Here we go again...

Okay so I've done Flylady once successfully then moved back in with my parents and thus lost all habits. I started again awhile back but fell out of all that probably due to moving and just to much change in schedule again. But now I'm going for round 3, my plan is to use Flylady principals and ideas but not go full force charging in as I have in the past. She pushes for babysteps as otherwise you get overwhelmed and give up, 15 minutes a day is something I can handle most days at least. And I won't beat myself up if I miss a day of decluttering/unpacking if I worked/was away from the house for 12 hours. I've trained the man to make the bed when he gets up which is ALWAYS later than me.

First step is "shining your sink" I know how she wants it done, I know her method. I just don't wake up early enough to empty the dishwasher in the AM before leaving for work, and the man isn't too good on doing that on his own. He's a great helper but he's not awake before 6am like I am, and I leave the house by 6:20am. I need to suck it up and be mature about going to bed a bit earlier and waking up 10-15 minutes earlier as that's all it takes to get everything put away. And that's step one, so that's the goal tonight. Were going to order delivery, I haven't made it to the grocery store lately nor meal planned since my marathon plan a thon last month. So were resorting to the easy solution, having someone else cook and deliver. :-) Which is another reason for the desire for routine, but mostly I have set hours now, so I can more easily plan and mentally prepare to accomplish x, y, or z but I just don't do well doing it on my own at this point. I'm too ambitious and plan to much then when I'm tired after work I don't do any of it or if I'm lucky a little bit gets done.

Wish me luck.

Menu Plans

Here are my basic plans, as I said in my last post we went to a Warehouse store and stocked up on frozen chicken, and other basics. So that helped in my planning. I'm hitting up the grocery store tomorrow after work. Let the games begin.

Week of: Oct 23 – Oct 29

Chicken Parmesan w/ pasta Steak w/ mashed potatoes, green beans Chicken burgers w/ sweet potato fries Chicken meatball kabob's w/ salad Enchiladas – make extras Chicken Marsala - NEW

Week of: Oct 30 – Nov 5

Spaghetti w/ garlic bread Make-ahead burritos - NEW/ making extras Jambalaya Easy Cheese Tortellini Alfredo - make night before Tuna casserole Chicken Cordon Blue - NEW

Week of: Nov 6 – Nov 12

Beer Battered catfish w/ onion rings Chili w/ corn bread Meatloaf Bourbon Chicken w/ noodles Chicken and Dumplings (crockpot)

Some are old favorites, some are new. Some are things I haven't tried in a long time. Lots of chicken obviously, lol. I'm trying to incorporate at least one night a week to "make-ahead" cooking whether that be the crock-pot, or something I make in bulk and freeze some for later, or a casserole that I make the night before to be cooked later. I think there's at least 1 of those a week, so eventually that will lower the amount of cooking. The man offered to make Chicken Cordon Blu so I added that one, and he'll help in the kitchen most nights. Which is awesome. Wish me luck, I only planned 6 a week (will add one to the week of Nov 6) as we all need at least one night for leftovers, going out, etc. I take leftovers for lunch a lot as I work in a school and cafeteria food isn't always awesome. I do buy my lunch sometimes, but it has to be something "good."

Trying to overachieve

Today I've been revisiting menu planning....but not just a little bit. Like a whirlwind, helps that the man has math homework to complete and is busy upstairs leaving me to be with all my cookbooks and mini laptop. ::insert evil laugh:: but seriously after being stuck home for 4 days you'd think I would have attempted this previously and not spent most of Sunday revisiting and reworking my methods. I was home recently due to bronchitis with pharyngitis, which was most likely strep but the doctor didn't want to waste my or his time by doing the throat swab when he was already prescribing me to antibiotics. So I've been not just a little sick, but REALLY sick, per doctor's orders I've been home. Sleeping and spending way to much time on Facebook. But I get to go back to work tomorrow. :-D

Anyways back to the whole menu planning. I decided I was going to menu plan because I got an email that some website had a new planner option. Not wanting to go there. I was like I need to do this, so I carried my mini to the kitchen table and looked at the desk which had been piled high in the kitchen since we moved in...and decided it was time to unearth it. So I went through all the papers and sorted and tossed what needed to be dealt with, so now I sit at my desk with my swivel chair so I can turn and use the kitchen table too. It's not perfect but it's now usable space. Which is pretty awesome I might add. Anyways back to the point. I've been attempting to plan not just one week but one MONTH of meals. My problem has always been that when I plan X for Monday, Y for Tuesday I never want those items that day throwing off my entire week and making me have to rewrite everything as I used the dry erase method before. So I was looking around the internet and like the idea of index cards but not sure I'd use them but I might try a few just listing ingredients to help with grocery list making.

