Kohls and weight issues :(

I had $20 Kohls cash given to me the other day.  It was expiring soon and I wasnt gonna waste it so last night I went into kohls, I also had a $10 off $30 coupon,, so more or less I had a free $30 to use. Very exciting.  I hardly ever buy myself any clothes so I went in with a purpose of buying something for myself.  I really need a new pair of jeans.  I tried on about 5 pairs,, nothing fit right,,, the shirts I tried on that I though might have been to big were to tight :(     All in all it sucked.  I almost cried right there in the dressing room.  I was doing so well with my weight loss I had gotten up to 50 pounds lost and something happened and now I'm only 35 pounds lost,, which means Ive gained 15 pounds,,,, actually Ive gained 3 more and havent logged it into mfp, so 18 in a matter of a couple months...thats not normal.   I have been eating more junk and snacking,,,, I've been depressed about money issues and I'm a emotional eater.  I NEED to get this under control and get back to where I was and lose more.  It depresses me Its like I have to be perfect all the time or the weight just creeps right back on me faster than ever.   Ugh,,, I know I'm whining, but this is a real issue for me.  I need to have this self control over food.  I will get this!!!  I will I will I will I will I will I will
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I did end up getting 2 shirts,, they totaled 50 but with my coupons and kohls cash I only had to pay 20. I used my kohls card.   So Ben says I ruined my no spending challenge.. Whatever..... I"m still doing it,,, necessity......

Weekend happenings

I'm feeling a tad better today. I'm not that snotty, its just so much pressure in my head and it wont break up!  Life goes on as normal around here though.  The no spend challenge is going strong,, when there is no money to spend it makes it pretty easy :)  Now this weekend is when I will get paid and that is normally what I use to go out and buy groceries, but no this time,, its going to the doctor bills, thats gonna be the hard part but we still have plenty of food.  Sunday morning I made strawberry pancakes!  They were super yummy!

Here is a quick snap of my fridge as of today,  just a hodge podge of stuff in there.  Lots of condiments.. But my cabinets are still plenty full and my freezer has food.

I did a very bad thing on Friday.  I thought I was doing a good thing.  I went through the cabinits and freezers do a inventory and made of list of what we had.  Well when I was going through the garage freezer and counting apparently I sat out one of the bags of venison meat to count what was under it.  Stupid me forgot to put the bag back in and the whole bag got ruined.  6 lbs of ground venison and 1 roast. :(   I didnt know it until the next day when Ben went out and smelled/saw it on the ground :(  I cried!  I can't believe I wasted meat!  I was so upset. We still have 7 more packages of it that I didnt sit out so we arnt out, but now I really hope the boys will get another deer   We really do rely on that meat because I just dont have the money in my grocery budget to buy hamburger right now.   I'll be more careful next time I go through the freezer, thats for sure!!!!!

Sunday I had a baby shower to attend,, the baby had already been born,, Meet Jacelyn.  I will  be watching her when her mom returns to work sometime in January!  I'm excited!  She is so precious and little and sweet!

Saturday was my Grandma Baldridge's 77th surprise birthday party!  It was a great success and she was so happy!  I'm so glad all the family got to share this occasion!

Here' s Jess holding baby Zayden.  He's a  all full of sweetness also! Last night I made potato corn chowder and it was YUMMY!  Everyone liked it.  And tonight we are having burritos made from the pinto beans I cooked in the crockpot last Friday.    Bean and cheese is all you really need and they are still so yummy and very affordable!

Home

So we've been home for a few days and obviously I still haven't updated my blog.  I've been trying to catch up on the laundry and the household stuff.  Being away from my house just throws me off.  I feel like I get behind.  Alas I will need to be getting used to it though because with Bens mom moving only 3 hours away instead of across the country we will be taking long weekends out there much more often.  I am happy about it all though.  I can't imagine not seeing my mom for so long and I hope the two(hubby and mom in law) can build there relationship. 
Being away from home not only makes me feel behind on my household duties but apparently in the fitness area also.  While the hotel we stayed in had a workout room and I did use the treadmill 2 of the 3 days we were there(yay) I still ate like crap!  Seriously when we returned home my scale was up 10 pounds!  :(   I thought the next day it would look better....Nope.  2 days later and I'm only down a few ounces.  I have got to get back on the right eating track and keep losing!   I feel awful and like a fat slob and I hate it.   I need to learn to make healthy choices outside the home as well as in.  I can do pretty well when I'm at home but get me out to a restaurant and its a free for all.  Good thing we dont go out to often! 

