Simple Woman's Daybook - January 31, 2011

For Today, Monday, January 31, 2011
The sky is mostly cloudy with patches of blue.
It is 35° at 9:30am with just a tiny bit of a breeze.

I am thinking... About spring! I am enjoying this winter and wouldn't mind if we got some more snow, but I am also eager to get my garden started :) It will also mean warmer weather, so I will be able to take Susannah outside with me and we can play and she can play while I work in the garden or hang laundry, etc.

I am thankful for... Our warm house! It has not been as cold this past week, but still plenty cold enough to make me appreciate having a house to live in. I am also very thankful for like-minded friends :)

From my kitchen... comes the wonderful smell of a fresh batch of granola that I made this morning (and am now enjoying a bowl of!).

I'm reading... Nothing in particular right now. I'm working my way through Nourishing Traditions little by little, browsing pictures in home remodeling/home decorating magazines to help me figure out the little detailed stuff for the addition, and of course still doing blog reading as my time allows (which seems less and less these days!).

I'm hoping... to finish getting all the bookwork up-to-date this week. I spent a huge chunk of time on it last week and made great headway.

I am hearing... Susannah babble and spit while she walks around the house playing in her walker.

Around the house... is lots of evidence that we live here :)

A few plans for the week... Learn more about chickens - for eggs AND meat; work on a seed order to start my own plants for the garden this year.

A picture... Last Tuesday Susannah and I went to visit my [89 year old] Grandma at the Home. We got there in time for lunch and then after lunch we visited with Grandma in her room for a bit. Grandma wanted to hold Susannah (she hasn't wanted to the past couple times) and seemed to really enjoy their time together. Susannah, of course, was all about Great-Grandma's shiny necklace, zipper-pull (on her sweater) and glasses, but Grandma didn't mind a bit!

Nourishing Foods - What We Eat

As part of our Journey to Nourishing Foods, I wanted to share with you what we're eating. When I read others' blogs that have a specific eating lifestyle I'm always curious what their meals look like :) I kept a food journal so you could see the real deal. I didn't want to post a menu plan and then either feel pressured to stick to it, or feel guilty saying we were eating one thing when we were eating another.

Remember that this is a journey. It's not something I/we have perfected overnight. I'm still learning and making changes as I cook and bake. But we still eat normal food. At least I think we do! You can see for yourself and let me know ;)

Jan. 20:
Supper - Hamburger Pot Pie with White Whole Wheat Crust, Salad (Romaine, Spinach, Carrots, Mushrooms, Eggs, Tomatoes)
*****
Jan. 21:
Breakfast - Green Pepper & Mushroom Omelets with Toast
Lunch - Roast Beef Sandwich & Banana Nut Muffins (Daniel); Leftover Hamburger Pot Pie, Peaches & Cottage Cheese (Miriam)
Supper - Marinated, Grilled Pork Chops, Leftover Baked Macaroni, Leftover Broccoli & Green Beans (not mixed together!)
*****

Jan. 22 (Saturday, which usually means fend for yourself):
Breakfast - Egg Sandwich (Daniel); Banana Pancakes (Miriam)
Lunch - Banana Pancakes, Leftover Hamburger Pot Pie (Daniel); Egg Sandwich, Orange, Chips (Miriam)
Supper - Fried Rice
I'd made cookies so we enjoyed some of those throughout the day, too
*****

Jan. 23:
Breakfast - Egg Sandwiches
Lunch - Hotdogs (Daniel); Leftover Chicken Rice Soup (Miriam) We were going to share the hot-dogs and soup but he was more in the mood for hotdogs and I was more in the mood for soup!
Supper - White Whole Wheat Waffles, Scrambled Eggs, Turkey Sausage
*****

Jan 24:
Breakfast - Egg Sandwich (Daniel); food at MOPS (Miriam)
Lunch - Roast Beef Sandwich, Banana Nut Muffins (Daniel); Leftover Hamburger Pot Pie, Peaches & Cottage Cheese (Miriam)
Supper - Pork BBQ from freezer, Peas (very late supper)
*****

