Tacos and a Plan

My husband started a blog on his weight loss journey.  Go check him out.   He's already made some awesome progress, but it's a lifestyle change for us all with the food we eat.  

Obviously I'm the chief cook and the chief grocery shopper, though he does shop with us now.   So my side is finding healthier meals and shopping healthier.  

What that means for my blog is I'm going to try to do more food blogs and more shopping blogs.  On his blog, you'll get the calorie count... SO,  if you are in need of eating healthier, we hope we can help you on your journey as Dennis is on his journey. 

So here's our taco meal.  Not much has changed in this meal.  The salsa varies depending on what's on sale. We got our Costco membership I've been waiting on, so everything in bulk is Kirkland brand now.  I did not keep track of the prices this month, but I will for next month and break costs down more as I do our food blogs. 

1 lb ground beef

1 package taco seasoning

shredded cheese

salsa

sour cream

lettuce

tomato

taco shells

Sour Cream, Taco seasoning, Monterey Jack & Cheddar Shredded blend, Kirkland Salsa (not bad), tomatoes (I cut two for everybody though the kids rarely eat it), lettuce (it's a baby spinach and romaine mix-I buy it in bulk, and cut as we use it)

Yes, there are three different shells.  Medium flour tortillas for Dennis, Small flour tortillas for the kids-because they want a whole taco, but can't eat the medium shell, and corn tortillas.  I prefer the corn tortillas (and they are less calories). 

The meat after the seasoning.  I don't drain the fat off the beef, I just use what has cooked off to dissolve the seasoning. Yes I know I can make my own seasoning, but we prefer the store bought.

My plate.  3 corn tortillas with a little bit of everything.

Dennis' tacos.  3 flour tortillas with a little bit of everything.

So like I said,  I can't give you a cost breakdown as I didn't keep that track of food costs.  But I will do that next month.  The kids also had corn on the cob with their tacos.


Have a great week!!

~Tabitha

We Found A Really Awesome Coffee

If you are on my Facebook you are possibly really tired of hearing about this awesome coffee we found. (And for general information, this is not an affiliate, just simply me sharing.)

So if you don't want to hear more about it, Exit Stage Left. Before you exit, be forewarned-this is more than me saying how much I love the coffee. 


Now first off, let me say I LOVE our local coffee shop, I go there when I can.  Which isn't much, I admit.  A great couple who owns it, homemade food and great coffee and other drinks, plus awesome food and it's all locally sourced. 
Check them out if you are in town. 


I LOVE Out of the Grey Coffee.  

What I love about this coffee.  

IT'S COFFEE!! Lol  Obviously. 

Jack and Sheila (the owners) are Christians.  For us, that's usually good enough to try the product if it's something we already eat and it's in our price range.  The website has the way to Christ on it, their bags come with verses on them.   

They are a custom roasterie.  You read that right. A CUSTOM ROASTERIE.  Now, other than the occasional "fancy" cup of coffee from a coffee shop, I'm a Folgers gal.  These guys get beans from AROUND THE WORLD.  And it's all organic.  They have explanations on how the taste varies not only between the different roasts (light to dark), but between the different kinds of beans. Spend some time on the site and learn about the bean and roast you choose before you order to make sure you get the flavor you want.  They have some awesome flavors they have come up with, OR YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN. Seriously.  You can make your own coffee flavor.  My jaw dropped.  Dropped.  

They are organic.  YES!!!! All of this yummy goodness is ORGANIC COFFEE!! 'Nuff said. 

They are affordable. I'm sure you read "custom roasterie" and are thinking "there is NO WAY this can be affordable".. I mean, organic and customized, usually those words go hand in hand with "you gotta be rich to afford this stuff".  BUT NO!  My custom creation roast was $14.75 for 12 ounces of beans-and he stuffed those bags FULL.  The Butter Pecan, one of their creations, was $13.75.  That's what you pay at a grocery store for some of the coffee in the cool little dispensers!! AND THIS IS BETTER! AND ORGANIC! 

I learned something!! Ok, I learned a lot of things from the FAQ section on the site... but one thing...no two things I did not know. The different types of coffee makers work best with different grinds of coffee.  SAY WHAT?!  I had no idea!  No wonder we always get grounds, the cone style filter works best with a larger grind.  Now I know.  Now our yummy coffee doesn't get the grounds like the Folgers does.  Did you know that coffee in a fridge will absorb the odors like baking soda? I didn't. Now I do.

