A Little Knitty

Parenting isn't all that hard...if you are looking from the outside, or small snippets. This is how I got suckered into this parenting thing. I performed a VERY SMALL portion of a parenting task (keeping children alive...aka babysitting) and thought "I can TOTALLY rock this". I was going to always be attentive to my kids and be a stellar mom...hahahahahaha Today, I decided that parenting is a lot like standing on one foot. Do it right now, I'll wait. It's very simple to do for a second, or even a minute, but do it ALL DAY LONG. Do it while one of your kids demands a PB&J and the other one has to "go potty" (read: sit on the toilet for half a second, say all-done, jump off, wash hands, replace diaper...at least 12 times a day). Do it for DAYS...with the only "breaks" being when you sleep (if you actually get to sleep), when you get root canals and when you hide upstairs and do the laundry all alone. The simple task of standing on one foot is...

So, my heart started going pitter patter when we walked towards the meat case and I saw those awesome orange stickers...that means cheap meat day!!!! *does the cheap meat dance* then we decided to splurge on some steaks (a "splurge" is anything over $1.99/lb in my world). It was another good protein day at Sam's Club! When we arrived back home, I realized would I have to do something with all this meat and I really hadn't contemplated it much up until this point. I threw together some red wine vinegar, olive oil and other randomness as a marinade for the steaks, splitting the pack in half (half for tonight half for the freezer). Two dinners prepped and ready to throw on the grill! With the jumbo pack of chicken thighs I made a batch of Man Pleasin' Chicken (believe it or not, we haven't had this in awhile) for later this week and another one for the freezer. Then....I took the last bit of chicken and stared at it. Then I looked over at the left over BBQ sauce ...

The other day I was putzing around Pinterest (my favorite sport) and stumbled upon The Gracious Pantry   which happens to be a GREAT resource for all things "Clean Eating" and all the food looks amazingly yummy. I haven't jumped aboard the "Paleo" train as of yet, but I am trying to limit sugar, white flour and processed foods and concentrate more on whole foods and fruits/veggies (but there are times where cupcakes jump into my mouth and I have no control over that...it's completely not my fault!!!!). I'm not so much interested in baking a cake without flour or butter and using all sorts of funky alternatives...I'm more looking at being healthy and if I do want to indulge in cake, it will just be less often and a smaller piece (I'm completely kidding myself by the way...the theory sounds great though). However, I discovered this little gem that is rocking my world.... "clean" sweetened condensed milk Now, I wouldn't normally throw ...

I recently added a page dedicated to my passion for knitting. I just wanted to let everyone know that my Etsy Store is back up and running!!! Thank you for your support...I know knitted hats might not be your thing...but letting others know what I'm up to has helped a ton! You can check out my A Little Knitty Page here: http://bemorewithless.blogspot.com/p/a-little-knitty.html You can check out my Facebook Page here: www.facebook.com/alittleknitty You can check out my Etsy Store here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/jenlreeves And a couple samples...because I'm shameless! :)

I don't always enjoy cooking....sometimes I plain dread it. But I get giddy when a meal is pretty easy, yummy and CHEAP!! The other day I was at Sam's Club and they had a two pack of whole chickens on clearance...and I can't pass up cheap meat! I planned on making chicken enchiladas for my daughters birthday, so I threw one in the freezer for later and threw the other in the crockpot for 7 hrs on low. I then pulled off most of the big chunks of meat to use in the enchiladas and left everything else in the crock, added a couple celery stalks and carrots and some herbs and spices (Mrs. Dash has been my best friend lately) and filled it to the top with water and let that cook overnight. I strained out all the big bits and bones and found there was enough meat to make soup for dinner tonight...oh and all that "work" earned me about 80 oz of yummy chicken stock! I put all the small bits of meat, some broth, diced onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and more seasoning in t...