Where We're Headed Food-Wise

When I started having some health issues last year (exhaustion, inflammation, joint pain, etc.) my doctor, without a clear diagnosis, wanted to start me on strong pharmaceutical drugs. I preferred, however, to try to find the cause so I could try to stop it naturally as opposed to covering up the symptoms with pain killers and other drugs. Through my research I learned that a lot of health issues can be lessened or cured by making sound food choices. That was the beginning of my foray into nutrition and what to eat and what not to eat to have the best possible life. I have learned so much this year about what is good for our bodies, what is harmful and the different eating plans people follow. The plans that really spoke to me were Paleo, primal and the diet recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation. They vary in some ways but in common they eschew processed foods, sugars and over consumption of grains. They are a bit extreme to jump into so I have put together a plan that I think will work for us. It's a mixture of the Primal diet (I love this site: Mark's Daily Apple)and WAPF eating plans. Perhaps later on down the road I will pick one to stick to but for now I think I have come up with an eating plan where we won't feel deprived, that will be easy to follow and will make us healthier.

Moving abroad and having a cook is such a wonderful benefit and it also means I can completely revamp how we eat and that is what I intend to do. Following the 80/20 rule, I am going to menu plan so our meals prepared and eaten at home are healthy. If Naomi has crackers at school or a cupcake at a birthday party I am not going to sweat it. Likewise, if I have some bread when out at a restaurant or some dark chocolate I'm not going to beat myself up. I am going to strive for eating clean and healthfully 80% of the time.

So what does this entail exactly? Well to begin with we are going to eat as many organic foods as possible. I already do this in that I only buy organic foods in the "dirty dozen". I've already got that down so it won't be difficult to maintain.

The other things I plan to implement (most days) are:

no processed foods
no high fructose corn syrup
no soy or corn products (unless I can find some not genetically modified)
no dairy products with rBGH
no peanuts
no CAFO / fast food meats or eggs (i.e. only grass-fed)
no wheat
no white potatoes
no white sugars or artificial sweeteners
no dyes, chemicals, additives, preservatives, etc.

This may sound rigid, but it's really not. Different? Yes. More time and preparation required? Yes. More home cooking? Yes. It means we will eat mostly meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, coconut and olive oils, and sweets made with maple syrup, Stevia or honey. It's healthy, enjoyable, beneficial and manageable. Yeah, I am going to miss regularly scarfing down cereal, pizza, cookies and ice cream but we can still eat a large variety of foods and with the luxury of a cook I can inform her of what is allowed and what is not. That should make it easier and I am motivated to try to fully reclaim my health! I have already been feeling a lot better and my doctor is baffled at how my "disease" didn't progress as she had expected. I fully expect that I will look and feel even better with this new plan and what am I waiting for? Seriously. Do I want to start this when I'm 60? Moving abroad is the perfect starting point and I am excited for the results.

Meanwhile, I need to eat up all this food in three weeks!!

I know. It looks like a family of four lives here. Maybe I should throw a dinner party.

Tips From an Overseas Blogger

I keep up with a food blog from where my new home will be and in a recent post the author photographed an amazing array of local produce. It looked lovely! I already know that GMOs are not allowed in that country, which is fantastic and I am so thrilled about, but I wondered about the availability of organic produce and if eating produce without removable skins would be an issue, so I posed the question in his comments section. He responded with this very detailed response:

..."actually, a lot of produce in provincial markets is organic, for the sole reason that farmers can’t afford the fertilizers, etc. However, a lot of produce commercially grown for sale in large cities is sprayed with all manner of questionable stuff… There is no official certification process for organic produce, so be careful not to overpay for your vegetables that aren’t truly organic. But let me back up, your question is more complicated than it seems…

1. Westerner moving to third world country. Your stomach, no matter how strong, will have some adjusting to do in (city where I am moving to) coming from the U.S., particularly if you have not lived in a similar third world country before. There are all kinds of different bacterias, etc. in the food and your tummy will need to adjust to. This is just a part of the move. My wife and I have lived in several countries, western and not, and we also had similar adjustment periods, and not to freak you out, it gets fine once you have experienced some of the local bugs as it were… :(

