Healthy Meal | Yum Yum

So this is officially my first healthy meal. My grandmother gave me several Kraft Food Magazines when I first moved out on my own, and I have yet to make anything out of it. Surprisingly there are quite a few healthy meals in here. They just typically use their brands in the recipes, which obviously, as cheap as I am, will refuse to do! I shop at Aldi for most of my foods, except for meat and some vegetables. They have limited items, but for all of the basic ingredients I buy them at Aldi.

For this meal, I found my recipe in the Winter 2007 edition.

Saucy Stir-Fried Pork
2 cups White Rice (I used brown rice, for the healthier option)                   ($1.09 for a box at Aldi)
1/4 cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing (I got mine at Aldi for 1/2 the price)     ($1.29 at Aldi)
1 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips (I used half a pound)                      ($7.99 at Kroger)
2 cups snap peas          ( I just used fresh green beans)                                ($0.49)

Items I didn't use .
1 c red peppers sliced.
3/4 c green onion
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp. corn starch
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Total Amount Spent:     $ 10.86 for a serving of 2... but it's going to make me and Rob two meals.

I paired this meal with a home made peach tea. Yummm.

Schedules, schedules, and planners

One thing that I've always been commended on is my ability to organize and plan. I am the person that over thinks, over plans, and over analyses every little thing. It's a little thing I like to call "control". Taking control of every aspect of my life makes my life a little bit easier, and not as stressful if I didn't continuously do these things.

One of the things I've started doing this month is working out. I like to have a visual schedule of everything I have done in my workout regime that way I always feel like I've been making progress towards my goal. 

Here is a visual calendar of my first weeks workout routine.

Another thing I obsessively need visual aid of is my Finances. I work in the Banking Industry and constantly see people making the wrong choices, over spending, and always going into the negative because they aren't watching what they are spending. I can honestly say that I do not make a huge income, but I always manage to save $200 - $400 a month. It was close to $600, but I opened an IRA, Life insurance policy, and started a 401 K. It's all still in "Savings" but I just can't always see it.

My friend has been asking me to start going to a 9 week program with her for getting out of debt and building a strong financial base. The program is based off of Dave Ramsey. She sent me a copy of one of the spreadsheets they use in the class. It's only a small sample, but here it is...

Here is what I have been using for the past year. It's a lot simpler and a whole lot less to look at!

It gets straight to the point, doesn't use any functions like on excel, it was just created on a word document.

After receiving the above document from my friend, I emailed her what I have been using, and I think we both decided to stick to the easier to view budget guide. The only difference, is I didn't enter in the MISC section like the spreadsheet has. 

My suggestion to anyone trying to get back on the right path, as soon as you get paid, subtract the bills from your income, and only leave about $100-$150 in your account. The rest of the money transfer to your savings account and out of eye's view! Of course the above amount should be tailored to your own living expenses. I only spend about $60 in gas a month and the rest in food.

I Work Out

On Monday, coincidentally, me and my good friend Claudia started working out. I'm working out to tone up, and she's working out to lose weight. Either way I now have a work out buddy! We may not work out together but we both share what we did everyday and what we are eating to get there. We also have a common goal. This summer we plan on running some 5k races. The Color Run is by far my most favorite race. We both missed the 53% off discount on Groupon, so we are keeping our eyes out for others!!



I found a post on Pinterest.com for Running for Beginners. I'm going to try to stick to this and get myself ready to run a 5k. It's more likely going to be a run/walk though ;)


This post actually only gets you to run 20 minutes straight. So I'll probably run 20, walk a few, and run again.