My Weekly Meal Plan

Last week was extra busy with something going on nearly every evening. I don't really like it when we have weeks like that but they do happen at times. I work hard to avoid it but sometimes.....what can you do. The boys all had BSA Pow-Wow two evenings last week then there was youth night and of course Ry and I wouldn't miss our date night.

It just makes dinner time more rushed. To me family meal time is more then just sitting down to quickly eat and then moving on to more important matters. I like to think of family meal time as the most important matters. Yes having a good healthy meal is important but even more so the conversation that happens especially when we aren't rushed and don't have to be somewhere else.

The clearing of the table and getting the dishes done is often put off for obvious reasons. We will just linger at the table and I love to sit there for as long as everybody will and just visit. We talk about all sorts of things and I love this bonding time that we can just connect as a family.

Missy has been working really hard for a debate that she has tomorrow, it seems to be stressing her out a bit. I reminded her that it was just another debate and to not obsess over it too much. It seemed to relieve some of her stress when I reminded her to not let her schooling get in the way of her education. She kind of let out a sigh of relief and smiled and be and said, "Good point Mom."

I hope no matter if she wins or looses that she will feel good about her performance. Not sure why she even enjoys debate I'm way too sensitive for that sort of thing.

For a few months now Charly has been in a whistling mood and is whistling a tune nearly all day every day. It annoys her siblings quite a bit at times. But mostly I love it. I feel like it brings a cheerful happy mood to he home. It makes me smile. I know it won't last so I'm enjoying every minute of it. She's really good a whistling by the way. ;)

Even though the weather likes to switch from warm to cold frequently this time of year, I really start to get in the mood for picnic type food. You will see some of that along with some soups still on the menu this week. It's just the nature of springtime!

My Weekly Meal Plan

Monday:
Pizza Casserole

Tuesday:
Chickpea Salad Sandwiches

Wednesday:
Mac and Cheese

Thursday:
Minestrone Soup

Friday:
Quesadillas, with Quinoa Salad

Saturday:
Leftovers

Sunday:
Quinoa Burgers

It's Now Called the Mom Conference

Okay remember when someone told me I couldn't call my Chia Recipe what I was calling it. Well I guess that has happened with The Mom Summit oh ah I mean Conference. But I only had to change the title and a couple little things.

Poor Desi and her team has had to change domain name, logos, adds, etc. pretty much a re-branding. But they are doing a great job and are only going to be a week behind. I want to be sure to help out and keep the positive energy of this conference going.



The Mom Conference is going to be more fun than shopping in PJs and fuzzy slippers, and more educational than having brunch with Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil and Dr. Spock! And, better yet, it’s ONLINE and FREE from April 7 – April 14, 2014!

Desi Ward, host of The Mom Conference and creator of The Unconventional Kitchen, created this educational and entertaining event because no mom is perfect. That’s why we MUST share our strengths! You know the whole idea “I’ll do your laundry if you do my dishes?” At The Mom Conference we’ll gather together to learn from each other because we’re our greatest resource!


It only takes about 10 seconds to register for FREE at this link!

WHY ATTEND?
Being a mom can be overwhelming at times, right?! The Mom Conference contains 30+ online classes to make motherhood more enjoyable. 30 rock star bloggers (mostly moms) will be teaching classes on topics incredibly important, like:

- Cooking a month’s worth of dinners in ONLY a couple hours!
- Getting kids to listen without yelling, nagging or reminding!
- Making sure there’s not just heat in the kitchen, but how to put the sparks in your marriage,    too!




Sounds amazing, right?


Here are a few of the incredible presenters:

Get Kids to Cooperate Without Yelling or Nagging
with AMY MCREADY from positiveparentingsolutions.com

Knock Out a Month’s Worth of Dinners in One Day
with TRICIA CALLAHAN from onceamonthmeals.com

Feel Connected in a Disconnected World
with HANNAH BRENCHER from moreloveletters.com

I Lost 60 Pounds & Kept it Off: YOU Can Too!
with JEN GROTHE from jen-fit.com

Get & Stay Organized: A Fail-proof System
with JENNY LAYTON from thehappygal.com

Healthy Marriage: Top 3 Successful Marriage Tips
with DINO & SHANNON WATT from bizofmarriage.com

… along with 20+ additional presenters sharing their wealth of knowledge. This invaluable (and FREE) resource is intended for moms everywhere!