2. Local tap water is generally not considered to be potable, as again, it can carry some forms of unsavory little critters, and the piping laid underground (while recently MUCH BETTER) can mix soil and water together. Local tap water is best boiled first, or as many local and foreign folks do, they buy bottled water which is conveniently delivered to your home in 5 gallon jugs. However, I do brush my teeth with tap water, cook with tap water, bath in the tap water, etc. Another aspect of the tap water, I suspect, is that it is not as treated as say American city water, lacking perhaps the chlorine, flouride or whatever they add to the water. Many locals, by the way, DO drink the tap water.

3. Tap water issues and produce issues differ. The concern about eating say lettuce or other greens or produce where you consume the peel comes from unsanitary forms of fertilizer or when rawish fertilizers manage to get lodged on the leaves (nightsoil, manure, etc. that hasn’t been properly pre-treated can send a fleck up onto your lettuce rather easily). These therefor have to be washed really well, and some foreigners we know use a special soap or cleansing agent in their water to achieve this. Personally, I don’t do this and simply wash well with tap water. I have a very sensitive stomach and in the past 15 years in (place where I am moving), I have only gotten a bum stomach a few times from food, mostly after eating shellfish, not greens or fruit.

4. The best thing is to know your suppliers or vendors. Further, a lot of the produce that is labelled organic is actually greenhouse grown, or hydroponic, so it is less prone to the whole yucky fertilizer situation.

5. You may also be surprised that most foreigners might take on household staff when they move here, to help with meal preparation, laundry and cleaning. This is another area of concern. If you do take staff, make sure they get a health clearance for say tuberculosis, intestinal parasites, etc. I don’t mean to scare you, but we do this in our own home. And in 15 years, have come across 1 member of the staff with tuberculosis who was treated and is fine now. Intestinal parasites can be passed from person to person by handling glasses, plates and eating utensils… You would be surprised by the percentage of the population with living pets in their intestinal tracts, but one can easily get rid of them. And in many cases they don’t really bother the host. I used to work in Indonesia and had a team of say 15-20 westerners under my purview and as a sort of semi-joke, I once gave all of them “worm pills” to purge themselves of local critters and while they laughed, I think every single one of them took the pills, and the next morning, at least 20% confirmed they were needed, enough said. :)

I once did a seminar for members of the Australian and New Zealand community and/or diplomatic core in (place where I am moving) about the vegetables available and I was amazed that so many of them didn’t realize that there was an abundance of stuff in local markets, oftentimes many proxies for veggies they missed from home, and that could be prepared in dishes they could relate to.

I hope that helped. It’s a slow Sunday afternoon so maybe I have given you more information than you were hoping for. Good luck on your move and email me when you get here if you are looking for particular sources of food. The availability of ingredients in (place where I am moving) has vastly improved in the past 10-15 years, but I suspect you will still have things from home that you will miss."

What valuable information! I hadn't thought of having my nanny get a health clearance. And someone suggested in the comments section to bring some probiotics with me to help with the intestinal adjustment process. Isn't the internet incredible? It astounds me sometimes. I will certainly be taking him up on the offer to email him when I arrive. How wonderful to have someone who is very knowledgeable about food be available to me as I adjust to my new city. I consider that to be an amazing blessing as I am on a path of eating better for wellness. I am so looking forward to becoming in top physical condition. It's high time!

I am Che@ting on my Boyfriend

I feel a bit bad about this since we have been inseparable for several months now. I really can't go a day without him. I share meals with him and I have him close in bed with me at night. I am so in love with him and for a minute I thought of breaking up with him for this new sweet new fella but I can't do that. I would miss him too much. So, instead I make room for them both. My new love is smooth, sweet and chocolate--just the way I like 'em. Move over coconut oil, there's a new man in town. Meet my new love, raw chocolate coconut butter:


Yum!!!!!!

Warm some of this up in the microwave and dip fresh fruit in it. Not having a real boyfriend sucks (and I am not the che@ting type in case you were wondering) but this does make things better when I am feeling lonely. Try it, it is divine.

