Our Weekly Menu

 This week's menu-- a roasted chicken and more!


**For weight loss and general health, we eat a diet low in grains but higher in protein, healthy fats, vegetables and fruit.  For the most part, we avoid wheat, corn, refined sugar, starchy vegetables such as corn and potatoes and most processed foods. It is a work in progress--our diet isn't always perfect and we are far from eating all organic but we have both lost a good bit of weight since changing to eating this way in March of 2011 and we feel great! And for the record, we do eat a lot of brown rice and eggs and we're ok with that!**

I menu plan from Wednesday to Tuesday each week.  


Suppers


1. Rotisserie-Style Chicken, brown rice, green beans
2. Mexican chicken skillet (using leftover chicken from day 1), brown rice, avocado, cheese, sour cream
3. Salmon patties, spicy roasted cauliflower, roasted beets
4. Chicken gravy (using broth and chicken from day 1) over brown rice, steamed carrots
5. Eat Out
6. Meeting #1: Take sweet potatoes, crustless pumpkin pie, vanilla ice cream
7. Meeting #2: (Finger foods):Take deviled eggs

Lunches

1. Soup leftovers, cucumbers
2. Tuna salad with celery and peppers, cheese
3. Chicken dinner leftovers
4. Hot dogs, rice salad, cheese
5. Celery with egg filling (leftover deviled egg filling), random bits of leftovers, cheese, peppers, hard-boiled egg
6. Canned or frozen soup, celery with peanut butter
7. Church Fellowship: Take Crockpot chicken and rice (turned out very good!)

Breakfasts

We eat mostly eggs for breakfast at this point as they are less expensive than meat! This week we have scrambled eggs (4x) and eggs baked in a muffin tin (3x). Some days served plain and other days with cheese, avocado, a little ham or salsa.

To bake eggs in a muffin tin:


Grease muffin tin. Break one egg into each hole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until set to your liking. We like yolks still runny. Let cool a minute before removing to plate.


When I do this, I bake a whole dozen and then refrigerate the leftover for several days worth of breakfasts!

Snacks

Snacks this week are: peanut butter banana smoothies, mixed fruit and yogurt smoothie, kiwi, strawberries, bananas and apples.

We typically eat fruit for snacks!

What's on your menu this week?

**This post is part of Menu Plan Mondays!

Inexpensive Photo Album Gifts

Since we got a camera that takes better pictures, I've enjoyed taking pictures of the littles throughout the year and then compiling them into a small album for their birthdays.

Not only is it a pretty easy gift but also one that parents really love and appreciate! And all littles love to look at pictures of themselves.

Last year for Toddler Girl's 1st birthday, I had a coupon code for a free Shutterfly photo book. It turned out beautifully and I only had to pay shipping.

Without a coupon code, however, photo books are a little out of my gift budget so I began thinking of a simpler option for Baby Boy's 1st birthday in March and Toddler Girl's birthday in April.

I found that by purchasing small basic "brag book' type albums at Dollar Tree  for $1 each and then getting about 20-30 photos printed, my cost was around $5 per album. Less than shipping for a free photo book!

But...these cheap little albums are boring and the selection of covers was lacking. Hmmm... I noticed  that I could replace the cover art with pictures or my own art to personalize it, so that's what I did!

I used a combination of scrapbook paper, fabric and a little Heat and Bond adhesive (glue if using paper) to create cute monogrammed covers.

Not only are these albums inexpensive but they're a super easy and personalized gift too!

**This post is a part of Frugal Fridays!

Trash Picking!

The Small Folk will be cheering when they see today's trash picked treasures!

These were FILTHY but in good condition so I hauled them home and gave them a good scrubbing!

Our fleet of outdoor riding/push toys.

You'll notice two are the same. That's ok...we also have two toddlers here!

Our Weekly Menu

This week's menu plan-- We're having a bit of a cold snap so soup is on the menu again!
  
