WFMW Sandwiches for a crowd

I was so excited Saturday to think I had come up with an original idea that solved my dinner dilemna when my family got home from choir practice after 9pm ravenously hungry.  My menu plan had grilled cheese sandwiches on the plan and I had all the ingredients.  The problem was that Friday night a piece fell off the hood of my range and landed on my new (less than 6 month´s old) glass top stove and broke it.  I was unsure about using the burners until I talked with our landlord.  Plus the nice big griddle that I used to use on my old gas stove will not work on the new stove due to it not being flat on the bottom.  I was looking at a long process of cooking up 1 or 2 sandwiches at a time on the back burner of the stove to feed all 6 hungry mouths.  Then I thought, what if I just put all the sandwiches together on a big cookie sheet and put them in the oven under the broiler?  I did just that with enough room for 9 sandwiches on my cookie sheet.  I watched them carefully and when the tops were nice and golden brown I flipped them over to do the other side.  We all LOVED how they turned out.  The cheese inside was melted perfectly and there was a nice balance on the bread between being soft from the melted butter and having a little crunch from the toasted edges.  The best part was that all the sandwiches were done at the same time and we were able to sit down together and eat without Mom in the kitchen as the short order cook.  Totally works for me and I think it may be the way I always do grilled cheese, at least whenever I need to make them for more than just one or two of us.

Check out what works for others on this week´s Works For Me Wednesday link up.

Oh, and what a surprise to head over to Laura´s blog Monday and see her weekly plan including Oven Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  Great minds think alike I guess.  (but I do like my idea of using the broiler setting so I can easily see exactly how toasted my bread is getting and when to flip them over).

Holiday Bites #10 Making lemonade

Making lemonade? What does lemonade have to do with the holidays? Well, we had a few "lemons" this morning and grabbed the oppportunity to make some lemonade, figuratively that is. This has been a productive morning. In fact, a little more productive than I had originally planned. I am several years away from being a "senior" but I am sure having enough "senior moments" creeping into my daily life lately. My short term memory has been shorting out and I get so easily distracted that I find I don't even finish my
Well, the plan on our menu for the last few weeks has been to make pepperoni rolls . Each Friday it has been scrapped because I was just too tired or short on time to mess with it. Today was the day to break out the flour cannister and get kneading.
I measured the 6 cups of flour into the mixing bowl and proceeded to measure and add the yeast. As I was mixing it together, my niece (who was reading the recipe --- hmmm what a novel idea) noted that the instructions said to mix the yeast with the water first. "Oh, so does my pizza recipe but I use the fast acting yeast and do the other method of mixing it with the flour and then using slightly hotter water. It'll be fine." I reply.
Then I decide to read the recipe too and the next thing it talks about is that you need to add the flour slowly because it may not use all 6 cups. Oops! Now I have a problem.
"I know what to do. Let's just take this flour and yeast and add what we need to turn it into my pizza dough recipe and we'll freeze it to have on another day in the future. My dough recipe calls for 2 cups and I usually double it to have enough to feed my crew on pizza night. OK, we'll triple the recipe. I'll just add 2 more TBSP of yeast, the salt, 2 cups of flour, the wet ingredients etc. Here, Jenny, why don't you mix it together and I'll prepare the counter."
My niece mixes away and asks me if the dough usually looks this way (it was pretty dry). Did anyone catch what I did wrong in the paragraph above? I added an extra 2 cups of flour, which in effect gave me enough flour for FOUR batches of dough. Oh brother! We quickly heated up some more water, added an extra tbsp of yeast to it along with the oil and honey and mixed it up. Once we got kneading, it started to look better and I now have 2 portions of pizza dough in the freezer, each one the amount I normally use on pizza night. I'll pull them out and let them thaw and rise for pizza night sometime in December. I'd been meaning to work ahead in the kitchen anyway, using some freezer space to store up some timesavers for December meals.
I washed the bowl and we started on today's recipe which is rising as I type. But I was on a "make ahead" roll..... I looked at the two squash sitting on my counter and decided to cut them and cook them up for Thanksgiving. I love winter squash at Thanksgiving but it always takes so long to peel and cut up that it stresses me out. Someone told me I could just cut it in half, scrape out the seeds and bake in an oven or microwave until the flesh is tender. Let it cool and scrape out the cooked squash. This is my plan for this afternoon. I will throw the cooked squash in a freezer bag and then mash and add seasoning on Thanksgiving day when all I have to do is defrost and heat it up. Yeah! Works for me. (hmm, maybe I should have saved this post for Wednesday. )
What can you do today to stock your freezer? Can you double whatever you are preparing for tonight (on purpose)? Oh, and if you are like me, you may have a mishap or two this week ..... be creative and see if there is any way to salvage the thing before throwing in the towel. And remember, as my niece said through her chuckles, this is the thing memories are made of.

