Organization: Deep Clean: Bedrooms

Wow, first off how many colons do you think I could have used in that title...I was trying to see if I could fit anymore, but they didn't make sense, sadly. 

Anyway...I am talking more Organization today. Who would have thought one little stock app like "Reminders" would become such a great tool in my household organization. 

I started this series with my cleaning power hour and added to it with my morning and evening routines. I have had these two written down for years but often forget to do them because a written planner doesn't buzz for me. I need something that makes a noise and physically reminds me to do a task. So, in comes Reminders.

Today I begin breaking down the deep down cleaning I focus on each week. Years ago when I was a new homemaker I found Flylady. This woman really helped me get my butt in gear and figure out how to break household tasks down into manageable lists and get productive with them. So, I am going to share with you those tasks I perform each week to keep my house in what I call move out shape.

What is move out shape? Well, since we are renters and tend to be a bit nomadic, moving every 1-3 years if I were to box up our stuff and move it out tomorrow our house would be ready for an inspection and pass. Over the years I have found that 15-20 minutes everyday saves me hours upon hours in the future. 

Last week I was focusing on the bedrooms in the house. This list can be done for both bedrooms, at the beginning of each day I check the list and add whatever chore on to the kiddo's list of chores for the day for her room. She is old enough now that she can complete these tasks, plus they will help give her an idea of what will need to be done to keep her home clean someday.

I picked week 3 of the month to do my bedroom. Here is what is on my list:

• Monday: Dust Baseboards, moving furniture when possible
• Tuesday:
• Clean mattress
• Using a mixture of baking soda and lavender sprinkle over mattress and let sit for half an hour. Using vacuum attachment, vacuum up.
• Fluff pillows
• Put pillows, one at a time, in dryer on high heat with a dryer sheet to fluff and disinfect. After, spray with water/lavender mixture or tantra spritz from Saje.
• Fluff comforter
• Put comforter, with dryer sheet, in dryer on high for 20-30 minutes. 
• Wendesday: Dust ceiling
• Using a broom with a microfiber cloth around the bristles, held in place with a large rubber band, dust around the corners and edges of where the ceiling meets the wall.
• Thursday: Deep down vacuum, steam clean if necessary
• Vacuum at the edges of the baseboards, get in the corners, under the bed. If needed spot clean stains or drag out the steam cleaner for well worn areas of carpet.
• Friday: Project planning 
• Look around, what needs to be improved or worked on? 
• Saturday & Sunday: Project execution
• Declutter closets if needed, take clothes to donation, fix worn clothing, do any other organization type projects at this time.

Tuesday is a very busy day. I do all that stuff for the bedroom on Tuesday as that is the same day I wash all the sheets as part of my weekly "power hour" that I do a day late. Weird I know, but it works for me. 

It took me a long time to come up with this system and really figure out the best way to keep our small space spic & span all the time. It's still a work in progress but this keeps me a little more sane and focused. 

Menu Plan Monday #19

Happy Monday!!! Ready to start the week off, right? I am! I am kid-free this week so I am going to be working on projects and getting the freezer and pantry stocked with homemade snacks and stuff for back to school! So....let's get to the Monday duty....

Org Junkie

Breakfast

Monday: Raw Buckwheat Porridge with fresh beet juice

Tuesday: Bon Chaz (tasty new coffee shop I've been wanting to try)

Wednesday: Raw Buckwheat Porridge with fresh beet juice

Thursday: Big Ass Pancake with Nut Butter

Friday: Cereal with Banana's

Saturday: Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Croissants with fruit salad

Sunday: Cereal with banana's and sausage

Lunch

Monday: Strawberry Chicken Salad with Simple Honey Dressing (this salad uses up leftover chicken from our dinner Sunday night and in the dressing I'll sub Champagne Vinegar for the white wine vinegar)
Tuesday: Same as Monday
Wednesday: Trying out a new food truck that only serves fresh, local ingredients in their food.
Thursday: Tuna Melts on Zucchini "buns" with the "meat" of the zucchini on the sides
Friday: Ham Sandwich kebabs with side salad (I'll probably make a few and go see the hubby for lunch)
Saturday: We'll just to a light spread of snacks: popcorn, ham, fruit, nuts
Sunday: Grilled Cheese, chips, fruit/veggies/salad, sort of whatever is leftover

