Meal Plan Monday #18

Linking up at: OrgJunkie!

Happy Monday, Everyone!! I haven't been blogging too much the past couple of weeks. With summer upon us it sadly went a bit by the wayside. Up here in Vancouver we have to take advantage of the beautiful weather when we have it otherwise we risk regretting it around mid-November! ;) We've been doing a ton of hiking, saw a real, very large waterfall, and some other beautiful scenery. But, we are on the countdown for back to school. The kiddo is in the last three weeks of summer filled with camps and other various back to school activities. So, that being said things should get back to normal so I can really get back into this blogging thing. I have tons of great posts coming up! But, that's not what we are here for without further ado....here is my meal plan for the week!

These are the items I got from the farmer's market...they are going the be the stars of my meals this week....

First, don't forget to clean out your kitchen and toss any expired or questionable food, leftovers make sure to make them the star of a meal Monday or Tuesday!!!

Snacks
Mostly consisting of fresh strawberries, cherries, and bananas, popcorn, almonds and creme frais (fresh cream cheese from the farmer's market), and ham

Breakfast
Monday: Egg and avocado sandwich with cucumber slices and strawberries
Tuesday: oatmeal raisin "cookie" overnight oats
Wednesday: cereal with bananas/cream cheese toast with pb and bananas
Thursday: Egg sandwiches with cucumbers and avocado
Friday: Creamy overnight oats
Saturday: Cereal
Sunday: Omelettes with bacon and muffins

Lunch
Monday: 
Me: veggie sandwich with avocado and homemade vegan ranch dressing, hard boiled egg, and cucumber slices
Kiddo: Ham sandwich, hardboiled egg, cucmbers
Tuesday: Leftover squash spaghetti, almonds
Wednesday: 
Me: Chicken salad served on zucchini "crackers" with vegan ranch for dipping, toasted almonds
Kiddo: Chicken salad with zucchini "chips" and cucumber "chips"; granola
Thursday: 
Me: Leftovers
Kiddo: Grilled ham & cheese (served cold), fruit salad, cucumbers
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Plate of: ham slices, cheese slices, fruit, cucumber slices, mixed nuts
Sunday: Just a basic plate of popcorn, fruit, cheese, nuts

Dinner
Monday: Grilled cheese, chicken & rice soup with carrots, chips/salad
Tuesday: BBQ Chicken Breasts with yellow squash boats, rice, and quinoa
Wednesday: Teriyaki beef with fried rice/fried quinoa (this will be made using the leftovers from Tuesday)
Thursday: Quinoa with roasted beets salad (using leftover quinoa from Tuesday...can you tell I'm the only one that really eats it ;))/breakfast for dinner for everyone else
Friday: New Restaurant Friday...somewhere teen friendly since she leaves for camp the next day we'll treat her ;)
***These next two recipes are from the Williams-Sonoma Steak & Chops Recipe book. It's a seriously amazing cookbook! A definite fave!

Amazon

Saturday: Pork chops with sherry gravy, farmer's market veggies (tbd), and roasted potatoes
Sunday: Pineapple-hoisin glazed pork ribs, broccolini, corn on the cob

Dessert
Soft batch coconut oil cookies

So, that's it for us for the week! I'm trying two new recipes, the soft batch coconut cookies and the pineapple-hoisin glazed pork ribs! Are you trying anything new this week?

P.S. Happy Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday Social #3

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1. When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up?

A teacher or an actress. I am a teacher.

2. What was your favorite way to kill time as a kid?

Taking walks or riding my bike.

3. When did you get your first cell phone?

When I was 17, same time as when I started driving. My parents did it for pure convenience in the event I was in an accident I could lock all my doors and call 911.

4. What is your favorite magazine to read?

Self.

5. What is the one random object people would be surprised to find in your purse?

 Two plastic bags. I always keep them in there and am constantly getting asked as to why I have them. I have two because one is a ziploc gallon size bag, the other is a thick Forever 21 bag. I have them because we do a lot of traveling and my kiddo gets seriously car sick...especially on the train in the summer. The ziploc is for the train just incase she gets sick I can close it up after so the smell doesn't get to anyone, the forever 21 bag is for when we are traveling in the car, it is super thick so if she gets sick it all stays in one place!

