If you're going to reheat in the oven, you can wrap in foil. If you prefer to reheat in the microwave, just freeze them without the foil and then stack in a gallon size Ziploc bag. We microwave them for about 2 minutes on high.

Breakfast Burritos
Tater Tots
Scrambled Eggs
Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Green Chile
Bacon, precooked
Sausage, precooked
Tortillas

Assemble breakfast burritos. Heat in the microwave for 45-60 seconds and enjoy. Or freeze and save for another day! To reheat in the microwave, do not wrap in foil. Microwave for about 2 minutes. Sometimes we wrap in a damp paper towel to help the tortilla stay soft.

We have always enjoyed making gingerbread houses with family and friends. Its the perfect way to use up Halloween candy, and make a humongous mess right in the middle of the holidays. And memories!

Dannie's Royal Icing is the best. One year we tried using meringue powder instead of egg whites and it just didn't hold. Everyone's houses collapsed. Maybe I didn't mix it long enough, but I decided to not mess around anymore. I'm all in with egg whites.

We made 5 modest gingerbread houses this weekend and used 3 boxes of graham crackers (there are four boxes in one case at CostCo). I made two batches of frosting and we had plenty leftover.

Dannie's Royal Icing (aka. Best House Spackle Ever)
6 egg whites
1 tsp. cream of tartar
2 lb. powdered sugar

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar to a froth. Add powdered sugar and stir to combine. Turn mixer to high and beat for 7-10 minutes until very thick, like a heavy paste. Add frosting to quart size freezer bags and seal the top. Cut off a corner of the bag with scissors to make a piping bag.

2011, Age 5, Rapunzel's Tower

2012, Age 6

2015, Age 10 (two Elizabeths!)
2016, Age 11

2018, Age 13

My Mom has always made this syrup, and I love it. Now my kids are hooked on it too. I use it my Cinnamon Rolls and it works great! Its so easy to make a batch.

I had a Tupperware syrup container that Dannie gave me when I got married. One day it got dropped and broke. I contacted a Tupperware lady and she was sorry to tell me she didn't have a replacement, but she had a bigger one I could have! Okay! Ha ha!

Donna's Maple Syrup
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. maple extract

Pour boiling water over the sugars. Stir until dissolved. Add vanilla and maple extracts and stir to combine.

Now for some pictures from 2013! Slather some Peanut Butter on Chocolate/Chocolate Chip pancakes, and add some maple syrup, whipped cream and MORE chocolate chips, and you'll start to imagine why Jason has pre-diabetes... But you'll also wonder why my family is so skinny.









Does your brown sugar ever get hard and sandy? You need a brown sugar bear! You soak it in water for an hour or so, then pat it dry with a paper towel. Then insert it in your brown sugar container and it stays nice and soft. I have to re-soak the brown sugar bear every so often.

I was going through some old pictures and came across these gems! Wow! So adorable! This was December 2014.

I've since done many cookie decorating parties for kids, and it always works great! A single batch of Donna's Sugar Cookies makes about 75 Christmas cookies (trees, stockings, snowmen, gingerbread men, candy canes, etc). I usually have about 1 or 2 cans of frosting from the store. Vanilla is always great (like in these pictures), but I think a can of red and green is fun too. I put the frosting in paper bowls, add plastic knives, and some sprinkles and you'll have a great cookie decorating party. Or cookie eating party. When the party is over, I throw away all the leftover frosting and plastic knives. Once you watch kids decorate with it, and lick their hands, and go back for seconds, you'll know why it's best to just throw it out at the end of the party. For an extra easy cleanup, just add a disposable tablecloth.

My sister taught me the greatest way to make pizza. It's so amazing that I don't even make homemade pizza anymore. Naan bread pizzas! CostCo sells Naan bread in the refrigerator section. You can store it in your fridge, or freezer for later.



Preheat your oven to about 425. Lay about 6 Naan breads on a half sheet pan. Add sauce (I love Trader Joe's Pizza Sauce), mozzarella cheese (see tips for how I keep it in my freezer), and whatever toppings you like! Bake for about 5-10 minutes until perfectly toasted.

Here is our go to list of pizza toppings, mostly inspired by the Dion's Special, which is the greatest supreme pizza of all time.
Mushrooms
black olives
green chile
red onions
green/red peppers
Italian sausage
ground beef
smoked ham
pepperoni

I like to precook a lot of green and red peppers, onions and mushrooms. I keep them in the freezer and then add them to our Naan pizzas.

If you google "Meal Planning" you'll find tons of different recommendations, charts, and how to's.  That's cool, but I don't have time to figure them out.  I've settled on a simpler method.  This is how I meal plan.

