Some days it is REALLY hard to roll out of bed and get going.  Today was one of those days.  On days like this I usually use my fall back breakfast… cold cereal.  Today we mixed it up a bit.  We made Banana Smoothies.  Quick, easy and delicious.  I used strawberry yogurt, thus the pink tint.

Give these smoothies a try any time of day really, but especially on those mornings that are kicking your you-know-whats!

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com

I don’t know where you live, but here in Utah the weather can still be a little dicey.  Nice sunny days with a whisper of spring mixed in with the snowy, cold days that seem to last way longer than they should.  Let one of these delicious soups warm you up a bit as you sit back and watch the last traces of winter disappear.

Corn Soup

Creamy Zucchini Soup

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com

I love roller-coaster.  Really.  I do.  The anticipation felt at the beginning as you sit and lock yourself  into position. The sudden thrust of speed and wind whipping through your hair. The feeling of weightlessness.  The ups and downs, twists and turns and then the return back to slow speeds as we roll into the final position.

Like most of you who read this blog, my life has been a roller coaster ride.  In the last year my little family has:

• Lost our home of over 6 years and put almost everything we owned into storage.
• Stayed with my parents in Arizona while we figured out paperwork to
• Move to Belgium for 6 months (bringing only one suitcase and one carry-on per person)
• Attempt to learn a new language (or two) along with the culture that accompanies them (put the 3 kiddos in a french-speaking school)
• Move to Arizona for a month and then to come full circle to
• Move back to Utah

While all this is going on, I am attempting to create the Minute Menu Plan.  Talk about giving myself a mammoth-sized serving of stress.  But, I know I am not alone in all this financial and emotional stress.  There are many of you who have and are still going through hard times.  Some of a similar nature, others even worse.

All I know is my own circumstances.   My personal point-of -view from the circumstance that I have been through.  I hope to connect with and give you something to think about to hopefully help you through your own personal hardship.

We lived in a lovely home in a wonderful neighborhood.  We had many great friends that we made through the years.  But we made poor financial decisions.  This wasn’t a short-term “Oops, I bought a big screen t.v. and now have to pay for it”.  It was more like,  “While we are at it why don’t we mortgage the farm and through in the kitchen sink.”   Two  months after we made our financial blunder, we lost…everything.  We hoped and worked hard at trying to make up the loss of income and ended up paying for it by working countless hours trying to make ends meet.

While talking with a friend one day (a year or so later), she mention that she and her husband had hired a financial coach by the name of Alan Williams.  My husband and I set up a consultation, listened to what he had to say and then hired him a day or two later to become our financial coach.

We read lots of information, created personal financial records and made the hard decision to let our house go.  It was a good decision for us.  But very sad and difficult to make.  Nine months later we short-sold our home.  I think I am still going through a sense of loss.  Not just for “our home” but also for our day to day life in the only neighborhood my youngest son ever knew.

Fast forward to the day we knew things were approved by the bank.  We now knew we were really moving.  It was sinking in.  “What do we do now?”  “Where do we go?”  The company my husband works for has offices worldwide and there was an opportunity for us in Belgium.  I had always wanted to live/study abroad, and we thought it would be a great experience for our family.  So, off we went.

It was good and bad.  Wonderfully eye opening and extremely difficult.  I won’t go into much detail about that experience.  I have another blog called The Lemonade Trip. Feel free to check it out.

I guess the point of this post is that like a roller-coaster, life comes at you fast.  There are twists and turn that you never even could imagine coming.  Yes, the ride can be rough (Sometimes by our choices, other times because of the choices of others).  But our “job” isn’t to dwell on the negative forever….it is to ponder it, analyze it for a time, learn from it, then let it go.  There are other rides waiting to be ridden.  What are you waiting for?

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com

Every so often I do a little mental exercise to see where I am in my life. I lie down and try to clear my head.  I then ask myself the question, “Where do I see myself right now?”  I then wait for an answer that usually comes in the form of a picture.  This morning I was laying in bed and did this exercise.   Up popped an image of a beautiful swan starting to fly, but on it’s feet were strings of  brown, sticky mud keeping her  from breaking free.

I then asked myself “who is the swan?  Answer: Me.  “What does the mud represent ?”  Answer: Perceived impressions.