Well, happy Sunday, everyone! Hope you are all having a GREAT day!!!

Menu Plan Monday #17

From Org Junkie

Well, happy Monday!!! So, we've been back from our vacation for over a week now and I have successfully cooked twice. Yup, you read correctly I didn't stick to my meal plan almost at all last week. With getting in at one in the morning last Monday, then leaving for Seattle to pick up the kiddo's friend at seven am Tuesday Morning, getting stuck in a four hour traffic jam coming back from Seattle, and then tons of hiking, various other activities, and making use of restaurant leftovers we have not cooked too much. But, here we are at a new week and I am so ready to get back into our routine!!

Breakfast

Monday: Eggs, fruit, toast

Tuesday: Cereal and Bananas

Wednesday: Egg sandwich, fruit salad

Thursday: Over night oats

Friday: French toast kebabs with coffee/cocoa

Saturday: Grab a light pastry at the farmer's market

Sunday: Homemade cocoa puffs and/or cinnamon-sugar pastry pockets

Lunch

Monday: Veggie/ham and cheese sandwiches with a caprese salad

Tuesday: Tuna salad/chicken salad with hard boiled eggs

Wednesday: Leftover smorgasbord picnic in the park

Thursday: I am going to surprise my kiddo by spending a little extra time in Seattle and go to Pike's Place Market and see what we can get to eat there! It's a solid 20 minutes out of our way but I figure it will be a great time!

Friday: Vegan Spaghetti-o's

Saturday: Omelets with bacon and toast 

Sunday: See what we have leftover and use it up!

Dinner

Monday: Pork chops with corn on the cob, crispy smashed potatoes, and zucchini boats (we have a vegetarian staying with us so have to make a little extra ;))

Tuesday: Hamburgers/veggie burgers with summer squash (Since we have cheer practice this night we will probably eat this for lunch then have our leftovers for dinner)

Wednesday: Chicken breast/veggie burger with corn on the cob and squash

Thursday: Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken with carrots and any other leftover squash (we will have been traveling all day and this is a delicious recipe everyone in my family loves) 

Friday: Chicken alfredo/veggie not so 'fredo with side salad 

Saturday: Date night/New Restaurant Saturday (usually we do this on Friday's, but changed it for this week because there is an event we want to go to tonight)

Sunday: Steak taco's/veggie taco's with salad and corn

This winds up being quite a busy week for us, but that is what the summer is for, right?! Long summer nights..... What are you all having for dinner this week?

Sunday Social: Random Questions

1. What are 3 items you can't live without on a daily basis (water, food, shelter, and clothes don't count)?

If we are just talking tangible items here I'd have to say my iPhone (I've done it, but boy is it difficult when you're used to having a map at your finger tips ;)), mascara (can perk your eyes up in an instant!), and my workout DVDs!

2. What is your all time favorite book? Why?

My all time favourite book(s) is/are probably the Beauty Series written by Anne Rice under a pen name. I've never read books quite like those. My second fave of all time would be Flower's in the Attic.

3. What is something you'd like to accomplish before the end of 2013?

Get all of my photo's organized and have at least half of them in scrapbooks. We'll see if it's successful...

4. If you could go back and relive any year of your life which year would it be?

Probably 1999 it was the year I got married and the year I had my kiddo...it was a year of change!!!

5. What do you wish people knew about you without you having to tell them?

That I tend to be shy at first but if you talk to me I warm up quickly and you'd probably wish you'd never started talking to me!!! :P

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday!!!

DIY Cuticle Exfoliator

Good Morning, Beauties!!! I am back again with another fantastic homemade beauty product using the awesome stuff in your pantry!