Jan. 25:
Breakfast - Egg Sandwich (Daniel); Leftover Waffles (Miriam)
Lunch - Roast Beef Sandwich, Pretzels, Cookies (Daniel); Lunch with Grandma at her Home (Miriam)
Supper - Wendys (Daniel - working late); "Beans" (Great Nothern Beans cooked with Hog Jowl) from MIL (Miriam)
*****

Jan. 26:
Breakfast - Leftover Waffles and Sausage
Lunch - KFC (Daniel - I was sure I was out of bread, lo and behold I found more that evening. *sigh*), Leftover Rice, Hotdog and Orange (Miriam - I was cleaning up leftovers! It was a weird meal.)
Supper - Beef, Cheese & Tomato Quesadillas on Homemade White Wheat Tortillas, Corn
*****

Jan. 27:
Breakfast - Egg Sandwich (Daniel); Leftover Banana Pancakes, Peaches & Cottage Cheese (Miriam)
Lunch - Roast Beef Sandwich, Pretzels (Daniel); Leftover Quesadillas (Miriam)
Supper - Arbys (Daniel - working late), Meatloaf, Corn, Potatoes (Miriam


Aaaand, that's what we ate. And of course the week I decide to do this is the week Daniel's on call, working from dark to way-past-dark and eating alot of fast food, which is not typical! Well, it can be typical for his late days or on call weeks when he doesn't get home until really late (and I mean after 9 or 10pm). He has been working very.long.days this week and we are both ready for life to return to something more normal again. I guess the upside is that he does get paid overtime so that helps offset meals he ends up buying.

I'd love to hear any thoughts or questions you have (but please keep it nice and polite)!

P.S. Banana Pancakes are not nearly as good leftover... and I don't like them first-over as well as I thought I might. They're not BAD, just not something I'll make often.

Nourishing Foods - Grocery Shopping

Last week I started a mini-series on what my weekly grocery shopping looks like as we're trying to eat foods that are better for you and more nourishing. Here is this week's grocery purchases:

Horizon Organic Milk (they were out of Homestead Creamery's Whole Milk)
Orange Juice
Canola Oil
Chips - Daniel's been eying "my" bag...
Cottage Cheese
Organic Yogurt
Spinach
Organic All Purpose Flour
All Natural White Whole Wheat Flour
Wheat Gluten
Brown Sugar
4 Kiwi
2 doz. Brown Eggs
2 Mangoes
(10) "1/3 Less Fat" Cream Cheese

Total: $60.56

A few notes about what I bought today:

I need to do some digging to see if there's a better option for when recipes call for oil. I did purposely stay away from "Vegetable Oil" as it is just soybean oil (very bad for you). In the meantime, I'm about out of oil and decided to get some more for now.

The Cream Cheese was part of a Mega Sale and while I'd love to make my own one day, I was out and this was a good time to stock up a little. The Cream Cheese added $10 to my bill, so I'm happy :)

I am curious, though... if you have a whole/real foods-type diet, what does a grocery shopping trip bring home and for how much?

English Assignment Comment?

I don't think I have EVER had so many spam comments on one post (that made it through the spam filter) as I have been getting on my Goals for 2011 post!! That title must be a hot one in the spammers search engines because I have been getting at least 1 spam comment each day, from "Anonymous". Thankfully not asking "wanna buy some drugs?" like another post kept getting repeatedly! The comment I got this morning though, takes the cake as far as wordiness, fine use of adjectives, and overall being well written, I thought. If I didn't know better, I'd say someone had written it as an English assignment!

It read as follows:

"Considerably, the blog post is actually the greatest on this worthy topic. I concur with your decisions and will thirstily look forward to your approaching updates. Saying thanks will not be adequate, for the phenomenal lucidity in your writing. I will at once grab your feeds to stay informed of any updates. Delightful work and much success in your business endeavors! Have a nice day."

Too bad it's just a spam comment, otherwise I might give it an A+!