Hopefully I'll be back with some pictures soon!

Spills and sleepless nights

 Oh today is just not my day.  Last night Emma woke me up at 3am,,I do not know why she does this.  She's been doing it quite often.  She wakes up and runs through the house(sounding quite like a crazed elephant), stomp stomp stomp super fast in a dead run, so I know shes coming before she gets there. She has to come all the way across the house to get to our room.  Does she try to crawl into our bed?  NO.  She knows she not really allowed to do that.  She wakes me up(although shes already awoken me with her stomping run through the house) and says "Mommy, take me back to bed".   Now really, what is the point of that besides to just wake me up?   I know shes only 5, I know she has probably woken up and having trouble getting back to sleep, but all that just to make sleeping me get up and follow her back to her room and tuck her back in and turn on her music box.  This is almost a nightly occurrence.  I guess it wouldnt be such a big deal accept for once I get up and go back to bed I have such a hard time falling back to sleep.  I lay there dog tired but toss and turn and think of things,,things I need to do, things that are emotionally bothering me, last night it took me 2 hours, so from 3-5am I was laying in bed feeling bad cuz I wasnt very nice to her this time when I took her back to bed, thinking about the food I was going to make today to put in the freezer for  quick meals for the kiddos in busy times, thinking about missing my dad, wondering why he doesnt call or come around, thinking I need to be a better mother......seriously people my mind races.   And this normally doesnt happen unless Im woken up by the lovely Emma.  ugh...   Enough of that,, just so you know, I love her to pieces and I'm just venting because I'm tired and dont know what to do to make it better.

So fast forward to 6:30am,, Jess wakes me saying I need to write her a check for a yearbook,,I get up do that, send her off to school, hop in shower to get ready cuz fairly new babysitting girl is coming at 7:15 this morning.  Before I'm even out of the shower Emma is up,  once new girl arrives shes crying and sad,, She doesnt like her mom going to work and is having a hard time with it bless her heart, but it sure makes for a long day.  I hope this wont last long!
I didnt mean for this to be a day in the life post so lets skip forward to around 10am, I start my getting ingredients out for my marathon baking and spill almost a whole container of cocoa powder all over the kitchen floor,,, what a stinking mess!!!  That was not easy to clean up, especially when I have to tell a 1 year old to stay away and out 500 times while Im trying to clean it up and every time I tell him to get out he throws a fit.  (deep breath)  First I get the pancake sausage muffins done, then corn dog muffins, and applesauce bread!  I sure thought it seemed like more than it looks like here

LOL   the hot dogs in the muffins arnt really a surprise are they?

I gave the kids some corn dog muffins for lunch along with some peaches and chex mix,, they really liked them.  Im hoping to put the rest accept for maybe a few cuz I know Gary is super excited to try out those muffins when he gets home from school today, in the freezer.  Soccer season is starting and things are about to get crazy here!
After I got the kids started I got my lunch ready, leftover crock pot fried rice and grilled chicken from last nights dinner.  Ben made sure to save me some so I could have some for lunch.  I was so excited,,, put it in the microwave(which we keep in the laundry room due to lack of space in the kitchen), got it out.  It smelled so good! I was carrying it out to the table and low and behold that bowl slipped right out of my hand and spilled all over the floor!  :(
I was so sad I could have cried.  I didnt even bother cleaning it up, the dog was already there enjoying what I was supposed to be eating... So instead I tried out the corn dog muffins I made and they were really good so I ended up eating 2.  Plus some hummus chips with hummus and raw carrots and grape tomatoes.  Over 500 calorie lunch that was only supposed to be around 300.  
Lets hope the rest of the day looks up,  ,I think we are going to Apple Bees for dinner tonight for a treat so at least I dont have to cook anymore!

