Meal Prep Helpers

If you are like me, your week is hectic, and sometimes you run later than you should due to traffic, needing to fishing things up at work, errand at last minute, etc. It feels like we have so little time at night when we get home, esp when you have kids who are definitely on a schedule to get to bed for tomorrow. Trying to fix a healthy meal with little time at night doesn't leave a lot of time for homework help/review, reading bedtime stories, bath time, or for yourself.

What has really helped us is starting to use our crock pot as much as possible. Once a month, one of our awesome coaches hosts a 5 Day Clean Eating Crock Pot group. I have picked up some get recipes in there, and of course just googling clean eating crock pot meals. I prefer ones that have less ingredients, that are easy to just toss in the bag and be done.

Check out these awesome time saving ingredients you can use in your recipes!

I love using these Recipe Ready Pepper Strips and Onion Blend bags for fajitas! 

Mincing garlic doesn't necessarily take a lot of work, but it's an extra step or two between pealing, mincing cleaning the mincer. This is just so easy to use a spoonful or two and be done. 

Oh my gosh, what a great way to have no tear onions! I believe you can also get just onions in a bag like frozen veggies, but this is what I found and I love them! 

Why buy frozen veggies? Well, you can easily dump them into your bag for one, and for two if you find you can't use them all right now, you don't have to worry about them going bad in your fridge if they don't get used right away. 

When I first started using my crock pot, I wasn't sure what all I could make besides roast. Here are three that I will be making in the coming week or two. 

Beef or pork roast with potatoes and carrots

BBQ Pulled Pork

Honey Garlic Chicken with green beans, carrots and potatoes

The potatoes I recommend are either sweet potatoes, or red potatoes. I do not have big sweet potato fans in our house, so we usually opt to use red potatoes. 

I will share these recipes and a few more this coming week. It is definitely nice being able to come home, maybe making one side, and being done with dinner. 

I hope I helped with some ways to save time with your meal prepping. The above helpers save time, and dishes. 

Happy prepping! 

6 Easy and Fun Ways to Burn Calories

So, we are past the holidays, and maybe you burned some pounds off. Then here we are, Valentine's weekend. It's full of dinners out, take out, candy, and feeling a little like the over indulgence we have around the big holiday meals.

Don't set yourself back, you can enjoy yourself, just remember portions and exercise.

Here are some easy and fun ways to burn some of those calories you are about to consume.

1. Chewing Gum. That's right, chewing a piece of gum burns about 11 calories every 12 minutes. Can't get much easier than that right? 

     2. Get up and dance with your valentine. 15 minutes could burn close to 72 calories. 

     3. Do you have a baby or small kiddo still in a stroller? Take the stroller out on your walk and in            about 20 minutes you burn close to 60 calories! 

     4. Are there stairs where you are? Climbing stairs for 5 minutes can burn just over 50 calories. 

     5. Walking your dog can burn about 150 calories in 40 minutes. 

     6. Remember jumping rope as a kid? Well 15 minutes of jumping rope burns about 150 Calories! 

Have fun, enjoy yourself, stay on track for your health. Happy Valentine's Day! 

Thank you Huffington Post and WebMD.

January Adventures - So Far

Man, can anyone else believe it is January 19th already?! Where has this year already gone, lol. I swear every year goes by faster than the previous.

So already 19 days in and we have had a lot going on around work. I have also very much enjoyed the dedicated time I have set aside for just being home to relax.

So my youngest has broken her glasses, and we were without a backup pair. So we just had her appointment this last Saturday which went fairly well. I went in with the decision that I was not going to dilate her eyes, and not only did we do that, she was better than expected with the new optometrist. So I am glad we made the move.

However, we do have an appointment with a specialist in March to determine if possible surgery is on the table anywhere in the future. Which is something I had asked our previous optometrist about and she said absolutely not.

I have started a few items being put away, for those times that someone might need a little extra help. This is something I have become very passionate about. It doesn't have to take a lot of money to help someone else, and if you start ahead of time, you won't be out $$ when the time comes. So I started with just a bottle of laundry detergent, and I have added shampoo and conditioner to it. I will be buying a tote to store all of these items I add separately from ours as well. Once that tote is full, I plan to move on to non-perishable food items. I figure, even if I don't end up giving any of the items to someone in need, there are always food drives I can donate to through the year.

