Hi All!
Ok, just a quick update and then I HAVE to get to bed.
I went the other day to visit the Dr. about my foot. So far, my right foot is hanging in there so we did another Cortisone injection, this time for the left foot. Almost immediately after getting the shot, my whole foot went numb. Very weird feeling. I spent the rest of the afternoon, all night and most of the next morning not feeling much of anything, literally. I'm very glad that wore off. So, now I wait another two weeks and see where I'm at. I ran a few times this week, and so far so good. Let's hope it stays that way.
I've been super busy at work the last few weeks. Usually summer is a slower time for me in the kitchen at school, but with the CSA (community-supported agriculture) program and the Stepping Stones garden running wild, I've been up to my eyeballs in veggies. It's been fun and challenging to come up with new recipes and ideas for preparing veggies for the kids beyond serving them with ranch dressing. This past week I made pickled beets which the kids will try tomorrow (Monday). I've also done ranch roasted potatoes, and cucumber salad. This week I have an enormous amount of cucumbers to try and use as well as a giant bag of green beans. I also have a small amount of kale which I might make into kale chips for the bigger kids to try. On Friday, the kids will have English muffin pizzas made with basil from our own garden. Overall, the kids have been great about trying the new foods. Not everything is a hit, but at least they are trying it.
Along with the program at school, I'm also trying to keep up with my own home version of the CSA. I have no less than 10 different veggies in my fridge right now that I'm trying to get used up. Tonight we had tacos with local green beans on the side. I thought they were wonderful, but unfortunately, my family prefers canned green beans to the real deal. Sigh, more for me I guess. All of my meals this week will revolve around my veggies. Tomorrow night is tortellini with spinach and pesto sauce with yellow squash on the side. I did make a pesto a few weeks ago and I think it tasted pretty good. But, the one for tomorrow is store bought so I can compare the taste and see how I can improve my own. The recipe I used is simple, but I tweaked it here and there for my own taste (plus, I didn't have as much basil as what the recipe called for).
How to make pesto: (from Food Network Magazine's 50 Things to Make with Pesto)
Blend 8 cups packed basil leaves, 1 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, 2 to 4 garlic cloves and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor until almost smooth. Stir in 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.
I made mine with half basil and half parsley. I think I only had 4 cups total. I did use pine nuts, but man...are those things expensive. A little 1/2 cup bag was $5. Next time I will use toasted walnuts. I would go easy on the garlic to start. You can always add more. We made pesto pizzas with the finished product. Pesto with sausage, spinach, and mushrooms. They were pretty good. I think with a few more tries I can perfect my pesto making.
Ok. I'm off to bed. Today was a busy day of running around doing errands. The rest of the week will be spent doing laundry and packing for V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N.!!! We head out early Saturday for a week in Colorado. I can't wait!! We have rented a house in Estes Park and my whole family will be there. Aidyn has been packing for about a week now. Her strategy is to pick all random unrelated toys that she hasn't played with in months. So far her suitcase contains: one of my old phones, a harmonica, a tambourine, an old jewelry box, a handful of animal stamps, some play food, a toy CD player, books and a spoon. When I suggested things like her toothbrush and some clothes, she told me there wasn't room in the suitcase. It's going to be a long week....
Anyway, there is a lot to do this week, but I don't mind because it ends with me seeing my mom and dad and Diane and my brothers and nieces. AND, Tim and I have already mapped out the first three places we need to go and eat once we arrive. :) It will be good to be in our old stomping grounds for a few days.
Now, I'm really off to bed. It's 12:20 and it's still 83 degrees outside. I hope I can actually get some sleep. It's never good when the forecast shows a picture of a sun and a little cactus. This week is going to be a hot one!
Good night my friends, I hope you have a great week!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Farm Fresh
Hi Again!
Everyone else is in bed, so I actually have a quiet minute AND it's not 1:00 o'clock in the morning...sweet!
Today was Aidyn's last day of swim lessons. It's a program where you only have to sign up for 4 lessons at a time. We'll probably do some more lessons later in the summer, but I need a little breather from activities and we need to regroup. She is considered a Level 1 right now, and all she really needs to do to move to a Level 2 is to go under water for 4 seconds....which she refuses to do on her own. We'll work on that together and then try lessons again.
So, the other day I mentioned that I was part of a community farm program this summer. Well, tonight we picked up our third bag and it's a pretty good one! I find myself excited to see what veggies come each week. Today we got potatoes, leeks, shallots, beets, basil, and kale. I'm excited to get started with some new recipes. We've been so busy over the last few weeks that I struggled with my first two deliveries and didn't have very interesting things to do with my veggies. I'm hoping to step up my cooking game this week. I'm thinking of trying my hand at some pesto with my big bag of basil.
