I'm Getting A Banana

I'm getting a Banana!

Well, Bananagrams, to be specific.

I ordered it yesterday, and got an email that it's already shipped!

I'm so excited.

We played a similar game to , years ago, and I kept meaning to get one for us, but never did. And here's the same idea, but in much cuter packaging! And I think the number of tiles will make it great for playing with children ~ not so many as to be overwhelming for younger spellers. I can't wait until it arrives!

Also, I'd like to start a vocabulary word a day ... or week? ... But I am not organized enough to choose my own regularly. And the Doctor Dictionary thing I signed up for is really not quite kid friendly. I want words that will stretch them, but ones that they'd really use, in real life. Words that mean things they already know, but stretch them a little. Any ideas where I can get said words without too much required of me?

In other news, it's the last walking day of the month. The end of my February Stay On Program challenge. Did you try to stay on program with healthy eating and exercise this month? How did you do?

I'll post again tonight, after I exercise - or perhaps tomorrow for the official weigh-and-measure post - on how my month rounded out. I made my walking goal, and then some, and stayed pretty much on program except for one unfortunate plunge into the microwave popcorn the other day. But I chose to bounce back, and I'm glad. I am looking forward to a similar March challenge. Will you be joining me?

Taking it to the Blog

I got this via email from my friend BusyHSmom, but I tend not to forward such emails. But I thought I could post it on my blog, and if you want to tag yourself and do it, that would be fun. Why not post in the comments if you blog it, too.

1.What is your occupation? Stay-at-home, homeschooling mom

2. What color are your socks right now? charcoal gray. How dull is that? I own much more colorful socks.

3. What are you listening to right now? white noise from the monitor in the room where my not-quite-2 year old is sleeping, and the muted sounds of the children playing in the snow

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Baked Lays

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Sure can. Although since I no longer do it regularly, I goof up, sometimes.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Um ... Um ... I guess it was the Grand Lunar, yesterday afternoon, when he called to see how my back was doing and whether he should rescue me from taking the children to mom's.

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I sure do!

8. How old are you today? 38 as of Valentine's Day!

9. Favorite drink? Hm. Fresca or Caffeine Free Diet Coke. When not expecting I also like Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade and Smirnoff Twisted Raspberry. I loved the Mandarin Orange, too, but I don't think they make it now.

10. What is your favorite sport to watch? Please don't make me watch sports.

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Ha ha ha ha!

Yes.

12. Pets? Two cats. For Sale. Cheap.

13. Favorite food? Doritos. Hershey Kissables. Chinese Buffet.

14. What was the last movie you watched? Um .... The Kid. It made me cry.

15. What is your favorite day of the year? Ummm ... date night for our anniversary.

16. How do you vent anger? Anger? Me?

17. What was your favorite toy as a child? I used to collect koalas. But my long term favorite toy was my bear, Pandy, seen below.

18. What is your favorite season, fall or Spring ? Spring, hands down.

19. Hugs or kisses? Hugs. And Kissables. Oh, not the candy kind? Probably hugs.

20. Cherries or Blueberries? Fresh: blueberries. Dried: cherries.

21. Do you want your friends to email you back? They can blog it if they want, no pressure.

22. Who is most likely to respond? um ... Becky?

23. Who is least likely to respond? Moogie :-D

24. Living arrangements? 1940 ranch with an upstairs bumped out from an attic and several other additions. Painted a lovely shade of camel.

25. When was the last time you cried? Today. You got a problem with that? **addendum** NOW the last time I cried is when my husband mocked all my typos. Which are now corrected in red, so you know how much I was mocked. It's good to have a proof-reader. Makes me look less stupid.

26. What is on the floor of your closet? Totes of clothes for different seasons of fatness and nursing status.

27. Who is the friend you have known the longest that you are sending this to? Moogie and Kelly have known me since birth.

28. What did you do last night? Went to bed early to rest my back.

29. Favorite smells? Baby heads, homemade bread, hazelnut flavored things.

30. What inspires you? The Holy Spirit

31. What are you afraid of? Dawdling my life away and never really living fully for God's glory.

32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Currently? No burgers! But my all time favorite burger, no joke, is a Quarter Pounder with Cheese.

33. Favorite dog breed? Gund.

34. Number of keys on your key ring? Um ... 4 or 5?

35. How many years at your current job? 14 as wife, and almost 12 years as a mom.

36. Favorite day of the week? I don't know. Tuesdays when I can sneak in a lunch date with The Grand Lunar.

37. How many states have you lived in? Massachusetts and Michigan

38. Favorite holiday? Valentine's Day (see above) ... no, really it's probably Christmas and Easter ~ without the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, my life would have no true meaning.

Okay, tag, you're it.

I'm not dead yet. I feel ... happy!

I figured I better give you an update on my back.

I'm not dead! It's still sore, but it's gone to a functional sore. No longer a sit-on-the-couch-and-cry-out-in-pain-when-someone-jostles-you pain. That was the bad part. I think it's going to resolve itself, but still be sore for a few days. I've decided not to mess with running to the chiropractor since it seems to be getting better.