I got the inspiration for this after being in the mall one day and being drawn to my favorite make-up store in the place. I am obsessed with nail coloring so I of course made my way to that section and was checking out some pretty awesome products. I was very intrigued by the cuticle exfoliator because my nail beds always seem dried out with dead skin. I've sort of solved this problem with my daily cuticle oil, but I've noticed a couple of times a month my nail beds still just need a good scrubbing. So, I decided I was going to buy it. I picked it up, checked the price......................and immediately put it back. There was no way in h-e-double hockey sticks was I paying $20 for this item. Then, I thought some more and picked it up again really struggling with the impulse to pay the $20 for this exfoliator! After about a minute of batting sales people away the light bulb finally came on! I flipped the container over and check that ingredient label. It was a fairly simple label except for the unpronounceable preservatives. I made a quick note in my phone and high tailed it home (like I said, this product spoke to me lol) and came up with this.....

Cuticle Exfoliator

I use this when I am giving myself a full on mani, about twice a month.

1 Tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil*

½ Tablespoon sugar, brown sugar, or coconut sugar

5 drops tea tree essential oil

5 drops lavender essential oil

Combine all in a nice jar. During manicure, after soaking nails apply scrub to cuticles. Gently rub in circular motions to area you want to exfoliate. Don’t be shy, exfoliate the whole finger if you want, it will give you soft skin! Rinse off under warm water.

A note about the oil: I prefer to use coconut oil here as it solidifies just a little bit and makes it easier to grab and massage into your fingers!

A second note about the sugar: I actually prefer the coconut sugar here, it is a little courser than regular sugar or brown sugar and gives a bit more of an intense scrub. 

Don't forget to check out the rest of the this series here.

Will My Days Ever Be Normal Again?!

Well, today is Tuesday. I arrived home from my nearly month long holiday way too late last night. Today I woke up way too early for a wayward traveler at 6am, threw in a T25 video to complete, jumped in the shower, fixed some cereal and a banana (thankfully my wonderful Mr. did a little shopping for me on Sunday) jumped in the car and began the three hour sojourn to Seattle-Tacoma International to pick up the teenager's dear friend who flew all the way up here from Florida. Let me tell you, I may sleep the next three days! My internal clock is all kinds of messed up. I can say though we have had a ton of fun. I do love traveling and being busy so this really has been super fun for me. In keeping with my travels for just a little longer I am going to share a fun activity we did during our vacation....kayaking!!!

This took quite a bit of discussion because my brother and his wife had never been kayaking before. My brother is the type of guy who won't really jump into anything with out really knowing how to do it. He wanted to do a guided tour but I wanted to take the teenager and wasn't paying $100 for a guided tour. So, I convinced him to go to Anastasia Water Sports. We called 24 hours in advance to reserve two tandem kayaks. When we got there at 9:15, just 15 minutes after they opened they were ready to go. They asked us to give them a little time to get everything all set up because they open at nine which really means they get there at 9 ;)....life is a beach afterall! So, the guy gives us a little instruction (it is pretty much get in and paddle lol) and we were off. If you've never been you do get a little wet when kayaking so make sure you bring a water proof camera or a case for your camera. I wouldn't really recommend bringing a cell phone or anything like because I think it would detract form getting in touch with nature.

Anastasia Water Sports is located in Anastasia State Park off of Salt Run. Salt run is a nature preserve area so when you go out you can expect to see a lot of wild life! But, as you pull out if you are going out a low tide you'll easily be able to touch the bottom of the run. There are also lots of people out fishing and one guy was even sitting in his beach chair in the middle of the run! So, going at low tide is a great time to go if you were wanting to get out of your kayak at all. The guy who helped us load into our kayak's even said that a lot of people get out at the sandbar's and tan, swim, etc. So, as we begin to kayak there are tons of fish jumping and a lot of birds. We then came along a couple of, what we believe, are porpoises swimming and jumping because they were obviously finding some good food! I got this great picture of them swimming and even got a great video! Check those out here:

Porpoises splashing!

It was such an amazing experience I was so glad to get to share that with my kiddo! We were even able to work the tandem kayak together really well....(last time was a nightmare lol). So, we kayaked for a while it was probably a couple of miles...we did a total of two full hours! We went all the way down to the lighthouse and close to the Conch House Marina. The kiddo an I were getting tired so we didn't go the full way to the Marina but my brother & sister in law did and they said it was beautiful. The kiddo and I just sort of floated around the run, enjoyed the quiet, and just the nice bonding time. 

