THIS MONTH ON MOMMY DIARIES

Ingredient of the month: Cream of Chicken Soup

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9.27.2007

Tetrazzini

Ok here is another chicken dish, but it's so easy and really good and my sister checked out the blog and insisted that I put it up next because it's her favorite.

Chicken Tetrazzini (the easy version)

1 8oz pkg spaghetti noodles
1 can cream of chicken soup (or you can use mushroom)
2 c coked chicken, diced (although I only use one chicken breast worth and it's fine)
1/2 c milk
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 4oz can sliced mushrooms (optional)

Cook Spaghetti, drain and place in a buttered 2 quart casserole dish. Mix soup and milk. Add diced chicken and drained mushrooms. Stir chicken mixture in with spaghetti in casserole dish. Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.

Yummmm :)

9.26.2007

Remembering Family Jokes

Kara's awesome idea reminded me of something that we've been working on this year. A while ago I read about a family that had a little box (they used a shoebox) with a notepad close by. Whenever a kid said a funny line or some funny event happened, they would jot it down (with the date) and put it in the box. Then each New Year's Day they would sit around as a family and read all the funny events and quotes. So, we've been trying it this year and I'm already excited to start 2008 off with a bang and remember all the hilarious things our daughter (and Justin) has done and said and all of the mostly absent-minded things that I've done that have turned out pretty funny in the end. Then, the plan is to type them all up and keep a journal of these family jokes (there's always room for another project, right?).

9.25.2007

PRESERVING FAMILY MEMORIES

i've been thinking a lot about posting to the site, but i was having a hard time coming up with something that would be useful and fun for all of us moms. for those who know me, you may know that i am an avid FAMILY FUN reader! i live for the magazines and ideas. yesterday while i was organizing my FAMILY FUN binder (yes, i have a binder of things i tear out of the magazine - feel free to borrow it anytime!), i came across an inspirational idea. FAMILY FUN has a section of each issue titled "preserving family memories." a couple months ago, the idea was on making a guide to your hometown. i think the title was "write the book on your corner of the world..." as i read this i thought what a great idea. they include pictures of favorite parks, museums, restaurants, events in the community, etc. they included pictures of their family eating at these places, or at certain events and then wrote a little paragraph about why they enjoy it and what they do at those places. then they put it in a cute little book/photo album to cherish forever. i know many of us are here for a short time and what a great way to remember our great days in MN!

so i think as contributors to this blog, we could do something like this together by sharing some of the unique and great places that we go as a family or as moms and kids. we can all include the great places we go all the time like como zoo, but there may be places that we've never been before or never heard of that we might want to include in our scrapbook. i love this idea and i know that Will and i will love looking at it in the future and i can tell him "remember when we used to go to the library everyday because we were poor and we couldn't go anywhere else...hahaha" just kidding.... but on a more serious note, these are precious days we spend as college students and we need to remember the wonderful, fun, hard, and sometimes very hard times, in a positive way such as this!

i couldn't find a link for this project on-line, please if you are interested in more info and ideas and pictures to see how they put it together, let me know and I'll make copies for you!

PS - sorry for the lengthy post!

9.24.2007

Our Favorite Things

For this post I thought I would put some of our favorite things. Maybe it will give some other mom's some good ideas for their own families.

Our favorite:

1. place to go out for dinner- 2 very family friendly places here in MN are Bonfire and the St. Clair Broiler. Bonfire is already loud so you don't feel bad if your kids are making noise. And if they order the kids pizza they get to go back and help make it. This is a big hit with Parker. St Clair Broiler has good food and doesn't cost too much. They also have a family friendly environment. Definitely order a chocolate milkshake!

2. fast food- Our fav is Little Caesars. Not exactly the closest place to us but worth the $5 yummy pizza. And they have a pretty good 2 pizza special on the weekends.

3. place to shop for groceries- we've found that the cheapest and easiest place to buy groceries... and everything else... is Super Target! And now if you go to one that has the updated carts you can find the gigantic "2-kid-carts" on the grocery side of the store. These are great because we can put both our kids in the seats and still have the original cart seat for the baby carrier and then we have a whole cart for groceries!

4. place to shop for clothes- KOHLS! Oh how i love Kohls! Their original prices are horrible but they always have sales and they're usually awesome sales. And if you browse the clearance racks you can find some really good deals!

5. books- My kids love Sandra Boynton! But even more then that lately they have been really into these "How Do Dinosaurs ___?" books by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. What cute books, we read all of them several times a day and right now you can get them at Kohls for only $5!

6. mommy-desperately-needs-a-break movie- Curious George! Fun, cute, and one of those movies that both of my kids will watch all the way through! Even I don't mind watching it over and over again!

7. car ride accessories- The Doodle Pro. We have a big one of these that my kids always fight over so we bought 2 little ones for the car and they work really well.

8. church bribes- color by number coloring books or activity books work really well for Parker. Also the quiet game where you give the person who was the "quietest" a prize after church (works better for older kids). We have no idea how to make Mayli be good during church... any suggestions?

9. child scripture stories- The "Who's Your Hero?" books by David Bowman. So cute and funny. Makes the stories fun for the little ones. Just try and get your hands on the board book versions because our paperback copy has already been ripped a few times!

10. going-to-bed-good bribe- we have 2 little chairs next to the kids beds and if they have a night where they both go to bed without crying or whining for something then we put a treat on their chair for them to find the next morning. We get our supply of treats from the dollar spot at Target... another great feature of Target!

