What Color Is Your Thumb?

So today completely got away from me. I feel like the last time I checked it was still 8am and I look up and it is already 130pm. Seriously? Where did this day go? Well sorry I am posting a bit later than usual but here it is.

We finally got the Hart family garden set up and a few things planted! I am so excited to share with you guys how much the children enjoyed helping!

My dad came over and helped us out. He has a massive garden himself and he definitely knows how to start this thing. He actually started his garden a few years ago just the way we started ours and now his garden takes up almost half of this back yard. I hope to be at that level in a few years. I first need to see what color my thumb will be!

I decided to do a raised bed because I have seen my dad have great success with his.

Once the grass was almost gone, I sprayed the area inside with Round-Up and along the outside border as well.

This is the dirt that I used.

I then lined the inside with newspaper. 

We then started layering the dirt on top of the paper.

Then mixed it well.

I learned an awesome tip from my dad; plant marigolds and bees will come and pollinate! Who knew! So those were the first things that were planted. One flower for each baby.

They had a blast!

We had a furry baby hanging around too!

So now that we have a garden, it is time to decide what we want to plant. I cant wait to get started! Hoping to put some things in the ground tomorrow, so I will be back at the end of the week with an update!! 

Homemade What?

Monday, Monday, Monday!!! I absolutely love starting a new week. Call me crazy but for some reason it feels like a fresh start. Oh and maybe every single weekend in the Hart house there is way too much running around and so when the week starts I get to breath a little sigh of relief.

So anyway I am here to talk to you about making your own years worth of laundry detergent for around $20! Trust me, it is way easier than it sounds. This is my second time making this stuff so you must know with my crazy, dirty house of five, it WORKS! And it works well!!!

As my kids get older, the washing machine is usually running at least once a day. With potty training to soccer games, we are always needing to wash something!

Ok so let me show you what you will need...

Ingredients:

1 container to store detergent (I use a Lego box)

1 trash bag

1 glass container (I use an old cookie jar that I had)

1 box of Borax (detergent aisle)

1 box of Arm & Hammer super washing soda (detergent aisle)

2 boxes of 2lb baking soda (baking aisle and sometimes in detergent aisle)

1 thing of OxiClean (you can use a big container or small, up to you)

3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap (detergent aisle) 

Directions:

1. You can use any container that you want to put your detergent in. I used an old Lego container from one of the kids. Make sure you line the container with a trash bag and that you can tightly close the container. 

2. Once you line the container with the trash bag just start dumping the Borax, Arm & Hammer washing soda, baking soda and OxiClean into it and mix together.

3. Now comes the hardest part, grating the bars of soap into the powder mixture. It really isn't that hard, it just takes some time. 

4. Once you have grated the three bars of soap, thoroughly mix together and then you are finished!!!! That simple!!!

I put the detergent, that I use everyday, into an old cookie jar and I use the scoop that comes in the OxiClean container. You will literally only need to use about 1 to 2 tablespoons for each load. With making your own detergent, you will not be dealing with a ton of "fillers" that you will find in the stuff you buy in the stores. So it makes it last a lot longer!!! My first batch lasted me a little over nine months! Seriously!!!! I paid about $20 for everything and it lasted me almost a year! And I promise, it works!!!!

So here is the price breakdown:

Borax $3.49
Arm & Hammer super washing soda $3.49
Baking soda $1.99X2
Fel-Naptha soap $1.69X3
Oxi-Clean $4.79

Total: $20.82

Cant beat that!!! Happy Washing!

Maxi Out!

So as you guys know, I have been struggling with my maxi skirt and I honestly think I have been trying to hard for something that just seems extremely simple. So I finally decided to youtube a video and I found this one!





I  mean seriously, can it get any easier than that. Where was this girl last week when I was about to pull my hair out!! So instead of going out to buy more fabric that I may end up wasting, I am going to take her advice and pull out an old sheet and try a run through first!

But honestly this girl has a ton of videos and she makes it look so simple. She also has a video for a maxi skirt made with stretchy fabric. I will definitely be making that one as well. What I also love about her is that she is a Christian and most of her videos begin with a scripture. Makes me smile :)

So there you have it! I guess that can count as a maxi skirt update. Also the garden has been put on pause while the weather here has been fall like. Its crazy! Last week it was in the 80s and now this week it barely has gotten into the 60s. I mean come on!!!! I am ready to grow me some food!

