I Tri and Craft

thoughts from a mother of boys, a marathoner, a triathlete, a crafter, a wife, and a scientist

Author Archives: Dawn Marie

12 Days of Christmas Tradition

by Leave a comment

image

 

Zoo Lights (I plan to write another post about this trip soon)


by Leave a comment

Menu Plan Monday 12/10 & Easy Pork Chops and Rice Recipe

On Sunday I put together & shopped for the next two weeks’ dinner plans.  It was easy to plan this far in advanced using the Plan to Eat online meal planner.  If you sign up we can share recipes; all the ones from my meal plans are in my online recipe book.

Last Monday I had Easy Pork Chops and Rice planned for yesterday.  This is a recipe that was taught to me by my Setp-Mom a long time ago.  I am sure you can also find it on the inside label of Campbell’s soup.

Easy Pork Chops and Rice

Ingredients: 

4 pork chops (can be bone-in or boneless just adjust cooking time for thickness)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

milk

1 can Beef Consume

1 cup of rice

2 Tbl butter

seasoning salt

salt & pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven 375º

Season pork chops with salt, pepper and seasoning salt.  Brown on both sides and place in a deep casserole dish.  (I use round corning ware dishes)

Prepare cream of mushroom soup as directed with milk and pour over the pork chops.

Add rice to another casserole dish with one can of consume and one can of water and two tablespoons of butter.

Cook both in oven for aprox one hour or until rice absorbs all liquid and pork chops are 160º

Easy Pork Chops and Rice

Menu Plan Dec 10th to Dec 16th

Mon: Night out

Tue: Pan-Seared Steak & Onions with Pepperjack Potatoes

Wed: Lasagna Soup with Easy Parmesan Knots

Thr: Oregon Fall Bacon & Cheese Studded Meatloaf* with Easy Beer Mac & Cheese

Fri: Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo Lasagna with french bread

Sat: Left overs

Sun: Sweet & Spicy Bacon Chicken with Bacon Beer Cornbread

*I substituted shredded cheese for cheese curds because you have to live near or visit a cheese factory to get them.  I made this a couple of weeks ago and because it uses two pounds of meat I froze half of the uncooked mixture.  I will pull it out of the freezer and throw it in the oven.

Keep Calm and Cook On

signature-black

Need more ideas?  Visit I’m an Organizing Junkie


by Leave a comment

O’ Christmas Tree

We got our tree last weekend and decorated it this week.

Our Christmas Tree

Ian got into all the decorations while I was feeding the baby, I guess he was excited!

How is your Christmas tree decorated, or will be decorated?

Is there a theme or designated color?  My sister does her living room tree in red and white like a candy cane.

Store bought ornaments, Hallmark, handmade, or glass bulbs?

On my tree consists of mostly Hallmark ornaments.  It was what I grew up with, my mom would buy a new one every year.  Each ornament had a story behind it and when we decorated the tree she knew every one of them.

It got to the point where she couldn’t fit them all on her tree anymore so she handed down a portion to us kids.  She gave us ones that were bought in honor of us, or ones that were our favorites.

I loved this one of a bear on a tricycle, the pedals and front wheel moved.  I would put it on the bottom of the tree and play with it.  Now it is on my tree and my son gets to play with it.

We have continued to purchase ornaments in honor of our family members, I will buy them for my mom or my sister when I see one they need.

But the best thing is that now I can buy them for my sons.  This year my mom got Ian a Darth Vader ornament that has a motion sensor and guards the gifts.  It says things like “You will peek again, it is your destiny” or “I find you lack of patience disturbing” Ian loves it!

Darth Vader

Baby Sid got his first ornament this year.  It is a Winnie the Pooh one that says “Baby’s first Christmas”.  We have Ian’s and my first ornaments up on the tree too.

Christmas Tree

I love the fact that the Hallmark Keepsake ornaments are dated, so we always know when we got them.  Ian helped to put a few on the tree but then he found his favorites.

Christmas Tree

The two seal ornaments never made it on the tree.  In fact he has them in bed (he has a small obsession with seals lately).  Baby Sid didn’t help decorate the tree, but he is pleased at how it turned out.  I think his favorite thing is the lights.

For me the best way to decorate the tree with ornaments that come with memories.  I can’t wait to pass them on to my children.

Happy decorating!

signature-black


by Leave a comment

Pinterest Tuesday 12/4

I love Pinterest, and I am sure you do too.  There are always things I pin that I want to try, but never really find the time.  I especially want to try the homemade cleaning supplies, and see if they are miraculous as claimed.

I decided to that if I force myself to write about the projects I will actually attempt them.  So here is my first post about Pinterest Tuesdays, I will start by posting the first Tuesday of the month.  I will only do it once a month at first to give me some time to try the project and write about it.

I saw this pin:

Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com via Dawn Marie on Pinterest

It said the “miracle of baking soda” and the blog it was linked to calls it a “Kitchen Miracle Cleaner” so I thought it would be perfect for my crockpot.  After cooking some higher fatty roasts it gets a ring around it from where the top of the liquid was.

Pinterest_scrubing_paste

I added enough peroxide to the baking soda to make a paste.  The mixture is watery at first but the baking soda will absorb it if you let it sit and thicken up.

The reaction of hydrogen peroxide with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) produces carbon dioxide, sodium hydroxide and carboinc acid.

Sodium hydroxide (a.k.a. lye) is a caustic soda (and is basic) and is commonly used as a detergent because it can dissolve fats, grease, oil and proteins.  So it worked great on my yucky ring around my crockpot.

Can’t wait till I find something else to clean with this cleaning paste.

Happy Pinning!

signature-black