A Happy Accident

I like to cook. Sometimes it's rough being a person who likes to cook, because I also like to experiment. Most of the time my experimenting happens purposely. Last night, this was not the case.

I was scheduled to meet someone at 5 o'clock for a meeting and I was running a little behind. I had this great idea to make Mini Lasagna Cups (you know, wonton wrappers, muffin tin, yada yada). I had all the stuff and was about to embark on my quest when I realized that instead of purchasing wonton wrappers at the store that day, I had in fact bought egg roll wrappers.

What to do? What. To. Do?

Well, I'm pretty quick on my feet, and I really needed to get this done so my kids would have some food to eat. So, I decided to make what I now affectionately call: Egg Roll Lasagna!  Which may sound scary, but actually turned out really awesome!

Okay, so here's what I did:

I was going to make the aforementioned mini lasagna cups. But, like I said, only had egg roll wrappers. When I looked at the muffin tin, and the size of the  wrappers, I knew it wasn't going to work. So, I decided to use my filling (ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, some spices, ground beef) and do it up egg roll style.

I laid out an egg roll wrapper. Put about two table spoons of filling in, put a couple of table spoons of marinara sauce in there as well, and then put some Parmesan on there for good measure. Then I rolled them up. I greased an 8x8 pan with Pam, and placed the rolls in. I believe I fit about 9 in the pan.

Here is a link to the recipe for the ingredients ONLY portion of this happy accident.

http://apassionateplate.com/easyrecipe-print/6995-0/

Note: With the amount of filling, and the amount of egg roll wrappers you'll likely have, you could easily make this in a 13x9 pan as well. I was just in a hurry and didn't need to make that much.

After assembling the rolls, and putting them in the pan, I poured probably a good two cups of additional marinara on top and then sprinkled it with Parmesan. I put it in the oven at 350, for 20 minutes. It turned out pretty good. If I were to make this again, I think I would have baked it a little longer, maybe 25-30 minutes instead.

The kids really liked it, and so did I. I tastes like good, authentic lasagna, without all the work! Hope you all have fun making it! Sorry I don't have pictures, my camera is dead.

The Dirty Spoon

For approximately four years myself, my husband, and our three children lived in a house without a dishwasher. Four years. Without. A. Dishwasher. Not to mention our kitchen was tiny.

Then we had a baby.

So, myself, my husband, and our four children were now living in an 800 sq. ft. home with no dishwasher. Needless to say dinner time could be contentious. No one wanted to do the dishes, and if we left them for even one day it seemed there were mountains of sloppy cups, bowls, and silverware piled on our tiny, tiled counter tops.

This continued pretty much until the day we moved out of that house and into a new home, with yes, you guessed it, a beautiful, brand-new dishwasher. Long gone were the days when our two oldest children (then, eight and six) would spend two hours washing and drying all of the dishes (with some parental help mind you). A bright new future was ahead of us, and I don't think anyone was happier than I was. Over the past two years we have been happily using our new dishwasher, sometimes doing two loads a day. Now, as a family of six, it seems staying ahead of doing the dishes is a constant battle. But at least there aren't usually unsightly piles of gloppy plates and cups lying around for too long these days.

Then, one day a few weeks ago, I noticed there was a spoon that wasn't getting clean. So, I did what most people would do, I put it back in the dishwasher for another spin through the wash. Again, the spoon did not come out clean. At that point I considered washing the spoon by hand. But why should I do that when I had a perfectly good dishwasher to do the job for me? In it went again. And, again, it did not come out clean. No matter how many or how few dishes there were in with the spoon, that thing would not get clean. At this point I again considered cleaning the spoon by hand. Yet again, though, I washed it. Determined that a little, smarmy, oatmeal coated spoon was not going to get the best of me. Again, the spoon did not come out clean.

When we are faced with challenges in life, we have a couple of choices. One, face the problem head-on and do what needs to be done to take care of it. Second, we can push our problems away, hoping that, somehow, they will disappear on their own. The spoon, while not a complicated problem to solve, presented to me a frustration that I felt I shouldn't have to deal with. "Let the dishwasher wash it, that's what we bought it for!" Was my mantra. And while not without some merit, my stance had, admittedly, some problems. The first is that, while yes, the dishwasher's job was to, in fact, wash dishes, I could plainly see that this was not happening. How much effort would it have taken to just put some soap on the spoon, take a sponge to it and clean it off? Not much, really. But I am a stubborn person, and though I knew I could just as easily wash the offending spoon, I didn't want to take responsibility for it. Washing it was the dishwasher's job after all. After putting that poor spoon through probably 6-8 more washings, I finally decided to wash the spoon myself. After all that time, I was finally willing to handle my problem myself. And you know what? It took about a minute to get the soap, put it on the spoon, and to clean it with a sponge, back to it's initial, clean appearance. Something I could have done weeks before, but had been too rebellious to admit.

Sometimes, life is more complicated than a dirty spoon. Sometimes, situations arise beyond our control and make us want to tear our hair out and scream at the top of our lungs, "WHY?!" And that's okay. But the longer we put the spoon back in the dishwasher, and expect it to take care of our problems for us, the less time we have to enjoy life and realize we are stronger than we ever thought we were.