Better yet, if you register today, you’ll have access to the following FREE GIFTS as soon as your registration has been completed!

- FREE Video 1: Creative Ways to Get Kids to Love Fruits & Veggies
- FREE Video 2: Tips & Tricks for Awesome Hair
- FREE Video 3: Make Foaming Hand Soap in One Minute
- FREE Video 4: Find Jeans That Flatter Your Body Type
- FREE Video 5: The Best Tasting Green Smoothie

Come listen ONLINE and be inspired from April 7 – April 14, 2014!



See you at The Mom Conference from April 7 – April 14!

Egg Replacer, Make Your Own

I have bought energy brand egg replacer for a lot of years now. Not too long ago I wondered if I could make it myself. I had bought some tapioca flour (and for the life of me can't remember what I was going to use it for but that's okay cause I found another use) which was one of the main ingredients on the box. The other was potato starch. So I went to the Azure website to see if by chance they sold it in bulk. And sure enough there was potato starch.

At more than seven dollars a box I figured making my own should save me some money. So I did the math:
5 pounds potato starch = $8.35
5 pounds tapioca starch = $8.00
I already had the baking soda and other ingredients on hand but I figured that cost in there too.

So my best calculations tell me that to make a pound of egg replacer will cost me not quite $2.50. A one pound box of Energy Egg Replacer is $5.75 right now through Azure. That's a savings of over half!

At more than 50% savings I say it's worth it to make my own. I will be making my own from now on.

This obviously would make more than just the one pound box so the upfront costs would be more. But then you have plenty in your food storage and you are never out of eggs so to speak. ;)

I'm pretty excited about this because I use this in a lot of my baked goods.  Like these Snicker Doodles, Blondie Brownies, Ginger Bread Cookies, etc. A lot of times I will use a ground flax or chia seed paste as an egg replacer but certain recipes don't hide their flavor and/or texture well enough so that's when I opt for this.

It took a few tries to get the recipe to where I felt it was "right" but I have been using it for well over a month now and find it works every bit as well as the stuff you buy.

Make Your Own Egg Replacer

2 1/2 cups potato starch
1 1/2 cups tapioca flour
1/3 cup baking powder (non-aluminum)
2 Tablespoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tarter (optional)
1 teaspoon guar gum (optional)

Mix all ingredients together into a jar with a lid. For the replacement of one egg use 1/2 Tablespoon of powder to 1/4 cup water. May add more or less powder depending on consistency you want.

Okay so it looks like they may have changed the date for the Mom Conference. I'm sure those of us who have signed up will get notification about it and if you haven't signed up it looks like you may have an extra week to do so. But why wait if your like me you might forget if you don't just do it now. It's free and it only takes a few seconds!

My Weekly Meal Plan

It was so nice to spend a weekend at home. Ryan and the boys had scouting for food Saturday morning but it didn't take long they were able to go pick up our Bountiful Basket. I had seen dragon fruit before but we had never tried it. I thought it was pretty good not super flavorful, reminded me a lot of kiwi only a more mild flavor. We added it to our Mango Salsa with dinner it went well with it.

We worked in the yard. Got the garden tilled up and amended the soil. We are hoping our garden will be much improved this year.  Peas and Kale and some lettuces will be planted withing the next week or two. I think I'm even going to try planting a few cabbage seeds outside soon and see how they do. I have always started them indoors first but I know they are pretty cold hearty so I'm going to give it a try. Not sure it it will work.

Next I will plant onions, carrots, beets, and beans. Then once danger of frost is past I will do tomatoes, peppers, squash, basil and whatever else we think we want.  I'm so excited for planting season.....actually what I'm really excited for is eating fresh picked yummy things from our garden again! There is just something to be said for GARDENING.

