Sweet Potato-Taco Foil Dinner

By:PerrysPlate.com

Ingredients:

1 Large Sweet Potato
1/2 lb ground turkey breast
1 can black beans
1/2 cup tomato sauce
Sea Salt
2 Tbsp Taco Seasoning
Spinach
Shredded Cheese
Garnish-Sour Cream,Avocado,Salsa,Tomato
Aluminum Foil

*Start by frying the ground turkey in a medium skillet(I used just 1 turn around the pan of olive oil)
  When the meat is cooked through add the black beans,tomato sauce, and taco seasoning.

* Get 4 pieces of 12 inch foil laid out, spray with cooking spray

* Add the cubed sweet Potatoes, top with 1 pat of butter(we use real butter)

*Add a pinch of sea salt to each and then sprinkle spinach over everything

*Add 1/3-1/2 cup of the taco mixture and top with cheese

*Fold the sides in and then the top and bottom to seal the packet

*Place the packets on a rimmed cookie sheet and put in 425 degree oven for 25-30 minutes
   Packets are done when sweet potatoes are tender.
    ( Be careful with the steam from the packets when opening)

*Add garnished of your choice

**Can freeze the feeling in portion sizes and serve over a baked sweet potato too :-)

Pipe Cleaners and a Colander

As much as I love playing with my kids and doing activities with them,I still have to get my house clean sometimes. Otherwise Big Daddy starts talking about trading me in for a new "model" and stuff.

I am always on the lookout for things that Brother can do with little to no help.
This was a great 20 minute activity for my 3 year old to do while I got laundry sorted and started and Sissy got her laundry put up.

All you need is Pipe Cleaners and a colander! Very simple yet fun!

When I got everything out Brother decided that this was to be his hat!

As you can see it's as simple as sticking the pipe cleaners in the holes of the colander!

Great fun, and gives you time to make dinner, fold clothes,etc..
My 8 year old also liked doing this, although it obviously didn't hold her attention as long. :-)

Pork,Kraut, and Taters in the Crock-Pot

This is one of the simplest recipes I make, and it's one of our favorites! Talk about comfort food!

When I was a kid my mom worked at the school we went to, she would often put stuff in the Crock-Pot to make life easier on busy days! She made this a lot and I was not a fan of it when I was a kid, I liked the 3 individual ingredients but, back then I couldn't figure out why I didn't like them all together.
 I didn't have it for years, then one day I was trying to come up with some easy meals and this came to mind.
I made this the first time just like Momma does, and that first time I made it, the mystery was solved!
 I do NOT like short ribs,or bone-in meats in the Crock-Pot(at all).
So I fixed it, these are made with boneless pork chops! It's so good, my 8 year old begs me to make it!

Pork,Kraut, and Taters 

*Crock-Pot
*Boneless Pork Chops: Amount depends on your family
*Sauerkraut: I suggest the bags, sold in the deli section or the jars of authentic sauerkraut
*Taters- I use whatever I have on hand, red taters are our favorite though

You are going to layer the ingredients in the Crock-Pot

• Start with a little sauerkraut on the bottom. 
• Then add the boneless pork chops on top of that
• Then taters
• Finish with the rest of the sauerkraut on top 
• Turn on low and let go for about 8 hours or so. 

When it's done, I just stir everything together and serve in large bowls.

How easy is that y'all? This is a great rainy or cold day meal! I also have made this with smoked sausage as well and we love that too!

What are some easy Crock-Pot recipes that you have, that contain only a few ingredients?

What's the Password?

It is a parents worst nightmare to think of anything happening to our children,but we see it on the news every day! So we have to do our part to be prepared! 

We teach our kids about not going anywhere with strangers but what if someone they know shows up at their school and says they were sent by a parent to pick them up? (Even if they weren't) 
What if someone shows up at your house to sell something or is looking for someone that doesn't live there,etc.. and you need a way to let your kids know that you are not comfortable with this person/situation and they need to go to their room. 

A Family Password (Codeword) is a great security measure you can take to protect your children. Only people in immediate family,grandparents,and those you trust most should know this word! 
If a familiar face knew the password, the child could feel safe going with them, because it’s a word that has been shared only with the people you trust the most. 

Your Family Password can be a phrase or a word – whatever works best for you. It needs to be kept secret between you and your family and never given out lightly to anyone.

This password needs to be practiced in safe situations, so the kids aren't startled by the first use of it.  We ask our daughter the password often to make sure she remembers with no hesitation and remind her it's not to be shared with extended family, friends at school,teachers,etc...

My husband recently went to pick up our daughter from school in a different vehicle than what he normally drives, he pulled through the line and when he got up to a teacher he said her name and then pulled up to let her in. The teacher got my daughter and started walking towards the car and my daughter stopped(planting her feet firmly on the ground) and told the teacher "That's not my car, that's not my parents!" So of course she had the teacher concerned and my husband could see in the mirror that something was going on so he opened the door and stepped out, which of course my daughter,very innocently, said "Oh! Hi Daddy!" The teacher looked at my husband and said "Good Job Daddy, we do not have to worry about her going with a stranger!"  

So tonight, at dinner, why not talk about safety? Create a code word.  Make a game out of it, and role play it.
Ask your kids about certain situations and how they would handle them. 

Some other things that we do for safety: 
*Our daughter has her own State issued ID card. 

*We carry cards in our wallets(that are laminated) that say: 
In Case of Emergency  
Name and Number
Address
*Plus 1 other person in case they can not answer. 

We also have ICE(In case of Emergency) in our cell phones, with each others numbers. 

What are some other security measures you take with your family? 

