The Lazy Girl's Guide to Motherhood

Lazily Mediterranean

2012-01-27T06:57:00.001-05:00

I LOVE couscous- The great, quicker cooking cousin to rice and pasta.
OK, that's not true since its really just tiny pasta pieces.
But it seems like rice.
But its not.

Anyway, just boil water and 5 minutes later your done.
5 minutes to dinner=Awesome.
Obviously.

The great thing about this dish is that it seems exotic to me. Mediterranean definitely. A bit Middle Eastern. And yet- 5 minutes and FOUR ingredients. Diced tomatoes would also be a good addition, but I'm out of them and I rarely run to the store at the last minute for anything. I also like to top it with parmesan.
So- there you are. Another 5 minute meal :)

My favorite is:

Jar of quartered marinated artichoke hearts
can of garbanzo beans (aka chick peas)
1 cup coucous
1 1/4 cups of broth
(the above = 4 servings)

Add it all together, boil it, take it off the heat and let it sit 5 minutes, fluff with a fork and enjoy the delicious simplicity.

Broccoli Soup

2012-01-24T15:32:00.000-05:00

I have been doing this paleo thing lately, which is so outside of my general carbohydrate addict's existence. (paleo is the "caveman's diet" with no "white carbs", ie no pasta, rice, potato or bread... I know... what is left for me to eat?!"
Anyway, in an effort to get more vegetables (and not be so darn hungry all of the time) I developed the lazy girl's broccoli or spinach soup.

defrosted frozen Broccoli (or spinach)
block of tofu
shredded cheese
broth
seasonings

basically, I defrost the broccoli and throw all the ingredients into the blender and add broth until its the right consistency. So easy. So filling. So few calories :)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T15:29:00.001-05:00

To start off the new year, I have all of the laundry in my house clean and put away.
ALL of it. AAAAAnd, while I was at it I organized the kids clothes, and put some more in my "take to the Salvation Army" bag.
Seriously.
All the clothes clean AND put away.
That, like, never happens.
Ever.
Its "throw myself a party and drink the rest of the champagne from last night" exciting.
Ok, like I wasn't going to do that anyway since Sweetheart is working tonight and I'll be home with the champagne and the rest of the Christmas chocolate calling my name.
So... hooray for me! The clothes are all done............at least for another 3 hours until the kids change into their pajamas, at which time the laundry cycle will start over :)

That was my big New Years activity. How was yours? Are you doing something to start it off on the right foot?

Lazy Lemon Bars

2011-12-15T15:25:00.002-05:00

I never bake.
Never hardly ever.
When people come over and ask what to bring I always say dessert.
This is partly because baking is not such a great activity for the attention deprived (we tend to put too much or too little of ingredients and burn things) AND it is a terrible activity for those of us with out self control, since a dozen cookies lasts all of 12 minutes. And that's when the kids are asleep.

Unfortunately, though, I am required to bring something for some function.
Enter, the TWO ingredient Lemon bars over at "I'm a Lazy Mom" (my hero ;)
Angel food cake mix and lemon pie filling (plus powdered sugar to top.

Click the pic to link to the actual awesomely awesome recipe.

Source: imalazymom.com via Kristy on Pinterest

2011-12-12T09:47:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to make everything a link to a blog or pinterest, but this stove top Mac and Cheese is A.Mazing.

Source: skiptomylou.org via Kristy on Pinterest

My kids, generally, only liked boxed mac n' cheese, and when I try to make it from scratch they whine and say they want the "real" stuff.
Blah.
Am I the only ones with kids like this? Or am I just the only one who feeds their kids such a consistent diet of Kraft that they think its a food group?
Anyway-- it tastes and has the consistence of Kraft-- but tons better. Click on the pic for the link and the recipe. Basically its Alton Brown's stovetop mac n' cheese with evaporated milk, shredded cheese and eggs. I don't add the mustard or hot sauce.
***Also, I only use ONE can of the evaporated milk, not two as recommended.***

Socks are So Pinteresting

2011-12-09T09:27:00.001-05:00

Lately I have been on Pinterest... which I seriously L.O.V.E. Seriously.

Source: imalazymom.com via Kristy on Pinterest

This idea, though, is one of my favorites and something I actually do. And Love. Seriously. As I've told you, Laundry is one of my nemiseseses.
Especially little socks.
I think tiny socks are SO SO SO cute.....until they're in the laundry and I'm trying to match them up and figure out which tiny white or pink sock is exactly the same as some other tiny white or pink sock.
Blah.
Enter, The sock bag.
Genius.
This is a life change folks.

