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.

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

Dairy...Not for Us

Then

I never liked to drink milk. I stopped all together when I was younger; didn't even drink it on my cereal. Naturally, I became lactose intolerant. I was never completely dairy free because of my love for ice cream and ranch dressing:) so basically I'd eat those two things and get sick. Most people thought I was odd. (I've soon discovered it is in fact opposite and that they are the weird ones for still drinking milk.) However, when I got married my husband got me hooked on cheese. Not just any cheese-only Tillamook cheese, the good stuff, and so I started eating nachos, quesadillas, bean and cheese burritos along with my ice cream and ranch dressing...

Now

We will be cutting dairy out of our diet completely (We've haven't bought cow milk for months-Almond Breeze has worked perfect for cereal and cooking). My husband, me, and my two girls will be much healthier for it!

How we came to this

My husband and I have been doing a bit more research in our progression to eat healthier. We've known for awhile that dairy wasn't good for us. (My Mother-in-law would remind us constantly-thank you) I've noticed we, Americans, are the only ones who still drink milk as adults. I've heard different things about dairy throughout researching and that it will cause this sort of disease, but then hear another argument to contradict that one. And it's all a bit of confusing. Who the heck do you believe?! We decided to believe the one that makes the most sense to us. A friend let me borrow a book The Beauty Detox Solution. (I would recommend this book-gives some great tips and good research) I've been reading it and along with my husband's research we came to this decision. It wont be easy at first, but I think it will be beneficial long term. Along with the fact that dairy already makes me sick, here are a few other reasons why we've decided to stop:

-All mammals drink milk from their mothers. We are all weaned off from our Mothers within the first few years of our life and move to other foods that provide the nutrition needed. This is natural. What is not natural is that we've moved to cow's milk. Baby cows don't even drink their mother's milk anymore yet we do. Sick...

-Dangerous protein in dariy-Casein. This is very difficult for our bodies to break down. This is the one animal protein that seems to promote cancer. Dairy also produces too much mucus for our bodies that can harden and line the walls of our intestines making it super hard to digest. 

-There are other foods that can give us the needed calcium and they all have other great nutrients in them as well.  

-Much of our dairy today is packed with hormones and drugs because of the demands of producing it commercially. Dairy products are also heated to kill any potential bacteria which is also killing any natural enzymes making digesting even more difficult.

-The mass production of dairy cows is awful and sicking if you were to see it firsthand. 

I've been kind and vague with these reasons, but if you do any research yourself you will be surprised and what you find. I promise you will question yourself whether or not you should be taking it out of your diet. And no wonder my body has such a hard time digesting it-it just makes sense! 

Good Day

I felt I did rather well with eating healthier today...

Breakfast: Green Smoothie

Snack: Whole Wheat toast with a little coconut butter

Lunch: Vegetable Beef Soup and Wheat Crackers

Snack: Craisins & Energy Bites

*It was all tasty to eat and I actually feel full, so I will probably eat something very lite for dinner.

(http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2011/08/no-bake-energy-bites-recipe.html)

I just wish that I didn't have to sit on my bum all day at work. Good thing I'm going to Zumba tonight!

New Orleans Vacation

New Orleans

June 30th-July 5th, 2012 

(Jackson Square)

My hubby and I had a great vacation in New Orleans. I think what stuck out to me the most was the people. I miss them. Seriously. Everybody was so friendly and laid back. I feel like we did okay staying within our budget. However, I did learn a few things about a good vacation budget:


Make a budge- We had a certain amount in mind. I put savings away from my Christmas bonus from the previous year for this vacation, so we took the cash with us and wanted to only spend that on everything (minus any big tours if we decided to do one). We didn't quite succeed on this as planned because...


Research Food Costs- We figured we'd spend quite a bit on food, but not quite as much as we did. The biggest problem was we planned on buying stuff from a grocery store and eating at the hotel (came with a kitchenette). However, we could not find one until the our last day there! And it was still kind of pricey...so we had to eat out for every meal AND that got expensive.


Try to stay away from tourism- There were some tours (plantation/alligator/cemetery) that looked fun, but not worth the money. I'd recommend doing them if you really really want to because you'll regret it if you don't (I learned this by skipping a broadway show in New York), but I had already visited a plantation in South Carolina, so instead we just walked around a neighborhood and rode the trolley down St. Charles to see some of the unique houses, which was awesome. Instead of going on an alligator tour in the 100 degree humid weather we tried some alligator on a pizza :) Not quite the same, but worked. Instead of taking a cemetery tour for WAY too much money we hopped the trolley and walked around ourselves. That way we could go at our own pace. I even did some internet searching before about the cemeteries. It was perfect and saved us a ton of $$.

Don't always take the easy way- Instead of taking the easy taxi from the airport to the hotel we decided to save $30 and take the bus. Yes, it took us 3 times as long, but we got to see some of the city and meet some great people! We waited about an hour for the city bus, which we had to change buses and wait for another (20 min), but we met this awesome guy from Australia who backpacks all over the place and this other guy from Colorado. Then we walked with our luggage to catch the trolley (30 min). It was hot and we were drenched in sweat, but I wouldn't change what we did. We felt like we were really getting to know New Orleans. However, we knew better and took the taxi back to the airport when we left-didn't want to risk missing our flight!

Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures 

Authors: Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl

    Ethan Wate is haunted by dreams of a girl he's never met. When Lena Duchannes moves into his small southern town of Gatlin County, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her. And he is determined to uncover the strange connection between them, even if it means uncovering the one secret that could change everything.

