4th Annual Spring Clean Challenge

Get ready for this year’s 4th Annual Spring Clean Challenge.

It begins April 2, 2012!

There will be print outs and homework and heartwork… So plan ahead!
We will have discussion here on Weekdays (Monday – Friday). You can report your progress, discuss questions you have, or share insights you have discovered.

Plus! We will be giving away some great FREE PRIZES!! To enter to win, just comment on your progress and discuss the daily devotions each day!

Menu Plan Monday

We’ve been sick with a nasty cold the last few days. Thankfully, I think we are on the tail end of it. Needless to say the last couple of days I haven’t done much cooking and menu planning made me really hungry. So, at 7:30 p.m. tonight I decided to get up and cook something yummy.

Also, is it just me, or have you found the most amazing recipes through Pintrest? You really must check out my “Recipes to Try” board on Pintrest.

Like this photo of Lemon Merigue Pie!!! Which has inspired me to make a Lemon Meringue Pie with a Double Meringue for our Sabbath Evening Meal on Friday. Gorgeous!

Source: flickr.com via Melissa on Pinterest

 

Sunday:

B – Cereal and Soy Milk

S – Veggie Hot Dogs and Homemade French Fries

 

Monday:

B – Cereal with Soy Milk

L -Fettuccine Alfredo

S -Indian Chickpeas, Rice, Asparagus with Rosemary Citrus Butter

 

Tuesday:

B – Bagels and Gluten Free Brazilian Cheese Bread with Cream Cheese

L – Crockpot Enchiladas, Black Bean Salad, and Guacamole

S – Cabbage and Onions, Mashed Potatoes, Pimento Cheese Fritters with Homemade Apple Pepper Jelly
Wednesday:

B – Sourdough Blueberry Muffins and Scrambled Eggs

L – French Lentils, Garlic Cheese Biscuits, Steamed Cauliflower

S – Cornbread Pancakes with Honey Butter Syrup, Fried Eggs

 

Thursday:

B -English Muffin Sandwiches, Grapefruit

L – Crockpot Taco Soup, Salad

S – Stewed Tomatoes and Rice, Salad

 

Friday:

B – Cheese Grits or Cream of Wheat

L – Homemade Gouda Cheese Crackers, Salad, Boiled Eggs

S – Tacos, Lemon Meringue Pie with a Double Meringue

 

Sabbath:

B -Cereal, Yogurt

L – Potluck: Oatmeal “Meatloaf”, Sweet Pickled Apples, Scalloped Potatoes

S – Leftovers

Snacks:

This week we’ll be eating lots of citrus – a few bushels oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit that need to be eaten before they go bad now that spring has sprung.

Baking:

I’ll be busy every afternoon baking Brazilian Cheese Bread, Sourdough Blueberry Muffins, Amish Sourdough Sandwich Bread, Gouda Cheese Crackers, and Double Lemon Meringue Pie.

 

Be sure to check out Organizing Junkie for hundreds of ideas for your meal planning!

What are you eating this week?

Menu Plan

Sometimes I really hate menu planning. I love to cook. I love to eat. I love feeding my sweet family food they love to eat. But sometimes actually coming up with what to eat is a real chore. Needless to say, menu planning is very helpful because it is even more of a chore to figure out what we are eating five minutes before everyone is ready to eat.

I must be tired this afternoon. Mentally tired. Maybe because we are currently working on high school math in our homeschool and its 4:30 in the afternoon.

Lately, rather, the last few months, I have had to spend even more time in the kitchen. Sometimes I feel like I spend at least six hours a day in the kitchen  (sometimes more) just cooking and cleaning. Since Sarah has gone wheat free and mostly vegan for her health I have to prepare two of everything, very often, and it takes forever. Gluten free foods cost so much, we can’t afford for everyone to eat them. So when we have pasta, I make a separate dish for her. It’s okay. I really don’t mind. I love her more than anything in the world and spending more time preparing food is soooo worth her feeling healthy and normal.

Here’s my latest attempt at making a yummy gluten free sandwich bread:

Unfortunately, it tasted gross. I have not yet found a sandwich bread using gluten free flour that tastes good. I was excited about this recipe because I had made pizza crust for her and that turned out nice and tasted good as a pizza and had a good texture. So, I thought, why not try it as a loaf of bread? Yuck. I don’t know. I am planning to try making my own Brown Rice Flour Mix soon. Something about the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour is just not appealing, the smell, the taste, the texture. Sorry! I think I prefer the King Arthur Brand Gluten Free flour, but unfortunately, we bought several ( a lot ) of the Bob’s Red Mill flour when it was on closeout at Big Lots, because the price was so much lower than at the health food store. So, I need to find a way to use it up. Maybe some sweet breads would taste better.