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

We have a winner for our giveaway! And the winner is... AMY H! Thanks to everyone who entered and made this giveaway so much fun!

It's Giveaway Time!! Yay!!

Over the past few months Meaningful Mommy Meditations has grown to a little over 200 "likes" on our Facebook page. As our way of saying Thank You, we are hosting a giveaway, along with a couple of other pages that we really like! Those pages are: Pegapalooza, where they create super cute hand-made, toys out of wooden pegs. Seriously, she is amazing! My son has an Incredible Hulk peg that he absolutely loves! Our second page is eLeMeNO-P, where they create hand-painted letters for kids' rooms, fun educational toys that will keep your child's imagination going for hours! Not to be out done by the first two is, Erin Bay and Origami Owl Living Lockets, Erin Bay, Independent Designer! These lockets are super fun and easy to create. Use them to commemorate a special event in your life, or to create something fun for every day use! The possibilities really are endless! 

So what are you waiting for?! Check out Meaningful Mommy Meditations. Keep the conversation going! Enter here for your chance to win an awesome prize package from M3 and the pages I mentioned above! Click the widget for your chance to enter our contest! Best of luck!


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It is a Beautiful Thing

It is a beautiful thing...children growing up. Hard sometimes to watch them move forward because we remember them as needing us so much. They still need us, just not as much. Which is a good thing, because it means we've been doing our job right. Right?! 

The four munchkins.

I will be the first to admit that I revel in my children growing up. I enjoy watching them learn and do new things all the time. With four children ages 2-10, I am neck-deep in developmental milestones. Potty training, learning how to write their name, drawing pictures of our family, walking to the school bus by themselves. I can't help but love the fact that they can do things on their own. Sometimes my husband has to tell me to not push them quite so much. And lately, I've tried to let that sink in. He misses a lot because he travels for work. While I am here every day watching them grow and learn. Yes, there have been times I've said, "I can't wait until you're grown up and can do everything on your own!"

But, then there are times, now that three of my kids are in school, that I wonder what it will be like, someday, when I'm not knee-deep in those developmental milestones. How will I spend my days? What will I do when they no longer need me as much? So, while I still revel in watching them make toast, do their own laundry, call friends to make plans, and clean up the dishes. I also make sure to do something else; live in the moment of their childhood. 

I enjoy their kisses, and hugs, and bouquets of weeds. I love when my five-year-old comes to me dressed in jeans, mismatched socks, a skirt, and one-sided pony tail. I delight in bath time, and story time, and dinner time. Sure, not everyday is a Disney fairytale. There are fights, back talk, screaming. Tantrums get thrown, toys get thrown, all sorts of not-so-awesome stuff happens, too. 

But on that day when my last child leaves the nest - one of their last developmental milestones - dare I say, what will I remember? What will be the lasting impression I have of their childhood. What will be theirs? 

I hope it's that they had a mother who cared enough to teach them to take care of themselves. But who also taught them not to forget that mother just because they don't need her as much.

Back to school...Back to school...!!

Well, it's that time of year again.  

That's right! School supplies are on sale! 
 (oh, how I love the smell of fresh notebook paper in the morning!)

I stopped by my local Walmart today to search out my children's school supply lists and I finally found them. Since I have three going to school this year I decided I needed to change my plan of attack when it came to buying school supplies.

In past years we've gone as a family, armed with two lists (one for me, one for my husband) and we have conquered shopping for scissors, pencils, and 3-prong folders in a sort of haphazard, though endearing schizophrenic way. Not this year. This year I created a table in Word with the express intent of making school supply shopping easier!

In my table I have these columns: "Supply" "Quantity" "Cost" "Child" "Purchased". The reason for the "Cost" and "Child" columns is to keep track of each item's cost, to do a calculation of the total later on; the "Child" column I created for easy distribution when it comes time to send the supplies to school. I think the "Supply" "Quantity" and "Purchased" are pretty self explanatory. :) It is fully customizable if you have Word and should be straight-forward and simple to use.

I feel like I am actually in front of the curve this year. Which is a nice feeling, since in past years I have felt far, far behind it...with no chance of ever catching up.




I hope you can get some use out of this table as well, and look forward to any comments you may have.

What Does 'Mother' Mean to You?

Mother is a word, I think, that is synonymous with grace, fortitude, grit, and humor. Because, without all of those things, the daily struggles of getting teeth brushed, bellies filled with food, and minds learning, would feel monotonous, unfulfilled, and quite honestly, frustrating.

How many times have you requested your child do something, only to have them ignore you?
How many times have you looked your darling dear in the face and asked them to stop doing something?
How many times have you wondered what else there was to do in life, as you hold your child's hair back whilst they blew chunks into the toilet?

I'm willing to bet you've thought these things. And if you haven't, well, you are a saint. Or, a liar.

While motherhood can feel like an endless, thankless succession of wiping nose, wiping butts, and cleaning tears. Many are the times when it's more about getting kisses, being hugged, and giggling to tears. Years go by, and children grow, being a mother is never done. Sure, they'll fly away, find another nest, build their own family. But children never forget their mother.

So, with grace, and fortitude, grit, and humor; remember that today you've got it all. And that, because of everything, or maybe in spite of it, you are your child's mother. There is no one else like you.

That is what being a mother means to me.