Let the Challenges Begin

I am a sucker for a good challenge. And I have been presented with two new ones over the past few weeks. When I first heard about each of them, I knew that I was up for them both since they so closely mesh with the goals I have set for myself and my life. One is the Fitness Challenge that Jonathan Roche has given to those following the No Excuses Workout system.  It matches up very nicely with my goal to get healthy by working out often. The second challenge came from Crystal, aka Money Saving Mom and Jessica, aka Fishmama. I have been focusing on menu planning and freezer cooking, and their challenge pricked my interest.

Jonathan Roche's invitation is to workout with a plan each week, and record them for accountability. This is the seventh challenge he has given and the third I have participated in.This competition is twelve weeks long starting today. Yesterday was my one year anniversary in using the NEWO system. So for this round of my fitness venture I have had a good start, today doing an interval workout using Denise Austin's Cardio Blast workout DVD. I did the warm-up, the Kickboxing and Cardio Dance segments, and the cool down. I did stop the DVD and slow the pace when I needed to so I could get my heart rate down for the intervals. Each of the workout segments on the DVD are 10 minutes long. There are two other cardio segments, Athletic Intervals and Retro Aerobics. I have had this DVD for two years and enjoy coming back to it over and over again. 

The menu planning challenge is one I have read about over the past two weeks from some of my friends on Twitter and some really great food blogs. They soon led me to Menu Saving Mom and Life as Mom's websites, as they are the source of this challenge. Both web authors felt that their pantries were full and that they needed to use what they had and inspired many others to follow them. I too have spent the weeks leading up to the holidays stocking up. In addition, I have also spent some time preparing meals that are now waiting in my freezer. So this week, and maybe the next several, my family's meals will involve eating solely from my pantry (and freezer). After paying my electric and propane bills this month, I am sure my budget will appreciate the break in grocery spending. I'm sure I'll have to get fresh milk, bread and just a bit of fresh produce, but everything else we'll need for the week is already here. Now I need to see how many weeks I can stretch this challenge.

Year 2010, Day Two

I wonder how many times I will have to write 2010 before it becomes a habit. Hopefully I will do it enough times over the next three days that I will not regress to writing in retro. I've labeled a batch of freezer bags and tomorrow and Monday will work on lesson plans so I'll get some practice.

The tree came down and went out the door last night. The rest of the Christmas decorations are in the process of being put back into the handy cranberry colored totes that I bought last year to replace the cardboard boxes that had been storing our seasonal stuff for 25 years. Danny was a little sad about storing it all away, but we explained to him that it wouldn't be special if we kept it out. When it comes back out at the end of November he should be ready to enjoy it all again. Danny and Raymond helped Joe and I pack away the tree ornaments last night. They were not interested in the packing of the rest of the decor. So I'll be pacing myself through the day with my timer close by, puttering in the kitchen and packing things away from all parts of the house.

I'll be doing some more freezer cooking today using my newest investment from Leanne Ely's Saving Dinner website. It is a big set of e-books including freezer meals, pantry to freezer cooking and much more. I will be trying out a variety of these over the coming months to have on hand when life gets hectic. Around here that is between August and December and again from January through May. June and July are easy, breezy in comparison since we eat fresh salads or off the grill most of both months. I also, usually, have much more time on my hands to get creative and try new things. So I'm off to cut up my big batch of onions.

After my cooking session I will try out another fitness DVD. I doubt I will be able to get on the Wii to do Active or Wii Fit, so I'll settle for one of my Denise Austin workouts. It's been awhile since I've done them, but her workouts are like working out with a good friend.

Menus in the Making

Yesterday I shopped for both a freezer fill (cooking meals to freeze and eat another day) and a family game night tomorrow, also known as New Year's Eve. My trip to the grocery was my first venture out in a week's time. We had been snowed in during Christmas as the blizzard that arrived on Christmas Eve continued as snow showers for the three days following. It's snowing again today, even as I write, but we are not supposed to get more than a couple more inches total.

For me, a plan for party food is always a challenge. Fourth of July, Labor Day or Memorial Day I can plan for without blinking. Food for the grill and the standard picnic/cookout sides is easy to plan and I always try to throw in one new recipe. Thanksgiving and Christmas are pretty traditional around here and I just have to time everything right to make that work. Now New Year's Eve has been done so many different ways around here. We've done make your own pizzas, taco bars, potato bars (notice we do a lot of bars). Would love to do fondue, but, alas, I don't have a fondue pot. My brother Robert is our fondue expert. He hosted a very yummy fondue gathering last New Year's Day. Maybe I'll set the goal of doing fondue next year. Anywho, I am instead thinking of a different menu, and it is something I haven't done in a while. What's on tomorrow night's menu? I guess you'll have to wait as it will be unveiled in a future post.

Okay, while I'm on the subjct of menus, before I went shopping yesterday, I was tempted with the idea of freezer cooking by a friend, love you Candace, that was planning some freezer meals using Leanne Ely's Pantry to Freezer Vol. 1 menus and recipes. After commenting on her plans, we found out that there would be a special on the recipe plans at Leanne's site. I ended up getting a very large e-cookbook that had many freezer recipes and menus. My grocery list also included enough ingredients to get some meals in my freezer. In the past I have done once a month cooking, the Robin Miller cook extra on weekends and enjoy plan overs during the week type of cooking, the double recipes when you cook and freeze half method, and other equally helpful do it ahead of time plans. All were wonderful. The plans allowed me to also create meals I could share with friends that were ill, recovering from surgery or that had returned home with a new baby. Nothing says you're a friend who cares more than a hot meal for someone that's down. So today I will create some handy freezer meals to make starting the new semester at work easier to handle.