Archive | January, 2012

WIAW – My Monday

31 Jan

Here’s this week’s edition of What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW), hosted by Jenn at Peas and Crayons.

One of these days I’m going to actually take pictures on food that I eat on Wednesday, but this week I kept the camera handy on Monday.  I present my Monday schedule…

1. Wake up and get the kid’s breakfast ready.

Yogurt, Cinnamon Sugar Donuts and Oranges. I have no idea why he is making that face.  Also note that he is wearing TMNT pajamas, which make me smile.  Heroes in the half shell.  Turtle Power!

2. Pack lunches for the husband and the girl and kiss them both as they head out the door.

The Double Double Pita Lunches – cheese pita, pita chips, cucumbers+red peppers, cutie+banana; hummus, pita chips, pita, veggies

3.  Eat my breakfast(s)

3a. Juice

bok choy, celery, cucumber, carrots, apple, lemon

3b. Food

green jasmine tea, steel cut oats + raisins, cranberries, walnuts and almonds

4. Get a blog post up (Menu Plan Monday).

5. Head to the gym for Power Yoga. Do 8000 chataranga floats and hold each warrior pose for 20 minutes.  Or at least it felt that way.

6. Take the little guy to open gym at  local gymnastics gym and first dump him in a giant vat of super-sized sugar cubes.

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7. Watch him swing from the rafters.  Literally.  The rope is tied to the rafters.20120131-205738.jpg

8. Take the boy to get a haircut.  We both get lollipops.

9. Come home and eat a bowl of kale chips.  

10.  Let the boy watch some Sesame Street and use the hour to shower, get dressed, make lunch and check in on the computer.

Sesame Glazed Brussels Sprouts (from Daily Garnish blog) over leftover brown rice noodles

11.  Pick up the girl from school.

12. Have a cup of tea while folding laundry, supervising the kids with the neighbor friends who are making ‘rain soup’ in the backyard (with rain water and weeds, of course) and saying ‘don’t come inside until your shoes are off’ at least 15 times.

Trader Joe’s tea that graced my mailbox in December (thanks Genevieve!) + So Delicious Coconut Creamer

14. Make pancakes for dinner. I make two bowls of mix and pour one into a ziploc bag so I have premade pancake mix for a future meal.

15. Serve the kids and husband while nibbling on the fruit.  My eating will come soon enough…

16. Grab the Costco goodies I picked up over the weekend for the one place that it’s absolutely appropriate to have red wine and chocolate cookies for dinner, Book Club!

17. Enjoy time with smart, open and very funny ladies while drinking wine and eating greek seven-layer dip, some amazing goat cheese and mushroom crostinis, ceaser salad and, of course, the chocolate cookies.  

no picture, as my hands were full with food and drink

18.  Come home happy and full and call it a night.  

2012 Goals – Check In #1

31 Jan

I posted my goals for the year in this post. I thought I’d hold myself accountable by checking in at the end of each month to see how I’m progressing. I’ll also take the opportunity to add/remove/edit items on the list.

  1. Go to a beach and watch my kids see the ocean for the first time.
  2. Be able to do a head stand in yoga. - I have my tripod headstand pretty consistently, but not the classic headstand. I have gotten up a few times, but it’s not anywhere near consistent. I’m working on my ab strength (extra boat poses) to help.
  3. Make the 2010 and 2011 family photobooks, as well as my kid’s annual photo books. I’m way behind. I made the family 2010 album, as well as my daughter’s 4th year book. I still have the family 2011 book, a Disney book, my daughter’s 5th year book and my son’s 2nd and 3rd year book.
  4. Run a couple of 5Ks if my knees will allow it.
  5. Get a better handle on the grocery budget.
  6. Go camping.
  7. Organize my blog recipes better
  8. Sit down and do art with my daughter more. We did do some drawings with pastels and I have some Valentine’s crafts slated for this month.
  9. Finish the living room/dining room remodel. Big progress here. My dad and husband did the crown molding this past weekend. We painted the walls, rearranged the furniture, got new curtains and a few new art pieces. We hope to get new floors, but will have to wait a bit for that. We are also planning on refinishing the built in china hutch that is firmly planted in the early 90s.
  10. Go to one of those painting places where you drink wine and leave with a painted picture.
  11. Leave the state at least once.
  12. Read the following books, just for starters
  • The Hunger Games Series
  • Mindset
  • One Thousand Gifts
  • Loving The Little Years
  • Parenting with Love and Logic
  • Kisses for Katie by K. Davis
  • The Killing Hour by P. Gardner
  • Simplicity Parenting
  • Fed Up With Lunch by. S. Wu

Menu Plan Monday – 1/30/12

30 Jan

There is something almost relaxing about Mondays in my little stay-home-mom life.  Our weekends tend to be full of activities, projects and general life living with all four of us at home.  On Mondays, I wake up and get the girl ready for kindergarten, feed both munchkins breakfast, send off the husband, drop off the girl, and then the boy and I come home and all is quiet.  I drink my tea. I clean up the kitchen from the morning frenzy.  My boy seems to enjoy the quiet too.  He is currently curled up under a blanket.  Granted, in about 4.3 seconds he’ll be leaping from couch to couch, but, for now, he is quiet.