Dinner

Monday: Flying Pig in Yaletown with friends.
Tuesday: Skirt Steak Fajita's with tequila marinade, peppers, and corn
Wednesday: Twice bakes potatoes with Green Beans and Corn (yes, my Mr. Loves corn lol)
Thursday: Paleo chicken fingers with home fries and squash
Friday: New Restaurant Friday
Saturday: Spagheti with Salad and Garlic bread
Sunday: Whole chicken with corn, squash, salad, and garlic bread

Snacks

• Fruit/cheese, fresh juice, nut butter & chia seed jam on pecans, no bake oatmeal bites, hard boiled eggs and squash/avocado, popcorn(scroll down for the recipe)

Dessert

• Chocolate Chip Cookies (My fave recipe is from the Betty Crocker cookbook) 
• Cosmic Brownies

Goodies to fix and freeze for back to school:

• Granola Cereal
• Granola Clusters
• Instant Oatmeal & toppers
• Popsicles
• Zucchini-Banana Muffins
• Sweet Cinnamon Cereal
• Cocoa Puffs

So, that's it for my week. Should be a busy one and full of delicious food. I am so looking forward to the Flying Pig, they have a delicious garlic bread...that may be my entire meal (don't judge :P) and the tequila marinated fajitas. What are you most looking forward to eating?

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!

Best Bathroom Organization Tip

This is my second bathroom organization post. My first one can be found here along with a tutorial for naturally cleaning your make up brushes. I thought when I did that post that I had figured out the perfect storage for under my bathroom sink. But, within just a few days our vanity was just as junked up as can be. It was very, very frustrating. So, I thought on it for a few days and *thought* I may have found the *perfect* solution. I was skeptical and didn't post about it right away as I wanted to see how it worked out. I am happy to report folks that it did indeed work!

After hubby and I get up in the morning and get ready for the day, I am not dealing with mounds of toiletries or make-up being left all over the counter. There is no going back later to put everything away and clean off the counter. It just sort of stays clean! It’s really quite awesome.

This little “makeover” cost me a whopping $2.65 CAD. So those of you in the states will be about $2.14. I walked my little booty to the dollar store and got a couple of divider caddies with a handle in them. I put the Mr.’s toiletries and razors in one and mine in the other. I even went and bought up separate toothpaste so that wasn’t sitting out all the time either. Sounds silly I know, but I really was sick of constantly cleaning off our vanity. It was quickly becoming the bane of my existence. Here are the caddies all packed and ready for the day:

As you can see I have my Dr. Bronner’s based face wash, my lavender coconut oil moisturizer, my exfoliating pads, deodorant, and dental picks on one side. In the smallest compartment I put my floss, toothbrush, and toothpaste and my razor. I do dry my toothbrush off before I put it away. In the last compartment is my Moroccan oil protector for my hair, hairspray, my wide tooth comb, my hairbrush, and a couple of bun picks.

In hubby’s he has on the left side his razor and trimmer and in a small snack size baggie I put all the attachments to his trimmer, this side also keeps his hair gel. In the smallest compartment is his floss, toothbrush, toothpaste (I don’t think he dries his toothbrush prior to putting it away, but I’m taking that one step at a time lol) and for whatever reason he keeps his deodorant in there too. In the last compartment is all of his contact stuff: two small bottles of solution, his current contacts in their case, and his extra contacts.

Here is a final look at the entire underside of the sink:

As you can see our caddies fit perfectly right in front so we can grab them easily and put them away just as easily. On the left I keep all of my sample products I get for traveling in the bottom shoe box, just above that is all of our sun care stuff. In the red and black tackle box is our first aid kit. It’s a little full right now. The bottle of Advil I bought was a bit bigger than I thought so now the box doesn't close all the way. But, at least it is all there and easily accessible. In the back are my spiral rollers and my face steamer (this this is a godsend in the winter). On the bottom right are my everyday use hot rollers. On top of that is my big box of hair crap. I think I am going to make my way over to home depot and do this for my hair irons, but for now this keeps them corralled and in one spot. I also have my hot roller pins in here along with various other hair accessories.

I think the toiletry baskets have been essential to our success in keeping clutter off the vanity. Even the Mr. manages to put the basket away most days, if he doesn't at least its quick to grab and throw under the sink for him because he always puts his toiletries back in the basket.

What is your best bathroom organization tool???

Homemade Coconut Oil Moisturizer

Good Morning, Friends! It is a wonderful Thursday! We are now down to exactly two weeks until school is out for us! At least after this week all the big projects are done so I won't have a stressed out hormonal teenager running around, we'll just be back to the regular hormonal teenager!