Menu 6-10/6-16-13

Monday:
Biscuit and Gravy Casserole
Salad
Sweet Potato Taco Packet with Corn

Tuesday:
Smoothie
*Daddys Choice*
?

Wednesday:
Cereal with Fruit
Creamy Avocado Chicken Salad
?

Thursday:
Smoothie
*Daddys Choice*
Fish with Rice and Veggies

Friday:
Muffins with Yogurt and Fruit
Sandwiches
Marinated Chicken with Roasted Veggies

Saturday:
?
Buffalo Chicken Rolls
?

Sunday:
Pancakes,Eggs, Bacon, and Sausage
?
Steak,Baked Potato, and Baked Beans

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Fluffy Bathtub Paint

After making our Ivory Soap Cloud I wanted to find something to do with all the soap, so I searched around on Pinterest and found THIS post on making Fluffy Bathtub Paint!

So we started with the soap cloud, cups,boiling water, and food coloring.

Added the soap cloud to the mixer then added the boiling water, about 1/2 tsp at a time, you aren't using very much here so just add a little at a time.

When it's done it will have the consistency of yogurt.

Distribute the mixture between the 4 cups and add 2 drops of coloring in each cup.

Add the mixture to Ziploc bags, then cut off the corner of the bag to make like a frosting bag.

Give them to the kid in the tub and let them create!

Afterwards there will be lots of "floaters"  it's just soap and it will go down the drain with the water.

Both my kids (8 and 3) loved painting in the tub!

*This recipe is not enough for both kids to have enough, so keep that in mind if you have more than one child!

Thanks Housing a Forest

Ivory Soap Cloud

I have had my eye on this project since Wendy posted about it on Wendolonia.

Ivory soap floats in water, the reason it does is because it has a bunch of air whipped into it. So when you microwave it, those air bubbles expand, thus making your "cloud". 

We started with a small piece, just to see what we were in for. Sissy thought it would melt...She was very surprised! 

 We put it in the microwave and did 30 second intervals(about 3 times)...after a few seconds the bar started to grow and fluff out. 

The soap looks so soft and fluffy, almost like clouds, but surprisingly, the soap was actually still hard, crumbly and flaky, not at all how it looks,it's not really hot but still be careful! 

The kids were very excited

 

They played with it for a few minutes, it gets very flaky after its handled a lot. 

After reading in the comments on Wendys site, I saw someone suggest adding food coloring, we had some more to do so we decided to try that too! 

Sissy loved this one too! I did add a few more drops of coloring around it in between the 30 second intervals. 

This will be one that we do again, as the kids were amazed at how this worked! 

**Come back tomorrow to see what we are going to do with the soap cloud. 

Play Dough Cars

My kids love to play with Play Dough, so when I saw THIS idea on Pinterest about recycling the caps from sauce packs we decided to try it out!

We pulled out the play dough box

They pulled out all the supplies they wanted to use

And we got busy!  

Start by making the body of the car and then add the wheels!It's that easy! 

I helped Brother make a "Lightning McQueen" car

Sissy decided she would rather just put the play dough around an actual car

Left is Lightning McQueen and Right is The King from "Cars"

This activity was lots of fun for the kids! This will be a great boredom buster! :-)

YaYa's Strawberry Jam

I remember my mom making Strawberry Jam when I was a kid, I remember the smell and the "pop,pop,pop" we would hear from the kitchen. I wanted to learn how to do this myself, because #1 I love homemade jam and #2 because I like to know what's in the stuff we eat. So YaYa came and gave Sissy and I a lesson in Jam making!
I loved this recipe because it was very easy! The key is prep work, having everything measured and sanitized and ready to go!

Here is what you will need-

~Strawberries(A batch requires about 5 cups crushed strawberries, so you will need about 10 cups whole raw strawberries) Of course I would love to have strawberries from a "U-pick" farm, maybe next year!
~Sugar(7 cups-Domino Sugar-YaYa says it's better)
~Sure Jell (1 box)
~Butter

*Before you start make sure you have everything ready

~Jars with seals and rings
~Canning Funnel
~Fabric and Labels (optional)
~1 pot for the jars/lids
~1 pot for the jam
~Wooden Spoon
~Ladle
~2 Towels (1 for finished product, and one to use when filling jars)


1. Wash jars/seals and put them in a pot of hot water to sit until ready.

2. Measure out sugar in a separate bowl.

3. Wash your strawberries and hull them (cut off the green part on top, so nothing but fruit remains).

4. Now Crush the Berries. (There are different ways to go about crushing the berries; you can use a potato masher and mash them up OR you can put in a blender/food processor and crush them.)

5. Transfer the berries to a pot,add 1/4 tsp of butter and stir in the pectin,( continue stirring as you are adding the pectin)

(Sissy added pectin while YaYa stirred it up)

6. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil,stirring constantly, now add the sugar,continue stirring, return to a boil.


7. Boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly . Remove from heat. Skim off any foam. (As you’re stirring, a strange pink foam will form on top of your jam. It tastes delicious, but you don’t want that in your jam, ’cause then it won’t be gorgeously translucent. Use a spoon to scoop the foam off the surface of the boiling jam.

8. Ladle jam into jars. Wipe off the rim of the jar with a clean damp paper towel. 

9.Take a lid out if the hot water and place on jar. Screw on the rings. Put the jar upside down on a separate towel. 

Once all the jars are filled, turn them right side up and then leave them alone until they have all popped and set. 

While you are waiting on all those "pops" take the time to pop some biscuits in the oven and put that "foam" you skimmed off to good use...