Mexican Breakfast Part2- Potatoes O'Brien

Sure Potatoes O'Brien is said to originate in Ireland, but it compliments our Mexican Breakfast fabulously. With the green and red bell peppers and the onions it provides color and just enough zesty flavor. Of course you can go to your local grocery store and pick up a bag of frozen Potatoes O'Brien and be done, but its so much less expensive and tastier to make your own. What I do is make a few batches and freeze them and I will show you how!

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 large potato (or 2 medium) for each batch you want to make
1 green and 1 red bell pepper
1 white onion
some olive oil
and if you plan on freezing you'll need some freezer Ziploc bags and a Sharpie

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO!

1. Dice all the peppers. I like to put them in a small container and store them in the fridge. If you are only making one batch you probably wont use all of the peppers so you can use them for something else. They will stay fresh in the fridge for a couple days or you can freeze them and they will keep for at least a month. I used one green and one red pepper and made 3 batches. Mix the red and green together and set aside in the fridge.

2. Dice up the onion. Again, I like to put them in a container. I didn't use all of the onion for my 3 batches. I like to put diced onions in my salad, so I usually always have some chopped up. Set aside in the fridge too.

3. Peel and dice the potato. Since potatoes turn brown soon you'll have to start cooking them as soon as you're done cutting them.

4. Heat olive oil in large skillet. Use about a couple Tbsp's. and heat on Med-High heat. Or if you have a deep fryer that's even better. Let the skillet heat up for a minute or two.

5. Add potatoes. Only put enough potatoes in the skillet to make a single layer. Turning every couple minutes, if splattering occurs cover the skillet until it gets under control. Cook until they start to turn brown.

IF NOT FREEZING:
6. Add Peppers and Onion. Add about 1/4 cup of mixed peppers and a 1/4 cup of onions to skillet cook until potatoes are well browned. The reason you add the veggies last is so they are still crisp and the onions won't burn.

If you want to eat these taters alone we like to add ketchup.

IF FREEZING BATCHES
6. Let potatoes cool. After cooking only until slightly browned (you don't want to cook all the way because you'll burn them when you want to unfreeze them) Transfer potatoes to a colander to drain any extra oil off and let cool completely. You DO NOT want to freeze hot or warm food it causes bacteria to form.

7. Add veggies Ziploc and freeze. After you let the oil drain off you can put the potatoes in the Ziploc bag. Be careful because you don't want mushy potatoes. Then add about a 1/4 cup of mixed peppers and a 1/4 cup of onions and gently shake the bag to mix. Next make sure you get all the air out of the bag then zip it up and make sure you write with a Sharpie what it is and the date made. Put in the fridge for an hour to make sure its all completely cool, then freeze and your all done!

TO COOK FROZEN POTATOES
8. Heat oil in pan. Heat a couple Tbsp of olive oil in skillet on medium high heat for about a minute. Then carefully add the frozen potatoes, splattering will probably occur so cover the skillet until it stops. The potatoes will be in large chunks while frozen so carefully break apart as they heat up with a wooden or plastic spoon but don't force them to break up you don't want mushy potatoes. Every couple minutes flip around the potatoes until they are a golden brown. (Or if you have a deep fryer it will make everything so much easier.)

Mexican Breakfast: Part 1- Baby's Breakfast

Mashed Avocado and Rice Cereal

Eva loves avocado!

Ingredients: 1 ripe avocado, some water, and 1 or 2 Tbsp of baby rice cereal

All you have to do is open up the avocado, scoop out the insides, then mash or puree it. Now for anyone that has never cut open an avocado (like me...) there is a huge seed inside so you can't just slice it down the middle like an apple. (duh, right?) After you cut it open get the seed out and throw it away. Make sure you keep any part of the avocado out of reach of your pets, the avocados contain a dangerous toxin for animals. But don't worry avocados are super healthy for babies, they contain good fats to help the development of their nervous system and brain. So after the avocado is cut up, the fruit will just easily scoop off the peel. You can either mash it up with a fork or what I do is put it in the chopper part of my baby food maker machine (which is a steamer and chopper all in one) there isn't a need to steam it because its already soft enough. I chop it until its a smooth texture. Place enough in baby's bowl, you can save the left over for guacamole later (just squeeze a little lemon juice in it to keep from browning). Put a little water (or formula if you prefer) in baby's bowl and mix with avocado until its too thin for baby. Then you can add the rice cereal until its back to desired thickness. Now baby is ready to eat!! 

