February 26, 2011

Succotash

I can't believe I haven't told you about the easiest meal to make yet.  Bad, Heather, bad.

Anyway....I first made this as part of our Pilgrim celebration.  Everyone loved it and said we should add it into our meal rotation.  It's been over a year and everyone still loves it.  It takes about 15 minutes to make and truly is one of the easiest things ever.

1 lb. beef, cut into bite-size pieces (stew, stir-fry, steak, whatever)
corn - either 1 16oz. pkg frozen (does not need to be thawed) or 2 cans, drained
1 can lima beans, drained
butter
salt
cinnamon

Brown the beef in some butter.  Add the corn and the lima beans.  Sprinkle with salt and cinnamon.  I use about 1/2 to 1 tsp. cinnamon.  I just lightly sprinkle it over the whole dish until it looks dusted, but not covered.  Stir and let cook until corn and beans are heated through (you can add a little more butter here and there if things start looking dry).  Serve.

My kids will CHEER when they see this on the table.  They cheer for LIMA BEANS.  How fun is that!!!

February 15, 2011

Two of my smartest organizing ideas...ever

I'm not a natural organizer, but I find much peace in being organized.  So I organize.  Some times my attempts work beautifully and other times they leave much to be desired.

Here are two that have worked so marvelously well over the years that I'm surprised they came from my personal brain.

1.  We were constantly losing cards or game pieces and when it was time to play, we couldn't.  In our play room I placed a small basket (plastic box, whatever) on top of the shorter bookcase.  Whenever we're cleaning or digging things out from under the couch and we find a game piece or card or something we set it in the basket.  If we want to play a game with a missing piece we check the basket first.  About once a month I'll go through and put all the lost parts in their proper home.

2.  We're a reading family.  And we never had enough bookmarks so my kids would use dirty socks, toys, the dog leash, whatever they could find to mark their places and many books were damaged in the process.  I put together a stack of bookmarks and put them in the corner of a shelf on one of the bookcases.  They now know that whenever they need a bookmark, they can go there and find one.  When they're done with one they return it to the same place.