Be back tomorrow!

Bring On The Annie's!!

OK so I am totally bummed that the rain we are having here completely ruined my planned garden work. And of course...it is raining today as well. Seriously??? Where has our spring gone?

So with my planned post being derailed, I thought I would tell you guys about a deal over at Target. With this eating healthy and clean thing, snacks can be the most expensive items! I will probably start making some snacks, but baby steps for this momma!

I follow this group on Facebook called "No-Mo GMOS." This group is filled with so many people and the information that is posted is endless! Click here to check them out. I believe you have to ask to join the group but it is worth it. Anyway I was on there yesterday just browsing and I found that a few people were talking about how Annie's snacks and mac n cheese were on sale, so I went and checked it out!

Seriously!!!!!! You cant beat the deals they had going on! I grabbed four boxes of the bunny crackers, a box of the granola bars, and 5 boxes of mac n cheese for under $20!!!! I call that a win!

Oh and I also bought this stuff which was on sale as well and I am in love!!! It seriously is too yummy!!

Holy goodness!!!! It took everything in me not to eat the entire bag before dinner last night. You can totally tell that I had already opened the bag before taking the picture. Oh and I may or may not have already had some this morning...

SO there you have it! Some great deals to totally take advantage of! I am not sure how long these things will be on sale so get your to Target....NOW! 

I am hoping to be back sometime this week with a garden update. Praying that this rain will cease! Also for those that have asked about the maxi skirt, it is coming along. It is taking a bit longer than I thought!! I will get it done, I promise!! 

Confession!

It's a busy day in the Hart house! Laundry, grocery shopping and also some work in the garden! I can't wait to share with y'all tomorrow about the steps we are working on today.

But before anything gets done today, I must confess something. So if you are my friend on Facebook you know we had a girls night in Ocean City, Maryland this past weekend. This is a trip that my friends and I take once year; usually right around this time. We all have birthdays from January to April, so we combine them all into one weekend. It is a weekend of shopping and eating whatever we want and I sure did!! Well I didn't shop but I sure ate and let me tell you, I paid for it and I still am.

After two full weeks of nothing but heathy by body sure was mad at me!! After I got home yesterday I was literally in the bathroom for most of the night and in bed before 10pm which is early for me!!!

It honestly makes me want to never, I mean never eat like that again. I am talking every meal was full of greasy pizza and everything in between! It wasn't pretty. I have never been so happy to see Monday come. Now it's time to get back at it and I couldn't be happier.

So with that being said, it's time to get this week started. There are plenty of clothes that need to be folded and some groceries to be bought!

Be back tomorrow with a garden update!

Wholly Chicken!

Last night I got major props from my husband for the dinner I cooked! Usually I get the occasional "good job, love" or "that was pretty good," but last night he couldn't stop shoveling the food in to say anything! That's a win for me. I honestly was in heaven as well. It was pretty good!

Here is the recipe (again courtesy of www.100daysofrealfood.com)

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 onion
• 1 large chicken

Directions: 

1. Combine the dried spices in a small bowl.
2. Loosely chop the onion and place it in the bottom of the slow cooker.
3. Remove any giblets from the chicken and then rub the spice mixture all over. You can even put some of the spices inside the cavity and under the skin covering the breasts.
4. Put prepared chicken on top of the onions in the slow cooker, cover it, and turn it on to high. There is no need to add any liquid.
5. Cook for 4 – 5 hours on high (for a 3 or 4 pound chicken) or until the chicken is falling off the bone

I honestly followed this recipe perfectly! I have never bought a whole chicken and to tell you the truth, I about went vegetarian afterwards. That thing was disgusting. And to think people cook and eat the insides, blah!!! No thank you! I also hate to say that I didn't even get a picture of the finished product. I made brown rice and saute some mushrooms and squash for myself and I made some okra for the rest of the family. Although my middle child loves her some cooked mushrooms! I was totally surprised!

