About a year and a half ago, I got serious about menu planning—it made a huge difference in streamlining grocery shopping and eliminating stress from a normal day, but people often asked why I didn't "plan" breakfasts and lunches.

The reason?

We eat the same thing every day.

Does it get boring? Honestly, no. The kids appreciate the stability, it eliminates decision fatigue, cleanup is a breeze, and it's all stuff the *kids* can make themselves if/when I'm otherwise occupied.

It seems so obvious to me that this would be a reasonable solution, but every time I mention it, multiple moms *cannot believe* what a huge difference this makes!

So what do we eat?

Quick Fall Treat: Apple Cinnamon Scones

I love scones. But the scones I love might not really be classified as scones - moist, muffin-y, falling apart... Not those dry triangles you see everywhere else! We used to live near a bakery that sold the most amazing scones that were nothing like anything I'd ever had before. I would happily shell out the $3, since I just couldn't figure out how to make mine so incredible! Then a friend pointed me to this recipe for raspberry scones and I knew I could adapt that for whatever flavors I wanted. Finally, moist, muffin-y scones!

Can I even call them scones if they aren't triangular? Maybe... Maybe not? In any case, they're delicious and so simple to make. Give these a try for a quick fall treat!

Second Breakfast: The Most Important Meal of the Day

 This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Tyson Foods, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #JDgreatdays  http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

I'm not one to be controlled by my constant appetite but... Wait, I totally am. Y'all, especially when I'm pregnant, I'm SO prone to get completely and totally hangry if I don't get enough to eat. I've found that the best way to control this is to put myself on a fairly strict schedule of what to eat when, particularly when it comes to the first two meals of the day.

That's right: Breakfast and Second Breakfast.

Lenten Links {7 Quick Takes}

Lent! It's coming!!! And because blogging is how I organize my life and plan ahead, I'm sharing my planning with you in order to get my rear in gear!

--1--

Food

This list of meatless meals (with plenty of links!) is one of my top posts every Lent (and is great for reference throughout the year) - I updated it a bit this year, so check it out if you need ideas. What are your go-to recipes?

Waffles, Saints, and Baby Pictures {7QT}

--1--

I pinned this waffle recipe weeks ago and it immediately earned a spot on the permanent breakfast rotation - not too shabby, considering I refuse to actually cook anything for breakfast...  But it's SO easy - you make the batter the night before and just pop it in the waffle maker in the morning!  One recipe makes about 12 Belgian waffles, and we go through 8 as a family, which leaves 4 for leftovers the next day for me and the big kids.

Topped with a fried egg and bacon for Mardi Gras - YUM!

They're seriously SO good.  I've never been much of a waffle person but these honestly don't even need any toppings!  Waffle Wednesdays are now a thing at our house.

--2--

Are you ahead of the game and already thinking about Easter basket treats?  My friend Lindsey started an etsy shop this past fall with her awesome Blessings Blocks - the kids each have one of their own name saints and they adore them - Mary Claire's always lining them up so they can "go to Communion."

Her artwork is so beautiful - go check out Almond Rod Toys and order soon so you can get yours in time for Easter!  She has a beautiful Stations of the Cross set that I've got my eye on for the kids, and I know they're dying for more saints to add to our collection!  

One awesome thing about these is that they're so reasonably priced - I really wanted to start getting peg dolls for the kids years ago, but the beautiful ones are so expensive and I just can't justify the cost when there are always mouthy kids in our house who might scrape the paint off with their teeth...  So far these are indestructible - Mary Claire even colored all over one with pen and it wiped right off!

--3--

Winking brothers.  Love them!

--4--

Nearly everyone in the house is overdue for a hair cut...  Me most of all, considering the last time I got mine cut was before the twins were born.

But I knew Cecilia's could be taken care of really quickly - I caught her in a good mood and chopped off 4 or 5 inches so that it's not scraggly and tangled all the time anymore.  And it's ADORABLE!

Andrew hates it, but I reminded him that hair grows.  Cecilia alternates between not caring and ALSO hating it because she wants long hair like Rapunzel.

Next up...  The twins!!!  I just don't want to cut off those adorable baby curls.  But it's gotta happen, they've got such mullets.

--5--

This.

Apparently being the youngest of 5 makes you want to be around all the people all the time!

I'm really thankful that I can sometimes enlist their help in watching the baby while I get stuff done! And he ADORES them!

And that tongue in the first picture? Kills me. He's always sticking it out just a tiny bit and it's SO cute. And kind of gross, because John Paul and Cecilia like to make him lick their faces...

