Home at last

As I sit here tonight not wanting to unpack anymore boxes (and wait for the banana bread to finish baking) I am so grateful we moved into the home we did and that my son is going to a school where he has friends and he feels comfortable.
We attended an event at his school and he just went off and played with his friends.  Normally he would want one of us there by his side.  Today we come home from hockey practice and running around and the boys in the neighborhood are out playing.  They asked if he could come out, and amazingly they don't mind playing in our cul de sac with him (because I won't allow him to leave it).  He's been out there playing with them for the last 3 hours and they are having a blast!  The last place we lived he didn't have kids in the neighborhood to play with.  It warms my heart that he has made friends and that he's settling in and confident in himself!  Today during hockey practice that confidence was just beaming from him.  He was finally getting how to stop!  The best part, he was doing it on his own.  It's amazing how much difference one week can make.  Even though our family is in Alaska (and we miss them incredibly), Spokane is where home is for us.

Now back to that Banana Bread... My house smells incredible!!!  I love the way the house smells when yummy goodness is baking!!

 Banana Bread Recipe

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
3-4 bananas, mashed
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs and bananas.  Combine well.  Sift together flour, soda and salt.  Add to creamed mixture.  Add vanilla.  Pour into greased loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Enjoy the recipe and your weekend!
~K

Weekly Menu

One of the best ways to keep myself on track is to make a weekly menu.  Do you make a weekly menu?  I have found by doing a weekly menu we eat out less.  I can take out the meat that I need first thing in the morning so it thaws and if for some reason I need to pick up something from the store I have all day to do it.  It saves you from buying unnecessary groceries as well.  Be sure to post your weekly menu where you will see it.  I have already gone through some recipes, now I just need to make a grocery list based on it and we're off and running!  My weekly menu will be:

Big Mac Casserole
Mexican Turkey Casserole
Chicken Corn Chowder
Chicken Pot Pie
Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole
Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
Kielbasa with Potatoes and Peppers

I will post some of the recipes with pics as the week progresses.  Not all will be shared because I am working on a Cookbook.  These recipes have all been tested and kid approved! :)

Here are some links to different weekly menus that you can print out.  :)

Printable Menu 1
Printable Menu 2
Printable Menu 3

You can always do a Google search for them if you don't like the ones I have listed. :)

As I think about the changes I am going to be making to my diet one of the things I find that I don't want to give up is my coffee creamer.  Now don't get me wrong I can drink coffee black, but I enjoy the creamy goodness of the cream.  I don't normally add sugar to my coffee when I am at home.  I have found that if I spend a little bit of money and buy the coffee I really want for my Keurig and use the coffee creamer then I am less likely to go to a coffee stand and buy coffee.  Doesn't mean that I won't stop and buy coffee once and a while, but it won't be an every day occurrence.  I think that's the trick to changing your diet, finding what works for you and what doesn't work for you.  Every person is different so don't expect to lose like your friend does or that because they can cut coffee completely out of their diet that it will work for you too.  When I say making changes to my diet it doesn't mean that I consider this a diet, it's a change that I intend to be permanent, not temporary.


Happy Planning!
~K

Home Remedies

Do you make your own dishwasher detergent? Or laundry soap?  I have recently come across many blogs of folks making their own detergents.  I think I will try making my own as well.  Of course I decided this after I stocked up on laundry soap because I found a good sale!  :)  So it looks like I will be starting with dishwasher detergent.  For the most part my dishwasher seems to get the dishes clean, but it is leaving a cloudy film on the plastic dishes.  I bought a container of Tang while I was at the store (yes when I forgot the honey) and I will be running an empty load with just some Tang to see if that can't get rid of the film.  For those of you who don't know, Tang is a great cleaner for dishwashers.  I am just not sure what exactly is causing the cloudy film on the plastic ware.  I also read on another blog that she uses white vinegar to keep the spots from occurring.  If the Tang doesn't work, I will be trying the vinegar.  I have Jet Dry in there now, but who knows why it's still cloudy.  We just moved in here the beginning of the month so you just never know what the previous tenants did.  The recipe I think I will try is: 1 c. Borax 1 c. washing soda 2 tbsp Tang.  Remember if you try this recipe, I have not yet tried it so I can't guarantee how well it's going to work.
What recipes do you use?  Visit us on  Facebook and share your recipe.
Happy cleaning!
~K

