Menu Plan Monday - Sept. 5 - 11

I'm back to doing a very detailed menu. It takes forever to make up these menus (seriously, close to 3 hours this week) but having it all planned out really helps. It helps when it's meal time because I'm not standing there wondering what to make & it helps at the grocery store - no impulse buying.

The big kids will be getting Bento style lunches again this year. My plan is to take pictures daily & I will do a post at the end of the week highlighting all of the lunches.

I'm also going to try getting back to posting my recipes more frequently. So if there is something on the menu you are curious about, please check back a day or two after it is scheduled to see if the link is up.

And now for the menu!

Please note - I use organic, local ingredients when possible. Also the recipes usually call for all- purpose flour. I usually use a mix of 1/2 whole wheat & 1/2 white or just all whole wheat. Remember a recipe is just something to go by, feel free to change them up for health/your family's tastes.

Healthy Eating Menu for Mommy{Sunday - Saturday}

Breakfast: I get up around 5-5:30, my goal is to eat within an hour of waking so I have a small breakfast (which if I woke later it would be my am snack) and then my 'bigger breakfast' later on when I have more time.

• Sunday: 10 raw almonds, 1 apple
• Monday: Yogurt cup , 1 cup strawberries
• Tuesday: 10 raw almonds, 1 cup grapes
• Wednesday: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup strawberries
• Thursday: 10 raw almonds, small banana
• Friday: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup mixed fruit
• Saturday: Yogurt cup, 1 cup strawberries

AM Snack: 

• Sunday: 2 slices Ezekiel bread toasted, 1 boiled egg, 2 tsp butter, 1/2 cup blueberries
• Monday: 3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1/2 cup almond mylk, 1 pear
• Tuesday: 1 Ezekiel English Muffin, 2 TB natural peanut butter, small orange
• Wednesday: 2 slices Ezekiel bread toasted, 1 scrambled egg, 2 tsp butter, 1/2 cup blueberries
• Thursday:  3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1/2 cup almond mylk, 1/2 cup strawberries
• Friday: 2 egg omelet with mushrooms & peppers, 1 slice Ezekiel toast, 1 tsp butter, small orange
• Saturday: 1 cup oatmeal, 2 TB slivered almonds, 2 TB raw pumpkin seeds, 2 TB dried cranberries, 1 cup almond mylk.

Lunch: 

• Sunday: Veggie Soup & Salad
• Monday: Hummus & veggie wrap or sandwich
• Tuesday: Glop Bowl (Couple cups of baby spinach, 1/2 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup beans & salsa)
• Wednesday: Hummus & veggie wrap or sandwich
• Thursday: Glop Bowl (Couple cups of baby spinach, 1/2 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup beans & salsa)
• Friday: Hummus & veggie wrap or sandwich
• Saturday: Homemade Tabbouleh, homemadebaked falafel (in homemade pita with lettuce & homemade Tzatziki sauce)

PM Snack:

• Sunday - Yogurt cup & 1/4 cup homemade granola
• Monday - Homemade energy bar
• Tuesday - 1/4 cup Hummus & 1cup veggies
• Wednesday - Homemade energy bar
• Thursday - Yogurt cup & 1/4 cup homemade granola
• Friday - Homemade energy bar
• Saturday - 1/4 cup Hummus & 1 cup veggies

Toddler Menu {Monday - Friday}


Breakfast:

• Monday: Yogurt & monkey platter (variety plate of cut up fruits)
• Tuesday: Whole grain organic frozen waffle, pears and 1/4 cup milk
• Wednesday: scrambled egg, cinnamon toast squares (whole grain bread lightly toasted)
• Thursday: French toast, peaches, and 1/4 cup milk
• Friday: Organic oatmeal, fruit and 1/4 cup milk

Mid-Morning Snack:

• Monday: Orange Wedges & 1/4 cup milk
• Tuesday: Banana &  1/4 cup milk
• Wednesday: Zucchini bread &  1/4 cup milk
• Thursday: Yogurt & animal crackers
• Friday: Fruit slices & 1/4 cup milk

