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.

5.5 Miles

My husband will often go to Sprouts Market to get some yummy fruits & veggies and will take the girls in the jogging stroller. It never seemed like it was that far - the hardest part is the hill. So when he mentioned going yesterday and not taking the car, so he can get his run in I thought why don't I go with him? I've been feeling fat and haven't been doing any workout lately, so this sounded like a great idea. WELL...turns out that this "little jog" to the market is actually 5.5 miles round trip and of course my husband is all about pushing limits and doing your best. So of course I had to job the majority of the way and ALL the way up the hill. This of course would've been a lot better experience if I was in some short of physical shape, but I have honestly not ran for at least 2 months now and can hardly ever find time to do any work out. We made it home in one piece and surprisingly I felt okay. However, just like always when I push myself, without preparation, my body starts to shut down and feel sick. So to bed I went at 7:30 pm with ibuprofen instead of dinner. On a more happy note: I woke up this morning :) and once I got my green smoothie in my body I feel great!

September Menu

September Menu

This is the first month I’ve done it this way, so I'm sure there will be some editing to future months.

I first went over all our schedules (mine, hubs, and girls) then planned

out a type of dinner that would work best each night.

Monday: Simple (something I could make and Shaun could take to school)
*Hubs takes 4yr old to gymnastics this night and then goes straight to class*

Tuesday: Crockpot
*We are both gone all day and get home right before dinner*

Wednesday: Lite
*I go to Zumba this night, so I want to eat something super lite when I get
home*

Thursday: Pre-made
*We are both gone all day, so I’d like to have something previously made and
frozen that we can just toss in the oven*

Friday: Husband's choice
*He is home before I get off work, so he gets to decide and make dinner*

Saturday: Out or leftovers
*We usually are out and about this day, so we get to decide to eat out or
leftovers* (We don’t eat out more then twice a month and usually use some
kind of coupon.)

Sunday: -
*I don’t plan anything because we go to in-laws a lot this day or we are
starving because we get out of church at 2 and then aren’t hungry for dinner*

Next I got out a calendar and planned different meals for the days of the
week that we’d be home. There were a few days that we had special events
or knew we’d be gone that night, so I didn’t plan meals for those. So when I
got done I had; for example, 4 Monday meals, 5 Tuesday, 3 Wednesday…and I
also planned special things like desserts for after family night. I also wanted to start making breakfast on Sunday mornings, so I planned those out
as well.

Mondays:
Corn & Zucchini Quesadillas
BBQ Chicken Ranch Wraps
Bean & Cheese Burritos
BBQ Chicken Salad

Tuesdays:
BBQ Chicken Crockpot meal
Potato Soup
Chicken Fajitas
Enchilada Soup

Wednesdays:
Homemade Pizzas
Spaghetti Squash w/marinara sauce
Stack Dinners

Thursdays:
Enchiladas
Pasta Bake (which was awful!)
Sweet & Sour Chicken & Rice
Taco Soup

Fridays:
Red Beans & Rice
Pork, veggie, & fruit
Hamburger Spins

Sunday Breakfasts:
Pancake Bites
Cinnamon Rolls & Fruit
Crepes

Family Night Desserts:
Baked Churros
Brownies
Arroz con leche

After that I went through all the recipes and made a list of ingredients I would
need. I wrote out all the ingredients and then went through my kitchen and
crossed off the stuff I already had. I finished up my list adding breakfast
stuff to the list (cereal, oatmeal…) and lunch stuff and then the usual (bread,
milk, eggs, fruit) and I planned a store trip when my hubby could watch our
youngest and went to the store! I picked up most things for the entire month. We made a few extra trips for fruit & veggies and then I didn't plan well for my daughter's bday, so I had to get stuff for that. Total for the month we spent $266 for our family of four.

This may sound like it took a long time, but the planning was like maybe 2
hours on a Sunday afternoon. (recipes of things I hadn’t previously made I got
from pinterest, so those were all in one place and easy to look up) And I made sure I went to the store on a separate day, so I wasn’t too overwhelmed or exhausted.

Here are pictures of our meals:

Red Beans & Rice w/Squash and Zucchini

Breakfast: Cinnamon Rolls w/Fruit

Chicken Fajitas

Pork Chops, Potatoes, & Veggies

Homemade Pizza

Corn & Zucchini Quesadillas

Pasta & Salad

BBQ Chicken Salad

Sweet & Sour Chicken w/Rice and Cabbage & Carrots

Taco Soup