Menu Plan Monday - October 22,2012

What an amazing weekend!! We did a Fall photo shoot with the fantastic Alana Joy Photography on Saturday - the weather even held out for us! It may have been freezing cold, but the cloudy skies and lack of rain made for some amazing photos. When we get them back I'll be sure to share them with you. Anyone out here in the lower mainland should really book photos with her, she does a great job!

Soaking wet, in the pouring rain, but still a smile on her sweet face!

Last week Miss A and her classmates went on a field trip to Dave's Orchard. The weather was less than lovely that day, but it didn`t matter. She and her little buddies had a great time picking vegetables and learning about farm life. This week`s menu plan will include the veggies she brought home! Corn, potatoes, carrots, turnips, apples and pears. Oh how I love fall!

On the Menu This Week:

Monday - Shake n Bake chicken, rice and Rachel Salad
Tuesday - Roasted root veggies (from the field trip!!), corn and roasted ham
Wednesday - Lasagne Wednesday!
Thursday - Guinness Brats, scalloped potatoes and beans
Friday - Pizza and Rachel Salad
Saturday - Eating at the THREE parties we have that day!
Sunday - Teriyaki Salmon, rice and vegetables
I will be linking up my menu plan with Org Junkie`s Menu Plan Monday. Stop by and check it out for tons of recipe ideas!!

Simple Living Challenge

source

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to review an awesome book: Simple Living: 30 Days to Less Stuff and More Life. It is a fantastic book with a ton of great ideas. The author calls her book the crash course on how to simplify your life.

I was lucky enough to be able to give away three copies of Lorilee Lippincott's book to some loyal blog readers - I hope Mandeep, Erin and Fiona are enjoying it!!

I love the book and all of Lorilee's ideas in the book so much that I am going to work my way through the book, one challenge at a time. The challenge is set in the book to accomplish all of the tasks in 30-60 minute assignments, one for each day of the month. I know that I don't have time in the day to commit to completing in a month, so I'll take on one challenge a week!

the view from my running route...

Each week I will pose the challenge for the week and my suggestions on way to make the challenge successful. The challenges in Simple Living range from easy things like simplifying your email inbox or your junk drawer to really hard things like examining and simplifying your budget.

aaaah, the simple life....

I hope that some of you (or all of you!!) will follow along and challenge yourselves to live your life more simply. I can say for myself that trying to live in a more intentional way has given me great happiness. I spend more time with those I love, doing the things I love - and it's amazing.
Thanks for reading!!

New Directions, A New Plan

Hello again! Remember me? I used to be pretty good about blogging - I would work, parent, bake, organize and play all while taking pictures - then let all of you hear about it!
During the summer? I fell off the blogging map a bit - Gorgeous weather made for lots of outside play time (not complaining about that!!) and activities (lots from the Summer of Fun Chart!). It also meant no baking or organizing. Seriously - who wants to turn on the oven or empty and sort out a closet when it's 30C outside and there is a waterpark to visit?!

The weather in my neighbourhood today!

After a ridiculously amazing month of September, Fall has finally arrived here! With Fall come cooler temps and lots and lots of rain. What does that mean for us? More inside play time - and time to cook, bake and organize once again!
I also finally decided to put together a plan and a schedule for my little blog. Instead of just flying by the seat of my pants and posting whatever came to me on any given day, I'm hoping to set a (fairly) regular blogging plan.

I'm hoping to post:
Mondays - Menu Plan Monday (this is the one vein of posting that I actually kept up with through the summer!)
Tuesdays - Simple Living Lessons - more about this tomorrow!!
Wednesdays - Recipe Day! Be it a cookie, cupcake, freezer meal, breakfast or other easy recipe, I'll hopefully be able to post one awesome new recipe per week.
Thursdays - Organizing Post
Friday - Sunday - Lifestyle Post - might be a family photo, a craft, who knows??

I even made up a calendar from here to the end of the year with the plan set out for each week. To keep me on track and motivated, I am starting two challenges where I will post progress updates each week.
Hopefully you will like the direction the blog is heading and that you all will keep reading! I certainly LOVE all of the blog love you give me, both on the Facebook page and on the blog itself.
Thanks for reading!!

Menu Plan Monday - October 15, 2012

Recipe

Well it seems that fall has finally arrived here in the lower mainland of BC. The last two days have been rainy and grey and miserable - perfect weather for fall! I may actually get some organizing and cooking done this week!!
We spent the weekend at a friends wedding, where there were a few rays of sunshine so the bride and groom could take some lovely photos.
Our plans for the pumpkin patch had to be cancelled because of the massive amount of rain that fell on Sunday.
This week I am planning on trying a new crock pot recipe, if it turns out as fantastic as it looked on pinterest, I'll share it with you!
On the Menu
Monday - Pineapple chicken, stir fried veggies and quinoa
Tuesday - Freezer Cooking Day! Chicken Tetrazzini is on the menu, and we'll have some for dinner.
Wednesday - Turkey Meatloaf, perogies, beans and salad
Thursday - Teriyaki salmon, steamed veggies and rice
Friday - Pumpkin carving event at church, pizza for dinner!
Saturday - Tortellini with boursin sauce and prawns
Sunday - Pumpkin Patch Day! Dinner with friends after!

