I Lost My Jicama

July 29th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Vegetable Lovin' - (17 Comments)

And no, Jicama is not latin for my “mind”. Or maybe it is.

After our crazy morning we packed up and headed to the park to meet up with our friends for some fun with colors.

Color Wheel

We talked about the color wheel, primary colors, secondary colors, contrasting colors and complementary colors. I like it.

We got rained on and our lesson was cut short, so we walked to our friends house and to play and snack.

My late morning oatmeal held me over for a long time. Around lunch time I ate one of the three apples I packed.

An apple, x2

And then I ate another one.

After an hour or so we said goodbye to our friends and went to run a couple errands and pick up a few groceries.

I got home to discover I was missing one item that I was excited to try: A jicama!

I wondered if maybe I’d only imagined putting it in the cart. Maybe it got separated from the herd at check out. Maybe it fell out of my the bag and was in the car.

I searched high and low and no jicama to be found. I checked the receipt, and oh yes, I paid dearly for that tuber. I actually had no idea how much I’d paid for it until I got home and looked at the receipt.

Jicama

I called the store to see if they’d found a renegade jicama. At $2.29 a lb weighing in at 1.4 lbs –> $3.21 for an overpriced potato you can bet my lily white ass I’m gonna track that sucker down.

The person on the phone checked and no one had put a mexican potato in the lost and found, but if I had the receipt I could come back and get another one, no problem.

In the meantime, Maxine rock rock rock rocked some funky beats.

Rock the Funky Beat

And I snacked on some cold, left over baked sweet potato slices.

Cold Sweet Potatoes

And a couple of carrots while I cleaned up the mess I left in the kitchen before we dashed out the door this morning.

Snacky Carrots

My mom came out to visit and hang with the girls for a little while tonight and I took the opportunity to go reclaim what was rightfully mine. And to pick up a few things that I’d forgotten the first go-round. Naturally.

A bee line to the jicama basket, I picked up one (out of five I’d say?) that looked awfully familiar. I’ve got crazy mad jicama recon skillz.

And weighed it.

Well whaddya know. $3.21 Try to escape me you tricky tuber? Not so fast!

sticker

Is this the lamest post ever and did I just give away what a total nerd I am when it comes to produce? Quite possibly. It’s the most exciting that happened today, what can I say?

So after all my jicamaschnanegans, I was finally home and ready to get to work on this sucker.

jicama

Peeled and cut into sticks.

Jicama Sticks

The verdict? Pretty interesting. I can’t put my finger on it but it reminds me of *something*. It’s sort of sweet and crunchy and reminds me of a potato too. A good veggie snack at the very least. For $3.21 and a 3 mile return trip to the store, I’m gonna eat it and I’m gonna like it.

Anyways.

For tonight’s dinner was fast and yummy. Black bean and corn salsa.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 ear of raw corn, kernals shaved off cob (any sort of corn will do though)
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 – 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
A couple pinches of diced fresh cilantro
salt
a few splashes of lime juice

Combine and serve!

I tossed about a cup of salsa in a bowl of greens with a little canola oil, topped with a few more spoonfuls and 1/4 of a chopped avocado and called it dinner.

Eat Now, Clean Later

Take note that my motto is “Eat Now. Clean Later.” I suspect this salsa will get even better as the flavors blend together. I probably should have doubled this recipe.

And a couple chocolate squares, because it’s been a couple days.

Chocolate

OK maybe just one day, but who’s counting.


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.


Muggy but at least cool, I headed out this morning to run a comfortable 6.24 miles in 50 minutes. My legs felt pretty tired toward the end but nothing a little green juice couldn’t fix.

The star of today’s green sludge:

A beat up pear.

beat_up_pear

Thank you Heather for this fab idea!

Today’s concoction consisted a HUGE head of romain, cucumber, pear, lemon and ginger. Go ahead and call me a lettuce vampire, I love drinking the blood of plants!

wed_juice

Out of bananas, I contemplating eating my chocolate overnight oats without bananas this morning (BOO!) But then I realized that the caterpillar needed fresh milkweed leaves too, and that cinched it. We were making a quick emergency run for bananas and milkweed leaves. Even caterpillars love to eat their greens.

Fortunately the playground near our house (and also happens to be right on the way to the corner grocery store) has a nice stash of milkweed plants growing.

Stop #1: Caterpillar breakfast.

milk_weed

Stop #2: Crazy banana lady breakfast.

wed_bananas

Awww yeah, kids up, throw clothes on, forget the hair brush. Mama needs bananas.

A fresh leaf for our little buddy.

pillar_breakfast

And fresh bananas for our little mommy.

wed_choc_oats

Phew. That was a close one.

And now we’re off on our next adventure.


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.


It’s been one of those days.

what_does_this_mean

What exactly does that sign mean you ask? No yelling.

Now don’t get me wrong, I try not to yell. But you might say that I’ve been known to raise my voice. Sometimes I yell more than or louder than I’d like to admit. But I promise that I DO TRY not to yell. Some days I’m more successful than others.

Today when I scolded Ava because she purposefully hit Maxine in the head with a hair brush, she ran off upstairs in tears and got to work on some signs while I got to work on lunch. She came back down a short while later and we both apologized for our less than stellar behavior. Then she got to work merrily hanging up her signs up all over the house. The living room, the kitchen, the dining room. I see a couple upstairs now too.

I enjoyed signs while I ate my homemade garlic hummus smeared on toasted sesame Ezekiel bread topped with salsa.

sign_with_hummus

And another with my spinach banana smoothie.

green_smoothie

I asked her, “What does ‘Dai Oim’ mean? Does that mean ‘DIE MOM’?!”

Fortunately, no, that’s not what it means. It just says “Please don’t yell at me.”

I also asked if she made any signs for herself, because she yells too. (Funny how they not only pick up on your good habits, but they pick up on ALL your habits.) She replied that no, it was my job to make those signs for her.

Alrighty then.

no_yelling_back

Kidding. Kidding! I said I was kidding!

This is either going to save us both years of therapy or we’ll be declaring bankruptcy due to outrageous mental hospital bills.

But onto the splash park!

splash_park

Want to play Where’s Waldo Ava? (Her suit is blue and green!)

Apparently everybody and their mother had the same idea we did today. We didn’t stay long.

Afternoon snack unintentionally turned into an early dinner.

Fruit.

strawberry_snack

Fruit.

apple_snacks

And oh yeah, more fruit.

turkish_apricots

I think “Turkish Apricots” is latin for “These are kind of brown but don’t be alarmed they still taste the same.”

Some corn on the cob a little later too.

corn_on_the_cob

In other news, our monarch caterpillar survived the night!

pillar_still_alive

And much like a breastfed baby, we know he’s getting enough to eat because he’s pooping. A lot.

I’ll leave you tonight with this important message:

dai_oim

Dai Oim.


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.


Decisions, Decisions

July 28th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Breakfast - (16 Comments)

On any given day, at any given moment, the answer to my own question “Are you going to run the marathon again this year or what?!” could go like this:

1. Or what.
2. Yes, of course I am.
3. Maybe.
4. I’ll do the half.

I’ve got a million different reasons for wanting to run it. I’ve got the same number of reasons why I think I shouldn’t.

I cycle around though all four answers at varying speeds, coming back to #1 when I think of the time commitment involved in training. Time is a hot commodity these days.

I’m tired of going around and around, so today I put my pen on the paper and let it guide me to the correct box like a Ouija race entry form. It’s no coincidence that the deadline for entering is August 1.

reg

I let the pen decide. It’s over. I’m done with my inner debate. I love being part of the race day excitement and love having something to train for. The half seems like the perfect compromise and a half-assed solution to this annoying turmoil at the same time. I’ve never run a half marathon before so this will be something new to add to my race report.

I like to run far. Just not too far. At least not this summer.

Entry form filled out and in the mailbox, I ate some shriveled apple goodness for my pre-ride fuel.

pre_ride_apple_rings

Notice Ava’s sweet little bowl of overnight oats there?

I enjoyed my 12 mile ride and was home in about 50 minutes. I walked through the door to find Zak eating my breakfast cookie! I should have carved a big “A” into it last night.

No big deal. Instead I got to work on the overnight concoction I’d prepared for him – which by the way, also happened to be an experiment. Yes, I test on animals. Don’t call PETA.

overnight_oats_raisins

I took a cue from Christina at Mindful Living and threw a small handful of raisins into his bowl last night along with vanilla soy milk, a little agave, ground flax and cinnamon.