Another thing I wanted to do, was be more mindful with Random Acts of Kindness. I didn't want to just wait until it was a thing, or certain month. I wanted to do it multiple times throughout each month of the year. What can you do if this sounds like something you want to do? Buy a gift card at your favorite coffee stop, tell them to use it for all the people behind you or new customers coming in. Do the Redbox movie snack note. Put $$ with a note that this is to buy snacks. Get cash back at the register and then tell the cashier to use it for the person behind you. The list goes one.

One of the other things I had wanted to do last year, was volunteer events with my girls. It can get hard between work, school functions, extra circular activities etc. Then finding things that my youngest can also do, around previously said items, is difficult. Thankfully Families Giving Back
gives us at home opportunities we can to get items ready and then drop off.  So this month we decided to make laundry detergent bags for the Ronald McDonald Charity Houses. The families that stay there have so much to think about financial wise, medical bills etc, the least we can do is make sure they have detergent and fabric sheets to get their laundry done.

I am excited with the way this year is headed already. Lots more opportunities for us to give back. I have more to share, but that will be another entry. I hope you have all had a great January so far!

Happy New Year 2016

I sat here more than once last week starting to type something for the winding down of 2015, and it kept turning into something I wasn't sure I wanted to publish. So I kept deleting and walking away. Now here we are, January 1st, 2016. I want to wish you a Happy New Year!

2015 was an interesting year. Some of my take aways:

1. It is ok to put your family first - In fact, your family should come before anyone else around you.
2. Sometimes, a situation gets bigger than you can handle, it's ok to walk away.
3. We need to listen to our body - If you need more time to exercise or rest, take it. It's not selfish, in fact it benefits all those around you if you have a healthy mind, body, and spirit. 
4. Surround yourself with people who are positive, uplifting,  and like minded people. 
5. It is ok to clear your schedule. Will others be disappointed? It's possible, but refer back to #1.

In 2016, my goals are to make sure we have family time. That does not include other family and friends, we need time as a family to grow, make memories, and relax. Of course we will still do plenty with other family and friends, but it's important to cherish the time we have together, because at some point, we won't have so much time with our kids and I don't want to regret not spending more time with them later.

I want us to also focus on those around us and showing love to others. How can we do this? Well, you can start with random acts of kindness. We have all seen the $5 bills in the Redbox movie case, so they can buy snacks, or heard about the buying coffee for the person behind you right? Well, why not be that person who does this? Make certain days for you if that helps. I have Thirsty Thursday where I buy an extra coffee drink for a random co-worker. This year however, I want to do the Redbox movie idea whenever we rent a Redbox, coffee, maybe even someone's grocery trip.

I also want to do at least one event a month with my girls where we are doing something to help others. In Phoenix there is this site, Families Giving Back and there are volunteer events, or things you can do from home. For us, it is harder getting to the events since both my husband and myself work full-time, and then we try to keep the girls busy with sports, dance, etc. So the things we can do at home are awesome since we can do it on our time, and even do it with our family and friends.

I have an amazing friend who helps run a group that connects families in need, with families that can help. Since part of my goal this year is to help those around us, I have started a group for the area closer to where I live. WestValley Phoenix Neighbors in Need.  This is just getting started, so it's not that big, but I hope that it will grow and truly help those around us this year. That being said I know some amazing people that run their own non-profit thrift store to help others I will be listing their store, and other resources as well for quick reference for those who need it, and sharing events meant to help the community.

This blog started out for many different reasons, some of which has changed, since after all we have crazy lives. However, I am hoping that I can share our experiences in upcoming events, random acts of kindness, and other ways to get involved to inspire more people to actually do something and not just wish they could do more. You can do more. Even if it's one thing for one person, you have made a difference to that one person.

A story I heard on the radio actually stuck with me.
  
     A boy was walking along the beach, picking up starfish and throwing them back in the ocean so they wouldn't dry out and die. An older man walked up to him and asked what he was doing so the boy explained he didn't want the starfish to die, so he was tossing them back in the ocean. The older man told him "there are thousands, you can't save them all so why bother?". The little boy thought about this for a few minutes, then bent over picked up a starfish and tossed it back in the ocean. He then looked at the older man and said "I made a difference to that one!"

Don't get stuck on saving the WHOLE WORLD. Or making a difference to the whole world. One person alone can't do it, but if we focus on making a difference to THAT ONE. How we can impact one person, how that person can impact someone else etc. Start a ripple effect. You don't have to see the results at the end, just know you made a difference to that one, and you will make a difference to another one. Instead of being overwhelmed not knowing how, by the end of the year, how many ONEs could you make a difference for?

