What a long strange month it's been

I started this month (less than 2 weeks after I started my blog) committing to posting each and every day. I joined NaBloPoMo for the month of November - and miraculously was able to keep the blog posting up. I completed the challenge! And...I signed up for December's challenge.

I have met so many great bloggy moms in this past month (virtually) and feel like I'm really a part of a community.

Yesterday, a friend came over with her daughter to play. It was 1pm and no one had eaten so I decided to make lunch.

The way I cook my Thanksgiving Turkey is to boil it (with onion, celery, carrots and peppercorns), breast side down, for 2-2.5 hours, flip it breast side up, remove most of the broth, smother with mayonnaise, and bake at 350 degrees for another 1.5-2 hours (this was for my 17 lb. bird). The bird turns out amazingly juicy, and beautifully brown.

Anyways, I keep the turkey broth from the bird, to use instead of chicken stock. It makes the most amazing stock. And I had leftover turkey, of course. So, I decided to make the most amazing Tortilla Soup from, of course, the Cooking Light Bulletin Board. If you click on to the thread, you will notice that this recipe is #1 on the Most Popular threads archive. For good reason, too! I just swapped out turkey stock and leftover turkey for chicken stock and chicken breasts.

Since I was in a hurry to put this on before our friends came over, I forgot to take a picture of my ingredients. The picture of the final product is from today (I had 2 bowls left over).

According to my girl-friend, "If I cooked this for my husband, he would buy me lots of jewelry". That's sounds like a resounding thumbs-up to me :) And the perfect way to use up left-over turkey without most people realizing it is turkey.

Tortilla Soup
6 tablespoons vegetable oil [I used 2 at most]
6 corn tortillas, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 diced tomato
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock (I used turkey stock)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 to 6 cooked chicken breast halves, shredded (about 2 cups) (I used leftover Turkey)

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add tortillas, garlic, cilantro, and onion. Saute 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in canned tomatoes and diced tomato. Bring to a boil and add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Add salt and cayenne. Simmer 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves and stir in turkey. Reheat.

Garnish with cheese, avocado, sour cream, and tortilla strips (we just used avocado).

Serves 6 (1.5 cup servings)

I can be a normal mom

I am not the mom to do arts and crafts with my kids. I am not the kind of mom who chases butterflies through a field with her kids (like the woman who is free because she is wearing pads with wings). I am not the kind of mom who will walk along a block for a whole hour, delighting in her child stopping every two feet to look at a flower.

I am the kind of mom who would LOVE for my children to get so engrossed in a movie that they sit still for 1.5 hours (I'm still waiting for that day).

However, there is a weekly ritual I have with my kids that puts me in the "normal mom" or "good mom" category (yes, there is a person who puts moms in different categories ;)).

Since the big monkey was 2.5 years old, I have been taking her to the Calabasas Farmers Market. When the little monkey turned 3, she started coming with. They both know to stick by me and not to run away. They know which vendors we go to, and the vendors know the kids by name. In fact, the few times I go by myself, they ALL ask where the kids are and are upset that I didn't bring them.

I figured early on that if the monkeys saw fruits and vegetables in a fun setting, and got to help pick them out, that they would eat more fruits and vegetables. I don't know if our weekly outings had anything to do with it, but my monkeys are, in fact, lovers of fruits and vegetables. On any given Saturday you can see the monkeys chomping down on raw cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, persimmons, Asian pears and other assorted fruits and vegetables.

And everything we buy is organic, which I am a big believer of.

A good friend of mine asked me "what's the deal with you and organic food?"

A long time ago, I read a number of studies that showed that pesticides and hormones in produce and meats have contributed in great part to girls going through puberty early. With my genes, my girls DO NOT NEED any help in that department. Therefore, we try to eat primarily organic and/or hormone free.

The funniest thing happen to me at the Farmers Market. I had been thinking about taking pictures of the Farmers Market for my blog but forgot my camera. So, we were at our favorite citrus vendor and up comes a woman to me and asks if she could take my picture for her....BLOG!!! My mouth opened so far down she must have thought I was a freak. I recovered and agreed. Apparently, this vendor uses bio-degradable bags and she was doing a blog post on these bags. I was so dumbfounded that I forgot to ask the name of her blog.

