Lunches June 2-6

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a post about a guy who makes a week of lunches which are both healthy and cheap.  So for the last couple of weeks I have been following suit. (You can see my original post with links to his instagram site on my post "a week of lunches")

One of the biggest issues I have been having has been making enough food for 10 lunches (for me and the hubs).  This week however I think I have hit the jackpot.  I made pasta with meatballs and half a stuffed pepper.

First we will start with the meatballs.  I used a package of ground pork and a pack of ground turkey.

I mixed all the ingredients up and started forming tiny meatballs.  I ended up getting about 50-60 meatballs which was a great amount of meat for the lunches.

I baked them off in the oven and started on preparing the  next part of my lunches, the stuffed peppers.  I was using the recipe/idea from my friend S.  She told me what was in the ones that her hubby makes her and I sorta just winged it from there.

I didn't take any pics of the pepper processes, but it was a simple filling of feta cheese, cream cheese and homemade parsley pesto (I couldn't find basil to save my life this weekend).

I mixed everything up in the food processor and filled half a pepper.  Baked for 20 mins and they were done and pretty yummy looking.

And there you have it, a week's worth of healthy lunches all made in a couple hours.  These have been such a saving grace.  We are so busy during the week it's great to have lunches all made and ready to go.

Just remember to store the lunches in the freezer and just to take a couple out at a time.

Meatball Recipe:

2 packs of ground meat (I used turkey and pork)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup bread crumps
4 TBS chopped parsley
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt and pepper
1 egg (I used egg whites because I didn't have any eggs)

Mix all ingredients up in a bowl.

Once fully combined form into balls, and bake at 375 for 20 mins or until cooked through.



Pesto Feta Baked Peppers

1 container of less sodium feta
1/3 a brick of reduced fat cream cheese
 1 portion of homemade pesto

Pesto:
1 bunch parsley or basil
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup almonds
olive oil
3 Tbs Parmesan  cheese

In the bowl of a food processor add almonds and parm cheese. Blend until the cheese and almonds are blended and in very small pieces
Add garlic and blend until chopped up
Add parsley and the olive oil. 
Pulse just until the parsley is chopped up finely.  Be careful not to blend the parsley into a paste.
Add more oil if needed to thin it out.

**Don't add salt at this point because the feta is very salty even if you get the reduced sodium**

Transfer pesto into a bowl.
In the food processor add the cream cheese and blend until smooth. 
Add feta cheese and pulse until incorporated and chopped up.
Transfer cheese mixture to the pesto and mix until combined. 
Check now for salt and add some if needed.

Spoon mixture into pepper halves and bake for 20 mins at 375.
This recipe made 10 pepper halves, but my peppers were on the small side.

Enjoy 

A Busy but Beautiful Weekend

This past weekend was bit of a crazy weekend for me, but one that I wouldn't have missed it for anything.  In 24hrs, I did about 12hrs of driving, attended 2 life events and ate 3 pieces of cake.

Let's start with the first event, my long time friends bridal shower.  You might remember me talking in past posts about the bridal shower that was coming up.  Well it arrived and it was great.  There was pleanty of food, great friends and lots of laughter. 

Soooooo yummy

K was spoiled rotten.  What a luck girl.

 K will be  marrying her best friend in a couple of months and it was so great to see how happy she is.

It was such a fun event.  I was happy that I could be part of it with her, and despite all my stress and worries things went off without any issues (one day I will learn to relax)


The other fun event that I attended was a baptism where the hubs and I were asked to be godparents.  So right after the shower I packed up my car and drove the 5.5hrs back to Ottawa.

I was a little sleepy but was excited to stand up for baby D.  We have never been godparents before so this is all a little new for us.  We are very excited and honored to be asked to be the godparents, and we just hope that we can do the title proud.

Me and C (the proud mom)

After church we all went back to the proud grandparents house for some yummy food and of course  some very yummy cake.

After all the driving and excitement I am tired but also so joyed/blessed to be involved with these 2 amazing life events.

