What To Eat Out

We’ve stopped eating out as much because it’s expensive and unhealthful.

We’re currently buying my grandmother’s house as an investment property (because my husband loves me and I wanted it for sentimental reasons!)  It is priced at less than half of what we were planning to spend in New York City back when we were looking to buy there, and I’m excited to have it as a future home; it’s on 1.5 acers, so there’s definetly potential for expansion (and chickens, I’m thinking!  I’m following a convo. about chickens on a message board, and I’m enthralled and inspired to have my own brood of egg-givers.  But I wouldn’t eat them.  *shudder*  Anyway.)

So we’re saving money by not eating out because we want to buy the place in cash, forgoing all the headache of obtaining a mortgage.  (Which I looked into, and which scared me.)  Also, restaurant food is not so good for the de-squashying.  But I would like to be able to go out sometimes and not just order salads.  I’m trying to figure out where to go tonight (the husband is going to be away for two days… we haven’t slept apart since we got married!  The dogs are SO getting to sleep on the bed!) so that I can order something vegetarian and more hearty than salad.

Mexican and Music

Normally when we get Chinese they give us a TON of rice that I never know what to do with.  I keep it, and in the next day or so I mix it with kidney beans, salsa (or diced tomatoes), diced bell peppers, grated cheese and squished corn chips.  It’s pretty good, and healthful if you really load it up with veggies and use blue corn chips, which I prefer to yellow.  (p.s., it’s way fun to squish the chips!)  Then I broil it so the cheese melts and the rice gets hot and I have an awesome faux-Mexican dish.  I made that tonight with gazpacho soup, and it was so, so good after a long hot day.

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The husband is currently playing guitar, and the dogs are at his feet, looking up at him so interested and adoringly, like they’re really INTO his tunes (Weezer and Green Day… he’s so 90’s), like they’re really listening and enjoying.  It’s adorable.  I love my life.

Body Image

Right.  Blogging.  So.

I tried a new cleanse that eliminated the following: animal products, alcohol, gluten and refined sugar.  I made it for four days, which I counted an accomplishment.  I have since stopped eating meat, and cut back on the gluten and sugar.  I’m not a big drinker, so it wasn’t so much of an issue either way.

I feel amazing!  I’ve been debating the merits of going vegetarian for years, and making the leap has be a LOT easier than I thought.  There are still going to things that bring me to the brink of temptation: my girlfriend’s lambchops, Hooters wings, juicy cheeseburgers, but I feel like I’m doing the best thing for myself right now, and if I do eat meat occasionally, well, no big deal.

I’ve been trying to work out more (because I might as well, right?  While I’m eating so well.)  The fact that it’s summer is making that easy; my three dogs are mad for the dog park, and there’s one twenty minutes away that has a great swimming lake (plus there are lots of other dogs to play around with).  We’ve been hiking all over, and it’s been good for them, too.

We also got a Wii Fit.  I’m not using it to work out so much as track my progress.  According to it, I’m down eight pounds in the past month.  Woo!  Skinnay!

I was out last night with a few girlfriends, both who are super cute and sweet.  My friend S. has one of those bodies that is naturally thin and muscular, and she has to be careful not to dip underweight.  Her abs are INCREDIBLE.  Unfortunately for her, she’s at her “confused with life” phase where she wants so much out of life and is not sure (but really, “too scared”) at how to go about achieving it.  Girl’s got “issues” if you know what I’m saying, and the conversation turned to how I seem to have it together; I have an amazing marriage and (despite being a bit of a dissatisfied housewife), I’m pretty happy.  So is our other friend, C.

“Whatever!” she said.  “You know you’d both kill for my body!”

I eyeballed her.  “No.  Nope.  I wouldn’t.”  To be honest, I was a little annoyed that she thought she was better looking than me (I mean, she IS fitter, but you don’t SAY such things!  Goodness!)  And my snappy “No.” was out as my gut reaction before I realized that it IS actually true: I don’t want her body, killer abs or not.

