Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Growing up Cabbage Rolls were a staple food at any occasion meal. Rolls of meat, and rice with a tomato sauce wrapped up in a cabbage leaf topped with more tomato sauce were the best! But TIME CONSUMING! Do you know how hard it is to make those when it is a side dish and most people eat TWO or MORE!

However, I love my family. I hate to deprive them, so I make the lazy version...in the crock pot.

So to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I share my favorite cabbage recipe with you (no, not my coleslaw recipe!)

Easy Cabbage Roll Casserole

1 1/2 lbs ground beef or turkey
2 medium onions, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can tomato sauce (14ish oz, divided)
1 can condensed tomato soup (10 oz, divided)
1 cup water
1/2 cup long grain rice
4 cups shredded cabbage

1. Brown beef, onions, garlic an salt, draining of excess fat if you use beef. (I usually add a couple grinds of pepper, and find it usually does not need a lot of salt, so I skip it until at the table)
2. Add half the tomato sauce, half a can of tomato soup, and water, mix well.
3. Add rice, stirring to combine
4. Spray slow cooker with no-stick cooking spray, liberally.
   
5. Layer half meat mixture, half cabbage, rest of meat mixture, rest of cabbage
6. Mix remaining tomato sauce and soup and pour over top.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours, until bubbly and heated through.

Do not stir, just cover and ignore.

It will look like a lot but will “shrink” a lot.

We serve this as a main dish or side dish, depending on the need. Leftovers freeze excellently.

Adapted from the original recipe in “Canada’s Best Slow Cooker Recipes” by Donna-Marie Pye, pg 98.

I will be making this on Sunday to go with Roast Chicken for supper.

All Clear

We had our follow up ob/gyn appointment this morning to ensure that all is good.

And I have been given the all clear.

The test results show nothing unusual (i.e. serious that we need to worry about going forward.) So therefore it was a case of things not progressing normally.

Basically, there is no reason to think anything will go wrong with our next pregnancy. But we have to wait for two complete cycles to give my body a chance to fully recover.

In other news, apparently my sore back that has been plaguing me is likely due to a slightly inflamed back from the surgery. As long as I was resting lots it did not bug me. As I have resumed my normal activities my back has been getting tired easily. So to take an anti-inflammatory regularly through the weekend, and if it is still problematic on Monday call back.

And the doctor laughingly agreed that my incredibly sore back yesterday had absolutely nothing to do with my scrubbing the kitchen floor on my hands and knees..... :-)

So physically all is good. And spiritually and emotionally we are healing.

Frugal Fridays - Know the System!

A sale is only a sale if you get the sale price. And if you can add coupons, all the better!

Knowing how your grocery store computers work is essential to saving money at the grocery store!

In many grocery stores when they say 2 for $4 or 10 for $10 you are not required to buy the quantity quoted in the sale's pitch because they set their computers to the per item price. So you can buy whatever quantity you would like.

However, at my local Henry's I have to be very careful to read the sales because when they say 2 for $4, they mean that you have to buy two in order to get the sale price.

For example.

This week Kagome juice was on sale, 2 for 1, or 2 for $3.79. While this juice is not the most frugal thing to buy, it is a very healthy juice with both veggies and fruit, so when it is on sale I buy it for Miss Pear.

If this were at my local Von's or Albertson's I could have bought whatever quantity I wanted.

Because it was Henry's I had to buy in multiples of two or I would pay full price on the one juice that was not a pair.

I decided to post this for my first visit to Frugal Friday because many shoppers don't know this! (Although I am certain the most of Crystal's frugal readers already know this!)

I always want to make sure I am getting the sale price, but don't always want to buy 10!

For more frugal ideas, head on over to Crystal's!

In which I confess my ineptitude and share a deal

So yesterday I wrote two posts that I intended to save as drafts, sleep on, read this morning, edit, and then post. However, rather than hit "save as draft" I hit "publish". Not once, but twice. So I hope you enjoyed my postings on God's Peace and the Patriarchs...a day early, minus the extra editing.

