingredients to the list WHETHER OR NOT I HAVE THE ITEMS AT HOME ALREADY. This is the time consuming part but it pays off! I write it under the store that I would most likely get it at and then look for sales at the other stores.
6. When you are ready to shop, print out the list and cut off the "Meals" column and clip that to the fridge so you remember what you are cooking. Then take the shopping list and before leaving the house, cross off the items that you already have in the pantry or fridge because you don't need to purchase more!
7. Once you have done all your shopping, put your actual recipe cards in the front of your recipe box or a place where you can find them and you are ready to go for the week or more! I like to take a look at the Meal list and write what day I am going to be making what next to it based on our schedule. I tend to do crock pot meals on our busiest days so it's a worry-free dinner that cooks all day!


Well, that's it! Let me know if something doesn't make sense and I will work on getting 1 week up here for you to look at! I have found that I have made some oops' (duplicate items, forgot something, etc.) and I am trying to catch those and get them updates when I see them so it's fool proof. It's working for me so far and now I have 4 weeks of meal planning and grocery lists done! Currently I am working on a couple crock pot weeks because that's becoming my new fun!

Next post...my experience making my own yogurt in the crock pot!

It's all in the title...

My favorite quote is by Michael J. Fox. In fact, it's at the top of my blog here and in the signature of my emails.

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business. ~Michael J. Fox

This strikes me particularly hard because I am a self-proclaimed perfectionist with so many things. Clearly not with having a clean, spotless house, but perfectionist none the less!

I often have to read this quote because it reminds me that nobody is perfect. Not the girl with the hair that is ALWAYS smooth, silky and shiny without a stray that I see every weekend at church. Not the girl with the perfect body (in my eyes). Not the friend with the coolest, hippest fashion-sense that doesn't have a pile of clothes in her closet or on the chair in her room with clothes she has tried on, didn't like how it looked on her and was too late to hang back up because it she can picture her outfit in her head before she goes to bed the night before. Not even the girl who seems to be the perfect friend. Or the girl who throws the best, most creative parties. No one is perfect....except Jesus, and well let's face it, none of us will be like him!

So, it brings me back to the quote....every time.

Let's break it down...
"I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection." What is perfection if I can't ever achieve it? It's excellence. That's what it is.
Excellence: An excellent or valuable quality; that by which any one excels or is eminent; a virtue.
I can excel at things but I can't be perfect at them and when I realize that I am not shooting for perfect, I excel. See the difference?

Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business. If I know that God will be the perfection in my life, it's all good! He created me exactly how HE wanted me to be. If God's business, his plan is perfect, then I must be perfect, right? Hard to believe! When that worry, that stress, that anxiety of knowing that I am already perfect is off my plate...I can be EXCELLENT because I know I am PERFECT already.

I needed to read this as much as I needed to write this today...my next post will be about my new found fun in the kitchen :)

A New Beginning

Well, here I am again.....a stay-at-home mom and wife. Do I get paid? Yes....but it's in quiet time, hugs and kisses, time at the gym, time for house cleaning and organization, coffee with friends, helping in the classroom, computer time and the opportunity to learn lots of new recipes, crafts and tips.

I have been a stay-at-home mom before...in fact I taught 25 kindergarten kiddos all the way through the school year, which happened to be 3 weeks before my twins were born. They are 7 now but man, I don't miss those fat, swollen ankles after a full day of teaching!

When the twins were babies I enjoyed staying at home and loved being a mom!!! Memorizing their every need and loving every moment I could! Then I became involved in an organization called MOPS....Mothers of Preschoolers for moms with kiddos under 6. I was a member and went to the meetings but I wanted to get involved, first in a small way to get my feet wet but that wasn't God's plan and I took over the role of Hospitality Coordinator. That was not the "wet feet" kind of job I had anticipated doing....coordinating bi-monthly meeting food and decorations and events for about 80 women....but I loved it. And obviously I did because for the next 3 years I would become the Coordinator of MOPS! Not just a role but running the show, I mean the buck stopped with me (well, and a team of about 10 other women but running the show sounds much better)! This was no small undertaking either because my time seemed to be consumed with MOPS....growing leaders, making plans and being glue that held it all together, or at least it felt like I was!

The next chapter began when I was asked by the Children's Director of our church to take on a paid position and work 15 hours a week. This was very intriguing. The twins were in preschool 2 days a week and the only new piece would be all-weekend, every weekend hours for 4 church services...but I forgot to mention that my husband was out of town 3-4 days a week for work! I prayed about it, talked with my husband and I took the position, trusting that it would all work out. Over the course of almost 3 years, my role morphed into an out of control beast. I could handle the role, that wasn't the problem...the problem was I was starting to neglect my family, my marriage and our home. I was again, being consumed by a position. Something had to give.

One week in July God grabbed me by the heart and shook me...shook me to the core! I was questioning my passion, my marriage, my decisions, my past, my parenting style, my friendships, my time and why I was where I was. I wasn't the person who had laughter and spunk anymore. I wasn't in shape anymore because the stress of life had just taken over. My health was starting to decrease in the form of anxiety, muscle problems, pinched nerves, spine misalignment and my nemesis, migraines! Through all of this I heard God in a way that I had never heard him before. I can't really explain it other than it was a gripping feeling, a feeling that HE had me in his hands and that the only way to begin healing from all of this was to step down from my paid position and become a wife and mom, full-time, once again.

Now I am not gonna lie, it was not easy to respond to the grip of God. I cried a lot and had an anxiety attack or two over finances and losing my identity, falling off the radar of life. I knew it was the decision that I had to make and I made it...I made it the very next morning, in fact!

So it has been 1 month since I have stopped working. I haven't lost my identity and finances are just fine. I am adjusting to life and try not to feel like taking time for me to recoop is being lazy but rather a time to decompress from years of struggling to find balance and stress that honestly, I put on myself! This is part of the reason why I created this blog. To get my thoughts out and maybe help someone else who is struggling to find balance at home. Lord knows there are a lot of moms out there who do!

So, this will be a mish-mosh of thoughts (deep and silly, Facebook post-ish, I am sure), recipes, crafts, tips, grocery ideas, budgeting and just about whatever I want to share with you all! I have been working on meal planning and look forward to sharing with you! Be prepared, there will probably be type-o's from time to time but I am shooting for excellence, not perfection on here and in life!