I'm going to have to try to watch my posture today, though, and not crumple into funny positions unknowingly.

In other news, I'm feeling decidedly yucky. No barfing, which is nice. I really dislike barfing, and try to avoid it at all costs. But definitely low grade yucky most of the time, and medium-grade yucky sometimes. With it comes the "I want something to eat, but ... not that." ... I haven't had too many cravings, but occasionally the only food that sounds good is, well, Doritos. But I'm not going to indulge in junk. I'm going to do my best to keep eating healthy.

Yesterday I wanted to eat something but couldn't think of anything. Finally I decided I wanted lo mein noodles. I surfed around some recipes, found some, added some mixed frozen veggies so it wasn't JUST eating pasta, and cooked it up. Ate about 5 bites. Didn't want it anymore. Oh well.

So that's what's up here. Not a very exciting blog entry, is it? Sorry about that.

I've been taking pictures of muffins and knitting, but too lazy to post them. Not that they're that exciting. The sock (yes, just one, I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it, much less make it to TWO socks, LOL) is green. The banana muffins were pretty. You'll just have to trust me.

Oh my goodness, I broke myself

or something.

I was in bed around 5:30 this morning, not doing anything but lying there on my back, sleeping. And I felt a little pop, or crack. And then my back hurt, up between my shoulder blades, and I couldn't lay on my back or right side without it hurting. When I got up it hurt when I moved certain ways, so I was doing that stiff-robot walk, turning my whole upper body instead of just my head, etc.

I thought if I could stretch it out, it might pop back. So I stretched and felt a pop. But it didn't feel any better, and I soon discovered it was worse. Now I have even less range of motion, and when I move and it hurts it spasms or cramps up or something, I don't know what but it really hurts. It only hurts a little if I sit reallllly still, but since The Grand Lunar and the Big Two are off to church, it's up to me to take care of littles, including squirmy ones who want to be picked up and don't get "don't wiggle, it hurts me."

So. I don't really know what to do. I took an acetaminophen, I hope that helps.

I guess I better try to eat something, too, keep the low grade oogies at bay.

My brain, my brain!

Nothing like a really helpful entry title, so you know where I'm headed with this, huh?

Some people have asked if I get "morning sickness" when I'm expecting. Yes, sort of.

With my first, I threw up just about daily, at least 16 weeks.

With my 2nd it was more like weekly, as I realized some triggers (like taking my vitamin on an empty stomach, duh)

With my 3rd and following it was less often, just a few barfs per pregnancy.

But despite not throwing up much, I do get the "oogies" where I don't feel so good. More than that, I find I lose the ability to think about cooking food, especially vegetables. Which, of course, makes healthy eating hard. I don't know why I get a veggie aversion. I'm hoping to mostly head it off this time by just being *determined* to cook well.

But here it is, almost 4:30 on a dinner night (LOL!) and I have to come up with something. I went shopping last night. I have a loose categorical plan for dinners. And yet I keep getting stumped actually deciding what to make. It's like my brain just short circuits when I try to think about it. I don't know. Maybe that's just an excuse.

But anyway, I can't decide, and I need to decide, and get busy.

Did I tell you I started knitting a sock?

Five Feet of Love

I finished a gift I've been working on. I need to learn to make more time to knit, this really knit up pretty fast when I was working on it. It was the long gaps in between that delayed the project.

It's going out in tomorrow's mail, a little over a week later than my target date. And I'm blogging before it's received, which I hope doesn't ruin the surprise; since it's not a total surprise, to begin with, having been previously discussed. But the pictures can't capture the colors or the softness, I must admit I'm a little tempted to keep it. Or knit one for myself.

Here is Mogh, modeling The Ocean Scarf.

It's a K2 P2 rib knit on big size 17 needles with both Lion Suede in demin and some kind of foofy woofy soft yarn of which I apparently lost the label. Bummer. It might be Lion Fun Fur in Deep Sea, I'm not sure right now. It's a little hard to see the ribbing, but here's a detail pic:

So watch your mailbox, Linda! 5 feet of love is on it's way to you. Hopefully you'll still have some winter left with which to use it!

Breaking News!

Before you hear it on the grapevine ... hopefully ...

The Grand Lunar and I would like to announce Andfam v. 7.0 to be released mid-October!

Yes, that's right, a New Baby is on it's way! A Valentine's / Birthday surprise for us!

I am a little bummed that I won't be losing the rest of my weight first, but I am praying the Lord will allow me to really stick to the Healthy Eating and exercise we've been doing, and not slip into junk like I have done in the past. I hope to at least finish this pregnancy a little lighter and healthier than in the past, and feed my family well throughout.

My Oreo Friend promised she'd be running over to the blog to see recent pics of my children, especially to see how Buzz is big enough to become a big brother, since he's only a month younger than her youngest. So I figured I better have a new picture for her!!! Friend, this one's for you!

So ... stay tuned for many exciting future posts about being tired and feeling yucky!

left you hanging!

didn't mean to leave you hanging, there. Maybe you thought I was too sick to post!

so sorry.