Even though I have no picture to go with this recipe, I promise you...it was amazing!!! I will definitely go through the whole cleaning process again to make it. That's saying a lot because I was pretty grossed out! 

Just A Day On The Farm!

So I know for almost two weeks straight I have talked non-stop about clean eating but I wanted to let you know that I am still working on my little projects! I had a small bump in the road with the maxi skirt but I am not giving up! I am hoping to back next week to share the finish project. Keep the prayers coming on that one! A lot easier said, than done!

So in my search for amazing websites to refer to for recipes, I came across www.cleaneatingmag.com. I mean seriously! There is a magazine!!! I am so stoked, you have no idea! I signed up for the newsletter and if it appeals to me, I will subscribe. They even have clean recipes on a budget. That's what I am talking about it! For those that are just as surprised as I am, I will keep you updated!

I also wanted to share with you guys about a place that I took my girls too this week. This place has been a staple in our community and it is known for being a business about family. Growing up my parents took us there all the time. They have the BEST ice cream, hands down! Everything that you put in your mouth there is home grown and made with love. They even are friendly enough to let you walk around the farm and see all the animals. This place is know as Bergey's Dairy.

Out front they had two goats and they were hilarious! I could have stood around and watched them all day long!

The girls definitely had a blast feeding them.

Around back they had the cutest baby goats! Emma fell in love.

My favorite part of the whole farm were these guys! Their names were Cinnamon and Spice. They were the sweetest cows. 

And we ended the trip with some fresh, off the farm ice cream. The girls were in heaven! It was a perfect ending for an amazing day. Oh but momma didn't walk away empty handed. When I was shopping around I notice a little lady in the back kitchen hand making loaves of bread. I knew that I had to have some! Then I noticed two fresh loaves of wheat bread that were just packaged! You better believe I grabbed me a loaf! I should have grabbed both because when I got home, I sliced into it and it was fan-freakin-tastic!!! Since yesterday afternoon my family has finished over half of it. It is that good!

After a day off, it is time to get back to work on the garden!!

No Homerun Here!

Its the second week of our clean eating journey and we are doing great! We are still in the process of ridding out the processed foods, but we are almost there. I honestly cannot wait to get rid of it all!!! Its such a good feeling when your house is full of nothing but healthy things! 

So last night I was on a mission to make a good, but healthy chicken enchilada casserole. We love some Mexican in this house and I knew I needed to knock this one out of the park. I got this recipe from www.100daysofrealfood.com but altered it a lot. Here it it!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole: 

Ingredients:

3 to 4 chicken tenderloins

2 tablespoons of olive oil

chili powder

cumin

2 teaspoons garlic

2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1 cup of frozen corn

1 cup of kidney beans (or any beans want)

3 cups of organic tomato sauce

2 cups of monterey jack cheese

6 whole wheat tortillas2 cups of brown rice

Sour cream, avocado, or any other toppings you many want

Directions: preheat oven to 350

1. Add tomato sauce, 2 tablespoons of chili powder and 2 teaspoons of cumin and then cinnamon in a sauce pan and heat through.

2. Cook rice and set aside.

3. While sauce and rice are cooking sauté chicken in olive oil. Then season with chili powder, cumin, and garlic. I seasoned to taste. 

4. Once chicken is cooked through add tomato paste, corn, 1/2 cup of cheese and beans and mix together.

5. In a baking dish spread sauce on the bottom and cover with two tortillas, top tortillas with chicken mixture and then add sauce and repeat. (sauce, torts, chicken mix, sauce) The final layer should be the tortillas topped with sauce and then the rest of the cheese.

6. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Honestly next time I will make a few changes. It definitely was good, but it lacked spice and for my husband, spice is definitely needed! I also think I will get rid of the cinnamon. Not sure why that was needed, but you could definitely taste it. It was still very tasty and I will have it for leftovers today, but I will change just a few things. 

I guess I cant knock every dinner out of the park!!! 

The Color Green

So since forever ago, Anthony and I both have wanted a garden but just slacked off when the right time came to build one! Well since starting on our clean eating journey we decided that the time had come for us to stop being lazy and get our butts into gear. We certainly were blessed when we found out that my dad was expanding his garden and that he had left-over lumber that we could have. It couldn't have come at a better time. I mean lumber is not cheap!! Since the wood was free, we decided to start our garden off on a small scale and gradually get bigger. I honestly do not know what color my thumb is. If I inherited anything from my father, hopefully it will be the color green. I guess we will find out soon enough.

Here is the beginning stage of the Hart garden!

I honestly am so excited to get this thing rolling! Now comes the most annoying part where we need to kill all the grass and lay down newspaper and dirt. I am hoping to have a garden ready to plant by the end of the week and I will be back with the update! Oh and we have one little excited gardener...

All she talks about is planting her flowers! We may have to section apart off for her. 

I hope you all enjoyed hearing from my Auntie Em last week. I am hoping to have her guest blog every so often!! She has been such a great help to me with this whole clean eating thing. This is week two of our journey and I will be back tomorrow with some more awesome recipes!!! 

Surprise!

So for this Friday, I have a little surprise guest blogger! She and her family, well they are a part of our family, have inspired my little family of five to go clean. OK so below is a picture that I took of them last fall. I know, I know...gag! Aren't they just the perfect little family??? Oh and that handsome guy on the left is my Uncle (my moms brother) and he is an amazing photographer! Here is his website: http://toddwrightphoto.com. He also is the founder of Bought With Blood. Look to the right and there is a link to that page! Pretty cool family, I know!

So first to introduce myself. I am Morgan's Aunt Emily or Auntie Em as we like to joke. I am married to her handsome Uncle Todd. Apparently we are responsible or to blame for the shift to clean eating! In all seriousness, I couldn't be more thrilled as I feel it is so very important to be educated about what we are really putting into our bodies and all the misconceptions that surround our food supply in America. 

I am a mother to 3 kids (15, 12, 3) - one who eats anything, one who is a new vegetarian, and one that barely eats a thing. Despite our differing eating habits one thing was for sure, our diet was 80% processed food. As we sat on the beach one day last year I noticed a post from a FB friend about a book called "The Science of Skinny" by Dee McCaffrey. The title is deceiving as it is not so much about being skinny as it is about what chemicals are really in our food and how they effect our bodies. Like many Americans I considered us a "healthy family" - we are active, we workout, we bought low-fat and fat free foods. Boy did I have it all wrong. I read my friend's post and then looked at my "snack bag" full of low fat free granola bars, fruit snacks, crackers, drinkable yogurts, and capri suns.  A lightbulb went off and our journey began. I like to refer to this as a journey because we are still learning and our eating habits are ever evolving. The wealth of information can be overwhelming so we take baby steps.

While we began our journey to clean eating almost a year ago, I feel like there is still so much to learn. I have become disgusted to learn about the politics and big business that surrounds food in America. (See the recent uproar in the whole food community over the Monsanto Act (http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/04/02/gmos-monsanto-protection-act)/ and the Kraft Petition (http://foodbabe.com) to remove unnecessary food dyes from Mac & Cheese). Did you realize that many of our American food products that contain dangerous food dyes are made in other countries without those same dangerous food dyes? So Nutri-Grain bars are made and sold in other countries without dangerous food dyes, but are not available to us in America? Doesn't something seem wrong with that? All I am learning helps motivate me to read labels and be very particular about what I feed my family. Lots and lots of baby steps.

Below are a list of resources that I have found the most helpful.  Remember...BABY STEPS.

Blogs

www.100daysofrealfood.com

http://foodbabe.com

www.healthyblenderrecipes.com

www.unconventialkitchen.com

www.elanaspantry.com

www.meaningfuleats.blogspot.com

http://detoxinista.com

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2012/03/salute-to-green-smoothies.html

Movies:

Forks over Knives

Food Inc.

Books:

Wheat Belly 

The Science of Skinny

In the Defense of Food 

Online Stores:

http://www.vitacost.com - great prices on many clean living products

www.honeyville.com  - best price on Almond Flour (the only thing we bake with since we are now wheat free)

www.naturalcandystore.com  -order candy and snacks free of dangerous food dyes and GMO's

Cranberry and Ginger and Garlic, OH MY!