Anyway, I am writing a post today to give you a "recipe" for a homemade coconut oil moisturizer. I have suffered with terrible acne as an adult. It's been really terrible...in fact, the way I feel someday's is summed up in this humorous video...



Wrinkles & pimples..that sums me up some days!

Moving on...I combine this with my homemade face wash (which I will share next week) and I have been pretty much pimple-free for three months now. I did have two pop up, but I was super stressed and had been touching that area of my face (bad, bad I know, I know).

So, here's the recipe

Coconut Oil Face Moisturizer
1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
5 drops good quality lavender essential oil (like this)

Mix the two together and store in a pretty jar!

Directions for use: rub a bit all over face, neck & chest. Apply to any other rough spots like elbow and/or knees. Coconut oil and lavender are also great healing agents so I've been applying this to some old scars & they are actually beginning to look a bit better as well!

Just one more note on this, it lasts a very long time! It's ultra concentrated so you don't need much unlike with typical moisturizers. When you buy coconut oil it's best to buy the unrefined, cold pressed organic oil. You are putting this on your skin, so the investment in a slightly more expensive organic, unrefined oil is well worth it. That oil can also be used for several other things especially cooking!

Have a great day!!!

Meal Plan & Prep Monday #6

Happy Monday, Everyone!!!

We had a rather fun weekend on this end. It was a holiday weekend here as today is Victoria Day...apparently celebrates the birthday of Queen Victoria which is mostly a Canadian holiday, apparently. I have a lot to learn about Canada being a transplant and all, but hey any day the kiddo and the husband can be home with me I'm not going to complain!

We had a blast this weekend. Iron Man 3 Friday night with an amazing homemade meal of ribs, zucchini, corn, and pear sauce. I was originally going to do mac and cheese but when making my meal plan discovered I needed to use up some pears so I made cinnamon pears. Check out the pic, it was very delicious!

Hubby & the kiddo before Iron Man 3.

Ribs, cinnamon pears & corn. Such a delicious meal!

Saturday was a workout day and we worked on projects and just enjoyed being together. It was cloudy, but luckily we have an indoor pool so we were able to make great use of that!

Now for Sunday we have decided to forego our Sunday treat of donuts because it doesn't start our week off well and usually leaves us all feeling pretty crummy. So, a workout (since I missed Wednesday due to not feeling well), then a trip to the first farmer's market of the season! It was fun & I found some awesome greens, but I can't wait for the main one to start where there will be actual farms. This one was just a bunch of expensive retailers selling their "organic" stuff...guess that's what happens when it's sponsored by the most expensive hotel in town! Here are the green's though!

So, now that you know exactly what we've been up to let me share my meal & prep plan with you for this week. My goal is to make sure I really do all my prep because when I do we always have a great week...unlike last week! ha!

Breakfast

Monday: Carnation instant breakfast and banana/oatmeal parfait
Sunday prep: measure out 8oz milk in a mason jar, add in 1/3 cup carnation, shake & put in fridge (x2). Cook up oatmeal. I use Coach's oats for now from Costco so it's 8oz water to 1/3 cup oats. Boil 5 min. Let cool. In two mason jars put a thin layer of oats on bottom sprinkle with flax meal, layer with chopped frozen fruit of choice. Add another layer of oats, put some more fruit & flax meal or chia seeds. Top with a small dallop of yogurt (greek/soy/coconut whatever) & sprinkle with a little maple syrup. Store in fridge until ready to eat.

Tuesday: Cereal with bananas
Sunday Prep: For kiddo measure out 3/4 cup of cinnamon toast crunch (X2), measure out 1/3 cup of milk (X2) store in jar in fridge. Put cereal in bowl, cover with plastic wrap. For me, measure out 1 cup of nature's path, put in bowl covered with saran wrap. Measure out 1/2 cup almond milk. Store in jar in fridge. Put banana's on top of bowls.

Wednesday: Carnations with banana/egg white mug with iced coffee
Sunday Prep: see above for first one. Measure out 1/2 cup egg whites, throw in some spinach, grated cheese & sliced onion & a soy veggie patty. Store in jar until ready to heat in microwave. Premake coffee in mason jar 8oz coconut or almond milk, 1 packet of stevia, 1tsp instant coffee, 1tsp vanilla (X2). Add ice when ready to serve.

Thursday: Cereal with bananas
Sunday Prep: see Tuesday.