I did manage to find two recipes that I'll share with you. Sorry, I don't have any pictures but will try and get some up soon. This first one is for snap peas. Really, you need to try it. It was fast, easy and tasted really good!
Quick Stir-Fried Snap Peas
2 TBS peanut, canola or other oil (I probably wouldn't use olive oil)
About 1 1/2 pounds snap peas, washed and trimmed
2 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
Place oil in a large deep skillet or wok and turn the heat to high. When the oil begins to smoke, toss in the peas and cook, stirring almost constantly, until they are glossy, bright green and begin to show a few brown spots, about 5 min. Turn off the heat and remove to a platter. Drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil and serve.
I made this next recipe last weekend for a Father's Day BBQ - Baked Beans with Swiss Chard. It came in my new Food Network Magazine just in time. It's healthy, pretty easy to make and a lot of the ingredients can come from the farmer's market. I wasn't sure how it would turn out or be received by the family, but I thought it tasted good and the family ate most of it up, so I'll take it as a positive review.
Tonight I tried braising cabbage which I got in my 1st veggie delivery three weeks ago, and it's still hanging in there. There is a lot to say about local produce that didn't have to travel a long way to get to my house. After this summer, locality will definitely play a larger role in my food making decisions. Anyway, braising...uh, well, I need a little practice. Maybe Chef Joshy can give me a little lesson next time I come visit. The cabbage tasted pretty good, but my cooking technique was probably not so good. Oh well, at least I tried something different right?
Ok, off to bed. Ahhhh, and it's finally Friday. As long as the weather holds out, I'm taking Aidyn and her friend Arlo to the swimming pool after work tomorrow. I'm happy to report that that is my only plan for the weekend so far.
Happy Friday to all of you!
Oh yeah, one last thing. If anyone is trying to post comments and still can't - it's being suggested to "uncheck" the keep me signed in box at the login page. If you are always logged in to Blogger, try logging out and unchecking that box. That and going in to clear out your cookies under Internet Options. See if that makes a difference. I guess it's worked for some people.
Everyone else is in bed, so I actually have a quiet minute AND it's not 1:00 o'clock in the morning...sweet!
Today was Aidyn's last day of swim lessons. It's a program where you only have to sign up for 4 lessons at a time. We'll probably do some more lessons later in the summer, but I need a little breather from activities and we need to regroup. She is considered a Level 1 right now, and all she really needs to do to move to a Level 2 is to go under water for 4 seconds....which she refuses to do on her own. We'll work on that together and then try lessons again.
So, the other day I mentioned that I was part of a community farm program this summer. Well, tonight we picked up our third bag and it's a pretty good one! I find myself excited to see what veggies come each week. Today we got potatoes, leeks, shallots, beets, basil, and kale. I'm excited to get started with some new recipes. We've been so busy over the last few weeks that I struggled with my first two deliveries and didn't have very interesting things to do with my veggies. I'm hoping to step up my cooking game this week. I'm thinking of trying my hand at some pesto with my big bag of basil.
I did manage to find two recipes that I'll share with you. Sorry, I don't have any pictures but will try and get some up soon. This first one is for snap peas. Really, you need to try it. It was fast, easy and tasted really good!
Quick Stir-Fried Snap Peas
2 TBS peanut, canola or other oil (I probably wouldn't use olive oil)
About 1 1/2 pounds snap peas, washed and trimmed
2 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
Place oil in a large deep skillet or wok and turn the heat to high. When the oil begins to smoke, toss in the peas and cook, stirring almost constantly, until they are glossy, bright green and begin to show a few brown spots, about 5 min. Turn off the heat and remove to a platter. Drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil and serve.
I made this next recipe last weekend for a Father's Day BBQ - Baked Beans with Swiss Chard. It came in my new Food Network Magazine just in time. It's healthy, pretty easy to make and a lot of the ingredients can come from the farmer's market. I wasn't sure how it would turn out or be received by the family, but I thought it tasted good and the family ate most of it up, so I'll take it as a positive review.
Tonight I tried braising cabbage which I got in my 1st veggie delivery three weeks ago, and it's still hanging in there. There is a lot to say about local produce that didn't have to travel a long way to get to my house. After this summer, locality will definitely play a larger role in my food making decisions. Anyway, braising...uh, well, I need a little practice. Maybe Chef Joshy can give me a little lesson next time I come visit. The cabbage tasted pretty good, but my cooking technique was probably not so good. Oh well, at least I tried something different right?