Mama Bear Moments

Do you ever get those "mama bear" moments?  You know the ones I am talking about.  The one where you literally could swing your arm out fingers extended and rip the other person's face right off, kind of moment.  I had a version of that recently, but I am proud to say I just walked away.  Trust me that was not something that was easy to do and I am sure in the upcoming days I will be dealing with it face to face but I am hoping that by walking away and not saying anything I have given myself time to really think about what it is I want to say vs. just being made as hell.  A few years ago I might not have done so well, funny how time changes us.  Say a prayer for me friends that "mama bear" stays in check! :)

One thing that I hate about moving (different states), is repurchasing regular condiments and spices.  Those suckers cost a small fortune!!  However when you are paying by the weight it costs a bigger fortune to ship them.  And let's be honest it's not like a piece of furniture that you can sell, who wants to buy an open, partially used container of cumin or balsamic vinegar?  My rant comes from the fact that I was going to make some homemade bread yesterday...but what was it I was missing?!  The honey!  Seriously, I had already repurchased the yeast but forgot the honey.  How could this happen, especially since my hubby loves honey?! So today I will be stopping at the store to pick up some honey.  I might even pick up a bookshelf or two so that I can finish unpacking and put things where they belong.  

Happy Hump Day!

~K

10,000 steps

I love the smell of fresh basil.  After we moved back to Spokane one of the first stops we made was at Trader Joes.  They have beautiful basil plants for sale, and at a super reasonable price.  Now I have fresh basil whenever I want.  Last night that fresh basil came in handy for dinner.  We had homemade spaghetti sauce with spahetti squash and garlic bread.  It was delicious!!  If you have never made your own spaghetti sauce I recommend that you give it a try.  I have never followed a recipe to make mine and every time I make it, it's a little bit different.  Open up a can of tomatoes, tomato sauce; cook up some ground turkey, add chopped onion & sliced mushrooms.  Mix in some chopped garlic, fresh basil, oregano, salt & pepper...and stir.  Now be sure you don't forget a couple teaspoons of sugar to help cut that acid.  Give it a try and see how it comes out.  I haven't bought spaghetti sauce in so many years and once you make your own you won't buy another jar of premade sauce again. 

Do you know how many steps per day that you should be walking?  10,000 steps!  On average a person takes between 5,000-7,000 steps per day.  That's way under the suggested amount.  I bought a FitBit for my hubby and myself to see just how many steps we take.  I love the fact that we can add each other as friends and see how many steps the other has taken.  It's set up to motivate each other, it just requires you to look at the app or the website. :)  One thing I am not good about doing every day.  and as of this minute hubby is kicking my bootie!  LOL  Guess I need to run up and down the stairs today. This is my status from yesterday.

Hockey, Pumpkin Patch, Apple Picking... Oh My! (Recipe posted)

This weekend was wonderful!  I got to spend the entire weekend with hubby and little man doing what we wanted with no particular time schedule (except for hockey practice of course).  The weekend started with a Fall Spooktacular at little man's school.  And let me just tell you he had so much stinkin' fun!!  Normally when we go anywhere he wants Mommy and/or Daddy right by his side while he's playing.  Not this time!  Our intent was to go and help get things set up and stay for maybe an hour or so.  We were there until the end!  He was busy playing games with his friends and just having fun.  It was so wonderful to see him settled enough that he finally felt comfortable to do just that!  It made my heart so happy!  He had so much fun in fact he woke up Saturday morning sad because he wanted it to be Friday again.  Got to love the way their minds work. 

Saturday was filled with house work and doing things around the house.  Hubby got my new faucet in, LOVE IT!!  Ours was leaking so I picked up one that was on sale at Costco.  It has the sprayer built into the faucet, even has a soap dispenser.  I love this faucet.  I love hubby more for putting it in, not even one curse word through the whole thing!  Pretty impressive. :)  There is still so much to do around here.  I feel like it's never going to get done.  But I know that little by little it will happen, I just have to be patient.

