Monday, January 30, 2012

Weekending

Yesterday we went "hiking" and sledding. Hiking involved pulling the girls in the sleds up a very steep hill covered with about a foot of snow for approximately twenty minutes. At that point Bells said Mama can we go home and leave those guys (Alex and Iz) here? :) I took that to be a sign it was time to turn around, thankfully. I am so sore this morning I wasn't sure getting up was a possibility ;). Then after Bells was comfortably seated in the car we decided to make a couple runs on the sledding hill. The first run Alex and Iz wrecked and he flew over the top of her, I was talking with my mom and she had to let me go as I was laughing so hard I couldn't breath. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. We took a few more runs then left.

Saturday was the only day of the week I didn't go to the gym. Instead I stayed home to "rest", which actually involved a massive kitchen cleanup and rearrangement. Cleaning out the drawers is next on my simplifying list for the kitchen. Last weekend I went through all the bags of rice and beans, put them into half gallon jars and put them up in the cupboard. I also cleaned out the cupboard of all expired foods and stuff we don't use. It took half of Saturday.

Alex went to the Y with the girls, he worked out then took the girls to something called Family Fun Time. They set up bouncy houses and other play zones for kids and tables and chairs for parents. The girlies said much fun was had!

Before they even got home my friend called to see if I wanted to get coffee with her at the local bakery, The Black Cat. It is so delicioua, I was thrilled to have some time to visit with a friend. I ordered a slice of veggie quiche and a double chocolate macadamia nut espresso cookie! The quiche was very filling and I only ate a bite of the cookie. Although before the hike on Sunday I did finish it off. YUM!!!

What did you do this weekend? Anything out of the ordinary, fun or otherwise pleasure filled?

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Real Food Recipe

I have a deep appreciation for Kelly the Kitchen Kop's blog, she hosts a real food wednesday blog thing. I thought it might be fun to post a recipe that my husband taught me how to make. It is a recipe from his mom, she was russian, it is one of my favorites for a quick weekday meal. So here is the recipe-
Cabbage Beef Fry

1 pound ground beef or pork sausage
1 small head organic cabbage (chopped finely)
1-2 carrots (shredded in the pan)
1 can organic tomato sauce (12 or 16ish ounces) or paste with water
Salt and pepper
Balsamic Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar

How I make it:

I get out a large stainless steel pan, heat it empty for a couple minutes on mediumish, add meat and brown partially, then add finely chopped cabbage, mix well and cover for a couple minutes until meat is cooked. Now comes the challenging part, add a can of tomato sauce or tomato paste with some water. Then shred carrot on top, mix well again. Cover again for a few more minutes then add salt and pepper and a splash or two of vinegar to taste. Stir then cover and let cabbage cook a bit. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. This is delicious served hot with some whole grain bread or not.

I usually eat it plain with some sour cream stirred in, the girls like it with bread and sour cream. It is really yummy and takes about 30 to 35 minutes from start to finish!

Let me know if you like this recipe.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Meal Planning?! and other stuff

I have this idea that planning meals is the sign of a very organized and put together household. My household is not organized nor put together therefore planning our meals for a week or so has been a stated goal of mine. I start off really good when I decide to start planning meals then shit hits the fan and it all falls apart after a few days up to a week. Recently I have decided to try a new route to cooking dinners and other meals too. Since starting the weightloss class my time available in the kitchen has been drastically reduced. The first week of the class we ate out, at the local grocery store, more times than I care to recall. So last week something had to change. I cooked one night then the next night we had leftovers and again the third night I cooked then leftovers. By the fifth night I was ready for a change so we ate burritos out. I am trying out giving up bread and some other flourish products so I had a "naked" burrito. It was so good I don't know if I will go back to regular burritos.

For breakfast we pretty much have the same thing everyday eggs, some sort of meat and the girlies and Alex have toast. I have a large mug of steaming hot Tipu's Chai Tea, my absolute favorite beverage of all time, and water too. It gets a little boring around here in the morning. Occasionally Alex will make oatmeal, which in case you were wondering, I do not enjoy AT ALL! I really don't like oatmeal its like sacrilege or something but its not for me. For lunch I will make the girls a pb and homemade jelly sandwich or some soup or ... I really like to eat out for lunch, its terrible in so many ways but I like to go to the local health store and eat a large salad or something from the delicious deli bar. If you live in Missoula you probably know already about the Good Food Store, we spend way too much money there, its awesome!!