And I hope you all dont think I'm a terrible mother now for complaining about Emmas sleeping habits.

Homemade poptarts

So the kiddos had school canceled Monday due to snow(Spring is here but the snow and cold weather are also still here :(  Anyways we have been talking about taking a try at making homemade pop tarts and I decided today was the day.  I am loving Laura's recipes and cant wait to receive her book I ordered in the mail! I mixed up the dough and let the kiddos help with the rest.  We decided to fill them with strawberry spreadable fruit and nutella! (notice the flowers in the background? Bennie was sweet and got them for me the other day, just because) 

Here's a few on the pan waiting to go in the oven.

Emma pressing the edges with a fork to seal them.

Enjoying the fruits of her labor!  Still not a low calorie snack but the ingredient list is all healthy and homemade so I feel better about serving these as a snack instead of the boxed poptarts.

And just because,, here's a pic of my girls..  I love when Jess helps out and acts loving with her sister :)

Soup and the Ballet

Remember that chicken in the crock pot from my last post?  Well from that one chicken I made a crock pot full of chicken broth that I froze some of, and then I turned the rest of the broth and leftover chicken that we didn't eat the night before into yummy homemade chicken noodle soup!  I kept it simple, chicken, broth, noodles, carrots, onions, and seasonings simmered on the stove for a couple of hours.  It was yummy.

 Saturday we were treated to the ballet.  My mom bought tickets for all of us(thanks Mom).  It was Cinderella, the girls really enjoyed it as did I.  The only problem was I had nothing to wear.  My old dressy clothes are way to big and sloppy looking but we managed to throw some pieces together and I didn't look to bad. :)  The shirt and skirt were some of my sisters old things,, mom had the skirt, it was what she had worn to her high school graduation.  New to me though :)

 They didn't let us take any pictures during the performance but I took a couple beforehand.  Jess and Emmas smiling faces

 And me and Amira :)

Afterwards we went out to dinner.  Yummy Mexican food!  I splurged on my calories and just ate what sounded good.  Yum

New Diet Plan

My husband and I started our "healthier living journey" 2012  probably around February.  While I have lost 48.4 pounds I still have 32.6 to go  before I THINK I am where I want to be.  I say THINK because I've never been this weight in my adult life.  I've always been heavy.  I'm the fat one in the family.   Although I don't think I would call myself that anymore.  But I'm still to heavy.  I'm not in my "healthy weight range".  I'm not comfortable naked (not sure I ever will be).  

Throughout this whole thing I haven't really wanted to consider myself on a "diet".  Ive done that before and ended up gaining half the weight back that I lost.  I have really tried to not tell myself that I can't have any certain food, reason being then I'm constantly gonna want that food. That's just how I am.  But since I've been playing around at this back and forth 5 pounds for months now I think its time to stricken it up.  I've been trying to figure out how to do that without being miserable.  I Love food!  And I enjoy eating.  I normally stay within my calories too, but for some reason I' m not losing anymore so here is what I'm going to do for the time being.  No more crackers/chips for the next two weeks at least so I can see what the scale does.  If I really feel the need for something of that nature then I will pop some popcorn with coconut oil.  At least that is "clean".  I was getting a little crazy with the flavored peanut butter also so I'm going to limit myself to only "real" peanut butter or the PB2 for the next little while also.  Also I will be keeping trying to incorporate more veggies into the mix.  I'm finding a lot that I didn't even know I liked!  I am still going to allow myself one "cheat meal" for the week.

As far as exercise I have been rocking it better than ever with that.  I have 2 days left of Jillian Michaels the Shred and then I can move on with my life. LOL   Not stop exercising but just adding new and different things.  I really do enjoy the circuit type workouts though.  I'm defiantly gonna incorporate lots of those in the mix.     I'll keep Ya ll updated!  Here's hoping for big loses!

A fit family and our menu.

