Tag: budget friendly

Family, Food, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized, Women, workout

Delicious and Healthy Breakfast for the Family

Hannah Lucio

To start off, we are foodies at heart. I love to cook, bake, eat chips and sweets. But as we age it starts getting harder and harder to control our weight. Our bodies start to hold onto fat and weight easier, that means we need to be more aware of what we eat and how we workout. Both me and my husband are feeling it so I’m changing our food intake and we are working out better. Of course we are not strict but I’ve made a few changes. I firmly believe that diet should be a balance of 80% healthy 20% not so healthy. That way when you change the food you eat you don’t binge because you miss EVERYTHING. At least that is what I have been finding out for ourselves. So we have committed to changing our diets and it isn’t just a New Years resolution, it’s a life change. I am making more of an effort and really enjoying it so far. I absolutely love shopping at Costco, they have a far better selection and it really saves us money. Especially since we all eating the same kind of meals. I also should add that we are doing more low carb and higher protein meals. Here is a look at what our breakfast have been so far and we all haven’t gotten sick of it yet. It’s delicious!!

Husband gets:

2 whole eggs, 4 egg white

1 Tbsp Salsa (picture below)

1 Tbsp Almond Milk (picture below)

2 Sausage patties (picture below)

Cooked in 1 Tbsp Kerrygold butter

Me:

1 Whole Egg, 2 Egg whites

2 tsp Salsa (picture below)

1 tsp Almond Milk (picture below)

1 Sausage Patty

Cooked in 1 Tbsp Kerrygold butter

4 Year old boy:

1 Whole Egg

1 Sausage Patty

Cooked in 1/2 Tbsp Kerrygold butter

1 Year old:

1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese

1/2 Cup Frozen Blueberries

This is what works for us and may not for someone else but it’s something you can look at and try it out. Me and my hubby drink straight black coffee also. If you aren’t a fan of black coffee, I hear ya. But with a little patience and practice you can learn to love it! It is also way healthier than adding creamers and other junk. There are so many different brands, flavors, boldness and other factors to try out. I prefer Pete’s coffee or any other organic dark coffee. I also buy whole bean and grind it myself. Why? Because I have noticed the already ground coffee is oily and doesn’t have as much flavor. Just something to consider.

I also have to add, my 1 year old is extremely picky (shocking right?) and teething. He loves the blueberries because they taste good but also they help numb his teeth. He lives off of Dino nuggets and I’m fine with that….for now. That is why he eats cheese and blueberries for breakfast, don’t judge hahaha

Oh! Also, I started buying block cheddar cheese because it has way less ingredients. It seriously tastes SO much better! If you need quick stuff just pre-shred your cheese and put it in a glass container in the fridge. I won’t be going back to bagged shredded cheese ever again. It’s completely different and super yummy!!

I added pictures of the brands below that we made for breakfast. Of course it doesn’t have to be exact but this is what we use and it’s delicious. Everything is from Costco, it saves us a lot! I am usually not a fan of sausage but this is a no junk sausage patty. And the most delicious sausage patty I’ve ever had, seriously.

And always remember to mix things up. The day after I posted this blog post I made this:

I made our eggs with about 1 cup of cooked broccoli from last nights dinner and added avocado. Super delicious!

If you feel good, you look good.

Stay at Home Mom

No bake Oatmeal Raisin Protein Bites

Hannah Lucio

My husband and I absolutely loves Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. I was about to make my normal Healthy No-bake Energy Bites and Simple To Make and thought….hmm maybe I can try to make a different version that everyone would love. Ya’ll!! They are SO good! They taste like oatmeal raisin cookie dough. De-licious!! I really hope you get to try them and let me know how you like them.

So I started out with the typical Oatmeal, peanut butter, flaxseed, honey, vanilla but this time I added; raisins and cinnamon. This time around I did not add a lot of cinnamon because I’ve done that before in recipes and it was not good. So to keep it on the “safe side” I added just enough. You can also tweak the recipe if you like more raisins and cinnamon. Oh and next time I’ll add my typical walnuts, I am out of those currently. 

. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup Oatmeal

1/2 cup Natural Peanut Butter (smooth this time) 

1/2 cup Flaxseed

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup Organic Honey

2 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup Organic Raisins

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a food processor (I use a Ninja) and mix together. You’ll probably have to stop the mixer to scrap the sides to get it completely mixed together.

Once all mixed together, put it in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes and then form them into little bites. 

I store them in a glass container and leave them in the fridge until I eat them. 
Enjoy!!

Live Healthy

Live Simple 

debt, Family, money, post partum, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized, Women, workout

One foot in front of the other

Hannah Lucio

Yesterday I opened up Facebook and saw a post about an Estate sale. On that post it had a Proform treadmill for $60. I have been dreaming of getting a treadmill again. I know….weird. Treadmills are my thing! I love cardio, I know….weird! I really do though. It helps me lose weight and it honestly makes me happy. On my way home from riding my bike for cardio fun, I stopped by this estate sale. It had just opened and I asked the lady if it really was $60. Long story short, they wanted $65. I checked it out and it looked, sounded and an great! I put a hold on it and came back with my hubby and a vehicle to take it home. I cleaned it super good and just had a chance today to run on it. 


Wow wow wee! I love it. This treadmill first cost $800 brand new and I get it for $60. It only had 443 miles on it and that’s nothing for a treadmill. In my opinion. Like I said in my last blog post, do what you love when it comes to exercise. Some people hate cardio, some people hate weights, some people just hate working out LOL Do something you love! I love cardio and taebo. Absolutely love. When I do those two workouts I feel my best! 

Get up and go! Start somewhere! And find something you will love to do. One foot in front of the other my friend! 

Happy Sunday everyone! 
Live positive

Live healthy

Live simple! 

debt, Family, Food, money, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized, Women, workout

Let’s talk Mayo

Hannah Lucio

I went through a period of time where I was grossed out my mayo (mayonnaise). I literally wanted to throw a sandwich at a lady who nicely bought me a sandwich with mayo on it. Just because I hated mayo so much. I know….what I jerk I was for thinking it. I do not think that way these days and would kindly accept it now. She didn’t know. Time changes people right? Yes. Well mayo has a bad reputation, the old styles of mayo that is. I was grossed out by my weight gain (in my early 20’s) that I went to the extreme on dieting. No gluten(That was the worst), no meat (terrible), no junk foods and drinking diet tea that is very unhealthy. So you could imagine what it would have been like to add mayo to anything. Yuck.

Fast forward to better eating habits. I started eating vegenaise which tastes good but it is hard to find. I had been eating that brand for many years. When we moved to Virginia I wanted to find it, so I looked everywhere over here. I couldn’t find it so I was on the hunt to find a better for you mayo. Well I found it and wanted to share. The brand I found is Just mayo. Truly delicious and better for you.  It even tastes better than the vegenaise brand I used to get. Yes I could go with the trend of using avocado as my mayo, but sometimes I just don’t want to use avocado for everything. After all, avocado is HELLA EXPENSIVE now. I would have to spend $20 a week to add avocado to everything. Moderation is key when it comes to avocados. Especially the price. We are on a beans and rice, rice and beans budget now. Ok, so anyway. This just mayo brand is truly the best price, taste amazing and healthier. My main thing that I look for with eating healthier is Non-GMO and no high fructose syrup. This is a Non-GMO mayo. So if you are looking for a better mayo to use, look no further. Just mayo Is perfect!


I also found an affordable, delicious and healthier bread made by a big brand. It is called Whole Grains with Omega 3 ALA made with Flax, Sunflower and sesame seed. It has no High Fructose Corn Syrup or Artificial colors or flavors.  I haven’t looked at the local store for it yet but have been able to buy it at Costco. It tastes amazing with Just Mayo and healthy shredded chicken. Chicken sandwiched are super yummy, higher protein and you get your great grains included! My husband and toddlers love it also. Its a win for all. Hope you get to try out these two brands and let me know how you like it or if you have tried these two brand yet.

 

Have a Wonderful day!

Live Happy

Live Healthy

Live Simple

debt, Family, Food, Hair, money, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized, Women, workout

Baby step 2….get really mad it works wonders! 