Works for me Wednesday: November Backwards day

Today is the first Wednesday of the month and so instead of sharing something that works for me, I get to ask my readers for help in an area I am floundering in. Thanks to all of you that left comments the last time we did this.

Today I'd like to ask for suggestions and links to Thanksgiving related classroom ideas. I am meeting with the elementary English teacher (hopefully) next week and am going to ask if I may be allowed to come into the classrooms to present and explain the American holiday of Thanksgiving Day. They are jumping all over the whole Halloween thing here in Spain, and I would sure love to see a presentation of a bit more "wholesome" holiday from our side of the Atlantic. I plan to offer a short presentation of the history of the holiday, explanation of a typical modern-day Thanksgiving celebration, and if time allows have a time where each student comes up with something they are thankful for and I translate into English to give them some new vocabulary (like: family, pet, toys, health, etc.) I could also bring various coloring papers with various Thanksgiving related scenes. I would love to bring an item or two of food for tasting. I was thinking of cranberry juice (I have found it here and could give each child a teeny amount in a dixie cup).
This is what I need:
1. Any links to free printable coloring pages.
2. Ideas of other food items that I could make and then cut or divide into bitesize tastes.
3. Any other ideas you have that I may not have thought of yet.

Thank you in advance.

Oh, and if you're feeling especially helpful, head on over to Shannon's Works-for-me-Wednesday page and see what others are asking about.

Online Math "flashcards"

My boys really need some drilling to improve their speed and accuracy when doing basic addition, subtraction and multiplication facts. But flashcards are so boring, providing we could find where I have the card decks stashed away. Enter this website. They have several games but the ones we are using right now are the Two Minute Warning games. You have 2 minutes to solve as many addition, subtraction or multiplication facts as you can. At the end it will tell you the total number right and wrong. We are charting their scores and the goal is to try and get the number of correct answers to increase. Before they can play other things on the computer they need to do 1, 2, or 3 two minute drills. My 2nd grader is averaging in the teens right now, the 5th grader in the 20's, and the 7th grader hit 30 or 40 the other night. They don't complain about doing it because it is only 2 minutes and it is fun to mess with the number pad on the keyboard.
Improving their math skills "painlessly" ... that works for me!
Head on over to Shannon's for more Works for Me Wednesday tips.

Works for me Wednesday: Backwards day

Today is backwards day at Works for me Wednesday hosted over at Rocks in my Dryer. Instead of sharing a tip we are to ask a question and see if the blogosphere has any suggestions for us. I have two things, totally unrelated but perhaps I can get some ideas that will work for me.
1. See yesterday's post for my new challenge. I'm pretty sure that the Beach Boys weren't talking about this when they put out Endless Summer, but I feel like my internal heater is working overtime. Anyone have anything that has worked for them in dealing with hot flashes and the like?

2. Anyone have any great ideas for how to store loaves of bread? I don't have much space in the cupboards and less counter space for a bread box. I bought a basket and tried keeping the bread in that but I have to stand the loaves on end to fit in the basket and it just always looks messy. Oh, and there is no drawer big enough to fit bread in either. Any ideas????

Every once in a while .... Say YES!

