Wanted to share a blog I came across this evening. A nice nugget of encouragement for mommies. Pass along!
Real Life Motherhood gnawing at me.
~Meghan Weyerbacher
A Kid-Friendly Budget Meal
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to come up with this combination, but I wanted to share it because it truly was a money saver. I was trying to come up with something different besides spaghetti that the kids would agree upon. Each box of pasta was only $1.00 and I had previously paid around $8.00 for a big multi-pack of boneless, skinless, chicken breast. I only used 2 of the chicken breasts which equaled to about $2.00 worth. Overall, this quick meal cost only $4.00, which fed our family of 5 and we still had leftovers!
So all I did was cook up both boxes of the pasta according to the directions, and then skillet fry my chicken breasts. I used seasoned salt on them and let them go a little over done because I wanted my chicken to have the grilled/seered flavor. I let them cool off and then tore them to shreds, literally.
Toss in the chicken deliciousness and mix together, adding a little extra milk, or olive oil if you prefer, to keep from getting too thick. And remember, if you only need to feed a couple mouths, you could easily just cut it down to 1 box and 1 chicken breast, bringing you to a grand total of $2.00.
~Meghan Weyerbacher
Trusting While in the Battle
My soul is literally at rest when I think about the Lord and how good His ways are. I think the reason I love the Psalms so much and that I feel like I know David personally is because I can relate very much to the words he wrote about how he felt about the Lord. He loved the Lord’s ways so much that he was moved in many ways, at one point dancing until his clothes were falling off.
This morning as I made my cup of coffee and sat down to journal what the Lord would speak to me, I ended up writing down a few small pages worth. The one word that kept coming back to me was contentment. I asked myself, “Why do I feel so content right now? How am I able to be this way easier than years before?” The answer came immediately. “Because you are learning. You know the God of the universe, who has your life in the palm of His hands. He has shown you continually year after year, day after day, that as long as you put your trust in Him, everything is going to turn out for the best. The victory is already ours.”
When you start your day off resting in His presence and acknowledging His sovereignty, I believe it is truly the best way to equip yourself for the day. That is why reading and hiding the Word of Truth in our hearts is so vitally important to believers in Christ. Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart….”
We can not waltz into daily battle without our armor on any more than a soldier or a marine can go into battle without their proper gear. Realize you are in a real war and begin to equip yourself. Of course He does the shielding and wielding, but it is our duty to pick up that sword to begin with. Recognize that your sword is the Word of God.
~Meg Weyerbacher
Eggs and Tators
She called it, Eggzeroneous. Don’t ask. That’s just what mom always called her famous, kid-friendly breakfast. It was a treat when I got up in the morning and she was at the kitchen table peeling potatoes. Though this may seem ordinary or even, *gasp* …….greasy, this simple meal still makes me happy. And my kids too. I heard a friend once recently say, “I eat happy, not healthy.” And in this case I would have to agree. I will never turn down fried potatoes unless a doctor says I will die if I eat one. Nuff’ said. I won’t go into all the details of posting the step-by-step with this one since it is self explanatory. You peel the tators’ in desired shape or thickness and if you are like me, you prefer your eggs over easy. Now mix it all up for one supa’ happy concoction.
Something New
With winter cabin fever set in a few weeks ago, I purposed to try something new that would give my kids and I something constructive to focus on. This experiment was fairly affordable and because it is giving my husband and I a chance to teach life long values, especially financially, I think it was worth it.
The chalkboard cost $14 at Hobby Lobby which was a great deal. It was the bistro markers that hurt. They cost $12 per package. My husband wanted a variety of colors, okay I wanted them too, so it kind of makes my stomach cringe to think we paid $24 for those. It is over though now, no going back. I can honestly say though, I am glad we decided to go this route rather than a typical marker board. They had white or black but I really wanted the good ol’ chalkboard menu style.
I started out just making a “to-do list” for the kids. We are all pretty visual and find a sense of accomplishment when we get something checked off. Besides, it means it’s that much closer to playtime, eh? Right about the time I got my board all doodled-up, which might I add is like a form of therapy for the artist inside, I ran across a used set of children’s books by Dave Ramsey. Perfect timing. God’s timing. I snagged these for only $3!!!
We read one of these each day that week and the kids loved them. I decided this was a great opportunity to take Dave Ramsey’s “envelope method” and combine it with my chalkboard bit. Today will be the first official day we actually take the kid’s earnings and put them in their envelopes, one for saving, one for giving and one for spending. I will document how that goes too.
If you yourself have any creative ideas on how to teach kid’s useful tools, please feel free to share. I count myself a student forever. Always willing to learn and grow! Thank you for reading : )
~Meghan Weyerbacher~
“Best Tomato Soup Recipe Ever”
This recipe is just as scrumptious as it looks. This coming from some who pretty much likes all foods. There isn’t much I have found that I can not stand to eat. This is one of Ree Drummond’s recipes which you can find here or here.
I literally made this today. It made more than we could eat, so I divided it up between three containers so that we could give some away to family. It was perfect with grilled cheese sandwiches. My husband said he thought it was the best dip for a grilled cheese if there ever was one. Below are the step-by-step instructions, with a few notes in there too. Enjoy!
Total Time: 40 min
Prep: 25 min
Cook: 15 min
Yield:6 to 8 servings
Level:Easy
Ingredients: (1) 1 medium yellow or white onion (I thought it already had too much onion even after adding just 3/4 of one, so if you want less crunch and more of the smooth soup you may want to change it up.) (2) 6 TBSP or 3/4 Stick of butter (3) Two 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (4) One 46 oz. jar or can of tomato juice (5) 3-6 TBSP of sugar (to offset the acidity) (6) 1-2 TBSP chicken base or 3 chicken bullion cubes (7) freshly ground black pepper (8) 1 Cup of sherry, optional (9) 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream (10) 1/4 cup chopped basil (11) 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley.
Step 1: cut up onion and throw into a pot of your melted butter. Cook them until they are glazed. This will only take a few minutes if your heat is up like it should be.
Step 2: Add both cans of diced tomatoes
Step 3: Add the big can of tomato juice & bring to almost a boil
Step 4: Add the heavy cream
Step 5: Chop up the herbs and add them
Step 6: Go ahead and remove from heat after you add the herbs
Finished!
The only differences in what I did versus Ree’s was that I did not use sherry, I only used part of an onion and still wished I would have used less, I did not use fresh ground black pepper but the kind I had on hand, and I used curly parsley because the store was out of the flat kind. It still turned out great and I will be making it again eventually.
~Meghan Weyerbacher~
warmly, meg 