2012 Resolutions

Do you do New Years Resolutions? I don't.  I kind of do them all year long instead of making some big ones at the beginning of the year (and failing!).  Whether you make resolutions or you don't, I challenge you to get organized in your shopping and cooking for 2012.

If you are resolving to lose weight, cooking at home will help you do it.  If you are resolving to save money, being organized and making grocery lists will help you do that, too.  Here's how to do it:

1) Plan your meals.  Even if you plan sandwiches every night; make a list and stick to it.  Be flexible, of course, but don't buy 10 frozen pizzas just because they are on sale.   You don't need them! Really, you don't.

2) Have a list every time you go to the grocery store.

3) Eat at home; only eat out once or twice a week.

Here's the low tech list template I use at my Walmart Supercenter. I print it out and then write on it through the week and when I plan our meals.  I have a certain way I walk around the store, so I've organized the categories as such. I fold the paper in half so I can hold it easier while shopping.  I start on the Walmart side (that's what I call the side without the food), then head to the cleaning supplies, then to the snacks, and so forth, finishing with produce.

Confession:  I don't coupon.  I admire those ladies at the store with coupon binders and calculators who are passionate about saving money.  I just don't have it in me. 

I prefer to save money by meal planning and staying organized.  If you plan your meals, you won't waste food. If you have a list, you won't over-buy.  And if you HAVE to take children with you when shopping, a list will help you get out of the store without forgetting anything.

Use any list type that works for you; there are all kinds of free printables out there like this one and this extra cute one that has a chevron print.  If you like lists where you check off what you need,  this one is really good.  I've tried a cool list app on my phone, but I just ended up dropping my phone at the store (more than once!) so that didn't work for me.

You'll be happily surprised at how smoothly your shopping trip goes, how you save money, and have more time for Pinterest (um, I mean, your family)...

My Healthy Eating Soapbox and Spicy Garlic Spinach

 

For me, the key to staying healthy, is a combination of not eating too much and daily exercise.  If you struggle with healthy eating or weight loss I would suggest reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food.  That book completely changed the way I see food and eating.  He says you should eat real food, not processed food-like substances (I always think of Veleveeta) and not too much of it.   Nothing is really off limits and he neither condones nor condemns being a vegetarian or vegan.  He says you should eat chocolate cake if you want it, but don't eat Little Debbies.  Get up off the couch and make a cake from flour, sugar, cocoa, and eggs.  Having to make from scratch chocolate chip cookies will make you think about how badly you want cookies!  And for exercise, I say do the best you can.  I don't always exercise every day.  I do what I can when I can; some weeks I do great, and sometimes I don't...It's about moderation in everything...

Enough of my soapbox, right?  We had tenderloin steaks for dinner (the same recipe from a few weeks ago minus the butter).  The Baby and Beta split a steak and I spit one with Alpha (John had his own).  When you cut any meat and fan it out like this, it tricks your eye into thinking you're eating more than you are.   So really, I only ate a couple of ounces of steak and most of my plate was spinach and sweet potatoes.

Spicy Garlic Spinach

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 big bag of baby spinach, more or less is fine

1 tablespoon olive oil

big pinch of red pepper flakes (I knew my kids wouldn't touch it, so I went heavy on the pepper)

salt

Heat olive oil in a skillet until hot.  Add the garlic and saute for about a minute, but don't let it brown.  Add the red pepper flakes and then the spinach.  Toss spinach until it wilts and then add salt. 

Homemade Laundry Soap

Yep, I got the idea of making homemade laundry soap from the Duggars, but I’ve since learned that a lot of regular people make it, too.  Because we do 1-2 loads of laundry every DAY around here, we go through a lot of Tide, so I thought we'd give it a try.  I also thought it would be a good super hot day activity for the kids…

Here's the recipe I used, with step by step instructions. I found all the ingredients at my Walmart.

1 bar of soap (any kind you want, but pick something that has a nice scent)
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of washing soda
a big pot
a cheese box grater
2 empty gallon containers

And here's how the process went down.  You won't make a huge mess like I did.

First, we grated a bar of soap with a box grater. If I were doing this process alone, I'd probably use my food processor to grate the soap, but what fun would that have been for the girls? :)

 

Then we added one gallon of water to the pot with the grated soap, and cooked it until the soap dissolved.  To that, we added the borax and the washing powder and brought it to a boil.  I had to rescue my son from immediate danger, but I turned around quickly when Beta yelled, "Mommy, it's a volcano!"  It boils quickly!

So after it boiled, I removed it from the heat and added one gallon of cold water.  I had to transfer the mixture into a larger plastic container (and at that point I spilled a bunch on the floor, you won't do that, I'm sure), and then into a pitcher so I could pour the soap into the empty milk jugs.  The pitcher actually worked perfectly.  

After the soap cools it gets thicker, and after washing a few loads with it, I think it works great.

NWA Bloggers Meetup

The Northwest Arkansas blogging community is pretty amazing and full of such cool and interesting people.  And I finally got to meet of bunch of them at the NWA Blogger Meetup at the Acumen office yesterday! 

John and Josh got the idea to do this meetup a couple of weeks ago, and invited a handful of bloggers to come so they could get some ideas about how to actually host a meetup.  Well, it kind of snowballed, and there were more than 60 bloggers there! Even though the whole event was thrown together at the last minute, it went off without a hitch. 

