Reading Resources, Meal Planning Helps & 0-Balance Budget Recap

FAMILY
I woke up to a sunny day and a "couple" of ducks (one female, one male) walking thru my lawn this morning. They walked right up to our window! I wanted to grab my camera, but I had literally just gotten out of bed & didn't have time. Plus, I didn't want to miss anything! I determined that today was going to be a brighter day! :) If you've never heard the song "Brighter Day" by Kirk Franklin, it's sure to pull you out of that "funky" mood, we can sometimes get into (especially when we're pregnant and hormones are running high!) Enjoy the video below...

Homeschool
Since we've decided to go the Homeschool route, I've started adding a few things loosely into our routine. I've been doing (homemade) letter sound flash cards with my 4-year old DD from the book, "How to Teach Your Child to Read in 10 Minutes a Day" and she's really picking it up fast! She already knows the proper sounds of 5 letters and can successfully read 8 words and 1 sight word. I've honestly only done the flash cards with her a couple of times! She's even able to pick these words out of books and read them, when we're reading stories at bedtime. It's pretty impressive!

A friend's mom from preschool also recommended a FREE website that helps children learn to read through playing games online. DD is loving it! They have everything from learning your ABC's to full blown reading. Click here to try it out!


FITNESS/FOOD
Last night I had my first "high" blood sugar reading (besides the Ketones) after dinner. :(

Lesson Learned: NEVER trust a recipe's nutrition facts!

The recipe had stated that it served 4 and that the carb content was a little over 2 options per serving. WRONG! It was WAY more than that and I ended up with a "high" reading. However, the food was yummy!

Quinoa Primavera with Chicken, Carrot Slaw and Peas
Adapted from Whole Foods Market Recipes


1 c quinoa, uncooked
2 cups water
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 c finely chopped onion
approx 5 oz carrot slaw
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1.5 c fresh or frozen peas, thawed (or a 15.5 oz can)
1 c shredded cooked grass-fed, hormone-free chicken
1 c organic baby spinach leaves
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste


Rinse quinoa under cold running water and drain. Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until quinoa is tender and all the water is absorbed, 15-20 minutes.


Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and carrot slaw. Cook, stirring often, until onion is slightly caramelized, about 5-7 minutes; careful not to burn the carrot slaw. Add garlic and peas and continue cooking for another minute. Stir in chicken and cooked quinoa. Add the spinach and stir until it wilts, 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.


Tips: 

• Add a little extra olive oil, to prevent burning on the bottom of your pan, if needed. 
• Chop your onion in a food processor. Faster & no tears.
• Buy your carrot slaw pre-packaged, just watch for preservatives and other additives.
• Use a garlic press for chopping your garlic. This one is my absolute favorite!
• If you don't have fresh or frozen peas on hand, use canned. You will need to add less salt at the end, to taste. (Though fresh or frozen is preferred)
• Simmer 2 chicken breasts in water for 35-40 minutes, seasoned w/poultry seasoning and sea salt. You won't use it all for this recipe, but you can store the leftover chicken in your fridge for topping salads with.

To Serve:

A good portion of this is approximately 1 cup (that's about 3 carb exchanges). For a balanced meal, serve with 1 c of organic whole milk, a side salad and an additional protein source. (I think next time, I'll add some peanuts or a peanut sauce). Or... you could serve it like this (except not as big of a portion as shown in the picture below!)

Quinoa Primavera with Chicken, Carrots Slaw and Peas
served with Milk
and Cottage Cheese with Pineapple for dessert

SIDE NOTE: I'm not loving the double-spacing happening in my posts. Does anyone know to get rid of the double spacing?
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This morning I set out to find a way to make my Premier Greens Mix product dissolve! Many of my readers (thank you so much for your input!) recommended I try it in a smoothie. So, I went to work and made me a smoothie this morning with the following products...

At the last minute I decided to add some Raspberry Chocolate Stevia to it, so that's not pictured above.


The result?

Dissolved Perfection!

