More news from my kitchen

Like mother, like daughter. I keep shopping and cooking enough to feed a small bear colony. Meanwhile, produce goes rotten before it even gets rotated to the front of the fridge. Leftovers become left-over-over-overs, and then go rotten. Bob's absence, coupled with our changing appetites, has rendered Costco a much less appropriate grocery venue.

It breaks my heart, in some ways, to buy and consume less food, but I really should be thankful. This means I only have to go grocery shopping once a week or less (if I can stop myself!), and recipes hardly need to be doubled. It should feel more simple, yet it is still an adjustment.

To ease in this adjustment, and mostly in an effort to use up those easily-forgotten perishables, I have started meal planning. Since nearly every dinner I make these days is unfamiliar to our family, I've also been taking mediocre photos to pair with recipes in hopes that someday I will compile a recipe filing system superior to my current method of stacking post-it notes in drawers and cupboards. I know, I dream big.

Recipe compilation has been a grueling task. I'm searching for meal ideas that are not only composed almost completely of whole plant foods, but are also palatable to small children, flavorful enough for carnivorous, salt-crazy hubby, and fast and easy enough that I can whip them up one-handed (while holding Char). Also, the ingredients can't be too expensive or remote. And I'd prefer they taste good to me, too. So, almost no recipes work, but I've been clinging to that "almost," diligently excavating the hidden wonders of healthy, satisfying meals from cookbooks and blogs. I've a long way to go, to be sure, but I'm grateful to finally be finding a happy little food niche to make my own.

My goal is to post recipes I've tried recently, along with photos and our family's ratings. Originally I was going to include my own photos. They look like this

and this.

Until I learn how to decorate food and then take a photo that falls short of inducing nausea, I'll leave it to the professionals. I stole the following photos from absolutely anyone with a nicer camera and skills (Is that legal?...). Some of them are not exactly true to my creations, but they probably tasted very similar, just much, much prettier.

With no further ado, I bring you Mama T's breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bonus recipes from November 2-13! (I should warn, in case anyone actually attempts to use any of these recipes, that I am quite a minimalist when it comes to instructions. Sometimes I just omit them completely if they feel they are intuitive. Sorry about that. Also, I very rarely measure anything; the amounts listed probably came from someone else's recipe that I may or may not have followed particularly.) Oh yes, as it pertains to ratings, we'll just go by initials T, El, Er, and Ch, and let's use a scale of 1-3, 1 being a thumbs down, 2 being neutral or of mixed emotion, and 3 being a thumbs up.

Nov 2
Lunch: peanut celery spread on toast, fruit wedges

Peanut Celery Spread
1/3 c natural peanut butter
1 T lemon juice
2 t soy sauce
1 clove garlic
2 T water
1 c celery, minced

T 3, El 3, Er 2, Ch 1

Dinner: Three-layer dip and chips, those layers being hummus, broccamole, and salsa


Pumpkin Hummus
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz can pumpkin
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 c olive oil
1/2 c tahini (sesame seed spread, but you can omit this or use whole sesame seeds, or even natural nut butters have about the same consistency as tahini)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t allspice
salt, cumin, paprika, and cayenne pepper to taste

My Blendtec was able to smooth this out, but just barely. Food processors probably suit this recipe better. The can of pumpkin really made it creamy and perfect, in my opinion, but if that grosses you out, there are plenty of other tasty hummus varieties, eg roasted garlic, roasted red pepper, jalapeno, etc.

T 3, El 3, Er 3, Ch 3


Broccamole
1-2 avocados
1 large head broccoli, chopped and steamed
2 T red onion
4 cloves garlic
2+ T lime juice
1 T hot pepper sauce
2 T fresh cilantro
salt to taste

I tried blending this, but it proved too thick even for the illustrious Blendtec, so I sadly ended up mincing the broccoli by hand. With a smoother appearance, I believe this would have gone over better with the kiddos.

T 3 (for its ingenious disguise of fresh broccoli while maintaining guacamole taste), El 3, Er 2, Ch 2

Homemade salsa
tomatoes
garlic
onion
banana pepper
chili powder
salt and pepper
cilantro

Pulse in blender (or chop by hand) until chunky to your liking.

