I’ve been rather…uncreative with dinner lately. The girls wanted spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight, but since Jorge is low-carbing again I had to make something different for us. In light of Taco Tuesday, and having meatballs and veggies on hand, I threw together the easiest soup, ever! The beauty of this recipe is that you can coarsely chop your veggies and just toss everything in a pot of broth! I, of course, was missing a few ingredients since this was an impromptu recipe, but I’ll write it up the way it should be 😉 .
You’ll Need:
1 48 oz. carton of chicken broth 1/2 an onion, chopped 1/2 a green pepper, chopped 1/2 a tomato, chopped 2 stalks of celery, chopped 1 cup of frozen broccoli (this one’s optional; I tossed some in!) 1 cup (or 1/2 a 15 oz. can) of crushed tomatoes meatballs (I like H-E-B meatballs or you can use this receipe 1 tblsp. Chobani Meze Dip Chili Lime flavor (optional) a few dashes of sea salt a few dashes of pepper
Bake your meatballs while you put the carton of chicken broth to boil. Chop up your veggies and toss the veggies and frozen broccoli into the pot (remember, broccoli is optional; I put it in for more texture). Add your crushed tomatoes and lower heat to a simmer once the veggies are soft. Toss your cooked meatballs into the mixture and stir in the Chobani dip (this is optional as well; it gave it a good kick and slight creaminess).
Toss in a few dashes of freshly cracked sea salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with avocado, cilantro and queso freso. Obviously, I was missing the queso fresco and cilantro, but you’re welcome.
I managed to waste hours of my life trying to figure out issues with WordPress, yesterday and today. I can’t seem to access my login from a computer browser, and on top of that, old themes had a line of code that were causing my site to have ad banners on the bottom. Super annoying. I realized today that I am wayyy too old for this shit; I don’t have the patience anymore to sit and decipher the coding to find the errors, etc. I just want the shit to work when I finally get a chance to update 😕 .
Anyway. My original plan yesterday was to finish my Spring Break post and start on the food festival one. My big event that was causing me so much stress is now OVER!! *spins* I’m crossing my fingers that that was the end of the high-stress for a bit at work, but you just never know. (I just realized I’m clamping my jaw as I type this–no wonder I have to use a night guard 😆 ).
Anyway, Mom and I did some thrift shopping yesterday. I got some books, old records and some dresses and she got books and VHS tapes she’s collecting.
We were so lazy after being in line forever that we got Wing Stop for dinner.
My acne/hormones had mercy on me last week; even through the stress and that time of the month. A most unfortunate combination most of the time, but my face stayed clear, for the most part. But then this weekend came along and BOOM. Cysts on my chin. Grr. Jorge and I were finally going to Suerte’s Barbacoa and Big Red brunch and I knew I’d run into people so I was forced to put on makeup. Sure enough, I ran into Yazmin and then Maritza. Jorge and I looked for seats for a good while, but there were none, so we left :(. I was so sad. For the life of us we couldn’t figure out WHERE there was Sunday Brunch, so we ended up at Fuzzy’s Taco Shop.(Later on, we got some great suggestions on Facebook!)
(I was totally not wearing a bra with that blouse. TMI, I know. But never in my life was I able to do that before! And I didn’t feel gross! #breastreductionftw!)
The foods! I literally ate 1 1/2 strips of that giant quesadila!
Anyway, we ran into Kristina and my “new” cousin Josh, his wife and baby. We ran some errands, and then Jorge worked on his car as mom and I visited Gramma and went grocery shopping.
And then I was online with tech support and got nowhere *sigh*. At least I’ve still got access from the app. *knocks on wood*
This post should actually be titled: “Not Much of a Spring Break 2017”. But anyhoo…
In my previous post I mentioned I had a lot going on currently (at work, at home) that was stressing me out. I was even more stressed out about not being able to take sufficient time off work to take the kids somewhere during the half-week they were with us (they’d be with the other parents the rest of the Spring Break week). But, I told myself that I wasn’t going to let it get the best of me. I did good on my promise to myself, even when I was going 100mph at work.
We had several meetings on Monday alone and I even stayed at work late trying feverishly to finish all my tasks so I could take Tuesday off with the kids. I was ALLMMOOSSSTT done with everything, until I realized I needed my “Boss Boss'” signature on some important documents I needed to mail out. Darnit. So I came in for half a day Tuesday and rushed through the (growing) to-do list. By 12:30pm, I finally had everything done and I was OUT!!
