Enough already

I've had it with these intense sugar cravings.  I'm over it.  I don't think I necessarily want to be over sugar forever, but I'd love not to consume it every day.

I overheard last night at the Paleo Potluck we had at the Crossfit gym where my husband coaches that  craving sugar could be an indicator you aren't getting enough sleep.  Well, that explains it.  Considering both of my children think it's hysterical to start out as newborns sleeping wonderfully and then after 4 months of age decide to mix it up a bit and start waking every 3 hours after going to sleep.  So yeah...sleep deprivation is definitely at play here.  I've never heard of a sugar craving having anything to do with it, so I'm definitely going to ask more.  It makes sense because it's been very strong after the births of each my children.  But...I also love sugar.  So it could just be that!

Anyways, we'll be starting our 30-day Paleo Challenge soon.  Yes...again.  However, this time we are giving up dairy.  One - I want to eliminate it to see if it helps with the congestion/allergies I've suffered from since being a kid.  Two - I've mentioned our daughter's skin issues.  So hopefully this challenge will help see if the dairy is the culprit.  We're getting a little help from the folks over at Paleo Plan.  They seriously make it too easy to NOT at least try Paleo for 30 days.  Such a great site. So very easy to navigate (and it has pretty photos, so that's always a plus in my opinion!).

I am also truly starting to workout again.  A friend of mine is currently doing the intro classes at the gym and she'll be finished next week.  We've already got our twice a week workouts on the calendar.  I really have no excuses.

So here we go.  Again.  I did it for 6 weeks last time...surely I can do another 30 days...with no dairy...which means no cheese.  Ugh.

I'm back with a brand new menu plan :)

I seriously suck.

I have neglected my blog.  I have lots to talk about but just not the time to write it down!  We have also been eating so very poorly because of our lack of planning in our busy lives.  But we know that it's the lack of meal planning that adds to the "busy" of our life.

So, I have this week's menu plan and I had help!  I was visiting my mom last week and she had a Woman's Day magazine.  In the back of it, it has a monthly menu plan for dinner.  And it looked like some good recipes!

So, the beauty of it is, you can go to their website and it has the entire month planned out where you can click on day and it takes you to the recipe!!!  AND it has a shopping list set up by the week.  It's fantastic!

So here are our dinner plans for this week.  We haven't planned lunch this week, but we've got to get back in the groove and if we at least have dinner planned, it helps!


Monday - Pasta Primavera with side salad (or any veggie on sale at store)
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - Homemade fish sticks, corn on cob and coleslaw
Thursday - Korean Beef Bok Coy and brown rice with scallions
Friday - leftovers
Saturday - Stuffed Eggplant with spinach, tomato and feta salad
Sunday - Salman Burger with rice and carrot/scallion salad

Doesn't that sound WONDERFUL?  And it's such a variety which is always my hold up.  I love different things, but I drive myself crazy looking at recipe after recipe and never deciding.

So, again, a super boring post.  I promise I'll get better.  I've got tons of things to talk about, just like the recipes, I can't pick just one!  Maybe I'll put the topics in a hat and draw out one!

Menu planning

So I took a little time off from writing anything, huh? That's what moving will do to you!

We are all moved back in our house in Savannah and have settled in for the most part. We are waiting on delivery of our IKEA wardrobe system today and once that is put together and our bedroom is unpacked, I'll definitely feel better! The yard will take some work. There are tons of weeds and we've been pulling and raking them out for the past week!

We did start a few vegetables. My husband built me a raised bed along a portion of chain link fencing we have for our peas. We used bricks we already had and the trellis (chain link fence) was already there, so FREE! I also planted a cucumber plant that's supposedly good in small gardens and one red bell pepper plant. I have some other things planted but I think they will probably die in the heat because they are cooler weathered vegetables! Arugula, swiss chard, red cabbage.

We planted 4 tomato plants in self watering containers that my husband made. I'll post pictures on that later. Everything except for the soil and the tomato plants were FREE!


Now, on to making my life feel organized after the move - menu planning is the key! I absolutely despise not having a menu planned out. It makes things so difficult. It's such a pain to sit down and actually plan out the menu, but not really when you think about getting up in the morning, looking at your menu and know exactly what you are eating that day. Such a time saver and saves the hassle of deciding 30 minutes before meal time what you are having!