The kids seemed to be a bit congested this week like they all have a bit of a cold. But they are about better now. I have been impressed with how well they have done this year. We didn't have any sickness all winter except for a little cold here and there. None of the stomach flu that was going around or the strep or anything like that.

I'm so grateful. I feel like having Elderberry Syrup on hand and having them take it all winter really helps. We have done that for a couple of years now and I just wish I had done it sooner. I also feel like as they get older they all have more developed immune systems and things just don't get them down as easy.

THE BODY SEEMS TO WORK WELL WHEN GIVEN THE CHANCE. Each child is different and some of my definitely seemed to have a stronger immune system at a younger age then some of my other children. But I really feel like if instead of running for a drug of something to stop symptoms every time they start......that helping support the immune system with healing herbs and foods really helps it to develop into good strong system that helps protect you from disease.

Obviously there can be exceptions and each person is different, but my experience has been that when given the chance NATURE WORKS! Having good health is just so important to me I feel I can't truly be who I need to be if I don't feel good.

Okay sorry a bit of a ramble but speaking of health here is our menu of healthy dinners for this week.

My Weekly Meal Plan:

Monday:
Chili Cheese Fries

Tuesday:
Chimmy's

Wednesday:
Artichoke Tomato Alfredo

Thursday:
Lettuce Wraps

Friday:
Quinoa Burgers

Saturday:
Leftovers

Sunday:
Taco Sundays

Chores, My Favorite Method

So I finally found a moment to sit down and share my very most favorite chore system I have ever used. I had tried many different little systems. We had a "chore store" once, that lasted maybe two weeks, I have tried a bean jar, many different types of charts and I even had Ryan make up this awesome wood board with lots of little hooks to move chore tags I had made around.

The last one lasted the longest at about a month (then we tried to make it work for quite a few months after that but it was really hit and miss when we would use it) but only because we had worked so hard to make it I didn't want to see it fail. But oh it failed. I think I tried about every program out there. Until one day it dawned on me that it wasn't that they weren't all good programs it was just that none of them fit my personality.

I'm not a hovering type of Mom.....I believe that freedom and responsibility brings more freedom and responsibility and that natural consequences seem to bring the most learning and growth. Don't we all remember things better and grow more when we learn from our mistakes.

Just yesterday it was a beautiful day and the kids were all excited to go to the park. When it was time to go there were a number of chores that had not been finished so they missed out on the opportunity to go to the park on a nice wind free day (those are few and far between around here this time of year). Kids are fast learners and they catch on pretty quickly when it comes to learning what it takes to get what you want.

So I started to think long and hard about what type of system would fit my personality as a Mom and teach my children responsibility. It took my quite a while of thinking and planning but I eventually figured out a system that has worked and we have maintained it for over 7 years now.

Every six months to a year I update it and change things around but this only takes about 30-40 minutes. Once the initial time commitment and planning are taken care of it takes very little of my time to maintain. My favorite part is that we don't count up points or keep track of silly little motivational gimmicks.

I'm not the kind of Mother that follows through with such things. I like natural consequences. Like if you don't do your dishes well on your dish day you get to do dishes again the next day on someone elses day. Or things like the park example above. They seem more natural to me and there is no bribery or allowances involved.

Alright here it is my favorite method:

Years ago I sat down and listed all the household duties that needed to be done to maintain order and cleanliness in our home. Then I divided them up into Daily and Weekly items. It went something like this:

Daily Items

These first few are fairly self explanatory they all do them every day.

Make Bed
Get Dressed
Comb Hair
Brush Teeth
Read Scriptures
Say Prayers

Clean Room – I used to be more of a stickler about this being a daily thing. But now that they are older and their bedrooms are in the basement so I kind of let them be in charge of how they want to keep it picked up. They don’t keep toys in their rooms so usually it doesn’t usually get too bad. They are required to clean their rooms up really good at least once a week before we vacuum.

Dishes – Each child has one or two dish days a week, depending on age and ability. On their day they are responsible for keeping up with the dishes and keeping the kitchen in order. Of course everyone helps but it is mainly that child’s responsibility.