Ok, off to bed. Ahhhh, and it's finally Friday. As long as the weather holds out, I'm taking Aidyn and her friend Arlo to the swimming pool after work tomorrow. I'm happy to report that that is my only plan for the weekend so far.
Happy Friday to all of you!
Oh yeah, one last thing. If anyone is trying to post comments and still can't - it's being suggested to "uncheck" the keep me signed in box at the login page. If you are always logged in to Blogger, try logging out and unchecking that box. That and going in to clear out your cookies under Internet Options. See if that makes a difference. I guess it's worked for some people.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Still Waiting...
For some lazy days of summer! Whew, if feels like we have been non-stop for the month of June. I'm not sure about you, but I thought summer was suppose to be for sitting back and relaxing. Let me see if I can catch you up a bit.
I've actually been working on this for like 5 days. Let's see if I can't finally get something posted!
Since June 1st, Aidyn has started coming to work with me at Stepping Stones. She is in the class with 4 and 5 year olds, and I'm a little disappointed to say, she isn't totally loving it. She does love her teacher though, and she's been very helpful in getting Aidyn adjusted to the room. It's only for the summer, so I'm not totally worried, but it does make me nervous that she needs more "class" time before the big jump to Kindergarten next year. It's a work in progress. She has been able to enjoy a zoo trip, and has been working a ton on the new garden we have at school, she took Tim to the Father's Day picnic, and this week she gets to take a trip to the pool downtown. So, it's not all awful, just a few kinks to work out. :)
![]()
I have enrolled her in her first real ballet class, and she is loving it!! She is taking it with her friends from Stepping Stones, Abby and Alexa, one night a week. She is a great little student and it's been fun to watch her. We had to buy the little dance shoes and everything.
--------------------------------------------------------------- This summer we've enrolled Aidyn into swim lessons for the first time. We've put it off for a few years, and I'm glad we did. This seems like a good age to start. She isn't afraid of the water, and is ready learn! I haven't been the one taking her to her lessons, but I now she's doing great.
----------------------------------------------------------------- A few weekends ago, Ironman Kansas was here in Lawrence. It's become one of my favorite events here in Lawrence. It's a 1/2 Ironman so it's a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. This was my 3rd year volunteering and my 2nd year volunteering as a Run Aid Station Captain. Basically, it's up to me to recruit my own group of volunteers and to organize and run a station on the day of the event. We hand out water and food and the other necessities it takes to complete 70.3 miles in a few hours. It's a long day with lots of hard work...but I love it! This year I got up super early and arrived before the start of the race. I had never seen the swim portion of the race, and had to see what it was all about.
It was exciting to be at the water this year. I got to see Chrissie Wellington, who is one of the if not THE top triathlete women there is. She is amazing to see race. It was her 3rd win here in Lawrence. Even more amazing is that after she wins her race, she sticks around for the rest of the day taking pictures and handing medals to all the other finishers. She's not only a top athlete, she's a great person as well. Once the day got going, I forgot to take any pictures of our own station, except for:
If you have race like this in your area (or any race for that matter), I would highly recommend getting involved and helping out. It's a lot of fun, it's motivational, and it gets you involved with your community. *Exit soapbox*
---------------------------------------------------------
My school is part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this summer, which means a group of us are paying for a fresh produce delivery once a week from 7 of our local farmers. This week will be our third delivery. So far we have enjoyed napa cabbage, green onions, swiss chard, carrots, italian parsley, snap peas to name a few. It's been fun, and a little tough coming up with fun and new recipes for each and every item. Not only am I participating for my family, I am also getting produce for Stepping Stones. Unfortunately, we've only gotten snap peas (in great, great abundance) for the kids. I'm hoping this week will be something new...shelling snap peas is becoming my nemesis.
I have a few new recipes I will share with you next time around. Along with that, we have started a garden at school (I have a green thumb and kill all foliage in my path, so I'm keeping my duties to preparing the food). So far they've brought me radishes and today they dug up some beautiful cucumbers. I also walked through today and saw some basil I'd love to get my hands on. :)
------------------------------------------------------------
I have been doing little to no running for the last few months which is really starting to get to me. Last week I finished up 5 weeks of physical therapy which ended up doing little to no good. I was hopeful it would help relieve some of the pain, but no luck. I went back on Monday to see the podiatrist and our next step was to try cortisone shots. I got my first shot and now I wait two weeks to see if there is any relief. After that...well, I just don't know. I know this doctor really wants to help me, he just doesn't quite know how. Do I think the shots will help? Meh, we'll see but my confidence is not overwhelming. I think my main objective now needs to be to get myself back into the gym and to get myself strong. It's just a matter of getting started again. Red Dog's Dog Days has started up for the summer, so I am getting some exercise in, but there is a lot jumping and pounding that I'm just not up for yet. SIGH....