Sunday morning was hockey!  Little man is loving it.  It sucks being the first ones there for practice because they don't have the heaters on and ready for you.  So the first 20-30 minutes were really cold.  After practice the first thing out of little man's mouth was "now we get to go to Greenbluff".  Ha ha! He cracks me up, he has a mind like a steel trap and doesn't forget anything.  So off to the Pumpkin Patch we went.  We decided to go to Eleven Acres where we had gone the last time we went to pick out a pumpkin.  We spent some time picking pumpkins.  We got big one and baby ones, 6 to be exact. Little man of course picked the biggest one he could.  I told him the deal was he had to be able to carry it to the wagon.  He did, dropped it a couple of times but he made it.  Then we were off to pick some apples.  The idea was to just pick a few but when we finally found trees with apples the apples were so far down in the trees that little man was able to pick them himself with no ladder.  He was having so much fun, we just picked.  At one point he had both of his jacket pockets full of apples.  It was a great way to spend the day.  Of course when we got home we had to carve some pumpkins.  We still have 2 more pumpkins to do but we're getting there.  I used some of the apples and made an apple pie....Pies are NOT my thing! The filling is tasty, but it's runny. Oh well, guess we'll have to go back up and get some more apples and make applesauce. :)

Dinner was homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza

Happy Monday Friends!

~K

TGIF!

I know people get excited about the weekend and this weekend I am one of those people!  Normally I am happy that the weekend is here because that means family time.  Yes I am happy about the weekend being here for that reason, but also because it means that tomorrow is Saturday.  I know many of you are thinking DUH! But we have been on the go and just crazy like for so long this is the first day in a LONG time that we didn't have to do something.  Oh don't get me wrong, we have plenty that we need to do.  There's a ton of unpacking left and furniture to be picked up.  We will be working but if we decide to go outside and play or go for a walk or just sit on our butts and play a game on the xbox, we can do it with NO rush to do anything!  And that folks is why I am thankful today is Friday!  My Friday is crazy busy from the moment I leave the house until we are done for the night and can sit (which won't be until after dinner sometime). 

Little man is excited because at school today they are having "Camp Read A Lot" and that means they get to bring in their favorite book, wear their jammies, bring their favorite stuffed animal and bring a blanket to school.  What a fun way to end the week! :) 

On my mission to get into shape I have decided it's time to take a walk every night.  We have moved into this new neighborhood and it will give us a chance to walk around and check it out.  Not to mention meet some of our other neighbors who live in the surrounding cul de sacs.  Our dog will love it too. 

Time to get this busy day started!  First stop: school! 

Enjoy your day and remember to smile at someone or hold the door for them....it might be the best thing that happens to them today!

~K

This is going to be me this Saturday! :)

Pumpkin

For those of you who love summer I am sorry to announce that fall is here!  Truth be told, it's my favorite season!  (don't confuse this with holiday, that would be Christmas.) The colors of fall are so stinkin' beautiful!  And let's not forget the pumpkin!  One of my favorite things to bake is Pumpkin Bread.  The funny thing about it is I never in a million years thought that I would like it.  At first the thought of it seemed nasty to me.  It's one of my grandmother's recipes and I figured I had better give it a whirl because I have yet to be disappointed by one of her recipes.  And this one is a winner!!  Little man LOVES pumpkin bread!  Now I need to come up with a healthier version that is just as delicious as the fatty version.  I have come across so many other yummy sounding recipes that include pumpkin lately.  The other is a Pumpkin Doughnut... yea I am a carb junkie, can you tell?!  I have never tried to make a Pumpkin Soup, but I have seen recipes and I am thinking it's almost time to venture out and experiment with one.  I have tried Butternut Squash Soup and really like it.  All this talk of food is making me hungry! :)
I gave in and made some Pumpkin Bread!  But I sent some to work with hubby, sent some next door to the neighbors who just had a new baby, it's heading out the door mostly....  But I did have a slice and it's all that I was wanting!  :)
This weekend will include a trip to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out our pumpkin.  Little man loves this tradition and honestly so do I.  It is a memory he will have forever and hopefully one day carry on with his own family. 

~K     

Falling off the wagon.... don't let it keep you down!

I feel like I should be sitting in a confessional right now....  It's been months since my last post...  :)
Life has been crazy this last year!  We moved from Washington to Alaska in October last year and then back to Washington in September of this year.  Two major moves in less than a year.  Won't do that again!  So I am working on getting things back in order and unpacked once again.  Little man just started hockey so that will consume MUCH of our time!  He wants to get back into Tae Kwon Do as well.  Provided we can swing the time and schedules don't conflict then we are going to go for it. 

As I was listening to the radio the other day Mandisa's "Overcomer" came on the radio and I felt this ease come over me and I knew it was time to get back on track. It's funny how a song can talk to us when we are really listening to it.  I've listened to the song a thousand times and for some reason this last week it really struck home.  It's not like I hadn't heard the songs before because I knew what it was about and I had heard her interview about it before as well.  My mind was open and receptive this time. 

