Many people have said to me you never stay home do you?  I will answer them not really, I am the anti-stay at home, stay at home mom.  I love bringing my kids many different places and letting them experience life.

-Don’t just read about doing things or watch them on tv, actually do things!!!

-Teach your children about life by giving them life experiences.

-Teach your children when to feel safe and when to feel leery of others by being around many different people.

-Teach your children how to solve problems by giving them real life opportunities to practice solving them.

-You can’t create life experiences if you never leave the house.

It is a whole lot easier to not leave the house, to not have to plan ahead, pack lunches, pack snacks, pack strollers, bundle up little kids, worry about melt downs, but that does not mean you should take the easy road and stay home.

Your kids will be healthier if you never bring them out of the house and expose them to germs from other sick kids with their sticky, dirty, germy hands touching everything that your kids will touch.  How will your childs immune system deal with the onslaught of germs once they reach school age if they have not already had every one of the normal childhood illnesses?

Your kids wont have to experience mean children if you never bring them places where mean children play.   How are they going to learn how to defend themselves and when it is important to stand up for themselves and others?   There will always be mean kids, mean teenagers and mean adults, give them the life experiences and talk to them about how to deal with mean people and stand up for themselves without being violent.

Your kids won’t know how fortunate they are if they dont see poor people. If you never bring them downtown and let them see the homeless people walking out of the shelter or staying warm in the skyways.  Let them appreciate their good fortune and see first hand how some people live, teach them kindness and empathy.

Your kids need to see that there are dangerous people in the world that they need to watch out for.  Teach them to appreciate that the police and fire departments are here, show them what a burnt down house looks like,  point out to them that bad people get caught and get arrested.

Your kids will not learn to stand up for themselves if they don’t see you standing up for yourself!  If we never leave the house we would not experience that not everyone in the world are honest or rule followers.  My children have witnessed me standing up for what I believe is right by me confronting others.

Let your kids experience unfairness when they have been standing in line to go across the lily pads at the pool and a rude kid cuts in front of them. Use that as  a learning experience to teach them to stand up for themselves in the future and to say I was here first.

Show your children which people you want them to avoid because they are scary or give you a bad feeling, let them learn to trust their instincts and know that not all people are good. Give your kids opportunities to be around strangers so you can teach them which strangers are not okay to talk to.

Let your kids learn about life by experiencing it first hand, bring your kids in as many places as you can, teach them how to live life around all different kinds of people not just people who you want to associate with. Give them the skills to live through life experiences, and the real world opportunities to practice those skills.

Despite being more work, more time, more germs, more mean kids, more frightening, I bring my kids out to experience the world!

Many people make kabobs on the grill in the summer but not all kabobs are created equal.  Just throwing some boring meat and veggies on a stick is just, well, boring.  I have seen people brush italian dressing on their kabobs and all I can think of is what a waste of kabobs!  I have been marinating my kabobs for years.  Try it you will never go back to boring kabobs.

Kabob Marinade:

1 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

2 teaspoons dry parsley flakes

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 -2 tablespoon fresh minced garlic

Put all of the ingredients into a glass canning jar and shake until well mixed.

Kabob Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken breasts- cut into 1 inch cubes

1 lb of sirloin beef- cut into 1 inch cubes

2 bell peppers- cut into 2 inch chunks

1 large onion- cut into 2 inch chunks

1 zucchini- cut into 3/4 inch thick slices

1 tray of fresh whole mushrooms cleaned and still whole

20 cherry tomatoes

1 can of pineapple chunks

1 can of canned potatoes

Cut 2 lb of meat chicken or beef  (or both) into 1 inch cubes

Cut vegetables such as peppers onions, zucchini  into 2 inch pieces

Use whole vegetables like mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, canned pineapple, canned potatoes, whatever you like on your kabobs.

Marinate the cubed meat in a little bit of the marinade.

Marinate the veggies in a little bit of the marinade.

Reserve some marinade for brushing and sprinkling on the grilling meat and veggies.