Another weekend come and gone,, almost half way through Feb!!  It really is true that as you get older life just moves on faster.  And the weekends sure do fly by.  Through the week our days are pretty much the same,, get up kids go to school Ben is at work, I babysit until 5:30 every night which then we have dinner, clean up dinner, workout, get kids ready for bed, watch a little TV, wait for 3rd shift babysitting girl to come and then go to bed to get up and do it all over again.  The weekends are always a little different and as of lately working out is part of those also.  I am really happy that fitness has taken over our household.  I cant believe I'm saying this but I am loving being active.  I really cant  wait until the weather warms up some I we can get outside more often and take walks and I"m dieing to go hiking somewhere.  Tennessee and all those hills are really calling my name.  I bet we could tackle them a lot better now than we did a few years ago! 

Jess and I right before doing The Shred.

 

We took a little sneak peak at level 3 of the Shred and since the mats were open Emma decided to do some of the stretches with Evil Jillian.

Saturday the sun was out and even though it wasn't really warm we took advantage of it and the whole family went for a walk. Gary wanted to ride his bike.  We went for 2 miles!  Our ears and cheeks were frozen but its all good.  I loved getting some fresh air. Emma was whining on the way home about being cold and tired but hopefully this summer when its not freezing she will be more into it. 

I really wasn't this far behind everyone, my shoe was untied so I stopped to tie it and snapped a pic while I was back there. 

 

Ive decided to start posting our menus again like I used to.  Keep in mind that lunches are always subject to change, just depends if we have leftovers or not and what the kids and I are in the mood for..I also don't always eat the same thing as the kids in the mornings and lunches,,if you want to see exactly what I eat find and add me at myfitnesspal.com  my user name is everydaymom. 

 

I also always have a veggie or two at dinner but dont always right then down on the menu plan because we just have whatever one sounds good that day. :)   More or less nothing is written in stone,I just like to have a basic plan.  This little markerboard came with a calander set my mom got me for Christmas,, I love it for posting our menus on the fridge. 

If you need some dinner inspiration check outhttp://orgjunkie.com/ There are tons of menu plans there every Monday morning

Saturday happenings

Oh lovely Saturday.. I love them.  No extra kids here besides my own.  Ben worked this morning, and he has to work tomorrow.  He's bummed, but it sure helps out with money.  This morning the kids and I slept in , had breakfast, then Jess and I did the Shred.  Shes been doing it with me, which helps out.  Its always more fun to have someone suffer along beside me :)  Then we all took showers(cuz we were sweaty and stinky), and then Ben came home.  We had lunch, cleaned up, then made our grocery shopping list.  Tomorrow is super bowl Sunday we planned out a fun and fattening filled day for that, then made the menu plan for the rest of the week.  

All our lovely fruit, I love when we get home from the store and have a overflowing fruit basket,, although it wont look like that for long,, This wont even last until next weekends shopping trip.

 Shopping took forever!! The stores were packed,, guess people were stocking up for super bowl?? When we came home we had dinner, then decided we needed desert.  So Jess was looking online for a recipe and I suggested we look at momto9's blog.  She has yummy deserts  We found this recipe for heavenly bars.. 

Cooking at home makes for lots of dirty dishes

 The bars turned out just as heavenly as promised!  Jess did a great job as always.  I don't even want to know how many calories were in that little square I ate. Good thing we exercised this morning!  

My nice clean shiny sink! (wanted to make sure everyone knows I don't leave a  messy kitchen for to long!)

PS..   For the whole entire time I've been typing this Miss Jessica has been sitting beside me making fun of me and the way I type and write and spell and talk,, and shes laughing right now..  Good thing I know she loves me deep down.

Weekend birthday party



We had a great weekend.  We had family over to celebrate Emma and Gary's birthdays.  We had the party here at our house and I made food and Jess made the cakes!

 

 

She did a amazing job!  She wants to study culinary arts in school! Its nice having someone else that likes to cook around the house although she prefers to make deserts I think,  Which is fine and dandy unless you ask my waistline. LOL

It was nice to have everyone over to our house.  I'm so glad everyone could make it!  The kids both got things they wanted and everyone was happy I believe. 

