Simplify Your Life

I don’t know what it is like in your neck of the woods, but where I am the sun is shining, the birds are chirping and my stove is sizzling with all the yumminess that springtime has to offer.  Life certainly doesn’t quiet down with the changing of seasons around our home but the goodness of life makes the crazy days bearable.  This month I would like to encourage you to take advantage of whatever good things there are around you, be it food, weather or loving people and embrace it all!  Gather who you can around your table and share some spring recipes and gratitude with each other and I know you will feel better because of it!

Isn’t that how is works?  A new year rolls around and we feel the need to commit to changes and goals?  No exception here.  There are many hurdles I would love to tackle in 2012.  First off, my family is moving.  Not far, just across town but still, let’s be honest- moving is not an easy task no matter how far you are moving.  The part I love is the decluttering.  Online classifieds are my new best friend!  People come to my house and give me money for the stuff I don’t want to take with me?  Sign me up!  I am so excited to get my family settled in our new home and start making memories.  Once we are in, I have a resolution to tackle food storage and emergency prep. I am working on adding a page to the website dedicated strictly to simplifying food storage and preparing for any number of disasters…. earthquake, flood, terrorist attack, you name it.  I know it isn’t the most cheerful of topics but let’s face it, we need to be prepared!  Hopefully some of what I do will be helpful to you and please please share your thoughts and ideas in return.  Beyond that, let’s all make it a goal to get our families around the dinner table more often!  You know that is what I am all about so let’s work together on this one too!  Thank you to all the wonderful members of our site and I am throwing out a sincere prayer to all that 2012 brings much love, peace and happy times for you and those you love !

Recently I have been doing more cooking demos and TV cooking segments.  As I have prepared for these I have asked myself what I can say to get people to think I am clever, experienced and the like.  Obviously it is important to be prepared and think about how to appeal to your audience.  However, what I have learned is equally, if not more important, is to simply be sincere.  I know that not everyone is going to like me or think I am clever or whatever but as long as I am being real and true to who I am as a person, it doesn’t matter if I appeal to everyone.  Trying to be someone you aren’t is one of the most unappealing things I can think of doing.  Whether in cooking, in business, or in everyday life, being sincere and showing your true character is much more important than changing who you are to appeal to the crowd.  I don’t need everyone to like me, I just need to like the me I am putting out there and hope that enough people like what I am doing that I can keep on doing it!

A well stocked pantry is the ticket to less stress in the kitchen!  Here is a list of items we like to have on hand that are used in many different types of recipes and frequently go on sale.  If you get a few of these items each week, you’ll notice a big difference in feeling prepared and little difference in your budget.  It’s a win-win!

• Canned foods: cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, tomato soup, tomato sauce, corn, green beans, different fruits, various beans, chili, tuna fish, canned milk

• Dry goods: wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, pastas, crackers

• Baking items: flour, salt, sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, baking powder, baking soda, yeast, dry milk, corn
  

• Condiments: ketchup, mustard, mayo, vinegar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, pickles, olives, peanut butter, honey

• Misc. items: butter, nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, vanilla, other extracts

We all have goals.  Some of us want to lose weight.  Some of us want to finish that book we started.  I think most of us would love to sit down to a fresh, healthy dinner each night in the comfort of our own home.  Whatever area your goals are in, a good plan of action is essential!  When I decided to make family dinner a priority I started by spending hours pouring over cookbooks and websites hoping to stumble upon a plan that would work for me.  Anyone with kids can tell you, spending hours on end doing anything consistently is not an option.  Hence, Simplify Supper was born.  This baby is my secret weapon that helps me fulfill my goal of corralling my little herd of people around our kitchen table each night.  With everything from shopping lists created and categorized with the push of a button to simple kid and budget friendly recipes, I am meeting my goal of successful family dinners one bite at a time.  Let me share my plan with you at www.simplifysupper.com.  Happy planning!

