Fitting It All In

Life has become so busy in the last few weeks!  With my husband working out of town during the week, two littles and a home to care for, and work in full swing it doesn't feel like there's room for much else.  Or so I thought... until I volunteered for the daycare board of directors, and started a fitness challenge at work.  Now I really think there isn't room for much more!

The fitness challenge in particular seems to have taken over my life.  It's a 100 day step count challenge, run by an external company.  And does the company ever know what they're doing!  It doesn't matter what motivates you, they have something to spur you on.  There are lifestyle scores that go up as you walk more, there are targets and challenges.  There's your team egging you on, and your personal stats versus the other 340,000 people participating, your team stats versus all other teams, or versus your organisation.  Seriously.  It's taking over my life.  All we talk about at lunch are steps.  We're all starting to move towards our target weights because we're so busy walking we don't have time to snack.  Literally, I'm usually a terrible evening snacker, and now I hardly have a bite after supper because I'm busy walking.  And walking.  And walking.  The amazing thing is that I'm much more active than I was, having nearly doubled my daily average in the last twenty days.  Hooray!  I am absolutely loving it, and feel great about my new activity levels.  I especially love that after 100 days, being active will be my new norm and I'll be able to dial it back to something a bit more sustainable but decidedly more active than my before challenge state.  It is however a bit daunting to think about how much stepping the next 80 days holds...

The thing about the fitness challenge that has been most challenging is fitting everything in.  I really want my weekends to be about family time, but Mini Muffin is too old to want to ride in a stroller for long and is too young to go any great distance on foot or bike.  Running around in the backyard or park help, but really only contribute a couple of thousand steps to the total (which doesn't get me where I need to be).  And once the kids are in bed, I have the opportunity to zip out for a walk or run leaving my hubby at home, but I also want to spend time with him.  Fitting it all in is just so tough!

Yesterday however, I came up with a master plan that did fit everything in.  My husband needed new running shoes, and the store was in an area of town we don't often go to.  We all went along, and when we got there I popped Little Smiling Man into the stroller and sent Mini Muffin into the store with Daddy.  Little Smiling Man and I spent the next half hour or so walking, and met up with Mini Muffin and Daddy at the end of a trail up the road.  We then went on a gravel, wooded path and enjoyed hearing the wind in the trees without cars around.  Mini Muffin ran ahead, looked at all sorts of things that interested her, and we all talked and enjoyed ourselves.  When she got tired, she got to ride on Daddy's shoulders.  At the end of the walk, we all piled back into the van and headed home.  So, all in all; my husband got his runners, Little Smiling Man got a stroller nap in, Mini Muffin got a nature walk, fresh air and exercise, we all got family time, and I got 6800 steps! 

It definitely took some planning, but working to fit it all in was so worthwhile!  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another couple thousand steps to get in before bed...

Spasagne... and life just got a bit more complicated

We just had a total whirl wind weekend - a trip to my mom's place five hours away, my sister's bridal shower, a drive home immediately afterwards so that I could get up early to run on a marathon relay team with my coworkers, and then my husband heading back down south to start a new job.  Phew!  I think we'll all be using this week to recover.

My husband's new job is a pretty exciting prospect.  It'll put him working closer to home and with shorter working hours so he'll have more family time.  And it's in a field he loves - it couldn't be better!  The tough part (which is making life a bit more complicated) is that there's a long training period which will take him away from home Monday to Friday for months.  This week my mom is visiting to help out, which is amazing.  Absolutely amazing.  But, she won't always be here, so I'm all about finding ways to simplify everyday tasks and keep myself sane.

And so, I thought I'd share the dinner I prepared tonight.  I inadvertently invented and named it a couple of years ago, and it's been making regular appearances on our menu ever since.  Yesterday I found myself officially out of meal planning ideas, and decided to throw Spasagne in the mix as an easy option for a Monday.  I prepped it while the kids were munching on cheese, crackers and fruit yesterday afternoon, and today it just needed to be popped into the oven.  It was a delicious dinner, with almost no effort! 

So, I give you...

Spasagne (hint: it's a cross between spaghetti and lasagne)

Pasta and Homemade Meat Sauce - just add cheese

1 family portion of spaghetti (cooked)
1 family portion of meat sauce
1/2 - 1 c grated mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1.  Cook spaghetti to al dente consistency.  Note that whole wheat pasta is not appropriate for this recipe, as it tends to lose texture.  We use 'Smart' brand pasta and it works well.
2.  Combine meat sauce and cooked pasta.
3.  Transfer into casserole dish and top with cheeses.
4.  Cover and bake at 350F until heated through and bubbly.  Let rest five minutes, cut into square slices and serve.

Note - To make ahead, follow steps 1-3, then refrigerate overnight. 

Hot from the oven and ready to enjoy!

And, in the spirit of keeping things simple, here's a short list of what I love about Spasagne:
1.  It's quick and easy.
2.  It incorporates the cheesy goodness of lasagne, without the fuss of layering pasta and sauce.
3.  I can make it with the homemade meat sauce that I have in my freezer, so it's a weeknight, home cooked meal ready in no time.
4.  I can sneak extra veggies into it via the sauce; kids will probably be too distracted by the cheesy goodness to even notice.
5.  My family loves it.  My mom even went back for seconds tonight, and that never happens!   

