Weak Week

What a week! The girls are finally all better. 48 hours of no snot, puke or poo....so I think we're in the clear. :) Thankfully, Arthur and I did not get it; it's always so much harder to care for the girls when one or both of us is also sick.

We had a great time with soups this week, though, to help make us feel better. I made a HUGE pot of chicken noodle soup on Thursday, and I just have a little bit left now. I love chicken noodle soup! I also ended up making pork chop soup earlier in the week, instead of pork chops themselves. It turned out pretty good. A little spicy, though, so I'd cut back on the chili powder next time. Overall, very tasty! I found the recipe online and it had a ton of good reviews and no bad ones, so I figured why not try it. Click HERE for the recipe.


Also, today the girls and I will be making some Christmas cookies, once they're up from naps. I think we're doing just 3 kinds (instead of getting carried away, like I always do!). Cutout sugar cookies (of course), Giant Ginger Cookies, and Snickerdoodles. I decided not to do any chocolate this time, just because we always do some form of chocolate in our cookies, and I have a taste for something different. We'll probably give some to our neighbors and my in-laws before eating a bunch ourselves! :)

Right now, I have fruit-filled oatmeal bars in the oven baking. They should be done in just a few minutes and were so easy to make. Hopefully they taste great, too. This was my first time making them, but I wanted a good/sweet/healthy snack for while we're making all the cookies. :)

Fruit-Filled Oatmeal Bars

1 cup flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter

Filling:
1 cup applesauce (chunky is best it says)
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash of ground cloves

Combine flour, oats, sugar and soda. Cut in butter with pastry blender. Divide in half. Press 1/2 of mixture in 11x7x1 1/2 inch baking pan. In bowl, combine items for filling. Pour filling over mixture in pan. Spread remaining crumb mixture on top of filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack and cut into bars.

It says it makes 25 bars, but I am not sure I'll get 25 out of that size pan. Seems like really small portions. I didn't have chunky applesauce, so I just used regular and added some raisins (1/2 handful) in as well to make up for the apples chunks. :) I also don't have that size pan, so I got out my cookie bar pan from Pampered Chef (I think it's the medium size pan) and used a ruler to help me know to where I should spread the crumb mixture initially. I knew it wasn't going to spread out while it baked, so I think that would be fine. I just pulled mine out of the oven and they are cooling. I smell apple and cinnamon, so I'm really hoping they taste as lovely as they smell!

On another note, I've decided to try and start a moms group. The ones I've found online for my area all cost money or are spread out among moms all over chicagoland or have so many members and children that there are 40+ activities a week. I don't see how I can get to know the moms, unless a couple of us decide to go to all the same events. It just seems like a lot of work.

So, I emailed some mom friends on Facebook today to get their opinion and find out if they're interested. I'd like to start it out of my house, since public places are hard to coordinate or are chaotic because we're chasing our children. Two of my neighbors and I tried to start doing this but we didn't get anything planned on it and it was last minute when we'd decide to call each other. Maybe if we set a date a week in advance, that'd help plan our get-togethers? Who knows. Just an idea. I'm not good at calling people during the week because of the background noise, so if it's other moms face-to-face with me and the children noise is expected, I'd feel more comfortable. So, hopefully it works out. I'm praying it does; I know I can use mom talk during the weekdays. My husband gets tired of me talking about the little things the kids do (that drives me nuts or makes me laugh or just other nonsense!), but I know other moms know what I mean when I say I need to just get it out. I love my kids to death, but I also enjoy venting with other moms or asking for opinions or just sharing experiences.

Those fruit bars are calling me! I know they're not cooled yet, but I really want to go cut one and eat it NOW! :)