Tag Archives: life style challenge

Raspberry + white chocolate muffins

When I came home from the Triangle MQG retreat,  I needed a quick recipe as I was off to a  the Triangle MQG pot luck in 3 hours.

What could I do??? How about Mini Raspberry + White Chocolate muffins. This recipe took me ~10 minutes to make + ~ 10 minutes to bake. They turned out great and were so delicious!! Perfect for this time of year.

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Ingredients

3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup brown sugar
125 g butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
8 oz Raspberries (fresh, 1 pummet)
1 cup white chocolate drops
icing sugar (powder sugar)

Pre-heat oven to 415 degrees F (215 degrees C). Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the brown sugar. In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs, add the milk and butter. Add the liquids to the flour mix and mix until just combined. Stir in lightly, the raspberries + white chocolate.

Spoon the batter into 2-3 greased mini muffin tins/forms. Bake for 12 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Place muffins onto a tray to cool. Serve with a coat of icing sugar.

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For the rest of the week, I am trying to concentrate getting my meals back on schedule and to a plan. Here is our week’s menu.

DAY BREAKFAST DINNER
Sunday Homemade French Toast  Raclette (Potatoes + Vegetables)
Monday Oatmeal + Banana + Soy Milk  Lasagne (GF pasta)
Tuesday Oatmeal + Rhubarb Apple Compote
+ Soy Milk
 Green Vegetable Frittata
Wednesday Oatmeal + Banana + Almond Butter
+ Soy Milk
 Vegetable Chili + Brown Rice
Thursday Rhubarb + Apple Crumble  Lentil Soup (Slow Cooker)
Friday Toast + Banana + Almond Butter  Ratatouille + GF Pasta

Drama + Meal Plan {20.04.2013}

Our week ended with a little drama. I got a call on Friday around 2pm from my husband’s doctor. He informed me my husband, who played soccer in a recreational league at work over lunch, was in so much pain he could not be examined….I must come at once to pick him up and take him to the emergency room. After x-rays, he has broken his right humorous bone right at the top under the shoulder socket.

So the question I have to ask (yes probably rhetorical)…why do 40 year old males continue playing contact sports even though they know it takes at least twice as long to heal when they get hurt?? I ask this only since, it has been less than a month since my husband had recovered from a shoulder injury.

So Sean (my son) and I, are more or less left to our own devices this week, with the hubby incapacitated. I plan to keep our meal plan simple this week, here’s the plan.

DAY BREAKFAST DINNER EXERCISE
Saturday Split pea and ham soup
Sunday Canadian bacon + poached egg Vegetable pasta bake (GF) 20 mins HIT
Monday Bircher Muesli Fish + chips (homemade)
Tuesday Granola + Fruit + Soy Yoghurt Stir fry + Brown rice
Wednesday Bircher Muesli Zpizza (Pizza with whole wheat crust and organic ingredients) 20 mins. HIT
Thursday Granola + Fruit + Soy Yoghurt Meatball pasta bake (GF)
Friday Berry + Banana + Spirulina Smoothie Spinach salad 20 mins. HIT

We are usually spending ~$70 a week for our meals. Here is this weeks shopping list:

GROCERY LIST (NEW STOCK) IN THE CUPBOARD/FRIDGE
  • Corn tortilla (TT)
  • Gluten Free Pasta (TT)
  • Pasta sauce (TT)
  • Baked beans (TT)
  • Dates (TT)
  • Prunes (TT)
  • Bananas (TJ)
  • Soy Milk (TJ)
  • Juice (TJ, TT)
  • Brown Rice (TJ)
  • Vegetable Stock (TT)
  • Onions (TJ)
  • Spinach (from the garden)
  • Broccoli (from the garden)
  • Bell Peppers(TJ)
  • Garlic (TT)
  • Apples (TJ)
  • Butter (TJ)
  • Flour/ WW and GF (TT)
  • Granola (TT or BJ)
  • Oats (BJ)
  • Frozen Peas + Corn (TJ)
  • Sultanas (TT)
  • Stir Fry Sauce (TT)

NOTE: We shop majority at Trader Joe’s (TJ), Target (TT) with an occasional visit to Whole foods (WF), BJ’s , Harris Teeters (HT), Lowes Food (LF) and Fresh Market (FM).
NOTE: We do not typically use coupons mainly due to time.
NOTE: Items indicated by * are specials for the week we took advantage of.

