Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Apparently anything they can do, I can't do better.

This summer I kinda sorta got obsessed with a TV show.  But not just any TV show.  The most DRAMATIC, 

CAPTIVATING, 

INSPIRATIONAL

thing a person could watch:


I mean, I watch the obstacle courses from week to week and it really seems like I could do some of them. How hard could it be to do monkey bars, or hop from toadstool to toadstool*?

*I don't think they're really called toadstools, but I grew up playing way too much Mario Bros. 

This past weekend we happened to take baby for a walk past a playground, and I had an idea for the most

DRAMATIC, 

CAPTIVATING,

INSPIRATIONAL 

thing my husband and I could do together:







Quit being intimidated by my biceps!

This ended up being the most pathetic attempt at athleticism you've ever seen.  Well, at least for me. My husband was suspiciously good at scaling the fireman pole. 

But you know what? At least I have some skills. 

Kitchen skills.

Mini Quiches
-12 eggs
-1/2 cup skim or 1% milk
-1 cup grated zucchini
-1/2 cup other add-ins (I did some shredded carrot, chopped red onion)
-2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
-2 slices whole wheat bread
-pinch or salt
-olive oil cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a muffin tin pan with cooking spray. Line each muffin cup with three small chunks of bread (ok so doing the math, you want to tear those two pieces of bread into 36 small pieces).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Stir in add-ins. Evenly distribute egg mix between the 12 muffin cups.
3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until internal temp reaches 165. The quiches will puff up while baking. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. They will deflate a bit.

These are nice because you can freeze the leftovers. Just microwave to reheat for a quick breakfast. You could also use these to make a breakfast sandwich between a whole wheat English muffin. 

Makes 6 servings (2 mini quiches is a serving). Per serving: 200 calories, 16 grams protein. 



Now time to go do some bicep curls before bed. 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Too much nature

I view myself as a semi-outdoorsy girl.

I enjoy swimming in a lake...as long as there's not too many weeds.

I like hiking...as long as it's not too buggy.

I love camping...as long as there are bathrooms. I am too old to be popping a squat against a tree.

Lately it's become all too obvious exactly how much nature we're stuck with, even in the suburbs. There's the jungle of landscaping. 





This bush, affectionately named Stick Bush, is my fave.  He's so chill and low maintenance.

There's the bat, affectionately named Batley, whom I've only spotted once but leaves me his calling cards to assure me he's been getting plenty to digest. 

And then there are the deer, affectionately collectively named STAY THE @$*#(%* AWAY from my GARDEN!

A few weeks ago I noticed they had chomped down almost all my bean plants, green peppers, and cucumbers. Gaaaaah, it's like the suburban deer need food or something. How rude.  

A trip to Home Depot and $20 later, I had a net to tie on top of everything.  Ya know, 'cause the chicken wire look was just too classy and I have to keep it real so the neighbors quit being intimidated. 

Success- though today I found this li'l guy, affectionately named...oh forget it. I guess he can stay.

Yesterday I harvested a hulking zucchini that was way past its prime. When they get so big like this, they're not good for eating because the inside seeds are so big. I decided to try making a stuffed zucchini instead.
You know what they say about chicks with long forearms.

Wait a second.

Stuffed Zucchini
-2 beastly zucchinis, cut in half lengthwise, with insides scooped out (just scraping a spoon works fine)
-1 1/2 cups arborio rice
-4 cups low sodium chicken broth, warmed up on low heat
-2 tablespoons butter
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 package sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
-2 teaspoons chopped parsley
-1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
-1/2 cup shredded Parmesan, asiago, or Romano cheese. 
-4 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook sausage until done. Try to break up any large crumbles into smaller pieces. Soak up any grease with a paper towel. Set sausage aside. 
3. Return the skillet to medium-high heat, melt butter and add olive oil. Stir in rice for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of warm broth. Stir until all the liquid is absorbed. Add another cup. Stir until all liquid is absorbed. Repeat until all the liquid is used up and rice is creamy and cooked through. Stir in minced garlic, parsley, sausage, and cheese.
4. Spoon rice mixture into each zucchini shell. Top with tomatoes. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until zucchini is softened. *To make this a speedier process, you could par-bake the zucchini shells for 20 minutes while you're cooking the sausage and risotto.


Each stuffed zucchini shell makes for two servings.

Though the yard and garden often give me a headache, it's pretty cool to enjoy home grown produce.

 I'm not the only one excited by this meal.

Monday, August 11, 2014

This is my jam.

I cannot tell you the time, nor the place, nor the circumstances behind this memory, other than that I was at a bar. With friends (I think). Having a great time (I assume). Listening to the music (naturally).

And then some song came on (don't remember what one). And this old lady (probably only 3 years older than me) spazzed out (totally wasted), yelling to her fellow old maids (all born after 1980) as her (presumably) favorite song came on:

You GUYS! This is my JAM!

And she proceeded to dance by herself.  (Trainwreck).

Great story, yeah?

I am chock full of wonderful stories like that. Mac is gonna looooooove me at bedtime.

Anyway.

It's mid July (a few weeks ago) and that means the local wild black raspberries started to ripen up. My friend Shanna and I went picking because we saw this Instagram Carrie Underwood posted (anything you can do we can do better).


I will not under any circumstances give away our secret location, but I will say that afterwards we walked 300 yards to Costco and did some shopping.

You know I live in the suburbs.


The overalls are a must anytime harvesting is involved.

We ended up with about 2 cups of berries each. Jam time.

Wild Black Raspberry Jam (makes about 1 cup of jam)
2 cups berries (I froze mine for a few weeks and it didn't make any difference)
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup maple or agave syrup
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
*Optional- you can swap out 1 teaspoon chia seeds for the cornstarch


1. In a large saucepan, heat all the ingredients over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved and mixture becomes thick, about 10 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Pour mixture into mason jars, and store in the fridge.

I made these simple oat muffins to go with the jam- perfect breakfast or snack.

Other uses for this jam that I've tried:
-stirring into hot oatmeal
-stirring into plain Greek yogurt
-adding to a spinach and yogurt shake


So yeah. *This* is my jam.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

The ocean called...

For my 30th birthday, my brother and his girlfriend gave us a give card to a local French restaurant- Salut Bar Americain. One early baby and 4 months later, we finally got a chance to use it.

I don't think I've been to a restaurant since baby was born. Wait- does Taco John's count?

Glass of red wine, schmancy Caesar salad- my husband was super disappointed and grossed out when he bit into the anchovy and realized it was not bacon.


 Can't...take...him...anywhere. Ha ha.

Feeling adventurous, we ordered the gluttonous seafood tower. Nevermind that the menu described it as "fitting for 4-6 people."  Challenge accepted.


Crab salad, lobster roe, shrimp, mussels, oyster, and lobster tail.

Juuuuuust for us.

Forgive the bad hair. I'd been out on the lake all day.

(So what's your excuse every other day? Bwahaha)


Very fun night out, and not just because I got to use Seinfeld references. Happy Sunday night!