Creating a Manageable Morning Routine

For me,  having a  good morning routine keeps me from falling into a productivity rut and ensures I complete my goals. Creating a morning routine will help keep you feeling healthy, energized and focused all day long. A good morning routine should include elements of each of the following:

11.  Exercise. Going for a jog or engaging in another activity that gets my heart pumping starts my day on the right track. Personally, I am the most motivated in the mornings, and exercising helps keep my energy levels up throughout the day. Also, if I start my day with a healthy mindset, I am less likely to devour a mid-afternoon calorie bomb. Passion4Profession, Tone it Up and Leslie Sansone offer great workouts that can be accessed through Youtube.  

22. Food. Eating a healthy breakfast is essential to keeping away the mid-morning munchies. Often, keeping it healthy and fast is the way to go. A quick Google search yields inspiration with sites such as 100 Days of Real Food, Life Simply and The Better Mom.

33. Inspirational time. Exercise energizes our bodies, but we need to make time to nurture our hearts and minds, too. Take 10-20 minutes each morning to meditate, journal or read a devotional. Doing so will energize and refresh your mind.

44.   Ritual. Rituals help us stay calm and centered. Many people make a ritual out of drinking a beverage like hot water with lemon, tea, coffee, or Choffy. Making a ritual out of consuming one of these drinks during your inspirational or breakfast time can help you remain calm, focused and receive health benefits. Other rituals include lighting candles during prayer or playing music during a bubble bath.

      

      You should make sure your morning routine reflect your priorities and responsibilities. Use the categories above as a template for filling in activities that help you feel energized and focused. Then, make a plan. Get a notebook or planner and divide your day into manageable chunks of time. Make sure to carve out time for your new morning routine. Having a scheduled plan helps your brain remember and focus on your goals. 

     If you find yourself struggling to stick to a routine, apps like The Fabulous and Runtastic, or personal fitness trackers, can help you stay focused and motivated. In addition, implementing a calendar and sticker system can help you visualize your progress. It’s important to remember that the purpose of a morning routine is to help you stay focused and energized. If your routine feels draining or too regimented it is time to change things up. 

Too Many Cakes Too Little Time

I've been given a sneak peek at my next baking challenge. It involves making a cake. So I'm trying to decide what flavor I want to make.

I'm strongly considering

• An almond cake with apricot filling...and either a vanilla or almond butter cream
• A choclate, peanut butter,  banana cake with some combination of banana slices,  pb cream cheese frosting and a chocolate ganache
• A peach, mango, pineapple cake with caramel cream cheese icing
• chocolate rum cake
• strawberry champagne cake, filled with champagne soaked strawberries

Which option would you choose? What is your favorite cake flavor or flavor combination?

Angel Food Ministries

Have you heard of Angel Food? I hadn't until I moved here. Its basically a bulk buying program that helps families get their groceries cheaper.

Mike and I decided to give it a try for next month. We ordered two different menus for a total of $103.  That means I won't do much grocery shopping except to pick up small things like fruit, butter, cheese etc that maybe needed to make a few foods into a dish.

That's where ya'll come in. I'm going to list the foods we'll be receiving and I would appreciate recipes using the listed foods as the primary ingredients

• (1) All Natural Whole Chicken
• (1.5 lb) Whiting or Flounder Fillets
• (2lb) Boneless skinless chicken breasts
• (1.5 lbs) Boneless center cut pork chops
• (1.5lbs)  Turkey Burgers
• (2lb) Clam chowder (yumo!)
• (2lb) Sloppy joe mix (yucko)
• (2lb) Lasagna
• (1.5lb) Smoked sausage
• (1lb) ground beef
• (1lb) ground chicken (might make chicken cakes with these!)
• (1lb) carrots
• (1lb) green breans
• (1lb) triple veggie blend
• (1lb) sugar snap peas
• (24oz) natural cut french fires
• (28 oz) baked beans
• (1lb) white rice
• (1lb) pasta
• (26 oz) pasta sauce with mushrooms
• Jiffy Cornbread Mix
• (5ct) Oatmeal
• (32 oz) milk
• (1 doz) eggs
• 7.5 oz cookie dough
• 2.5 lbs Angus rib eye steaks
• 2lbs Angus burgers
• 1.5 lb bone in pork chops
• 2lb salmon fillets
• 1lb sugar snap peas
• 4 ct corn on the cob
• 20 oz twice baked potatoes (Mike is ecstatic I am not)

See any tasty combinations?

