The Newest Addition

FOOD

Last night was so hectic that I didn't photograph dinner... It was hectic because of our newest addition:

The husband got a new car.  A VW CC.

This morning I was up before everyone so I started some coffee and made cranberry orange scones.


I actually only nibbled on one and had a bowl of Puffins with banana and almond milk.


Lunch was light because we are having dinner with friends tonight.


Honey ham, 2% cheddar and mustard on a sandwich thin. 


Plus edamame. 


And a sparkling water. 


EXERCISE

Negative on the exercise for today.  The husband and I walked yesterday but I think today we are being lazy!

We really didn't have anything planned for memorial day.  Which was nice.  Now we've got a lot of things lined up!  Tonight is dinner with friends... Tomorrow we are doing bbq pork!  Pulled pork, slaw, and beans are some of my favorite grilling foods.

What are some of yours?

Lacking

FOOD

I'm obviously not lacking in the "food" department. I'm lacking pictures today. Usually I can't help myself and upload a bajillion of them. Yes, a bajillion. 

We have a crazy busy day today.  Fridays are my cleaning days.  I finish up laundry, dishes, and anything else before the husband gets home.  Only because I don't want anything pending for the weekend. 

So I cleaned this morning and the husband came home early.  We ate lunch, walked, and are headed out to do some shopping as soon as I hit "publish post".

I'll make this short and sweet.  Which shouldn't be hard because again, I'm lacking pictures.   

Breakfast was an egg white, spinach, and feta omelet scramble (I seriously need to learn to flip an omelet)... 


And lunch was a BBQ chicken sandwich on a sandwich thin plus salad with fresh berries. 


EXERCISE

Last night the husband and I walked about 4 miles and today we walked about 3.  We don't really walk fast but I still consider it exercise.  I love walking with him and the kiddos.  The kids usually pass out so it's really the only time I get to talk to him. 

Well I'm getting the look from the husband.  He's ready to go look at cars....  Yep, a new car for him.  Lucky guy. 

Have a good and safe weekend everyone!

Blessed With The Beach

I'm going to try blogging a little differently. I'd like this to almost be a journal for me. There have been so many times I've gone to my own posts to get food ideas. I'm thinking this needs to be more organized. I have a little bit of OCD. Therefore, everything in my life needs to be more organized. Blog included.

FOOD

It was just the squirrel and I last night for dinner. We made one of our favs. Tuna mac!

It's just organic boxed mac-n-cheese with a can of tuna.  Normally I add a veggie.  Broccoli, peas, green beans... But I just wasn't feeling it last night!

Breakfast was one of my favorite things.  Dakota bread with laughing cow and a hardboiled egg.  Plus strawberries. 


The husband was home this morning so we headed to the beach.  On the way I had a sparkling water. 

These are addicting.  I love them because they are almost like a treat for me.  I used to be a diet coke addict.  Not so much anymore now that I've been drinking these.  It's all natural and bubbly!

The kiddos wore us out at the beach so we stopped for lunch at Just Baked.

Again, I got the veggie and hummus on 9 grain but this time I got a spinach salad on the side.  I was making up for last nights no veg dinner. 

And for a special treat we stopped at Luna Pops on the way home. 


Luna Pops is an all natural handmade popsicle store.  They even sell doggie pops!  Seriously, what could be better?!


I get the sea salt caramel... every. single. time. 


And I always get squirrelly something I think she'd like.  This time it was cookies and cream with organic cookies! 

She trades me... every. single. time.


Next time we BOTH get sea salt caramel.  You'd think I'd learn.

EXERCISE

Well I did body pump yesterday and am super sore.  I'll probably take the kiddos on a strolling nap later this afternoon.  We'll see...  

Doesn't chasing this kiddo at the beach count?


We really are blessed with the beach. We live 15 minutes from the ocean.


Why don't we go more?!

Freezin' Those Burgers

Last night was lentil soup for dinner.

This is SO easy and SO healthy for you!

Lentils, veggie broth, celery, carrots, onion, basil, thyme, bay leaves.  I added some bulgar this time for a different texture.  Topped with parm.  See?  Easy.

Plus for dessert warm almond milk... Almond milk, cinnamon, and maple syrup.  I'm loving this!


Breakfast was more of the bulgar soaked in almond milk and cinnamon overnight.  I added banana and almond butter this morning.  It was delicious!


So I figured out how to freeze those black bean burgers!  I'm a freezer fanatic so I had to figure it out asap.

I made a double batch yesterday, pattied them, and put them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.


I threw them in the freezer for a couple of hours and once they were frozen put them in a ziploc.


Just to be sure I made one tonight for dinner.  This time I did it in a pan.


Turned out PERFECT.

I added it to a salad.  Along with romaine, carrot, feta, and sweet and sour dressing. 


Here's a little tip/trick.  When I make my salads they may look huge but they aren't.  I do a single layer of lettuce so all the dressing gets every leaf of lettuce.  I hate it when I use just a tablespoon and the majority of it is on top.  What a bummer. 


Do you have a good freezer recipe?

A Nice Recovery

Dinner last night was junky. I guess everything I ate yesterday wasn't that great. Ehhh, sometimes you need it.

