Command Center Project

Sooo one of my first posts on this blog was about my Home Notebook.  I thought it would be a perfect thing for me, since I am trying to be much more organized this year.  Let me tell you it was a BIG FAIL.  I rarely use it, and if I do I simply make a note of everything and then don't look at my to dos the next day.  I did notice something though.  I keep my food inventory in it, and my recipe to try and favorites lists in it.  I use that, and I use it A LOT.  After I menu planned for this week I went back and wrote all my recipes on our board in our main room.  I have been looking at that rather than going to my calendar.  I am going to attempt to create a functioning "command center" instead of a home management binder.

Currently I have a desk with all sorts of junk on it, piled high with stuff I never look at.  I would take a picture for you guys, but it's super embarrassing.  I will however do a before and after picture... When it's done ;-).

I have found a desk that I really like, the plan is for me to get that, paint it, cause it's kind of boring now.  I also have to sell my current desk.  I also want to go to the container store and Ikea for some things.  I can't wait until I finish it and can show the before and after pictures.  If you have any suggestions, I'll definitely welcome any ideas.

Rachel

Clean Eating Grocery Shopping

On Sunday I managed to menu plan and make a grocery list, I had planned on going to the store yesterday but a nap for my 8 month old took precedence so I didn't get to go until today.  It made for a long drawn out day, but that's ok because I got every errand done that I needed to and everyone was in a relatively good mood too.  Anyway, I didn't take a picture of my goodies, but I did do a vlog about it, so I'll post that here.  I did however promise to post what I got and how much I paid for it.  So here we go.

At the Bakery Outlet I got 5 bags of bagels for 1.99 each and 6 loaves of bread for 1.99 each which came to 21.89 in addition to that I got a military discount, which is 10% and I got 2 loaves of bread free because I spent over 16 dollars.  My total came to 19.70.  I also nearly filled up my discount card, so my next trip there I will get to pick 1 other free item in addition to any other ones I may get.  I love going to this store, it makes me feel so thrifty.

My next stop was the grocery store.  I managed to only purchase one additional item from what was on my list, AND I found everything I was looking for on my list.  Both of these things are unheard of.  I spent a total of 63.18 after coupons and my shoppers card rewards, and my additional item was bananas, not some random processed "must have," another unheard of concept.  I'm so proud of myself.

Also, while I was at the grocery store I looked up the ingredients on Goldfish, and was pleasantly surprised to see that they are a lot more healthy than I thought... I knew they weren't horrible but I didn't know how good they were, so I will not have to make them, but I'm still going to experiment with cheese-its.

Rachel

Menu Planning

Yesterday afternoon I went through my entire house (all three parts of my pantry, my deep freezer, and my refrigerator) and started the process of cleaning out everything I don't plan on using up during our cleanse to clean eating.  Things like mashed potato flakes that I haven't used in at least 6 months if not more, and hamburger helper that I rarely use and know I won't be able to use all of it before I am done with everything else.  I also went through my Pinterest board and wrote in my home binder all of the new recipes I want to try.

These are all my to try recipes... Well, actually they are all the main dish to try recipes, I have a ton of snacks, desserts, and sides that I still need to put in the binder... And if you want to get really technical, these are only the recipes from Pinterest I have a few cookbooks I want to go through too.  However, I am taking baby steps.  The next baby step is my menu plan for next week and the coinciding grocery list.

This is my menu planning calendar, if you look closely you'll see there are things aside from meals written on there, I also note events on the calendar that will change what we are having for dinner.  For example my school schedule is noted, because I go to school at night once or twice a week depending on my course load, I leave at 5 so I'm not there to make dinner.  On these nights I tend to either not make anything and let the boys fend for themselves or make something that is super easy and can be reheated quickly if necessary.  Also noted on the calendar are Little Man's Awana Nights (for those of who don't know Awana is a kind of Bible class for children, Little Man absolutely LOVES going to Awana) because they are around dinner time and meals need to be quick so he can eat and we can get out the door in time for him to be delivered safely to church on time.

This week we are having:

• Pizza Cupcakes (mostly clean, I need to find some recipes for pizza sauce but for the most part I'll be able to continue this once we are officially eating clean)- this is the school night meal
• Broiled Chicken with carrots and red potatoes
• Won Ton Nacho Bites (This is our Awana night)
• Grilled Chicken and Tortellini
• Spaghetti and meatballs with bread and salad
• Steak and baked potatoes with broccoli
• Breakfast for dinner

(I'll link these recipes this week as I make them because all but three of them are new to me.)

