The Updated Meal Planning Binder

Has this summer flown by as quickly for everyone else as it has for me? I have to admit that I haven't been writing out meal plans for a few months. *Hangs Head In Shame.* But now I'm ready for Fall and so is my meal plan! It seemed appropriate, since I've fallen off of the meal-planning wagon lately, to give my Meal Planning Binder a much-needed makeover. It's stuffed with printouts, old menus, and all kinds of random things. It's a MESS.

The first step was to take out EVERYTHING. And since I don't need a massive 2-inch binder, I'm going to transfer it all to this lovely 1-inch beauty:

Then, I put in a pocket for the monthly calendar on which I wrote my meal list. (Find a printable calendar here.) I usually choose between 10-15 main dishes, depending on what we have going on for that particular month.

Then, any printouts that I have for the recipes in this month's meal list go right after the calendar, in plastic sheet protectors. When I'm ready to use a recipe, I can just pop it out and use it without it getting *too* messy while cooking.

Now, what to do with the rest of all these print-outs? Sort through for those you want to save and those you want to toss. Make one section for "Tried & True" recipes, so you can use them when the mood suits you.

Also make a section for "To Try" recipes. (I try to cut back on printing, and only print out recipes from Pinterest when I'm ready to use them). This is the section I'll look through for inspiration when meal-planning, to remind myself of things I've wanted to try in the past.

Last but not least, I have a pocket with calendars already printed for the remaining months of the year, calling to me to make sure that I don't fall off the wagon again.

And there you have it! Your monthly meal list and all the recipes together in a neat little package, ready to use. And next month, simply shuffle the recipes you had in the first section back to "Tried & True" (or trash them if they are complete flops!), and start the process over again.

Notes on Meal Planning

I do my meal-planning at the end of the previous month, and ask the Hubby for suggestions. I'd ask the Munchkin, too, but then we'd just be eating "cheeeeese cackers!" for every meal. :-)

Overall, it does take a commitment of a few hours each month, but the payoff is well worth it. Once you get into it, you'll find a groove and likely start using about half of the recipes nearly each month. And it's so nice to have a go-to list of meals when you're doing that blank stare at the pantry an hour before dinnertime, feeling like you're in your own personal version of Chopped.

I hope this post has been helpful, and that you're able to find a method of meal-planning and organizing that works best for you and your family!

Maternity Wardrobe on a Budget: Tips and Tricks

First off, let's give credit to clothing designers for cute maternity clothes. We've come a long way since the 80's and mid-90's, and giant tent-dresses and thick-paneled maternity pants are a thing of the past. Hooray! Many major clothing chains now have maternity lines, and they are tailoring styles to keep up with the times as well as keep preggo mama's comfort in mind. (Thank you for that!)

Admit it, all we expectant mothers really want is to be comfortable. We're already dealing with morning sickness, heartburn, backaches, headaches, etc. We don't want to be bothered with ill-fitting clothing, too.

It can be tempting to run out and purchase a whole new wardrobe when you are expecting. Keep in mind that you won't be wearing stretch pants forever, and that maternity tops will actually make you look bigger after delivery, so you'll be quickly stashing them in the back of the closet.

So, here are a few things to focus on when selecting maternity apparel.

• Buy items that can be worn in several different seasons (you don't know if you'll be pregnant at the same time of year again).
• Invest in a good pair of maternity jeans. Gap's are pricy ($40+), but they are super comfy, can be dressed up or down, and continue to look nice wash after wash. If you can, buy more than one pair.
• Focus on wardrobe staples that can be made into several different outfits. While cute and trendy colors are fun, it's better to keep things in neutral colors and pull in a "pop" of color with your accessories.
• If it's not comfortable or doesn't look good, you won't want to wear it. So if possible, try things on first, or buy them from an online retailer that offers free returns/exchanges.
• Check local thrift stores! Maternity clothes don't get a lot of wear, and people like to get rid of them when they are done having kids. You might score a bargain, you never know!

