Foodie Friday…Easy, Yummy Chili!!!

T.G.I.F everyone!

So, I love to cook, bake, etc…and spend time in the kitchen making yummy things for my family. That said, if I find an easy way to make something I’m not above it 🙂 Today’s recipe is a classic “open and dump,” meaning most of the ingredients come from cans. But, I promise it is so yummy! Not to mention convenient, low-cost, and easy to keep the ingredients on hand if you end up needing a fast meal. Those are always good, I’ve got 9 family members staying with me for the Labor Day weekend and crowd-pleasing meals that are inexpensive and easy are a must 🙂

Ingredients:

-one small, diced onion (I used red)

-can chili magic, medium heat

-can diced tomatoes (chili style)

-one lb. ground turkey (ground chicken or beef would be great too)

-desired toppings (crackers, cheese, sour cream, etc…)

 

So I started with some ground turkey and browned it in a pan (1 lb. for my family of four and we ate almost all of it). When it was halfway done, I added some diced onion and salt and pepper. Drain off any fat, and add the chili magic and tomatoes.

 

Then, just cover and simmer for 7-10 minutes. Seriously, that’s it! So yummy with cornbread on a fall evening! Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Tricare/Therapy Thursdays – MyAutismTeam; Facebook for Autism

I used to be a social media junkie. But three kids later and I need more time in my day to sleep and shower rather than catch up on the latest “friends” who I haven’t seen or talked to in 10 years. Some may say sleep is over rated, but come on! I cut back on my tweets and dropped a few hundred friends and ditched MySpace a decade ago. But one thing I do keep up on are the support groups I am involved in through some of those social media feeds. A few I favor are MilitarySpecialNeedsNetwork, MilitaryOneSource, and a few Facebook groups where I have made some great connections across the world (ya, I’m that cool!).

But last week a friend of mine, who is also the parent of two ASD boys, turned me onto MyAutismTeam. I have spent a few days milling around their site, updating my profile, adding in my kids ASD characteristics and even friending a few moms. It seems like a great social media platform designed specially for those individuals with a relationship to a ASD person.

I realized there are still some people who have never created a Facebook account or those who have completely turned away from the time devouring platform. Which is who I believe this platform was intended for. No worries of signing in and a gaggle of Facebook chats popping up, or realizing you have 347 unread tweets to peruse. The only purpose of this social media site is to connect you with other moms (in my case) experiencing the same life ups and downs; to share your story with others and to make connections that you might not have been able to make elsewhere.

I also feel this is a great resource for those in the military. With moving from base to base every few years, it is hard to keep in touch with all the friends you make. But these friends wont move and if they do, you can easily still communicate with them via the site.

I also know from personal experience how extremely isolating it can be with special needs children. We are human and we tend to judge what we don’t know, don’t understand and what we have never experienced. I get tired of the stares, snide comments and rolling of the eyes from individuals who don’t take the time to educate themselves or who simply act like a 12 year old. This can be a site where everyone knows exactly what you are going through- as they have been there before. And if they haven’t, at least they know of a safe place to go to for support when it does.

Wordy Wednesday…DONSA!!! Woo-hoo!!!

We’re tackling another acronym this Wednesday and this one has to be one of my favorites!  DONSA…Day Of No Scheduled Activities!  Sometimes these are pretty predictable like the upcoming Monday we have off for Labor Day (some people will have duty on this day of course if they are deployed or depending on their MOS).  If you’re really super lucky maybe Friday this week is also a DONSA for you, making it a 4-day weekend!  If that’s true, seize the DONSA!  Go on an adventure, cook a great meal, try a new hobby!  Or, rest on the couch, order some pizza, and watch Bravo TV if that’s more your style 🙂  DONSA is what you make of it.  The main thing is, enjoy the extra free time with your family, extra time to skype or write to loved ones that may be far away, and generally just a chance to “refuel.”

Here is a picture of my son from a Veteran’s Day parade last year.  I figured it could work for Labor Day too 🙂

Have a great upcoming Labor Day everyone, whatever your DONSA 🙂

Tip{py} Tuesdays- Snack Attack!

Or the snacks are attacked! Either way you phrase it- my kids have been attacking all the food coming into this house lately. They go through growth spurts at the same time! It drives me insane. It’s like having triplets and I’m just as busy as a mom of one. So I have taught my kids to do a few things independently to help me out and to teach them a few life skills they will need in the real world.

One is getting themselves a snack. A while back MrsMissionControl wrote a great post about teaching her kids how to get their own cups and plates.

We use this method in our home too. And to help my kids get their own snack as well I went a step further. I bought a large over-sized snap lock lidded monstrosity of a jug from the px and simply filled it with gold fish. It will hold two of the bags from Costco.

My only issue? SB helping herself.

It’s hard not being prefect…oops! I mean perfect :)

Happy Monday, everyone!

So, everybody leads crazy busy lives now, and it seems like we just go from one task to the next with hardly a breath in between.  It is in those hurried moments that we may forget to look over what we have written to make sure it is correct.  I mean how many of us have pressed “send” on a text or email (or “publish” on a blog post, for that matter) only to simultaneously spot a spelling error?  Sure, we have autocorrect, but sometimes that actually makes it worse!

I HATE looking at something that I’ve written and finding errors after sending/ publishing/ sharing it.  But, we’ve all been there.  To make myself feel better, here are some more funny examples I found while meandering on the internet.

And finally, who hasn’t enjoyed the misspelling of a child?  I know, they are just learning so it’s not the same thing as when an adult does it.  But, I found this and thought it was too funny not to share…

From:

http://stuffkidswrite.com/2011/05/25/shirt-happens-or-it-doesnt/

So, moral of the story?  We all make mistakes.  We can try to be perfect but it’s just not gonna happen.  Be nice the next time you’re reading my stuff and you find a typo 🙂  Have a great week!