February 4-8, 2013

MENU PLAN

Monday - Hotdog Night served with Fruit Smoothies

Fruit Smoothie
Serves 2-3
1 cup ice
1 whole Banana, broken into pieces
1 cup Berries (I used strawberries, blueberries and raspberries)
1 1/2 cups Orange Juice (Any juice will work)

Blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Tuesday - Baked Barbeque Chicken with Bacon, served with Crescent Rolls and Balsamic Parmesan Green Beans and Mushrooms



Wednesday - Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo, served with Broccoli



Thursday- Beans and Cornbread

Friday - Homemade Pizza Night



Thanksgiving - The Children's Table

I remember as a child, almost the entire family would meet at my grandmother's house for the Thanksgiving. The table was filled with delicious food; turkey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. And as soon as our plates were full, us children were then escorted out of the dining room into the isolated kitchen nook to the "children's" table. We were also forced to drink milk with our food (yuck), despite my lactose intolerance :/

THE CHILDREN'S TABLE

Even into my teen years and early twenties, I still sat at the children's table. It wasn't until I had my son that I was finally allowed to eat at the "adult" table. I had experienced and witnessed the isolation and utter boredom at the Children's table and have decided that there will be no more of it! If the kids have to eat at their own table-we as adults must then make it fun for them (with the option of water or tea as an alternative to milk).

Crayons, coloring books and a paper covered table is a MUST!

If you would like the cover page above, just leave a message and your email address on this Facebook page and they will send the link!

FREE printable coloring pages may be found here .

You could even put out a small bucket of legos!

This is also their Thanksgiving -so make it fancy for them too!

 It will make them feel equally important :)



Around the World

The Around the World party was a success....not so much for Great Britain unfortunately. We could have put more thought and effort into it...but Matt was still anticipating "college" like decorations and me, well, the morning sickness had taken over my life. And considering that ATW is a drinking party...well, my "drink" options were no more than water, sparkling cider and lemonade

(thank you Terri!).

The Night's Events:

The Caribbean Islands

Here is Sean (representing 'Merica) relaxing in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean decorations were awesome! I knew Mrs. Terri was going to get all creative and create a masterpiece...and she delivered! (I will post more pictures as they appear on FB)

Russia

When we walked into the Russia themed house we were greeted by a Vladimir Putin standee and a ton of pictures...with all of our faces cropped into them! They were hilarious!

We were told that a women by the name of "Nastya" would be the entertainment for the evening. Well, it was entertaining for sure. Here is Mrs. Trini (representing Russia) and her guest for the evening. Oh, and Nastya in the back.

Josh was our Russian bartender. They made a shot with the colors of the russian flag and of course...White Russians.

Party goers enjoying Club Russia. I think Kathi really enjoyed the White Russians ;)

And Sean really enjoyed Nastya.

Well, all the guys enjoyed Nastya...

More party goers!

Great Britain

We painted our door to look like the GB flag.

Inside we had British invasion and Irish folk music, Tom Collins drinks and Irish Car Bombs. My son, husband and mother-in-law did all the decorations and they turned out great! :)

Adele made a guest appearance. I think Andy (right) was more excited about the food.

'Merica

We made our way over the house representing 'Merica and found ourselves at the Farmer County Fair. They had fried corn dogs, fried hot links, huge smoked turkey legs and almost had fried cheese on a stick. They had several dipping sauces as well!

They served apple pie shots, hard lemonade and a spiked peach tea. Don't forget the sliced apples in the middle!

At the end of the evening everyone got the chance to vote for their favorites
(Food, Drinks, Costumes, Decorations and All Around "feel").

The Winner: Russia knocked everyone's socks off! The other houses turned out great but Russia was so amazing, no one else stood a chance.
Russia came out on top in all categories! A well deserved win :)

Clean Eating

Matt and I are trying a new 'diet'.

Not a salad only, starve yourself diet.

We are eating clean...eating things the way nature entended.

Our reasons:

1. We are trying to get back into shape. We need to feed our bodies with the proper nutrition so that we are healthy inside and out. It will give us energy and make us feel better all around. We will eat to make our bodies thrive, instead of filling them with garbage because we have a craving or because we are just bored.

2. Eating Clean is easier. The fewer the ingredients in a recipe, the better. This will definately help me out in the kitchen!

3. It's about choosing fresh, whole foods with all of their nutrients intact. This means no boxed meals or processed food While they may be conveinient, they are also detrimental to your health.

Here is list of typical processed foods:

White wheat flour, especially bleached white flour

Refined sugars (crystalline fructose, maltodextrin, dextrose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, maple syrup, date sugar, cane sugar, brown rice syrup, corn sugar, beet sugar, agave syrup, etc..)

Margarine and other hydrogenated vegetable fats

Refined vegetable oils

Artificial sweeteners

Food additives

Canned foods

Boxed foods such as meal mixes, cereal and pasta

Soft drinks and sugary "fruit" drinks, which are loaded with white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors and other food additives.

Fast food, which is a source of trans fats

Cheese food, packaged cakes and cookies, chips, snack food crackers and other junk food

Processed meat products (sausage, bologna, bacon, packaged ham, and salami) if they contain artificial colors and soy fillers.

Frozen foods such as tv dinner meals, fish sticks, pizza rolls and similar foods

Soy products such as soy milk, soy cheese, soy protein isolate, and other processed soy foods. Natural soybeans taste horrible; it's Nature's way of warning about the dangers of soy. In order to make soy products edible, soy manufacturers have to add large amounts of sugar, MSG and other flavorings and spices.

Powdered milk and eggs: Commercial milk powders contain oxysterols (oxidized cholesterol) in high amounts. The oxysterol free radicals have been suspected of being initiators of atherosclerotic plaques. Powdered eggs contain even more oxysterols.

Learn more here: http://www.healthy-eating-politics.com/processed-foods.html

So far, our grocery list has been pretty darn good. But we are still going through the rest of food that was bought before the clean eating began. I admit I had two regular cokes-not even diet, and I had some no so good for me meals-out this weekend. But today is a new day and it's back to the gym for some serious work.