Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Goals, Routines and Microresolutions: The Challenges of Behaviour Change, Part 1


 

Last January I kicked off the year by announcing my (admittedly ambitious) plans for "10 Routines in 2014" and although I gave you a brief update on how I was doing with my morning routine in late February, I never reported back on my progress after that! 

Seeing as how it's the start of a new year still January I thought it would be a good idea to take stock of where I'm at and assess the areas where I still need to make some changes to meet my goals. It's actually been quite a while since I reviewed this full list of routines, which is probably not a good sign. Surprisingly, though, I did make significant accomplishments in most of these ten areas, even if I didn't get all the way to where I initially intended!

So, here's an update on all ten routines, plus my insights learned along the way and ideas on how I might want to tweak things over the rest of this year.

1. Morning routine: I was doing really well with consistently getting up at 7 a.m.  for a while, and then somewhere along the line things just fell apart. I'm still really struggling with this area. I just am NOT a morning person and dread getting out of bed in the morning! Interestingly enough, though, once I've actually gotten out of bed I have been very consistent with doing a morning meditation, which was the one brand new thing I added to my life at the beginning of 2014 (currently it's 15 minutes long as that seems to be a length I can stick with over the long haul). 

2.  Email routines: I set specific times to check my email during the day (9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.) and also was hoping to find the system that works best for me to help keep my inbox cleared out. I have to admit that I still check my email too frequently (although less than I used to). I am much better about keeping things cleared out of my inbox, though, thanks to some aggressive unsubscribing from many different lists. My goal for this year is to keep email to an hour a day max during the week (half an hour in the morning and half an hour between the 2 afternoon time slots). I may spend more time on Saturday reading email if I feel so inclined. I'd like to make Sundays cyber-free as often as possible this year, too.  

3. Lunchtime routine: My goal was to consistently take an hour and a half break from 11:30 to 1 p.m. This has definitely required some tweaking to figure out what works best. I was initially using this time to connect with my son (who comes home for lunch from 11:30 to 12:00), eat my lunch and go for a 30-40 minute walk. These days my son usually brings his girlfriend home for lunch :) so I get a very quick update on his day and that's about it! I've also found I really prefer my walk as part of my afternoon exercise routine, so I moved it there instead and now take about 20-30 minutes at lunchtime to do some restorative activities like acupressure and alternate-nostril breathing so I feel refreshed for the afternoon.

4. Afternoon exercise routine: My goal was to get back to doing strength training consistently twice a week. The plan was to go to a hot yoga class at 4 p.m. one afternoon a week, do strength training 2 days a week, and devote the remaining days to a home yoga practice. I fell off the bandwagon on this one and was NOT consistent at all with my strength training (or even yoga classes!) The good news is I reassessed my whole routine as it clearly wasn't working for me. A couple of months ago I discovered High Intensity Interval Training and both hubby and I have committed to doing these 12-16 minute workouts 4 times a week (plus one 90 minute hot yoga class a week on a non-HIIT day). These are my favourite ones because she gives lots of good ideas for modifications if you need them. I've also discovered a great shoulder rehab routine that I've been adding on to the end of my workouts so I can finally get my shoulders 100% healthy again. I've been really consistent with my exercise routine so far this year, so it seems to be working out a lot better than last year's plan - hurray! My other fitness goal is to do 25 pushups by the end of the year. I'm currently struggling with less than half of that, so it's going to take some focus to get there, but I REALLY want my upper body strength back!
 
5. Bedtime routine: Getting to bed at a reasonable time has always been a challenge for our household full of night owls. My goal was for us all to start getting ready for bed at 10 p.m. (including getting anything ready for the next day like clothes, permission slips, etc) and all be in our beds by 10:30 p.m. That gives us all half an hour to read or have "quiet" time before lights out at 11 p.m. I started out okay with this goal, got inconsistent again part way through the year, and have gotten a lot better again in the past couple of months (in Part 2 of this post I'll share one of the things that has really helped!) I actually adjusted the times back a bit, too, so now the goal is to be in bed at 10 p.m. with lights out at 10:30.

