Monday, August 16, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Food Waste Friday - I Just Don't Like Egg Noodles
We have Beef Stroganoff this week and I made some egg noodles to go with it. These were left over and I didn't get to use them. The truth is, I don't really like egg noodles. I would have served the beef with rice if my husband would not have considered it a crime (punishable by much subtle complaining).
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Meal Plan - You Need It!
This is mine from last week. It isn't fancy (I got this pad from Michael's for $1.50) but it works. I tried all sorts of fancy forms but simple really is best.
Sometimes, despite having a meal plan, the day doesn't work out as it should and you end up feeding your toddler this for supper...
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
About Me
You see, I am a usually cloth diapering, often babywearing; sometimes organic food eating; occasionally co-sleeping; exclusively breastfeeding (because the boy refuses any supplementary formula) momma of 2 great kids.
When I came to my "wishy-washy" realization, I started to feel a little bad about myself. At this point I gave up on trying to write "About Me".
I am happy to report that I have finally completed this section. After much procrastinating and lots of thought I realized that I just do what works for me and my family and there is nothing wrong with that.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
I Love Chili!
(I am currently searching for the website where I got this - I will post once I find it)
- 2 lbs. ground beef, browned and drained
- 4 (19 oz) cans of beans (I usually use red kidney beans but you can use what you like)
- 4 (19 oz) cans of tomatoes ( I used crushed because I don't like chunks of tomatoes)
- 2 green peppers, chopped
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 3 Tbsp. chili powder
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. salt
Instructions:
Dump all ingredients into a big bowl and mix.
Separate mixture into 3 large freezer zipper bags. I like to put my bag into some kind of tall container for this part (see pic) because it is easier and less messy.
Once they are frozen you can stack them flat or file them like books in your freezer.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Technology.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Some of my faves...
From Kraft Canada:
http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/cheese-lovers-pasta-roll-ups-114790.aspx
http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/our-perfect-zesty-chicken-89537.aspx
I get two meals out of the above two recipes. I prepare them in the square glass baking dishes that you can get at dollarama. I used to use the foil dishes but started to feel bad about all the waste (especially with all the little baggies I use). These are inexpensive, work great, and clean easily. Once the food is prepared and cooled, I cover this dish in foil and put the whole thing into a freezer bag (which I am able to reuse as well).
Because I am cutting down on the size of the serving of the main meal I serve these two with a big salad. Every grocery day I buy one of the big containers of mixed greens. We eat some almost every dinner.
From Todays Parent:
http://recipes.todaysparent.com/tprecipe/tp/article.jsp?recipeId=6230
These are the most amazing veggie burgers ever!! I love them because they are delicious, healthy, inexpensive and really filling. The recipe says it makes 6 burgers but I make 8. I form the patties and stack them with wax paper in between. I freeze 4 burgers in a zipper sandwich bag.
Veggie Burgers in the making...
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Putting It All Together
Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day!
So - I thought I would start at the start. Breakfast. This is something I actually came up with myself. I love smoothies but hate the preparation, so I put all the ingredients for my favorite smoothie in zipper bags. I use yogurt in my smoothies so I freeze it in ice cube trays in advance.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup berries
- 2 tablespoons OJ concentrate
- 4 "cubes" of vanilla yogurt
- 1/2 banana
The above list is for one smoothie, obviously I make these in big batches so, I usually have to eyeball what is 1/2 a bananna when I am adding the frozen chunks to the bag. The beauty of smoothies is that it doesn't have to be exact!
Directions:
- dice up bananas and berries and freeze on a wax paper lined cookie sheet
- add all ingredients to a sandwich size zipper bag & store in freezer
To Prepare:
- remove bag from freezer and place in fridge overnight (this is not absolutely necessary but I have found it to be easier on my blender)
- pour 1 cup of cold water into your blender and dump contents of bag on top
- I sometimes throw in some protein powder or groud flax
- blend and enjoy
A few notes:
I keep a larger zipper bag in my freezer. We buy alot of berries for the Miss K and sometimes some get "less than appetizing" before she gets a chance to eat them. When this happens I cut them up (and cut off any "yucky" parts), put them on a plate and lay them in the freezer for an hour or two. Once they are frozen I dump them in the bag. It is important to freeze them on a flat surface first or they end up being one big berry blob that you can't separate. I would imagine you could use alot of different types of fruit this way as well, I have just never tried it.
I buy several tubs of yogurt when it is on sale really cheap ($1/tub), freeze it into cubes and store it in large zipper bags in the freezer for this recipe.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Slowing Down
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Snow!
Hubs put together my veggie beds on the weekend. Luckily, I hadn't yet got around to putting anything in there. Finally my procrastination served me well. He also put in my clothes dryer. Would you believe that the day before this picture was taken it was full of clothes drying in the sun?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Veggies
Monday, April 12, 2010
The beginning...
I am a happily married woman (it is still weird calling myself a "woman") with two children. I am currently on my one year maternity leave.
I have a few goals that I am going to pursue over the next little while:
1) Live a healthier, "greener" life.
2) Pay off debt and reduce spending.
3) Find direction for my future (career, education, who knows?)
I have many other goals (weight loss for one) but I think that by striving for the above 3, everything else will follow along. I am planning for this to be a gradual pocess. One thing I have learned about myself is that I will crash and burn if I try to make changes too quickly.
I hope you enjoy reading about my adventure!!