Perceived impressions?  What does that mean?  To me it means that the only thing holding me back from my freedom, my goals, my flight into the beautiful blue sky is me and the thoughts that I think others are having of me.

How many times have you done or not done something because you were afraid of what others would say?  “She can’t do that.”  or maybe, “That is not the role she is supposed to play.”  How often do we cater to others, to make others comfortable?   Now, I am not saying that we should totally go out and speak our minds and not care about others feelings, but I am saying that for me it is pretty silly to live up to others expectations of who they think I am.

Is it time for you to try something new too?  Is it time for you to take flight?  To let go? To be free?

It’s often the first steps that are the hardest.  Maybe even the seemingly small steps, the everyday.  We plan for the grandiose, but we all know it’s the daily habits that we form that make the big difference.

Now how can I relate this to menu planning.  People often say, “I am just not organized enough” or I just don’t have the time to get a menu plan in place, but really you do.  It really can save you time and money when you do a little every day.   Don’t try to make a menu plan because others think you should.  Don’t try to make a menu plan because that is what you are “supposed” to do.  Make your menu plan because you want to do it.  Find out if this is the you, the REAL you, the more ORGANIZED  you that YOU want to be.

Maybe making a menu plan isn’t the biggest change you currently need to make in your life.  Let go of your thought of what other people MIGHT be thinking of you. Instead of letting them penetrate you to the skin, let them form like beads of water on a duck’s back and roll off, never to be thought of again.

Do what you need to do to become the best you.   If your desire is to become more organized, don’t be  worried about what others say.  Become who you want to be.  Fly free beautiful swan and leave the mucky thoughts (and clutter) of others behind.  You can do it.

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com

Have you ever felt overwhelmed?  I have.  It’s amazing to me that just one word brings a whole flood of emotions. I tend to look at this larger than life, unrealistic picture of how my “perfect” reality should be and then feel under the thumb that it isn’t like that.  The dam breaks.   Pwerghh. Overwhelmed.   Woman overboard! …Again!  Just got to keep my head above water.

I still feel overwhelmed with different aspects of my life, but Meal Planning is no longer one of them. (What? I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not totally the cat’s meow.)

But how do we face these overwhelming feelings?  Well, we all have heard the answer so many times and put in so many different ways that they are memorized like the back of our hand!

You have to learn to crawl before you walk.

How do you eat an elephant?   One bite at a time.

A stitch in Time saves Nine.

How do you complete a puzzle?  One piece at a time.

How do you make a Meal Plan?   One recipe at a time.

Are you ready now? You already know there really is no place like home for meaningful family mealtimes.  If this is really your goal, the Minute Menu Plan can help.  YOU CAN DO IT. That’s right.  You.  Right there. Stop running around like a chicken with your head cut off.  Keep breathing.  Cultivate your garden.   Baby steps. Just input one recipe each night and by weeks end you will have a 7-day dinner meal plan of your family’s  favorites. Have your cake and eat it too…just input the recipe after all that enjoyment!  Can’t beat that?!

The Minute Menu Plan is here to help.  See you in the wink of an eye.

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com

Tonight I gave seafood a try.  In the past I have honestly just plain avoided anything with seafood, but lately things are changing.  Like I tell my children, “Sometimes when you grow older your taste buds change.”  Well, I just celebrated my 35th birthday and my taste buds are sure changing.  I am trying and, to my surprise, actually liking seafood.  This Linguine with Seafood, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Lemon was delicious.  My husband and daughter couldn’t get enough and my 11-year old had a HUGE helping.  As far as my 7-year old went, well…this dish just wasn’t for him, he just wanted pizza!

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com

I am the kind of person that needs a goal.  When I have one, my whole world seems to revolve around it until it’s completed.  After my first child 1^st birthday, my husband and I decided to move from Northern California to Mesa, Arizona.  I was raised in Mesa and had heard about the beautiful view from the top of Camelback Mountain, but had never taken the opportunity to climb it.  Upon my arrival back into the ‘Valley of the Sun’, I made this my goal.

Goal: Climb to the top of Camelback Mountain

One Saturday, very early in the morning (it is Arizona after all) the three of us started our ascent.  We began our adventure full of our needed supplies and enthusiastic energy.  I was a little surprised to find the trail already crowded at this early hour.  We chatted with some of the hikers as we began our journey.  (Sting, the singer had been there the previous day and apparently some of the hikers were hoping to catch a glimpse of him today, thus the larger than normal crowd.)

