TGIF and kudos to blendtec

HAPPPY FRIDAY FOLKS!!!!  

Today was water play at school and would you believe that I ran off an left my swim wear at the house?!?!?  I had Aaron dig it out and everything.  I had it packed and in the bag ready to go next to my purse and realized as I was getting on the interstate that it was still on the bed.  Most of the teachers came in wearing their gear, but the bottoms are just so uncomfortable to wear, that whole stick to ya not cotton material like panties.  I had planned on changing when we got our 10:00 potty break, but told the kids not to spray me.  Most of them listened.  I had to remind our oldest kid and stay out of the way of one of the younger ones (he was just testing the distance it squirted).  

My CCT3 was stressed that it was going to be a challenge (she hates water days b/c of this fact), but we worked out a system to make it easier: send out a few kids at a time to start and slowly trickle them out and bring them back to class in the same order (that way only two or three are redressing at a time rather than 14/15 at once.  

The rest of the day was pretty busy too.  The ED son and the little girl who dances (can't remember the handle I've given her) would not listen when it was time to go to the gym so I sent them to the two's class.  I'm pretty sure it made the ED really upset; but I'd tried everything else I possibly could and he just would not listen.  The rest of the class had already missed some of their play time b/c of them and I didn't think it was fair for them to miss anymore.  I'm wondering if I get a 'lecture' about it next week.  

I haven't been recording my foods this week, no real reason other than it's just been late at night and I've been ready to turn in, but today I'll tell you (at least some of it).  I made a sundried tomato and basil hummus using the protec and it was AWESOME!!!!!  It wasn't the consistency I wanted; probably b/c I only wanted a single serving rather than using the entire can.  

Adapted from EveryDayMaven 

Ingredients

1/2 can beans, drained, cleaned, and deskinned

1/2 t garlic powder

1 T tahini

water (just to make the machine run)

2 T lemon juice

sprinkle to taste of salt, chili powder, a random spice blend in 

        the cabinet,

7 g s.d tomatoes (not the oil ones) and 7 leaves of fresh basil

        + 1/2 t d. basil

To make

I threw it all into the blendtec and processed until I was

        satisfied.  

*changes next time: heat the beans and water like Maven did and maybe use the oil packed s. d. tomatoes*  

**I don't know the WW points for this.  I weighed the serving and ate half**

I ate it w lots of fresh veggies and it was sooooo good!!!  Aaron actually liked it to and it got more herby and smoky over night.  

Aaron had the day off today so he was uber sweet and made us dinner: spinach mushroom feta stuffed chicken breast (his had bacon inside and out), mashed cauliflower for me, and steamed broccoli.  Thanks hun!  I only half the chicken breast and almost all the cauliflower (he made almost two cups).  

Allrighty off to bed.  My high today was the awesome dinner w hubs.

Do you ever make hummus and tweak?  Any tips on the silly skin on those beans?

maybe I'll be back in action

Well its been two months since I’ve done a journal entry; no real reason just busy (mini vacation & Aaron being gone regularly since so I’m almost like a single parent).  

I won’t bore you with everything that’s happened, just pick up like I didn’t stop (unless I remember something I want to share). 

Today was pretty basic.  I woke and paid bills.  We left the house around 12:30.  Today was the first day we took Sasha on an experiment of sorts: pet friendly restaurant.  She did well, guess it was easy considering we were the only people on the patio.  Aaron ordered the grouper tenders w ff and I had the ceviche.   The grouper was delish; nice an crisp and didn’t seem ‘deep fried’.  My ceviche was a bit over salt, and didn’t have extra cilantro like I asked.  The chips were gooood though.  

At the park Sasha played w a new puppy, Milo: a four month old mutt.  The parents didn’t seem to be okay w Sasha playing with her and tried to take her away a couple of times.  Trey (a guy who’s puppy I wanted to be Sasha’s bff and I think is ‘my type from highschool’ kind of dude) was there and straightened his hair for a wedding (I don’t think I’ve ever known a guy to fix his hair other than put gel in it).  