The cold only was *bad* the one day. Go figure.

The little guys have been sick and cranky off and on. I'm up early with Buzz, who woke before 6 and didn't go back to sleep. Eminoodle and Tobi-Wan are singing in the choir today, so I'll have The Grand Lunar stay home with those in Questionable Health.

I have some foodie pix to post, I managed to keep my birthday treats to reasonably healthy splurges. The brownie cake turned out well, and the oat bars are good enough for a 2nd attempt.

We had a nice visit with my sister & her family yesterday. It's too bad we don't live closer or have transporters.

Anyway I do have some pix and some news for you later, but in the interest of being ready for church in a timely manner, I fear it must wait.

A Pretty Soup for a Sickie Day

I'm nothing if not a noodle girl.

Noodles are one of my greatest comfort foods.

Today I wanted noodle soup, but something a little more traditional than my asian soup with the "wormy" noodles (thanks, guys, for that imagery!)

So I went with stir fry noodles that weren't stir fried, vegetarian "chicken" broth, a lot of garlic, and then threw in some bok choy at the last minute for the veggie bonus.

Okay, so maybe the last minute bok choy addition makes it less than traditional, but it sure is pretty, isn't it?

I hab a code

Okay, okay, I take back all the times I mocked people for being so sick and miserable when they had "just a cold" ...

I don't get colds very often. Just little sniffly noses and scratchy throats. But not a real "good" head cold.

But today I have one. The kind where you feel like someone used an industrial sized pastry bag to pipe your head full of expanding cement, so your head is like a big heavy unwieldy rock that's trying to bust out through the bones under your eye sockets? The kind where your eyes sting and water and squeeze themselves shut so you can't see, and your voice is foggy and makes your nose feel funny when you talk, and your nose runs constantly from the front end but is filled with immovable cement somewhere in the back end, so you can't actually blow it or anything.

So if this is how all you cold sufferers feel all the time, I'm really sorry I didn't pity you more when you were sick. You must've been very pitiful indeed. Please accept my belated pity. I'll be sending it to you from under a blanket.

Soba Noodles Three Ways

Alright, I admit, it's a catch-up entry.

I've been eating a lot of buckwheat soba noodles lately.

I most often eat them with some form of cabbage. Bok Choy or Napa Cabbage, usually.

Here's three favorite ways to eat them.

Bok Choy and Soba Noodle Salad:

A lot of bok choy, and/or cabbage, and or napa cabbage. Onion. Pepper flakes. And some sort of asian sauce. Often with a little peanut butter in it. I don't really have a recipe, I just put some soy sauce, some honey, some garlic, maybe a little rice vinegar, a little peanut butter ... maybe some ginger ... maybe some hot sauce if I have it ... mix and pour ...

Creamy Bangkok Noodles:

This is actually a variation on a recipe from Dr. McDougall's Newsletter.

Because I don't have mung beans, and don't love shredded carrots, I used only one juliened carrot, 3 cups of shredded napa cabbage, and 1 bunch of green onions. I omitted the tofu in this recipe, and made a few other minor changes. In the end it was similar to the salad, above, only with more noodles, more sauce, and less veggies (there was 4 cups of napa cabbage, carrots, and green onion, but the hot noodles and sauce wilted the cabbage right down). But that's okay, 'cause I like the whole range from saladish to noodleish. It's all good.

I used 2 tsp of chili-garlic sauce, but it really could've been a lot spicier. Maybe I bought the wimpy chili-garlic sauce.

I served it (to myself, LOL) with the hot noodles and hot sauce poured right over the salad, and it was a nice warm dish today.

And then there's soup. A great lunch on a cold day.

Bok Choy & Soba Noodle Soup on an Ugly Laminate Desk:

Again, no real recipe. I cook the noodles in a vegetarian "chicken" broth to which I add a little soy sauce, garlic, ginger, green onions when I have them, regular onions when I don't, and red chili flakes. When the noodles are done I dump in the bok choy and take it off the heat. The noodles mostly sunk to the bottom, so you couldn't see them in here. This is also good with rice noodles.

I guess I shouldn't really put this in the recipe section, those aren't going to be "recipe-y enough" for many of you. But ... it's the best I've got. LOL.

* p.s. -- I think I decided I WILL make a food blog ~ sort of. I'm just going to copy and paste my posts from here to there. That way I can post links to recipes on places like the McD discussion board without inviting those surfers and lurkers HERE to our cozy little spot. Right? But I won't put anything there I haven't put here, so you don't miss anything. And I won't have to babysit that blog with *extra* posts, then. It shouldn't take much more time or energy. I don't think.

T'Mahk or not t'Mahk

... I'll go for mahk.

My dear friend Christina posted a blurb with a "photo as proof" ...

So, in her honor, I offer you this tidbit of information, with photo as proof. I was once in a Star Trek Episode.

Forgive the photo quality, it's very OLD.

Now you know why I look so OLD these days.