The climb starts gradually at first, and then the terrain gets steeper and the hiking becomes more intense.  There is no doubt that you’re walking up a mountain.  As I took step after step, I became painfully aware that not only was my pace slowing, but people were passing me up.  Some of these crazies were even running up the mountain.

Then the questions start.  “Who are these ‘crazy’ people around me?”  “Why would anyone leave their bed this early to climb a dumb mountain?”  “Who in their right mind chooses to hike Camelback Mountains?”

An 1 ½ hour later, standing at the summit of Camelback Mountain , the answers come.

Who are these so called ‘crazy’ people?  I AM.

Why would anyone leave their bed early to climb a dumb mountain?  Why wouldn’t they?

Who in their right mind chooses to hike Camelback Mountain?   Those who want to experience a feeling of accomplishment, hard earned success, and or course, the spectacular view!

So, what does hiking a mountain and meal planning have in common?   Well, sometimes making a menu plan feels like you are standing in the shadow of an enormous mountain.  You have that goal, that desire.  You’re here now.  But where to begin?

The Minute Menu Plan can be your ‘trailhead’ to get started.  Go ahead, take that next step.  You are on your way!

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com

Tonight was another winner.  Asparagus and Chicken in Black Bean Sauce. I couldn’t find black beans here in Belgium, so I optedto use some brown beans.  I had some mushrooms that needed eating too, so threw those in.  The end results were delicious.

Interested in creating a meal plan?  Visit www.MinuteMenuPlan.com to learn how easy it is to get started today.

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com

Tonight we tried a new recipe.  BBQ Pork Lo Mein.  My 11 year-old couldn’t  get enough. He had 3 large portions. I thought it needed just a little more sauce than what the recipe calls for, so I added a little extra Oyster Sauce and some Terriyaki Sauce.  I also opted for rice noodles.  I thought this recipe turned out wonderfully.  My younger two just wanted the meat.  Carnivores.

Interested in creating a Meal Plan?  Visit www.minutemenuplan.com to learn how easy it is to get started today.

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com

How do you view dinner time?

Do you find yourself dreading dinner time?  Does the thought of making any meal seem overwhelming?  Just one more thing on the “to do” list: to be finished, checked off as “completed” and move on to the next task?  I have felt that way too, many times.

The actual meal time probably isn’t what we have the problem with.  The real problem lies with our implementation and may I boldly suggest our perspective.

My paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Italy years ago.  My grandmother used to tell me stories of her parents playing music and dancing in the kitchen.  She and my grandpa used to dance too.  Maybe it is just hereditary, but I love music combined with dancing and food.  In my last home I had a radio/CD player installed under my cupboard.  We would listen to everything from Pavarotti to Def Leppard, Dean Martin to High School Musical.  The children would help in the music selection while they also helped me with dinner preparation and setting the table.

We recently moved and that radio and all our CD’s are currently in storage.  Our current kitchen is smaller and the stress of many changes has overcome us.  The other day while making dinner I was thinking to myself, “Something is missing” and then it hit me.  Music.  I left dinner cooking on the stove and ran up to my room, grabbed my IPod radio and hooked it up into the kitchen.  I chose favorites and hit play.   Instantly the mood changed in our home.   My two youngest children came in to the kitchen shaking their tushies.  My oldest followed and ask me if I needed any help.   It didn’t matter if the kitchen was smaller and we moved thousands of miles away.  We were back to where we needed to be: With each other, in the warmth of our kitchen, enjoying one anothers’ company.

So, how does music and dancing tie into dinner time?  For me, it was MY perspective.  Dinner went from a fun event in the past, to a chore and then by choice, back to fun.  When we step back and slow down for a moment, we can look at our dinner time from a totally different perspective, a FUN perspective.

What can you do to make dinner time fun?  Let me propose an experiment.  For one night this week, crank up some music in the kitchen and in the words of Will Smith, “Get Jiggy wit it!”

Interested in creating a Meal Plan?   Visit www.minutemenuplan.com to find out how easy it is to get started today.

©www.MinuteMenuPlan.com