Friday: Protein plate/leftover cinnamon rolls that were frozen & hot cocoa
Sunday Prep: Boil eggs, when cool put in tupperware plate along with slices of cheese, half a banana muffin with peanut butter. Serve with iced coffee.

Saturday: Omelette's with leftovers from Wednesday's dinner.
Sunday Prep: None. All made fresh-ish.

Sunday: Homemade donut holes.
Sunday Prep: None, make fresh Sunday A.M.

Lunch

Monday: Ham & cheese crescents with fruit salad
Sunday Prep: Chop fruits for salad, sprinkle with lemon juice for flavor/preservation. Crescents will be made fresh since it is a holiday for us but if you want to pack them in a lunch go ahead & lay crescents on baking pan put ham & cheese in center. Roll up & bake at 350F (176C) for 8-10 min. Let cool & wrap in foil and store in fridge. Pack in lunch. They can be eaten cold or reheated! Hubby loves these because they are one of the few things that reheats very nicely.

Tuesday: Leftover ribs/apples, oatmeal parfait & raw spinach,/veggie burger & cottage cheese.
Sunday Prep: Prepare this burger recipe. It's excellent for freezing so you'll have many for days to come. Portion out ribs & tuck away in container in lunch bag & store in fridge with sliced apple topped with a drizzle of lemon juice for preservation. Portion out spinach & cottage cheese.

Wednesday: Leftover crescents/green smoothie
Sunday Prep: After lunch on Monday portion out leftovers into tupperware. In blender combine 8oz almond or coconut milk, throw in whatever leftover frozen fruit from last week (I have strawberry tops, pear, apple, and peach), throw in whatever green you have on hand, I have spinach, toss in a table spoon of flax and a tablespoon of nut butter. Blend up & freeze. Take out Tuesday night to defrost overnight.

Thursday: Subs with fruit
Sunday Prep: none I prefer my subs fresh. Fruit will be whatever leftover fruit needs to be used up.

Friday: "lunchable" for the kiddo, meet hubby for lunch
Sunday Prep: portion out crackers, cheese, and lunch meat for the "lunchable". In reusable juice box container pack a fresh juice, and send with a little piece of chocolate for dessert.

Saturday: Late lunch/early dinner: Mongolian BBQ Maybe...
Sunday Prep: None :)

Sunday: Just a light dinner with whatever is leftover.
Sunday Prep: None. Just raid the fridge. ;)

Dinner

Monday: Grilled cheese with chicken noodle soup & homemade veggie soup
Sunday Prep: Chop veggies for soup, store in bag in fridge.

Tuesday: BBQ chicken crescents/bbq chicken salad with side salad
Sunday Prep: Chop & make salad.

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner: very vanilla vegan pancakes, omelette's, bacon and veg sausage
Sunday Prep: make pancakes & freeze

Thursday: homemade hamburger helper & salad.
Sunday Prep: mix together spices for hamburger helper.

Friday: bbq pork sliders and side salad/bbq pork salad
Sunday Prep: None. This will be made from the leftover ribs that were frozen after last Friday's dinner.

Saturday: Late lunch/early dinner
Sunday Prep: NONE!

Sunday: Baked spaghetti with garlic bread & salad
Sunday Prep: Salad will have been made already, otherwise the rest will be made fresh.

So, that's what we are having for the week! I hope everyone get's their meals prepped & ready to go so you can have just as relaxing a week ahead!

How to Make Book Page Bottles

So, we have a book we love, for me it's the last book in the George RR Martin Series Fire and Ice....ya know "Game of Thrones". So, this book has been across the US and back; been in the hands of many different people. Well, needless to say this book as seen better days. Pages were quite literally falling out of it!!! I kept trying to tape them back in, but hubby finally bought all the books on the iPad so we'd always have them so we have this poor little falling apart book & nothing to do with it...however, in my meager attempts to not waste ANYTHING I decided to do some book page crafts! I know, some of you are about to faint right now, but remember, this book was just going to be recycled so I decided to turn it into some fun crafts so we could always have little bits of it around the house! I've done several different book page crafts with this book but I'm just going to feature one here today and that is the Book Page bottles I made! They are so cute, and so easy!!! So, here we go...