I'm not good at it yet. I want to be able to build my menu off of what is on sale at the grocery store and what is in season as far as vegetables and fruit. I'll get there! It helps save money too. When going to the grocery store, you have a definite list. You know exactly what to buy. Vegetables won't go bad before you decide to use them. Meat won't sit in your freezer for 6 months before you finally get around to cooking it. You won't have 20 boxes of pasta in your freezer because every time you go grocery shopping without a plan, you buy the pasta that's on sale, just to have on hand for a quick meal! :)


Here is my menu plan for next week. We used to only plan dinners but now that our son is here it's much easier to add lunches too!

Monday 4/12
Lunch - Tuna apple salad
Dinner - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green veggie or two

Tuesday 4/13
L - Meatloaf sandwich (add lettuce and tomato for veggie servings)
D - Leftovers from dinner last night (yes, meatloaf 3 times in a row, but I don't mind!)
We'll probably slice up a fresh tomato to add to our veggies.

Wednesday 4/14
L - BLAT wrap - one of my FAVORITES! Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato wrap! You take a wheat tortilla, chop up crispy bacon, add lettuce, tomato and avocado. The secret is a tiny amount of ranch dressing. SO good! We don't eat ranch dressing except for on this wrap! I'm sure there is a substitute out there I can whip up if I took the time to look!)
D - Roasted chicken, roasted carrots, potatoes and a side of green beans

Thursday 4/15
L - Artichoke chicken salad
D - Quesadillas - using leftover chicken from dinner the night before, artichokes leftover from lunch, black beans, roasted red peppers and mushrooms if you have them. Monterey Jack cheese and YUM!

Friday 4/16
L - Leftover quesadillas
D - Spaghetti with a side of green peas and salad

Saturday 4/17
L - Grape chicken salad (using leftover chicken if any left)
D - Oyster Roast at a friends house - whoohooo@

Sunday 4/18
L - Spaghetti leftovers, whip up a veggie side with whatever we have left (always keep frozen peas and beans on hand)
D - Baked Ziti, salad, something else green

Time to get organized...

Ok. I admit. I need a schedule. Or a plan. Or a to-do list. Or all of the above.

I've never been a list maker. I always think I can remember everything. I intend do. And I usually do remember everything, usually too late. Frustration comes with remembering late.

Most importantly, we need a schedule to know when to clean our house. Sounds crazy, right? Who can't remember that their bathrooms need cleaning or floors need mopping? I remember, I just put it off. Especially since I stay home, I always think I have tomorrow. It never gets done when it should. It drives me nuts when my tub gets that disgusting ring of ick in it. But when it drives me nuts, I'm usually being pulled in five different directions at that time, so it gets put off yet again.

I've been against a household schedule because I feel like a child that needs to be reminded and it makes me feel like a failure as a homemaker. Shouldn't moms who stay home know just to do these things weekly or bi-weekly? I didn't take into consideration a toddler that knows exactly when my hands are in the raw chicken preparing it for dinner and he decides to open the cabinets and rearrange, by way of removing everything from the cabinet. It's the unexpected messes every single day that I do not prepare for. And it's constantly putting it behind.

Now, I'm not complaining about my cute little mess-maker. I LOVE being home with him, but I feel if I better prepared myself, it would make me not so out of sync when the messes happen.

We've been working on menu-planning for a while and have done fairly ok with it. We just need to do it more. It's so awesome looking at the menu every morning and knowing what we're having without having to think about it at 6 p.m. when we're all starving and only have 2/3 of what we need to make a complete meal. So we're forced to either go the grocery store, hungry, and make poor choices and then eat a very late dinner. Or, we go out to eat...again make poor choices and blew $30 on one meal, when we could have stretched that at the grocery store and gotten several meals from the same money.

I think if we've been somewhat successful with the menu planning then we should be somewhat successful with the household scheduling. We'll see. I'll discuss it with my husband and see what we can come up with.

In other news, my real food challenge is taking a hit this week. Can you guess why? LACK OF PLANNING. I'm so annoyed with myself because I have eaten so poorly today. I feel disgusting and bloated. I think that's what's prompted my intense need to organize right away. With the amount of time my husband and I are both around the house, there is absolutely no reason for us to continue putting off our normal household chores any longer.