Two and Three Quarters Self Portrait

"Molly has a big, big, big, BIG head!! I like drawing Molly May. She's my favorite."

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Cooking With One Hand Tied Behind Your Back

Isn't that what cooking with kids is all about? 

There might be nothing in my life that's more annoying than knowing I'm in charge of dinner every single night, from here to eternity (or so it seems right now). Especially when this unwelcome task occurs at the exact time of day when our kids are the crankiest, neediest, and hungriest. 

But there's also nothing more satisfying than seeing my entire family around the dining room table (which we manage to do 6-7 nights per week), appreciating food, helping themselves to seconds and thirds (okay, that's usually just Joey) and sharing funny stories or events from the day.

My answer to taking the stress out of dinnertime has been my crockpot, an appliance I truly could not live without. I love being out and about in the afternoon with kids' activities, and know that when we walk in the door, I just have to set the table and prepare some kind of fresh veggie, and dinner is ready!I Or, it can be an all-day at-home day, but when 5 pm rolls around, I can continue with the board game we're playing, or continue supervising homework, instead of heading to the kitchen to figure out dinner.

These recipes are tried and true for our kids, and ridiculously easy to put together, even when you're supervising homework, have a baby on your hip, and a preschooler conducting a science experiment in the bathroom ;)

BBQ Pork

3-4 lbs of country style boneless pork ribs

1 large bottle of BBQ sauce, any flavor

Dump both in crockpot, on low for 6-8 hours (or more). I serve on top of rice (I get the rice cooker going about 30 min before dinnertime) and a green vegetable, usually steamed green beans, asparagus or broccoli.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1-2 cups of cooked chicken (usually leftover from a rotisserie chicken we had the night before)

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 can corn (drained)

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 can diced tomatoes and onions (Rotel or other brand)

1-2 cups of chicken broth (I usually keep this on hand in the fridge)

A few shakes of cumin and chili powder, depending on your kids' tastebuds

Dump everything in crockpot, cook on low for 6-8 hours. I serve this with a bunch of toppings that the kids can help themselves to from bowls at the table: tortilla strips, chopped avocado, cilantro, cheese and chopped onion. I also serve with cheese quesadillas.

Easiest Pot Roast Ever

3-4 lbs of chuck beef roast, boneless, chopped into 1-2" sq hunks

2 cups of baby carrots

5-6 potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 onion, cut into rough slices

1 packet of Italian dressing

1 packet of ranch salad dressing

1 packet of brown gravy

1/2 cup warm water

Place all the veggies on the bottom of your crockpot. Mix the three packets together in a ziploc bag, add the beef, and shake to coat the pieces. Dump contents into crockpot, add water, and cook on low for 6-8 hours. I serve with rolls/ bread and a green veggie or salad.

Crockpot Lasagna

2 lbs. hamburger meat, fully cooked

2 jars marinara sauce

1 package uncooked lasagna noodles

2 lbs ricotta cheese

2 cups Mozzarella Cheese

1 egg, beaten

fresh baby spinach, chopped up

Italian Seasoning to taste

Brown hamburger meat and add marinara sauce. Let simmer for 20 minutes. While simmering, in a bowl combine your ricotta cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, and egg, Italian seasoning to taste and mix well.

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray, and start your layers of 1) meat sauce 2) uncooked lasagna noodles 3) ricotta cheese mixture 4) spinach. Repeat layers one or two more times. Top with remaining meat sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Cook on low for three hours, any longer will overcook the noodles!

Salsa Chicken

3-4 chicken breasts (fresh or frozen)

1-2 jars of salsa

Dump everything in crockpot, cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred chicken with two forks and fill warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese, salsa, sour cream, etc. I serve alongside pinto beans and put my rice cooker to work with Spanish rice about 30 min before dinnertime :)

Crockpot Carnitas

4-5 lbs. pork shoulder

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbls. salt

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

juice of 2 limes

1/2 cup orange juice

12 oz. beer

1/2 cup salsa

Mix together all seasonings and rub into pork. Place pork in crockpot, add liquids, cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Shred with two forks. Preheat broiler, and place shredded pork on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. Pour a few spoonfuls of sauce over meat, and broil for 5-10 min until brown. Serve in tortillas with cilantro, avocado, cheese and salsa.

Fuel for Reading Lessons

We wouldn't be two-thirds of the way through our reading lesson book if it weren't for a certain red mug and hot chocolate from the Keurig!