I couldn't find the picture of me from when I was on the Twilight Zone with Rod Serling. Isn't that strange? I'm sure it's here, somewhere (begins rummaging around in her cluttered computer, trails off ...)

Guess what I did tonight?

You'll never guess. I'll just tell you!

I fixed my grain mill!

It's been busted for a long time, and I was holding out hope that maybe I could somehow jiggle and clean it to fix it. It has a lifetime warranty to a defunct company, so I couldn't send it anywhere free to get it fixed, so I figured I better try, myself, to make it work.

And I did it! I'm so happy! I can grind grains again!

I also tidied the tops of our dressers in the bedroom, which is a pretty rare occasion. I'm trying to do a little more cleaning/decluttering/organizing/niceifying each day. That's my plan. After working really hard to get ready for our Small Group Bible Study on Sunday, I was thinking, really, I could make much better progress if I worked on it during the week, instead of the last minute panic.

Although, really, it's good news that even in the last minute cleaning panic I'm making *progress* -- I think it gets a little cleaner each time. But I still have a LONG way to go.

I decided to gate off both rooms in the basement, leaving the cats only a small cat zone. Then I can finish tearing out the dumb closet thing and paint the one side, and use it for storage, and start decluttering and clearing out the other side to let the kids do crafts and games in. It's not going to end up a nice *finished* basement like nearly all our friends have, but hey, it'll be better. I only wish people wouldn't have to walk PAST the newly defined smaller cat zone to get to the play room. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I haven't actually DONE that work. Maybe the cats will ... um ... pass on ... before I get the work done anyway. They are pretty old, for cats, really.

AnyHOOOOO It's time for us to get exercising. I can't stay and chatter all night.

I have a nice picture of a taco salad with baked potato cubes, and a nice picture of bok choy soup to post, but I keep getting distracted and not getting them up. So you'll have to hold on for those.

Oh! And today I hit the 15 lbs lost mark. I'm pretty excited about that. I still have a ways to go, but it's nice to be breaking new ground rather than losing the same 5 over and over again.

What? What? Why am I here?

I was walking determinedly to my computer to post an entry.

When I got here, I realized I had a half-written comment on another blog. So I finished that, first.

Then I hurried over here. And had completely forgotten what I was going to say.

Thinking ...

Thinking ....

Staring blankly in lieu of thinking ...

Aha! Two things.

Yesterday I went to make some decaf coffee to warm my bones on that cold day ... when I looked in the big Folgers Green Plastic Can (because it's only the best for me and my guests, fancy fancy Folgers, eh?) it was empty. I gave it to my not-quite-2 year old as a drum, but he was markedly unimpressed. I knew I had a brand-new can (an actual metal can!) of store-brand decaf (even fancier!) but didn't want to go to the trouble of using the can opener. You see how rough my life is. So I rooted around in the freezer for old containers of coffee. I have these little tidy nesting square containers that fit so well in the freezer, and they stack and line up and make my freezer look like it belongs to an organized person, you see. I get a lot of joy out of telling myself that my freezer door looks organized, hoping maybe I'll fool someone into thinking I am organized, apparently.

Anyway, so I used to have two tidy little freezer boxes, one labeled 'decaf' and one labeled 'regular'. (Oh, and Kelly, I AM going to follow your advice and get rid of all the regular in the house, this time around. If I can remember, I'll give it to you guys next weekend! Remind me if I forget! (Did I ever get you that coffee pot lid thingie?))

Ahem, I seem to be a little off track.

So yesterday I pulled out the two boxes labeled 'regular' and 'decaf' ... and discovered they were labeled 'regular' and 'unsweetened cocoa powder'.

They were obviously both coffee. While my original containers were labeled top and side, the 'cocoa' one had no side-label to verify it's contents. But I figured it must be decaf. After all, why would I have two different containers of regular?

So I made my coffee with the easier-to-access 'cocoa' decaf. Which apparently was actually some fancy-pantsy pricey coffee, which I buy from rare time to time in the little foiled bags, and transfer to the safety of my freezer boxes, to preserve it's fancy flavor. Which, I must admit, I'm rather lame at observing. I have to say, cheapie store brand is good enough for me. I'll save the fancy 'good' coffee for people smart enough to tell it's good.

Aaaannnnnyway. I'm pretty sure, in retrospect, that it wasn't decaf. I wasn't bouncing off the walls, I wasn't jogging around the house or chattering non-stop any more than I usually do. But, still. I think it was regular. We'll see if I get a headache from a one day accidental ingestion.

The moral of the story: If you really mean business going caffeine free, don't re-use old lids and assume you'll remember anything about what was in them. And if you find an old re-used container clearly mis-marked, assume it is caffeinated. Better safe with the can opener than going through withdrawal again, right?

Oh, those make pretty bad morals. They're really not moral at all. How about saying The Lame Wrap Up for the Story ... yeah, that's more accurate.

ANYway. Oh, the other thing. I had a dream.

In my dream, I came into a living room that was apparently mine. And apparently we live in the location where my parents' house is. Not in their house, being a dream, this was some other made up house. But across from the same field and all.