Lunch:

• Monday: Homemade chicken nuggets & oven fries, blueberries & 1/4 cup milk
• Tuesday: Healthy Baby's First Pizza, soft cooked veggie sticks & 1/4 cup milk
• Wednesday: Pasta in tomato sauce, cheese dough sticks, diced fruit & 1/4 cup milk
• Thursday: Macaroni & Cheese, strawberries & 1/4 cup milk
• Friday: Small Monkey Platter & 1/4 cup milk

Afternoon Snack:

• Monday: yogurt & graham cracker
• Tuesday: Monkey Platter (can be shared with big kids after school)
• Wednesday: Toast with homemade apple butter from freezer & 1/4 cup milk
• Thursday: Orange slice & 1/4 cup milk
• Friday: Apple Oatmeal Cookie & 1/4 cup milk

Regular Cooked Menu {Monday - Friday}

Breakfast:

• Monday: Oatmeal, juice or milk
• Tuesday: Waffles, juice or milk
• Wednesday: Homemade zucchini bread, yogurt, juice or milk
• Thursday: Oatmeal, juice or milk
• Friday:  Scrambled egg sandwich, juice or milk

Lunch: 

• Monday: Sub sandwiches, veggies & dip {holiday}
• Tuesday: Whole wheat bagel sandwiches, potato salad, veggies & dip, fruit, juice & water
• Wednesday: Leftovers, apple slices, veggies & dip, zucchini bread, juice & water
• Thursday: California Roll-up, orange wedges, veggies & dip, zucchini bread, juice & water
• Friday:  Pizza Roll-Up, yogurt, veggie sticks & pieces of fruit, juice & water

Supper:

• Sunday: Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage & Salad
• Monday: Glazed Pork Chops, Potato Salad, Sliced Tomato & Cucumber
• Tuesday:  Meatloaf, Butter & Garlic potatoes, Green Beans
• Wednesday: Honey Soy Stir-Fried Chicken, Brown Rice, Steamed stir-fry veggeis
• Thursday: Soup, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches & Salad
• Friday:  Pizza Bites & Salad 
• Saturday: Taco Roll-ups & Salad

Need more menu planning ideas? Then head over to Laura's @ I'm an Organizing Junkie. Also if your interested in more vegetarian, flexitarian or whole foods menus please check out Jenna's Mindful Menus.

Menu Plan Monday - Sept. 5 - 11

Read more...

Back To School Lunch Ideas

Back To School Lunch Ideas

This coming Thursday is our kids first day back to school. I know the kids are looking forward to heading back if only to see their friends. I'm really not ready for them to head back. It seems like our summer was so short. And I'm really not ready to get back into making lunches before we even have breakfast lol. I think making lunches runs right up there with homework - neither one are much fun.

Last year near the end of the year I started making the kids Bento style lunches. This was the best idea ever! Not only because the kids loved them, but I was making them the healthiest lunches ever. No more buying little snack packs of this or that because I didn't know what to put in the lunches. And the kids were actually eating what was in their lunch!

This year I decided to put together a little list of ideas I could use for the kid's lunches and to share them with you. Hopefully this will help some of you as you are planning lunches for your little lovies.

Entrées	Sides
Robin-Hood Wrap	Veggies & Dip (Ranch, Hummus, ect)
Chicken Salad Wrap	Fruit - Fresh or Frozen
Roast Beef Wrap	Coleslaw
California Roll-Up	Potato Salad
Pizza Roll-Up	Cheese & Broccoli Salad
Stuffed Pita Pockets	Boiled/Deviled Eggs
Homemade Pizza Pockets	Babybel Cheese
Club Sandwiches	Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge
Egg Salad Sandwiches	Cheese Sticks
Chicken Salad Sandwiches	Whole Grain Crackers
Quesadilla	Natural Lunchmeats
Pizzadilla	Yogurt
Meatballs & Dipping Sauce	Homemade Treats
Whole Wheat Bagel Sandwiches	Granola Bars
Homemade Fish Sticks & Fries	Cookies
Homemade Chicken Nuggets & Fries	Snack Mixes
Homemade Mini Quiche	Homemade Fruit Bread/Muffins
Mini Pancakes w/Maple Syrup
Mini Meatloaf & Roasted Taters
Leftovers

What are some of the things you like to pack for your kids? What are your kid's favorite things to have in their lunches?