We have really had a fairly full summer in our family. We took a great vacation which we piggy backed onto a summer family conference with our mission board. The boys all got to go to summer camp for a week and one of our boys was invited to go on vacation to the beach last week with a couple of families from our old church. It looked like once again we were going to let the whole summer go by without using our annual park pass to go to the local water park. We try to buy a family pass which gets us in to the Madrid zoo, amusement park, teleferica, zoos and waterparks in other areas of Spain and two waterparks in the Madrid area. We've talked about trying out the one just minutes from our home but "never got around to it." My hubby didn't have to work this week in the evenings so yesterday we "rewarded" ourselves for finishing a tough task that has been looming over us by heading out to check out the aquapolis. We got there at 5:45 and the place closes at 8pm so we had a couple of hours and we had a blast! We adults traded off watching the little ones while the other hit the big slides with the two oldest kids. What fun! The only bad part was that our family pass is only good Mon-Fri and the park closes for the season this Sunday. Everyone wanted to go back again but there are only three more possible days.
Today the phone rang at 2 and it was my hubby to say that he had to stay in town and work until 8pm but he had taken the train and left the car at home for me if I needed it. I have loads of laundry that need to be done and I had a mental list of "projects" that I "should" work on. But then the kids asked if we could go back to Aquapolis, just the 5 of us without Dad. And you know what? .... I said YES. It helps that the swimmers outnumber the nonswimmers now, thanks to some recent lessons at our complex's pool. Everyone promised that they would obey Mom, and take turns between time in the big pool on the slides (for the swimmers) and time in the wading pool and wave pool for the youngest ones. We had fun and hopefully they will remember that "No" isn't the only word their mother knows how to say. Who knows, I may shock them all and say yes again if they ask me really nice tomorrow or Friday. Ü
Having fun (yes, even going down the big Kamakazi with my sons!) and making some great summer memories with my kids ... works for me!

Head on over to Shannon's to see more great ideas.

WFMW: Stain remover in your medicine cabinet

I think I may be moving the storage location of my rarely used bottle of hydrogen peroxide. I remember my sister telling me a long time ago that it could be used to get chocolate stains out of clothing but never tried it out.
The other night Princess was eating nocilla (chocolate hazelnut spread) on bread and got a little bit on the back of her cotton dress. I said I would treat it right away but in typical sidetracked Mom fashion I totally forgot it until the next morning. It was only a little spot (maybe dime sized) so I tried the hydrogen peroxide followed by soap and water. The stain looked gone so I hung it to dry. When dry I thought I saw a little mark remaining so I repeated the process and then added it to the next load of lights.
The dress is good as new! That works for me! Now to create a space on the laundry room shelf.
To see more great "works for me" ideas head over to Shannon's.

WFMW: Freezer Blessings

Things have been very busy in our home for the last few weeks. There was the end of school for the kids which didn't happen until way too late in June. Then we jumped right into preparations for the boys to go to camp and for the other children to go to friends' homes while "the adults" snuck away for a few days to celebrate our 20th anniversary. THAT was a great time!! We had visitors from the states for a few days and now we are back in packing mode for another camp week and a two week family trip. I was doing OK (just taking "one bite at a time") until I ran into some nasty germ that knocked me flat over the weekend. (see Monday's post)
I hadn't been out for a "real" grocery shopping trip and the cupboards were rather bare. I, personally, could've cared less about eating anything but I had 4 kids who were not going to go along with that idea. What to fix? I opened my freezer and, praise the Lord, I had my answer. I have lofty goals to keep my freezer stocked with wonderful meals that I can whip out at a moments notice on busy days. These goals, however, have not yet happened. I think when all 4 kids are in school this fall I will try a modified version of what Mrs. Pear does to stock her freezer by planning a "kitchen day" each week. But I have done one thing that certainly worked for me last Saturday when I was needing some major help.
When I buy ground beef I purchase the 1 kilo package. I know that 1 kilo equals 2.2 pounds and although I live overseas, I am an American so my recipe box is all in pounds and ounces. If I am going to brown the meat for use in tacos, burritos, or any other number of recipes I brown it all. Then I take a couple of cups of it (just eyeball what I think would be aprox 1/4 pound) and throw it in a Ziploc baggy and throw it in the freezer. This is just the right amount to add to a couple of cans of tomato sauce to make the spaghetti sauce that my kids love. Saturday the freezer was pretty bare except for a lone bag of already browned ground meat. There was pasta and tomato sauce in the pantry (I try to always have those in stock) so dinner came together in a flash.
So there you have it .... brown up a bunch of ground beef and save a little bit for your next pasta night. It sure works for me! Oh, and head on over to Shannon's for more great ideas from bloggityville.