6. Writing routines: I intended to get better at scheduling in specific larger chunks of time for writing as I was only getting done about one third of the writing I wanted to prior to the start of 2014. This goal largely went by the wayside, and it may well stay on the back burner for 2015, too! It looks like I may schedule 2 half days a week for writing at this point (I potentially have some big life changes coming up in the next couple of months - I can't share anything about them right now but as soon as I'm able to, I will!)


7. Cleaning routines: Oh dear. That's about all I can say with regards to this one. Still trying to figure out how to make this easier and more streamlined! My major goal this year is to hand over more of the household tasks to my two teenagers. In addition, I'm thinking about assigning us all specific chores each day so they have a hope of getting done. I'm also on another decluttering rampage, because the less stuff we have, the easier it is to keep the house clean.

 
8. Business routines: This was one of the big surprises for 2014; in February I decided to take a business development course with Mark Silver which ended up taking me off in different directions than I originally intended! It lasted several months and was very intense. This year I am focusing on developing my leadership skills; I'm currently working through FranklinCovey's Online Leadership courses (purchased with a super awesome Groupon deal!) and will start a free course through Coursera.org called Better Leader, Richer Life in a couple of weeks.


9. Financial routines: We made the decision to go back to good old-fashioned paper, pencil and calculator to manage our finances in 2014. After a couple of years of using Mint.com ineffectively, the simple paper plan worked out MUCH better for us. We had also planned to do the 52 Week Savings Challenge to reboot our savings account. Part way through the year we switched to a "Pay Yourself First" system which was very successful for us (I'll be sharing more about this in a future post). I feel like we've got a pretty solid money management system going right now; this was definitely one of our big successes for the year! This year will be mostly about maintaining what we've got in place.

10. Weekly planning routine:  My final goal was to set time aside on Sunday evenings to plan out my entire week. Alas, this ended up being very "hit or miss", more miss than hit unfortunately. When I do actually get the planning done on the weekend, the whole week goes SO much smoother, so this is another goal I have to figure out WHY I continue to struggle with, so I can get it accomplished much more consistently. 


While there were obviously a few areas where I didn't come close to what I set out to do, I did make some solid progress in others. More importantly, I think, I got really interested in WHY it's so hard to make behaviour changes and ended up reading several books on this topic. There was one book in particular that I read in December that I found very insightful and useful. Since then, I've already used it to make a couple of significant changes relatively effortlessly. I'll be sharing more about that in Part 2 of this post next week! 

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Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Having Ourselves A(nother) Simple Little Christmas...


It's three weeks 'til Christmas Eve and I haven't written a word about Christmas here on the blog yet this year - WHAAAT?!? Yeah, things are a little behind schedule for someone who advocates starting to think about Christmas in September. I don't even have an impressive excuse, other than that I needed to take a mental break from blogging for a while. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy coming up with a gift-giving plan for this year...I'm just a little late in sharing it with you!

Our Christmas plans this year are very modest because, to be frank, it's been a hugely challenging year for us financially. This was one of my husband's slowest years in his business in recent memory, and we also had a huge car repair bill to deal with last month. This would be quite discouraging, except for the fact that, in looking back over the years, I'd have to say that the majority of our Christmases that I'd rank as "highly satisfying" were the ones where we had to go light on the gifts and got a bit more creative in how we were going to celebrate the season. So, while it would be nice to have a bit more cash on hand going into the holidays, we're just going to have to find other ways to celebrate that don't involve spending money (and that's really okay - since technically we COULD go out and spend more by putting it on a credit card, knowing that we're choosing NOT to do that is a GOOD feeling!)

So, here's a roundup of our plans so far:

Holiday activities & entertainment
We have a few fun things to look forward to this year; due to our tight budget I'm making sure to put in a bit more effort in this area (which is usually more fun than ripping open the gifts, anyway).