I am wickedly excited to share last nights recipe with you guys today!! I must admit, I was a bit skeptical when I first saw this recipe, but now it will be something that I will cook regularly. It is a crockpot meal which makes it so easy! Just throw it in and its ready when you are!

So here it is

Cranberry and Ginger Pork Roast

Ingredients:

2 pork roast
12 ounces of cranberries (I used frozen)
1 cup of sliced or minced ginger (I used minced)
2 tablespoons of honey
1/2 cup of warm water
2 gloves of garlic
whole wheat flour as needed (thickening agent)


Directions:

1. Place the pork roast into the crockpot.
2.  Mix the warm water and honey together and pour over the roast.
3. Pour cranberries over the roast.
4. Mince your garlic and ginger and sprinkle over the roast.
5. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours. I cooked mine on high for 4. Crockpots vary so make sure you keep an eye on the meat so you don't over or under cook it.
6. When done take roast out and put in your flour to thicken up the cranberry/ginger/garlic sauce.
7. Then serve!

I served mine with sautéed mushrooms and broccoli in a little olive oil and garlic and basil roasted potatoes. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but this meal was fan-freakin-tastic!! My dad came over for dinner and he loved it as well. If you know my dad, that is a hard thing to do!!!

And yes if you were wondering, we ate on paper plates last night! Nothing but fine china in the Hart house! I ran out of dish soap so it was easier. Again I found this recipe on www.100daysofrealfood.com but altered it to fit my family. I definitely recommend this recipe! It was amazing and the kiddos loved it as well. It was a win/win last night!!!

I have a guest blogger tomorrow and I am sooooooo excited for you guys to meet her! Stayed tuned!!!

Its Not Delivery, Its Homemade!!

Homemade pizza night was a success!!! Not only did my kids love it but so did my husband! He is a pizza fanatic, so I was super nervous on how he would respond but he had nothing but good things to say. It definitely made my day! So here is the recipe!

Homemade Whole-Wheat Pizza

Ingredients:

-1 cup warm water

-2 tsp yeast (active dry yeast)

-2 tsp kosher salt

-2 tbsp olive oil

-3 cups whole wheat flour

-tomato sauce

-grated mozzarella cheese

-cooking spray

-any toppings of your choice

Directions:

1. Drop the yeast into 1 cup of warm water and let it sit for a few minutes and it should foam up. Then stir in olive oil and salt.

2. Pour flour and yeast mixture into the mixer with a dough hook or you can mix dough by hand.

3. While mixing if dough looks to dry you can add a teaspoon of water at a time and if it looks to wet add a teaspoon of flour. 

4. Once you get the ball of dough, remove and knead into a smooth ball. Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil and put the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

5. Leave in fridge at least 1 hr or over night, depends on how long you have (I did it for 1 hour).

6. When ready, preheat oven to 500. Use rolling pin to roll out to the desired shape. Put on baking sheet sprayed with cooking oil. 

7. Top with tomato sauce, then cheese and then your desired toppings. 

8. Cook for abut 8-10 minutes or until crust and cheese is golden brown.

It was amazing! As you can tell we used pepperoni. Not quite "clean" but we had some left over from a previous dinner so we used them all up!!! Not gonna waste food in this house! But everything else is "clean" and it was absolutely delicious! Again recipe curiosity of www.100daysofrealfood.com.

So my little project that I was gonna start today got moved to next week...boo! But don't worry I will share with you guys once I get started. 

Stir-frying it Up!!

So last night was our first "clean" dinner and I cant wait to share it with you! Our family loves some oriental food, so I wanted our first meal to be something not too far off of the normal. Again the site www.100daysofrealfood.com is to get most of the credit. I did add a few other things to it.

Ingredients:
2 c of brown rice
1lb of chicken breasts cut up
2 bell peppers
1 onion
1/2 c peas
1/2 c carrots
1 c broccoli
2 teaspoons of fresh ginger or to taste
sesame seed oil (to taste)
honey (to taste)
low sodium soy sauce (to taste)

Directions:
1. Heat up the Wok and add about a tablespoon of sesame seed oil and then add your veggies. Add soy sauce and honey to taste. Then add your ginger. Cook until veggies are tender.
2. While veggies are cooking heat up another tablespoon of sesame seed oil in a skillet and add chicken. Add soy sauce and honey to taste. Cook until no longer pink.
3. Cook rice.
4. Once everything is done, combine rice and chicken to the veggies and serve!