Anyway, back to the whole cooking and meal planning thing…

The fact remains, cooking takes time. For instance, my husband requested Lasagna last night, which Sarah cannot eat. I hate for her to feel neglected without just as delicious food to eat, so I made her a single dish of Eggplant Parmesan. It took me about three hours to get dinner on the table. We’ll have Eggplant Parmesan again (all of us later in the week).

There are days when I really want to just have something quick and easy like hot dogs or veggie burgers, but since she can’t have them, I try to keep prepared meals in the freezer for her. Like her favorite enchiladas, gluten free pizza crust and toppings, gluten free oatmeal patties that can be eaten with gravy, rice

So here’s the rundown for this week:

Sunday:

B- Tea Towel Biscuits with Milk Gravy  and Spelt Biscuits with Tomato Gravy (for Sarah)

D – Vegetable Lasagna, Salad, Fresh French Green Beans with Fingerling Potatoes (Eggplant Parmesan for Sarah)

Monday:

B – Krispy Kreme Doughnuts ( a very rare treat)

L – Leftovers

S – Fruit, Cream of Wheat

Tuesday:

B – Sourdough Blueberry Muffin, Scrambled Eggs

L – Southern Fried Tofu (from Earth Fare in Johnson City, TN – its amazing!), Fresh French Green Beans, Cornbread, Mashed Rutabagas

S – Salad with Boiled Eggs and Beer Bread Toast

Wednesday:

B -Oatmeal with dried fruit, walnuts, and soymilk

L – Eggplant Parmesan, Salad, Garlic Cheese Biscuits

S – Leftovers, Cereal

Thursday:

B – Toast and Fried Eggs, Veggie Sausages

L – Chickpea Salad Sandwiches (tastes like Tuna), Fruit

S – Pancakes, Pecan Oatmeal “Sausage,” Tangerines

Friday:

B – Cereal, Yogurt, Toast

L – Fruit, PB&J Sandwiches

S – Black Bean Soup, Cornbread

Sabbath:

B – Cereal

L – Potluck – Oatmeal Meatloaf, Pickled Apples, Scalloped Potatoes

S – Leftovers
Desserts:

Georgia’s Cornmeal Pie with a Spelt Pie Crust

Strawberry Pretzel Salad (made with gluten free pretzels)

Raw Vegan Chocolate Cream Cake

Baking: 

Amish Friendship Sandwich Bread (gluten free experiment and wheat flour versions)

Spelt Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits

Beer Bread

If you didn’t notice, in an effort to be healthier as a family, help myself and my husband lose a little weight, we are eating our biggest meal at the lunch hour and a lighter meal in the evening when your metabolism slows down.

What are you cooking this week? Be sure to stop by Organizing Junkie for hundreds of ideas for meal planning!

Mason Jars

Have you missed me? This summer flew by, oh wait, summer been over for… weeks! Yes, fall is quickly passing me by as well it seems. I have had next to no time for my blog or website, much to my great disappointment. But I have learned over the years – 10 years blogging – that life needs to come first, family needs to come first. So I live by that rule when it comes to computer time. Anyway… here is a nifty little tip.

I love Mason Jars. I mean, really, what’s not to love? I use them for drinking, food storage, canning, flower vases, organizing, and more.

I have purchased quite a few boxes of Ball plastic lids for my Mason Jars. I love them. I can’t seem to get enough of them. But then I discovered that your typical mayonnaise jar and some peanut butter jar plastic lids fit a regular mouth Mason Jar. Talk about frugal and recycling at the same time!

52 Weeks of Organizing – Week #3

This weekend was busy. Not only did we have a twelve hour day on Sabbath at church, but after we got home, we went to Jeremiah’s house for a late supper and played Settler’s of Catan until nearly 2 a.m.! Needless to say this morning I wanted to sleep in late and then while my husband went to fetch our two older girls who went to  Acrofest at Highland Academy, I watched a couple of Hallmark movies and worked on A Virtuous Woman for a few hours.

Tonight, I processed two more batched of apples – Unsweetened Applesauce and some Apple Butter. I am about to go to bed. We have school tomorrow!

So, what did I get done this week for my 52 Weeks of Organization? I cleaned out one of my china cupboards. I didn’t think to take a before picture, but it was pretty cluttered. It had become home to more than just dishes! I am pretty happy with the end results, though. I love pretty dishes!

Be sure to check what others are doing to get organized over at Organizing Junkie!

52 Weeks of Organizing – Week #2

I had a burst of energy tonight… I guess snuggling in bed with sick children watching a good movie is refreshing after all! So, after cooking supper and cleaning the kitchen, I decided to tackle one of my kitchen pantry cabinets.

I don’t usually show before pictures, just because, well you know. It’s embarrassing! But, I figured this would be good for the soul. Last year was incredibly busy – even for me. So, while the main areas of the house stay reasonably neat, the closets and cupboards are another story!