I could go off into a million different directions and I keep having thoughts of what I want to type...I really do need to start keeping a small notebook with me to write down my notes.  Of course my epiphanies usually come when I am driving so not sure how much good a small notebook would be.  I guess it's time to start using all the features of my iPhone.  Brilliant!  See these ideas just come to me!  :) Ha ha ha

So are we ready to ROCK THIS PARTY!?!  Here is my selfie ready to ROCK it! 

~K

Healthy Eating

What does "Healthy Eating" mean to you?  I know that when I go to the store I am more aware of the things I put into my cart.  I wasn't always aware of the groceries I would buy. My older children complain that I don't have "regular peanut butter" in my cupboard, but instead it's all natural peanut butter in the fridge.  If you haven't guessed it they grew up on the processed filled with crap peanut butter.  However, my youngest son thinks the stuff in the fridge is pretty darn good and he'll even eat the almond butter with flax seed that I get from Trader Joes.  My older kids wouldn't eat that if their lives depended on it.  It's hard to make changes in our lives especially when the kids have moved out of the house and no longer eat the food that you bring into your house.  10 years ago I wouldn't be eating the natural peanut butter either.  
I have decided to find a cookbook and to review recipes from it.  Do you have a favorite cookbook that you would recommend?  Please keep in mind that we want Eating Clean or Paleo type cookbooks.
I have to keep in mind that there are no quick fixes.  I didn't get to this weight overnight and it's not going to come off overnight.  I have to find a balance, I don't do well when I am restricted to only eat "nuts & berries" but I don't do well when I don't have a plan either.  It's a fine line and I know that I can do it.
This is my scattered blog post for you all. :)

Nutshell

This year I am seriously struggling with allergies.  To the extent that I am out of breath when I get on my elliptical.  I am not talking because I am out of shape (I am out of shape) but before I was able to do 25 minutes no problem (don't get me wrong I was sweating and it was a work out) but now 8 minutes into it I am having a hard time breathing.  The Dr. gave me some more meds to help clear up the allergies so we will see what happens.  I would really like to be able to move without feeling like my lungs are going to collapse. :)

Needless to say life has been crazy here lately and it's just going to get crazier.  We are relocating back to Spokane.  Yes I know we just got to Alaska, but you gotta follow the work.  I will keep you all posted, but as of right now we are looking at mid to late August.

Today little man and I are headed to the Alaska Zoo with my sister and 2 neices.  It's a beautiful day out and perfect weather for the zoo.

I was up at 4 am to see my BFF before she went in to surgery.  I will be headed back up this afternoon and possibly spending the night at the hospital with her (if they don't let her go home, my guess is they will be begging her to go home because she will be driving them all nuts!).  :)  I gave her a cow bell to ring for things when she gets home...LOL  I know her hubby is going to be hiding it very early on....  :)  I was looking for a small little "sweet" bell, but I tell you I don't think they exist anymore!  This was the best I could do.

This past weekend we were in the valley helping my sister and brother in law build a new deck.  (When I say we I mean the guys were working the women were cooking and visiting.)  While we were out there all us girls went to the Colonial Days.  It was a good time.  They were having an egg toss there and my sister wanted to do it with little man, but he just didn't want to get up in front of all those people...so when we got back to her place they did a small egg toss there.  He loved it!  I have a feeling we will be doing that again!  :)

So this is what's going on in my world in a nutshell. :)

Happy Mother's Day

This week will be a busy week for us.  Tomorrow is Mother's Day, Tuesday is our Anniversary, Saturday is my youngest son's birthday party and Sunday is his birthday.  It's weeks like this that make you really stop and think about how can you celebrate everything and still "be good".  Other than the obvious answer, that not every celebration has to be celebrated with food.  :)  Realistically we probably won't be able to celebrate our anniversary on Tuesday, little man has baseball practice that night and Daddy is the coach.  His birthday party is going to be here so I am in complete control over what we serve.  Yes there will be cake and ice cream, but I have found a brand of ice cream I really like that's all natural and their frozen greek yogurt is delicious!  And for his actual birthday we always go to dinner (this is a tradition I started when I was a single mom with my older 2 kids, it was our special treat and it's just continued to carry on).  For dinner I will just have to trust that I make good choices.  I believe by planning out the events that you know are coming you will have 100% control, even on the ones you don't have control over.  Because in the end you always have control over yourself.  So plan and prepare.  Even if that means you eat a meal before you go to a party, so you won't be tempted.  And know your triggers.  :)  If you HAVE to have that piece of cake, skip the ice cream.  Or make sure it's a tiny piece or even share it with your spouse.  Perhaps at his party some of the adults can get some exercise too, we are renting a bounce house!  Yes, this should be fun!!  See, there's a silver lining to it all!