“I mean, of course there are things I want to change, but” I continued, “I feel pretty good.”  I suppressed my smug smile.  I was going to add: “and I get to have sex.” but I thought that her head might explode; she’s got no suitable husband on the horizion and is frustrated, and I’m not an ENTIRELY mean person, you know.  But I thought it.

My Organic Veggie Lasagna with No-Bake (Eeek! Skeery!) Noodles

I had a major panic attack when i realized that i had grabbed the “no boil” noodles to make my veggie lasagna.  i’d never heard of such a thing, and i was 100% convinced that, should I use them without boiling, I would have dry, icky pieces of cardboard-like pasta between the (expensive, labor-intensive) layers of organic veggies and cheese that I had whipped up , my dinner party would be ruined, my guests would laugh, and we’d have to order pizza.

This lasagna recipe I found was NO JOKE.  It called for pepper, pesto, tomatoes, broccoli, and carrots, ricotta, mozzarella, noodles of course, and a host of spices.  I also had to make a milk+butter+flour+garlic sauce to top it, and I had to be careful not to burn it.

The entire thing weighed about 30 pounds (possibly due to my FABULOUS lasagna pan that my mother in law bought me.  It’s an Emile Henry, in sunny yellow, and I love it.  It’s from last year, when she was doing the scalloped edges on her pans, instead of the plain she’s doing this year.)

Anyway, as I layered the hard noodles I prayed that they would soften up.  (I literally prayed, too.  If His eye is on the sparrow, surely He cares about my lasagna, too, right?)  I was using the frozen broccoli that the recipe called for, and those have tons of water by way of ice crystals, so I was pretty sure that I had enough moisture… and I did.  I did not, however, have enough mozzarella.  I was supposed to have one layer of 1 cup of shredded mozz. somewhere in the noodles, and another 2 cups on top.   I only had two total, so my top was a little lacking, but you wouldn’t know that by looking or tasting.  I also skipped the added salt (the pesto I bought seemed to have a lot in there already… i didn’t make my own pesto!) and used two green peppers instead of one red and one green (I could only find organic green peppers; the reds at the grocery store were not, and I wasn’t going to drive all over in search of one organic red pepper.  Because, come on.)

Another mod. I made was that I ground my veggies up when the recipe said to “chop”.  I don’t like veggie chunks galore, so the broccoli and tomatoes were chunky, and everything else was mushy-mashy veggies.  I’ll bet kiddos will like it better that way.

So, the no-bake noodles?  They rocked!  I checked it when it was supposed to be “done” by stabbing it with a steak knife, and met a little resistance.  I left it in the turned-off-but-still-hot oven and let it stew a bit more.  When I pulled it out it was perfect, and everyone liked it!  I have a new favorite dish to make… but not too often!  That was a lot of work.

Drink Up!

I’ve purchased pomegranate juice, cranberry juice and apple juice to mix with the seltzer, wildberry seltzer and tea I just bought.  I’m looking forward to trying out good, less sugary alternatives to soda.

Walks, Lots of Food, and My New Sigg Bottle

The warmer weather has been a call for long walks, and the dogs are all very happy, as am I.  Of course, it’s New England, so I’m fully expecting the weather to take a turn for the worse… oh… tomorrow!  But for now, we’re tearing up the woods on monster-sized hikes, and it’s been beneficial to my “flab-ay boo-tay”!

I’m having food issues again.  Everything is mega delicious, and I keep EATING.  I’m bottomless!  This is pretty new, and I’m not appreciating.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been so much more active with the hikes?

My Sigg bottle arrived, and it’s been helpful in keeping me hydrated.  I highly recommend them.   Check out mysigg.com if you’d like one.  They’re $20 more or less, and better than Nalgenes which are made from plastic that will leech into your drink.

