A Boy and His Dog - Part II

Jack has been sick this week, so we've been spending a lot of time inside. Buster's new "bed" is the couch (unfortunately), so Jack's enjoyed snuggling with Buster when they're both in the mood to be still (which is almost never). And, I think Buster secretly enjoys it too!

I was telling Jack to be nice to Buster, so Jack assured me that he would "just hold his tail." So he did.

Overachiever!

I am trying something new this time. I came up with 2 weeks worth of dinners and I am just going to pick each day from the list. That way there isn't a meal assigned to a specific day - it just seems that it wasn't working too well that way. So, here you go!

*Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken

*Stroganoff (with tofu instead of ground meat) with Green Beans

*Nasty Nachos (with lentils instead of ground meat)

*Red Beans & Rice

*Tuna Casserole with Garlic Bread and a veggie

*Meatloaf (with real meat!) with Crash Hot Potatoes

*Tacos (with lentils) with seasoned tater tots (like Taco John's!)

*Crockpot Chicken Soup

*Oven-baked Corn Dogs with slaw (Rachael Ray recipe from 365: No Repeats)

*Banana Pancakes with Bacon & Eggs (We had this last night, but without eggs...we were out!)

*Buffalo Chicken Wings with Fried Pickles (copycat Hooter's meal!)

*Tater Tot Casserole with Green Beans

*Veggie Burgers with Potato Wedges

Since we've been cutting out a lot of meat lately, I've been forcing myself to eat beans. It's tough! I've never liked beans (probably because of an incident in my childhood when I stuck a kidney bean up my nose...that's all we'll say about that), but they are a great replacement for meat and they're so healthy. Red beans and rice will really be a stretch for me. But it doesn't get much healthier (or more frugal!) than that.

Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menus.

Sometimes you have to lighten up

It seems that lately God is teaching me about letting go. Sometimes I need to have some fun - even when (especially when) I'm having "one of those days." So, here's some video for your enjoyment. Lonnie & I were trying to teach Jack how to roll down a hill. We were at a state park and were having a really difficult time with Jack. We stopped what we were doing and ran around the grass and rolled down the hill. It was the best medicine.

Menu Plan Monday!!!

Monday - Chicken Pot Pie (but, with this instead of chicken....shhhhhhh)

Tuesday - Butternut Squash Soup with garlic bread

Wednesday - French Toast with eggs and fruit

Thursday - Lentil Haystacks with green beans

Friday - Homemade Pizza (Canadian bacon & pineapple) and breadsticks

Saturday - Pasta Salad of some sort

Sunday - Eat out? Please?


Don't forget to check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for many many many more menus!

Homemade Pita Bread

I am never buying pita bread from the store again! It is so easy to make it at home - and much more delicious, too!

Pita Bread
(adapted from The Fresh Loaf)

3 cups bread flour (I'm sure all-purpose flour would work fine, too)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 packet yeast
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the oil and 1 1/4 cup water and mix ingredients in mixer (with dough hook). All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water. Allow mixer to knead dough for about 10 minutes. (Or you can knead by hand for same amount of time on lightly floured surface.)

When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.

After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.

Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, but it isn't necessary.

Eat them!!!

**As you can see from the pictures, not all of my pitas puffed up like they were "supposed to." But, they still turned out awesome. They were just more like flat-bread than the pita bread that we're used to buying at the store.

Why everyone should have a kid...

Because we all need a good laugh once in awhile.

A Boy and His Dog

We've had Buster for over a year now. Jack has grown to love him and loves playing with him. He has even started bossing the dog around. We figure that since he doesn't have a sibling, he needs someone to boss around - so the dog gets to be the brunt of the bossing. Here are some pictures of my boy and his dog playing in the yard this morning.

Chasing Buster.

The Stand-off.

"Buster's maybe kinda tired."

The good dog.

Here's my other "boy" and his dog.