Another Busy One

8 AM Lacrosse
9:30 Haircuts
10:40  Musical Munchkins
1:00  Baseball
Also visited my my mother-in-law, went out to dinner and squeezed in a shopping trip to Lord and Taylor.

Everyone is conked out - goodnight!

Potato & Corn Frittata

Yesterday's dinner was a complete fluke.  I took steaks out of the freezer and had corn on the cob and potatoes.  But for some reason my mom couldn't find the steaks to cook them for the kids.  She insisted they weren't there.

I have no idea where these steaks are so need to search for them over the weekend.

In the mean time I was thinking what else we could make for the kids to eat. 

Not enough time to defrost something. 

Maybe just give them the corn and potatoes.

Maybe I will just make them eggs.

Then I googled corn and potato frittata and OMG found this a-ma-zing recipe.

So quick, so easy and so amazingly good for an easy Get It Done Tip for a weeknight summer dinner.  Just serve with a salad.

Enjoy!

Your Time

My cousin sent this article to me from Real Simple which talks about the seven best investments of your time.  The goal of these investments of time is for you to create better memories and lead a more fulfilled life.  Great Get It Done Tips! 

Enjoy!

Sick Day

Need a day off.  Made it work, but not feeling well so going home now.  Fingers crossed tomorrow is a better day!

How To Have A Great Day Every Day

I think after a long holiday weekend we can all use this Get It Done Tip for "How to Have a Great Day Every Day".   Enjoy!

Memorial Day 2014

Memorial Day 2014 was low key with the fam.  It included a trip to the mall for some new flip flops and sneakers for my middle one and a walk to the park. 

Hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful day. Back to the grind tomorrow!

More Barbecue Fun!

Looking forward to having my husband's family over soon for a barbecue.  Kids are enjoying the pool and I plan to sit outside for the rest of the day and relax.  :)

Happy Saturday

Went out this morning to my hair dresser.  Leaving in a bit for a party and may see some other friends later.

Hope everyone has a good day!

Day Off

Enjoying my day off today.  Took my two little guys to my oldest's walk-a-thon.  He had 1/2 day so we went for lunch and then Costco to stock up for the weekend barbecuing.

Soon my sister and brother-in-law will be over so my husband and I can go to my colleague's wedding.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Jazzed Up Brownie Recipes

Lucky day!  I found $20 bucks walking to the train this morning.  I passed it along to a homeless person on my way to catch a cab in the city.  Not sure he was even with it enough to notice, but hopefully it goes towards food!

I came across this link for jazzed up brownies.  Wanted to share as a Get It Done Tip -- use boxed brownies as the base and follow the rest of the idea to have some quick easy desserts on hand for the holiday weekend. Enjoy!

Hostess Gifts

Summer barbecues = a need for hostess gifts to be stockpiled!   Here is a Get It Done Tip for some great hostess gift ideas from from the author of one of my favorite blogs - The Salonniere. 

Enjoy!

Leftover Pasta + Sauce

Sunday we had a lot of leftover pasta, sauce and meatballs.  Normally I would toss the pasta and freeze the sauce; however, I am trying to empty my freezer so decided to reshuffle my meal plan and make the easiest meal ever.

I took the pasta and put it on the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish.  Mixed through a bag of frozen vegetables.  Sliced the meatballs and layers them on top of the pasta/veggies. Poured the sauce on everything and liberally sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. 

My mom heated it up for the kids and served it with a salad last night and there wasn't a drop left when I got home.  

A great Get It Done Tip for a quick meal to repurpose pasta and sauce. 

Leftover Cereal

My kids will only eat Cascadian Farms Fruitful O's Cereal.  However, it doesn't stop us from trying new ones every now and again. 

When I realized these 3 weren't getting second requests I decided to make them into "marshmallow treats".  Great Get It Done Tip to ensure nothing goes to waste.  Use any cereal you have on hand - just follow the recipe instructions in this link here.

Even if my kids don't eat it an adult will in this form. ;)

Lively Group

Oh my - these little boys were a handful today!

My husband went fishing with his Dad bright and early so I took all 3 to baseball at 9 AM.  After we went to Whole Foods to do our shopping for the week.

When my husband came home I walked with the big boys to piano.  My middle one stopped every 2 minutes "my head is itchy", "the helmet is loose",  "I want to pick a flower", "I'm too tye-aaad". 

oy.

I made a pot of sauce and meatballs and made pasta for the kids and I tried it over spaghetti squash.  It was tolerable!