I'm hoping I can do a search and find it, since somewhere there is a picture of me putting citrus in to a bio-degradable bag at the Farmers Market.

So anyways, that's my one contribution to spending quality, wholesome time with my monkeys :) Whew - am I pooped!

The early bird gets the...zzzzz.....

Per my cell phone:
Friend 5:16am At Target in line. Mall on. Approx. 20 deep. Coming?
Me 5:17am You crazy. What time is it?
Friend 5:19am It's time for you to get your ass out of bed.
Me 5:19am OK.OK. I'll be there in 15.



This was my first Black Friday. It wasn't too bad. Of course, my friend had been in line since 4am, so I got to cheat a little bit and get there at 5:45am.

Who is more crazy? My friend for going that early, or me for agreeing to join her?!?!?!?!

So, I hit Target, Macy's, Toys R Us, Sports Authority, Bed Bath & Beyond (bought nothing), Talbot's (bought nothing) and Barnes and Nobles.

I got a 26 in. LCD for the little monkeys room, Play Doh, Princess Scooters, birthday gifts for a bunch of the monkeys friends, a GPS for my parents and an 11ft. Trampoline.

Thankfully, I drive a BIG ASS car :)

After I got home, and took a nap, I promised the monkeys I would take them to a movie.

BOLT was a GREAT movie. I absolutely loved it. The monkeys thought it was a bit long, but in the end they loved it too! I think the 4 year old might still be a little young to sit through a movie, but there is NO WAY the little monkey would let me take the big monkey somewhere without her. And if she found out afterwords, there would be HELL to pay!

Crazy woman I am, I am going out tonight to see a band (a friend from college is in a band).

Happy Thanksgiving

I am extremely thankful:

For this country...
Where I am free to "Pursue happiness" no matter what my religious, political or moral beliefs are.
Where people voluntarily get in a Best Buy line at 2pm to be the first when the doors open at 5am the next morning - instead of standing in a bread line for hours to get food to live.
For the immigrants who came before me, who paved the way for my family to escape religious and political persecution.

For my children...
For reminding me that there is a fine line between sanity and absolutely frickin' nuts!
Who don't take me as seriously as I take myself.
Who remind me that it's OK to be sad and mad - by teaching them I reinforce these lessons in myself.
Who I love more than anything else in this world - and who infuriate me at the same time!

For the 16 lb. turkey...
Who gave his life so I may stuff at least 4 of the lbs. in to my face in one sitting, and then pick at at least 1 more lb. throughout the rest of the day.
Who is responsible for me laying on my back, with my belly looking at least 5 months pregnant.

For my friends...
Who I know will always be there, via telephone, text, email, facebook or blogger, for me day or night!

HAVE A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Musings

Ask and once in a while you shall receive:
Today, I went to Nordstroms. I picked up boots I had purchased on pre-sale 2 weeks ago. The zipper clasp (not sure what it's called) was broken and so the store sent the boots out to be repaired. When I picked them up I wanted to try them on one more time. For some reason, the repair place had sealed the zipper shut or something (there are zippers on both sides of each boot). The sales lady took them in back and did something to unseal them. As I go to put them on, I notice a tiny tear (almost like a scissor went through it) in the under lining of the zipper part (it is the zipper guard or something). This part is never noticeable from the outside - it is on the other side of the zipper. I was OK with it. Of course, like the bargain shopper I am, I asked for an extra discount. I got it. Instead of paying 40% off the regular price, I got 50% off! I am so proud of me :)

You can spot grandma anywhere:
When I was a child, my grandma would follow me around and stuff my face with food whenever I would turn towards her direction! I could have a mouth full of food, but if I didn't swallow fast enough, she mould somehow push more food in to my mouth. At the big monkey's Thanksgiving party, one of the little boys had their grandma come. She was running after her grandson and stuffing his face with food. One of the items - chips drowned in ranch dressing! It's not like she was just pushing the vegetables. At one point, he ran in to a closet to escape her!! This grandma was Persian, I believe. The only relevancy this has on my observation is that maybe it is a "non-American" trait. MY mom does this to my kids, as does my mother-in-law. Yesterday, in the classroom, watching the interaction between that grandma and grandson, in that moment, I was transported back to my youth, and even though I don't miss her stuffing my face, I do miss my grandma.