Supplies:
-one-two glass bottles (I used two old coke bottles)
-a bottle of matte mod podge
-an old book
-ribbon/other adornments if you want

Process:

1. Tear out a few pages from your book, cut those into 1-1.5" strips. You can cut them or tear them. I chose to cut mine, but I wasn't too picky about how even they were. 
2. Working in sections put a thin layer of mod podge and lay down a strip of the book. It should be about the length of the bottle if it's longer or shorter you can fix that later, don't worry! Work your way around the bottle doing this. Let it dry for about two hours.
3. Then, working around the bottle again, coat with mod podge and lay book pages going the opposite way or in whatever direction you'd like. This is a piece of art so make what you want!! I sort of laid mine every which way. You can see that here: 
   
4. Make sure everything is smoothed out. Let dry at least another two hours.
5. Coat with a final coating of mod podge. Let dry at least 1-2 hours. 
6. Add some cute ribbon to go with your decor & maybe a flower or I found these cute Styrofoam spring picks at the dollar store & they really add a splash of color to my spring mantle!! Here is the finished product: 
   

These are super cute and very easy to make. Plus, they make good use of a book that was about to be trashed! I turned it into a fabulous treasure!! If you make some email me pictures here!

Meal Prep

So, I know I am posting this sort of late (although, it is only 10pm here), but I did want to share my meal prep. I don't prep every single thing, but I do prep a lot of it so it's grab and go and it makes it easy for me to healthier without having to think. If I have to look for something many times I'll go for an unhealthier version of something! :-/

So, here is what I did:

I had my daughter help me prep breakfast food:

On the left is pre-measured milk & cereal so all she has to do is pour the cereal to the milk & eat it right from the mason jar. Then, the right side is premixed carnation instant breakfast that she eats with either an apple or a banana. 

These are fruit parfaits. On the left is a 1/4 cup greek yogurt on the bottom with a bit of frozen mixed berries, then a  1/2 cup greek yogurt with more frozen mixed berries on top. The one on the right is a 1/4 cup greek yogurt on bottom with 5 frozen peaches, then a 1/2 cup greek yogurt & a handful of frozen strawberries on top. I prefer the frozen ones when making parfaits so as they melt the sauce makes the yogurt sweet. The granola is some I had made a while ago & needed to use up. It's just random amounts of quinoa, wheat germ, chia seeds, a few oats, and some coconut with a tsp of vanilla poured over it & a few drops of stevia baked at 350 until toasted.


Next I prepped some snacks for after my workouts. One set is some greek yogurt and peanut butter with apple slices, the other is one sweet potato cut in half and mixed together with some unflavored hemp protein powder.

Next, I saved the second sweet potato I made for later in the week with lunch, then I pre-cooked a few potatoes for lunches & my twice baked potatoes on Friday or Saturday (without my menu in front of me I forget which day hehe). 

Finally I made myself some fun drinks for this week! I've been getting kind of tired of my regular, plain old water & I've been having some digestive issues so I made some waters that will help with that and will give me something tasty to drink!!

This, I'm not sure where the recipe came from as my mom gave it to me, but you are supposed to drink the whole 66oz pitcher each day. It really helps with digestion!! I love this drink. It's 66 ounces of water, one small cucumber, 1 tsp of fresh grated ginger, and one lemon sliced. Put it in the water & let soak over night! It's delicious and refreshing!!

Last are these two. The left is 8 oz of water with a mint green tea bag, half a sliced lemon, and a small handful of frozen strawberries. On the right is what I love to call my sunshine water because of all the pretty yellow in it! It's just 8 oz of water, half a sliced lemon, and a few frozen peach slices! Put them in the fridge & let soak over night!!

For my dinners I chopped the scallions & precooked my bacon. Tomorrow while I do some cleaning I will make my soups so they have time to simmer on the burner. I already precooked my potatoes for the twice baked's so those won't take as long that night. Otherwise my meals this week were pretty easy and there wasn't too much "work" to be done. 

What do you do to get ready for the week???

Meal Plan Monday

Hello all! We are back at Monday! Try not to hate, Monday is having a bad day too! 

So, moving on, it’s that time for meals again. Yes, the family DOES want to eat this week (and I'm sure you do too!). Seems this happens every week, eh??

So  this is what is on the menu for us this week:

Breakfast:

Kiddo-Carnation Instant Breakfast (3 days) (If anyone knows of an Organic drink like Carnation's that is GMO free & is sold in Canada let me know), Lucky Charms (2 days, not typical but she’s been begging so I figured one week won’t kill her, certainly didn’t me!)

