My Foyer

Having 3 girls means lots of clothes, accessories, and shoes.  It's crazy how fast all of their stuff piles up.  I'm running out of places to put it all.  E is starting grade 1 in a few weeks, and M starting preschool.  I want to get organized before they start.  My project of the day is to create a area, that they know to go to get their stuff.  My hope is when they come home from school they can come to this spot to hang up their jackets and backpacks, so they won't be lying around everywhere.  This also decrease the chances of them misplacing it. (hopefully less "MOMMY where is my jacket, or where is my bag" in the early mornings)

This is what my foyer looked like

So this afternoon I went shopping to find a solution.  I bought a bench for them to sit when they put on their shoes, and got some hooks to hang their backpack and jackets.   They also each get a little drawer to put their mitts, hats, and scarves.  I'm hoping this will stay nice and tidy.  Also the pictures with their names on it was a Christmas present from one of my good friends. (btw where did you get them done,  I need one for Baby C now).  It all worked out nicely, and for under $200.

Let see how long this last. Knowing my girls, I give them a week.  I'm just hoping I can train them from the very beginning, and they will keep it up.  Wish me luck!

What's for Dinner? Turkey pot pie

I still have a lot of turkey leftover so I decided to make a pie.  Ive actually never made a turkey pot pie before.  I started by searching how to make a pie crust.   I found a very simple pie crust recipe from allrecipes.com   It was called "mom's pie crust".  I did use a lot more water then mentioned in th recipe.
Here is what I did.

Pie crust

1. Mix 3 cups of flour with 3 tablespoons of white sugar
2. Cut in 1 cup of butter cubed
3. Mixed it to a crumble, and slowly add 1/2 cup of cold water until it can form a ball.
4. Roll half of the dough out and place into pie pan, and roll the other one out for the top.

Pie filling

• 2 cups of cubed turkey
• 1 onion
• 3 celery stalks
• 2 carrots 
• 3 potatoes (cubes)
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Left over gravy

1. First I cooked the onion in a large skillet. Then I added the celery and carrots and cooked it up a bit

2. Now I added the turkey,potatoes, oregano and parsley

3. After everything is well mixed add the gravy
4. Cook until potatoes are medium
5. Place into pie crust and cover.

6. Bake at 425F for 15 mins, then decrease to 350 for 30 mins.

Photo shoot

Back when I was still pregnant and on bed rest, I did a lot of online shopping.  One day Old Navy had a sale, and since I was bedridden, I couldn't get to a store so I started shopping online.  The only problem with online shopping is I always try to buy over a certain amount so I can benefit from the free shipping.  If I went to the store I would probably buy about half of what I would normally buy.  So on this day I decided to pick out some cute outfits for the girls for a photo shoot once Baby C was born.  I don't really like it when they dress all exactly alike.  I decided to go with a color theme and try to integrate it into their outfits.  I decided to go with a navy, yellow and white theme.

 For E's look I went with a simple blue dress with white leggings (that she didn't end up wearing) and a yellow flower headband.  For M, she had probably about 5 dresses in her closet to choose from that had these colors in them, so I ended up picking one of the dresses she had and bought a navy cardigan with a yellow flower attached to it.  I also bought her a blue flower headband to go with it, it she didn't end up wearing it.  For C, I picked a yellow dress with a white shirt to wear under and white tights.  I didn't get her anything navy, because it was impossible to find this color for babies.  I was so excited when we finally got to put these outfits on the girls for a family picture.  I originally thought we would take the pictures within the first 3 months of C's life, but we never got the chance.  Good thing the dress still fit it was size 0-3 mths.  I'm so glad my sister is a photographer (huaphotography.com)  She was able to take the pictures for us.

Happy 6 month birthday Baby C



Happy birthday Baby C!  Wow, I would have to say the past 6 months has flown by. 

 I keep thinking you should still be this wee little baby unable to sit, roll, or grab at things.  But you keep surprising us with what you can do.  You keep pulling everything towards your mouth and nothing is safe from your slobber, you roll onto your tummy seconds from when we put you down, and you stare at us when we eat as if you want some too.
 Baby C, you laugh and smile at every little thing, and you're such a happy little baby.  Your face lights up when your sisters walk into the room and plays with you.  I can't wait to see what your like when you grow up.  I know the next 6 months will go by even faster, and I don't look forward to going back to work. You still wake me up at all hours of the night, but your worth it.  I'm trying to cherish every moment of this first year before I'm back at work.  We all love you so much Baby C.  Happy 6 months!

Turkey in a apple garlic brine.

