Dear week…Are you kidding me?

What are some of your most stressful times in life? Selling a home, raising small children, packing to move across the country, or maybe interviewing for a job. Yeah, how about all of those at the same time?

In the past week, we have had a baby sick with allergies. Her rash is going down with the allergy meds, but we still haven’t had a full night of sleep in a few days. During this, we have been packing for our scheduled move on Monday. Today, we got the message that the movers want to start packing Sunday…uh…crap! And, our pack time had been cut short because we’ve had four house showings this week. That’s more than the entire first 4 1/2 months the house was listed! And on top of that, Papi has had something like 5 interviews in the past 3 days with more scheduled for the rest of the week. 

Individually, these would all be a bit stressful, but together….ahhhhhhh. I’ve tried to clean out the freezer, pantry, and refrigerator, but there will still be some to donate. Plus, I am so stressed out that taking precious time from packing gives me palpitations. So, clean eating has been really hit or miss. Plus, Papi bought Cheetos today to help – haha. 

Taking a deep breath and letting it all sink in. This is just a sign that things are coming together again. All the pieces will eventually fall into place, but it just happens to be one of those PITA puzzles that are all the same color!



No new recipes this week. 😉 Wish us luck!

When plans change

I’m a planner. I love schedules, and lists, and appointments. But, one thing I have learned is that the more you plan, the more life likes to step in and push all your little anal retentive buttons. I first started to let go when I had roommates, then a little more with live-together relationship/marriage, and then with kids I pretty much threw in the towel. 

Well, old habits and personality traits don’t just go away, but I try to use my quirks for good instead of evil. No, my husband doesn’t alway agree with that statement. But, one good has been meal planning. I had a really great “operation pantry clean out – part deaux” planned this week.

And it seriously got blown to hell the first day! I had my plan for Sunday, but we had so many leftovers that I shifted that to Monday. I was good with that! Then, on Monday, I got a call from the realtor at 10 saying they wanted to show the house at 1:30.  Yeah…the cleaning lady comes Tuesday morning so Monday afternoon is when our house is smudged, dusty, and fingerprinted in all the places I don’t clean daily by then. And Sunday is food prep day, so the kitchen has bits of stuff everywhere. So, we ran around like crazy people getting everything in order for the showing. (And my cleaning lady didn’t even thank me Tuesday!)

Also, since it was pouring  rain, we yet again had nothing we could do with the kids (at nap time no less) other than eat. I know we could have made a better choice, but we went for Chinese because the kids can be noisy and messy and we can hang out there for a while without taking up space. Plus, who doesn’t love Chinese? (My belly after the fact!) I did make stuffed pepper soup that night, so we ended the day ok. I used my frozen leftover filling from the stuffed peppers I made last week, cut up some fresh peppers, and added some tomatoes and broth. It was great on a drizzly, chilly, grey day.





Tuesday should have brought us back on track, but I woke up feeling cruddy and I had to get a lot of work in while the kids were at MDO since we had a snow day last week. Then, we got another call for a showing in the morning, so I really didn’t want to mess up the kitchen because I didn’t feel like cooking, then cleaning, and then working on packing. Hubby grabbed a frozen pizza while he was picking up more mopping solution and tampons. Yep, he does love me. Oh, and wine. For our dinner guests on Friday…yeah, for that. Day 3 of the week shot. 

Wednesday, we took the kids out for brunch since the showing was at 10:15. I really should just make a salad after all this restaurant food. Let’s just hope we get an offer from this viewing so we can wrap this up in a sweet little package over the next two weeks. 

For Wednesday’s dinner, I needed easy comfort food. I’m achy, crampy, stressed, and I even have a flipping cold sore now! Remember all that leftover butternut squash? Well, I’m making Mac n Cheese! Oh, and chicken nuggets. But, there will be no boxes with weird orange powder or pink chicken paste, so it’s not as bad as it could be.

Butternut Mac n Cheese (using what cheese I have, not what the recipe uses) and olive oil for sautéing instead of butter (with a splash of truffle infused olive oil for a little oomph).







For the chicken nuggets, I just cube up some chicken breast (back from the packs of boneless, skinless breasts I bought a few weeks ago) throw them in a gallon bag with an egg, toss it around and then throw in some corn meal, salt, and a little pepper, and toss them until they are coated. I bake them for 10 mins, flip them, and bake for 10 more. We all dig them!





Thursday, we had date night planned, with a babysitter and everything! But, we also ended up having another house showing Thursday morning. Luckily, this time the kids were at MDO so we enjoyed a relaxing brunch. But, that was two meals out in one day. This house needs to sell!

Friday was much cleaner eating overall! I had cucumber, tomato, and a hb egg for breakfast. We ate tuna mixed with mustard and pickles for lunch and we had mushroom butternut squash enchiladas for dinner with homemade Mexican style rice and beans. I put the work into these since we were having dinner guests. But, I did not make tortillas this time – I just didn’t have it in me! Store bought corn tortillas had to do.

I took pictures during prep – but we dug right in and I didn’t take any of the rice or finished product! But, wow, was it good!

Recipes:

Butternut squash mushroom enchiladas

Mexican style rice – I didn’t have enough rice, so I made this with 3/4 c brown rice and 1/4 c red quinoa. Uhh…Yum!

Crockpot pinto beans  – I can’t find the exact recipe I used. Plus, I had some pinto beans already precooked so I used the spices (minus jalepeno) and just cooked them on the stove top.





All in all, this week has been a hot mess. Especially, from a clean eating perspective. This coming week will be interesting as we clean, pack, and prep for our road trip. I’m looking forward to getting settled again….