Cornucopia

Ok, one doesn't normally think of cornucopias in the middle of spring (it IS spring here in the Big D, even if you are getting cold weather everywhere else!), but I feel like we are in an abundant season, both physically and emotionally.


Case in point, after our typical week of shopping and my first-ever delivery from a local fruit and veggie co-op, we have so much produce on our countertop! Oh, and the picture doesn't show the HUGE potatoes we also scored--after I bought a 5 lb bag of them!!

Funny note: we have taught Bear to call grapes "uvas," the Spanish word, and he thinks all small round fruit are uvas. And don't cherry tomatoes just look so inviting? He sure thought so, but I guess that acidic taste was not quite what he had in mind!!

In terms of emotional security, I was in rather a Slump (a la Dr. Seuss) late last week because I've really struggled with eating well and making other healthy choices and then reeling from the ensuing guilt. However, I got a very encouraging email from friend (yes, G, that's you!) and I got a much-needed kick in the heiney so to speak. I feel much better now, even after a day of eating the right kinds of foods, even if my glucose readings haven't quite reflected that yet. I think I'm finally at a point where I want to do this diabetic diet for Me rather than even the baby inside me. I need it. I want it.

This is going to seem so unconnected, but I cleaned house like mad tonight, and that did so much to lift me up! I'm not sure if it was nesting, per se, but I needed the tops of counters, shelves and all surfaces to be cleaned off, and I made that happen tonight. I feel like I'm in a clean haven, and it's lovely!!! (I should say that Hunny ritually cleans the living room every single night, and it is so nice to wake up every morning and come out to a picked up space, even if it only stays that way for a mere few seconds!)

I've been keeping my hands busy with knitting the romper for Gilia's baby boy, whose arrival should be in a few weeks if he doesn't come home early. I'm not sure it's going to be the going home outfit she wants it to be--it looks huge to me! We'll see. Pics to come.

And one more randomness, we made the yummiest dinner tonight: very easy, very quick, delicious, nutritious, and relatively kid-friendly! (Was that a commercial?) I've had so much marinara-themed things lately that I'm just bored and sick of anything tomato-based right now: pizza, pasta, whatever. I saw this idea on a blog (I'm so sorry, I can't remember where), and thought we need to try it out! So stinking yummy. Seriously. And so adaptable, so if you don't like the ingredients we used, do your own!

Mediterranean Pizzas

whole wheat pitas, your favorite hummus, feta cheese, fresh baby spinach, red onion, artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, etc. Take the pita (I got the pocket-less kind), spread with hummus (I recommend roasted red pepper, but Hunny and the boys ate roasted garlic), leaving a little edge for a "crust." Then top it off! Hunny liked all of the above and also included some portabella mushrooms he needed to eat. I ate mine with just spinach, feta, artichokes, and olives (by the way, I made chiffonade with my spinach to avoid that whole one-bite-means-you-eat-all-the-toppings-at-once-syndrome.) I made the boys' version pretty plain: hummus, olives, spinach, tomatoes, and feta. Bear didn't eat much at all tonight, so I'm not sure I can say either way if he liked it or not, but Bunkin approved.

Anyway, I'm back to blogging a bit, after my accidental hiatus. Writing my letters was good for me, but was also emotionally wrought, so I needed space afterwards. And of course, knitting has been taking up a lot of my spare time, so if I'm absent in the weeks to come it's because this romper is making me go crazy! :)

Try try again....

