Ok...quick recap of the past few months:
- Did this crazy insane GORUCK Challenge with the husband and I'm pretty sure that's the hardest thing I've ever done, mentally and physically. My body hated me for the next couple of days. Going to breakfast the morning immediately following the challenge (the challenge was an all night thing) was almost comical...Dude and I could barely get out of his truck and walk into the restaurant...once we were in there, sitting down was just as ridiculous. People around us probably thought we were crazy.
- Went to a friend's wedding in California, which was LOVELY! Pasadena was pretty and we walked from our hotel in old town Pasadena to Huntington Gardens, where the guy at the gate was pretty amazed that walked that whole way (we also meandered through the Cal Tech campus on the way over there, so we're guessing we walked about 4.5 to 5 miles). We're pretty sure that the original owner of the house we live in used to be a gardener at Huntington, based on conversations we've had with the person we bought the house from, who was related to the original owner.
- Bought some sweet red skinny jeans...red = awesome.
- Went to Roswell, NM for Thanksgiving and visited with family
- Went to Las Cruces, NM for Dude's cousin's graudation, visisted with family some more, went and saw White Sands National Monument, which was also pretty cool.
- Went home for Christmas and spent even more time with family. Love me some family time! Christmas was wonderful, as it always is, and I definitely believe that it's more fun to give than to receive...I really enjoy watching family members open gifts!
Now it's almost NYE and for the first time in two years, Dude and I are actually in our house and will be sleeping in our own bed! Yay! Last NYE we were at a destination wedding (Crested Butte, CO) for my super good friend Mere and her hubby Dean. The year before that we were at a destination wedding (Riudoso, NM) for Dude's cousin. Currently our NYE plans include going to bed at a decent hour (i.e. before midnight) and waking up to smoke some meat on New Years day. Are we party animals or what?
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
New Years Resolution
...one of those resolutions this year will be to stop being a lazy bum and start blogging at least once a week. I promise, more stories to come!!
Friday, September 2, 2011
Hands are important!
So this week has been an interesting one! On Monday afternoon I did a re-test on Angie at Crossfit...if you recall it's 100 pull ups, push ups, sit ups and air squats. During the pull ups, I managed to rip three very large, painful areas on my hands. Left middle finger, left palm and right palm just under the ring finger. This was VERY painful, a little messy (gross) and SUPER frustrating. There may have been some tears involved. Needless to say, Monday night and pretty much all day Tuesday my hands were useless. Showering was almost comical on Tuesday morning...I couldn't get my hands soapy without my hands burning in pain. Washing my hair was done really with my finger tips. My co-workers were lucky I even attempted to "fix" my hair (blow drying and/or putting product in your hair when you have large open wounds on the palms is practically impossible) and get dressed when coming in to work that day. It was kind of ridiculous.
Then Wendesday, I was doing better...I could wash my hands without yelping in pain and I was able to grip things firmly (steering wheel, door knob, etc.). I was feeling pretty good about things! I go home and start making dinner on Wednesday night...it's about 6:00 and we're having burgers for dinner. I decide I wanted to grate some onion to throw in with the hamburger meat when I make the patties. I grabbed the white onion out of the fridge and chop it in half. Then I think, "I'll use the grater function on the food processor so I don't end up grating my knuckles! I'm so smart!" You know when you grate food and then end up scraping your knuckles against the grater? Yeah, it freakin' hurts. So I thought I'd be brilliant and avoid that pain. So I get out the food processor, put the grater disk on it and set it all up. Then I think, "Hmm, in order to fit the onion down the little chute thing, I'd better cut it oooone or two more times." So I put the onion flat on the cutting board and start cutting (with our newly sharpened big chef's knife) horizontally. As I'm cutting sideways, with my thumb on one end for stability, I'm thinking "Shoot, I need to be really careful about this...it's kind of dangerous and I could cut myself! Focus, Jenni, focus." Then two seconds later I slice a large gash in my left thumb. Greatness.
I really think the knife went all the way through the onion, through my thumb and bounced off the bone. I dropped the knife and grabbed my thumb really quickly. There was no blood on the knife, no blood running through my fingers, and I was jumping up and down and trying to psych myself up to look at it. I knew I needed to get a paper towel or something to hold against my sliced thumb, so I walked over to the paper towel holder, let go of my thumb and looked at it as I ripped off the paper towel. Yep, I had a cut that looked to be at least an inch long and both sides of the cut seemed to move about pretty freely, meaning it was probably pretty deep. Blood started to seep to the surface pretty quickly after I let go, so I grabbed the thumb once again, holding pressure on it with the paper towel. I then called Dude, since he was not home yet. I asked where he was, and if he'd left work yet. He had, but he was still about 20 minutes away, so I calmly told him that I was going to CareNow (which is a minor emergency room approximately 5 minutes away, thank goodness!) because I had cut my thumb "pretty bad." I proceeded to drive myself to CareNow (while holding pressure on my left thumb with the rest of my left hand...I'm pretty impressed with myself, not gonna lie).
When I got to CareNow, I calmly told the receptionist that no, I had not done a "web check-in", but I had just cut my thumb and I was probably bleeding profusely. She was super nice and had me sign a couple of things and take the little condition sheet back into the triage area with me. By the time I got into the actual triage area and the nurse came in, Dude had gotten there and was sitting with me. The nurse reiterated the fact that, yes, I had infact sliced through my thumb and I would need stitches. She used some gauze and tied a knot around my thumb (mini-tourniquet) then let me sit with my thumb in some soapy water for about 30 minutes until the P.A. showed up to give me the stitches. The soapy water only stung for like, ten seconds, so I couldn't really complain. I told Dude, "Oh wow, look at that! The blood is just sinking to the bottom of this bowl of water! Ewwwwww...". To which he replied, "Yeah...because blood is thicker than water...". So THAT'S where that saying comes from! :) Good to know!
The P.A. finally came in and looked at the cut and confirmed once again that I'd need stitches. I had never had stitches before so it was kind of exciting in a weird, masochistic way. Then I find out that they have to give you a shot of lidocaine IN YOUR FREAKING WOUND!!!!! WHAAAAT?! Yes, it turns out that when you get stitches, they numb the area (hooray!) but the way they have to do that is by giving you a shot of numbing stuff (which does sting like the dickens regardless of where its shot) and the needle goes INSIDE your cut! Hoe. Lee. Crap. Yes, there was a small, high pitched yelp/scream/whine when I got that first shot. I'm sure the people in the rooms around me either got a kick out of it or were terrified for their own fate. It hurt and I hope to not ever have to deal with that again!
Once my thumb was all numb and funny feeling, I got four stitches and then the nurse came back in, cleaned me up and wrapped it in a crap-ton of gauze. They gave me a perscription for pain meds (tramadol) and I went on my merry way, unable to feel my thumb and pretty happy that whole thing was over. They told me to come back the next day so they could make sure it wasn't getting infected. I figured I'd just do it over lunch, it's close enough to work and easy to get in. So I fill my perscription, come home, and then the pain starts up. I take one of the pain pills @ 9:15ish and try to go to bed @ 10:00. I am tired but I couldn't really fall asleep b/c my thumb was still kinda throbbing (but you're only supposed to take one pill every 4-6 hours). I ended up in that stage between sleep & awake...and I stayed that way ALL NIGHT LONG! I got up to pee in the middle of the night and checked the clock thinking, "Surely it must be 2 or 3 in the morning by now." No, it was only midnight. :( At 3:40 I got up and took another pain pill. I went back to a restless "sleep" until 6:45, and then dragged myself out of bed. I felt like ABSOLUTE crap. The more I got up and around the worse I felt. I was nauseous and kind of dizzy, but I was adamant about going to work. "I'll be fine when I get there..." was what I was telling myself. I got there (yeah, I probably shouldn't have been driving at that point) and tried to get some work done, but I still felt like I was going to faint, puke and die, all at the same time. I talked to my senior and she told me to do what I needed to do and just keep her informed (I really do love my job!).
I decided at about 9:45 that I was not really getting anything accomplished, so I went ahead and did the web check-in for CareNow to make my follow up "appointment." I figured they'd call me at around 11:00, then I'd just go home after that. Luckily for me, they called me right away and told me to come on in b/c they weren't really busy. So I told people that I was leaving for the day, went to CareNow, and tried to sleep on their little exam room table. I really did feel terrible, and I think I looked it as well (my co-worker told me that I "looked like crap and should go home", so I figure no one questioned my sick feeling). The doctor looked @ my thumb and said everything looked like it was healing nicely. She also told me if I didn't think I could drive I could stay for a while...but since I live 5 minutes from the facility, all I wanted to do was go home, change, and lay on my couch. Which I did. No more pain meds for me! That stuff was WAY too strong for my stomach. At one point when I was laying on my couch after I got home, I really did think, "Oh wow, is this how I'm going to die?" Yeah. It was that bad.
Luckily I didn't die, and at about 1:30 I finally felt good enough to get up and get on the computer and log in to work from home. I managed to do a few things, and I actually ate a 1/2 cup of white minute rice at around 3:30. I needed to go to the store to get stuff for dinner (fish was on the menu that night) and so I ran to the local Tom Thumb. After that trip I felt exhausted and a little woozy again, so I came home and sat for a little while. Things started looking up after that though, and I was able to get some sleep that night (pretty sure I was ready for bed by 8:30) and was able to let my thumb air out for a bit. I went to work today (Friday) and have been feeling good all day! From now on, if I hurt, Advil will be the strongest thing I'll be taking!
Although my thumb is on the road to recovery, I've decided it's really hard to do certain things without the full use of a thumb! Opening bottles? Hard to do with your left thumb out of commission! Certain pulling motions kind of hurt! Holding multiple items? Again, difficult without the use of one of your opposable thumbs! Showering is hard, but not as hard as it was when I had the open wounds on both of the palms. The "alt+tab" function kind of hurts when I use my thumb...so I have to use my forefinger and pinky now. I'm pretty sure any barbell workouts will be off limits for a while, and pull ups will be difficult. Also, eating chicken wings is REALLY hard without full use of both hands. Sigh. :( Life's difficulties. Pity me (Yes I am being sarcastic. Kind of.).