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Opening Day

Spring training is over, and our baseball boys had their first official Opening Day ceremony for Moraga Baseball -- which involved a lot of misty-eyed parents watching their sons jog into the middle school gym, team by team, starting with our "pintos," eight teams of 7 and 8 year-olds.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, they had their first official game of the season later that afternoon.

The girls and I set up shop right behind home plate. Molly loves rooting for her siblings at sporting events; earlier in the day, she was screaming from the sidelines at Clara's soccer game, "Go Clara, GOOO!" and at baseball, she repeatedly tried to attract the attention of a very serious Joey and an equally oblivious Daddy, who spent the entire game on the pitcher's mound. When she couldn't get them to notice her, she turned around, put up her hands and shrugged her shoulders in classic Italian body language, and pouted, "Ugh! I cannot hear he!!!" (translation: "Ugh! He cannot hear me!!!")

 

Meanwhile, Clara doesn't care if anyone notices her or not. She spent most of the game on Joey's Spiderman scooter and hiking the hillside behind the field.

 We're all set for a long spring filled with many opportunities to watch our little slugger!

The Many Faces of Molly

Farewell, February!

February was a blur of sickness (two little pneumonia patients), our first chipped permanent tooth (thanks to a baseball), lots of baseball practices, and lots of time in the car shuttling kids to activities or doctor or dentist appointment.

 

But despite dispensing antibiotics left and right, stocking up on Kleenex, and being banned from school and the gym, we still managed to have fun! We squeezed in many, many games of Ticket to Ride with a board-game-obsessed little boy (I don't know where he gets it!), and some girl time with a trip the ice cream store and a visit to a kids' art studio on the few days Joey made it to school this month.

 

Hoops

Joey wrapped up his second season of basketball this weekend, loving every minute of playing with his best buddies -- Isaiah, Andy, Sebastien, and Rylen -- and fine-tuning his skills.Lots of baskets were made, and lots of kids on opposing teams were knocked down. Is this a theme for Joey?

There might be nothing cuter than a group of six and seven year-old boys sporting baby blue and showing off their "guns" in mesh tank tops. Apparently, one of the centers for St. Mary's thinks so, too. Seven foot tall Kyle Rowley came out for the last game to cheer on all the boys he helped coach during spring and summer camps last year, dwarfing their regular coaches and thrilling the boys. Here's to living in a small town that boasts an amazing collegiate basketball program filled with inspiring, larger-than-life players!

Scavenger

GuacaMolly

Our littlest eater has the biggest and most sophisticated palette of all our kids, and long ago earned a very appropriate nickname: GuacaMolly. We take it for granted most of the time, but it takes someone else being astonished for us to truly take note.

The other night, when out to dinner with another baseball family, Molly reached into my water glass, retrieved the lemon inside, and began eating it like an apple, rind and all. The other mom across the table became absolutely riveted, and with mouth hanging open, exclaimed, "I have NEVER seen anyone do that before!!"

GuacaMolly has been making our eyes pop for a long time, and it's no wonder with the long list of spicy foods she absolutely adores:

Guacamole
Salsa -- the spicier, the better
hot wasabi peas
horseradish
mustard
chili
spicy meats, especially peppered salami
"bubbly water," aka Pelegrino
And, of course, lemons, mostly from the Molly-sized lemon bush/tree right outside our kitchen window

Miss Molly May at School, Part 2

Despite being the smallest and the youngest in her preschool class, Molly May is developing quite the mid-year rep for many things.

If there was a yearbook for Miss Janet and Miss Sandra's class, Molly would totally sweep the Best Potty-er Award, as well as the Chatterbox prize. Together, she and her BFF Michael would have every vote for Cutest (and Only) Couple. Finally, Miss Sandra would personally crown her the Biggest Snuggler.

Without further ado, it's time for another installment of pictures of Molly May at school!

 

Wild Animals at the Zoo

With wild animals who eat like this, sometimes it feels like we're living in a zoo. But we still took the kids to see the real deal over the weekend... a spur-of-the-moment trip that included six Theta Xi families and an untold (okay, 14) number of kids.


We managed to make our way around the zoo with this unwieldy, crazy-hyper group, without losing anyone... although we did come close. Both of the families with three kids lost track of their middle for a brief moment... oops. Luckily Clara is used to this by now.

We saw the tigers, elephants, monkeys, snakes, lizards, zebras and lions like regular folk, but then texted Aunt Meredith's friend Amy to see if she was at work that day and could fit in a behind-the-scenes giraffe feeding. I don't know if she knew quite what she was getting into, but she was an awesome sport, and the kids loved getting up close and personal with her gorgeous animals!