Anyways I came up with a plan I think will work for me, I created a word document that lists just "week of: date" then below I've bulleted meals I plan to make that week. But I make the sheet for the whole month/4 weeks, so it's massive planning but it shouldn't have to happen too often, and I'm basing it upon what's in the house now, what we stocked up on at Bulk store, and what I'll get at the grocery store tomorrow after work. So I can get the pantry staples were running low on and maintain that easier if I'm planning this far in advance that's the plan so far, it's still a work in progress but I'm excited and the man doesn't understand why. :-D So I'm blogging. I'll update on how it goes.

Homemaking, defined

I never really thought about the term homemaking till recently. Having a house now, really makes the term hit home, as it seems we spend every weekend with projects to continue to make the house a home. Today we started out pulling weeds and gardening in the front yard, then rearranging the still box filled garage. Then a trip to his parents as they were giving us their old dining room table. :-)

Then to Lowe's for boards to put in the attic and create a floor, and a few other odds and ends. We were at Lowe's yesterday too, home improvement stores are great, but it's not like grocery shopping where with a list you don't forget things. :-\ We're still learning.

But overall we've been productive. I'm working 50 hours a week right now so the house isn't getting the attention it deserves. Neither is my menu planning or cooking. We've started getting delivery and takeout more than we should. So I need to put forth the effort again to creating a weekly or bi-weekly menu might work better. As it's just the two of us, we can keep more in the freezer and in the pantry to prepare. 

Breakfast Rut

I get into a breakfast rut way to often, I get stuck on eating the same thing day after day and eventually get so burnt out I don't want anything to do with it anymore. The one that lasted the longest was 1/4 bear naked granola, 1/2 cup fat free yogurt, and blue berries and or strawberries. I ate that every morning for over a year, sometimes throwing egg whites or something else in the mix. I still don't have an appetite when I try to eat that breakfast anymore. I get stuck with eggs too, egg whites scrambled with some veggies, or over easy egg on a slice of bread with ham, etc. I get stuck.

So I go out searching for alternatives, I found a good list today that has a long list of easy to prepare items. Since the list is long enough it should help me keep some variety, as long as I don't get stuck on one of these items.

Breakfast Ideas:
25 Easy Breakfast Ideas for the Bleary Eyed!

Listmania

List making, something I love to do. I've tried apps on my phone, and while I have many lists on there. I always eventually go back to some paper versions too. Phone reminders and lists are great for alarms, like the one that reminds me weekly when I'm allowed to water the lawn with sprinklers (due to drought restrictions). But for everyday to do lists, I get in the bad habit of just closing the reminder. Or seeing it too late and feeling bad that I forgot to x, y, or z.

So paper lists, reminders, are awesome. I was reading my reader and came across this post: Sunday Planning it has an awesome resource for different free printables to help with daily chores/reminders, meal planning, blogging, and cleaning. There is a good variety, I haven't picked my favorites yet. But wanted to share.

Enjoy the weekend!!!

Blessings

Things that make me feel blessed this week:

• new travel coffee mug
• label maker
• post it notes that make me smile
• meals out with old friends

Always:

• family
• friends
• home
• food on the table

Green Thumb, who would have thought.

I've never had a green thumb, I always joked it was brown as all plants I ever tried to keep alive, let alone help them to thrive...didn't make it. Moving provided me with a large over grown backyard, which has a few plants that were obviously placed on purpose, not necessarily natural to the area. Didn't realize what they were till we got some much needed rain, and discovered we had a crepe myrtle in the backyard. Which was exciting as it had been discussed to put a new one out there. The other plants are still unknown, for now. :-)

Anyways, once the rain helped I began hose watering every few days as we are in a Stage 2 drought here in San Antonio. So the Crepe myrtle has began to flourish, it's pretty awesome as it has some great pink blooms. So here are a few photo's of it's progression.

The front yard needs some work, I just need to figure out what to do with it, as it has plants that are pretty drought resistant, but I have just never learned how to care for these things. The back yard has 2 rose bushes also that are all out of control with no blooms. Not sure if I can "save them" or if it would be best to pull them out and start over with something new. It's all a learning process but I'm enjoying gardening much more than I could have anticipated. To making things pretty and grow. :-)

Beer can chicken and other endeavors

So now that the kitchen is all unpacked, I've gotten back into cooking once again. Menu planning and all. So I'm going to make a "catch all" post for all the things I didn't get to blogging about. I probably tweeted about them, but that's not even a guarantee.