It's also important to keep in mind that even though you are expecting, you don't have to exclusively wear maternity clothing:

• Sometimes going "up" a size or two will work just as well. (Especially for tank tops or t-shirts, and even things like fold-over yoga pants)
• Pregnancy bands are also great ways to adapt your old clothing to your new body. You can find them at Target, and also online. They can cost $15 and up, though. 
• Using an elastic hair band to "extend" the waistline of your jeans or skirts is a budget-friendly way to wear your pre-pregnancy clothing longer. (Just make sure your shirt is long enough to cover the zipper!) 

Hopefully these things help you save some money and stay comfy during your pregnancy! Spend the mulah on something more fun, like cutesy clothes or toys for the new baby. :)

Counting Your Blessings: No Time For Complaints or Excuses!

In today's world it seems there are a million opportunities a day to "say" things, whether they be good or bad. Nothing is private anymore, and it is very easy to get sucked into complaining about things in an off-handed way. Our husbands don't help enough around the house; our kids require too much of our time; our house is too small; we don't like our job or didn't get that promotion/new job we were hoping for. Pretty much "life stinks," just worded differently. Always focusing on the negative side of things.

Do we take time each day to think about the good things in our lives? The hymn "Count Your Blessings" comes to mind. Have you ever really looked at the words?

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

(Refrain)

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,

And you will keep singing as the days go by.

(Refrain)

When you look at others with their lands and gold,

Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;

Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy

Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

(Refrain)

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,

Do not be disheartened, God is over all;

Count your many blessings, angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

(Refrain)

This song reminds us that comparing our lot to others will only leave us discontented and discouraged. Whether it be comparing worldly possessions, or the things we have to do day to day, or our jobs... All of those things take our minds off of what we should be focusing on -- that we have been so richly blessed already. 

A mouth that is busy counting blessings and singing praises all day long does not have time to complain or make excuses! Have you heard the saying, "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean"? Well, I say...

If you have time to complain or make excuses, you have time to make positive changes in your life.

If we are honest with ourselves, each and every aspect of our lives stems from our own decisions. We don't have the right complain or make excuses about the consequences of our own choices or actions. All we can do is remember that God will take care of us, even if it is not in the exact way we think it should be. We are not promised a "cushy" life here on earth, but we are promised a splendid one for eternity. Isn't that wonderful? 

Do you know one of those people who is always complaining? Someone whom you never ask "how are you?" because you know they'll tell you how bad things are. Instead, don't give them the chance to complain. Say, "it's great to see you today!" or something like that. Surrounding yourself with negativity just makes you negative; conversely, surrounding yourself with positive people will make you look at life in a positive way. For example, I recently started following southern cook Christy Jordan (see her website) on Facebook. She always makes an effort to look at the bright side of things (even when she herself has recently been placed in a wheelchair for medical reasons). She never complains! And I really appreciate that. It takes no effort at all to complain, but it takes constant awareness to stay positive and focus on the blessings in our lives.

So the next time you get ready to post to Facebook, text a friend, etc., take a minute to really think about your words. Are they positive? Could they be seen as complaining? Are you showing that you are truly thankful, or do you have to put the disclaimer that you "aren't complaining"? Then re-word it, or just don't say anything at all.

Striving to be the Proverbs 31 Woman

For those of you who don’t know, the Hubby and I are excitedly expecting our second child this coming January. So naturally I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Chalk it up to pregnancy brain (when combined with “mommy brain” is a very dangerous thing!), but lately I've been feeling a little overwhelmed. If I take a lazy day because I’m feeling sickish, all of the housework is still there the next day (and the piles are even bigger!).  It seems like I already have my hands so full, so how in the world am I going to manage taking care of another little person?

Well, it all comes down to just a few basic things, folks – priorities and time management. And to be completely honest, I know that I could do a lot better managing the time that I have.