On that note, I am hoping that this year is the best year for all of you. Let's make a difference, and make each day you live a great one! Yesterday is gone, don't stay stuck there. Tomorrow is not here yet, so don't worry about what hasn't happened, but today is the present, it's a gift, and you get to choose what you do with it. Make it great and make it count!

Happy 2016!

Pumpkin Oat Pancakes

I have been experimenting with recipes trying to get the whole family eating better. It's much easier to eat healthier if everyone else in the household is.

I had looked up several recipes and went with what I thought would be good, which was a mix of different recipes.

Pumpkin Pancakes:
     1 cup old fashioned oats (blended up to finer texture)
     1/2 of a big can of pumpkin (I used the kind with spices already in it)
     2 eggs
     baking soda
     baking powder

Unfortunately I didn't measure out the baking soda or powder, just did a dash of what looked right from previous baking. If you don't normally bake, or not enough to know by site, I would say maybe 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons.

I had my griddle ready to go, and something I have started using is an avocado cooking spray. So I sprayed down my griddle and then wiped it down with a paper towel to make sure the spray was covering it even.

I have to say I was impressed with banana pancakes as an alternative to regular ones, but pumpkin is my new favorite. All except my youngest were a fan. That being said, she also doesn't like change right away, so refused to try them and said she just wants regular pancakes, lol.

I hope you try them and love them!! I will post the banana oat pancake recipe another time. I also attempted using these for waffles, and will post about that later as well. Enjoy!!

DIY Coconut Oil Deodorant

So several months ago I made my first attempt at coconut oil lip balm and deodorant. I meant to post up the recipes and finished product much soon, but life gets crazy fast with working full-time, being a wife and a mom of three. This way I can share the recipes I used and how we liked them. :-)

Disclaimer before I even share the deodorant recipe. I saw several times that some people can have a reaction to the baking soda and thought I use it for baking and have used it in a homemade toothpaste, I won't have an issue, HOWEVER I DID have a reaction to it. I ended up breaking out in a rash under my arm that I tried to ignore thinking I just need to get use to it, instead it just kept getting bigger. So be prepared that that is a possibility for you. 

I again used Wellness Mama for her How to Make Natural Deodorant. I didn't have arrowroot so instead thought I will just use some beeswax, so that was my one change in the recipe. 

So I used shea butter, coconut oil, baking soda, and cedarwood essential oil. I was hoping the cedarwood would have more of a scent, but it didn't. Again I am not good at measuring, and once you get the oil dropping it just flows, so it makes it hard to count how many drops exactly. 

Again, I don't have a double boiler, so I just used a metal bowl over a sauce pan of boiling water. It feels like it takes forever for the beeswax to finally melt, but once it does it is fast. 

I was able to find some empty deodorant tubes from Amazon and that is what I put the finished product in. 

I will say that I was completely happy with how it worked! I did apply in my armpit, and kind of let it air dry a little (even though it sets as a solid, it melts a little from your body heat). I had no body odor during the time I used this deodorant, and I didn't have to reapply. 

The rash however that started small, kept getting bigger and eventually bothered me to the point that it was not worth the continued use, and I should've stopped prior to this. 

Also please note that even though I used essential oil (which I don't think was in a large enough amount to bother me, and I have used this oil for other things) you should do your own research and even seek for a licensed aromatherapist before using oils on yourself. 

There are spray deodorants that can be done, but I don't have the ingredients at this time. That will hopefully be in the future.

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DIY Coconut Oil Lip Balm

So several months ago I made my first attempt at coconut oil lip balm and deodorant. I meant to post up the recipes and finished product much soon, but life gets crazy fast with working full-time, being a wife and a mom of three. This way I can share the recipes I used and how we liked them. :-)

I used this recipe from Wellness Mama for Homemade Lip Chap.

I had read a few other recipes as well since I was hoping for more of a natural tint balm, however I can't remember which one I took the cinnamon idea from. So I used shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax, and cinnamon. I am horrible with measurements, so I can't tell you how much cinnamon I used, but it was enough for the tint, so next time I will definitely make sure to use more, but also measure it and make note.

 I don't have a double boiler, so I just used a metal bowl over a sauce pan.

I removed it from the heat a little sooner than I should, because it was already hardening up when I was putting in the containers. I used empty Lip Balm Containers that I was able to find on Amazon.

Overall we have been happy with the finished product. I like the way it feels and works more than what I would buy from the store, and I have plenty of product left over to make several more batches. I will experience with more cinnamon, and even cocoa for tinting future batches. Now Wellness Mama includes essential oils in her recipe, but I did not put any in mine. I recommend doing your own research and doing what you feel comfortable with.

Happy DIYing!

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