5/20/10
Recap of the Week (thus far)
You may have noticed some cosmetic changes around Just Add Lauren recently. Basically, I tried out a format where we had a "read more" link at the end of the post, it wasn't too popular with my readers (and honestly, I didn't like it too much either) so I tried to get rid of it. Then came the problems. I've had a bit of trouble with blogger, so basically I had to redo the entire template to try and get rid of the "read more" links. This resulted in having to repost a few of the posts, which means that all my wonderful email subscribers got those posts sent to them all over again (sorry about that!!) I promise there won't be any more changes to the layout for quite some time, as I'm tired of change and I want some consistency in my life (blog).
So let's talk about all that went on this week. For starters, we had Money Monday. We talked about creating a meal plan to better tackle the issue of saving money while grocery shopping. I told you that I normally plan out my meals two weeks in advance, and then grocery shop for those two weeks. That has been my pattern for the last few months, but this coming month (June) I am going to go to a once a week schedule. I find that shopping every two weeks does not allow me the freedom to get as much produce as I really want, since it tends to go bad by the end of two weeks. When I planned out my meals two weeks in advance, I would have to be very aware of how much produce was in each meal and which ones I needed to eat first. I also have to run to the store once every 3-4 days to buy milk, so I think if I went shopping once I week I could probably get enough to last us for that whole week. I am still planning on mapping out my meals and game plan before I go though, and I'm working on cutting down my budget (more on my grocery budget and what I am going to do to cut it down on Memorial Day's Money Monday).
On Tuesday we tackled Try It Out Tuesday. How have you been doing trying it out? I've been making an effort to add onions and other alliums to my meals. I've had an omelet with raw onions twice this week (followed promptly by some teeth brushing!) We've also had bread with roasted garlic spread on it at dinner time, and a stir fry recipe with chicken, onions, and garlic (the recipe called for garlic powder, but I subbed minced garlic). All in all I think I've done pretty well adding alliums to my basic dishes. I'm sure it will get harder as the "try it outs" get more complicated, but I felt alliums were pretty easy. You can kind of add onions and garlic to everything, in my world anyway!
Yesterday we decided to Work On It - "it" being artificial sweeteners. As I've confessed many a time, I really love Diet Coke. I'm proud to say though, that thus far we are diet coke free (I got a head start, we haven't had diet coke since last week). I also got some new organic yogurt that is unflavored, instead of having aspartame or Splenda in it to sweeten up the flavor. I bought "real" ice cream - Breyers (yum!) which is certainly not low calorie, but we are working on moderation in my household as well as removing artificial sweeteners! Finally, we're basically cutting out all "low calorie" or "sugar free" snacks and condiments. I got some homemade jam from a friend, so we threw out the "sugar free jelly," I resisted the urge to buy Slim Fast at the Commissary last week (it has so many chemicals, but I really like it!) and we stopped drinking Crystal Light (as you can see, aspartame in our drinks is an issue around here). Cutting out artificial sweeteners is much harder for me than something like adding alliums. I guess maybe it is easier for me to add something to eat than take it away! I feel like I am making progress though, and that's what this is all about.
How have you been doing Trying It Out and Working On It? Of course I want to hear your stories! Share in the comments section or email me (there is a form on the About Lauren page, or you can email me at justaddlauren@gmail.com). I want to hear about your progress, ups and downs, and what you would like to try or work on in the future! We *may* even have an upcoming contest that awards extra entries to people that have already commented on posts (as in, already done it by the time the contest starts) so let me know your thoughts!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Hey, I just found your blog through sparkpeople. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge aspartame addict myself. I've been working to cut it down a lot and I've started using stevia as a replacement. Have you tried Crystal Light without artificial sweeteners called Pure Fitness? It's actually pretty good. You should try it out.
I haven't ever heard of that! I do most of my grocery shopping at the Commissary, which has a limited variety of different items. I will have to go to the "real" grocery store and see if I can find that though! Sounds interesting, and I know my husband would love it as he is very tired of drinking water all the time. Thanks for your comment, and welcome to the site!
ReplyDelete