Let’s take a look at the woman from Proverbs 31. I’m putting the whole passage here for convenience sake, but feel free to pull out your own Bible and look it up. 

¹⁰ Who^[b] can find a virtuous^[c] wife?

For her worth is far above rubies.

¹¹ The heart of her husband safely trusts her;

So he will have no lack of gain.

¹² She does him good and not evil

All the days of her life.

¹³ She seeks wool and flax,

And willingly works with her hands.

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,

She brings her food from afar.

¹⁵ She also rises while it is yet night,

And provides food for her household,

And a portion for her maidservants.

¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;

From her profits she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷ She girds herself with strength,

And strengthens her arms.

¹⁸ She perceives that her merchandise is good,

And her lamp does not go out by night.

¹⁹ She stretches out her hands to the distaff,

And her hand holds the spindle.

²⁰ She extends her hand to the poor,

Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.

²¹ She is not afraid of snow for her household,

For all her household is clothed with scarlet.

²² She makes tapestry for herself;

Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³ Her husband is known in the gates,

When he sits among the elders of the land.

²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,

And supplies sashes for the merchants.

²⁵ Strength and honor are her clothing;

She shall rejoice in time to come.

²⁶ She opens her mouth with wisdom,

And on her tongue is the law of kindness.

²⁷ She watches over the ways of her household,

And does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸ Her children rise up and call her blessed;

Her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹ “Many daughters have done well,

But you excel them all.”

³⁰ Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,

But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

³¹ Give her of the fruit of her hands,

And let her own works praise her in the gates.

My initial thoughts on this passage are, wow! This lady sure has it all together. She’s superwoman! There’s no way that anyone can do all that!

But a closer look makes me realize that yes—I can be like this woman. Not literally, since I don’t have any servants and I don’t wear a lot of linen or wool. But I can be like her in how I set my priorities. When I take a look at all that this woman accomplishes, and then compare it to my own life, I see the biggest thing that stands in my way – time wasters.

What do I mean by time wasters? They are simply anything you spend a lot of time on that doesn't necessarily accomplish anything. Like when you say you’re going to do laundry, but you sit down at the computer and get sucked into something and all of a sudden the Munchkin is waking up from his nap and you didn't even start the first load. Time wasters can be anything, and they are not the same thing for everyone. But if you are truly honest with yourself, you know what your biggest time wasters are.

The Proverbs 31 woman was diligent, willingly working to provide for her family. She “does not eat the bread of idleness” (v 27). If this woman lived today, she wouldn't spend hours on Pinterest collecting hundreds of new recipes to try or new crafts to do in her “spare time.” She wouldn't spend time on Facebook posting about all of the great things she was doing or tooting her own horn, so to speak. She would probably be a lot like many of the good Christian women that we all know. One of those women that does so much but you wouldn't know it because she don’t go around talking about all that she does – she just simply does it.

Today’s society spends so much time with social media, myself included. I can’t pinpoint exactly why it is so “big” these days. It could be that we need validation from others for the things we do. It could be for competition – perhaps we’re trying to show others how no one else could possibly be as busy/overworked/etc as we are.  But whatever the reason, we need to ask ourselves, are we accomplishing anything good with these time wasters, or are we eating the bread of idleness?

I guess my main point is this – I don’t need to feel overwhelmed at the promise of a new baby. He or she will simply be fit into our family puzzle and things will work themselves out. As long as I make taking care of my family and their needs my priority, God will make sure that I can handle it all.

I hope this makes sense. If not, I’m blaming it on my crazy hormones!

Spring Cleaning: Bringing Spring Indoors

It seems like it is *finally* that time of year again -- SPRING!

I don't know about where you live, but here in WV the weather has been a roller-coaster ride for the last few months. One day it is in the fifties and sunny, the next it is back below-freezing and we've got a blizzard on the way. But since St. Patty's Day is tomorrow, and Easter is just around the corner, and the first official day of spring is coming soon, I think it's safe to say that Spring is finally here.

