Monday, July 21, 2014

Shredded Beef Barbeque

Shredded Beef Barbeque

Everyone likes a super easy recipe that you just stick in the crock pot and let it cook on it's own all day, right? I know I do. It does warm up the kitchen a bit in the summer, but this recipe is too good not to make. My husband had specifically requested a shredded beef barbecue recipe so I found one to try and it was great!

Most of the time we go the lazy route and buy the stuff that is already made. Making it yourself is slightly cheaper and you get more out of it! It wasn't even hard to make either. 
 
 We even had the leftovers for dinner last night and they were still delicious. Ready to find out what recipe I used? It was adapted from one I found at tasteofhome.com. Check it out:

Shredded Beef Barbeque
  • 1 Beef Sirloin Tip Roast
  • 1 cup Ketchup
  • 1 cup Water
  • 1/2 Tablespoon Minced Onion
  • 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
  • 2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
  • 2 teaspoons Chili Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon Pepper

1. Place the roast in a 5 quart slow cooker. Combine all the other ingredients and pour over the roast.
 
2. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until meat is tender. Shred the meat with two forks and place it back in the sauce. 
 
3. Serve on buns or rolls as sandwiches. Enjoy!
 
Shredded Beef Barbeque




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Sunday, July 20, 2014

Sunday Social


1. What is the most difficult thing you have been through?
I think the last couple of months of my pregnancy with the twins and then the first few months after they were born was probably the most difficult time for me so far. 

2. What was your best birthday?

Hmm...I don't know the answer to this one. They are all pretty much the same as far as I can remember. Probably one of them when I was little, but I really only remember those from the photos.

3. What has been your favorite thing you’ve done in your own city?

Hanging out with my friends at the Fry'n Pan and playing games late at night. This was of course back before I had kids. We don't have all that much to do here. My favorite thing with kids right now is probably going to the local zoo here. It's pretty small but my boys are also pretty little still so it's just the right size for them before they start getting fussy. 

4. What is your idea of the perfect date night?

Dinner and a movie. The typical stuff. Or ordering pizza and playing video games. That's pretty fun too. 

5. Have you ever been to a blogging conference? If so which one(s)? If not do you want to?

I've never been to one. I'd love to go some day but I doubt if it will be any time soon. And by the time I am able to who knows if I'll still be blogging or not! I'd probably go to whichever one is the closest to me. 



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Friday, July 18, 2014

Five for Friday


1. I actually finished an entire book in three days this week. First time in a long time that I've done that. I have tons of books at home that I am in the middle of reading but I went to the library and got a new one and read that one instead. It's just easier sometimes.

(source)
2. My two youngest boys are turning into little stinkers! (Cute ones though.) Yesterday they found a crayon on the floor and ate that which resulted in purple all over their faces. Then in the afternoon one of them crawled into the sand box on his own and was eating the blue sand. It's a lot of work trying to keep an eye on three toddlers at once! 

3. I haven't been inspired to write much this week at all. I have a few posts I'm working on but I'm having a hard time finding the motivation. At least I was still able to write this one. 

4. My favorite photo of the week: 


5. We picked one jalapeno this week and had a few more growing plus some green peppers. Then our puppy got into the garden and ate all the little peppers up and ruined both plants. She can be such a naughty dog sometimes!



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Monday, July 14, 2014

Smothered Baked Burritos

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Can you believe it's the middle of July yet they say the high is only in the 60's today! Doesn't sound like a nice day but we don't have any outdoor plans. We're heading to the library this morning! 

We also finally ordered the babies' bigger car seats. They are 12 months old but are still using their infant seats that easily snap into the stroller. This makes going places with them really easy but they are finally getting too big for them. Once we get those new seats in we will have a lot more buckling in and out to do! 

This week I have a delicious recipe for smothered burritos that was very easy to make. We had it last week and still have leftovers so guess what we are having for dinner tonight! It's a recipe that was adapted from SkinnyMom and turned out really good! I'll definitely be making these again, probably next time we have burritos planned. Check out the recipe I used here:

Smothered Baked Burritos

Smothered Baked Burritos
  • 1 pound Ground Beef
  • 1 packet of Taco Seasoning
  • 2 cups Mexican Cheese blend, shredded
  • 8 large Flour Tortillas
  • 1/2 cup Sour Cream
  • 4 ounces Taco Sauce
  • 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Brown ground beef and drain the grease. Prepare the taco meat according to the directions on the taco seasoning package.