 

My family has been begging me to make granola bars again... that's right, we don't buy those anymore either.  this is the recipe I have been making.  Everyone likes it accept for Gary, not sure why.  I cut them into 24 bars and they come out to 120 calories.  I do want to try some different things out and see if I can make them healthier.  This recipe uses butter,, I'm wondering if I could replace it with coconut oil.   Here are the bars setting up before I cut them

 

 

 

And here they are in the "cookie jar". (which we never have cookies in)

Homemade is the only way

Oh, I really need to start doing better with this blogging business. . I just cant decide if I wanna do it or not, I can totally write the post in my head while I'm folding clothes or making dinner, but to actually take the time and sit down to type it out and upload pics is hard.  

Anyways we have been doing fabulous not eating out and  making things from scratch.  In fact if I mention buying something from the store, for example tortillas, Ben about goes crazy.  He says why buy something when we can make it ourselves.  Its all good and dandy, but geez it sure is a LOT  more work and a LOT more kitchen clean up for me!  We have been making all kinds of pizzas, we've done tortillas

, I made some breakfast hot pockets that went in the freezer for a quick and easy breakfast for the the kiddos before school.  We made homemade egg rolls the other day and they were delish!!!  All this yummy food and we are still trying to lose the weight.  Its coming off still, slowly but surely.  43 pounds down,, it was 50 but I gained some over the holidays.  We try to fit in our exercise most days.  I've decided without it I wont be losing any weight.  So elliptical and weights it is along with some exercise videos thrown in here and there.  And counting my calories on myfitnesspal.com  feel free to add me on a friend on there!

2013

Jan 2, 2013!  Seems so strange,, I can't believe another year has come and gone.  So much happened last year, we prepared our house to sell, then at the last minute changed our minds because the 2 oldest kids ended up getting their braces....  Priorities right?  I quit smoking!  Yay!   I lost 50 pounds!  Over the holidays I gained a little back but its gonna go away fast,, this morning started me recommitting to healthier eating.   So right there were 2 resolutions from last year,, quiting smoking and losing weight.  I have more weight I want to lose but I'm heading in the right direction!! 

This year my main focus is going to be going strong on paying off our debt,, that is a goal every year, but Im going to try my hardest to make it work.  By the end of 2013 I will be debt free accept for my vehicles and home!  I know I can do it!  
I will also keep focusing on eating healthy and exercising and hopefully be down to where I want to be weight wise by the end of the year. 
I will continue to use my time wisely and be resourceful with the things we have.  I want to keep making as much homemade as I have been and learn even more!  I also want to try to do more freezer cooking to help out when I dont really feel like cooking. 

Here's to a new year!

Almost a year

Holy Moly its been a long time!!  Almost a year since I have blogged!!  Life...it has been busy, crazy, good, bad, and everything in between.  So much has happened in the last year, so many plans, things I thought were going to happen, and yet here we are, right where I left a year ago.  Everything is pretty much the same, accept for the fact that I am now almost 50 pounds lighter!  That's a good thing. I still have more to go and its been a real struggle lately.  I fight with my inner self constantly,, what to eat, when to exercise.  See I know the answer to all of this, its just mind of matter and its also a fact of me not wanting to be so obsessed with everything I put into my mouth.  I want there to be a happy medium.  I want to be able to eat healthy but still let myself enjoy some of the bad for me stuff also.  Its a happy balance and I'm trying to find it.   The exercise things is just me needing to do it, stick with it and get it done.. When I don't exercise its just my pure laziness.  I'm working on that.  Anyways, as far as blogging I'm just gonna start again and take up where I left off.  Its a good release for my mind and I kind of miss the outside communication with the world. :)

The blues

I'm feeling so down lately.  I feel like things are spinning out of control.  Nothing major huge has happened its just little things that seem to be piling up and bringing me down.  Issues with money,, its getting very tight, doctor bills are coming in from when I had to have a CT scan a couple months back, bank accounts are lower than they have been in a long long time.  I'm now not able to be so picky about the food I am purchasing due to the fact that I just can not afford to buy what I have been right now.  That makes me feel bad,, it ws easier before when I didnt know all the things that I do now.  Our days are pretty crazy now that its summer and all the kids are home from school,, it can get pretty loud and sometimes I feel like I'm leading a three ring circus most days. LOL,, I love em all though.   I also have been feeling like one of my kids is trying to grow up way to fast,, I decided that I have to lay the law down now and had a discussion with her tonight,, now I'm sure she hates me.  I sometimes wish phones and computers were never invented,, life as far as kids go would be so much easier I think.. We didnt have problems until the cell phone was bought for her and facebook came into play. She doesnt understand why I don't want her to do certain things, she thinks its just me being mean.  I dont' want her to fall down the wrong path, and I'm the one that is supposed to help show her the right way right?  I'm scared if I sit back and dont do anything now what will become later of things.    Being a parent is so hard., I thought it was supposed to get eaiser as they got older. :(  
I'm just so sad,, this all probally sounds like a jumbled mess but I had to just get it out there. 