What are your Monday’s like?

<insert witty transition here….>

This week’s dinner menu:

Monday – Pancakes and Fruit (I use this Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancake Recipe from cooking light)

Tuesday – Black Bean Soup with Caramelized Onions, kids will have a little soup and some cheese quesadillas

Wednesday – Oven Baked Lentils and Rice with bread machine bread

Thursday – Buddha Bowls

Friday – Vegetable Pot Pie or Pizza

linking up with I’m an Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday

Photo Friday

27 Jan

Creating with some Christmas gift art supplies:

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I had as much fun as she did….20120127-061154.jpg

Target Popcorn = Best Shopping Cart Buddy Occupier Ever
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When I’m complaining about Texas summer heat, remind me that we ate ice cream outside in January.

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Ingredient Spotlight – Quinoa

26 Jan

I get asked about some of the ingredients in my recipes from time to time. Mainly from my mom.  I’m starting a new series of posts focusing on some of the slightly less common ingredients that tend to show up in my recipes and make a home in my kitchen.

  • Please send me an email (thelivelykitchen{at}gmail{dot}com) or leave a comment if there are some ingredients you’d like me to write about.  

Ingredient Spotlight

Ingredient: Quinoa

source

How do you pronounce it?  Keen-wah.  Not ‘key-no-nah’ as my mom likes to say.  (hi mom!)

What is it? An edible seed from South America.

Where do you find it at the store? It’s usually by the rice.  Sometimes it may be in the gluten-free section and sometimes with the ‘speciality’ grains like barley and amaranth.  It’s often sold in bulk bins too.  I buy most of my quinoa at Costco, as they sell at 3lb bag of Organic Quinoa for $10, which is the best price I’ve seen.

How much does it cost?  Usually around $4-5 a pound.  Costco often carries it for $10/3lbs.  In bulk bins it’s usually around $4/lb.

How do you cook it?  You rinse it, add it to water, bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Jenn at Peas and Crayons just did a fabulous post on cooking quinoa, so rather than re-invent the wheel, I’ll just link to it here.

http://www.peasandcrayons.com/2012/01/keen-wahhhh-adventures-in-cooking.html

What does it taste like it?  Like a slightly nutty rice.  It’s texture is like a chewier cous-cous.  Like most grains, it’s quite versatile and takes on the flavor of whatever it’s cooked with.

What’s so great about it?  Where to start?  1. It’s pretty cheap.  2.  It’s got a good amount of protein, iron, fiber and b vitamins.  3.  It’s gluten free  4.  It cooks quickly and keeps well in the fridge for a few days. 5. It’s good cold and hot.

Will kids and/or husbands eat it?  Most likely.  My kids like it plain or tossed with a little butter or olive oil.  We eat it at least once a week.

Some of my favorite quinoa recipes from this blog:

Fall Quinoa with Roasted Butternut Squash and Onions - if you like roasted butternut squash, you’ll love this recipe.

Curried Quinoa with Chickpeas and Apples - my personal favorite quinoa dish.  No one else in my family likes curry, so I get to eat the whole recipe myself.  Not a bad fate.

 Quinoa with Salsa and Black Beans – This is the first recipe I ever made with quinoa and I’ve been making it often for the last four years.  The flavors are very familiar and, if you like Tex-Mex style dishes, this is a great first time quinoa recipe.  It’s good as is, or used as a taco or burrito filler.  We  also eat it over salad greens with crushed tortilla chips.

Caramelized Onion Quinoa with Toasted Nuts and Seeds – this is one of my husband’s favorite dinners (sans the nuts and seed topping).

Other quinoa recipes I enjoy:

Quinoa Cakes from A Nutritionist Eats.  These somehow taste almost like hash browns.  I made them for my 21 year old brother-in-law and he ate the entire recipe in one sitting. A fantastic way to use up leftover quinoa.

Zucchini Quinoa Lasagne from Peas and Thank You.  I made this every couple of weeks in the summer when zucchini was abundant.  I use dairy cream cheese, but otherwise follow the recipe exactly.  My husband and kids like it too.

Are you a quinoa fan?  If so, please share a recipe!

Next ingredient: Kombu

WIAW- Tea and Books

24 Jan

Hello Wednesday…. How about another installment of What I Ate Wednesday with Jenn at Peas and Crayons?

I photographed my eats on Tuesday and decided to give you a glimpse into what I’m reading these days in addition to what I’m eating.  I also drank a lot of tea today.  And cut my sugar intake way down.  Yay me.