3. Mix the sour cream, taco sauce and cream of mushroom soup in a separate bowl. Spoon about 1/3 of this mixture in the bottom of the baking dish and smooth out.

4. Prepare the burritos by placing about 2 Tablespoons of meat and 2 Tablespoons of cheese into each tortilla. Roll and fold and place seam side down in the baking dish. 

5. Spread the rest of the sour cream mixture on top of the burritos and cover with the remaining cheese.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and melted. 

7. Top with your favorite toppings.
 
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Sunday, July 13, 2014

Sunday Social


1. Tell us about the family you grew up in, parents, siblings, grandparents.
I am the oldest with 3 brothers and 2 sisters. My little sisters are quite a bit younger than me, one is 12 and the other 17 right now. We were all homeschooled and grew up in MN in the Twin Cities area. My parents are running a senior living center in the middle of nowhere, MN now after my dad got laid off a couple years ago. One of my brothers is a photographer, the other two have long stories and of course my sisters still live at home and go to school.

2. Tell us about your husband, fiance, boyfriend, significant other.

My husband and I have been married for about two and a half years now. He is 10 years older than me and has lived in Fargo, ND his whole life. That's where we live now. He's a welder of tractor parts all day long which is a rough job to have especially in the summer heat.

3. Tell us about your children. If you don’t have children, talk about your fur children.

I have three little boys. My oldest just turned two years old last month and my two other boys are identical twins that just turned one last month. We also have a 4 month chocolate lab puppy. She's a crazy pup. 



4. Tell us about your best friends. How long have you known them? How did you meet?

I have a few good friends that I've known for a long time. We don't talk very often though so I guess I don't know if I can still call them my "best friends". I call my mom almost every day to talk. She's probably my best friend now. Everyone else just seems so busy with their own lives nowadays. 

5. Tell us about any other special people in your life. 

There's also a few other good friends that don't fit into the "best friends" category I guess. Or maybe they fit even more into that category. Either way, there are a lot of special people in my life but I don't like to list people here or there.

Have a good Sunday everyone! 

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Friday, July 11, 2014

A Typical Day in Our House...

A Typical Day in Our House...

Are you curious about what a day in our life is like? Here's you chance to get a glimpse! 

  • 430am - My husband's alarm goes off and he gets up, feeds the dog and goes to work. Sometimes this wakes the babies up, hopefully it doesn't.
  • 530am - The babies wake up and I hear them giggling and playing around in their cribs.
  • 545am - I finally get up because the babies sound like they are getting a little less happy. Wash out their bottles and give them some milk.
  • 6am - I hear Superman waking up and bring him upstairs. Everyone gets changed and dressed. 
  • 630am - Breakfast for everyone. The babies throw most of their food on the floor and Superman barely touches his. 
  • 7am - I try to clean up the kitchen a bit but mostly I just ignore it until later. The boys play (with things they aren't supposed to)/fight/hurt themselves. This continues the entire day as well.
  • 8am - Nap time for the little ones. Superman and I usually go downstairs to play plus he has a snack.
  • 930am - The little ones wake up. We go on a walk to the playground if it's nice out.
  • 10am - The boys are all hungry already and begging to eat lunch. I try to hold them off until at least 1030 but I am already hungry too. So we end up eating lunch at 1030ish which means we are done by 11 and naptime isn't until 12. So we all play together (all three of them are jealous whenever someone else gets attention, so they all try to climb on me at once. It's pretty funny.)
  • 12pm - Naptime for everyone! I usually end up taking one too. 
  • 130pm - The little ones are up again. They get to play some more. 
  • 2pm - Superman wakes up from his nap. Everyone has a little snack and then I try to entertain them. This is also the time I normally clean up the house. It's amazing how messy it gets in just one day.
  • 4pm - The little ones are ready for dinner. Superman also wants to eat with them so he has a snack and watches a show. I start making dinner for everyone else.
  • 430pm - My husband gets home from work and normally tries to work out for an hour if he can.
  • 530ish pm - Dinner is ready so Superman and I start eating. The other boys are getting fussy so I eat quickly.
  • 545pm - My husband quickly eats and we start baths for everyone. We do baths every other day in our house.
  • 615pm - The little boys go to bed and we spend time with our oldest until his bedtime. I also clean up the kitchen and living room at this time.
  • 730pm - Time to read a story and then bedtime for Superman! My husband showers and I do blog stuff or play video games while waiting for him. (Why does this whole process take him 40ish minutes when I can shower in 5 minutes? And he doesn't even have any hair to wash...)
  • 830pm - We watch whatever shows were on that night and then bed time by 10pm so that we can start the process over again in the morning!

