Happy Monday!

photo credit: needoptic

This week’s Menu Plan Monday deals with something that as I became healthier last year, I did inadvertently. As I worked hard to eat better and lose weight, I also did something else without even trying. I ate more whole foods.

I didn’t really try to. In fact, I very distinctly remember scoffing at someone who was gung ho into eating Paleo. But when I thought about my eating style towards the end of the year, I realized that I was eating a pretty clean diet.

According to Zen Habits, it means 

So what is clean eating?

• Food consumed in its most natural state, or close to it.
• Which means nothing processed.
• Fruits and veggies, of course.
• Nuts, legumes, natural nut butters, nut oils.
• Whole grains, preferably not ground into flour.
• Lean proteins, although I don’t eat meat or dairy.

This is my goal, at least. I don’t do it 100% of the time. I shoot for about 90%.

Eating Clean for Dummies defines it as:

Clean eating is the act of basing your diet on whole, unprocessed or organic foods. In other words, when you eat clean, you try to eat as low ont he food chain as possible.

When I asked Twitter, here’s some of the responses:

@Deborah105 - For me, clean eating is no sugar, no grains, no packaged foods.

@aspiringmama - for me it’s gluten free and free of all sugar. No processed foods. Real whole veggies, fruits, organic proteins.

For me it means this:

I eat mostly unprocessed foods – the only regular foods I eat that are processed are my Quaker oatmeal cups and my soy yogurt. Sometimes you can add in Glutino gluten free crackers or Rudi’s gluten free bread, but less than two times a month.

So, the big question is this – how do you eat clean? Or, better yet, how can you easily learn to eat clean?

Here’s 5 ways to get started:

1. Look at what you eat that is processed, then look at alternatives

After I had been working at losing weight for a few months, I got to the point where I really looked at the things I was eating. Then I asked myself the following “Is this moving me towards my goal of losing weight?”

For most of it, the answer was no.

I’m talking things like Rice a Roni (something we had several times a week), processed soup, granola bars, soda, etc.

I didn’t change everything all at once. That would have been torture! Instead, I changed one thing at a time. For example, I stopped eating the Rice a Roni and replaced it with veggies.

2. Replace one processed snack with a clean snack

This was an easy one. I was eating Life Cereal bars for my morning snack. It had good protein, but it had a bunch of ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce. I challenged myself to substitute veggies for my morning snack for a week.

That’s all it took.

Now, for my morning snack, I usually have a veggie with hummus and some fruit. If I really need a treat, I have a Lara bar. SO. DAMN. YUMMY.

So what is one item you can replace with a fresh fruit or veggie?

3. Plan ahead

Remember how important menu planning is? Here’s another area it can help with. Plan your meals and see how you can add in more fresh food. Because of my food allergies, I know 80% of my weekly food in advance. This could be because I eat the same stuff 80% of the time, but it works well for me.

Look at your meals and plan accordingly.

4. Make it easy

Eating clean doesn’t have to mean spending hours in the kitchen, chopping away. Buy bags of baby carrots, flash frozen veggies (I’m hooked on the broccoli/cauliflower mix) and salad bags if you have to. Make it easy to start, then as you get used to it, switch one thing. I now buy whole green peppers instead of buying them, but I still buy bagged carrots and frozen veggies.

Making it easy = making it happen

5. Eat more protein

photo credit: Ms.FabiHenne

Most Americans don’t get enough protein as it is, so try to eat protein at every meal. Eat an egg with breakfast, eat some chicken or turkey at lunch and then have another meat or some beans with dinner.

Do you or are you trying to limit the amount of processed foods you and your family eat? If so, how? Please leave it in the comments!!

Last week a co-worker asked me about what to do with her toddler, who sounds a lot like the Princess, in that time outs are not an effective discipline method.

photo credit: sizumaru

So what do you do when this happens?

I have to preface this by making a disclaimer – think of it as a severity clause. If your kid is doing something where someone can get severely hurt, stop them.

Here are three additional tactics you can use instead of timeouts:

1. Natural Consequences

This can encompass quite a bit. They hit a sibling? Maybe the sibling hits back and it hurts. They keep stomping around, throwing a fit? Don’t threaten to do something – DO IT. They need to see that their actions have subsequent consequences that are immediate and unfavorable.

2. Take It Away

Every kid has *something* that they live for. You just may have to take a long time trying to find out what it is. For example, my daughter didn’t really have favorite toys like our son. With him, threaten to take away his Legos and he’d stop almost anything, even breathing. For her, you could take away EVERYTHING and she’d entertain herself with a strip of paper and a booger.

We had to work hard to find something that would really affect her and we did – her nightlight (initially) and then her MP3 player or stuffed animal. Other than these items, she could care less if she had her toys or not.

For some kids, it might be playing with a special toy in the bathtub or watching a video before bed. Whatever it is it needs to be important enough to them that it will suck to take it away.

Now, keep in mind, this may make your life temporarily more difficult. Deal with it, you’re a parent and it’s supposed to be difficult. On some bad nights, I will still sometimes have to stand in the hallway to make sure my daughter stays in bed. It’s not fun, but it’s what sometimes needs to be done.

 3. Hit em where it counts – their wallet

photo credit: theritters

If your kid is old enough for allowance, start fining them. Make each infraction worth something, then work with them to either A. Curb their behavior or B. Fund your trips to Starbucks.

4. Pile on the work

Another way to deter kids from a particular behavior is to assign them extra work. For almost a year, I had the cleanest baseboards in the city because when my daughter talked back, she had to clean baseboards.

Find equally bad chores to assign (pulling weeds, cleaning baseboards or window sills) and assign them when kids don’t listen. This works well with toddlers as well as surly teens. In fact, if it’s teens, make the extra tasks as dirty as possible for it to be a true deterrent.

I’m surious how time outs work for you – do you use them? If they don’t, what have you done instead? Leave it in the comments!

Happy Monday everyone!

This week’s Menu Plan Monday post is about how to store your recipes. I have a tendency to print a recipe, then lose it shortly after I’m done with it. To prevent this, I scoured the web for some quick and easy ideas.

1. Storage Binder

This is by far the easiest way and while it won’t win any decorating awards, it works. I’m all about simple and easy solutions. Take your recipes, put them in sheet protectors and then they are protected for when you are using them with messy hands. Just wipe off the mess and store!

2. Recipe Box

This is an obvious choice (which is probably why I have never owned a recipe box in my life). Take recipes you find in magazines, cut them out and glue them to recipe cards, then put in the box.

I don’t like this option as much because it is so easy for the cards to get dirty, but if you were to get some recipe boxes that are cute, they could be a nice addition to your kitchen decor.

Here’s a few from Etsy:

3. Recipe Nest

This has never happened before, but I WANT THIS. Yes, it’s for the kitchen and I still want it. That’s how cool this looks.

What is it?

The Recipe Nest is a recipe storage system that looks very easy to use. You don’t have to worry about hole punching anything, it has a sheet protector and an easel to hold recipes while you work and it all folds up to look nice for storage.

Yup. Totally want.

4. Online Storage

As much of a tech nerd as I am, I don’t really like this method. Blowing flour out of your keyboard after a baking session will do that to you. Nevertheless, there are quite a few good recipe storage solutions available, including:

Allrecipes - You had to know I would have this one listed. Keep track of all your recipes from the site in your very own recipe box.

Evernote – Copy and paste your recipes in or just link to the different urls.

Springpad – I prefer this method to Evernote, because it looks better and I can organize my recipes into notebooks.

5. Expandable File Folder

One final way to organize is by using expanding file folders. These allow you to keep recipes organized into different categories, so you can just pull and cook.

What do you do to prevent dirty recipes?

If you use recipe cards or papers not in protectors, here’s my new favorite clean paper tip:

• Hole punch the cards, put a suction cup hook in a cabinate – when you are cooking, put the recipe on the hook, then replace when finished. Just put the hole punch in the middle or use two hooks to keep the paper/card straight.

This keeps the recipe clean and out of the way!

Now I want to know – how do you organize your recipes? Any tips? Any pics? As always, leave it in the comments!

* For more info about how Menu Plan Monday started click here.

Iiiiiiitttt’s Baaack!

Each week, I will be posting my weekly Domestically Challenged column. They are typically humorous accounts of my parenting life, but not today’s. Today recounts my worst mom moment ever.

Can anyone relate? I hope not, to be honest…

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Happy Monday (what a misnomer!)!!

For this week’s Menu Plan Monday, I wanted to post an updated list of my potential dinners for the week.

Why bother?

Here’s why – as I have stated many, many times, menu planning is one of the easiest and most important things you can do to save yourself time. And as a parent, we are ALWAYS about saving time.

The steps:

1. Make a master list of dinners. List anything that your family will eat.

2. Decide how to rotate meals. Will you go straight down the list? Put them on index cards and pick at the beginning of the week? Use a random number generator to choose?

For me, all of these are a bit too complicated (although, I am a nerd at heart and am more likely to use the random number generator). When we menu plan, we basically think about how busy our week is, the ingredients we have on hand and the flavors we want for the week (right now I am off anything resembling Mexican food, which is weird for me).

3. Make a weekly plan and shopping list.

My husband does all of the grocery shopping and he HATES the way I make lists. Therefore, I created a shopping list that goes in order. I can just write in what we need and he can go in order through the grocery store. Anal retentive much?

So, once you have this, you are all set! For more ideas about menu planning, check out Organizing Junkie – lots of great info!

THE List:

1. Mac and Cheese
2. Grilled Chicken
   • Grill with bbq sauce or marinate it for a fuller flavor.
3. Spaghetti
   • To add variety, make different types of noodles or put it over squash.
4. Ribs
   • These can be cooked in the crock pot, broiler or grill.
5. Turkey Burgers
6. Grilled Turkey Legs
7. Beef Stroganoff
8. Slow Cooker Chicken
9. Slow Cooker French Dip
10. Pot Roast
11. Baked Chicken
12. Chicken Parmesan
13. Albondagas
14. Tacos
15. Enchiladas
16. Tostadas
17. Taco Salad
18. Pork Chops
19. Sausage
20. Bratwurst
21. Red Beans and Rice
22. Fetticinni Alfredo
23. Chili – we make it healthier by using ground game meat (deer, antelope, elk, etc)
24. Fajitas
25. Stir Fry
26. Lasagna
27. Tuna Casserole
28. Enchilada Casserole
29. Eggplant Parmesan
30. Ham with Greens
31. Tostada Goop – sooooo yummy! Make extra and you can use it for enchiladas or tostadas or taco salad or…
32. Neat Sloppy Joes
33. Chicken Fried Rice – don’t use oil (I just use water) and save on the fat content.
34. Steak
35. Kabobs – super easy to make
36. Meatballs – add bbq sauce and let the kids eat with toothpicks for extra fun, provided no one gets poked in the eyeball
37. Meatloaf – we make ours with bbq sauce. And bacon. Can’t forget the bacon.
38. Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches
39. Sub sandwiches – use mini rolls and make them custom for everyone
40. Nachos
41. Stuffed Peppers
42. Shrimp Tacos
43. Gumbo
44. Jambalaya
45. Potato, Green Beans and Hamhocks – some good ole soul food that is also super healthy!
46. Baked Fish – we like halibut, catfish and tilapia
47. Ceviche – surprisingly light
48. Rotisserie Chicken/Turkey – pair with a bag of steamer veggies to make a complete, healthy meal
49. Pulled Pork – with my husband’s homemade BBQ sauce…YUM!
50. Carne Asada – we have yet to find good asada out here in Colorado, but we will keep searching.

So, here you go. Now my question for you is this – do you have a list? If not, will you do one? Let me know in the comments! And if you do a blog post about it, let me know so I can link up!

Happy New Year my friends!!

