Best advice EVER from my boss...

Me:  I don't want to do _______________.
My boss: Just blow it off.

<3 her!

A week

The girls had a week off from school.  I love it when they don't go to school because I can sleep a little later.  I dislike having to get up so early every day.  They had a pretty low-key week, but not totally slug-like.  They worked on their science fair projects (a little), played with the guinea pig who came home for break, cleaned a little, took a day to play with their parents (see other blog), ran errands with their parents (boring) (we're doing lots for the new house right now), and cooked.


This weekend, I cooked a little.  No one wanted to help.  Tonight, I made a variation on this soup.  

1 32 oz. container of vegetable broth

~3 cups of water

2 bags of frozen cauliflower, carrot and broccoli mix -- note I pulled the broccoli out and didn't let it cook as long as the carrots and cauliflower.  

1 yukon gold potato, peeled, cubed into 1/2" cubes

1 chopped onion

1 26 oz box/can of chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon of turmeric

1 tablespoon of curry powder

1 tsp. of salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp red cayenne pepper (depending on how much kick you like!)

2 - 4 tablespoons of organic peanut butter (optional)

1 - 15 ounce cans of chickpeas, drained & rinsed (note, stick these in earlier)

1 bag of spinach (or add chopped greens of your choice)  I used the broccoli instead

My EASY directions

Put liquid (broth and water) in a big stock pan.

Add cauliflower, carrot, potato, and onion and boil.  Lose track of time because you are multi-tasking but note that they veggies are all pretty soft (most likely 20-30 minutes).  Add the chickpeas at the beginning (next time).

Add the spices and tomatoes and cook for a while longer (lose track of time--probably 10-15 minutes).  (Also, add the chickpeas if you forgot to add them at the beginning.)

Add the PB last in case some people in your family think the soup will be better without it.  (Note, it will taste MUCH spicier without the PB.)

Serve in a bowl like soup, or over rice.  (MWH wants to add that it goes well with sour dough bread!)

Last night I made black bean and kale burgers... recipe soon....  (All 3 of the girls ate the burgers!!!  Note, probably only about 1/6 a serving of kale per burger, but that's more kale than they usually eat in a black bean burger, so YAY!)  I also made these again and I'll tell you about them later, too.

twoK's turn

She says achoo, and sniffle. And cough.  Poor girl.  I'm hoping this cold doesn't go through all 3, but it's not too bad.

I was pretty miserable yesterday.  I thought I was getting better Friday, but then Saturday was still bad.  Today, I'm definitely recovering.  Maybe twoK will burn through it faster.  Little kids sometimes do.  Or maybe it will hit her harder.  That can happen, too.  Boy, is this a fun entry or what?  Don't answer.

Instead, I leave you with some quotes, or paraphrases of things I said while MWH and I were working on designing spaces for the new house.

1.  6 inches is NOT enough.  I need at least a foot.
2.  Is the space big enough to do the chicken dance?
3.  Wow, this feels big, but is it big enough?

Yes, they were all about design.  G-rated and all here.

(Also, for the record, twoK and I sold girl scout cookies today.  Lots of them.  Outside of a coffee shop.  Did you see us?)

ah... choo

Thursday:
Ugh.  I have a cold.  It's not too bad, but it's sneezy and sniffly.  And headachy.  But not too bad.  I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse than it is today.  The cold I had in October got worse for 2-3 days before it got better.  Let's hope this one isn't as bad.

I am pretty sure I got it when I was in 2nd grade (twoK's class) for the Valentine Day party; when I was there, the kiddos were coughing and sneezing all over the place.  I'm thrilled that I didn't get sick during the very busy work time that was November - about a week ago.  I'm sure that my body is a little worn down from all the stress.  I worked really hard to stay as healthy as I could while I was busy.  Moving on.

Oh, the other thing, my car got sick yesterday.  It is still in the shop.  It's got almost 100K on it, and I desperately wanted to see it turn over.  It should with a little help.  Again, just grateful that this didn't occur while I was really busy.