****NOTES**** Avocados are a great first food for babies, but remember every baby is different and to use the 4 day rule when introducing new foods. Eva is 6 months old and had been eating solids since she was 3 months (she was a bigger baby). She eats about 2oz of food 3 times a day and gets 6-8oz bottles 4 times a day. A great website for homemade baby foods is wholesomebabyfood.com. 

Aw Crap We Gotta Go Back to Wal-Mart!

How many of you take a trip to Wal-Mart more than once a week? How many go more than once a day? Ridiculous right! Better question, how many of you have errands to run everyday? Well I was once of those people. One weekend we had went to Wal-Mart five times! FIVE TIMES! Plus I would have somewhere I "needed" to go everyday. Think about how much gas that it. Let's do the math, it's approximately 5 miles from our apartment to Wal-mart that's 10 miles there then back. Traveling there 5 times in one weekend is 50 miles not only is over an hour in driving time its about $6 in gas just for going to good'ole Wallie World. And you know there is no such thing as buying only one item at Wal-Mart so that's more money being zapped out of our bank account. Let's say an average trip to Wal-Mart cost about $30.... oh good Lord we spent at least $150 where as one trip probably world have cost us between $50 and $100. Well played Wal-Mart, well played.

So after losing "The Wal-Mart Game" I decided Wallie World would NOT win again. Not only were we going to Wal-Mart a few times a week we were going somewhere everyday. Which caused us to eat out because there wasn't enough time to cook, eat, and run errands especially since Eva's bedtime is between 8 or 9, sometimes we didn't get to eat until 9 or 10 after we put her to bed. I found myself saying "I just want to stay home and relax for one night!" So we changed our routine and did just that, actually we get to relax 3 nights or more a week, plus, more stuff gets done around the house.

I devised a plan, with the exception of a couple days (because of store deals) we would only be shopping on one day. Monday's and Tuesday's we don't go anywhere, no exceptions. We stay home, I cook a fabulous meal, catch up on our TV shows on the internet, spend some play time with baby Eva, and get a few small items done around the house. On Wednesdays at Michaels (the local craft store) they give a 10% discount on your total purchase to military so if i need anything we go. I order pizza before Chris gets home so we can eat real quick then leave and after sometimes we stop and get some ice cream. On Thursday we go to Babies R US if we need something (and we usually need something). We go on Thursday's because they usually have special member's only deals on that day and its when we get the coupons in the mail. On Friday, we go out to eat and do our grocery shopping. Friday's are best because the store is always practically empty if we wait until Saturday its busy non-stop. Then Saturday is our big shopping day, we get up early and go get breakfast and run the rest of our errands. We usually go to the mall and walk the whole mall, for exercise more than shopping actually we only buy from a couple stores. Then we go to Wal-Mart and the veggie/fruit stand and anywhere else we need. We are usually worn out and tired from the day so we order some take-out and relax and watch a movie. On Sunday's its pure relaxation, we sleep late then go to the beach, then I cook yet again another fabulous meal.

I know what your thinking how can she remember EVERYTHING she needs to only go to Wal-Mart or anywhere else on one day only once. Well I got this great app on my phone that lets me make several different list, for example I name the store and then list what I need. It is a fabulous thing, I never forget my paper list because its all on my phone. I use it like a million times a day, when I tell myself "oh we need..." I just get my phone and type it in. And if I happen to forget something it's tough luck Charlie, I wait until next week.

By doing this we aren't so tired anymore, eating healthier and saving money. We went from spending about $400-$500 a week to spending less than that every 2 weeks just buy staying home 3 days a week. Also it's so much nicer to relax with my husband and baby girl at night and watch our TV shows or even sometimes a movie. And best of all we only have to go to Wal-Mart once a week and we no longer get those "weren't you just in here" looks from the door greeters!!

Story of my Life

So after having my little baby girl in February life only got more crazy. As if moving half across the country and being thrust into a totally new life wasn't crazy enough! In a world of luxuries such as technology and get-it-done-quick gadgets I long to go back in time to the I Love Lucy days. I wish I had been born in simpler times where we didn't rely on the television to keep us occupied. I know, I know who doesn't love TV right? Well i do love television and movies I just don't like that there are over 400 channels to choose from. Now that I am a mom I find myself wishing there were more hours of the day and more stressed out everyday. With my efforts of trying to be super mom and super wife and being 1500 miles from any family and friends I started to feel depressed and overwhelmed. So I have decided to cut the nonsense out of mine and my families life. I came to this decision by remembering Lucy and my childhood.


