Healthy Eating Tips

Recently I've been using some simple healthier eating tips and wanted to make a collection of them on Pinterest to share.  Well, I don't have the time to take all those fancy pictures and edit them to add text as I really would like. So this will be the spot for my random collection.

• Use unsweetened applesauce in place of maple syrup on pancakes.
• Put cooked peas or broccoli in Mac & Cheese
• Mix in butternut squash puree anytime you melt cheddar cheese.  Grilled cheese, mac & cheese, quesadillas, etc
• Always find a way to put a fruit or veggie in muffins!
• Roast veggies.  The tastiest way to eat them.
• Prep veggies when you bring them home.  Seriously, it took be a while to jump on this bandwagon, but I'm so much more likely to toss them in when they are already ready.
• On that same note, Mason Jar Salads.  
• Sloppy Joe's are also a good place to put diced veggies of any sort.

 

A Random Post

	Weekly Menu Plan
		Date	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Prep
	Sunday	2 W	Blueberry Peach Baked	Hummus log	Fried Rice	Make Bread
			Oatmeal	& Plums	& Oranges	Boil Eggs
	Monday	3	Peanut Butter Banana	Chickpea Salad wraps	Grilled Ginger Lime Sirloin	Artisan Bread
			Toast	& Apricots	Roasted Radishes	Make Biscuits
					Artisan Rolls
	Tuesday	4 W	Pancakes	Mexican Mixture
			& Peaches	from Zuc casserole
				leftovers
	Wednesday	5		Fresh veggies & dip	Zucchini & Noodles
			Egg and Sausage biscuit	Fresh fruit	Spaghetti
				Popcorn?		Set out pork
	Thursday	6	Slow Cooker Steel Cut		Pulled pork fajitas	Pork in Slow cooker
			Oats topped with		& Guacamole or
			fruit		Avocado Ranch Dressing
	Friday	7 W			Veggie Burgers	Make dinner during
			Cereal	Broccoli Rice Cups	Guacamole	naps
					Fruit
	Saturday	8
				leftovers	Church

Just a couple holes in this week's menu plan. :)
 

Right Now - April

Feeling: Excited.  Looking forward to a long weekend in Colorado
On the to-do list: Finish packing
My guilty pleasure: Spending this time 'vegging' on the computer
Favorites: Life
Dreaming about: Journaling more consistently. Um, yea, it's a dream...
Thankful for: Friends who think it's fun to chicken-sit while we're away.

Backfire

Last night at dinner Ryan was telling me a story about work.  It was a rather extensive story about a co-worker who had a prank backfire on him.  At the end, Caleb politely chimes in "Mommy, Daddy, what happened to the fireman who had fire on him?"
We were a bit confused and replied with "No one had fire on him."  "There was a firefighter who's house was on fire. Is that what you were thinking?"
Caleb sill looking pensive says "But what about the one with fire on his back?"  Ah, "backfire".  We attempted to explain in three-year-old terms how the work backfire has nothing to do with a fire or a back. I just love seeing him learn language.  And gain awareness of how confusing the English language actually can be.

 

Welcome 2014

 

I just love when we get to ring in the new year with snow.  

And what's more fun;

to get outside in the cold,

bundle up and tromp through the

beautiful snow.

This Week's Menu

After some weeks with no menu plan, I am once again experiencing the freedom of being prepared for dinner.  There is a lot of preparation that happens for our homemade meals, and it's so nice to know what I need to do today for dinner tomorrow.

Sunday: Sloppy Joes, grapes
Monday: Baked potato soup,salad
Tuesday: Turkey spaghetti casserole made with carrots, spinach (based on this)
Wednesday: pressure cooked Roast experiment
Thursday: Layered enchilada casserole made with left over beef
Friday: Camping fare - burgers, brats, beans etc
Saturday: Dinner out for birthdays

The Garden

This year I finally received the harvest from my garden I've been waiting for.  Nothing huge, but very encouraging.  All it took was moving the garden to a sunny location.  Oh, that and engineering a fence to keep the dog and all other usual garden pests out. I might be getting in my garden groove.

So I've spent time the past several days planning and drawing a garden for 2014.  Digging a new bed to the east of our house.  Gathering long sticks for the pole beans.  Paying attention to seed varieties.  Planting a winter cover crop.  I am very excited!

Just today I ran across this inspiring blog!  Wow, to have a garden that provides us with most of our meals.  Meals of plates full of colorful, tasty veggies.  My dream ... and a very achievable dream if I continue to put all this planning into action.

On the list for 2014 garden: tomatoes, peppers, peas, green beans, pickling cucumbers, zucchini, winter squash, lettuce, spinach, beets, herbs and maybe other greens.