Hannah Lucio

Let’s talk about getting out of debt for a few. If you have read, listened or taken the class for financial freedom with Dave Ramsey’s program you should know what I’m talking about today. When my husband and I got married we had a lot of debt going into our marriage. We had the simplist wedding in Vegas with literally a few people. So that was a super smart move on our part to start with. So we didn’t start with wedding deb like the normal couple. I got pregnant 2 months into our marriage. Not a super shocker but it took us by surprise. Fast forward to 7 months pregnant. We wanted to buy a house so bad we went through 22 offers on homes in California just to get one. We moved in at 8 months pregnant and finally when I took leave I looked at our finances. I haven’t really been good with finances my whole life but it was time to grow up and look. We were trying to figure it all out before I stopped working for good. We had a huge decision to make but in the end it wasn’t a question, I had to quit working and stay at home to raise our boy. So I wrote down our finances with my husbands pay only. Well I almost had a heart attack but really I had a mega panic attack. We needed $1000 extra a month just to break even, without groceries. Uh, I freaked. When my husband drove home after a 3 hour commute I told him I had no idea what to do. He mentioned that he had heard about this guy Dave Ramsey and that I (we) should listen to his podcast. That night I downloaded it and started listening to it the next morning. From the first moment I started listening I was hooked. I started googling about getting debt free and came up with a plan. The first thing we started with was listing our debt from largest to smallest. Since I was going to get my paid leave for a few months I told him we HAVE to use every penny to pay off debt. Little by little and almost every week we paid off more and more little debts starting with the lowest debt. I cancelled, closed and shredded every credit card we had. Store credit cards are rip Offs by the way! You think you are saving by their rewards? Nope. Guess what? You have to spend to save…..think about it for a moment. So everything was gone! The next step….get rid of the horrendous new Honda Pilot I fleased, yes it’s a lease and the worst kind of car payment you can have. You are renting a vehicle and really burning a hole in your pocket. That’s why it is called a flease in Dave Ramsey’s terms. My husband looked shocked! He thought I was a little crazy to want to return this brand new vehicle I loved. It wasn’t important to me, what was important was changing our family tree. Taking stress off my husbands shoulders. He was the main and only money maker in the house now and I had to cut things out. Getting my hair done, not anymore. I go maybe once a year now instead of every 4-6 weeks. Going out to dinner, nope. Mindlessly spending, nope. That year we paid off thousands of dollars and so much that we actually had $1000 extra cushion in our budget! Love, love, love! 

Let’s fast forward a bit. We got an offer to move to Virginia that I didn’t want to pass up. People were thinking we were crazy to move from “beautiful, sunny San Diego” to Virginia…..but we didn’t. We wanted out of our mortgage anyway. The area was closing in on us with pot growers also and I really wanted a safer environment for all of us. We put our the little house on over an acre on the market and sold it within 1 week! We were shocked and just ready! We packed up, moved to Virginia. We put our debt free on hold so we were comfy to move and wanted to start back when we got here. Well……we went backwards. We “needed stuff” when we got here. New bed (needed a king not queen size) , couch (all we had was a small leather couch),  tv (ours broke within a month of moving), went out to eat and those sort of things. One thing we did well was biking everywhere which saved us mega! We only filled up once a month on gas and that was amazing. Instead of every week in California. So, 3 months after we moved I got pregnant again. So guess what? We kept the debt free on hold longer until he was born. It’s what you are supposed to do anyway in case something happens. Right when we were going to start back on our debt free journey we decided to move to a bidder house and better area. Prolonging our journey but honestly it was the best move ever for us. Oh and we also bought a Jeep. Ha! We don’t have share a vehicle anymore, which actually helps a lot. It’s older also, not brand new and it was not expensive, thank goodness. 

So here we are two years after we move to Virginia. One kid was born(paid in cash), moved(paid in cash) , lots vet bills( paid in cash), dr bills (paid in cash) and acquired more debt(not paid in cash 😦   ). 

Last week I got what Dave says, “I got mad at debt, like really pissed off”. Last week I told my hubby, “that’s it! Beans and rice, rice and beans. I’m done!”. He completely agreed and so here we are….. Mad at debt! Not prolonging it anymore and getting after debt once again. 