In lieu of those posts today, I offer you something great, a deal on paper. Kim shared it over on her blog, and I was so impressed with the deal I had to get it too! But I got all confused so it took me a while to figure out what I was doing, and why, so I am sharing what I did. If you need detailed instructions stick with me. If you are a savvy Office Depot shopper and can do with the short version, head on over to Kim's Shoelaces (which is worth the trip!) or her other blog.

I went to Office Depot.com as instructed, and searched for item 345603 as instructed and added 10 items of 500 sheets of Xerox 20lb paper (my favorite weight of paper!) at $5.59 each.

Then you have to buy a little item for the second coupon to work, so you search for item number 429266 which is a $0.29 box of paper clips.

The you proceed to check out. In the screen where it asks you for your address, right above that you can enter your coupon codes. Click to enter a coupon code. Enter code 73649244 which takes $31 off your paper which goes from being $55.90 to $24.90, so the total in your shopping cart is now $25.19. Click okay or apply or whatever it is.

In the check out screen once more, click to enter a coupon code. Enter code 44141777 for $10 off an order of $25 or more (this is why you had to get the paper clips!) and click apply.

Then follow the check out instructions. Did I mention they will deliver the paper to your door for FREE!

Kim then had her paper at $15.19 shipped for 5000 sheets of paper and 100 paper clips.

I had to pay taxes of $1.18, so my total was $16.37

So basically, if you are with me, you just ordered a case of paper, or 5000 sheets for the cost of about 3 reams, or 1500 sheets, and will receive the bonus prize of a box of paper clips.

Thank you Kim - you are keeping Miss Pear in paper for coloring on, and the rest of us in printer paper!

God's peace in tough times

The Lord has nurtured us with His love and Word tremendously during this time, and I promised two posts that look at scripture regarding this. I am doing it this afternoon because I need the reminder.

A dear friend was praying for us, and this verse was all over her mind, heart, and prayers, so she sent it on to us:

Philippians 4:7 "and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (NKJV)

I often like to look at different translations to get a clearer understanding so here are a couple for this verse:

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (MSG)

If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT)

This verse became a balm on my heart as I read it over and over, and asked the Lord to give us His peace.

The other verse that went with this, at least in our minds was John 14:27

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

The Lord gives us His peace, but sometimes we have to ask Him to help us find it. When our hearts were breaking, and we asked the Lord for His peace, He gave it to us in such a gentle way that it almost sneaked up on us, but all of a sudden we realized that we could function a bit better, and our emotions were not constantly bubbling over.

The world does not give us peace. In fact, for all intents and purposes the world said I had every right to be angry and hurt. William Barclay's definition of the world is the world how it organizes itself apart from God. What the world thinks is almost never what God thinks.

The Lord's peace can be found in the tough times, we just have to be diligent in seeking and looking to Him! Sometimes it is hard, but when we seek the Lord with our whole heart we do find Him. I understand it is hard, I understand what it is like to be brokenhearted and confused in things and have prayers that are little more than tears. But as hard as it is, it is worth it. Seeking the Lord is always worth it.

Did the Patriarch's have an unfair advantage?

In discussing our spiritual questions about all that happened, in one of our lighter conversations Mr. Pear and I began discussing many things that led me to declare that the patriarch's had a very unfair advantage! They lived much longer lives and therefore had a much longer time to get it right!

Adam lived to be 930
Methuselah lived to be 969
Noah lived to be 950
Abraham lived to be 175

Just to name a few!

Often when I pray for myself and my family I pray for us to be blessed with great spiritual maturity (I don't want to be a spiritual toddler all my life, even though that is exactly what I feel like right now!). I was considering these ages, and figured if I lived to be the age of Abraham I would maybe see spiritual maturity in the distance, like on the distant horizon.

Which made me declare that the patriarchs had an unfair advantage!

Of course this argument can be completely undone with one name: Holy Spirit.

Oh sure! Fine! Bring that up and destroy my great argument!

Actually, please, bring that up because I need the Holy Spirit so much just to make it through the simple things of life! When the hard things come I would be completely lost without the Holy Spirit guiding me, counseling me, comforting me and teaching me!

John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all the things I said to you."

The name Helper signifies intercessor, comforter, helper, advocate.

When I was considering the great men of faith, namely Adam, Noah, Abraham, and David I was overwhelmed by the faith they showed! But then I got to thinking about the darker example they set.