T 3, El 3, Er 1, Ch 1

Homemade chips
Cut corn tortillas into four pieces each. Broil 2 min on each side until lightly browned-- warning: 2 min 30 seconds was enough to burn an entire batch!


Nov 3
Dinner: pureed celery/carrot/sweet potato soup with dill biscuits and broccoli salad
-For the soup, I simmered garlic, onion, celery, carrot, sweet potato, other veggies, and generous seasonings in water until tender, and then blend! I added low-sodium chicken broth to thin and more sea salt, pepper, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, curry powder, and other seasonings to taste.

-I've also subbed celery for broccoli, but only because of that blasted Costco pack of celery-- why did I think we could polish off four heads of celery in our lifetimes?! I think this salad is actually my favorite way to eat raw celery, though.

Broccoli Salad
1 1/2 c fresh broccoli
2/3 c dried cranberries
2/3 c frozen peas, thawed
1/4 c fresh parsley
2 T chopped pecans
3 T mayo
3 T plain yogurt
1 T lemon juice
1/4 t each of salt and pepper

T 2, El 2, Er 1, Ch 1

Nov 4
Lunch: hummus and veggie sticks, banana bread

Banana Bread
mix:
3/4 c brown sugar (I usually scale this down and use part agave nectar)
3/4 flax seed meal
5 ripe mashed bananas
1/4 c skim milk of choice (I use almond, but of course soy, cow, etc. are fine)
1/4 c yogurt or applesauce
1 egg
in separate bowl, mix:
1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1 c rolled oats
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c chopped walnuts
combine the two mixes and bake in greased loaf pans 70 min at 350, or 25 min for muffins

T 3, El 3, Er 3, Ch 3

Dinner: Asian vermicelli soup (sorry, no measurements here)
chicken broth
soy sauce
sesame oil
garlic
ginger
rice vinegar
cabbage
cilantro
scallions
mushrooms
Asian noodles
eggs cracked in while broth boiling
fresh basil (very distinct flavor-- much more potent and enjoyable than dried basil)

Nov 5
Breakfast: Pink Smoothie, almond milk over granola and berries (This has become my favoritest food in all the land-- it's replaced my nightly bowl of ice cream and honestly appeals to my taste buds now more than desserts. I'm shocked, too.)

Hot Pink Smoothie


juice of young Thai coconut
1 carrot
1/2 raw beet
splash vanilla
dates
cashews
frozen strawberries
Blend everything but strawberries until liquid, then add strawberries and blend.

T 3, El 3, Er 3, Ch 3

Dinner: Pesto potatoes

Sun-dried tomato pesto
2 c fresh basil
5 whole sun-dried tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1/4 t salt
3 T pine nuts
1/4 c olive oil

Blentec also struggled with this one, surprisingly. This is when I miss my old Vitamix's tamper.

T3, El3, Er2, Ch3

Dessert/snack: Banana Pops


-freeze 4 bananas, halved width-wise (so they're short) on sticks 2 hrs or until firm
-spread peanut butter over them and re-freeze 30 min until firm
-dip in melted chocolate and roll in chopped nuts or granola (I scale back the chocolate quite a bit-- mine were more drizzled than dipped in chocolate, and they were still plenty sweet)
-freeze 1-2 hours on wax paper

T 2, El 3, Er 3, Ch 1 (too hard to bite!)