Me-Fruit & yogurt parfait (2 days), Egg quesadilla & bacon (one day), Green protein smoothie (2 days)

Saturday-Omelets with bacon and home fries

Sunday-Donuts

Lunch:

Monday-out to new Organic Pizza Place with daughter by her school

Kiddo-Tues/Thurs: subs & veggie soup; Wed/Fri: Pizza discs and cucumber slices

Me-Tues/Thurs: Quinoa pizza bites with veggie soup; Wed: Sub with veggie soup; Fri: Lunch date with hubby

Saturday: Just light snacks: homemade tortilla chips, boiled eggs, cheese, pickles, lunch meat

Sunday: Leftover twice baked potatoes & salad

Dinner: 

Monday: Sweet & sour pork tenderloin in the crock pot with fried rice: Put pork tender loin in the crock pot with the ingredients from this sauce recipe. Cook on low for 8 hours. When read to serve it in a pan heat 1T of olive oil throw in some leftover rice along with corn and peas and carrots (I'm using green beans though because that is all I have), when heated through make a well in the center and crack the egg, and fry up & mix into the rice. When done dish out onto plates and top with sweet & sour pork.

Tuesday: Corn, bacon, and scallion sautee serve with green salad

Wednesday: Soup (tomato) and mozzarella grilled cheese (hubby gets back this day so I want to do something easy).

Thursday: Turkey burgers with gravy (gravy recipe from P90X cookbook) and salad

Friday: Homemade Calzones with salad (I use this recipe for the dough for the calzones, I just sub white whole wheat flour & omit the sugar. Then, divide it into 6^th’s, roll each one out nice and thin and stuff with ricotta, mozzarella, and any toppings you want), then fold over & press together and bake at 350F (176 C) until done. 

Favorite Calzone Stuffing:

Sweet Italian Sausage

Spinach

Pepperoni

Provolone

Onions

Mushrooms

Bacon

Saturday: Pork chops, twice baked potatoes and salad or leftover veggies.

Sunday: Whole BBQ rotisserie crock pot chicken, with rice (double batch because leftovers from chicken and rice will be used next week), and corn/green beans/salad (pretty much whatever leftover veggies are in there & need to be used up). 

Well, there is my fabulous Monday Meal Plan! I will be back later on today with how I prep everything so cooking and getting the kid & husband out the door in the morning isn't too hectic! 

What is on your menu for the week???

April's Super Healthy Meal Plan

Years and years ago I decided I was going to get in shape. Now, I will say exercise has never been an issue for me. I love to walk, I love to run (have done several half marathons), I've completed P90X and Insanity and recently took up learning to pole dance. However, eating healthy, truly healthy, has always been my downfall. I love things that are bad for me. I love greasy hot dogs, greasy burgers, ooey gooey chocolate treats. You name it if it is bad for me it is probably on my list of favorite foods.

However, as of late, these foods don’t like me. I have a ton of belly fat building up. Most people don’t notice but I know it is there and it is bothering me. Not to mention the headaches I get from refined sugar and all that icky crap. Plus the lethargy, stomach aches, etc. So, starting today I dove into my Insanity & P90X nutrition books and I put together a meal plan for April that consists of five meals a day. It says that my calorie intake should be somewhere around 1700 calories. However, I will be doing Insanity and training for a half marathon, so I think I may need to up what I eat, but we will see. For now I have ten pounds I gained over the winter sadly (that is what happens when you have the amazing Blenz Coffee shop two blocks from your apartment). So, once I lose that & have my body fat percentage back to where it was when we left for vacation over the summer I will up my calorie intake as needed to maintain.

So, here is my very healthy monthly Dinner meal plan (there are variations for picky hubby & daughter):

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	Burgers: M&C Regular w/ Corn (C: GB) K: Turkey & Green Beans	Brown Rice Bowl (M: Chicken & Rice w/ Corn)	Lean Steak with broccoli/Corn	Citrus baked chicken and glazed carrots	Pizza: M&C: Regular K: Cauliflower All: Salad	Spaghetti M&C: Regular Kate: Seafood Marinara &WW Pasta All: Salad
Teriyaki chicken with glazed carrots	Tacos/turkey rice bowl	Omelets with English muffin and diced fruit	Beef/turkey sliders and green beans/corn	Smorgasboard of leftovers	Dinner at black & blue with friends: Kate-salmon & steamed broccoli (is the plan this place has an amazing wellington so I may forego all food just to get it that day LOL)	Out to eat with friends in town: get white fish or sides of veggies and a sweet potato
Steak and broccoli/corn	Crockpot rotisserie chicken/salad/apple slices	Chicken Quesadillas (with WW tortillas)/black beans/salad	Island Pork Tenderloin with salad	Chicken Sliders with salad and pear slices	WW Pasta and Veggies/chicken alfredo Salad	Steak & veggies (whatever is leftover could be warm veg’s or salad)
Citrus baked chicken with glazed carrots	Mango/ginger pork tenderloin with rice/green beans	Honey-chile chicken breasts with snap peas/corn	Tacos/veggie tacos with salad/corn	Turkey breast and gravy/green beans/soup	Pizza burgers and salad (reg/turkey)	Steak with any leftover veggies
Rotisserie crockpot chicken with salad/apple	Soup & pulled chicken sliders and apple	Chicken and cheese Omelets with English muffin

