Anyone else ever feel overwhelmed and like your days are a blur sometimes or is it just me? I was driving to pick up Addy from her sports conditioning class and I got about 2 miles from the house and literally do not remember anything about the drive or even leaving the house. My brain is just running a million miles a minute, thinking about all the things I need to get done around the house.
Every spring and fall, I go through the kids' closets and drawers and put up all past-season stuff and store others they have outgrown. I remember other moms lamenting about this task in the past and I never got why it was such a big deal....until I had 4 kids. There was a clothes explosion in every room of our house earlier. But, of course I got it done. I hate leaving a task like that unfinished. I can't stand being unorganized so I bought some big storage containers and storage drawers for the past-season clothes and bought Chris his own little dresser for his clothes. He has been sharing with big brother and they just can't get away with that anymore. Either way, all the kids closets are clean and organized and the dressers are purified with all seasonal, fitting clothes. But now it's 9:00, all kids are in bed, and I am still feeling kind of stressed. Today was so busy. I did not sit down 1 time, nor did I eat lunch until dinner time, at 5:30....Now I don't recommend that, it's definitely not healthy. At least I made a conscious effort to eat a good lunch/dinner when I did eat: a huge raw veggie salad with baby spinach, organic carrots, cucumbers, squash, cherry tomatoes, chick peas, avocado, and some goddess dressing.
I am shopping around some Mommy's Day Outs in Tulsa, just for 1 day a week so that I can get some things done around the house and errands ran without screaming babies.
Last night, I made Shepard's Pie, which is a classic "one pot meal" I have made in the past. But this time, I made a clean version, with mashed sweet potatoes on top. It was really good! It was the last meal I had on my list for our vegetarian menu, so you could and should make it with lean ground beef or ground turkey instead of the beans I used. Here are some pics and the recipe:
Clean Shepard's Pie (adapted from skinntaste)
Potatoes:
- 1-1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, diced (I used sweet potatoes instead)
- 3/4 cup fat free chicken broth
- 2 tbsp non fat organic greek yogurt
- salt and pepper
- paprika
- 1 lb 95% lean ground beef (I used beans since I needed it to be vegetarian but it would be better with the beef)
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- 10 oz frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, peas, green beans, baby lima beans)
- 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 cup fat free beef broth
- 2 tsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp freshly chopped rosemary leaves
- 1 tsp freshly chopped thyme leaves
- salt and pepper
Boil potatoes in water until cooked and soft. Drain and mash with chicken broth, organic nonfat greek yogurt, salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 400°.
In a large saute pan brown meat. Season with salt and pepper. When cooked, set aside on a plate. Discard any fat in the pan, add oil, onion and garlic and sauté on medium heat about 2 minutes. Add celery and sauté another 3-4 minutes. Add flour, salt and pepper and mix well. Add frozen vegetables, beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, thyme, chopped meat and mix well. Simmer on low about 5-10 minutes.
Spread the meat mixture on the bottom of a 11x7 glass baking dish. Top with mashed potatoes, using a fork to scrape the top to make ridges and sprinkle with paprika. Bake 20 minutes or until potatoes turn golden. Remove from oven and let it cool 10-15 minutes before serving.
This meal was a little time consuming on the prep, so I prepped dinner early in the day, covered it in the baking dish and put it in the fridge for later. That way, all I had to do was pre-heat the oven and stick it in when we were ready.
Thanks for reading!!
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