16 posts tagged “food”
I made some more hummous again this week. It's still good. Here's the recipe, but please note - all portions are approximate. You know, when it gets to the point that you just go by taste, add a dash here or there. Just watch the garlic - I luuuuurve garlic, but still, it's raw and can be overwhelming!
Chick peas - a big can. (Or do like me: buy them dry, soak and cook 'em.)
Reserve Liquid from the canned or cooked chick peas.
Tahini - (sesame seed paste) about 2-3 tablespoons. (A little goes a long way. Keep in your fridge and it'll last a long time so you don't have to worry about buying a random condiment you rarely use, using only a bit and having the rest go bad on you.)
Garlic - anwhere from 4-6 cloves, smashed (or minced)
Lemon juice - at least 1 tbsp - go on taste here.
Olive oil - 1-3 tablespoons
Cumin - about 2 tsps, though I like cumin so I use a lot.
Salt - to taste.
Pop it all in your blender or food processor and blend to desired consistency. Use the reseve liquid to thin it. If you have a wimpy blender like mine, you'll likely have to do it in batches.
Enjoy!
Negatives
- Gus has a cold and, I believe, the croup to go along with it. Poor boy.
- This means I can't go to the gym today, since Gus is not welcome (and understandably so) at playcare.
- The result of not going to the gym means we might go a bit squirrely today. Perhaps the outing to get a humidifier will help!
Positives
- Despite the croup, Gus is in a pretty good mood - so far.
- Peaches went back to a 6 hour sleep last night after a week or more hiatus, reverting back to her infant ways where I get up about 3-5 times a night.
- Friends coming over for dinner tonight. You know what this means: dessert!
- Having a meal plan for the week.
- Going to the gym FIVE times last week. Still pumped about that
- Having a stack of books I'd like to read.
It's happened again.
After the initial weight loss in the weeks following the birth of each kid, I managed to either stay at a mid-pregnancy weight level, or in this most recent round, manage to even gain a bit more back. At least, I think I have. I seem to remember my clothes fitting a bit better after Peaches was born than they seem to now.
I feel rather sheepish admitting all this. After all, I knew that I'd need to keep on top of things if I was going to lose weight - the year after Gus was born taught me this. I do breastfeed, but that hasn't really melted off the pounds like it does for some moms. In fact, I found it easier to shed some pounds after Gus had weaned. But in the meantime, I know I can be and should be staying fit and eating well.
Since Peaches just hit three months and has become more predictable, I feel comfortable going to the gym again and leaving her and Gus at the playcare provided. I started last week - some cardio and some weights. In the food department I'm doing my best to work on avoiding the sweets cravings. I'm planning on drinking more water and green tea. I have some other ideas of what I could do, and hopefully will do, but right now I'd like to hear from you all out there in vox-land.
I need inspiration.
I need ideas.
Let me the recepient of your collective wisdom!
What are a few things that you do that you find help make you feel and actually be healthy?
Let's hear it.
Last Friday we left home and this Friday we're still away from home. Here's a list of thirteen things about my last week, in no particular order.
1. I became an AUNTIE! James was born last Friday. We were passing through town and planned on stopping in to see my sister who was being induced. Turns out he was born while we were sitting in the parking lot while I nursed Peaches. All is well with everyone. We'll be staying with them in a couple of days!
2. I took 2 ferry rides.
3. I ate lavender shortbread and drank red wine (not necessarily together).
4. I spent very little time on the computer. We had limited dial-up so I all I really did was check email. As a result, I found I missed inter-web-land.
5. I enjoyed visits with old friends that were entirely too short and didn't manage to connect with some others.
6. I watched several float plans land and take off - the joys of staying right on the Harbour. Gus learned to say 'plane float on water' and watching them was his favourite thing to do, after playing cars with Grandpa. Here's a shout-out to my f.i.l. for hours of car-playing, goldbug-searching, plane-watching, dinner-making, grocery-getting, wine-pouring, and baby-carrying. My thanks. (And for those of you who know me in rl, my m.i.l. was in India at the time - now en route home- and, sadly, missed all that car-playing.)