This week I am planning on doing the same thing cooking one day eating leftovers the next... I made chili this weekend with properly soaked beans on Sunday and yesterday we had "taco" chili salad. The girlies and Alex were not impressed?! In case you were wondering what a chili taco salad is, I chopped up a bunch of cabbage and lettuce, put a large scoop of chili on top, shredded cheese, homemade salsa, and veganaise because we were out of sour cream. Then I crushed up some tortilla chips on top and wallah!! I thought it was delicious! :)

On a completely different note, last night was the Chinese New Year and the New moon. I don't know if you are into all the astrology/new moon/full moon stuff, I find it fascinating. I love thinking about the gravitational pull of the moon and how it affects the cyclical (sp?) Nature of the world. It seems women in particular are affected by the gravitational pull of the moon. I love to think about how our ancestors were so close to the earth that the women would all cycle around the new moon and were then fertile around the full moon. That is pretty cool stuff energetically. Last night I went to a female empowerment workshop. It was really transformative in my emotional state. I felt so out of control and really pretty rotten yesterday. I went last night. We meditated on the female organs for approximately and hour and a half. Today I feel much refreshed and ready to start the day! I love meditating in a group, especially of all women, it is such a lovely experience emotionally and spiritually.

I know not everyone is into meditating; I really enjoy it and find it to be such a wonderful release from the stresses of life and the human form.

I wanted to make a quick note that I received a sort of interesting comment on my cookware post from a Dupont Teflon representative, she claims that teflon is perfectly safe and that there are no risk factors associated with the use of nonstick cookware. I found this very interesting that someone who represents dupont and teflon products would be bothered enough by my post to write a comment. I appreciate the fact that it takes all types for the world to go round and regardless of whether nonstick cookware is "safe" or not I much prefer the feel and cooking ability of cast iron and stainless steel I do stand behind my previous post about teflon nonstick type cookware I just wanted to reply to the comment here.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Do you meal plan? How do you do it? Have you ever meditated and what do you like or dislike about it?

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Cookware


I find that cookware can be a sensitive topic in some households. My favorite cookware is cast iron and when that doesn't seem fitting for the job, stainless steel is my next choice. I was a diehard teflon coated cookware fan for years until I started doing some research when a friend told me teflon is toxic. He told me that when teflon pans start to wear out and flake off it gets in your food and then you eat it. The body doesn't know what to do with teflon and it can cause some serious problems over time. I was so irritated when this friend bought me a stainless steel pan with a lid from the thrift store. Like I said diehard teflon cookware fan! A year or so later I had to replace a couple pans that were wearing out and by this time I was smartening up. I got a stainless steel pan then a cast iron one. Now this brings me to the idea for this post and where it came from. I follow a blog called Kelly the Kitchen Kop and she is hosting a giveaway for a Le Creuset frying pan. I have long coveted Le Creuset cookware however find the $100 to $300 pricetag far above my pricerange. If I could afford it or find it at the thrift store I would love an entire set of Le Creuset cookware. Ahhh, that would be lovely! What kind of cookware do you use? Are you aware of the teflon debate? Any other thoughts on cookware?

Go check out the giveaway, its a great one! http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2012/01/100-prize-drawing-le-creuset-cast-iron-skillet.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kellythekitchenkop+%28Kelly+the+Kitchen+Kop%29

Friday, January 20, 2012

Simplifying

The other day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Clean, and Rachel was talking about simplifying her life by simplifying and decluttering her home. This really struck a cord with me because lately when I look around my house I see piles and messes all over the place. Some of it is mine and some of it from the other members of my family. I have started going through the girls room, clearing up toys that aren't being played with or are broken and putting up older toys so the new can be thoroughly enjoyed. I have been working on it for a few days and I am starting to notice a difference in the overall feel in there. Next I want to find time to go through clothes and clean those up. The bins are overflowing and it appears as if there are always a few items remaining after the end of a week or so that just sit. I find with my girlies if the clothes are sitting in the drawer and they would rather wear dirty clothes it may be a sign that those items need a new home. I also started working on my own room. I have much work to do in there, not only purging but also cleaning and beautifying. If you go over to Rachels blog she posted about beautifyinh your space after you have purged and cleaned up. This is the step I love the most so often times I like to skip the other two. This is not a good plan in case you were thinking about doing it.