Sweeping and Mopping – This also needs to be done frequently so each child who is able is assigned one or two days a week. We sweep more often then we mop. We mopped a lot more often when the kids were younger.

Garbage taken out – Again this is done often I have assigned this to the boys and they basically take turns taking it out.

Basic Picking up – This can’t be done often enough. I used to assign different rooms out to each child and rotated it every time I changed up the chore chart. Now that the kids are older I don’t have this assigned they just know it is up to them to keep stuff picked up. Sometimes they are better at it than others. If it gets bad I can usually just ask one or two of them to pick up a certain room that needs it and they can pickup really quickly.

Weekly Items

Laundry – Yep I’m one of those who has a weekly laundry day and we dig in, do it once a week and get it over with until the next week. It works for me! Each bedroom has a laundry basket that they put their dirty clothes in. They are each assigned a bedroom to get the laundry basket from and take it to the laundry room and sort it. On their chore list they are each assigned specific loads of laundry they are in charge of. They take care of that loads washing, drying and folding. Then they all put their own clothes away.

Dusting – I change this up sometimes I have one child in charge of it all the time. Right now each child has a week that they are in charge.

Vacuuming and Bathrooms– This happens every Friday. One Child does the upstairs one does the basement. Then the other one with the help of the youngest (who can’t quite use a vacuum yet) cleans the bathrooms and vacuums the stairs with the little vacuum. This just rotates every week.

Less often items are part of Thursday Rotation. Which I will explain below. Thursday Rotation is a concept that I came up with that I love! It takes the pressure off spring cleaning and the like.

I just take this list and divide everything up and make a list for each child that looks something like these:

Some of the seasonal type chores are included in the Thursday Rotation. But there are others that are so unpredictable that I just assign as needed. Like mowing the lawn or snow shoveling, weeding, garden chores etc.

Thursday Rotation

This is my favorite part of my system. I know if the kids are following their chore charts and then we take a little time once a week (obviously we chose Thursday) to do what I affectionately call Thursday Rotation....then I know that our home is staying pretty well maintained, cleaned and even for the most part deep cleaned without much time or effort on our part. 

Here is a link to my list in Word or click on Icon Below. I will take and assign (by putting their name in bold in front of each item) each job. Even Dad has his name by a few items on this list. I have deleted our names but this is the current list we are using. At the bottom of the page you will see our family motto and this years scripture.

That pretty much covers it. As you can see it's nothing fancy and very practical but I have found it works really well for me. I hope I explained it well but if you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments below!

   

My Weekly Meal Plan

This past week I knew we would be traveling come the weekend so I prepared. I made a big batch of High Protein Granola and some Chewy No-Bake Granola Bars that we could take with us.

Ryan took the boys Friday up North with him to help clean up the Northern Branch. I took the girls and went South to my Aunt Renee's funeral. The funeral was perfectly wonderful and Aunt Renee will be greatly missed but I know she is not far and that she is no longer in pain. I am grateful for my knowledge of the plan of salvation.

photo credit

The boys had a fun time and I was jealous that they got to go eat at Ginger's Garden Cafe (my most favorite healthy place to eat in Utah County). The girls and I were able to stay with my parents so of course Mom made sure we had good food to eat. Mom's are always so good that way!


We were also sure to pack whatever we had in the fridge like apples and oranges and a few leftovers. After all these years of practicing eating healthy while On The Go we find it's really quite easy to stick with eating healthy even while traveling.

This week I'm feeling a  little behind because of the busy weekend. We are also getting low on food in the fridge because it's been over 2 weeks since I have been grocery shopping. So I will try to meal plan with what I've got. I may need to get a little creative and I will probably need to make a shopping list and at pick up at least a few things.

My Weekly Meal Plan

Monday:
Barley Soup with Irish Soda Bread (I'm going to search recipes and try to find or come up with a heathified version.....I have never made this before or even tried it so it should be fun)

Tuesday:
Fajitas

Wednesday:
Orange Veggie Stir Fry

Thursday:
Flatbread Falafel Sandwich

Friday:
Veggie Pot Pie

Saturday:
Leftovers

Sunday:
Baked Potato Bar

Environment is Key

Today I'm taking off my food blogging hat and blogging with my Homeschool Mom hat on. (Not something I do very often.) But with almost 15 years of homeschooling under my belt. I hope maybe I have a few things to offer.