At our house this is considered a cheap meal; very little ingredients that go a long way!

Guess what this momma is having for lunch today!! I cant wait!

Here is what I am cooking the rest of the week:

Tuesday-homemade pizzas

Wednesday-cranberry pork roast

Thursday- chicken enchiladas

Friday- grilled pork tenderloin

Hoping to start my little project tomorrow! Cant wait to share with all of you.

Not Throwing in This Towel!

Yay the time has come for me to share about my "clean" shopping trip with all of you! I could barely contain my excitement and almost blogged over the weekend! I had such an amazing time on Saturday. I dragged my mom along with me and I think she enjoyed herself too. I was kinda on a time crunch Saturday afternoon but we were able to fit in four grocery stores!

So our first stop was Trader Joe's!

I fell in love with this place when I walked in the door and saw these...

This picture doesn't even begin to describe the amount of beautiful flowers there! Next time I will be grabbing some of those hydrangeas! Absolutely gorgeous! The flowers weren't even the best part, I just loved being in a store full of healthy choices. I was in heaven! Oh and it made this going clean thing seem a little bit easier. Once we walked in I made my way over to the meat section. I wasn't planning on purchasing any meat there but I just wanted to talk a look...

Oh boy! My husband would have been in love too. I actually purchased a pork tenderloin and I cant wait to throw that baby on the grill this week! I also purchased some bread, juice, yogurt, greens, and a few other items that were on my list. So after walking around the store for about 45 minutes, I knew it was time to check out and head across the street to Whole Foods. I seriously could have stayed in Trader Joe's all. day. long!

Total at Trader Joe's: $48.55

Next stop was Whole Foods!

They also had an awesome display of fresh flowers! 

I didn't snap any pictures inside because the place was super packed! I think that is why I was a little turned off. I will be making my next trip during the week, so maybe it will be a bit better. I did love this store though. Definitely a lot more options than Trader Joe's! I purchased some snacks and organic tomato sauce (haven't perfected my own just yet).

Total spent at Whole Foods: $29.94

So after we walked around TJ and WF, we stopped into Kroger, which is literally right behind WF. The only time I ever go into Kroger is when we are visiting my Uncle and Aunt up in Richmond. But I have heard great things about them, so I decided to stop by. I was immediately floored by the produce section. It was amazing! They had a huge organic section and the prices were very nice. The only thing that didn't stand out was the meat section. I am so used to Harris Teeter and Kroger, to me, came no where near HT.

To be perfectly honest I felt like crying in Kroger. I definitely think I overwhelmed myself and being in a strange grocery store and not knowing where anything was, I about broke down. Thank goodness my momma was there! It was an exciting day and a whole lot of new stuff to process and by that point I was ready to throw in the towel, but I just decided to finish my list off at Harris Teeter. Don't get me wrong, I will definitely go back. They really did have a killer produce section! 

Total spent at Kroger: $47.74

Total spent at Harris Teeter: $65.29

It doesn't surprise me that I spent the most at HT. I love love love that store but they are pricey! Oh but they do have an awesome meat section!

So my total for the day was $191.52. That is about $70 above my normal shopping trip but with a total life style change I expect it to be a bit high in the beginning. Its back to stage one when it comes to the grocery store. I now realize that my weekly trip to Harris Teeter will change and my usual one hour trip may turn into three but I am okay with that. I am okay with investing a little bit more time when it comes to my family's health. I am willing to spend a little bit more to know that what my family is eating, is going to be good for them and not something full of preservatives. 

I know that my almost breakdown in Kroger will not be my last and I am okay with that as well! 

I did have a great day!!

I will share with you guys tomorrow a few recipes for our dinners this week. I am also starting a little project on Wednesday, so maybe my Thursday I will fill everyone in! 

Lists to Live By!

