Meals for the month

I'm working a list of meals for the month which is helping me with my grocery list for the month. I won't buy everything all at once; I'll wait for sales. But it helps me to organize my thoughts when I have it all planned out. Here's a start...

Carnitas - 3 packages of pork tenderloin, flour tortillas, cojito cheese (if I can ever find it!!), lime juice, chicken broth. This is enough for at least 4 meals.

Spaghetti bake - 2 boxes Dreamfield pasta, 4 jars marinara, parmesean, ricotta, ground sausage and ground beef, sweet potatoes (sounds weird I know but I'll explain).

Italian sausage and peppers - 2 packages sausage per meal, 3 bags frozen onion/pepper mix per meal, 1 package provolone, 1 bag hoagie rolls. I'll probably make this twice during the month.

Crockpot orange chicken - 2 packages boneless, skinless chicken, ketchup. I have everything else on hand. I'll make this twice during the month.

Tacos - ground beef, onion, hard tortilla shells, sour cream for Josie.

Slow cooker chicken taco soup - 1 package chicken, onion, beans, beer, green chilis. Only going to make this once since I'm not sure how the kids will like it.

This is my year

This is my year to do better. I want to do better with my health - specifically my diabetes. Taking care of my diabetes will require better eating habits, more exercise and staying on top of my mediciations. Doing those three things will help me meet all my other goals - losing weight, increasing physical endurance, strengthening my core muscles to help with my bad back, etc.

Breakfast tends to be the hardest meal for me to manage my glucose. I decided to see how I'd do if I exercised right after eating. I took my full Lantus dosage (100 u) but took only half my Apidra dosage (15 u). My fasting blood sugar before breakfast was 77 which is great and gave me a good start on the day.

I did a mile on the treadmill in 16 minutes. Then 4 minutes of cool down, another half mile at a good pace and a final cool down for 4 minutes.

My blood sugar was 66!! That's too low (my goal is 80) but it proved to me that this exercise is crucial to managing my diabetes. It was amazing to see the immediate results!

I feel great about my effort and the results. Having these immediate results is a huge motivator and I'm determined to keep it up!

Garden planning in January

For several years, I've been considering planting a vegetable garden. People who know me might need a moment to compose themselves after their laughing fit has passed. As much as I hate heat, hate weeding and, yes, hate eating veggies, I grew up visiting my grandparent's farm every summer and understand the value of home grown vegetables and the ability to integrate them into your every day life. A few tomato plants means lots of salsa and homemade marinara! Add in a bell pepper plant, a few onion and you can have a lot of fun.

Right now, we're living in a rather small apartment. We have a 6x4 balcony and I want to use it to my advantage and try to do some container gardening this summer. Several of our neighbors used the Topsy Turvy tomato planters last summer and they do indeed work. But at almost $30 per plant including shipping, I can't justify purchasing them when gardening is a cost saving endeavor. I'll have to do some investigating to see if I can make my own upside down container.

My plan is to do as much research as I can between now and the spring. I want to make my own rail boxes instead of purchasing window boxes. Making my own upside down containers would be great and would make it possible for more plants to receive full sunlight on the balcony.