11. FHE source- the church now has a great FHE section online where you can access lessons and get age appropriate activities to go along with them.

12. stain removal method- Shout pads go with me everywhere. And when I'm at home Spray-n-Wash and my Clorox pen are my best friends! I almost prefer my kids wear white because I know I can get those stains out.

13. things to do when you're stuck at home- Crayola's Color Wonder products are great fun for kids and are mess free. Parker does well with markers but Mayli gets ink all over. With color wonder she can color or paint wherever she wants and it doesn't matter.

14. potty rewards- of course every child is different so what works for one might not work for another. But the most successful for us have been: computer games (links on the sidebar), sticker charts, candy, and walking around the apartment banging pans together and yelling "(Child's name) went peepee in the potty HOORAY"!!

15. things to watch after the kids go to bed- Heroes, LOST, House, 24, So You Think You Can Dance, and Supernatural (Brian's fav). If you haven't checked out these shows you should! And if you know of any good girly shows let me know! Since Gilmore Girls was cancelled I definitely need a new girl show to watch!

That's the end of my super long post. I hope it's helpful

9.23.2007

Broccoli

Since our family likes broccoli a lot and it's really cheap at this time of the year I thought that I'd put up a couple of great recipes that have broccoli and are most importantly very easy! The first one is called Speedy Chicken Stirfry, and as the name suggests it was not only really quick to make, but delicious! The next one is a simple alfredo that is also really fast (the recipe for this one below). Rachel was a huge fan of both of these and I think that she might have actually injested some of the broccoli along with the pasta in these two easy dishes. Thanks, Cassi and Shalee for this great blog idea!

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
6 oz. cooked fettuccine
1 c. fresh or frozen broccoli flowerets
2 T butter
1 lbs. chicken breast, cubed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese (I just use the dried stuff and it's fine)
1/4 tsp. pepper

1. Cook pasta and add broccoli for last 4 minutes. Drain.
2. Melt butter and cook chicken until brown.
3. Add soup, milk, cheese, and pepper. Cook through and toss with the pasta and broccoli.

Top 5 easy (and cheesy) things we did recently

5. Put a blanket down in your living room and eat lunch on it. My daughter loves picnics!

4. Pull a chair up to the kitchen sink and let the kiddos help with the (plastic!) dishes...beware water will get everywhere!

3. Send your child an email from a sesame street character...or help them send one to dad (he's sure to send one back) and check your email together.

2. Blow bubbles while they are taking their bath.

1. Turn the music up and dance around the house with them (and on their bed!)

9.21.2007

Chicken Bundles

Well for my first post I decided to do a recipe (mostly because I couldn't think of anything else to do). So here is our family favorite. These are yummy, kid friendly, and easy to make. My mom made them when I was little and my family would probably eat them every day if I let them.

Chicken Bundles

Ingredients:
6-8 oz cream cheese
4T butter (soften this and the cheese in microwave)
1/8 tsp pepper
1-2 T minced onions
2 C cooked chicken
2 cans of 8 crescent rolls (16 total)
1 can mushrooms (optional)

Mix cheese, butter, seasonings, mushrooms and chicken together. Lay down a crescent roll and flatten a little more with your fingers. Place rounded tablespoon potions of mixture in fat part of dough and roll up and seal edges. Place on cookie sheet and bake.

Temp- 375 degrees
Bake Time- 13-17 min (until rolls are golden brown)

For Our Authors

Dear Mommy,

Thank you for your willingness to join our group blog! Mommy Diaries (aka MD) was started by a group of LDS moms living in Minnesota in September of 2007. Since then we have spread through the nation to include authors from Idaho, Utah, Florida, Maryland, and Arizona (to name a few). We love to have so many authors on MD--everyone is so different and offers unique perspectives.

First and foremost, we want to make sure that MD is in accordance with the teachings and principles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We recognize that motherhood is a sacred calling and we want MD to be a place to celebrate motherhood and share ways to encourage us all to become better mothers. Secondly, this is a blog about being a mom and posts should have something to do with parenting, children, marriage with kids, etc.

Here are some of the "dos " and "please don'ts " on MD—

DO:
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Want To Join?

Are you an avid reader of this blog and have lots of good ideas and recipes you'd like to share?? We'd love to have you be a part of the team but there are a few things we would like you to know first.

  • Anyone can enjoy this blog by reading it and making comments. So please don't ask to join unless you want to post. We would like all our contributors to try and post at least once a month.
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Thanks

PS- If you are a friend or family member and are wondering why you never got a personal invite from us in the first place.... well we started this not know who would want/have time to be a part of it so please don't feel like you can't ask to be a part of it now! That's why we are putting up this post!

Calling all (normal) Moms!

Welcome to the Mommy Diaries! If you are a "supermom" (you know the kind-- always has perfect makeup...kids dressed and out the door doing educational activities by 8am...well-balanced meal served promptly at 6pm everyday to a smiling family...etc.) then stop reading...this blog is NOT for you. We are just normal moms--with super kids--looking to share creative ideas, funny antics, advice that worked for us, and yummy kid-friendly recipes. If you are a normal mom like us feel free to comment so we can learn from each other!

Love,
The Mommies

P.S I know you are thinking there is no such thing as a supermom but I actually know some!

9.20.2007

Dessert Index

Main Dish Index

Cookies/Bars Index

Pasta Index

Chicken Index

Salads and Soups Index

Salads
Soups

9.19.2007

Sides Index

Breakfast Index

Bread Index

Beef/Pork/Other Index

Crock Pot Index