Back To School Lunch Ideas

Read more...

Holiday Grand Plan 2010 - Week 1

It's that time of year again! I can't believe it - feels like summer just started, yet here it is time to start getting organized for the holidays already.  Last year I again did the Holiday Grand Plan from Organized Home.  It went pretty well.  Little E was still quite young and there were some other things that did come up, that ended up making it a bit more challenging.  This year I am working full time so it's going to be interesting to see how I manage.  I really hope I can find a happy medium of getting things to a point that I am satisfied with and being okay with not having things perfect.

So this is week one of the Holiday Grand Plan and here's what I am going to attempt to accomplish.

Grand Plan Week 1 Tasks

• Spend 15 minutes each day this week to get organized for Christmas.
• Set up your holiday organizer in a notebook or 3-ring binder. If you’re using a clear pocket binder, print the cover and spine pages.
• Make or designate a holiday calendar. For your holiday organizer notebook, print the Countdown plan calendar. For more flexible calendar forms, add monthly planning calendars from HolidayOrganizer.com.
• Begin at the beginning; review your family’s holiday values. Print and record your findings on the holiday values page.
• Gift buying looms! Start a master gift list. Print the master gift list form and use it to record purchases and homemade gift items.
• Complete the holiday home spruce-up exercise and schedule improvement projects. Print the home spruce-up worksheet.
• Begin a Christmas card list. Locate addresses; consider making a computerized version for maximum time saving.
• Arrange for family photo sessions for holiday giving or photo Christmas cards.
• Schedule carpet cleaning now! Call now for your choice of appointment times.
• Make the following lists:

1. Gifts to be given, amount to spend
2. Christmas card list. Decide how many cards are needed
3. Visits to make
4. Parties/Entertaining
5. Menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, other parties
6. Goodies for sharing/gifts. Decide how much needs to be made and divide it between the weeks from now through Dec 1.
7. Favorite meals of family members for freezing ahead.
8. Long term shopping list, divided into: canned foods, perishables for each holiday, linens and dishes, decorations, etc.

To Buy This Week:

• Christmas cards or supplies for Christmas letters
• Postage Stamps
• Freezer containers for goodies – at least 12 are needed.
• Freezer containers for Holiday meals – at least 12 are needed.

Area to Organize 

Front Porch, Patio & Dining Room

Do you use the Holiday Grand Plan? If not, what plan do you use to get ready for the holidays?

Holiday Grand Plan 2010 - Week 1

Read more...

Mamavation Monday - August 23, 2010

Another Monday already!? Where does the time go? So how did this last week go? Well let's start with exercise. Monday I did my c25k run, Wednesday was supposed to be my 2nd run of the week, but I woke up with horrible sciatic nerve pain; so skipped that run. Friday I did my run and screwed up my knee. I was supposed to go for xrays today but I didn't make it up there. Will attempt to do that tomorrow. When I went to the doctor on Friday he didn't say I couldn't run. Just told me to let pain be my guide. Okay, yay! I thought. Here it is Monday, and I still can't walk much without a lot of pain. So no running in my near future. This is a bit disappointing. And now I need to figure out what I want to do for exercise, since even going for a walk at this point is out.
Now let's talk food. Oh food how I love thee. :D For the most part I made pretty good self-honoring choices. I am pms'ing so of course there is some hormone driven food searching going on, but at least I was aware of what was happening (mostly) and tried to stay aware most of the time. This morning as I was driving home from town I was thinking how bloated I feel and I started to think about the last week...Just about every single night I was having a little "snack" well after 8pm. I didn't even realize I was doing this. I am aware now and will try to make some better choices - If I'm truly hungry then I will try to make a good healthy choice and not just what I think I want.