Then Wendesday, I was doing better...I could wash my hands without yelping in pain and I was able to grip things firmly (steering wheel, door knob, etc.). I was feeling pretty good about things! I go home and start making dinner on Wednesday night...it's about 6:00 and we're having burgers for dinner. I decide I wanted to grate some onion to throw in with the hamburger meat when I make the patties. I grabbed the white onion out of the fridge and chop it in half. Then I think, "I'll use the grater function on the food processor so I don't end up grating my knuckles! I'm so smart!" You know when you grate food and then end up scraping your knuckles against the grater? Yeah, it freakin' hurts. So I thought I'd be brilliant and avoid that pain. So I get out the food processor, put the grater disk on it and set it all up. Then I think, "Hmm, in order to fit the onion down the little chute thing, I'd better cut it oooone or two more times." So I put the onion flat on the cutting board and start cutting (with our newly sharpened big chef's knife) horizontally. As I'm cutting sideways, with my thumb on one end for stability, I'm thinking "Shoot, I need to be really careful about this...it's kind of dangerous and I could cut myself! Focus, Jenni, focus." Then two seconds later I slice a large gash in my left thumb. Greatness.
I really think the knife went all the way through the onion, through my thumb and bounced off the bone. I dropped the knife and grabbed my thumb really quickly. There was no blood on the knife, no blood running through my fingers, and I was jumping up and down and trying to psych myself up to look at it. I knew I needed to get a paper towel or something to hold against my sliced thumb, so I walked over to the paper towel holder, let go of my thumb and looked at it as I ripped off the paper towel. Yep, I had a cut that looked to be at least an inch long and both sides of the cut seemed to move about pretty freely, meaning it was probably pretty deep. Blood started to seep to the surface pretty quickly after I let go, so I grabbed the thumb once again, holding pressure on it with the paper towel. I then called Dude, since he was not home yet. I asked where he was, and if he'd left work yet. He had, but he was still about 20 minutes away, so I calmly told him that I was going to CareNow (which is a minor emergency room approximately 5 minutes away, thank goodness!) because I had cut my thumb "pretty bad." I proceeded to drive myself to CareNow (while holding pressure on my left thumb with the rest of my left hand...I'm pretty impressed with myself, not gonna lie).
When I got to CareNow, I calmly told the receptionist that no, I had not done a "web check-in", but I had just cut my thumb and I was probably bleeding profusely. She was super nice and had me sign a couple of things and take the little condition sheet back into the triage area with me. By the time I got into the actual triage area and the nurse came in, Dude had gotten there and was sitting with me. The nurse reiterated the fact that, yes, I had infact sliced through my thumb and I would need stitches. She used some gauze and tied a knot around my thumb (mini-tourniquet) then let me sit with my thumb in some soapy water for about 30 minutes until the P.A. showed up to give me the stitches. The soapy water only stung for like, ten seconds, so I couldn't really complain. I told Dude, "Oh wow, look at that! The blood is just sinking to the bottom of this bowl of water! Ewwwwww...". To which he replied, "Yeah...because blood is thicker than water...". So THAT'S where that saying comes from! :) Good to know!
The P.A. finally came in and looked at the cut and confirmed once again that I'd need stitches. I had never had stitches before so it was kind of exciting in a weird, masochistic way. Then I find out that they have to give you a shot of lidocaine IN YOUR FREAKING WOUND!!!!! WHAAAAT?! Yes, it turns out that when you get stitches, they numb the area (hooray!) but the way they have to do that is by giving you a shot of numbing stuff (which does sting like the dickens regardless of where its shot) and the needle goes INSIDE your cut! Hoe. Lee. Crap. Yes, there was a small, high pitched yelp/scream/whine when I got that first shot. I'm sure the people in the rooms around me either got a kick out of it or were terrified for their own fate. It hurt and I hope to not ever have to deal with that again!
Once my thumb was all numb and funny feeling, I got four stitches and then the nurse came back in, cleaned me up and wrapped it in a crap-ton of gauze. They gave me a perscription for pain meds (tramadol) and I went on my merry way, unable to feel my thumb and pretty happy that whole thing was over. They told me to come back the next day so they could make sure it wasn't getting infected. I figured I'd just do it over lunch, it's close enough to work and easy to get in. So I fill my perscription, come home, and then the pain starts up. I take one of the pain pills @ 9:15ish and try to go to bed @ 10:00. I am tired but I couldn't really fall asleep b/c my thumb was still kinda throbbing (but you're only supposed to take one pill every 4-6 hours). I ended up in that stage between sleep & awake...and I stayed that way ALL NIGHT LONG! I got up to pee in the middle of the night and checked the clock thinking, "Surely it must be 2 or 3 in the morning by now." No, it was only midnight. :( At 3:40 I got up and took another pain pill. I went back to a restless "sleep" until 6:45, and then dragged myself out of bed. I felt like ABSOLUTE crap. The more I got up and around the worse I felt. I was nauseous and kind of dizzy, but I was adamant about going to work. "I'll be fine when I get there..." was what I was telling myself. I got there (yeah, I probably shouldn't have been driving at that point) and tried to get some work done, but I still felt like I was going to faint, puke and die, all at the same time. I talked to my senior and she told me to do what I needed to do and just keep her informed (I really do love my job!).
I decided at about 9:45 that I was not really getting anything accomplished, so I went ahead and did the web check-in for CareNow to make my follow up "appointment." I figured they'd call me at around 11:00, then I'd just go home after that. Luckily for me, they called me right away and told me to come on in b/c they weren't really busy. So I told people that I was leaving for the day, went to CareNow, and tried to sleep on their little exam room table. I really did feel terrible, and I think I looked it as well (my co-worker told me that I "looked like crap and should go home", so I figure no one questioned my sick feeling). The doctor looked @ my thumb and said everything looked like it was healing nicely. She also told me if I didn't think I could drive I could stay for a while...but since I live 5 minutes from the facility, all I wanted to do was go home, change, and lay on my couch. Which I did. No more pain meds for me! That stuff was WAY too strong for my stomach. At one point when I was laying on my couch after I got home, I really did think, "Oh wow, is this how I'm going to die?" Yeah. It was that bad.
Luckily I didn't die, and at about 1:30 I finally felt good enough to get up and get on the computer and log in to work from home. I managed to do a few things, and I actually ate a 1/2 cup of white minute rice at around 3:30. I needed to go to the store to get stuff for dinner (fish was on the menu that night) and so I ran to the local Tom Thumb. After that trip I felt exhausted and a little woozy again, so I came home and sat for a little while. Things started looking up after that though, and I was able to get some sleep that night (pretty sure I was ready for bed by 8:30) and was able to let my thumb air out for a bit. I went to work today (Friday) and have been feeling good all day! From now on, if I hurt, Advil will be the strongest thing I'll be taking!
Although my thumb is on the road to recovery, I've decided it's really hard to do certain things without the full use of a thumb! Opening bottles? Hard to do with your left thumb out of commission! Certain pulling motions kind of hurt! Holding multiple items? Again, difficult without the use of one of your opposable thumbs! Showering is hard, but not as hard as it was when I had the open wounds on both of the palms. The "alt+tab" function kind of hurts when I use my thumb...so I have to use my forefinger and pinky now. I'm pretty sure any barbell workouts will be off limits for a while, and pull ups will be difficult. Also, eating chicken wings is REALLY hard without full use of both hands. Sigh. :( Life's difficulties. Pity me (Yes I am being sarcastic. Kind of.).
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Commercials are making us dumber
I have a problem with commercials. Some of them are funny...I will admit I get a giggle out of a few (ESPN commercials especially). But others...they're just dumb, and they make me angry. And they make us all dumber. I will go over a few particular examples and why they annoy me. And this isn't all of them, just the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.
1) Product: Unknown, Selling point: Whole grains make you lose weight.
So I don't even know what the commercial is selling (something grain-y), some product geared towards women who want to slim down. Whatever. It starts with two women talking (again, I don't even know where they are or what they're doing, I'm just so irritated with the commercial I tune it all out). One woman says to the other, "You look great! (maybe also You've lost weight...I'm not sure) How do you do it?" while the other replies, "Eating right. Whole grains!" Then the commercial goes on to say something along the lines of "Studies show that people who eat whole grains tend to weigh less." I find this ridiculous/funny because they are IMPLYING that eating whole grains will cause you to lose weight, however they know they can't outright say it in their commercial, so they just say that people who eat whole grains "tend" to weigh less. That's like saying women who wear sports bras "tend" to weigh less than those who don't. Correlation DOES NOT EQUAL causality. People who eat whole grains (and women who wear sports bras) are doing it because they're health concious (and the women in sports bras are probably going to the gym). Health concious people are more likely to not eat a bunch of sugar, they probably watch their calorie intake, and they also probably try to excercise. Eating whole grains does not cause weight loss. Don't be fooled by their implications and their bad science! Use your own logical minds! "Suzie likes the color red. Suzie is a girl. Therefore, all girls like the color red." FALSE! Just because the chick in the commercial eats whole grains and is looking "great" does not mean that eating whole grains is going to make everyone who eats them skinny!
2) Product: Tyson Chicken Nuggets, Selling point: Kids like them
This commercial (and others in this commercial series) is really irritating. Okay, so kids are picky. So instead of making them eat their veggies or whatever dinner you put in front of them, you're going to let them just eat whatever they want? What about when they need to eat those things? I'm not a parent, so I have NO idea how difficult this will be when the time comes, but as it stands now I have a feeling I'll be a mean mom and will say to my kid, "Tough cookies, eat your dadgum green beans! I didn't eat my veggies when I was a kid and it made me mean, so eat them or else you'll be mean to your kids too!" I really hope I won't just let my kid skip their veggies because they "don't like it"...I mean, I like ice cream better than spinach, but I know I can't have ice cream for every meal (bummer, I know). Chicken nuggets aren't exactly a "healthy" meal, you know? "Well, little Bobby won't eat his spinach or carrots or green beans or freshly baked chicken breast...I know, lets give him little mounds of uniformly shaped chicken product coated in some gluten, sodium and sugar!" No thanks. And like the SNL skit says, "If it McComes from where I McThink it does - I don't want to McEat it!"
3) Product: Kid's cereal commercials, Selling point: again, has whole grains and/or fiber!
Here's a good example of one of these commercials. This makes me so angry/sad! Let's all just take a step back and realize that Fruit Loops is what it is...a sugary cereal that turns your milk colors and gives you a big fat sugar high! What? It has 3 grams of fiber? Super. It also has 12 grams of sugar and 25 total grams of carbs per serving. If you want to get your kid some fiber feed him/her a serving of strawberries or an apple. Don't try to make Fruit Loops in to something it's not...it's NOT a health food...it's just sweet, empty calories. I also love how the commercials always talk about "essential whole grains" like they're just as necessary as vitamins. They're not. Sure, they've been chemically altered and "enriched" to include some vitamins/minerals in them, but you can get those vitamins and minerals in REAL food, like fruits and veggies and meat...and those things don't have to be "enriched" by scientists and food labs.
