Time flies when your having fun... and more

WOW!!! So much has happened since I last wrote!

Not sure where to start. Let's see... After our little Aimee was born, Andy had another open heart surgery in April of 2017. We were in the hospital for over a month recovering from that surgery. Came home and tried to get back some semblance of order and normalcy. School started for the older boys and by the end of August of 2017 my husband ended up in heart failure and needed open heart surgery. We were in the hospital again for another 2-3 weeks. I forgot how long... Then it was helping my husband with his recovery. He ended up needing a mechanical heart valve. He had an aortic aneurysm which created his aorta to swell and need replacing. This being his third open heart surgery, second since we've been married. We wanted a better permanent solution. It's different for sure. Always have a clicking sound around him. A lot like Captain Hook from Peter Pan, but much more lovingly. Realizing the clicking noise helps me know he's ok. I'm able to enjoy the click instead of being annoyed by it. It bothers my husband and he's trying to still get used to it. The clicking keeps him up many a night. He's back working and it's been 1 year since his last surgery. All is holding strong. Which is good. I've started back to college working towards my Bachelors of Science in Medical Administration, then on to my MBA. I realized I need to have a back up plan. My life can change quickly and I need to be prepared to care for my young and old children if needed. I'm still a Stay-at-home mom but things can change. We in addition to all of that have decided to move to South Carolina and put our current house on the market March 2019. So, we have been working on updating and fixing up the house. It's been a lot of flooring so far, but we've got painting, bathrooms, outside stuffs and more to still do. With the weather turning cold we feel a need to quickly get the outside stuff done sooner than later. Now if only we had the money to complete everything. One thing at a time I keep trying to tell my self. All in due time. I've also been released from Young Womens calling at church and am now in Primary CTR 4 Teacher. I love my little kiddos, but I miss my young women. 

Aimee is talking, walking, running and jumping. Andy is inquisitive and creative. We've also potty trained Andy! woohoo... one more little to go and no more diapers EVER!  Bryen moved out last year in Dec, but moved back home in April this year. He's working and plugging along, doesn't seem to have much of a desire to have any direction which is sad and scares me. I'm trying to be encouraging but it doesn't always come across as that. We are trying to get him to pick a direction... and go. However, he is in no hurry to do that. Braeden graduates this year and is getting lots of stuff from colleges. He doesn't know if he wants to move with us to SC or stay here in WV. Time will tell what he decides to do. He's also working at McDonalds and says it's ok. Mikey is learning to drive and through his online high school is scheduled to graduate early 2019. He will be 15 almost 16 when he graduates. Crazy to think I will have three high school graduates next year. It will be a big year. 

Bill and I celebrated out 20 Year anniversary this July. We went on a dinner cruise in DC and spent the weekend together. It was very nice. Some times it's hard to believe it's been that long. It feels like just yesterday we were married. I can't imagine my life without him, I hope I never have to. Some days I still get sad when I think of how I almost lost him last year. It puts priorities and thoughts into different perspectives. We realized life is short and we need to live our dreams instead of just dream them. Living near the beach has always been our dream. WE will be making that a dream come true next year. We will be 45 min away from the beach, instead of 4 hours. We can hardly wait. 

What's new? well, lots... I've put my cooking on the back burner for a while and every now and again I make something from scratch. But right now I need to focus on the kids, house and schoolwork. Cooking has gotten more quick and prepackaged lately. I am trying to lose weight and so I've been eating less, and trying to make healthier choices even with quick meals. For a while I did 5 Dinners in 1 hour meals. Which I loved but were still a bit too involved for my current time. I am hoping to start back up soon. They have great recipes for lunches and dinners. Planning a week at a time helps too. Here's hoping it doesn't take me as long to post again. I hope all is well with my Blog peeps! leave a message and share with me your life. I sometimes feel I write and it goes into the void of nothingness. Have a great day! May God bless and keep you!

What a crazy two years!

What a crazy two years it has been since I've last updated this blog!

We have had another two surgeries for baby Andy. We have added another two members to our family, we now have a baby girl Aimee Sariah Clark who is almost 7 months old and a fur baby girl Skyler.


We have had many ups and downs as well as a few steps forwards and a few steps back.