Here's the scoop:
Buy 2 big bags of socks (we have 20 pair total of the same sock) that will fit both kids. Put the socks into one of those little containers for plastic grocery store bags. Hang near the shoes. Don't fold/match/deal with baby/kid socks ever again. The end.

Now, I understand this is easier for me, given my kids have feet relatively the same size (one is a 9 and the other wears size 11's) but you could totally do it with different sized kids. Just buy everyone a bunch of the same sock with different colored toes, or mark each kid's with a different color sharpie.
I am totally cheap cheap cheap, but this was so worth the little investment in buying new socks and getting rid of the old ones.
We do have some other socks-- some occasions call for the Princess to have pink socks or other random cutie ones, and TinyTwo#1 occasionally needs black or navy blue socks, but those occasions are rare.
The kids can get their own socks every morning -- which I love-- and they put the clean ones away by themselves :)
You're welcome ;)

Link: The Suburban Minimalist

2011-12-06T09:25:00.001-05:00

The Suburban Minimalist has a great post today-- I could have (almost) written it myself. She and I think a lot alike in many ways (though she's much cooler than I am), so today I'll be lazy and share her tips on

the absolutely positively pain-free way to go simple (and stay chic)

Love this Pesto Pasta Link

2011-09-26T12:13:00.010-04:00

Click here for a post by "Charlotte Mom Favorites" titled "The best meal you'll ever make in 10 minutes flat". Obviously it caught my attention :) Pesto pasta mixed with any of several options to mix it up- this is a must have pantry meal :)

Are you chicken?

2011-09-22T08:01:00.001-04:00

My mom's favorite "real" dinner to make with her roommate in college was the following. Its super easy and does not require you to remember to defrost the chicken first, and it comes out super tender and juicy because the acid in the tomatoes breaks down the meat. (You might not care about that last part- its the science geek/ "Alton Brown wanna be" side of me.

Ingredients:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts (can still be frozen)
Italian diced tomatoes (or regular)
packet of french onion soup mix

In the baking dish (spray it with pam or cover the bottom in aluminum foil first) throw in the chicken, top it with the tomatoes and sprinkle on the soup mix and cook at 400 for an hour. Serve with rice you lazily cook using this recipe right after the chicken goes in, and you have a super quick prep dinner.

I'll call this 5 minutes and 5 ingredients because it only takes 5 minutes of prep.

All. By. My. Self.

2011-09-19T07:22:00.002-04:00

I had a sweet friend watch the kids the other day while I had an appointment, and since I needed to pick up a prescription on my way home, I stopped in a grocery store with a pharmacy to kill two birds with one stone.

As I walked around the store (All. By. My. Self.) I noted the fact I, not only had time to think about a fun lunch and time to casually shop for it, I had an adult to share it with. What a wonderful opportunity! I wouldn't, however, have hardly any time to make the lunch since, by the time I finally got home, it would be a little past lunch time already. After wandering around (All. By. My. Self. No one. Crying. No one. Running. Away. So. Relaxing.***)

Anyway, I settled on frozen Spinach Ravioli, a jar of alfredo, and a package of Kielbasa sausage. When I got home all I had to do was boil some water, cook the Ravioloi for 5 minutes, during the last minute I dropped in the kielbasa I had sliced, drained everything and dumped the sauce on top. in 7 minutes we were eating our quick easy lunch that barely took longer to make than a sandwich :)

Moral of the story- high quality sausage gives you a meat without having to cook it and can make meal prep almost instant.

***How sad I now find even grocery shopping relaxing, as long as I'm alone to do it.

Picnic

2011-09-15T07:40:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago my friend was dropping in for the night with her husband and two girls on their way south after a vacation in Canada. We were trying to decide were to eat, which wasn't entirely easy considering we had 4 younger kids to keep entertained, 4 younger kids' palates*** to appease, and her two were pretty tired to being cooped up in the car all day.

We ended up going to the Subway that's super close and then swinging in the grocery store for a big bag of chips and drinks. I was impressed at how reasonable the cost was (especially compared to us going out to eat, really about anywhere else) and the plan was for the kids to play at the park while everyone ate. It didn't exactly work out that way, but in the end everyone was happy.

