Eating well on a budget... cheap meals;)

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE to cook! I definitely live out my New Orleans heritage in the kitchen. I enjoy trying new recipes, tweaking recipes, and creating my own new concoctions.

As a minister's wife, our family has almost always been on a budget that limits extravagant meals. I have enjoyed cooking cost effective meals, cooking to freeze meals, and even teaching cooking classes to newly married students who are trying to live on the budget of a college student. However, you don't really learn something until your life requires that skill. Recently, with the addition of our third son, a move and job change, as well as saving for our adoption of a baby from Ethiopia, our budget has been quite tight. I have learned and created a few recipes that help feed my boys healthy options while not breaking the bank. 

potato bean soup

*Disclaimer: many of these recipes contain beans... they're hearty, healthy, and cheap!

Ham and beans... this is recipe takes all of 5 minutes to throw in a crock pot, and is great for using up leftover deli ham. I have used canned beans instead of dry beans, and just half the amount of water. Serve with corn bread for an incredible and easy meal!

Red beans and rice with a twist (thankful for Pinterest). It's actually really good without the lime. You might ask whether or not these recipes are kid friendly... my 4 year old has told me he would like to eat this red beans and rice everyday!! He loves it!

Potato bean soup is my own concoction. I used my Mom's standard potato soup recipe and tweaked it quite a bit.

Potatoes, green beans & ham is a super EASY crock pot recipe I found on Pinterest. It's a bag of frozen green beans, potatoes, ham (I use leftover ham from sandwiches), an onion, and chicken broth. Really that's it! I serve this with cornbread and enjoy!

Chicken tetrazinni is an easy kid friendly pasta recipe that can utilize leftover chicken, serve many, and freeze well.

Many of these recipes go great with a loaf of bread. Blog coming soon about my love for my bread machine... including a few great money saving dough recipes!

Cooking like Mommy!

When I was a little girl, my sister and I enjoyed pulling up chairs next to Mom while she cooked. We wanted to learn all of her incredible New Orleans recipes (crawfish etouffee, stuffed crabs, shrimp alfredo, seafood gumbo) as well as lick the beaters or spoon of anything sweet that was baking in our Louisiana kitchen. Even though we now live in Arkansas, I definitely carry out my New Orleans heritage in the kitchen! My boys love to help me in the kitchen when making bread, cakes and cookies! We also enjoy many picnics with their pretend food.

Recently I found an idea on Pinterest that combined the two activities... pretend cooking with real food! What an incredibly fun idea!!

I raided my pantry and spice cabinet and filled up a muffin pan with their "ingredients".

potatoes, pasta shapes, nuts, beans, rice, sesame seeds, rosemary, salt/sugar, oats, coffee beans

I also gave the boys a ball of flour & water for dough 

My little chefs hard at work!!

 The boys had fun measuring with measuring spoons, mixing and stirring up their own concoctions! 

The final result!!
I actually had to explain to them why we would not eat it... they begged to try it!!! 

Linking up with Let's Hear it For the Boys!!

My boys and their cool tricks!

As a mom of 3 boys, I hear this phrase very often... "Mom, watch this cool trick!!" 

Here are a few of our latest "tricks";)

Evan latest trick... climbing door frames!

My blue eyed babe is learning how to eat!

Samuel loves eating his avocado/banana combo in the mesh feeder

It's dinosaur week! Here's Ben's shirt to celebrate this week:)
Check out my Etsy shop for more cute shirts!

They boys enjoy playing cards with Daddy!
Ben's fav is UNO, Evan's fav is War.

The boys love to build massive Thomas the Train tracks...
our train table is too small to hold their masterpieces;)

Evan with one of his train track creations

My brave little swimmers are no longer scared of the water!!

Evan loves his new mask!

The boys favorite summer pastime is swimming!!!

Link up with other Moms of Boys with The M.O.B. Society!!

Our favorite afternoon snack

I am so thankful the Lord gave me a love and passion for cooking... because living in a house full of guys, we go through a LOT of food! Since my 4 and 6yr old boys can already eat more than me, I can't even imagine how much food they'll be able to consume in the teenage years?! I'm almost always looking for easy, healthy, and budget friendly recipes. I feel like we do pretty well in offering food from those categories at meal times, but snack times often get lost in the business.

Some of our favorite snacks are fruits and veggies... and most recently granola!! Here is my simple and easy recipe for granola.