One of my favorite things about Spring is how fresh and new things feel. I like to make that feeling translate into my kitchen by giving it a little lovin'. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen - it's the heart of our home. And after Winter, it is just begging for a makeover. :)

Here are a few things I like to do this time of year to bring Spring inside!

• Re-decorate the wreath on the exterior door. I bought a rattan wreath last year, and decorate it (and then un-decorate it) each season. Right now it has silk hydrangeas and a white "B" on it. :)
• Wash windows. The rest of the year it is TOO COLD to bother with this. But Spring is a great time to  give the inside (and sometimes the outside) a good once-over with Windex and a paper towel.
• Switch out kitchen towels/trivets/etc. with lighter/brighter colors. I've been crocheting some dish cloths and hot pads, and the bright colors just seem to make the kitchen such a cheery place!
• Clean up clutter! Day by day little things are left out, and after a while it clutters up your space. It makes a huge difference to put those things away and enjoy how clean and tidy things are again.

So that's it. Nothing earth-shattering or new. Just a few simple things you can do to brighten up your kitchen/home an bring Spring indoors!

If you want some bright dish cloths or kitchen towel hangers, check out my Etsy shop! SimpleStitchesLB

Think Pink: Welcome to February!

February is my most absolute favorite month, for many reasons.

It could be because of my birthday... (Feb 5th) ;)

It could be because of Valentine's Day. (Despite the over-commercialization of the holiday, I still enjoy making/buying cards and creating some yummy treats for the Hubby and the Munchkin).

For whatever reason, I've always had a special place in my heart for this special 28-day month. I'm not a girly-girl by any stretch of the imagination, but when this month rolls around I reach towards more pink things than usual. So without further ado, here is something "pink" to start of February!

Crochet Heart Hair Clips

Materials:
Small amount of Yarn (Medium Weight)
Crochet Hook (G)
Felt Heart Cut-out (optional)
2" Alligator Hair Clips (2)
Ribbon (10 inches)
Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

Part 1: Crocheted Hearts

Chain 4. In the first chain, work 3 tr (triple crochet). In same stitch, work 3 d  (double crochet), ch 1, 1 tr, ch 1, 3 dc, 3 tr. Ch 3, and slip stitch into the center and fasten off. Knot the two yarn ends together and trim to 1/4 in. Repeat for second heart.

Part 2: Assembling the Hair Clip

• Cut ribbon into two strips 4 3/4 in each. Hot glue the ribbon onto each hair clip. (Great video tutorial here!) 
• Hot glue felt heart to the front center of the crocheted heart. (This is a great way to cover up the "hole" created by crocheting each stitch into one chain.)
• Hot glue crocheted heart to the alligator clip. **If making two to use as a pair, make sure to "flip" one of them the other direction so they will work on both sides of a hairdo.

These only take about 20 minutes to make a pair, and the color combinations are endless! 

If you don't have the time or skills to make them yourself, be sure to check out my Etsy shop and send a custom order!

January Meal Plan: Venison & Homemade Spice Mixes

How is it 2013 already? And better yet, how is it already the FOURTH day of 2013? Yikes.

Since we weren't at home for more than a week at a time during most of November or December, I sorta-kinda slacked off on my meal planning.

I know, I know... *shakes head in shame*

But one of my goals for 2013 is to be more organized in an on-the-ball fashion, so let's get to it.

To start off your new meal-planning binder for the year, you'll need a free printable calendar, right? :) This great lady has several to choose from. I picked this one here: Free 2013 Calendar Printable 

For those who are new to my method of meal planning, here's a basic run-down:

• I make one list of meals to make for the month, using mostly things I have on hand but with a few things we need to shop for. For us this is about 10-15 meals, and we eat leftovers the other nights.
• Each night, I pick what I'll make for dinner the next day. In the morning I'll know what sort of prep I'll need to do for it, etc.
• I keep my meal list and a printed calendar in a binder along with recipes I have printed out. Keeping everything together saves time and fuss.
• Throughout the month, I cross off what I've made off of the list and jot it down on the calendar. It helps me keep track of how many "leftover" nights we get off of certain dishes.