Can it All be Done?

Busy, busy day planned! I have the day off to work on mid-term progress reports but I am done so I will focus on my personal to do list.

1. Laundry. DONE

2. Clean the bathroom. STARTED - WILL FINISH THIS WEEKEND

3. Return this rice to Trader Joe's and buy some groceries. DONE
4. Folding. WILL DO THIS WEEKEND

5. Buy some new shoes for my growing girl. DONE
I showed them to her tonight and she immediately wanted to try them on. When she put it on she said, "Oh, dat's better." Awwww, sweet baby! Were the old shoes squishing your feet? Momma's sowee. :(
6. Go pick up my clearance downtown (needed for readoption). DONE
7. Cook the defrosted fish. DONE

It was amazing!! I dipped it in egg and dredged it in coconut flour& spices and pan fried it in coconut oil. I served it up with some carrots and roasted brussel sprouts. She screamed and cried when I insisted that she eat her three bites of brussel sprouts before getting more fish. The rule here is three bites: one to taste, one to be sure and one to be polite to the cook. She cried and cried and then she tried it... and liked it.. and then asked for seconds!! Silly girl.
7. Go through these boxes. DONE

8. Fill out paperwork and send some emails regarding my new position. SENT ONE
9. Drop things off at the thrift store. PUT STUFF IN TRUNK
10. Pick up my check from the consignment shop. DONE
11. Order some blanched almond flour. DONE
12. Make or buy some thank you cards. THIS WEEKEND
13. Photograph my furniture. THIS WEEKEND 14. Post the furniture on Craigslist. THIS WEEKEND 15. And buy some hair accessories for her hair which isn't very long yet but is starting to come in really, really thick! DONE

I will get some at a dollar store somewhere so I can load up.

Have a productive day!

Can I just say how much easier it is to get things done without a toddler in tow? Love my girl but she makes shopping soooo much more difficult. I felt free today. It was fun! :) Here are some pics of our amazing dinner! So good!! The carrots I started in a pan with coconut oil and butter but I transferred them to the oven cause I needed the pan for the fish. The brussel sprouts I shook in a bag with olive oil, sea salt and cracked black pepper and then roasted at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Delicious! Will be repeating this meal in the near future.


I put the leftovers in her lunch. She better eat it!! :-)

Now off to bed.
Good night.

Time to Write a Letter to Naomi's Teachers..Sigh

I have really had it up to *here* with the daycare. Today for lunch I packed her a hard boiled egg, some baked chicken, carrot sticks and dressing, almond milk and a homemade muffin and blueberries. Her breakfast was some rice pudding concoction that I made up with almond milk, honey, cinnamon and raisins and her snack was some apple slices. A lot of food. Yummy food. Food full of nutrition and vitamins and protein.

She brought back all the chicken, all the egg and some of the carrots. And then she told me her teachers gave her bread. So today, other than a few carrot sticks, all she ate was rice pudding, fruit and bread. And then she refused her dinner because they are teaching her if you cry and refuse to eat, you will eventually get waht you want!

I AM SO ANNOYED!!!

I have already spoken to them about this. When she first came home and had terrible diarrhea, I had her off dairy only to discover that they didn't stop her when she was drinking kids' unfinished milk cartons from out of the trash. Then I asked them to not let her eat so much junk at the Valentine's Day party and asked them to add the banana to her plate and they didn't but instead allowed her to eat herself sick. Oh, and let's not forget the guilt trips they give me when there are birthday parties. They act as if I am this cruel woman taking away her childhood right to eat junk food. Now, in an effort to see if I can help clear up her eczema without steroids, I have her on a gluten-free diet. Which means no bread! In addition, I had decided to forgoe grains for Lent (though was allowing her rice) so they have violated that as well.

I am at my wit's end. I just blogged about this two days ago so I won't rehash it all but in addition to the nutritional deficiencies she may have due to her early life circumstances and the fact that they are feeding her when she really isn't hungry (or wouldn't be if she at the food I provided) they are teaching very bad habits.