--6--

One last happy baby picture for you!  I had others I wanted to post but my camera decided to delete all the pictures I took of the twins' first time in the snow (WHAT???) so I've got a recovery program running to try to restore them.  So obnoxious.  But at least Peter's cute!

--7--

Did you read this week's posts?

Sunday's post was a photo dump with a WIWS appearance at the end

Michele from My Domestic Monastery guest-posted with an awesome Lenten sensory bin!

There's still time to enter the Veggie Tales Giveaway!

BAM! Baby was up to nurse so I'm linking up right on time with Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum - go check out more Quick Takes!

Meatless Meal: Slow Cooker Black Beans & Rice

I have a confession to make:

Up until about a year ago, I never cooked dried beans.

And when I wanted Mexican-style or Spanish-style rice?  

I made Rice-a-Roni.

It's ridiculous, considering how inexpensive plain rice is, but I was addicted to the ease of that little seasoning packet...  And I never planned well enough in advance to remember to soak dried beans the night before, and then even when I did they'd always end up mushy!

Well.  We bought a ginormous bag of rice from Costco a while back, and I've been trying to use it up which means NO MORE Rice-a-Roni.  And you know what?  I don't miss it.  This rice is SUPER easy to make, and topped with slow cooker black beans, it makes a wonderfully filling meatless meal!  

I love these beans because I can get them started in the morning and not have to worry about prepping them close to dinner time!  And my 5-year-old loves being in charge of pouring the ingredients in the slow cooker :)

Slow Cooker Black Beans:

2 cups (one pound) dried black beans

1 onion

5 cloves garlic

2 tbsp butter or oil

6 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth

1 tsp cumin

Optional: 1-2 bell peppers, chopped and/or one 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1. Mince onion & garlic (and pepper if you like) and sautee in butter/oil until soft.  Add cumin and stir 1 minute.

2.  Add dried beans (no need to soak!) to slow cooker.  Cover with onion mixture and broth.  Stir.

You can replace one cup of broth with one can of tomatoes

3.  Cook on high for 5-6 hours.

Is that not the easiest recipe ever?  And they turn out perfect every time - no more mushy beans!

Easy Salsa Rice

2 cups (one pound) white rice

1/2 onion

2 tbsp butter or oil

3.5 cups chicken broth

.5 cups salsa

1.  Mince onion and sautee in butter/oil over medium heat until soft.

2.  Rinse rice in mesh colander until water runs clear.

3.  Add rice to onion and stir 2-3 minutes.

4.  Add broth & salsa, stir, and bring to a boil.

5.  Cover and simmer 20 minutes until cooked through.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole, quesadillas, or any of your favorite accompaniments!

Need more meatless meals? Here are 25 more ideas!

How to Shop Without Leaving the House (Five Favorites)

Hands-down, my least favorite thing to do with kids in tow is try to get shopping done.  We have it down to an art at Costco and Trader Joe's (thank you samples, you are the best form of bribery), but anything else is just bound to be a bust.  Add four little kids to winter weather, and there's no way I want to leave the house, particularly since it takes an hour to get coats, hats, gloves etc. on before we leave!

So here are my five favorite ways to shop without leaving the house:

1.  Grocery staples:

Peapod and other similar grocery delivery services are SO convenient, but hard to use for me, because I don't get most of my groceries at a conventional grocery store.  They have coupons for free delivery every once in a while, and usually require a $50 minimum purchase.  So this works really well for me when we're stocking up on staples like flour, toilet paper, etc.

2.  Fresh produce:

From the Farmer (or your local CSA) - This is more of a treat for me than anything else, especially when farmer's markets are closed for the season.  They drop off a basket of fresh local produce on your doorstep on a weekly basis (or however often you want - we just do it once a month) and it is ALWAYS amazing and beautiful and such fun to be able to plan a menu around the delicious fresh produce we get!  It's $35 for a small basket, which is on the pricey side but if you mention my name (Rosie Hill) you can get $20 off your first order, which is absolutely worth it!  Best of all, you can schedule deliveries online, so no need to hide in the bathroom to make a phone call so your 4-year-old doesn't try to get in on the call with you (wait, am I the only one who has to do that?).

Is that not the biggest carrot you've ever seen?  Totally don't find them like that at the grocery store!

3.  Meat

Relay Foods (available in DC, Baltimore, Northern VA, Richmond, Williamsburg, Staunton, Charlottesville - you name it!) is kind of a combination of the two - Peapod-style shopping, but with tons of fresh local produce available, as well as typical grocery store items.  They also have a minimum purchase, but frequent promotions AND you get $30 off your first purchase if you use my invite code!  Their meat is fabulous, the only problem is how often things go out of stock.  But they deliver on most days straight to your door, which a lot less notice needed than with Peapod.