7. I also watched a passenger train pass us by twice a day.
8. I wandered Chinatown and other cool shops sans Gus while Peaches slept in her wrap. In particular I perused cool baby/kid stores with beautiful things like handmade organic cotton sleepers for $70. I found myself wishing I could do the wandering thing more, but things like feedings and naps and life got in the way.
9.Since we've been gone, we know of three babies who have been born.
Since Thanksgiving the total is up to 6, mostly boys: Daniel, Liza,
Matthew, James, Lucas, & Maerk.
10. We took a little ride just out of town to see the salmon run. The air
was cool, the ground wet, the smell of rotting fish was strong, the
gulls were gorging. I am amazed at the strength of those fish as they
swim up stream, or flop about finding more water if they find
themselves in shallows. Gus spent much of his time there saying "[Gus]
see planes." Guess what he and Grandpa did when they got home?
11. Peaches continues to have periods of 5-6 hours of sleep. One night, she even did 7 hours, though that was preceded by a day of about 3 hours of cumulative sleep. She's a terrible day sleeper.
12. Both Chris and Gus had sore throats and strained voices. This was especially unfortunate for Chris since the whole purpose of our trip was work-related for him - he had to spend his days teaching his course! Surprisingly, I haven't succumbed to this round of colds. Yet.
13. There's still more trip to enjoy and since the work portion is finished, it's just all friends and all family all the time!
I'm using the Friday the Thirteen model to play catch up. Here goes.
1. Vox has been doing funny things when I compose. When I try to delete a picture, it instead begins deleting the most recently written characters, among other things. Vox help was, in fact, helpful (Thank you, Lauren) and it turns out Vox doesn't officially support the version of Firefox I'd been using, so I'm using Explorer today. It was just too depressing to make 2-3 posts just to eventually lose them. Anyway, now I know.
2. Peaches is growing: she's getting all chubby with multiple chins. Go breast-milk go! Though my husband says he won't consider her really chubby until she has a roll somewhere between her
wrist and elbow like Gus did when he was little!
3. Chris went back to work last week giving me my first taste of life for the next several months with Gus and Peaches. Tricky is a word to describe it. Difficult is another. But I think we'll make it.
4. Last week I got sick - achy, sore throat, general malaise. It didn't help my confidence in my ability to cope. But then...
5. ... My friend Breezy came to visit! How wonderful it was to spend time with her, to have a friend always on hand to talk. We crammed a lot into her 4 day visit. She is also a great baby-rocker.
6. Besides being a great converstaionalist, Breezy also cooked for us: Spinach and Apple Tart with Onion Confit, Greek Red Lentil Soup, Chicken Soup with Spinach and Lemon. Some of it is gone, but the soup is ready and waiting in the freezer.
7. Speaking of freezer food, we're only just know finishing up the week's worth of frozen entrees (not to mention the fresh dinners) that friends have blessed us with. Seriously folks, if you're wondering how to help out a family with a newborn, food is a fantastic way to go. I've loved that the only thing I've had to think about is how early to put the casserole in the oven!
8. I made cultured salsa with tomatoes from our garden, courtesy of a recipe posted here. Yummy.
9. I read a book about de-cluttering. Now I'm really motivated to work on our house, especially as I'll be spending more time here. It's not like it's a too-much-stuff zone, actually, I think we're pretty good about paring back now and again, but I feel like I'd like to do better. The thing is, this is the worst time for me to do it - when I'm trying to nap and juggle regular chores and the kidlets - and I really, really need to let go of any expectations. Who takes on major re-organization projects when they're babe is only 5 weeks old?!
10. Peaches loves to be held. In fact, I think she needs to be if we're going to maintain some sanity around here. And funnily enough, it's hard to get other things done around the house when you've got a mini-me in your arms. Therefore, I'm getting a new baby carrier. We have an ergo which is fine, but I don't find it great for my littl'un (even with the infant insert) and while I'm sure I'll use it more as Peaches gets bigger, I want something else for now. I'm looking at both a sling or a wrap, and right now I'll leaning towards the wrap. I tried one on at a friend's place this evening and it's worked great for her. Later this week I'll try on a sling and see how I feel. Any good babywearing advice out there?