Getting Creative in the Kitchen!

After we had Bacon Pineapple Burgers for dinner we had a few leftover slices of pineapple and lots of juice left. I wanted to keep the slices for snacking on but I didn't want to throw out, or drink the juice straight up.

So I started to look into cookie recipes. I looked at basic recipes like shortbread, sugar cookies and butter cookies. I couldn't decide the best route for the pineapple cookies I wanted to use, so I sort of combined a butter cookie and sugar cookie recipe, but subsituted most if the sugar for brown sugar and honey, because I thought those flavors would best compliment the pineapple. I then brushed the cookies with a glaze I made from melted butter, honey and brown sugar.

They came out with a nice texture, but didn't have a very pineapple-y taste, but I only used 1/4 cup of the juice because I didn't want them to come out too acidic. But if I make them again, I will probably double the amount of juice and maybe add in some cinnamon and a little bit of milk.

I'll leave you with the recipe I ended up cobbling together but appreciate your suggestions on how to make a better pineapple flavored cookie.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup  butter
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup regular sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup pineapple juice/syrup from canned pineapples

tablespoon of honey
tablespoon of brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter


I beat everything in the first set of ingredients together and scooped onto a greased pan and baked about 13 minutes ar 375 F. The recipe made about eighteteen cookies which I brushed with the second set of ingredients once they were mixed together.

Budget Friendly Recipes

Okay, here's the deal.

We've got a very small grocery budget until I can find a job. We have all of three spices/seasonings- seasonal, garlic salt and red pepper flakes. And Mike doesn't eat rice. We've got enough foodstuffs to last roughly until Monday/Tuesday, until then I need to find some healthy, budget-friendly recipes. About two weeks worth. I have some cookbooks but most of the recipes any them call for a dozen ingredients, many of which are spices we don't have and can't buy at the moment.

I'd love any suggestions you can offer on how to save money grocery shopping (we're already clipping coupons, and planning to buy dried beans), and yummy budget friendly recipes.

Thanks for all the help!

A Big Decision to Make

Mike and I had a long talk last night about whether we should honeymoon now or later.

We'd been planning a week long trip to Niagra Falls, over Christmas. It will be beautiful, snowing and a wonderful time all around. A dreamy Christmastime trip, complete with fine dining, sight seeing, gambling and fireworks on Christmas Eve. A wonderful bonding time for the two of after a long time apart.

So what's the problem?

Mike found a job a month later than we had hoped and I currently don't have a job, or one lined up. So we've have to start spending savings that we hadn't planned on.We just paid the first month's rent on a town house, plus the security deposit, plus all of the fees for transferring all of the utilities to our name. We still have to buy a washer and dryer and bedroom furniture. If we don't go on the honeymoon we can buy the washer and dryer and part of the bedroom set, in cash. I've considered not buying a washer and dryer immediately and using the laundry mat downtown, but Mike is concerned about me driving downtown in the snow/ice alone to use the laundry mat (as he has a day job so I'll be the one using the laundry mat during the day).  If we don't honeymoon we can spend a few more days in SC with my family, spend the week doing things like going grocery shopping, getting me to where I'm comfortable with the town, applying for a part time job, putting me on his bank card, and finding a new bank in our town. We could put up a tree and go to the Christmas eve celebration at his parent's house and cook a nice romantic dinner for Christmas.

The practical me says skip it and go in the summer when we can afford it. The more frivoulous me says go and enjoy the special time with my honey. The practical me says we'll be too worried about finances to enjoy it. As you can probably tell, I'm leaning towards canceling it. But before I make any set in stone decision, I've decided to spend a few days praying about it and to see where that leads me.

Any thoughts?