And finally.  It's yummy.  Just. Plain. Yummy.  Yummy enough that even my hubby was willing to try some without the sugar!  WOW.  Four thumbs up for Java Jack, nobody has gotten that to happen! 

So.  The flavors we (ok, I) ordered.  

Butter Pecan.  Take a pecan pie.  Stuff all that flavor into some  coffee.  THERE YA GO!  Butter Pecan was one of their roasts (you can order other customer's custom creations, too).  It's yummy. That's all there is... It tastes like I'm eating a pecan pie-but without the calories and the baking.  

Raspberry Delight.  See now, as I scrolling around the site, I saw the butter pecan and said to myself "Dennis will LOVE this, let's just try one bag and see how it is"....and then I saw the custom roast option.  Did I mention my jaw dropped?  Did I happen to mention that?  White chocolate, raspberry, and macademia nut.  Ooooooo mmmyyyyy gooodneesss!!!  Y'all need smellivision. Seriously..  They need to make those scratch stickers like lip gloss used to have for computers.

Now, while this is affordable, we cannot buy it for all of our coffee wonderfulness.  We have half a pot or a full pot of Folgers in the mornings.. Then we have the yummy coffee for something special.  Making it more affordable to us by keeping it down to a cup or two a day.  I do think that when we ended up doing the math, buying the whole beans really wasn't much of a price difference than buying the already ground.  But for now, we're gonna stick with the already ground for the convenience.  

If you want to hear my pretty voice giving a short review of Out of The Grey as I am making a cup, check out my YouTube video.

Thanks for reading and go check out Out Of the Grey, because they are AWESOMENESS! That's a word, because I said so.

Have a great week!!!

~Tabitha

Confessions of a Mom

I have been rolling this post around in my head for quite some time now... Trying to figure out how to word it without offending somebody.  

But let's face it, somebody is always offended no matter how nicely you say things.   It is not my intention to offend anybody with this post, simply to ask you to think about it.  

So. Here goes it. 

You know that Beatles song?... Was it the Beatles or somebody else... my song guru is sick in bed this morning (hubby).  The one that goes "for everything, turn, turn, turn".  My mom always loved that song, one of the few songs that wasn't Christian I can remember her singing to.  The words are from the Bible.  

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  {2} A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;  {3} A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  {4} A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;  {5} A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;  {6} A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;  {7} A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;  {8} A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

I completely understand the feeling of 'ugggghhh why won't the kids go play!!!'.  It seems I've been uttering that phrase more and more myself.  And I feel guilty every time.  Yes, we buy them toys to play with-but sometimes they want to be near us-not upstairs with the toys.  

While on one hand, I can understand the parents who public school wanting the chaos out of the house and the kids back in school, every year it gets under my skin a little bit.  

This year I encountered the attitude in a home school group.  One place I thought I'd never hear it.  

As a momma with littles, I hear a lot "cherish the moments, they will be gone all too soon".  And it drives me a little batty.  When all four kids are grumpy and just want held, or when I don't feel good... I just want them to be a little older so I can rest.  And then I get reminded, in one form or another.  To stop and smell the roses.  My children being at  home won't last forever.  My children WANTING me, wanting to be held by me-NEEDING to be held by me won't last forever.   

God has put me in this season of life and I love (almost) every minute of it.  I will fully admit that I have those days where I just wish there was peace and quiet.  But within the next few days at the most I get reminded that those days will be here all too soon.   

Through choices made, I cannot be a part of my oldest daughter's life as I should be, and it kills me to the core every day.  In almost every way it mirrors an abusive relationship... One person trying anything and everything to get the other to talk to them, the other person only throwing them a spare bone if they do something for them.   There's only so much I can do... so far I can go before I have to back out and cry myself to sleep every day because of it.  Because for me to be the mom I need to be, I cannot be the floor mat for that one child to walk on.  Because of this situation, it helps me to remember to cherish the mom-kid relationships I do have.


Weary momma, I know how tiring it is to hear this.. But please, please read those verses in Ecclesiastes and take them to heart.  Write them on a note card, hang them wherever you can see them the most so you can be reminded.  

There is a season for everything.  