I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining about our schedule! I will admit that sometimes it does get old doing the same thing every day, but I really do enjoy it (most of the time). We are pretty busy just doing the normal everyday stuff, but we try to get out and do some other activities with the boys a couple of times a week. 

Of course things change every day. It doesn't always follow this schedule exactly, but I've always been a scheduler with my babies. Things just work out better for us if they stay on the same schedule every day. The weekends usually mess up our perfect schedule and everyone gets a little off. As they get older now it will get easier to shift things around. My oldest doesn't usually have any issues now, but the little boys are still stuck on their schedule pretty much. 

So I just keep reminding myself that it will get better, we won't always have to have so many scheduled naptimes and soon they will be able to wait longer for meals if they need to and we will be able to do more out of the house activities!  

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014

My Summer Reading List

Summer Reading List

I've been a little better about reading these last couple of weeks, although it's really hard to find the time! These are the books I would really like to read this summer. I know, summer is half way over already but at least I've started on one of them!

1. Under the Dome by Stephen King

I started reading this one last summer. I can't seem to get into it. I think it's because it's completely different than the show, and I love the show. This is why you should always read the book first! I still want to finish it though because I really want to know what's going on.

"On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as “the dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if—it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens—town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician’s assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing—even murder—to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn’t just short. It’s running out."

2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Thomas Sweterlitsch

"A decade has passed since the city of Pittsburgh was reduced to ash.
       
While the rest of the world has moved on, losing itself in the noise of a media-glutted future, survivor John Dominic Blaxton remains obsessed with the past. Grieving for his wife and unborn child who perished in the blast, Dominic relives his lost life by immersing in the Archive—a fully interactive digital reconstruction of Pittsburgh, accessible to anyone who wants to visit the places they remember and the people they loved.
       
Dominic investigates deaths recorded in the Archive to help close cases long since grown cold, but when he discovers glitches in the code surrounding a crime scene—the body of a beautiful woman abandoned in a muddy park that he’s convinced someone tried to delete from the Archive—his cycle of grief is shattered.
       
With nothing left to lose, Dominic tracks the murder through a web of deceit that takes him from the darkest corners of the Archive to the ruins of the city itself, leading him into the heart of a nightmare more horrific than anything he could have imagined"

3.Divergent by Veronica Roth

 "In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her."

4. The City by Dean Koontz

 "Here is the riveting, soul-stirring story of Jonah Kirk, son of an exceptional singer, grandson of a formidable “piano man,” a musical prodigy beginning to explore his own gifts when he crosses a group of extremely dangerous people, with shattering consequences. Set in a more innocent time not so long ago, The City encompasses a lifetime but unfolds over three extraordinary, heart-racing years of tribulation and triumph, in which Jonah first grasps the electrifying power of music and art, of enduring friendship, of everyday heroes."





5. The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman

 "In 1913, little Malka Treynovsky flees Russia with her family. Bedazzled by tales of gold and movie stardom, she tricks them into buying tickets for America. Yet no sooner do they land on the squalid Lower East Side of Manhattan, than Malka is crippled and abandoned in the street.

Taken in by a tough-loving Italian ices peddler, she manages to survive through cunning and inventiveness. As she learns the secrets of his trade, she begins to shape her own destiny. She falls in love with a gorgeous, illiterate radical named Albert, and they set off across America in an ice cream truck. Slowly, she transforms herself into Lillian Dunkle, "The Ice Cream Queen" -- doyenne of an empire of ice cream franchises and a celebrated television personality.

Lillian's rise to fame and fortune spans seventy years and is inextricably linked to the course of American history itself, from Prohibition to the disco days of Studio 54. Yet Lillian Dunkle is nothing like the whimsical motherly persona she crafts for herself in the media. Conniving, profane, and irreverent, she is a supremely complex woman who prefers a good stiff drink to an ice cream cone. And when her past begins to catch up with her, everything she has spent her life building is at stake."

6. All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner

 "Allison Weiss got her happy endinga handsome husband, adorable daughter, a job she loves, and the big house in the suburbs. But while waiting in the pediatrician’s office, she opens a magazine to a quiz about addiction and starts to wonder…Is a Percocet at the end of the day really different from a glass of wine? Is it such a bad thing to pop a Vicodin after a brutal Jump & Pump class…or if your husband ignores you?

