FreezEasy Programs

Y'all, I want to tell you about one of the BEST freezer cooking sites out there, FreezEasy! This site has some amazing monthly meal plans available, or you can also build your own plan based on your family's preferences. The greatest part is that she has something on the site for everyone's dietary needs - from Paleo to Whole Thirty - From Gluten-Free to Dairy Free... she has them all covered. Each recipe will also tell you how to swap out things where it's needed to make them fit your allergy or diet guidelines. You can also go, here, for a FREE Freezer Meal Success Guide.

The greatest part is that once you build your plan, you can immediately print out the shopping list, prep list, and get everything into your freezer within a couple hours of returning from the store! The genuis part of this site is that you can also adjust the size of the recipes to the number of portions you want - so it works great for small or larger families. 

I highly recommend joining this site, and taking advantage of all that freezer cooking can save you on those busy school nights... you can be prepped and ready as sports practices pick up and things get busier as the fall moves on. 

I've used this site for a long time, and have some recipes that have become tried and true family favorites -- the Pollo Asado -- is a GREAT addition to our recipe list. Another couple that we have loved has been the Lasagna Bake, and the Greek Chicken Bake. I'm working through some more of the freezer to Instant Pot meals right now because that is such a convenient way to prep meals rather than having to thaw it out in advance. If you're new to the Instant Pot style of cooking - there are also an Electric Pressure Cooking 101 class and the My Efficient Kitchen class offered as well. 

In addition to the regular freezer plans -- she also has a great resource in the Stork Your Freezer programs for new Moms. I would have LOVED to have been given a shower where people could have filled my freezer full of all sorts of meals for when my babies were born. There are so many ways to work this style of shower, but if I could have left meals for the new mommy while also coming home with some of my own... how GREAT would that be!? My vision for that would be to have people double up on a meal in their plan for the mom-to-be, and then take the rest home... and if every couple of guests chose a different meal plan... even better!

Here are the different meal plans to choose from for Stork Your Freezer Showers:

  
 



Last, but not least, Erin also has a Grocery Budget Makeover program that will rock your world. I've taken the course, and LOVED it. I'm still whittling down our budget, but I can't recommend this program enough to those that need it.

Intentional Bites

I want to tell you about an amazing new planner that is hitting the market very soon! I've got an advanced copy so that I can help get the word out about it. The Intentional Bites Planner is going to be a game changer!

The idea behind this planner is that no two bodies respond to the same things, and we all have our own challenges that we are trying to combat. Erin, the creator of the planner has a great video on the waiting list page that explains her inspiration. With this product, you can work through some planning pages to discover your goals, and then you can track your daily food intake as well as how you are feeling as you make necessary changes to your meals. In addition, you can track your grocery lists and meal plan both weekly and monthly!

I'm filling out my planner this weekend as I begin to uncover my new food goals in relation to my health journey. I am tired of trying every diet out there, no longer am I going to try to live my life around my diet... I'm going to change my eating plan to fit my life. I won't be cutting out entire food groups anymore -- I'll just learn how to work in the things that I want while continuing to work toward my goals.

I've done every diet in the book -- from the cabbage soup diet, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Atkins, and 21 Day Fix containers -- you name it... I've tried it. Some I was set up to fail from the very beginning with the ultra-restrictive nature and burn out... others just weren't good at preparing you for a life after their plan. I once begged for a plan for Christmas and failed it before the end of the first day because I was STARVING... so I ended that day gorging on pizza. I've felt every sort of sting of disappointment. Now it's time to try something completely different.

Does this sound like something you'd like to do too? Get yourself on the waiting list for the Intentional Bites Planner today! Then follow along on our journey to health here... in addition to using the planner - I'm reading the book Intuitive Eating so I'll be working through my overall food demons with that as well. I'll be posting pictures and more about our weekly intentional eating prep-work too!

