Mmm Muffins!!!

This week we will be eating up all of the leftover meals that I have been stock piling in the freezer and since my prep time for supper will be eliminated I plan to use that time to do some baking to put in the freezer for snacks.

I am doing the muffin route again because I find that I am always buying snacks that are full of yucky ingredients and I do not like to feed my children that...so back to having muffins and fruit or yogurt and fruit for snacks....we have all been eating too much sugar lately and in order for me to succeed in losing my last 10 pounds I need to get the processed 'stuff' out of my house.....again!!! After today all of the boxed snacks except for a bag of Goldfish Crackers will have been eaten and we can start the week with fresh, healthy snacks!!!

I have posted our menu for this week in the tab at the top

and here are recipes for the muffins I plan to bake.

Corn Bread Muffins

• 1/2 cup Cornmeal
• 1/2 Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
• 1/2 cup Applesauce
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/4 cup Honey

1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Lightly grease pan.

3. Combine dry ingredients then stir in wet ingredients.

4. Bake 15 -20 minutes

This recipe only makes 6 muffins but can easily be doubled , tripled or quadrupled.

Zucchini Muffins

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Agave Nectar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup sour milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup Sucanat

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a muffin pan, or use paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sucanat and agave nectar. Stir in baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in milk, eggs, zucchini, oil and vanilla. Fold in walnuts. Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full. Sprinkle tops with brown sugar.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Red River Oat Bran Muffins

1 1/3 cups	boiling water
3/4 cup	Red River Cereal
3/4 cup	natural bran
2 1/2 cups	Spelt Flour
2 1/2 tsp	baking soda
1/2 tsp	salt
1/3 cup	Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Apple Sauce
1 cup	Agave Nectar
2	eggs
2 cups	buttermilk
2 cups	Oats
1-1 1/2 cups	raisins, chopped dates or dried cranberries

1.	POUR boiling water over Red River Cereal and bran; let stand.
2.	COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
3.	CREAM oil, agave nectar, eggs and buttermilk together in large bowl until blended. Add flour mixture with bran mixture, oats and raisins. Mix thoroughly. Spoon into greased muffin cups,filling almost full.
4.	BAKE at 375°F (190°C) for 18 to 23 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly touched.
	MAKES about 2 dozen muffins

Planners???

Today I ordered a day planner that is geared for Homeschooling parents called

The Well Planned Day.

Over the years I have tried many different ways of organizing myself in school, home and life but have not found one that I can say has been the one!!!!

I would consider myself a fairly well organized person on the whole but I have a desire to find a great place that I can write it all down.

I am hoping that this one will work for me!!

I have read many positive reviews about it from other homeschooling families and I hope it lives up to its name.

What do you use to keep yourself organized?!?!?!?!

Oh Mister Sun

Today was a beautiful day here on Manitoulin Island!

It was still cold but the sun was shining!

After school work was done this morning I made Cabbage Rolls for supper....I love cabbage rolls but have only ever made them one other time, they are very time consuming but the wonderful smell that filled the house for the rest of the day was so wonderful and worth the time to make them.

After my Day Care child went home I laced up my running shoes and headed outside for a run.

I so enjoyed being out it the sunshine, feeling the warmth of it as I ran ....it felt more like a retreat than an exercise session!!

Family Day

Here in Ontario it was a holiday. Known as Family Day...how did we spend it?

This is how the day started out for us....Mom and Dad were enjoying a second cup of coffee at 8:40am.

Then we made our way to the kitchen and I prepared the family a favorite breakfast!

For the rest of the morning and into the early part of the afternoon we did this......

It ended with eating some yummy cookies,watching a movie and then it was outside for a COLD, WINDY walk!!!

What a great day with family and friends!

Under Construction

As I told you a few weeks ago...I planned on changing this space up a bit!

While I have started and will continue over the next couple of days to get it to the place I want it to become, a place where a document the happenings in my life as far as being a wife, mom, home educator and woman!!!

Most of my followers started out with me when this space was a weight loss journal and I totally understand if you stop following me now that my theme has changed to a family focus.

That being said though I have come to love and appreciate you and do hope you continue to tag along on this journey of My Life!!!!

Homemade Pizza

Today we are celebrating both my husband and sons birthday!

My husband turned 43 on Tuesday but with me being sick nothing happen for him and my son will be 3 tomorrow!