After park play we dropped her off w grandpa and ran some errands.  Hubs was down w me and my idea of sweet treats so we stopped at Sonic (he got a pb chocolate milkshake and I had a vanilla dish) and then stopped at Wal Mart, Goodwill, and ended at Aldi’s.  I found three shorts, two adorable pair of shoes, and a book that I really hope helps me (it’s all about hormone balance in women in relation to cycles).  I’m pretty excited to read it. 

Speaking of reading I’m in the middle of reading two books the first is an actual book and I’m only torturing myself so I can attend my book club through meetup that I really want to be involved in.  The other book Hailey let me borrow her Kindle (which Sasha chewed up the charging cord) to read.  I don’t see why the latter has been/gotten so popular.  It’s not that sexual, at least so far (first five or so chapters), more sensual (the guy takes care of her and is soooo supportive).  

At home it was pretty basic: dinner prep, put away groceries, and I tried a new recipe (& tweaked w another blogger out there that I just can not find!).  I’m waiting on it to cool now and then will add the store yogurt.  It took a bit longer to heat I think b/c I had it on low, next time it’ll be on high and I’ll make sure to close the silly lid!!!

While waiting for dinner I took care of my toes (I could have gone to a ‘spa day’ – 60 min massage, facial, mani, and green tea pedi), in order to save $ that I’ll spend on food events.  

Now we are watching SGU and I’m waiting on my milk to cool to 110/115*.  

SOOOOO to be responsible and all:

Bfast – banana

Lunch – ceviche, ½ order chips, some fries, and slaw

Snack – ice cream

Dinner – country style ribs, grilled mushrooms, & corn, 4oz vino, and a dessert drink

My high today is spending it w/ my hubs; it’s been a while w all the busy-ness we’ve had.

Have you ever done any of the ‘spa’ things?  

much better day plus lots of food details

Hmmm…… How was my day and what did I do???

Well during bfast I read my book.  I didn’t get a good nights sleep and managed to eat my food quickly so I ‘rested’ with the thought that I’d go to Kroger to get pork for dinner, however when the alarm went off Sasha came and cuddled w me.  Now when I say cuddled I should mention that she crawled into the chair w me w/out invite.  But I guess my wiggling/playing sort of seemed like I was patting so I allowed her to inch her way up.  it was nice cuddling w her for 15 more minutes.  Yes I’m living mommyhood through my four legs.  

At work I checked my email and had to clock in.  

The day was a bit better, my CCT3 was back and we were kind of low in numbers.  Actually we ended up being low in the afternoon too.  I honestly can’t think of anything worthy of noting through out the day.  Fortunately enough we were able to get out and do close to 45 minutes of paperwork.  I completed my summaries!!!  Now all I need to do is update the goals, which I’m hoping to do tomorrow during our time. 

I don’t think I remembered to tell you that the people I family (one child and three dogs) sit for are expecting.  I ran into the guy on Saturday at the dog park and he told me.  The lady is only 6 weeks along, which IMO is a bit early to tell people based on what I know.  I found out today during my pw time they are also getting married!  I talked to a coworker, the chick who gave him my no and didn’t get too much more info.  

Also the floater had her baby today at 6:30 a.m..  I thought it was strange that she was considered ‘in labor’ since Sunday evening.  Her water broke then.  However, to me, since I haven’t had kids, I would think labor really means the hours one is ‘pushing’ and trying to get the baby out rather than just ‘your-water-has-broken-the-baby-is-on-its-way’ time.  

On the way home I stopped at the store to get dinner, which put me getting home two minutes b/4 hubs (who went to the dog park).  

While making dinner I brought up to the hubs about him going with me to Paris this weekend, only to learn that he has to work at Rich’s both days this weekend.  

That’s really all for today. 

I sort of did better w food choices except for the damn crackers:

Bfast – strawberry mango parfait w banana greek yogurt 

IMO – the yogurt wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would

        be.  I’ll admit it was better than the last one I had, but wasn’t

        fully impressed.  Now I’ve got the pear one to try soon. 

Lunch – soup edited via my style

IMO – LOVED IT!!!!  I added crushed red pepper, Canadian

        steak seasoning, and garlic as well as some frozen veggies.

        Made almost the same thing for tomorrow!

Snacks – 2 mandarin oranges and a bunch of ritz crackers

Dinner – pork chop (pan seared), cheese rice (BLEH), steamed broccoli, & vino.

