Recipes to Add to Our Binder

Last week, there was a sale on local cauliflower at Whole Foods. It was $2.99 per head (not per pound). That meant I had to buy the biggest head of cauliflower available (not very pragmatic, I now realize).

Once I got home, I learned that we already had a head of cauliflower left over from the pre-holiday. Oy vey!

Luckily, I am in love with this cauliflower recipe. While I'm adding recipes to our binder, I'm also going to add this recipe for make-your-own-salad dressing. It's surprisingly easy to whip up a quick vinaigrette, especially if you have an old jam jar lying around to use as a container (it facilitates shaking!).

Share |

Working Ahead

I'm desperately trying to get into the habit of working ahead.

The way I look at it, I pretty much have two choices: do a given task at the last minute and stress myself out, or do the same task ahead of time and be more relaxed.

The latter is easier said than done for a few reasons:

1. If you're currently doing things at the last minute, you don't have any extra time to get those tasks done and get ahead on the upcoming tasks.
   
2. If you're working ahead, it's easy to let things (like a lack of motivation or a preference for procrastination) take precedence by telling yourself, "Oh, I'll just do this tomorrow." You really do have tomorrow, but as soon as you save something for the next day, it gets piled on top of the things that were supposed to be done on the next day.
   

Despite these challenges, I've been trying to work ahead. Some people thrive on last-minuteness; they are more creative, more productive, and more efficient if they work up against a deadline. I just don't happen to be one of those people. I get too stressed out.

So far, I'm doing a decent job of working ahead. I have a lot of tasks for work that remain consistent from week to week, so it's easy to assign each thing to a particular day, well in advance. For example, I create weekly newsletters to send home on Fridays (I teach 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade at a public Montessori school), so I start working on them Wednesday mornings.

It was especially hard last week when I was tired, preoccupied with car-buying, and generally unmotivated. However, I try not to be too hard on myself when I'm not able to finish everything ahead of time. It's a work in progress for sure.

Share |

DIY Purse

I am happy to report that I followed through with my plans to make a craft date with my friend, Katie, and construct a new bag for myself using this free pattern.

Well, our date kind of turned into a marathon crafting session. I arrived at 12:30pm and did not leave until almost 9 o'clock. It was worth it, though. I just couldn't leave there until it was finished!

Crafting with a friend was a huge treat. I realized that when I work alone, I'm much more likely to get frustrated if something goes wrong. It was so refreshing to be able to ask someone for help in the middle of a project. We deciphered the pattern together, and she helped me solve major problems that I caused for myself. In turn, I helped her when she got stuck on her quilt. Crafting with a friend is certainly the way to go. Also, setting aside a specific day and time really helped me follow-through with my plans.

I'm honestly not much of a sewer, but I feel like I get better with each project. There's such an amazing feeling that comes from making something from scratch. It certainly wasn't a stress-free process. At one point, the material I was sewing through was so thick my machine thought I was sewing my own finger and went into Safety Mode. It would just buzz any time I tried to press the sewing foot. Another time, I sewed the lining in wrong and had to tear the whole thing out with a seam ripper. As I was using the seam ripper, the cotton lining started to tear. Aack!

In the end, though, I have a customized bag. I even made specialized pockets for my Sharpie pens and Burt's Bees chapstick. I am a little disappointed that the bag doesn't open up as fully as I would like, but I'm still quite happy with it.

I'm already trying to figure out what I want to do for my next project!

Happy Crafting!

Share |

Meals for This Week

Beautiful image courtesy of Erin at fresh365

Oh hooray!

Erin posted a roundup of her favorite recipes from 2009. We're going to try a different one for each of our home-cooked meals this week:

1. Flatbread with Gongonzola, Caramelized Onions & Arugula
2. Salt & Pepper Tofu
3. Green Pea Pesto with Walnuts

And we're having friends over for dinner this week, so I want to serve something we've already tried: Maple-Pumpkin Pasta with Blue Cheese and Sage. Yum!

Share |

Easy-Peasy Hummus

We haven't gone grocery shopping yet for the upcoming week, so our reserves are low. I found an old bag of Stacy's Pita Chips (Rosemary and Black Olive--yum!) that have preserved miraculously well. I decided to whip up a little hummus for some additional protein:

Directions:

Dump the following ingredients into a food processor and press start:

1. 1 can of drained chickpeas
2. 2 cloves of garlic (or one large)
3. 1/4 cup of olive oil
4. 1/8 cup of tahini
5. 1 tbs. lemon juice
6. Salt to taste

Voila!

Share |

Don't worry. Be happy.

I've had a rather cruddy week for various reasons. Primarily, Matt needs to get a new car. His Honda Civic has a ton of miles on it and is starting to break down on the interstate. Scary.

But I hate going to car dealerships. Talk about scary. I hate the sales tactics and the pressure and the unctuous smiles.

We've spent a lot of time researching cars, communicating back and forth with dealers, test driving, etc. We've gone to bed late every night, and I'm tired.

I said to Matt, "I'm having a bad week."

He replied, "You've got me and Hoss. How bad could it be?"

Yes. He is completely right. I have a Partner in Awesomeness and a bloodhound who injects joy into my life on an hourly basis (and a supportive extended family and lovely friends and a whole host of other things that completely overshadow one lousy week).

In my perfectionistic quest to always improve upon everything, I end up focusing too much on the negative. I have so much to be thankful for. It's always there, alongside any trivial challenges that come up in life. I have a choice about where to focus my energy and my thoughts.

I will make a concerted effort to choose more wisely.

Share |

Omega Supplement

I've been toying with the idea of taking Omega-3 supplements for a while, but I just now got around to actually doing it. They aren't vegetarian (even aside from the fish oil, there's also gelatin), but I want to make sure I round out my diet. Since I really like my multivitamin, I decided to go with the same brand: Rainbow Lite.

It was so easy to fall into really unhealthy habits during the break. First it was the 15-hour road trip (our two primary options are veggie burgers at Burger King and Taco Bell). Then it was trays of snackie foods at my parents' house and dinners out with Matt's family.

Now that I'm home, I'm back into healthy eating mode: a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, apples, dried cherries, and pumpkin seeds, a morning snack of fruit, a lunch with protein, carbs, and vegetables, an afternoon snack with protein/calcium, and a healthy dinner. And lots of water. And my vitamins.

(Of course it's only day two of being back in healthy mode, which is easier said than done...)

Share |