Grocery List:

Costco:

Ground Beef (comes in a 5 lb package)

Ground Turkey (I hope they have this)

Pork Tenderloin (comes with 3 in a package)

Chicken Breasts (2 bags comes with giant breasts [that sounds so wrong lol])

Whole chicken (they come 3 to a pack there)

Bananas (2 big bunches, one really ripe and freeze for smoothies

Apples

Pears

Carrots (they have a giant bag that makes them nice for juicing)

Safeway:

Top round steak (4)

Skirt Steak (2)

Red leaf lettuce

Bag of spinach (I know I shouldn’t buy the bags but I despise washing & drying the lettuce lol)

Mushrooms

Onions

Shallots

Garlic

White rice

Tomatos (a few bunches to juice for juice & making marinara sauce)

Broccoli

Urban Fare

Meyer Lemons (juice two as soon as I get home to brush on sliced apples)

Shrimp

So, that is my dinner menu. Breakfasts, lunches and snacks I plan by the week but I typically pick 2-3 things I want for breakfasts/snacks and will cook those up ahead of time so I can just sort of grab and go. When I do my meal plan for each week you will see. This is going to be a very, very healthy month for us and I don’t plan on deviating. As I am calling this “slim month” all around. We are going to eat well and we are going to spend as little as possible. That means there will be no money for hot chocolates, donuts, etc. Every Sunday we sort of celebrate the day by having donuts I plan on making my super healthy vegan pumpkin donuts holes for our Sunday treat that way we don’t spend the money on crap, yet we still have a bit of a “treat”. I may even make my healthy chocolate syrup or strawberry syrup so hubby & daughter can have their flavoured milks. We will see though.  

As the month goes on when I post my weekly meal plan complete with breakfasts, lunches and dinners I will post recipes as well. Most of my meals will be around 200-300 calories but I eat every 2-3 hours so it works well. J

Happy Spring Y’all!

Farewell...

Farewell. Yes, farewell. Farewell to junk. I figure while I am getting rid of junk in my house and making it the wonderful, glorious home we want I figure I will get rid of the junk in my fridge and pantry too! So, years ago we cut out processed foods and started eating a healthier diet. At the beginning of 2012, when hubby was finally on board we cut out the junk of eating out too. We literally almost didn't eat out at all unless we could go somewhere that had local, healthy options. Well, when we moved in July of 2012 somehow we lost track of what we wanted in our health and have been trying lots of new, delicious restaurants near us and have been late night snacking on our favorite desserts! Not good people, not good. Five nights a week of oat fudge bars, nanaimo bars, the best Belgian hot chocolate you will ever drink, poutine, etc., is not good for us. So, after gaining some unnecessary weight we just finished up all the junk in the house (yes, I know most people would toss it but I cannot waste food, I just can't), and are ready to start back on our delicious food journey.

When we first went on our food journey we cut out all sugar and sugar substitutes and we are doing the same again. Normally we only use stevia, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, raw honey, and agave. However, for the next 30 days we won't be eating any extra sugar aside from that which comes in fruit and veggies. This is very, very hard to do but it can be done (and should) be done for your health. 

So, over the next 30 days my family will be following a high protein, low sugar diet. Now what can we eat you ask yourself??? LOTS of things! Tomorrow I will post my April dinner meal plan. Thirty days of clean, dinners. 

Our goal for the month is to concentrate on fueling our bodies to get us through the day, not eat to just eat to eat. 

(Img credit: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/food%20is%20fuel)

Remember fueling is good, junk is bad! I will see you all tomorrow with an amazing dinner menu!!! 

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nurse, dietician, etc I am just an everyday person looking to get healthy and share my ideas with the world. Before changing your diet make sure to consult with your doctor first to make sure you find the right eating plan for you!!!