I wrote this post a few weeks ago and never finished it for publishing so figured I would add on the current status of simplyfying. I went through the girlies room and cleared out a large box of toys and it seems more manageable on that front. The clothing is what is next in their room. I cleaned out two drawers of clothes from my drawers and have many to go. I lost a little momentum when I started the weight loss class. It takes up much of my free time and housework and simplifying are taking a back shelf. I feel so good physically and have lost five pounds in two weeks. I have a little over a hundred to lose to five pounds every two weeks is pretty reasonable. I am moderately sore much of the time in my muscles, this feels good for a change. I am tracking my calories on livestrong and its going well there too. I have given up bread so far although not all flour products. That is one mini goal I have is to give up ll flour products for a while and see what happens. I have recently been missing bread so I am looking for a substitute, especially with breakfast, maybe oats. I will keep updates on this aspect of my life on facebook regularly and here when I can.

With the extra time being taken with the class I have been making dinner earlier and falling asleep as soon as I finish with the class and the girlies go to sleep. It is nice in some ways and not so in others. I am much more tired but also more energized. That doesn't make any sense, however it all seems to depend on what I eat during the day. Weird and not so weird?!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

2012-A New Year-Oh the Possibilities

This morning as I chatted with my hb about the new year he commented that the calendar new year is not that big of a deal. He said nature doesn't start new because it turns January 1st. I agree that nature doesn't start new although usually at this time of year the ground is covered in snow and it is cold and fresh when you head outside. This year however there is minimal snow and it feels like a cold spring dsay out. I like the calender new year and it feels like a perfect opportunity to clean out the old and bring in the new. This year I am starting a weight loss class at the local y. I have wanted to work on this issue I have with eating too much and exercising too little for quite some time so I figured now is a good time to start. The girlies are getting bigger and I need to put a bit of energy back into me.

It seems like being a mother of two young daughters is a full-time plus kind of gig and I really enjoy it much of the time. I also see how easy it is to almost lose a part of yourself that you once had ahold of so tightly. Now I must focus a few moments on this part of myself so I can be an example to myself and my girlies and quite frankly my hb. I am excited to get started. Also nervous as we eat a pretty clean diet with lots of healthy fats and clean food, so counting calories may be a little bit hard for me. I am thinking about ordering the book eat fat lose fat for examples of ways to lose weight without skimping on the fat and good proteins, like eggs and grass fed beef.

My struggle with overweight and eating too much has been a long time one. I used to eat unhealthy foods in unhealthy amounts and now I still struggle with the unhealthy amounts. At one time I was going to overeaters anonymous, trying to figure out how to help myself. I found out that the way to help myself is to learn to control my emotions. I have found this to be a real struggle being home with my girlies and trying to figure out how to be the best moma to them. Of course this internal struggle will not go away with a weight loss class, what I am hoping to find is ways to come to peace. I think my expectations are quite high!

We have been working out two to three times a week since the beginning of October and that has been really great. I am excited for this class because apparently the instructor works on a specific plan for you and helps you to come up with ways to lose weight healthily.I, of course, realize that a six week class will not be the fix to my issues but I think any step up is a step in the right direction.

The other day I was talking to the homeopath about the coming of 2012 and her views on it. She said in paraphrase that anything that has not been beneficial in our lives will become so unbearable that we will be internally bound with a deep desire to change it. This is howi have been feeling for the past month is a deep desire to change some things that are not working for me. One of these is this overweight/overeating issue. There are others too but this one is important in so many ways. I want to be a good example for my girlies, show them how to be healthy emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally. I feel like coming to realizations with this issue will be beneficial in so many ways!

Is there any struggles you have that you are planning to work on as the year begins? Do you have any New Years Resolutions?