No yogurt. The man does not like yogurt.

The result? Pretty dang good, a nice change up. Soaked raisins have fun texture. “Fun” like a rollercoaster ride and no bra? Not quite, but both worth doing at least once.

Topped this morning with 1/2 a sliced banana and raw almond butter. And I didn’t even miss the yogurt.

Now if only the dang mailman would hurry up and get here so I can stop twitching.


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.


True or False

July 27th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Late Night Craziness - (16 Comments)

True or False? (Mouse over pictures for answers.)

T/F: Today’s lunch was consumed at the computer.

True

T/F: Greek yogurt and maple syrup make a great dessert.

True again!

T/F: I gave Maxine PB Cups today for no good reason.

False.  A Total Bribe to STOP PEEING ON THE FLOOR!

Zak and Ava caught a catapitter caterpillar today.

True.  Extra credit if you can name the kind of butterfly it will morph into!

Click here for a close up.

T/F: I invented this idea.

False!  Totally stole it from a million other people.

T/F: Grapes with seeds are cool.

False!  Grapes with seeds are NERDS!

T/F: Apples with cinnamon rock.

Totally true!  You know it!

T/F: Ava picked 1000 green beans from our garden today.

This is a trick question!  There's always one!  When I asked her how many beans she picked, she said, *one thousand*, but probably there were only 25.  Either that or I ate 500 green beans before dinner tonight.

T/F: I ate so many green beans before dinner, I had no room for any more vegetables.

Def. false.  There's always room for veggies.

These are “Z’s” stamped on these Newman’s Own Organic Chocolate Bars.

False.  They would be N's on their side.  But in our house we like to pretend N's are Z's

So? How’d ya do?


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.


Sorta Long Run Monday

July 27th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Breakfast - (7 Comments)

Zak is off today to catch up on family time, so I decided today would be a good day to make up for no running for two days and get a sorta long run in too.

I got up to whip up the best pre-run fuel I could think of. A Tequila Green Lemonade Sunrise.

sunrise_green_lemonade

And two slices of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel toast with raw almond butter.

cinnamon_ez

I set out to run at least 8. I deliberately worked to slow my pace knowing that I’m working on endurance here with these long runs. There are different kinds of runs, I have to keep reminding myself it’s OK to purposely slow down so I have the energy left in the tank to go further and longer.

I was feeling really great at the 5 mile mark so I took a long cut and my 8 mile run turned into 9.3 miles by the time I got home. 1:21:43 making my average pace 8:48. Slower for sure, I probably could have gone slower still. I honestly felt fabulous when I got back though and like I could have kept going. But it was already after 8:00 and everyone was up by the time I got back, so I called it a run and headed inside.

I immediately scarfed down the last of the watermelon and all that juice went straight down the hatch too.

last_of_watermelon

After about a half hour or so I was ready for breakfast Part III and got out last nights overnight oats.

monday_oats

About 1/2 c of rolled oats, soaked in 1/4 c LF vanilla stonyfield farm yogurt and 1/2 c Living Harvest unsweetened vanilla hemp milk. Topped this morning with a tbsp or so of ground flax, strawberries, frozen, thawed organic blueberries and a couple walnuts.

mon_close_up_oats

I sat in the family room to hang out with the gang while I ate. Ava took her self portrait.

ava_self_portrait

I don’t know where she gets it from.

She then turned the camera to take a picture of my breakfast, “just like mom does”.

eat_oats

This could be a good newspaper headline and pic… Headless Woman Eats Oats.

Watch your local newsstands.


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.


Daddy’s Home

July 26th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Lunch - (6 Comments)

Inspiration for today’s lunch came from a handful of sources.

A few weeks ago, Gena from Choosing Raw posted about using Dulse, a seaweed that is supposed to be reminiscent of bacon. It can be a great way to make a raw/vegetarian BLT. Heather mentioned it in comment yesterday too and it reminded me I had a package of it in my cupboard.

dulse

I looked for this at a couple of health food stores to no avail. Since it’s seaweed and therefore a plant, I was expecting to find it in produce. I finally asked and they directed me to the fish food sushi section.

Dulse tastes…. fishy. Not “fishy” as in that-dude-who-hacked-into-my-eBay-account-to-sell-designer-purses “fishy”, but more like fish tank “fishy”.