SlimFast – Shaken, Not Stirred

I’ve been trying to drink SlimFast as a lunch replacement.  It has only 200 calories and a lot of protein, so I figured it would be good.  To make it even better, I’ve been putting the powder, milk and some ice in a martini shaker instead of stirring it, and then pouring it out through the holes so it just gets cold, but doesn’t have ice in it.  Delish!  (Bonus: it got foamy, meaning it felt like I was drinking more than the eight ounces).

This worked well for about a week and a half, and then it quit filling me up.  I don’t know what happened, but the shake that boasted it’s ability to  hold off hunger “for four hours” only held me for two before I was tearing-my-hair-out-on-the-verge-of-tears starving again.  And then, of course, resolutions would go to pot as I scarfed down half a bag of pretzels, the first thing handy, because I was too hungry to try and fix something decent.

I’m beginning to suspect that it has something to do with lack of drinking enough water.  I really forget to do that, and I wish I was raised drinking water several times a day.  Something to note for when I have kiddos.  As it is, I drink one glass and I have to pee really bad, so I don’t want to go out, because I know that half way to wherever I’m headed, I’ll be doing the pee-pee dance in the drivers seat.

Ok, I just came up with the world’s stupidest reason for not staying hydrated.

Load of Crock!

Ok, ok.  I’ll get a crock pot!  I really, really, really, really don’t want one, and not just because it takes up room, but because “owning a crock pot” to me is right up there with “darning socks” and “knitting tea cozies”… Grandma territory.  But my best friend, who is super cute and pretty hip, has one, and she loves it.  So at least I’ll be in good company.  I’m not a huge fan of “stewy” food, either, but maybe I’ll get used to it?  At any rate, it’ll be nice to have something to cook rice in.  I am absolutely CRUDDY at making rice!  It’s unbelievable, and humorous, how terrible mine turns out.

What kind should I get?

Dinner Was Ready, But A Dear Friend Called

First of all, can I just say that I’m moved anyone would comment on my site? Thanks… it actually means a great deal to me!

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Cooking. I love having dinner on the table, but because I have to go out and get my husband off of the train to get him home, it’s tough to have it ready right when he comes in… leaving things in the oven is NOT something I’m super comfy doing, even for the twenty minute drive to get him. I’ve started preparing a little a head of time, leaving to go get him, and then turning everything on as soon as we walk in the door.

Thank goodness he’s easy to feed! I can give him the same thing over and over, and he’ll be really happy (especially if it’s covered in barbecue sauce!)

Our lifestyle is so scattered sometimes, though, that it’s difficult to always have something ready. We have friends who want to see us, and we HATE saying “no”, even to last minute invitations. Friends will ALWAYS come before dinner around here, meaning that sometimes the elaborate dinner I had planned turns into a handful of pretzels and a banana. Also, sometimes there is last minute band practice that the husband needs to get to, or I’ve gotten caught up shopping or helping someone with something that dinner gets put to the back burner (pun!)

I’m thinking about making a dinner or two, and having that stashed in the freezer for such times. I think meatloaf will freeze well, and we always have frozen veggies that cook up quickly. I usually don’t make a side dish other than noodles, rice or potatoes; maybe I can freeze the mashed potatoes? Yup.

Cool.

I Went Squashy on Everything!

Dude.

After spending yesterday driving around certain parts of NYC and realizing that everything is RIDICULOUSLY expensive and we’ll probably have to downgrade the house size if we move, I’m exhausted.  It’s a national holiday today, so I’m taking the day off of “work”.  We have leftovers, the laundry can wait until tomorrow, and, um, who needs to wear normal clothes?  Sweats will do.  There’s Tivo to catch up on, and it’s SO.  COLD.

I did make it to the dentist, so this day is not a total waste.

Food thus far today:  Oh my goodness.  2 leftover cupcakes for breakfast, and popcorn and cheese for lunch.  Time to go grocery shopping.

This is the world’s worst case of “the Mondays”.