A week's worth of dinners

This is the first full week of school so things were a bit crazy around here but the one thing that I made sure we had were balanced dinners.  We never eat out or order in during the week and it is my job to ensure that we have stuff ready.  I start out each week with a meal plan and a grocery list.    Here are the meals that I came up with this week with the help of Sparkpeople.

Chicken with mushrooms and green beans.

Pork chops and bok choy.

Baked pumpkin pecan donuts from Shutterbean.

A box of homemade donuts for a friend that is having a hard week.

Chicken drum sticks cooked in chicken broth which I then made into a gravy. This is my least fav salad but Bob loves iceberg lettuce so it has to be made occasionally.

Not pictured is breakfast for dinner and burgers with salad.

How much can you cram into a weekend?

I am still on this organization kick which has been inspired by Tracy at Shutterbean.com.  Once again time was spent at IKEA searching for organizational tools. 

A mani/pedi/eyebrow maintenance at the spa to prepare for the organization process.  I am loving the dark matte polish!

IKEA hanging shelf(not meant for shoes but holds a ton!), baskets and shoe shelf in the front hall closet.

These clothes will be donated. I clean out my closet every time I switch my seasonal clothes.

Bins and baskets from IKEA help to organize the mess under my bathroom sink.  One bin for travel stuff and one for extra's like toothpaste, shampoo etc.

My first ever macaron bought at the farmers market.  There were 2 but I ate one immediately.  The eaten one was peanut butter and this one is salted caramel.

Homemade wedding soup for lunch this week.

Not pictured was a sorority founders dinner in Chinatown, a pawdicure for Gus and a visit to Wag for a cappuccino with Gus and Bob.

Organization Project #1

I have been ob-sessed with Pinterest lately and it is changing my life!

I have never been so inspired to organize my home!

Problem area #1 is my baking cupboard.  I have stuff stacked everywhere and can often not find what I need which leads to purchasing doubles.

This is what it looked like:

My Pinterest inspiration pic is here.
I went to IKEA where I found some glass jars and plastic containers which I hoped would get rid of all of the little plastic bags that always seem to fall out.
This is the result:

It is much better than before but I need a few more jars and containers to finish it.

Organization Project #2

The second problem area in our kitchen is the desk drawer.  We don't actually use this area as a desk, it is more of a drop zone for mail, keys, books etc and underneath the desk Gus usually has his bed.

Obviously the top of the desk is also an issue... the right side of the desk top is my area and the left side is Bob's.  We need to have a "talk".

As far as the drawer goes we both toss stuff in there which leads to a bunch of junk that we probably don't even need.

I again went to Pinterest looking for inspiration and I found it here.

First I took everything out of the drawer and had Bob sort it with me... put back, toss or put somewhere else.  Next I put in a divider that I bought at IKEA and filled it up.

Here it is now:

This organizer cut our stuff down to half!  Now the right side of the drawer will house our napkins which have been squished in our adjoining cupboard.

I am so excited and pleased with the first 2 projects that I can't wait to organize something else... my sewing room? the front hall closet?  under the kitchen sink?  the pantry?  There are endless possibilities!

Bob Harper's Turkey Chili (revised)

The fall temps arrived this weekend, that with the combination of a chilly workplace office put me in the mood for chili!

I looked towards The Skinny Rules for some guidance and found Turkey Chili.... perfect!

The recipe is for 1 serving and I wanted about 5 so I multiplied the ingredients and ended up with this.  I sweat the onions and garlic in a large pot for a few minutes then added zucchini and red peppers.  Once the veg was a bit soft I threw in the ground turkey (I only used one of these packages) with cumin and chipotle chili powder (you can use regular chili powder too).  Once the meat was no longer pink I poured in the cans of tomato and veg broth.  This combination cooked down for about 30 minutes and then I started adding the spinach, a little at a time giving it time to wilt.  I let the chili simmer on a very low heat for another 30 minutes and there you have it.

You may be asking where the beans are... I asked the same thing.  There are none.  This chili is almost like a chunky pasta sauce with turkey... but to be quite honest (maybe even a little tmi) ... too many beans give me a belly ache so I will be able to eat this all week with no issues.

This recipe made WAY more than I had anticipated.  I portioned out 5 servings (2 cups each) and froze 4 more for later use.  Since I didn't make the recipe as stated I am not sure if the calorie calculations are correct but here is the info from the book (315 calories, 30g protein, 33g carbs, 9g fat).

Lunch for the week!  Yummy!

Caffeine Kick!

Caffeine helps me get through my busy weekends... thank you Starbucks!

The to-do list this weekend looked something like this:

• groceries
• laundry 
• making mom's pasta sauce 

• Walmart, Michaels and Starbucks (salted caramel latte's are my fav!). 
• creating little treats for our EA's (thank you Pinterest!)

 

• making cheese and spinach stuffed pasta shells for friends that just had twins

 

• date night at Big Rig Brew
• making Bob Harper's chili for lunch this week

 

• organizing my Pinterest boards... things are getting out of control!
• working on 1 of 2 baby blankets for another friend pregnant with twins

• a trip to IKEA for storage solutions
• Starbucks again!
• Lunch at Moxie's with friends
• reorganizing an out of control kitchen drawer
• reorganizing the baking cabinet

What a weekend!! I need a break by going to work :)

Still Working Towards The Skinny Goal

School and a sick dog have taken over my life but that hasn't derailed me from following The Skinny Rules.

The start up of school has been pretty smooth so far (knocking on wood).  We will see how next week goes when the kids realize that they have to keep coming back.

Gus has had more skin issues.  He is on really strong antibiotics for a bacterial infection (the last diagnosis didn't clear it up so this is the next step).  The meds have affected his stomach and he had completely stopped eating.  With the direction of the vet we have cut his meds in half and he is now eating and drinking but is still a bit lethargic.  3 weeks of this face would kill me!  I am so glad that he is feeling better.

Regardless of these stresses and the to-do lists that are once again ruling my life I have used the school routine to get back into The Skinny Rules.  During the summer I maintained my June weight loss but didn't lose any new pounds... this had nothing to do with DQ... or maybe it did.  One week back at school and I have lost 3 pounds!  Not bad!  I am now 16 down and have joined a challenge with some friends to lose 25 pounds by Christmas... the newest 3 pounds will go towards that goal.

The best part is that just in time for school I can fit into everything in my closet plus the new items that I have picked up over the summer... I feel like I have an enormous amount of clothing choices at the moment.  It is actually fun to go through my closet each evening and create an outfit for the next day.  Even more fun will be the shopping that I will have to do once I am no longer able to wear these clothes because they are too big :)