Okay, I'm done with my rant for now. Thanks for listening. :)
1) Product: Unknown, Selling point: Whole grains make you lose weight.
So I don't even know what the commercial is selling (something grain-y), some product geared towards women who want to slim down. Whatever. It starts with two women talking (again, I don't even know where they are or what they're doing, I'm just so irritated with the commercial I tune it all out). One woman says to the other, "You look great! (maybe also You've lost weight...I'm not sure) How do you do it?" while the other replies, "Eating right. Whole grains!" Then the commercial goes on to say something along the lines of "Studies show that people who eat whole grains tend to weigh less." I find this ridiculous/funny because they are IMPLYING that eating whole grains will cause you to lose weight, however they know they can't outright say it in their commercial, so they just say that people who eat whole grains "tend" to weigh less. That's like saying women who wear sports bras "tend" to weigh less than those who don't. Correlation DOES NOT EQUAL causality. People who eat whole grains (and women who wear sports bras) are doing it because they're health concious (and the women in sports bras are probably going to the gym). Health concious people are more likely to not eat a bunch of sugar, they probably watch their calorie intake, and they also probably try to excercise. Eating whole grains does not cause weight loss. Don't be fooled by their implications and their bad science! Use your own logical minds! "Suzie likes the color red. Suzie is a girl. Therefore, all girls like the color red." FALSE! Just because the chick in the commercial eats whole grains and is looking "great" does not mean that eating whole grains is going to make everyone who eats them skinny!
2) Product: Tyson Chicken Nuggets, Selling point: Kids like them
This commercial (and others in this commercial series) is really irritating. Okay, so kids are picky. So instead of making them eat their veggies or whatever dinner you put in front of them, you're going to let them just eat whatever they want? What about when they need to eat those things? I'm not a parent, so I have NO idea how difficult this will be when the time comes, but as it stands now I have a feeling I'll be a mean mom and will say to my kid, "Tough cookies, eat your dadgum green beans! I didn't eat my veggies when I was a kid and it made me mean, so eat them or else you'll be mean to your kids too!" I really hope I won't just let my kid skip their veggies because they "don't like it"...I mean, I like ice cream better than spinach, but I know I can't have ice cream for every meal (bummer, I know). Chicken nuggets aren't exactly a "healthy" meal, you know? "Well, little Bobby won't eat his spinach or carrots or green beans or freshly baked chicken breast...I know, lets give him little mounds of uniformly shaped chicken product coated in some gluten, sodium and sugar!" No thanks. And like the SNL skit says, "If it McComes from where I McThink it does - I don't want to McEat it!"
3) Product: Kid's cereal commercials, Selling point: again, has whole grains and/or fiber!
Here's a good example of one of these commercials. This makes me so angry/sad! Let's all just take a step back and realize that Fruit Loops is what it is...a sugary cereal that turns your milk colors and gives you a big fat sugar high! What? It has 3 grams of fiber? Super. It also has 12 grams of sugar and 25 total grams of carbs per serving. If you want to get your kid some fiber feed him/her a serving of strawberries or an apple. Don't try to make Fruit Loops in to something it's not...it's NOT a health food...it's just sweet, empty calories. I also love how the commercials always talk about "essential whole grains" like they're just as necessary as vitamins. They're not. Sure, they've been chemically altered and "enriched" to include some vitamins/minerals in them, but you can get those vitamins and minerals in REAL food, like fruits and veggies and meat...and those things don't have to be "enriched" by scientists and food labs.
Okay, I'm done with my rant for now. Thanks for listening. :)
Menu for the week!
Below is my dinner menu for the week...I like to plan ahead so I don't stress out over what to make every night after work. :)
Sunday - Herb Grilled Chicken a la the Healthy Irishman (we didn't do the celery root mash, just the chicken) & a spinach salad
Monday - "BBQ" slow cooker short ribs (using the sauce from the "Technical Fowl Honey Chicken Wings" recipe I have in my football crock pot instructions/recipe booklet, see below)
Tuesday - Burgers (yummm) (no bun, please!)
Wednesday - Zucchetti (zucchini, peeled and wilted in a colander, covered in your favorite meaty spaghetti sauce!)
Thursday - Fish & Broccoli...not sure what fish/recipe I'll use yet...depends on the fish that they have @ the store on Thursday! But I'm thinking this one sounds good...Lime & Basil Tilapia. Or I might just fry it up with some coconut flour, who knows!
Friday - Garlic parmesan chicken wings ... since it's the start of football season, what better Friday dish than some chicken wings?! Yay, I'm excited for Friday!
Saturday - Again, it's football season, it's time for football food, meaning an almond crusted pizza!
It sounds like we'll be eating well this week! Yay for dinner!
Technical Fowl Honey Wings
12 chicken wings (24 chicken drummies)
1/4 tsp ground ginger (or fresh grated if you've got it!)
salt & pepper to taste
1 c. honey
1/3 c. Worcestershire sauce (unfortunately this is pretty much not paleo approved, but we're not doing shooters of the stuff AND the stuff we have IS gluten free, so we'll go with it for now!)
1 Tbsp olive oil (or your fat of choice!)
1/4 c. spicy brown mustard
1 oz. chili seasoning (you could buy a packet at the store, but check the ingredients! We're just going to make our own with the chili powder and spices we have in our pantry).
Since we're not making these as chicken wings, we'll only use the second half of the recipe. I'll put it all in a bowl, stir it together, and pour it over the short ribs in the bottom of the crock pot, then I'll put it on low for abougt 8-10 hours.
Hope everyone's having a great Sunday! I'm off to finish my guacamole beef (which is exactly what it sounds like...cooked ground beef with a few spoonfuls of guacamole mixed in with it)!
Sunday - Herb Grilled Chicken a la the Healthy Irishman (we didn't do the celery root mash, just the chicken) & a spinach salad
Monday - "BBQ" slow cooker short ribs (using the sauce from the "Technical Fowl Honey Chicken Wings" recipe I have in my football crock pot instructions/recipe booklet, see below)
Tuesday - Burgers (yummm) (no bun, please!)
Wednesday - Zucchetti (zucchini, peeled and wilted in a colander, covered in your favorite meaty spaghetti sauce!)
Thursday - Fish & Broccoli...not sure what fish/recipe I'll use yet...depends on the fish that they have @ the store on Thursday! But I'm thinking this one sounds good...Lime & Basil Tilapia. Or I might just fry it up with some coconut flour, who knows!
Friday - Garlic parmesan chicken wings ... since it's the start of football season, what better Friday dish than some chicken wings?! Yay, I'm excited for Friday!
Saturday - Again, it's football season, it's time for football food, meaning an almond crusted pizza!
It sounds like we'll be eating well this week! Yay for dinner!
Technical Fowl Honey Wings
12 chicken wings (24 chicken drummies)
1/4 tsp ground ginger (or fresh grated if you've got it!)
salt & pepper to taste
1 c. honey
1/3 c. Worcestershire sauce (unfortunately this is pretty much not paleo approved, but we're not doing shooters of the stuff AND the stuff we have IS gluten free, so we'll go with it for now!)
1 Tbsp olive oil (or your fat of choice!)
1/4 c. spicy brown mustard
1 oz. chili seasoning (you could buy a packet at the store, but check the ingredients! We're just going to make our own with the chili powder and spices we have in our pantry).
Since we're not making these as chicken wings, we'll only use the second half of the recipe. I'll put it all in a bowl, stir it together, and pour it over the short ribs in the bottom of the crock pot, then I'll put it on low for abougt 8-10 hours.
Hope everyone's having a great Sunday! I'm off to finish my guacamole beef (which is exactly what it sounds like...cooked ground beef with a few spoonfuls of guacamole mixed in with it)!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Dude's Birthday
It's been a while since I've posted on here! Yikes! I need to keep up with this more!
Let's see, what's happened this past week? Well, Dude was home all week instead of out of town for business, so that has been WONDERFUL! Hopefully he doesn't have anywhere else to go for a while! His birthday was yesterday, so for his birthday gift I got him this nifty little Sunrise Clock. It's supposed to make waking up in the morning a little easier and a little gentler. We have it programmed to where a light slooooowly starts to come on for 30 minutes prior to our actual alarm time. It's pretty nice and works pretty well! It's a lot less jarring than a normal blaring alarm clock.
Also for Dude's birthday, I made zucchini lasagna. It. Was. Awesome. :) Instead of using pasta, we used very thinly sliced zucchini to make the layers. Here's the scoop!
Ingredients:
2 lbs Ground beef (grass fed if you can get it!)
1 1/2 jars of your favorite sauce (because I'm lazy and didn't want to make my own, I just bought the Organics brand Tomato & Basil sauce because it does not contain any added sugar or sweeteners)
2 lbs of zucchini, peeled and sliced into SUPER thin strips (best done with a wide mouth peeler)
15 oz. container of ricotta cheese
1 egg
A handful of fresh parsley, chopped
At least 12 oz. of mozzarella
First, I pre-heated the oven to 325. I cooked up the ground beef (seasoned with garlic salt and pepper) and added the sauce, and while that was warming I sliced up the zucchini. Then I mixed the ricotta with one raw egg and the parsley, and I cut the mozzarella into chunks I could place around the pan. Once I had all my ingredients I started the assembly. I had a 9 x 13 inch pyrex baking dish, and I scooped out half of the meat sauce and spread it in the bottom of the pan. Then I took the zucchini slices and layered them on top of the meat. I had a lot of zucchini slices so I did about 2 layers just to make sure I got good separation between the layers. Then I tried my best to spread out 1/2 of the ricotta mixture (it didn't work very well because the cheese was sticky and the zucchini was thin and pulled up pretty easily). Then I added some mozzarella, and did the whole thing over again! Another layer of sauce, zucchini, cheese, and more cheese. I covered it with foil and cooked it for 30-45 minutes @ 325. Then I took the foil off and turned up the oven to 350 and cooked it for another 15 minutes (until the mozzarella on top was all bubbly and starting to get a little toasty looking). It was seriously good, and I don't even like lasagna on a normal basis! Dude loved it, and that's what really mattered :).
For his other birthday present, we got him a fancy shmancy boning knife to help him cut up the whole chickens we buy. :) I'm looking forward to him using it! We also got 2 boxes of Hatch green chiles from Central Market yesterday...so my car smells like green chile. Awesome. Dude was able to use our food saver and seal up bags of the green chiles so we could put them in our deep freezer.
Well I think I've rambled on long enough...I'll be back soon to share more stories! The next few months will be busy with football season, weddings, trips home, etc., so I'll have lots to talk about!
