Oh, internet full of recipes, I love you so. But gone are the days of experimenting with teff flour and Indian inspired recipes…I’m sorry but I don’t have time right now to prep grocery lists and hunt down new ingredients.
And while we DID finally sell our condo back in Massachusetts, I don’t have the extra green to spend on an assortment of oils and seasonings and kitchen equipment I’ll only use once. Oh, that mandoline that sits and sits…I never quite got the hang of it and the knife works just fine…
Do you have time to cook? Really? I don’t mean heating up a frozen burrito either. I mean actually cook with real ingredients. Here’s the thing. We all have Facebook statuses to update, partners to talk to, bills to pay, cats to pet, you know, whatever. If you prioritize really cooking a real meal a few times a week amidst all of that, I salute you!
For me lately it’s 4pm before I look at the clock, I’ve got a baby getting antsy and a nursing pad falling out of my top, and I forgot to defrost the chicken. Plus the added pressure of using the veggies from our CSA. I mean, spring onions, turnips and radishes? What’s a girl to do with that?
(I’ll let you know in a few days, when I figure it out.)
Welcome to 21 Days of Detoxing! Whether you are one of our amazingly motivated participants or just interested in eating clean, whole, real food – boy do I have some recipes for you! From now ’til May 21st I’ll be featuring a delicious detox-friendly recipe each day. (And if you want to join in and get the whole detox manual, cookbook and access to our online forum, it’s ok to start a few days late – click here and sign up!)
Eating healthy meals is one thing. I mean, if you’re gonna cook it’s only a little more effort to do something healthy. But eating healthy snacks? I think that can be tough. After all, the definition of a snack is like, a quick fix on the go, right?
Try finding a snack that’s real, clean, whole food at the movies. Or at the airport. Or at your inlaws’ house. Um…that’s a task. It’s much easier to make your own and carry ‘em with you or keep ‘em out on the counter and within easy reach for whenever you get the munchies. That’s what I like to do. Otherwise my hand somehow finds it’s way into a bag of Oreos. I don’t know how that happens!
Final tips? Double – no, triple the recipe. And feel free to add a teaspoon of cinnamon or bit of vanilla extract. For a more savory snack you could add cumin or cayenne. Possibilities, my dears, they go on and on.
I must have been lugging the drying rack full of cloth diapers out into the backyard when I spotted these beauties. They kinda stopped me in my tracks – something so simple and pretty, so effortless. They’d just appeared out of nowhere.
Stopped. Smiled. I might have even taken a deep breath.
Been kind of crazy around here, if just in my mind. I don’t know, something about a newborn keeps a mom on the edge of her seat. At least this mom. I’ve been appreciating more than ever the small things that bring a smile in between feedings, crying fits and poopy diapers.
A hot shower. A cup of tea. Gorgeous flowers in my neglected backyard. Mmmm.
Fealthy? Baby talk nonsense is working it’s way into my blog post titles, I see. You’ll have to excuse me.
Anyway, let’s talk about food you can make in 5 minutes with one hand. Because you’re holding a baby in the other hand, say for instance. Or a cell phone or something. Or a remote – and by the way I’m jealous if you’ve hand time to watch TV lately! Or sleep.
Let’s also talk about how not wasting food is the #1 way to save money in your food budget.
My mom made a turkey breast while she was visiting us. But you can pretend this story is about chicken if you like that better.
With little left to carve, I picked the remaining meat away – fingers actually are the best tools for this job. I got about 1.5 cups of meat that would have been thrown away. Score!! (Now I have the bones, which went in the freezer for when I get around to making stock. That’ll be another day.)
Turkey scraps are a good start to turkey salad. Just add mayo, no? You could.
Disclaimer: it isn’t really a cobb salad. I just looked at my husband while we were eating this delicious meal and asked, “What would you call it?”
To be honest I have no idea where this recipe came from. Wait, yes I do! I was trying to create a protein-rich meal on the cheap. I wanted it to include animal protein, but not at the cost of a grass-fed steak or anything like that.
