Meal Plan Monday

It's that time of the week again...Meal Plan Monday!

This week I want to try and eat "clean-er", meaning not as many processed foods, having most of the food I eat not come from a box.

Here are my dinners....

Stir Fry veggies with quinoa
Salmon with rice and veggies
Pizza (my homemade whole wheat dough)
Leftover Lentil Sloppy Janes
Beef Stew
Leftovers


I am also going to try and make my own hummus, I am hoping it will come out nicely, and that KBeaner will like it too.

A-Z Thankful Project

Yesterday I was playing on facebook and saw a link from Parent's Magazine about how there was 26 days left until Thanksgiving, perfect for the ABC's, ABC's of Gratitude is what they've called it.

Pretty much each day, you get a letter of the alphabet and say something that you are thankful for. On their site they give a thing for each day, starting with A for Animals which is what KBeaner and I did as well. I think we might change it up though.

I thought this would be a perfect project for her, she loves to draw and it is a great way to practice the ABCs.  So for each letter we will discuss what it is that we are thankful for that start with the letter of the day and then draw a picture of it. We are then going to hang them up on her bedroom wall.

Here is what we did for the first day...

 

A is for Animals

 

 

KBeaner is thankful for animals, she drew the 2 cats that we are cat sitting, a "silly dog", a mouse and a zebra. She is thankful for them because she "really loves and animals and they make me happy".

 

I will do a wrap up of the letters from the week each Sunday. I hope you're inspired to do your own A-Z Thankful Project with your children too!!

 

 

Click here for... Week 1 B-G

                          Week 2 H-P

                          Week 3 Q-Z



Dr.Scholl Active Series Review

I am a member of Influenster (if you'd like an invite message me @ fitandfrugalmama@gmail.com and I'll send you one!) Anyways, I was lucky enough to be selected to get a free pair of Dr. Scholl's Active Series replacement insoles.

I was super excited when I found out I was getting them because well for one I love free stuff, and I was about to buy some new sneakers, but thankfully I don't have to now for awhile! The insoles brought new life to my shoes.

 

 

They were super easy to use, just trace your old insole on top of your new ones, cut them out and slide them in. I also loved how the color matched my sneakers perfectly.

 

After just one day of wearing them I noticed that my feet felt much better, and my back that usually aches was not bothering me. I even felt that my posture was better.

 

I have never bought insoles before, I always would just deal with my slowly falling apart sneakers or just buy new ones. I honestly thought that insoles didn't really make a difference and that they were a waste of money. I'm know a believer in them, and will most likely be buying some more after these are worn out.

 

 

Again I did receive these for free from Influenster, but I am not being paid to write this review.



Meal Plan Monday (err... Tuesday) and Halloween fun!

Sorry that I flaked yesterday on my Meal Plan Monday post, so here it is a day late....

Dinners:
-Baked Penne with low fat ground beef and a big salad
-Butternut Squash Soup (we were supposed to have it last week but stuff came up)
-Stir Fry Veggies with Quinoa
-Sloppy Janes made with Lentils
-Healthy Pizza
-And of course Leftovers.

I did alright last week with eating, I didn't stick to my meal plan perfectly, and I super indulged on Sunday... I had *gasp* McDonalds!! But I did walk a lot that day and had a healthy dinner so maybe, just maybe it won't show on the scale?!

Yeah I know...probably not!

This weekend, we did some early celebrations of Halloween. KBeaner had her Halloween party at Dance Class and then we went and did a Halloween parade and party in the next town over! So much fun, it was all free and they had so many fun games and activities.

KBeaner even won "Funniest Costume" for her Mittens Fluff n' Stuff from Lalaloopsy (although barely anyone knew who she was, apparently Lalaloopsy is not as a big deal in other people's houses like it is in our house! haha)

 

This is Mittens from Lalaloopsy                                                                  KBeaner as Mittens

All the Halloween Party fun!

 

5 Fun and Frugal Halloween and Fall Crafts

 

First some business...I've been busy this week and lacking the motivation to write a weigh in day post even though I should since... I lost ONE pound!!! I'm super excited! Hopefully I'll lose another next week. Now on to the crafting fun...

 

 

 

5 Fun and Frugal Halloween and  Fall Crafts....

 

1. Spooky Halloween Ghost-
Materials you need: paper plate, toilet paper, tape and black crayon/marker. (Optional hole punch and yarn to hang them up)
This a super easy craft, just draw a spooky ghost face on your paper plate, then take long strips of toilet paper and tape to the back. Voila! A spooky ghost! I hole punched a hole on the top, and strung the ghost with white yarn, so that it would be easier to hang.

2. Stained "Glass" Leaves

3. Paper Plate Pumpkin-
Materials you need: paper plate, orange and black construction paper, glue stick.
Another super easy craft, just rip up orange construction paper, or you could cut them to make it neater. KBeaner helped me rip up the paper (lots of fun) then cut out some black eyes, nose and mouth for your pumpkin. Then let your little one go crazy with the glue stick and decorate the paper plate.

4.Fall Puzzle Tree-
Materials you need: paper, paint, old puzzle pieces, glue and crayons/markers.
First we collected all of the random puzzle pieces we have laying around the house. Then KBeaner painted them autumn colors. While they were drying KBeaner drew a picture of a tree (with no leaves) then she glued the painted puzzle pieces onto the tree to look like leaves.
It was fun and a great way to reuse those random puzzle pieces.

5. Spooky Glitter Decorations-
Materials- wax paper, glue and glitter. optional: paper and markers to make the designs.
Make a design on a piece of paper then cover with wax paper, let your little one trace the drawing with glue, and then go crazy with glitter! Once dry, trim and hang up!
Now I had seen on Pinterest someone had made window clings with glitter glue and plastic wrap, I tried  it and they didn't stick to the windows so I put them on wax paper so I could cut and then hang.

Hope you all try these crafts, and have lots of fun with them!

Post your pics of your crafts in the comments :)

Meal Plan

I kind of slacked on my meal plan from last week. I ate a lot more leftovers than I thought so I ended up not making all of my meals, which works out well since that is less that I have to buy for this week!

My breakfasts pretty much are always either oatmeal with some fruits/nuts or peanut butter toast with a fruit.

For lunches this week I am going to try to make myself have a salad before having my "main" lunch such as leftovers from the night before or a sandwich. I'll let you know how that works out, I have not been in the mood for a salad lately!


Now onto Dinners...

 
 
 



-Pizza (check out my awesome dough with spinach so you can add an extra veggie serving!)
-Stir fry with veggies and quinoa
-Turkey breast, with stuffing and veggies
-Taco Soup leftover (froze some from the last time I made it)
-Butternut Squash Soup (check back later in the week for a recipe!)
-Leftovers






What is your meal plan/ideas for this week?

weekly weigh in/check in

Hey all... it's weigh in day!

I was super excited to weigh in today, I had tracked and ate well the majority of the week, and I got a good amount of exercise.

The scale did not show that, I maintained. I'm glad it stayed the same, but it would have been nice to see the number go down just for some extra motivation. I guess I have to continue motivating myself.

I do feel healthier since I did get a lot of exercise, and I ate better than I have been in the past month or so. I am excited to keep getting healthier, and being an even better role model for my daughter.

This week I am going to try to get more water in, I think it will help a lot. I do well one week with water and then get back into not drinking enough. Not sure why I just can't be consistent with it! Check back and see how I did next Wednesday.

Anyways hope all of you are enjoying the beautiful Autumn weather!!