Fruitful Saturday

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Saturday was wonderful!  My mother came over and helped with the baby so I could paint.  I painted Heidi’s second closet, her trim, and the boy’s bathroom.  This gets us a step closer to a functioning house! 

When we take out our sunken Harvest Gold bathtub in the master bathroom, it will stop water flow to our only functioning bath.  We will have to open the boy’s bathroom for use, which has been closed from wall-paper removal and a large hole in the shower’s fiberglass floor.  Now that it is painted, I can clean it all up and call the fiberglass repair man.  I’ve seen lots of DIY fiberglass repair articles on the web, but this is one I’d like to call the professionals for. I’ve seen plenty of black mold from improper leak repairs and am ready to do this one right.

Now that Heid’s room is painted, the carpet man can come.  Then she can move into her room which will allow Heather to move into her room and all the children will be in their rightful places.  What a happy day that will be!

I used my Christmas money to order curtain fabric for my office and Heidi’s room.  Heidi went with white bridal illusion covered in silver glitter.  I took a risk on aqua blue and white chevron.  I saved some money by salvaging some finials off a curtain rod that was too short.  I bought a $3 electrical conduit pipe that just happens to fit and will spray paint everything white–tomorrow.  Because even though It’s January in Kansas City, the weatherman thinks it will be 60 degrees tomorrow!

That Chevron has me sitting on pins.  I love it–right now. Is this something super trendy that I will tire of quickly?  It’s an expensive enough purchase that I’ll have to live with it for awhile.  So now that I hit “complete purchase” I’ve decided to love it no matter what.

I had the same concerns about my black and white damask curtains that I made for my living room 3 years ago.  Thankfully I live in the midwest where it takes years for the trends to hit, so they’ve stayed in fashion this whole time.

And then I think about the poor orphans in Africa and wonder why I care so much whether my curtains are fashionable.  I’ve spent years not caring so much and have found that when I take the time to choose my purchases carefully for their beauty as well as functionality–it makes a difference how the people in my home feel.  So I think I will pray that all people have their needs so met that they can waste a thought on whether something is lovely or not.

Protein Cookie Dough Balls

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I love to eat cookie dough.  I’m not afraid of raw eggs, but if you are–just leave them out of your favorite recipe and you’ll have edible dough.  The drawback is there’s tons of calories in the form of fat and sugar and very little protein or vitamins.

I recently became aware of sugar free recipes for cookie dough meant to be eaten raw that includes protein powder.  Several of them called for grinding dates into a paste–but dates aren’t currently in my pantry.  So I tried this variation made with pumpkin puree instead.  It had good flavor but tasted pretty “light” not rich and creamy like real cookie dough.

Here’s the recipe as pictured above:

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

2 Tablespoons peanut butter

1 scoop Bluebonnet French Vanilla Protein powder (Sold at amazon this is just whey and stevia.)

1 packet purevia, stevia sweetener

2 Tablespoons quick oats

2 Tablespoons coconut flour

2 Tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Combine all except the chocolate chips.  Stir until the coconut flour absorbs the moisture and the mixture forms a light and airy dough.  Fold in teh chocolate chips.  Form into 8 balls.  2 balls = 149 calories; 12 g carbs (3 fiber); 10 g protein; 7 g fat

I’ve got PB2 (powdered peanut butter with the oils pressed out) in my amazon shopping cart.  I’d like to try this recipe again substituting PB2 for the peanut butter and part of the oats.  I’m trying to get the overall calories down and protein up while also making the balls slightly denser to taste more like real cookie dough.  So far these little balls are a tasty treat..but can they get better?

Strawberry Spinach Salad

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Here’s my lunch today–and it was even tastier than it looks.  And talk about healthy!

Strawberry Spinach Salad–Serves 1

2 cups spinach leaves

4 oz sliced fresh strawberries

4 oz grilled chicken breast, sliced (I throw mine on the Foreman grill)

12 almonds, chopped, and toasted in the microwave on high for 1 minute

2 Tablespoons (1 oz) Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing

Layer all ingredients on a plate and eat right away.

A Yummy Green Smoothie

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Yes, I’m drinking my smoothie from a Cottage Cheese carton.  All of our glasses are too small to hold an entire smoothie, so this was my solution ;p.