What else...

Friday:
The cold isn't worse than yesterday, but it's not better, either.  My car should be back today.  Next week is a week off of school for the girls!  I'm excited.  I'll take off some time to hang with them.  I'm going to figure out something fun to do with them for next Friday (a whole family day--we'll get MWH to take the day, too!).

Note to self... write about the new house!

A good but weird day

I had a friend from out of town visit me at work--it was fun, but it's odd when you have someone you don't usually see in your work place.

My pilates workout was cancelled because my trainer was sick.

I left work early because I am not super busy.

All of those things are UNUSUAL, and two were nice.  The worst was no pilates.  I still have my dance class tonight, fortunately.  Because it was such an unusual day, I keep feeling like I've forgotten something.  I don't think I have, but you know, when you don't do a usual routine, it just feels odd.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! Ah, love! I have 4 super valentines.  One tall, super husband and 3 short(er), but super daughters.

Part of tomorrow's festivities will include 2nd grade valentines!  I'm the Room Mom in twoK's classroom and I get to plan their valentine party.  I decided we should do chocolate fondue.  I then had NO IDEA how I could get chocolate fondue to be melty at school so I bought this.*  I'm super excited.  I think it'll be fun for the kids.  We'll dip fruit, pretzels, and a few other things and it won't be too sugary.  Oh!  I need to buy water for the party, still.  (I should get on that, or I could get it on the way in tomorrow.)

One last valentine thing...For oNe's valentines for her class, we made them.  Don't get all impressed with me as a crafty person, because I'm NOT, but we took pictures of their class pet and made 2 versions of a card.  oNe loves this pet, and so do the other kids, but probably not as much as oNe, but she's delighted!  I am too, and it's way more personal than the little cards you buy.  twoK and Three-a have the generic cards, but they are so young that it's okay--or at least that's how I rationalized it.  I'll work on something creative for them for next year.

Okay... Kind of a random post, but it was a random day.  Also, I got nothing on the baking front, today.  We were pretty busy this weekend, so I didn't get a chance to do those muffins I wrote about.  Maybe I'll get to them, tomorrow, or Wednesday, or this coming weekend.  On another note, I could give you an update on the new house, but I'll wait to do that later.  I should go do a little prep work for my class.  Hopefully a house update will be one of my next posts.


*PS, I'm thinking dark chocolate fondue will be a good dessert at a get-together, what do you think?  It can be vegan!

More baking fun...

I do plan to post about something other than my weekend baking adventures, but maybe not today... or maybe...  I'd like to write about "other people's parenting" but I haven't quite figured out what to say.  Other than I think that a lot of people indulge their children too much.


Of course, I am guilty of it, who isn't? However, I KNOW that if I didn't work, I'd be way more guilty of it.  I live in an area where a lot of moms don't work.  They focus, entirely, on their children.  Some of these children are so indulged.


When I compare myself to other moms, I worry that I don't do "enough" for my kids. On the other hand, I think that by being busy with things outside the help, I need them to do more; this helps them learn useful skills they can use in their lives.  The goal for this year is to help them be more in charge of their laundry.  I'll let you know how it goes.


Maybe it's okay to talk about baking.  Last weekend, Three-a and I baked so much and had a grand time.  And, I think she learned things (TM).  Okay... enough...


Back to baking! Here's what I'm going to try this weekend.
Chocolate Strawberry Muffins


Here are my intended changes to that recipe:

Ingredients:

10 medjool dates, pits removed

1 can (15 oz.) black beans

3 bananas

2 cups frozen organic strawberries, thawed

2 heaping tablespoons ground flaxseeds

¾ cup dark chocolate cocoa powder

½ cup whole-wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1)   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2)   In a large bowl, stir whole-wheat flour, baking soda and baking powder.

3)    Then, in a cup or small bowl mix ground flaxseed with ½ cup water and let sit for five minutes.