Right now I am in the season of teething babies eating everything they can.  Dirty diapers. Crying, fighting, bickering.  And using the times to teach the  kids how to treat each other.    

I am in the season where I can't always stay up to have one on one time with my husband, but we have both agreed we would rather spend the time as a family and have sparing dates, than be out on a date alone on a regular basis.  While our kids aren't the center of the family, they will only want to spend time with us for so long... We need to nurture that and enjoy that.  

Enjoy the summer vacations when things are crazy.  You'll miss that.  Enjoy the homework times, because soon, they won't need our help.  


Confessions of a mom....  I am not the kind of mom who tries to hide from her kids.  Have I been known to strongly suggest they go play outside for a bit? YES.  But the quiet gets to me after 45 minutes.  I do love the mornings where I actually get 10 minutes with nobody else awake.  It makes me enjoy them all the more when they do wake up. 

I am not the kind of person who can't wait to get out of the house.  Yes, I have found lately that if I can get out and take a walk I feel much better-mostly because the kids feel much better.  For me,  being able to stay home is a gift.  I've been that mom who had to work 40-50 hours a week... I don't like it.  I don't look for excuses to get out.  I want to be content being at home.  I want to teach my kids, especially my girls, that you can be content being a stay at home mom and wife.   You don't need a career outside the home, you don't need something else.  

I have God.  I have my husband.  I have most of my kids.  That is enough.  Everything else is just icing on the cake. 

Have a good week! 

~Tabitha

This and That

I have nothing to write about this week. 

No, really, I don't...  I'm out.  Nada.  Not a thing... So I'll ramble a bit and catch you up on news around here.   

The big news (for our 7 year old anyway).. I have a cyst on my foot.. It's about an inch in diameter... SO I get to go get it aspirated.  Andrew has been trying all week to weasel his way into going.  Nope. Not gonna happen kid.  He's convinced he needs to see what it is EXACTLY.  

I just want the day over with and my foot to stop hurting. 

We are in our third week of school.   Andrew is doing awesome in first grade.  He's really liking it and is, mostly, working hard.  Eva is breezing through Kindergarten.  I'm trying to take it a little slow I know she is learning what she needs to be learning.  Grace is loving doing her ABCs 'just for daddy'!!  She is almost done with her 'c' week, so she'll get to be a bit ahead, but that's ok.  Hannah just isn't sure why she can't tickle Andrew while he's sitting on that chair! LOL  

I am working on some bags for my sister.  She's a doula in Nebraska and needed some bags to help keep her doppler, fetascope and stethoscope organized.  This is something I've never done, but I'm figuring it out!!  

I also am planning out a few different quilts... Hopefully soon.  Superhero fabric is EXPENSIVE!!!   

Other than that, things are pretty well normal around here.. We are still adjusting to Dennis being on a 4 day schedule..  Hopefully soon things will slow down so we can spend one of his Wednesdays off at home.   Seems since he started it, we've had to be going somewhere.  

Dennis and I are both working on getting healthy.  He is trying to make it to 2400 steps a day and usually making it.  Which is awesome.  I try to make it to 4000 steps a day...  The days we can't walk I try to do some sort of aerobics program through the Roku.  Which of course the kids have to help with.   Though I quickly figured out I just can't do something with heavy exercise every day of the week.   So I'm aiming for 4 days out of the week and if I feel up to more then I walk laps in the house.   

Well. That's all there is to report on.  


Have a great week!

~Tabitha

Monkey Bread!

Andrew volunteered me to make monkey bread, my mom is coming up for the Sculpture Walk in Sioux Falls.  

I found this monkey bread recipe from Little House Living.  We loved it when I made it a few weeks ago, so we made it again.  It's for breakfast in the morning, but making it ahead all we have to do is warm it up in the morning.  

I did change the recipe a bit.  I used warm milk for the yeast instead of warm water.  And instead of the dipping in butter and cinnamon sugar mix, we did two different flavors.  Caramel and cinnamon sugar.  

Dough resting 

Caramel Sauce!!! 

The cut pieces of the dough after it's rolled out

Butter the pan and toss the pieces in

For the caramel, I just poured the caramel over the pieces.  For cinnamon sugar, I sprinkled sugar and cinnamon. 

Caramel monkey bread 

The done monkey bread. LOOKS GOOD!!