Grilling:

Most people use kabob sticks  to make kabobs but I don’t.  Are they really kabobs without the stick?  Well frankly I don’t care. Why don’t I like the sticks? First you have to individually create each kabob pretty with the perfect mix of veggies and raw meat.  Then meat cooks slower than the veggies, or the veggies are burnt and your chicken is still raw, or the cheesy wooden kabob sticks start on fire, and the meat falls into the coals, or you impale your hand on the sharp metal kabob sticks.  It is just too much trouble to use the dumb sticks.  This is why I love making my kabobs in grill baskets!  Go ahead and skewer them when they are fully cooked to serve them on a stick if you want.

Turn the grill on high and put two grill baskets on the grill to get hot.  Place marinated meat in one and marinated veggies in the other.   I usually cook the beef separate from the chicken to make sure that the chicken is cooked through.  I usually cook the stuff that takes the longest first and then put it in a covered glass container to keep it warm.  As the veggies cook I keep drizzling marinade onto them to keep them very moist and flavorful.    Serve them hot right from the grill to the patio table and enjoy!

This is a fun recipe for a different type of lasagna, no noodles you use tortilla shells instead!

What you need:

1 Pound hamburger

1/2 Cup chopped onion

1 Tablespoon taco seasoning

1 1/2 Cup tomato sauce

16 oz jar mild salsa

1 Cup ricotta cheese

3 Eggs

12 Ounces monterey Jack cheese

12 oz mozzarella cheese

8 Flour tortillas

Brown hamburger and onion.  Add the following to the meat mixture: taco seasoning, tomato sauce and salsa.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Combine eggs and ricotta in a separate bowl, then other cheeses in another bowl.  Spray 9 x 13 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Layer half of meat mixture, 4 tortilla shells, half of the ricotta mix and half of the other cheeses.  Repeat layers until all ingredients are used.  Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes.  Let set 10 minutes before serving.  Serves 8-10 people

I collect beef recipes since I buy 1/2 a cow locally each year.  This is one of my favorite ways to enjoy a great roast using the slow cooker.

4 pounds beef roast
2 envelopes (1 ounce each) dried onion soup mix
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cans (10 1/2 ounces each) beef broth
Crusty Rolls
Swiss or Pepper Jack Cheese

Directions

1. Trim excess fat from beef and discard. Place beef in slow cooker.
2. Combine soup mix, sugar, oregano, garlic, broth in large mixing bowl. Pour mixture over beef. Cover; cook on HIGH 6 to 8 hours or until beef is fork-tender.
3. Remove beef from slow cooker. Shred beef with two forks. Return beef to cooking liquid; mix well. Serve on crusty rolls with a piece of cheese melted on top and extra au jus on the side.

I love cooking outdoors in the summer time, the house stays cool, you are not stuck inside by the stove while everyone else is outside playing.  I am very happy manning (or would it be womanning) the grill and eating dinner on the deck as a family.   This is one of my favorite recipes for fajitas.  I prefer flour tortillas, you can make your own with this recipe http://momlifestyle.com/?p=753 The key to good fajitas is the marinade so with this recipe you need to plan ahead a little bit.

Marinade:
1 cup water
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
4 crushed garlic cloves
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 lemons, juiced be careful to not get the seeds in there
1 tablespoon cilantro if dry or a small bunch chopped fresh
1/2 cup olive oil

Place all ingredients in bowl and whisk the ingredients to mix.
Marinate steak or chicken in the refrigerator for about 1 hour. Reserve some of the marinade for cooking the veggies in the grill pan.  If you do both beef and chicken marinate them separately.
Fajitas:
1 pound round steak, sirloin steak or chicken breasts or both steak and chicken, marinated for about 1 hour.
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 white onion, cut into strips

6-8 flour tortillas
Cooking:
Preheat grill on high. Place steak on grill. Turn steak, cooking 5-7 minutes each side.
Slice onions and bell peppers. Remove steak from grill and let it rest 7 minutes. Cut the steak  into strips against the grain.
Preheat a grill pan over high heat. Add peppers and onions. Cook 2-4 minutes, then add steak slices. Brush on a few tablespoons reserved marinade and cook over high heat another minute or so.

Remove from pan and serve with tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, hot sauce, cheese or whatever fajita sides you prefer, maybe even a margarita!