She has learned from them that she can cry and refuse foods and in the end get what she wants.
And she is developing a taste for high fructose corn syrup, processed sugar goodies and greasy chips and dye-filled candy--none of which I feed her anymore. I figure they are a once in a while treat--her birthday, holidays, etc. And trust and believe, there are plenty of goodies to be had in my household. We eat a ton of fruit. We eat dark chocolate. We eat baked goods made with coconut oil, almond flour and maple syrup and they taste great!! We eat ice cream and drink hot cocoa. The child is not deprived because unfortunately her mother has a massive sweet tooth. But it is allowed if the healthy foods are also consumed and it's much healthier versions.

I am trying very hard to steer clear from the SAD (standard American diet). This is what is causing all the illness and disease in our country. Processed crap, too much sugar, too many grains, chemicals, etc. So slipping her extra empty calories isn't doing her any favors. Not to mention that the number of fat cells in your life time is set in your childhood and Naomi is already on the pudgy side. They think they are being nice but really they are possibly setting her up for a lifetime of obesity and poor eating habits-- and definitely making mealtimes with me more of a battle.

Why do they make me feel like the mean mommy when what I am doing is one of the most loving things I can do for my child?!

OK, done ranting. Now off to craft a letter to her teachers because I don't appreciate being disrespected. I am going to tell them how much I appreciate all they do for my daughter but I am going to make it clear that as her mother I am to make all the decisions about what she eats. Period. End of story.

Anything you would add if you were dealing with this?

Sweet Aromatic Chicken

I ditched the Chicken Marbella idea and decided to make this instead. Much less labor intensive. It sounded (and smelled!) really good but it was just ok. Naomi didn't like it at all but maybe that's because she really just wanted to eat bananas. Maybe it will be better tomorrow.



This is right before I turned on the Crock Pot. Man, I love that thing. I need to use it more.

Sourdough French Toast

Lately I've been reading about how fermented foods aid in health. We're trying to go grain-free but going cold turkey is hard and makes preparing lunches difficult so I decided sourdough would be okay. Yesterday, at Trader Joe's I found what I was looking for. I read it needs to be made with a sourdough starter. They had two types of sourdough but only one was made with a sourdough starter so that's the one I bought. I was never really a fan of sourdough but this was very tasty! It's great for french toast, too, because it really holds up well to the egg mixture.

This is how I made it. I cracked 4 eggs into a bowl and added ½ c. milk. Then I added 2T of maple syrup, ¼ t. of cinnamon, ½ t. of vanilla and a dash of salt. Let the bread soak up the egg mixture, about 5 min. or so, and then fry it up in some butter. Yum! Next time I will probably use coconut milk in the recipe and coconut oil in the pan. Mmmm.. I love all things coconut. I really liked it and Naomi thought it was great, too!

Binge Eating with Toddlers?

I am too tired and annoyed to write about this in detail but I wanted to share this: Naomi came home from daycare yesterday and refused to eat her dinner. Then, while sitting in her high chair, she threw up. I took her upstairs and gave her a bath and the next thing I knew she was asking to go to bed. It was 6:00! She has never done that before and I knew she wasn't feeling well so I put her to bed. Around 8 she started whimpering so I went in to check on her and she had thrown up again. Poor thing. I gave her another bath, changed her sheets and put her back down.

This is the thing. I am sure she did it because she overate at the Valentine's Day party. The sign up sheet for parent contributions was ridiculous! They wanted us to bring chips, cheez curlz, fruit cups, cookies, cupcakes and juice! I mean seriously, WHY were they serving them so much food?! I was horrified so I brought in a banana and asked them to serve it to her at the party. She loves bananas and it was my way of reminding them that I don't like her to be given massive amounts of junk food. Just add this to her plate instead of the cupcake or something so she eats less junk, I requested.

Well, not only did they not do that (her banana was still there at pick up) but they also didn't monitor her eating. She obviously ate and ate and ate herself sick. I am so frustrated! They had no business feeding them all that crap to begin with but then to let the kids eat as much as they want?

