B Is For Birds

New Fish/Buddy B

 We did birds, the letter "B" and the nursery rhyme Bluebird, Bluebird.  It was a really fun school day.  We started with several bird books including Usbourne Beginners Eggs and Chicks and Eyelike Numbers- Counting In The Natural World.  We used feathers, pipe cleaners and googly eyes to turn letter B into a bird.  We played some little matching, sorting, patterning and reviewed more vs. less and directional words.  These two kids are crazy for file folder games.

We sang songs for a LONG time.  Hokey Pokey is especially popular and helps us practice left vs. right.  We also did Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam, The Wheels On The Bus, Popcorn Popping On The Apricot Tree, Old MacDonald, Five Silly Monkeys, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Once There Was A Snowman, and Three Little Ducks.

We used pretzels to build a nest for marshmellow peeps and jelly eggs- super healthy.

We sculpted birds nests out of air dry putty.

New Fish's bird and nest full of eggs

We made bird feeders with birdseed and peanut butter.  We switched to an Easter themed sensory bin like last year.  The Easter eggs are very popular with the kids.  Red Fish and New Fish have spent hours playing in the rice.  I'm trying to decide whether to redye it.  I added white rice and I miss the bright colors.

I couldn't seem to keep the kids busy enough and they asked to go outside and paint since the weather is so warm.  I like to try and go with what interests them and it's hard for me to say no to an art project. 

Our House

 Lot's of baking and cooking with the kids lately.  They are getting pretty good.

 Kissing Pop Pops

 Planting stuff for our "garden"

 Drawing with sidewalk chalk- it's Spring!

Outings to the dinosaur museum and farm.

Even More Skiing

 The ski season is coming to a close soon but we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this winter.  It has been the most skiing we have done in years.  Skiing with little kids is hard work but I have had SO MUCH FUN.

What We Have Been Eating

I'm still doing freezer meals on a regular basis.  It has basically changed out family's life.  We are eating much better these days and I'm still in love with freezer meals a year later.  Here a recent list of stuff made for this month. I may have to stop declaring myself a terrible cook because some of these have been amazing so far.  Now if I could just learn to love cooking...


FAVORITES & Repeats:


Butternut Squash Pork Roast
Ppork roasts (about 2 to 3 pounds each)
1 whole butternut squashes cut into one inch cubes
1 tablespoons dried thyme 2 tablespoons garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste

Cook in crockpot on low 6 hrs. 

Pistachio Crusted Chicken

1 cup chopped pistachios 1/2 cup bread crumbs 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons honey salt and pepper to taste 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch strips

Mix together pistachios and bread crumbs in a shallow bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together Dijon mustard, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper until smooth. Dip chicken into Dijon mixture to coat, then coat with bread crumbs
Bake at 375 degrees until the chicken is no longer pink and the pistachio coating is golden brown, about 20 minutes.
 
BBQ Chicken Salad
BBQ sauce
INGREDIENTS: 1-1/2 cups Dark Brown Sugar, packed, 1-1/4 cups Ketchup, 1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar, 1/2 cup Water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce, 2-1/2 teaspoons Ground Mustard, 2 teaspoons Paprika, 1-1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon Black Pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Measure and add all ingredients to a large bowl and whisk well until the sugar has dissolved and the spices are thoroughly distributed. Serve immediately or cover and store in fridge or freeze!
Crockpot chicken low for 4-6 hrs, shred chicken.  Serve as a salad with cheese, corn, black beans, tomatoes, tortilla strips, avocado, BBQ ranch, etc....

Cranberry Chicken
4 lb.  Chicken breasts, 1 can  (16 oz.) whole berry cranberry sauce, 1 bottle CATALINA/french Dressing, 1 env.  onion soup mix
Bake at 350 for 50 min or crockpot low 6 hrs or high 4 hrs. Serve over rice

Korean Beef
Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon sesame oil, 3 cloves garlic, minced, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers (depending on how spicy you like it), salt and pepper, 1 bunch green onions, diced
Directions:
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown hamburger with garlic in the sesame oil. Drain most of the fat and add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper and red peppers. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Serve over steamed rice and top with green onions.
 
Chicken Alfredo
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/08/guiltless-alfredo-sauce/

Spaghetti
Spaghetti- Meat, tomato paste, tomato sauce, chopped veggies and onions, spaghetti spice packet.  Thaw and serve over pasta.

Taco Meat

NEW THINGS
Enchiladas
1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean) , 1 large onion, chopped or season with Onion powder or minced onion , 2 1/2 cups salsa , 1 can (15 ounces) black beans or red kidney beans, rinsed and drained , 1/4 cup reduced-fat Italian salad dressing , 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium taco seasoning , 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin , 6 flour tortillas (8 inches) , 1 small can of drained corn, or about 1 1/4 cups of frozen corn (optional) , 3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream *Note: I used 1/2 cup , 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend, 1 cup shredded lettuce , 1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

Ceaser Chicken Sandwich
2 lbs chicken breasts, 1 bottle of your fav g/f caeser dressing, 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
Crockpot chicken low 4 - 6 hrs.
Serve with parmesan cheese and lettuce as a sandwich or wrap

