Salsa Mac

When I was in college, I made this recipe all the time.  I loved it.  Scott would come over and eat it, and he loved it.  It was a total hit.  However, somewhere along the way I forgot about it.  Then last week I started missing it and went for a scavenger hunt through my recipe box to find it. 

I made it for dinner, and Scott and I still love it.  One thing has changed though.  We now have a little one who loves it too.  He chowed down on this stuff--and it's fairly spicy!  Anyway, as this is such a hit with my family, I thought I'd share it with yours.  Here it is:

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
16 oz. chunky salsa
1 1/2 c. water
7 oz. elbow macaroni
3/4 lb. Velveeta--cubed


Start by browning the ground beef.  When finished, drain it.  (Please remember to dispose of your grease in a paper towel lined container in the trash--preferably a container with a lid.  Garbage disposals and drains loathe grease.)

Add the salsa and water.  Bring to a boil.  Stir in the mac.  Reduce the heat and cover.

Helpful hint:  Boiling the noodles in this mix allows the flavor to soak into them throughout cooking time--rather than just boiling them in plain water then adding them to the mix. 

This mix should simmer 8-10 minutes--until the noodles are done.

While this mix is cooking, I cube the Velveeta.  However, somewhere along the way, Velveeta had the craptastic idea of taking the measurements off of their packaging.  So, I cut the 2 lb. block in half and use as close to 3/4 lb. as I can eyeball.  From that point, cube the cheese.  Keep in mind that the smaller you cut the cubes, the faster they melt.  Add them to the mix.

Stir until melted.

Above is a picture of the finished product, but it really doesn't do it justice.  This stuff is dang good...and it looks it too (in real life, of course). 

With the remaining Velveeta, I do two things.
#1--Make Rotel with the full pound.
#2--Make Broccoli Cheese Soup with the remaining quarter pound.  This recipe I'll share tomorrow.

Lingering thought of the day:  I'm hoping housework will make me skinny.  Scrubbing tubs and floors takes a ton of elbow grease and really should be considered as serious exercise. 

Little Cutie Bows

These teensy little bows are my newest obsession.  They're so easy and so fast.  However, I can't seem to get a good picture of them...I've been fighting with my flash and can't seem to find a good background.  Anyway, they only take seconds each and only require:  ribbon, alligator clips, scissors, and hot glue.  They are so much fun!

These were the first few sets that I did (2 each).  I have added many patterns to the collection since I took this picture a few days ago. 

Here's a close-up of one of my favorite sets:

How cute will these be on a little bitty head of hair?

Lingering thought of the day:  I LOVE when my hubby gets home early from work!  It's so nice to get to spend time together as a family during the day!

How to cut a pineapple

Pineapple is at the top of my favorite fruits list.  I love them. However, I'm picky about pineapple too.  No mediocre pineapple will do, and I refuse to pay more than $3.00 for one.  I pick them by making sure they have pretty green leaves and a lack of moldiness on the bottom.  However, the main factor is the sniff test.  Pineapples usually have one of two smells:  musty or sweet.  If the pineapple smells sweet, purchase it, take it home, cut it, and eat it.  You'll be in for a treat!

To cut the pineapple, grab a sharp (big) knife and place the pineapple on a cutting board over the sink.  A trash can directly beside you won't hurt either.  Here's my reasoning for the placement of the cutting board and trash can:  pineapples are very, very juicy.  They will drip sticky juice all around your cutting board and across surfaces to throw away the scales and hair...keep clean-up simple for yourself.
Step 1:  Decapitate the pineapple.  Then proceed to cut off it's rumpus too.

Once step one has been completed, you'll be able to stand the pineapple up to make step 2 a little easier.

Step 2:  Quarter the pineapple, making sure to get it fairly even (you want to be sure that you have the core divided).

Step 3:  Lay it out flat so the quaters don't slip off the board.  Pineapple's notorious for trying to run away when on the chopping block...

Step 4:  Stand up one quarter and cut the core (corner) off.

Step 5:  Cut the quarter chunk in half.  Then with each piece still standing, cut off the scaly side.  Make sure to cut deep enough to remove all scales and seedy chunks--but not so deep that you lose the yummy edible part.