Adam was the first man and actually got to experience the physical presence of God, and walk in the garden with Him -- wow! But then there is the whole apple debacle.

Noah was the man God choose to use to continue the human race after the flood! Yet after the flood has ended and God makes his covenant we read a couple verses later (Gen 9:21) that he sins.

Abraham is considered the father of the faith - yet he forced his wife to lie for him, and put her in a very precarious and dangerous predicament.

David is called a man after God's own heart and is viewed as the greatest king of Israel! Yet he will probably not be nominated for Father of the Year, and there is the whole Bathsheba incident.

So you know something, I think we have a shot of being spiritual pillars too, after all, we have an "unfair advantage", we have the forgiveness of the Cross by the fabulous gift of our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit!

I may not directly impact the whole human race, the entire church, or even my entire city, but I can make a difference in the lives I touch through the help of the Lord!

(And lest you think I am being cavalier, please keep two things in mind:
1) I am accustomed to explaining Scripture to Jr. High Students and now my daughter
2) This was at a time where we had to laugh or we would cry constantly!)

Because business travel is always fun... Part 2

Mr. Pear arrived home last night! woo hoo!

Mr. Pear's luggage arrived home this morning......

Because I love him, and because I wanted to do the wash, but mostly because I love him, I unpacked his suitcase for him and threw all his packed clothes in the wash, clean or not, because he was in Mexico, and I am OCD like that.

Hot Cross Buns!

Hot Cross Buns have been a tradition in our family since my husband and I were children (we met in University, but both families had this tradition!). Every Easter was marked by the presence of these delectable treats.

When we moved to Southern California we were SHOCKED to discover these were not an Easter staple down here! And then we discovered the phenomenal treat of our favorite bakery that makes hot cross buns all Lenten season! We have indulged in these for each Easter since we discovered them. However, they tip the scales at $7 a dozen. Our family of three can eat a half dozen for breakfast in one sitting.

So I decided to begin the search for a new recipe. I tried one from Taste of Home that smells delicious! They are cooling and awaiting the glaze.

I only have two problems with the recipe:
1. When you print it off it is so darn small it is almost impossible to read - and I have annoyingly perfect eye sight - my optometrist hates to see me coming! So I missed the egg wash. Oops.

2. It only calls for two kinds of fruit which kind of throws off the symbolism of hot cross buns. So I used 2/3 cup each currants, golden raisins and raisins.

Update - this recipe turned out well, however I changed the glaze by adding 2 tbsp of melted butter and 1/2 tsp of vanilla to the water and then adding the icing - this made for a better icing and more of it! Next time I would use 1/2 cup of sugar in the dough as it needed a bit more sweetness in my opinion. I will definitely make these again.

The Symbolism of Hot Cross Buns

Did you know there is a lot of symbolism in hot cross buns?

A traditional recipe calls for three kinds of fruits to represent the Holy Trinity.

The fruits are in one bun representing how the Holy Trinity is one God.

The buns are covered in a cross as our sins are and when we come to the cross we receive all of God, just like we get all the fruit in the bun.

And of course there is the sweetness of the glaze that makes the cross which I am convinced must be symbolic of the sweetness of the Christian life.

WFMW - Think Double

I have to confess, one of the motivators to finally get me to blog (besides the gentle encouragement from MomRN2) was getting to play WFMW! I read it each week and get so many GREAT ideas! (Whoever posted about putting her daughter's melamine bowls in the freezer is my hero!) So I am excited to start playing along too!

My biggest help in keeping up with my family is to think double in the kitchen.

By this I mean if the dishes are already dirty I might as well make 2 - there is no more mess, just a bit more work, and twice the results.

If I am making a casserole that will freeze I will make two up until the point they go into the oven, and then I will pop one into the oven and one into the freezer. And then when I want the frozen casserole, take it out of the freezer in the morning, let it thaw and cook as usual! (If it would have been hot going into the oven you may need to add an extra 20 minutes).

If I am making hamburgers like I am tomorrow I will make a big mess of them (6lbs worth this week) and freeze the one's I don't use for supper raw with wax paper between, that way next time we want to BBQ I just have to go to my trusty freezer and pull out what I need!