Ingredients: 2 cups rolled oats

1 tsp cinnamon (I use a little more)

1 tsp salt (I use a little less)

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

3 TBSP plus 1 tsp oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

*You can also add nuts or berries, but I'm just going for simple and allergy free

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper (this is very important if you want to actually eat the granola and not just look at it stuck to the pan;)

In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon, salt, and flaxseed.

In small bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar & vanilla

Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine. Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist... don't be afraid to get messy! 

Pour the mixture on the parchment lined baking sheet. Spread evenly, leaving a few clumps.

Bake 10 minutes, remove from oven to stir/flip granola. Return to oven for another 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Can store in airtight container for 1 week... however it won't last that long!

We will eat almost half of the pan right out of the oven! The boys love to eat it right out of the bowl, and I love it on my blueberry coconut yogurt:)

Muddy, messy BOY FUN!

I love... messy, muddy, exploring, dirty, pretend, muscles, swords, digging, building, wrecking... BOY fun!! 

playing with water

discovering

While I grew up in a family of 2 sweet, well-mannered, clean little ballerinas... I'm absolutely enjoying my 3 boys who enjoy making new discoveries outside, exploring, digging, creating water holes and of course... getting dirty!!

Even while painting his masterpiece...
we have to get messy! 

sprinkler fun=mud slide!!

seriously muddy!

My little muscle men!
I'm so thankful the Lord has blessed us 3 precious boys! I'm learning everyday how to train them up in the knowledge and love of the Lord! 

I love this face:)

This little guy hasn't gotten into too many messes yet...
but he does love to eat his toes:)

Coming soon: a post on our night time reading... 
sword fights, hunting, peeing in caves, battles, and adventurous chases---
we're reading 1 & 2 Samuel!

and the baby food making begins!

6 months!!! I really can't believe my sweet baby is 6 months and 18 lbs already!! Time has flown by! Samuel  is such a sweet happy baby, who happens to have food sensitivities to MANY foods. He is exclusively breastfed, so I have cut the problem foods (dairy, soy, peanuts, wheat, beef, tomatoes and citrus fruits) out of my diet. My poor guys had all sorts of skin, tummy and sleeping issues before I realized that food was the problem. Thankfully we learned pretty early that food was the problem, have been able to resolve all of his issues and now have an amazingly happy baby!

roast squash for about 40 min

puree in VitaMix, spoon in to ice cube trays

I've been a tad apprehensive about starting solids because I don't want to give him anything that will bother his sensitive tummy. I've gradually loosened up as he has shown an interest in my food. He loves to suck on a piece of cantaloupe and gum a raw carrot. However, he was very clear that he did not like his first helping of rice cereal tonight!! I just made 2 batches of butternut squash and spaghetti squash baby food... hoping he enjoys those flavors!

Would love to hear from other Moms... what are your baby's fav foods and recipes?

Boy Mom Blog Hop with MobSociety

My hubby & I
when we were 1st married

I'm excited to participate in the Boy Mom Blog Hop hosted by the MOB society! I'm Kelly, blessed to be the wife of an amazing man of God and a homeschooling mama to three precious boys (6yrs, 4yrs, and 6 months). We're so excited to be in the process of adopting a sweet child from Ethiopia. Most importantly, I am absolutely thankful for my Savior and Lord who redeemed me, is daily growing me in faith, and has given me the privilege of proclaiming His Name, holiness, goodness, mercy and love to the world!

my boys:)

my littlest love

My blog includes many of my passions--cooking, homeschooling, everyday life with my boys, truths and encouragement from Scripture, adoption updates and fundraisers (Africa shirts). I enjoy sharing about my current mission field - my boys - and how we are growing in our walk with the Lord as a family. I love to live out my New Orleans heritage in the kitchen-cooking and creating fun and healthy recipes.

My boys favorite activities involve building things... from massive Thomas the Tank Engine tracks/towns, to Trio blocks and Legos. My boys have enjoyed playing with trains and Trio blocks since they were 2 or 3 years old and the fun just gets even better now that they can create and build on their own! Legos have just become age appropriate in the past year... just as a new little one arrived ready to put every tiny toy in his mouth;) My boys really like numbers, so it's appropriate that my 4 yr old's favorite game is the card game UNO. In a recent blog post, I shared several of our favorites--things that don't clutter, but grow their imagination and love for the Lord, such as Adventures in Odyssey audio dramas. 

Look forward to meeting other Moms of boys! Follow me on facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!

If you are a mom of boys - come and join the link up to meet and encourage each other: