Overcompensating...

I was perhaps feeling a little guilty about how many sweets I consumed the other day, so yesterday I reminded myself of a few key things:

• when you're snacky, try a glass of water first
• eat at 6 SET times a day, don't graze all day long
• try more veggies as snacks, and less baking.    

I did fine most of the day, I'm happy to report... and lunch turned out to be a veggie feast!  I was also trying to clear out leftovers from the fridge, and had a big package of fresh spinach that didn't get used in it's intended recipe, so this is what I made:

Mmmm... a yummy green smoothie!  It's the first time I've tried something like this, and was pleasantly surprised.  I used frozen mixed berries, thawed just a bit, strawberry yogurt, 2/3 of a banana (keeping the rest for N's lunch) and a whole bunch of spinach.  I used the 1/3 spinach, 2/3 other stuff ratio.  I blended it, then tasted it, and because I couldn't taste the spinach AT ALL, I added more.  Not because I wanted to taste it, but because if I couldn't taste it, I should add more for the healthy factor.  Then a touch of milk to get it to the perfect consistency and voila!  Paired with leftover carrot salad and leftover asparagus, it was a slightly veggie heavy meal.  And really tasty.

Of course N wanted to try - he liked the first taste, so I poured a little into a bowl and spoon fed it like soup to go along with his banana.

Speaking of healthy, I sent an extra snack in M's lunch because she had a basketball game after school; when I asked what she'd like, she requested a bran muffin.  Yep, this recipe's a keeper!  I had one at my friend Suzanne's last week, requested the recipe and made it the next day.  I copied it from her fb message and popped it into Plan to Eat, and recipes there come with a share on blog button... how handy!  So here it is, click, done!:

Apple Bran Muffins

Source: Suzanne Beckel

Course: Snacks and Sandwiches

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 6 Tbsp margarine melted
• 3 Tbsp molasses
• 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup finely chopped peeled apple
• 3/4 cup raisins

Directions

1. Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Combine second five ingredients then stir into liquid ingredients. Mix well.
3. Stir apples and raisins into other mixture.
4. Spoon into 12 greased or lined muffin cups.
5. Bake at 400 for 17-23 minutes or until set. Cool & enjoy!

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Menu Planning: Solved!

I don't generally have a hard time with menu planning, except that there are only about a month's worth of meals we like and so juggling meals so we only eat them once a month sometimes takes skill.  My posts on menus are here, including our standard 4 week rotation.

Normally I do my planning Monday morning, but because of a Sunday afternoon Costco run, Sean was at the table with me Saturday night when I was making up the menu for the week.  He commented that there must be some online tool to keep your recipes in that would automatically generate a shopping list based on all the ingredients needed - he has some good thoughts, that man!  I'm sure there are a few, but there is one that I'm familiar with, and it's pretty slick.

It's called Plan to Eat, and it's got a place for all your recipes (adding them is even easy!), a drag and drop menu planner, and a grocery store assistant for your mobile.  I first heard about it through Kat at Inspired to Action - I've mentioned her before because of her Prayer Calendar for Mothers that I use every day (via twitter).  She had posted about it in the fall and I had checked it out then; I was impressed, but didn't feel I needed it at the time.  I still don't feel like I have a big need for change in this area, but I have been wondering how I can better organize the recipes we do use, and low and behold, Kat is this week offering a Meal Planning Boot Camp - walking people who want to use the site through it with tutorials and assignments and stuff.  I wanted to let you know about it in case it might be something you are needing to help organize and simplify your life.

The nitty gritty:  Using Plan to Eat costs $4.95 per month or $39 a year, but there is a free one month trial, and there is a coupon for 30% off on Kat's site.  So it's quite reasonable.

Check out Plan to Eat.

Check out the overview for the Meal Planning Boot Camp.  It's only day 2, so you can still jump in without having too much homework to catch up on!

Let me know if you jump on the wagon - I'll add you as a friend over there and check out your recipes.  :)