So today marks day two of slowly ridding this house of processed foods and we are doing pretty good! I have one small confession though. Yesterday I mentioned that I wasn't going to throw anything out because I didn't want to have to rebuild my pantry in one shopping trip, but once I started going through some things, I threw a few things straight in the trash! The very first thing I threw out was a bag of frozen chicken nuggets. My kids didn't eat them all the time but I had them for a quickie lunch if we were going to have a busy day. Well after looking at the label I was seriously sick to my stomach! I also trashed a box of pop tarts (another quickie breakfast). I have never really paid any mind to labels before but just being in this second day, I am disgusted at what is in our food. 

It really feels good knowing that we are making this life style change and I know that it will benefit my babies in the long run. And hopefully these new eating habits will be something that they can carrier on to their families as well! That would be in the far off future! I mean my kids are already growing up way too fast, lets not fast forward any time soon! 

So now I am trying to decide things to make for my babies for breakfast, lunch and snacks. Dinner is totally under control! After talking with a few friends, smoothies seem to be the way to go for a quickie breakfast, which is awesome, because my kiddos love them a good smoothie! We aren't big breakfast people, but I know if I mentioned the word smoothie or pancake, they go crazy! 

So the point of this post was to share with you the three most important lists for me as of now. These three lists are definitely gonna help me get through these first few weeks in the grocery store! 

Here are the first two lists to live by! These are both from www.motherearthliving.com.

Clean 15 List: Foods okay to buy non-organic

1. onions

2. sweet corn

3. pineapples

4. avocado

5. cabbage

6. sweet peas

7. asparagus

8. mangoes

9. eggplant

10. kiwi

11. cantaloupe

12. sweet potatoes

13. grapefruit

14. watermelon

15. mushrooms

Dirty Dozen List: Foods to buy organic

1. apples

2. celery

3. sweet bell peppers

4. peaches

5. strawberries

6. nectarines

7. grapes

8. spinach

9. lettuce

10. cucumbers

11. blueberries

12. potatoes

Here is another list that shows all the food dyes that are in certain foods. You can use this list when in the grocery store so you know what to look for!

Like I said yesterday, I will making my first "clean" shopping trip tomorrow and on Monday I will give you all the budget breakdown! My goal is not to break the bank! 

Hope you all have a blessed weekend! Also, I will be back next week for the next chapter of Crazy Love!

Processed Food Begone!

So over this past weekend we had my family over and I started chatting with my Uncle Todd and my Aunt Emily about their recent diet change. I am not talking about "being" on a diet, but totally changing your entire eating habits. I saw how amazing they looked and how they had the will power to not dive into all the desserts and snack foods that were over flowing. Since Sunday, I have been texting my aunt and realizing how simple it is to make a huge lifestyle change and how inexpensive it can be. I mean because when I think of an all natural/organic diet, all I see is $$$. I know I am not the only one out there!

Well after searching the web and getting advice from Emily, I found a website that is amazing!!! Its called www.100daysofrealfood.com. This website has all the information that you need to succeed at eating only "real" foods. 

So here we are starting our day one of ridding this house of processed foods! No, we are not drastically throwing out everything processed right now. But this momma is not buying anymore. So as things run out, they will be replaced with real foods. I mean we aren't the worst eaters in the world but there are a lot of changes that need to be made. 

Oh and yes, I will be documenting this journey on here!!! I am nervous, scared and everything in between, so be prepared to see the best and worst of me. I know this will be extremely hard for the first couple of weeks, but I know once we get rid of all the crap, we will feel better and not want to go back to the dark side! 

So on Sunday, this momma will be heading to the grocery store to begin my first trip of eating healthy! I will be back Monday to let you know how it goes! And of course I will let you know how much $$ I spent. Hopefully I wont put my family in the poor house while on this journey! But I know it can be done without breaking the bank! 

Heres to a new and healthy life for me and my family!!! Hope you tag along for the journey and maybe even decided to join the ride. 

Bring on the Deals.