Dessert – spiked coffee (I really wanted a fig Newton, but they weren’t open, instead I had four wheatie cereals (bites).  

The best part about today is a toss up btwn finishing my summaries and sharing dinner w the hubs (we don’t have the exact same thing too terribly often) OH and we already basically know what we are having tomorrow! 

Hope you had a high for your day…

a new way to 'sneak' in a veggie

Today was another normal Sunday.  Sasha had to wake me up early again today.  The clock read 6:22, but at 7:45 I realized we forgot to set them forward; which means in reality when I picked up the phone at 7:45 it was really 8:45!  I called dad and thought we’d only chat for 15 or so minutes, but it ended up being a 45 min conversation.  It only ended b/c Sasha was ready to play!  

After getting all ready and gathering all my s%!+ together we went to the park.  Sasha was a big fat meany today!  There was a cute 5 ½ month mutt that was teeny and it was the first time she’d ever been to the park; well Sasha was very adamant in playing chomping on her neck!  I tried to get Sasha away and the little girl ran back out which was Sasha’s invite to play again.  After getting Sasha away the owner and little mutt left :’(.  

Another curious happening; some trendy fashion gal had a pit bull girl.  I don’t mind the breed, but they didn’t match, know what I mean?

Before going to IL’s we stopped at Aldi’s so I could get a few items.  She had lots of fun playing w Bosco and I’m pretty sure she allowed him to satisfy himself.  Normally she sits down when dogs try to do it, but she just stood there and stared at me while he tried.  

While they played I did the normal net things: email, blogs, pinterest, & winery research.  

At my abode I prepped and made dinner, washed dishes, and made lunch.  Hubby helped a little.  Now we are watching House and it’s an episode that’s got Joe from Medium and his name is Joe in this too!!!

Kay, now to wrap it up:

Bfast – apple spiced farina

Lunch – crab salad 

½ serving crab

1 stick celery

2 pickles (1 sweet & 1 sliced burger dill)

1 radish

1 roma tomato

MIX w a squirt of mustard and a dollop of s.c.

TOP spinach and romaine w ‘salad’, sprinkle Old Bay &

        SERVE!  

IMO – I LOVED IT!!!  If I had time and planed ahead it

                might be even better if he had time to ‘merry’.  

Snack – 1/3 celery w pb, a handful of trail mix, ice coffee

Dinner – Hawaiian Pizza over Cauliflower crust

4 oz LO Christmas ham

¼ fresh pineapple

2/3 can tomato sauce 

Abundant amt of chz

MAKE ‘crust’ to this recipe – do it in smaller pizzas; we did

        one big rectangle and the middle was extremely soft!

TOP and leave in warm oven for cheese to melt

IMO – TASTY!!!! Hubs said he really liked it and we

                could make it again.  Next time we will do it smaller.  

Dessert – pumpkin spice pop tart w spiked java

Most about my pizza being a hit!!!

If you’ve made the crust b/4 got ne tips?

another long day

Well I’m ready for bed!  Sasha refused to let me sleep in!  I didn’t get home and in bed till 1!!!!  She wanted me up and out at 7.  I’m pretty sure I could have slept in a little longer.  

Since I was up, bfast was consumed and load of laundry was done.  Afterwards we left for the park.  Nobody there to remember.  Then we visited Bosco.  I ate lunch and watched an episode of Cupcake Wars.  Have you ever watched it?  The host is so adorable, in a little boy way.  

Then I got to work on the net.  I finally finished all 26 pages of the wineries in Sonoma.  There are way more places I want to visit than I expected.  I also saved some fish recipes to satisfy my craving.  

Hubby got off later than we expected, so dinner was made late.  I’ll get to that in a minute:

Bfast – greek yogurt

Lunch – LO Mexican (bleh)

Dinner – this fish recipe (no picture b/c it looks like pasty ass), wild rice, grilled zucchini

IMO – I’m so not a big fan of ‘baked fish’.  I know it was

        done on the grill, but being in the foil pack made it bake.

        Aaron liked it and said we could make it again.  Next time I’ll

        just throw it on the grill instead.  I had him make the rice, and

        of course he f’d it up as usual.  I baked/tossed it in the oven to 

        dry it out and it got a little better.  I mixed it w straight butter

        and that made it yummy.  