Rain in LA:
I was talking to an acquaintance last night. I mentioned that I was going to Zumba tonight and asked she wanted to join me. She told me that it was supposed to rain tonight. She then asked me that if it did indeed rain, would I STILL go to class? Um, I don't melt. And I am not scared of the rain. I grew up in the bay area, and we had constant rain! But I understood her point. Here in LA, people don't go out in the rain!! I remember when I just moved here to be with my then boy friend (now husband), I wanted to go to the movies one night. His response, "No. It's raining". I was like, WTF??????? Really????? People in LA do not like to drive in the rain, and for the most part, do not know how to drive in the rain. Yes - the roads are rarely wet, so when they are, they get slick and dangerous. Yes - the right lane and left lane get flooded when there is more than 1 inch of rain. But still - it's just rain people!! I hope I never adopt this particular LA attitude.

Self Sabotage

Today was the big monkey's Thanksgiving party/lunch at school. I took a 1/2 day and was able to attend. It worked out well because after they had lunch they were dismissed for the day (Tuesday's are early days anyways).

At the lunch, the "entrees" were Chicken Nuggets and pizza. I offered to bring an entree, but apparently they figured my choice would have been too healthy (especially after I brought a fruit salad to Halloween). I was asked to bring go-gurts and water. Fine, no problem, see if I care :p

After the parents served all the kids, we were able to eat. Ummmmmm, I believe, and I could be under-estimating things, but I ate my body weight in Chicken Nuggets. They are my guilty pleasure. I will ALWAYS steal Chicken Nuggets from my kids happy meals (when grandma buys them, because I am way too perfect a mom to ever stop by McDonald's ;)).

Anyone want to buy a bridge????

Now we all know (hopefully) that these things are not healthy or low calorie! So why did I eat at least 20 of them? There were some vegetables and fruit available.

Why do I sabotage myself? I work out 3-4 days a week (2 days treadmill and 2 days Zumba), eat healthy for the most part and try to lead a healthy lifestyle (let's forgot for a moment the Vodka binge of Saturday night). So, knowing that Thanksgiving (my favorite gluttonous meal of the year) is coming up, why would I eat so much of something so bad for me?

No seriously, does anyone know why, and how to make it stop???????

Please note: This whole conversation will be repeated, in my head, on Thursday, after Thanksgiving dinner :)

Something Comforting

As some may have guessed, I spent Sunday recuperating. By 9pm, I was HUNGRY! And I felt like a nice light Asian soup.

On to the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards I went. I ended up with a fantastic, light recipe that took about 40 minutes from getting out the ingredients to eating. I had all the ingredients on hand (OK, fine, you caught me, I made a couple of substitutions) and it was super simple.

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup
Cooking Light, MARCH 2001

Vietnamese cooking often calls for adding herbs and sauces to a dish at the end. More than just a garnish, these ingredients allow you to tailor the final product to your taste. Additional chili oil and fish sauce will, though, increase the fat and sodium.

4 cups water
1/2 cup sliced shallots (I used a 1/4 of an onion, thinly sliced)
1/4 cup minced peeled fresh ginger (I used about 2 tablespoons ginger powder)
5 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 large cloves)
1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 (15.75-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1/4 pound uncooked rice sticks (rice-flour noodles) or vermicelli
1 cup fresh bean sprouts (omitted)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (thought I had, but didn't, so used parsley)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil (from my back yard
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh mint (used all my non-dead mint from the front yard, from the summer)
4 lime wedges (forgot to add)
Chopped hot red or Thai chile (optional) (didn't)
Fish sauce (optional) (didn't)
Chili oil (optional) (used sesame chili oil drizzled on top)





