Christ-Centered Twelve Days of Christmas

My family and I have decided to pick a family or two to take the Twelve days of Christmas to this year. I was thinking about what we should do and thought it would be nice if we brought them presents to help them remember Christ this Christmas season.

My kids helped me think about ideas for these gifts.  It gave me the opportunity to retell them the Christmas story and all the wonderful things Christ did for us while he was on the earth.

Day 1 – A light in the sky let people know that the Light of the World was born.  A candle

Day 2 – Shepherds abiding in the fields came to see the Saviour – Candy  Canes

Day 3 – Wise Men came bearing gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh –  Gold Chocolate coins or a bookmark with the saying Wise Men Still Seek  Him

Day 4 – When Jesus was 12 he went to the temple and was teaching the Pharisees and Scribes –  A picture of a Temple or a small Bible to give them

Day 5 – Jesus is the Bread of life – he fed 5,000 with 12 fishes and 6 loaves of bread; he also gave us the sacrament to help us to always remember him.   We cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. – A loaf of Bread

Day 6 – Jesus works Miracles.  He turned water into wine.  He is gives us the water where we will never thirst. John 4:14 –  A bottle of Grape Juice

Day 7 – Jesus healed people – first aid kit 

Day 8 – Jesus washed people’s feet -John 13 –  wash clothes

Day 9 – Jesus suffered for our sins so that through his blood we may be made clean- Isaiah 1:18, 1 John 1:7 – a small bottle of bleach or soap

Day 10 – Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver – give them 30 nickels, dimes and/or quarters

Day 11 – Jesus lives again, he was resurrected and has a body of flesh and bone, after he was resurrected he ate fish and honeycomb – give them some honey

Day 12 – We have been blessed with the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Ghost, which warms our souls and fills our minds with the words of Eternal Life – Hot Chocolate

Top 10 Freezer Cooking Round-up

These recipes have saved me more than once.  I would love to make videos and do more posts on my favorite freezer cooking recipes.  But to maintain the integrity of my blog and to not keep you waiting, here are my top 10 favorites from the past seven years.

Money Saving Mom’s Recipes (known for her 2 hour freezing cooking sessions)

Freezer-Friendly Banana Bread (a love it pre-sliced, which makes it easy to just have a slice or two)

Brown Bag Burritos ( be forewarned these can be a little spicy for kids)

Freezer-friendly Pizza Dough

Waffles (I like to use half fruit puree and half butter or oil to my recipe)

Freezer-friendly Barbeque Meatballs ( I like these because they are versatile, you can serve them with the bbq sauce and just cook up and serve with pasta and spaghetti sauce)

Bean and Cheese Burritos

5 Dollar Dinners’ Recipes (great, comprehensive freezer cooking plans for Once a Month Cooking)

BBQ Pulled Pork Roast (serve with Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli)

BBQ Chicken Street Tacos ( serve with Fresh fruit or veggies)

Slow Cooker Peach Glazed Pork Roast (serve with brown rice and green beans or your other favorite sides)

Other Recipes

Basic (Easy!) Homemade Granola with Lots of Variations

What are your top 10 freezer cooking recipes?

A Week of Thanksgiving

Studying the scriptures is an important way I learn about God.  Often, I study the scriptures casually or do not read them at all.  Most days, I write “read scriptures” on my to do list.  Last year, I was involved in a Scripture Study Group and I learned the power of studying the scriptures topically.

Thanksgiving is coming up in about a week.  I thought doing a Scripture Study on Gratitude/Thanksgiving would be a perfect way to prepare for the holiday.  If you want, get your journal or notebook out and write some impressions or thoughts that come to your mind while you are studying.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ so I will include some scriptures from The Book of Mormon or Doctrine and Covenants but I will also scriptures from The Holy Bible.

WEEK OF THANKSGIVING

Day 1 – Psalms 69:30 – I will praise the name of God with song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Alma 34:38 … humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship god, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and truth; and that ye may live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessing which he doth bestow upon you.

Day 2 – The story of the Christ healing the ten lepers.  Read Luke 17:12-19

Day 3 – 2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Day 4 – James 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights…

Helaman 13:22  Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed you, but ye do always remember your^ariches, not to thank the Lord your God for them; yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord, but they do swell with great pride, unto ^bboasting, and unto great ^cswelling, ^denvyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities.

Day 5 – Doctrine and Covenants 59:7 Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.

1 Thessalonians 5:18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Day 6 –  Psalms 34:1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Day 7 –  2 Thessalonians 1:3  We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.

Questions you could ponder in your study are:

Why does the Lord command us to give thanks?

What does it mean to be thankful in all things?

What is the unspeakable gift God has given?

What are some of the mercies and blessings God has given you?

Even if you aren’t religious; I hope you can adjust these questions and we all can remember all the blessings  and mercies in our lives.

