14 Day Menu 2-1 - 2-14-2010

Saturday: Turkey Sandwiches & Chips

Sunday: Taco Salad w/ Ground Turkey

Monday: Chipotle Black Bean Burgers, Fries, and vegan milkshakes

Tuesday: Turkey Lasagna with Salad

Wednesday:Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Thursday:Chicken Bouillabaisse with Rice & Potatoes, and Broccoli

Friday:Free Day

Saturday: Turkey Paninis on Homemade Foccacia Bread & Chips

Sunday:Nigerian Curry with Naan(cut up chicken in a red coconut curry sauce, served over basmati rice & garnished with golden raisins, slivered almonds, diced tomatoes, bananas, and pineapple...it's fantastic)

Monday:Free Day

Tuesday: Chicken smothered in a White Wine & Portabello Mushroom Sauce, Wild Rice & Steamed green Beans

Wednesday:Jambalaya, yellow rice & peas

Thursday:Chicken Noodle Soup & PB&J Sandwiches

Friday: Free Day

DIY Happy Meals {no need for fast food}

I have been meaning to share this little tip for quite some time now. If any of you moms are like me, then you may have kids who thinks that a happy meal or any kids meal at a fast food restaurant is super exciting. The problem on our end is that we do not eat that much fast food that would include cute boxes and trade marked toys. So, to make a long story short, I decided to make my own happy meal for the little one not too long ago. I fixed him chicken nuggets and fries and packaged it up in a brown paper bag that I glued coloring sheet and activity cut-outs to (the front is a free Phineas & Pherb coloring sheet that I trimmed, and the back is a cut-out of a free activity worksheet). He LOVED it! You can find all sorts of activity sheets for free on the web. Simply scale them down a bit to fit your bag or box. I also included a few of his crayons so that he can "play" as he ate. I also used some card stock paper and made a little box to put the chicken nuggets in and made a pouch for the fries and lined the box with tin foil.

I plan to make more of these for him with different foods and I will gather up some inexpensive toys to include in them. I loved this idea because for all of you who prefer not to give your kids fast food, who are vegans and vegetarians, or if your child has to follow a special diet, then this is a fun way to make their meal happy without the side effects of processed food from the local fast food joint! So, when you have a moment, definitely give this idea a try, your kids are sure to love it!

14 Day Menu 1/16 - 1/29 2010

Hello lovely ladies...yes, I am still here! I have not forgotten about you, yet I am going on 6 months preggo(round two in two years..lol) and things can get a bit hectic. Nevertheless I wanted to share our current 14 day menu plan with you all! Hopefully it will spark some ideas for your own kitchen and if you get the chance, you simply must try the Haitian Tea Cake that we enjoyed for dessert this past Sunday. It's enhanced with warm chai spices! Enjoy!

Saturday: Free Day

Sunday: Haitian Inspired Dinner: Riz Djon Djon(spiced rice with dried mushrooms & lima beans), Cabbage, Poule En Sauce(stewed chicken in a tomato sauce seasoned with peppers and herbs), Banane Pesee(lightly fried plantains).

Monday: Turkey Dogs & French Fries

Tuesday: Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs

Wednesday: Seafood Gumbo with Sweet Pepper Hush Puppies

Thursday: Free Day

Friday: Fried Chicken Salad w/Honey Mustard Dressing & Homemade Yeast Rolls

Saturday: Sun-dried Tomato & Mozzarella Paninis & Chips.

Sunday: Field Peas, Collards & a Whole Roasted Rosemary Chicken

Monday: Jamaican Jerk Patties & Minestrone Soup

Tuesday: Chicken Breast stuffed with Scalloped Potatoes, Cheese & Spinach, with cream of broccoli

Wednesday: Turkey Subs & Chips

Thursday: Free Day

Friday: Homemade Sun-dried Tomato, Feta, and Artichoke Pizza & Salad

Desserts: Haitian Tea Cake, homemade donuts & Fruit & Granola Parfaits!

Inspiring Mama: Amanda {mandajuice}

Every now and then I will be highlighting some of the most inspiring mamas in the blogosphere..lol. I have sent out many interview requests and cannot wait to share their motherly inspiration here on Inspiring Mama. First up in our inspiring mama collection is Amanda of Mandajuice. Enjoy...she shares some great words of motherly wisdom & advice!
Who: Amanda
Where: Mandajuice
Why: I really enjoy Amandas humorous in your face sort of writing style on her blog, I like her honesty, her love for her children, her amazing dedication to taking photos and videos of her children and family, and I am beyond inspired by her weight loss story. You can find parts 2-9 on the left rail of her blog.
Occupation: Writer! Aspiring novelist.
Hometown: Vancouver, WA
Number of Children: 2
Her Perfect “Me Time”: Couch, coffee, Kindle.