Kitchen Hacks

I am working really hard these days on getting more and more efficient - I've got lots to say on this as I simplify and set up new practical systems within my home. Below you'll find 3 things that I've used to help get me on the right track!



My first main kitchen hack is using the My FreezEasy system for getting meals into my freezer on a regular basis to tame dinner time! There are so many options to choose from within this system. The basic plan puts out 8 new menus a month with several different dietary options to chose from 20 meals, traditional, slow cooker, gluten-free, clean eats,  -- there is also a chicken only, pork chop only, and ground beef only plans. The premium membership allows you to make your own plans from scratch (what I do most often), swap meals from the monthly menus with family favorites, and you get new menus each month. There is also the mobile app that you can use from your phone!

My second hack is the ALL NEW My Efficient Kitchen Class that Erin has developed. Are you stressed out about all the things that are needed from you in the kitchen? Are you ready to tame the witching hour? Want to learn some great time-saving tips from a busy mom of 4 active boys? This is the class for you. 

Here is what you get from your $19 investment:

• 11 Short, But Impactful Lessons so you can watch when you have a few minutes, and absorb all the wisdom and practical tips

• Downloadable Worksheets for the Lessons so you can fully digest the material and make decisions on what to change or tweak next

• Simple Strategies for Purpose-Filled Kitchen so you can get to the dinner table without losing your mind

• Definition of Overwhelm so you can recognize when it’s coming and then push through it

• Clarity on Decision Fatigue and how it affects your brain at the witching hour

• Make the One Step Ahead Concept a Part of Your Daily Routine so you never feel like you’re spinning backward

• In-depth Look at the Greatest Cooking Hacks so you can figure out what will help you best (where you are right now)

• Immediate & Continued Access to the class so you can get started right away and come back to review or refresh at any time

After learning what Erin has to say about Instant Pots (Electric Pressure Cookers) -- you may also want to check out her Electric Pressure Cooking 101 class -- Here is what your $12 investment gets you: 

Journey to Better Health

There honestly hasn't been a year in my adult life that I haven't set a goal for better health... but I truly believe that this year, I can make it happen. I want to make small changes and be better overall... not just lose weight.

I'm going to give the Shred Revolutionary Diet a try this year. I've read through this book and the Cookbook as well... I've loved them both!

 

The plan seems like it might really work for me because it's a 6 week cycle, and each week is very different. So for someone that likes plans that offer variations at the same time as they spell out what you should do for the best results... this is right up my alley! 

I additionally plan to use the Core De Force workout plan at least for the first month of my workouts... I used 21 Day Fix for the better part of the fall and I loved it as well. I tried Country Heat too, but I'm just not much of a dancer... so it didn't really work well for me -- don't get me wrong, it is a lot of fun - it's just not my favorite plan. If you're more interested in something you can live stream into your living room -- you should check out BeachBody On Demand.

In addition to these things -- I'm going to step up my water intake, and do my best to try to get my medications under control. So I'm going to be working toward getting my health to a place that will allow for my doctor to decrease my chronic medications tapered down to a level that is less and less each time I go to see my doctor. 

I experienced that in November when my doctor lowered one of my medications based on my eating well and working out so consistently for the several months before I went to see her.

Goals for 2017

It's 2017 y'all! I'm so excited to have turned the page on the year and to have a fresh start. I don't know why everything feels fresh and new magically on January 1st, but there is just something about the start of a new calendar year that gives me a whole new hope for doing things better and being stronger.

Well, this year I've got a new tool in my belt -- it's called Powersheets! I'll have a link down below to check out to see if there are any left for you to get them. If there aren't -- you should ABSOLUTELY go over and check out Lara Casey's Blog -- grab a notebook and DIY yourself some powersheets!

I wanted to take some time and share what I came up with for my goals this year... but I want to start with Lara's overarching words for this year that we are all about Progress over Perfection. I couldn't have said that any better than she did. So with that said -- my word for 2017 is: JOURNEY!

I want to embrace all of the ups and downs that come along with setting goals for the year... which I have often let derail my goals in the past. I've so often started something, had a hiccup along the way and let that completely stop the entire process.

My main goal for this year is to NOT let those hiccups take away from the good progress that is happening in my life.

So I worked through the entire prep work section of the Powersheets and ended up with these goals.

(feel free to click on this to get a better look)

These are the 10 things that I'm working on this year -- or at least for this first season of 2017. Every 3 months there is a goal refresh process that you can work through to make sure that your goals haven't changed a bit over time. If they have - then you can change them up a bit and keep going... 

Once you've written your goals for the year out -- which you can have as many or as few as you want... then you make an action plan for each of them. 

I chose this goal to show you the action plan -- just because I wanted to show an example and I thought that this one is the most important for the year. I also bought a new bible for my work this year... 

 

This One Year Chronological Bible is on sale right now and it's the NLT version so it's going to be pretty practical. I love that it also has some adult coloring spaces as well for you to get a little creative and spend some time soaking in the Word of the Lord. Mine should be here by the middle of next week -- so I'll be working hard to get caught up to the daily reading for whatever day it delivers, by pouring into it for a few days. 

After your action plan is written in your Powersheets for each Goal -- then you fill out your monthly tending list -- which is a place for you to write in your Monthly, Weekly, and Daily tasks that will help you accomplish progress toward your goals. 

This is my Tending List for January -- and I LOVE that it has a progress bar for the monthly goals, then a checkbox for the weekly and daily goals. I'm already loving seeing the check marks getting placed in the boxes. 

If you see down at the bottom there that nothing is happening with my first 3 daily goals... well, that's because I also am in the process of reading about a new lifestyle plan that my sister uses along with her Beachbody workout systems... so I'm going to give it a shot. I just may wait another week or so to get it all planned out. I'm planning to go visit my mom for a few days a week from Monday -- so I will likely not hit the ground running with this plan until the last week of the month, but I do plan to start working out again next week and getting more water in... and making healthier choices with food once we are back into our other routines. 

I'll write more about what I'm planning to do here in a few more days -- once I've finished the book! 

Use this link below to check out the shop where all of these amazing Powersheets and other items can be found. There isn't a thing on their site that I don't have on my wish list!

New Year, New Me

This year, I've decided to try the Trim Healthy Mama Plan - and totally revamp the way that my family looks at food. For years we have done the no carb thing -- or left off some food group in the hope that we could get healthier. This year, I think I've found the secret that I've been looking for.

It's not about complete elimination of a food group all together, but just changing the way that you combine and fuel your body. This has amazing promise to help not only with trimming our waistlines, but also helping with lessening my chronic illnesses as well! So if you're out there wondering how to help reverse the insulin resistance or diabetes that is plaguing your body... I'm telling you that you owe it to yourself to check this book out and read it with a new outlook on eating.

There is still much to learn from this book in my journey, but we are starting this week with breakfasts and snacks -- then next week we will add in lunches, and finally in week 3 we will add in dinners... somewhere in there we will also add in exercise too.

I sat there over the weekend basically feeling completely overwhelmed by the meal planning aspect of this plan -- mainly because I want to make sure that we have everything we need on hand instead of being caught off-guard and needing to make bad choices just for the sake of serving a meal. When I finally found someone else's guide to starting the plan -- I found my saving grace. I was sitting there dumbfounded over needing to plan all of this out... but then I realized that it was going to be okay to just get one or 2 meals a day planned for this first week.

I'm also working on adding more water to my daily intake. I've cut WAY back on Cokes and Dr. Peppers -- but I want to get them completely gone again like they were at the end of the summer. I've only had one here any there since I quit them in July... but they really aren't good for you so I'd like to get them cut completely. If you're sitting there thinking that you can't possibly live without them -- just know that I was right there with you initially. I didn't think there was a world without having one every other day or so... but I'm here to tell you that I really don't miss them much at all when I'm not on them. I think I had one craving which is where I initially had one, but I really didn't enjoy it like I did before... so trust me there is a world afterwards.

I made this document for meal planning with Trim Healthy Mama -- so I'm going to add the image to this page, but if you find that it is not in a good printable format -- please contact me, and I'd be thrilled to share it with you! 

My other main addition for 2016 so far has been that I'm doing a Bible reading challenge with my family -- my sisters & Dad are on board with me -- and we are reading 3 chapters of the New Testament each day for 90 days -- which will get us from Matthew through Revelations by the end of March. We are only on day 4 -- so please feel free to jump in with us, and let me know that you're reading with us so that I can check in with you from time to time. We are using the Bible Progress app to track our progress -- it's a free Apple app -- but I'd bet there is one for Android phones as well.

My final 2016 goal for now to share with you... is that I'm going to do my level best to be back on this ol' blog of mine as much as possible. Right now my goal is to post at least every weekday, but I'd like to get back to doing it daily as part of my regular routine... so bare with me while I knock the old cob webs off this site, and my fingers... I hope that you'll like where our journey on this page is about to take us, and that you'll jump in to let me know that you're here with us! 

Bulk Freezer Cooking - Cooking Day

By now you've planned your menu, done your bulk shopping, and have had your prep time. Hopefully you've got all of the kitchen supplies that you'll need for this bulk cooking extravaganza. I have more cooking supplies than most, and even I found myself amazed at the sheer volume of things I was able to get dirty in one session.

Seriously, there cannot be too many cooking spoons, measuring spoons, measuring cups, and mixing bowls in your house... the more the better for an adventure like this! In some cases, and for some menus -- you'll even need two crockpots -- so you may need to plan ahead and borrow one from someone.

Make sure you print all of your cooking day instructions AND recipe cards. I taped the cooking day instructions to my cabinet so that I could check them off each time I finished a step. A good thing to note too: the cooking instructions are set up so that you will get through the most complicated portions of the cooking first and save the simpler tasks for the end of the day. Had I planned and prepped accordingly -- my first cooking day would have gone a bit smoother.

When it comes down to your cooking day - remember these tips:

1) Get a good nights sleep & plan to wake up early to get started.

2) If possible, get a baby sitter or mother's helper to come in and take care of any littles at home.

3) Wear your best supportive shoes, because you literally will be on your feet for a good 8-10 hours.

4) Document your experience so that you will learn from your own mistakes.

5) Take notes so that you'll know if there are things you would change in how you managed this process.

6) Follow the instructions to the letter, and label each item as it gets packed. With the recipe labels provided or with a Sharpie. Include the date on your bags for the freezer so that you'll know how long it's been in there.

7) Remember that these recipes are for the main dish -- so you will need some refresher items from the store, and side dish plans for the meals as needed.

They've even included a sheet you can pin up somewhere in your kitchen that tells you how to thaw things for you to be able to prepare them or just eat them in some cases.

That is how it's done! Now, I can safely tell you that we've been eating on these meals for over two weeks as planned -- I think we will at the very least get one more full week out of them, and then we will be ready to do another round of cooking. Isn't that exciting? It is for me... I haven't had to think of a meal to cook for dinner in over 2.5 weeks!!

If you think that this plan is something you might want to do for your own house -- you can even start with a mini plan which is only 5-6 meals to give it a try. If you want to try it out go to: Once a Month Meals, and decide which plan is for you. The regular membership has menus for 9 different dietary restrictions, but they can't be edited. The Pro membership (what I got) you can edit and swap out the recipes on the menus for anything in the database of thousands of recipes.

If you are just finding this post -- Here is the post on Planning, Here is the post on Shopping, and Here is the post on Prepping.

I hope that this helps everyone get on top of their cooking, and gives you some valuable time back in your evenings!! Enjoy!