Nov 6
Breakast: Green smoothie (this is a staple, but I thought I'd throw some guidelines out there in case anyone's curious)
-10 oz or so of water or juice or milk drink
-fill up blender with greens like spinach, kale, wheatgrass, cabbage, and even a handful of dandelion greens, pea greens, mustard greens, etc. (These are just the ones I've tried. There are plenty more out there, but I usually go the mild and economical route.)
-add flax seed and dates
Blend until smooth.
-add fruit, fresh and/or frozen, to taste/texture/color (I usually use bananas, apples, pears, green grapes and assorted light-colored frozen fruit like pineapple, peaches, and cantaloupe)

T 3, El 2, Er 3, Ch 3

Nov 7
Dinner: Thai coconut corn soup


sautee:
3 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper, minced
4-5 scallions
add:
30 oz coconut milk
16 oz frozen corn
2 t curry powder
1/4 t curry paste, or to taste, dissolved in water before adding
1 t salt
top with 1/2 c cilantro

T 3, El 3, Er 2, Ch 2

Nov 8
Dinner: Phyllo rolls with balsamic maple sauce


Moroccan Phyllo Rolls
roast 35-45 min at 425, tossing 1-2 times:
2 c bell peppers (I subbed whatever veggies I had on hand, like carrots and mushrooms)
3 c zucchini or squash
1 c onion
1 medium fennel bulb (I used celery)
1/2 c dried apricots
6 cloves garlic
2 T olive oil
1 1/2 t cumin
3/4 t ginger
1/2 t paprika
3/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 t pepper

add:
1 c white beans
1/2 c fresh basil (I used pesto)

-reduce oven to 375
-spread oil on 1 phyllo sheet, top with another sheet, and then fill with 1 c veggies and wrap them, burrito-style (for better instructions, go to vegan.com and search for "Top 10 recipes of 2008")
bake 15-20 min until golden; serve with balsamic maple sauce and top with chopped or slivered almonds

T 3, El 3, Er 2

Balsamic Maple Sauce
1/4 c pure maple syrup
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
2 t butter
1 minced garlic clove
1/8 t salt
1 1/2 t cornstarch, dissolved in 3 T soy sauce (I use a natural soy sauce called Braggs Liquid Aminos)
-bring it all to a boil for 1 min then remove from heat

T 2 (too salty -- I would reduce soy sauce and/or vinegar next time and up the syrup), El 3, Er 2

Nov 9

Dinner: Veggie and Ricotta lasagna (sorry no recipe; this meal is what I call a crisper cleanser. I used anything and everything in my fridge that was on the verge of perishing.)

T 3, El 3, Er 2, Ch 3

Nov 10
Breakfast: muesli
Dinner: quesadillas with avocado, tomato, hummus, cilantro, mushrooms, and a little shredded cheese to keep it all in there



Muesli
-mix and refrigerate overnight:
1 1/2 c rolled oats
1/4 c raisins
1/8 c sunflower seeds
1/8 c chopped nuts
1/2 t cinnamon
2 c almond milk
1 c apple juice

I haven't tried this variation, but you can also omit the juice and add cocoa powder, maple syrup, and more milk to make chocolate muesli. Sounds super delish, but my kids gobble it up as is and I worry that after the sweeter version they may be less enthused about regular muesli. Also, this is my favorite breakfast in the whole world because it mostly makes itself, enabling me to lay comatose in bed a little longer.

T3, El3, Er3, Ch3

Nov 11 and beyond
Lunch: blender pancakes with hot pink smoothie poured on top
Dinner: Kristin's peanut butter sesame noodles



Blender Pancakes
1 c wheat, spelt, or oat groats (although I use quinoa, amaranth, or any whole wheat on hand)
1 c almond milk
2 eggs
2 T honey or sugar
2 T coconut oil
2 t baking powder (more if using oats)
1 t salt
-blend grain and milk first, and then add the rest
-cinnamon and dried fruit would also be yummy additions

T3, El3, Er3, Ch3

Sesame Noodles (as taken from karrotsoup.blogspot.com)



8 oz. angel hair
½ c. peanut butter (creamy is best)
½ c. water
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. white or rice vinegar
1 T. veg. oil
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 large carrot, shredded (about ½ c.)
1 small cucumber, halved and sliced.

Cook and drain pasta. Meanwhile, in large bowl whisk together all other ingredients except vegetables. Toss with hot pasta, carrots and cucumber to combine.