The pills help her manage the realities of her good-looking life: that her husband is distant, that her daughter is acting out, that her father’s Alzheimer’s is worsening and her mother is barely managing to cope. She tells herself that they let her make it through her days…but what if her increasing drug use, a habit that’s becoming expensive and hard to hide, is turning into her biggest problem of all?"





What's on your summer reading list?

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Monday, July 7, 2014

3 Ingredient Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

3 Ingredient Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. This week my husband goes back to work on Wednesday after having about three and a half weeks off. It will be strange not having him around as much. 

We have a busy day planned tomorrow and Wednesday I'm going to attempt to take the three boys to the zoo by myself. It will be my first time taking them somewhere in the vehicle by myself, so wish me luck!

This past week I made something that I haven't made in awhile. It's a super easy crock pot meal. Only three ingredients! Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches are delicious and pretty spicy. It might be too spicy for kids to enjoy, but you could always add some cream cheese if you want to cool it down a bit. 

My little boy had a sandwich and wasn't sure if he would eat it but he gobbled it right down. So he's either really hungry or he really likes it because normally it takes him forever to eat just a couple of bites of his food. 

It makes a lot, too, so for our small family we can get at least two or three meals from it.

Here's the recipe if you want to try it yourself!

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken (recipe found at myfindsonline)

  •  3-5 pounds Skinless, Chicken Breasts, frozen
  • 12 ounce bottle Frank's Red Hot Wings Buffalo Sauce
  • 1 packet of Ranch Dressing Mix

1. Place frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot. Pour buffalo sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle the ranch mix on top of everything. Cook on low for about 5 hours.

2. Shred the chicken with two forks. Keep the sauce. Place the chicken back in the sauce and cook for about another hour. 

3. Enjoy your easy and delicious meal!



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Sunday, July 6, 2014

Sunday Social


1. Favorite Genre of Music?
Christian Rock or Country. I love Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch and Kutless!


2. Favorite Genre of movies?
Action-Adventure movies are my favorite. Especially Superhero movies. Although that's probably pretty obvious.

3. Do you watch Reality TV? If so what was the first show you remember watching?
I don't watch any reality shows. I've never liked them much.

4. Actress you’d want to be BFF’s with?
Zooey Deschanel or Jennifer Lawrence. They both seem like fun people to hang out with. Does anyone else watch the show New Girl? It's one of my favorites.

5. Actor you’d be happy to be stuck on an island with? 
I don't know, anyone who knows how to survive while stuck on an island I guess. 

Have a great Sunday everyone!
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Friday, July 4, 2014

Five for Friday


1. Happy 4th of July! This is one of my favorite holidays, right after Christmas. What are your big plans for the day? We are going to do family stuff and some fireworks later on. It will be interesting to see how the boys all react to them. 

2. I haven't worked out in awhile. I know, how awful! I've decided my new goal is to start up again this week. I'll let you know how that goes next Friday. We do take lots of walks with the boys and the dog though, so that is something at least. 

3. Look at this awesome wedding cake! I just love it. I've always loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy ever since I was little. The main reason for this is my mom used to read to us kids every afternoon when we were young and these are the books I really remember. We all loved them and couldn't wait for her to read another chapter. Of course we were all super excited when the movies came out too and went to see them many many times. I have a family of nerds and it's awesome.


 (source)
4. Our puppy graduated from her first puppy training classes last night. She's such a good girl (25% of the time). Otherwise she's a typical 4 month old lab. She does really good with commands in the class though. We start level two on Sunday.


5. The babies have been teething this past week and are super crabby about it. I can't wait until they have all their teeth in! Even my oldest still needs to get two more of his two-year molars in.

Have an awesome holiday weekend!
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Wednesday, July 2, 2014

A Curious George Birthday Party

 This past weekend we had a birthday party for all three boys since their birthdays are so close together. They are too young to care about themes are anything like that but my oldest loves watching Curious George so we picked that for this year. For some reason the party stores have discontinued Curious George stuff, but I was still able to find some things online. The other things I made myself.

It was a first birthday for my twins and a second birthday for my oldest.










He didn't really want to eat his cupcake. Not a big fan of cake I guess.


People were getting too close to him. He's at the stage where he only wants mommy and daddy around.



Yep, never did eat that cupcake either, silly boy :)



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