Well, with the beginning of a new year, I am working hard to stay on track with my writing and part of that is with blogging. And yet, it isn’t a resolution.

Um, ok.

Let me explain. I don’t believe in resolutions. For reals (go read, I’ll wait).

I believe in goals and action. Period.

Now, does this mean I am always great and meet every goal. Not so much. But I have a lot more success because I come up with plans. Resolution just implies something that will fall by the wayside in a few days. Heck, even if you make it a few weeks (which I NEVER have in my life), you are still not setting yourself up for success.

Take my weight loss for instance. During 2011, I lost 60 pounds. I haven’t blogged about it yet (it’s come, I promise!), but I did it. And let me tell you, success breeds momentum.

So, what are your goals for next year and how will you get there?

Here’s a few of mine:

• Blog at least 1 time a week
• Have new book outlined (completely) by June
• Improve running (look for a MomFit post with the specifics)
• Be more organized around the house (look for a post)
• Cook more (you know what I’m going to say here…)
• Be more patient with my ADHD kiddos

Here’s a few people who agree with me regarding goals vs. resolutions:

Why You Should Set Goals Not Resolutions for 2012 – Tales From The Nursery

This New Year Set Goals Not Resolutions – Studenomics

Creating the Fitness Habit – Zen Habits (if you don’t read this site, start. Now.)

So, what are your goals for the year? And more importantly how will you get there? Share below and let me know if you want to see my plans for the year!

Hey there!

I don’t know about you, but in my little neck of the woods, we head back to school in a few weeks. This has sent me into complete PANIC MODE mostly because I have two full weeks of meetings, cutting my summer vacay a little short.

This has me thinking about the different things I am doing to get ready for the new school year and I want to know from you – what is the biggest challenge you face when the kids head back to school?

Is it:

• finding childcare?
• Getting back on schedule?
• Managing after school activities?

For me, it’s getting back on schedule. I’ve been working out. A lot. Now that school is looming ahead of us, I am trying to figure out how to manage the evenings that will no doubt be filled with homework, karate classes and my gym time presumably.

So, tell me – what are you trying to figure out? Leave it in the comments and I will help!

Tune in next week for the beginning of my back to school series, including lunch ideas, dealing with teachers and managing the little free time you have.

Hey peeps!

One of the things I try to preach on Domestically Challenged is the benefit of effective time management techniques and skills. Here’s a great way to do that – use a planner. Any type of planner will work, so long as you put it to work for you.

Today, I have a review of a spectacular product to those of you who like to use paper planners. I use Google Calendar for my regular planning, but a paper planner for my writing and blogging notes and schedules. I am a planner junky, so getting to try a new one was fun. I was able to review a DotMine Day planner. Read on to see how to win your own planner!

This is the Dot Mine Day Planner:

Aren’t these adorable?

Here’s the one I reviewed:

My initial thought when I opened the package was “Impressive!” This is a sturdy planner that will hold up well to a purse or backpack, as well as regular daily use (you do use a planner daily, right?).

Another cool feature? The pocket at the back. It’s the perfect place to stash doctor’s notes, receipts and other notes that you might need to keep handy.

Once I finished checking out the basic features, I dove in. I am a former Franklin Covey user, so I *know* calendar systems. I decided that I liked the layout of this one right away.

This is the babysitter page. It allows you to fill out all the relevant info that a sitter would need. I like this – no more rewriting the notes each time we go out. It’s all in one spot.

For each month, you get a monthly calendar, like the one above and then one week per page afterwards.

There is also a basic overall seasonal planner. This would work for sports or music practice, for example. Highlight the times you are always busy and then you can see the times you have available quickly.

What’s to like about this planner:

• This is a biggie – each week has a list on the side, that is perforated. THIS MEANS YOU CAN RIP IT OUT AND NOT RUIN YOUR PLANNER. See what I mean? HUGE.
• Week at a glance – this makes it easy to see what you have going on – I personally like being able to look ahead to see what’s coming up.
• Style – this is a GREAT looking planner. Choose your style, flirty or sophisticated.
• It’s a mom owned company.
• They offer planners for families, professionals and students. There’s bound to be something there for you.