My Thoughts:

This book was a bit intimidating because of it's size and was a little different then what I'm used to reading. The first half of the book was entertaining, but I wasn't glued into like I have been with other books. The second half kept my attention and wanting to read more. It's definitely a young adult, which is perfect for me, as I'm still a newer reader. It's got high school romance, witches, light vs dark, southern voo-doo, and deals a bit with family death. I found it fun to read and would recommend to others. It's also part of a trilogy, so I will be reading the others as well.

Reading

I've been into reading lately, which is not at all how I used to be. I did as little reading as possible in high school. I'd hardly ever read even for a book report. I did read one book in high school that I still remember today and I actually enjoyed reading it. Death Be Not Proud. But unfortunately it wasn't enough to really get me to add reading to my hobby list. It wasn't until I started listing to Twilight on tape at work that really sparked my interest in reading. I ended up reading Breaking Dawn when I was 9 months pregnant because there wasn't really anything else to do... Read all of Harry Potter and Hunger Games. Now it's like I have to have a good book to read at all times. And I LOVE it. Why didn't I have this love sooner??

So now the reason for posting this. Since I've been claimed into the reading world I've had many conversations about books. Often someone brings up a book and they're wondering about it. Well now that I've been reading so much I tend to confuse the books or can't remember if I loved it or just like it. As a result I've decided to post about the books I read. That way I can remember and give my opinions on whether or not they are worth reading...not sure how valuable my opinion is, but I will share it none the less.

Day 3: Fruits and Veggies

Day 3: Last Day


Today wasn't a bad start either. I started out with a green smoothie. Ate some fruit through out the day and left over spaghetti squash for lunch, but I had pretty much already decided in my mind that was going to be as far as I was going to go with the diet. I just decided it wasn't for me. I really couldn't go through this whole week feeling lethargic. I feel this may be a better diet for someone that doesn't have kids and can take a whole week to relax and detox. I still think some kind of detox is good, so I will be looking for another one that maybe only lasts a day or two. However, I do feel like I benefited even from the 2 1/2 days I did. 


*I'm eating way more fruits and veggies then I originally was.
*I feel a lot better and even smaller.
*I've learned to control my appetite and eat smaller portions.
*I'm down to 145lbs!


My husband made some pork burritos last night that were delicious and I made sure to still eat a small amount. Then we walked to the park and jogged about a mile back. Then before I went to bed I weighed 145! That right there made it all worth it.


Good Luck to those who decide to try it and can make it all the way through!

Day 2: Veggies

Day 2: Veggies

 

Today started off good. I didn't wake up starving like I thought I would. We cooked a potato with peppers, onions, and mushrooms. It was so nice to have something substantial and gave us some energy to get through the first part of the day. Towards the afternoon we were really wanting some fruit or pretty much anything besides veggies. We ate some cucumber and olives, but I really felt so weak and couldn't do much. Dinner was great with a spaghetti squash and sauce (tomato, garlic, mushroom, Italian seasoning). However, this lack of energy and constant hunger is killing us. I realize you probably have to keep sticking with it to really get the results, but when I think a head of what is to come I kind of want to cry. I really thought this was doable for us, but it doesn't seem to fit what we'd like to accomplish. I have no energy to work out, which is something I'd like to do before our trip as well. So for now I will take one day at a time, but I don't think I will make it past tomorrow :)

Today's Weight:

Shaun-194

Me-147 

PS: Shaun's out

Day 1: Fruit

Day 1: Fruit:

Today started off rather well. I had a bowl of strawberries and blueberries that tasted so good. Of course as time went on I was really really wishing I could eat something with more substance. (Didn't help that my husband was complaining about this "stupid" diet all day and trying to get out of it!) But we stuck with it and ate watermelon, peaches, nectarines, kiwis, cantaloupe, plums, cherries, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, and apples. My all time favorite was that last night we froze some of the blueberries, so I would let them thaw a lil and then snack on them throughout the day. And then as it got really hard this evening I boiled an apple and put cinnamon on it. It was so nice to have something warm with a lil spice. I am very proud of us making it this far especially when we were at a birthday party this evening and turned down all the pizza, cake, and ice cream no matter how good it looked! I'm actually looking forward to Veggies :)

Start off Weight:                                    End of Today Weight:
Shaun-197lbs                                               Shaun-193lbs
Me-149lbs                                                      Me-147lbs

Eat Your Heart Out 7 Day Diet

I'm looking forward to starting this diet tomorrow! I think it will be a great way to cleanse my body and jump start my healthier eating. I know it will be tough, but I really feel like it's what my body needs right now. I'm starting tomorrow, so that we end the day before we go to New Orleans!


(http://www.justinandashleyrefresh.com/2012/03/eat-your-heat-out-diet-aka-satan-diet.html?m=0)


(MY7DAYDIET.COM)

Green Smoothie

I think these "green smoothies" are a great way to get your fruits and veggies in. I wish I started drinking them sooner. Here is the one that I'm pretty obsessed with lately.

(I cut up bananas and strawberries when they are on sale and freeze them)

I toss in bananas, strawberries, carrots, flax seed, and spinach. Then some Apple Juice and Almond Milk.

Spaghetti Squash

I never used to eat squash, but since I've been married I've learned to like it and now I LOVE spaghetti squash. We made it the other night with just spaghetti sauce on top and it was sooo good. I seriously prefer it over noodles at times. And whats best is that it's so easy to make!

Cut squash open, take out seeds, and then put in some butter and wrap in foil. Bake at 400 for 1 hour.