I realize that the picture is not super close up, but on my grocery list you can kind of make out some x marks, these are the items I need to buy and will be put into my grocery app that I use if I have any coupons (which is rare, I'm finding that coupons tend not to exist for the items I purchase, which is upsetting)  I also take a note pad with me to the store (you saw this in my home binder video) and have coupons noted on there along with a "what I'm putting in my cart list" because that tends to differ from the grocery list and I like to be able to keep track of my random spending list.

Now that all my planning is done it's off to the store I go.

Rachel

First task in clean eating... what I have but shouldn't

As I mentioned in my previous post the hubby and I decided we are going to start eating clean I decided in order to track the process I would do a response video to CandidMommy's What's in your pantry video.  My video is also this is what is in it now... and in a few months when we are all the way clean eating (at least to the extent we plan to do it) I'll do another pantry video.  I'll link the current video here.

Anyway... we shall see how this goes.  Also last night and today I learned how to use iMovie.

Next task for clean eating: a full pantry and freezer inventory and purge of foods that we don't use anymore... like fake mashed potatoes.  Would you like to see the inventories?

Rachel

Clean Eating... This Should be Interesting.

Sorry I've been MIA the past few days... I started school this week and math and I don't get along so it's taken all my brain power to do the work for that class.

Lots has happened though, some of which is important to the readers of this blog, as I will be blogging about it.  The hubby and I have been working towards being healthier, and after some research and reassurance from my friends who already do a lot of these things, we have decided to start a clean diet.

For those of you who aren't sure what it means exactly to eat clean it means to avoid preservatives and artificial ingredients in our diet.  It's going to be difficult, as I am addicted to cheese-its, and oreos, Little Man loves gold fish, and we eat fast food way to often, but in the long run I think it's going to be a good move for the nutrition of our little family.  There are other things that clean eating technically involves that we won't be doing, for example we aren't cutting out milk or milk products because they are a big part of our diet.  We also won't be going organic just yet, it may happen eventually, but at this point it won't happen at least purchase wise.  Another main rule is if there are more than 5 ingredients on the label then it's not technically "clean."

I will be starting a garden this year, and I plan on eating out of that.  We also have chickens (Have I mentioned that before?) so when they start producing eggs we'll eat from them as well.

I plan on at least attempting to make homemade goldfish and cheese-its and other snacking items.  All of these food adventures will be documented here.

I hope you enjoy our trials and tribulations on this exciting experiment.

Do you have any suggestions or good recipes for clean eating?

Rachel

My Newest Experiment

As I mentioned in a previous post I live at a high altitude, which is fine.  I love it here.  I hope and pray we are stationed here for a long time, or at least until our littles are old enough to enjoy traveling the world.

I do have one problem with living at altitude, I am a baker, and baking is not fun up here, I can't get yeast to rise, my cookies need to be fresh out of the oven to be soft, the list goes on.

I have found one solution to my many baking problems though... I found some great pizza dough, and there is NO sugar in it, which honestly doesn't bother me, but it may bother some other people.  Anyway, two nights ago was our first ever homemade pizza night.

I found this dough recipe off of pinterest.  It was yummy, The Hubby said it was "GREAT."  Little Man, my oldest, and slowly becoming a picky eater, loved it.. Thus, I have decided it is a crowd pleaser.

I didn't take any process pictures, but I will if you're intersted, and I did have trouble getting the yeast to rise, but everyone loved it, so I'll work on the recipe and perfect it for high altitude and post the changes.

MMM Yum.  Our first homemade Pizza.

Rachel

The Real Beginning

I have realized over this last week that I need to come up with a plan of attack, if you will, as far as what my blog will be about.  In order to do that I have racked my brain to come up with things that I am passionate about and either want to improve about myself or want to share with the world.

I decided on a few topics:

• Green/Sustainable Living: This includes cloth diapering, "safe" cleaning products (I make a lot of my own), eventually clean eating, gardening, and other random things we do to lead a green-ish life.
• Cooking:  I'm not great at this, but I thought I would share my trials and tribulations in the kitchen with you.  (I'm at high altitude and I have also noted that there aren't a lot of blogs that share high altitude baking information).
• Homemaker/Stay at home Momma things: Yay for randomness of the stay at home mom :)
• Day to day life... I am sure this will get thrown in randomly here and there, since we are a military family especially and we don't live close to our family this way they can check in and see what is going on with us
• Crafting... I almost forgot crafting!!! 

I think I will also put tutorials and such on my youtube channel and link them here and vice versa.