I realize they may not be mindful of my daughter's eating issues during a party. I mean, they know she can eat a lot but perhaps they were distracted or didn't care since it was a party. And to their defense, most kids will probably stop when full. But the fact of the matter is, sometimes they may not and in this situation they allowed a two year old to eat so much she threw up and that pisses me off.

Naomi's eating is beginning to concern me more and more. I have blogged about this before. Naomi eats a lot and she doesn't seem to know the feeling of being satiated. She will keep eating and eating and eating--more than me if I let her. People keep telling me she is a "growing girl" or not to worry but that she has a "healthy appetite" but my mother's intuition is making me think there is more to it. I haven't done much reading on the subject, but I do know that binge eating isn't uncommon for older children or children going through attachment issues. But does this happen with toddlers?

Maybe I am making too much out of it but I am still concerned. Does anyone have any experience with this? Can anyone suggest where I can go to get more information on this type of behavior? Or maybe there are some toddler experts out there who can explain to me about toddler eating habits and assure me that this is normal.

In the meantime, I will continue to provide her healthy foods that won't upset me as much if she overeats... but come on. Even healthy foods need to be restricted at some point. She could eat an entire jar of applesauce or 4 bananas if I didn't stop her.

Weekly Menu Overhaul

I have got to start doubling and tripling recipes and freezing them cause this weekly cooking is too much of a lifestyle change for me and I am losing steam. Why is eating healthy so much work?!

In an effort to make things easier I have to come up with a schedule. Something like certain nights for soup and salad, specific ethnic cuisines and leftovers and just keep to the schedule. I remember my sister used to do menu planning back in the day when I lived with her in St. Thomas. She did seafood pasta one night, homemade pizza one night, beans and rice one night and some other set dishes which she then repeated the next week with occasional variations. No one complained or thought twice because they were recipes we all enjoyed.

I need to do something similar so I am devising a plan. First of all, I am only planning five dinners a week. Next I need to figure out inexpensive, nutrient dense meals that freeze well. And third, they need to be prepped ahead of time or easy to prepare after a long day at work. Sundays will be relegated to shopping, chopping, prepping and baking bread and dessert.

Here are some thoughts:
One night of Asian food
One night of Italian food
One Mexican food
Two American

Or this:
Two nights of Crock Pot Soup recipes
One night of breakfast for dinner (like pancakes and bacon or omelettes and toast)
Chicken
Fish

Or this:
Prepare one or two soups or stews for the week and supplement each night with veggie, meat or homemade bread or rolls.

Here are my Crock Pot ideas for next week's menu. (page numbers are for me to find--will post recipe when I make the decision)


Beef Brisket Stew p.260
Hamburger Soup p.258
Navy Bean Bacon Chowder p.244
Vegetable Medley Soup p. 204
Wild Mushroom Beef Stew p.262
Beef Stew with Molasses and Raisins p.266
Chicken Fiesta Soup p.274


Last week started out right but then it all fell apart. There were many factors that led to my derailed healthy eating but just these two would bring anyone down: Thin Mints and the arrival of Aunt Flo. Who can compete with that double whammy?! And I guess I don't have to even mention that I did not even open 30 Day Shred... I'm not even going to post my stats and instead give myself a pass.

But no worries! Next week is going to be better. Here's to less food prep, healthy choices and working out! And an added incentive? I have my first date with M. next week.

Messy Moo

Post yogurt and smoothies.

Injera!

I have an Ethiopian student in my class and every now and then her mother surprises me with some home cooked Ethiopian food. Last week she gave me some Tikil Gomen and some tibs and injera. I love not having to cook and it was really tasty! The food was really, really spicy though so Naomi is eating hers with some leftover chili. :)



And yeah, no, she' s not a natural with eating the injera (like I said in the video) but she is a natural at loving Ethiopian food. We had some again later in the week and she improved her injera food-scooping skills. I've been meaning to take her out to the Ethiopian restaurant downtown that serves a buffet on Tuesday nights for $10.00 per person. Maybe next week!

More Firsts

Though not Christmas firsts like you might expect!