Dessert – 2 cookies and spiked coffee

I didn’t have a high today.  Wait I’m glad to be done w those pages!!!!

Do you have a tasty fish dish that’s not fried or taco’s?  Please share…

lots and lots of info!

Wow this morning was an icky one!  I was eating my bfast and Sasha girl lost hers right in front of me! 

At work I finally realized how to help Dear Fussy, not sure I mentioned this but she’s been in panties all week too!  Anyways she’s gotten to where she says really mean things to me and asks for my CCT3….soooooo duh why have I been ‘fighting’ it so to speak this entire time?!?!  Now I kind of just let my CCT3 do everything w the little girl.  Why on earth would I willingly cause a breakdown when just letting my CCT3 helps and the task is done in less than two minutes? 

We got paperwork again today!  My old CCT1 came in at 2:05!  Fortunately enough for us I mentioned to my CCT3 to have her stuff ready so she could head right out.  I went to the ladies room and then she went.  My partner in crime took the entire time, an hour and forty five minutes at least.  The DR had scheduled the new fill in chick to come in for an hour (from 3:30 – 4:30) and that was my time.  She didn’t really come in till 3:35 and I had to help settle everybody in so I really only got forty five minutes.  I recorded it on our calendar just in case somebody wants to ask when I do my business.  I need to have the balls to say to my CCT3 that we should split it better. 

On my way home I had a bad feeling about my car b/c I knew my oil was low, at least had a pretty good idea it was.  When I pulled into the driveway I checked it and my feeling was correct.  I headed to Wal Mart.  Horrible idea at the time.  There was an accident of some sort about two blocks from the store and it took two of three lanes out.  Once I finally got there I was super quick getting the stuff I needed (I decided to make a dish for baby shower tomorrow – after pondering it over forever).  When I got in the car I realized I forgot the entire reason I was there; the OIL!!!  So I had to pull around back and get some; however I also discovered that my battery actually has a 3 yr warranty and I got it in July of 12’. 

Back home I got busy on my ‘salad’.  I used this recipe w a few tweaks of my own

            I didn’t use the corn subbed bell peppers.  Used roma and a vine tomatoes instead of the babies.  

            And since I love me some red onion did that instead of yellow.  I also used black, kidney, and

            chickpeas. 

            IMO – the first bite was kind of weird, kind of a little extra spice or something.  It’ll calm I’m sure

            once all the flavors ‘merry’. 

Okay, my belly is full and I’m ready to relax.  My eats:

Bfast – peach blueberry 7 grain

Snacks – crackers w cheese and pretzels

Lunch – soup spiked w veggies and extra flavors (I put bay leaves in and LOVED it, as well as crushed red pepper) 

Snacks – cheese cubes and grapes

Dinner – an instant Asian ramen noodles that was flavored chili and lemongrass. 

            IMO – ehhh.  It was supposed to be a soup like I think, but I didn’t want it that runny so I nuked it

            way longer than the directions said and I think it killed the flavors.  I tossed it w shrimp too. 

Time to hit the sack, the best part of today is getting some extra paperwork time.

Do you eat canned soup?  How?

HAPPY DANCE at our house!

Today I was a responsible employee!  Instead of taking the ten or so mins I had to check my email b/4 clocking in I was productive for work reasons!  Since the co has screwed me so often on tidbits here and there I’ve taken every min of my time and clock in and out on the dot as often as possible. 

The day was pretty easy overall.  None of our challenging children had fits, I made progress on all my vday needs, and I had a semi relaxing afternoon.  Semi due to the four kids refusing to clean up even though they know they need to and had plenty of warning time.  ERRRRR; I told the buggers that we will not play in h.l. in the afternoon tomorrow. 

During my lunch break I had just enough time to check emails, read blogs, and post my pics from Thursday.  Maybe tomorrow I will be able to upload the rest from the weekend. 

When I got off work I called Aaron and discovered he got off early today (and for the next month and a half) and was at the dog park w Sasha!  I was so jealous! 

