more healthy food stuff

So, because I've subscribed to regular emailings from Carol Tuttle, I've heard about Green Smoothie Girl and checked out her website. She has a whole kit to help you include more whole foods into your diet with over 500 recipes and videos, etc. It sounds awesome, but costs $150. Why can't these cool things be free? Anyway, thought her website was cool and she has a blog, etc.

You can check it out at greensmoothiegirl.com

Dress Your Truth

So, the author of Remembering Wholeness has launched a whole new course and books for dressing and looking in a way that reflects who you are inside. She has two books related to the topic, "It's Just My Nature" and "Dress Your Truth" which describe 4 different personality types. It's very similar to the color code, but it is a little more creative and descriptive, comparing you to one of the four elements Air, Water, Fire, and Earth. Air is light, bubbly, bright, fun. Water is still, fluid, blended, calm. Fire is dynamic, rich, textured, outgoing, energetic. And Earth is still, but deep, rigid, elegant, regal, etc. Anyway, it's fun to watch the video makeovers. I've bought her book and watched some descriptive videos online, but the course of what to wear, how to do your hair and makeup, etc. is like $200 or something. She mentions your "beauty sixth sense" and I think we all sort of lean toward what we feel comfortable in, but maybe you would get some ideas from this as well. =)

http://dressingyourtruth.com/

TastyPlanner

Lauren - this is really a response to your post below but I didn't want to put it in a comment. Thanks for the dinner ideas, it's so nice to have more ideas when trying to put a plan together. I remembered after I saw your post that I found this website called tastyplanner.com that I love using. You can add your own recipes to the website, or find recipes from other users, and add them to weekly menus (easy as dragging and dropping it onto the day). Then you can print out your grocery list for the week! I mainly use this for the grocery list option.





After I had Jane I went to this site and searched for a whole bunch of recipes that sounded good, and then I put the recipes on the weekly planner - several weeks worth so that I didn't have to think about it again. At the beginning of each week I just printed out the recipe list and each night I'd put the laptop on the counter and just looked at the recipe online (sometimes I printed them out). It made that time with a new baby a lot easier. Since then I've put my own recipes on there, which is a little time consuming but in the end it's really handy as you can use it over and over again.

The site isn't perfect - the search options are limited as are some other features, but using it very simply it is very helpful.

Dinner Ideas

I just spent half my day coming up with dinner ideas for the rest of the month and thought I would share in case any of you struggle, like I do, to come up with ideas. I'm also finding that I'm spending too much money running to the store every few days for last minute ingredients and that I never have what I need in my fridge. I was also trying to come up with ideas for things that are easy to make or crockpot dinners since I can hardly stand up by 5 pm. So the point here is, if you see anything you're interested in and want the recipe, let me know and I'll post it to the favs and finds blog.

Jumbalaya - shrimp, sausage, and rice with veggies, I made it in the crockpot!

Shepherd's Pie - ground beef, veggies, and potato pearls

Shrimp and Linguine - made with a white sauce, carrots and tomatoes

Seven Layer Dinner - potatoes, carrots, ground turkey, and some other stuff

Broiled Teriyaki Salmon with Julienne vegetables

Mini Meatloaves - served with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese on top

Egg Fritata with broccoli and ham

Pronto Pasta Bake - marinara sauce, zucchini, and Parmesan and mozzarella cheese

Tater Tot Casserole - obviously tater tots, green beans, shredded rotisserie chicken, (crockpot)

Berry Pancake Puff - pure indulgence for me, it's a german pancake (lots of eggs) with berries

Chow Mein - mom's recipe, I'm going to try it in the crockpot

Seafood Chowder - not for dairy intolerant or seafood haters

Chicken Crescent Rolls - I put the filling over a salad for myself

Family Style Tacos

Chicken Parmesan (crockpot)

Chiliquiles - crushed tortilla chips with taco seasoning stuff and rotisserie chicken

Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi

Beef Pot Roast

Kelly's Coconut Chicken - breaded in oat flour and coconut then cooked in olive oil

Bee Sting recipe

I've found all sorts of random information from this website: http://naturalhealthcircus.blogspot.com/search?q=bee+sting

One was this recipe for drawing out the pain and itch of bee stings:

1 teaspoon of chopped onions
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of unpasteurized apple cider vinegar

He mushed it all together, applied to some soft cotton, and wrapped it on. Ella got a horrible spider bite on her hand the other day and I thought this might help. (didn't try it, though!)

meatless fajita

The other night I made these meatless fajitas. It was refried beans with taco seasoning, great big Hass avocados from Costco, amazing cherry tomatoes from Costco, and carmelized onions. Can you say yum!? I didn't know how it would taste, but with so many good flavors, I didn't miss the meat at all. And with such bright colors you can't help but want to dive in. These avocados are so incredible, I want to make my Mexican chicken soup just to put some on top!

Financial Tools

I was skimming the latest BYU Magazine and found out that they have a new financial resource website through BYU available for anyone. I think the website(personalfinance.byu.edu) is a great resource for anyone who is interested in managing their finances and becoming more self-reliant. It looks very comprehensive and informative. It's also written with a gospel perspective which helps keep things in focus when your looking at both expenses and goals. The website has tutorials broken down into beginning, intermediate and advanced. Each tutorial has several lessons that each take about one hour to complete. I would like to try and do some of these lessons and maybe post something I learned on here. One thing I liked as I was looking over the website was this list of questions.

Is this how Heavenly Father would have me spend the money He has entrusted to me?
Am I fulfilling my responsibilities as I should as father (mother, child, etc.)?
Am I being a wise financial steward?
Have I separated out needs and wants?
Am I following the counsel of Jacob in Jacob 2:18-19?
Am I putting the Kingdom of God first in my life?

That last question might be the most important one since if we did that, we would have more clarity in all of our other decisions and challenges everyday.