Skip to main content

Weekend Check-in: January 24

What I'm Cooking
Bean* dip and tortilla chips. This is one of my go-to 20-minutes-or-less meals for days when I've forgotten to thaw something or just want something easy. The beans take a bit of work up front, but it's so nice to have jars of re-fried beans on hand for quick meals!

Blueberry muffins. Not my favorite recipe, but they were easy, and I had just a little bit of orange juice that needed to be used up.

Indian Butter Chicken. I do this as a crockpot freezer meal, so I just had to pull a bag out of the freezer the night before, dump it in the crockpot with some milk, and breathe in the delicious Indian aroma all day! Served over brown basmati rice (cooked with turmeric) and peas.

What I'm Reading
True Beauty by Carolyn Mahaney. A dear friend of mine is leading a Bible study for our church's junior high girls using this book, and she was sweet to invite me to join in. Given the four babies I've had in the past 6 years, I haven't been involved with my husband's youth ministry in any notable form since approximately 2009. I'm glad to have some flexibility right now to participate in things like this.

Weekly Snapshots
My aunt sent another box of random activity supplies, including a set of pattern blocks that is sort of half-Lego. They pop into little plastic mats, and there are a number of pattern cards to follow. Levi and Owen worked at their cards diligently for almost an hour! (Not that it should have taken them an hour to complete their cards, but there was a lot of discovery, arguing over who had too many yellow pieces, things like that as well.)



Favorite blog post: How We Do Family Devotions with a Toddler. We read a verse or two from Proverbs and sing a hymn or two every night after dinner (the "or two" depending on how agreeable Silas is being). I'm not necessarily convinced we need to be doing much more, but this post seemed at least somewhat do-able and encouraging, when we decide it's time to expand a bit. 

*The beans:
1. Soak and cook pinto beans according to these directions.
2. Re-fry according to these directions. (I use bacon grease instead of lard, and sometimes saute onions in the grease first.) Let cool and freeze in pint jars (or whatever).
3. Layer with salsa and cheese according to these directions. I prefer to mix some of the cheese in with the beans and salsa so that it doesn't from such a thick layer on top. We like Mission tortilla chips.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Naaman

This week's Bible story was that of Naaman the leper, from 2 Kings 5 . Short version: the prophet Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times, and after a bit of moaning and groaning, he does and is healed. I modified this craft , which I found through our preschool curriculum .  We didn't have any blue plastic cups, so first we painted styrofoam cups. Owen had no interest in painting, and as he was playing happily by himself, I saw no reason to make him participate. Painting the outside of cups is actually really easy. Just stick your non-dominant hand inside the cup! I googled "man outline" and searched until I found a workable face, then printed it twice. Levi had the rare treat of using a marker to put red dots ("leprosy") all over the face.  Painstakingly drawing leprous sores on Naaman's ear.  Then I taped Naaman's face (one clean side, one spotted side) to a popsicle stick (which I just now realized y...

Homeschool Curriculum 2025-2026

Given the ages of my children, I will only have two years when I am actively homeschooling all six kids, and this is the first. I have more spreadsheets going than ever before, four student paper planners, one kid using Google Classroom for assignments again, and a giant schedule on butcher paper so that everyone knows whose turn it is in the living room (for instrument practice) or on the laptop. BRING IT ON. Pretty sure we've only gotten all six kids awake for family devotions once in 8 days of school. LEVI: 11th grade Math: linear algebra and multivariable calculus through PSEO at University of Minnesota (online) History: AP world history at Sartell High School, second semester Science: AP physics C (one each semester) online English: World Literature: LLATL gold , Advancing Through Grammar Language: self-study German, with plans to take the AP German test next year Bible: Dust to Glory (Ligonier online) New Testament Extracurricular: piano first semester, wind ensemble at Sarte...

Vanilla and Snowflakes

You may remember from my Goin' Crunchy 2011 post that I started a batch of homemade vanilla back in May. It's all ready for use now, just in time for Christmas gifts!  I bought these little bottles  and a pack of winter-themed address labels on clearance at Target, dug through my craft boxes to find some old ribbon, and ended up with this: (You can't see it, but there is coordinating ribbon around the sugar jar, too.) As you can see, after I was done using my vanilla beans for extract, I cut them up into 2-inch pieces and covered them with white sugar in baby food jars: after about a week, the sugar is delightfully vanilla-flavored!  I haven't used it yet, but hear it's great for sprinkling on baked goods or oatmeal, or stirring into coffee or tea.  Packaged together in a little gift bag, they're making a nice small (and frugal!) gift for . . . those people who need nice, small, frugal gifts.  :)   In other news, I picked up a $1 sheet of snowfla...