Breakfast Quiche

Sadly, I can no longer deny the direct effect my eating habits have on my energy levels and overall demeanor. I had never consistently eaten a well balanced diet with fruit and veggies until I married my husband a year ago and started cooking for the both of us and so, call me dumb, but I never realized how tired and run down my body would feel after a day of eggos and fast food. Now that I get it though, I have a special appreciation for recipes like this one.  It may never replace a good pancake or cinnamon role, but its still totally delicious! It's also nutritional, portable, and reheats excellently. I usually make these on a Sunday and grab one each morning. They taste as good as the day I made them even on Friday.

Ingredients:

3 slices bacon

½ small onion diced

1 10oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, squeeze dried

½ tsp black pepper

⅛ tsp ground nutmeg

Pinch salt

1 15oz whole milk ricotta cheese

2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

1 c grated Parmesan cheese

3 eggs lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°

Cook and crumble bacon

In same skillet, cook onion until tender, then add spinach, nutmeg, and salt. Heat about. Min until dry. Remove from heat and stir in Bacon.

Pour mix in muffin pan.

Cook for 40 min

Living by a List

Hitting my weekly and daily goals is 100% dependent on pre-planning, list making, and even daily, hour by hour planning. If you aren't pre-planning when, what, or how you are going to clean, cook, and exercise you should prob start. It really helps with efficiency and even stress management. Once you finish the night's chores, you can sit back, relax, and not stress about the next night.

I've tried several planning methods, like certain apps, or just the typical To Do List but I always run into problems. For instance, it takes too long to use most phone apps and I wind up irritated. I prefer to write my list but very few survive. If I don't lose it, my purse seems to eat it, leaving me with a crumpled mess. I've made several list templates that make things a little more fun. Feel free to borrow! I also just created a more permanent list that can cope with my purse. Check picture below, I'm thrilled with them. They're reusable and wooden! I just made my first set for my co-workers and will be making one for myself ASAP.

 I usually print a bunch of these and just hand write them.

Re-Usable To-Do-Lists for Co-Worker Christmas Presents

Spice Tea

This Spice Tea recipe has been passed through my fam for generations and it is truly the perfect after work pick me up in the winter. The tea contains caffeine so it's got a little boost and it is incredibly refreshing. Its sweet and orangey spiced at the same time. The recipe calls for sugar but I'm sure a low calorie sweetener could be substituted.


Ingredients:
2 cups tang
1 cup instant tea
1 sm pkg lemonade mix
2 cups sugar

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

¾ tsp ground cloves

Directions:
Stir it all together in big bowl.  To serve, mix a few tablespoons of mix with hot water.  I use about 2.5 tablespoons per regular size mug.

*note: I typically dump the entire tang container in (a little more than two cups) and I also spoon in a little extra sugar.

This also makes perfect christmas presents in mason jars like I did below.

Step One: Organize

When I first decided I had to make a change I felt completely overwhelmed. There wasn't a single room in the entire house that resembled cleanliness. I would have rejoiced for just passable when at the time every single room and closet was actively embarrassing. So where to start when the task before you is so daunting...Organize!

The most game changing organization project I've completed thus far was thanks to Martha Stewart and her amazing fabric storage boxes. Although a tad pricey, these babies were perfect for closet storage. Two things set these apart from other storage bin options:

First, the built in labels. So crucial! I can't count how many times I've started a new organizational system but then gradually forgotten what the plan was and watched the whole system fall apart. Not this time though!!

Second, the smooth cloth construction that won't snag things! Much as I love woven rattan or metal baskets, they snag things! The Martha Stewart baskets are perfect for storing all my towels, sheets, swimsuits, etc.

Me and Being Chored

I’ve been chored.  I’m not proud of it, but I’ll still admit, it happens to me a lot. “Being chored” it’s that moment when you finally see just how horrible your home/office/car/what-have-you really is.  Still not clear?  Here’s a couple examples:

1)     The rotten, fermenting, trashcan smell smacksyou in the face… you’ve been chored

2)     Not one load of dirty dishes but THREE… you’vebeen chored

3)     precariously balancing the kleenex on the top ofthe trashcan pile… you’ve been chored

4)     Unidentifiable food substance shriveled andblack underneath the bed… you’ve been chored

You get the idea.  It can happen in an infinite number of ways and it’s always a bummer. I’m Sara, I’m 26, married for just under a year, I work full time, and I get chored a lot. A chore, by my definition, is something you have to do, but basically never want to do.  So if you are one of those gals who has always loved exercising and getting a runner’s high, or love keeping your area 100% perfectly organized so it looks so pretty, or think cooking is a hobby… you kinda bug me… and this is probably not the blog for you :-). 

I’m not one of those gals. I’m the kind that exercises because I’ve learned about cholesterol and other related health issues and because I rather like my figure.  I clean, not because living in filth bothers me, but because its not socially acceptable.  I cook because I need to eat and because my budget and my waist line demand it.  That’s the reality of it.  Cooking, cleaning, and exercises… I do them,but only because I have to…and therefore they are chores.

About 5 months ago, in response to being caught when my house was in utter disrepair, I started a big clean-up effort of both my house and my life. I’ve always struggled to balance life’s chores with my own personal need for fun and rest & relaxation; it’s like trying to find a diet that’s actually sustainable ove rthe long run.  This blog will hopefullydocument my journey, for better or worse, as I continue to learn the balancing act… and hopefully STOP getting chored!!!