Pizza is a food group, RIGHT?

With a slice of take out pizza filling you with between 350 and 400 calories and upward of 12 grams of fat (25% of your RDA), avoiding pizza seems very logical. After all, we can cook most of the food that we eat at restaurants...fajitas, fried chicken, steak ...but not pizza, right? WRONG! Pizza is on of the easiest things to make! My family prefers our homemade version to any takeout! We made this "Thank you deer" pizza on friday.   I love the excitement in my son's voice when he sees that we are making pizza.

I usually use our current favorite spagetti or marinara sauce. This week, however, when I opened my pantry - guess what? No sauce! How could that be? With the crust rising, and the meat cooked...I decided to make my own sauce. Here's what I did...it was perfect for the pizza - very chunky and very tasty!

Crust: Bosch Recipe
Sauce: Saute Onions and Garlic. Add salt and large can of Diced Tomatoes. Simmer about 30 minutes.
Meat: Ground Deer Meat...browned with diced onion.

My recipe made enough for 3 pizza crusts. I froze one and topped the other 2 with sauce, meat, black olives and cheese. On my Pampered Chef Stone, I baked it at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

Pizza this good deserves its OWN FOOD GROUP!

What I did with the leftover roast...

I do enjoy having leftovers in the fridge...however, my family and I do get weary of eating the same meal over and over. Here's what I did today with the leftover roast...

We enjoy Chicken Enchilada Casserole. So, why not Beef Enchilada Casserole?
Here's the recipe I created.
Ingredients:
4 Tbs Oil
1/2 Onion
2 Stalks Celery
2 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 Flour
2 1/2 Cups Beef Broth
Leftover Roast
1 Can of Rotel
2 Cups of Grated Cheddar Cheese
12 Corn Tortillas (torn or cut into quarters)

Mince onions, celery, and garlic in the oil over a medium heat. Add flour and cook until flour begins to brown. Slowly add broth and then Rotel. Layer in a caserole dish with the remaining ingredients, beginning with the beef mixture. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes or until bubbly in the center.

Home Remedy (Oil of Oregano)...Fact or Fiction?

Well, this week, my daughter has a stomach virus. Actually, the number of friends and their children with the same symptoms is increasing. Low-grade fever, headache, and stomach ache seems to be "going around." It is time to be especially vigilant about hand washing, disinfecting doorknobs and faucets etc. If there is anyway that I can avoid being sick this Fall/Winter, then I am going to try almost anything!
Recently, I was introduced to Oil of Oregano. This is not the stuff in you spice cabinet that you put on your pizza or spaghetti sauce. The oil from pure oregano plants (thymol and carvacrol) need to be atleast 70% to produce the benefits that you want, but WOW, it is some powerful stuff! When I was first told about this, I did some research. As it turns out, Oregano Oil has been used for generations to cure everything from upset stomach to migraines, athletes foot, candida, sore throat and many skin problems. Because of its natural antibacterial, antifungal, and antivirul properties, I have tried it for colds with remarkable results! I have experienced the benefits of shortened colds and witnessed the benefits it has on fungal skin  irritations.
Before buying this oil, I did plenty of research and made sure that the oil I purchased was to be ingested and not just used topically. I was warned that the taste is "pretty powerful." That was an understatement! I have been on a pursuit to find a way to swallow it without it touching my taste buds! If you have tried to swallow this, you know what I mean!
Now that this stomach virus has entered our home, we have been trying to keep the germs at bay. Inevitably though, my husband began to complain of stomach irritation yesterday. Immediately, he reached for the Oil of Oregano and, within a few hours, he was eating and complaining no more. Today he had no more nausea! So, do I believe in the effectiveness of this powerful oil? You bet I do!

I'm not just playing with toys...

While I am sitting in the floor playing with my kids, I am not just playing with toys.... I am "working." My job is SAHM (Stay at Home Mom.) As such, a very important part of my day is to spend time with my kids, teaching them important life skills. Sharing, Manners, Pretend Play, Counting, Singing, Dancing, Math - these are only a few of the skills that we cram into a normal day with Mom! I see my day as a teaching opportunity for my stay-at-home two-year old and for my older kids when they get home from school. I try to use every opportunity that I can to include them in what I am doing, leaving time for independent play (for them and for me!)
So, if you see me sitting in the floor playing with toys with my kids, just know this: Playing with toys IS part of my Job Description. It is a very important part of my day!

Time to get Organized and Clean House!

I guess I thought that after the summer was over and two of my children were attending school, there would suddenly be more time in my day to clean house uninterrupted. I underestimated the time and needs of my 2 year old when the other children are away. So, now school has been back in session for over four weeks, and I have realized that I need a schedule to follow if this is going to work. I have done some digging on the internet (because surely I am not the first person to come up with this idea, right ?) and found a few pre-made checklists. My big yearly goal is to get this house organized - sound familiar? Using a list seems like a pretty organized way to start. I am not really much of a list person, but I will give this a whirl anyway! Real Simple has some pretty good lists to make sure that you get everything clean. Here's one for the bedroom and living areas. http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/cleaning/weekend-cleaning-checklist-00000000000235/index.html They have other lists on their site as well, and some really interesting information about cleaning products made from what you already have in your home. Mostly I am not looking for detailed lists; I just need a list to make sure that every room is touched in a two week period of time. I have decided to use catch phrases to help me to remember all week what rooms to focus on. Weeks 1 & 3 is "Floor and Decor" so I remember to dust and sweep and mop the main parts of the house. Weeks 2 & 4 are "Bed, Bath and Beyond." I clean the bedrooms and bathrooms thoroughly on those weeks. Ok, ok, I didn't invent the catch phrases, but I have found a new way to use them! Here's a form that I found that I can incorporate my catch phrase schedule into. http://www.paintedgold.com/Organize/housechecklist.pdf Since it is a pdf file, I cannot change it, but I am glad to use this as a start. Maybe when the house is clean, I will have time to customize my own list!