A Christmas Party!
We've been meaning to do this for years, and have always come up with a reason why we "couldn't do it this year". Even though this would definitely be another year we could find lots of reasons NOT to have a party, we decided to challenge ourselves to just go for it, without expecting to throw an "over the top" extravaganza. We're holding an afternoon holiday open house this coming Sunday. We'll be keeping it pretty simple with light refreshments of cookies, chips and dip and fruit and veggie trays, with coffee, tea and cider (hot and cold) to drink. Our guests have been invited to help us decorate our tree (which is already ensconced in the corner of our living room) and we're also going to be doing a Secondhand Santa gift exchange. I'm not sure if anyone else has done this before, I made it up but I would think it's not a brand new idea. We've asked everyone to bring one gift wrapped secondhand item that they would like to pass on but that they think someone else would enjoy (so no extra tacky "gag gift" type items). All the gifts will be displayed on a table and everyone who brings one will get to pick out another to take home. So far everyone seems enthusiastic about the idea; we'll see how well it ends up going.

HPO Christmas Concert at the HPL
Joe & I will be attending the Hamilton Philharmonic's free holiday concert at the Central branch of the library this Friday at noon.

Living Advent Calendar
Our neighbourhood's doing a Living Advent Calendar for the third year in a row. Apparently this is a Swiss tradition, but I'd never heard of it until it started here in my neck of the woods. Starting Dec 1st, each day a different family in the neighbourhood unveils a holiday-themed window at their home. The list of addresses is posted online so folks can stroll around the neighbourhood and enjoy the festive decorations. We're going to take a walk around and check out the first three windows tonight :)

Gifts:
We'll be doing small individual gifts this year. This is probably going to sound weird to most of you, but 3 of the 4 of us will be receiving socks by request! My hubby and I both need new wool socks (a necessity in our cold Canadian winters!) and have a preference for Wigwam brand, which are good quality and made in North America (Wisconsin). It's kind of funny that we end up paying more for socks than just about any other article of clothing (since most of our clothes are purchased on 50% off day at Value Village!), but they are well worth it. Warm feet are happy feet! My 15-year-old wants new basketball socks, which are also crazy expensive for a pair of socks, but he gets tons of use out of them. SportChek's having a sock sale right now so we're going to take advantage of it!  My 17-year-old would just like some cash, so he'll be getting a conservative amount equivalent to what we spend on his brother.

Stockings:  
We all LOVE our stockings around here! Now that the boys are well into their teenage years, their stocking stuffers are starting to get a bit predictable as they are now filled with food and gift cards rather than toys. It doesn't seem like they mind as they are happy to get some treats that we don't normally buy, plus some of our special homemade Christmas treats as well.

(By the way, for anyone looking for inspiration for their teenager's stocking, there is a great list of 97 Stocking Stuffers for Teens or Tweens over at Frugal Upstate that is handy for browsing through.).

For the boys: $5 gift cards for Tim Hortons (we have one in our neighbourhood and they love to go there with their friends), a box of Gingerbread Spice tea (one of the holiday teas by Celestial Seasonings and a favourite with both of them, bought on sale 2 boxes for $5), assorted candy (mostly homemade), pepperettes, Nutella (they're both addicted and I don't normally buy it!) and Pur gum (bought on sale, BOGO). It's a tradition in our family that an apple and a couple of clementines go in the very bottom of the stocking so that helps ensure it's packed nice and full :)

This year we'll probably add some razors and deodorant to the mix as they are going through more of both these days!

For hubby: Again, pretty predictable, but will include all the special treats he looks forward to at Christmas. He'll receive homemade candies in his stocking, plus I'll be picking up some chocolate covered coffee beans from the Mustard Seed co-op. I also snared a tin of cashews on sale for almost 50% off, so that will be tucked in there, too.


