Weekly Meal Planning

Happy first day of Spring! Today is a dreary and rainy Sunday (not much of a first day of spring!) and I spent a few hours meal planning and cooking for the upcoming week. We try to do a weekly grocery shop on the weekend for items we have run out of and need for the following week. To stay organized and within our budget I do try to envision a meal plan. Now, in a perfect world I would write down this plan, shop for those set meals, make them and stick to the plan but that rarely happens! I cannot sit here and tell you that we always have a home cooked healthy meal, we never have frozen or processed foods and we never have take-out, that's simply not true. However, I try my hardest to have several home cooked meals a week, whether a certain meal falls on the day we had planned to have it or not. I love to do a lot of cooking on Sunday's, it is the one day where I generally stay home all day and can focus my energy on cooking. I try to make large dish meals like soups, pastas and casseroles that go further and can be divided up for several lunches or dinners. If I feel really ambitious I will make a meal large enough that some of it can be frozen. I find it helpful to fall back on tried and true recipes we love but rotate these favourites so that we aren't getting tired of them. Also, it is fun to try new recipes to have variety (it is the spice of life after all). I love reading recipes and adapting it to something that works for our family. I rarely follow a recipe exactly but I find a lot of joy in collecting recipes from friends, family and all different types of cooks. Pinterest has become my greatest source of inspiration for food and cooking, I just love it as a resource when I'm searching something specific or if I just want to browse. I find grocery lists, meal plan charts and lists of what to buy for specific recipes helpful in staying organized. Meal planning helps us save time through the week when we are tired after work and don't really feel like cooking. It also helps save money, or at least stay within a budget, by buying only what we need. It can also prevent waste of food because you only buy items that you know you will use up. Today I went through our fridge and pulled out food that I needed to cook due to expiry dates, produce that was on the verge of spoiling and things I just felt like using up.

Clockwise from top Left : Ground Chicken, bacon, Apple, orange, vegetable cocktail, brown eggs, yellow flesh nugget potatoes, purple kale, smoked cheddar, green onions, cherry tomatoes, white mushrooms and farmer's sausage

From this assortment I came up with three meals to make. The first was a crustless quiche using the eggs, smoked cheddar, green onions, pork farmer's sausage and mushrooms.

Next I made a soup with the cherry tomatoes, potatoes, green onion, purple kale and vegetable cocktail.

Lastly, I used the ground chicken to prepare tonight's dinner of homemade chicken burgers. I combined some of the smoked cheddar and green onion with the ground chicken and some spices to make up the patty mix. These will be served on whole wheat buns and garnished with the bacon!

This goes to show you that with a bit of organization and time you can prepare healthy meals for your family. We now have a breakfast, lunch and dinner option to have this week. Be creative and get inspired and cooking can become very enjoyable!

Teal next time....xoxo

Kathleen

Do It Yourself: Wedding Welcome Bags

Happy Sunday everyone! 

Welcome back to my blog, today I thought I would share with you one of the creative DIY projects I took on for our wedding in Mexico. With a destination wedding you hand over a lot of control to the hotel wedding coordinator, I made sure that the things I could focus my attention on were really unique and special. I came up with a wedding theme or logo, a starfish, and made sure to bring that detail throughout the whole wedding. We chose decor items that were light and easy to transport and wouldn't be too breakable to pack in a suitcase. I will continue to share more about destination wedding planning on my blog but today's post is specifically all about creating a "Welcome Bag". 

I found this idea on Pinterest when searching "Destination Weddings". The concept is to provide your guests with a little goodie bag filled with items that set the tone of the wedding, are native to the area where the wedding is held or will be helpful in making them feel at home or comfortable. Instead of doing favours I thought it would be really fun to give every guest a bag filled with items that they may want to have in Mexico. I merged the idea of an emergency kit and a welcome bag together and gave guests helpful information, useful toiletries and little gifts.

Below is an image of some of the items I put in the bag for ladies, I did a separate one for the guys.

The first photo includes the bag itself. A lightweight cream canvas bag which I had printed with a starfish logo and our names, wedding location and wedding date in a teal font to match our wedding colours. I ordered the bags from a company called the Wedding Chicks, below is the link to our specific bag but there are tons of other awesome designs to choose from on their shop:

http://shop.weddingchicks.com/little-sea-star-wedding-tote-minimum-of-20/

The totes were an awesome idea, everyone loved them, they were sturdy and durable to hold all the goodies and our guests used them as beach bags to transport their towels, sunscreen and magazines to the beach!

The next item on the top left of both photos is a vintage Mexican postcard that I ordered from Tesoros Trading Company: https://secure14.inno-tech.com/tesoros/results_lg.php?productid=2544 

It has an image of the country and cute little graphics showing what each region is called. Originally these were ordered a few years prior to our wedding when I had the idea that a Save the Date on a real postcard would be fun. Later we ended up choosing paper packages for the invitations that included save the date cards that matched so we didn't use the postcards. I wanted to make use of and incorporate these unique postcards so I decided to write a little personalized welcome note to our guests thanking them for joining us in Mexico and signed it from myself and my husband. It was a little keepsake from the trip that everyone could keep with their photo albums or scrapbooks. We also included a map of the resort, our wedding coordinator provided us with a PDF version that I printed off, and a wedding week itinerary that I had created. The itinerary had a weeklong detailed schedule that had everything from when and where to meet for meals, what days we planned to go into town or do an offsite activity, the bachelorette/bachelor night at the disco and the wedding day timeline. Of course these plans slightly changed as the week went on, but it gave guests a good frame of reference for what we had in store. If you do take the time to create an itinerary, be aware that things will change and people will want to do things differently, so do not get stressed out by this. I was told by several guests that they did appreciate the itinerary, even if it was only followed loosely, because it kept everyone fairly organized.