Inspiring Mama: What do you enjoy the most about motherhood & what do you least like about it that you wish you could change?

Amanda: The answer to both questions is the same: the decibel level. I love having a chaotic house filled with noise. But sometimes I wish they'd all shut up so I could read.

Inspiring Mama: Since becoming a mother, what have you learned from your kids about yourself and or life?

Amanda: I've learned that we're all born into our personalities. When you have one kid, you get this God complex where you actually believe that you have a say in who they become. By the time you have two, you realize you have NOTHING to do with it. We are all born to be the people we become. I should have known this before having kids because I come from a big family. All four of my brothers and sisters and I are so totally different that it's impossible to imagine we share any DNA. But we do. I love watching old home videos because I was just as bossy and independent at six as I am now. I try to take a lot of videos of my kids because I'm sure some day they'll look back and see that they were always themselves. I'll never try to change them.

Her Recipes: Cashew Chicken,Simple Pizza Crust, Mushroom Orzo Pasta, Tasty Roasted Cauliflower.



Inspiring Mama: What do you hope your child(ren) will learn from you and carry with them through life?

Amanda: Optimism. Enthusiasm. Logic. I mostly just want them to embrace those personalities they were born into. And read. I hope my children love words as much as I do.

Inspiring Mama: Considering you were a financial planner before becoming a stay at home mom, do you have any tips or advice for managing the family finances?

Amanda: I think my biggest piece of advice is the simplest one: HAVE A PLAN. I repeat: HAVE. A. PLAN. Nothing breaks my heart more than to see families living paycheck to paycheck, never achieving any goals because they never SET any. It doesn't matter how much money you make, you still need to be the captain of your own ship, even if the winds aren't blowing in the right direction.


Inspiring Mama: Just for fun, describe the perfect meal for your son, and the perfect ,meal for your daughter?

Amanda: Both kids love macaroni and cheese (Annie's organic white cheddar shells) with chocolate milk.

Mimi Lou {whimsical decals}

OMG I love these! How cute. This company called MIMI'Lou out of France creates some of the most cutest wall decals for the little tots. These are my favorites. I also wanted to post this because for those of us that cannot afford such a splurge for the little ones, these sort of images can work for all the artsy moms by using a stencil transfer or freehand drawing of your own designs onto a wall or nestled within a corner or two, or you could use different fabric patterns to fill in shapes such as circles, mushrooms, hearts, and flowers!

Organize It {ikea shelves}

You know, I have re-arranged Sety's room so many times and have purged lots of toys that he has outgrown and even items that he has "collected" from around the house and turned into toys, but no matter what I do, he still seems to find a way to make a huge mess with random little trinkets. I do not necessarily blame him for the untidiness. My theory is that if I had a better way of keeping his room ORGANIZED, then he would have an easier time keeping it tidy.

Whenever we move to our next home (I just do not feel like re-decorating this apartment of ours) I want to design his room with lots of "cubby" holes, wide bookshelves, and plenty of organized spaces. One thing about decorating a child's room is that we as moms can get a little bit unrealistic. Sometimes we try to make it LOOK good and we tend to forget about the practicality of it for the little ones...lol.

So while browsing the web for inspiration, I came across a cool flickr group called "Ikea Shelves". I grew quite fond of these shelves featured in an array of kids rooms!

FunChi! {sweet baby knits for fall}

This post makes me daydream of the upcoming Christmas season. Can you believe that Fall is just around the corner? Oh my, where did the year 2009 go?

I recently ran across this lovely knitted organic baby clothing line called FunChi House of Inspiration. They are all lovingly made by Mateja in Slovenia. I love the style and the colors she uses...perfect for the upcoming fall and winter seasons; and to know that they are all organic makes them even sweeter. I would so love to have this pair for baby Halima. Cute!

Hello There...

Hi there to all my fellow inspiring mamas out there! I am so excited to have many of you following this little abode of mine! I am forever inspired by so many of you out there. It amazes me as to how many moms there are who carry a passion for creative motherhood, homeschool education, and crafting a warm home. I hope to bring more posts to Inspiring Mama which will highlight the many creative and inspiring mothers that I have stumbled upon in my blog hopping.