***I definitely have my kids eat "adult" food all the time, whether they like it or not, but there are times I think its best to just give them something they'll enjoy so I can talk with my friends and not be hounding the TinyTwo the entire meal to eat.

Kielbasa in la casa

2011-09-12T07:33:00.000-04:00

We had a babysitter on the way and I needed to get ready for the Parent's Open House, get the house looking presentable, get the kids looking semi-presentable, and cook dinner that would be acceptable for the family and the sweet babysitter friend to eat, all in a very short amount of time.

Ingredients:
Rice (I like to add bouillon to the water sometimes)
Kielbasa Sausage, sliced
Can of Italian diced Tomatoes
Can of Black Beans
Seasonings (Rosemary Garlic blend and Italian Seasoning blend)

I added the water to the stove, brought it to a boil, dumped everything in, turned off the heat, and left it for 20 minutes. When the timer went off, dinner was ready.

5 minutes of work, 5 ingredients, so easy, so good, so awesome.

Green Cleaning

2011-09-08T21:29:00.000-04:00

Click here for Cozi's post on easy green cleaning. I think only using a few ingredients is the lazy way to go- that way I don't have to keep up with lots of different bottles. Also, I don't have to worry about leaving stuff out for the TinyTwo to get into :)

5 minute meals

2011-09-01T07:20:00.000-04:00

I've collected a few blogs with 5 minute meals. They may or may not have 5 ingredients. Hope you get some ideas!

http://happyhealthymama.com/2011/06/5-minute-pantry-dinner.html

Black beans and rice

http://iowagirleats.com/2009/11/20/5-minute-5-ingredient-dinner/

egg drop soup

http://financialhighway.com/5-and-5-minutes-to-a-great-appetizer/

http://realmomhealthnut.blogspot.com/2011/06/short-on-time-5-minute-dinner.html

couscous and beans

http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/816775/Ten-Minutes-to-Dinner

potato broc cheese soup

http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/816775/Ten-Minutes-to-Dinner/page:4

French bread pizza

http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=from_a_box_and_a_can_to_a_five_healthful_meals

http://www.zenfamilyhabits.net/2009/11/5-ingredients-5-minutes-5-meals-out-of-the-can/

First Day of School

2011-08-31T07:49:00.020-04:00

Today is the TinyTwo's first day of school. Sigh. They're getting so big and grown up. Grant it, we're talking pre-school/pre-k here, but still, its their first time out of the house everydayand dropped off anywhere I won't just be down the hall. I talked here about the great lunch debacle from day camp and my anxiety over making lunches everyday, but I do have my plan now. The first step in my plan was to pick up these Ziploc Divided Containers. Then, being me, I came up with my daily menu. I'll likely vary occassionally, but as for now I will be packing the same thing everyday: Cheese toast sandwich, applesauce and raisins with water. The school provides snack everyday (well, parents take turns providing snacks for the entire class everyday) so I don't have to worry about that except for my 2 weeks I'm in charge of that. Actually, I guess its 4 weeks since I have 2 kids. Anyway, I have the lunch thing down. The kids have their little backpacks and matching lunch bags and everything is ready for school. Except me.

Kindle

2011-08-28T07:19:00.000-04:00

I received the most generous gift for my birthday a few months ago... a Kindle. OK, actually it was for me and Sweetheart, but, in reality, its mine ;) He knows how to turn it on and get it to read the audio version of Good Night Moon I uploaded. Otherwise, he's pretty new to it. I, on the other hand, LOVE. IT. Love it. I don't, however, love to pay to read, and so I was so excited to find this site. Jungle Deals and Steals has been updating once a week with free Kindle books!
Sometimes the books are awesome, sometimes they're not, but they're free and I always read the comments and ratings before I load one.
Carrying around 100 books in one little Kindle= Lazy
Carrying around 100 Kindle books without having to pay for them= Awesome

lunch

2011-08-04T10:04:00.000-04:00

Well..... Mother of the Year here... again.
I just found out I need to pack lunches this year. For BOTH kids. For some reason I had decided that only the full day kids at the school would eat lunch there. I was wrong and sent my son to school today, his first day, without a lunch. (He's going to their day camp for 3 weeks this summer, but it is in the same building, is everyday, and has the same hours as school will, so, in all essence, today was his first day of school) Yes, I can hear the applause at my amazing mom skills. So, besides being awesome at motherhood in general, and completely new to the "drop kids off and pick them up at school" thing... now I'm going to have to pack lunches. Peanut and tree nut free lunches. I'm totally fine with this rule, but its not one we've had to encounter before and an enormous portion of the kids diet involves PBJ. I found this great post here for ideas. We'll see what I come up with.
Side note: as I told Sweetheart about this HUGE adjustment in my planning for the year he responded with, "Great! You can make my lunches too!" .... I'm sure you can imagine how that went down.