I'll probably scope out a few more small items to add to everyone's stocking while I'm over at the co-op this Friday helping to pack Holiday Gift Bags.

My dad and his new wife (they were married in March), and my grandmother will be receiving the traditional gift baskets of baked goodies and canned goods which I have been giving them for years and years, so this year will be no different in that regard. The contents vary somewhat from year to year to keep things interesting; this year's baskets - which are usually repurposed clementine orange crates - will include Cran-Raspberry Jam, Tomato Date Jam, Zucchini Relish, Candied Peanuts and Christmas Granola. Everyone will also be receiving some of my most recent batch of homemade soap. This year I decided on a grapefruit scent to keep it refreshing and unisex.

 
I'm sure there will probably be a few last-minute additions to this list, as there usually are, but that gives you a good idea of what Christmas will look like around here this year.
 

I thought I'd finish up with a few interesting holiday-related reads you might want to check out for additional inspiration:
Ten Ways for a Zero Dollar Christmas (The Nonconsumer Advocate)
One Question to Reset Your Holiday Plans (Melissa Camara Wilkins)
Holiday Shopping for Aspiring Minimalists (Minimalists.org)
How to Change Your Holiday Money Story (Bari Tessler Linden)

Need some frugal gift ideas? Check out my Christmas on a Dime page and my Homemade Christmas board on Pinterest. Starting today, I'll also be sharing one gift idea a day on Facebook and Twitter...I'd love to hear your suggestions too!

Thursday, October 23, 2014

RECIPE: Pumpkin Granola


Yes, I'm a bit obsessed with granola! Homemade granola is the only "cold cereal" my family eats. I've been know to go on rants about how ridiculously expensive (and lacking in nutrition) commercial cereals can be.

While I'm routinely urging folks to go forth and make their own granola, I've noticed there seems to be some misconception that homemade granola is a seriously labour-intensive endeavour. Not so! I can get a batch ready for the oven in under 5 minutes. Either hubby or I routinely does this while we're cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, so we're already in there when it needs to be taken out and stirred in-process.

Seriously, homemade granola is super easy to make, delicious, packed full of nutrients, and way less expensive than any boxed cereal you could buy. So what are you waiting for?

This pumpkin granola has a nice spicy kick to it, while the pumpkin flavour is fairly subtle. This is a perfect way to make good use of that jack o' lantern come Nov 1st!

Ingredients:
3½ cups rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
3 tbsp brown sugar
¼ cup honey
¼ cup coconut oil
cup pumpkin puree

Instructions:
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, coconut, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and allspice. 
  • In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, honey, coconut oil and pumpkin puree. Heat gently and stir until thoroughly combined.
  • Pour pumpkin mixture over oat mixture and stir until oats are evenly coated.Spread on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake at 300°F for 30 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes. Let cool, then store at room temperature.
Makes about 6-10 servings

Optional add ins:
If you want to jazz up your granola even more, try adding any of the following:
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder (for Chocolate Pumpkin Granola – add to honey mixture)
  • chopped walnuts or pecans
  • dried cranberries (add after granola is baked and cooled)
  • dried apple chunks (add after granola is baked and cooled)
Want even more granola options? Check out these recipes:


For more simple, tasty and family-friendly recipes like this one, check out my book: Cheap Appétit: The Complete Guide to Feeding Your Family for Less Than $400 a Month (While Eating Better Than You Ever Thought Possible) 

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Thursday, October 9, 2014

QUICKIE RECIPE: Stir-Fried Quinoa with Scrambled Eggs


Even with the best planning, we all have days where we need to produce a meal in next to no time. Fortunately, it IS possible to make a decent meal very quickly, even from scratch!

This little number makes a frequent appearance at my house when I want something hot for lunch and there are no leftovers to be had (and that's most of the time, with two teenage boys in residence!)