Clean Eating - Week 2 Update

I'm still trying to catch my stride with this, and after taking my family with me to the grocery store - I am now more convinced of three things:

1) I will do my best to always shop alone in the future!
2) The grocery store can be overwhelming for a person trying to change some serious lifelong eating habits.
3) My family is definitely hooked on these bad choices, and it will take some time to get them out of our house for good.

That last one, I'm fine with because I didn't set out for this to be an over night process. I think every change is a change in the right direction and good for us. I chose my battles today, and let most of the things my husband threw in the cart go because I'd rather not fight about it and just gradually show him a healthier way of eating by making the changes with our meals.

That's not to say that he isn't on board with this plan that I've cooked up, he just wasn't on board with paying $6.99 for organic strawberries -- which I'm okay with at this point. I'd rather the boys eat strawberries than nothing at all - so we went with the regular produce this time around.

I'm trying to make more fresh meals with vegetables added in right now, and this week we're having - stuffed bell peppers, chicken & vegetable stir fry, taco salads, spinach lasagna roll ups, and marinated pork chops with roasted veggies. I'm pretty happy with that right now because one thing that I can say is that I was much more intentional with my planning of meals.

What has been happening in the past has been a bad combination of trying to throw it together at the last minute, and it being after a meal -- so the combo of me being full while it being late at night -- I really haven't cared what was on the meal plan lately - it was more about getting it done so I could go to bed. This week was different - I wasn't exhausted, and I looked around at several sites while choosing our menu. The meals on this plan are things that are familiar, but might be tweaked in a small way... some won't be tweaked, but it's all a learning process.

I said that the grocery store can be overwhelming... and I'm not kidding. When you think about changing habits - it's not easy to make that work if you aren't constantly vigilant with your choices. Reading labels isn't easy when you have two toddlers with you... so that's a lesson learned that for the time being they can't be a part of these trips. More so for the fact that they aren't patient than anything else -- and momma needs some time to figure out what the best choices are for our family.

I did try some new things this week - I found some new chicken nuggets for the boys to try - they probably aren't perfectly clean (well, I know they aren't because they were processed in some way) -- but they are better than the ones we were getting for them. Until I can get on top of this and make my own -- I feel better about giving them this because it's real pieces of chicken instead of a pressed product.

I hope that they will eat them and not notice the difference, but Tyler is so reluctant to try anything different. 99% of the time he enjoys it, but it's a HUGE fight to get him to try things. I wonder if he just doesn't trust us or if it's a phase of some sort. He will even pick out veggies if we try to hide them on his fork, whereas James hasn't met a veggie or fruit he didn't like for the most part. I made them a meal last week with a spinach & alfredo sauce on pasta and chicken... James ate it without any problem while Tyler picked all the spinach off of every bite before he'd eat it.

Any one out there with good toddler friendly clean recipes -- let me know! I'm going to keep trying. Most of the time they eat before John and I do -- so convenience foods were a lot of their diet, with a fruit & vegetable at every meal. I'm transitioning them as much as I can to eating the same meal that John and I are - even if it's as leftovers the next day.

I wish I could make them healthy paninis and things like that, but James doesn't really like bread  which makes sandwiches problematic. Any help with meals that have worked for your family would be awesome - send them my way!

New Year a New Us

I've been thinking lately that we needed to make some changes for our health... and for the boys too. So we've decided to give clean eating a try... what does that mean exactly? For us, it will be a slow gradual change over time -- so I will share my plans for that as well...

Let me start by telling ya'll, I NEVER thought that I'd ever be headed down this path. For a long time, my sister has been following her own version of this plan -- and I thought she was nuts. Here is the thing, this is a plan where you can customize it for your own family every step of the way. So, I'm taking the plunge - and sharing it with you!