Grocery Shopping Today

I bought:

ham, cheese and bread for sandwiches
green and red peppers for sandwiches and scrambled eggs (basically the only unexpensive fresh veggie- oh baby tomatoes seem decently priced too but I didn't want to carry them)
hot dog weenies- to sautee with the peppers....mmm
eggs
bananas- for snacks and to put in our almond flake kelloggs
bugle potato chips- i think, i hope....I have a hard enough time finding these babies at home

I priced pancakes and I think it'll cost close to $20  batch, which is insane in my opinion. I looked at spaghetti stuff but due to lack of fridge space decided to wait, it'll probably cost me $6 for a few meals worth of spaghetti which isn't bad at all. And I found spaghetti sauce but I think I will spruce it up with some fresh peppers.  Oh and I priced frozen corndogs today- 3  corndogs for over $4. Yikes. I miss America and our excess of corndogs. I don't even eat corn dogs very often.

Now I have to learn how to operate the stove top. Pictures would be more helpful words, but I'm a big girl and trial and error is my friend. As long as the errors aren't too big. Oh- and another thing to keep in mind is that if I have to much- the leftovers have to be reheated on the stovetop- slightly scary but doable.

Pancake Help

So, the other day at the grocery store a box of pancake mix caught my eye. Well, I'm assuming it was pancake mix because it had a picture of pancakes on the front. I really want to make pancakes. I don't read Korean and I can't for the life of me, remember what you add to pancake mix. Eggs? Water?

Could ya'll do me a huge favor and tell me what to add to the mix and how much? That way, when we go grocery shopping on Thursday I can price everything to see if making pancakes is going to cost me $20. If not, it might be worth a go.

Also, any scrambled egg spruce up ideas, or homemade spaghetti sauce with SUPER EASY TO FIND (no spices just veggies?) ingredients would be very nice as well. I've found spaghetti noodles, but haven't spotted the sauce yet.

I really want to cook, but due to my lack of skills, I'm not very good at  being creative with food. We only have a stovetop and a toaster. So far the groceries we've been buying are: eggs, bread, sliced ham, sliced cheese, mustard, cereal, yogurt, bananas and canned fruit. Oh and Ramen. Who could forget Ramen. (I do have a ramen meets mac and cheese cup that I'm hoping to try tomorrow)

Don't forget to check out this weeks ABC post: D is for Delicious

Soo....Week D is coming up quicky....

And I can't think of a topic. Any suggestions, requests?

Wedding Reception Plans in the Making

I am strongly considering doing a dessert reception, with desserts from various countries. The desserts I'm thinking about are:

1Belgian Gingerbread
2Swedish Butter Cookies
3.Australian Bachelor Buttons or
4. Austalian Baby Banana Souffle
5Chinese Fortune Cookies
6. ChineseAlmond Cakes
7. Japanese Sweet Potatoe Candy
8. Dutch Fritters
9. Scottish Tiffins
10. Scottish Millionaire Shortbread
11. English Apple Butterscotch Pie
12. Baklava

With Mexican Coffee and Hot Chocolate (with marshamllows and chocolate sugar and cinnamon and possibly frozen chocolate spoons yay!)

Two Problems:

1. Narrowing down the dessert list to about 7 different desserts. Any opinions on must keeps or must gos? I LOVE both tiffins and millonaire shortbread, but i think more people would live the shortbread. Its going to be so hard to decide. I'll let you know my decision after I talk with the caterer this week. But before then, I'd love some input. Feel free to suggest other desserts for the list too! I'm in the brainstorming part right now.
2. What time to have the wedding. 7pm seems like the perfect start time for the ceremony, putting the guests at the reception a little after 7:30. However, I've been told from a few people that after the ceremony I won't make it to the reception for an hour and a half (taking pictures), putting me there at 9. Please tell me that was an outrageous estimate.

The reception  ends at 1130.  I'd like to be there for a little longer than that. Also, I dont want to take pictures for more than 45 minutes. I want to take as many pictures (me and my ladies, the flower girls and ring bearers, fiance and his men, shots of the parents, shots of groomsman and bridesmaids) before the wedding as possible. Do you think its possible to take all the other pics in 45 minutes or less?