And in my dream, my oldest daughter, Iliacat, was talking with James Dobson. Right there in the family room of my made up house.

And Dr. Dobson, when I came in, chided me, telling me that Iliacat had been telling him I wouldn't let them go outside, alone, to play. The chiding was implied, and subtle, but very apparent. Overprotective and too conservative, he thought I was. The worst of it was that I knew I wasn't, in this case. I do let them go outside to play, without me! Really I do. So I began defensively fumbling, explaining that the oldest 2 are allowed to play outside, front and back, quite often, and even allowed to roam the field across from our house. The middles are allowed out back where I can see them, and even the youngest two, under certain circumstances and with an older one watching them, in the fenced back yard. But Dr. Dobson clearly believed Iliacat over me.

Weird, eh?

What's Your System?

So ...

What's your cleaning system? How do you get things cleaned up & keep them clean? How do you decide how clean is clean enough?

How do you divide up chores among children? Do you mostly supervise? Mostly work along side? Or mostly work on your chores while they do theirs?

Do you have certain things you do on certain days of the week?

Are there big gaps where you struggle to keep up in an area?

Do you like your system?

I hope you don't mind if I put down in words ...

... that I've walked one hundred miles already this year.

Er ... exercised the equivalent, anyway. I still feel kind of funny about that. I'm counting 15-minute increments of aerobic exercise as 1 mile.

Maybe I should change my goal for the year, I don't know. Right now I'm aiming for 3 miles / 45 minutes a day. A few times I've exercised twice, because I've done one video walk and then later walked again so that The Grand Lunar and I can exercise together.

That's really the more exciting part, The Lunar and I have been exercising together in the evening. He rides the exercise bike, I jog on the rebounder-thingie, and we watch movies. It's a double-whammy, not only do we get exercise, but I don't fall asleep watching them! LOL!

I have walked 22 miles -- 36.67% of my goal of 60 miles in Feb!!

Oooh, here's another good thing to report. I'm really liking my healthy eating program, and I'm doing pretty well in my 28 days On Program February Challenge to myself. The part I like best is that there are days like yesterday where I had a few potatoes for, I guess it was brunch, a really late breakfast. And then I had a huge salad, the kind I like with buckwheat soba noodles and a peanut sauce, and then I had soup and bread for dinner and ate probably more than I should have eaten of homemade, whole grain bread ... so this morning I woke up thinking boy, all that bread, how could I NOT gain a bunch of weight? But I didn't, my weight is still slowly slipping down, down, down. I'm almost to the 15 lb mark (down from my highest) ... I love that feeling of "wow, I ate a lot, maybe too much, of foods I enjoyed" and have it not count against my weight on the scale.

In unrelated (to this health entry, but related to this moment in my day) news, I had a dream last night that I was a camp counselor for about 30 teenage girls. There was a camp schedule, so I expected the girls to know what they were supposed to do, and do it. They were supposed to clean up their cabin and get some things ready for the day's activity, which was a long bike ride in some exotic spot. But the girls woke up and just monkeyed around. They didn't come for breakfast on time. They didn't do their cabin chores. And at the last minute I was scrambing around trying to help them get ready, and scolding them for not doing their responsibilities. Um ... there's a dream that doesn't take too much analysis to figure out, eh?

Lastly, I didn't make the finalists in the Share The Love Blog Awards, but that's okay, I didn't expect to. I'm just all warm and fuzzy that you like me and keep coming back. You and the spammers. I've got all I need in that.

Well, really, I have all I need in Christ, and you guys are just icing on the cake. But you know what I mean.

But go ahead and vote for some finalists in that thing. There's one for blog design that's all green and pink, I'm rooting for that one.

Have you got anything without SPAM in it?

Huh. I just had this thought today.

According to my little Web Stat Tracker Doo Dad, I get about 60 hits a day. Doesn't that make me sound so popular and important?

But according to my spam* filter, I get over 100 spam comments a day.

I suppose many of the spam bots stop by once and comment a bunch of comments. They do seem to come in waves.

So I realized that means many of my hits are not actual people hits, they are spam bots.

Oh, what a blow to my ego! I am not as popular as I thought I was!

On the other hand, it appears I am very popular with the spam bots.

I guess that's good enough for me!

*That link goes to the Monty Python Spam Skit on YouTube, which is always worth another sing-along. True to Monty Python nature, though, it may not be acceptable viewing material for children and conservative readers. I suggest stopping when the foreign gentleman in the bowler hat comes in, should you find yourself in that category.

I didn't know! I'm almost famous!

I didn't know until Teena mentioned it ~ apparently I've been nominated in the Share The Love Blog Awards ... for Most Humorous Blog? Apparently I'm living in a little cave, or something, I sort of knew the awards were going on, even surfed a few nominees earlier in the Award Season, but I'm not sure how I came to be there. Teena, did you do that?

So thank you, Teena, assuming it was you that nominated me. Or thanks to anyone else who thinks I'm funny. LOL. But I have to admit, now that I've scanned the list of other blogs, I see some that are much funnier than I am. So go vote, but don't vote for me, LOL ~ read some of the entries on the nominees and vote for who you like best. There are a lot of funny women out there! Take this as a great opportunity to meet some really great bloggers! Go on, get going! You've only got until the 7th!