To be intentional- to do something on purpose.  We can do good things intentionally or not so good things.  When one of my kids comes crying because another kid made them sad I always ask the instigator, “Was it on purpose or an accident?”  The things we do intentionally carry a lot more weight than the things that just kinda happen.  Living with intention applies to every aspect of our lives.  How we spend our time, how we spend our money, how we treat others and so on.  What have you intentionally done today?  I think the things we do on purpose show where our values lie.  I know that on days I don’t get my run in or I completely forget a dentist appointment, I can still feel like I am living with good intention if I have taken care of my family and shown them that I love them.  If I did the opposite, if I ran a few miles and got my teeth cleaned but treated my family like garbage, then I wouldn’t be able to close my eyes at the end of the day feeling like I’d nailed it.   I encourage us all to reflect a moment on what we want to do intentionally so that when all is said and done we can look back on our lives and ask, “Was it on purpose or an accident?”

Last weekend I did my usual thing that drives my husband crazy… not in a good way.  While picking up around the house I misplaced the TV remote.  I vaguely remember shoving it out of sight in a drawer somewhere.  Apparently it has fallen into that black hole that exists in our house along with about a half dozen missing socks and my missing Ipod charger.  Anyhoo, I didn’t worry too much knowing it would likely turn up in a few days.  Well here we are over one week later and still no remote.  We have Dish Network so without the remote it means we can’t turn on the TV.  DVDs only this last week.  After about two days of withdrawal I have come to really enjoy this sabbatical from the world of Disney and even PBS.  Every time the kids ask to watch TV I simply remind them that the remote is missing and then I am amazed at how quickly they find other avenues of entertainment. Today I watched from the hall as my four, six and eight year old sat around the kitchen table with a stack of paper plates and a bucket of markers and made masks for each other without any of the usual promptings from me.  I’m sure the remote will turn up eventually but in the meantime I am loving the lack of screen time and the lack of Hannah Montana’s voice in the background while I clean.  Maybe I should accidentally misplace the remote more often.

When I was a teenager I swore that I would never drive a minivan.  The night my husband and I went to test drive them I definitely had to check my ego at the dealership door.  However, being pregnant with our third baby and having a one and three year-old in tow, I had little options.  The minivan met our budget, safety concerns and was one of the only options of transportation that would fit an infant seat and two toddler seats.  This is not a plug for minivans and I don’t plan on getting a job selling them.  My point is simply to say this: if a minivan is what you need to get you through the day, then embrace it!  No matter what age or stage you are at in life, there are going to be demands that you could have never seen coming.  Life is about evaluating and re-evaluating your priorities.  The teenager that is still somewhere inside of me laughs every time I start up the engine but then I crank up my Kindermusik CD, catch a glimpse of my four beautiful babes in the rear view mirror and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to embrace this stage of my life!

10 Benefits of Family Dinners

Toting up all the benefits of frequent family dinners:

• Everyone eats healthier meals.
• Kids are less likely to become overweight or obese.
• Kids more likely to stay away from cigarettes.
• They’re less likely to drink alcohol.
• They won’t likely try marijuana.
• They’re less likely to use illicit drugs.
• Friends won’t likely abuse prescription drugs.
• School grades will be better.
• You and your kids will talk more.
• You’ll be more likely to hear about a serious problem.
• Kids will feel like you’re proud of them.
• There will be less stress and tension at home.

The question isn’t why have family dinner, the question is how.  The answer is simple:  let Simplify Supper do the work for you so you can relax and enjoy the time with your family around the table!  Let’s Simplify Supper together!

Last night I made lasagna.  The kitchen smelled amazing and I was so excited to sit down with my family.  Mark worked late so I let the kids snack a little since we didn’t start dinner until almost eight o’clock.  I baked Rhoades rolls as a side.  The lasagna recipe was simple:

12 no boil lasagna noodles

1 container cottage cheese

1 jar tomato and basil spaghetti sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 pound ground beef

1 white onion chopped and sautéed

It didn’t take long to put the meal together and while it was cooking the kids and I cleaned up the playroom.  Dinner was ready when Mark got home and he was super excited to eat it, partly because he loves lasagna but I think mostly because he had worked a really long day.  My six year old thought it looked yucky but after one bite he was sold.  That is usually how he works which is why we have a rule that you can’t say you don’t like it unless you try it first.  Ninety nine percent of the time that is all it takes to get the kids to eat.  One percent of the time they really don’t like what I have made so they can make themselves something else; usually cereal and yogurt.