Easy Mexican in a skillet

I made this recipe up the other night when I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table. Sorry the picture isn't the best.

1 pound of ground beef or Turkey
3/4 cup of salsa
3/4 cup of water
1 can of Tomato soup
1/2 cup of frozen corn
3 big tortillas cut into pieces


1. Brown the meat & drain
2. Add the rest of the ingredients & simmer for 10 minutes


This dinner was super easy & my family loved it. Even our 16month old with the medium spicy salsa.





submitted by: Gina Detlor

2-17-09 Meeting - 12 minute workout

This past Tuesday we had the pleasure of having Marlene Shirley , a personal trainer come & teach us a 12 minute Circuit Training work-out. I don't know about the rest of the ladies but I was sore the next day. This 12 minute work-out is simply amazing. And only 12 minutes - we can all fit 12 minutes into our day. Enjoy!

Circuit Training 12 Minute Work-Out

Mountain Climb – push up position, alternate knee to chest. Keep bottom down and core muscles tight. Head in line with your spine.

Tri-cep Dip - palm of your hands on a chair, dip down and raise up squeezing triceps at the top.

Lunge Jumps – start with hands on hips, legs in lunge position w/right leg front – jump and switch legs. Advanced move…place arms straight over your head. Keep your core muscles tight.

Bi-cep Curls – use 3, 5, or 8lbs weights. Keep elbows in at sides and keep your core tight.

Reverse Lunge – start w/legs together and hands on hips. Kick right leg back and lunge, bring legs back together. Intermediate: when bringing leg back from lunge bring knee up. Advanced: when bringing leg back from lunge kick to the front. Add either hand weights or ankle weights for a harder work-out. (Ankles and knees should be aligned.)

Over head press on one leg – stand on one leg holding core muscles tight. Have weights in hands and press weights above your head.

Jump Squats - Start in squat position with bottom out and knees over ankles. Hands on hips and jump from your squat position and land in squat position. . Keep core muscles tight and chest up, looking straight ahead when jumping and landing. Advanced: when jumping bring arms straight overhead and when landing touch the floor with hands

Front Raises – Start in a squat position with legs shoulder width apart. Use 3, 5, or 8lbs hand weights and slowly raise and lower arms in front of body, raise arms to shoulder height . Keep arms straight but don’t lock elbows. Keep core muscles tight.

Ball Bridge – Lay on your back with the heels of your feet on an exercise ball, knees bent. Lift your hips to the ceiling until only your shoulders are touching the floor. Lift and lower your body keeping your arms at your side for balance. Keep core muscles tight. Intermediate: Straighten legs. Advanced: lift one leg off the ball and lift and lower body on one leg.

Push-ups – Knees on the floor holding core muscles tight. Don’t hang your head make sure that your head is in line with your spine. Intermediate: Knees off floor. Advanced: One foot off the floor.

Planks - Go down on elbows and toes. Keep head in line with your spine. Hold core muscles tight. Intermediate: take one foot off the floor.

Wall Sits – Go to the wall and put back against wall and go to a sitting position as if you’re sitting on a chair. Keep your knees over your ankles. Hold core muscles tight. Intermediate: add weights and do bi-cep curls or simply hold weights on top of knees. Advanced: lift one leg out in front of you.

Cheesy Ham and Hash Brown Casserole

Serves 12
Prep time 15 min
Bake time 1hr

Ingredients:

1 (32 ounce) package frozen hash brown potatoes
8 ounces cooked, diced ham
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of potato soup
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix hash browns, ham, cream of potato soup, sour cream, and Cheddar cheese. Spread evenly into prepared dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
3. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly brown. Serve immediately.

**submitted by Tiffany Acker**

2-3-09 Meeting

Our speaker on Tuesday was Mei Simms. She was born in China and moved here after getting married. She is a proud mama of two little boys and is a counselor at Cedar Park.

She spoke on the verse out of Psalms that says "Your love is better than life" and how this verse became so influential in her life. She gave her testimony about growing up in China and finding Jesus. It was a very sad but sweet testimony of a little girl finally finding the love she had been missing.
Mei was so real and transparent with all of us ladies. Letting us know that His love is better than life and with Him all things are possible. Something we all know but it is good to hear every now and then.

