Slow-Cooker

I love my slow-cooker. I use it all the time for a number of reasons.

I use it for the days that I work, when I want to come home and eat a nice home-cooked meal but don't have all night to fix one.

I use it on the days that we have soccer at the time that I would normally be cooking dinner, that way it is ready when we get home.

I use it to keep from heating up my house in the summer. For me, there is nothing worse than having the oven on in the summer. Especially since the sun shines all afternoon on our kitchen which makes it the warmest room in the house anyway, without the oven on.

I have make spaghetti dishes, pork roasts, beef roasts, whole chickens, sourkraut and sausage, you name it, I have made it.

Most recently I made chicken legs. I added no water, simply placed them on the bottom, covered the lid and cooked. About half way through I covered them in barbeque sauce.

When they were done, they were delicious. I made a couple different vegetables and some rice to go with it and dinner took 10 minutes.

That definately works for me.

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

Back to School

My 3 oldest all went back to school this past week.

My oldest is in 5th grade, which means a new school, one where they switch classes and catch the bus at the break of dawn! My second oldest is in third grade and my youngest daughter is in kindergarten.

That's three different busses, three different pickup times and three different drop off times. And that leaves me a little time alone with my little man.

Here is the before, when they all came down to eat breakfast.

And after they ate and got ready for school.

Where does the time go?

When Is It Time to Clean the Oven?

I know those that know me are thinking I have some profound reason to clean the oven. But honestly, this is how I knew it was most definitely time to clean it . . . it caught on fire.

Yes, FIRE!

I was making oatmeal cookies last night and it was getting pretty late. I had already made a coffee cake, so I was about ready to call it quits last night. So instead of waiting for each pan of little cookies to bake I decided to make one big cookie.

That would have been a novel idea except for one thing, I neglected to remember that cookies not only rise but spread and increase in size as well. Even my cookies that are egg free. So my large cookie dripped over the side of the pan as it increased in size.

Which led to the cookie dough falling to the bottom of the oven and smoking up the whole house, which still reeks the next day I might add.

So fast forward to tonight, when I heated up the oven to 425 degrees to bake my potatoes for dinner. About half way through the preheating time, my oven literally caught on fire. So I had to turn off the oven and it eventually died down and completely went out in a few seconds, thank goodness. I was standing with my kitchen fire extinguisher just in case though!

That meant my husband had to throw the potatoes on the grill with the chicken, which was still very good.

So, I HAD to clean the oven or else I couldn't use it at all. Not very good for someone that loves to bake.

Instead of using expensive store bought cleaner though (my friends and family know me better than that) I made a paste of baking soda and warm water and it worked wonderfully. I simply scrubbed it in with a rough sponge.

Then I sprayed a solution of 1 part Dawn dish soap to 5 parts water. That got rid of the rest of the gunk.

My sister always jokes that in her house you know when dinner is done when the smoke alarm goes off. But in my house, I know that when my oven is on fire, I know it is time to clean it!

Being able to joke about it definitely works for me.

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday.

New Treasure

See this little gem? My parents bought these used when I was little, I actually think before I was born.

I have inherited it. I need to clean it, repaint it and refinish the wood. I haven't decided if I will paint or stain the wood. But either way, I am super excited to have gotten it from my parents.

I currently have it sitting in my front room as I am not sure where to put it.

Look at all the carvings and graffiti, it has been well used.

Once I decide what to do with it, I will post those photos!

13 Random Thoughts

My life has been hectic to say the least. So here is a bit of randomness that is bouncing around. Thirteen to be exact.

1. Okay, am I the only one that thinks this piece of toast has a smiley face on it?

2. Yes, that is my son using a piece of corn as a cell phone. He is talking to his peeps.

3. Doesn't everyone wear your sisters slippers, a diaper, sleep shirt and a German hat together? Not everyone can pull this look off you know. And yes, those are the remnants of his breakfast on his face. That is what happens when your sisters get you out of your highchair.

4. This is what the sky looked like the other night. Isn't it beautiful?

5. Little man loves to vacuumm. It isn't plugged in, but he loves it anyway. He is infatuated with the sweeper. Now if I could only teach him to dust.

6. Beautiful flower taken at the Columbus Zoo.

7. Yes, that is my butt. But a much smaller, fit butt. After 30 pounds of weight loss and lots of exercise. Not to toot my own horn. Okay, TOOT TOOT.

8. We made blackened catfish the other night. Turns out we don't reall like catfish, who new?

9. This is what my butt used to look like. I like my new butt. This was only 3 months ago, if you can believe it.

10. This is my oldest and she started select soccer this week.

11. This was her outfit for playing store. She thought this is what you wear to work when you worked at a purse boutique. We played that last week when it rained.

12. She also starts her pottery class this week.

13. I love back to school time, the smell of crayons and new paper. I have always loved this time of year.

This post is linked to Thursday Thirteen.

Where Are My Car Keys?

This is my little stinker. She is cute as can be but can go from being a lovely child to a crazy person who is annoyed with everything in the blink of an eye.

The other morning she was feeling particulary helpful. I was getting ready to leave for work and could not find my car keys. I looked everywhere.

In my car, in the door, my pants pocket from yesterday, my purse, you name it and I looked there. I had finally decided to simply not lock the back door and look again after I came  home from work.

Then my daughter says, "mommy, I put your keys in your bag for you."

I said "what bag monkey?"

"This bag mommy."

Oh, the bag that I never use for work, the diaper bag. Yes, that was helpful. I was super frustrated because it was making me late. But then I had to laugh about it.

I mean, isn't that funny? I was running around like crazy trying to find my keys and she knew where they were all the time.

Being able to laugh about this totally works for me!

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

Homemade Bruschetta

Okay, so a food photographer I am not. However, don't let that stop you from trying this.

One of my newest favorite places is Costco, they have this 4 pack of little bruschetta toasts that are delicious. We have been buying them every time we go.

On one of our trip's up north to our friends house, they had served these with this little topping. I ate so many of them that my stomach hurt! They were so yummy.

I decided to try it myself. This is the recipe that I came up with.

1 fresh tomato, diced

1 fresh onion, diced

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon italian season

Mix all together and serve on the bruschetta toast!

I have served this multiple times at parties and it goes super fast, I usually have to make another batch. This is a great way to use up some tomatoes once they start coming in!

This post is lined to Tasty Tuesday.