{Happy Homemaker Monday} November 21, 2011

{Happy Homemaker Monday}

The weather in my neck of the woods: Beautiful! Seems like "fall" weather is finally here!


Things that make me happy: my morning tea & blog time, kids playing nicely together, a sneak-peek of our family pics taken Saturday {thanks, Jenn!!}


Book I'm reading: God Is the Gospel by John Piper

On the menu for dinner: bean & cheese burritos


On my to do list: school with Sissy, doctor appointment for Flower Girl, cleaning out the sisters' room, and a thorough house cleaning

New recipe I tried or want to try soon: Baked Potato Soup - had this Wednesday night at life group--yum!


In the craft basket: A dress I bought on clearance that needs to be shortened & my nephew's birthday shirt {still!}--see a pattern here?!

No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):

Lesson learned the past few days: We adjust fairly quickly to the challenges handed to us. At first, 6 kids seemed really hard, but it became normal. Just having 4 in the house seems so easy & quiet!


On my mind: my brother {Happy birthday, Paul!} and his sick wife, and looking forward to this weekend!


Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

 Mark 5:24-34 

 A large crowd followed and pressed around him.  And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Join in at Happy Homemaker Monday

50. a phone call from the sisters!

51. a quiet evening as a family of 6

52. seeing friends & family at my brother's birthday party

53. a sweet old friend coming to take our family pictures {for free!}

54. a relaxing Sunday afternoon 

55. pizza for Sunday dinner, courtesy of my parents {no cooking!}

56. family seeing Budders like he usually acts during the week, but on a Sunday

57. silly, innocent questions about anatomy from my 3 year old

58. my messy 12-passenger van (because it runs! & I can transport my whole family & then some!)

Holli Frijoles

One of my frugal family favorites is pinto beans. I make these almost every week, and we will eat them in bean and cheese burritos or on a tostada topped with cheese. Sometimes we add sour cream, tomatoes and lettuce, but usually we're purists. This is an easy and extremely inexpensive meal, and takes less than 5 minutes to prepare.

Our cast:

Pinto beans

Jalapeños

A red onion

First you'll want to sort and rinse your beans. Remove any rocks or debris and run them under some water. 

Now dump it all in a crockpot and cover with a few inches of water (don't skimp on your water).

Slice up your jalapeños. I use 3, but you can adjust according to your heat tolerance. No need to remove seeds or dice--big chunks will do. Discard the stems.

Now for the onion. I've made this with a whole onion and a half, and I didn't notice a difference in flavor, so we use half to be more economical. I've used white, yellow, and red onions; Hubby prefers the red. Again, no need to dice, just chop it up a bit.

Throw your veggies into the crock, and turn it to low.

Or turn it to high because you didn't get around to starting dinner until late morning. ;)

Now go play with your kids and enjoy your day. We went to the park and walked around the lake a couple times. At dinnertime, add some shredded cheese (& a tortilla if you're like Hubby), and enjoy your filling meal. 

And yes, I understand there aren't any veggies in our meal. Eat 'em at lunchtime. ;)

Linking up to the 4 Moms' Tip for Feeding a Large Family on a Budget and to Slow-Cooking Thursday