Let me share what I've learned so far from reading an excellent book! (the photos are links to the books on Amazon -- where I got them!) It's not often that I sit down with my iPad and a computer to take notes from a book, but I've gotten two pages of notes out of 2 chapters so far... and I'm enjoying it. I'm such a nerd!

 

I've also gotten this book to read next! (the photo is a link to the book on Amazon)

I have several others planned for purchase, but I'll share those as I read them and get going.

What I've gotten from the Dummies book has been amazing -- I know that I feel like a dork buying those books, but they are easy to read and typically have some great information in them -- so give it a try if you're interested.

The basics of the plan are:

Eat whole, unrefined, and unprocessed foods that are low on the food chain
Eat a wide variety of unprocessed foods
Avoid artificial substances: including artificial flavorings, colors, preservatives, and sweeteners
Cut back on sugars, especially processed sugars like high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners
Avoid trans fats and artificial fat substitutes
Choose low-fat, but not nonfat dairy products
Choose foods that are nutrient dense
Combine protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats at every meal for the most satisfaction
Drink LOTS of water
Eat 5-6 mini-meals a day rather than 3 large ones
Practice portion control, especially when you eat more than 3 meals a day

 These seem like simple changes to make - especially in the age of Pinterest - I've seen tons of recipes and things to try for meals, but also for spice mixes and even things like condensed soup alternatives. For us, I do think that there will still be some convenience items in the mix, but I'll try to use these guidelines for choosing the best options available: 

Choosing packaged foods:
Read the labels
Bread – make sure it only has 5-7 ingredients
If you can’t pronounce, spell, or understand ingredients – don’t buy it
Avoid foods with sugar, processed ingredients, or fat as the first or second ingredient on the label
Choose foods that are low on the food chain

Did you know that all of these additives we've been fed over the years are like addictive drugs? Literally, our bodies react to them like they would heroin... and I believe it too. I know that I've been programmed to prefer certain things over healthier options, but I'm here to tell you that I'm going to give all my effort to correcting that for my family. I want the boys to choose healthier options, but know reasonably that sometimes we're going to have slip ups. 

I'm not trying to deprive us of anything either - my philosophy is that if it's something we want -- I'll find a way to make it myself with whole ingredients. I'd much rather be able to control what is going into my family than just blindly taking what manufacturers offer us. I say that with a food manufacturer being our sole source of income... I know that John's company is not the evil food manufacturer that people often make them out to be, and I will continue to use their products -- mainly because they make rice - which is not as processed as one might think. I just plan to use more of their whole grain brown rice products.

I digress... 

Here is the plan for us -- 

6 Degrees of Clean Eating:
20% - Start by changing 1 meal in a 5 day week to a clean meal
40% - Add another clean meal a week to your plan
50% - Try to make the majority of your meals/food choices clean, but room for some slip ups
60% - Most foods are clean, but you still have processed foods 2-3 days a week
80% - The majority of your foods/meals are clean, but you have room for the occasional bottled pasta sauce or bakery bread
100% - Eating entirely clean

This week, I will be trying out three new clean eating recipes while I continue to do more research and planning. Next week, I'll add more.  My ultimate goal will likely be the 80% range... because I want to be realistic with myself that things will get busy and no one is perfect.

This week's focus is to drink more water, and eat more veggies/fruits. Next week, we'll add it something else. I'll be making green smoothies for the boys and I, and trying out a few items I found in the organic/health food section of our store.

I will be adding in exercise and other healthier things over time too. While weight loss is certainly a goal for me, I just want to make healthy choices and do things that I can keep up with over time. I am focusing on the choices more than numbers on a scale. My goals are bigger than that because mainly, I want to have the healthiest family that I can -- I want to stop my diabetes from controlling my body, and prevent the boys from ever having to worry about their blood sugars (if possible). I also want to make sure that I have the energy to keep up with two crazy boys, and hopefully a third child in the not to distant future. 

Stay tuned, and join in this journey with us -- if you want to join along, let me know... if you just want to read, that's great too!