My Week May 12-18th

This week has been a pretty great week, though it didn't start off that way.
Monday I had to use a sick day from work.  I got almost no sleep that night and was having horrible back pain.  But a little rest and a lot of Epson salt baths and I was as good as new by Weds.

Which was great since Weds was our first beach volleyball game of the season.  I took one ball to the face and tripped and fell a couple times, but I also had a couple great blocks so I am going to call the game a sucess.

The real fun came towards the end of the week though when a bunch of us from work had lunch on Thursday at an all you can eat sushi restaurant. 

My great fortune

We were all guiltiness and it was beautiful.  It did have me bring up the idea of the first ever company wide after lunch nap time.  I'm hoping it will be decided at the next manager meeting.

Saturday I was up at a decent time but skipped the gym in favour of breakfast with the hubs.  Than it was off to the party supply store to grab the last of the supplies need for the bridal shower next weekend, and the pet store for some doggie diapers for our little one.  She is getting up there in age and is starting to have some bladder control issues

After a hard day of getting all the shower decorations, favours and gift basket/present made the hubs and I went out to a nice romatic dinner at Red Lobster (thank you poppa H for the gift card)

Sunday was a pretty busy day also, I spent the day baking.  Not a bad past time but a long one when our oven is small so I can only make one loaf of bread at a time.  I ended up making a English Muffin bread, Cheesy biscuit bread and some Cinnamon Swirl bread (for my works potluck on Tuesday).

I have to say that while I love being active on the weekends and the accomplishment that is felt after a day of activities I am super happy that tomorrow is a holiday so that I can rest up form all this productivity.   

Weekly Thought:

Stop focusing on how stressed you are, and start focusing on how blessed you are

A Week of Lunches

For anyone who doesn't know I am a LAZY person.  OK that's not entirely true but I really do like to have some 'down' time each day.  So when I was playing on Pinterest this last weekend and I stumbled across a post about this guy in NY that makes a weeks worth of healthy lunches for less than $5 per serving I was intrigued.

Sadly I didn't remember to keep the original pin but I did bookmark his Instagram site.   


So after stalking checking out his photos and ideas I thought I would give it a go myself.
I decided to try his chicken meatloaf recipe (from May 4th picture) with my own adjustments.

First I gathered all the ingredients

I followed his suggestion and cooked the onion and garlic a bit before mixing it all up in a bowl

I didn't add the red pepper flakes like he suggested but I did however add a big squirt of habanero BBQ sauce.  - Sorry no picture of the mixture my hands were all gooey

While the meatloaf was baking in the oven I started working on the other component for my week of lunches and my breakfast egg cups.

Once the meatloaf was cooked to perfection and all yummy, I removed it from the oven and made egg cups.  I decided to make these first so that the baking pan and meatloaf could cool down since I would need it for the asparagus and beans.

Every week for the last few weeks I have been making 'egg cups' for a quick and easy breakfast on the go.  


I forgot to take pictures of the egg cups before being baked and there isn't really a recipe for them.  All I do is figure out what we have in the fridge that needs to be eaten (this time it was peppers, some already cooked bacon bits and cheese).
Chop everything up, spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray and fill a muffin tin with about a Tbs of veggies/meat mixture and add a bit of cheese and sprinkle with salt or whatever spices you like.
Than fill the egg cup up to the first line (or about 1cm from the top) with egg whites.  I buy the big carton of egg whites for this process but you can absolutely use regular eggs I would just pierce the yoke before baking. 
Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25 mins, and Vola yummy super healthy breakfast.

I have found that if you leave the egg cups in the pan for about 5 mins to cool they are WAY easier to remove.

After the egg cups were done I cooked up the asparagus and the beans (separately) in the oven.  I followed his advice and slightly under cooked them.  Now I used coconut oil with the asparagus and it was a little different to be eating asparagus with a slight coconut flavor.

After everything was all cooked and cooled I portioned everything out in to the containers.

