Feeding the Family without a Kitchen

We love to pack up the van and head out of town, but the continuous rising cost to travel together keeps us and other families taking creative measures for vacations.  This past week, we've been staying in the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville, KY. while my husband, who serves as the ITS Director for the Church of God of Prophecy and logistics coordinator for our International General Assembly, unfortunately works long hours. Because this is a business related trip, our hotel is covered but feeding a family of 6 (my nephew tagged along) means using some unconventional cooking methods or taking out a small loan just for eating out.  Restaraunts, when feeding a family with teenage boys, can be extremely expensive and unnecessary. With a small amount of creativity, you can also enjoy meals in your hotel room instead of the local restaurant scene.

First survey your hotel accomodations.  We have a mini fridge, a coffee pot and a sink available for cooking but no microwave.  That makes this more of a challenge, but not an impossibility.   

When you are packing for your trip, make sure to pack a few kitchen necesities to help provide meals that consist of more than cold sandwiches and junk food. For this week, my crockpot and a sandwich maker with interchangeable plates (sandwich maker, waffle iron and panini grill) are my main appliances.  Most of you will have a crockpot but if you don't this could be a much used investment.  The sandwich maker could be substituted by an electric skillet or griddle as well.  Along with these small appliances, don't forget to bring a serving spoon, can-opener, small cutting board and knife, and ziploc bags.  I would probably add a strainer, a plastic bowl and lid to this list. My menu plans for feeding all of us on the cheap follow with a couple of my favorite recipes!

Breakfasts:

Cold cereal, bananas and milk
Toasted Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches using the sandwich maker
Chocolate Oatmeal creatively made in the room's coffee pot
Sweet Rolls made with the interchangeable waffle plates following a pinterest recipe

Lunches:

Turkey sandwiches with lettuce, tomato and cucumbers, potato chips w/ dip, oranges, and cookies
Pizza Pockets made in the sandwich maker using canned biscuit dough, pizza sauce, mini pepperonis, and mozzarella cheese, served with marshmallow fruit salad. 
Ramen noodles cooked in the coffee maker and PB&J grilled sandwiches with either apple slices.
Last day leftovers .
   

Suppers:

Crockpot Lasagna, Caesar Salad and Garlic Toast
Chicken Cheese Tortilla Soup and Chicken Quesadillas with chips and salsa. 
Spicy Chicken Patty Sandwiches trimmed with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. 
Hotdogs grilled on the panini plates with chips and dip, pudding treats, and fruit
Fend for yourself Leftovers Sunday or pizza while mom and dad go out to eat. :0
I'm thinking Sunday will be fend for yourself while mom and dad go out for supper to celebrate another Assembly finished. 

Even a few friends have come for dinner!

There are quite a few Crockpot meals to consider when eating in a hotel room or any other unusual circumstance. I went with ease and what I thought my crew would eat without leaving leftovers!  Here's the recipes for our meals.

Crockpot Lasagna

2 bags of frozen ravioli (I did half cheese and half meat filled)
1 large jar of spaghetti sauce
1 pack of shredded motzie cheese

Dump the ravioli in the crockpot, cover with the sauce and top with the cheese. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve this with a caesar salad kit and french bread.  I just mix the salad together right in the bag and dished it out into our disposable bowls.  I sliced the "everything" seasoned french bread, buttered both sides and placed on the panini grill plates.  It was so tastey.  By morning even the left over slices were gone. 

This is our favorite soup!

Chicken Tortilla Cheese Soup

2 cans of cream of chicken soup
2 cans of cheese soup
2 large cans of chicken
1 large can of red enchilada sauce
2 soup cans of milk

Dump all the ingredients into the crockpot, and stir.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Serve with crushed tortilla chips.  I don't always remember to take pictures but here's one of the soup after everyone has helped themselves! 

We also made cheese and chicken quesadillas to compliment our soup as well as chips and salsa.   The quesadillas were made on the panini grill using a bag of ready to eat grilled fajita chicken and co-jack cheese.  I just buttered the tortilla, folded it in half and stuck it in the sandwich maker. 

Mmmmm Good!