Week Recap and Meal Plan {31.03.2013}

This week, for me, was mostly about work. I had a day trip on Tuesday to Washington DC….there is nothing like leaving at 5:30 am and getting home at 8:00pm ;-). I was very thankful there is a Starbucks, right as you get past security at the airport, for a much needed morning coffee. The other thing is, my team is growing at work, to be ~10 people, so I spent most of the end of the week trying to put a plan together to help our group be successful.

While embarking on this exercise, I realized I needed a little more structure and realistic expectations in my life, as a whole. I need to gain more balance. How else can I (as a working mum) remain engaged with family, work, look after myself, an etsy store and have some fun ;-).

To start, I came up with a rough schedule for my blog. I say rough, as I might not have anything to share or I might be running a little behind:

DAY Blog Activity
Saturday Weekly Recap + Meal Plan
Monday Weekend of Small Finishes + Fabric Stash
linking up with Plum and June for “Lets get Acquainted”
Tuesday Recipe of the week
Wednesday WiP (Work in Progress) Wednesday
linking up with Lee @ “Freshly Pieced” 
Friday Finish it up Friday
linking up with Amanda Jean @ “Crazy Mom Quilts

Now, on to the other planning piece the family uses,  our meal plan. We have decided that the important thing here is to make it sustainable. We are going with 4 vegetarian appropriate meals a week to see if we can stick with the plain a little better. This is our plan for week 12:

DAY BREAKFAST DINNER EXERCISE
Sunday Egg + Fruit + Soy Latte Creamy Vegetable Shepherds Pie (Hopefully 4th time the charm) 20 mins. HIT
Monday Granola + Fruit + Soy Yoghurt Split Pea and Ham Soup
Tuesday Berry + Banana + Spirulina Smoothie Gluten Free Pasta Bake 3-4 Mile Walk
Wednesday Oatmeal + Banana and Almond butter Zpizza (Pizza with whole wheat crust and organic ingredients) 20 mins. HIT
Thursday Granola + Fruit + Soy Yoghurt Meatloaf + Potatoes + Steamed Vegetables
(Meatloaf is made with zucchini and carrots)
Friday Berry + Banana + Spirulina Smoothie Vegetable Biryani (adding broccoli and left over vegetables from Sunday) 20 mins. HIT

As mentioned last week, I thought I could share how we are spending $70 a week only, for our meals, by providing a shopping list. So, here was this weeks grocery list:

Grocery list (New Stock) In the cupboard/fridge
  • Pineapple (TT)
  • Watermelon (LF)*
  • Strawberries (TT)
  • Bananas (TT)
  • Broccoli (TJ)
  • Cauliflower (TJ)
  • Green Beans (TJ)
  • Mushrooms (TJ)
  • Carrots (TJ)
  • Zucchini (TJ)
  • Soy Milk (TJ)
  • Soy Yoghurt (WF)
  • Ground Beef 96/4 (TJ)
  • Ham hocks (TT)
  • Juice (TJ, TT)
  • Split Peas (TT)
  • Brown Rice (TJ)
  • Gluten Free Pasta (TT)
  • Vegetable Stock (TT)
  • Onions (TJ)
  • Potatoes (TJ)
  • Butter (TJ)
  • Flour/ WW and GF (TT)
  • Granola (TT or BJ)
  • Oats (BJ)
  • Marinara Sauce (BJ or TT)
  • Eggs (TJ)
  • Frozen Peas + Corn (TJ)

NOTE: We shop majority at Trader Joe’s (TJ), Target (TT) with an occasional visit to Whole foods (WF), BJ’s , Harris Teeters (HT), Lowes Food (LF) and Fresh Market (FM).
NOTE: We do not typically use coupons mainly due to time.
NOTE: Items indicated by * are specials for the week we took advantage of.

Well – that is it for this long post today. Thanks for going through my thoughts with me. Hope everyone has a good week. I would love to see what you are doing for meal planning or trying to balance your life – leave a link to your post in the comments below 🙂