musical theater

One of Ryan's classes this year is Musical Theater, which he's pretty excited about. In class, they have been starting to learn the music to this year's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie.

"Well, I'm officially a Soprano!" he said when I picked him up from school one day last week. "But I'm pretty sure that's only because I haven't gotten my "man-voice" yet."

how the crock pot saves me on soccer nights, part 1 - pot roast

Welcome to the first of a series of posts about how my crock pot saves me on soccer nights! Jackson and Emily have soccer practice on the same nights, two nights a week. One of those nights is Friday, so we usually end up ordering pizza or picking up something, but the other night is earlier in the week, and if I don't plan ahead, we end up eating very late and getting everyone to bed very late. Know what's worse than the over-tired "But I'm not tired!" screaming meltdown right before bed? The "I don't want to go to school!" screaming meltdown in the morning! And if we are late to eat and late to bed, we usually get both!

So, Pot Roast!! I know...it's a little early in the season for something as hearty as a pot roast, but our grocery store had a special on the meat, and soccer season is in full swing, so what's a girl to do??

What cut of meat? I use either chuck roast or rump roast...and I think this particular day I used a chuck roast.

To brown or not to brown? I have made it both ways, and the difference in the final result was so minimal that I normally do not brown! Because really? That's just one more pan to scrub and we're trying to keep things simple, right?

As for all the other stuff...

Usually I season the meat and let it sit while I chop up all the veggies. I have used dry onion soup mix, but if you don't have any of that on hand, you can also use a good grill seasoning. (I like McCormick's Spicy Montreal Steak seasoning, which I almost always have for burgers, steaks and the homemade sloppy joes I sometimes make...ooh, I wonder how that would be in the crock pot??)

For the veggies, I use whatever I happen to have, which is usually a mix of potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and celery. This week I happened to have some mushrooms so I added those as well. I toss everything into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Next comes putting it all together...first, put some of the veggies in the crock pot, set the seasoned roast on top and then add the rest of the veggies all around. You'll also need a bit of liquid, about a cup or so. I've used beef broth, water, wine and, on this day, I used beer. Again, whatever you have on hand. They are all great! (Although my personal favorite is beer!) If you felt like adding any other herbs (thyme and parsley for me), this would be a good time to sprinkle them on top.

Let's get a closer look...

Mmmm...

Just set it on low for 6-8 hours and you have dinner!

I usually eat just the veggies with just a small serving of the roast the first night. They are my favorite part and no one in the house likes to eat them as leftovers. One of these days I'm going to try to make my potato soup with the leftovers...And speaking of leftovers...the best thing to do the next day is a BBQ Beef Panini! Some of the roast, shredded, with a bit of BBQ sauce and some cheddar cheese between slices of buttered bread! And if you don't happen to have a panini press (I don't!) but you do have a grill pan (I do!), you can do this...

Put a piece of foil over the sandwich and then use a pot or pan with soup cans as weights! Worked like a charm!

Have a favorite crock pot recipe that saves you during the week? Send an email to millerfam06@carolina.rr.com and I'll use it in this series!

Next week...Crock Pot Tacos!

quite possibly the only reason i could never be a vegetarian

Jalapenos, stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon.

I found the recipe on The Pioneer Woman's website and first made them last fall for a party. They disappeared in record time. We just discovered this summer that they are even better on the grill than they are in the oven. Be sure to make double what you think you will need. You'll just have to trust me on this one. Oh, and when you are prepping the jalapenos, wear gloves. Trust me on that one too!

taking advantage of the situation

I can remember very well the summer before Ryan started Kindergarten. We had these Sesame Street computer games...one with number games and one with letter games. He used to want to play them all the time, and Emily would always pull up a chair and watch him. I would tell Ryan to make sure he gave Emily a turn, but she never wanted to play. She just wanted to watch. On the first day of school, we all went outside with Ryan to see him get on the bus. After the bus drove away, Doug and I stayed outside talking for a few minutes before he had to head back to work and Emily quickly went into the house. When I came in, I found her sitting at the computer, playing one of the computer games. I didn't know that she knew how to start it, but she had been watching all summer, soaking it all in, just waiting for her turn.

Last week when we returned home from dropping all the kids off at school, Ainsley went straight upstairs. I came up to check on her and found her all tucked into Jack's bed with her Game-boy, her animals and her book.

She had just been waiting for her turn.

first day of school - part two

Jackson was a little easier to wake up this morning, and was ready to go!

Hugs for Ainsley (who was quite annoyed she wasn't going to school!)!

I think he's really glad that his big sis will be at school with him...

Jack the Kindergartner!

And his cool Transformers backpack...

first day of school - part one

The first day of school for Ryan and Emily was yesterday! I had volunteered to go in early to help at Jackson & Emily's school...it's a brand new school and they just got their certificate of occupancy last Friday! So no students had been allowed in the building for tours or open house. The kindergartners only go one day this week on a staggered schedule, and even though yesterday wasn't Jack's day to go, I wanted him to go in early with me so he could see the school. He was not too fond of getting up early ("Why is it still dark??")!

So he snuggled on the couch while Emily got ready.

Emily the 5th grader...

Doug worked from home yesterday so he could take Ryan to school, since I was going to be at the elementary school.

Back in uniform...

Ryan the 7th grader!

Up next...first day of school - part two!

off to a great start

Wow! You all missed some fantastic soccer games this past weekend! Our girls took 2nd place in the tournament! We won our first three games and then lost (3-1) in the final. Emily wasn't able to play in the final game...she pulled a muscle in her calf earlier that morning and could hardly walk. She's doing a bit better. She's resting it the rest of the week and hopefully she'll be able to play this weekend! They sure played their little hearts out in the tournament and it was so much fun to watch! It's gonna be a fun season!! Go Fury!!