Each bag had a little label that I hand stamped with a starfish and wrote the Spanish word for hello, hola, and on the other side was their name. I tied these tags onto the strap of the bag with jute rope to keep it nautical and beachy. I purchased the rope, teal Sharpie, teal ink pad and tags from Michael's. The starfish stamp was purchased from a stamp company on Etsy. 

The girls got Eos Lipbalm in mint, band aids, Emergen-C packet of vitamin C and Kleenex. The guys got a few different items in place of the Lipbalm: Tums, Advil and a mini shave cream and aftershave. I wish I had photographed the men's bag too but sadly I wasn't thinking that I would be writing this blog! I put the guys emergency kit items inside a plastic tumbler drinking cup and than wrapped them in tissue paper and rope so that these things didn't spill out everywhere. I picked up most of these items from Target (when Canada had these stores!) and the dollar store.

Everyone, guys and girls, got a pair of brightly coloured Ray Ban-style sunglasses. This was a fun way to incorporate colour and the glasses looked cute in photos. I picked these up from Ardene in a 5 for $10 deal. The ladies also got a pashmina, which you can see folded up behind the sunglasses. I picked up three different colours that went with the wedding colours: mint, aqua and teal (The first image is of the darker teal one and the second image is of the aqua). These were also purchased from Ardene as part of a bundle deal. 

I also included a little gift for all the ladies that attended. You will see a silver starfish pendant on a chain in the first photo and a small teal drawstring bag, which contains the chain, in the second. These sterling silver pendants and chains were purchased off EBay and the teal pouches came with each necklace. My mom, mother in law and grandma in law each got a personalized locket necklace in place of the starfish. The lockets were purchased from a company called South Hill Designs (not shown in the photos).

My girlfriends, that attended the wedding, each got a customized tank top in their bag. 

We did a combined bachelorette/bachelor night where we all went to the hotel disco and myself and my friends wore the custom tanks. 

I purchased the tank tops in an aqua colour from Old Navy for around $5 each.  I got the fabric glue and rhinestones from Miachael's and used a paper starfish template to trace the starfish on each tank. I rotated the starfish so that each tank was slightly unique and used different coloured rhinestones and patterns for each. I loved the result and I think my friends did too!

The wedding welcome bags were one of the most fun and creative projects I did for our wedding. It allowed me to be creative and thank our guests for flying down to Mexico, from Canada, for a week to celebrate with us. I tried to make each bag special, personalized and useful. I wanted a mix of practical and keepsake items. The map and itinerary were useful to all. The Tums and Advil were appreciated by many after nights of too many margaritas. The sunnies and starfish necklaces were keepsakes that were worn in many of our special photos. We had one child at our wedding so I included a few items just for him in his mom's bag: Spider-Man snorkel set, blow up beach toys and water bottle. I hope this is helpful for anyone planning a destination wedding or are having out of town guests come to their wedding and want to give them something special to thank them for travelling. Stay tuned for more wedding related blog posts and as always,

Teal next time....xoxo

Kathleen 

Review: Origins Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask

Good evening and happy Sunday! I have to be honest, I just spent the last few hours prepping dinner and some meals for the work week and I was going to skip today's post, but felt I should at least get a short one up!

This evening, before my shower, I'm doing an Origins face mask called Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask to Clear Pores.

It's charcoal or black in colour, thick and creamy in consistency and sets up like a clay mask. 

My dog seems to be a bit frightened of my appearance, I have caught her staring at me with wide eyes! I picked up the 10ml trial size from Sephora for $5 and have been able to get 3 full masks out of it and I still have enough for a fourth or a few spot treatments. 

Below is the product information found on the Sephora website:

What it is: 
A mask with activated charcoal to draw out deep-dwelling pore-cloggers. 

What it is formulated to do: 
When environmental toxins, dirt, and debris get under your skin, its waste-filtering system gets jammed, pores get clogged, and skin looks cloudy. Nature's complexion clean-up crew gets to the bottom of skin's overcast condition and clears the way for it to act its best. 

What it is formulated WITHOUT: 
- Parabens 
- Sulfates 
- Phthalates 

What else you need to know: 
Activated charcoal acts like a magnet to draw out deep-dwelling pore-cloggers. White China clay absorbs environmental toxins, and lecithin dissolves impurities. Without all that stuff down there, skin breathes a sigh of relief. Best for all skin types.

So now to give you my opinion: I have sensitive eczema prone skin so I have to be very careful of what goes on my face. This is the reason I purchased the trial size first to test it out. I had heard great things about the brand Origins but this is the first product I have tried. The mask goes on thick like any clay mask but has a bit of a gel feel so it is easy to spread over your face. Once it starts to set the colour fades to grey, from charcoal, and gets really tight. I prefer to put it on before I shower, I give it 15-30 minutes to harden and work its magic and than I wash it off in the shower, just seems easier and less messy this way. I have had no issues with this product causing any rashes or reactions. It has left my skin feeling soft and clean and refreshed. I do have some problem areas on my chin and nose where my pores are larger and dark, I have yet to notice a dramatic improvement or change in their appearance. I have only used this mask once a week for the last three weeks, so it is possible it may take a few more treatments to really get all the gunk out (ew sorry, yuck)! I will definitely purchase this product again. I have been very impressed at how many masks I have gotten out of the tester size, the next size up is a 50ml tube for $21 and I can imagine it would last you a very long time. I have read reviews that people do not like the scent of the mask but it is not an issue for me at all, it's not something I even noticed and seems like a subtle herbal smell. I like the way my skin feels after using this mask and hope that I do notice an improvement in my pores after continued use. I hope this review has helped you discover a new product or encourages you to do a face mask,

Teal next time...xoxo

Kathleen