I doubled the monkey bread recipe... because we are pigs lol.  My caramel recipe, also doubled-I didn't have enough last time, this time I had too much-but leftover caramel is yummy. 
Caramel Sauce

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup butter


Melt all together, bring to a boil, boil for 5 minutes then cool.  Make sure you keep stirring or it will burn! 

Have a good week!!!

~Tabitha

Cowboy Hash and Coffee

Cowboy Hash... skillet meal... call it what you will-it's YUMMY, extremely versatile and customizable.   The kids were begging for lunch (imagine that! lol) and the ham still hadn't thawed for sandwiches... so I started searching my other ingredients.  And Cowboy Hash it was!

So here's what you need.  While you can easily do this in one skillet, I used different ones to make it go a little faster.  I have my 15 inch skillet, 6 inch skillet and 4 inch skillet (Grace can't have eggs).  This served 5-maybe even 6 as a few of my kids were pigs.  And definitely more if you combine with cinnamon rolls or something.  

Butter or bacon grease

8 eggs

about 1/2 pound sausage

about 1 cup of hash browns

about one cup of cheese (I did two handfuls until it looked like enough) 

Melt your grease-about 2 tablespoons there

 Start your hashbrowns

 Here's the rest of our skillets.  The smallest is Grace's portion-hashbrowns, sausage and cheese. I also have the grease melting for our eggs.

I had cooked the sausage yesterday, so when the hash browns were half done, I added the sausage.

Cooking the scrambled eggs.

Sprinkled the cheese on

I put the big skillet in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese.  The little melted the cheese just from the heat in the skillet after it was shut off.

Ah the coffee. Gotta have the coffee!!

Iced Chocolate Coffee (Blended)

Tray of coffee ice

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup of coffee

3 tablepoons chocolate syrup

Whipped cream if you have it

I made my ice yesterday.. Put those cubes in your blender.  Add the milk, the chocolate, the coffee. Blend until smooth.  Enjoy!  

You can leave unblended, just mix it all together-but I wanted it blended today.  

Have a Great Week!!! 

~Tabitha 

Furniture Shopping

One of the things we are working on around here is getting some nice furniture, last year we bought a couch and a bunk bed. We were impressed with the place along with the comfortable and great quality furniture.  

So we went back to Conlin's Furniture in Sioux Falls.  They listened to us, they didn't pressure us, and while they did show us some things that weren't on our list, it did make us think about other options.  We were also impressed with the prices.  


So first of all, let's start at the beginning.  Dennis is a pretty big guy, so we need furniture that will hold up to the big guy standards.   Our old mattress just wasn't cutting it anymore.. Since we had to re-home the cat, it opened us up to other possibilities other than a traditional mattress.  So we bought an air mattress.  And now we have a guest bed-not that we ever get guests....lol Dennis had found a website with recommendations for furniture for bigger people.  So many there recommended an air mattress, so we found Fox Air Mattresses and got an almost 3 foot high air mattress for $200.  On top of that we do have our egg crate foam topper for extra comfort, we found that through at friend at The Foam Factory two years ago and it's still going strong.  After three weeks on the air mattress we are starting to regret it, while it' helping Dennis' back it keeps developing holes.  We were able to use the warranty and the company is sending us a replacement, but it has us looking at other options.

After the air mattress, we quickly realized Dennis would need a chair to be able to sit in the bedroom....  So that was on the list.  And the last half an Ashley Furniture mistake sectional is falling apart after only 5 years, so he also wanted a chair for downstairs.   We found both of those on clearance-last year's floor models-at Conlins.  One chair was originally marked at $1300, marked down at $313.20.  The other was original price at $599, marked down to $359.  

Since we were at a furniture store we liked and trusted we decided to check out bunk bed prices... Let's face it, we are blessed with many children, and with many children comes the need for many beds.  So bunk beds are a must, while we weren't looking to buy today, we changed our mind when saw the deal.  A wooden bunk bed, twin over twin, can be taken apart to be two separate beds, with Conlin's special mattresses (well I've never seen mattresses like this before anyway, memory foam with neon covers) all for $510.  

Conlin's delivered and set up everything for an extra $75.

With the exception of the troublesome air mattress, we are enjoying our new furniture.  

Have a great week!

~Tabitha