Farewell for now! :)
Let's see, what's happened this past week? Well, Dude was home all week instead of out of town for business, so that has been WONDERFUL! Hopefully he doesn't have anywhere else to go for a while! His birthday was yesterday, so for his birthday gift I got him this nifty little Sunrise Clock. It's supposed to make waking up in the morning a little easier and a little gentler. We have it programmed to where a light slooooowly starts to come on for 30 minutes prior to our actual alarm time. It's pretty nice and works pretty well! It's a lot less jarring than a normal blaring alarm clock.
Also for Dude's birthday, I made zucchini lasagna. It. Was. Awesome. :) Instead of using pasta, we used very thinly sliced zucchini to make the layers. Here's the scoop!
Ingredients:
2 lbs Ground beef (grass fed if you can get it!)
1 1/2 jars of your favorite sauce (because I'm lazy and didn't want to make my own, I just bought the Organics brand Tomato & Basil sauce because it does not contain any added sugar or sweeteners)
2 lbs of zucchini, peeled and sliced into SUPER thin strips (best done with a wide mouth peeler)
15 oz. container of ricotta cheese
1 egg
A handful of fresh parsley, chopped
At least 12 oz. of mozzarella
First, I pre-heated the oven to 325. I cooked up the ground beef (seasoned with garlic salt and pepper) and added the sauce, and while that was warming I sliced up the zucchini. Then I mixed the ricotta with one raw egg and the parsley, and I cut the mozzarella into chunks I could place around the pan. Once I had all my ingredients I started the assembly. I had a 9 x 13 inch pyrex baking dish, and I scooped out half of the meat sauce and spread it in the bottom of the pan. Then I took the zucchini slices and layered them on top of the meat. I had a lot of zucchini slices so I did about 2 layers just to make sure I got good separation between the layers. Then I tried my best to spread out 1/2 of the ricotta mixture (it didn't work very well because the cheese was sticky and the zucchini was thin and pulled up pretty easily). Then I added some mozzarella, and did the whole thing over again! Another layer of sauce, zucchini, cheese, and more cheese. I covered it with foil and cooked it for 30-45 minutes @ 325. Then I took the foil off and turned up the oven to 350 and cooked it for another 15 minutes (until the mozzarella on top was all bubbly and starting to get a little toasty looking). It was seriously good, and I don't even like lasagna on a normal basis! Dude loved it, and that's what really mattered :).
For his other birthday present, we got him a fancy shmancy boning knife to help him cut up the whole chickens we buy. :) I'm looking forward to him using it! We also got 2 boxes of Hatch green chiles from Central Market yesterday...so my car smells like green chile. Awesome. Dude was able to use our food saver and seal up bags of the green chiles so we could put them in our deep freezer.
Well I think I've rambled on long enough...I'll be back soon to share more stories! The next few months will be busy with football season, weddings, trips home, etc., so I'll have lots to talk about!
Farewell for now! :)
Thursday, August 4, 2011
One step forward, two steps back
It's Thursday! Hooray! Tomorrow Dude comes home! :)
So I made progress in my workouts today...I split jerked 100 lbs over my head! Woohoo! That's a LOT of weight (for me!)! Then I came home and ate ice cream and popcorn for dinner. Like I said, one step forward, two steps back. ::Sigh:: At least it wasn't wheat??? That's what I keep telling myself..."Hey! It's gluten free, it could be worse!"...
I have a work bowling function tomorrow afternoon...basically the entire company is split into teams, we compete against each other in some sort of large bracket, and we eat and drink the whole time. Really I think it's just an excuse for a bunch of accountants and engineers to get together and drink, but who am I to judge? :) I am terrible at bowling, so I'm guessing we'll just be playing one or two games.
I finished my popcorn...I now want more ice cream...is that bad??
Oooh! When Harry Met Sally is on the Oprah channel...gosh I love this movie! :) BABY FISH MOUTH! :) "Baby talk?! That's not even a saying!" "Oh, but baby fish mouth is sweeping the nation."
So I made progress in my workouts today...I split jerked 100 lbs over my head! Woohoo! That's a LOT of weight (for me!)! Then I came home and ate ice cream and popcorn for dinner. Like I said, one step forward, two steps back. ::Sigh:: At least it wasn't wheat??? That's what I keep telling myself..."Hey! It's gluten free, it could be worse!"...
I have a work bowling function tomorrow afternoon...basically the entire company is split into teams, we compete against each other in some sort of large bracket, and we eat and drink the whole time. Really I think it's just an excuse for a bunch of accountants and engineers to get together and drink, but who am I to judge? :) I am terrible at bowling, so I'm guessing we'll just be playing one or two games.
I finished my popcorn...I now want more ice cream...is that bad??
Oooh! When Harry Met Sally is on the Oprah channel...gosh I love this movie! :) BABY FISH MOUTH! :) "Baby talk?! That's not even a saying!" "Oh, but baby fish mouth is sweeping the nation."
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
I did it!
Yesterday was a workout day. In the morning I did my Crossfit Endurance programming (we did 100m relays) and then in the afternoon I did regular Crossfit. Russell, the CFE trainer, mentioned that the workout was going to be "Angie" (a lot of the Crossfit workouts have names). Angie is particularly daunting...it's 100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups and 100 air squats. Normally I do this workout with assisted pull ups and knee push ups. Lately I've been doing better about pull ups and push ups, so I decided yesterday that my goal was to at least do 50 regular pull ups and all 100 push ups from my toes, not my knees. I got there, was mentally prepared, and did the workout. Oh. My. Gosh. I did ALL 100 pull ups without assistance! 100 kipping pull ups!! WHAAAT?! After I hit 50 I thought about going to the rubber band assisted pull ups, but I knew I still had some juice left in me, so I kept going. Sometimes it was one at a time, but I kept grinding through and did ALL 100 pull ups (unassisted), all 100 push ups (on my toes), all 100 sit ups and all 100 squats. I was happy that I didn't die and that I did it as prescribed! Granted, both hands now have torn blisters (which are super painful), but it was worth it! Today my hands, shoulders, triceps, back, abs and hamstrings alllll are very sore! Thanks Crossfit! Haha! :)
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wow!
I just finished watching the 2011 Crossfit Games. Hoe. Lee. COW! I am SO IMPRESSED with these athletes, their ability to push through the pain, and their ridiculous muscles! In order to get to these games, each athlete first had to qualify in the Open. People from around the world did the exact same workouts over 6 weeks and were ranked based on their time. Then from there, qualifiers went on to compete in their Regionals. Each regional was different, and the top three athletes from each regional moved on to the finals in Carson, California. We watched these games last year as well and they are completely fascinating! Over 3 days these individuals completed 10 different workouts. Go to the web page and watch the archived footage and look at the workouts...you will be amazed as well! Dude and I watched some workouts yesterday that involved traveling 100 feet of monkey bars...we were totally inspired to go down the street to the playground at the nearby elementary school and try to swing on the monkey bars! :) It was fun (and WAY harder that I remember it in elementary!). I'm also inspired to work harder at my fitness and nutrition in the future...I'm toying with the idea of actually "competing" in the Open next year (although lets face it, I will probably be 278,986th out of 278,990).
Yesterday we also rendered lard!!! Yummmmm!!! I know, most people think lard? Yuck! Isn't that bad for you?! Well, the partially hydrongenated stuff that's created in a lab somewhere is totally bad for you. The stuff from my friend the piggy is not! We bought a package of lard from Rehoboth Ranch (one of the local farmers from which we purchase grass fed/pastured meats), cut it into chunks, fed it through our meat grinder (thank you Kitchen Aid Mixer!) and rendered the fat in our crockpot all afternoon. What was left was a half gallon of snowy white lard divided into 4 pint sized mason jars. We also got "cracklins" from it, which are essentially pieces of protien and non-melted (but crispy) fat left over from the rendering process. Oh MAN are those things good! We dried them out in the oven for a little bit and let them set on some paper towels and threw some salt on them and we have ourselves a tasty, crunchy little snack! I threw some on top of the salad I had tonight and it was a perfect salty, crunchy addition!
Yesterday we also rendered lard!!! Yummmmm!!! I know, most people think lard? Yuck! Isn't that bad for you?! Well, the partially hydrongenated stuff that's created in a lab somewhere is totally bad for you. The stuff from my friend the piggy is not! We bought a package of lard from Rehoboth Ranch (one of the local farmers from which we purchase grass fed/pastured meats), cut it into chunks, fed it through our meat grinder (thank you Kitchen Aid Mixer!) and rendered the fat in our crockpot all afternoon. What was left was a half gallon of snowy white lard divided into 4 pint sized mason jars. We also got "cracklins" from it, which are essentially pieces of protien and non-melted (but crispy) fat left over from the rendering process. Oh MAN are those things good! We dried them out in the oven for a little bit and let them set on some paper towels and threw some salt on them and we have ourselves a tasty, crunchy little snack! I threw some on top of the salad I had tonight and it was a perfect salty, crunchy addition!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Back in the big D...
This weekend I went and visited Dude in sunny Florida! :) It was SUPER fun and I got broooown. Dude has been in Melbourne, Florida, for work. Melbourne is on Florida's Atlantic coast (or the "Space Coast" as so many tourist-y things called it). I got there Thursday night, went and had dinner at a local seafood place (grilled mahi mahi with a baked sweet potato). Friday I spent some time on the beach in the a.m., sans the Dude (he was working), then spent some time w/ Dude on the beach after he got finished. We also hung out at the pool and got fairly sunburned! I am hurting now!
On Saturday we went to the Sebastian Inlet State Park and hung out on the beach there for a while. We had a lot of fun getting knocked around by the waves...I actually got pushed over and ended up scraping my shoulder on the sand/shells. Boo! I also got a lot of sand in places that don't need sand :-\ yuck. Then, to make it even better, the face of my phone got shattered, so we had to go see about getting a new one. I did get a new phone, the HTC Status, and I'm kind of excited about it! After two hours at the AT&T store, we went up north to Port Canaveral where cruise ships and other "big" ships launch. We had dinner at a restaurant up there...more mahi mahi for me! Apparently people in Florida love their sweet potato fries because I literally saw it on every lunch/dinner menu. The waitress also told me that I reminded her of Robin from General Hospital...I used to watch that show and I always loved her! :) It made me happy! Dude and I had some ice cream on the way home...not paleo but delish none the less.