**For weight loss and general health, we eat a diet low in grains but higher in protein, healthy fats, vegetables and fruit.  For the most part, we avoid wheat, corn, refined sugar, starchy vegetables such as corn and potatoes and most processed foods. It is a work in progress--our diet isn't always perfect and we are far from eating all organic but we have both lost a good bit of weight since changing to eating this way in March of 2011 and we feel great! And for the record, we do eat a lot of brown rice and eggs and we're ok with that!**

I menu plan from Wednesday to Tuesday each week.

Suppers
1. Hot dogs (chicken, nitrate/nitrite free), sweet potato and beet fries
2. Grilled Israeli spice chicken legs, brown rice, big green salad with Basic Vinaigrette
3. Chicken lentil soup (crockpot), baked sweet potatoes
4. Salmon, baked sweet potatoes, steamed veggies
5. Leftovers
6. Meeting #1: Take Shrimp Jambalaya (crockpot)
7. Meeting #2 (Finger Foods): Take veggies and homemade onion dip, chips (To make dip, I used about 2 1/2 Tablespoons homemade mix (click link for recipe) added to 16 ounces sour cream.)

Lunches
Green salad with tuna and lots of veggies, cottage cheese
Soup
Leftovers 3x
Hot dogs, cottage cheese, rice chips
Church fellowship: Take veggies and dip, applesauce cake

Breakfasts
We typically eat eggs as part of our higher protein/lower grain diet. This week we're eating scrambled eggs and a baked egg and cheese casserole for breakfasts.

Snacks
Our snacks are typically fruit. This week we have apples, pears, red grapes and bananas to choose from. We also add some applesauce, plain yogurt and peanut butter to some of these.

What are you eating this week?

This post is part of Menu Plan Monday over at Organizing Junkie!

Simple Toddler Activity: Clothespin Poke

Most of the activities I make for the resident toddlers are super easy and use supplies I already have. I especially like to incorporate recycled items and an activity gets bonus points if I can quickly assemble it while the toddler stands nearby waiting patiently.

Well, waiting anyways!

This activity fits all the criteria! I saw this in The Toddler's Busy Book and got an empty egg carton I had discarded that morning. Within 5 minutes, Toddler Girl had a new activity to play with!

Directions:

• Using scissors, poke a small hole in each section. Hole should be just big enough for the clothespins. 

• Place a clothespin in each hole and let toddler push them in and take them out.

This activity teaches:

• One to one correspondence--one clothespin for each hole.
• Fine motor skills.

I was surprised how difficult this was at first. She had to work to get the clothespins in and out. But she hung in there and soon had it mastered! Toddler Girl (age 2) has really enjoyed doing this.

**As always, activities such as these should only be used with supervision. Clothespins could come apart posing a choking hazard or could hurt the child. Because of this, these types of activities are used primarily as "table time" activities around our house!**

Painting Trim

 

Painting trim in the hallway today. 

I've put off this task for almost two years. Ahem...

What are you doing in your home today? 

Quick Tip for Travel

We go on occasional overnight or weekend trips. I like to have a bag for bringing dirty laundry home. While I do have a cloth laundry bag, it's quite large and also seems to be in a different suitcase than we keep using--and I keep forgetting to dig it out! So I typically like to throw in a  couple plastic grocery bags to use.

I've forgotten any sort of laundry bag during the last few little trips we've taken, so this morning when putting our suitcase away, I tucked a couple bags in the front zipper pocket.

All set for next time!

Pinecone Research Accepting New Applications

One of the ways I add to our household income is by doing surveys through Pinecone Research. These surveys usually take about 15 minutes to complete and they typically send me about 2-3 per month. They pay $3 per completed survey. Payment can be received by check or via PayPal.

Obviously, at $3 a pop, this is not a huge boost in income! But it's a little and when saved for a period of time adds up. In fact, we put all of my Pinecone survey money into our Christmas envelope last year and it nearly covered Christmas gifts for our extended family!

Pinecone is now accepting new applications. So if you're looking for a relatively easy way to make a little extra  go here to apply.

Aunt Susie

 Our last visit with Aunt Susie.

St. Patrick's Day 2012

Andy's great-aunt Susie passed away last week. She was 94 years old.

Aunt Susie lived with Andy's family helping with the children for several years when he was little. She was very much like another grandmother to he and his sister. In the last few years, she lived with Andy's parents because she was no longer able to live alone. She fell and broke her hip this winter and spent the last couple of months in a nursing home.