T3, El3+ (in a very serious tone, "Mom, this dinner is quite yummier than the bees knees."), Er3, Ch3


Well, that about concludes what is now my longest post ever, except for the natural childbirth one, or maybe Ellie's Dr. Seuss birthday party menu, or whatever else I'm obsessed with at the moment. Funny thing, though: I've clearly been exerting a great deal more time and effort learning about food and finding new recipes, but as time passes, I'm feeling less and less "obsessed" with my hobby. I still have a very appreciative, loving relationship with food, but I don't feel it controls me at all. Indeed, I don't think I've ever had a happier or better relationship with food than I currently enjoy.

FIVE

[Grrr... I uploaded a cute video of Ellie tap dancing here, but it refuses to show up on the blog. Just use the cutest parts of your imagination to fill in this blankness.]



Oh, Ellie. Sweet, sweet, only occasionally bitter, but mostly sweet Ellie. Particularly when your brothers are acting like they're made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails, how can I ever thank you for being so sweet?

I don't know how I would have survived the past year without you. Really. You are perhaps the only (cognizant) individual who witnessed how difficult it was for me to care for Erik and Charlie last year. Daddy and Mish and Kjerstin caught glimpses, but if ever they were present, the adult to child ratio would swing in my favor and thus my stress level diminished considerably. But you, you saw the nitty gritty darkness of our day to days, and YOU were the sunshine that saw us through it.

You were the one who'd apologize for your behavior after I lost my temper with you-- YOU apologized first.

You were the one who protected Charlie so I could shower or use the bathroom.

You were the one who exercised supreme patience with Erik and loved him and played with him and made him feel special.

You were the one who'd snuggle up to me when I had a breakdown, assuring me that taking care of three kids is a really hard job, but that I was still a great mom and everything would be okay.

Sure, you have your streaks of independence that drive the rest of us batty from time to time, but almost all the time, you are my faithful sidekick-- a shorter, cuter, funnier, lovable-er mini-me.

You're an expert on many topics, but guess what? I am an expert on you. I know lots of things that you don't even know about you, like...

-You always sleep with your mouth open, just like Grandma Nai-nai.
-You actually DO like broccoli because I sneak it into lots of foods you gobble up.
-You look kind of putzy dancing ballet, but I'm fairly certain you will grow into grace quite well.
-You still have elbow dimples.
-You probably won't marry Carter.
-You have more sincere faith than me many times.
-You look like me.
-You are everything to me.

Well, you do know that last one.

Happy 5th birthday to a daughter no mother could deserve, although I'll keep on trying. You are 100% pure and natural joy.

Hocus Pocus

I'll confess Halloween is among my least favorite holidays (down there with President's Day-- cuz what have they done for us, anyway?-- and Labor Day, and Children's Day, that thankfully we don't celebrate here), but when we were BOO-attacked by some neighbors, it was time to pay it forward with a batch of spooky goodies (finally using up those nasty white chocolate chips!).

I don't love to bake, and I really don't love to bake when the kids are "helping" me, so I was more than happy when they waxed uninterested with the cookies business and left me to stamp pumpkin dough in peace.

I should add that delivering the goodies was still a hoot. My heart really was pounding with the threat of being identified as we doorbell ditched, and with good reason, because Erik runs only slightly faster than he walks.

Here's an adorable shot of Mark and Noe's baby, Makakoa, in the preliminary stages of our costume designing. Unfortunately, I neglected to capture the sort-of important "after" frame, but I'll try to get that from her later because their family costumes put all y'alls to shame (mostly referring to our family's costumes).

Wednesday before Halloween we were supposed to trick-or-treat with Thunderkids to departments at Kyle's school. That turned out to be the worst day I've had in a looooong while, but I still took the kids to the event, hoping it'd satisfy their candy greed and get me out of further trick-or-treating over the weekend. Instead, we walked away from that event with a meager handful of candies that Ellie's friend donated and tears bursting from Ellie's and my eyes. Awful.

Ellie reassured me that I am still a good mom and expressed her confidence that the four other Halloween excursions remaining would make up for our failure in that incident.

She was right. The Joy School Halloween party was our typical overdose of cute, messy and fun.





Friday night's party with Mark's family was so relaxing and enjoyable that I only took a picture of the pumpkin roll appetizer I brought.

