Quick dinner #1

It's Wednesday and after three days of getting up early to work out, teaching homeschool, then working for 6 hours, I do not feel up to cooking. But since we do not eat drive through (except an occasional splurge at Sombreros or In and Out) I have to make something! 

Tonight it was Kashi frozen pizza (spinach and mushroom). I added two (thinly sliced) nitrate free sausage links. I think they r spinach and feta flavored. I topped it with four cheese sticks (peeled into thin pieces) since I was out of mozzarella in any other form! 

On the side was mixed greens tossed with white truffle oil and drizzled with an heirloom balsamic that is to die for. 

Never sacrifice health because you are busy! 

Seared Ahi Quinoa Salad

There is this amazing salad at True Food kitchen in San Diego. It has quinoa, cucumbers, watercress, feta cheese, Marcona almonds...etc. I make it at home ALL the time! I normally grill wild salmon to put on top. This week Sprouts (grocery store) had Wild Ahi Tuna on sale! Which made that yummy Greek style salad turn Asian in my head. 

Here's the breakdown: 

The salad,

Red Quinoa (cooked, obviously!)

Green beans (sliced and blanched, I like them a little crispy)

English cucumber (quartered lengthwise and sliced very thin)

Cashews (toasted)

Watercress 

Wild Ahi Tuna Steaks (seared) 

The dressing, 

Grapeseed oil for a base

Lemon for acid 

And for flavor,

Tamari soy sauce 

Toasted sesame oil

Crushed garlic

A pinch of crushed red pepper

A bit of sweet (sugar or agave or zsweet) 

We had leftovers the next day and it was even good cold. 

Wasabi Peas

So, my Mom starting eating these dried peas covered in Wasabi. They are soooo addicting! B, started eating them and also was addicted. Now we are Wasabi Pea connoisseurs (only 5 times typing that word to have it spelled right!). They are like crunchy, spicy, salty, goodness. I keep telling B we should mix them with chocolate chips! Add a little sweet and they are all satisfying.

Trader Joes brand is pretty good. But the two local boutique grocery stores in our area carry the best! Sprouts and Harvest Ranch. They are about as good for you as eating potato chips. But much yummier!  And then.... we discovered.....Wasabi Edamame!

Two Years

Not much time has passed. Only two years! It amazes me how fast time can fly! Here is a brief rundown of how life is going now....

Homeschool, Twins turned 8 on the 22nd, Starting 3rd grade on Monday!, Using Sonlight curriculum.
Work, 15-25 hrs a week, Family Business, enough said!
Exercise, 3-5 times a week, 2x with a trainer, 1-3x walking the neighborhood (3.2 miles with hills!).
Food, trying to stay off sugar, carbs and nightshade vegetables for the adults, the kids eat nightshade veggies and whole grains in addition to a low sugar diet.

Bake, Cook, Clean, repeat.

Here we are two days before Christmas Eve and only a week or so from the new year. Sigh. Its about this time that i start wondering where the time went. My girls turned 6 in August and seemed to have lost the last little bit of "baby" that was lingering on their body and in their speech. They are children now. Those smart (and sassy sometimes), beautiful, lean, athletic (who knows where that came from?), little girls who have their own style.

I think the Christmas rush is part of what makes me start to miss my babies. Only another mother would understand missing your babies, when you have your children right in front of you. Anyway, the Christmas rush. With all the shopping, baking, cooking, wrapping, helping my mom shop-bake-cook-wrap, cleaning, decorating.... It seems like I do not get to do all the little things I want to with my girls. We do some crafts and baking, but for the most part they play while I work.

Maybe next year I will schedule out the crafts and fun Christmas activities so that they are sure to be done. Maybe next year I will do all my shopping in October. Maybe next year will be the year of changes. Maybe next year my resolutions will actually stick.

 I love all the possibilities a new year holds. Looking toward the new year I feel young. Full of hope and innocence as to what it may hold. Its not till Christmas that I feel old. When all that hope and innocence has been replaced with, well, reality.

Ohhhh, rereading that and I sound pretty sad! Im not sad, just reflecting. :) Hope you all have a Merry CHRISTmas! Spend time with people who matter. Indulge on a few treats, and work it all off in the New Year!

Cruise Food

We just returned from a week long Mexican Riviera Disney Cruise. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing! The girls had a blast! We even swam with the Dolphins in Cabo. When I say swam, I really mean SWAM and RODE! Yes, we each got a short ride on the Dolphin. It was an amazing experience.

A not so amazing part of the cruise was the food! I think I may have lost weight instead of gained it like normal. I am used to fresh, low fat, high flavor, healthy food. What I ate tasted bland, mass produced, not so fresh, and luke warm. Big bummer! Especially when you pay soooo much for a vacation. I understand that it can not be easy to feed so many people. Really the food was no worse than any other cruise I have been on. I am just more picky in my old age.

When we returned home I told B that i was going to make something fresh and healthy for dinner. He said yes please! So I grilled some boneless skinless chicken breasts with just salt and pepper. I steamed up a lot of spinach (it wilts so much that there never seems to be enough!). Then I went to the garden and stripped my basil plant to make some fresh pesto (basil, pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, and parmesan cheese). I also took all of my yellow and red cherry tomatoes off the plants. I sliced the tomatoes in half, sprayed them with olive oil and roasted them in my toaster oven till they blistered.

I served the grilled chicken on a bed of steamed spinach. Smeared about a tablespoon of the pesto on the chicken and topped that with some roasted tomatoes. It was light, fresh, healthy and oh so tasty! I felt like I was eating real food. Yum!

I am thinking for our next vacation it would be nice to rent a house may be in Hawaii. That way I can make some of my own yummy food! The general opinion on my dinner was that it was better than anything we ate on the cruise. Hows that for a dinner review!

Baby, Infant, Beans?

I have been homeschool the twins for first grade. In science we are learning about the developmental stages of human beings. First of all Infants. We learned how infant is another name for baby. Two days later we went to do review and then the next lesson in our books. So this is how the conversation went.

Me: Okay girls, we are going to do science. Remember how we learned a new name for baby in our last lesson? Do you remember what it was?

Twin Sweet: (without pausing blurt out) BEANS!

Twin Spicy: (bursts into laughter) No, not Beans!

Me: (Trying to contain most of my laughter) Twin Spicy do you remember the name?

Twin Spicy: Infant. Not beans!