Chalk One Up For The Lunar

We were peeling off the little stickers on our Mrs. Dash containers. Or, rather, The Grand Lunar was. I peeled one off in hopes that it was a coupon (which I could then stick to the fridge and never remember to use). But when it wasn't a coupon I left it sitting on the table, didn't actually read it, and forgot what it said.

But The Grand Lunar hates stickers on things, so he was peeling them off to purify the outside of the containers. And, being a smart man, he actually looked at it. Turns out it had some recipes. I immediately scoffed, sure that they would all be meatocentric dishes. But they weren't! And The Lunar said he liked the sound of one.

Now I'll admit I was suspicious, I didn't think I'd like it. Potatoes, green beans, and honey mustard? I'll let you in on a secret of my skepticism ~ I've only been willingly eating mustard for a few years, in my childhood it was one of my very vocally forbidden M's ~ mustard, mayo, and mushrooms. Don't even TRY to sneak them into my food. But I'm a little older and perhaps wiser, and have learned to actually try foods with mustard or mayo in them (not mushrooms, though. Let's not go crazy.) and discovered I don't always hate them. But I'm even newer to honey mustard. Why would you mix something good with something bad? Because, as it turns out, it's not bad. Really!

So anyway. I didn't think I'd like it much, but I try to try the things The Lunar suggests would be good. He's very often right. He's a smart man, that Grand Lunar.

And so, as it was with Cowboy Caviar, which I thought for SURE I'd blogged about but can't find, so I'll have to sheepishly post it later. Sheepishly because it's definitely not plant based (although plants make a fine showing!) nor low fat nor dairy / animal product free. It IS, however, an excellent appetizer. It doesn't sound good, but it IS good, really, it is. You should try it. But I digress. Back to Mrs. Dash.

It was really good! It was supposedly for a make-ahead-cold-salad, only we ate it hot, fresh from cooking, and I heated the sauce before mixing it in. Only the tomatoes were cold. And it was really good! I guess I already said that. Good pick, Grand Lunar!!

Here's the Recipe:

This isn't strictly vegan due to the honey-mustard, but I'm sure you could make your own dijon mustard sauce with agave nectar or something non-honey, if bee barf, of whatever it is, freaks you out. Me, I don't mind honey. Kind of like it, I must admit.

Name: Mrs. Dash Garden Potato Salad
Source: Mrs. Dash Herself

Course: Lunch or Dinner
Category: McDougall Friendly

Description: Serves 8. Per Serving: 98 cal, 0 g. fat, 0 g. sat. fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 173 mg sodium, 21 g. carbs, 2 g protein, 3 g fiber, 525 mg potassium

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs Small new potatoes unpeeled
2 cups whole green beans (I used ~3 cups, I think)
2 1/2 tablespoons Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend
1 cup Cherry Tomatoes quartered
1/3 cup green onions sliced
1/2 cup Fat-free honey Dijon mustard salad dressing *
1 tablespoon lemon juice

* I used a honey-mustard, rather than a salad dressing ~ would you believe that all the salad dressings had either a lot of sodium, added oils, or one even had anchovies?!?!?. Emeril's was one sale for the same price as store brand!

Directions:

1: Cook potatoes 8 minutes in large pot of boiling water

2: Add green beans. Cook another 5-6 minutes until vegetables are done

3: Drain and rinse in cold water (I did not rinse to cool)

4: Combine with remaining ingredients; mix well (I mixed the honey mustard, lemon juice, Mrs. Dash seasoning, and green onions and heated it 1 minute in the microwave)

**5: Refrigerate, covered, 2-3 hours to allow flavors to blend

** we actually skipped this step, and ate it while the potatoes, green beans, and sauce were still warm. It was very good! It would also be good served cold, a nice alternative to a potato salad.

Thanks, Grand Lunar!

Can it drizzle snow?

I just looked outside and was surprised to see it was snowing. Our thermometer says 8 degrees right now. Outside. Inside it says 61. I would crank the heat, but yesterday The Grand Lunar mentioned how high our heating bill has been. Yiiiiikes. So I've decided to wear my fleecy sweater thingie and blankets, if I need to. 60 always seems so warm in the late spring. The kids are begging for short sleeves and no jackets. Why is 60 degrees so much colder in the winter?

So the snow coming down is falling almost straight down, small steady flakes. If it were rain, it would look like a steady drizzle. I haven't seen snow drizzle before, but it looks like that's what it's doing.

My poor birds are out of food, thanks to the squirrels. Apparently mine developed a taste for cayenne; the recommended spicy additive to the bird seed only seemed to deter them for the first half of the first batch. All that's left out there is thistle, I'm guessing that's because it's harder to get out of the feeder. But 8 degrees and snowing doesn't bode well for them. I keep waiting for better weather to refill it. I like being able to see the birds (and squirrels) out my computer room windows, but it means I have to tramp all the way around the house in the snow to refill it. Isn't that so very sad?