I'm really hoping for a good week, and hoping that everything works out and that my kids dont hate me for trying to be a good parent.  ugh...

Procrastinating

Do you ever feel like you are being torn in a million different directions?  I've been feeling like that lately.  There is so much I need to be doing right now,,, but here I sit blogging. LOL   I think sometimes people thing that when you don't work outside the home life is so much easier.... It's not!  Especially when you run a business in your home,, and double when that business involves little kids that love to run around and make messes. :)   I love my job and I love the kids that are here, I wouldn't trade it for anything but it comes with lots of work and cleaning because I believe in letting the kids play and not constantly nagging them about not making messes.  What we need to work on is teaching them how to clean up their messes. :)   
I've said before that laundry is my favorite household chore......well its not anymore.  Even though Im constantly doing it it never seems to get done!  Especially when I have a little girl that seems to have accidents every single day during nap time and kids that change their clothes 50 times a day.  OH and the latest thing around here is the little girls have been playing "Florida resort".  Over Christmas break we went to Florida, Emma has not forgotten about it and now every single day she plays Florida and finds a bag and "packs", Packing includes taking all the clothes out of her drawer and shoving them in the bag then toting it around the house getting in the pretend car and driving to Florida.  It is actually very cute and I love seeing them use their imaginations but the dragging the clothes out every single day is getting quite old.  When I try to put the clothes away she screams and tells me thats her Florida clothes. 
We are actually leaving for Tennessee next Friday for a little vacation so I have a feeling Florida resort will turn into Tennessee cabin after we get back. :)  I've got lots of work to do before we leave for TN,, I haven't even started thinking about packing yet and then theres getting the house all sparkly before we leave,, I like to come back to a clean house after time away. When we get back the kids will only have one week of school left then they will be on summer break!  Yay for them!   Let the craziness begin. :)  
The other thing I've been struggling with is this food journey I'm on.  I've mentioned before that we are trying to eat healthier and real foods,, not the processed stuff.  We still had some snacky type stuff and the kids have been eating that but now we are pretty much out of it all.  So its up to me to make everything homemade.  That takes a lot more work,, I feel like I spend so much more time now in the kitchen cooking and then cleaning up.  But I guess its worth it for our health.  

Whew,,,, I hope you all don't think this was a big whiny complaining post.   I can honestly say I've been so happy with my life lately.  I feel so blessed with my kids and husband.  He and I have been getting along beautifully lately!  I just feel like there are not enough hours in the day. :)  Now its off to work. 

HOMEMADE TORTILLAS

Have you ever looked at the list of ingredients on a package of tortillas in the store?  Its a long list of words I can't pronounce.  I decided very spur of the moment yesterday try out making some on my own.  After a bit of research I found one I liked that used only 4 ingredients(and I could pronounce all of them). 

white whole wheat flour
salt
butter
water

Can't get much simpler than that!  Here's what I did:

1. Mix together 2 cups flour and 1t.salt

2.Cut in 1/4 cup of slightly softened butter (you do not need a fancy pastry cutter for this.  I took 2 butter knifes and held them together and cut the butter in) til it starts to look crumbly

3.Then add you add 1/2 cup water.  Mix and toss with a fork, then kneed for a couple of minutes.  Then u take it and put it in the fridge for at least 4 hrs. 

4. Take dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.  Make around 8-10 balls depending on how big you want them.  Flour a surface and roll the balls out until they are as flat as you can get them.  I rolled out then flipped over and rolled some more.  Heat a ungreased griddle to 400degrees and place tortillas on it for about 20 seconds until they start to brown and bubble on that side then flip them over until the other side it browned.  