I am still baking and making up recipes or altering existing recipes. I am hoping to pick up getting them online. Some of my creations have been posted on my Facebook. I am done having babies, Andy is done with surgeries for the foreseeable future. He isn't completely without needing something, but as normal as we will get. He is taking two medications twice daily and one medication once daily. This is our new normal. He is healing well from his last surgery which was in April. He was in the hospital for over a month. This last surgery was a doozy of one. He struggled for a while there, but eventually pulled through. He is a fighter and a warrior! He is one amazing little dude! Aimee is a little gem! She definitely has all the men in our home wrapped around her little pinky... well mom, too! We are grateful for the blessings we have received. God has been very good to us.

What's next... Well, I have two children homeschooling. One is in public school, and then the two littles. Getting back to some kind of order from the chaos. Next up is potty training Andy, and helping Aimee learn to crawl.


until next time! :)

BABY #4 has ARRIVED!!

Back on May 21, 2015 our baby #4 arrived. Welcome world Andrew Len Clark...

Due to his medical issues, we were delayed coming home. He was almost in the hospital a month after his birth. He barely missed it by 6 days. While he was there, he had two surgeries. One was on his bowels due to a malrotation called a LADDs. The second one was to put in pacer wires on his heart and to put in a shunt and patch.

He has been home almost two months and it's hard to believe so much has happened in his short little life. We are so grateful for the prayers of many.

His current status is amazing baby! Yes we are not done with heart surgeries... but we have been so blessed by such an amazing spirit in this little man. He is thriving. Growing like a weed.

Baby Andy joins the World! Before any surgeries:)

Baby Andy after first Surgery LADDs procedure

Baby Andy before Heart surgery

Baby Andy meeting brothers for the first time after heart surgery

 Baby Andy shortly before coming home from the hospital. Baby Andy... HOME! 

Now he's almost 3 months old and he's doing very well...
No NG tube for feeding... and he's growing like a weed. Almost 16 lbs. Next up, grow bigger... Next heart surgery sometime between Sept 2015 and Dec 2015.

Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs

One of the easiest recipes I've ever made. I found a similar recipe on Pinterest that used kielbasa. Since I didn't have that and not as much bell pepper (my family won't eat it any way) I altered the original recipe that was for Freezer Meal Crockpot Sweet and Sour Sausage, to Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs. 

Trying to adjust to having a baby and three teenage boys, making dinner has been a real challenge. Well, at least made by 9pm. The two older teenage boys are playing football this fall, and are at practice most of the day. When they come home they are famished, to say the least. Having something quick and easy to make and have ready has been much needed these days. 

Luckily, lately the baby has been napping without me holding him for a few hours in the morning. Thus I can get a few things done that were previously neglected. 

One of those being dinner prepped and/or made.

Crockpot Sweet -n- Sour Meatballs

1/2 bag prepared meatballs (found in frozen section)
1 can pineapple, DO NOT DRAIN (I use the small can..8 oz. I think?)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
**Or, alternatively, I buy a small bag of frozen, chopped pepper and onion mixture to throw into it. (I would probably only use half a small bag)
Cooked rice

Sauce Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
4 T. ketchup
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
2 T. soy sauce
1 t. garlic salt

3 T. Sweet Chili Sauce
Mix the sauce ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix well. Add directly to Crockpot mixing the meatballs, pineapple, bell pepper, onion and sauce mixture. Cook on low 6 hours.

Freezer Meal directions:

Place the mixture in a gallon ziploc and freeze.  The day before serving, thaw mixture in fridge.  The morning of serving, place the mixture in the crockpot and cook on low for several hours.  Serve with rice.

Egg Roll in a Bowl

Egg Roll in a Bowl

This is a very low carb dinner. the carbs are in the vegetables. Which to me means, no carb, since those are some of the best carbs to eat. :) As I'm trying to keep my blood sugars under control and find foods that are low in carbs and healthy and filling, I am looking on Pinterest for ideas. This recipe I found on Pinterest and it made enough to feed our family of 5. I had a full plate, my other family members had a slightly smaller portion as they are not huge fans of cabbage. They still ate it all and said it was delicious. That is saying a lot. The original recipe I found called for ground ginger or fresh ginger... I had neither so I made mine without. It might be even better if you like the flavor of ginger... I think it's more of an acquired taste. Each to his own. So, Here is the original recipe. Mine is listed below :)