Raspberry Chocolate Protein Greens Smoothie
1/2 c frozen raspberries
1 c organic milk
1 serving protein powder of choice (I ran out of my usual Premier Whey Protein Blend, so I used what I had on hand... Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer)
1 small handful organic spinach
1 T Premier Greens Mix
5 drops Chocolate Raspberry Stevia
2 ice cubes

Blend. Enjoy with a straw.

Tips:

• I found this to be a bit too thick, so I kept adding water as I was drinking it down. I think next time I'll add about 1/4 c of water (to start with) to the recipe before blending.

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Today is menu planning day and preparing our grocery list. This task takes a loooong time in my house. Here are the steps:

1) I start with my spreadsheet that looks like this...

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast:
1 Starch
1 Milk
1 Meat
0-1 Fat
AM Snack:
1 Fruit
1 Fruit
Lunch:
1 Starch
1 Starch
1 Fruit
1 Milk
1 Vegeteable
2 Vegetable
2 oz Meat
1 Fat
PM Snack:
1 Starch/Fruit/Milk
1 Starch/Fruit/Milk
Dinner:
1 Starch
1 Starch
1 Starch
1 Milk
1 Vegeteable
1 Vegeteable
3 oz Meat
1 Fat
1 Fat (optional)
Bedtime Snack:
1 Starch
1 Milk

It was created to ensure that I'm getting proper portions of things to keep my blood sugar in check. When planning meals, I try to stick to this as much as possible. 

2) In order to fill that out, I get recipe ideas from places like: reader suggestions, healthy living food blogs I follow and cookbooks.

3) Once that's filled out, I used to use this sheet to enter in my grocery list... (this is a sample grocery list)

GRAINS - 100% whole, sugar free, no hydrogenated, avoid wheat, (amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, oat, quinoa, wild rice, kumat)

VEGGIES - fresh or frozen, organic: cucumbers, celery, bell peppers, spinach, kale, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes

1 lb organic carrots

2 T fresh cilantro

fresh basil

1 head broccoli

pickles

mixed greens

1 c baby spinach ++

cucumber +

1 head cauliflower

cherry tomatoes ++++

red leaf lettuce

avocado

green onions

FRUIT - fresh or frozen, organic: peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, cherries, grapes, pears

2 T lemon juice

pear

raspberries

blueberries

grapes (for snacks)

PROTEIN - organic if available and affordable, grass fed/organic, roasted peanuts, non-roasted other nuts, unsalted 

veggie burger

1 c shredded, cooked chicken

ground sirloin (for burgers)

cashew butter

ground turkey (for burgers)

turkey bacon

DAIRY/EGGS - watch out for high sugar, unsweetened nut milks, organic, full fat, rBGH-free, no artificial cheese

1 c+ cottage cheese

cheese (for topping burgers) +

goat cheese (for salads)

feta cheese

Greek yogurts (for snacks)

string cheese

OILS/FAT - no soy, unrefined-high oleic safflower, organic butter

OTHER - raw honey/maple syrup, all-fruit jam/syrup, unsulfured blk strap molasses

ketchup

However, since my dietary restrictions have changed. I decided to create a NEW sheet with a list of the things I CAN eat and just check off what I need each week. This should hopefully make things go faster. I started creating this list by going through the chapter in the book below titled, "Stocking Your Whole Foods Pantry". 

I would HIGHLY recommend this book! It's a great introduction to whole foods, especially the chapter mentioned above. It gives a great overview of different ingredients and what their benefits are, how best to store them and how to use them in dishes. I can't wait to go through my pantry and purge, purge, purge the crap we've been using! Here's a sample page of my new grocery list sheet...