Tortilla Pizzas

2011-08-01T07:35:00.001-04:00

Happy August! How on earth did that sneak up on us????

We love pizza around here. Like... a lot. I'd even say we <3 pizza and I never say we <3 anything.
So... when a new pizza recipe came my way- that's super easy and super yummy- we of course made them right away. And took them out to the pool for dinner :)

First, toast the tortillas a bit so they're a tad crunchy. Add pizza toppings. I always use mushroom spaghetti sauce because I can never remember to buy pizza sauce and I can't tell much of a difference. My mom, mind you, would disagree. Do what you think is best :) Then we topped it with shredded mozzarella cheese, then some of them got pepperonis too. We put them back in the toaster oven for 5 minutes to melt everything and they were wonderful. Much like a really thin pizza actually.
You, of course, could use a cookie sheet and a regular oven. The "toast" setting for the toaster oven is 450, but I'm sure 350 would be better to keep them from browning to quickly. You want the tortillas to dry out, not brown. Half of the TinyTwo rolled his up, the other half preferred hers cut up like a proper personal pizza. Both halves loved them.

Fishing for Goldfish

2011-07-28T07:32:00.000-04:00

My kids LOVE goldfish crackers, but I'm a bit wary of the price and the incredients.
Life Your Way has a post out on how to make your own- and it seems super easy- even to me :) Click here for the link. I'll up-date you if/when I make them... let me tell you it won't be today!
100 degrees outside= no baking :)
If you try this let me know how easy it is ;)

Lazy Blueberry Muffins

2011-07-25T12:30:00.030-04:00

I posted last time and here about 2 ingredient cakes. They're spectacular. You should make some.
I've also discovered lazy muffins.
They're also spectacular.
Aaaaand, they don't require eggs.
Have I mentioned my weirdness about raw eggs?
Let me look back and check.....................
Yup.
I briefly mentioned it here but didn't go into to it. Let's just say, I don't really like raw eggs. I'll certainly use them whenever something calls for them, but I have to add bleach to the dishwasher that night and can't hand-wash those egg dishes. I swear I can still smell the egg on the dishes if bleach is not involved. I know. I said it was weirdness. This weirdness has led me to try a new lazy combo:
Muffin mix+applesauce.
Its awesome. And fast. And easy.
Awesome+ fast + easy = perfect for me.
The muffins are moist and, if you somehow undercook them, it doesn't matter because there's no raw eggs. Which means ~~not having to add bleach to everything those dishes touch~~ easier clean up :)

Lazy Cake Take 2

2011-07-21T12:14:00.002-04:00

Today is my birthday, though I'll be posting this later because I already had something posted for today and I don't want to overwhelm you with my laziness ;)
As a mom, and a wife to a husband who works... A lot... I have discovered that its best to make my own deliciousness and awesomeness on my birthday rather than wish someone else would for me. I guess this could be true for any adult, it just seems especially true being the above. Which means, generally making my own birthday cake. Which is fine, except that I don't bake. I, as a rule, try to stay away from packages and mixes.... except for baking. I do not bake. Did I say that already? If Rachel Ray doesn't, I see no reason why I should either. I'm terrible at it for the same reason I didn't like Chemistry labs. I don't pay attention and I'm the opposite of precise. I had to do more than one chem lab over again in college because of this lack of attention to detail. Its the same way in the bio lab though, and somehow I majored in that (though only by the grace of God, I'm telling you)
The point being, I don't bake.
But I do like to eat.
I shared with you here about how you can bake cakes with only 2 ingredients (cake mix + soda/ pureed pumpkin/applesauce/ egg beaters/ yogurt.
Recently I learned from my awesome "Other Mother" that there's another one.
Are you ready?
Are you excited?
Its awesome.
I hope you're sitting down.
I'm sure you are since you're at your computer.....
Anyway, I'll give you two words:
Pie
Filling
You mix angel food cake mix and a can of pie filling. I chose blueberry, in case you were dying to know. 2 ingredients only. No eggs. No milk.
Dump it into a 9x13 cake pan. Do not spray it first. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. It will rise beautifully, then fall and won't be so pretty. That's OK, as I flipped mine over and "frosted" it with whipped cream.