Sunday morning we had breakfast (oops, I had some pancakes, and they were yummy). We beached it up a little longer (more jumping in waves and squealling like a 5 year old), then made sure I was all packed up, went to lunch (bbq pulled pork sandwich, no bun, & sweet potato fries), and went to this awesome little candy shop in downtown Melbourne. We had ice cream...I had the cake batter ice cream (yellow cake and what looked like chocolate frosting mixed in) and Dude had the Melbourne Mud (vanilla with chocolate and carmel). Soooo good! Then off to the airport...p.s. I hate people and airports and the Orlando airport (MCO) in particular. Security is always a nightmare there (really, there's not much in the way of lines...its more like a mob of people standing around with screaming children), however I'm grateful for the "Experienced Travelers" line. I think there must have been some large group of international students at the theme parks or something because there was a MASSIVE amount of foreign teenagers in the ticket line/security line/wandering around the airport. I finally arrived back in the big D and my friend came and picked me up from the airport. I got home and unpacked and now it is BED TIME! Good night friends! I will be back to blogging on a more regular basis soon! :)
On Saturday we went to the Sebastian Inlet State Park and hung out on the beach there for a while. We had a lot of fun getting knocked around by the waves...I actually got pushed over and ended up scraping my shoulder on the sand/shells. Boo! I also got a lot of sand in places that don't need sand :-\ yuck. Then, to make it even better, the face of my phone got shattered, so we had to go see about getting a new one. I did get a new phone, the HTC Status, and I'm kind of excited about it! After two hours at the AT&T store, we went up north to Port Canaveral where cruise ships and other "big" ships launch. We had dinner at a restaurant up there...more mahi mahi for me! Apparently people in Florida love their sweet potato fries because I literally saw it on every lunch/dinner menu. The waitress also told me that I reminded her of Robin from General Hospital...I used to watch that show and I always loved her! :) It made me happy! Dude and I had some ice cream on the way home...not paleo but delish none the less.
Sunday morning we had breakfast (oops, I had some pancakes, and they were yummy). We beached it up a little longer (more jumping in waves and squealling like a 5 year old), then made sure I was all packed up, went to lunch (bbq pulled pork sandwich, no bun, & sweet potato fries), and went to this awesome little candy shop in downtown Melbourne. We had ice cream...I had the cake batter ice cream (yellow cake and what looked like chocolate frosting mixed in) and Dude had the Melbourne Mud (vanilla with chocolate and carmel). Soooo good! Then off to the airport...p.s. I hate people and airports and the Orlando airport (MCO) in particular. Security is always a nightmare there (really, there's not much in the way of lines...its more like a mob of people standing around with screaming children), however I'm grateful for the "Experienced Travelers" line. I think there must have been some large group of international students at the theme parks or something because there was a MASSIVE amount of foreign teenagers in the ticket line/security line/wandering around the airport. I finally arrived back in the big D and my friend came and picked me up from the airport. I got home and unpacked and now it is BED TIME! Good night friends! I will be back to blogging on a more regular basis soon! :)
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Weekend check-in...
There have been some pros and cons to this weekend...let us examine them:
Pro - Got some sweet new kicks on sale at Luke's Locker...the location on Oak Lawn is selling all their stuff at 1/2 off b/c they moved locations. I am the proud owner of some new Nike Frees in black w/ hot pink laces/trim.
Pro - Got in a good run on Saturday morning before it got TOO terribly hot (who am I kidding, it's too terribly hot ANY time in Texas during the summer). I managed to shave 6 minutes of my last weekend's run (same course) and ran the whole way. It's probably a combination of the fact that last weekend was my first long run in a few months (so I was TERRIBLE), and the fact that I ran an hour later last weekend than I did this weekend. Either way, glad to have my mile sub 10 min. again and I am looking forward to improving it some more!
Con - TV went out AGAIN and AT&T was a no show last night when they were scheduled to come out and fix it. On Wednesday evening our TV/DVR box in the living room went down...it wasn't working, we did the trouble shooting thing online and on the phone w/ tech support, and they scheduled someone to come out on Thursday between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. to fix it. He came out, fixed it, and went on his way. Friday afternoon, the stupid box went out AGAIN (same problem). This time we knew we just needed an entirely new box. I called tech support again and scheduled them to come out here, AGAIN, on Saturday between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (that was the earliest they had). So, glad we didn't have any weekend plans...geez. 8:45 rolls around an NO ONE has called us saying they're on their way or anything...so I went online w/ tech support to chat with them...at first they told me to wait until 9:00...of course at that point the clock read 9:05...so I politely told them it WAS 9:00 and no one had called or been here. They said they'd talk to the other department and 20 minutes later (after I just said screw it, let me just reschedule) they said that I'd have to reschedule. Duh. But since it was taking 20 minutes for them to tell me what I already knew, we said we didn't have time to do it at that moment because we'd already wasted our day waiting on them.
Pro - We went out and watched Harry Potter on Saturday night in order to quell our anger at AT&T. :) I cried like a baby, but I cry at everything. I'm pretty sure I have the loudest sniffles in the world and the entire theater probably heard me.
Con - We can't get our TV fixed until Monday! @#$%@#% AT&T!! So because y'all screwed up I have to wait anodhter day an a half to get fixed?! That's crap and I plan on calling, downgrading our service (which we've been meaning to do anyway) and probably complaining until I get something for free or at a very large discount.
Pro - I got to go to the spa today and have a 50 minute hot stone massage and a facial! Woohoo! Those are always a good thing! I went with a co-worker and we went into the steam room that they had ("appropriate swimwear" was required in the steam room), and decided I'm not that into steam...it was very hard to breathe, but I'm glad I did it just to know what it felt like (hot and sweaty and gross and pretty much the same sweat factor I feel after a hard workout at Crossfit in the afternoon). But it was relaxing and I enjoyed every minute of my massage and facial! :)
Pro - It's DAY 21!! Nine more days left in our 30 day paleo challenge! Hurrah! I'm not sure what my re-introduction plans will be, but I guess I need to start thinking about it. Dinner Friday was a beef rump roast that we put in the crock pot (I also threw in basil, bacon, onion and green chiles). Dinner Saturday was a SUPER easy roasted chicken. We seasoned it with salt, garlic powder, and threw some rosemary sprigs and garlic cloves inside the cavity. It was yuuuummmyyyy! As a side dish we had some steamed broccoli and sliced cherry tomatoes...we dressed it with a lime/basil/pomegranate dressing that we threw together a few weeks ago, and it was pretty tasty too! Dinner tonight (in the oven as I type!) is oxtail. I'm a little nervous about trying this, but we have it from our side of beef order last year and we need to use it. I seared the pieces in my big French oven and seasoned it with some garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, & onion powder. Then I added sliced yellow onion and threw in bay leaves on top. I poured water in the pot to about 1/4 of the way up the side of the pot. I covered it with foil and threw it into a pre-heated oven @ 350 degrees and it's cooking for 2 1/2 hours, then I'll check on it and see how we're doing. Crossing my fingers!
This week should be a good one...hope everyone else has had a great weekend!
Pro - Got some sweet new kicks on sale at Luke's Locker...the location on Oak Lawn is selling all their stuff at 1/2 off b/c they moved locations. I am the proud owner of some new Nike Frees in black w/ hot pink laces/trim.
Pro - Got in a good run on Saturday morning before it got TOO terribly hot (who am I kidding, it's too terribly hot ANY time in Texas during the summer). I managed to shave 6 minutes of my last weekend's run (same course) and ran the whole way. It's probably a combination of the fact that last weekend was my first long run in a few months (so I was TERRIBLE), and the fact that I ran an hour later last weekend than I did this weekend. Either way, glad to have my mile sub 10 min. again and I am looking forward to improving it some more!
Con - TV went out AGAIN and AT&T was a no show last night when they were scheduled to come out and fix it. On Wednesday evening our TV/DVR box in the living room went down...it wasn't working, we did the trouble shooting thing online and on the phone w/ tech support, and they scheduled someone to come out on Thursday between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. to fix it. He came out, fixed it, and went on his way. Friday afternoon, the stupid box went out AGAIN (same problem). This time we knew we just needed an entirely new box. I called tech support again and scheduled them to come out here, AGAIN, on Saturday between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (that was the earliest they had). So, glad we didn't have any weekend plans...geez. 8:45 rolls around an NO ONE has called us saying they're on their way or anything...so I went online w/ tech support to chat with them...at first they told me to wait until 9:00...of course at that point the clock read 9:05...so I politely told them it WAS 9:00 and no one had called or been here. They said they'd talk to the other department and 20 minutes later (after I just said screw it, let me just reschedule) they said that I'd have to reschedule. Duh. But since it was taking 20 minutes for them to tell me what I already knew, we said we didn't have time to do it at that moment because we'd already wasted our day waiting on them.
Pro - We went out and watched Harry Potter on Saturday night in order to quell our anger at AT&T. :) I cried like a baby, but I cry at everything. I'm pretty sure I have the loudest sniffles in the world and the entire theater probably heard me.
Con - We can't get our TV fixed until Monday! @#$%@#% AT&T!! So because y'all screwed up I have to wait anodhter day an a half to get fixed?! That's crap and I plan on calling, downgrading our service (which we've been meaning to do anyway) and probably complaining until I get something for free or at a very large discount.
Pro - I got to go to the spa today and have a 50 minute hot stone massage and a facial! Woohoo! Those are always a good thing! I went with a co-worker and we went into the steam room that they had ("appropriate swimwear" was required in the steam room), and decided I'm not that into steam...it was very hard to breathe, but I'm glad I did it just to know what it felt like (hot and sweaty and gross and pretty much the same sweat factor I feel after a hard workout at Crossfit in the afternoon). But it was relaxing and I enjoyed every minute of my massage and facial! :)
Pro - It's DAY 21!! Nine more days left in our 30 day paleo challenge! Hurrah! I'm not sure what my re-introduction plans will be, but I guess I need to start thinking about it. Dinner Friday was a beef rump roast that we put in the crock pot (I also threw in basil, bacon, onion and green chiles). Dinner Saturday was a SUPER easy roasted chicken. We seasoned it with salt, garlic powder, and threw some rosemary sprigs and garlic cloves inside the cavity. It was yuuuummmyyyy! As a side dish we had some steamed broccoli and sliced cherry tomatoes...we dressed it with a lime/basil/pomegranate dressing that we threw together a few weeks ago, and it was pretty tasty too! Dinner tonight (in the oven as I type!) is oxtail. I'm a little nervous about trying this, but we have it from our side of beef order last year and we need to use it. I seared the pieces in my big French oven and seasoned it with some garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, & onion powder. Then I added sliced yellow onion and threw in bay leaves on top. I poured water in the pot to about 1/4 of the way up the side of the pot. I covered it with foil and threw it into a pre-heated oven @ 350 degrees and it's cooking for 2 1/2 hours, then I'll check on it and see how we're doing. Crossing my fingers!