I can't stay away, which simply reinforces that I NEED to take a break!!! However, I got caught up in the bloggy giveaway carnival, browsed around that for a while, then got a dog. Hmm? Yes, I said I got a dog. Can I just say Sucker is my middle name? Hunny said he wanted a dog. He was sick, y'all. So he wanted a dog. I guess vegans don't want chicken noodle soup so they gotta do something, huh? :) So off to Craigslist I went only to find A) hundred of ads for dogs in the DFW area and B) lots of sad, sad posts of dogs on the kill lists at local shelters. And, if you remember my 101 list, I knew just what to do. So we got Sugar.* Tonight. She has been introduced to everyone but Bunkin who was asleep and Mia (Hunny's cat) who will avoid all of us for a month now. Phinny reacted as expected, but seems a bit more neutral now (ever notice how a cat's neutral is still laced with disdain?), and Pele seems pleased as punch that she has a new friend. I'll post pics of the new family member soon, I promise. (* Her name may change; this was her name at the shelter, but I'm not a fan... however, she's 4 months old and used to it, and Bear can say it easily, which is huge....)

By the way, remember this post? I'm on my way! I am now down 13 pounds, and I am amazed. I don't feel like I'm looking any thinner, but just seeing the number going down (a new trend, considering I've been with child for several years now, lol) is soooo encouraging!!! Way to GO!

And it doesn't really follow suit to talk about food after discussing weight loss, but oh well, we had a super yummy dinner last night that I actually thought to take a picture of! Did I mention i love fall? And winter squashes? I got an acorn squash at the store, intending to roast and enjoy, but then I decided to peruse some of my favorite food blogs, and I got inspired to stuff it with quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). In typical me fashion, I couldn't leave the original recipe alone, so here is what I did, and it was soooo yummy!

Quinoa stuffed Acorn Squash

1 med squash

1 c prepared quinoa

1 c veggies (I used diced red bell pepper and celery)

3 minced garlic cloves

1 (15 oz) can beans, I used garbanzos

3 T soy sauce

1-2 tsp olive oil

various spices

I cut just the top off the squash, saving the lid, and removed the seeds for roasting later, and then microwaved it on high (placing just a bit of water in the bottom of my bowl) covered, for about 15 min. It was soft-ish at that point, and I preheated the oven to 350 while I was microwaving and sauteing my veggies. for sauteing, do what you normally do: water, broth, oil, butter. I threw the beans in last minute just to get them warm. I flavored with soy sauce and coriander, salt and pepper, tho I think the coriander could have been left out. (It was in the original recipe). Mix the veggies and beans with the quinoa. When the squash is mostly tender, I go ahead and fill it with the grain mixture (not packing it in; btw, I had leftover mixture and just saved it for light lunch for the next day) and put the lid back on, back into the oven for 20 minutes or til it's soft. I served it in quarters and it was very filling with a side salad. Very easy despite the several steps involved!!

And pretty, too: So, that's what I've been up to while I'm not supposed to be on the computer!!

Bloggy salad

I think the idea of "blog salad" is pretty witty... for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's when you post about random little things, kind of like all the miscellaneous ingredients in a salad. So, here goes.
I went to the laundromat yesterday to do several loads of clothes, and I had about $6 in quarters already and a $20 was my next smallest bill. And of course, I'd need to break the 20 to finish up, leaving me with about $19 in quarters. I also had an errand to run at the local supermarket (right across from said laundromat) and when I checked out, I apologized to the checker about paying for half the amount in quarters. This, this small, insignificant thing would have made me utterly embarrassed when I was younger, compounded by the clerk's reaction. She was so irate that I put the hard task of counting change on her I suppose. The interesting thing was, earlier in my shopping trip, I had the privilege of helping an elderly gentleman with some items, and the act of serving made me so happy, and I was saddened by this young woman's negative attitude. Yes, I can see that 70+ coins to count could be mildly trying, but it could have been funny, too, a chance to laugh or be grateful I don't live like this all the time, you know? Perspective is just a funny thing, eh?
Less interesting but more relevant to the theme of salad is the fact that I spent all of yesterday morning up to my elbows in pumpkin puree! I gutted and steamed and pureed 4 small pumpkins, and my hands are still orange to prove it! We roasted the seeds, and they are so yummy. I made two batches: a naked (olive oil and salt) version and a spicy chili-thyme version. So simple, so yummy, so nutritious! We got a 30-pound for our porch (that I plan on planting a pot of mums in) so it'll be interesting to see how many seeds we get out of that!
On the physical front, I'm down another pound (5 total so far), and I'm thrilled to be combining my hope to lose weight with a cause I believe in, so I'm going to walk (not run, yet) in the Water is Basic 5k.
Still to come... photos of one of my handmade gifts, a yarn surprise I recieved in the mail, and Fall craftiness from Bear!