Finally finished cleaning and prepping for the week.  Dinner for tomorrow is made, snacks for after school baked, clothes laid out and soon off to bed.  

Beautiful Saturday

Lacrosse, Musical Munchkins, Ikea in the morning.  My husband and his friend are taking my oldest to a magic show and I am about to settle down to relax with my two littlest ones.

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weekend!

Semi-Homemade Waffles

I usually make our waffles from scratch, but saw this on pinterest and had to try it. 

Take store-bought cinnamon rolls (the kind found in a tube in the refrigerated section that you bake off).   Take the raw circle of dough and drop it onto a greased waffle iron.

Once cooked through, drizzle with icing.

Made this as a special treat for the kids last weekend using some brand from Whole Foods and they loved it.  Couldn't have been easier so it's a fun breakfast Get It Done Tip!

Enjoy and happy weekend!  We're looking forward to seeing my husband's cousin and her family tonight -- they are coming to our place for dinner.

Stitch Fix Shipment #2

I am dedicating one blog post a month to Stich Fix as a Get It Done Tip because it is so FUN!

 

Here is this month's shipment. 

 

The top left one fit weird so passed on it. 

 

Middle left was cute. 

 

 Middle right had such potential as something fun and cool until I decided the tie-dye looked like an xray of bones!  That ruined it for me.

 

Bottom left was nice and light for a summer jacket in the office. 

 

Bottom right had potential too except the tan design are tulips - too prissy for me. ;)

 

Got it yesterday and put what I didn't want in the pre-paid envelope and back it goes - so easy and fun!

Fresh Herb Garden

Here's another Get it Done Tip to ensure you have the freshest ingredients for your family meals.  My Aunt recommends growing your own herbs.  Start in the Spring and have fresh herbs all summer.  She keep them in a large container right outside her kitchen door.  

A great tip is to dry the herbs in your oven so you have dried herbs to carry you through winter.  Here's a recipe for drying your own herbs.

Cheese

My wonderful Aunt just sent me a whole bunch of tips she suggested I share, so here is the first. :)

Get It Done Tip: Don't ever buy ready made grated cheese that has  additives, fillers, etc.  Get a wedge from the cheese section of your grocery store.  They will grate it gratis.  Ask them to save the rind as you can put that in your spaghetti sauce for extra flavor.  You will notice the difference immediately.  The grated cheese is fresh and it is all natural.  You'll find that because of the bolder flavor you don't even have to use as much.

I do this too, but didnt realize they can grate it for you at the store.  Good tip!

Breakfast Idea: French Toast Roll-Ups

I am always looking for new breakfast food ideas.  I came across these French Toast Roll-Ups and love them as a way to use up any bread leftover at the end of the week.  Check it out as today's Get It Done Tip on this site.

Tonight I have a volunteer event on Broadway through work.  Andrew McCarthy might be there. OMG so exciting! ;)

Mother's Day

Had a great day today.  Woke up to my middle one coming in my room telling me his teacher said we need to do whatever I want since it is mother's day.  He then went downstairs to bring up to me a plant he brought home from school as my gift. He is too sweet!

Came downstairs to my annual gift of hanging plants and a gift card for the nail salon.

 
We took a long walk while my oldest biked and middle one road his scooter.
 
When we got home my husband took us to Modern Barn which was excellent.
 

Scallops with cabbage, papaya in a mango sauce for appetizer.



I had the fillet with bordelaise sauce.

My husband had the berkshire pork chop.

My oldest had the salmon.

Delicious!  Happy Mother's Day!

Barbecue

8 AM lacrosse and 10:40 Musical Munchkins makes for a busy, fun morning!
We have friends coming over later for a dinner/playdate.  Planning on barbecuing grilled chicken skewers, rice pilaf, salad and chocolate cake for dessert. 

How To Work Fast

Final Get It Done Tip which I found in Entrepreneur Magazine - how to work fast!  Enjoy and happy weekend!

How To Get Up Early

Another Get It Done Tip compliments of Entrepreneur Magazine.  Enjoy!

 

PS - The Standard Grill was amazing!

How to Have a Simple Life as an Entrepreneur

Found this great article in Entrepreneur magazine that I want to highlight this week.  Here is the first one which gives tips on how to have a simple life. Great Get It Done Tips even for the non-entrepreneurs!  Enjoy!

 

Looking forward to dinner tonight at the Standard Grill with two of my buddies...can't wait!

Greeting Cards

Back in December I wrote about an online site that allows you to select greeting cards online, personalize them and the site will mail it out for you.

