You Dirty Dirty Rice! ;)

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." so said the famous Mr. Charles D as we all may remember from High School. It is probably a very over-used quote, but I found it to be relevant to this week. It really is the best of times; Ally is getting cuter every day and continues to entertain me with huge smiles and sweet baby giggles. Beau and I are contentedly building our lives together and the dog has settled into his routine here. But it is also hard times... money, screaming babies, sleepless nights in the anticipation of some very mean teeth... So indeed, I am among some of the best times of my life, and some of the hardest. I suppose that is what happens when you have a baby young, but at the risk of sounding cliche, I wouldn't have it any other way.

This week has been particularly hard on the wallet and I am waiting for the next pay check before I go grocery shopping. So dinners have consisted of leftovers in the fridge thrown together into something hopefully edible. Last night we had bean chili with leftover taco steak thrown in, along with wild rice, spanish rice, and some salsa. Throw a little cheese on top and it wasn't half bad, plus I cleaned out my fridge with this one. But the real unexpected treasure was tonight's dinner. I had some ground beef in the freezer which I thawed, and a little bit of basmati rice in a bag stuffed into the back of the pantry. Out of this I made something quite delicious! I believe that part of what made this so very yummy was my chicken broth that I cooked the rice in. The recipe can be found in one of my past blogs. Basically just chicken, chicken bones, onion, celery, carrot, etc. I reccommend always making broth with all of your bones and keeping some in the fridge and some on the freezer. It will save a meal when you have limited ingredients.

Jasmine's Version of Dirty Rice

1 cup basmati rice
2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper

1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic
a pinch of cayenne
a pinch of paprika
a pinch of whole cumin seeds
a pinch of mesquite seasoning
about 1/2 cup leftover spaghetti sauce
about 1/4 cup canned tomatoes

a little grated jack cheese on top

In a pot with a lid, boil the chicken broth, salt and pepper. Add the rice, turn down to a low simmer, cover and simmer the rice for 20 minutes. Turn it off and let it steam for a few minutes.

In a large saute pan, saute the garlic until golden. Add the ground beef and spices brown. Once the beef is cooked, add the spaghetti sauce and tomatoes to warm them. Let it all simmer together to create a little saucy meat mixture. To serve, put the rice down in a bowl, top with the meat and sprinkle with some cheese.

This really was very very tasty! And so stinken easy I can't stand it. :) I was also able to create a bunch of new baby food recipes while this was cooking that worked fantastic! Using the same basic, steam then blend method I cooked some apples, sweet potato, rice and carrots. All organic for my baby! Then I put some sweet potato in the food processor, a little but of rice and some apple puree. Blend it all up into a smooth puree and watch your baby love it! I would say the ratio was about 1/2 sweet potato, a little over 1/4 apples and the rest rice. (not the best ratio I have ever come up with, but hey, you get the idea right?) Also in my fridge is sweet potato rice, carrot apple, and apple. I am getting very good at this baby food making thing and I just love it! I wish it was as easy to feed grown ups...

Super Mom

Just as the fridge was getting eerily barren and I was actually beginning to worry, I decided to put aside my pride and beg for a little money from my mom...

Of course she was more than willing to help in any small way she could and I was reminded that it is always foolish to feel afraid to ask my mother for something. She has a way of being so real about everything that she does, and I know she won't give me something if she does not have it and on the other hand, if she does have it then she will make sure I have what I need (within reason). I went out and bought groceries while Beau was taking his very last final exam at Cal University. Just before I had dropped him off we were having a conversation about our very limited account balance and what would be the best way to spend the money. He had been working really hard lately and was already exhausted even though he hadn't taken the test yet, and said he wanted a big plate of spaghetti for dinner. Beau is a very big man and when he eats he can really put food away! So in my semi-panic of thinking about our finances, I began to lecture him about eating too much when we are trying so hard to save money... well naturally as soon as he stepped out of the car and I was kicking myself all the way to the grocery store thinking, "what an awful thing to say!!!" So I made sure that when he got home from school, the last day he will ever be there, we were able to celebrate with big plates of spaghetti. And I was also able to purchase enough food for another week with only $35 out of the money my mom loaned me. I have become an absolute pro at grocery shopping for deals!

After our spaghetti dinner and Beau had left for a graduation party at the frat house, I stayed comfortably on the couch and enjoyed my alone time. I couldn't help by go back to the long phone conversation I had with my mom earlier that day when she had loaned me money and then we chatted about this and that, and I wondered why I was so lucky to have a mom that I get along with so well. See, I know everyone has to love their moms on some level, but not only do I love my mom, I actually like her! She is an amazing woman and a real inspiration to me. So I pondered on this thought and on the little growing girl inside of me and wondered if she will like me the same. What is it about my mom that makes her so fun to be around and a good mom at the same time? I came up with a few things that I think make her who she is...

My mom takes care of her family, and especially her husband. Everyone comes before she does, but you never get this sense that she feels oppressed or angry about her family-orientated lifestyle (no feminism in my house!). It seems to make her happier than anything to just be there for her family! And her kids do not come before her relationship to her man. Her and my dad having such a strong bond and being happy together showed me what love really is and gave me a solid foundation growing up. And while she was putting us first and taking care of us, she never pushed or pulled us in any particular direction. She gave us the tools, the map and the advice and let us forge our own path in whatever way we saw fit. My mom was always there to listen to my stories, help me through problems and let me vent frustrations, and I never felt that she was disappointed in me or wanted me to lead a different life. She let me have my life and she had her life... and isn't that really the way it is suppose to be?

And this leads me to the other thing that makes my mom awesome. She listened!!! Not just to me, but anyone she encounters. You never get the feeling that my mom is just waiting for her turn to speak or that she is going to try to push her opinion on you. Even if her opinion is different from yours, she always listens fully to what you are saying. Sometimes she will offer tid-bits of advice or tell you that she disagrees, but she won't push it on you like some people I have met in my life... most people really! And often times in my young life, I have found her side of the argument so compelling she didn't need to push it on me anyway; I just knew it was right. Never was there loud arguments, screaming fits or all out wars in my house because we didn't need them. You know that if you need to speak to someone then you will be heard. Everything felt fair that way.

There is so much more that makes my mom the amazing person that she is, like how she makes dinner every night even when she really doesn't feel like it, or her unwavering support and trust in me when I decided to drop out of college and lead a completely different life far away from home... but her love for her role as "wife and mother" and the way she will always listen are two things that I think I can easily adopt into my own life so that hopefully, I too can be a role model to my babies.

If you are reading this, I love you mom!!! Thank you for being a mom first and a best friend second and for always having my back no matter what. :) And just thank you for being you!

...

a cheap and easy way to make Beau's favorite spaghetti!

ingredients:
package of spaghetti
jarred sauce (we are being cheap remember!)
ground beef
pasta seasoning blend by Trader Joe's

In a pot, boil water with salt for the noodles.

In a saute pan, brown the ground beef with the pasta seasoning. Once browned completely, drain the oil by dumping the meat onto a plate lined with paper towels, then put the meat back in the pan. Add the sauce and simmer until heated through and you are sure the meat is all the way cooked.

Grab a handful of spaghetti noodles and dump in the water. Cook until it is done. Toss it all together and serve! See how easy that was? Then when you have a little more money you can add chopped fresh basil and some Parmesan cheese... but for now, he will never know the difference. :)

Looking for a healthier option if you don't feel like spaghetti yourself? Sometimes the red sauce is just too much for me right before bed! Try switching to whole wheat noodles and see if you man even notices. Then toss his noodles with the red sauce, and add blanched veggies, olive oil and some herbs to your version.