Saturday the fun continued with a T-kids subsidized trip to the farm

where Charlie first uttered the word "piggy" (and many times since, during his inaugural viewing of Babe),


nearly lost a few fingers to an ornery ostrich (just your average Arizona farm animal???),

made cornmeal,

pledged to eat more fresh produce,

burned whatever calories weren't evaporated by the scorching October sun,


launched a tomato into oblivion,

and, most importantly, went home happy.

Saturday night we showed up for our ward's Trunk-or-Treat sugar fest, and after feeling silly showing up costume-less to Mark and Noe's party the night previous, at the very last minute we dusted off our 80's attire for the party. (YES I rocked those leggings at a church function.) I don't even remember what the kids wore, because they selected different costume pieces for each event we attended. Oh wait, I remember Erik was an alligator because he peed on that costume and into the plastic jack-o-lantern decorating our trunk. Still, it was all around family fun. I feel especially proud and devious that after the kids and I made the rounds and returned to our car, we'd run out of candy to pass out so I distributed my kids' fresh loot to trunk-or-treaters. We still went home with a couple handfuls of junk, which is fine, because it's kept up high and the kids forget to ask about it very often, or perhaps they just know their mother.

Halloween was a good time, though a little understated. There were lots and lots of crafts and recipes I never made time for, but I suppose I'm the only one who knows or cares about that pish posh.

Thanksgiving will be understated this year, as well, seeing that we have no local family or friends-close-enough-to-call-family to share it with. I refuse to slave solo over an entire Thanksgiving dinner to feed the same crew I feed every day and night. So, we'll see if something develops. In the meantime, our thankey turkey went up tonight, and just in case you were wondering, Ellie is thankful for "buvrs," Charlie for Mommy, and Erik for evewyfing. And I'm just kind of thankful that it's my job to love these little lovables.

Chez Moi

One month after I took these pictures and three months after we actually moved in, I would like to present a virtual tour of our "new" home, for those we have not had the fortune of hosting yet. YET. All are welcome.

It took me two months to actually take housewarming pictures because even after unpacking and decorating, I was always waiting for the perfect moment when the sun would be shining through the windows and every room would be clean and organized. Then one day, I fell out of this delusional state so here's our home more or less the way it looks most of the time.





Okay, I take my previous comment back. This is WAY cleaner than my house looks most of the time.


sorry about the porcelain there, C...



It's our first time having a full-blown master suite to ourselves!

Mostly. Charlie's room is our walk-in closet.

The three days I spent here searching for housing back in July were some of the longest, most stressful days known to Tiff-kind. I probably aged a decade in those three days. Some of it was searching for housing, some of it was entertaining and controlling Char-zilla, some of it was maneuvering a complex system of freeways in a rental car (yeah, more than a couple phobia-laden firsts for me there). However, as is often the case, divine intervention saved the day, dropping this address in my lap right before I left. As they tend to do, things just worked out perfectly.

We feel so very fortunate to be living in a big, beautiful house with a double car garage (that we finally organized last week-- we were waiting for the temp. to drop below Hades before tackling that project), and potential-to-be-grass lawn in the back, and wrought iron security gate covering the front door (the value of which has increased somewhat since our neighbors across the street were burglarized in broad daylight). And lots of other great features, but mostly, it just feels homey. It feels like the kind of place you want to spend Christmas in, and so that we will do. If you don't mind wearing shorts and a t-shirt to bed Christmas eve, Phoenix happens to be a great place to host Christmas.

Me and food

I recently finished reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Everybody would enjoy this book and there's plenty of knowledge and perspective to be gleaned from it if we so desire. (Unless super interested in food history and chemistry, though, I wouldn't feel bad about skipping the first section and on to the practical application.) The bulk of food research I've completed is based in nutrition science, and thus technical and complex-- replete with lengthy, unpronounceable words describing incomprehensible (to me) chemical processes. I still devour this information, as we all do. Pollan's suggestions, however, are so much more wholesome and applicable and, perhaps most importantly, simple.