What a time saver.

I just came across Treat and I am super excited because it has an even bigger selection of cards to choose from so I can't wait to give it a try. 

Amazing time saver for the working mom so worthy of a Get It Done Tip!

Summer Camp

Get It Done Tip - It's time to mark your calendar for Q1 2015 to sign up for Summer camps!  Most camps offer a discounted rate if you enroll early enough in the year so put that reminder on your calendar to lock it in for Summer 2015!

Sunday Funday

Another busy day of piano, Whole Foods, a kid's birthday party and dinner at my parent's house.

Need to run to get the house in order for the week ahead.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Saturday Post

Almost fell asleep and realized I didn't post!

Lacrosse
Baby puked
Baseball
Fun day at a friend's house for her son's communion with two big boys
Car ride home middle one puked

Time for bed!

Beer Marinated Chicken

My friend swears by this beer-marinated chicken as an easy weeknight meal.  Enjoy it as today's Get It Done Tip. Have a great weekend!

Skin the chicken and put it in a container or freezer bag and add beer.  Any beer really is fine but make sure it’s a beer flavor you like.  We used a cherry beer once and my husband was the only one who enjoyed his dinner.  Freeze it however long you want.  If you don’t want to freeze it that way then do that same thing but let it sit overnight.  Then just take it out of the beer and throw it on the grill.  Makes for very tender delicious chicken.  It will not have a strong beer taster unless you use a really strong beer.  It just makes the chicken super tender.

Easy Dinners

My Aunt read the post from yesterday and wanted to share her Get It Done Tips for easy meals.  Enjoy!

Here's something I make when I don't feel like cooking. I'm sure you do this but in case you don't.

Margarita Pizza

Get Trader Joe's or Whole Foods' dough.  I get one whole wheat and one white and then knead them together.

Make the crust.

Put a little oil and garlic on pizza dough Place  fresh mozzarella (yes it goes on first) then Plum tomatoes.  Plum tomatoes work well as you don't have a lot of seeds or juice.

Any kind of vegetables you might have in fridge or not.  I love it plain but I've put left over onions and peppers or chicken sausage.   

Bake 500 for 10 minutes.  Check to see if crust is done before taking out.

Kids love to put it together and put everything on the pizza too.

 
Slow Cooker Soup

Get everything already chopped, i.e.,raw onions, small carrots, celery.  And throw in slow cooker with beans.  1/2 cup barley, 1/2 cup lima bean, 1/2 cup any other beans you might have and a lamb  bone/hock.  Add whatever spices you have.  Just bought about 10 different spices that I plant in a large pot outside by my kitchen door.  Put in 6 or 7 cups of water or broth.  

 

Frittata

On Food Network yesterday while I was on the treadmill    I finally found what we had in Spain.  It was a potato/egg/frittata.   I loved it. They sell the "pies" every where in Spain.  Good to make ahead too as all they did was give you a slice that was warmed up.     I tried to get the recipe on line but couldn't find it.

Peel potatoes and slice thinly.  Put in boiling water until still firm but not hard (cooks quickly, don't want too soft or will fall apart)

5 eggs with little milk or so, 1 cup of cheddar cheese, chorizo or chicken sausage, chopped onions.  

Drain potatoes and add to the mixture of cheese, eggs, cooked sausage etc.  Don't over stir or potatoes will fall apart.  I'd say 30 minutes but I'll check other recipes before making.

Stuffed Vegetarian Peppers

Here's another from Spain.  I usually ask the waiter the ingredients if I like the dish and then try to make it.  No actual recipe with measurements, of course.  Had stuffed vegetarian peppers.

Here are the ingredients:  Brown rice, prunes (yes that's right) chopped, almonds (chopped), curry powder.  You wouldn't be able to guess that one of the ingredients was prunes. You could probably use wild rice, quinoa or whatever.  It did have a sauce on it but I don't remember what it was.   They also did a tomato cream sauce on top of stuffed peppers with cod.  I'd blanch the peppers before stuffing.

Fish Cooked in Parchment

Of course to make clean up easy, I always use parchment paper when making fish, peppers, cookies, etc.  Also get a full side of wild fish and enclose in parchment with carrots, celery,  (not onions), thyme, dill or whatever, little butter, wine.  Close the parchment and have a delicious fish dinner in 15 minutes.  Can't be quicker than that.  If you think it needs a bit more cooking, put under the broiler for 2 minutes.  Big salad tops it all off. 

 

YUM!