stroganoff ala chicken pox...ew.

Z was diagnosed with chicken pox on monday, which means saturday, when he was feeling rather ho-hum, that was the start of things. We had family out, cousins, and after spending a few days of seclusion at the family cabin, we took them to the Olympic Game Farm, which is near our house. Lots of fun and we parted ways. Imagine my freaking out on Monday morning when Z came to me with numerous itchy pimply spots, then followed the confirmation by our pediatrician. Good times! So, he has spent a few days in isolation. With the knowledge of our ped the girls will now have their day with chicken pox -JOY! While it can in no way compare to my TWO bouts of the pox and the last when I was 13, can we say pox on the eyelids, down my throat, and on the bottoms of my feet... it ought to be interesting.

I have had many requests for a "pox party", but then have also received the emails of how disturbing the thought of a pox party is. I had to ponder this, and when I responded I sort of let loose because they were targeting me... I didn't advertise that I was having a party, I just happened to have the infected child. As if I purposed exposed my child to the disease, when in fact he was vaccinated. Now, I am purposely infecting my younger two to the pox, but they were probably already infected long before I knew it was even in our house. In our home we selectively vaccinate. There are some that we do and some that we don't.

Z would not have received the varicella vaccine had I known that it was being given at that time. It was new, and apparently, they (the nurses) thought that everyone would want it. It wasn't brought to my attention until AFTER they had given it to him, he was only 15 months. At 2, Z developed serious food and outside allergies. Thankfully, he has outgrown most, but still the damage was already done and we have to live with the effects of that.

So, before you decide to attack or alienate people because of how they decide to raise their children, think about what their reasons may be. It may be their religious beliefs or maybe we feel the need to just get down and dirty let our immune systems and bodies develop a bit before we start injecting active diseases into it. It's nothing personal against you, but it's none of your damn business. I realize that you may think that we are out there, unvaccinated and possibly spreading our "diseases" to you, but we aren't the ones living with the viruses already in our systems. We are just building up our natural defenses.
My husband and I decided long ago, that a little dirt wouldn't hurt. We weren't going to be those parents who expected everyone to slather up on the anti-bacterial gel before they could touch our babies. We weren't going to run and hide every time someone coughed or sneezed. When we were little we were given the chance to develop a natural defense system, we turned out just fine, in fact rather healthy. So, why couldn't our children? We are rather lucky to have pediatricians, nurses, family, and friends who support our decisions. We just ask that we not be attacked or condemned when we share this info with you. If you don't want to come to our "pox party" then don't come. We didn't want you there anyway.


Now for food, we had this last night and it turned out soooo good! Sorry no pictures, we ate it all so fast that by the time I thought about a picture there was nothing left. It was that yummy.

Ground beef stroganoff

1 bag of egg noodles cooked per package instructions-rice and potatoes are also good
1 lb ground turkey/beef/whatever you like! -we combined turkey & beef
1 pkt of onion soup mix (beef onion would be really good!)
salt/pepper to taste
a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce or more
1 cup milk
1 cup sour cream

brown ground meat, drain off fat.
add onion soup mix, salt & pepper to taste and stir it all up
add milk and sour cream and heat thoroughly
lastly add the Worcestershire sauce to taste, start with a teaspoon or so and shake a more if needed, stir up and WA LA!

Oh, then serve over noodles, rice, potatoes, whatever your pretty little heart desires!

Notice this recipe does not have the usual staple of stroganoff recipes... MUSHROOMS. I hate, no, loathe mushrooms. I vomit in my sleep over mushrooms. My whole body heaves and convulses at the sight of those nasty little buggers. However, if you absolutely must tarnish this recipe with satan's fungus-go right ahead. Some people like those kind of things.

chili a la me

Okay - so, I was tweaking the chili recipe I had found and ended up creating my own. Let's just say that J and I loved it. The kids, not so much. M claimed tummy ache upon seeing it in her bowl, she then piled on the sourcream, cheese, and chips. She ate it all but again claimed tummy ache and forgot to do her chores and retired to her room. Sometimes, I wish I could claim tummy ache and hide too. Oh, laundry - damn, I've got these cramps and I just think that you're going to have to go without underwear another day dear (runs and hides). Or, L has a dirty diaper.... hmmm... my hands just went numb and I think that I'm going to pass out, I'm going to bed - next? I also found myself not in the mood to sit there and wait for my bread to rise( for the bread bowls) so I baked mini corn muffins instead and EVERYONE loved them, well, except L- she just spat them everywhere. A little too crumbly for her liking. I then proclaimed that I had planned it from the get-go and all was well in the land. I will add my chili recipe at the end of this post if my "follower" is interested in giving her hubby some tummy love. Everything in my chili I had on hand already, so no trip to the store(yeah!).

Okay, really this is going to be a boring post so I'll just throw in some sales I spotted this week, that I will hit up this weekend. Albertson's is having another great 10 for $10 sale. Definitely a good week to stock up on Hunt's tomatoes, tomato sauces, spaghetti sauces, bone in chicken chicken breasts/whole fryers/drumsticks/thighs are 10 lbs for $10 (sometimes you can find these for less -but it's rare here in WA), Having pointed this out - you may want to check out that they also have frying chicken leg quarters on sale for $.59 lb. in the 10 lb bag,campbells condensed soups are 10 for $10 and their tomato/chicken noodle are 20 for $10; Also, SELECTED Kellogg's cereals are on sale for $1.25 ea. when you buy four boxes.
I like to hit up these sales and stock up. What's even better is there are quite a few different cambell's/Hunts/Kelloggs coupons floating around and you can match those up for an even better deal.

That's it for now, so now for the recipe (sorry no pictures, it really wasn't that pretty anyhow)

my basic chili recipe


approx. 2 lbs browned ground turkey (beef or other meat substitute)
1 T olive oil
3-4 T dried chopped onion
1 can kidney beans -drained and rinsed
1 can black beans -drained and rinsed
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes -entire contents, I use petite cause the kiddos aren't the biggest fans
1 packet of beefy onion soup mix
1 T paprika -more or less to taste
1 T cumin -more or less to taste
sprinkle of ground cayenne pepper -to taste
lots of pepper
a bit of cilantro (yum!)
a bit (maybe 1 T taco seasoning)
2 cups of frozen corn

prepare in above order, (except for the corn)I cooked it in a cast iron dutch oven- you can throw in anything you want with this more veggies would be delightful too- I waited to put the corn in until about 20 min before serving. Simmer as long as needed but at least 30-45 mins to get those flavors, I had it simmering for 4 hrs. This would be an awesome recipe in a crockpot too!