UNREFINED OILS - store in a dark place away from heat or light

• Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, unfiltered
• Organic Unrefined Virgin Coconut Oil
• Organic Toasted Sesame Oil, unrefined
• Hot Pepper Sesame Oil
• Flax Oil - store in the fridge or freeze

VINEGARS - store in a dark place away from heat or light

• Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
• Organic Seasoned Brown Rice Vinegar ???
• Organic Red Wine Vinegar
• Organic White Wine Vinegar
• Organic Balsamic Vinegar
• Ume Plum Vinegar
• Sherry Vinegar

SALT & SALT SEASONINGS 

• “Redmond’s RealSalt”
• “Herbamare”

CONDIMENTS 

• Organic Ketchup (only sweetened with Agave Nectar)
• Organic Dijon Mustard

NATURAL SWEETENERS

• Agave Nectar???
• Stevia

BASIC HERBS & SPICES - 1 tsp dried = 1 T fresh, store in air-tight glass jars in a closed cupboard away from heat & sunlight

• Dried Thyme
• Fresh Rosemary
• Dried Oregano
• Whole Bay Leaves
• Italian Seasoning
• Whole Black Peppercorns (grind as needed)
• Whole Cumin Seed (grind as needed w/mortar & pestle)
• Ground Coriander
• Cinnamon (buy ground in small quantities & replace often)
• Whole Pod Cardamom (grind as needed)
• Fresh Ginger
• Garlic Powder
• Tumeric Powder
• Cayenne Pepper
• Chili Powder
• Chipotle Chili Powder
• Curry Powder
• Garam Masala
• Mexican Seasoning
• Other

Of course, not everything will be relevant to you and your specific diet, so you have to take what works and leave what doesn't. 

Question for my readers: Now you have seen how I plan my meals. In May we'll be doing a lot of car traveling and staying at people's houses. How do I make sure I'm eating properly without inconveniencing the host? And what are some good car-friendly snack & dinner ideas?

FINANCES

Well, it's almost the end of month 1 on our zero-balance budget. I am so excited about how well it went! We learned a few things & adjusted a few things, but overall it was a success! And I am AMAZED at how, if you are doing everything you can to make your money work for you, God will bless you. 

As we were preparing our zero-balance budget for May, we were coming up short on money, even after cutting back in places as much as we possibly could (like me waiting another month to get my hair done). After praying about it, we received a check in the mail for roughly $250! Apparently we somehow overpaid when we paid off one of our debts (though neither of us can figure out how!) We also found an old gift certificate for a FREE hair cut & color that we'd forgotten about! Our God is an awesome God indeed! 

The other thing we did this month was learn to get creative. We are going through our Hypnobirthing classes right now and I've maxed out all my FREE babysitters. However, we don't have enough in the budget to pay for someone to watch our DD as much as we need them to in May. Solution? We found old gift cards to places like Target, Walmart and Home Goods. Our babysitters will be paid in those! (Hey, who doesn't want a Target gift card?!)

There were a lot of times in the past month when we've had to utilize our "no" this month, because we didn't have it in the budget. I'm not going to lie, it put tension and constraints on some of the relationships in our lives. We, however, were given opportunities to strengthen our new muscle of learning discipline when it comes to how we spend our money and learned valuable lessons in boundary setting (which is NOT my favorite thing to do). We were also able to teach and share the same valuable lessons to our DD, instead of immediate gratification, which is what the culture teaches us. 

Overall, I think we deserve a good pat on the back! :)

FRIENDS/FUN

I've felt a bit beaten down lately by the negativity that I've received surrounding my efforts at a healthier lifestyle. I can't understand why people (especially people you consider friends) wouldn't want to support you in making yourself a better person. But, maybe that's just me. I can tolerate a bit of teasing here and there, but comment after comment starts to discourage you. I've decided there's nothing more for me to do, but stand firm on my beliefs and choices. 

How about you? Have you experienced negativity or challenges with friends/others in your life supporting your choices for a healthier lifestyle? If so, how did you handle it?

So, with all the negativity and nasty weather we've been having lately, I was in much need of a bright, beautiful day with a friend who is supportive and says encouraging things like, "You are so wise! You always have such good advice for everything!" Friend, if you're reading this (and you know who you are), I love you more than words could ever portray. Thank you for today and for your kind words! You truly blessed me. :)

Picnic at the Park Day!!!