I found this recipe via pinterest and traveled to the blog to read more–aak and now I can’t find it!  I’ll update with the link as soon as I can.

Her recipe was pretty good, but I made a slight change to help it be colder and thicker.

1 small banana, sliced and frozen

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon peanut butter

4 cups fresh spinach

1/2 cup ice

Blend all until smooth.  Drink right away :).  This was the first green smoothie I had that I liked!  The banana and peanut butter covered the green taste really well. To save costs I bought my spinach in a huge bag from Costco.  It has 3 produce servings for the Fit Yummy Mummy Plan which really helps towards the 10 a day goal.

Italian Eggplant Bake Revised

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I’m thrilled that so many of my lovely readers are still here :).  Every time I get a comment from you it makes me smile and want to blog again.  I’ll have to admit that I enjoyed my break from the blog, even though sometimes I felt guilty about neglecting it.  I was enjoying my family so much that most of the time I didn’t even think about it.  I think I’m ready to start writing again, even if it’s just a few times a week.

Someone brought a huge box of eggplant to church last week.  We waited by the box until the crowd thinned so we could take 2 of them without feeling greedy :).  I looked up my recipe created this summer for Eggplant bake and cut the cheese in half and added a half cup of parmesan for flavor.  It was delicious and only had 300 calories a serving, which is a generous 1/8th of a 9 x 13 pan. 

2 eggplant (1 or 1.5 lbs each)

1 jar spaghetti sauce (26 oz)

2 lbs ground beef

2 cups mozarella cheese

1/2 cup parmesean cheese

1 tsp garlic salt

Place ground beef in a large skillet and sprinkle with garlic salt.  Cook meat until no longer pink, drain and rinse of excess fat.  Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick slices.  Cook for a few minutes on each side in a hot skillet until lightly browned.  Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Place 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the dish.  Cover the sauce completely with eggplant slices.  Sprinkle with half the ground beef, half of the cheeses and half the remaining sauce.  Repeat the layers once more.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.  Let stand a few minutes before serving. 

We served ours with a huge spinach and romaine tossed salad, green beens, and peaches. If you aren’t watching you carbs, garlic bread would be perfect :).

I’m off to put the children in the tub.  It’s Saturday night, whether you need it or not…..

P.S.  I did not peel my eggplant.  I try not to peel anything if I can help it, because usually there are lots of vitamins in the peeling.  When I served the leftovers to my mother for lunch she looked shocked.  “You didn’t peel it!?”

“Oops, Was I supposed to?”

Mother:  “What did your recipe say?”

Me:  “Ooh, recipe, that would have been a good idea…”

Office Inspiration

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I’m so thankful to have the space above the garage for my office.  It’s a large room with a triangle ceiling and very little wall space.  This is a recipe for creativity when it comes to finding places to put things.

Here’s another triangle shaped room.  I love the way they built shelves around the windows with a seat across the front.  If I were to do this, I would open the bench along the front for baskets filled with supplies. (I’m not sure on the original source for this image, I got it from pinterest which got it from photobucket.)

This next room from Sew Many Ways is chock full of ideas.  Take her black bookcases filled with supplies for example. They are just plain cheap bookcases with crown molding added and repainted.  I encourage you to click the picture to read the whole post.  I espeically love her motto:  “The Happiest people don’t have the best of everything…they just make the best of everything they have.”  She’s a kindrid spirit (as Anne would say.)

Next is another inspiring sewing room with tips for displaying a fabric stash.

She even has a lower cost solution that I’m adding to my to do list.

Baked Spaghetti Squash

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Slowly things are turning into a routine.  I’m still in a huge mess (I’ll show you my office after the squash.)  This house is ginormous, no disputing that, but I’m lacking shelves, cabinets, organizing stuff etc.  So things are just sitting on the floors and hanging out in places.  The blessing is there’s still plenty of room to walk around, lol.  But I’m haunting pinterest and ikea.com for ideas of how to put everything away in an organized manner.   I can’t wait until IKEA decides Kansas City is a worthy market to bring a store.  I think they are losing millions each year by NOT having an IKEA here.  Can you hear me, IKEA?  Please come to Kansas City.