Nope. Instead here she is with PlayD@h on her tray for the first time and her first time eating soup. She got some PlayD@h as a party favor and tonight when I was making dinner she pointed to the bag and said, "Dat." Thinking she knew what it was I unwrapped the bag, popped open the container and handed it to her. She took it from me and took a huge bite! LOL

Luckily the soup was ready soon so she could have something to eat!



(gotta cut slurping soup out of a bowl out, I know.. and i don't know what's up with my high baby voice when i talk to her. it's annoying! gotta cut that out, too!)

Green Spaghetti

The other night when I was driving home I was trying to think of a really quick dinner I could prepare. I failed at spaghetti a couple of weeks ago, meaning she refused to eat it. I wondered if it was too spicy but since I hadn't tried it I didn't know so I just threw it in the freezer to bring out another night. Since I am SO sick of cooking, I decided tonight was the night.

After school I left her at daycare and ran to the Safeway and picked up some spinach and ground turkey to create something more tasty so she would eat it. My plan was to hide the spinach in the spaghetti since she's become your typical American toddler and refusing vegetables. When I got home I defrosted the left over spaghetti, browned the turkey and added the spinach. I threw it in the Vitamix while I reheated her leftover pasta that I had frozen. I thought I was being pretty clever to hide the spinach in the spaghetti until I realized that using a whole bag of spinach is clearly not the proportion one should use to disguise something.


Yes, the sauce really did look that gross. "Oh no!" I thought as I left on the stove and went to retrieve her from daycare "there is no way she is going to eat green spaghetti. What a waste."

When we got home I crossed my fingers and served her up some green spaghetti. I could not believe it. She LOVED it!! When I set it down in front of her she said, "Yay!!" And after her first bite she said, "Yummy!" Funny girl. It was pretty good actually, oddly enough.


She ate FOUR bowls of the stuff! And a graham cracker for dessert.

Apple Crisp

I printed out a whole host of recipes recently and put them all together in a 3-ring binder. I have been meaning to make this for awhile, but since it's made with almond flour and I don't let Almi eat peanuts or tree nuts I had to wait until she was asleep to make it. Last night I finally got my chance and boy, was it worth the wait!

First I whipped up the topping.
Then I peeled the apples.
Then I sliced the apples. I love this apple slicer! I use it all the time.
I assembled the apple sliced in an 8x8 dish. I read somewhere that when you are making applesauce you should use a variety of apples so I did the same thing with my apple crisp. I think there were Gala, Fuji and McIntosh in there.
Next I plopped on the topping--which I sampled quite a bit of after mixing it up. It wasn't very sweet but I decided to follow the recipe as directed.
I set the timer for 40 minutes. 50 seemed awfully long and I was afraid it was going to burn but when I checked it the apples weren't as soft as I wanted them to be so I cooked it for the entire 50 minutes, plus the ten uncovered. Here it is finished and ready to eat (yeah, I already served myself some pre-photo). I may have actually kept it in another 5-10 minutes longer to get it more crispy and browned but Naomi was crying loudly from her crib, which she never does, so I ran to attend to her.
Let me tell you, this is amazingly good! I highly recommend it if you are looking for a way to use up some of your fall apple stash or just crave a healthy dessert. It could be sweeter but I guess that's because I am used to eating overly sweetened desserts with refined white sugar. I drizzled a bit of honey on my serving and that was perfect. I could also see maybe warming up some maple syrup and drizzling that on top or pouring on a bit of vanilla almond milk. I will definitely try those suggestions this weekend. Now the trick is to find a way to sneak and eat this.

I got the recipe from Elena's Pantry. Love that site!

P.S. I only got a small sample of this last night because Almi cried for over an hour and was only consoled with some ibuprofin and getting into Mommy's bed to go back to sleep. I think she may have an ear infection because she was saying "Owie!" and holding onto her left ear. I didn't sleep very well last night with her in there coughing and poking me so I'm glad I whipped up this yummy dessert to come home to tonight.

Dinner is Served

I have mentioned my exhaustion a bajillion times on this blog. I stay tired. I was tired before I started parenting a toddler, so you can imagine how I feel now.

