More Muffins, Please!

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Mmmmmm…we had our first produce from our own little garden tonight for supper: fresh green beans and squash. We planted Blue Lake bush beans, and, as my husband said tonight, they are great! Just cooked them in some water with some salt for about an hour…perfect. And, of course, I fried the yellow squash. To go along with it, we had baked potatoes and pork chops. Here is the recipe for the pork chops:

4-5 pork chops

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt

black pepper

garlic powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat oil in iron skillet (or any oven proof skillet). Sprinkle pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir egg and milk together and set aside. Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Dip each pork chop in egg mixture, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Place in hot oil and brown for 4-5 minutes per side. Remove pork chops from skillet to plate lined with a paper towel, and pour remaining oil out of skillet. Put chops back into skillet and bake in oven for 25 minutes.

I put the bread crumb mixture into a gallon size storage bag and coated the meat shake ‘n bake style, mainly because Jacob was helping me and I thought that would be an easy way for him to do it. It worked very well.

If you don’t have an ovenproof skillet, just transfer the chops to a baking dish after browning them.

It was all good, and I pretty well stuffed myself! Jacob helped a lot today. He picked, broke, and rinsed the green beans. He helped prepare the rest of the meal, too. He really enjoyed it, and I think he will be a good cook someday!

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I was looking at a website this afternoon called “Busy Mommy” and Jacob came over and was reading over my shoulder (who taught that child to read, anyway?). Here is the conversation we then had:

Jacob: “What’s on that website, anyway? Stuff about babies?”

Me: “Yes, there is stuff about babies on there.”

Jacob: “Why are you reading that? We have a baby and we know what to do with him.”

Me: “Well yes, that’s true.”

Jacob: “I mean, you had me, then Skylar, then JonDavid. You have a lot of practice.”

It’s nice to know that my five-year-old finds me to be a competent mother :)!

Thanks to Blessed for tagging me for this meme. I am a couple of days behind, but here goes…

Think back on the last 15 years of your life. What would you tell someone that you hadn’t seen or talked to for 15 years? How would you sum up your life? You get 10 bullet points. A list of 10 things to summarize about you. At the end of your list, tag 5 more people and send on the love…

• Fifteen years ago I had finished my first year of college and I was working as a waitress at a restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee. (That summer in that restaurant is also when I last saw my dear friend Kristi, who I recently reconnected with.) My parents moved to Alabama that summer. I was also writing letters to a wonderful guy I had fallen in love while away at college (yes, actual handwritten letters sent via the U.S. Postal Service).
• After a second year at Florida College I married above mentioned guy :).
• I was introduced to the world of hunting. I don’t actually hunt, but I have become pretty good at cooking the venison that my husband harvests (if I do say so myself).
• We spent a year just working, then went to Auburn University, from which we both graduated. We spent a great 4 years in Auburn, and grew in many ways.
• We then moved to Charleston, West Virginia, in 2000, where my husband began full time preaching and I worked as a speech-language pathologist for the school system.
• In 2003, we became parents! Our first son was born, and, well, we’ve learned a lot since then! It was then that I resigned my job and began fulfilling my higher calling of being a mom.
• In 2005 we were excited to find out we were adding a baby girl to our family.
• We moved to the Huntington, WV, area in the fall of 2005, soon after our daughter was born.
• I spent Thanksgiving 2007 in the hospital, having just given birth to baby #3, another little boy! And I thought life was hectic before.
• Now we have embarked on a full scale homeschooling adventure. I have done preschool work with Jacob, and he has already learned to read. He is ready for kindergarten, Skylar will be doing some preschool activities, and JonDavid…well, he’ll just be right in the middle of it all. My life revolves around serving God and taking care of my family, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I’m just going to tag anyone who reads this, has a blog, and wants to do it! Make sure to let me know if you do this so I can read it.

Jacob and Skylar both like to help take care of JonDavid. Recently, while I was feeding him some cereal, Skylar came in and wanted to feed him some. She actually did a pretty good job, and you can tell she has paid attention when I have fed him before. Here is the video that Kristin took of the little mother (sorry we forgot to turn off the TV):

I took some video of Jacob riding his bicycle and Skylar riding her tricycle. It may make you dizzy…I had trouble holding the camera still because I was also holding a squirmy baby at the time! I was also able to get some video of JonDavid afterward. He will sit for a little while and watch the kids ride. Skylar has just recently mastered riding the tricycle, and she is really enjoying it. Hope you enjoy the videos!

Rocks In My Dryer hosts “Works For Me Wednesday,” and this week has a theme: recipes with 5 ingredients or less. I decided to join in with this recipe which is based on the broccoli casserole made by my friend Amy. This is the only way my husband likes broccoli, and he really likes this casserole!

1 lb frozen broccoli florets, thawed

4 Tablespoons margarine (light margarine works well)

6 slices American cheese

20 Ritz crackers, crushed

Place broccoli in a 8″ X 11 1/2″ baking dish. Dot the broccoli with one tablespoon of the margarine. Cover the broccoli with the slices of cheese. Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of margarine. Stir crushed crackers into melted margarine, and put this mixture on top of the cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I used to use more margarine and a whole stack of crackers, but I decreased those amounts in the interest of less fat and fewer calories. The taste is not compromised by this change…it is still a big hit with husband and kids! I usually buy the big 3 1/2 lbs. bags of frozen broccoli. When I do this, I use about 1/3 of the bag for each casserole, which is a little more than a pound and actually works out very well. If you do not get it out to thaw ahead of time, just microwave it for 5 to 6 minutes, and it will be ready to go.

To see more great recipes, check out WFMW!

A friend recently introduced me to CurrClick, a website that sells homeschooling curriculum that you can download. The cool thing about CurrClick is that they offer at least one free item each week if you sign up for their email newsletter. And yes, it is actually free! Some of the material, such as the lapbooks, would even be useful to people who don’t homeschool. I just download the free material and save it on my computer until I am ready to print and use each one. Check them out!

The Summer Reading program at the library is in full swing. Last Thursday we had a visit from Ronald McDonald. He did a show for the kids with songs, tricks, humor, and a theme of being a good friend. They all seemed to enjoy it. This was the first time Jacob and Skylar had seen him. He has been at the library in the past, but we always ended up being out of town on the day that he was there. Jacob drew a picture to take to Ronald McDonald (that is the paper that he is holding in the picture below).

Today they got balloon dogs and swords. There is a man here who voluntarily teaches art classes at the library. He also does some other things as community outreach with the library. He dressed as a pirate, put on a show, and made the balloon dogs and balloon swords for all the kids.

More fun is ahead!