It's that easy!  Eat right away or store in fridge or freezer!   I only made this one batch yesterday, but next time I think I'll double or triple the batch.  My family LOVED them.  I also figure them to be a lot cheaper than the good whole wheat ones you would buy in the store.

Here is the stack I made,, mine were not perfectly round,, but really,, who cares?

And here's one with some goodies in it.

My three year old helped me roll out the little balls and had a great time. She said it was like playing with play dough.  I made these with the intention of making enchiladas but Emma and I just had to taste one before we rolled them all up and covered them with sauce.   Yummy!

Rhubarb Crisp

Yesterday afternoon I made my first trip to the farmers market!  There wasn't a whole lot of booths due to it being a weekday but they said Saturday morning there will be lots more.  I bought some fresh rhubarb and came home and made rhubarb crisp for the first time. It was very yummy and my family gobbled up every last bite!  Here is the recipe that I got it from, I used the second one down called Crumbly Topped Rhubarb and I made just a few substitutions.

Ingredients:


3 c Young Rhubarb; Unpeeled And Diced

1 T Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 c Organic Sugar

1 t Cinnamon

1/8 t Sea Salt

1 T ;Water

6 T Butter
6 T Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 c Organic Brown Sugar; Firmly Packed

1/2 c Rolled Oats;
Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F. In a 9x13 baking dish, combine the first 6 ingredients (this made a very thin desert, next time I might try a 9x9 pan). Cream the butter with the flour and brown sugar, then stir in the oats. Sprinkle over the rhubarb. Bake in  oven, 350 Degrees F., for 40 minutes or until the rhubarb is tender and the top is brown.


Like I said, it was great!  I might play around with it next time and try and replace the sugar with honey or maple syrup for a more natural sweetener.  

I'm going back Saturday and hoping to buy some free range farm fresh eggs and some local meat.  The people that were there last night were quite expensive and I know of another lady that is supposed to have her meat a little cheaper. I'm hoping she will be there Saturday.  I also bought a bar of homemade natural soap which is delightful!  

Birthday pics and other rambles...

I did it again ladies!  I got up early. I made smoothies and waffles for the kids this morning!  The only problem is by this time now(its 1:30)  I'm feeling very tired,, and I still have a long day ahead of me.  Hopefully my body will just get used to it.  Honestly its only like 30 minutes sleep less than I would normally get,, you wouldn't think it should make that much of a difference.  It was very hard this morning,, every ounce of my body said"go back to bed"...but I didn't.  I know Jess for one really likes me being up and awake and more talkative to her in the morning.. she is a morning person.

Tonight I'm making homemade chicken pot pie for dinner!  This is a new recipe.  I'm excited about it.  I already have the chicken cooked up and as soon as I get off here I'm gonna go ahead and put it all together so at dinner time I can just pop it into the oven!  The recipe actually makes 2,, one to eat now and one to freeze for later.  I hope we like it!

I had these pic from the kid's birthdays a couple of weeks ago so I thought I'd post them..

The Birthday girl on her day



Hiding her eyes while we brang in her surprise bike!



 She can ride that thing all over!



Blowing out her candles



 And here's Gary on his special day

 Emma attacking Gary,, haha

Here they are at Toys R Us.  I think Gary enjoyed going to Ft. Wayne and getting to spend his money.. We ate at Fazolis that night, and instead of birthday cake,, since we still had leftovers from Emma's the day before,, he picked his own dessert there.. He picked strawberry cheesecake!  My favorite,, he was even nice enough to let me try a bite.. It sure was yummy!