As well it should I suppose. It is seaweed after all.

It was also salty. As well it should. It came from the ocean. Where the fish swim.

I decided to follow some prep suggestions on the package and baked it 250 for about 10 minutes to crisp it up for my DLT.

baked_dulse

Sort of even looks like bacon, no?

dlt

Eating this straight up was pretty intense. I’m not a picky or skittish eater but I’ll be honest that I was wondering if I might be chucking my whole sandwich into the trash.

Two slices of toasted Ezekiel bread, organic red leaf lettuce, tomato, a slice of organic provolone and some mustard hiding under the lettuce there as well. And bacon dulse.

dlt_together

As part of a sandwich, it was pretty good. It’s just TOO INTENSE to eat straight up. I’ll find some ways to finish the package but at this point I don’t think I’ll be buying more of this. I mean, the fish need stuff to eat too. I’d hate to deprive them. Think of the fish!

And take note that as a veg I’m not looking to replace bacon in my life. This was more about trying something different and maybe finding a new fav sandwich. New? Yes. Different? Definitely. Favorite sandwich? Not so much.

Part 2 of today’s lunch came from my new bloggy friend Linda and her perfect sweet potato.

These sounded pretty promising, and I had a couple of sweet potatoes so I went for it.

baked_sweet_potato

Three little taters
All in a row
450 degrees
What do you know!

I didn’t poke
I didn’t slice
Just plopped on the rack
Isn’t that nice?

blister

Holy caramelized sweet potato goodness! This puppy needed nothing but a fork. (That’s an interesting sentence.) I’m thrilled I’ve still got 2 1/2 in the fridge for the week.

After lunch we headed outdoors to play and “work” on our bikes.

Scooter and Bike Ride

When a piece of her scooter broke she said “We need goose tape”.

Scooter Broke

You mean duct tape, kiddo.

And then I accidentally spoiled my appetite for dinner with a bucket of watermelon.

holy_watermelon

A late dinner salad of organic green leaf, red leaf, chopped gala apples, mushrooms, tofu, raw cashews and miso dressing. Yes I had the exact same thing the other day.

more_salad

And a couple of raw almond butter stuffed dates as I got the kitchen cleaned up.

ab_stuffed_date

And last but not least… Daddy’s home after a weekend out of town!

When I left them to run upstairs and disappear into the office, they were playing hide and seek.

Hide and Seek

Here’s Ava explaining how she found them so quickly. (Under the windsurfer sails Z-man brought home from the cottage this weekend.)

I Found You

I was hoping to get a bike ride in tonight but Zak got home too late and I’m whooped anyway. Delighted to get back to my regular work out routine tomorrow AM. Here’s hoping I don’t grow fins overnight.


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.


Kids Eat Free

July 26th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Breakfast - (13 Comments)

Day Numero Four with no early morning work out. Zak gets home tonight. Hallelujah.

My morning green lemonade in a tall, tall glass.

all_glass

In the Tall, Tall Grass.

tall_tall_glass

Egads you can’t even tell how tall that glass is when it sinks into the grass! Someone write “Mow Lawn” on the to do list.

OK, OK, in truth the grass just grows really tall in that one spot and worked well for a reference to an old favorite. Don’t go calling the housing association on me just yet.

Romaine and spinach. I was out of cucumber so I took a cue from my good pal Heather and used a green pepper in its place. Plus the usual lemon, apple and ginger.

I was pleasantly surprised last night when Ava asked if she could make some overnight oats for herself as I was making mine. I’ve offered many times in the past but the offer has always been rejected. She made hers with oats, vanilla Stonyfield Farm yogurt and vanilla rice milk.

A little soupy kiddo. I’ve got a blog you should read.

pensive

She gobbled it up this morning and I thanked my lucky stars she’s never seen Lucky Charms.

Any mom has heard or read again and again that you set an example for your kids with what you do, what you say, how you act, and what you eat too. Children learn what they live.

Ava’s not a picky eater but Maxine has a very limited amount of fruit and vegetables that she’ll eat. I use to think I was doing everything right because Ava was so willing to eat fruit and vegetables. But then Maxine came along and gave me a dose of parental humility. It’s a miracle I can get her eat apples, corn and peas.