So, our summer is in full swing here. After a bunch of busy weekends at home and weeks at work, I am hoping things start to calm down a little bit. We've only made it to the pool once so far, but we've managed to go out for ice cream, well, more than you need to know about. I think you're caught up now! I will try to be better. A few people had asked about a problem with not being able to post comments to my site. It seems to be an issue with Blogger, and I hope it's fixed. I ended up going into my computer and deleting all of my cookies, which seemed to work for me.
OK, off to bed. I have a large bowl of snap peas with my name on it for tomorrow. Goodnight my friends!
Do you have fun summer plans?
I've actually been working on this for like 5 days. Let's see if I can't finally get something posted!
Since June 1st, Aidyn has started coming to work with me at Stepping Stones. She is in the class with 4 and 5 year olds, and I'm a little disappointed to say, she isn't totally loving it. She does love her teacher though, and she's been very helpful in getting Aidyn adjusted to the room. It's only for the summer, so I'm not totally worried, but it does make me nervous that she needs more "class" time before the big jump to Kindergarten next year. It's a work in progress. She has been able to enjoy a zoo trip, and has been working a ton on the new garden we have at school, she took Tim to the Father's Day picnic, and this week she gets to take a trip to the pool downtown. So, it's not all awful, just a few kinks to work out. :)
I have enrolled her in her first real ballet class, and she is loving it!! She is taking it with her friends from Stepping Stones, Abby and Alexa, one night a week. She is a great little student and it's been fun to watch her. We had to buy the little dance shoes and everything.
 |
| Alexa and Aidyn |
 |
| Getting ready to swim |
 |
| Kicking in the water |
 |
| New goggles |
 |
| Athletes come out of the swim and get on their bikes here |
 |
| Chrissie Wellington coming out of the water |
 |
| Aidyn handing out water to runners |
---------------------------------------------------------
My school is part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this summer, which means a group of us are paying for a fresh produce delivery once a week from 7 of our local farmers. This week will be our third delivery. So far we have enjoyed napa cabbage, green onions, swiss chard, carrots, italian parsley, snap peas to name a few. It's been fun, and a little tough coming up with fun and new recipes for each and every item. Not only am I participating for my family, I am also getting produce for Stepping Stones. Unfortunately, we've only gotten snap peas (in great, great abundance) for the kids. I'm hoping this week will be something new...shelling snap peas is becoming my nemesis.
I have a few new recipes I will share with you next time around. Along with that, we have started a garden at school (I have a green thumb and kill all foliage in my path, so I'm keeping my duties to preparing the food). So far they've brought me radishes and today they dug up some beautiful cucumbers. I also walked through today and saw some basil I'd love to get my hands on. :)
------------------------------------------------------------
I have been doing little to no running for the last few months which is really starting to get to me. Last week I finished up 5 weeks of physical therapy which ended up doing little to no good. I was hopeful it would help relieve some of the pain, but no luck. I went back on Monday to see the podiatrist and our next step was to try cortisone shots. I got my first shot and now I wait two weeks to see if there is any relief. After that...well, I just don't know. I know this doctor really wants to help me, he just doesn't quite know how. Do I think the shots will help? Meh, we'll see but my confidence is not overwhelming. I think my main objective now needs to be to get myself back into the gym and to get myself strong. It's just a matter of getting started again. Red Dog's Dog Days has started up for the summer, so I am getting some exercise in, but there is a lot jumping and pounding that I'm just not up for yet. SIGH....
So, our summer is in full swing here. After a bunch of busy weekends at home and weeks at work, I am hoping things start to calm down a little bit. We've only made it to the pool once so far, but we've managed to go out for ice cream, well, more than you need to know about. I think you're caught up now! I will try to be better. A few people had asked about a problem with not being able to post comments to my site. It seems to be an issue with Blogger, and I hope it's fixed. I ended up going into my computer and deleting all of my cookies, which seemed to work for me.
OK, off to bed. I have a large bowl of snap peas with my name on it for tomorrow. Goodnight my friends!
Do you have fun summer plans?
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Comment Posting
I know I don't get many comments to begin with, but there was a problem with posting comments. Looks like I've fixed the problem and comments can be made. Good, bad or otherwise. :)
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Thursday Already?