And don't get me started on breads, rolls, cookies, muffins and granola bars!

This tends to keep my freezer well stocked! So on a day where someone in our family is under the weather and it is more important for me to be nurse than chef I just go to my trusty freezer.

And it also allows me one or two easy kitchen days a week (sometimes more!)

I cannot take two days and spend all day in the kitchen cooking for a month. But I can do a little extra each week to make it easier for myself.

Works for me! Head over to Mrs. Dryer's for more great ideas!

Tell me again why we buy toys?

Today when Miss Pear woke up from her nap we cleaned our bathroom (Miss Pear's contribution is to flush the toilet once I swish it and wave her cleaning rag around - it is a clean one of course - and generally keep me company and hopefully slowly learn.)

Then she climbed into the shower and closed the door - I thought she was stuck so I quickly opened it for her - she quickly closed it, smiled at me and knocked. We played this game for a while.

Now she is sitting at my desk playing and every time I ask her if she wants to go down stairs she says "no!" Apparently nothing is more fascinating than playing at my desk.

Spring Reading Thing

Have you seen this????

Looks like fun! I get to read, share the books I am reading, see what others are reading, AND have the chance to win a $10 Amazon gift certificate!

I think I will play!

Want to join too? Just click on the picture for all the info over at Callapidder Days

Our errands are done!

It is time for a rest!

Miss Pear and I have been very busy these last two days. Usually we do not have a vehicle during the week as we are a one car family and really do quite fine that way! So when Mr. Pear is away we try to take advantage of having the car during the week and run errands!

So Monday we did our grocery shopping in the morning (we did not go on the weekend). It was very quiet in the stores! And did I mention the sales??? Kagome juice in 2 for 1!

Monday during nap time I rested too as the time change got us all in the Pear House, and an agent had called wanting to show our home that afternoon so I returned her call saying just to call and come over, but had to leave a message - she never called back, so I guess I could have started whatever project I wanted rather than feeling like that would not be a good idea!

Miss Pear woke up completely discombobulated, so we made white bread, rye bread, and supper. We are working on stocking our kitchen again, and wanted to try a new recipe with tuna in it - if you read my updated post from Menu Plan Monday you will see that it did not work, but the bread turned out great!

This morning we did our Post Office run and then the monthly Costco stock up. Somehow everything ran out at once, so we had a very full cart. Fortunately Costco had recently issued coupons so I was able to save extra on stuff I needed anyways. My best buy was 16 cans of diced tomatoes for $5 -- what can I say, paying just under 38 cents a can made me very happy. I was even able to get three baby gifts I needed to buy for new arrivals (all our friends are having babies - it is great!). Costco had the Carters pants and onesie sets on for $6.50 each! We have a Carter's outlet store about 40 minutes away and I can assure you this was a better price. I also got 8 lbs of bananas because there are a ton of banana recipes I want to try and I need ripe bananas! So I figure once they start ripening I will start baking, and can just freeze what I have to! Crystal did a major banana baking extravaganza one morning and posted a bunch of great recipes I would like to try, plus Tammy's Recipes has some great banana recipes I want to try, plus I have a great recipe for Banana French Toast that it is time to make again!

So many recipes and never enough bananas.

Also, I am looking for new recipes for a lot of things as Miss Pear is extremely allergic to nuts and potatoes, so it is stretching me and I love it.

So after all this activity I am wiped out. It is very hot here today. At 11AM it was already 28C so that tires a girl out too.

So I am going to take a little break while Miss Pear naps, read the new Bon Appetite and Cooking Light magazines that I splurged on at Costco and drink some coffee.

Then it is back to work because there is lots to do!

Like make hot cross buns!

Like make supper!

Like do laundry! (next time someone asks me what I do in a way that implies wife and mother is insufficient I am going to proclaim myself the Laundry Queen - not that many of you with more children cannot totally leave me in the dust of course.)

Like post about the Lord's Peace, thoughts on Pillars of the Faith, and a great book I am loving reading to Miss Pear, and Miss Pear's adventure in prayer.

Blessings

I was over at Country Roads reading a great post about the Lord's unique way of blessing us, and I was suddenly reminded that I had not told you the wonderful thing God did for me on Saturday!