Works For Me Wednesday: Curtains

I haven't posted what Works for Me in a few Wednesdays but I had time to do so today and thought I'd share my tip for dealing with unsightly clutter areas, specifically open shelving. I look with envy at magazine pictures of homes with glass front cabinet doors or open shelving in kitchens, baths, etc. I know myself (and my family) too well .... we are just not there and may never get there. So what is one to do when there's a shortage of cabinet space in the kitchen and bath? Well, we created extra storage space using shelving. Actually in the kitchen pictures we took the nook that was designed for the fridge to go in (but it was designed for a Spanish fridge which is small and we have a big old Whirlpool that is too big for that opening) and put an old bookcase in there to give us some pantry space. The problem was that it was never a very pretty sight and it was the first thing you saw when you entered the apartment.


When I finally had enough, I invested in a set of sheets and cut them up to make curtains for the kitchen window and another to cover the pantry opening. They are hung on a tension rod and can easily be pushed to one side to get what I need.


The bathroom only has a pedestal sink so there was nowhere to store anything, except a small shelf above the sink just large enough for the toothbrushes. A friend helped my husband install 3 shelves in the space above the unused bidet. Again it was a losing battle to keep the shelves looking neat.


I recently purchased another tension rod and hung a set of curtains that came with the shower curtain that I bought. I have no window in my bathroom but the curtains were almost the perfect size to cover the shelves. It is a couple of inches short but I can live with that.

So, hanging curtains to cover unsightly shelves works for me. Head over to Shannon's for more great solutions to life's everyday challenges.

WFMW: Taming the Sock Monster

My oldest son (11) was forever coming to me to say he didn't have any clean socks to wear. I knew he didn't have as many as his little brothers but I suspected that there was another reason why his socks weren't getting washed in a timely manner. They weren't getting to the hamper, or if they were, too often only one sock in the pair would get there while the other one was busy exploring the depths of some corner of his room or a little dusty hideaway under the bed. I did two things to try to fix the problem and so far it seems to be working for me (and my son). First I went out and bought him a package or two of new socks so that he had enough to last for several days. Then I gave him one of my mesh bags for washing lingerie in the machine. He has this hanging by his bedpost and every night when he takes the socks off they are to go directly into the bag. Every few days (at least once or twice a week) I stop by his room and grab the bag and add it to the laundry that is going into the machine. It is also thrown into the dryer and then returned full of clean socks for him to match up and put away in his sock drawer. We haven't had a sock crisis yet and I'm not finding his dirty socks all over the place either.
This week I decided to buy two more mesh bags at the local dollar store and give one to each of his brothers (ages 6 and 9) to see if we can get them trained too. This will make folding the laundry so much easier when I no longer have so many little boy socks to match up.
For more great Works for Me ideas head on over to Shannon's blog.

WFMW: Toy Storage

I wish I had the solution to the storage problem of my kids' toys. The biggest problem in the boys' room is that there are too many items that don't have a designated home. Things are a little easier in my daughter's room. Since she is the only girl I have done fairly well at managing to keep the amount of her toys to a manageable amount. And almost everything has a home so she can put it away. One of the best things I've done is to use all but the bottom two drawers of her dresser for her clothes and save the bottom two drawers for "toys". The next to the bottom drawer has all her dress-up clothes and purses. The bottom drawer (shown in the picture) has some cool divider boxes from Ikea and is used for her kitchen stuff and play food. It is easy for her to get what she wants and even easier for her to put it all away when she is done. Hey, that sure works for me! Head on over to Shannon's for more great ideas.