Well, I decided enough was enough. I did a ton of research on ways to combat exhaustion and I am slowly incorporating all of them into my life. I am anemic so I take my iron. I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. I exercise (very minimally--I am working on improving in this area) and now I am also eating right.

What have I eliminated? Darn near everything:

* grains
* processed foods
* caffeine
* dairy
* alcohol
* refined white sugar

...and more!

But I am not perfect. I eat dark chocolate. And red wine.

What I discovered, though, is without any grains I don't get cravings. I have lost ten pounds effortlessly. I don't feel deprived. It's been about a month and it is starting to sink in that this is my new way of eating. It's not a diet. It's not temporary. I know I will slip up but this is my goal.

Has my energy increased? Yes. Am I still tired? Yes, but I am not often deeply exhausted like I used to be. And a fun byproduct is I am experimenting with cooking! I am making all kinds of healthy dishes and I am proud that I am feeding my daughter healthy, nutrient rich meals.

Here's what we had for dinner last night: baked zucchini fries and a coconut chicken dish I made up.

For the fries I sliced up some zucchini. Then I dipped it in egg white and then in a mixture of coconut flour (grain free), garlic, basil, oregano and sea salt. Then I baked them for 20 minutes.

For the chicken recipe I sliced some chicken from my Whole Foods rotisserie chicken and threw it in a pan with some onions, mushrooms, Thai basil and olive oil. Then I threw in some spices. When it was done I topped it off with some coconut milk and a splash of Agave nectar.
I paired them both with a glass of red wine. Healthy and delicious!
** please excuse my terrible food photos!! I really need to take a class on how to use my camera! ... or at least read the manual!

Breakfast Time

My First Bento

For someone who likes a variety of foods at one meal, sushi and tapas are always winners. At-home cooking can be a chore because along with my meat/starch/veggie I could easily want some carrots&hummus or chips&salsa or olives or a cheese stick. You get the idea. I like a lot of variety. Well, Bentos allow for quite a variety of foods in one meal. I think that's why the meals always look so appealing to me. They can be quite beautiful and labor intensive or they can be made with some leftovers while you are cleaning up dinner. Already, packing a lunch for daycare has become the bane of my existence. I hate putting thought into it. But then I found these cute Bento-like containers. I went to a local Asian food mart in search of Bentos and they had only one Bento for sale but it was still too expensive so instead I bought two cheaper containers (one for each of us) with three compartments and now packing lunches is much more fun. I can't wait til she's a little older and I can get more creative with them!

garbanzo beans, chicken/apple sausage, sliced banana

I realized after I posted this picture that it wasn't the container that I bought for her. Here is a picture of the container I actually bought.

I love the three partitions.

The little containers above are from some Gerber baby meals. I hated the thought of just throwing them away and I'm glad I didn't. They are perfect for lunches or little snacks on the go.

Free Cheerios!!!

Yes, all these boxes of Cheerios are in my house. And on my counter because I have nowhere to store them. But why I have them is pretty cool! I read on a blog a tip about saving money and using coupons. She said that grocery stores have a sale cycle and eventually everything will be on sale. The key is to clip coupons and then use them when the item is on sale. In other words, don't shop when you need something and are forced to pay whatever the selling price is that day, but buy it before you need it when it's on sale. And use a coupon. So, on to the Cheerios. I had these .75c off coupons from my doctor's office of all places. Yesterday when I bought one box (when we were out of them --exactly what you are not supposed to do) I was pretty happy to find they were on sale for $2.50. With my coupon I only paid $1.75 for the box, right? Not bad. But when I got home I realized they had doubled the coupon so I only paid $1.00 for the box! Really not bad!! And then I remembered the article so I decided I should go back and buy some more. We go through Cheerios really fast at our house.

But there's more. Here's the really amazing part! I learned when I went back that if you bought five boxes the price went down even further from $2.50 to $1.50 a box!! Unfortunately I only brought 3 coupons with me because I could have gotten five boxes for free! But I was still satisfied. Five boxes of Cheerios for $3.00. Not bad at all!