Mission of the week: Healthy Breakfasts!

Above is not breakfast obviously, its Chinese stir fry. I make the sauce in the vitamix (easy stuff like sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, corn starch) and then just toss it with veggies. Its good!

So this weeks mission is for us all to have healthy breakfasts. I have always done well with dinner and ok with lunch but have fallen short with breakfast. I always had eggs and toast and de-caf. coffee but Ness and Michael had cereal and milk. I was worried most about Michael because he eats breakfast so early and then gets no more nutrition until lunch. Sooo, after talking to a friend I decided to make him 5 broccoli quiches that I could freeze and pull out and then he toss into the toaster oven while he takes a shower. (He wont eat something microwaved). Anyways, if Sage hadnt been sleeping from 7 to 5 am (nurse then go back to bed) the quiches would have been forgotten. So this week when I was up at 5 am I would wake for Mike to wake and then remind him about his quiche. After about 3 days, he remembered on his own (yay!). Anyways, it has been successful! He likes them and I will make another batch for next week.
For Ness I switch between eggs and toast with Oatmeal (with almond butter and "real" chocolate chips..crazy I know). But he always begs for Oatmeal and Cereal. So I switch it up. Here is his on our new divided corelle plates for the boy that doesnt want his food to touch.
This week was my birthday so I made a Chocolate Chocolate cake from scratch for myself. And I am 10 because those are the candles that were already used. ;) We are still enjoying this cake by the way.

So I got THE BEST birthday present this year...New Floor!!!!!! My second best was a gift card to Ann Taylor and a date night out with my ol' husband. Third best is that Sage started MOVING AROUND THE FLOOR! He is army crawling, but moving none-the-less!
Before, this carpet was so nasty, even worse under the carpet..ugh!
After beautiful wood-ness! Its way easier to clean because we moved some furniture out. ANd look how lovely it is!
Here are some random photos for your enjoyment! Ness and Miles talking "bikes".
Daddy playing with Sage.
This boy is so darn handsome!
Look at him!
This is some fish (that mike caught) with kale, with edamame and Israeli couscous (this plate is for Ness).

:)
On other words, our church has a church garden and we are hoping to plant soon! I am excited, the church is literally 3 min. away. I am hoping to be able to feed our family from produce we grow. Fun right?

Food!

So I will now try to post our meals weekly, but these are a few from the past months that were successful. Above is Mike's favorite, its coconut chicken. Its WILDLY delicious! I just take chicken breast, cut it up, and then coat it with coconut (if its not sweetened add a bit of sugar), flour, and Tony's seasoning. Then bake. Make sure you melt some butter in the pan first, that adds to the deliciousness. And this is just some rice stir fried with various vegetables (including kale, my new fav. veggie).
This is a typical meal for Ness. He really likes his food to be "organized", the more "organized" it is the more he will eat. So these foods dont mash together, I think he ate everything on this plate. Its pineapple, grapes, cheese, bananas, and then carrots in almond butter (CHEAP at Sams) and honey.
My typical breakfast. It is a huge pain to make myself a decent breakfast, usually because I have to feed to kids too. And clean the kitchen (from my breakfast and Mikes) and get ready for the day. But when I do eat a nice breakfast I dont get hungry very fast and it def. gives me more energy. This is decaf. coffee with buttered toast (real butter) and fresh eggs.
This is another of Mike's favorites. Its roasted beets and stuffed green peppers. The peppers are just stuffed with dirty rice (ground beef, onions, seasoning, rice). And then topped with home-made bread crumbs.
This meal was actually a plesant surprise. That in the top right corner is Israeli couscous. It was REALLY good (in fact I may make some tonight), and then its just a normal salad with various veggies.

Organization 101

So I love Whole Foods, LOVE em! I dont get to go often by when I do go I spend about 20 min. in the bulk section getting tons of goodies. I usually end up with this:
This drives me insane. I usually forget half the stuff I bought and if I remember getting it I forget where it is (fridge? freezer? cabinet?). SOOOO I did this!
I bought some baby food for Sage on Amazon (subscribe and save REALLY saves!), well it was sort of gross, so I didnt continue the subscription (I make his food) but that meant I had jars! Also my mother-in-law had given us some jars. I have jars from Elderberry Syrup, Jams, Spaghetti Sauce (three organic sauces for $7!) and other various things. So now my cabinet is nice and neat! AND I know where all my stuff is.
Make sure you save your glass jars, they came come in handy for almost everything. Like the other day I made some bone broth for a soup, I made way to much, so I put it in a jar and froze it. I use jars for putting Sage's baby food in the fridge, and for taking it on the go.
Good way to save money!

Another good way..I made us some un-paper towels. It took forever to make (surger would be handy). But now if we make a sandwich we just pull out one of those (they are in a plastic bag dispenser I made).
Fun eh?

Its a new year!

(A bird! I couldnt get either of them to look at me because both were looking for a bird)

So now its 2012 and our minds are FILLED with New Years Resolutions!
Here are a few (just to humor you):
1. Learn Spanish (by Mike, so far he is doing well/Rosetta Stone)
2. Learn to play the guitar (by Mike, also doing well, practices everyday)
3. Stay within our budget, no savings! (its Jan. 15th and not looking good)
4. Get a new floor (in living room, wood, next friday!)
5. Stay within $350 a month on groceries AND eat healthily (yeah...)
6. Buy local as much as possible (started this last year)
7. Be positive
8. Keep the house clean
9. Organize all spaces that are a mess (so far we did the kitchen, laundry, my closet, shed, we have Mikes closet, Sage's closet left)
10. Sage will start sleeping 12 straight hours through the night (he is now down to 1-2 times waking)
11. Take away Ness's pacifier (ugghh)
12. Convert Ness's bed to toddler bed (double uggh)
13. Get Ness potty trained at night (not sure how this will go)
14. Read the bible every night (well it hasnt been a TOTAL bust)
15. Can I stop?

So yeah, we have been busy. Mike got me a Roomba for Christmas that is AWESOME! He cleans up almost every night, I am amazed at how much garbage he picks up, what is even more amazing is that used to be on our floor ALL the time, gross!

This little cute is now 9.5 months old. He is a total sweet heart (and look at that adorable face) but he is a stubborn little lad. And is not an "easy baby" like his big brother was. But, 9 months later, its getting better! He now has four teeth (which caused lots of pain)
This was Ness's first time to attend a friends birthday party. And what a way to start! Jack got a huge bouncy house perfect for energetic toddlers!

Daddy taking the boys "ridin on da boat" (as Ness says).
Look! We match! Momo L. got us matching shirts for Christmas!
Ness playing with his Christmas present from us. He LOVES it!