On the menu...by request....fried crunchy chicken wings, honey garlic wings, pizza, chocolate cake, ice cream and cheese cake.

CRAZY!!!

I will be making a vegetable platter and fruit tray...this is my touch and not requested!!! HA!!

To make the pizza a bit healthier I am making a clean crust.

Here is the recipe I love!!!!

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp.warm water

2 1/4 tsp. Active Yeast

1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

Mix together in a large bowl and set aside for 5 minutes.

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

2 tbsp. Cornmeal

Stir in the dry ingredients to the wet mixture just until it sticks together.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured counter and knead for 10 minutes until the ball is smooth and elastic.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turn the dough over, cover with a clean kitchen towel.

Place the bowl in a warm spot and let rise until double. Approximately 1 hour.

Roll the dough out on a floured counter and place the rolled dough on a pizza tray, top with your favorite toppings and bake in a 450 degree oven for approximately 12-15 minutes or until bottom is brown and cheese is bubbling.

Yummy!!!!

This Week

The flu bug hit our house last Friday and has slowly made its way through all the children and myself!

My eldest daughter is today just feeling better, so it has been a quiet but messy seven days around here.

Last year we managed to not get any flu in the house so we were do for something to hit and to hit hard like it did!

I think it has been since I was pregnant with my oldest son (who is 7) that I have been as sick as I was this week! It was yucky!!!

Enough about that though!!!

My husband left yesterday to go to Southern Ontario to celebrate his Dad's 80th Birthday with the family!!!! WOW!!! 80 years, that is incredible!!!

For those that have known me for very long know that I tend to struggle with eating healthy while he is away but not this time, I feel focused and determined!

It helps that the scale is still moving in the downward direction so my motivation is to see it continue, my little peak yesterday at the scale has me down another pound so far this week.

It is much harder to stay focused when no matter what you do the scale stays the same so this scale movement is GREAT timing!

Yesterday I spent the entire day cleaning...DEEP cleaning! Washing floors, walls, corners, windows, getting rid of dust and webs, then dusting built in cabinets and organizing shelves.

It started out that I was just going to clean out the germ infested areas!!! Like the bathroom and commonly touch surfaces but because my husband is gone I had the opportunity to do it good!

Today I will hit the second level, mop and pail in hand!!!

A clean house makes me happy!

I consider my house clean...mind you it was always cleaner before I became a Mom but some the jobs I did yesterday are more of the kind that get done only a couple of times a year so this feels awesome!

Busted Through

It has been 4 days of tracking my calories and trying to eat close too 1,800 calories.

I have had awesome workouts all week long, 3 days of over 60 minutes and 3 days of over 45 minutes.

My reward????!!!!

Seeing 145.5lbs on the scale this morning!!!

That is the lowest I have been in over 10 years!!!!

I am pumped about it!!!

So that puts me at 2.5 pounds gone out of 10 for my contest with my husband....my hubby is at 3.5lbs down so we are neck and neck heading for the half way mark!!!!

Bonus Buy

Last weekend, I went to Sudbury which is the city that is closest to where I live for some shopping!

In Walmart, I came across a display of workout DVD's.....they had all different kinds but the ones that stood out to me were....can you guess???

If you guessed Jillian Michaels than you were right!

I bought her Yoga Meltdown, Banish Fat Boost Metabolism and Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout. They were each $6.83, what a steal!

I have done 2 of the 3 so far this week and I am looking forward to trying out the last one later today!

My eating has NOT been that great this week but I have been working out like a mad woman so hopefully it will even out!

I called a dietitian service yesterday that is offered through the Government of Ontario to see what they would say my calorie intake should be daily.

I have been tracking my intake on SparkPeople and everywhere I read on the Internet gives me a different number to aim for so I thought a real live person may be most helpful .....but get this, Eat Right Ontario dietitian say because I am breastfeeding and working out regularly I should be eating 2,000 calories a day!!!

I asked if I should lose weight with that amount of calories and she said with a firm tone "YES!"

I find this hard to believe.....

mentally that seems like a huge number to me and physically to consume 2,000 calories a day...that is a whack of food when I want to eat only healthy food.

I could easily get that with high calorie, rich, garbage for me kind of food, but I am not going there.

So I will stick with trying to eat 1,800 calories daily or close to that!