In all honesty, the only criticism I could come up with was the size. It might get a little heavy, but if you leave it in the car and then bring it into the house, you’d be fine.

Now, the most important part – how do you get your own?

EASY!

This drawing is for a DotMine planner. Winners may choose any planner that IS NOT a Borders Exclusive from the www.timemine.com site. This is open to U.S. residents

All you need to do is this:

1. You must leave a comment here with a valid email address.

That’s it! Would you like an additional entry? That’s easy too!

Additional Entry:

Tweet a link to this page (you can use the Tweet this button on the top of the page) – then leave a comment telling me that you did so.

A random winner will be picked on Saturday, March 5th at 8PM MST. Winners will be contacted via email and the product will be shipped directly from the company.

**The fine print**

This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. These views are my own. I did receive a planner to review in return for this blog post.

Which planner would you pick? Leave it in the comments for your chance to win!

Happy Monday peeps! I hope this finds you all doing well.

This was a tough week for me. I went into the dentist to get emergency dental work and found out that I need 2 root canals. Yes, you read that right. TWO. I brush twice a day, but apparently that isn’t enough for my soft teeth.

What really makes this an issue is my TMJ. I basically cannot hold my mouth open in order for dentists to do any work. I’m writing this post 3 days later and I am still taking ibuprofin around the clock to help take the edge off the pain and discomfort.

This means that in order to work on my teeth, they are going to have to completely sedate me. Not. Fun.

I am seeing a specialist this week and can hopefully wait this out until spring break.

To make matters worse, I had a cheat meal and a cheat day. I don’t really know what caused it. The cheat meal I do, because let’s be honest, I think people should give in once in a while and the meal came on the same day that I had the dentist appointment, so I missed two meals.

The problem was Sunday. I ate a lot of things I shouldn’t have. What bothered me most was that it was so easy to just slip back into old habits. We were out on a day trip and I planned ahead, but still made bad choices. To make myself feel less guilty, I made sure to do a shred workout once we got home and I didn’t eat dinner.

We are coming into my toughest time of year, so it will be even more inportant for me to rely on my support system. April 21 marks the 4th anniversary of my mom’s passing. Today we went to the land that she and my Dad purchased. That was tough.

My plan is to start Couch to 5k and then do Shred on the off days. My nutrition (with the exception of this past weekend) has dramatically improved, so I need to get more cardio in. And I’ve always wanted to be able to run more than 100 feet without hacking up a lung, so we’ll see how this goes.

How about you – how are you progressing towards your goals? How do you get back on the wagon, so to speak, when you stray? Leave it in the comments!

Hey peeps!

photo credit: freestockimages

I’ll give you a fitness update in a minute, but first I wanted to report a small victory.

Yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment. This is usually a source of intense anxiety due to one simple reason – the scale.

There is NOTHING like being a plus size woman and having to step on the scale in front of a health professional. It. Sucks.

So yesterday was different. Yesterday, I was able to get on the scale knowing that I had lost weight. Granted, my doctor was sick and didn’t comment, but who cares? Not me. I was ecstatic!

Here’s my workout plan right now:

30 Day Shred – On week 1. I may be here for a while, folks. I like this workout because it’s so short, but intense. I like the stuff Jillian says (and if you had told me 5 months ago that I would *like* Jillian and her methods, I would have thought you were smoking crack) during the routines – I find it helpful.

Nutrition – I am trying VERY hard to eat enough calories. I still find myself slipping into the old mentality of my mom’s thinking about eating the fewest calories possible.

Soda – Notice this one gets its own category? I am allowing myself a few a week to help with the feeling of deprivation.

And for the overall results: I have lost a total of 17 pounds!! I am THRILLED! I am almost at 20. | | this close.

I can’t wait. To be able to say that I have lost 20 pounds (and then more of course) is going to feel fantastic!

How is your fitness plan going? How do you fit in workouts? Leave it in the comments.