Thanks Mei for being real and blessing us with your sweet presence.

Sauteed Kielbasa and apples

**This recipe is great served along side Macaroni & Cheese**

Makes 3 1/2 cups
Total time = 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb Kielbasa cut into 1 inch slices
1 Tblsp olive oil
1 Tblsp unsalted butter (if you don't have - don't add any salt later)
2 cups of Granny Smith apples - cored & sliced
2 Tblsp of sugar
1 Tblsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt

1. Brown Kielbasa in olive oil in a nonstick skillet over med heat - about 5 mins.
2. Transfer to a plate & keep warm
3. Return pan to burner
4. Saute apples in butter until softened - usually 2-3 mins
5. Add remaining ingredients and cook until sugar dissolves, 1-2 mins.
6. Return sausage to skillet and toss to combine
   

Macaroni & Cheese

Makes 5 cups
cook time 45 min

Topping:
1/2 stick of butter melted
1 sleeve of saltine crackers, crushed

Ingredients:
1/2 lb of dry macaroni noodles - cooked
1 cup of reserved pasta water (from the cooked pasta)
2 Tblsp of unsalted butter
2 Tblsp all purpose flour
3/4 cup of whole milk
3/4 cup of heavy cream
pinch of nutmeg
2 cups of white Cheddar, shredded
4 oz of cream cheese

1. Pre-heat oven to 400
2. Rub the inside of 13x9 baking dish or 4 8oz small baking dishes with softened butter
3. Boil noodles in salted water according to package
   
4. Melt 1/2 stick of butter for topping in a small nonstick skillet over med heat. Add crackers and cook until lightly browned - about 5 mins. Season with salt, remove from heat & set aside.
5. Drain noodles making sure to save 1 cup of the water that they were boiled in - set both aside.
6. Melt 2 Tblsp butter in small saucepan over med heat
7. Whisk in flour, cook 1 min then gradually whisk in milk, cream and nutmeg.
8. Bring mixture to a boil - stirring constantly
9. Add cheeses, stirring until melted.
   
10. If sauce seems to thick, add the reserved pasta water as needed.
11. Mix with the noodles.
12. Coat baking dish with a thin layer of topping mixture, dump in the macaroni mixture and top with remaining topping mixture.
13. Bake 20 minutes
    

1-20-2009

This past MOPS meeting was excellent. After our time of announcements and diving into all the scrumptious food the mentor mom's held a question & answer panel.

The Mentor mom's are Margy Grenell, Georgia Harlowe, Judy Marshall, Colleen Stephen, Galene Divine, Sandy Hoflin and Margo Ritchie.

Here are a few tid bits they shared with all of us & a few other mom's shared as well:

• Teach manners one at a time till each one is learned. Don't overwhelm your children while trying to teach them.
  
• Are you making it better or worse? Have your children ask themselves this when they are fighting with siblings. It causes them to have to think about their actions.
• Each time they say something mean to another sibling make them say something nice about that sibling.
• One of the mentor mom's said that she realized a long time ago that the day's she tried to be Martha Stewart seemed to be the worse days. Be yourself & set realistic expectations for each day with your children.
• Pray, pray, pray, pray on those bad days
• You as the mom make the choice to be cheerful each and every morning. Your children will react to how you are reacting. Remember it's a choice.
• Focus on the kids in the room and not the room itself. (such a good one)
• On how to get kids to eat veggies & fruit - Colleen suggested while you are cooking dinner to give your children the fruit or veggies first. It's like their appetizers - we eat them why not allow them too. Then you have gotten the important stuff in and when it's dinner time they aren't starving & they will eat the other stuff.
• "He who remains flexible does not get bent out of shape"
• On how to get on the same page with your husband - Recognize each parent's strengths and balance out the fun guy with the structure guy. It's okay to let Dad be the fun guy if you're at home all day being the structure one. Kids need balance between the two.
• Finally, begin praying now for your children's spouse & your grandchildren. It will make a difference later on.

See you next week!