Goals for this week:


Food - I feel like I am doing a lot better with my food plan. This week I'm going to concentrate on staying conscious with my eating during the evening hours. Also still want to work on increasing my h2o intake. I am considering the HydraCoach bottle. 


    Food plan for this week: My basic meal plan is as follows and suppers can be found on my Menu Plan Monday post. {Supper will be around 6pm or so}

	Breakfast: 7	Snack: 10	Lunch: 1	Snack: 4	Snack: 8
Sun	yogurt & homemade granola or	Green or Hot Pink  Smoothie	Large salad w/lean protein (meat, legumes or egg) & Bowl of fresh fruit	1 cup fresh raw veggies & 2 Tb hummus	apple slices (or other fresh fruit) OR homemade energy bar & Hot tea
	Breakfast: 7	Snack: 10	Lunch: 1	Snack: 4	Snack: 8
Mon	yogurt & homemade granola	Green or  Hot Pink  Smoothie	Large salad w/lean protein (meat, legumes or egg) & Bowl of fresh fruit	1 cup fresh raw veggies & 2 Tb hummus	apple slices (or other fresh fruit) OR homemade energy bar & Hot tea
	Breakfast: 7	Snack: 10	Lunch: 1	Snack: 4	Snack: 8
Tues	yogurt & homemade granola	Green or  Hot Pink  Smoothie	Large salad w/lean protein (meat, legumes or egg) & Bowl of fresh fruit	1 cup fresh raw veggies & 2 Tb hummus	apple slices (or other fresh fruit) OR homemade energy bar & Hot tea
	Breakfast: 7	Snack: 10	Lunch: 1	Snack: 4	Snack: 8
Wed	yogurt & homemade granola	Green or  Hot Pink  Smoothie	Large salad w/lean protein (meat, legumes or egg) & Bowl of fresh fruit	1 cup fresh raw veggies & 2 Tb hummus	apple slices (or other fresh fruit) OR homemade energy bar & Hot tea
	Breakfast: 7	Snack: 10	Lunch: 1	Snack: 4	Snack: 8
Thurs	yogurt & homemade granola	Green or  Hot Pink  Smoothie	Large salad w/lean protein (meat, legumes or egg) & Bowl of fresh fruit	1 cup fresh raw veggies & 2 Tb hummus	apple slices (or other fresh fruit) OR homemade energy bar & Hot tea
	Breakfast: 7	Snack: 10	Lunch: 1 pm	Snack: 4	Snack: 8 pm
Fri	yogurt & homemade granola	Green or  Hot Pink  Smoothie	Large salad w/lean protein (meat, legumes or egg) & Bowl of fresh fruit	1 cup fresh raw veggies & 2 Tb hummus	apple slices (or other fresh fruit) OR homemade energy bar & Hot tea
	Breakfast: 7	Snack: 10	Lunch: 1	Snack: 4	Snack: 8
Sat	yogurt & homemade granola	Green or  Hot Pink  Smoothie	Large salad w/lean protein (meat, legumes or egg)  & Bowl of fresh fruit	1 cup fresh raw veggies & 2 Tb hummus	apple slices (or other fresh fruit) OR homemade energy bar & Hot tea

Exercise - I have no idea! Any suggestions?

Self-Care Practices - Baths! Meditation each day. Also this week I want to try adding in some creative time - maybe not every day but a couple of times this week would be nice.

Hope you had a great week last week and that this week is an even better week!

P.S. Also check out my huge ($195 value) Weight-Release Giveaway!! It ends this week!

☮peace.♥love.☺joy

Mamavation Monday - August 23, 2010

Read more...