This week should be a good one...hope everyone else has had a great weekend!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Not your normal spaghetti...
New dinner alert! Today we made spaghetti. We had some frozen spaghetti sauce that we had made a lot of a few months ago...we vaccuum sealed the remaining sauce in a baggie and put it in the deep freezer and it kept very nicely! Since normal spaghetti is definitely NOT paleo, and spaghetti squash isn't in season right now, we used zucchini! We used one of those wide peelers and created long, thin, wide strips of zucchini and put the strips into a colander (I think we used maybe four zucchinis). After the strips were all made and put in the colander, we salted the strips with a few pinches of kosher salt. The salt draws out the moisture and makes the zucchini strips very flexible and noodle-y. After about 30 minutes, we poured out all the water, rinsed the zucchini noodles and steamed them for about 5 minutes, just to get them warm. Once they were warm (and pretty bright green) we dished out the noodles, dished out the sauce that we had re-heated in a sauce pan, and ate! All we were missing was some parmesean cheese and wine! Honestly, the zucchini was flavorless and had a texture VERY similar to noodles...if they were skinnier and I had my eyes closed, I'd probably be hard pressed to tell the difference! It might not be something you'd get kids to try though...green wide "noodles" might be a bit scary for some people! But I promise, they're pretty tasty!
Also something to note today...my office building treated the tenants to Pacuigo's gelato this afternoon. I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. Gelato + Jenni = Heaven. But instead of going downstairs and taking part, I had my bowl of grapes. Day 18 was not ruined! :) I can't believe I've only got 12 more days to go! I'm excited to try to re-introduce new things back into my diet. Dude and I have discussed what we'll try to re-introduce first...namely butter, corn, rice and potatoes. If corn treats us well we really want to make our own tamales! :) Good thing there's a big Mexican grocery store nearby! We might be able to buy some masa and make our own tamale dough...yum!
Also something to note today...my office building treated the tenants to Pacuigo's gelato this afternoon. I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. Gelato + Jenni = Heaven. But instead of going downstairs and taking part, I had my bowl of grapes. Day 18 was not ruined! :) I can't believe I've only got 12 more days to go! I'm excited to try to re-introduce new things back into my diet. Dude and I have discussed what we'll try to re-introduce first...namely butter, corn, rice and potatoes. If corn treats us well we really want to make our own tamales! :) Good thing there's a big Mexican grocery store nearby! We might be able to buy some masa and make our own tamale dough...yum!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Heeeee's baaaaack!
Hooray! Dude came home from his business trip today!! That's two days earlier than he was scheduled to be home so I am SUPER happy to see his smiling face!
In order to "celebrate" we went to the gym together! :) Yaaay! Kind of a weird way to celebrate, right? Well, we're weird like that together :). We are Crossfit junkies...we love it. I actually ENJOY going to the gym now, whereas before I dreaded it. Going to 24 Hour Fitness to run or walk on an eliptical or treadmill for 30 minutes was always mind numbingly boring, even while watching TV or reading a book. I didn't really like Spin class when I tried it, and I just had what I like to call "gym ADD" when it came to anything else at the gym. I didn't know what to do, how long to do it, etc., and I felt awkward. Even though probably no one is paying attention to anyone but themselves at the gym, I was still really self concious.
Enter Crossfit. A good friend of mine told me about this new gym thing she was doing with her boyfriend and it sounded INTENSE! She was doing pull ups, weight lifting, all sorts of crazy things! She always was more fitness minded than me, so it didn't surprise me but I was about 100% sure that I wouldn't be able to do those kinds of things. She told me that my husband and I should try it, because she was pretty sure Dude would like it. So I googled it, found out there was an affiliate literally a mile down the street from our house and they had a free Saturday morning class, open to everyone. So one Saturday morning in April 2009, Dude and I (and my friend and her rooomate) went to Crossfit Richardson. That previous Thursday, Dude and I had gone to the regular gym and I had jacked around doing a little of this and a little of that...including 10 "girl" push ups (on the knees). That Saturday morning I was still sore from the 10 push ups I had done on Thursday. The workout we had to do included 40 push ups (plus some other stuff I don't remember...obviously the push ups left the biggest impression). FORTY! IN A ROW!!! I thought I would NEVER make it. But I did...and I was hooked. It was brutal, I was COMPLETELY sore the next few days, but I felt like I had DONE something! The gym owner/trainer was SUPER nice and had something planned out for us to do while we were there. I like being told what to do in the gym...I need instruction, guidance, rules...when left to my own devices I play around and don't get stuff done. Crossfit was perfect b/c there's a set "workout of the day", it's usually timed so you just have to do it, no dilly-dallying. And it's in a class setting, so you end up making new friends and encouraging each other instead of trying to ignore everyone around you like at the Globo-Gyms. So if you ever wanna try it, I HIGHLY recommend it! Great stuff!
Okay, off my Crossfit soap box. After Dude and I got done with our workout, we came home and made dinner...I had already taken out some filet mignon to thaw for dinner tonight, so it worked out perfectly to where it was a yummy "Welcome home" dinner for Dude. We wrapped a piece of bacon around the filets and grilled them and they were GRRRREAT! Dude is a great griller...my steak was perfectly medium and tender and delicious. For a side we had some homemade sweet potato chips and green beans (cooked with pastured lard that we rendered from our farmers' market bacon). All in all, this evening has been WONDERFUL! So glad to have Dude home, and so grateful for good food and good health!
In order to "celebrate" we went to the gym together! :) Yaaay! Kind of a weird way to celebrate, right? Well, we're weird like that together :). We are Crossfit junkies...we love it. I actually ENJOY going to the gym now, whereas before I dreaded it. Going to 24 Hour Fitness to run or walk on an eliptical or treadmill for 30 minutes was always mind numbingly boring, even while watching TV or reading a book. I didn't really like Spin class when I tried it, and I just had what I like to call "gym ADD" when it came to anything else at the gym. I didn't know what to do, how long to do it, etc., and I felt awkward. Even though probably no one is paying attention to anyone but themselves at the gym, I was still really self concious.
Enter Crossfit. A good friend of mine told me about this new gym thing she was doing with her boyfriend and it sounded INTENSE! She was doing pull ups, weight lifting, all sorts of crazy things! She always was more fitness minded than me, so it didn't surprise me but I was about 100% sure that I wouldn't be able to do those kinds of things. She told me that my husband and I should try it, because she was pretty sure Dude would like it. So I googled it, found out there was an affiliate literally a mile down the street from our house and they had a free Saturday morning class, open to everyone. So one Saturday morning in April 2009, Dude and I (and my friend and her rooomate) went to Crossfit Richardson. That previous Thursday, Dude and I had gone to the regular gym and I had jacked around doing a little of this and a little of that...including 10 "girl" push ups (on the knees). That Saturday morning I was still sore from the 10 push ups I had done on Thursday. The workout we had to do included 40 push ups (plus some other stuff I don't remember...obviously the push ups left the biggest impression). FORTY! IN A ROW!!! I thought I would NEVER make it. But I did...and I was hooked. It was brutal, I was COMPLETELY sore the next few days, but I felt like I had DONE something! The gym owner/trainer was SUPER nice and had something planned out for us to do while we were there. I like being told what to do in the gym...I need instruction, guidance, rules...when left to my own devices I play around and don't get stuff done. Crossfit was perfect b/c there's a set "workout of the day", it's usually timed so you just have to do it, no dilly-dallying. And it's in a class setting, so you end up making new friends and encouraging each other instead of trying to ignore everyone around you like at the Globo-Gyms. So if you ever wanna try it, I HIGHLY recommend it! Great stuff!
Okay, off my Crossfit soap box. After Dude and I got done with our workout, we came home and made dinner...I had already taken out some filet mignon to thaw for dinner tonight, so it worked out perfectly to where it was a yummy "Welcome home" dinner for Dude. We wrapped a piece of bacon around the filets and grilled them and they were GRRRREAT! Dude is a great griller...my steak was perfectly medium and tender and delicious. For a side we had some homemade sweet potato chips and green beans (cooked with pastured lard that we rendered from our farmers' market bacon). All in all, this evening has been WONDERFUL! So glad to have Dude home, and so grateful for good food and good health!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Oink, oink! I love pig!!
Mmmmmm pig! I think I like it a little too much! Pork chops, ham, bacon...it's all just so good!! Today I had some weirdly excess energy...like...enough to vaccuum the floor (even though our housekeeper is coming to clean tomorrow) and iron some clothes. I think the last time I ironed was around Christmas! Thank goodness for wrinkle-free fabric!
Today has been a pretty lazy day...I didn't get out of bed until 9:00 (slacker!!), but I sorted laundry after getting up and brushing my teeth. I started a load of laundry, started the dishwasher, hand washed a few dishes, made breakfast (3 slices of ham, the last hot dog, some spinach, and blueberries and strawberries), and got out the vaccuum. I went over the hardwood floor because it just seemed like lots of stuff had accumulated over the last week (I had vaccuumed last weekend as well since we had company). Then I emptied the dishwasher, folded laundry & started another load and then sat and watched TV for a little bit. I flipped between Freaks & Geeks on IFC (anyone remember that show? I didn't realize it had Jason Segel in it!), Indiana Jones movies on SyFy, and Harry Potter movies on ABC Family. After lunch (leftover fish & broccoli) and more laundry folding, I went to Target to buy cute stuff for my friends expecting babies (3 in the next month! Geez, baby boom much?) and got a few groceries from Sprouts.
I also made a new recipe for dinner...I got it from the Food Network website. It was really tasty! And I even made myself some avocado dip to go along with it. I'll be having that again, for sure!
I've included the link to the recipe above, it's too long to put on here (and I'm lazy). But my avocado dip was just 1 avocado, 3 super duper small jalepenos from our garden, lime juice, onion powder and garlic powder. Mash it all up and enjoy! Oh, and the red stuff on top of the pork chop is sauteed red onions in a reduction sauce of orange juice, lime juice and chicken broth (I subbed chicken broth for the white wine in the recipe). Now that I've had dinner, cleaned up the kitchen and ironed clothes, I think I'll join Sweet Dee & Charlie...
