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Simple Dinner :: Spinach Burgers

2/14/2017

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Another week, another quick & easy meal coming to you, from my tried & true kitchen testers (aka my family, friends and guests who've all agreed: this one's a keeper)

It's got a slight Greek flair to it, so I usually pair it with a quick salad and Sweet Potatoes, easily made while the burgers sit on the (Foreman) grill. 

This is another great one to freeze too, so I always make a double or triple batch to keep a few servings on hand in the freezer for a really quick dinner.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup Olive Oil
  • 1 teaspoon Oregano
  • 1 teaspoon Dill Weed
  • 1 Clove Garlic, minced
  • 1 cup Herb-Seasoned Stuffing Mix
  • 2 Eggs, beaten
  • 2oz Feta Cheese
  • 10oz Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed and drained
  • 4 Hamburger Buns

Preparation

  1. In a medium bowl, combine oil, garlic, oregano, dill weed and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir in stuffing mix to coat thoroughly. Stir in eggs, spinach and 1/2 cup Feta cheese; Mix well. Shape mixture into 4 half-inch thick patties.
  2. Heat griddle or large skillet over medium heat (we use a George Foreman grill). Add patties as they fit. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until browned and heated through. Serve in buns with toppings: feta, plain Greek yogurt, tomatoes, Tatziki Sauce, sliced roasted Red Peppers, Red Onion, etc.
Enjoy! Even my littlest one love these, hopefully yours will too.
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Simple Dinner :: Easy Enchiladas

2/10/2017

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The dinner time rush. The bewitching hour. The time when Moms around the country are juggling fussy babies, late afternoon grogginess and the inevitable "what's for dinner?" on repeat.

I'm here to help get dinner on the table quickly, healthily and simply with a few of my own tried & true crowd pleasers this month. Up first: filling, flavorful, freezable Enchiladas made with less than 10 ingredients and on the table in 45 minutes.

Ingredients

  • 2 Cups Cooked chicken: cubed, strips or shredded
               (I usually slow cook a whole chicken in some broth, then shred it and freeze it for multiple recipes)
  • 1 tub Cream Cheese 
  • 1 Can diced Green Chiles
  • 1 can Black Beans
  • 10 oz Bag of frozen corn, or fajita veggies; whatever's on hand :)
  • Shredded Cheddar Cheese
  • 15 oz Green Chile sauce or Green Enchilada Sauce
  • 1 dozen Tortillas
TOPPINGS: shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt as substitute), avocados 

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
  2. Place cream cheese, beans, chiles and chicken in skillet, letting the cream cheese melt and mix all together thoroughly. Stir in frozen vegetables.
  3. Spread half the can of Enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 13x9" baking pan. Spoon 1/3 cup filling in a tortilla, roll in the enchilada sauce and place seam down. Repeat with all tortillas and filling. Spread remaining Enchilada sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle shredded cheese on top. 
​*If preparing this for the freezer:* Cover tightly with aluminum foil at this step and place in freezer for up to one month. To use later, let dish thaw for 2 hours, then place in 350* oven for 30-45 minutes or until the tortillas are golden brown and the cheese is bubbling.
  • Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and tortillas are beginning to brown. Enjoy with whatever toppings your family prefers! (Side salad, rice or corn on the cob are all quick & easy dishes to pair with these for a more robust meal)
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Christmas Shopping Simplified :: Adults

12/13/2016

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It started as a way to let my Little Lady shop for others this Christmas. Just like one of my suggestions in the last blog post on how to get kids involved in giving, I'd given her a small budget, and set her loose in Tuesday Morning to find a little something for those she put on her list.
Then the anxiety started to rise in me. Not becuase I was worried that she'd overspend, or the fact that she was spending more time in the toy section than where any adult gifts could be found. But because I *could not* bring myself to purchase a gift just for the sake of getting a gift under the tree for every person.

I could not get over the fact that I didn't know what they'd each want or need, so I felt completely paralyzed, not wanting to get junk they'd have to figure out what to do with after the fact.

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Christmas Shopping Simplified :: KidsĀ 

12/6/2016

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Tis the season of giving, December is here. Lists are being written, sales are being swooped up, presents wrapped....it really can be a magical, memorable time of year. But it can also get a little overwhelming, can't it? A little out of hand.

Being somewhat of a minimalist, I instinctively keep the number of gifts relatively low, but that can be tough for those with a natural giving spirit to keep it under control, especially this time of year. So I've rounded up several giving 'themes' to help simplify the buying and giving this year. This blog post is all things KIDS, because they're the ones receiving the lion's share of presents, aren't they?! (next up will be ideas for adults, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll tackle one at a time)

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When less is not more

9/28/2016

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Ask my friends and they'll tell you: I'm the one who doesn't mind hurting your feelings (only temporarily!) when I tell you there's way too much junk in your house & it all needs to go. And I'm usually the friend called upon when a good purge is needed or a system overhauled.
Ask my poor family who knows that if they can't find some misplaced, but needed, paper or toy or slightly tattered shirt, there's a good chance 'Mom got rid of it' in another (typically weekly) trip to Goodwill.

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3-Ingredient Homemade Baby Wipes

9/29/2015

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"Simplify Life With Baby." Sounds appealing, doesn't it? That's Hemmed In's tagline, and our mission as a business in offering a multi-use infant accessory. I truly want to help make your life as Mama simpler!! 