4)   Put aside dry mixture and in a Vitamix or blender, combine black beans, pitted dates, 2 bananas, cocoa powder, flaxseed gel (after sitting for the five minutes), vanilla and coffee extract.  Combine this mixture with the dry mixture and stir thoroughly until all the flour is mixed into the wet chocolately mixture.

5)   Chop up the 3^rd banana and stir in for some fun banana chunks in the final muffins.  Add whole defrosted strawberries (if there is “strawberry juice” in the bowl of defrosted strawberries, leave this out as it will make the batter too liquidy) and stir in these as well.

6)   In a 12-cup muffin pan place cupcake paper cups and using a spoon, scoop in batter in equal parts. Bake for 20-25 minutes and serve warm.

I'll let you know how it goes.  

cracker recipe

(The recipe I keep talking about (below).  From http://ohsheglows.com/.  


These Endurance Crackers are extremely light and crispy while providing long-lasting energy. They are also vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, and oil-free to boot! Feel free to change up the seasonings and spices as you wish. Nutritional info follows.

Print this recipe

Inspired by Chocolatree Café.

Yield: 22 large crackers

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chia seeds*
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup pepita seeds (or pumpkin seeds)
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup water
• 1 large garlic clove, finely grated
• 1 tsp grated sweet onion
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• Herbamare & kelp granules, to taste (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix the seeds together. In a small bowl, mix the water, grated garlic, and grated onion. Whisk well. Pour the water mixture onto the seeds and stir until thick and combined. Season with salt, and optional Herbamare and Kelp granules, to taste. Add spices or fresh herbs if you wish.

3. Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet with the back of a spoon until it’s less than 1/4 inch thick. Not to worry if a couple parts become too thin, you can just patch them up.

4. Bake at 325F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, slice into crackers, carefully flip onto other side with a spatula. Bake for another 30 minutes, watching closely after about 25 minutes. The bottoms will be lightly golden in colour. Allow to cool completely on the pan. Store in a container or plastic baggy.

Note: See the bottom of this post for where you can purchase chia seeds.

Nutritional Info: (per cracker, makes 22 large crackers): 77 kcals, 6 grams fat, 4 grams carbs, 0 grams sugar, 3 grams fibre, 3 gram protein.

The nutritional stats are impressive, eh?

Accomplished

I accomplished my goal of making these!  They are pretty tasty.  Unfortunately, my store didn't have brown sesame seeds, they only had black ones (in the bulk section), so my crackers aren't as pretty as the pictures on the other site.  In addition, I think I put in too much herbamare, or maybe too much salt... they are tasty, but next time I'll probably leave out the salt and just go for the herbamare, or hrm... Not sure.  But, yay!  Crackers!  From my oven!  (Note, need to copy the recipe over, but will later.)

Three-a and I baked the crackers and we also made these yummy chia apple cinnamon oatmeal squares.  Three-a was so excited that I let her help me cut up the apples with a sharp knife.  I was worried about her thumb and fingers, but she was very careful!  I was proud!  (MWH wanted to know why I didn't give her a non-sharp knife, but it wouldn't have been quite the same.  She's gotta learn sometime, right?  Obviously, I was very supervisor-y on the knife usage.)  (In addition, it was an apprenticeship.)

In other notes, I only added 1/4 cup xylitol tonight to the recipe.  After tasting the results, I know that last time I did use 1/2 cup.  They are less sweet, but still pretty tasty.  I'll have to see what MWH says about them and then decide whether to stick with 1/4 cup or add 1/2 cup of xylitol.  (His answer was, these would be GREAT with ice cream.  Last week, for my birthday, we tried this.  OMG.  It's good.  I won't eat it on a regular basis, but for special occasions, I'm set!)  Based on MWH's answer, I may try making these with Stevia.  We'll see.

Someday, I need to write up my thoughts on Xylitol versus Stevia, but not today.  Work is still busy.  It's going to be a busy week.  It should be better by Monday.

Baking this weekend

I wanna make these!