A Side of Sanity

A new me, a new life.

2016-07-29T04:58:00.000-07:00

So a little bit ago blog post a wrote about my doctors appointment. I was diagnosed with IBS and the doctor gave me a prescription to deal with some of the issues. It works, not 100% but it does take more of the pain away. The only issue is my anxiety, depression and insomnia sky rocketed, so I went back to the doctor to get that figured out.

A month later I went to the doctor. I told him exactly what was happening. I told him all the nitty gritty details and he really gave me his time. I usually feel really rushed. I kind of get the "ok what's the issue ... mmhmmm ... ok here are some pills, gave them a try and come back in a moth." This time he sat down and listened and we talked through a few things. At the end we decided I would give some anti-anxiety pills a ago.
I have lived with some pretty bad anxiety for years now. I have dealt with fears and issues that have really kept me from not living a full life. I am even in my 30's and I don't even have a drivers license because of my anxiety. There are many reasons for me not driving but the base is the fact I just have/had a fear of driving. Right down to panic attacks when I would drive.
I have even had an anxiety with pills. I grew up around people with some very unhealthy addictions to pills. So I told my doctor and we decided to try an anti-anxiety pill, something that would be mild and not totally addictive. Something that would at least help me get over this hump in life. Just so I can get back into a normal functioning life.

I knew it would take a few weeks for it to kick in. I am at about week 5 and I am really starting to see a difference. Its starting to feel like a new me. I talked to a friend who takes the same medication, he told me that when you first start taking it, you will be your normal self then one day things will just be different. And that is exactly what it felt like, one day the clouds were just swept away. I am also learning I have some pretty ridiculous anxieties. I should have talked to the doctor sooner about my mental health issues.
I am realizing I had anxiety towards the weirdest things. Like cleaning for example, if a room got dirty, my anxiety would build just at the thought of having to clean it. I would get frazzled and not
know where to start, and just give up. Now I notice, I am categorizing the job in my brain and I start cleaning #1, then #2 and so on. It is one thing I never even realized but one thing I did realize and I am now working on is my driving.
Shortly after I started taking the pills I asked a friend to help teach me to drive. I got my learners back in November and it took me until June to get fully on the road. Its been huge conquering driving. I have had lots of help from friends though. I cannot wait to get on the road.

Then dealing with my social anxiety, its still a work in progress. I think a lot of my anxiety came from being a stay at home mom for so long. I have been home for 10 years and it was a slow progress. I got to the point where I wasn't leaving my house at all. I also lost a lot of good friends.
Last nght though, I got to go out with the girls to celebrate a friends engament. My sis in law and I took her out for some drinks and food. They are the closest things to sisters I have ever had, so I assume they don't mind my social awkwardness. Although, I felt almost no anxiety, it was just a good time. I was actally able to relax and just talk, drink and eat.
Once I am driving, I am going to try and be a lot more social. I will actually be able just pop over at friends places with coffee, meet somewhere with the kids with friends for playdate. The possibilities will be endless. Its a big downside of living in the rural parts of town with no licence. All because I finally caved and spoke up about my mental health.

I am very happy I did it. I feel like I am almost at the light at the end of the tunnel. Its been going on for a long time and I am finally look forward to life. Plus I have my road test in 3 weeks!

My first Ipsy!

2016-07-29T04:45:00.001-07:00

I have been wanting to sign up for a little treat for a while. As a mom of 3, its nice to feel good plus try something new. That's why these beauty boxes are perfect. Plus they are fun, its a little surprise in the mail once a month!

The price is also great. Its not a huge hit on the bank account. Its $10usd, so in Canada it comes to just under $20 after shipping and conversion.

You can also collect points to get even more free stuff. If you would like to check Ipsy out just click on the link here.

<----- Some one was super excited. She didn't even know what it was but it was pink!

Here is what I got in my first bag!

Cute makeup bag.
Nunzio Savino - Anti-frizz sheets
The Balm Cosmetics - Mr. Write NOW eyeliner in Jac B Bronze
Too Faced - Hangover replenishing face primer
Vasanti Cosmetics - Contouring eyeshadow brush
ModelCo - Power Lash Black Mascara

I have loved everything so far! My favorites would have to be the face primer, the frizz sheets and the mascara.

Finally went in to see the doctor!

2016-04-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

For years I have had issues with my "tummy," between the heart burn, digestive issues, bathroom issues and so on, life has been in the dumps, literally. Things have been slowly getting worse and worse and finally I got talked into seeing the doctor.
Yesterday was my appointment and I was not sure what I was going to expect but it got uncomfortable. By the end of the appointment the doctor is suggestion I get tested for IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome) and celiac. I do know I have just an over all food intolerance, everything I eat makes me sick. So I am very interested to see what happens. I do have to bring in samples to get tested, as well as a 8-10 hour fast before blood tests. I am hoping to get in to do that tomorrow morning before a class I have at 10am, so y goal for today is to try and get those samples (yes I am trying to be vague, I am not very good at "bathroom" talk.)
I did start a food diary to, I think this is a huge reason I have been really bad at my meal plans. I is really hard to work around being sick. So, I really hope to find out what is wrong and I know I will be diving into research and seeing what I can do to fix myself and I will try and write about it as much as I can, as I go down this road.

Meal Plan Monday - March 28/16

2016-03-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

org junkie menu plan monday

Well today I start my cleanse! It is actually my very first one and I am very excited, you can find out more on the cleanse by following along with my 14 Day Cleanse Series. I prepared a bit, just to make sure I am ready and hoping for better chances of success. So I have a meal plan for my full 14 days already set. But the kids are also on spring break, so we will see how well this goes! Here is my week #1:

Monday

Breakfast - Smoothie, an egg and GF toast

Lunch - turkey lettuce wraps with kale salad

Dinner - Butternut squash fresh local pasta

Tuesday

Breakfast - Oatmeal and fruit

Lunch - Green salad with homemade cilantro lime dressing

Dinner - Homemade turkey rice soup

Wednesday

Breakfast - Eggs and veggies

Lunch - tomato salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Dinner - Roast dinner with roasted potatoes and veggies

Thursday

Breakfast - Smoothie with an egg and GF toast

Lunch - Roasted tomatoes on mushroom tops

Dinner - BBQ Salmon with rice and veggies

Friday

Breakfast - Oatmeal and fruit

Lunch - Salmon salad

Dinner - Beef Stir Fry

Saturday

Breakfast - paleo eggs benny

Lunch - Soup

Dinner - a meal made from a combo of leftovers

Sunday

Breakfast - Smoothie

Lunch - soup or salad from leftovers

Dinner - Leftovers or if there is none, it will be a fend for yourself night.

Easter Dinner Leftover Cassarole

2016-03-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

Every holiday we go to my in-laws for the big turkey dinner. They raise there own turkeys and there is nothing like a farmed raised turkeys. And this Easter I somehow got loaded up with a ton of leftover, including the turkey bones. So I did boil that down already and made broth and I will be stripping all the meat from the bone but that is for later. Today I made this fun casserole, which was inspired by a shepherds pie.

So if you are loaded with leftovers and want something a bit different to try, give this a shot and spice it up with extra seasons to, if you want to change it up!

RESTART

2016-03-24T21:38:00.001-07:00

Oh, I do miss writing. It has been a while and I have thought about restarting a lot but never really thought I had anything to say. Then it occurred to me that it doesn't really matter if I have something important to say, or anything important doing on in my life but sometimes it is just nice to sit and write. Changes happen and the main focus us this blog has changed throughout the last few years. I have even went through and deleted posts, which I wish I didn't do but I hope to refill it.

I do have a lot of fun things going on in my life now, between studding herbalism, still trying to figure school out, and also my garden, my family, my health and everything else in between.

I do hope everyone still we follow me and read all the fun new posts!

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS

2015-01-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

New addiction - READING! I don't even know how it came about but I have now become a bookaholic. A few months back I got this urge to read and it came out of no where. I have some eye issues I have no got checked, so I have been avoiding reading. So I decided to look to see if there are any book clubs around. Be interesting to check out, I thought. So I asked on a local mommy facebook group to see if there were any around and apparently there were not!
So on the post someone commented that we should make one. We have only met a few times now but through January I hope to grow it and see what it turns into!
My husband is a big reader, so he has been great with my new found love of reading. Which has always been there but I just learned to read hardcover or bigger worded books until i make it into get my eye checked. So I will make this apart of my blog now, what I am reading and book reviews. I post about books on my instagram already to! So follow me there.

I started jogging again!

2014-10-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

I first went jogging years ago, shortly after I officially quit smoking. It was my big "hurrah" after
over 10 years of smoking, I wanted to jog. My sister in law was jogging at the time, so we decided to go together. I found it hard. If i went to hard, I would start to hyperventilate and wouldn't be able to breath. We slowly stopped jogging and even though it didn't last long, it was a start.
Then we started crossfit. I would still hyperventilate when I did any running or just went to hard. I was told it would go away so I just slowed down and paced myself better. Then I started running at the local track with a friend once a week. We tried to aim for 5k every week. We mixed a lap of walking and then running. I had to, mostly with my hyperventilating. Seem to keep coming even though I tried to pace myself. Then once WOD at the gym was a 3x 800m run. It was scary but I did it, without hyperventilating. I didn't get a good time by far but it was a huge defeat.
A little bit later my friend was unable to continue jogging. Then with hunting season here we decided not to renew our gym membership until things have slowed down. So I was getting an itch. Then my friend was posting about starting jogging and using an app. called couch to 5k. So i checked it out and seemed good. I am on my 4th day and without any issues with breathing. It tells you when to run and walk. So you get a good 1 min run then about 1 min of walking. So it works well with me and I am seeing progress everyday. Plus I go running with my dog, which is great. She also gets some exercise with me.

Saturday hunt with the family: 10/18/14

2014-10-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

I may have not been able to keeping up with the hunting diary but I have not been able to get out as much. After my hubby being away for 12 days on his big moose trip, I was at home sick, with the kids. Even though they got lucky and did not get sick, it was just poor mama.
So this weekend we planned a weekend of hunting, one big trip and one small one with the kids.

Saturday morning we woke up at our normal 7am time and got ready, as well as the kids and waited for our friend to show up. We had a friend come with us. He kids moved out of town and came back for a visit and he is also a beginner hunter, so some extra company was nice. We stayed close to home and just went up the mountain and just did a drive around. Which we usually do with the kids and they love helping out with looking for deer and they love using the binoculars.
It was pretty quiet out and we only saw a few other hunters. We spotted one deer down along in a clearing but quit far from the road. So we stopped and my hubby pulled out the binoculars to take a better look and it was a dead doe. We are not sure if it was attacked, natural but we just hope someone didn't shoot it and leave it. Finding her was a bit sad.

I also got the chance to miss out on my first buck. We were coming down a road and up a head there were two trucks stopped and the guys were talking to each other. They noticed us and the guy ahead of us drove away. Then a few feet up from them we look over to the slash (a area of forest that has been logged) and there was a deer bedded down. The guys didn't even notice, so hubby jumps out again and starts looking at it, and it was a buck. Since it is my first year he wants me to try for my first. So he told me to grab my gun. I do and get out and it was a bit far, so he told me to climb down to this stump. Then as I was climbing down, it got up and walked away. So missed out on my first but that is ok.
Then we stopped for a bit and did some chanterelle mushroom picking. We didn't find a lot but the kids had fun running around looking for them. We found about a grocery bag full but it was fun. Good experience for the kids.

After, we decided to drive around a bit more. We went exploring around a few roads and found a new area. My hubby loved it and it was just gorgeous to.As we drove around we stopped one of the hunters we saw earlier and we stopped and chatted with him. He was very chatty and swore every other word, i don't think he saw the kids in the back. He was going on about he saw 50 does the other day, down by the main road and he has been hunting here since he was 4 years old and things like that. We said goodbye and my hubby turns and said "Someone doesn't want us here, must be a good stop."
So we decided to call it a day after that and slowly made our way back down. No deer but we found some mushrooms and a new spot and will be goign back soon.

Canning Salmon ... a lot of salmon

2014-10-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

Living on Vancouver Island we get lots of perks. Not only is it paradise here (when it is not raining,) we have a bountiful supply of local recourses. One major one is fish. When fishing season is around we stock up. We are lucky enough to get enough fish to last the family for a hole year, if not more.
We keep hole fish and steak some up for meals, we fillet them for smoking, we can a lot and we can some of the smoked fish. There are endless possibilities with salmon.

I have never used the pressure canner alone before, actually this is only my second time canning salmon but I had success! I preplanned and studies the pressure canning book and called my mom and law and my grandma just for extra reassurance.

We got all the fish during the summer, so we precut and froze it all and I planned to do it all when my hubby was on his hunting trip. I got half done but I came down with a nasty cold while he was gone, so I did it in two.
The first day I canned 2.5 batches of pints and then I continued a week later with 3 batches of pints. I ran out of the pints but the bigger jars are nice for full meals. For a total of 61 jars of canned salmon!

A Couple Months of Crazy

2014-10-16T12:53:00.002-07:00

Things are now slowing down and after a while of go go go, I am happy things are quiet now. Which means I am able to get back to a regular schedule.

First my mom came for a visit. She made the visit worth it, after not being able to see each other for 4 years. The last time she came for a visit was for my daughters 1st birthday and she was just a week shy of her 5th birthday this year. She lives out in Saskatchewan and it is hard to see each other often.

Then after a long strike with the teachers and government, the teachers went back to work and the kids back in school, so my baby girl started kindergarten.

Then after she left, my hubby left for a big hunting trip up north. He was gone for 12 days, which was a fun time but I am so thankful all 3 kids are now in school or it would of made for one stressful 12 days.

I will post more about these but I am back and have lots to write!

Menu Plan Monday for Sept. 8-14

2014-09-09T08:54:00.002-07:00

This week I am trying a few new things. I am going to attempt a full breakfast, lunch and dinner meal plan. With our fitness routine getting a bit more important and diet is such a big part of fitness. I do want to start doing full meal plans more around what we need rather then what I just feel like making. Doing fitness mealing planning is intense but doing a week worth in a day is possible also. I also think with the all 3 kids now in school, I may be more inclined to do this also, just to take out some of the meal prep with a 5 person family.
I am also making a few days of the week for spesific meals like the typical meatless Mondays for example.
Everything I planned for the week is just out of foods I do have in the house, so this is a grocery shopping free meal plan.

Also my mom is coming to visit! So things may change to depending if we have enough for everyone, or we may make random plans to eat out, so things are subject to change - as usual.

Meatless Monday
Breakfast - Apple Pie Oatmeal
Lunch - Kale and swiss chard sauté
Dinner - ~~chickpea and potato stew~~ My mom treated the family to Chinese food.

Tuesday
Breakfast - 10 grain cereal with fruit and a hard boiled egg (boil up a dozen for the week)
Lunch - Egg salad sandwiches
Dinner - Korean beef

Wheatless Wednesday
Breakfast - Peaches and cream oatmeal
Lunch - attempted homemade salmon sushi
Dinner - Shepherds pie

Thursday
Breakfast - Pancakes
Lunch - Omelets
Dinner - Left Overs (start 2 chickens in the crockpot for next day)

Friday
Breakfast - Egsg and toast
Lunch - Fruity breakfast smoothies Blackberry Muffins (make extra to freeze)
Dinner - Pulled BBQ Chicken

Soupy Saturday
Breakfast - Cream of wheat and toast with protein shake
Lunch - Scrambled Eggs with onion and zucchini
Dinner -Chicken Rice soup

Sunday ~ Mommies day off
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Make your own Sandwiches
Dinner - Whatever day

HAVOC FC 6: Michael vs Jesse Arnett

2014-09-05T14:03:00.002-07:00

Tonight my brother Michael fights for HAVOC FC 6 against Jesse Arnett at 135lbs. I have always been my brothers' biggest fan along with the family. Before we moved back to BC, I never missed one of either of my brothers fights.

There is a shadow that comes down for me before either of them fight. I am not sure if this is for everyone but for me personally, no matter how far away I live I still get super butterflies that last all day until I get the results.
When I was able to go to the fights, I was on the verge of a heart attack the whole night but not being at the fights is hard to. The fear of something bad happening is big but not being able to be there to cheer them on sucks just as much. It is a huge deal in the house when fight night comes. My boys look up to their uncles a lot and we all anticipate that call, text or message or even a facebook up date but usually I will sit and refresh the mma top news quick results.

TOP MMA NEWS Results and play by play

Photo credit to Darren Langlois Photography. Check out his facebook page!

Davis Brothers Facebook Page

A day of firsts

2014-09-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a big day of firsts for me. Not once, not twice but three firsts with 3 different workouts.

A little while ago I ordered my hubby and I our own adjustable wire skipping ropes for class. I am SUPER short and all the ropes were always to long. So I need my own that I can customize.
They arrived in the mail a few days ago. Then even though they were customizable, it was still too long and had to cut mine. Then after I finished customizing mine, I tackled my hubby's and surprised him with a camo set!
Then I tried to play around with my double unders (DU's), which I have never even attempted before. Then surprising enough, I got a few. I was so happy. I was able to get a DU then a few singles then anther DU.Today I will be practicing a bit more. Lets see how many I can get today.

Then off to the gym for us later on in the evening. We practiced our toe to bar for our skills and I have never got one before, so I was going to just practice my swing. I was going along and decided to attempt one and got it. So I tried for a few more and got 4 total out of probably 20 attempts but I was happy to get the 4!

Then for our strength, we did our strict presses. I have going up very slowly and it has been a few weeks since i went to a higher weight. I go up and work up to doing 5 presses in a row and if I am not able to I keep to the same weight. Before my max was 55lbs which was getting a bit easier, so this week i went up to 60lbs which is a personal record (PR) for me. So my presses were 45lbs, 50lbs, 55lbs, 60lbs then back down to 55lbs and wallballs with a 14lb ball. I was only able to get 2 in a row but I will stick to that until I am able to get all 5 reps in a row.

Then finished off with the workout of the day (WOD) which was a 4 rounds of 400m run, 10 handstand push ups and 10 pistols. I did a scaled version but usually if there is a run in a WOD, I will scale it down because I suck at running!

30 Day Ab Challange - September

2014-09-01T22:37:00.004-07:00

So this month I decided to do another ab challenge. As much as I wanted to work on another area, I find its my weakest area, or the area I want to work on more, like any girl. I wouldn't mind a flat stomach of course. So ab's again it is.

This one I found by Jodi Higgs, had a bit more of wider workout. Something to keep it more interesting. I did the 1st already and was not hard at all. I like how it gets harder and harder as it goes. I will also try and work up some courage for some before and after pictures!

31 day ab challange - August

2014-09-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

I actually completed a full 30 day fitness challenge. I started a 31 day ab challenge I found on sisterhood of the shrinking jeans.net, which is a really neat communal website with lots of great tips and monthly challenges. So I tried the ab challenge they hosted last month. I did not take any before or after pictures but I did complete it.

I found it a bit tedious though. It was just crunches just in different numbers each day. I mixed it up with different types of crunches though. Then those days I forgot, I made up for the next day and thats when things got good. You feel the burn with 250 crunches. I just did not find it a challenge even on days I did a WOD but I wouldn't doubt it made some progress on my tummy.

Now for September's monthly fitness challenge! I will also try some before and after pictures which I am a bit scared to do.

Menu Plan Sept. 1st - 7th

2014-09-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

So this month is going to be a tight one. With 3 truck payments and my hubby leaving for a 2 week hunting trip at the end of the month, money will be tight. Thankfully we have enough food in our freezer and pantry I can keep digging. Plus my mom will be here in a few days and I better feed her food!

Last weeks meal plan

Monday - Venison Roast with potatoes and veggies

Tuesday - Apple Pancakes

Wednesday - Turkey dinner at the in laws

Thursday - Late night whatever dinner

Friday - fettechini alfrado and Caesar salad

Saturday -French toast and fruit

Sunday - Mom's day off

Clean and Split Jerk PR

2014-08-30T10:57:00.002-07:00

As I sit here jealous my hubby went to the Saturday morning CrossFit class, I thought I would reminisce about yesterdays class because I have found my new favorite move! We did clean and split jerks. It was a first for me, I have done clean and jerks before but never a split jerk.
We started out with the normal warm up, stretching and skipping then a few rounds of sit ups, push ups, goblet squats and pull ups. Then worked on ring dips. Which I cannot even do yet, so i do a scaled version.

Then we worked on deadlifts. I do not mind deadlifts but they are not my favorite. I find them awkward and mostly the higher you do with weight. I am still working on my core strength and I have difficulties keeping tight during a heavy life and I round out. My max deadlift is 175lbs though and we did our max +25, which would be 200lbs. Then we do sets at 50%, 60%, 70%, 80% then back to 70% of that max weight. So for me i did 100lbs, 120lbs, 145lbs, 160lbs then back down to 145lbs. It was suppose to be 140lbs for my 70% but I was lazy and it was less plate work with 145lbs.

Then we had 10 mins to find our max or PR (personal record) for clean and split jerks. There are a few ways to do a jerk and the split was just one kind. It was my first time doing it and I had a killer charlie horse the night before and came in with a sore leg. I got my max up to 80lbs and I could have gone higher but the clean was getting hard with my leg. I was rolling it out but still was uncomfortable and I didn't want to push myself to hard and hurt myself.
Then for our WOD (work out of the day) we did 7 minutes of clean and jerks at our 85% to work on technique. After each one we would mark it down and go back. I worked with 70lbs and did 20 in the 7 minutes, so not to bad. They are a ton of fun though and I think I found my new favorite move!

The beginning is near

2014-08-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

The time has come again. Hunting season is here. At the moment it is only bow allowed and we do not do bow but some of our hunting friends are already out, so it has begun! Plan have already started with trips but this year will be my first year in the bush.

At the end of last year I went with my sister in law and a friend and we are got our C.O.R.E: The Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Education program in British Columbia's which is a hunter education program. Which is basically a hunters license and what you need to hunt.

I have not been hunting before, besides day trips with the family. It will be an interesting year for sure, thats if I do get out.

My hubby tends to get over excited during this time of the year and I am sure he will forget all out it. Last year he promised to take me and the family out a few times but he was so determined to fill his tags because we did not get a moose or elk draw and a few deer will not fill the freezer for the winter.

This year we did not get anything again but someone in the family did. They got 2 moose draws (they went in as a group) but they need a little help, so my hubby will be going on the trip to help. While up there is is going for white tail which are bigger then our black tail here. So hopefully we will have enough to make it through the year. It was pretty tight this year and we are just at the bottom of the freezer now.

Every year I plan a pre hunting season BBQ before we all send off hubby's, which I am behind on this year but it has been a crazy month but plans will be under way soon.

Now the count down is on for hunting season.

Freezing Banana Muffins for Lunches

2014-08-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Making big bates of banana muffins and freezing them for lunches is something I did last year and after saving up all my banana, I decided to do it again.

Banana muffins and breads freeze so well and it being a bread, it thaws quite fast making it GREAT for lunches for kids and even the hubby. So it can be a pre-made lunch item thats easy and versatile.

Here are the few steps to making them for a freezer item.

Save up all your banana that have gone to brown to eat by simply putting them in the freezer. Most recipes use about 4 bananas per batch, so save up until you have enough for 6 or so depending on your recipe. Once you have enough, take them out and let them defrost for a few hours to over night.

Pick your recipe. For this you can use whatever recipe you want. So you can really play around. I also suggest picking a recipe you can easily double. Make your muffins, preferably double batches at a time to save time and I like to make the mini muffins, mostly for the kids. Then let them cool on a rack.

Then bag up in freezer bags. You can cram as many as you can in one bag to save room and bags. Then put them into the freezer to freeze. When you are making lunches, just take a muffin out of the bag from the freezer and put into the lunch bag. Then by time lunch comes around they will be thawed and ready to eat!

It took me a few hours to make 5 batches of mini muffins, 1 batch of peanut butter banana muffins and I have a little bit of batter left over so I made a mini banana bread loaf that the kids took. I got roughly 150 mini muffins total out of the 5 batches. All with 15 over ripe bananas.

My little baby is 5!