A question people ask or what I’ve heard people complain about is that they don’t want to eat beans and rice. I had some say they don’t want to eat crap. Um, did you know that brown rice, black beans, ground turkey, bell peppers, zucccini and broccoli is not crap. It’s yummy and health. We eat more than just that though, just smarter eating. And Um, he doesn’t mean you have to literally eat beans and rice. What he means is cut your grocery bill down. I eat super healthy and defenitetly healthier when we are getting out of debt. I lose weight and feel amazing. It truly is such an amazing lifestyle to eat healthy. And no, health food isn’t more expensive, it’s something you shouldn’t over think about. Stop drinking you fattening, super sugary Starbucks drinks. I bet you’ll cut your waistline down by just stopping that. And your wallet will thank you. 

Here is our action plan:

1. My goal is to cut our grocery bills in half and use cash. Using cash scares me because I typically pick up items I believe we need but really we don’t. I don’t want to look stupid at the register and go over our allotted cash amount. Well, sometime you need to do things that are scary to succeed in life. So that’s what I am going to do. Also, I love Costco. Like absolutely love costco, but I seriously spend like $200 a week easily there. Then go to a grocery store and buy more. That is not necessary. So, I’m going to try to do away with Costco for the time being. Also, until winter hits and it’s is to cold, I will ride my bike to the grocery store to save money also. You can’t buy a bunch riding s bike, HA! 

2. No more eating out. We don’t do this a lot anyway, but it’s gone completely for now. 

3. I unsubcribed to all the clothing stores I get emails on and any other emails from regular stores as well. It will keep my mind in check on things we “need” but really don’t need. 

4. I’m getting back to doing my surveys to get extra money. Recently I did surveys and bought my husbands PS4. He absolutely loves it! I typically buy our extra things with survey money. So I’m getting back to that. 

5. Listen to Dave Ramsey podcasts. This is one way to getting my brain retired back to saving, it really has helped us a lot. 

6. Encourage others to get debt free and feel less stressed. I see and hear a lot of stressed out people working for money just to buy things. It’s not a fun way to live. So if I can even help one person get on track to getting out of debt, I’ve done something life saving. 

7. Get back to working out and look into personal training option. I have a passion for working out and really think it may be time for me to put it into action. 

7. Practice making cakes and cupcakes, especially in the design area. I also have a passion for cakes, cupcakes and decorating. I really think it’s time to put my skills to work. Who knows, maybe it’ll help me reach out to others more and make a few bucks. As long as I can bring a smile to others that is a job well done. 
If you have any questions one getting out of debt, just ask. I’m here for anyone who may need some help learning about it all. Join me on this journey, you (we) can do it!! 
Live happy

Live debt free

Live simple

Stay at Home Mom

Wrinkles, Fine Lines and Dark Under Eye Circles……

Hannah Lucio

We are all unpacked and settled into our new home. We are SO incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to live here. It is our dream spot to live. Seriously 🙂 This is the third time I have gone for a little 3 mile jog with my boys since we moved. The first time it wasn’t humid or hot and I had one boy. The last two times it has been hot and humid and I pushed both boys up and down little gradual hills. I was dripping in sweat when I got home. Thank goodness for that. I love working out and sweating.

Now I can get back to what I was originally going to do. Change my beauty routine. I am getting older as we all know 😉 and that calls for a revamping of my vitamins. I have been researching for about a year or so (I know, a very long time) and finally want to try things out. Since we are absolutely done having babies I can start to look like my husbands girlfriend again 😍 I have about a year left with breastfeeding so I’m trying not to add products but more about changing my diet. I have dark under eye circles and it didn’t start until I starting watching what I ate about 10 years ago. I firmly believe that I have them due to vitamin deficiency or my contacts. If I don’t see improvements in a month or so, I’ll try to go with out contacts. I get plenty of sleep and I drink a lot of water. Maybe hereditary? But I’m going to try my best to get rid of them. I have read many places that you can reverse the effects of vitamin deficiencies without pills and that’s my goal. Plus I love food…..so that’s my best option.

Here are a few things I’m going to try.

1. Apply a very small drop of avocado oil to my under eyes before bed. I read that it is a fast absorbing oil so it doesn’t leave you feeling greasy. Unlike coconut oil. I despise coconut oil. Don’t like it, never liked it.