So I’m serious about my next round of Fit Yummy Mummy. Above is a delicious lunch that I had this week.  It’s 1 cup of baked spaghetti squash, with 3 oz of ground beef–seasoned like Italian sausage and sauteed peppers and onions.  It was even better the next day when I added steamed lamb’s quarter to the mix and topped with a touch of parmesan.  Can you imagine how pretty it was with that pop of green? And so tasty too.

I’ve got some serious sugar cravings to overcome.  I had beat that horse once and then indulged over Christmas.  The sugar came at me like a snowball rolling down a moutain.  At first I just took a “taste” then before long was stuffing my face with handfuls of cookies and chocolates.  I ended up gaining 4 lbs between New Years and the start of FYM’s new contest, sigh. 

But I can pick up and start over.  I know what I need to do to feel fantastic about myself, have energy, and overcome my sugar addiction.  And Holly’s workouts are so short yet so effective I can fit them in.

I’ll be sharing some more of my recipes like an update on Italian Eggplant Bake;  chocolate chip cookie dough protein balls; and a green smoothie that’s tasty enough to actually drink.  (I’ve had some doozies, lol.)

Here’s a scary picture of my office (Have to have a before so there’s motivation to work on the after.) And now you know why my blog is so quiet.  I’ve been busy making a mess of my life, lol.

I can imagine the paneling painted white (except that there is water damage ripples on the roof that the brown hides very well); and darling Amy Butler or Heather Bailey print curtains at the window.  A pottery barn work table in the middle and Ikea shelves stacked with gorgeous fabric all around.  I’ve counted the cost though and it will have to wait until my children and hubby have their rooms done.

In another post, I’ll show you my inspiration rooms.

So, did I lose all my dear readers by being quiet so long?  If you are still there will you write a comment and let me know?  If you have an organizing link or tip that you could share I’d be so thankful.

I Have Internet Again!!!!

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Whew, I didn’t realize how much I used the internet until it was gone. I have so much catching up to do including putting in the photos that my app dropped from my two previous posts. I’m determined to get that to work properly–it would save so much time.

I wanted to give you a quick heads up that the Fit Yummy Mummy transformation challenge starts on Monday. It lasts 12 weeks and is the perfect motivation and plan to reach fitness goals! Registration opened today and ends Monday at noon, so don’t think about it too long. If you buy your ebook set (link on the left) today and activated your free month of Club FYM, you can try out the challenge for free :). If you do join up come find me, my username is AngelaC. I’ve been without internet for 2 weeks so my FYM journal has been quiet–that’s about to change!

One of the benefits of a challenge with Club FYM is the extra coaching from Holly. She sends out daily homework assignments that don’t take very long to do but keep us on track. I learn so much from doing these challenges and it helps me stick to my goals. Prizes make it even more fun. I hope to see you there.

Lunch back to Fit Yummy Mummy

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I’m trying to blog a photo again from my phone. Here’s my lunch to prove that the holidays are over and I’m no longer using moving as an excuse to not take good care of myself. I’m back on the program with Holly and the other Fit Yummy Mummies and already feeling better.

It’s all from Costco: Turkey burger cooked on a Foreman grill, steamed snap peas, baby peppers, fresh broccoli, and baby carrots, with a honey mustard dipping sauce.

Happy New Year

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Happy New Year! We spent our first night in our new home last night, and it felt like home. Darren and I made the living room with green carpet our temporary bedroom.

4 of the kids are sharing the striped bedroom until we can paint and carpet 2 of the other rooms. Even with 4 beds in there it feels huge.

Tomorrow I will get a few more things from the old house. Since it hasn’t sold yet I’m only bringing over what I can put away immediately. I’m not in the mood to live in a mess again, lol.  We had a lot of help yesterday to move the furniture and appliances. It’s just odds and ends now./p
pSpeaking of messes did you see that Netflix has added 4 more seasons of Clean House?  I’m so excited!

I’m trying out blogging with a new app on my phone since we don’t have internet service yet. If this works out it should let blogging be less of a time commitment. This year I’m turning my heart towards home while making Grocery Shrink more business than hobby.  That means I need to make better use of my time.

I’m off to plan my year and make my January menus. With the move we are trying out some new money saving strategies to reduce our phone and internet bills. I’ll let you know how it goes.