Lunch!

For some reason lunch seems to be the hardest to come up with meals to eat and when I seem to find something I love I eat it for a while and then forget about it. Then I'm stuck in the same situation all over again not knowing what to eat for lunch. SO...if I post them here then I'll be able to look back real quick and see them.

Panini:

Saute olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, sliced zucchini, and onions.

Spread avocado on flat bread.

Put sauteed mixture on half of flat bread then top with fresh spinach. 

Fold over and put in panini press for a couple minutes.

*The best thing about these is that you can make them with whatever you like*

 I made my daughter one with avocado, cheese, and spinach-which she loved!

 

Sweet potato:

This one did not sound appealing when my Mother in law first had me try it, but seriously I absolutely love it now. Best Part>It's healthy!!

Cook/Bake your sweet potato. I use my salad master cookware, so I just chop it up and cook over the stove top on medium click low for about 15 minutes. 

-Cooked sweet potato

-Cooked spinach

-Black beans

-Mango or Raspberry salsa

Mix it all together and enjoy!

 

Salad:

I don't eat salads enough and when I actually do it's always a BBQ chicken salad, but I'm trying to get better!

-Mixed spinach and red leaf lettuce

-Black beans

-Strawberries

-Sunflower seeds (for some crunch)

-Annie's Naturals, Lite, Raspberry Vinaigrette

 *I made this just with what I had on hand. I forget that being creative and using whatever I have works great most the time!*

 

 

Mushroom Ravioli

So we got some mushroom ravioli from Costco that looked delicious, but I didn't want just marinara sauce on them. I've never made up my own sauce before, so I don't know what I was thinking this time. Fortunately it worked out. I heated up butter, almond milk (because that's all we use), minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and a little flour. The sauce was super thin, but it was perfect for these ravioli. I added some chopped up fresh tomatoes on top. All the flavors worked out great. I baked asparagus with olive oil and sea salt to go along with it. I've been craving this dish ever since! 

Easy Bruschetta

My Mother in law had planted a garden this year that produced an enormous amount of tomatoes. Fortunately I had also been craving bruschetta, but many recipes I found seemed so complex. So I just modified one and it tasted great. I probably ate this bruschetta almost everyday for an entire month.

My Easy Bruschetta:

• Fresh tomatoes (you can use store bought just wont taste as good)
• Basil (I just used the seasoning)
• Onion (optional)
• Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing 
• Mozzarella Cheese (optional)
• Olive Oil
• Bread (Any kind you prefer)

I spread some olive oil on my baguette and toast it. Mix chopped tomatoes, basil, onion, and balsamic vinaigrette together and put on top of sliced baguette.

 

Homemade Pizza!

We love homemade pizza at our house and we usually always have the ingredients on hand. As far as the crust we seem to forget which recipe we use and just Google one or use

 which tastes just as good!

As far as toppings go:

• Usually use left over spaghetti sauce
•  Mozzarella cheese
• Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Olives

This is something we have several times a month and gives us a break from eating meat.

Spending Fast

I found this Spending Fast idea from my Sister in law and find that it is a perfect thing for me to do as well. It will go along perfectly with our goal to stay out of debt. We still are out of debt, but we haven't been doing too good on saving money. We are also planning a Disneyland trip in September so this would be great to use the extra money we save each month for that. 

So on to the Spending Fast. My sister in law got the idea from This Girl's Blog. I think it is wonderful and I don't know why I didn't think of it first. JK. So this girl did it for a full year. I am going to be more realistic and make a shorter goal for my family of 3 months and then we will go from there. In her blog she paid off debt with her spending fast, but obviously as we have already gotten out of debt we will be saving all our money from our spending fast. 