Miss Pear woke up from her nap saying "Car, car, car, shoes, shoes, shoes, keys, keys, keys, hat, hat, hat," over and over and over. Being the intuitive parents we are we realized she wanted to go for a car ride, which was great because I had an item on hold at my local quilting store (a stencil cutter!) that was the last item to use up all my Christmas money.

We arrived at the store only to discover it was QUILT RUN DAY!!!!! I had no idea! So I was immediately given a free, beautiful fat quarter, and a ticket with a number. If the number matched a bag, the bag was mine to take home. I politely said thank you and did not think much of it because I never win anything! But my number matched a bag, so I was gifted with another beautiful fat quarter, and a delightful book called Treasured Wrappings: Gift Packages to Give and Give Again. I am very interested in this type of wrapping, so I was delighted!

We continued to happily browse through the store. The ladies are so good about letting Miss Pear look around and touch the fabric (knowing that her little hands are clean, of course!) and always remember us. So it was delightful. When I went to pay for my stencil cutter, I found out it was on sale because of the quilt run!

So it was definitely a bunch of blessings from God!

And then we went out for ice cream....yum.

Reflections on the Cross

Maybe it is just me, but usually this time of year, the season of Lent, I purposely spend time thinking about the cross. The Lord often, but not always, leads me to fast something - in the past it has been anything from pizza, to fiction books, to meat on one day of the week. This year Mr. Pear and I are reading William Barclay's wonderful book "We Have Seen the Lord!: The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ (William Barclay Library)" and are just loving it! I have been so blessed by many of the readings, and am learning so many new things!

Any way, this time of year has me intentionally focusing on the cross.

Most of the time I seem to look at it from the perspective of what Jesus did for us. Of the sacrifice He made, of the pain He endured. I seem to look at the cross only from the Son's perspective. And I am overwhelmed, and cannot even begin to comprehend the love, the sacrifice, the pain.

This year has me looking at the cross from the Father's perspective, and my heart breaks. We did not give up our child willingly. Had I know what was going on I would have fought with every weapon I had to save my child! It would have been face to the floor in prayer time. My heart stops when Miss Pear hurts herself. The day she tripped and banged her head on the entertainment unit I was okay while trying to sooth her and totally focused on what she needed until I realized she would be okay, then I LOST IT! It was horrible! I had no idea what it was like to have your heart walking around in a little person before I was a mom!

Now that I am a mom, and I have unwillingly lost a child who was very real to us even though he never breathed a breath, I cannot comprehend how the Father did it. How He endured it. How He made the sacrifice. How He accepted the sacrifice.

I always looked at the cross from the perspective of Jesus, and I missed a whole dimension of it, I missed the dimension of the sacrifice of the Father, and I just cannot even begin to fathom it.

I know one thing. I will never look at the cross again, and there is yet more spiritual stuff I am aware that I will never fully comprehend.

Menu Plan Monday

Edited to add review to Monday night's meal.....

So this is one of the features I wanted to maybe play with when I started blogging, partly to keep me honest, partly for fun, partly to encourage myself to begin planning lunches too, and maybe even breakfasts for all days, not just the weekends.

So here goes!

Sunday
Breakfast - Hot Cross Buns and fruit
Lunch - Salami Sandwiches and cookies
Supper - Crock Pot Pepper Steak and Rice

Monday - Tuna Noodle Casserole and carrots
The Tuna Noodle Casserole was not very good, all you could taste was tuna. I even had twice the amount of veggies in and could not taste them!!!!!!!!! I think it would be good with half the amount of tuna if it were well drained and well broken up. I am hoping that tomorrow night's recipe turns out much better, it is the second new one of the week (and the last, unless I try the
Veggie Lasagna Saturday)

Tuesday - Dreamy Spaghetti and broccoli

Wednesday - Meatball soup and rolls

Thursday - BBQ Hamburgers and Yam fries (I will make 6 lbs worth of hamburger patties and freeze them raw for future use)

Friday - Pizza and some kind of veggie

Saturday
Breakfast - muffins
Lunch - Chicken Quesadillas
Supper - not sure, I grocery shop on Saturdays, so I usually change this one. I am thinking Veggie Lasagna though.