Upsides and Downsides of OAMC – Freezer Cooking

Upsides to a Once A Month Cooking Marathon 

1. Dinner is made.  No more asking yourself, in a panic, what is for dinner.  Unless you forgot to put said meal in the crockpot.  In that case, hopefully, you have made and frozen some burritos, taco meat, or chili.
2. Large dirty dishes and extremely messy kitchen for only two days out of the month.
3. Meal planning done (meal planning saves a ton of money; maybe more than any other money saving tactic in the kitchen).
4. Your family will think you are Super Mom.
5. Dinner on the run solved; PTA meetings, soccer games, parent teacher conference.  Dinner on the sidelines, in the car, or heading out the door solved.
6. Money spent (this could fall under both categories).  The first time I attempted Once a Month freezer cooking I was not sure whether or not it would save me money.  But now that I have tried it I know it definitely can.  No, I still spent my grocery budget but I was able to go longer between grocery trips and stock up on pantry items.  Stocking up my pantry is important to me since I am LDS and believe in the importance of food storage.
7. Freezer cooking also helps curb the temptation to eat out or stock up on convenience foods at the grocery store.  So freezer cooking is healthier and should save you money.
8. More time to spend with your BEAUTIFUL family.

 

Downsides to a Once a Month Cooking

1.  The work, this type of freezer cooking is not a project you can just throw together.  And it is just that a project.  But thanks to blogs and Pinterest, there are plenty of plans to follow.
2. The mess, there is definitely going to be a pile of dishes waiting for you at the end of this.  You can use certain bowls over again for similar recipes.  You can clean a little bit as you go and always make sure you have the amount of dishes you are going to need to prepare everything and freeze it for later.
3. The planning, it takes some planning, but many of the plans have been prepared for you.  I will post a list of some of my favorite freezer cooking resources to get you started.  When you are planning, what I would plan most for is to have the time and organization you need to see this project completed, start to finish.  I would plan to have a house without kids if possible and a friend to cook with.
4. You run the risk of not wanting to eat any of the food you just cooked by the time it is all over.
5. The money, it is a bit of an investment at first but try to come up with a few freezer cooking recipes with food you already have on hand to get you through a week or two so you can save some grocery money for a big trip.

Freezer Cooking Series #1- Why Freezer Cook?

 

About two months ago, I hosted a freezer cooking class at my church.  I wrote a handout for the class.  Here is some of the information in the handout.

What I know about Freezer Cooking is an ongoing learning process.  Freezer cooking at home with three young children often at my feet is a feat.   But I have done quite a bit of freezer cooking in the past 7.5 years since I got married.  So I consider myself experienced with it.

Freezer Cooking from July

Why Freezer Cook?

Save Money

Control Ingredients

Convenience

Cook Once, Clean Once

Chop all the vegetables at once, like onions

Different types of Freezer Cooking

Batch Cooking – When cooking, double the recipe and freeze an extra dish for later.  Recipes this is great for: Chili, waffles, lasagna, burritos, enchiladas, taco meat, and baked goods (like muffins, banana bread).  Some of these items take a lot of time to make, so making extra saves you lots of time.  Waffles or muffins are easy to pop in the microwave or toaster and heat up in the morning rush.

 Once a Week Freezer Cooking –  Getting all the ingredients for a week’s worth of meals and doing the preparation (freezer cooking) once a week.  This method is great when you are wanting to take advantage of cooking just what is on sale and using what you already have on hand.  It helps me stick to a menu plan.  Most websites say this type of freezer cooking only takes about 2 hours (not including shopping).  This is also a great method for preparing lunches like homemade lean cuisines or salads in a jar.  I know that salads are not freezable but they both fall under once a week meal prep.

 Once a Month Cooking (OAMC) –  Great to do in preparation for a busy season in life.  A new job, a new baby, the holidays, summer approaching, a change in diet.  I have not been brave enough to attempt OAMC . The thought of it used to send me into an anxiety attack.  This style of cooking is probably best approached with a 44 oz. Diet coke and a friend (:

 What has been your experience with freezer cooking?

 What has worked and what has not?

Hannah is 3 – Birthday Interview

FYI: I posted this on my old blog back in August but I wanted to repost in here.

Hannah on her Birthday with her favorite big brother

Every year, I try to ask the kids a few questions.  I got these questions from my friend Kelli’s blog.

What is your favorite color? Purple

What is your favorite toy?  My Minnie Book from Uncle Jeff

What is your favorite fruit? Pineapple

What is your favorite show?  Curious George

What is your favorite movie?  Toy Story

What is your favorite thing to wear?  My Elmo Shoes

The ELMO shoes

What is your favorite animal?  Lion

What is your favorite song? Anna and Elsa Song

What is your favorite book? My Minnie Book

Who is your best friend?  David Choke Choate

What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks

What is your favorite drink? Juice

What is your favorite breakfast? Rice (I was cooking rice)

What is your favorite lunch? Salt on Pancakes

What is your favorite dinner? Pizza (she had said this earlier)

What is your favorite game?  The Ninja Turtle game where she runs back and forth from the kitchen to the couch (she had to demonstrate this)

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Throw rocks at people

What is your favorite holiday? Going to Disneyland

What do you sleep with at night? My Teddy Bear (white one with a heart she got from Dad for Valentine’s)

What do you want to be when you grow up? A Big Monster

Five Year Birthday Interview

My seriously, sweet little boy turned five on Friday.  He is an amazing big brother who gushes over his younger siblings achievements and encourages me to be a better person everyday.