I get home, excited, and walk into the boys’ room, only to find all of them except Julien still asleep. I annoyingly sing-song, “Get up, childrennn,” and it still takes them a while to groggily ask, “Why?” 😐
I tell them we’re going to Ben & Jerry’s, and the big boys protest, but I don’t care 😆 . I swear: these kids would rather lay in their rooms playing video games all day than going somewhere. 🙄 They all take turns showering and I ate lunch (a Hot Pocket. Can you believe that?? A HOT POCKET!! I never eat Hot Pockets, wtf!!), while I (wait for it) watched, “My 600 Lb. Life”. –The irony…
Eenan said he wanted me to sit and watch a new Disney show, so I did. The pilot episode of “Andi Mack.” He said the little girl’s art reminded him of me and he thought I’d really enjoy the story. And my boy knows his mama: it was great; I really, really enjoyed it!! One of the more mature shows Disney’s produced for sure. Can’t wait for the next ep!
So the kiddos finally finish getting ready and we take off. My 7 ducklings and I beat the rush; it got really packed as soon as I put in their last order.
We finished up and headed to the park.
While the big boys played football (minus Eenan, he stuck with the Littles and me) and the rest of us were at the playground, I had a conversation with Emily’s friend’s mom (AKA, Ryan’s aunt), about my little Emily’s behavior 😡 . She was being…proactive about a bully but started being somewhat of a bully herself telling her friend over iMessage that she was becoming “like her” (like the little girl they claimed was the bully) and whatnot. So much so, that her mom got on the phone and said her friend wasn’t available. Embarrassing! I had already gotten after her for being mean to Maddie, and now that. She got yet another lecturing, much to her irritation. I know she’s headstrong and really takes no sh*t, but I don’t want her to be the mean girl 🙁 . I have no experience in this, especially not with the boys or Alaethia! When Alaethia was having drama with her friends last year, it was nothing like this.
But anyway, her friend’s Mama and I spoke and got everything sorted. I’m glad that it wasn’t too awkward and that she didn’t tell me off for my kid’s behavior, heh. She was very understanding and we agreed we just want our kiddos to get along.
I dropped the kiddos off with Mom at home, picked Jorge up from work and then we took Jorgie with us to order Domino’s for dinner. Then the kids wanted to watch “My 600 Lb. Life” again. I’m converting them 😆 ! I don’t know why I like that show so much!
The day, unfortunately, came to an end and then it was time for bed since Jorge and I had work the next day ;? .
The kiddos left with the other parents on Wednesday afternoon and the rest of the week at work was a blur of working on Taste McAllen.
I picked Jorge up from work and then we stopped for some snacks at the Food Park before going shopping at the mall (oh, joy 🙄 .
I had to mentally prepare for an interview I was having with Chef Larry the next morning. I despise interviews; I get nervous and bumble all over myself and my skin wasn’t cooperating with me AT ALL. Plus: not happy that the camera adds 10 more lbs. 😥 !! But I sucked it up and went with it. Alan Campbell was our host and is such a jokester, so he eased us into the interview and was really good about prompting us on what to say.
I had an event at the food park that Friday, so of course, we had to indulge a little. I mean, why not? We were already there!
We spent the rest of the weekend cleaning out our garage. John still had TONS of boxes in there, plus his table and chairs from when he lived with us and used the garage as a storage unit. I called and asked him what to do with everything and he said to chuck it. 😐 Really?? We coulda chucked them a long time ago!!
So several trips to Goodwill, Walmart, Target, Home Depot later, we got rid of tons of junk and bought additional storage bins and shelving. It hadn’t looked that nice and clean in a looong time!
I took the opportunity to clean up the box of Dad’s records I inherited. He had lots of old-school “Regional Mexican” records, but he had the Beatles, some opera and waltzes as well!
We also got some pavers and new mulch to re-do the greenery bed under the kitchen window. We were literally in the dark, with the flashlight of our phones, digging and planting and so on. But we finished!
So although we didn’t get to do much for Spring Break, our time with the kiddos and each other was pretty damn great 😀 .
You’ll Need:
1 48 oz. carton of chicken broth
Directions:
