Day 1 Organized Home, More Half-Marathon Training, and Yummy Chicken & Rice Dinner Recipe!!

Last week, I saw that Money Saving Mom was doing a "4 Weeks to a More Organized Home" project.  Every day starts the with the same things:

• Get dressed in something that makes you feel great.  There’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life!

• Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 things you want to accomplish today.

• Complete your morning routine

After you complete your morning routine, you are to set the kitchen timer and complete the listed task for that day.  Here is what today's was:

• Set the timer for 15 minutes and quickly pick up the main living areas of your home.

Each day, she lists out 1 specific cleaning task you are to accomplish today.  Today's was:

• Clean out your purse or diaper bag.

And every day, you are to find 7+ items in your home to get rid of.  Stick them in a donation box, throw them out, give them to someone you know, or list them on ebay or craigslist.   


Having 4 kids and so many things to do in any given day can be very overwhelming and can make me scatterbrained sometimes.  I have to write things down and constantly refer to my calendar to make sure I'm on track.  So, this project is perfect for me.  Little tasks each day to clean up my home and get more organized.  So here is how today went.

I started the day with my to-do list (which doesn't include any daily tasks, such as cooking meals): 

1. Make protein bars
2. Go to walmart
3. Drop book off at library
4. Workout - run 3 miles
5. Ger car wash
6. Dust all window blinds
7. Chop all veggies in the fridge

 Veggies chopped, check.

 Protein bars made, check.

3 miles ran, check.
I also made it by the library, to walmart, and dusted all the window blinds.  I went by the car wash place but there was a line of like 20 cars and I didn't have time to wait.  I will put it on my list for tomorrow. 


After I took my son to pre-k, I got to cleaning my diaper bag.

 After I took everything out and threw away all the old bags of snacks and vacuumed all the crumbs out, I realized I only had like 1 wipe left and no diapers! 

 So I put in a new package of wipes and some diapers of course. 

 I would have been pretty upset if I were stuck out somewhere with a poopy diaper baby and no diapers! 



So, day 1 was a success and it feels good to have a plan to get more organized.  Tomorrow's task?  Cleaning out the fridge.  I'll keep you posted on how it all goes!

Update on Half-Marathon Training:  As you may have seen on my facebook page or other blog posts, I had a half-marathon this past Saturday.

 I had 13 miles on the calendar for my long run last week and this run came at the perfect time to kill 2 birds with 1 stone:  set my pace for my bigger half-marathon in 2 weeks, and knock out my long run for the week!  

My pace was 10:30 min/mile and the weather was super muggy and warm.  Def not my ideal 55 degrees!  I felt very sluggish for the rest of the day.  I don't think it was just because of the run.  All my kiddos have been fighting a bug for the last couple days, with slight fevers here & there and some runny noses.  So, I think my body is fighting the same thing. 

Yummy Kid-Friendly Chicken & Rice
Tonight, dinner was awesome!  It was one of my emeals, "Coq Au Vin" (chicken and rice).  Since I had prepped all my veggies earlier in the day, dinner was a breeze.  If I had waited to chop all the veggies before dinner, this dish would have taken me a lot longer.  The kids LOVED it (as did Mike & I)

Here is the recipe:
Coq Au Vin (adapted from eMeals)

•  1.5 lbs organic chicken thighs & drumsticks
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1/2 c flour
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 c thinly sliced leeks
• 4 carrots, cut into 1" pieces
• 8 oz whole mushrooms (I omitted because Mike hates mushrooms)
• 2T tomato paste
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 c white wine
• 1/2 c chicken broth
• 1/2 t thyme
• 2 T butter
• 2 c long grain brown rice

Sprinkle chicken with salt & pepper.  Dredge in flour.  Heat olive oil no stick spray in a skillet over med-high heat.  Brown chicken, remove.  
Heat 1 T olive oil in pan, add leeks, carrots, & mushrooms; cook 3 min.  Add tomato paste & garlic, cook 2 min.  Add wine, cook 3 min.  Add broth & thyme.  Return chicken to the pan; cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat & simmer 20 min.  Stir in butter.  Serve over hot steamed rice.  
And I served this with my famous brussel sprouts.  But instead of the 2 T of olive oil, I just misted them with olive oil spray.  I cut out a ton of fat & calories and I think they were just as delicious!  Here is the updated recipe:

Roasted Brussel Sprouts (updated and adapted from Simply Recipes):

• 1 lb brussel sprouts

• 1 T minced garlic

• 1 t lemon juice

• sea salt & fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place brussel sprouts in a roasting pan, toss in the garlic.  Sprinkle brussel sprouts with lemon juice.  Mist sprouts with olive oil spray & toss.  Sprinkle generously with sea salt & a few turns of black pepper.

Put brussel sprouts in oven on top rack for 20 min.  Stir sprouts and put back in oven for 10.  Sprinkle with shredded organic parmesan (if desired) and put back in oven for 5-8 min.

Add more salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading, have a great evening!!