Sigh...

I knew that when we decided as a family that healthy eating was a main goal of ours it was going to be hard. But I figured with my planning skills and my desire to get my body back, all would be good. Then last weekend hit. We have taken the winter off from sports of any kind and had gotten used to weekends at home. We had gotten used to week nights where all I had to worry about was what time Ryan would be getting home. Then baseball started and I knew it was going to get hectic. I knew what tournament weekends were like. Well, I knew what they were like when we were eating whatever we wanted to to make life easy. Now I know that this change in our way of thinking about food is hard.


Fresh out of the oven, white bread. I tried a new recipe this week and still haven't found the perfect one. Will try another one next week.

This weekend was jammed packed full of back to back games, through in a funeral that was 75 miles away, two very independent girls with cement to play on

What? Are you talking about me?


, a brand new team to get to know, and two very nervous parents about how this weekend was all going to play out. But we made it through it with help from new friends on the team and our wonderful babysitter, who watched the girls on Saturday night so that we could watch our son pitch the BEST GAME OF HIS LIFE!! Ok enough of the whining here is what I learned:

1. Buying crappy snacks just to tie over your younger kiddos doesn't mean that you are in the clear for being allowed to watch the game. Wrong. Buying cheap, processed, loaded with sugar- snacks just means they will be back for more in about 3..2..1..yep about that long. I will not be buying these snacks again. Period. I have instructed my husband of the same. From now on grapes, carrots, apples, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, or popcorn will be our snacks of choice at the game.

2. Going out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory is awesome. Yep, I said it. I love eating out, especially this heavenly place. And yes I know exactly how much fat is in majority of their dishes. But the thing is we haven't eaten there in almost a year. It was a great treat. And we halved our entree's before we even started eating. Well Ryan did. I had their fish tacos, grilled, with black beans and rice. I didn't eat the rice because I am weird like that. But ate the two whole tacos, the black beans, and the "meat" out of the other two tacos I had left. Basically I left two lonely and empty corn tortillas laying on my plate. No, no corn tortillas I don't want you no more. I loved leaving there full but happy with the choices that I made. And yes, we had cheesecake. It was delish and worth every last gram of fat that I have happily walked off on the eliptical.

3. Meal planning goes out the window when you don't have a weekend to get the meals prepared. By that I mean, if your week is going to be jam packed with practice, a baseball game, previewing the sex ed video for your oldest (ahhh!!!), having a fine arts fair that someone is performing in, and then having good friends over for a bbq on Friday....then the weekend before said crazy week has to be when you prepare the food. Lesson learned. Said food was not prepared for said week because my butt was too tired to do that on Sunday night after all of our baseball games. sigh......

So with that learning our new menu for next week will be different than this week. I am wanting some easier meals that can either be made ahead of time or can be thrown in the crock pot. It looks like a realitively calm week but that always means craziness is just around the corner. The best dish we have had so far this week was Monday nights meal: Portobello mushrooms grilled with basil balsamic pasta.

This was yummy. Just throw some balsamic, olive oil and garlic on the mushrooms (gill side up) and marinate for about 30 minutes to an hour. Cook them on the grill until they are done to your liking. We did about 10 minutes.

Cook your corkscrew pasta and when you are about to dump it all in the colander to strain, throw in a handful of spinach. Give it a quick stir then strain it. Run some cold water over it if you want. In your serving bowl put in a 1/2 cup of reduced balsamic vinegar, some dried oregano, pinch of salt and pepper, and about 1/4 cup of chopped basil. Throw in your pasta and give it a good stir. It was delish. And the basil totally overpowers the spinach, so even my hubby who hates spinach didn't mind it so much. Give it a try.

Here is my latest craft project because you know I don't have enough going on. I am attempting to make my oldest girlie a quilt for her 5th birthday.

It is going to be a hexie quilt. I have made 4 "blocks" so far like those pictured. I don't have a clue how many more I will have to make, probably lots! But that is ok. It will be great in the end.

Tomorrow I will have our menu for next week. I want to have a few new recipes for next week so I will have those posted or linked up as well.

Happy Wednesday!