So, things have been a bit busy around here. Imsety has officially started the k12 kindergarten homeschool program. Me being me, I thought that I would get all advantageous and try waking up at 7am to start school at 9am...needless to say that is so not going to work for me. I am NOT a morning person, I NEVER have been. I find that my creative spirit comes alive at night, and many times quite late at night, so waking up at 7am after being up until 2 or 3am does not do my body any good. So I am being a bit more realistic with my schedule and have decided to start his schooling at 10am and I will wake up around 8:30 or 9am. Funny how much an hour or two can make, but I definitely feel more at ease starting a bit later in the morning. Our schooling lasts for about 4 hours and we take an hour lunch break and a 15 minute snack break as well. Imsety is loving the k12 program thus far. He even woke up at 7am, got dressed, brushed his teeth, and made up his bed and had on his back pack Monday morning(which was the first day of school). Little did he know that I had no plans to start until about 9am. He is so funny! He's adjusting well though, as the television consumption has pretty much dwindled down during the day. I let him watch it while we have lunch and then allow him to turn it back on around 3pm.

In other news, I have launched two more blogs...yes..please do not consider me crazy..lol. I honestly use blogging as a tool of visual reflection,organizing my life goals, and a way to reach out for inspiration as well as a way to offer inspiration for anyone who cares to listen. The first new blog is a food blog all about cooking and foodie inspiration called Bohemian Plates. The other is my baking/dessert blog called Copper Sweets. I heart them both and they are so much fun to blog to when I have the time to do so. I have tons of recipes scattered in a binder and I sort of felt like I was overwhelming this blog with food posts, which is not what I intended for Inspiring Mama. So I will resume with the 14 day meal plans and will link off to Bohemian Plates and Copper Sweets when it comes to the recipes!

I really want Inspiring Mama to flourish into a portal featuring not only my ideas and forms of inspiration but also a hub to learn about other creative moms around the world, and I am beyond elated to have you all on board.

I'm also in the midst of trying to loose my baby weight from having Halima this past May...35 pounds to be exact. I must be crazy because I continuously ask myself: "why oh why did you decide to launch a dessert blog while trying to loose weight?"...lol. Needless to say it will be challenging because I will be baking and experimenting for Copper Sweets, but eating it all is another story. I've asked the hubby to take the majority of my concoctions into work so that I will not pig out on sweets all week!

Ok, so that pretty much sums of the latest happenings. I must say that if you do not find me here, you can always find me on one of my other 6 blogs listed on the right rail. I tend to blog to different ones according to my mood at the time, so catch me if you can!

Livie and Luca {adorable little shoes}

Oh how adorable! I love these cute shoes for the little tikes over at Livie and Luca. They are super durable with a cost of $47...not terribly bad for chic baby style!

Clean Inspiration {the laundry room}

I have always wanted to makeover my cleaning regimen and one thing in particular that I have been meaning to do is to get rid of all the clashy boxes and bottles that the laundry detergent and cleaning supplies come in. In fact, I have done this with our cereal. I made some simple white drop cloth bags to keep our cereal in because there is nothing more irritating to me than seeing a bunch of cereal boxes lined up on top of the fridge.



This photo pretty much sums up what I envision in my head. This idea really does make a difference in how you feel when you go to do laundry or tidy up. I actually have a few of these type of bottles(mine look just like these and are french lemonade bottles in which you can find them in the soda aisle at the market). I mean for most of us cleaning is not a pretty task, so why not add a little decorative flair to such a mundane activity and make cleaning a bit more cute!

Currently Loving {sunsets & lemonade}

I am currently loving...

The smell of blooming roses, the scent of lavender and cedarwood candles, and freshly squeezed lemonade in pretty glass jars... I think that every home in the spring and summer should be adorned with fresh flowers and candles. I especially like to light mine after all is clean and tidy!


Learning to count money with the little one... After doing some printable math worksheets that I printed on the web, I grabbed some toys from his room and put prices on them. Then I would ask him what he wanted to "buy" and he would have to read the amount and get the correct amount from his bank to give to me. If he gives me the correct amount, he gets to keep "buy" it and if not, he has to put it back and try again.


Blooming tomatoes...I hope to get a few more herbs and flowers this weekend. I will be sure to share pics if I do!


Cotton candy and ocean blue sunsets beyond my window...


Halima and her BaBa napping...


& homemade cardboard forts handcrafted by little hands!

Dimples & Dandelions {bedding to build a dream on}

Oh how darling. Not only do I love the name of the website "Dimples & Dandelions", but I adore these bedding collections for girls! From pretty and frilly to simple and chic, these designs are sure to make your little girl feel like the magical princess she is!