Try as I might, all I can really do is offer and keep my fingers crossed that one day she won’t say “no thank you” when I ask if she wants watermelon, strawberries, grapes, bananas and any other fruit most kids happily eat.

Hearing Ava ask to make overnight oats last night was music to my ears. It was such a good reminder that they DO eventually pick up on these things. Gotta keep on keepin’ on. Keep offering, keep letting them work in the garden with us, keep letting them pick out their own fruits and veggies in the produce section, keep having them help me cook, make juice (even if I’m the only one that drinks it), make fruit smoothies, keep the the cupboards and fridge stocked with healthy snacks. Cookies and treats have their place, gotta keep talking about moderation too.

Who else has good tips for getting your kids or kids in your life to make healthy choices? What do you do to help encourage your kids to eat the right things?

My green juice held me over for an hour or so and then I moved on to my own bowl of overnight oats… you wouldn’t even know there were chocolate overnight oats under there, buried in bananas, shredded coconut and raw almond butter.

Approx 1/2 c of rolled oats, 1/4 c of LF vanilla Stonyfield Farms yogurt, 1 tsp of cocoa powder and 1/2 c or so of chocolate unsweetened almond milk.

sun_oo

And now I think it’s about I time get off this computer and get these kids outside.


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.


Fossil Walk

July 25th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Life - (7 Comments)

Today’s homeschooling adventure was just that – quite the adventure!

heading_to_creek

We met up with a bunch of homeschooling families today for a Fossil Walk.

Fossil Dig Activity Sheet

We took a 10 minute hike through this creek bed to make our way to the dig site.

More Creek Walking

Creek Walk

Quite the Adventure

Holy bedrock.

Dig Site

This was the first fossil we found, which explains why I took a picture of it. We “think” this was a part of a trilobite – an extinct marine creature that is only a mere 380 million years old. Finding pieces of a trilobite is common, finding a trilobite perfectly in tact is rare and would score you major archeology nerd points. No one hit the fossil jackpot today, but we had fun trying.

Trilobite

These cliffs are made of shale and are loaded with fossilized creatures just waiting to be uncovered by crunchy granola parents and their offspring.

Creek Bed

We found a half dozen fossils and walked the banks to dig into the cliffs for about an hour before breaking for our picnic lunch.

I packed the left over curried chickpea sandwich spread from the other day to make a half sandwich with whole wheat bread. PB&J for Ava, and a Rubbermaid crudites for some crunching!

fossil_lunch

Chomp chomp!

chomp_chomp

Some dried apricots, raisins, cranberries and walnuts for a little something sweet.

dried_fruit_nuts

After lunch we made our way to a second site, an old railroad bed for more fossil fury!

second_site

Back home and feeling a little fossilized myself, I made myself my usual romain, spinach, apple, lemon, ginger and cucumber glass of green goodness.

more_green_lemonade

Drinking this in the late afternoon always throws me for a loop! It left me with no real appetite for dinner and I randomly snacked on miscellaneous dried fruit, nuts and veggies throughout the early evening.

I also ate some cooked sweet corn with the gals, except I wore my top.

eat_max eat_ava

That’s it! What a day. Archeology ROCKS!


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.


Adventures in Homeschooling

July 25th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Breakfast - (4 Comments)

Exercise this morning is going to be in the form of a homeschooling adventure. My mom is coming to stay with Maxagirl while Ava and I take off on a little road trip.

I enjoyed my breakfast with staying power!

sat_breakfast_cookie

I ate while I packed our lunch

lunches_packed

and started compiling the stuff we need to take with us today.

bags_packed

Nothing like eating breakfast when you’re tearing around the house like a mad woman. OK in truth I just walked around normally, but sometimes I like to call myself a mad woman. “Walking around the house like a mad woman” just doesn’t paint the same kind of picture.

Off to print out a map scribble down directions and write printer ink on the list.


Please know that links to Amazon are affiliate links. It doesn’t change the price you pay, but if you buy something from Amazon after following one of the links in my posts, I earn a percentage based commission from Amazon as a part of their affiliate program. This is one of the ways I generate revenue from the posts that I write here. I promise that I only link to items that I truly endorse. You don’t ever have to buy anything, but if you do, thank you for supporting the site and the work I do here.