Waffles

So I'll start with my first attempt at making waffles. I'd had the waffle iron for a few years, but kept it in storage as it was too big for my old kitchen. Just used a box mix as it was my first attempt I didn't want to get to creative and wanted to learn how the iron worked.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Next up was my mom's spaghetti sauce recipe. I'd made this before but it had been a few years, as it just seemed like too much work. I typically opted for pre-made jarred sauce. But it was SOOO worth having the homemade sauce, and I didn't even let it simmer as long as I should have, but I waited too long to make dinner and just simmered a little longer than the minimum 30 minutes (while everything else was finishing up). Paired it with some whole wheat noodles, and garlic crescent rolls.

Next cooking adventure was Beer Can Chicken, this is something I'd heard about but had never tried. I had forgotten about it until I got a "Cooking with Beer" cookbook. Scanning through for ideas came across two recipes for beer can chicken, I mostly followed one with some help from this website also. As once looking into indirect cooking on the grill realized that would be more involved that I wanted to get. So I made it in the oven. Got the man to help with the chicken, but it turned out awesome. Super juicy and moist, and not beer flavored at all. :)

So that's a few of my cooking adventures recently in my new kitchen.

Routine

So today we spent about 2 hours focused on one room, this worked well as it looks done. There will be change but it looks done, no more random boxes around at least in the family room. It had become a catch all in many ways, as it's centrally located.

I did laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, made dinner (Bourbon chicken) cleaned as I cooked, set the dishwasher to run overnight, made coffee for the morning. Waiting for clothes to dry to put out my work pants and rest of my clothes for tomorrow...yep. I'm working some combination of Flylady, Messies, HabitHacker, etc. I've read them all and I love different aspects from them all. I get to hung up on stuff so combining and doing my "own thing" from them works best, I think. And as FlyLady was inspired by the Messies, they aren't too far apart overall. 

They all focus on keeping one spot clean, FlyLady says to shine your sink while the other approaches give you the choice. But you must keep that one small area clean, if nothing else, as an inspiration point. They all recommend doing one entire load of laundry a day, (washing, drying, put away). Another commonality is making a to do list, just writing down what you want/need to accomplish each day.  A daily quick clean 10-15 minutes depending which approach you read at the end of the day you spend a small amount of time picking up all those random things that got put down in random places. There are many, many more commonalities between the organization apporaches. I'm still figuring out what works for me, and as I now have a new house to learn in some things are different that my previous cramped apartment. Things now have a "place" they aren't just sitting somewhere as there is no other place to keep them. There are rooms with purpose, office and separate guest room for example. That now don't overlap and can each have specific things contained within each. Learning curve along with building new habits. Good times.

Side note, I never really drank coffee, but last week I was having a crazy craving for coffee, so I pulled out my old pot (I'd tried to drink it before and got a hand me down pot from my parents) and for the first time really enjoyed homemade coffee. But the pot being old and stored wasn't working great, luckily for me my parents had a "newer" spare pot. So I upgraded and have now been enjoying coffee in the morning. It's been pretty awesome so far. It helps wake me up, more than more energy drinks actually. I stay alert which helps with my job, so good times. ^.^ 

Unpacking and settling

Old apartment kitchen, that's all the counter space there was

It's been a slow process unpacking and whatnot. I feel the kitchen is just about done. Which is awesome. I must say I am totally LOVING the fact that I have counter space, an island and did I mention counter space. The storage is awesome too, I actually have empty drawers and cabinets. HAHA it's amazing. I have finally started cooking in there and it's awesome, and amazing. Things don't fall all over the place when I open a cabinet and they are organized. I have more than 3 drawers, etc. Space is just amazing. The rest of the house is still in disarray but as everyone tells me it takes time. I'm working more hours at work currently which is awesome, but gives me less time to unpack/organize. I need to tackle the master bathroom and my closet...they are a little scary. Reordered the parts to fix the master shower, as the initial set purchased was for "new" plumbing. And we have "old" plumbing. So that's fun to figure out, along with many other random quirks that come with a house as opposed to an apartment. But I feel it's perfect in so many ways, I'm so happy here. I don't miss anything about the old place, and I'm a pack rack sentimental type person so that says something in and of itself.

Part of the new kitchen. ^.^

Thanks to hand me downs, the entire place is furnished, thanks to living on my own for so long I have the rest of the necessary items. I have a wish list for the container store that's a mile long, slowly I will get the things I "need/want" and be able to really get the house in order. For now it's an adventure.