If you have some cooked quinoa in the fridge, you can be eating this in 10 minutes. It's a surprisingly filling meal, and would work equally well for a quick weeknight dinner. (By the way, if you *don't* have some cooked quinoa in the fridge, it's a great staple to have on hand as this is just one of many things you can whip up with it in just a few minutes! You can always freeze it if you haven't used it all up after a few days).

Here's what you've gotta do:

  • Heat about a tablespoon of your favourite cooking oil/fat in a nonstick pan (I love my cast iron!) 
  • Toss in half a chopped onion and half a medium grated carrot and saute for a minute or two until they soften. Throw in about 1/4 cup of frozen peas and 3/4 cup cooked quinoa; cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the peas are heated through.
  • Season with salt and pepper to taste (add about 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley if you have it on hand).
  • Turn this mixture out onto your serving plate, getting the pan as clean as you can. 
  • Put the pan back on the heat and add a small chunk of butter. Beat one or two eggs with a splash of milk; once the butter is melted and pan is hot, add eggs to pan and scramble to desired doneness. Place on top of quinoa mixture. 
  • Top with a spoonful of sour cream and a couple of sliced green onions.

You're done!

How easy was that?!?

This makes one generous portion, and can easily be doubled/tripled/quadrupled to feed your desired amount of people (just adjust your pan size accordingly so you don't overfill the pan).

What's your favourite super-quick meal?

For more simple, tasty and family-friendly recipes like this one, check out my book: Cheap Appétit: The Complete Guide to Feeding Your Family for Less Than $400 a Month (While Eating Better Than You Ever Thought Possible) 

Love what you read here? Click HERE to see the ways you can help support this blog (many of them won't cost you a thing!)   

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Monday, October 6, 2014

Weekly Menu Retrospective #133


Welcome to my weekly roundup of the past week's eats. I prefer to report what we ate in the last week, rather than what we're planning to eat in the coming week. Why? The reason is pretty simple: although I usually have a general idea of what we're going to eat in the next week or so, life often unfolds a little differently than planned, and I adjust my menu plan on a near-daily basis to accommodate leftovers and other not-possible-to-plan-ahead circumstances. I find this is the easiest way to ensure that I minimize our family's food waste. I'm also willing to admit that I'm a rather spontaneous cook, given to preparing foods that strike me as the most appealing thing to eat right here and now!

If you'd like a whole book full of inexpensive, quick and kid-approved recipes, check out my book, Cheap Appétit : The Complete Guide to Feeding Your Family for Less Than $400 a Month (While Eating Better Than You Ever Thought Possible) on Amazon (Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Amazon UK) and Barnes and Noble.  It's gotten multiple 5 star reviews!! I've included page references to recipes that are in the book in my menu plans so you can locate them quickly. For more details about the book, go here. 

 

Breakfasts:

Granola (p. 92) with homemade yogurt, Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins (p. 96), Blueberry Clafouti (p. 223)

Lunches: 

leftovers, grilled cheese, sandwiches, stir-fried quinoa with veggies and scrambled eggs

Dinners:
Monday: Beef & Mushroom Stew over mashed potatoes

Tuesday: Spicy Peanut & Tomato Soup (p. 163) with Cornbread (p. 212)

Wednesday: Indian-Spiced Honey Garlic Chicken (p. 188), Coconut Rice (p. 199) and roasted carrots

Thursday: Classic Beef Burgers (p. 125) with homemade fermented ketchup & mustard, Easy Oven Fries (p. 194)

Friday: Pizza Night: Sausage, Onion and Red Pepper Pizza (my homemade thin-crust pizza dough recipe is HERE)
  
Saturday: Lemony Chicken & Spinach Pasta (p. 150)

Sunday: Pan-fried pork chops with southwestern seasonings, sauteed zucchini, red pepper and onions, Skillet Millet, Chocolate Chip Squares
 
In keeping with my local and organic challenge, I'd also like to note the local and/or organic items on this week's menu:

Organic: coconut (in granola), coconut oil, coconut milk, raisins, sunflower and pumpkin seeds (in granola), flax seeds, quinoa, fresh ginger,  coffee (locally roasted and delivered by bike!), tamari, oregano, basil, parsley, Fairytale tea, peppermint tea
 
Local: potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, apples, pears, garlic, salsa (home-canned), honey (unpasteurized), sour cream, whole wheat flour, ground beef (antibiotic and hormone free, pastured), sausages, milk, buttermilk
 
Local AND organic: 
zucchini, oats, millet, cornmeal, eggs (not "certified organic", but real free range and fed organic feed), apple cider vinegar, green onions*, tomatoes*, red peppers, herbs*

*from our backyard garden

Tired of figuring out what to make for dinner? I've completely overhauled my budget menu planning service over the summer! Many of the simple and affordable recipes are NEW and NOT on the blog or in the book. Plans include complete menu plans and grocery lists featuring inexpensive, seasonally-focused ingredients. Click HERE to find out more!

For more great meal ideas, check out Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com. 
 
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Thursday, October 2, 2014

MAKE IT FROM SCRATCH: {Fermented or Not} Ketchup & Mustard


You may have gotten the impression (from this post, or maybe this one) that I've really gotten into fermenting things lately, and if so, you'd be right!

After my initial abysmal fermenting failures, I forged on and kept trying different things until I had a success or two under my belt, which gave me enough encouragement to experiment further. Since kombucha's one of the things I've found to be the most forgiving, and because my family really enjoys it. I've got a very steady supply of it on hand. So, of course, I'm always looking for new ways to use it!

This ketchup and mustard are super easy to whip up and a great way for beginners to give fermenting a try. It's also a simple way to start introducing fermented foods to your family if you have kids (or spouses) who might balk at the sight of kombucha or sauerkraut. If you don't have your own supply of kombucha on hand, see if a friend's willing to part with a litre or so (maybe in exchange for some of your finished product!) or you could also purchase some kombucha (if you can find a plain, unflavoured raw one somewhere, which I'm guessing might be kind of expensive!) For those of you who are making your own kombucha, this is a good way to use up a batch that's gotten a bit too vinegary for drinking straight up - it's actually optimal to use a more vinegary kombucha for these recipes.

You can absolutely make these recipes *without* fermenting them if you wish, although their shelf life will not be as long and you won't get the benefits of the probiotic bacteria. Simply substitute apple cider vinegar where it calls for kombucha. If you use a good quality, raw apple cider vinegar (I always have a bottle of Filsinger's on hand) you will still be getting some beneficial prebiotic bacteria in your condiments.

Fermented {Or Not} Ketchup

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, rough chopped
½ cup raisins (use unsulphured if fermenting)
½-1 cup water*
11 oz tomato paste (2 of the 5.5 oz tins)
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp dry mustard powder
⅛ tsp cinnamon
⅛ tsp cloves
⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
⅛ tsp black pepper
⅛ tsp allspice
1-2 tsp sea salt
about 1 cup kombucha or raw apple cider vinegar

Instructions:
  • In a small saucepan, simmer the onion, garlic and raisins in the water for a few minutes until softened. Pour into a blender and blend until smooth.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, combine the pureed raisin mixture with the tomato paste, sugar and seasonings. Let cool to room temperature (this is important as if it's too hot you'll kill the beneficial organisms in the kombucha or ACV).
  • Add kombucha or apple cider vinegar to desired consistency. If using ACV, store in fridge immediately. If fermenting with kombucha, transfer to clean Mason jars and cover with lids. Let ferment at room temperature for 3-5 days, then store in refrigerator.
*If you're fermenting your ketchup and using tap water, be sure to dechlorinate it by boiling for 15 minutes or letting it sit overnight.