WFMW: Homemade Mother's Day (and Father's Day) Cards

Sunday was Mother´s Day here in Spain. Being in a new church ministry this year we quickly learned what they were used to at the new church. The church had a small gift for each of the ladies (there were 6 of us). Hubby took charge of choosing the gift and then,armed with my trusty curling ribbon, I helped him to spiff up the presentation a bit. I also made a request to my three boys to sing a special song for the service and they did a nice job.
Being THE sunday school teacher makes it a little awkward when it comes to helping the kids make your own mother´s day card but I just took a deep breath and dove in. I found some heart shaped boxes of chocolates at the grocery store for 1 euro each and cut red construction paper into a heart a bit larger than the box. Then I printed out Te Quiero, Mama (I love you, Mom) and cut that into a smaller white heart. I had the nursery kids "decorate and sign their names" on that heart and then glued them to the front of the chocolate box. They also had a coloring paper that said Happy Mother´s Day and had a verse at the bottom. The older kids (my class) made more complicated cards. For Father´s Day (which is in March here) they made cards that looked like a man´s shirt and tie. Instructions for those adorable cards can be found HERE.
For Mother´s Day they made purses. Once again, the instructions are found over at FAMILY FUN. We glued verses in the inside (Proverbs 31: 27-29) and they decorated them however they liked. My very detail oriented sons had fun filling "my purse" with cell phones, lipstick, wallets overflowing with cash (I wish!) and the youngest one even had a couple of swords in there. All in all, I think they turned out rather nice.

Homemade cards .... works for me! Head on over to Shannon's for more Works For Me Wednesday tips!

WFMW: Birthday Book

Well it's time for another edition of Works For Me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer This week is dedicated to birthday ideas. You'll want to read some of the great ideas before you plan your next birthday celebration. Here's one that works for me.
A few years ago I bought a nice bound book with blank pages. I made it into a "birthday book" for my husband. I brought it to church a few weeks before his birthday and passed it around for the teens that he teaches to write a birthday greeting for him. Most wrote nice notes letting him know how he has touched their lives. Then I gave it to him on his birthday and instead of a bunch of cards that he would read and then toss, he has this nice book that he can look at again and again over the years and be reminded of the people who love him. Since his birthday is in January, if I happen to stumble upon the book during the holidays I try to bring it to family gatherings and have people sign it then. This year I didn't remember the book until his birthday so we were limited to just the kids and me but they each drew Dad a picture and wrote a short note. Here he is with my 9 year old's rendition of MacGyver.

WFMW: Nothing Says I love you like ...

Clean underwear.
At least that´s what Flylady says. I´ve been working hard to establish a habit of tackling a load or two of laundry every day which seems to be what I need to keep up with the dirty clothes this family of six creates. I thought I was doing pretty well until one day when hubby mentioned that his "unmentionables" drawer was empty and could I please do a load of whites that day.
I felt awful. I had let him down.
But how, pray tell, could he have run out of BVDs when everyone else was well stocked in the undie department? The answer became clear when I paused to look at my three laundry hampers that I use to sort the mini mount washmores.
I have a black bin for darks, a light blue bin for lights and a white one for (you guessed it) whites. Since it was winter, most of our clothing fell into the blue and black container and, since the items that were going into the white hamper were also fewer and much less bulky, when I would look at the hampers I was always grabbing the ones that looked fullest to start a load. Why were the rest of us not running out? Because we all (except Dad) have at least some colored undies. While our white underthings were still having a party with Dad´s BVD´s in the white hamper, we still had shorts that were making it into the washer with our sweatshirts and jeans.
So what works for me (at least until the next time hubby needs to buy unmentionables) is to plan to run a load of whites every Tuesday and Saturday, no matter how small the load appears. And the next time we shop for clothes I'll make sure that EVERYONE has both white and colored items in the underwear drawer.
For other Works For Me Wednesday tips check out Rocks in my Dryer