No, this wasn’t our weekend Valentine’s Dinner. (Note obligatory Valentines reference.) Though I got a little creative with the plating as if I were serving something fancy!
Have I mentioned how expensive groceries are in D.C.? Seriously. We lived in Boston, not Kansas. I did not expect the prices to go up as we moved south. Everything is more expensive here, even parking meters. My penny-pinching grocery moves have definitely come in handy.
New and exciting around here includes: Ikea baby curtains and a fresh batch of Laborade prepped for the big day. We also recently got our co-sleeper set up, which I happily found on CSNstores.com and had delivered. (Have you shopped there? From baby stuff to Delsey luggage, they have pretty much everything.) But the coolest and newest thing to happen around here is that I baked bread with beans! Yah!
No, not bread and some beans on the side. Bread WITH beans. In it.
I guess I was inspired by trying to eat more protein, period. Growing a baby requires mad amounts of protein. But I wanted bread. Augh. What to do, what to do?
It got me wondering, could I cram some protein into bread the way I cram protein into cookies?
I’ve inherited a new camera from my uncle. Unfortunately, it needs a very odd cord. One that doesn’t exist in our buckets and buckets of random cords. So the photo above is from my old camera, and the photo we took of my extremely pregnant self last week is held hostage inside the new camera.
Until we get the right cord.
Of course, we could just take another photo. I’m just as pregnant today as I was last week. More so, as a matter of fact. But the thing is that most days I haven’t straightened my hair, haven’t put on clothes other than my husband’s sweatpants and t-shirt. Truthsies!
35 weeks is where things get pretty fun, I’m finding. Like trying to roll over in bed. Or trying to sleep, period. Or walking without feeling like I’m gonna pee my pants.
The thing is, I don’t really mind. Isn’t that weird? I’d say that for my entire life I’ve known I was a girl, and as such one day I’d be a woman, and as such one day I’d be pregnant. And for my entire life I’ve dreaded and feared it. First of all, that’s kind of messed up. What sort of messages and images did I absorb as a young girl that would make me dread and fear getting pregnant? Clearly the hospital shows with screaming labor scenes didn’t help.
But here I am and even though I have a foot crammed up my liver all day long…it’s kind of nice. It’s really nice. It’s amazing, as a matter of fact. I feel like I’ve been made president and CEO of this little factory and I really believe in what we’re making.
In short, being hugely pregnant doesn’t suck. I’ll get back to you about childbirth itself, but I have to say – I’m not afraid and I think it might just be awesome.
On the radio the other day I heard a commentary about unwanted gifts. You know, all that stuff we give and get just because we feel like we have to. The woman on the program was adding up the cost of a gigantic vase she’d received. First, the cost of the vase itself. Second, the cost of storing it in her home (pro-rated based on the size of her house and monthly rent). Third, the more abstract but equally valid cost of her peace of mind – she said she looks at that thing and wishes she didn’t have it about 3 times per day.
The premise was that we waste a lot of money (and time and peace of mind) every year on the gifts we give and get.
A friend told me that her 3 year old niece makes lists of stuff she wants from the Toys R Us catalog. When presented with a gift wrapped in simple craft paper, the 3 year old declared, “I want a pretty one!” and refused to open it.
What does all of this say about our culture and the way we live our lives?
Christmas is, what, 12 days away? Whatever, man. All I want for Christmas is to not trip over boxes in my living room! We pretty much spent the weekend trying to accomplish just that.
What’s on your holiday wish list?
Aside from a clean house, I’d like my baby to keep being a good boy in there, kicking and healthy (ooh! he just gave me one as I wrote that!) and I’d like a pair of slippers that don’t fall off my feet when I walk down the stairs. Oh, and pretty, pretty please someone buy our condo back in Massachusetts? I know, I know, you were thinking you wanted a pair of slippers too, but don’t you really want a lovely 3 bedroom condo?
I help busy people find balance in their over-worked, over-stressed lives. Trust me, it's not an all-or-nothing situation! A few shifts in diet and lifestyle can rock your world like they did mine. Read on