I will be linking up to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday - stop by and check it out!

Half Marathon Highlights

September 30 was a B-I-G day for me. After months spent training - running around my neighbourhood, up and down hills, and all the way to boot camp, I worked myself up to running my very first half marathon! 21.1 KM! 13.1 MILES!! In other words a really, really long way!!

My race day gear, all lined up and ready to go!!

I didn't have high expectations for the race. I really just wanted to finish the race and hopefully run most of the race. Guess what?! I DID! Although my running speed is about as fast as most speed walkers (by the end, it was as fast as 80 year old women walking!), I managed to traverse 21.1km around the Surrey Half Marathon route.

I managed to rope the hubs into running the race too. His time was obviously faster than mine - by an HOUR! But either way, we both crossed the finish line!!

Before the race, I ran into my good friend Kim, who was running a relay of the full marathon with three other amazing women! It was great to see a smiling face to cheer me on... I had psyched myself out a LOT before the race.

Along the way were people cheering us on, including this little girl holding a sign of encouragement for all of the random strangers running past her. Each mile marker station was manned by a different country or cultural group. It was so fantastic to have Korean dancers, German musicians, Palestinian dancers, and drummers from the India station. Even more inspiring was the Philippine's station - they brought group of patients in wheel chairs to cheer on the runners. It was definitely an emotional day!

Next along the route were my favourite cheerleaders of all! My in-laws brought the girls to cheer me on, right near the end of the race when I needed some extra encouragement to pull through the last 5km.
As I was coming up to the finish line - FINALLY!! - There were some friendly faces to greet me! Thanks Kelly and Zarina! My husband finished a full hour before me, and spent that hour cheering the next runners on until I finally crossed the finish line!

Here we are post-race! I can't believe we actually ran a 21.1KM race! There were lots of post-race recovery stations, but we couldn't even stop to enjoy them - we had to shower, kiss our babies and catch a flight to Hawaii!! More on that later this week!

Breakfast for Dinner - Easy Quiche Recipe

Tonight we had the most amazing dinner! It's one that I have been planning to make for a while now. I was so looking forward to it, that I mentioned it at work, and THREE of my co-workers asked for the recipe. One girl even made it tonight too!!
I've made this recipe before and though the original recipe calls for Swiss cheese, I had cheddar on hand, so that's what I used. Really, anything could be added to this recipe to enhance it, but it's delicious all on its own!

The "crust" on this recipe is made from two of my absolute favorite ingredients - bacon and cheese!! Delicious, crumbled bacon and shredded cheddar cheese co-mingled in glorious melty goodness. You seriously have to try this recipe. Less than 45 minutes from preparation of the ingredients to serving this cheesy, bacony (I know it's not a word, but it really should be!)plate of goodness.

Breakfast for Dinner - Easy Quiche Recipe

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients
8 slices of bacon
4 ounced shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp melted butter
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped onion, or use this
1 tsp salt and pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
Instructions

Cook bacon until evenly browned. Drain, crumble and set aside. Feel free to taste test at this point!
Preheat oven to 375F and lightly grease a 9" pie plate.

OK here is the best part... you ready? Combine the shredded cheese and the crumbled, still warm bacon together in the bottom of the pie plate and lightly press down. This is going to become your quiche "crust." You can thank me anytime.....

Combine eggs, butter, onion, salt and pepper, flour and milk and whisk until smooth. Pour into pie plate on top of your "crust."
Bake in your preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until quiche is set in the middle.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! I know I had fun making and eating it tonight!! I LOVE breakfast for dinner!! And bonus! This will make a great lunch reheated tomorrow!!

Menu Plan Monday - October 8, 2012

After an amazing break from reality spent in Hawaii, it's back to real life: meals on a schedule, with veggies and everything!
This week some friends and I are starting a healthy eating and exercise challenge. The recipes on this week's menu plan will hopefully be able to double as lunch for the next day. This will keep my healthy eating on track and save mesome money by not going out for lunch on work days!
Looking at the schedule for this week, there will be plenty of food temptations, but hopefully we'll be able to stay on track!

On the menu this week
Monday - Perogies, meatballs and beans
Tuesday - Bacon and swiss quiche
Wednesday - Greek chicken, lemon potatoes and salad
Thursday - Turkey burgers, french fries and corn
Friday - Dinner out with the girls (something tells me this won't be a healthy night out!!)
Saturday - WEDDING!! Another night of excess I am sure!
Sunday - Pumpkin patch, and dinner out with friends
I'll be linking this menu up at Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday! Swing by and check out hundreds of meal ideas and recipe plans.