Fermented {Or Not} Mustard

Ingredients:
¾ cup whole mustard seeds (yellow, brown or a combination - brown are milder!)
2 cups kombucha (or 1 cup apple cider vinegar and 1 cup water)
2-4 tbsp honey or maple syrup
4 cloves garlic, rough chopped
1 tbsp sea salt 

Instructions: 
  • In a clean quart jar, combine the mustard seeds and kombucha (or ACV and water). Cover and let stand at room temperature for 4-7 days, adding more kombucha as needed to keep seeds covered as they swell (if using ACV and water, refrigerate for 24-48 hours then proceed with remainder of recipe).
  • Pour soaked seeds into a blender and add honey, garlic and salt. Process until desired consistency, adding more honey or salt to taste. Refrigerate.
Both the ketchup and mustard will keep for months in the fridge if fermented (although I doubt they'll last that long if your house is anything like mine!) They will not keep as long if not fermented, but should be good for at least 2-3 weeks or so (you could freeze extra for longer storage). 

I shared this recipe at Full Plate Thursday.

Love what you read here? Click HERE to see the ways you can help support this blog (many of them won't cost you a thing!) 

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Monday, September 15, 2014

Weekly Menu Retrospective #132


Welcome to my weekly roundup of the past week's eats. I prefer to report what we ate in the last week, rather than what we're planning to eat in the coming week. Why? The reason is pretty simple: although I usually have a general idea of what we're going to eat in the next week or so, life often unfolds a little differently than planned, and I adjust my menu plan on a near-daily basis to accommodate leftovers and other not-possible-to-plan-ahead circumstances. I find this is the easiest way to ensure that I minimize our family's food waste. I'm also willing to admit that I'm a rather spontaneous cook, given to preparing foods that strike me as the most appealing thing to eat right here and now!

If you'd like a whole book full of inexpensive, quick and kid-approved recipes, check out my book, Cheap Appétit : The Complete Guide to Feeding Your Family for Less Than $400 a Month (While Eating Better Than You Ever Thought Possible) on Amazon (Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Amazon UK) and Barnes and Noble.  It's gotten multiple 5 star reviews!! I've included page references to recipes that are in the book in my menu plans so you can locate them quickly. For more details about the book, go here. 

 

Breakfasts:

Granola (p. 92) with homemade yogurt, Rhubarb Streusel Muffins (p. 97), waffles

Lunches: 

leftovers, grilled cheese, sandwiches 

Dinners:
Monday: Thai-Style Peanutty Pasta (p. 147)

Tuesday: Barbecued Steak, Broccoli, Bacon & Cheddar Salad (p. 204), corn on the cob

Wednesday: Western Omelette Wraps (p. 124)

Friday: Pizza Night: Sausage, Onion and Red Pepper Pizza (my homemade thin-crust pizza dough recipe is HERE)
  
Saturday: Everything-But-the-Kitchen-Sink Lentil Soup (p. 162)

Sunday: Spaghetti with Creamy Tomato Vegetable & Meat Sauce, Peach Crisp
 
In keeping with my local and organic challenge, I'd also like to note the local and/or organic items on this week's menu:

Organic: coconut (in granola), coconut oil, raisins, sunflower and pumpkin seeds (in granola), flax seeds, fresh ginger,  coffee (locally roasted and delivered by bike!), tamari, oregano, basil, parsley, Fairytale tea, peppermint tea
 
Local: potatoes, onions, carrots, apples, cucumbers, red peppers, garlic, salsa (home-canned), honey (unpasteurized), sour cream, whole wheat flour, ground beef (antibiotic and hormone free, pastured), milk, buttermilk
 
Local AND organic: 
oats, cornmeal, eggs (not "certified organic", but real free range and fed organic feed), apple cider vinegar, green onions*, tomatoes*, herbs*

*from our backyard garden

Tired of figuring out what to make for dinner? I've completely overhauled my budget menu planning service over the summer! Many of the simple and affordable recipes are NEW and NOT on the blog or in the book. Plans include complete menu plans and grocery lists featuring inexpensive, seasonally-focused ingredients. Click HERE to find out more!

For more great meal ideas, check out Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com. 
 
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