Spicy Chicken Sandwiches

Frozen Chicken Patties
Buns
Lettuce, tomato, and cucumbers
mayo and mustard

Defrost the chicken patties.  Grill the patties on the panini grill.  Assemble sandwiches.  Set out the chips and dip, and fruit. 

This has been a favorite this week with everyone eating seconds.  Glad I bought two bags of chicken patties!

These were a huge hit with our crew! 

Pizza Pockets

Canned Biscuits
Mini pepperoni
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese

Using your fingers press the biscuit dough into a flat circle. Spoon sauce, toppings, and cheese in the middle. Fold over and pinch around the edges to seal. Place up to four into the preheated sandwich maker and bake.

This lunch was eaten as fast as I could make them so I didn't even bother to break out the salad or fruit.  But it would have complimented these nicely.

This week has gone well and I've kept my hungry crew and their friends fed.  My sons have felt independent roaming back and forth between the room and the conference and yet still checked in like clockwork at lunch, supper, and after church for snacks which means less worry for this mama.  I plan to have my crockpot and sandwich maker accompany me on vacations and business related trips for years to come.

 

Toothfairy Caught In Action

T just turned 5.  How is it possible that he could have already lost 2 of his baby teeth?  It's not. Yet that's where we are, hiding gold coins under pillows and talking about the tooth fairy.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and just couldn't resist.  A little of photo shop and the skillful hands of my dear husband and voila - the Tooth Fairy has been seen exchanging your tooth for a gold coin!  I can't wait for morning! 

Summer Wouldn't Be Summer Without a Week at Camp

Today Chris and I finished his summer camp shopping, rounding out his wardrobe to include a couple more pairs of shorts, a new pair of swim trunks, a few toiletry neccesities and of course a couple of cans of silly string!  His overwhelming enthusiasm for time to move faster burst out during the ride home. He pleaded with time, "Please go faster!" as he sat staring straight into the digital display on our van's console.  Teen Camp is the last camp of the summer at Camp Hickory Hills so I understand his lack of patience.  He's already listened to his brother's camp stories which only fuel his excitement for his turn.   

Jeff and his cousin Jon with their Cabin at Senior Camp!

This week long summer camp experience has been in our family for several generations and I can get extremely nostalgic remembering my own weeks of summer camp.  I started when I was just 6 years old and spent two whole nights in a cabin filled with squeals and giggles, living the scenes from the Disney classic movie "The Parent Trap."  My summers of youth camp continued each and every summer for as many weeks as were available and well into adulthood.  At some point I just switched roles from camper to staff and continued until having kids of my own. 
 

Cousins at Camp - It's a family tradition!

Jeff and Chris both have spent at least a week at youth camp each and every year since they were 6. For both of them, it truly is the highlight of their summer. They come back sharing stories of new friends, practical jokes, catching crawfish in the creek and sliding down the plastic water slide.  I listen intently, reliving my own experiences through their stories.  I don't want to miss a single detail. When they pause for breath, I pose questions to stear our conversation towards the nightly chapel services, the cabin devotions and their classes. It can be hard to cheer from the sidelines knowing there isn't anything that quite compares to a hundred plus kids experiencing a mighty move of God's Spirit in their lives and in the lives of their friends. 

Tomorrow morning, after we swing through the ATM machine for trip money, we will pack our Chris with his sleeping bag, duffle bag, backpack, and pillow into the church bus. Somewhat resembling a can of sardines, he and his friends will make the three hour drive to Camp Hickory Hills.  Before they drive away, parents will gather around the bus and pray for traveling mercies, health and safety, and most importantly for their week to bring spiritual growth.  Church camp is life altering.  It's part of what shaped me and is now shaping my sons into Godly young men.  I am so thankful my boys have the opportunity to participate and look forward to next year when we can take our Tim to Big Shot Camp.  Big Shot is for the younger campers and their parents so next year I will be trying to coax time to move faster right alongside my boys! 

 I love summer days where at least for me deadlines and responsibilities relax to move with the flow of warm weather.  Now that summer is in full swing, my projects and to do list has surpassed the mile high mark but my thoughts and time have been spent planning and pinning!  My list of projects to get done before fall dictates a more structured schedule has already spent all of June and my sons although they have enjoyed the lackadaisical behavior of their mother are missing out on what makes summer summer. 

