It is 8:19 am and the children have left the building.

Whew.  I can take a breather.  Here were bits and pieces of my morning:

1. Have Brian rummage around for the car keys so we can get him to seminary the customary 5 minutes late.  Seminary is 4 blocks away.
2. Listen to Natalia yell and stomp on her way to the shower because "you didn't wake me up early enough".  One would think that an hour to get ready for school is plenty of time.
3. Make pancakes in the shape of easter bunnies that husband says look like something unmentionable, since this is a family blog.
4. Pack lunches into three lunch bags while piling the fourth onto the counter because the youngest is too busy to track down his lunch box.
5. Rummage through magazines to find 10 for the oldest to take to school for extra credit.  I'm not really sure why he needs magazines, but it's a good way to purge them.
6. Make sure everyone gets out the door with what they need for the day.

My next steps?

1. Clean the filthy kitchen and put the meat in the crockpot to make taquitos tonight.
2. Check that the stained up baseball pants are as clean as I can get them for another game tonight.
3. Get ready for work. 

Achk!  I'd better get moving...

Plant a Garden! Inflation's gonna getcha.

I was listening to the news today, and one of the news items was that the CEO of Wal-Mart has said that inflation is going to be serious.  He said that Wal-Mart has "already seen price increases among dairy and cotton productions, and that more increases are coming in transportation-related products like paper."  He said "inflation could start to affect the retailer later in the year."  In June we will really be seeing the prices go up, even more so than they already have.  We've seen the prices on milk go up 35cents a gallon, and the other dairy will soon follow.  Gas prices are hovering right around $4 per gallon.  Gulp.

I don't know about you, but we have NO leeway or room in our budget to pay more for ANythING.  

The beautiful Missouri sky~perfect gardening conditions.

One of the things that has always helped us is eating the produce that we have grown ourselves.  There have been summers that we've basically lived on tomatoes, basil and zucchini!  The kids were so tired of zucchini, since we had it in bread, as fried as pancakes, sauteed with dinner, in brownies, and even in cookies.  I am really going to miss my grandpa and dad's garden this year, let me tell you.  We've got plans for a garden here, and some pots on the porch, too.  We are also going to try these home-made topsy-turvy planters for some tomato plants on our front porch.  (for other tutorials just google it, there are tons!)  There is nothing like eating tomatoes picked from your own garden.

Rare Seeds has a huge variety of heirloom seeds, and they are very inexpensive.  Especially if you order with a friend or two and split the packs.


We've started basil and oregano in eggshells.  I just cracked the top off, emptied the shells to use, filled with starting soil, and popped in some seeds.  Monkey helped with that part.  We've been keeping them watered and have little one-inch sprouts.  I've also cut water bottles off about three inches from the bottom.  We're using the bottom cup part to plant more seeds in for starting, zucchini and cucumbers, nothing exotic.


So, for just a few dollars, some recycled containers, and time (then patience to wait for the growing plants) we've got our garden started.  I'll do a post with pictures later since I have a camera with dead batteries.


Get your garden planned and planted, and you'll be pleased as punch!

What's for dinner? Week 4

I'm back after being away all weekend visiting family and watching Conference and driving.  Just love those long drives.  Not.

Since I am working 3 days, dinners this week will mostly be from the crockpot, or pot-luck elsewhere.  We also have 4, yes, 4! softball and baseball games, Mutual on Tuesday, Mario's play and Scouts on Wednesday, and a Cake and Service Auction on Friday for Scout and Young Women's Camp.  Whew.  I can't even think about Saturday!

Monday:
Saucy Country Style Pork Ribs in the Crockpot  (Enough for two meals)

1 onion, sliced and quartered
2 small sweet potatoes, sliced and quartered

3-4 lbs. country style pork ribs, cut in half
1 jar of prepared spaghetti sauce

Layer everything in the order listed into a crockpot sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Slightly shred and season with salt and pepper if needed.  Serve over pasta.