Organizing the house: Master Bathroom

So, many, many months ago I joined an awesome organizing challenge on A Bowl Full of Lemons. It was the Home Organization 101.  Winter was busy for us and I was adjusting to all the rain up here in Vancouver and just couldn't get motivated. So I didn't do a whole lot. But, in January they decided to "revisit" the organizing so I jumped right in. However, before I go into my Master Bathroom let me give you some background....

Now, growing up I was a very, very organized person. Heck, my best friend and I when we would get bored would reorganize my drawers! How lame right?! Well, I got married at 18, had a baby at 19. Hubby was working full time as was I, and we were both going to school full time! That left the house typically neglected. It was never a pig sty, (well, okay, sometimes it was lol), but eventually it would get picked up. It was organized somewhat, never to my full standards though and it was always clean "enough". Well, slowly but surely as this hectic schedule became the norm we fell into a routine with cleaning and organizing. Well, about two years ago when we were on our, I think, 7th move across country I finally told hubby that I would find a job if after a year we decided to stay where we were, well that didn't happen so we moved again. So, I am on my second year of staying home and I am more and more perfecting my home. I am planning on going back to work soon but want my home to be "perfect" before I do and have a full on system in place so the house practically takes care of itself. This is where the Home Organization 101 comes in. I am a procrastinator by nature, but, if someone gives me a schedule or I get sick of it I'll take care of it. So, Toni, over at A Bowl Full of Lemons gave me a schedule. I have adjusted the schedule to my needs as I have areas that I felt were more needy at the beginning than at the end. I chose to showcase my master bathroom today because I just did it yesterday and I felt it was a beautiful transformation. Plus, I have a super fun tutorial!

So, I started with my tub. I made a paste of baking soda and vinegar and I scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed my grout. It is now a beautiful off white and matches the tile again, no mold or mildew to be found! Second, I took a little (maybe an inch or so) of rubbing alcohol and water (maybe 4 or 5 inches of water) and scrubbed the really scummy areas of tile to get the soap scum off. It worked like a charm, then I scrubbed the tub and got rid of any old razors and bottles. Then, I moved on and emptied and cleaned the trashcan (using the alcohol and water mixture here to disinfect). Then, I sprinkled some baking soda in the toilet with about 20 drops of tea tree oil and then sprayed it with some vinegar, let it bubble and scrubbed. Then, I sprayed down the toilet with my homemade all purpose spray (equal parts vinegar, water, 10 drop of lavender essential oil and 4 drops of tea tree oil). Then I moved over to the sink and put away all the toiletries organizing under the sink as I went (wiping down all the bottles and making sure all the first aid stuff was together). I then wiped that down with my homemade grout cleaner (1/4 teaspoon Dr Bronner's, 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol and 2.5 cups of water, I also added a few drops of lavender essential oil).

Then, it was time to organize the make up. I love make up. It is fun for me to play with it so I have quite a bit. I went through it all and took out my brushes and set them aside (you do this too because I have an awesome fast and easy tutorial at the end here). Then I wiped down all my make up getting rid of really old stuff and stuff I didn't like (if you use a lot of MAC then save those pods because you can turn them in for a free lipstick or a free eye shadow when you have 6). I then put it back in the storage container I use grouped by like items.

Here are a few pictures:

Now, here is the amazing brush cleaning tutorial.

Supplies:
Small bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap (you can use any kind here I had the unscented one on hand so it is what I used)
Water
Cup
Your dirty brushes

Fill your up about an inch or two from the bottom with warmish water, then add about 20-30 drops of Dr. Bronners. Take the back of one of your longer brushes and stir it to get the soap really mixed up in the water. Then, wet one of your brush a bit with warmish water then dip in the soapy water. Trace it back and forth on your palm. Do this until the water runs clear. You may have to do this a couple of times if you have a pretty dirty brush or if you haven't cleaned your brushes in a long time. Now, if you have a brush that has never been cleaned, fear not I have a short cut for you! Simply squeeze some Dr. Bronner's directly on your palm. Wet the brush a bit then rub directly in the liquid soap. Your palm will turn colors simply run your palm under the water, do the same with the brush and repeat until it is completely clean. (The single picture on the right, if you look on the left was completely pink it hadn't been washed in YEARS, it took 3 passes through the straight Dr. Bronner's, but it is 100% white again!) My brushes and my daughter's brushes look brand new! Just check out the pictures:

So, that is all I have for you today! Try the gentle brush cleaner and let me know how it works for you!!!