I am back to tell you about my amazing deals from this past Monday's shopping trip. Usually about twice a year my husband and I will go shopping together to grab stuff for the upcoming season and this past Monday was our first trip of the year. Oh and yes we had all the babies. It actually didn't go too bad. The babies were in pretty good moods and as long as we kept promising them ice cream at the end, they behaved. Hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

So anyway back to my deals. I didn't snap pictures of everything I got but the deals were spectacular! Our first stop was American Eagle. I am not as fond of that store as I used to be but it still is my husbands favorite. I guess the older I get, I just cant see myself in some cut-off booty shorts! Well the store had a 40% off sale on every. single. item. If you know AE, this does not happen often, so we took advantage. My husband walked away with two pairs of shorts for less than the price of one and I walked away with a shirt for $10. Yes I said $10. I mentioned this shirt in yesterdays post! It is pretty awesome. I am sure you will see it in an "outfit of the day" pic soon.

After American Eagle my husband was done, but not this momma! I moved onto the next store, which was Forever 21. I know, I know...another booty shorts store, but you have to search and search in this store. They have some really cute stuff. I got a yellow cardigan and lace topped t-shirt. Total money spent there: $20. Not too shabby!

Then I made a stop at Cotton On. If you have never been in this store, you are missing out. I located this little piece of heaven last year and have loved it ever since. They are an Australia based store and just came to the States a few years ago. They have amazing clothes for cheap, but not cheaply made. I got three shirts there, with one of them being only $5. Love it! I walked out of there paying $25

Okay to recap on how many tops I got: AE-1, Forever 21-2, and Cotton On-3. So that equals 6 tops for $55. I call that a successful shopping trip! But I did purchase one more thing...

No I didn't purchase both of these, just the light brown ones on the left. My oldies but still goodies on the right now have a new best friend. I normally do not like to spend $45 on a pair of shoes but when buying Toms, I know that it is helping children that do not have anything. For those of you that are not familiar with Toms shoes, every time you purchase a pair, Toms gives a pair to a child who does not have shoes. It really is an awesome thing! I got my first pair of Toms last year and fell in love. So I decided to grab another pair this year. Check out the website if you want to learn more:  http://www.toms.com. 

Hope you all are enjoying this spring-like weather! We sure are!

Steal of the Day!

So yesterday was an amazingly beautiful day!! The temperature actually got into the 70s and we definitely enjoyed every minute of it! I was also pretty excited because I got to break out a shirt that I got at the Gap Outlet a few months ago. When I saw it, I knew I had to have it. Oh and did I mention it was only $5. That's right!!! I love me some Gap, but I refuse to pay full price when we have an outlet store less than an hour away. Trust me, I will drive there to get the deals! So here I am sporting my $5 dollar shirt...

And can I mention that yesterday the family and I went out to do some spring clothes shopping and these button up shirts were every where! I mean in every store that I went into! I guess it was a $5 well spent and I must say I got another one of these shirts from American Eagle as well. I will post more on that tomorrow because I got some pretty sweet deals yesterday! Stay tuned!!

Truly Blessed!

Today I am taking a few minutes to share how unbelievably thankful I am for my wonderful family. Everyone, including the Wrights from Richmond, came over yesterday to celebrate Easter and my birthday. Words cannot begin to describe how much my family means to me. Even though we all live pretty close to one another, we rarely get the entire crew together, but yesterday we did!!

It was a day full of some craziness and fun! My cheeks always hurt the following day because we love to crack each other up :). Oh and we always end the day complaining that we ate to much and couldn't possibly eat birthday cake, but of course we do! You can never say no to a table that looks like this...

That very colorful pan of goodness is called a peeps casserole made my our friend Charlotte. The kids absolutely loved it. Then that beautiful chocolate cake is my absolute favorite cake ever! Its from a little bakery out in Virginia Beach called The Sugar Plum Bakery. They are amazing!!! Then I decided to make some festive cupcakes for the children. The little bunny and chick paper toppings were found at Target in the $1 section. If you have never shopped those three aisle of goodness, you are definitely missing out!!

Ok back to what this post is really about...

It truly was a wonderful day and I miss having everyone altogether already. I cant wait until the next time we get together! And every once in a while we manage to get a picture of everyone!!!

It was an amazing day surrounded by some awesome people! I am truly blessed. Thank you to my family for making this girl feel pretty special. I love you all!!