Baked Potato Soup (Never doing this one again, sorry)
Ingredients: 8 baked potatoes (flesh scooped out and the skins reserved for potato skin recipe), 4 baked potatoes, chopped in cubes with skin on, 6 tablespoons butter, 1 onion, finely chopped, 1/2 cup carrots shredded, optional, 4 tablespoons flour, 8 cups chicken stock , 4 cups water, 1/2 cup cornstarch, 2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. basil, 1/2 tsp. thyme, 1 cup half and half, 1 cup milk, 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Bake potatoes in microwave or oven. Scoop out interior for the recipe; save potato skins for another use. As potatoes cool prepare soup by melting butter in a large stockpot, and saute onion and carrots. Add the flour to the onions and stir to make a roux. Add stock, water, cornstarch, mashed potatoes, and spices and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add chopped baked potatoes, cheese, half and half and milk. Bring back to a boil and reduce heat to simmer and simmer for about thirty minutes or longer. Serve with a tablespoon of shredded cheese, crumbled bacon and/or chives or green onions

Freezer Burritos
Ingredients: 1 box Mexican/Taco rice, 1 lb Ground beef/turkey, 1 cup salsa, 1 can black beans, 1 can corn, Cheese
Tortillias (I used rudi GF tortillas, they worked great after I heated them up in the microwave 2 at a time between 2 damp paper towels for 20 secs)

Ground the meat and cooked the rice and then added everything together.  Heated the tortillas, put some cheese on the tortilla, scooped mixture on the tortilla, wrapped it up, wrapped it in tin foil and froze.
To warm up take out of tin foil and pop in microwave on high for 2 ½ min turning over once.

Cilantro Lime Chicken
3 pounds large chicken breasts 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese 8 tablespoons garlic, chopped,  1 tablespoons shredded lime zest, 1/2 cup chicken broth 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste 1 teaspoons garlic powder 1 cups fresh cilantro leaves (do not include stems)

Crock pot on low 4 hrs.
 
Annie’s Tostada Meat
2 lbs. ground beef or turkey, 1 can El Pato Tomato sauce, 1 tsp. Cumin, salt and pepper to taste

Creamy season pork
Southwest chicken and white bean soup
Cilantro lime chicken
Taco salad (meat and beans)
Lemon chiken
Smothered enchiladas
Creamy chive chicken
 

More Ocean Week

 We have been reading books about ocean life, watching videos about fish and we visited the aquarium today.  We used to go almost weekly to the aquarium but we hadn't been in awhile.  It was fun to go with the girls and listen to them point out all of the things they learned this week.  The girls got to pet a tiny shark and the otters were going crazy playing with them through the window.

 I don't know why my kids love this frog so much.  They always need to sit on it and admire it for awhile.

Our House

Poor Thing 1 may never be the same after learning to tea party at our house.  He immediately started dragging out all of the dishes and setting up.  He even picked himself an outfit. I used to convince his Dad, J to play dress up and tea party when we were little.  It must be in Thing 1's blood.

 Story time on big bear's lap.

 Wood piece sculptures before bed.

G Is For Go Fish And Goldfish

 We spent the day talking about the letter G and ocean life.  Our nursery rhyme was 10 Little Goldfish.  We read the book Usbourne Under The Sea and looked at a lot of pictures of sealife.  The kids already recognized a lot of the creatures and fish by name.  They both love to be read to.

 We read our G books next and practiced identifying the letter in a text.  Then we made our letter G into a goldfish.  When the kids make projects like this that are so directed, I don't really consider them an art project but more of a fine motor skills or craft project. (I am an art project snob.) They love decorating letters though.

 We played several rounds of Go Fish, a favorite game at our house.  Playing games with the kids really shows me how much they have grown up since September. They take turns, follow rules and listen to directions and are so easy to teach.

 They counted (and ate) goldfish crackers onto paper fishbowls.

 They did our fish puzzles.

 We played a magnetic fishing game to practiced good manners and some large motor skills.  Each fish was labeled with a challenge.

 We did a printing project that was supposed to have water made from bubble wrap prints and then fish made from shape stamps.  The brayers were more fun than the bubble wrap though so they rolled over their bubble prints.  They had a blast and were going crazy rolling the paint.

 
We ran out of time for singing time, which bummed the kids out but we played in our sensory bin with the wheat and fish toys.  It was a good day of preschool.

Weaving Rainbows

 The girls painted with watercolors the other day.  Today I cut slits in one paper and then sliced up another painting into strips for each of them.  Then they wove the strips through to make a new project.  Red Fish really loved doing the weaving.  It was a little difficult for New Fish but she still loved making the project.  I think they look awesome.

New Fish's painting

Red Fish's painting

At Our House

Playing cards in our bathing suits and blankies today.

Rainbows

 We are starting on our March rainbow projects.  It's fun to have so much color in the house.  Red Fish has still been cutting out snowflakes like crazy but she has switched to yellow, green and pink papers.  We have been using tissue paper and contact paper to make suncatchers for the windows.

Ski Bums

A Little Love

New Fish chilling with Thing 2 while the Moms are cooking freezer meals.