Breakfast:

I made some toast and jelly for the munchkins.

The boy likes all strawberry jelly, the girl likes half strawberry and half apricot.  Thankfully they both like the Sprouted Grain bread from Costco.

I packed a lunch for the boy:

Veggie potato chips (new find at Costco), cheese tortilla, banana, cutie, cucumbers, broccoli.  Water in the Toy Story cup (we are green, we are green, our master is the toy machine)

And I got to eat my breakfast while reading a little from Simplicity Parenting, which I am LOVING.

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids.  (yes please) by K. Payne

Breakfast was green jasmine tea, toast + almond butter+ apricot preserves.  I felt a bit like Paddington Bear with my tea and toast with marmalade….

I dropped off the kids at their respective schools, as Tuesday is a preschool day for the little guy (and every day is a school day for the kindergartener),  and consumed cup of tea #2

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black tea + coconut milk creamer + dash of cinnamon

I hung out with the treadmill for a bit:

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(like my sweaty shirt?)  (and, man,this is the first time my legs have ever looked long, it’s just too bad the angle makes me look pregnant too) (and I’m not remotely pregnant) (nor do I have remotely long legs)

I came home and got out the juicer for Breakfast #2.

Green Juice: kale, cucumber, celery, lemon, green apple, broccoli, carrot

I’ve been eating way too much sugar lately and while I’m not ready to do a big cleanse (yet), I choose today to start the sugar detox.  I know there was some sugar in the jelly at breakfast, but I tried to eat no sugar after that until dinner.  Which is probably why I drank so much today, as I headed for the tea-pot or water jug every time the sugar cravings hit.  And they hit a lot.

I had cup of tea #3 while doing some Bible Study.

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Tea – licorice peppermint (herbal)

Books – Bible and Discerning the Voice of God by P. Shirer

Lunch:

There was a mini-lunch of apples + almond butter.

I picked up my chickies and we headed to the book mothership, the library.

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it melts my heart to see her on her toes…. she’s getting so big, but she is still so little in other ways… sigh

I picked up a book for me to re-read.  I love, love Jennifer Weiner.

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We came home with our 24 new books and I ate a very late lunch while reading more of Simplicity Parenting.

Kale Salad with Sunshine Dressing (from Peas and Thank You) 

Sugar craving = another cup of tea.

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I baked some peanut butter and banana oatmeal cookies – recipe coming soon.  They actually only have 1/4 cup of added sugar (in addition to the natural sweetness from the ripe bananas), so they are quite healthy as far as cookies go.  I let myself have one and, can I just say, it tastes so good when it touches your lips…

(bonus points for the quote identifier)

Dinner:

Table O Food – Avocados, Salsa, Sour Cream, Chips, Oranges, Veggies, Quinoa with Salsa and Black Beans

My kids don’t do salsa in any form, so I used the black beans and mixed them with some refried beans from the fridge and put them on some tostado shells with cheese and baked them for a few minutes.  The girl loves avocado, the boy does not.

Close up of the quinoa:

I’m off to do some reading and probably have another cup of tea.  Wish me luck on the sugar detox!  Better yet, send tea.  And books.

Any good books I should add to my library list?

Black Bean Soup with Caramelized Onions

24 Jan

I love black bean soup.  It’s pretty easy to prepare, it’s great as leftovers, it’s a blank slate for toppings and, as a bonus, it’s  quite healthy.  Black beans are a good source of fiber and protein (like most beans), but they are also the antioxidant superstar in the bean family.  What’s not to love?

I like to cook a big batch of black beans every couple of weeks.  I soak overnight, rinse and drain and then put in the crockpot with filtered water and kombu to cook.  The kombu does wonders for making the beans, well, less musical?  Who am I kidding?  I have a three year old little boy who loves to giggle about toots and f*rts.  Thankfully when cooking beans with kombu, there is much less to giggle about.

After the beans are cooked, I usually freeze half in mason jars.  The texture of the thawed beans is a little off for dishes that feature beans eaten straight out of the can, but is perfectly fine in soups and casseroles where the beans will be cooked again.  Like this one.

Black Bean Soup with Caramelized Onions

Ingredients:

  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1 red pepper, sliced
  • 2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup plain tomato sauce or puree
  • 2 cups vegetable broth (or water)
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp dried chipotle chili powder

Directions:
  1. Heat grapeseed oil in a pan over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium low. Add onions and cook slowly until browned, stirring occasionally.  This should take about 20 minutes.  (My pan is really small)
  2. Remove onions from pan and increase heat to medium-high. Add peppers and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes, or until soft.
  3. Add onions, peppers, garlic and all remaining ingredients to a large pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  At this point you can serve as is or puree.  I like using my hand-held immersion blender and blending the majority of the soup.
  4. Remove from heat and serve.  Great topped with chopped cilantro and avocado.