2014-08-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Today is one of those days I kind of wanna bury my head. I think I am just in denial but my last little baby turns 5 today. It was fine with the boys but it is different with the baby hitting these little milestones. She will also be starting kindergarten this year. Oh how times flies. She has grown such a huge personality, she lights up every room she walks in and definitely not shy at all. Lets see what another year brings!

One

Four

Five

Life Vest Inside - Kindness Boomerang

2014-08-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

This was shared by an amazing person I follow Amanda Palmer. This is a crows funding fund -- for no funding, only kindness. A few years back a wonderful video started to go viral. I don't remember seeing it until around the last year or so but it too amazing not to share again mostly now that they are starting a kindness revolution with the #kindnessboomerang. They are simply asking people to spread some love and kindness and that is all.

They are only asking for 3 little things you can do to help.
1. Share the support page via Facebook, twitter or tumbler.
2. On September 1st, start your very own #KindnessBoomerang by doing an act of kindness
3. Share your #KindnessBoomerang story on their website.

Then you can also share it here with me on my new facebook page for my blog! I'd love to see your #kindnessboomerang

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/15286-kindnessboomerang

Menu Plan for August 25th - 31st

2014-08-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

After a crazy weekend the thought of cooking and cleaning makes me wanna crawl back in bed. To make matters worse, we barley went grocery shopping this week and I am not sure when we will have time to finish since it is such a crazy week with birthdays, gym and maybe some canning. So this week I am digging to the bottom of the freezer. So lets see what we can do this week!

Last weeks meal plan

Monday -Parmesan garlic chicken with baked potatoes

Tuesday - BBQ Salmon and rice and corn

Wednesday - Venison Stew with homemade biscuts

Thursday - Spaghetti bolognese with moose meat

Friday - Crock pot French dip with venison roast and homemade French fries

Saturday - Left Over Day

Sunday - Mom's day off

A Recipe From My Childhood I still Make Today: Chicken Rice Soup

2014-08-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

I grew up with a single mom and siblings, so things were always tight and mom my knew how to

make a penny stretch. One recipe she would always make and I would eat it for lunch and dinner for as long as I could sometimes is her chicken/turkey rice soup.

She would always make it after she made a big turkey or chicken using the leftovers and I still do it to this day. I will also freeze batches just to save it for later.

Ingredients:
A left over turkey or chicken
A stock pot full of water.
Plus 6 more cups of water
3 cups Instant rice
1 med onion
1 cup corn kernels - I use Thrive freeze dried corn
4 stalks of celery diced
4 carrots peeled and diced
1 cup peas
and whatever other veggies you may want or have on hand. (I typically just use what i have on hand or whats in season)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp Basil
2 tbsp Seasoning salt

Directions:
Take the left over chicken and put it in a stock pot of water and boil in down until you have a nice broth and the meat if falling off the bone. Then strain the chicken out and set the broth aside.
De-bone the chicken and take all the meat off the bone and add it to the pot of broth. Then add all the veggies and 6 cups of water and simmer on med. heat until veggies are cooked.
Then add your seasonings and keep simmering and stirring, then add your rice and more water if needed. Let that simmer until everything is cooked and serve.

It can be packaged and frozen also. So you can make BIG batches and save for later.

Basic Moose Meatball Recipe - Also for freezer meals!

2014-08-20T14:57:00.001-07:00

Our family has only recently become a "hunting" family in the last 4 years, or since we moved to BC. I never grew up on game meat, so adjusting has taken some time and I have now figuring out what works and what doesn't with certain meat . We mainly have moose and deer in the house.

Here is my very basic meatball recipe I like to use with moose meat. Can be used with any other ground meat of course. You can also add more to them but I like to keep it simple so I can adjust it to other recipes in the future. I would add onion to this recipe also but I have a family of picky eaters and I keep onion out.

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Moose Meat
1 Egg
1/2 cup Corn Flake Crumbs
1/2 tbsp Seasoning Salt
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

* Makes 2 dozen meatballs.

* Double the recipe for bigger batches.

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Roll into balls that are about an inch big and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, for less mess. Then bake at 350 for 15 mins or until fully cooked.

Let the meatballs cool down and package them with a vacuum sealer and freeze. Don't forget to date them! Then when you are ready to use them just let them thaw in the fridge.