My beautiful children!!

Happy Mother's Day!!  

~Kari

Paleo

It's hard to believe that Mother's Day is this weekend!  Time is flying by!  Little man gets out of school in just under 2 weeks, he will officially be a 2nd grader!  My other son is graduating high school!  Where does the time go?! (Yes, we have a big gap between them.)  Do you have big plans for Mother's Day?  I am not quite sure what we will be doing yet.  I know our middle son is working, not sure about our daughter or our oldest son, they are probably working too.

So I've been doing some reading on Paleo.  I am not sure that I will follow it to a "T".  I do like and agree with most of it so far.  I know that there is no way I will give up creamer in my coffee, or coffee for that matter.  I also don't see us not eating oatmeal, or legumes etc.  But I do see us following the fresh no processed part of it all.  I've been trying to incorporate that already.  This is what works for us.

As I see all of the Paleo "ads" everywhere, I mean it seems like everyone is talking about it.  It makes me think of all the hype diet schemes that have been out there.  (Not saying this is one of those.)  But you know what I mean, all the fad diets.  Is Paleo just another fad diet?  I had a friend doing the Atkins diet many years ago when it was all the rage.  And I find it funny that every now and then I'll read or hear something about Paleo that makes me think of Atkins.  Now please don't think I am truly comparing those two and saying they are identical, because I am not.  I don't know enough about either of them to compare them.  I just find it funny that some of the wording triggers memories of the Atkins.  Is it possible that many diets are "created" from another and "tweaked" just enough to be original?  I also find if funny that the Paleo diet has a creator.  I guess someone has to get credit for starting the craze...but really? A creator?  If the idea is to follow Paleolithic eating then aren't they (that time era) the real creators of the diet?  Or is it a scheme for the "creator" to make a few bucks?  Again, not saying the diet doesn't work, just some random thoughts that are going through my mind.

As I get older I think more about the connection between politics and the world around us.  I am NOT a political person, I HATE politics!  I haven't found a Politician I like yet.  But anyway, that is not the purpose of this post.  I just seem to notice how much the politicians have their hands in.  Could there be a connection between a politician and a fad diet?!  I believe 100% that there is.  Scary part is all of the Genetically Modified foods!  I came across a company that is boasting about the Genetically Engineered Seeds that they provide and how it's great for the growers.  Yes, I am sure it's great for them, but what about the people who are eating it?!  Let's get this straight, you want me to eat a fruit or vegetable that never existed until you "created" this seed.  How do I know you didn't use synthetic something in that creation process?  You've got a free pass to "create super seeds"!  That makes me think of those movies that you see the Government creating "super soldiers".  These seeds are the super soldiers of food.  Scary!

Ok, so that's my tangent for the week!  :)

Here's a picture of dinner last night!  Yes, still working on weeding out the processed foods.  With the cost of groceries I have a hard time throwing away food I've paid for and it's sitting in my freezer.  Anywho last night was a "oh crap didn't take anything out for dinner" kind of night...I'd say I didn't do too bad.

Black Bean Chipotle Burger, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Thyme, Garlic & Feta, and Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette (homemade)

Curry

I have been craving Curry lately.  Why? I have no idea because until now I've only had it once and I was severely disappointed with it!  So we went out to dinner the other night and wouldn't you know the soup of the day was a Curry Chicken (mind you I was going to make Curry Chicken for dinner but our evening got rearranged by a unexpected trip to the Dr. just before they closed). So I thought, wow let's give it a shot what are the odds?!  The soup was delicious!  Thank you City Diner!  So tonight I made the Curry Chicken that I had planned for the other night.  It was good, but it doesn't compare to that soup and quite frankly was a little bit bland.  Even though it was good it just didn't meet my expectations and I won't be making it again.  So I am still on a search for an awesome Curry dish!  I know they exist, I've heard people rave about them.  That soup was delish and I want to find a main dish that can compare!!  Help a girl out!!! :)  Here's a pic, it does look yummy though doesn't it.  (If you like bland then this could be the recipe for you, let me know if you want it and I will send you the link.)