Turkey in August?  Why not?  I had a extra turkey sitting in my freezer since Easter.  I was wanting to cook it in July, so I can say Christmas in July.  But I was so busy, I didn't have a chance to cook it.  Turkey is so healthy, so why not make it part of a everyday meal.  (and I love the left overs, no cooking for a few days) Why does it only have to be served during holidays.  I'm breaking tradition and making it midweek on a Wednesday.  Today I'm going to try a new brine recipe I found.

Apple Garlic Brine

• 1 cup coarse salt
• 2 liter of apply juice
• 1 clove of garlic
• enough cold water to cover turkey

1. In my Largest pot,  dissolved 1 cup of salt in 2 cups of water and 2 liters of apple juice.  I put it on the stove and brought it up to a boil. then set aside
2. Prepare the turkey. (take out innards, and rinse)
3. Place turkey into the pot, and add cold water over to make sure the turkey is covered. 
4. place in  fridge over night
5. take out and bake in oven at 350F.  A secrest is to place turkey breast down, so all the juices will flow down, so your white meat won't be too dry and will be super juicy)

 (in my convection oven a 20lb turkey takes about 3 hours to cook.  cover with tinfoil for the first 2 hours, and take off and leave uncovered for the last hour.)

My family came over to eat it.  The turkey came out nice and juicy.   I will definitely use this recipe again.
Tomorrow's meal = Turkey sandwiches and turkey Congee. YUM.

An amazing find - Angus beef Burgers

Have you ever bought a box of burgers and they're all just packed into 1 bag inside?  A lot of the time they are in packs of 8 or 12.  We never eat that many burgers for a regular meal (only when we have company).  When I open the box, I tend to throw the box away and keep the remaining burgers in the bag, and put it back into the freezer.  The only problem with this is, it eventually gets lost in my freezer or gets freezer burnt.  The other day I picked up some burgers from Walmart.

Look they are vacuumed sealed in packs of 2, with sauce packs for the burgers.

 I guess this solves my problem with losing my open boxes of burgers, and I don't have to worry about freezer burnt burgers.  YEAH.  I just thought this was a great find and had to share it with all of you.  Oh, if you were wondering a box of 12 burgers was only $12.  This is a great deal especially for Angus beef burgers. 

What's for Dinner? Pork ribs, stuffed potatoes and corn on the cob

When I'm at home with the girls, they keep me pretty busy.  I always find the best time to prep dinner is in the morning right after we have breakfast.  This is the time where they are the most independent of me.  The 2 older girls will play with eachother (since they just got up, they're not grumpy and play well together, so they don't need a referee), and baby c will go in the exersaucer and entertain herself.

 I really like using the oven to make dinner, because I prep the food in the morning, put it back into the fridge, and when it's time, take it out and throw it into the oven.  My afternoons are usually crazy.  Madi is usually grumpy after lunch because she needs a nap, but since she's 3 she is kinda on the fence about needing a nap.  I would have to say she naps about 4 times a week.  The days she naps she doesn't sleep until after 11, and the days she has no nap, she's asleep by 8:30 (but she's grumpy all afternoon).  I guess we will have to wait and see what happens when September comes around when she starts preschool. 

Pork Ribs

• Ribs
• BBQ sauce
• Brown Sugar

1. Cut ribs into 3-4 ribs per portion
2. Boil a pot of water, and place ribs in boiling water.  Boil for about 15 minutes.  This will cut the baking time in half
3. Take out and place in a large bowl and pour BBQ sauce over.  Cover and place and fridge until ready to bake.

4. Preheat oven to 400 F, Place ribs in a glass baking pan (I like the glass pans because they are so easy to wash- I just throw them into the dishwasher)

5. Cover with aluminum foil.  Bake for 30 mins. Take out and remove foil and place back into over and bake for another 15 mins.
6. Take out and sprinkle brown sugar over the ribs and bake for another 15 mins. (this will give it a nice glaze, and give it a nice brown color)

Stuffed potatoes

• potatoes
• cheese
• milk
• butter
• salt
• mushrooms (or broccoli)

1. Wash potatoes well
2. place in baking sheet and cover with tin foil (or you can wrap each potato separately)

3. bake in oven with the ribs for 1 hour
4. Take our and check if the potatoes are soft.  Cut in half and scoop out the potatoes and put into another bowl
5. place the potato skins back into the oven

6. mash the potatoes and add butter, milk and salt (just as you were making mashed potatoes.  Now add shredded cheese

7. take out potato skins and fill them with the filling.  Sprinkle more cheese on the top

8. put back into oven and broil for about 5 mins. 

 The girls plate:

Josh's Plate: