15 minutes or less

Now when I think quick and easy, I'm thinking 15 minutes or less. I see these so called "quick&easy" recipes in magazines or cook books that call for 20 or more ingredients. It's going to take me more than 10 minutes just to locate everything I need, let alone mix it into something edible.

When I need fast, kids are tugging on my leg crying for attention, recipes I go for these...

Chicken & Rice
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

1 can cream of mushroom, chicken, or celery soup
1 soup can water
1 cup uncooked rice
8 frozen chicken tenderloins

Mix ingredients in 9x13 pan. Place chicken on top and cover with aluminum foil. Cook approximately one hour at 350ºF

Fettuccine Alfredo
Prep time: 15-20 minutes

1½ cups half & half
½ cup Parmesan cheese
4 oz cream cheese
garlic salt to taste
12 oz fettuccine

Boil fettuccine according to package directions. Place all other ingredients in microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2-3 minutes until warm. Stir. Add half and half to thin, Parmesan to thicken. This recipe will seem very runny, but as the sauce cools it will thicken up a lot, so don't add too much Parmesan!

Homemade Mac & Cheese
Prep time: 15-20 minutes

3 cups dry macaroni or other pasta

Sauce
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP flour
¼ tsp salt
Dash pepper
1 cup milk
½ lb cheese

Boil pasta according to directions. Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour, salt, pepper. Mix and then add milk. When the sauce is thick and bubbly add grated cheese. Pour over pasta. 4 servings

German Pancakes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15-20 minutes

5 TBSP butter
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
6 eggs
½ tsp salt

Melt butter in 9x13 pan in 400ºF over. Mix all other ingredients, then add to pan. Cook 15-20 minutes until tall and browning on edge.

Swiss Chicken
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 5-7 hours

1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
½ tsp minced garlic
1 cup water
1 onion sliced
8 frozen chicken tenderloins

Throw everything in the crock pot whenever you have a couple minutes. Cook on low or high depending on how much time you have. Serve over rice from the rice cooker!

Amazingly these are also the foods my kids will generally eat without a fuss. Works out great for all of us. Enjoy!)

Keeping it Clean

My boys' main goal in life is to destroy all evidence that at least one clean person lives in our home. They spend exactly 92% of their waking hours working on this task...pretty dedicated workers if you ask me.

My secret weapon? Turn on tornado mode and follow the boys everywhere picking up everything in their wake. Gets me lots of exercise and keeps everything picked up.

If you would rather expend less energy, try some of these simple tips to creating the illusion of a clean home:

Create hidden toddler size spaces...
Couches at right angle with toddler size space where they meet, hide toys in the back corner. This enables me to just chuck toys at the corner throughout the day and sort through them every week or two.

Shut doors...
This idea probably seems like a no brainer to most of you, but shut doors to rooms you want to keep your kids out of. I know, it seems crazy, but generally (with the help of safety door knobs) it actually works. I used to think, I don't want to shut my doors. The kids should just learn to stay out of the rooms they aren't suposed to be in. Ha. Keeping doors shut allows a lot of rooms to stay clean all day.

Make beds...
By making beds, you really help bedrooms to look much neater.

Wipe off counters and keep them clutter free...
If you don't allow the clutter then you never have to pick it up. Have places where mail, homework, etc are put so they don't end up on counters.

Add some scent...
Burning a yummy candle is always fun. Or just splashing some cleaner in the sink will make it smell like you just scrubbed something. =]

Keep it simple and do what works best for you and your family to make your home a happy house of order!

The Spit up King Reigns Supreme

So our second child is a regurgitating fountain—food goes in, food comes out. It is a fairly simple process, very noncomplex. The complexity enters when discussing this problem with our pediatrician and his nurses, visiting various websites, and dealing with ideas from well meaning spectators.

What should be done with an extremely spitty baby?? So many options present themselves…we have yet to find one that actually works. Besides, of course, letting the baby be and hope he will give up spitting of his own free will.

I have had more mothers, children, strangers, fathers, etc say to me “your baby just spit up” to keep track. I would like to know what these people intend me to do about it. Unless he has just spewed forth a full ounce or more (which has been known to happen…frequently) I don’t really need to hear about it. Why? Because by the time I wipe him up he will spit again. He is covered in spit, I am covered in spit, our carpet, furniture, tile, car, blankets are covered in spit. We just are. I have no time to deal with miniscule amounts of spit up.

Does my son have acid reflux? Hard to tell. Maybe he just likes to puke, maybe he eats too much, maybe he eats too little, maybe he gets too excited, maybe he has a sinus infection. All I know is he is healthy, happy, and chubby…just a little damp.

My doctor has prescribed holding the baby up for 30 minutes after feeding…no luck. Prevacid in a 7.5mg dose, prevacid in a 15mg dose, and most recently bethanechol four times a day 30 minutes before a feeding. Now I would like to see the mother who can effectively break a 15mg solutab of Prevacid exactly in half and ask her four month old to hold it on his tongue while it dissolves because the tab is not effective if swallowed whole. And don’t forget that this must be done first thing before any other food is eaten. Well most infants I know wake up wanting breast milk/bottle instantaneously, not a little pink solutab. And make sure you don’t miss a dose because then it will take several weeks to build up again. In my mind—not an effective medication for a baby, but that’s just me. Also try tempting your baby with yummy liquid medicine (bethanechol) and then expecting him or her to wait 30 more minutes for a meal. Ha.

I have heard starting solid foods should stop spittiness…not with this kid. He will spit anything you throw at him. He is no respecter of states of matter; this kid can do it all. Also been told kids stop spitting once they learn to walk so I may have the youngest walker ever at a mere five months. Look for us in next year’s edition of Guinness Book of World Records…we’ll either make youngest walker or spittiest baby.

So most recently I have decided to try switching to soy…can’t make things worse (right?) and doesn’t involve giving a baby medication or teaching him to walk before he can sit up. More realistically though I have come to terms with the fact that most of my baby clothes will be permanently stained with formula, peas, bananas, and carrots. And my baby, my house, and I will smell a little, ok, a lot like sour milk for the next several months.

Below are links to some information I came across while searching out solutions. May one of these work for you and end your spitty days for good!! Cheers.

Parents’ discussion on spitting babies:

Baby Center
Berkeley Parents

Symptoms and treatments of acid reflux:

About Heartburn
Reflux
Health Central
Family Doctor

General information on spitting up:

Baby Center

Please feel free to add your own comments or give suggestions.