Here's my brilliant husband, completely in his element, talking about one of his favorite subjects, Google analytics.  If you come to our house at any given time, you'll find him sitting exactly like this (without the big screen, although I'll bet he wishes he had one connected at home).  Here's a link to his presentation, if you missed it.

 

A few of the lovely Arkansas Women Bloggers I finally had the privilege of meeting.

 

And the lunch.....I had this crazy idea that I'd make lunch for the group.  And then the group kept growing.  I'd never cooked for 75 people before and I started to stress.  But I still really wanted to do it, because I knew it would be fun and a great jump start for my blog.  With a little organization, babysitting help from my parents, and Sams Club, I pulled it off!! 

Oh, and some serious last minute sandwich making from my friend, Jennifer.  She stopped by Monday morning to help me pack lunches, and that girl rolled up her sleeves (figuratively...she didn't have sleeves) and saved the day!! Thanks, Jenn!

 

So I made all these lunches, printed a cute little menu to go on the lunch sacks that included my blog url, but guess what I forgot? To take pictures of the food. Duh. Live and learn, I guess.

Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

My 2 younger kids go to preschool 3 mornings a week, and they really have the best preschool teachers ever!  So when I was asked to prepare lunch for the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon at the school, I was thrilled to do something nice for the wonderful teachers who spend so much time loving my children.  The committee did all sorts of neat things to make the lunch special for the teachers. Here are some pictures:

Herb pots were used as centerpieces and each teacher took one home.

Pretty place settings

Iced Mint Tea

Chicken Berry Salad with Lemon Honey Vinaigrette and Cheddar Biscuits.  I'll have all the recipes later this week.

Chocolate Creme Brulee

Easter Rolls

These rolls are such a neat (and very Duggar-y, I might add) way to tell the Easter Story to children.  And since we'd spent the evening hunting eggs and visiting the Easter Bunny, we thought it'd be a good way to remind us all why we celebrate Easter.

1 can of refrigerated crescent rolls

8 large marshmallows

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Separate crescent rolls and give one to each child.  In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon together. Dip marshmallow into melted butter, then roll in the sugar mixture. Let each child put a marshmallow in center of a crescent dough triangle and wrap carefully, pinching at seams to seal tightly. Place on baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool, break open and enjoy the empty center!!

Get it?  It's the tomb. It's empty.  You can tell them that the dough is the tomb and the marshmallow is Jesus, but then your 3 year old might get panicked and say, "I'm gonna cook Jesus?!" So you might want to leave that part out.  It's up to you. :)

 

He is risen, indeed! Happy Easter.

Tips for Healthy Eating Out

I love to go out to eat.  At least, I used to, before I had toddlers.  Eating out with a toddler is an experience I try to avoid at all costs...And Chuck E Cheese?  Well, I try to go there only when we are invited to birthday parties, and then I usually talk John into taking the invited child.   That place gives me a headache.

But as a reward for an excellent report card, I found myself there last night with my 3 kids, by myself.  I expected the worst, but they were perfectly behaved, very happy, and I had a $19.99 coupon for pizza, drinks, and enough tokens to last an hour.  And I discovered that Chuck's now got himself a decent salad bar!

Now, I'm no nutritional expert.  And I try to do the best I can with what I have as far as eating goes.
But the dietitians and doctors that work for the government are experts. They have finally updated that food pyramid we learned about in elementary school.  It makes sense.  And their website, mypyramid.gov, is great.  They put into print the things that healthy/skinny people seem to know intuitively. 

Here are my favorite of their tips for eating out. 

As a beverage choice, ask for water or other zero calorie beverage.  This is my ALWAYS rule.   Why drink unnecessary calories?

Ask for salad dressing to be served on the side. Dip your fork into the dressing, and then eat the lettuce.

Order an appetizer or side dish instead of an entrée.  This is my FAVORITE.  I almost never order an entree at a table service restaurant.  I would much rather have a salad, an app, and split a dessert.

Share a main dish with a friend.  Nicer restaurants will often plate them separately for you.  Be sure to tip your waiter as if you both ordered an entree, though!

In a restaurant, start your meal with a salad packed with veggies, to help control hunger and feel satisfied sooner.

Order an item from the menu instead heading for the “all-you-can-eat” buffet.  Better yet, don't go to buffets. Period. Nothing good can come from it!  And they are expensive. 

Bloggie Vacay

Man. We've been passing a little stomach bug around here. Not much dinner cooking this week.  I'm taking a blogging break next week, but I'll be re-posting the most visited posts.  Seriously, I cannot believe anybody at all is looking at this blog!  This is so fun to me! Please know that I read every comment, notice every retweet, and am excited about every LIKE.  Thank you for reading, and I'll be back to blogging after Spring Break.

I was looking at pics from last year at this time, and can you believe it was snowing?!  This is my baby Japanese Maple tree during Spring Break 2010.

Double Dose of Cute

Ever have a night when you eat a Tootsie roll, half a bag of daughter's Skittles, 5 m&ms, and a bowl of cereal for dinner?  I spent the evening at a school dance instead of at home chain watching Sons of Anarchy (our new fave show).   I see more Friday nights of eating cereal while my kids are having fun in my future...

Here are Alpha and one of her bffs headed into the dance.  They closed the place down!  Such fun.