Freezer Meals!

I've always been a planner.  My mom recently commented that I'm the same today as I was as a child - I have a plan, a backup plan, and a plan for every eventuality I can imagine. As such, it's really no surprise that I've been thinking about and planning how my household would run with two busy kids and two busy working parents.

One of my big concerns is providing healthy suppers with lots of variety, and being able to get those suppers on the table within minutes. We are, after all, a hungry tribe when we walk in the door at 5pm, and at that point it's definitely too late for a snack to get us through to dinner. And so, prior to my return to work last week, I went all Once A Month Mom and filled my freezer full of wholesome dinners that could be on the table in moments. My goal was to have two meals a week for the first two months ready to go in my freezer, so a total of 16 meals. And my window to make it happen was nap time. It was a busy week of cooking!

First, I spent some time planning. For recipes, I pulled from our favourites, got ideas from the internet, and scoured my cookbooks. I chose to freeze fully cooked meals to minimise my on the day prep time. Next up was making a list and shopping. Given more time I would have waited for meats to come on sale and worked my recipes for what was available, but in a pinch Costco is certainly a good source of high quality, competitively priced meats. Then with my fridge full of veggies and about 10 lb of meat, it was time to get cooking!

By the end of the week, my freezer happily contained:
4 meals of Meat Sauce
3 meals of Thai Coconut Chicken
2 meals of Rosemary Chicken
2 meals of Lemon Ginger Chicken
3 meals of Swiss Steak
1 meal of Meatloaf
1 meal of Sloppy Joes

Each one needs a side on the day, which will ideally be set up the night before (e.g. rice measured into the rice cooker waiting for water and power, veggies chopped and waiting in the fridge to be steamed).  Each meal, with the exception of the meatloaf, is also frozen into a large, labelled freezer bag.  So, the night before the meal can be transferred from freezer to fridge, and later poured into a pot for a quick heat before we can all dig in.

Now, here are my tips for a freezer meal cooking frenzy:

• Plan ahead - recipes, groceries, order of cooking and storage.  Bonus points if you can sequence your prep to minimize the dishes afterwards!
• Wear running shoes - unless you have a cork floor or an ergonomic mat, it's definitely worthwhile to wear supportive shoes - your back will thank you!
• Freezer bags save a tonne of space!  Lay flat to freeze and they'll stack nicely in your freezer.  Plus, removing excessive air is easy with the help of a straw.
• Label everything - it's amazing how similar things look when they're frozen.  Imagine the disappointment of defrosting what you think is chili and discovering that it's actually meat sauce.  As someone that experienced this (but didn't realise until I was at work with no other lunch options but a container of meat sauce), I can tell you it's not fun.
• Keep a tally of what's in your freezer - I put my list on my meal planning white board in my kitchen.  This way you can keep track of your meal options, and theoretically none of them will get lost in the far reaches of your deep freezer, never to be seen again.

So, how is it going so far?  We didn't use any freezer meals for my first week back.  Little Smiling Man had a fever after only one day at daycare, so I was home with him for two days, making meal prep relatively easy.  This week, we've had leftovers or cooked quick meals like stir fry each night so far.  However, tomorrow meat sauce, pasta and mozzarella are on the menu!

Tomorrow Night's Dinner (thawing in progress!)

The Guilt Trap

Tuesday was my first day back at work.  I was up and out of the house at 5:50, before the kids were up.  It was tough.  I would say even tougher than when I went back to work when Mini Muffin was one.  I missed them both terribly... like to the point that I'm seriously questioning whether or not I can actually handle this working mom gig again.  I left work a bit early and booted it across the city to pick up my loves.  Of course they'd both had wonderful days (unlike their guilt ridden mother).  Poor Little Smiling Man though, he really is a bit overwhelmed.  He looked at me, smiled, and then burst into inconsolable tears.  Poor wee mite.

By bedtime, Little Smiling Man was not smiley in the least, and had a fever.  In the morning it was a bit lower but definitely still there, so I called in and stayed home with him.  It ended up being the right decision since a) he was miserable, and b) his fever had spiked back up by 10am.  He was feverish again at bedtime, and again this morning.  And so, today is my third day of work, and also marks my second day home with a sick baby.  67% absenteeism.  Yikes! 

So, here is the guilt trap I'm stuck in.  When I leave for work, I'm full to overflowing with mommy guilt for leaving Mini Muffin and Little Smiling Man in daycare.  I'm not with them all day long, it's a busy and sometimes stressful environment, some of the kids teach them things we'd rather they not do (like Mini Muffin's new found ability to make herself belch - ugh), and I miss them terribly.  Yet, when I stay home with them I have work guilt, for being home when I'm healthy and capable of working.  I also have guilt that I love these extra stolen moments with the babes; the only reason that these moments are available is because they're sick and I desperately want them to be healthy and happy.

See my problem?  I just cannot win.  Guilt for going to work, and guilt for staying home.  Luckily though, I can see it for what it is, and since there's no winning I might as well just roll with it.  So for today, I am enjoying all of these extra Little Smiling Man cuddles while he gets better, and tomorrow I'll try once again for my second guilt ridden day at work.