School Lunches – January

19 Jan

I haven’t posted a school lunch post in a bit, but I assure you I haven’t taken a break from packing lunches.  I just don’t always take a picture since I  don’t have time because I am running late yet again .  Here is a week worth of lunches from January:

Day 1

sunflower seeds + cheese stick, frozen corn + peas, canned pears + frozen peaches, avocado half + triscuits

Day 2 

Broccoli + mushrooms + carrots, frozen peaches, strawberry yogurt, pita + cheese

Day 3

grapes + banana, mushrooms + chickpeas, broccoli + carrots + snap peas, cheese pita + fruit twist

Day 4 

clementines, carrots, pumpkin bread, PB+J

Day 5

pancakes + syrup, carrots, canned pears, boiled egg (sans yolk per her request) + bananas (doesn’t everyone eat carrots with their pancakes???)

Previous School Lunch Posts:

School Lunches – Preschool Edition

School Lunches – October

School Lunches – September

WIAW – MLK Day Eats

18 Jan

Time for yet another edition of What I Ate Wednesday hosted by Jenn at Peas and Crayon’s . I snapped pictures of all my eats on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr Day.

Monday was a school holiday, so I thoroughly enjoyed a more leisurely morning.  Even though we’ve been doing the school thing since August, we somehow end up in a rush each morning to leave the house at 7:20.  I’m not a quick learner, clearly.  Monday, however, the kids got to eat a calm breakfast:

Oatmeal with almond milk + cinnamon, oranges and clementines

while I enjoyed a cup of tea and planned out my week:

I let the kids watch some SuperWhy on PBS (‘we’ve got the power, the power to Read…..’) and ate breakfast number one.

 Oatmeal + bananas + peanut butter

We went to the gym for an hour so I could get my yoga fix for the day.  Came back home, changed, had a green smoothie (breakfast 2),

Kale, vanilla rice protein powder, frozen banana, coconut milk, mint extract, chia seeds and cocoa nibs

and headed to New Braunfels, TX for our afternoon adventures.

We stopped for lunch at a new restaurant, Naturally, that I found on yelp.  It was quaint and cute.

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yes please

I had a salad with field greens, balsamic vinaigrette, dried chilies, tortilla strips, avocados, goat cheese and sesame seeds.  It was delicious.  I only wish it had been bigger, as I like BIG salads.  The kids got a PB&J roll and a Turkey + Cheese roll and shared both.  Also wish their portions had been a bit bigger, as my kids like to eat.

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They had some fun with the mail slot

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‘look, we are inside but our hands are outside.’  Giggles.  Repeat about 6 times.

I pondered just staying at the restaurant and letting them play at the door, but decided to spare the nice ladies behind the counter and get my kids out of there.  We headed to the Children’s Museum.

My girl practiced for her future career as a scientist:

and my boy, well, he practiced a useful skill too:

Seriously, if I could find a grocery store with a child size check out lane, both of my kids would be happy to work there.  Why is checking groceries so fun, but making their beds is a chore?

I had hoped to have some ice cream on the way home, but due to some back seat squabbling and me having to use my best mom voice to say ‘bad choices have consequences,’ we came straight home.  Bummer.  Mama really wanted some ice cream.  Instead I came home and ate a little snack:

We had a gourmet dinner of scrambled eggs and toast.  I know, I go all out.

Toast + spinach + eggs + avocado.

All in all, a nice day, even if we had to skip the ice cream break.  I’ll leave you with the always wise words: Bad choices have consequences.  :)

The Accent Blog – my first vlog!

17 Jan

I’ve finally succombed.  I’ve made a vlog (video blog = vlog).

I thoroughly enjoyed the accent vlog that cycled through the blogsphere a few months ago and last week was inspired by Sarah at Sarah Learn’s recent vlog, so I thought I’d give it a try.

The idea is to record myself saying a series of words and answering some questions.  The words and answers should give you an idea as to my accent and let you all hear my voice.  I know you have all been anxiously wanting to hear my voice.  Or not.  :)

Here is the list of words: aunt, route, wash, oil, theater, iron, salmon, caramel, fire, water, sure, data, ruin, crayon, toilet, new orleans, pecan, both, again, probably, spitting image, alabama, lawyer, coupon, mayonnaise, syrup, pajamas, caught

And the list of questions to answer:

  • what is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
  • what is the bug that curls into a ball when you touch it?
  • what is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
  • what do you call gym shoes?
  • what do you say to address a group of people?
  • what do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
  • what do you called the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
  • what do you call it when rain falls when the sun is shining?
  • what is the thing you change the tv channel with?

Here goes nothing:

Ugh – I do not like hearing my own voice.

So – what do think?  Do I sound like you expected?  How strong is my accent?

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