Grammy’s Friday Night Popcorn

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This week is parent teacher conferences for my younger two’s school. So they are coming home at noon and I want to do some surprises to make it fun. Today they get a bit more screen time. Tomorrow we can’t do anything special because I have a speech therapy appt, then BOTH of their conferences and then my homeschooler’s Education specialist is coming for her monthly meeting! UGH! Definitely a good day to use the slow cooker!!

But then Wednesday, I plan to make Grammy’s Friday Night Popcorn. You know I’m not sure MY family has ever eaten it on a Friday night (LOL) but when I was a kid, Friday nights were leftover/appetizer night and once in awhile we got this treat! YUMMY!!

Grammy’s Friday Night Popcorn recipe

1 batch popped popcorn (we use 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn in our air popper)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Karo syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
Bring sugar, honey and Karo syrup to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes.

Then mix in peanut butter and vanilla.

In a large bowl, pour mixture over popcorn. Mix thoroughly.

I spread it out on wax paper to cool/dry but we used to just eat it out of the bowl when I was a kid. But I find it easier to package up after it’s cooled/dried.

Enjoy!!

“I get by with a little help…”

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I’m not good at asking for help. In fact, there have been times when help was offered and I was too prideful to accept the help. But I’ve been having more and more debilitating headaches. It was affecting every part of my life. So Eric and I took some time to figure out what could change and what needed to stay the same.

Now #3 son is going to the local neighborhood school and getting some services he needed that our charter school could not provide. Our daughter is enrolled in afternoon preschool and in a few weeks will be evaluated to see if she is still on target developmentally or if she might benefit from some therapies. Also, we have a local woman coming in for 2 hours a week to clean. I keep a pretty clean house but knowing that Debbie will clean the floors on Monday allows me to do other things for my family. We won’t always have the money to do this, but we do now and I’m so thankful!

I will admit, it was hard to make these changes. I wanted to be able to do it all on my own. But it was too much and I was starting to suffer from it. Now I have a few more minutes in my day … Minutes I can use to kiss my husband, help one of my kids with their schoolwork, share my thoughts here on this blog again, HAVE complete thoughts again, and just breathe!

Lord, help me to be thankful for the peace when it comes and to accept the help when offered! And, when it’s the right time, please show me to whom I can give help!

Teriyaki Chicken (Recipe for slow-cooker)

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For my twitter friend – a family favorite for the slow-cooker.

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup sugar (I use Splenda for Hubs)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1.5 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Place 2-4 lbs of chicken (I use 2.5 pound bag of boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders) in crockpot and pour sauce over.  Cook on low for at least 6 hours.  In last hour I dump a bag of broccoli florets over top of chicken to steam until done.  Serve over rice.

Upgrade #2

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Yesterday’s post explained these acquisitions but don’t worry -  we are still working to get out of debt!  And, it’s been so fun! Who knew how enjoyable taking control of your finances could be!  I guess it’s really more about working with my Hubs – he makes things so fun!

So, our 2nd upgrade was our toaster.  We have a 4 slice toaster (from the thrift store again) that only could toast 3 slices at a time.  What a pain!  I considered another toaster, but realized for the same space on our counter, we could get a toaster oven and get more use out of it! Of course, we burnt our first pieces of toast, but we are still excited about this new tool! 🙂

Project 365 – Day 91, 274 to go!

Upgrade #1

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When we paid off the credit card, we turned part of the accrued points into an Amazon.com gift card for me to use for the household.  Most of our small appliances are thrift store finds – why put out the full $$ if you aren’t sure how it’s going to work for your family.

I loved my rice cooker, but it was simply too small for our family.  Plus it didn’t come with the unique measuring cup – which made for a bit of a bummer but thanks to the internet, not a huge issue!

Anyway, meet our new rice cooker/steamer!  Now to find a reason to make rice! 😉

Project 365 – Day 90, 275 to go!