Having Monday off from work has made this week fly by! The weekend is already almost here! The best part is, I don't have any plans. It seems like we have been so busy, but now I think we will be settling into our summer "routine".
My friend Megan was here last weekend and we had such a good time. You know you have a good friend when you only see each other once a year, but it feels like no time has passed at all when you're together.
On Saturday, we hit up the Farmer's Market and then The Toy Store downtown. We even managed to catch a small parade going through downtown.
On Sunday we headed to KC for Jiggle Jam. We got there in time to see Choo Choo Soul, which is a little 5 min. mini show on the Disney channel that comes on in between the 30 min shows. I think their songs are a lot of fun. Aidyn was done with it after about 3 songs. It was a fun day, but it totally wore the kids out, which totally wore the adults out.
On Monday, after getting Megan and Tanner off to the airport in the morning, Aidyn and I braved a crazy windy day and did a little Memorial Day Sale shopping. I bought her a new bathing suit so we can start hitting the pool after work and I bought her a new pair of running shoes. Our community free fitness program starts up next Monday evening, so I needed to get Aidyn excited to go and run every night.
I'm still not sure if I will be running or if I'll have to ease myself into it. The physical therapist I'm seeing doesn't seem to think I should be doing anything at all, but I don't know if I totally agree. My feet have been feeling better, but I also have not been doing any exercising. How do I know if they are getting any better if I don't test them out a little bit here and there? I'm not saying I'm going to start marathon training again, but I think I should at least be taking a jog once in a while. It turns out the therapist and I don't see eye to eye on everything, so I'm not sure what to do. He told me the other day that running was a finite sport and that everyone should stop doing it eventually. He himself can't be a whole lot older than me, but he is certain his running days are numbered to the next few years. To me that sounds crazy. I think if you take care of yourself and it's still something you love to do, then why not? I know tons of people that are a lot older than me and can (and do) kick my ass in races. I'm going to keep going to see him, but I hope he doesn't try to end my running career for me.
With that, it's time for bed. It's pancake day at school in the morning, which means I can't be late! The natives get restless when I'm late on pancake day.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
My friend Megan was here last weekend and we had such a good time. You know you have a good friend when you only see each other once a year, but it feels like no time has passed at all when you're together.
I was glad she was able to come. I get friendsick sometimes, and this definitely helped. I did quickly realize though that we are NOT used to having a little one running around our house. Megan's little girl, Tanner is 15 months. How quickly you forget!! She and Aidyn still had fun together and Tanner was a pretty good trooper even though she was totally taken off her schedule for the weekend and thrown into our crazy non-scheduled life. Megan, I hope this week hasn't been too traumatic getting things back to normal at home. :)
 |
| Tanner Stewart |
 |
| Tanner and Aidyn - Aidyn decided to wear the same outfit as Tanner, so they could be "twins" for the day. |
On Saturday, we hit up the Farmer's Market and then The Toy Store downtown. We even managed to catch a small parade going through downtown.
On Sunday we headed to KC for Jiggle Jam. We got there in time to see Choo Choo Soul, which is a little 5 min. mini show on the Disney channel that comes on in between the 30 min shows. I think their songs are a lot of fun. Aidyn was done with it after about 3 songs. It was a fun day, but it totally wore the kids out, which totally wore the adults out.
On Monday, after getting Megan and Tanner off to the airport in the morning, Aidyn and I braved a crazy windy day and did a little Memorial Day Sale shopping. I bought her a new bathing suit so we can start hitting the pool after work and I bought her a new pair of running shoes. Our community free fitness program starts up next Monday evening, so I needed to get Aidyn excited to go and run every night.
I'm still not sure if I will be running or if I'll have to ease myself into it. The physical therapist I'm seeing doesn't seem to think I should be doing anything at all, but I don't know if I totally agree. My feet have been feeling better, but I also have not been doing any exercising. How do I know if they are getting any better if I don't test them out a little bit here and there? I'm not saying I'm going to start marathon training again, but I think I should at least be taking a jog once in a while. It turns out the therapist and I don't see eye to eye on everything, so I'm not sure what to do. He told me the other day that running was a finite sport and that everyone should stop doing it eventually. He himself can't be a whole lot older than me, but he is certain his running days are numbered to the next few years. To me that sounds crazy. I think if you take care of yourself and it's still something you love to do, then why not? I know tons of people that are a lot older than me and can (and do) kick my ass in races. I'm going to keep going to see him, but I hope he doesn't try to end my running career for me.
With that, it's time for bed. It's pancake day at school in the morning, which means I can't be late! The natives get restless when I'm late on pancake day.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)