Step 6:  Lay out flat--on the side where the scales used to live.

Step 7:  Cut into bite-sized pieces.  Place in serving dish/storage container after cutting each strip.  Again, it will try to run away if you give it the slightest opportunity...

Repeat steps 4-7 with the remaining quarters.  Enjoy!!

Lingering thought of the day:  Eli watched Cars for the first time last night.  He loved it!  I had him up on my lap at one point and smooched him on the cheek.  His response was, "Mama, watch da cars!"  I cracked up.  Are little ones supposed to be too cool for mama kisses before they reach the age of two?

For the love of the Little People...

Fisher Price Little People, that is.  My Eli man has a few Little People sets (prior to the sets that follow), including:  the farm and tractor, dumptruck & muck truck, and the boat set with blocks.   He really likes them and they're made of tough stuff.  They last forever. 

Uncle Kent has a few sets from when he was little that Eli likes to play with when we visit.  I can remember Kent playing with them all the time.  They're still in really good shape.  I'm tellin' ya.  This is some worthwhile stuff, and kids love it.

Saturday morning we were on our way to try a doughnut place that had been brought up in church a few weeks before.  There was a line out the door to get in, and it was worth the wait.  Ok, back to my  point...
On our way out of the driveway, we noticed two houses down had a yardsale in progress.  It looked like it was almost all little boy clothes and toys.  I went up to look closer while the boys waited in the car.  I found a pile of little Nike shirts and pjs.  But what really caught my eye was the toy selection.  Here's the catch--I almost never buy toys at yardsales.  These, however, I couldn't resist.

Little People Pirate Ship

Little People Zoo

Little People Rail Road--which could connect several parts of the Little People Village

Little People Parking Garage/Carwash/Gas Station

Little People Fire Station

Little People Police Officer and various working men

He also got the school bus--which I forgot to picture.  It's pretty cute though, and it holds a ton of little people!

Little People Airport

As soon as we got home from the sale and breakfast, I gave all of these new toys a bath.  While Eli was down for his nap, I set them all up and got them ready for him.  When he woke up, he came out of his room and said, "Oh my!"  His little face lit up, and he started running from set to set to play with each one.  He was so excited!  It was like Christmas morning in our house with all the new toys!

This is every bit of the Little People stuff they had at this yardsale (minus what we already had).  Each piece was priced at $10.00, but she gave me the entire set and clothes for $30.00.  Then, because Eli had shown interest in them, she threw in the dinosaurs too!  Each dinosaur moves, roars, or does something different.  I'm thinking we did pretty well on this little outing!

Aftter we bought these, I decided to price them on the Fisher Price website and Amazon.  I learned two things.
 #1:  We practically stole these toys for what we paid.  (The school bus alone is $20.00.) 
#2:  I desperately want the Nativity Scene gift set for Eli.  What a fun way to learn about the birth of Jesus!  It's a nativity set that we can use to teach him that he can actually play with.  We're going to have to think about investing in that.

Lingering thought of the day:  Little People aren't made of extremely hard plastic, yet they still hurt when thrown at you.

It's here! It's here!

Many moons ago (maybe a few weeks...), I received an email telling me I WON a playpen from Baby Trend.  Let me preface it with this: I never, ever win anything.  The closest I've come is getting my money back on Bunco night as the biggest loser.  Yep, that's right.  Out of 14 girls, I lost the most rounds.  That's my typical luck.

Somtime in June, I realized that Parenting.com was doing 101 Days of Giveaways.  This is the first time ever for me to enter into anything of this sort whatsoever.  But the stuff was just so...well, fabulous.  I couldn't resist.  So, from that day in mid-June until Labor Day, the last day of the contest, I was on top of it.  I check the daily giveaway every morning and registered for everything worth having.  One thing led to another, and I looked into their other contests and giveaways also.  I decided I might as well register for those too. 

One of the other giveaways was the play pen that I won...by some miracle.  Click below for the details on and pictures of my winnings:  http://www.babytrend.com/nursery_centers_deluxe/PY86443.html

Isn't that cool?  Anyway, in the email it said it should get to me within 3-5 business days.  On Wednesday I called to check the status, since it had been longer than that by quite a bit.  Apparently, the lady who deals with this type of thing was on jury duty for that extent of time but had shipped it the day before.  On Thursday I returned from one of my daily outings to find it on my doorstep.  Woohoo!