Thoughtful Thursday--"Food Matters"

Well here it is,, Thursday again already!,, That means 8 days til we leave for our 2 week vacation!  Woo HOO! 
Today's thoughts are about food and nutrition.  Yesterday I watched the movie called Food Matters.  It is a documentary and I enjoyed it.  In the past I have also watched Food Inc,,, which is another great one.  These movies can really open up your eyes to what we are putting in our bodies.  There is a lot of talk in these movies about organic food.  Now, I 100% totally understand and agree with buying/eating organic.  I want to do it for myself, my children, and the farmers that take the time to do it right.  The only thing stopping me from buying organic is the ridiculous cost of these items.  My food budget is already so tight,, I go to the store and stand in the  produce section and look at the fruits/veggies with great intentions of buying the organic ones and I just can not bring myself to put the so much higher priced item in the cart.  So I don't then I go home feeling guilty.  It tears at my heart and makes me feel like a bad parent,, especially when I know others that do buy mostly organic stuff.  But I can only do what I can, so I have a plan.  I am going to do the best I can with what I have and can do.  Food Matters, talks a lot about vitamin's, so I am going to start taking them regularly,, last night I went out and got a multivitamin, some calcium chews, and some b12(that said it is supposed to help give energy and boost metabolism.   My only problem is standing in front of the big isle of vitamins can be very intimidating,,, I don't know what I need and not sure if I can take to much of something.  so Im just gonna start out small with this and try to keep gaining more knowledge about it.  I already give the kids a vitamin every day so I will continue with that.  I am trying to talk Ben into taking some vitamins but he is a worthless cause.....he could care less about his health.    

I am going to try and cut out most of the processed junk that we eat,, that is the hard part with the kids. and keep introducing a variety of healthy foods.  If my budget allows I will keep slowly switching to organic on some items. I plan to do another bigger garden this summer and put up as much food as possible.  Drink more water and healthy juices.   I am hoping that for myself I might get a little weight loss that comes with this.  I've given up on the diets, I just wanna be healthy and comfortable.  I am hoping maybe with the vitamins it will give my body some more energy,, I've been dragging something fierce lately.  This is also what I hope for Ben, but he is just so negative about everything,, I don't know what to do about him. 
So there you have it.  I highly recommend this movie,, if you have netflix it is streaming on it now.  Do you guys feel you and your family are following  healthy guidelines?  Do you buy organic?  Any recommendations for me about vitamins?

Thoughtful Thursday--Eating out

I decided Thursdays are now officially thoughtful Thursdays here at Everyday Life of a Mom.  It will be the day that I will share something that's been on my mind.  If you have your own blog and wanna do a thoughtful Thursday post feel free and just leave you blog address in the comments section and please link your post back to my blog, and of course please feel free to comment and let me know what you think of my post.  

Today's topic here is on "Eating Out".   My family LOVES to eat out.  I'm not sure why,,, I know I'm a fairly good cook and they always compliment me on my cooking.  I like to eat out because it leaves little to no work on my part :)  Plus the food is yummy,, but I was thinking and there are many disadvantages to eating out also...I'll name a few...

 1. costly----hardly anywhere can you go that you can get a well balanced meal for less than you can make it at home.  (I say that because some could argue that you could go to Mc Donald's and buy a cheeseburger for a dollar and you cant make a cheeseburger at home for a dollar,, but that is NOT  a healthy well balanced meal)

2. unhealthy,, fattening food  (when I go out to eat I am not thinking of any diet,,, I figure if I'm going out and paying for it I might as get something I really wanna eat.)

3.  stressful ---For me anyways,, when we go out with my kids in tow,, there is always some kinda drama when the little one is there.  If its just Ben and I then no its not stressful.

4.  Guilt-----  lately whenever we go out I feel so stinking guilty.  I view it my job to provide my family with their meals.  When we go out to eat that usually means I was to lazy that day and didn't feel like cooking.  I failed to suck it up and make something.  I mean really,, how hard is it to boil some noodles and throw some spaghetti sauce over it?  As a wife it is my job to help be smart with our money.  And going out to eat is really a waste of it.  For that $40.00 meal my husband had to work like 2 in a half hours...or if you look at if from what I make, that's watching one kid for 2in a half days!!!!!  Is it really worth it? 

This is what I need to think of next time I don't feel like cooking.  My money goals right now are to important and I need to keep my eyes on the prize. 

And one more thing,, this is not to offend anyone.  If you have the cash and its not hurting you to go out to eat than more power to ya.  I am not one to judge.  I am purely speaking for myself and my unique situation.

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