Nothing out of the norm at la casa other than I mixed some recipes to create a semi new one.  Not posting pics b/c it wasn’t pretty, at least not till after I soaked up the excess liquid.  *go to bottom for my changes*

Just remembered that the blogger let me know my ?, this chick just recaps this other chick; so that she isn’t getting revenue to her site.  There seems to be quite a bit of peeps who dislike the latter. 

K, we are watching the most recent Bourne and then off to bed.  Just so I remember:

Bfast – fresh pineapple and banana oatmeal

            IMO – was okay.  Probably better if I add some coconut extract

Snacks – berry medley, mandarin orange, kiwi, & six veggie straws

Lunch – LO soup w added chickpeas and baby limas as well as lots of spices (I can’t even remember them all, which is a shame b/c it made the soup way better! As in I’d buy it again if I could recreate this).

Dinner – Caprese Style Bake

            IMO – amazing!!!!  I can’t believe that even after roasting the s.squash for an hour (yesterday) and

cooking it in liquid for another forty five plus there was tons of it in the bottom.  Aaron said

we could repeat it, but maybe add some meat next time..  I also loved how the squash kept

it’s al dente bite!  SOOO going to have to buy this veggie more often. 

Now if you want to make it:

NEED:

1 apprx 4lb spaghetti squashed (roasted, shredded, and probably drained)

3 c tomato sauce of choice (I used my homemade Roasted Garden Veggie Tomato Soup)

½ ball of fresh mozzarella – cut into small pieces

2 vine ripened tomatoes – sliced or ‘cubed’

Basil – did not measure b/c I love the stuff and just sprinkled it on to every layer

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

¾ c Italian Cheese Blend – more if desired

Crushed red pepper

ASSEMBLE:

Preheat oven to 350

In 9x9 pan layer:

Spaghetti squash – 1 c sauce – 1 tomato – ½ mozzarella cheese – 1 tbsp b. vinegar sprinkled – basil

REPEAT

Top w last 1/3 of spaghetti squash – 1 c sauce – sprinkle ¾ c cheese over top

Bake for 30 mins covered.  Another 5-10 uncovered.  Let set for 5 mins, drain if necessary. 

I appreciate the idea from these two ladies and hope you’ll try a version of your own. 

SOOOO glad that the hubs will be home at a decent hour for the next month and half!

Thank you for letting me tell you my way of doing the pasta.  Have you made a dish with this veggie?  Please do share…

just a good ol' day

Can you believe that January of 13 is over?!??!  I wonder how all those people who thought we were ending in Dec. 12’ feel? I have to admit I had suspicions just b/c of what was going on w the peeps we know, but once it got closer it didn’t feel any different really.  I wonder if it’s supposed to or not?

Anyways on the way to work this morning I heard the horrible news about an amber alert out of Memphis.  A 24 yr old black male, black hair, and brown eyes stabbed the mother of his two month old, was nice enough to take her to the hospital (I think if I heard correctly) and then kidnapped the infant. 

I had a few minutes to spare b/4 clocking in and finally got all my late entries posted!  I can not believe that I’ve finally caught up!  The only thing I didn’t complete was link love and I did that on my lunch. 

The morning went really well.  In the 1^st room I chatted w the Metro SLP, I’d love to make friends w her, she seems like my kind of people.  Then in our room I was able to finish my basket drawings for our art and my CCT3 helped me cut out more (larger too) images for the kids to paste like they were packing a basket to take to grandma’s like Red.  Morning circle went really well.  It actually went for an extra seven minutes!  The best part was the kids telling the story of Red and The Pigs.  By the end of the The Pigs you would have thought we were having a party it was loud and involved. 

Some of the kids really loved the art, esp Dear Fussy.  She kept asking for specific foods to go in her basket so I was scrambling to find them.  She stuck w the activity for so long she didn’t have a chance to get in to a tizzy. 

Nap was a little rough, there were three aftercare children who just did not want to nap! 

The afternoon went smoothly too and we actually got paperwork time!  Not the full 1 ½ like we were supposed to, but good enough for me to complete my summaries!!! (I did the other half yesterday)  The kids enjoyed our math circle and majority of them got involved. 

Aftercare was pretty easy.  The kids thought my ‘game’ (really goal) was fun and then we danced until it was time for us to go. 

Pretty nice huh?!?!  The reason I do what I do. 