11. I've decided to make some lists of things to do everyday, or at least attempt to do. Some things will be must-dos: read my bible (even just a little), meditate/pray, exercise (even if it's just a few sit-ups), and get in touch with someone. The other lists will be chores - daily, weekly and monthly. This is courtesy of that de-cluttering book I mentioned. It'll be good to have things written down, and I can always adjust things as my routine becomes, well, just that - a routine!
12. I've been finally feeling like I can get out again and see folks, or have them over. It's a good thing for me. I need that in my life.
13. I've been learning that people are valuable. God has granted us infinte value and worth, as demonstrated through the death of his son, Jesus - God made flesh - God who is eternal. Therefore I need to show the grace I've been given, value people more: my family and friends, sure, but also the casheir at the checkout, the person who asks for spare change, the librarian, my neighbour with the motorbike. For each person is, as a friend reminded me this week, a beautiful creation, worth more than the ocean view or a sunset. What does demonstrating a recognition of that worth look like? Thoughts?
Things I'm Not Loving:
- Cluster feeds at night.
- Being tired.
- The non-return to school. Feels strange not to go back with everyone else yesterday. I'm a bit melancholy about it. I didn't feel this way with Gus, but I think this time it's because I actually have a specific school and my own specific job and, well, I'm not there. Don't get me wrong - I'm not ready to rush back or anything. This just feels strange...
- Forgetting to eat more fruit and veggies.
Things I am Loving:
- My husband: C. does most all of the cooking, pretty much all the cleaning, gets Gus out for chunks of time during the day (and Gus has been going through a two-year-old can't-make-up-his-mind-on-anything episode which requires infinite patience) and will be the one to get up with Peaches to burp her or generally settle her down during the night. Talk about loving and serving!
- Visitors from afar: my mom, my in-laws, my sister and brother-in-law, my best friend and her husband. Yay!
- Frozen casseroles in my freezer and homemade pizza coming on Friday. Are our friends taking care of us, or what?! Blessings indeed.
- Gus's return to daycare (he'll be going one day a week) after his summer hiatus went so smoothly much to my relief.
- My new pajama bottoms.
- Peaches's increased level of alertness during the day. She loves looking around, almost too much... "ok, time for sleeping, kiddo!"
- That our camera is not broken, after all.
I've really wanted to just go and eat a lot these days. Especially sweets. This kicked in shortly after my doctor told me I'd gained a bit too much this last month and should cut back on the starches (potatoes, breads, pasta, etc.) to about half of what I normally eat and then eat whole grain when I do. Now, I know that's good advice anytime, but it still got to me. I vacillate from being annoyed with my doctor to concerned about my health and that of the babe's.
See, I thought I was doing ok for weight gain this pregnancy - in fact, the 9 lbs he's concerned about is the only weight I've gained at 24 weeks so far. (Unfortunately, I gained it all in 4 weeks!) Now, this could just be a quirk of the scale and circumstances (ex. - unusally low at last weigh in and higher at this one) or, it could point to gestational diabetes - eek! I have my glucose screen test in another 2 weeks and in the meantime, I'm trying to be happy with fruit and veggies.
So how do I deal with the maddening desire to walk into my kitchen and back myself a batch of biscuits!
Go enjoy your ice cream and cookies for me, people!
As I've mentioned before, I've been reading a book very aptly named
It goes through different groups of foods and highlights how and why they are effective in preventing or fighting cancer. Here's a quick run down:
- Cruciferous Family - cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
- Garlic and Onions
- Soy - including edamame, dry roasted soybeans, miso, tofu, etc.
- Tumeric - yes, this spice that makes everything very yellow is in its own cancer-fighting category.
- Green Tea - especially the Japanese variety, but the Chinese ones work fine, too.
- Berries - pretty much all of them!
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids - which you'll find in salmon, sardines, and milled flax seed for starters.
- Citrus Fruit
- Dark Chocolate (yay!)