She lived a long life rich with experiences and always had many stories to tell!  She dearly loved her family and will be greatly missed.

We rejoice that she is in heaven with Jesus!

We love you, Aunt Susie!

Trash to Treasure Table

My husband brought this table home with him from a  flea market a few weeks ago. 

I'll admit that when I first saw it, I wasn't overwhelmed by its beauty! I liked the size, shape and style but all I could see was the amount of work it would take to make it look nice. But it was only $6 and a much nicer size for our space than the current table. In addition, we hope to possibly purchase a home within the next year or so and this small table would be a great size for many purposes.

A good cleaning took care of most of the dirt and some of the marks on the top as well as helping the smell a bit. But it still looked rough. Lots of scratches and stains.

I shot a quick message to my sister who loves to repaint and fix up thrifted furniture in need of TLC. She didn't think it would take much to get it looking presentable. Then she offered to help me paint it if I wanted to bring it to her house Easter weekend.

Well sure!

So I packed it up in the car along with a small thrifted stand that also in need of a paint job.

Road trip!

I decorate with a lot of red and lately I've been admiring the combination of aqua and red. My sister said she had some aqua paint I could use.

So we got out the supplies and started working. These pictures tell the story of turning a table that was fit for the trash into a treasure!

These projects did not take long at all with the proper tools and two of us working! We distressed the edges a bit at the end for a charming look and gave the table top a couple coats of Min-wax.

Love the finished product!

Our Weekly Menu

 The contents of last week's produce basket.

I was away for a couple of days this past weekend and we plan to be gone again next weekend. This menu plan is for all the days in between!

 **For weight loss and general health, we eat a diet low in grains but higher in protein, healthy fats, vegetables and fruit.  For the most part, we avoid wheat, corn, refined sugar, starchy vegetables such as corn and potatoes and most processed foods. It is a work in progress--our diet isn't always perfect and we are far from eating all organic but we have both lost a good bit of weight since changing to eating this way in March of 2011 and we feel great! And for the record, we do eat a lot of brown rice and eggs and we're ok with that!**

Breakfasts 

• Scrambled eggs- 2x
• Baked egg cups, bacon-2x
• Baked egg cups, sauteed veggies
• Scrambled eggs, sausage- 2x 

Lunches 

• Easter Sunday Fellowship dinner-- Crockpot sweet potatoes(made plain without spices and added ingredients), applesauce
• Veggie cheese ball, celery sticks, sweet potatoes-2x
• Leftovers-2x
• Rice salad, hard-boiled eggs

Suppers

• Hot dogs, variety of leftovers
• Beef and mushroom gravy on rice, spicy roasted cauliflower, marinated and broiled tomato slices
• Southwestern Lentils, veggie, cheese
• Salmon, sweet potatoes, sauteed vegetables
• Meatza, sweet potato fries, veggie

Snacks

We typically eat fruit for snacks. This week we have a variety of pears, apples, oranges and pineapple to eat. Plus yogurt. And some coconut milk which I'll use in a smoothie one day. 

**This post is part of Menu Plan Mondays!

What's cooking in your kitchen this week?

He Is Risen!

On the first day of the week, 

very early in the morning,

 the women took the spices they had prepared 

and went to the tomb.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

but when they entered,

they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were wondering about this,

suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightening

stood beside them. 

In their fright,

the women bowed down

with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them,

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? 

He is not here; he has risen!"

Luke 24: 1-6

Enjoy your Resurrection Sunday celebrating our risen Savior!

**Easter garden idea courtesy of Pinterest!

Gingham Pennant Garland Fun

I've had the urge to make a pennant garland for a long time now. So one afternoon, I sat down with a pile of gingham fabric and used my pinking shears to cut out a stack of triangles.

Then I sewed a couple of simple garlands which I hung in my kitchen and dining room windows.

I still had a stack of triangles to use and wondered what else to make with them. A sweet pair of burlap pillow covers were the result. 

And the next day, a pair of denim pillow covers!

It's fun to create.

**Pillow covers are in my Etsy shop.**