So when you read "Handmade baby wipes", that may not sound simple to you. True, it is pretty simple to just buy wipes at the store and stick 'em in your diaper bag. I get that. And agree. If that's the simplest for your family, do it. (One woman's simple is not necessarily another's!)
But If I may, I assure you that these DIY baby wipes are not only super simple to make, they're completely natural and gentle on baby's skin. They're money-saving too. $15 worth of premium quality, all natural supplies will last at least 6 months, and the prep takes literally 5 minutes. We used these throughout Little Lady's diaper days, and keep them on hand even now for wiping messy hands quickly. To take them on-the-go, just transfer to a ziplock bag and you're good to go. They made our life simpler, so I'm passing on the recipe to those so inclined :)

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INGREDIENTS:
  • 2 Tablespoons Grapeseed Oil (contains natural antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties + it's great for baby's skin!)
  • 1 Tablespoon Jason's Natural Soap (Lavender soothes & smells amazing!)
  • 1 Cup Water (warm mixes best)
STEPS:
  1. Mix 3 ingredients in a medium-sized circular, closable container 
  2. Add 1/2 roll Bounty Select-A-Size paper towels in to soak up the liquid (TIP: serrated bread knives work great to cut the rolls. You may need to flip the roll upside-down once it's soaked halfway so that both ends get good & saturated)
  3. Remove cardboard center and pull wipes from the center.
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PS--this makes a really great baby shower gift! Write up the recipe and give all the ingredients along with a container for a helpful, inexpensive gift.
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The Perfect Planner :: The Quest Continues...

12/22/2013

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A New Year means one thing to me: A new planner. (I had you at 'planner', didn't I?!)
I really look forward to this every year, as sad as it sounds, it seriously excites me looking through the myriad options in Office Stores, home stores, online, and anywhere else they pop up. My sweet, knowing Husband even planned a date with this planner-hunting season in mind this week and patiently flipped through daily organizers/planners with me at two stores until I found the one that would spend the next 365 days with me!

And it really will do just that. I live and die by my planner. I menu plan, list make, strategize, organize and customize everyday in that thing. As many times as I've heard how amazing this app & that app are for replacing a big-ol daily planner, I just can't scrap the paper version. It's probably the satisfaction of physically crossing things off each list that gives me the reinforcement to keep to my stubborn way. 
Whatever it is, I know it when I see it. These ones were really cool, but didn't make the cut:
  • This one, though touted as a miracle-making Business tool is too Boulder-hippyish for me (I can say that, I did 18 years in Boulder!) 
  • This one is awesome, but too pricy
  • This one would have made it if I saw it in person, but I don't want to wait for the mail to deliver it after the New Year! It's got God-focused quotes on every week to remind me of why I do what I do
  • And there's soooo many cool ones on Etsy, and you know how much I swoon over handmade goods. But again, I'm ordering too late to be able to have ready to start the new year with me on January 1

Here's the winner for 2014. A *simple*, slim, Little Black Book made even better with its $7.99 price tag at Target.


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A Family...On Mission (Simplicity's within reach!)

7/8/2013

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So, are you inspired yet?! If even just a little intrigued, I seriously hope you'll read Tsh's book. Even if not for the organizational tips she gives (and she does get to that super helpful stuff!), I'm pretty sure she'll inspire you to make your mission official too!
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You've probably read/heard/seen a thousand "mission statements" before. For businesses, civic groups, churches, events...but never paid any attention to them.
Ideally, they exist to give direction, meaning and vision to something. They keep you on track, and hold you accountable. 

Have you ever seen or heard of a Family Mission Statement?

Me neither. Until I read one of my now favorite books, Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider.
On the first hearing, a "Family Mission Statement" sounds uptight, strict, legalistic or even boring.
That is until you read from Tsh's book the vision behind creating such a vision for your family.

We've all heard "those kids grow up before you know it" and "life happens so fast" and the like. If we're not intentional about how we want to live, how we want to leave this world or what we want to be about in the grand scheme of things, we'll completely miss it. It'll all be over "before we know it."

Tsh's book is amazing. Yes, it's an organizational book. But before she gets anywhere near de-cluttering schedules and cleaning routines, she challenges her readers to think much deeper than the surface of how your home looks. She wants you to get to the root of what your home, even your life is going to be about. What your family is going to prioritize, value, strive after and accomplish. If you know these things, then whatever you chose to bring into your home and your life will match those priorities and hopefully your 'stuff' filling and cluttering up your home & life isn't what defines you. That's all I'll say for now, she does a much better job of explaining the why's and how's of Family Mission-making, but suffice it to say that I was incredibly inspired by her words of great wisdom and set to put it into practice right away!

Over the winter break, Jay & I spent a couple hours together talking through the prompts & questions Tsh outlines. Things like :
-what do we want people to feel inside our house?
-how do we want our family to look in 10 years: relationally, spiritually, financially....
-what are we good at? what are we not so good at?
-what values do we want our children to grow up and also value?

From there we started seeing trends and repeated ideas, went to our favorite 'life verses' and began crafting a mission statement. (She also gives great examples and head-starts on formulating your statement).

What we came up with is not something rigid that boxes us in, but rather a few short statements or key words that we hope will be a helpful guide in making decisions of how to 'spend' our life and a tool to come back to in evaluation of our current state in the future. It's message is timeless. Hopefully it'll be as relatable to our season of life with grown children as it is with babies.

I had our hodge-podge of ideas/words/scriptures made into a custom Wall Art piece by a Graphic Designer here in Denver that I found on Etsy, her shop is here: A New History. Her work is unique and beautiful, and I knew she'd be able to handle taking a bunch of words & ideas and turn it into a beautiful piece of art that we'll display in our home for years!

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She did not disappoint! It's clean, simple, and puts the right amount of emphasis in all the right places.

I gave this to Jason for Father's Day, and it's now hung in our entry / living area quietly reminding us of why we're here, what we want to be doing with our lives and who we are.
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    Wendy, owner & designer of Hemmed In, shares inspiration for living simply, bits and pieces of running a small business, and a sneak peek into the journey of domestic adoption.


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