Today has been a pretty lazy day...I didn't get out of bed until 9:00 (slacker!!), but I sorted laundry after getting up and brushing my teeth. I started a load of laundry, started the dishwasher, hand washed a few dishes, made breakfast (3 slices of ham, the last hot dog, some spinach, and blueberries and strawberries), and got out the vaccuum. I went over the hardwood floor because it just seemed like lots of stuff had accumulated over the last week (I had vaccuumed last weekend as well since we had company). Then I emptied the dishwasher, folded laundry & started another load and then sat and watched TV for a little bit. I flipped between Freaks & Geeks on IFC (anyone remember that show? I didn't realize it had Jason Segel in it!), Indiana Jones movies on SyFy, and Harry Potter movies on ABC Family. After lunch (leftover fish & broccoli) and more laundry folding, I went to Target to buy cute stuff for my friends expecting babies (3 in the next month! Geez, baby boom much?) and got a few groceries from Sprouts.
I also made a new recipe for dinner...I got it from the Food Network website. It was really tasty! And I even made myself some avocado dip to go along with it. I'll be having that again, for sure!
I've included the link to the recipe above, it's too long to put on here (and I'm lazy). But my avocado dip was just 1 avocado, 3 super duper small jalepenos from our garden, lime juice, onion powder and garlic powder. Mash it all up and enjoy! Oh, and the red stuff on top of the pork chop is sauteed red onions in a reduction sauce of orange juice, lime juice and chicken broth (I subbed chicken broth for the white wine in the recipe). Now that I've had dinner, cleaned up the kitchen and ironed clothes, I think I'll join Sweet Dee & Charlie...
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Weekend Eating...
I have a tendency to eat a lot over the weekend...whether it be "good" food or "bad" food...I just feel like I eat a lot more than during the week. I also think I crave junk food more during the weekend...it's probably that "I'm bored, what can I eat" type syndrome. Well, I've almost made it through the whole Saturday without any cheats...only a few more hours to go!
This morning I woke up and went for a run with my Crossfit Endurance group...the rest of the crew ran a 5 mile course, but I only ran a 3 mile course...it's the first time I've run in a LONG time, so a 3 mile course sounded much more managable. Unfortunately, my run sucked. I only made it 1 mile before I had to stop and walk...I ended up walking and running the rest of the way, in intervals. It took me 38 minutes to go 3.38 miles...yuck. Not my best performance!
After I ran (and then ran a couple of errands), I came home and made breakfast...I have some deli ham slices that I bought (nitrate free, sugar free, hooray!) so I threw some of those on a skillet to warm/crisp them up. I ended up having 6 slices of ham and a peach I bought from the local farmer's market. It was really tasty! After breakfast, I got all cleaned up and went and got a pedicure. I figured since I ran I deserved a little foot pampering :). Unfortunately that ruined me for the rest of the day...sitting there for an hour in a massage chair with someone rubbing your feet/legs kinda made me want to go home and take a NAP! Instead I just came home and have been sitting on the couch most of the day, watching the Harry Potter marathon on Family Channel. I suck.
Lunch/mid afternoon snack consisted of one organic, nitrate free, sugar free, grass fed beef hot dog (geez that's a mouthful), a handful of baby spinach and a handful of sunflower seeds. I am just discovering that I like sunflower seeds now...this could be dangerous b/c I have a feeling I could eat a lot of them! Dinner was coconut/almond fried fish (Alaskan Cod), steamed broccoli seasoned with pastured pork fat and garlic salt, and homemade sweet potato chips. I'm so irritated b/c I took some lovely pictures of my dinner, only to discover that I apparently deleted them without realizing it. :( I was able to actually take one with my phone...
The rest of the evening will consist of me cleaning the kitchen, watching more Harry Potter, maybe reading some Harry Potter, and watching the cats do this...
This morning I woke up and went for a run with my Crossfit Endurance group...the rest of the crew ran a 5 mile course, but I only ran a 3 mile course...it's the first time I've run in a LONG time, so a 3 mile course sounded much more managable. Unfortunately, my run sucked. I only made it 1 mile before I had to stop and walk...I ended up walking and running the rest of the way, in intervals. It took me 38 minutes to go 3.38 miles...yuck. Not my best performance!
After I ran (and then ran a couple of errands), I came home and made breakfast...I have some deli ham slices that I bought (nitrate free, sugar free, hooray!) so I threw some of those on a skillet to warm/crisp them up. I ended up having 6 slices of ham and a peach I bought from the local farmer's market. It was really tasty! After breakfast, I got all cleaned up and went and got a pedicure. I figured since I ran I deserved a little foot pampering :). Unfortunately that ruined me for the rest of the day...sitting there for an hour in a massage chair with someone rubbing your feet/legs kinda made me want to go home and take a NAP! Instead I just came home and have been sitting on the couch most of the day, watching the Harry Potter marathon on Family Channel. I suck.
Lunch/mid afternoon snack consisted of one organic, nitrate free, sugar free, grass fed beef hot dog (geez that's a mouthful), a handful of baby spinach and a handful of sunflower seeds. I am just discovering that I like sunflower seeds now...this could be dangerous b/c I have a feeling I could eat a lot of them! Dinner was coconut/almond fried fish (Alaskan Cod), steamed broccoli seasoned with pastured pork fat and garlic salt, and homemade sweet potato chips. I'm so irritated b/c I took some lovely pictures of my dinner, only to discover that I apparently deleted them without realizing it. :( I was able to actually take one with my phone...
The rest of the evening will consist of me cleaning the kitchen, watching more Harry Potter, maybe reading some Harry Potter, and watching the cats do this...
Yeah, I think I've been like them all day long...oh well! :)
Coconut Fried Fish
1/4 c. coconut flour
1/4 c. almond meal
2 sprigs of oregano
2 sprigs of basil (about 10-15 small leaves)
Garlic Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
2 Tbsp coconut oil (not extra virgin, something more tasteless instead)
2-3 filets of a white, flaky fish of your choice
Rinse fish just to get the outside slightly wet (you could probably use egg to coat the outside if you have one on hand). Dredge the fish in a mixture of the coconut flour, almond meal, herbs and spices. Melt the coconut oil in a skillet, then place the fish into the hot oil. Fish cooks quickly, so keep an eye on it! Flip the fish after the first few minutes, then serve when the fish easily comes apart! Enjoy!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Meat + Meat = Meaty Goodness
So it's Friday night, Dude is out of town for work, and I was feeling cranky driving home. All I wanted in life was some french fries. Instead, I resisted the urge to order them and I ordered a plain, cheeseless Wendy's Baconator (1/2 lb double, of course). I threw away the buns when I got home and put the bacon between the two hamburger patties and made my own little bacon sandwich. That little number DEFINITELY satisfied crummy mood. Now I'm ready to focus on other things, like cleaning the house, syncing my iPod for tomorrow's run, and watching Harry Potter. :)
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Taco Chicken Wings!
MMMM! I love these chicken wings SO MUCH! I found the recipe on a website called Health Bent...it's really good! I was going to take a picture of them but I ate them all...oops! I was going to try to make my own version of the guac dip that goes with them, but the avocado I had was too squishy for my tastes. If I had a ripe avocado I would have chopped up a jalepeno, added onion powder and garlic powder and mashed it all together with a squirt of lime juice. I'll just have to do it next time I suppose! It's probably best to use pastured chicken wings if you have 'em, but regular old store bought ones will do just fine too!
For the Guac Dip
Blend all ingredients together in a food processor, or just use a fork to smash everything together.
Taco Chicken Wings with Guac Dip
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken wings
- F.O.C. (fat of choice)
- 2 t garlic powder
- 2 t chili powder
- 1 1/2 t salt
- 1 t smoked paprika
- 1 t regular paprika
- 1/4 t cayenne pepper
For the Guac Dip
- 2 avocados
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 handful cilantro, chopped
- chili garlic sauce, to taste
- salt
For the Guac Dip
Blend all ingredients together in a food processor, or just use a fork to smash everything together.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
10 days down...
...20 more to go in my Whole30 challenge! One third of the way there! My dinner menu for this past week has looked like this:
Monday - BBQ'd pork loin chops (bbq sauce recipe below) & green beans
Tuesday - Chile Verde (like mom makes it but without the added flour)
Wednesday - Baked chicken breast seasoned with garlic salt, onion powder, paprika and pepper, and sauteed yellow onion and yellow and red bell peppers.
I am SO looking forward to September when my TV shows arent' re-runs anymore! One can only watch so many new episodes of Teen Mom before feeling like the world is going to hell. And I'm not really supposed to watch Mystery Diagnosis (Dude has kind of banned me from that show since I have a tendency to think that I might have a rare brain disease if I have so much as a headache). Right now the only thing worth watching on TV are the Harry Potter previews...and let me tell you I get giddily excited when I see them. Someone get me off this couch, please.
Plans this weekend include running with my Crossfit Endurance class (3 miles in the heat at 8:00 a.m...hopefully I don't die), heading to the farmers market to get some bacon or chicken or peaches or something good and local. I may also paint (I have a big blank canvas that's just asking to be made pretty) and I need to caulk and fill the crown moulding that Dude put up this past weekend. Perhaps a pedicure, too. :)
Son of Grok BBQ Sauce
- 1 to 1.5 cups of beef stock (I made my own but if you buy, you want it without salt)
- 3 Cloves Garlic
- 1/2 of an onion
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
2. Sauté the onions until they’re soft.
3. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Whether you use 1 cup or 1.5 cups of beef stock will depend on how thick you want your sauce.
4. Bring sauce to heat on stove with a low setting.
5. Cover and simmer. Stir frequently and taste regularly. The longer you simmer, the more consistent your flavor will be. I simmered for 20-30 minutes.
6. Once my sauce had cooled off a little, I threw it in the blender and puréed it a little, just to make it less chunky.
Monday - BBQ'd pork loin chops (bbq sauce recipe below) & green beans
Tuesday - Chile Verde (like mom makes it but without the added flour)
Wednesday - Baked chicken breast seasoned with garlic salt, onion powder, paprika and pepper, and sauteed yellow onion and yellow and red bell peppers.
I am SO looking forward to September when my TV shows arent' re-runs anymore! One can only watch so many new episodes of Teen Mom before feeling like the world is going to hell. And I'm not really supposed to watch Mystery Diagnosis (Dude has kind of banned me from that show since I have a tendency to think that I might have a rare brain disease if I have so much as a headache). Right now the only thing worth watching on TV are the Harry Potter previews...and let me tell you I get giddily excited when I see them. Someone get me off this couch, please.
Plans this weekend include running with my Crossfit Endurance class (3 miles in the heat at 8:00 a.m...hopefully I don't die), heading to the farmers market to get some bacon or chicken or peaches or something good and local. I may also paint (I have a big blank canvas that's just asking to be made pretty) and I need to caulk and fill the crown moulding that Dude put up this past weekend. Perhaps a pedicure, too. :)
Son of Grok BBQ Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1 6oz can tomato paste (preferable organic)- 1 to 1.5 cups of beef stock (I made my own but if you buy, you want it without salt)
- 3 Cloves Garlic
- 1/2 of an onion
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
Directions:
1. Dice your onions and garlic as fine as possible. You want your BBQ sauce a little chunky but the more fine you dice these, the better the flavor will spread through the entire sauce.2. Sauté the onions until they’re soft.
3. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Whether you use 1 cup or 1.5 cups of beef stock will depend on how thick you want your sauce.
4. Bring sauce to heat on stove with a low setting.
5. Cover and simmer. Stir frequently and taste regularly. The longer you simmer, the more consistent your flavor will be. I simmered for 20-30 minutes.
6. Once my sauce had cooled off a little, I threw it in the blender and puréed it a little, just to make it less chunky.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Independence Day!!
Woohoo! Happy 4th of July everyone!
I have TONS of wonderful memories of the 4th of July with my family growing up. We lived right next to my grandparents in the country, so we always shot off fireworks from Nana & Papa's big driveway. Sometimes it was just my immediate family and Nana & Papa, sometimes it was ALL the cousins, aunts and uncles. Nana and Papa had a big inground pool so every 4th of July celebration included a swim (weather permitting). Usually we'd wake up, make some kind of food for the afternoon celebration (remember that United States jello mold? I do...we had that every year!). We'd then go buy some fireworks, come home, shoot off a few Black Cats (those were the firecrackers I remember), then go swimming for the rest of the afternoon! Then it would be time to eat, and we'd have fried chicken (or bbq/grilled chicken or pork or beef), jello, slaw, potato salad, and ALWAYS ice cream.
Side note: Nana & Papa's house was FULL of sugary sweet good stuff...ice cream, M&Ms, cookies, Hershey's Kisses...you name it they had it! My youngest brother once told my mom that "going to Nana & Papa's is like going to a concession stand, but you pay with hugs and kisses!"...awwww!
After the feasting, we'd always swim until it turned dark, then we'd start up the fireworks. Sometimes my uncle would bring fireworks from Arkansas...we lived in Oklahoma and you can only get so much firepower there apparently...oops! The fireworks he'd set off were LOUD and HUGE and AWESOME! :) I remember loving that sooo much as a kid! I also loved the Saturn Missles...the little box of what looked like plastic bullets that would whistle really loudly and shoot off one by one (and sometimes if you got a crazy box they'd chase you...that was always a little thrill!). But, true to my girlish form, I really loved the pretty stuff...cones, fountains, and "big boomers" as we liked to call them.
Now as I sit in my house in Dallas, I like to remember those times...although Nana & Papa are gone and the cousins have all spread out, grown up and have their own families, it's fun to remember the swimming, food, and fireworks with family. I'm very grateful to have these memories and I'm grateful to the men & women fighting for this country to make sure the next generation has the opportunity to make their own memories.
I have TONS of wonderful memories of the 4th of July with my family growing up. We lived right next to my grandparents in the country, so we always shot off fireworks from Nana & Papa's big driveway. Sometimes it was just my immediate family and Nana & Papa, sometimes it was ALL the cousins, aunts and uncles. Nana and Papa had a big inground pool so every 4th of July celebration included a swim (weather permitting). Usually we'd wake up, make some kind of food for the afternoon celebration (remember that United States jello mold? I do...we had that every year!). We'd then go buy some fireworks, come home, shoot off a few Black Cats (those were the firecrackers I remember), then go swimming for the rest of the afternoon! Then it would be time to eat, and we'd have fried chicken (or bbq/grilled chicken or pork or beef), jello, slaw, potato salad, and ALWAYS ice cream.
Side note: Nana & Papa's house was FULL of sugary sweet good stuff...ice cream, M&Ms, cookies, Hershey's Kisses...you name it they had it! My youngest brother once told my mom that "going to Nana & Papa's is like going to a concession stand, but you pay with hugs and kisses!"...awwww!
After the feasting, we'd always swim until it turned dark, then we'd start up the fireworks. Sometimes my uncle would bring fireworks from Arkansas...we lived in Oklahoma and you can only get so much firepower there apparently...oops! The fireworks he'd set off were LOUD and HUGE and AWESOME! :) I remember loving that sooo much as a kid! I also loved the Saturn Missles...the little box of what looked like plastic bullets that would whistle really loudly and shoot off one by one (and sometimes if you got a crazy box they'd chase you...that was always a little thrill!). But, true to my girlish form, I really loved the pretty stuff...cones, fountains, and "big boomers" as we liked to call them.
Now as I sit in my house in Dallas, I like to remember those times...although Nana & Papa are gone and the cousins have all spread out, grown up and have their own families, it's fun to remember the swimming, food, and fireworks with family. I'm very grateful to have these memories and I'm grateful to the men & women fighting for this country to make sure the next generation has the opportunity to make their own memories.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Mmmmmm Dinner! :)
It's the day before the 4th of July (also known as the 3rd of July) and we made BURGERS! Yum!! (How American!!)
Side note: My husband and I are on day 7 of our Whole30, which means we're paying close attention to what we're eating for 30 days...no grains (corn, wheat, rice, etc.), dairy, legumes (not a problem for me b/c I'm not a big bean fan anyway), and the hardest one...sugar (no fruit juices, no cracking out on fruit, no sugar, no sweeteners of any kind, and no added sugars in anything purchased from the grocery store, you get the picture). If you Google "Whole30" and/or "paleo" you'll find the reasoning behind this, but basically it makes us feel loads healthier. I've done a Whole30 before, back in February, and (unfortunately for my love of pizza and all things sweet) it really did make me get leaner, feel more energetic, sleep more soundly, my seasonal allergies were practically non-existent, and it made my skin clearer. I had some pizza after the 30 days were over and within 2 hours I was completely congested and couldn't sleep. Ugh. :(
Back to the burgers! Since we're eating "clean" right now, our burgers mean no buns! We bought a side of grass fed and finished beef from the farmers market a month ago or so...we ended up with a LOT of 80/20 ground beef (YAY!) so hamburgers are likely to be common in our household for a while. Anyways, my husband (we'll call him "Dude") made hamburger patties and added chopped red onion, chopped hatch green chilies, balsamic vinegar and salt. We threw 'em on the grill and they were DELICIOUS! We put them on some green leaf lettuce and Dude made a little bit of guacamole with half of a leftover avocado, some mild jalepenos (picked from our garden!) and cherry tomatoes.
Another side note: I have the tastebuds of a 4 year old. Up until February, I liked ketchup only on my hot dogs and hamburgers (don't even get me STARTED with cheeseburgers, gross). I also ate lots and lots of pepperoni pizza, chicken fingers and french fries, spaghetti, and tacos and burritos. I have never liked guacamole.
So I tried the guacamole with my burger...it was actually pretty good!! Hooray for maturing taste buds! The burger patty itself was MARVELOUS! Kudos to the chef!
This evening I also made our own "paleo" bbq sauce. I took a little taste while it was simmering and it was SO GOOD! I'm looking forward to drizzling it over some pork shoulder, chicken breast or some kind of beef roast. I'll probably post about it when it happens :).
Side note: My husband and I are on day 7 of our Whole30, which means we're paying close attention to what we're eating for 30 days...no grains (corn, wheat, rice, etc.), dairy, legumes (not a problem for me b/c I'm not a big bean fan anyway), and the hardest one...sugar (no fruit juices, no cracking out on fruit, no sugar, no sweeteners of any kind, and no added sugars in anything purchased from the grocery store, you get the picture). If you Google "Whole30" and/or "paleo" you'll find the reasoning behind this, but basically it makes us feel loads healthier. I've done a Whole30 before, back in February, and (unfortunately for my love of pizza and all things sweet) it really did make me get leaner, feel more energetic, sleep more soundly, my seasonal allergies were practically non-existent, and it made my skin clearer. I had some pizza after the 30 days were over and within 2 hours I was completely congested and couldn't sleep. Ugh. :(
Back to the burgers! Since we're eating "clean" right now, our burgers mean no buns! We bought a side of grass fed and finished beef from the farmers market a month ago or so...we ended up with a LOT of 80/20 ground beef (YAY!) so hamburgers are likely to be common in our household for a while. Anyways, my husband (we'll call him "Dude") made hamburger patties and added chopped red onion, chopped hatch green chilies, balsamic vinegar and salt. We threw 'em on the grill and they were DELICIOUS! We put them on some green leaf lettuce and Dude made a little bit of guacamole with half of a leftover avocado, some mild jalepenos (picked from our garden!) and cherry tomatoes.
Another side note: I have the tastebuds of a 4 year old. Up until February, I liked ketchup only on my hot dogs and hamburgers (don't even get me STARTED with cheeseburgers, gross). I also ate lots and lots of pepperoni pizza, chicken fingers and french fries, spaghetti, and tacos and burritos. I have never liked guacamole.
So I tried the guacamole with my burger...it was actually pretty good!! Hooray for maturing taste buds! The burger patty itself was MARVELOUS! Kudos to the chef!
This evening I also made our own "paleo" bbq sauce. I took a little taste while it was simmering and it was SO GOOD! I'm looking forward to drizzling it over some pork shoulder, chicken breast or some kind of beef roast. I'll probably post about it when it happens :).
Welcome!
I decided to start a blog! Woohoo! I have nothing exciting to share really other than food that my husband and I make and some funny pictures of my cats...but even if no one reads this at least it will allow me to post this stuff without filling up facebook with posts about paleo dinners and fat cats!
The title of my blog stems from a classic "Jenni" moment...I had asked my mother in law if she wanted to buy some poinsettias from my little brother, who was selling them at Christmas time for his high school band stuff. She said she would, and we went on watching TV or whatever we were doing. About an hour later, I realized I hadn't asked her what color poinsettias she wanted, so I asked her, "Red, pink or white?"...just like that...aaaand everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently since no one had mentioned the poinsettias for the past hour, that question was pretty random and no one was sure what I was talking about. Oops! That's just a little taste of what it's like living in Jenni World...hope you're ready!
The title of my blog stems from a classic "Jenni" moment...I had asked my mother in law if she wanted to buy some poinsettias from my little brother, who was selling them at Christmas time for his high school band stuff. She said she would, and we went on watching TV or whatever we were doing. About an hour later, I realized I hadn't asked her what color poinsettias she wanted, so I asked her, "Red, pink or white?"...just like that...aaaand everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently since no one had mentioned the poinsettias for the past hour, that question was pretty random and no one was sure what I was talking about. Oops! That's just a little taste of what it's like living in Jenni World...hope you're ready!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)