Egg roll in a bowl

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 lb ground beef or ground pork (NOT sausage)
6 cups sliced/chopped cabbage (I used regular green cabbage, but napa or red would be good too)
2 cups shredded carrots (4g carbs per 1/4 c serving)
1 med onion, diced
2 tsp minced garlic (I used refrigerated pre minced)
1/4 c Braggs Amino Acid (less than 2g of carbs per meal)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown ground beef in a large skillet or wok, season with salt and pepper. Turn heat to med-high add onion and sesame oil, heat until onions are translucent. Add garlic and amino's to the pan and stir. Next add the cabbage and stir. Cook for a few minutes stirring and mixing to help the cabbage soften and wilt. The cabbage will reduce in size. Add the carrots and heat through, stirring to incorporate together. Once carrots are incorporated and warmed, and cabbage is softened. It is done... Serve :)

Serve warm.

Serves 4-6

Notes:
This recipe is quick. The longest part will be the chopping and shredding. Best to chop cabbage and shred carrots before starting this recipe. This recipe would be good with ground pork as well.

BTS Cake (Better than S)

 BTS Cake

This cake is so delicious, devilish, decadent, put you in a diabetic coma delicious! You might be wondering why I (a diabetic) would post this picture and this recipe. Well, I never said I was perfect at keeping a healthy life style, plus if you don't indulge every once in a while, you won't be able to keep up the healthy eating, you'll feel like it's not worth it. So I had a small piece of my son's birthday cake. This is only made about once or twice a year. It is so delicious that dreams and the eye roll back in your head feelings exist! 

My eldest son has an affection for chocolate. A strong one. Maybe it dates back to when I was pregnant with him and I had extreme cravings for chocolate brownie sundae's from Baskin' Robins, with chocolate peanut butter ice-cream with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and a cherry on top. That was several times a week, while pregnant with him. He loves peanut butter and chocolate... what can I say, he still does. :)

We make this and we all go in a slight coma... not really, but it definitely gets really quiet when everyone is eating their slice of this heavenly cake.

 Ingredients:

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 box chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs
1 1/4 c water
1/2 c oil
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 bottle chocolate syrup
1 bottle caramel sauce
1 bag Heath bar pieces
1 can praline almonds
1 large tub of non dairy whipped topping

Directions:

Make the cake mix with the pudding, eggs, water and oil listed... Do NOT follow ingredient list on back of the box mix. Bake 30-35 min in a 13X9 pan. Once it's baked and hot out of the oven, poke holes on top of the hot cake with the small end of a wooden spoon. placing holes all over the top of the cake. Once you have a "holey" cake, pour the sweetened condensed milk on top of the hot cake. Then set in the refrigerator to cool. Once it's about halfway cooled off, add the chocolate sauce and caramel sauce to the top of the cake, Leaving some of each for the top of the cake later. Place back in the refrigerator to complete cooling. Once completely cooled off, add the whipped topping, sprinkle with the almonds and Heath bar pieces and drizzle with chocolate and caramel sauce.  Dig in and enjoy...

This cake is so decadent and rich. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Enjoy!

Banana Pancakes or 3 Ingredient Pancakes

Banana Pancakes

Aka  3-ingredient pancakes

These pancakes are my second favorite pancakes thus far, in my quest to find the best low carb pancake solution. I know it's crazy that I'm searching for the best pancakes. But it could be worse. :)

These pancakes are moist, and very banana nut bread flavored. I'm thinking a more browned banana would have tasted better. My banana wasn't too soft, these will be great with a bit of walnuts or pecans mixed in or coconut flakes for added texture. I also found this recipe on Pinterest. (are you noticing a pattern here?) These are super fast and easy to make. Great for if your in a rush and don't want to pull out the blender or mixer. These can be quickly made with a fork and a bowl. The flavor is very banana, and it has a kind of spongy texture. I kept thinking while I was eating them that they needed a little something different, maybe I wanted the nut crunch like banana nut bread but these were good and quick. I ate these with just a little butter on each pancake. No syrup or added any thing else.

Ingredients:

1 banana

2 eggs

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Mash the banana with a fork, add the eggs and mix together. Add the cinnamon, mix together. Cook on heated griddle until browned, flip, brown and enjoy! :)

Super easy and fast. Enjoy!

Please let me know if you add any other ingredients to this and how you feel they turned out.