First, gather your stuff.  I grab my shopping list, it's the white board.  I saw it one day in an office supply store and I splurged on it.  It was $9.99.  I don't spend money easily (lucky for Jason). It has been the best $9.99 a woman can ever spend.  Every time I need something I write it down immediately.  Now I almost never forget stuff I need.  There is nothing more grievous that getting multiple kids to the store and back and then realizing you forgot the eggs.  Or the cheeseballs.  I'll spend money on cheeseballs any day.  Now I'm distracted by cheeseballs!  Focus!

You'll also need two slips of paper.  The slips of paper come from all the papers my kids bring home from school.  Teachers love to send stuff home on colored paper!  And I love colored paper that comes home free.  I just cut it into strips and use the back.  Boom, baby!  Colored paper for free!  Actually I just realized it was purchased with my tax dollars.  Sigh.

Lastly, you need your favorite recipes.  Maybe you don't have any yet so you'll need to sit down in front of this amazing blog and use that.  My favorite recipes are ones I print or clip out of magazines and keep in the binder.  Also, my sister and I each made cookbooks on Heritage Makers with our family favorites.  Also, I once compiled a "menu" with all the recipes I cook frequently.  I also like to use the weekly grocery ads for inspiration.  If you don't have a place where you keep all your recipes, I recommend starting with a binder. Buy low!


Now that you have your shopping list, your slips of paper and your recipes, get a pen!  Aren't you glad I'm here?

One slip of paper is for the store (it's awkward to take the white board, and my kids have erased it in the car), and one for your meal plan.  I'm a WalMart shopper, so I write that on one sheet (and any other errands I need to run, like going to the bank or getting gas or going to the post office).  On the other sheet I write down the days of the week.



Next, check your schedule and write down events you have that might interfere with cooking.  For example, Saturday is Date Night, Tuesday is Boy Scouts, and Friday night is a Daddy Daughter Campout.  I don't want to end up planning a big meal on Date Night when we're going out, and on Boy Scout night I know it will be hectic getting kids and a husband off to mutual.

Next, flip through your favorite recipes and start filling in your days.  On Date Night the kids will be eating Mac and Cheese, leftover spaghetti and applesauce and carrots.  On Boy Scout night we're having easy freezer food (like chicken nuggets and french fries or a frozen pizza) so I can be available to help find scout shirts and Scout books.  On Wedneday, when I have nothing going on I'm hoping to make calzones since it's more time consuming.  We're having leftovers on Daddy Daughter Campout Night since I'll be prepping camping food with said daughter.

As you write down each recipe, check the ingredients to see what you need to buy and write it down.  Add anything else from the whiteboard shipping list (like vitamins, a bridal shower gift for a friend's daughter, and church shoes for Liz).



Then shop with your shopping list and clip your meal plan back on the whiteboard so you won't misplace it.  I refer to it through the week.  Sometimes the plan changes and I feel like BLT's instead of calzones so I switch it around.
The best time to meal plan is when you're NOT hungry.  The worst time to meal plan is dinnertime.  How do you meal plan?

I have four kids so I make A LOT of pizza.  That means we go through A LOT of cheese.  Here's how I always have cheese on hand.

I buy pre-shredded mozzarella cheese at CostCo in bulk.  One bag is about 40 cups of cheese.  Even through it's shredded, it's cheaper than buying it in a block.  And it's one less thing for me to do!

I also buy sandwich size Ziploc baggies at CostCo.  You'll need them for this tip.  Add 1 cup of cheese to one sandwich baggie.  Jiggle the cheese around so that it's flat and uniform in the baggie.


Seal the bag all except for a finger widths amount.  That's the air escape valve.  So technical!


Roll up your bag to squeeze out all the air.

Seal up the opening.

Look!  It's vacuum sealed!  I just saved you $100 on a vacuum sealer!  I take checks and credit cards.

Nice and flat and air tight!  Now stack them up and put them in your freezer.  One bag it good for one good sized pizza.  And since you just bagged up 40 c. of cheese, you can make 40 pizzas!

Do you hate it as much as I do when lettuce gets swampy and you have to throw it away?  Wasted produce is a bad thing for a family on a budget.  Here's how I get my lettuce to last forever.

Unwrap your lettuce and give it a rinse in cold water.  Pat it dry with a paper towel.


Wrap it in a dry paper towel or two and put it in a gallon bag.  Mine are not ziploc, they just close with a twist tie.  You can find them in the baggie section.  You don't need to close the bag or anything, you can leave it open to give it some air.

Don't cut lettuce off the head until you're ready to use it.  Keeping the head intact helps it stay fresher longer.  Just tear off what you need and put it back in the paper towel wrap when you're done.  If the paper towels start to get too moist, replace them with fresh ones.

Now put it in the fridge and it will be there whenever you need lettuce (Taco salad anyone?).  The paper towel helps suck up extra moisture.  Of course, you could just eat more salad before it gets a chance to go bad.  But that's just crazy talk.