Pumpkins, Bunkins, and Bears, Oh My!

Fall cuteness beware! Today we went to a pumpkin patch in Flower Mound, and while it wasn't the you-pick-it field of pumpkins I'd imagined, it was fun nonetheless.

Bear had fun picking out his own pumpkin

This week in cooking/baking I have made batches of both vegetarian chili and butternut squash soup, and am planning on preparing some pumpkin yumminess from today's picks-probably pumpkin bread to freeze for the holidays as well as some pumpkin butter or frozen pie filling. I am not sure why I have to type over here on the right of the picture, but don't feel like dealing with layouts right now!

How many words for a thousand pictures?

Ahh, this post is going to be chock-full of pictures of things that make me happy! Mostly creative endeavors on my part, and forgive the lighting and such on some of these. I'm still a bit behind the times and using our phone camera! This is the walnut-basil pesto I made. I liked our other batch so much (not to mention gave away the rest of it's rather large volume), I tried one of the variations in my cookbook!

Ok, for some reason, Blogger isn't letting me rearrange these pictures, so they're not going to make any layout/chronological sense (sorry!). This is my sweet (and 6 months old-wow) Bunkin and his BFF Phineas. Every time I nurse, Phinny comes out of the woodwork to RUN to Bunkin and lie on him. SO cute!
Last weekend I went to my friend Amy's house where a few ladies from our Bible study got together for hang out time and to meet Brownie's new little one, Helen. I saw a scrumptious-looking strawberry cake in the latest Paula Deen magazine, and begged Hunny to let me bake it for Bear's 2nd birthday party coming up, to which he promptly said "No, it's PINK!" So, just having to bake it, I brought it to our get together. Mind you, I'm an excellent baker, but my results usually taste waaaay better than they look.

The funny thing, though, is that after I'd baked the cake and was waiting on it to cool, I was tending to Bunkin and the house in general, and I realized that I hadn't heard anything from Bear in a while. You know what that means, right? Quiet kid = something is up! Sure enough, I walk into the kitchen to find one very proud little kid standing on the shelf in the bottom cabinets and reaching to the counter where this was the end result:

He isn't called Cookie Monster in our house for nothing. :) And, as you can see from the iced picture, someone just got a dollop more of frosting, and no one was the wiser (til I blabbed, of course!).

I'm finally seeing tomatoes!! WOOHOO! My hand is for perspective; the fruit isn't very big yet (these are my "sandwich-sized" plants), but they are there! I cannot wait to eat that first ripe yummy tomato! The supermarkets are still stocking "safe" and uncontaminated tomatoes, but to be on the safe side, we haven't bought any, so it will be a real treat!

This post is supposed to be about things that make me happy, and let me tell you, bright orange flowers like these truly make me happy. I'm not sure what they are, because I did not plant them, but they are hardy and very low-maintenance!

Another flower that made me happy as long as they lasted, which in Memphis heat was a pitiable week, were the gardenias right in front of my porch. Oh, the smell! It was heaven for that week.

I'm not sure why I'm adding Pele to the mix, but isn't she cute?

And last, but not least, was my first attempt at homemade Rosemary Focaccia. Hunny was slightly dubious (I think he said something to the effect of not liking rosemary), but the results were so yummy, we ate two huge slices before I was able to take a picture! This bread was surprisingly simple, and felt kinda healthy as I used my own ground whole wheat. I felt like a domestic diva making this bread: picking my own herbs, grinding my own wheat, kneading the bread instead of letting the dough hook take care of it... not that I'm bragging or anything!!

Well, I know this is the most picture-heavy post, ever, on my blog, but I hope they made you happy, too!!