At home Sasha and I got to play outside for twenty minutes or so.  The guy two houses down asked if we had somebody taken care of our tree yet, funny thing is I couldn’t hear him so Sasha and I walked over there and he was scared of her!  She’s 4 ½ months tomorrow, can’t wait to see how much she’s grown in a couple of weeks.  BTW I still haven’t looked up that bug yet.  Aaron said it was a hair follicle bug that just makes her itch. 

Then I came in and marinated dinner, took care of cleaning, and then prepped my lunch and got dinner started.  I decided to make fried rice finally and took responsibility to make the rice yesterday (after two days of waiting on hubby to make it).  However DA me didn’t take it out of our fancy schmancy hold all the heat in pots so the rice on the bottom was still soft, damp, and easily mashed; so in other words made fryin hard!  By the third scoop I realized a little trick: get the skillet hot, pour oil in, and WAIT for that oil to get hot.  That was the greatest sound ever: little crispy rice poppin sound.  I made two separate batches of rice; the first had way more oil so I let Aaron eat it since he can have the extra cals and I ate the second which was just lightly fried IMO. 

For anybody who ever stumbles across this here’s what I did:

In advance marinate meat (we did country style ribs from Aldi’s – so frickin’ tender)

            dashes of: garlic asian spice (garlic, white pepper, and ginger)

                             wasabi powder

                             hoision sauce

                             soy sauce

            smaller dashes: fish sauce

                                      rice and apple cider vineager

We have these vacuum seal sucker containers that marinate in 30 mins, but I should have done this earlier, you too if you want more flavor. 

Sautee: ½ bell pepper (mine was orange for color contrast)

             3 leaves of purple cabbage

             ½ purple onion

Set in dish in warm oven to maintain heat

Working in serving spoonful batches now – heat skillet, heat oil, dump in rice and stir stir stir.  Once crispy place in warmed dish w veggies and continue w the rest of the rice. 

Now it’s time to prepare meat. 

Cook in reserved rice oil till nice and brown.  (I left the juices which made for softer bites, if you want crispier ones pour off marinate first). 

Serve in bowls and top w Sriracha and extra Soy, eat w chopsticks b/c it’s fun!!!!

Okay, now that I’ve gotten the silly bug out I’ll tell you about all my eats today:

Bfast – blueberry peach oatmeal

Snacks – clementine’s and a piece of cheese

Lunch – another new soup from Campbell’s (1 serving = 3PP) w cilantro, sriracha, and extra veggies

             IMO - will buy again!  Tasty and filling.  The rice is a bit strange, but love the beans in it.  Def good

                        good in a pinch.

Snacks – grapes galore

Dinner – fried rice served like Biz; she always puts a bed of spinach underneath her food.  I love that idea and going to try to incorporate it when I can.  It was really pretty: orange, purple, and green w a gorgeous glass of vino.  I also ate two extra bites of Aarons b/c I like to taste how he changes his and the 2^nd bite was b/c he just couldn’t finish. 

Dessert – 2 chocolate covered espresso beans and one chili truffle. 

Now onto the best part of the day, oh wait totally forgot to complain about the thing that pissed me off most today!!!!  Did I mention that I didn’t get paid for a half hour of OT last period?  Well I didn’t, not at all, not OT or even my regular rate!  I emailed the DR early this week; Mon or Tue and she never got back w me, but we have to hand in our time sheets tomorrow so I really need to know whats going on…. Sooo I went into her office and asked.  Basically the payroll lady said she isn’t going to pay me OT b/c she paid snow pay (we closed early one day during that week, but I didn’t get snow pay b/c I was to leave at 4 anyways), but she would pay me my regular rate for the half hour. 

My ? is – since I don’t get the OT time, do I get the snow pay?  If I don’t then I should totally get OT.  Does this make sense?  I know what I mean, hope she does too b/c I’m going to try and talk to her tomorrow.  Or I though about just adding in 1 hour snow and ½ hour of regular time and see what happens and go from there. 

Okay now onto the best part; the kids telling the story after circle time.  I really wish we could have video taped it. 

Can you eat with chopsticks?  My MIL can’t and it’s fun to try teaching her!  Thanks for letting me vent there in the end…