Have to be careful in this area as there are "rocks"...obviously lol!

I approve of this activity! Tons of fun!

All-in-all I definitely recommend Anastasia Water Sports. They have the best prices I've found in town for renting and they seem to have plenty of kayaks to go around. The people who work the desk seemed very organized and super polite.

This was my favorite activity we did on vacation I think. It was peaceful, we got a lot of sun, I got to spend time with three of my favourite people in the world, two of which I don't get to see too often. I will say though kayaking isn't necessarily for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of upper body work so I wouldn't take anyone under age 10. 

Menu Plan Monday #16

Menu Plan Monday @ I'm An Organizing Junkie

Happy Monday!!! Today is a travel day for the kiddo and I, we are finally heading home after a 24 day vacation! It was great seeing my parents and all my other family and friends but it is so nice to be heading home and back to my space! I haven't really done too much cooking while on vacation so I am really looking forward to the upcoming week. Any prep work I do will be done and posted on Wednesday as I won't be home until late on Monday and I'm not cooking on Tuesday. So...let's get to it:

Breakfast

Monday: Egg sandwich with fruit and yogurt

Tuesday: Treat from Starbucks on our way to Seattle

Wednesday: Tim Horton's Donuts to treat our guest

Thursday: Eggs, toast, veggie sausage/bacon

Friday: Cinnamon raisin bagels and peanut butter with fruit

Saturday: Crescent roll egg & cheese ring with fruit salad

Sunday: Cinnamon Rolls with iced chocolate

Lunch

Monday: Bring with us freeze dried fruit, nuts, sandwiches, etc to keep it healthy; grab a snack if need be

Tuesday: Find a fun place in Seattle to take the girls after picking up the kiddo's friend from the airport

Wednesday: Veggie subs with cucumber salad

Thursday: Grilled cheese with tomato soup

Friday: Lunch with hubby

Saturday: Late lunch/early dinner at Joey's

Sunday: BBQ Chicken Pizza with Salad

Dinner

Monday: Travel day...snack on what we brought and try and find something decently healthy at one of the airports if we don't have any delays

Tuesday: Mongolian BBQ (little hole in the wall); Bon Crepe for dessert (have to celebrate having a young guest afterall!)

Wednesday: Taco's/veggie burrito cups with corn and side salad

Thursday: Burgers/Veggie burgers with mixed veggies and oven cheese fries

Friday: New Restaurant Friday-TBD

Saturday: Late lunch/early dinner at Joey's

Sunday: Pork chops with crispy smashed potatoes and corn and sugar snap peas

Snacks

Popcorn, leftovers, fruit, cheese

Dessert

This is something new I am starting. I usually never do a dessert but thought it would be super fun to start doing a weekly dessert. But, once it's gone it's gone!

No bake chocolate drops (healthy-ish)

Chocolate Chip Cookies (will double to have in freezer)

Grocery List

Produce

• Banana's
• Cantaloupe
• Corn on the cob (Farmer's Market) 
• Cucumber (Farmer's Market) 
• Dates
• Green Onions (Farmer's Market) 
• Lettuce (Farmer's Market) 
• Berries (Farmer's Market) 
• Red Onions (Farmer's Market) 
• Red Potatoes (Farmer's Market) 
• Sugar Snap Peas (Farmer's Market) 
• Watermelon

Bakery

• Gluten free bread
• White bread
• Gluten free sub rolls

Dairy

• Crescent rolls
• Brie (Farmer's Market) 
• Butter
• Eggs (Farmer's Market) 
• Milk
• Mozzrella

Baking

• White Whole Wheat Flour
• Coconut Palm Sugar
• Organic White Sugar
• Cacao Powder
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Raw Cashews 
• Raw Walnuts
• Raw Sunflower Seeds

Dry Goods

• Black beans
• Amy's organic soup

Meats

• Ground beef
• Hamburgers
• Bacon
• Chicken Breasts
• Pork Chops

Frozen

• Veggie Sausage Patties

Well, that's my menu for the week! I am excited to get back and do at least a little bit of cooking. It's not too much, but that is okay it is good to ease back into things! Well, I hope everyone has a great start to their week!