It took a morning devotion on excellence in obedience to see that my struggles of procrastination, over-commitment, not living my priorities, and the full blown distractions such as technology are truly my battlefields for obedience. Time is more often than not a major battlefield for me. I want to be obedient to the Lord, I want to train my children to love God and love others to Him.  Time will disappear.  It may be a few hours, a whole day, or even as today's realization sinks in - most of June. It's time to move from summer bucket list-maker to fun checking off marker.  It's time to get er done and enjoy the process.  So I'm off to love my children, niece and nephew at the pool! 

Monica

CC Memory Board for Home

Because we participate in Classical Conversations, practicing our memory work is an important aspect of our homeschool day.  I've tried various approaches to memory work time at home, including keeping a memory work notebook and using a memory work board for review. Since our family's four year old has joined us at CC, we have been using our memory work board exclusively. 

This DIY board was created by taking a full size project board and cutting it in half.  If you are familiar with CC memory work you will recognize the Veritas Press Timeline Cards on the bottom half of the board for an accurate size marker.  I placed the memory work for each of the seven subjects on this board plus the week's science snippet card and our name that state board. 

Using the memory work CD, I printed off each week's memory work in color as power point slides.  I chose to print them three per page and then laminate them. Using binder rings I attached the math, history, and geography cards to the top of the board so that I could simply flip the card over to change that week's sentence. 

Of course not every subject could be close to the top edge so for science, English Grammar, Latin and the time line cards I used these little plastic clips.  They cost $1.50 for a package of fifty.  These little clips must be attached as they are not sticky backed.  I used some doubled sided foam tape from my craft drawer.  The cards easily slip in and out of the clips making it easy to change to the next week's work or like our youngest son so enjoys you can take the time line cards down, mix them up and then have him put them back up in the correct order. 

Our memory board has been a successful addition to our school day and a great reference point for practicing our memory work in the morning. We go over the current week every morning and choose to review one subject in its entirety each day.  Monday is Latin, Wednesday is History, Thursday is Science and Friday is English.  The timeline, math, and geography we review daily. 

Maple, Apple Oatmeal

My favorite way to make oatmeal for one! 

Core and thinly slice an apple into bite size pieces.  Drizzle 2 Tbs of pure maple syrup over the apple, cover with a paper towel and microwave for 1 -2 minutes or until soft.  Put 1/2 cup of old fashioned oatmeal and 1/2 cup of water on top and microwave again for a minute or two!  Mix well and garnish with a dollop of plain yogurt and a pinch of cinnamon or maybe a tad bit of milk. 

Fit or Fat For Forty Flops!

Back in April I felt so determined to shed all the extra pounds that have been accumulating mostly around my middle. Since it's now almost October you can guess - I fell off the wagon. :(

On April 27th, five horrendous tornadoes ripped through our town putting everyone in a tailspin.  My local church joined with the Salvation Army and went into action.  Everything fell to the wayside as our focus was to just help our neighbors through this devastation.  Everything including my diet.  I lost a total of 12 pounds and have been successful at keeping 10 of it off my hips!  Still wondering how in the world manual labor plus heat + tons of water equals maintaining the same weight but I dare not complain.  My house is still standing intact! 

So I guess I need a new goal.  I still have about 60 powdered "meals"  to reconstitute and enjoy!  Maybe it's that thought that keeps me from diving back in.  I really did like the program while I was walking through it, and of course it helped to have a friend and her husband encouraging me towards success.  My husband, even though he winced at the price weight loss was costing his wallet, was also very supportive.   Not completely sure he would be gung-ho to fork out another months supply but then again neither am I. 

It looks like it's back to the old fashioned work following the more sweat and less food method!  Nothing worth it comes easy, right?  It took 3 babies and plenty of cupcakes to get into this shape so what makes me think I can blink and see my 25 year old skinny reflection staring back at me?  Time to dust off the tread meal, oops I meant treadmill, dig out the water bottle and buy less sugary processed foods!

I'll let you know how it goes!