Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Travelin' trail mix

Trail mix is good for you in small doses, but who can eat it in small doses? Especially when it contains chocolate.
I have a cupboard of random nuts, seeds and other fruity-type odds and ends. Every now and then, I get sick of it piling up and make a batch of trail mix. It really takes not effort at all, just a little dumping. It's great for a mid-day snack or a little salty/sweet combo for lunch packing. And, it doesn't spoil!

This beauty contains:

Leftover Hershey's Mini Kisses from cookies
Peanut Butter Chips (also leftover)
Pumpkin seeds in shell
Craisins
Raisins
Cashews
Granola
Salted pumpkin seeds (no shell)
Sunflower seeds (no shell)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

My solo candlelight dinner

I love sharing dinner with my husband, but I look forward to the times he is on night work and I can cook what I want. It usually involves a lot of vegetables and feta cheese. He is a real trooper, trying new stuff here and there, but overall, he is pretty good at taking a few bites, giving me a sideways look as if to say, "I am sure YOU this is good, but I don't like it."
So, he worked the other night and after a long day of cleaning the house, going for a jog and playing with the dog at the park, I needed a serious cache of calories. I put on a pot of boiling water and threw in some shredded red cabbage. In a frying pan, I dumped 2 tablespoons of olive oil and let it warm. I sauted 1/2 cup mushrooms, 1/4 cup onion and 1/4 cup red pepper. When those veggies started to get tender, I added one cup of fresh spinach and watched it wilt. Soon, the cabbage was tender, so I drained it and added it to the fry pan. I boiled 1 cup of whole wheat pasta noodles. In the meantime, I added 1/2 cup of imitation crab meat to frying pan. In a few minutes, I dumped the noodles and the veggies into one gigantic bowl. I sprinkled it with 2 tablespoons of feta cheese and had myself a colorful pasta dish that reminded me of summer. So, I lit some candles and put on soft music. It was a relaxing way to end my weekend!

Monday, March 22, 2010

My baby is growing up


Moose is 10 months old. I can't believe it.


Forget what he looked like as a puppy...check him out here.


And now, we estimate he is at least 85 pounds. He walks like a champ and is listening like a good dog. So happy with him!


Sunday, March 21, 2010

Oh for the love of chocolate and peanut butter!

Happy Easter...well not yet...but if you have some time before the Holy day...make homemade chocolate peanut butter eggs. They are to die for!


1/4 cup margarine
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cups 10X sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips

Mash margarine in a bowl with a fork. Add peanut butter and milk and vanilla and stir until creamy. Add sugar. Shape into egg shapes and refrigerate on waxed paper. Melt chocolate in a double boiler and coat eggs. Keep in refrigerator at all times.

Enjoy.

Asian inspiration

I love soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and noodles. But, since I am trying to eat very healthy, I try to stay away from take out. A lovely friend from work shares her Real Simple magazine with me (a great frugal tip).And I tinkered with a recipe in there for dinner the other night.

Here you go:

8 ounces soba* noodles
1 pound boneless chicken breast
2 cups shredded red cabbage
5 tablespoons canola oil, divided
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ginger

In a saucepan, cook chicken with 2 tablespoons canola oil over medium high heat. Cook 8 ounces soba* noodles, cool, and toss with chicken, cabbage, 3 tablespoons canola oil, rice vinegar and soy sauce. Sprinkle with ginger and toss.

*Soba noodles are Japanese Noodles made from buckwheat and wheat flour, which gives it a dark-brownish gray color.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Quick Cold Dinner

Isn't today the first official day of spring. For a few days, spring weather has been knocking at my door. I turned off the heat, put away the winter coats and dusted off my bike. I actually didn't have to wear wool to run in.
So of course, I am looking for yummy, yummy cold recipes that are refreshing and quick.
This is what I came up with. It's healthy, quick and filling. It makes one serving.

White Bean Salad

1 cup canned cannelli beans, drained
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup red pepper, diced
2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
1/4 ounce avocado, diced

In a bowl, put beans and peppers. Stir in olive oil. Top with feta cheese and avocado.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Why I write and why I stay busy

After waking from a catatonic nap post school day, taking the pooch to the park, riding bike 15.5 miles, showering and making dinner, I was finally able to carve out some time to sit down. I am watching "Julie and Julia" and got the sudden urge to blog. I love to write, especially in first person when I don't have to find peer-reviewed journal articles or wait for people to return my call. I miss taking all of the thoughts that swirl in around in my multi-tasking woman brain and putting them on paper (or computer screen.)
On my bike ride today, one of my riding partners said, "You never had a problem being over-committed." Is this what people think of me? The girl who can't say no? But I like to be busy. It's a blessing from my parents. They are hard workers that hardly ever sit down. And I have inherited it. And I am OK with it. When I am in the midst of being busy, I feel busy, but rarely overwhelmed. I have really low blood pressure and rarely feel anxiety. Sometimes I can't sleep because lesson plans are flying past my eyelids and referral slips are haunting me. But overall, I crash when I hit the pillow.

I feel like I am at a good place in life. I love my job most of the time, I love my husband and my small brood of animals. I have a wonderful new nephew Joey (See me and him in the photo) who is going to be raised into a awesome young man because his parents will be sure of it. I am getting my master's degree, something I always aspired to do, and I am finally recommitted to eating healthy again.

So, my next goal is to get back to the blog to share my frugal tips. When you are busy, it's hard to be frugal, let alone blog about it. But, I am going to try to over commit and do it anyway! So, here is to trying to get back to the blog and really exercise one of my passions...writing!