- Red Wine
- Tomatoes
I'd decided to try to feature some of these things in our diet during the week. I knew we'd be short on the Omega-3 category, so I've started hunting down recipes for canned salmon. I was surprised at how few turned up in my library of about a dozen cookbooks. Most were for salmon cakes - some sort of fried concoction, usually using potatoes as a base. And then I found this recipe in a book my mom gave me a few years back: One-Dish Meals. Some of the reipes are odd to me because they call for things like "a 12 oz. bag of frozen peas, carrots, corn and red pepper slices." I just chop the veggies myself. And they don't have much by way of vegetarian, but I did find a casserole that worked very well. It's basically a white sauce mixed with noodles, broccoli and tinned salmon and baked in a casserole dish. I added garlic, celery and onion to the mix and topped it with some cheese instead of the bread crumbs because I didn't have any handy. And it was very tasty, even if I do say so myself. And it was cancer-fighting packed meal: salmon (omega-3), garlic & onion and broccoli. (I was tempted to add tumeric; maybe I'll wait to the next time.)
I know that eating healthy whenever one can is better than never trying to do it at all, but the thing is, I think I'll find it hard to keep up. It'll take time to adjust what we buy (and how much we spend!) and the time it takes to think ahead a prepare things instead of just reaching for wieners and beans (which is a meal I love, especially when I add cumin to the beans and put it all in a wrap with cheese).
What's your healthy food tip?
Thanks everyone, for your comments and calls. I've been feeling much better. Yes, I still have a runny nose and the throat will surely be tested with my passel of grade 8s tomorrow, but I'm just *feeling* better.
Our weekend: Friday night we were over at some friends' place for dinner. The S. family has 3 kids, the youngest is about 8 months older than Gus. They are a rambunctious and adorable crew and I enjoy seeing Gus interact (read: flee from) other kids. I know he's getting lots of interaction time at daycare, but it's fun to be able to see how he reacts to things.
Sunday morning, my husband very graciously was up at the crack of pre-dawn with Gus, who had no clue that this was the morning of day-light savings (or return from?) and could care less that the rest of the world was getting an extra hour of sleep, leaving me with some luxurious hours of sleep. We had to adjust our church-going: Gus barely made it through last week's service so we had him take an early nap this time so he wouldn't be so cranky by the end of the service. However, C. and I skipped Sunday School so he would get a decent rest. This afternoon gave me time to chat on the phone (Hi, Mom!), finish my postcards that are due to be swapped tomorrow, and play with Gus-Gus. We had even more cabbage for dinner (this time with perogies) and felt very good about it. (Seriously, folks - cabbage is an amazing cancer-fighting good. It's cheap, too. Go eat some!)
And now C. is preparing his study for our care group/Bible study meeting on Tuesday so we can spend time with other friends who have graciously invited us over for dinner tomorrow night! Me, I'm killing time here, but will soon be returning to my latest novel: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs. (The TV series Bones is based on her writings.) So far, so good. I'll let you know when I'm done.
Enjoy your week.
We had our fill of turkey sandwiches in the wake of our Thanksgiving dinner so I turned the rest of the meat to a different use: Turkey Soup & Turkey Pot Pie.
I boiled down the carcass the other night to make stock and then let it chill the next day to bring the fat to the surface and skimmed it off this morning. Then I tossed in onion, garlic, carrots, celery, barely, potato and turkey bits to make this yummy looking soup! The stock had so much colour and aroma (and rightly so) that I didn't bother putting any more herbs into it. Now it goes to the freezer to help me through work lunches and those dinners when I dont' feel like doing anything more than defrosting!
For this evening though, I was a bit more adventurous (for me, anyway!). I made us some Turkey Pot Pie. I used a recipe from The Joy of Cooking for the creamed chicken part but used my own biscuit recipe (come to me by way of my friend Sara and from which I get many, many compliments!) for the topping. The cream sauce was a basic roux and then I threw in the turkey, onion, garlic, celery, carrot and peas. We realized it could have been cooked longer once I had served it up, as there were some doughy, mushy pieces where the biscuits hadn't been cooked through right next the the sauce. So I tossed it in for about 15 more minutes to be sure. This meal ought to serve us for the next 2 dinners!