4.  Clothes for you

Twice

I know, I extol the virtues of Twice all the time.  But seriously, it's so awesome!  Free shipping on orders over $49, free returns, and they have measurements listed on their clothing so you have a much better idea of what will fit/be too short, etc.  I find it really useful for staples, and they're super-generous with credit and coupon codes, plus their customer service is fabulous!  I just got a J.Crew denim jacket for $2.01 because of my credit from selling my old clothes, credit from you awesome ladies signing up through my link, and some other coupon codes!

Shirt & sweater, Twice.  John Paul's polo & jeans from ThredUp.

ThredUp is decent for adult clothes too, but they don't list measurements and their returns don't include free shipping, so I vastly prefer Twice.

5. Clothes for the kids



ThredUp

Hands-down, ThredUp.  I just got a huge order of stuff for the kids, Gymboree galore, Osh Kosh, Carter's, etc...  Nothing over $8 and most of it was under $4!  And every single item was in perfect condition.  This is about what I expect to pay at my favorite consignment store, only I didn't have to leave the house and shipping was free, so I guess it was technically cheaper than going somewhere to shop since I didn't have to pay for gas.

There's a LOT on their site, but if you know what you're looking for it's easy.  Cecilia pretty much only wants to wear elastic waist skirts, so I found the cheapest ones in her size and snapped them up.  Browsing isn't a lot of fun because there's so much that it gets overwhelming, but narrowing it down is easy with their search feature.

Returns are not easy, since you have to pay return shipping.  But for kids' clothes?  I'm not returning anything, because it doesn't have to fit the way clothes have to fit me!

Cecilia paired her new striped skirt with a striped shirt, because that's how she rolls.

Linking up with Hallie at Moxie Wife - check out more favorites!

7 Quick Takes: Messy faces, book lists, and cupcakes!

--1--

Well, as much as I don't like random pictures of babies with messy faces...  The babies had their birthday party and had adorable messy faces!

We weren't even singing to Elizabeth at this point - she just LOVES the birthday song!

Elizabeth preferred the cake part, Mary Claire wasn't quite sure about the icing...

OH YES!!!  CAKE!!!

Um, I ate a little bit of cupcake with my frosting...

It's not supposed to go in my ear?

Now I know why I've never given cake with real icing for first birthdays...  John Paul had half a popsicle (Andrew was studying for the bar, give me a break!) and I made cake pops for Cecilia (uuuuugh so vile!  FAR too sweet!).  So yeah, the babies had baths before they opened presents.

--2--

How is it the end(ish) of November already?  Seriously, this month barely even happened...

--3--

Today is the feast of St. Cecilia!  So Cecilia gets to choose dinner, except every time I ask her what she wants she just wants whatever we just ate.  So I convinced her eggs were a good idea (I mean, it's Friday so...  Not a lot of options!) and then convinced her that she wants cupcakes for dessert.  With pink icing.

Yum!

Birthday cupcakes, not feast day cupcakes!

The problem, though, is that I used a recipe that only makes 6 cupcakes (because otherwise I would have used a box mix and who needs 24 cupcakes?  Not us...) which means I can't sneak one as a sample because there are 6 of us!

Luckily they overflowed so I took my cupcake tax that way :P

I mean, it would have messed with the frosting so...  Yeah, had to cut off the tops and eat them.  Delicious :)

--4--

John Paul and Cecilia found their bin of winter outerwear and accessories. Which means we play "winter dress-up" for most of the day.  Unfortunately, I'm required to participate because they can't get both mittens on by themselves.  We spend probably 20 minutes getting them in snow pants, coats, mittens, scarves, hats, boots... 

And then they go outside and take it all off.

Even though it's like, 40 degrees.

They get it from their dad.

--5--

I jumped on the chevron bandwagon and ohhhhh are those babylegs not the cutest ever?

--6--

Outfit pictures that have been sitting on my phone for a while:

--7--

And last, some links for you:

I laughed out loud at this one:  A complete curmudgeon's guide to The Sound of Music

Some awesome suggestions for books for Christmas, Advent, and all the feast days that fall in December:

Elizabeth Foss's list

Micaela's list

Sarah's list

Haley's list

I went through most of those lists Wednesday night and put a bunch on hold at the library - now I get to read through all of them once they start coming in!  Seriously, I had no idea our library had so many religious books...

My posts this week:

A Gift Guide for Musical Toys

What They Said - a link-up for hilarious quotes!

What I Wore Sunday

Check out more posts at Conversion Diary - Happy Friday!