We've been having a lot of starlings visit recently. I'm not fond of starlings due to a few bad experiences in our old house. They're eating the buckthorn berries, pretty much picked the trees clean. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, I read somewhere that buckthorn berries aren't very healthy for birds. But then again, if they're obnoxious birds, maybe that's not so bad, after all? Although I hope they left enough for the cedar waxwings who come in the spring and get drunk on the rotting berries. They're always nice to see. Well, except for the ill behaved inebriated bird behavior and all. Just joking, I've never seen them behave too badly. They've never hazed each other or mooned us, anyway.

I made pancakes today. I've never been a great pancake chef, but making low fat vegan pancakes always makes me nervous, I've made some major flops. But today I bravely tried again, using Susan Voisin's recipe. The only changes I made were to multiply the recipe by 3 (I am feeding a crowd, after all), reduce the salt (as we're trying to limit sodium), and ... um ... oh yeah, I used 1 T. flax seed, ground, instead of the Ener-G egg replacer. I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat and a little (oh yeah, that's four changes, LOL) whizzed oats for a bit of the flour. A scant cup of oats, instead of the last 3/4 cup flour.

I was disappointed in my non-stick griddle, though. My first batch I tried with no oil at all, and they stuck and scrunched something awful, one flopped all apart into a gooey mass. What's the point of a non-stick surface if you still have to grease it? And the cooking spray always leaves gummy residue on non-stick and ruins it. What's that about? So ... I used a little butter. Yes, real non-vegan butter. Only a little. And I used it for the kids' batches, and didn't re-grease the last ones that I'm saving for The Grand Lunar. But when the butter's gone, it's gone, and I'll have to use a little oil, I guess.

Anyway, to wrap up this overly-long ramble, the kids liked them! They really liked them! Thanks Susan V. ! I think I'll just stick to this recipe now, not try any others, if I've got a whole grain, no added fat pancake recipe that they like. BusyHSMom, didn't you once say you had a good whole grain pancake recipe? Is it low fat vegan, too?

OH! Doh! I almost forgot to tell you knitty folk out there! I tried my hand at double-knitting. Iliacat, Moogie, and I had been discussing how it might or might not be done, and I decided just to try it. I didn't do a great job, I found it very hard to keep the tension on two yarns, and I'm pretty sure I got them twisted wrongly a few times and caught a stitch on the wrong side of what I was doing, but overall I got the idea. Here's the pix of my not too clever, not too great sample. A good learning piece, if nothing else:

I have a Valentine's gift I'm working on - ahem - planning to start. When I get that done I have given myself permission to buy bamboo dpns and green yarn and learn to make me some socks. That's the plan, anyway.

Hey, I made dinner!

I have to admit, I didn't want to make dinner.

After yesterday's dinner flop. And all the past dinners that were on plan but just ... okay. Sometimes I just want to be a fantastic cook, regardless of the health quotient. But that's not what we're aiming for right now.

The Grand Lunar reminded me that simple things are often better.

And so I made Pasta Mexicali for The Grand Lunar and I, tonight. The kids ate bean and cheese burritos, with just a smidge of cheese. Always a favorite. I don't usually cook two meals, but bean burritos are super easy, and more than that, I wasn't up for any complaints. Plus, I'm trying to get them to eat up the cheese so it's gone.

I'm trying out new cookbook software, so this recipe format is slightly edited from it's text export. I tried the HTML export but it was all fancy, more fancy than I wanted.

Name: Pasta Mexicali

Source: Marla's Marvelous Meals ~ Penne Mexicali

Course: Supper
Category: McDougall Friendly
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 ~ very easy!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 8 servings or so

Ingredients:
8 ounces pasta original recipe called for penne
1 cans Ro-Tel or chopped tomatoes with chilies 10-15 oz. can
16 ounces salsa
1 cans red beans rinsed and drained
1 cans black beans rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 teaspoons dried onion flakes or onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
chopped cilantro for garnish (omitted)

Directions:

1: cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain.

2: Place all other ingredients in a pot and simmer while pasta cooks.

3: Add cooked pasta and heat through OR serve sauce over pasta. Garnish with optional cilantro before serving.

note: I used Rigatoni, the closest thing I had to the Penne called for. But in retrospect I would have preferred a smaller pasta. I also used 16 oz. pasta rather than 8 oz. and I don't regret that. Also, I used a fresh salsa, but those aren't The Lunar's favorite, he's not a fan of the cilantro that's usually in them. So next time I'll use a nice jar of cooked salsa, like he likes.

All in all, I was really pretty pleased with this, and he liked it enough to have seconds. I needed that, after yesterday. :)

The Best Layered Plans of Mice and Men

It all started in late November. The Grand Lunar had a work dinner to attend, and I got to go along as his lovely wife. It was actually the day I planned to return to following The McDougall Plan for healthy eating, but I suspended that for a day, on the rationale that I hadn't really started eating healthy yet.