It's here, and I am so excited!  Scott and I have taken it out of the box and assembled it.  We're so ready to use it.  I think we even have the fancy pants features of it all figured out.  Yay for freebies through Parenting and Baby Trend! 

Just FYI:  The winners from the 101 Days will be notified no later than November 9th.  I'll let you know how that works out for me...assuming the outcome is me winning something else spectacular.

Lingering thought of the day:  I love having the option of Saturday night or Sunday morning church!  We attended this evening, and it was really nice!

It doesn't get much more frugal than this!

I've always liked to attend the yardsales of others and to have them myself.  However, since Eli was a baby, I've found them to be even more beneficial.  Over the course of the past couple of years, I have bought mounds and heaps of baby and little boy clothes.  I have stockpiled entire wardrobes in each size for him up to 2T/3T. 

Scott's Aunt Mary Anne has spoiled us rotten lately.  She too is a yardsaler and has lavished us in the great finds of late.  This is one of the outfits in the last bag she sent for us.  How cute is this?

Anyway, after receiving our last bag from her, I decided to take a clothes inventory for Eli.  I figured out what he'd need for about the next year.  I also realized that we don't have much of anything at all yet for little girl.  So...it was time to go yardsaling again.  My friend, Kim, went with me on a five hour tour of the best "baby/kid friendly" sales Lexington had to offer last Saturday.

Here are some of my favorite finds of the day:

Shirts for Eli in the next size up or two--all sports related.  He helped me pick these out and got all excited about them!

PJs for Eli--dinosaurs, of course.  PJs are so expensive new.  I can't justify it.  He was pretty crazy about these, and they were in really good shape.

At one sale, there were a ton of little boy sweaters.  I bought Eli a few for this fall/winter.

I also bought a few things for the newby.  I bought some "play" clothes for the first year (and just some basic casual stuff).

I found a CUTE dress for her first Christmas.  How cute will this be with little white tights and shiny black Mary Janes?

I also found a couple of cutesy summer dresses, but this one was our favorite (with the little bloomers).

Overall, I bought about 36 articles of clothing on this trip.  These items were almost all name brands:  Kenneth Cole Reaction, Nike, Green Dog, Children's Place, Gymboree, Carters, so on and so forth.  I left home with $25.00 and returned home with two dollars (although Eli claimed $.50 of that as his own "moneys").   
Pictured below is one of my favorite "all yardsale" outfits.  The shirt is Tommy Hilfiger, the pants Polo, and the shoes Carters.  This outfit cost $2.50 total.  However, we have replaced the shirt with a bright red polo.  Apparently the skinny red and white stripes make this shirt look pink...and that simply will not fly. 

Have I ever mentioned that Eli loves to play ball outside?  We were on a walk.  He and his daddy spotted an empty parking lot, so the game was on. 

Lingering thought of the day:  Is it pregnancy or quirkiness that makes me love the smell of a hot glue gun that's been plugged in for awhile?

My first hair bow!

Tonight after I put Eli to bed, I decided I needed to do something fun with my evening.  I wanted to do something crafty...and after we found out we're having a girl, I've been on a need to learn how to make bows kick.  So, tonight I decided to attempt making my first bow. 

I turned on The Wedding Planner.  Then I gathered all my gear:  ribbon ( some old, some new), glue gun & sticks, needle, thread, instructions for bow making, fray check, chai tea, scissors, and Kleenex.  My chai tea is an essential in the evenings--no matter what the activity.  The Kleenex are to combat my runny, darn the ragweed, sneezy face.  The scissors are Ginghers that my MIL got for me last Christmas that are AMAZING!  I have sworn off any other brand.  Anyway, the rest are generic bow making supplies.

So, I got going.  I toyed with color ideas and started cutting ribbon.  I sewed a little.  I glued a little.  Then this was the finished product. 

I still have lots to learn in the bow making field and still need to perfect some of the more basic techniques.  However, I had great fun with this! 
Lingering thought of the day:  Once I've mastered bow making, I'm on to pillow case dresses.  If anyone has a great pattern source or internet sites illustrating how-to, let me know!