Many of my thoughts and ideas have and still do come from Leadership Education, The Phases of Learning. I can't recommend it highly enough to ALL parents homeschooling or not.

Check my post out over at The Laundry Moms!
Please feel free to show your support by sharing, liking and commenting. Thanks a bunch.

Blondie Brownies

I didn't grow up with Blondie Brownies......I know deprived huh! I don't remember trying them until my husband's family introduced me to them. Ummmmm yeah I liked them. And then well a lot of cookies and brownies and things took a back seat while I learned a healthier way to live.

I did slowly add treats I loved back in as I learned the art of "Healthifying" but for some reason there are a lot of things I kind of just forgot about or I don't know maybe just never worried about them. Most of the things I have healthified have been things that I was craving.

It's kind of funny how many things I just haven't craved or really even thought about. There was a time when I thought my life would end if I had to live without certain foods. Well guess they weren't really all that important now were they.  All I know is I have not ever felt deprived on this road to healthy whole foods.

Anyway we were sitting around visiting one evening and we were feeling like a treat. But I wanted to try something new. Like I have said before sometimes I just get bored of making the same things. So I asked Ryan if he wanted me to try Blondie Brownies. He was like, "Oh heck yeah!"

Plus our kids had never had them I wouldn't want them to be deprived like I was. It took a few tries but here they are and they are mighty tasty if I do say so myself!

Blondie Brownies

3 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (ground soft white wheat)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon Real Salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 dash almond extract (optional)
1 cup coconut oil, melted (add one heaping teaspoon ghee in place of some oil if desired)
3 cups Sucanat
2 organic free range eggs (or double next ingredient)
1 heaping Tablespoon egg replacer mixed with 1/2 cup water
carob chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix egg replacer and eggs together. In a separate bowl cream coconut oil (being sure it is not hot), Sucanat, vanilla and almond extracts together. Add egg mixture, stir in well. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until smooth, should be the consistency of thick cake batter. Spread onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until crackly on top and toothpick comes out clean. If wanted sprinkle carob chips over blondies as soon as they are removed from oven. Let cool before cutting. Cut into squares and serve.

Bundle of the Week

You may have heard but there have been some changes with Bundle of the Week.

This weeks bundle is the Professional Homemaking Bundle. But in order to be in the know and get the details about this bundle and future bundles you need to sign up for the newsletter.

Read a little about why I'm a big fan of ebooks here!

My Weekly Meal Plan

We enjoyed beautiful weather this weekend but this morning it's really windy. It is March after all! Although I do not care for how very windy spring can be. What I love about this time of year are all the things that start to peek up out of the ground. And I start getting excited about planting our garden.

I noticed the Forget-Me-Nots, Lemon Balm, Calendula, Yarrow, Flax, Bee Balm, Plantain and a few other things are all starting to grow again. I think the herb garden will be beautiful! I hope to add to it too. The trees are also trying to come out but I hope they don't blossom too soon because we should still get some pretty cold spells around here and I don't want them to freeze.

The trees are big enough to give us a little fruit this year if they don't freeze. Here's hoping they don't blossom to quickly.

Some of last years garden. June 2013

Last week was a pretty calm week. We were home for the most part and the kids started getting into the routine of their new chore lists. I thought it went well and should have been done much sooner. There was much less complaining.....sometimes change is just a good thing.

I'm looking forward to this weeks menu, since I love chick-peas and I plan on trying a new crock pot dish with red lentils and sweet potatoes. As usual though it all looks really simple. My crock pot will get plenty of use and with the help of the older kids very little time will be needed to be spent preparing food.

My Weekly Meal Plan

Monday:
Minestrone Soup

Tuesday:
Quesadillas with Quinoa Salad

Wednesday:
Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry

Thursday:
No-Fuss Potato Soup

Friday:
Chickpea Salad Sandwiches

Saturday:
Leftovers

Sunday:
Crock Pot Sweet Potato Lentils

Quinoa and Sweet Potato Grilled Wrap

This recipe has been in the works for a while now. We all really liked it but I felt that it just needed something to make it go from....."yeah this is pretty good"....to......"YUM this is really good!"