I had dinner with my guys last night. Squirrel was at Nana's.


My husband is famous for his grilled chicken legs.

We had a couple left in the freezer so he threw them on the grill last night.

We had a couple glasses of vino while they grilled...


Dinner:

Grilled chicken legs with bbq sauce and a biscuit. Plus a garbanzo bean salad made with g beans, canned diced tomatoes, feta, oregano, and basil.

The chicken really is amazing.


I made up for dinner this morning.

I started with almond butter and banana on dakota bread.


And headed to body pump. HOLY COW. I'm sore already. I haven't done body pump in a year.

On the way home I snacked on a new Luna bar flavor.  It's my favorite bar ever.


And lunch was a salad with romaine, strawberries, almonds, a hard boiled egg, and feta.  Plus some more dakota bread on the side.


I uesd this dressing my mom brought me back from Ohio.  It isn't the healthiest but it brings back childhood memories.  Plus I only used a tablespoon.


And tonight for dinner is lentil soup!


Usually crappy eating throws me off and I get in a crappy eating habit. 

Do you recover well?

Cry Cry Cry

Seriously it has been a long day and it's only 3:30.

I premade dinner last night since my meeting with a personal trainer at the gym was at 5.


Pea pasta is becoming a favorite in our house. Well for the squirrel and I. Not so much for the husband. He doesn't like peas. We eat it on nights when he isn't home.

All I do is boil whole wheat pasta (usually shells) with frozen peas. Then drain everything and add olive oil, a little garlic, coarse sea salt, and fresh parmesan. Squirrel likes it because "the peas hide in the shells". It gives her something to do.  You could easily add chicken or tuna.  Or switch out the peas for another veggies.  I've done lima beans, asparagus, and brocolli.

Thank goodness I started my breakfast last night.


We woke up late this morning and for some reason that always makes everyone cranky. 

Last night I mashed a banana with 1/3 cup muesli, cinnamon, almond butter, and a splash of amond milk.


I started to pour myself a bowl of cereal this morning when I remembered what I left in the fridge!

Perfect doughy mess. 

Plus some foamy coffee.


Squirrel had a fever last week so inevitably little buddy had one this morning.

We were out of diapers so I braved Target around lunch time. 

I ran by Chick-fil-a and the squirrel and I had lunch in the Target parking lot.

Terrible mom. 

I like Chick-fil-a. They have good healthy options.  I got a chicken garden salad with fat free berry balsamic dressing.


I snapped this picture and ate two bites before little buddy started wailing.  Poor squirrel ate her nuggets in the shopping cart at Target. 

It was my fault for poor planning. 

This may not sound like a stressful day but I've listened to non-stop whining or crying since 8am.  Whining and crying wears on my nerves. 

Is it too early for whine?  I mean wine ;)

Back To Blogging

Blogging takes time. More time than you think. Each picture needs to be uploaded from my camera, resized, edited, uploaded to photobucket, and then added to blogger. Then there are words. Pictures may be worth a thousand words but I can't get away without a description.

The husband and I were talking last night about my blog.  I miss it.  A lot a lot.  I love taking pictures...  I miss taking pictures and I miss reading blogs. 

But where does it fit into my schedule?  I may not work  but good grief these kids keep me busy.  I don't have time to sit for an hour and edit pictures.  And to me if they aren't edited they aren't worth posting. 

We've figured it out though.  So here we go.

Dinner last night was amazing.  I've got my husband to give up most red meat... Yep you aren't going blind.  We aren't buying red meat anymore.  However, since my husband is pretty much a carnivore I've got to get creative with chicken and turkey. 



Chicken Stir-Fry from allrecipes.com

Ingredients
4 (4 ounce) boneless skinless chicken breast halves
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup sliced celery (1/2 inch pieces)
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 small onion, cut into wedges
1 cup water
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules

Directions
1.  Cut chicken into 1/2-in. strips; place in a resealable plastic bag. Add cornstarch and toss to coat. Combine soy sauce, ginger and garlic powder; add to bag and shake well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.


2.  In a large skillet or wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil; stir-fry chicken until no longer pink, about 3-5 minutes. Remove and keep warm. Add remaining oil; stir- fry broccoli, celery, carrots and onion for 4-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add water and bouillon. Return chicken to pan. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

I followed the recipe exactly but doubled the veggies.  We need to eat more veggies in this family!  I also tossed in soba noodles.  Soba noodles are ahhhhhmazing.  This is the first time we've used them and they will be a staple for sure.

Guess who else liked it...


She's easy though.  The kid will eat just about anything.  And she's a big fan of chinese food.


For dessert I had a lentil cookie.  Great recipe by the way...


Breakfast is starting to get boring.  Kashi cereal, bananas, almond milk. 


I had planned on going to the gym and it was sprinkling when I loaded the kiddos in the car.  We drove through a monsoon but check out the gym:


See that rainbow?  It was worth the trip!

For a mid-morning snack the squirrel and I shared these:


Another new staple in this house.  We like shelled edamame but unshelled is way more fun!


And lunch was leftovers from two nights ago.

BBQ chicken, brown rice pilaf, over spinach.

Plus a seltzer water.


YUM.


Is the rain demotivational for you?