There are studies saying that avocado oil improves and diminishes fine lines, wrinkles and age spots. Also it lightens dark under eyes. We shall see 🙂 maybe I should bath in it……..ha ha! The more I read about avocado oil, the more I fall in love with it. That’s the only oil I use to cook with now. It has the highest smoking point of any plant oil. Amen to that!

2. Adding more vitamin rich foods into my diet.

Vitamin K especially, which include these foods:

  • Brown rice
  • Eggs
  • Oatmeal
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Milk (I prefer almond milk personally)
  • Walnuts
  • Yogurt
  • Wild salmon
  • Spinach
  • Wheat

Also, vitamin A plays a vital role towards keeping your skin healthy. Vitamin A protects your skin from sun damage and helps repair your skin. It plays a crucial role in keeping the collagen in your skin balanced.

The most concentrated sources of vitamin A are:

  • Sweet potato (it made both lists)
  • Pumpkin (hello fall! I absolutely love fall!)
  • Carrots
  • Squash
  • Green, leafy vegetables

I also read to place pumpkin slices over your under eye area for a few minutes daily. Since they are not in season I’ll wait for fall to arrive.

Vitamin E & C also have anti wrinkle benefits.
This is what I have found online and it’s really great information.
I look forward to taking before and after pictures and let y’all know what has worked and hasn’t worked for me.
I’m curious if anything has worked for you? What did you use?

Live healthy

Live happy

Live simple

Family, Food, post partum, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized, Women, workout

Family favorite meal (lose weight meal) that is budget friendly and healthy

Hannah Lucio

We all have days when we are not feeling our best. We feel bloated, fat and just down right yucky. When I start feeling this way I make my favorite meal and eat it often. Mainly at dinner time. After eating it for dinner the first night I feel so much better the next day. This is also my key way to losing the baby weight this time around also. I lost the baby weight twice as fast this time around. The first time it took me a bit longer. It tastes really really good too! It is approved by my husband and toddler also. So this is our go to meal. It is simple, easy and budget friendly. We are doing Dave Ramsey’s Snowball so this is a great meal on a lower meal budget.

Ingredients:

1.5 lb Organic Ground Turkey (From Costco, or 1 lb package from the store)

2-3 Cans Black beans

3 Bell Peppers

4 Tbsp Taco Seasoning

Organic tortilla chips

Cast Iron pan. You need to add everything together. A dutch oven would work just fine also.

This meal feeds us 3 for about 4 days.

Directions:

  1. Cook ground turkey on stove and set aside. *picture below

2. While turkey is cooking cut up Bell Peppers *picture below

3. Cook the bell peppers for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

4. Drain 1-2 cans of black beans. Depending on how many cans you put in your recipe. If you put in 3 cans, drain 2 cans. If you put in two cans, drain 1 can. Make sure to put in one can of black beans, not drained, into the recipe.

5. Add the cooked turkey, black beans and taco seasoning to the bell peppers. Mix together and cook for about 5-10 minutes.

Done!

 

Enjoy! And enjoy often! I hope this concoction makes you feel better as much as it did for me.


 

Live Healthy

Live Simple

 

debt, Family, Food, money, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized

Happy National Peanut Butter day

Hannah Lucio

I love peanut butter. Well, love may be an understatement. HA! Every single day I have an apple and peanut butter. Everyday! It is normally my lunch because it is easy, healthy and oh so delicious. I have to tell ya, I never had peanut butter and apple until I met my husband. He looked at me strangely when I told him that I have never had it together. I thought it sounded gross. Well, now I have it every single day HA-HA If you have never had it I highly recommend it. I have never gained a pound eating it regularly. If anything I have to thank the combo for being able to lose weight and keep it off. Thank you Jesus! It is also budget friendly. We buy our Organic apples every week at Costco. I have compared the price to grocery stores and it does cost maybe a dollar more over all. but I have to tell ya, the apples are amazing every time. At the grocery store they tend to not be as good around here. Not sure what that is all about.

I hope you get to eat some peanut butter today! Happy National Peanut Butter Day!

 

Live healthy

Live simple