That something was a homemade green chile sauce. I'm thinking this sauce would also be good on enchiladas (you know in place of the red sauce mmmmm) or burritos and probably other things I'm not thinking of. I think it was especially good because I used chiles we grew in our garden last year. I roasted then chopped and froze them on a cookie sheet in little 1/4 cup blobs. Once they were froze I put the frozen blobs into a gallon freezer bag to store.

It has worked great I have been using them all winter in place of canned diced green chiles. Super good and I thought they would be perfect for a homemade green chile sauce.  Ummmmm yeah they were!

Also don't think I'm nuts when you see cinnamon in the recipe. I know it doesn't seem like it fits and you might think ewwww that's weird......but just trust me. Remember my Hearty Vegetable Chili that has cinnamon in it? Everybody seems to love that one. So don't knock it until you have tried it.

Quinoa and Sweet Potato Grilled Wrap

2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 Tablespoon Sucanat (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 teaspoons taco seasoning
1-2 teaspoons Real Salt or to taste
2 teaspoon cumin
2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups green chile sauce (recipe below)
8-10 large whole wheat tortillas
cheezy sauce and additional green chile sauce
other toppings of choice avocado or guacamole, cilantro, etc. (optional)

In Large skillet heat coconut oil then add sweet potato and onion saute until sweet potatoes are almost tender add spices, black beans, quinoa, and green chile sauce. Cook until sweet potatoes are done how you like them. I don't like mine mushy.

Place filling in tortillas and wrap up. Brush with some coconut oil and grill until golden brown on each side. Serve topped with cheezy sauce, additional green chile sauce and other toppings of your choice.

Homemade Green Chile Sauce

1 teaspoon coconut oil
2 cups roasted diced green chiles
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 rounded Tablespoon Vegetable Broth Powder
1 1/2 Tablespoons arrowroot powder mixed in 1/4 cup cold water
2 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
Real Salt to taste if needed

In sauce pan on medium heat, saute the garlic and green chiles in the coconut oil just just a minute then add the rest of the ingredients. Stir until warm and thickened, just starting to bubble. Don't let boil. Remove from heat and use. Will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for a few months, maybe longer.

My Weekly Meal Plan

Last week was a good week. We spent a lot of it out of town visiting Grandma and Grandpa. So I didn't get much done in the way of posting and my at home projects, but it was a lovely diversion.

The kids had built a wind powered "skate board" that they hoped to play on but as luck would have it there was no wind. (At least not until the storm blew through but then it was raining.) No big deal though.....cause after all it is March!

I did manage to get the kid's chore lists updated and went over it with them. I think they will welcome the change and be motivated by it. I've mentioned before that we have used this simple little system that I came up with years ago it has worked really well for us.

Our home....although it isn't a model of perfection, we are able to keep it at a pretty good level of cleanliness without too much effort. This is important to us being a homeschool family. There needs to be order so learning can easily happen but it also can't take up all our time......so learning can easily happen. ;)

If I can get my act together I will try to post about our chore system this month sometime.

I also have a few really yummy recipes that are in the works......I took a second try at some Blondie Brownies yesterday and got some great reviews from the family......especially the husband!!! A couple of tweeks and it will be worthy of posting. (Not to mention I have to get some good pictures of it too that's the hardest part for me I don't consider myself to even be close to good at food photography but I also don't think a recipe is near as fun without a picture to go with it!)  I also have my Quinoa and Sweet Potato Grilled Wrap ready to post this week so be watching for that.

My Weekly Meal Plan

Monday:
Chow Mein 

Tuesday:
Lentil Sloppy Joes

Wednesday: 
Taco Salad


Thursday:
Sweet Potato Soup

Friday:
Quinoa and Sweet Potato Grilled Wraps

Saturday:
Leftovers


Sunday:
Philly Cheese Steak