Ten tips for travelling with a toddler

Last week, I travelled to St. Louis with Eli for my dad's surgery.  From Lexington, that was about a six hour-ish trip.  It was our first time travelling that far without my hubby (Eli's "Dad-Scott").  Before the trip, I decided to come up with a game plan for our travels:  the best places to stop, what to pack, how to cut costs, etc.  Having this game plan helped so much!  It kept me from turning (excessively) toward Eli and away from the road.  It kept him well hydrated and fed without us having to stop for snack and drink breaks.  It saved us big bucks from having to buy fast food and gas station snacks and beverages, aside from lunch.  We were well prepared.  The thought, planning, packing, and effort were well worth it!

Here are my top ten:

1. Buy, rent, or borrow a portable dvd player and dvds of favorite cartoons.  I do realize that in this day and age this really doesn't even need to be stated.  However, this can provide hours of easy entertainment while on the road and help the trip to go by a little more easily.  Ours just happens to be broken at this point, so we did without for this trip.
2. Pack and bring a bag with new and different toys (some faves too).  Favorites, along with things that are new and different, can bring lots of entertainment value.  These toys/activities should be rotated often to keep interest.  A few examples from our trip are:  dinosaurs from Target's $1.00 aisle, dinosaur coloring books from the same, $.25 Crayola crayons (24 pack), balls from Wal-Mart's $1.00 bin.  The list of cool stuff for cheap can go on and on, but those are a few.
3. Pack and bring a snack bag.  This bag should include items for you to munch on, but it should also have some favorites for the kiddo in the backseat.  These snacks should be non-choking hazards that are easy to eat in little finger friendly containers.
4. Pack and bring a small cooler.   Our cooler had sippy cups full of milk, juice, and water.  It also had cheese sticks and grapes to munch on. 
5. Keep comfort items close.  I made sure that at any given point I could reach Eli's blankie, Buddy (his plush dino), and the 4 million pacis.  Really, all of the items listed above should be in easy reach.  You should be able to grab each item without looking away from the road.  My passenger seat was FULL. 
6. Show the sights that pass by based on interests.  Eli really likes ball fields, fountains (or any water for that matter), and horses.  Each time I saw one of these, I made sure to point it out to my little man.  It momentarily entertained him and got him talking.
7. Bring an audio book for you.  If you check one out from the public library, it's FREE entertainment for you.  Yay!  Anyway, it will keep you entertained and bore the little one to sleep.  Double yay!  Any sleep that can be had by that little one in the back seat is a good thing...
8. Avoid stopping the car.  Taking the little one out of the seat is exciting, but when he/she has to get back in, it's bummer central.  I like to avoid this.  However, when you do stop, make it count.  Go to the bathroom, change the tyke's pants, eat a meal (if it's that time), and PLAY!  Find a restaurant with a playland, park, grassy area beside a busy restaurant and get moving!  Side note:  I avoid rest stops like the plague unless I'm in a group. 
9. Turn up the peppy tunes and have a dance party.  This gives you both a little exercise and entertainment (and other drivers a good laugh).  When Eli and I commuted, he only danced with one side of his body, because that's all he could see of me in the driver's seat.  But that's neither here nor there...  He now dances whole body and whole heartedly.
10. Give the little one something to look forward to when the driving ends.   It's nice to have goals and little ones understand quite a bit of what you say--whether they say a lot or not.  Giving them something to look forward to helps build excitement and forget the "butt in seat" feeling for a bit.  It's also a good conversation starter for you and your little one.  Examples:  "When we get there, we'll have dinner with Noni & PawPaw."  or "When we get there, we'll swim in the hotel pool."

There are tons of other travelling tips.  Fill up the tank the night before the trip.  Make sure there's been a recent oil change.  Check the tires.  So on and so forth, but I really wanted to keep this toddler centered.  If you put the thought and work into it ahead of time, travelling with a toddler doesn't have to be totally stressful.  Don't get me wrong, it will still be a little stressful.  But, you can cut back on the stress of long trips for them and yourself. 

Lingering thought of the day:  I have so many sewing projects that I want to get done.  If I finish all of my cleaning tasks from my list for tomorrow, I might just do that!