Our home is a busy place...

It's noisy, and bustling, sometimes messy-always lived in.

Is not cold, chaotic, or always a very well controlled house.
Its warm, and welcoming and imperfect.

My hubby and I work very hard to set the tone of our home. We have made conscious choices to create a healthy atmosphere for our family.
The other night before bed we were reading-Moments with you: Daily Connection for Couples together.In it Donna Otto founder of Homemakers by Choice writes, Parents are not called to be the thermometers,in the home but the thermostats. Thermostats don't just read the temperature they guide. They determine how warm or cool the house environment will be. It's so true!
We've found where is tension in our marriage or when we are grumpy and disconnected so are our children.
They are taking their cues from us.We want our home to have a purpose and direction and since we have two most adorable teenagers in our household, and a very busy grade one boy, we try to take back control, of our time spend as a family. I was stressed about all this hectic after school schedule so we decide not to enrolled them in so many..and TV and video games, all this ruled our home for a while.I cannot tell you how much the tone has change in our family since we decided to eliminated some of the busyness.
The temperature is just right(we do have a seven year old very, active boy-so take that in account).

Other very important element for me to be able to change the tone of our home was to start planning my meals. Now more than ever I'm out of the house more and sometimes I found hard to come home and start dinner, so for this I came up with a plan.
I am a busy mom as I said so I NEED it to start figuring out a plan how to make beautiful,easy delicious and healthy meals that I can whip up when I walk in the door and feel like a super Mom.
Now in my household we have teenager's that eats mostly anything, I know there are many kids out there that they might not eat half of the meals that I am going to put here but there just some suggestions and hopefully you can make them work for your own family.

I meet a lot of people over the years that said I don't cook, I don't like to cook...well sometimes before dinner time even the ones that loves to cook can have mealtime dilemma(what I am going to make tonight).

There are literally millions of recipe out there. You can find them in cookbooks, on the Internet,in magazines and newspapers and of course in your mom or grandmother old recipe box.
The key is to develop some recipe that work for you and your family and has a nutrient packed but still tastes good, everybody in your family likes it, and easy to make and can be on the table fast..
This is a example of how I planed my meals on a budget last week:

Sunday: -Roasted Chicken,mashed potatoes, sauteed vegetables

Monday:-Split Pea soup, Chicken Salad sandwiches, roasted yams(cut them like french fries and put them in the oven with a bit of olive oil at 400 degrade oven)

Tuesday:- Broiled Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans

Wednesday:-Lasagna, steamed broccoli, and salad

Thursday:-Steak&Chicken fajitas,rice and beans

Friday:-Spaghetti meat sauce and Cesar salad

Saturday: We went out for dinner with friends
To save time and money I used several of the meals from leftovers meals and create new ones. Like Sunday chicken become Monday Chicken Salad, Tuesday Steak and Monday Chicken become Thursday fajitas..when i make Wednesday lasagna sauce i make more for Friday spaghetti.

I also use this very often to create a nice meal in no time;

-Brush Salmon with soy sauce&sesame oil and broil serve over rice and asparagus(frozen ones works as well as fresh)

-Pesto:blend basil, garlic,oil, pine nuts and a bit of spinach( a healthy choice and also the pesto will have a nice green colour)and Parmesan, serve over pasta.

-Dredged fillets of fish in flour and fry in olive oil and a touch of butter,serve with your favorite veggies.

-Fill a whole wheat burrito wrapper with leftover rice and beans, meat and cheese.

-Fritatta(Italian omelets)Make a omelet with your favorite fillings(I like potatoes, chorizo,onion, peppers) but instead of folding once the eggs are set top with cheese and bake in a 400 degrade oven until brown.(Every friend of mine like this fritatta when I serve it for lunch with a salad on the side)

-Fried Rice, scrambled eggs, and tablespoon of oil to pan, leftovers rice frozen peas, and a tablespoon of soy sauce and fry.

-Fry some bacon, chicken or salmon, chopped onion add some cream, a touch of butter,Parmesan and broccoli simmer to reduce and serve over penne or farfalle(bow tie) pasta.
Those are some of my standards,please share yours!

I would love to hear your secrets...so now,
Roll up your sleeves, put on your apron and get cooking!!!!

Happy cooking,
Love xxx,

Magda