I grew up in the countryside of a small town named Buckner, located about 20 miles from Kansas City, Missouri. I lived in the same house for 18 years with about 5 acres of surrounding land. My dad, like me, preferred the old fashioned way before the technological way. Until I was over 18 and moved out on my own  I had never eaten a store bought vegetable or fruit, just about everything was grown in our backyard. I remember the summers of my dad tilling the garden, me and my brother helping to plant the seeds, and the canning process. I can close my eyes and still smell the stench of making and canning pickles. YUCK! During the summer we would eat fresh salads and by fresh I mean my dad would take a knife outside slice the lettuce from the ground then walk over to the tomato vines and cut down a tomato. Summertime I also dislike though as a kid. Why? Because summertime meant worktime. My brother and I did everything from shuck corn husks, snap green beans, to help weed out the garden. I would think to myself "This sucks none of my friends had to do this!" But now as an adult I wish I could go back to those times and if I could I wouldn't have bitched and moaned about it.


Along with the gardening thing we also had our very own chickens! Yes as with the fruits and vegetables I had never had a store bought egg until I moved out. And I even remember one time my grandmother coming over and her and my dad butchered a bunch of the chickens for meat. We did buy most of our meat so I have no idea of if or when I ate the chickens that ran around the backyard. There were other old fashioned ways that my parents enforced us to live with, like no air conditioning, we didn't get the whole central air thing until I was 16 maybe, I don't remember the exact time. But I do remember how freezing it was inside the house then because we weren't use to it. Also we didn't have a dishwasher either, no I take that back, I was the dishwasher. We washed dishes about twice a day where as most people run their dishwasher once a day. Still to this day my parents do not have a dishwasher. My dad also prided himself with doing it all on his own. I would say 90% of their home was made by my father's own two hands. Some people may argue with me, but trust me you take greater pleasure in things if they came from hard work, creativity, and your own mind and hands.


With keeping up with old fashioned ways I was taught that women's place was in the home and men's place was the outside. The husbands bring home the bacon and the wives fry it up and serve it. My mom was a stay-at home mom and I loved it. I loved it when she was home when we got home from school and could give us our snack and tell her about our day and what we learned. I also remember snippets of before school and how much fun me and my brother had with my mom being right by our side. Before I grew up and got married and had a baby I really didn't think I was going to just be a mom, I did have some aspirations of a career. I thought I was going to become everything from a doctor to a detective to a music video dancer, and before I got married my career of choice had become an optician.


Let's flash forward from my childhood to adulthood. Two years ago I married my dream man, Chris. He is in the United States Marine Corp and he changed my life. In these very short two years we got married, went through a deployment to Iraq, moved half way across the country to San Diego California, and had a baby girl. My life pretty much changed overnight, I went from only taking care of myself and a cat to taking car of a husband, a baby and 2 cats! My days use to consist of work and watching TV alone in my tiny apartment. Now it consists of laundry, cooking, cleaning, oh and that baby which needs to be changed and fed every few hours by the way. When I lived by myself I could eat for a week with a $20 trip to the grocery store, now a $100 barely feeds the two of us a week. My new life has definitely became more chaotic, but having a handsome husband and the cutest baby ever are the things I would never change! 


During the realization that baby's aren't cheap and how much money and time my husband and I waste, I decided we need to be  more frugal. I had already started without realizing it. Last year when we moved to sunny San Diego and I was newly pregnant I was shocked to see that every apartment we looked at had only a tiny wall unit air conditioner. Coming from the Midwest where the heat index during the summer can get all the way past the 100's I just could not believe it. How was i going to survive being pregnant and sweaty? We ran the a/c non-stop and even purchased a $30 fancy wall fan for the bedroom which didn't fit in the window by the way and ended up breaking in the end. Our electric bill ran us around $150 a month for our small 2 bedroom apartment. This year I'm not pregnant and we are use to the weather now, so we have a fan in each bedroom and the living room and we leave all the windows open and we haven't turned the a/c on once I am super proud of that! Our electric bill has gone down to $75 a month that's half the savings by just not running the tiny window a/c. And I am already starting to save more money on the bill my next goal is to unplug anything that isn't being used so we will see how much our bill will be in a couple months.