So going off her list I can skip the first 2 steps of Listing Debt and Asking Creditors to lower rates. (I recommend looking at her site Here). I've done step 3, Picture the Life you Dream of Living, many times and of course we have already done step 4, Make the Commitment to Be Done with Debt. My husband, as usual, is all for it for step 5, Try to Get Them to do the Spending Fast with you. I've set the initial time frame, for step 6, for 3 months, but I may make it longer. I am doing step 7 now, Making a Public Declaration. Now on to step 8:

Needs List:

Rent
Utilities
Tithing
Internet Bill
Car Insurance
Medical Insurance
Dental Insurance
Cell Phone
WorldMark Maintenance Fee
Daughter's gymnastics
Groceries
Gas
Emergency Prep (we've budgeted out an amount each month to build up our 72 hour kits)


Wants List:

Eating Out
Gifts
Date Nights
Deals I see and usually buy
Misc Random Stuff
Clothing (I love to buy the girls clothes. It's usually on sale, but it always adds up)
Books (I've been really wanting to buy Nook books, but I will stick with the library-It's free!)
Netflix


Step 9 is to spend money on the Needs list only. Step 10 is to Think About what you can buy rather than what you can't, especially in discouraging times. Step 11 she suggests Becoming Immersed in a Community of Like-Minded People. On step 12 instead of Attacking My Debt I will be sending all my money into savings at the end of each month. Step 13 & 14 is to Be Committed and Continue to the end date. And of course step 15 is to Be Proud of yourself and what you've accomplished.

My family will be starting this February 1st and I am super excited. A few things that I've thought about are what about birthday gifts and dates? Well as she mentions that they will all be homemade or re-gifting gifts. I think for most it's important that people recognize it, so a card will just have to do this year. As for dates we still have numerous gift cards left over from our birthdays last year and Christmas, so we will be using those!

Wish us luck :)

Graceling Series

I just finished reading the Graceling Series by Kristin Cashore. These are young adult fantasy books. Out of my obsessive reading lately these books were my favorite. The series starts with Graceling and the sequel is Bitterblue with Fire as a companion book in the middle.

"Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight-she's a Graceling, on of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As a niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king's thug. When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po's friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace-or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away...a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone."

My Thoughts:
I seriously loved this book from the start. I fell in love with Katsa immediately, since she is a strong female character. I felt like this book was something new and very entertaining to read. I thought it was a really good read and would most definitely recommend it. I think it may be at the top of my favorites. And it is my favorite out of the 3.

"It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. In King City, the young King Nash is clinging to the throne, while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. War is coming. And the mountains and forest are filled with spies and thieves. This is where Fire lives, a girl whose beauty is impossible irresistible and who can control the minds of everyone around her. Exquisitely romantic, this companion to the highly praised Graceling has an entirely new cast of characters, save for on person who plays a pivotal role in both books. You don't need to have read Graceling to love Fire. But if you haven't, you'll be dying to read it next."


My Thoughts:

I had a hard time getting into this book because I could not stand the main character. It was not written bad in any way. It was just in fact his actual character that really bothered me. However, once I got over that I started to really enjoy this book as well. It contained a lot of new content that I really enjoyed getting into. I would recommend it for sure and I like that it is a companion book, so you don't necessarily have to read Graceling first.

"Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle--disguised and alone--to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past. Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart."

My Thoughts:

This book was perfect for my need for a little more. I loved how it tied all the characters together and gave me the little ending I needed. It was also very entertaining and kept you intrigued throughout the entire book. I would recommend this book as well.

Vegetarian Ceviche

We made a Vegetarian Ceviche last week (and again last night) and I am officially in love. I got the full recipe here-Mine is below. My Mother in law made it for me the first time I tried it and we decided to try it ourselves last week. -Good Choice!

We used only 1 jalapeno (Didn't want it too hot for the kids)
We also didn't use the hearts of palm (although I've had it that way and it's pretty good) *Too expensive to buy 
We also put ours on tostada shells with refried beans.

How I made it:

2 tomatoes, diced

1/4 of large red onion, diced

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

1 jalapeno, diced

Juice from 2 limes (Also used it out of the bottom last night-tastes the same)

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt & pepper to taste 

avocado, diced

cucumber, diced

Bell pepper, diced

*All you do is chop everything up and mix it together. Heat up some refried beans to spread across the tostada and add ceviche on top. Super easy and yummy. We all love it including my kids. This one will definitely be made regularly.