What I found after my first weeks attempt:

1- it is ABSOLUTELY worth the time to prepare all the food.  It was great to not have to worry or thing about lunches at all and to know there was always something healthy and yummy to eat.
2- making 10 portions takes a lot more food that I originally thought.  Next time I would over buy veggies cause I found this week I didn't have quite enough.

Seriously guys if you take a lunch to work you should really check out Sean Peters Instagram site.  He has really figured out/publicized a great idea.  Plus he posts lots of recipes.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone.  This Mother's day has been one of mixed emotions for both myself and the hubs.

I am very grateful to have a great and wonderful mother.  A women who has always tried to give the best to her children.  Her and I have had our ups and downs but I am very blessed to have developed a great friendship with her in the last few years. 

I am sure that I don't say it enough but I love my mom and am so thankful for everything that she has done for me.

However last year the hubs mom passed away from a battle with cancer.  We are both grateful that she lived in Ottawa her last year giving the hubs the chance to spend time with her and say his goodbyes.  But it still makes this mothers day very hard for him, and myself as I really loved his mother.  She was such an enthusiastic person and always lived her life her way.  She was actually the person who preformed our wedding ceremony.  It is a gift from her that I will always treasure.

The last emotion that both the hubs and I are feeling is one of a bit of longing.  The hubs and myself have been trying to start a family for some time now, and while everything is in good working order the stars have not lined up to bless us with a bundle.  However we have faith that things will all work out when they are meant to. 

So while we are both feeling, joy, sadness and longing we are very grateful that we have gotten to have such a great relationship with my mom, were blessed with time and amazing memories with his mom and have hope and faith that we will soon get to have our own little person to celebrate with.  It has been an emotional day for us but it has also shown us the joy and happiness in our lives. 

Good Luck, and I'll miss you...

The hubs and I LOVE living in Ottawa.  We have done very well getting our careers started, we've bought a house and have really come into our own.

However when we moved here a couple years ago we didn't know anyone in the city except my lil' sis.  It was great having a little piece of family in this strange and daunting city.

Fast forward 2 years and this past weekend I had to say goodbye to my lil' sis as she spread her wings and started on her own adult journey.

Her and her boyfriend moved out of Ottawa to the very far away city of London, ON.  They were very excited to be starting this new journey together and I was both very happy that she is taking the steps she needs to start her career and adult life, I was very sad to have her move 7 hours away from me.

I know that she will get to do amazing things in the new town and that she will be successful no matter where she is, but a part of me really wished she was able to do all of that while still staying within a stones throw of me.

I will miss you lil' sis and no matter what I am always here for you.

You are an amazing person and I feel so blessed to have gotten to know you as the awesome adult that you are turning into.

I Love You Kiddo, XOXO

 

DIY Reed Diffuser

For those who don't know a couple years ago I quit smoking.  After I quit I became very aware of all the different smells around (some good, some bad).  Since then I have developed a slight paranoia that my home doesn't smell as nice as I think it does. 
So when I stumbled across a DIY reed diffuser I was excited to try it.  The original instructions can be found here

First I gathered all my supplies:
Vodka, honey, essential oil, vanilla extract, wooden skewers and a cute jar.

I looked around for vanilla essential oil but the only ones that I could find were $24 each.  No thank you, I can think of a bunch of better things to spend $24 on (including a really cute box at Walmart that I am hoping to get next week).
I followed the instructions, mixed everything up and set it out.

I used grapefruit essential oil, and vanilla extract

The first day it smelt really strong but after that I haven't noticed the smell as much.  I did have a thought afterwards that instead of using my essential oil I can use the oil I have for my candle diffuser.  So I am excited to try that next time. 

I ended up adding A LOT of essential oil (about 20 drops) and a couple dashes of vanilla.  My jar isn't very big (holds 1 cp total). 

 Update: I did not find that this was very smelly the next day.  I find the store bought ones smell better for longer.  However that being said I was going to try using the oil you put in a heated diffuser next time.  Hopefully that will have a better smell