Cabin Fever

We haven't left the house since Saturday night.  Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying being able to stay inside (in my pajamas) all day every day, but it is getting difficult to keep the kids  Cooper occupied.  We have resorted to trying a variety of things as seen on the internet.

When Cooper gets bored, she resorts to her standby, "I want a snack."  She has difficulty narrowing it down when given choices, which usually leads to her toddler table covered in a variety of different food and drink options (as well as several bowls and plates for us to wash later).  I saw this on IG (or Pinterest or somewhere) and thought it was an ingenious idea to give her healthy snacks while meeting her need for options/variety.  She absolutely loves it!  I can leave it on her table all day and she constantly has healthy snack choices on demand.  Plus it drastically reduces the number of dishes I will later do, as well as the number of times I hear, "I want a snack," throughout the day.  

We also decided to give Snow Cream a try, since we seem to have a healthy supply of snow at our doorstep.  I was out of vanilla from our holiday baking sessions, so I substituted almond extract instead.  I love almond extract, but I think I was a little heavy handed (I don't usually have the patience for measuring).  Snow Cream was....interesting.  It was very cold (colder than ice cream) and had a bit of an outdoor taste that couldn't be masked by the milk/sugar/almond flavors.  But Cooper loved making it topping it with sprinkles.

We have also logged some serious teepee time this week.  It seems like we are constantly bouncing from room to room, trying to keep ourselves occupied with different toys and activities; the teepee serves as another room (within a room) to keep us busy!

On the menu for tonight, one of our favorite all time meals - Chicken Pot Roast.  Ryan actually texted me today (at 10:30 AM) that he was already looking forward to it - good to know I am not the only one constantly thinking about my next meal (or the one after it).  A family friend made this for us our first week home from the hospital after Cooper was born, and I absolutely loved it!  It really hit the spot for me when I was needing lots of good food to support my nursing habit.  I asked for the recipe several months later and now make it at least once a month.  We all love it (even Cooper and Campbell), it is relatively easy, and requires very few ingredients (most things we already have on hand/in the pantry).  If you are struggling for dinner ideas, do yourself (and your family) a favor and give this a try!

Chicken Pot Roast 

Ingredients:

Chicken thighs (bone-in)

Salt

Pepper

2 T. butter

2 T. olive oil

2 c. carrots

1 large onion (sliced)

2 T. minced garlic

Egg noodles

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Combine oil and butter in dutch oven and brown chicken over medium-high heat (8 min/batch).  Remove chicken.

Add carrots, onion, and garlic and stir over low heat - 5 minutes.

Return chicken and juices to pot.  Cover and bake in the oven for 1 hour.

Serve over cooked egg noodles.

So easy and oh so delicious!!!  I always make lots so we can have leftovers for lunches and the kids.  I even puree excess into baby food for Camp.  I'm already salivating.