This is one of the cabinets that I store my bulk foods in.

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As you can see it was very disorganized! You can also see my peeling paint with the old yellow paint showing through. This has to be one of the biggest discouragements for me ever! I spent weeks painting my kitchen and all the cupboards inside and out only to discover after I was done that the paint was peeling because the original paint was oil based. I haven’t had the energy or the heart to redo it. Oh well.

I finished the cabinet fairly quickly and I feel really good about the end results!

What have you done this week to organize your home? You can find lots more ideas over at Organizing Junkie!

52 Weeks of Organization – Week #1

I have mentioned in the past few weeks my quest to live a simpler, uncluttered life. When I came across 52 Weeks of Organization over at Organizing Junkie, I knew this was exactly what I needed to participate in! My quest is not only get organized, but to also make my home work better for me. You know how you move into a house and your organize your stuff where you think the stuff should go and then as time goes on you realize that the glasses would be better in another cabinet and that you really don’t like your Christmas stuff in the large attic but want to move them to the smaller attic? I have been feeling that way about my whole house the last few weeks. I am on a mission to streamline my home!

So, here is my list:

Scratched Out – completed.
Italicized - in progress.

1. Organize bulk foods in kitchen cupboard.
2. Rearrange dishes in butler’s pantry.
3. Organize two refrigerators and one chest freezer and plan menus to use up older food.
4. Clean out linen closet.
5. Reorganize shelves in green bathroom.
6. Clean out blanket chest.
7. Clean out bedroom closet.
8. Sort all clothes in storage/attic by size and purge unwanted items.
9. Reorganize holiday decorations.
10. Sort and organize recipe collection.
11. Clean out my dresser.
12. Clean out and organize Hannah and Laura’s bedroom closet.
13. Clean out small dresser in yellow bathroom.
14. Clean out drawers in dressing room.
15. Reorganize downstairs bookcase.
16. Clean out and reorganize craft closet.
17. Clean out and reorganize school closet.
18. Purge cookbook stash.
19. Reorganize laundry room.
20. Reorganize china cupboard.
21. Make a dedicated spot for writing letters.
22. Clean out and reorganize card catalog.
23. Clean out and organize yarn basket and find a better way to store them.
24. Sort, organize, and purge old music records.
25. Clean out office cabinet in bedroom.
26. Organize scrapbooking stuff.
27. Clean out, reorganize, and purge game closet.
28. Clean out, organize, and inventory storage closet.
29. Inventory and organize fabric stash.
30. Donate old toys to Community Center.
31. Donate magazines to hospital.
32. Reorganize food storage.
33. Better organized home canned foods.
34. Organize the junk drawers.
35. Organize cupboard in laundry room.

I am thinking this list, should I pull it off this year will make me quite happy. And seeing as some of these chores will take me more than one week, I think I will stop there for now. You never know though, I may add to the list later! Phew!

The Pretty, Practical Notebook Dividers

Organize your Household Notebook/ Planner with these pretty, practical Dividers and Tabs! Just print onto cardstock, cut out, and insert into your notebook. Perfect for homeschooling moms! Included in this package are 26 Household Planner Dividers and over 50 Homeschool Planner Dividers!

Price: $19.95
Sale: $12.95 Available for Purchase on CurrClick.com

Spring Clean, Year ‘Round: Product Review

Spring Clean Year ‘Round

I received this lovely tin in the mail today! It is made by a very creative lady who has developed a clever system for keeping up with all the major chores around your house! No more big spring cleaning! Instead, you can do a little every day of the year!

Most of us don’t really enjoy the cleaning part. There are a few chores that I do enjoy, but mostly I just do what I need to do because… well, because I need to. According to Travis, Spring Clean Year Round designer, you can keep your house “spring clean” clean in just 15 minutes a day! Now that sounds like a deal to me!

How does it work?

The system is divided into daily, weekly, and monthly chores. Each day you pull out a card and do the chores suggested. You then return the card to the tin to rotate it.

Here’s what Travis says about her system:

“This system includes most common chores necessary to keep your home “spring clean” year round. It is not exhaustive and therefore blank cards are included for your personalization. It does not include the daily grind kind of chores like washing clothes or cleaning up after dinner. The frequency at the top of the card can easily be changed to suit your personal needs.”

The tin is sooo cute, which just makes you want to use it. I mean, if you have to clean, why not make it fun, right? Also, the individual cards are really pretty, too! Some other things I like about this system are:

• each card is labeled weekly, monthly, or yearly
• each card has a helpful hints
• each card lists the tools you will need for that chore
• each card has an “age appropriate” suggestion so you can have your kids help
• and did I mention it’s pretty?

I know you will love this Work-at-Home-Mom creation! You can purchase Spring Clean Year ‘Round from Travis on her website.