Moving

Moving is more work than I remembered. Getting closer to the organizing and unpacking portion everyday. Have to have everything out by the 30th, busy, busy, busy.

Life changes

Been busy, and not focused on blogging, obviously. But menu planning this evening reminded me that I hadn't updated in...forever. So I thought I was due. :-)

Meal plan this week, tentative as other things are going on but the current plan:

Taco Chicken Fiesta lasagna (have leftover chicken and refried beans from fajitas)
Cheese Tortellini Alfredo (make ahead recipe that's awesome and we got a ton of tortelinni at Sam's Club)
Chicken Burgers
Turkey Tacos
Something with ground beef, haven't decided., yet. :-)

This week will be interesting as we are preparing to move, have resided in the same apartment for over 5 years. So packing, and moving are slightly daunting but it's a new adventure with more space and bigger kitchen. :-) Among many other perks.

Stuffed shells

Tonight I made something new, broccolli and cheese stuffed shells. They were good, but the man noticed they lacked meat. But still tasty.

Baked Ziti, Jambalaya....good food.

Last weeks meals were:

Frozen Skillet (pre packaged meal)
Pan Burrito's
Crock Pot Jambalaya
Leftovers
Baked Ziti
more leftovers, lol

So since this is more reviewing last weeks meals I'll just talk about the one's I made.

Pan Burrito's - I've made a few times before the recipe is on the blog elsewhere, I'm feeling lazy and don't want to find the link. This time I added diced onion and jalapenos while browning the beef, and adding some pepper to give the meat a little flavor. I always use spicy refried beans and this time used medium enchilada sauce.

Crock Pot Jambalaya - this turned out good. I added a little garlic also to the mixture of ingredients. I made some rice and stirred that in for the last 30 minutes or so. I also added a little bit of cornstarch (mixed with water) to help thicken up the liquid which I should have done earlier but I wasn't home. But it turned out really tasty, it was spicy. But we like things spicy.

Baked Ziti - my first attempt at something like this, not that it was complicated but it was different. Mostly using ricotta cheese was new, as the only lasagna I've made is a Mexican variety. It was easy once all the ingredients were prepped and the prep wasn't bad either, boiling noodles, browning meat, etc. Nothing too difficult. It was tasty, but makes a TON, 8 large servings. So either cut the recipe or make it when you have company. :-)

Havarti Ham and Potatoes

So I made this tonight, and changed leftover buffet to last night as there was just too much food in the fridge. Good problem, but overwhelming at times too.

Recipe

The pot roast I made was good, although a little bland in comparison to most food I make lately. It was just basic American cooking with only salt and pepper as seasonings relying upon the flavor of the meat and veggies to enhance the meal. Good but needed something more for our taste buds.

Tonight I made the Havarti Ham and Potatoes casserole it came out awesome (minus some precooked potatoes, not being cooked all the way through). Not having eaten Havarti cheese it was an experiment that turned out awesome. It was flavorful and tasty. Will make again.

Finished and served

I took a picture of the meal after we'd eaten we obviously have some leftovers. But that's okay as it was tasty.

Zuppa

On Wednesday I went out with my Red Hat group (I'm a pink hat, and joined to go along with my mom) We ordered our desserts first, and then had lunch it was fun and enjoyable. It just goes to show you that you don't always have to conform to the norm, but enjoy life and all the little things.

Meal Planning Monday (opps) 02.21.2011

Time got away from me this evening, I intended to write this prior to midnight. Oh well better late than never. This will be short as I need to get to sleep sooner than later.

Highlights of past week:

Easy Cheese Tortellini - was awesome. Super easy to assemble and really tasty, approved by me and my man. Will definitely make again, and maybe vary slightly to increase frequency (meat filled, marinara, etc).

Ribs - awesome as always, made them spicier successfully by adding more hot sauce. Delish.

Pork chops with apple stuffing - this was okay, the meat was good. The stuffing was good just different, not bad, just different. So I might make this again but not for awhile.

The rest of the week was filled with leftovers, going out, birthday parties, etc. Good times.

This week:

• Tuesday: Easy Day (either something frozen, leftover, or going out)
• Wednesday: Favorite Pot Roast (crock pot)
• Thursday: Havarti Ham and Potatoes (make ahead)
• Friday: Leftover Buffet
• Saturday: Grillin' steaks and ?? (veggies or potatoes)
• Sunday: Something Simple, aka wild card
• Monday: Pan Burritos, these are great because it's easy to keep everything on hand or make from the pantry. Being in San Antonio especially, we always have tortilla's and enchilada sauce in the house.