He gave me the best job in the world: MOM.

How old are you?  5

Who is your best friend?  Madeline

What is your favorite thing to eat?  Salad with Ranch

Favorite Drink?  Soda, the kind with the green lid (he said he meant Sprite)

What is your favorite Birthday present you got?  My How to Train Your Dragon 2 Dragon and People with weapons

What is your favorite show?  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What is your favorite movie?  Lady and the Tramp (after a quick scan on the movies above the TV)

What is your favorite song?  Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (we sing it every week for Family Night)

What is your favorite animal?  Penguins

What is your favorite color?  Blue

What is your favorite thing to do with Dad? Playing How to Train Your Dragon

What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?  Make Cookies

What ‘s your favorite thing from this year?  Playing in the Sandbox

What do you want to do in the next year before you turn six?  Play in the Sandbox, play with blocks, and play with Baby (his little brother, Ryan)

Don’t Be Afraid to Just Ask

When it comes to saving money or getting anything we want in life, we should not be afraid to just ask.

Now, we need to remember human decency, of course, and keep the other person’s situation in mind.  But often there is no harm in asking.  Just this week, we needed to get some work done on our car.  It would have ended up being about $750 to fix.  I asked the mechanic, if I were to pay cash could I get a discount?  He said that he could give me about a hundred dollar discount.  Pretty good, just for asking.

I made sure to call him the night before, I picked the car up, on my way to the bank, to see exactly how much cash I would need to pay him.  That way I did not get surprised with a different number later on.  Afterall, I only had so much cash in my checking account.  Yes, money will be tight this next week but that is ok.  In the past, we would have ended up spending that extra money on fun things that we could have waited for.

It never hurts to ask.

Find a Penny, Pick It Up

I was reading the Newspaper on Sunday, and I came across an article speaking about generosity.  I was instantly intrigued when he shared part of a common saying that I had never heard before, it goes:

Find a Penny

Pick it Up

All day long you’ll have good luck.

Give a Penny 

To a Friend

Your Good Luck will never end.

What a sweet and often common adage.  I had been thinking about Christmas and how we were going to make our money stretch to buy Christmas for our kids and each other.  I had not been thinking about the part of Christmas where we give to others outside of our family.

Every year, our church congregation sets up a small Christmas Tree, in the Church foyer, on it are paper ornaments with items needed written on them.  At our Annual Christmas Party, people who have taken ornaments bring them back attached to the gifts.  It is a small offering of love and appreciation for all we have been given.  Everything from a pair of shoes to a bag of oranges are needed and provided.  None of us could buy all these gifts alone but together we accomplish a great service.

I have been saving extra change, as part of my Christmas Budget, and it has added up to about $35.  It also includes any $5 bills I have left after all the shopping is done for the week.

God willing, we will be picking some ornaments from the tree this year and hopefully our GOOD LUCK never ends.

Thankful Thursday – With Every Blessing Comes a Challenge

Apples, Apples, Apples I had been swimming in apples for two weeks.  All around the house I was finding apple cores and half eaten apples that my three kids had been snacking on.  My Grandma has a Golden Delicious Apple tree that every other year when it is on produces mounds and mounds of large delicious apples.

 I look forward to it and my mouth starts to water just thinking about it.  Since it is only every two years, I appreciate the apple abundance because I have been waiting for it.  But when I am faced with canning, drying, and cooking the apples often I forget the blessing and just remember the challenge before me.

I was shopping for journals for my sister-in-law’s birthday and I came across one with a saying on it that really struck me.  It read: “With every blessing comes a challenge and with every challenge comes a blessing.”  I find that life has blessed me more in the number of blessings lately but it does not make life more simple.  With blessings come responsibility and challenges.  Which I am grateful for most of the time.

Now on to the APPLES.

Apple Pie Filling on German Pancakes, Applesauce muffins, Apple butter, Applesauce cake, and Cinnamon Applesauce to name a few of the wonderful ways I love to eat apples. I have made about 15 pints of apple butter this fall in the crockpot.  And the picture of my crockpot is the result of all that apple butter.  Click here for the Crockpot Apple Butter recipe.

The leaning Slow Cooker of Goodness

Crockpot Apple Butter

I have also dried about 36 trays of apples, in my sister-in-law’s 9 tray Excalibur Dehydrator that she picked up at a yardsale for $10,  and canned about 14 quarts of Apple Pie Filling.

Now after the challenge of canning, dehydrating, etc  I am looking forward to the BLESSING of my family getting to eat it all.