Personally, I'd rather do them all before but I know my mom will have a fit about the bride and groom seeing each other before the ceremony. I don't care because there is a huge chance that we'll be walking down the aisle together holding hands (to Amazing Grace played on the bagpipes).

If the pictures do take that long, is 6:30 to early to start the ceremony if I'm having a dessert reception?

Giveaways?

I'm curious...

Do you like to know about the giveaways and deals I stumble across? Or could you care less?
Do you want to seem them as a find out about them? Or should I compile them on a weekly(maybe biweekly depending on their deadlines) basis?

If you've got an opionion please vote by checking all of the answers that apply in my poll on the sidebar!

Thanks for voting!

Wedding Ideas Wanted!

Put on your brainstorming caps!

I need some help.

Travel is important to both me and Mr. Groom, so I want to incorporate it into our wedding. We both love to travel, we have been on and off long distance during out relationship, and a lot of our family and friends will be traveling to our wedding. I also like the idea of marriage as a journey.

That being said, I need your help in two ways:

1.General:  I need ways to infuse this theme throughout our wedding.

 I've thought about getting some globes to serve as centerpieces, with the addition of some flowers and (sailboat shaped!) candles. But, notthings final yet so, let me know if you have any other centerpiece ideas. Our guest book is a going to be a post card collection, where our guests can leave us sweet messages. Instead of a card box, I bought this cute white tray ($5!) that has the names of famous cities written across it.Again, I would show you a picture my the camera cord is still on vacation. And I really want to take a picture of the two of us kissing and holding suitcases (preferably old ones), to send as wedding announcements! I'd love any ideas you have for decoration as well as for food.

2: Specefic: I really want to tie this theme into our programs. I also would like to DIY my programs. And I would like something different than just the usual.

 I think the programs on wavy sticks and tied with a bow are really cute. But-they are very reminscent of fans, and our wedding is in December. Any suggestions for how I can tie the theme into the programs? I'm thinking along the lines of a road map- but that seems to cheesy. I'm playing with the idea of making them look like ribbon tied passports?

Suggest away! I'm going to go grab a drink (not really- I've sworn of booze and sweets for a while. Since when? Since last night when I didn't like my reflection in the Victoria Secret mirror-So, a screwdriver it is! Hold the vodka please!)

How to Win the Follower of the Day Award!

Dearest Followers,
I need your opinions. If you could post a comment answering at least one of the following questions it'd really make my day. Here we go:


1. What made you decide to click the "follow" button for my blog?
2. What's the best thing about my blog?
3. BE HONEST-What do you like the least about my blog?
4. What would you like to see more of?
5. What would you like to see less of?
6. And lastly- What are you general suggestions for improvement? (Would you like me to stick to a certain theme? Post in a more narrative style? Post in a less narrative style? Anything?!)


Love,
Chocoholic

PS: I don't mind answering the questions in return for anyone who replies. If you want, I can do it publically and rave about all the things I love about your blog! Not trying to bribe you or anything. (Really, I'm not, I've only got 9 followers- which is what I'm trying to change here!)

Dearest Followers,

I would really love to have more of you. I love blogs that have giveaways and I think I could have one of I had a minimum of 20-25 followers. Sooo..............................

I need your opinions. If you could post a comment answering at least one of the following questions it'd really make my day. Here we go:

1. What made  you decide to click the "follow" button for my blog?
2. What's the best thing about my blog?
3. BE HONEST-What do you like the least about my blog?
4. What would you like to see more of?
5. What would you like to see less of?
6. And lastly- What are you general suggestions for improvement? (Would you like me to stick to a certain theme? Post in a more narrative style? Post in a less narrative style? Anything?!

Love,
Chocoholic

Cooking Advice

Has anyone tried any of these cookbooks?




I like the idea of being able to cook multiple servings, freeze and serve later. Especially since it'll be just the two of us. I really really like the idea of spending one Friday afternoon buying groceries and one Saturday cooking and be set for a month. But I'm not sure if its realistic/feasible. Any other cookbook suggestions or reviews of these books/methods would be greatly appreciated.