Tuesday:

Leftovers from Monday turned into shredded pork on a bun with coleslaw.

Wednesday:
Pot-luck at the school after Mario's "Stone Soup" play performance.  I'm contributing a pasta salad and a dessert.  Probably these yummy Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Bars  They're kind of like blonde brownies with chocolate chips.

Thursday:
{Baked}Chipotle Beef Taquitos
I'll cook the roast ahead of time in the crockpot and make extra Taquitos for another meal.

Friday:
Dinner at church with dessert auction.  I have no clue what my two teenagers are going to make for this.  Guess they better get some brainstorming done!

I'm linking here:

Party Time!

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Yep, it's that time again! If you're here visiting from the Ultimate Blog Party, let me introduce myself.

Hi, I'm Annie. Nice to meetcha! I'm married to Andy and we have 4 kids, from 7 to 16, and a lot of what I write about has to do with them! {Click on the "Who Am I" tab right above here to read a bit more.}

I started blogging in 2007 to keep family and friends up-to-date while we were living in Missouri. Since then we have moved back to California. My blog is also where I keep track of things our family has done and said. The blogname Savor This Moment is a reminder to me to live in the moment, and to really be there.

I also blog about scrapbooking, {which I adore!} and share some of my pages and other projects here.

Since I have to cook for my family anyway, and we love to eat, you'll find quite a few recipes here, too.

Leave a comment! I love finding other blogs to read, and I can't wait to visit YOU!

OK, I know this is another food post, but it's yummy!

I don't like to waste things. That applies to food, too.When we've eaten up a loaf of bread and the ends are left, I stash them in a ziplock in the freezer.  When we have leftover pancakes or waffles?  Yep, stashed in the freezer.  The kids will pull out frozen waffles or pancakes and heat them up for breakfast, but sometimes it feels like the freezer is getting over-run by leftover carbohydrates.

Not really a bad thing, but in the effort to make some room in the freezer to keep stashing bread, I made some bread pudding. 

Not all in the family are in love with bread pudding.  I know, weird.  So I made individual servings in canning jars.  Because much like bread pudding, I am in love with canning jars.  But that romance is for another day.

Even though bread pudding is relatively easy to make, it is usually soggy and heavy.  That is not my favorite.  So I looked for a good recipe to try and came upon this one from Amy at Angry Chicken.

I modified it just a smidge.  Here is what I ended up doing:  I let the ziplock of stashed carbs sit for a bit on the counter until it was partially thawed.  Then I tore them into bits.  This bowl includes pieces of homemade bread, store-bought bread, pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, and even a stray biscuit.

Then I mixed the wet ingredients together and poured them over the top.  Not so tough.  I also threw in a couple of handfuls of chocolate chips, since there were already some in the pancakes.

Then I spooned them into 1-cup canning jars (this made 7 of them), set them in a cookie sheet, covered them with foil and refrigerated overnight.  I agree with Amy, this made a huge difference and gave the pudding an airy, spongey texture.  I also baked on the cookie sheet and added some boiling water to the cookie sheet as a water bath.  I'm not sure if that was necessary, but they turned out great!  See the yummy chocolate chips?  Heaven!

Bread Pudding in a Jar:

6 cups (or so) of bread, or an assortment of what you have, torn into pieces
1 (or so) cups chocolate chips
1/4 cup melted butter (1/2 cube)
2 cups milk (I used skim! and it was still great!)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla


Tear bread into a large mixing bowl. Add the chocolate chips.  The more, the merrier!

In another bowl, melt the butter and let cool before adding the other ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients over the bread and toss.  Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour to let the bread soak up the custard.

Prep the canning jars by buttering or spraying with a non-stick cooking spray.  Spoon the bread into the individual jars and place onto a cookie sheet.  Cover all with one large sheet of aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.  Pour boiling water a 1/2 to 1 inch in the bottom of the cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes (my oven is a little hot, so things tend to take less time)  If they brown too quickly, just put the foil back on top.

Enjoy!


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