Sara Reads Things

I hope everyone had a great Christmas full of family and friends. I have to say though, I'm certainty glad it's over. It took me two days to clean up the Christmas mess in my house and i'm still behind on laundry and grocery shopping. I'm ready to move on to new years. I'm wondering if I will be able to stay up to see 2016 roll in or if I'll be an old soul and fall asleep early? These are the questions that will be answered soon enough. I hope you enjoy this weeks menu. It's simple but still yummy. Monday - Potato Soup Tuesday - Ham grilled cheese Wednesday - Taco Soup Thursday - Spaghetti Friday - Eggs and Sausage Saturday - Turkey Sandwiches Sunday - Tuna Sandwiches

Merry Christmas! I hope all of you have lots of plans with your family this week, I know I do. Christmas eve with the in-laws where my mother in law is going to teach me how to make Lefsa (A potato tortilla that is traditional in Norwegian culture) Its also a family tradition. We sometimes have it with cinnamon and sugar for breakfast or if its dinner time, we eat it with flank steak and cheese. Its so yummy. I can't wait to learn how it's made. Enjoy this weeks menu! Monday - Spaghetti Tuesday - Chicken tacos Wednesday -  Teriyaki chicken Thursday - Lefsa with the in-laws Friday - Christmas with the family Saturday -  Beef stroganoff Sunday - Tuna sandwiches

With this being the first Christmas in our new house, my husband and I wanted to start some new family traditions that the boys could be excited to look forward to. 1. The Tree Hunt -This year, our new tradition was hunting for the perfect tree. In the past, we had a fake tree due to limited space and funds. Now that we have an amazing living room area, we wanted to fill it with the smell of fresh pine. The kids were super excited and eager to trek through the mud, but of course the two younger monsters fell asleep in the car on the way to the tree farm. We still managed to pick up a nice little tree for our home. 2. The Minivan Express - There is this great idea out there on the Confessions of a homeschooler blog. Its a fun way to to take a ride to see all the lights and incorporate the polar express experience. Check it out. 3. Christmas Story Advent Calendar - This year I got the boys one of those cheesy advent calendars where you open the door and find a stupid littl...

I can't believe how close Christmas is. We have less than two weeks to finish our shopping and making sure all the baking is done on time. I know I'm feeling the crunch. What about you? The boys are having a blast buying presents for each other with the money they have been saving all year. I'm so proud of my little monsters, they've saved a lot. Enjoy this weeks menu! Monday - Baked Penne Rigate Tuesday - Creamy Bruschetta Chicken Wednesday - Grilled chicken tacos Thursday - Chicken Teriyaki Friday - Hard Cider Pork Chops Saturday - Spaghetti Sunday - Dinner with the in-laws (Learning to make Lefsa)

It's the time of year when our kitchens are filled with the smell of home cooked meals and our fridges are full of half eaten leftovers that we'll most likely throw out because we are sick of eating the same thing for days on end. Do you know the feeling? I'm going to give you a simple way to use some leftovers to make a wonderful desert that everyone will enjoy, and you can make it gluten free too. I also lost the photos I took of the cake when it was whole, so you get this one photo I took with my cell phone. Sorry. :( Ingredients: 3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar 4 TBS unsalted butter 12 ounces fresh or leftover cranberrys 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour or gluten free flour mix 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 cup butter at room temp 1 1/2 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 TBS orange zest 1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt 1/4 cup milk Directions: Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. In a small sauce pan, combine the b...

Well, folks. Its less than three weeks until Christmas. Are you ready? I am not. I haven't even started my shopping yet. I'm a last minute gift-getter. This week with all the rain falling and me still hoping for snow, we are going to have some easy recipes that will warm your bellies. I hope you enjoy. Monday - Chicken Caesar salad Tuesday - Mongolian Beef Wednesday - Tortellini soup Thursday - Chicken Fajita quesadillas Friday - Garlic parmesan chicken Saturday - Pizza night Sunday - Toads in a hole

I love argyle and I love Christmas, so why not put the two together and come up with an argyle Christmas wreath? A few years ago I made a wreath for my mom out of simple and easy to find materials. Its super simple and I will show you how. What you will need:  Straw wreath in a size of your choosing. You can find these at any craft store. Two colors of yarn. One for the main color and one for the crisscross color. One color of felt for the diamonds. Hot glue gun and scissors.  Making the wreath is easy but a little tedious. You have to wrap the yarn around the straw wreath as tightly as possible so you can't see the straw showing through. This is going to take a little while. For me it was about an hour. One you have the whole wreath wrapped you can tie off the yarn on the back of the wreath so you can't see it. Use the felt to cut diamond shapes to glue onto the front of the wreath. The amount of diamonds depends on how big you make them and how far apart you sp...