So anyway, we dined at Molly's and I had as my side dish something in the family of Potatoes Dauphinois. It's name was actually much longer and fancier, but I remembered enough of it to look up recipes when I came home. The dish at Molly's was a layered potato dish, with much butter and garlic, and perhaps a bit of parmesan on top, but not heavily cheesy. It was layered almost 2" high, and cut into a very tidy square. It was also very flat, unlike the scallopy top of most potatoes au gratin dishes I've seen. Anyway, it was very good, and I decided I, too, could make such a thing.

So I surfed up some recipes, and found one or two that did not contain cheese. Most of these were butter-and-cream heavy, though. I decided to try it with vegetarian 'chicken' stock, to keep it in keeping with The Program.

The first time I attempted the recreation I used a lot of dried minced garlic and parsley as the seasoning. For some bizarre reason unknown to me. Because, you know, I don't really LIKE much parsley. What was I thinking? In the end, it was too garlicky and too parsleyeyeye, and nothing much else. The Grand Lunar politely ate his portion at dinner, but I was the lone consumer of the rather excessive amount of leftovers. And even I gave up after 2/3 of it was gone.

But, fondly remembering Molly, I didn't give up on my planned re-creation.

I thought if only I could season it more to my liking, we would love it. Cherish it. It would become a delightful family staple.

Then someone posted about some other dish that used potatoes and carrots and parsnips and sweet potatoes. And it reminded me that I used to sauté potatoes, carrots, and parsnips with onion and garlic in butter, seasoned with thyme. And liked it quite a bit. Why not make those veggies into the layers, with garlic and thyme seasoning (but a less heavy hand with the garlic, this time ...)

And so yesterday afternoon I peeled, peeled, peeled and sliced potatoes, a few carrots, a few parsnips, and sliced an onion. Well, actually, I used my KitchenAid Slicer Attachment to slice the root vegetables, then had the turns-out-not-to-be-brilliant idea to run the onion through the slicer, too. It slimed and shredded the onion into an unusable mass, answering the unasked question, "Why not throw the onion in there, too?" ... so I had to hand-slice a second onion.

I did try to go light on the parsnips and carrots, knowing they would be less well received, and that even I myself only like a smidgeon of cooked carrots and such. I find them a strange sweet that I don't enjoy. But I thought they'd look pretty. Sometimes you have to go for the artsy fartsy in a dish, right?

So then, with great confidence in finally achieving this soon to be cherished family dish, I began layering the slices. So confident was I, in fact, that I took artsy pictures of the making-of. Because, really, I planned for it to be beautiful and delicious.

See here the lovely layering of the dish! First the potatoes, then onions, then more potatoes, then a thin layer of parsnips, more potatoes, a thin layer of carrots, finishing with the last of the potatoes. Spices were sprinkled prettily across some potato layers:

At some point, too, I got it in my head that it would be nice with a 'cheezy' topping. It would brown and be pretty, like real cheese, and it might add a nice flavor for the children to enjoy, if the potatoes weren't their favorite. So I whipped that up, poured it over for the last bit of baking, and cut tidy slices to be served.

It does look nice, doesn't it? Even without the artsy fartsy presentation? Even without the butter, and without being layered 2 inches high?

But it was a complete and total flop.

Oh, not inedible. The Grand Lunar, as always, sweetly ate his portion, although perhaps wishing I had given him a try-me bite, as well. One or two of the children actually tried theirs, the others filled up on fruit salad. I ate a second helping to put on a brave front and be a good example. It wasn't horrible. But it certainly wasn't a keeper.

I can not seem to let go of the idea that it wasn't a bad idea.

Maybe it was just our family's finicky tastes. Maybe if I'd left out the carrots ... certainly if I'd left out the parsnips ... perhaps if I had made a smaller dish, piled higher, to attain the impressive 2" tall portion ... perhaps if I'd cooked it a bit longer, or used a lighter touch on the lemon juice in the 'cheezy' sauce ...

But I doubt I'll get up the courage to try a third time. Apparently in this venue, two strikes and you're out.

It used to be ...

Back when I was a caffeine addict, I assumed all my headaches were caffeine related. I always felt like I was walking a tightrope, feeding the addiction to keep away the headaches, but not wanting to feed it too much due to the addiction's ever increasing appetite.

So now that I've been off caffeine since the end of November?

I have no idea where headaches come from.

I think I do have less, and that's good. And, overall, I think I feel better. And that's good.

But now I've got nothing to blame for my headaches.

Thus Endeth January

January is over by 21 minutes, now.

...

I have walked 78 miles -- 130% of my goal of 60 miles in February!

It was a good month for walking, that's for sure. I'm not so sure I can keep up that pace, but I'll try for another 60 in February.

My February goal, in addition to walking at least 60 miles (or the equivalent in 15 minute=mile exercise increments), is to eat healthy, stay on plan. Tomorrow morning I think I'll take my weight and measurements and consider this a little 28 day challenge.

Or maybe two 14 day challenges, as my birthday falls in the middle of the month, and it might be nice to have one day to celebrate. :)

Join me in the challenge?