2 ingredients = Lazy
Delicious = Awesome
Lazy + Delicious = Awesomely Delicious Awesomeness.

And Happy Birthday to Me.

Favorite Fajitas

2011-07-18T08:04:00.005-04:00

First, and most importantly, Happy Birthday to Me. Just because, I'm sure, you were desperate to know when to wish me happy birthday. Well, today is the day. 25 doesn't seem to be a whole lot different from 24 though ;)

In other news, for my "Meal Swap" this month I made fajitas. I often think of fajitas as "summer food" because I picture the meat being grilled outside I guess. I, however, do not have a grill, which generally means I do such things over the stovetop. Yesterday, though, I decided to cheat a little because it is so bloomin' hot outside and I was not interested in having my stovetop on long enough to cook 5 lb of chicken. "Well," I thought to myself, "the best way to not heat up everything is to use the crockpot" Than, I'm sure, I thought, "I am so smart", being that I'm so easily impressed with myself.

I poured all of the chicken breast and layered it with a Mojito Lime seasoning packet just to give it a kick and try to at least come close to what my friends are making. Seriously, this month one of the meals is Chicken Tikka. I don't even know what that is. Anyway, after throwing in the chicken, I cooked the chopped onion and pepper on the stove top with the Fajita seasoning packet mixed in, then sliced the chicken and mixed everything together.

All of a sudden it occurred to me that everything could be done in the crockpot if done on a smaller scale. I couldn't get in much more than the 5 lb of chicken, but if I was cooking for just my family, and not 4 others as well, I would totally do it in the crockpot. I would also, most likely, use that little frozen packet of peppers and onions that I found instead of chopping everything up.

Then, it occurred to me (are you following my train of thought? it gets derailed sometimes....) that this recipe is too amazing to not have already been discovered, and I found it, of course, at crockpot365.blogspot.com. Click here for crockpot365's recipe with steak fajitas in the crockpot)

So, I thought I came up with an amazing idea, but, its OK that someone already thought of it, since the crockpot girl is quite amazing herself. So, to sum up, in case you're a little ADD like me and that post was a little long to follow:

Add to crockpot:
~1 pound boneless skinless chicken
~packet of fajita seasoning
~bag of frozen pepper and onion mix
Cook on low for 8 hours, high for 4 hours.
Serve over tortillas and any side, like sour cream, salsa, cheese, or guacamole

Banana Peanutbutter Milkshake

2011-07-14T12:36:00.008-04:00

OK, so its not a milkshake. Its more like a smoothie, but I tell my kids its a milkshake. And I serve it for breakfast. Lunch. Snack. Treat. Dessert.
And- its delicious.
And so simple.
Simple = Lazy
Lazy = Awesome
Delicious + Lazy = Awesomer

So... here it is.

Ice (a cup or 2)
~blend the ice up a bit
A banana (the riper the better)
2 Tablespoons of peanut butter
Milk- enough to make 16 ounces total (or almond milk or soy milk or chocolate milk)
~continue blending until smooth.
~Serves 1, though you can double it and still fit in all in your blender.

Delicious. Easy. Incredible. Plus, it has no sugar added, so I'm super happy to have my kids enjoy this treat.
Thanks to my awesome friend and her equally delicious baby for making this for us :)

Watermelon

2011-07-11T12:25:00.001-04:00

One of my super smart and amazing friends loves watermelon kind of like we do, which is a lot lot lot. She, however, in her genius way, has found a super easy and clean way to get it. Wedges, though fun outside, are so messy to eat inside. Melon balls are cute and fun, but they take forever to do as you get like a tablesoon out at a time. Chopping the rind off and then chopping the remaining watermelon goodness into cubes is effective, but the juice gets everywhere.
That's why I was so excited to watch my friend serve watermelon.
Its so cool.
I was in awe when I saw her carving the watermelon with..... an ice cream scoop.
Its similar to the melon baller (though not quite as cute) in that its easy and clean, but much faster because you get so much more out with every scoop. So there you have it. Genius watermelon.

Link: Magic Jambalaya

2011-07-07T11:23:00.000-04:00

Click here to read The Simple Dollar's post on using leftovers to make jambalaya.
Basically it consists of
rice + beans + jambalaya seasoning + any and all leftovers
Lazy. Easy. Cheap. Yummy.