Meals

So it has been really fun cooking since I have became a SAHM. I have made dinner every night. It is awesome because it really doesn't take as much effort and I am excited to make meals instead of being exhausted. I cleaned out the fridge and pantry and now I have a great inventory of what we have. I got a magnet note pad for the fridge and when we get low on something I put it on the list. It makes it easier to shop too because I got for specific things and have been good about not just throwing a bunch of miscellaneous things in the cart. We have been eating fresh salads and some yummy meals. Today I made fudge and put it in little baggies to give to the neighbors. I have the easiest recipe for fudge and I promise that it delicious and always a crowd pleaser. Here is the recipe (I kind of feel bad giving a fudge recipe on my weight loss blog, but what the heck)

Easy Fudge

1 box powdered sugar

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1 TBSP vanilla

1/4 C milk

1/2 C butter

Mix all dry ingredients together, add vanilla and milk and stir. Cut the butter into fourths and put on top of dry ingredients. Microwave for two minutes. Stir vigorously until all butter is melted. Add 1 C chopped walnuts. Put in wax paper lined 8x8 square dish. Refrigerate and cut into squares. So easy...and so yummy.

One thing I notice is that I burn about 300-500 more calories per day being at home just by playing with my kids and doing household chores compared to sitting on my rear at a desk and in meetings all day. That is one thing that I do not miss. I used to attend at least 5 meetings per day. It is so nice to have a break. I have worked consistently since I was 14 years old and began doing miscellaneous jobs such as babysitting and washing neighborhood cars at 11. The only time off that I have really had is my maternity leave. This is great. Remember how much weight I was losing while I was off on maternity leave? I am hoping that I can get back into that rhythm and lose 2-2.5 pounds per week again. I always thought that exercising would be easier if I was at home but I am finding that not to be so true. I spend most of my day doing household chores, laundry, cooking, playing with kids....so when the kids do finally take a nap the last thing I am thinking about is going for a run on the treadmill. I am exhausted! I need to find a rhythm and a schedule for getting on the treadmill and just stick to it.

I have always thought that couponing was stupid! I couldn't believe how much time people spent going to miscellaneous stores and cutting coupons and finding deals. But...now I have time. I going to give it a try. Any experts out there that can give some advice? One thing I don't want is to buy stuff that I don't normally buy. I just want to buy my regular things. Several things I buy generic but if with the coupon I could get it for the same price or lower that would be okay too. We don't buy lots of things that come with coupons but I am thinking there are probably some opportunities for yogurt, eggo pancakes, diapers, baby items, cleaning supplies, etc. I don't want to just stock up on a bunch of unhealthy processed food. I mean, we do eat some snack foods like chips and salsa and Hudson does eat fruit snacks and stuff but even if I can save a little it may be worth it. Any tips would be great.

Feeling good this week! I'll be posting a new weigh in on Sunday.