A Little Knitty

Every so often (when I'm out of crockpot meals) I'll throw in a product spotlight for one of my favorite Norwex products. If you don't know about Norwex, check out my page . Over the last year, one of my favorites (and a product I use every day) is the travel pack. It is made up of 4 small envirocloths that you can stash anywhere like... In the stroller....so you can wipe up messes or wet slides at the park. (but don't buy a stroller just to put a travel cloth in it, that would be silly!) In the car...when you spill your coffee on your shirt. In your diaper bag....cuz there is always a mess with kids around. In your desk drawer...for random work related spills. In your purse....because you never know when you'll run into a mess. In your kitchen...for smaller messes and wiping counter tops. In your bathroom...because it is a bathroom. In your gym bag...because you sweat. Know what that means? You need two packs *grins*

This is one of my FAVORITE meals...and lots of variations depending on our mood. It usually starts out with the following: 1 lb chicken breast or thighs (or a mixture, and it can be frozen) 1 can corn 1 can fire roasted, diced tomatoes (sure, you can use normal diced, but I like fire roasted!) 1 can black beans 1 can pinto beans 1 cup salsa 2 TBSP Taco seasoning (or whatever you like...I got the mondo package pictured below from Costco, but when it's gone I plan on filling it with this  because it's yumtastic) Throw it all in the crockpot and cook on Low 6-8 hours (if you are using fresh chicken, you can go with less time...but for frozen chicken I would go with the 8 hours). We serve over cilantro-lime rice in a bowl or put the chicken mixture in tortillas. Don't forget to top with cheese, sour cream, avocado, green onions, tomatoes, crushed tortilla chips...whatever floats your boat! Oh! And one variation is to add 8 oz cream cheese during the last 30 minutes of cooking.

I love Thai food and could eat it everyday. However, my wallet and waistline won't let me. I was wandering around Pinterest awhile back and found this recipe for classing up ramen noodles. So, today (this is completely a lie, I wrote this last week and forgot to publish it! hahahaha) I found myself with a hardcore Thai craving while the kids were in quiet time. So I brought up Pinterest on my phone and checked out how to dress up ramen. I don't usually have it on hand because of the massive amounts of sodium, but I had some left over from making this salad during the summer...and you know ramen noodles don't go bad! Of course I didn't stick to the recipe...so here is what I did: Poor Man's Thai Ingredients: Chicken ramen soup with packet 1 tbsp peanut butter (crunchy would have been better, but creamy was fine) 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp siracha (I'm a pansy, do this to taste) 1 tsp red curry paste (gave it an extra kick and I had it laying around) Cook the ramen a

I am insanely excited to announce that I can now consider myself a happy hooker!!!!! I FINALLY showed that crochet needle who is boss!!!! I still can't read a crochet pattern all that well, but I'm a card carrying hooker...and that's something to write home about! *grins*

The other day we took a sick day. P had been under the weather, running a fever and just not herself and I was sure N would be next. Unfortunately for me, they were not lethargic enough to be entertained by a movie and we are rarely home all day, so they were looking at me like, "what the heck do we do with ourselves?" So, I pulled out paper and finger paints and we got down and dirty! Totally looks like pudding, huh? My daughter thought so! It's so funny to me how different my kids are. I started by painting N's hand and he whined a little then started gagging. His little sister was across the table, hand outstretched, screaming "PLEASE"!!!!! They crack me up! We started with brown paint all over.... ...then we did just orange on the fingers and we have a turkey (sans beak, dangly neck thing & feet) This handprint belongs to Mr. N This belongs to Miss. P Once they dried a little, I asked each of them what they were thankful for. N started with everythin

I kinda need this...so I can knit and be warm and comfy at the same time. I guess technically it would be SO much cooler if I knitted it myself, but that's not gonna happen.  So...guess what is on my knitting needles right now?  hahahaha...that's a trick question because I have 987987987 projects going at the same time...and since both my grandma's gave me all their knitting needles, I really do have close to that many pairs of knitting needles. In fact, here is a photo of just a few of my special ones that I inherited from the grandma that taught me to knit... These sit in a vase in my garden window as a reminder of my wonderful grandma. I figured this was a much better way of displaying them as art instead of just stuffing them in one of my MANY totes of yarn. It is strange to people who don't understand the story, (you have a vase of knitting needles in your window?) but they make me happy. Wow...I go off course so easily! Anyway... That adorable hat right there is w

I stumbled upon the original recipe for Man Pleasin' Chicken here (while pinning my heart out on Pinterest, of course). It seemed to get rave reviews...but honestly I am NOT a fan of maple syrup. But I decided to give it a shot...and wouldn't ya know...I fell instantly in love. There weren't leftovers for lunch the next day because I ate them for dessert! :) So, the original recipe is stellar, but I decided I needed a little Man Pleasin' on hand at all times in my freezer, so I adapted the recipe to make 3 dinners at a time. If you want to cook one today and have 2 for the freezer, just put one of the 3 meals straight into a pan and the other two in a freezer bag. What you will need: 3 - 1 gallon FREEZER bags* Sharpie Pen 6 lbs Skinless & Boneless Chicken Thighs 2 cups Dijon Mustard 1 cup Maple Syrup 4 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar 2 tsp Dried Rosemary With the Sharpie, write "Man Pleasin' Chicken" and the date on each of the bags** (Quick Tip: It's also

Overachiever of the day goes to....ME!!!!! No blog posts for months...then...BLAMO...3 in one day! But I had to share what is in my crockpot right now! http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/diabetic-recipes/30-minute/easy-recipes-in-a-bowl/ I doubled the recipe and I will add peas near the end (I don't think they will last 8 hours in the crockpot). I'll let ya know how it turns out...but so far it's looking fantastic! What's in YOUR Crockpot today? *UPDATED* Oh goodness, sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself....other times you need to publish your mistakes so that OTHER people can laugh at you. This weekend we went to Seattle and I picked up some pretty colored carrots. Today, when I was prepping the meal I linked above, I pushed the baby carrots that I purchased for the meal to the side and headed straight for the beautiful Pike Place Market carrots. I peeled, chopped and dumped the beauties into the crockpot. I then turned the crock pot off and left it to do its

I've decided to link my blog to a Facebook Page...in hopes of keeping up on my blog more and being able to easily link to meal planning and all the fun stuff! :) www.facebook.com/bemorewithless

I love the fall...each year it seems like summer gets so busy (and fun) that I look forward to the changing leaves and changing schedule...and SLOWING DOWN. This summer was amazing...the weather was breathtaking and I think as a Washingtonian I felt extra compelled to enjoy EVERY sunshine-filled, non-rainy, day before the gloom of winter set in. We enjoyed our new place and the ability to walk to the pool or walk to the little park. Each weekend we found ourselves outside...but I can't really name much of what we did this year...we were just busy. I've thought of my blog a lot...even in the midst of doing something I would say "I should blog about this"...but it just never happened. I really should blog from my phone more! Anyway...I have filed away all sorts of things to blather about and I have lots of arts and crafts ideas for the holidays (thank you, Pinterest) and my HUSBAND even got crafty the other day...which impressed the crap outta me! I snapped pictures of