This whole process of deconstructing my family's American diet and feebly reconstructing each meal has been thoroughly exhausting, both physically and emotionally. After reading Pollan's book, though, I feel at peace. His basic dietary recommendation omits the titles of nutrients, simply encouraging us to "eat food. not too much. mostly plants." Oh, okay. I can do that. (By "food," though, he means something our great grandmas would recognize as food, not "food-like products" composed mostly of foreign-sounding chemicals and ingredients.) Most advice coming from the health and nutrition world tells me to get this many miligrams of omega-3s and three cups of leafy greens and half the amount of grains as solid green vegetables but twice the amount of nuts, except for cashews, but only on Thursdays before 3pm, if you're wearing orange, unless you stubbed your toe on the chair of someone consuming less saturated fats than you and, well, you get the idea. I am more than willing to abandon the nutritionist training of my past for a food philosophy far more practical and empowering.

Yes, yes, I feel quite liberated right about now.

And just how did I get to where I am now? I'm not entirely sure what initially stirred the emotional unrest I had with my dietary lifestyle. It wasn't health problems or a weight loss goal or environmentalism or apathy towards ice cream. In fact, especially since welcoming the Vitamix into our home, I considered we Larsens a family of reasonably healthy eaters. We ate vegetables every day and almost every meal was prepared in my kitchen with my bare hands. My personal philosophy was that, as long as I was consuming the minimum servings of the four food groups (a la old school food pyramid guidelines), the top of the pyramid could be as large as I dared it to be.

The very first family we met here in AZ brought us lunch and dinner and snacks and inquired about our Vitamix. I told her a little about my green smoothies and resumed inhaling a batch of cookies. Each time I saw her, though, we talked a little about food and I discovered that she's a whole-foodist, as we're sometimes called. I was genuinely interested in her dietary philosophy. She's a soft-spoken and unassuming person, and honestly never pushed an ounce of persuasion on me, but I asked questions and she conservatively answered them, and very soon I wanted to eat just like her.

Or perhaps it was that I wanted to want to eat like her. Two months ago when I began my conversion, I was inwardly appalled that she and her husband rarely eat meat and NEVER eat cheese or any dairy products. The thought of ingesting only a salad for dinner was disturbing. I could only conclude, based on my own preferences, that they were miserable, or brimming with self control, or both. I, on the contrary, have never been willing to be miserable nor to exhibit self control. This is, of course, much of why I've never even attempted to "diet"/cut back on junk food in the past.

My friend shockingly reassured me that after only two weeks of forsaking cheese and sweets, she didn't really miss them. If she spoke the truth, this was revelatory and of vital importance in my whole-food conversion! Once I believed her-- believed that at some point I would no longer desire the delicious junk I craved daily-- it was easy to commit to this lifestyle change.

Of course, when I commence a new hobby, I tend to dive into the deep end, which is a thrill, but often leaves me thrashing around only occasionally surfacing for air, and requiring rescue, and also a relocation to the shallower end. (I've never been a strong swimmer.) The food case was no different. After reading what I wanted to read, I decided overnight that vegetarianism was insufficient, as was veganism. No, I wanted to go straight to whole raw food veganism. Basically, this entailed eating only fresh, unprocessed fruits, veggies, nuts, grains, and seeds, all RAW. The only permissible dishes in my current culinary repertoire were guacamole and salsa.

After being overwhelmed and discouraged for several days about raw foodism, all while learning more about it, I decided that that diet was far too time-consuming, expensive, and just plain gross. I settled for the Mediterranean diet. But that was too easy, not good enough.

Finally I came to the conclusion (with Michael Pollan's help) that most people would've from the onset: my ideal is not any particular diet, but rather to just eat food, good food, and quit with the food anxiety. This makes so much sense and rests well with my body and spirit. Running through my mind as I've embraced all these improvements in health is that my goal should be to eat food the way it was intended when God put it on the earth, and the way people ate it forever up until a couple generations ago. Granted, industrial-strength blenders weren't around back then, but food was grown in personal gardens or purchased locally, prepared by hand, and shared around the table by the whole family. It wasn't merely eaten, but was enjoyed. Of course this ideal is far from feasible for many families, but I'm moving in that direction, and I'm finally accepting that it must be gradual.