Note: my Crockpot is a few years old but has a built in recipe book, the recipe for the pot roast is slightly different on the programmed option that I'm going to follow. I'm going to try to make a new crock pot recipe a week, or at least make one crock pot a week. For the simple fact that my work schedule, as previously mentioned is later in the evenings and coming home to dinner already made is awesome. Also why I keep making, "make ahead" dishes. I typically make them in the morning and they sit the minimum 8 hours in the fridge. I've enjoyed it so far, it's nice to have a ready made meal in the evening. It's been interesting to make them not all casserole's. As that would just get kinda old, to me and my man.

Meal Plan - 2.15.2011

Okay so my meal planning has gone to the wayside lately. But I have to get back on track as my work hours have changed and I don't get home till 7:30-8pm now. So I needed to rethink this whole dinner making process or end up with drive thru all week...which wouldn't be good for so many reasons. I'm still on a restricted soft diet for another month or so, which basically means I have to be careful not to include rough veggies or salads, things with seeds or that require lots of chewing. I can get away with some things as long as it's tiny bites.

So last night I planned, I just didn't post. I went grocery shopping today, so I'm ready. :-)

Meals in no particular order:

• Grilled Steaks w/ sweet potatoes
• Pork ribs (crock pot) w/ steamed veggies instead of beans
• Easy Cheese Tortellini Alfredo (make ahead recipe) 
• Pork Chops with Apple stuffing (make ahead recipe)
• Easy Night (frozen skillet meal most likely)
• Leftovers

I try not to plan for every night as something always comes up once a week where we end up out, or at someone else's house. So my plan is to make dinner in the mornings so it can sit for 8 hours as most of the recipes call for, I know I'll be too tired in the evenings. I don't go to work till the afternoon, so it will work with my schedule.

Unconscious Mutterings - 419

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Trash :: day
2. Abs :: slacking
3. Dating :: sucks
4. Hooked :: on phonics
5. Face :: book
6. Algebra :: class
7. Reading :: more lately
8. Horrendous :: hair
9. Looks :: matter more than we want them too
10. Python :: Monty

http://subliminal.lunanina.com/?/um/ind/week_419/

Unconscious Mutterings - 418

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Agency :: advertising
2. Ministrations :: castration
3. Charlie :: brown
4. Bricks :: mortar
5. Contingencies :: backup
6. Dad :: father
7. Zoned :: traffic
8. Direct :: sunlight
9. Team :: spirit
10. Cave :: man

http://subliminal.lunanina.com/?/um/ind/week_418/

Unconscious Mutterings - 417

1. Girlfriend :: me
2. Crushed :: garlic
3. Source :: paper
4. Corner :: Baby (dirty dancing)
5. Gossip :: girl
6. Encounter :: of the first kind
7. Make an offer :: real estate
8. Stylish :: clothing
9. Profit :: margin
10. Waste :: garbage

http://subliminal.lunanina.com/?/um/ind/week_417/

---

This is something I used to do, back when Live Journal was "the place" to be. I still follow the words weekly via google reader but haven't posted my thoughts in awhile. Going to try and keep up. The words are posted by http://subliminal.lunanina.com/mutteringslogos.php weekly, she explains the process as:

Free association is described as a "psychonanalytic procedure in which a person is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content." Over time, this technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self.

It's interesting and typically somewhat entertaining as to what you really do think of when provided with a otherwise unrelated list of words.

Meal Planning 01.17.2011

Happy belated new year!!! Hope everyone is off to a fine start this year. :-) I've been slacking in some departments but am getting back on track, slowly.

We have a new pet now, a bearded dragon he's been an interesting addition and I must admit I never thought I'd find a reptile cute. His diet involved some veggies and squash which is encouraging me to use more in our meals as well. :-)

Here's the meal plan for this week:

Monday - Tilapia (steamed for me, fried for him) with zucchini and yellow squash

Tuesday - Pulled pork sandwiches (cooked in the crockpot), w/ salad

Wednesday - simple something

Thursday - Taco fiesta Chicken lasagna

Friday - Goulash (casserole got the recipe from my mom, will post later)

Saturday - Turkey w/ "lizard" greens (collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens) sauteed with garlic

Sunday - Leftovers

Breakfasts:
Eggs (omelet, sandwich, hardboiled)
Turkey bacon
Oatmeal
Cereal
Yogurt

Lunches:
Tuna salad
Egg salad
Sandwiches
Pizza bagels
Salad

Snacks:
Veggies
Cottage cheese
Hummus w/ wheat thins (or veggies)
Nuts