This month I made sure to clean out my binder. It had become overrun with print-outs of new recipes I had tried, and then haphazardly shoved into a pocket somewhere. Not very OCD of me, eh? So I pitched all the recipes I never EVER wanted to try again, saved the "keepers," and thought really hard about what we would actually eat this month. I get tired of throwing out leftovers, so I came up with things that we would eat well the first/second/third time through. So, here goes:

Meals:

• Baked Macaroni & Cheese
• Tacos or Taco Salads
• Mexican Stuffed Shells
• Venison & Mushroom Gravy over Mashed Potatoes
• Venison Roast (Seasoned with Onion Soup Mix) & Scalloped Potatoes
• Venison Fajitas
• Venison Roast (Seasoned with Homemade Italian Seasoning) & Green Bean Casserole
• Homemade Pizza
• Hamburger Soup & Rolls (Rhode's Frozen Rolls)
• Breakfast Night - French Toast, Sausage, Scrambled Eggs

Extras:

• Easy Mint Fudge
• French Breakfast Muffins
• Banana  Bread

Now let's talk about a few things from this list. The first thing that probably caught your attention is the amount of VENISON on that list. The Hubby is a hunter. His family hunts. So this year we have been blessed with a freezer-full of roasts, steaks, tenderloin, and stew meat. I would never be able to pull the trigger myself, but deer meat is actually very delicious when cooked properly, and it is very good for you (very lean!). Plus, now I don't have to buy beef (or much chicken) for a good long while. :)

The second thing - anywhere you see "hamburger" or recipes that call for ground beef, you can automatically assume I'll be using ground turkey. Again, it's better for you, and it is SUPER CHEAP at Aldi. We don't have one in town, but whenever we drive through a place that has one, we bring our cooler and stock up.

Thirdly, I have three words for you... HOMEMADE SPICE MIXES. 

I have been using homemade Taco mix for a while now, and we like it much better than the store-bought packets. I've also found Italian Dressing and Fajita Seasoning mixes that we really like. Here are the recipes I've found online for a few homemade mixes:

Taco Seasoning

Use 2 T and 1 cup water per pound of ground meat

2 T chili powder

½ t garlic powder

½ t onion powder

½ t red pepper flakes

½ t oregano

1 t paprika

1 T cumin

2 ½ t salt

2 t pepper

Onion Soup Mix

Use ¼ cup instead of one packet

4 t beef bouillon

8 t onion flakes

1 t onion powder

¼ t pepper

½ t parsley

½ t salt

Fajita Seasoning

Use 2 T to replace one packet

1 T cornstarch

2 t chili powder

1 t salt

1 t paprika

1 t sugar

¾ t chicken bouillon

½ t onion powder

¼ t garlic powder

¼ t cayenne pepper

¼ t cumin

¼ t crushed pepper

Ranch Dressing Mix

Use 1 T per cup of sour cream

5 t onion flakes

7 t parsley

4 t salt

1 t garlic

Italian Seasoning Mix

1 ½ tsp garlic powder

1 T onion powder

2 T oregano

1 T parsley

1 T sugar

2 T salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp basil

¼ tsp thyme

½ tsp celery leaves (or ¼ tsp celery seed)

I made my sister a set of spice mixes for Christmas. Don't they look so much cuter than those paper packets from the store? I simply doubled or tripled the recipe and put them in half-pint canning jars. The labels were just printed on brown cardstock (in a free font I found online that looks like an old typewriter!), and cut out in an oval shape. A dab of hot glue, and voila! Adorable spice mix jars. :)

Well, that's all for today. Please leave comments or questions you have about anything!