Bob and the kids and I have loved all this. (Although, as of one hour ago, Bob is gone. =( He left for the lighter ozone levels of Sacramento in search once again of better sleep. We are hopeful, but miss him already. Ellie and I teared up when he left tonight-- he's lived with us for over two years and we will definitely feel his absence sorely.)

Thankfully, I don't miss meat or cheese. I'm not saying I won't eat them, because I do whenever Kyle's cooking, and they still taste good, though not as good as I remember... I really don't crave cookies and candy and yogurt and cereal and chocolate, although if it's before me, you better believe I'll still eat it, but with a bit more voluntary restraint than ever before. Most of the time it's just too sweet to be as palatable as before. My taste buds are changing. My energy level is, as well. I have to say, more than any other physical factor, this was my motivation to start eating better. I don't think I had a lower energy level than most people my age, but I just felt drained a lot of the time. I was always searching for my next opportunity to sit down, and Ellie ended up fetching lots of things for me. Even when I wasn't tired for sleep, my body still felt weary.

Nowadays, I am still quite tired prior to 10am, which I suspect will never change until I learn to go to bed earlier. Still, I definitely feel more energetic. No, not skipping-through-the-kitchen, somersault-contest energetic. But I can be on my feet all day and feel fine. I accredit this to the fruit and veggie smoothies that have become my breakfast, morning snack, and/or lunch. Everything in them is raw, aka alive. Turns out eating food that's alive makes me feel alive!

Well, that's more than enough about food for today. I'm planning on posting some recipes and tips sporadically, for my own record mostly, but perhaps they'll be useful to anyone out there a little bored with their own recipe repertoire.

I also plan to post soon about our "new" house,

Ellie's 5th birthday party,

and perhaps get around to yet undocumented happenings of last summer. (That grotesque candid of me is the best I can do to reel you in.)

Sandal serendipity

So Erik tripped on our way out of the car mechanic's yesterday, which meant a spontaneous trip to Old Navy was in order (they do sell the cheapest and cutest flip flops, you know). Turns out they were having a 50% off all clearance items sale. I can't pretend that I ENJOYED the hour I spent there, what with Charlie's screaming and escaping from the cart and Erik parading around barefoot and finding lots of little things to cry big about, and spending half of that hour in the checkout was also less than ideal. I also can't pretend that it wasn't absolutely positively worth that hour of suffering! I hate to brag, but people, I am so amazing sometimes. As proof:

-my most lavish expenditures, at $5 a piece (and this is all after Mish and I had a splendid excursion at Charlotte Russe where almost every top was $5, even cardigans! But Old Navy puts Charlotte to shame here.)

-these were each snagged in the $1-$2 range

-$2-$4.50, mostly near the $2 end

-a few token items for the kids, plus some jewelry for me, each <$1
-to top it off, my passion for scarves has officially been unleashed. I confess I have fantasized about a quick trip to Beijing to collect all those $5 fake Pashmina scarves I neglected to win during our stay there (probably my life's greatest regret, until being made irrelevant today). Well, this scarf spree went beyond my dreams because each and every one of these scarves was $0.48! AAA! (Hyperventilating over here.) So were those t-shirts, but the scarves! I spent a very long time tonight just stroking and admiring them with giddy glee. Instead of being creeped out, Kyle was somehow stirred to suggest that he should let me shop more often because it makes me so fun and happy. Does life get better than a husband encouraging shopping sprees?!

Anyway, I guess there's nothing like adorable deals to lure me back into the blogging world. Not to make excuses or anything, but I've been enjoying visits from fam, plus Ellie's birthday party wore me out a bit. Also, you know how I tend to be obsessive about my hobbies. My fetish migrated from crafting to parties to coupon-ing to super-health-freak-eating. That's still about where I am. However, I'm on the decline of that initial spike in fanaticism, so I think I'll get around to posting again soon.