Combine the first 9 ingredients in a large Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until the chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan; cool slightly. Cut into bite-size pieces.
Cook rice sticks in boiling water 5 minutes; drain.
Divide chicken and noodles evenly among 4 large bowls. Ladle 2 cups soup into each bowl. Top each serving with 1/4 cup sprouts and 1 1/2 teaspoons each of onions, cilantro, basil, and mint. Serve with lime wedges; garnish with chopped chile, fish sauce, or chili oil, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings

CALORIES 346 (18% from fat); FAT 7.1g (sat 1.7g,mono 2.1g,poly 1.7g); IRON 2.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 141mg; CALCIUM 61mg; CARBOHYDRATE 29.1g; SODIUM 1279mg; PROTEIN 40.4g; FIBER 1.1g



I'm not the best photographer, but I think it it looks pretty good!

There's no party like a Russian Restaurant Party

If you've never been to a Russian Restaurant evening, you are truly missing out. It is an amazing mix of food, alcohol (vodka or cognac - no mixers), music and the most AMAZING people viewing you have ever seen.

My closest friend came in to town and we all decided to go to The Russian Restaurant (I hadn't been in about 3 years)

This experience is best told through pictures - because it sounds pretty unbelievable otherwise. And the old adage is true - "When in Rome, do as the Romans". Translated into Russian Restaurant speak - "When at a Russian restaurant, you MUST do shots".

The evening starts between 8 and 9pm. We got there at 9m. We sat down to a FULL table of food - the appetizer course.

This included a trout head:

There were 2 or 3 more rounds of appetizers that were delivered (all sorts of cold cuts, hot potatoes, beef pelmini, sauteed shrimp, and many, many more).

Between the courses of food there was dancing. Just to give a glimpse into what people are liable to wear:

The outfit would not be complete without a big white bra underneath:


I'm wearing my religion on my back - OH WAIT! I'm Jewish!!:


Spotted! The Russian Cougar wearing leopard print:


The obligatory picture with shots of vodka (this was not far in to the evening, since we all still look sober, and yes the shots are meant to be taken in one fell swoop, and yes they are BIG shots):


In between eating and dancing and drinking, there is usually a balcony where people go to smoke.

This shot displays an outfit that can easily be taken from day to night just by unzipping the skirt:


Damn! She's sexy:


Entrees are served anywhere from 11pm-12am. It sounds like a late dinner, but with all the dancing and drinking, the timing is just right.

A typical Russian entree - something in a birds nest made of potato smothered in mayo or sour cream:


Coffee was served at about 12:30am. The night is over at 2am! Sunday is spent recovering and reminiscing about what we saw, who was wearing what, who was drinking what, who was saying what to whom and deciding when we will get together again.

Temptation

First off - my temptations have nothing to do with men or anything like that.

I was in Nordstroms this afternoon. I am going out tonight to a Russian Restaurant. I will post about that tomorrow - trust me, it's better told with pictures. So, I wanted to get my eye make-up professionally done. Off to the MAC counter I went.

After getting my eye make-up done (and buying some shadows and eye-liner, because I felt bad) I started looking at the Designer shoes... Swoon...

Christian Louboutin, Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Valentino, and on and on!!! And all at 40% off!!!!

I was so tempted, but I resisted. Now I'm not that good - part of the reason I was able to resist was because I bought a pair of amazing Prada boots on pre-sale last Sunday ;)

After Nordstroms my feet started to carry me to the other side of the mall - where Neiman Marcus was having their own 40% off sale. Half-way across the mall I planted my feet, turned around and went to my car.

I feel so virtuous. Of course, tomorrow is another day :)

Getting Together

Tonight I saw a friends who I haven't seen in a while. She's not the friend that I will talk to for hours - but she's a good friend none-the-less.

She's one of those amazing women who is constantly on the go. Traveling to different countries, always triple booked, seems in control of her destiny. I became friends with her at one of my past jobs. She was the "go-to" girl. She knew ALL THE ANSWERS! And was very self-assured. We became friends pretty quickly.

Of course, when we get together and REALLY talk, I remember that she has the same problems we all do, regardless of whether we're married or single, have kids or are childless.

She recently started a new job and is still trying to find her place. She is wondering where her career will take her and whether or not she will find some one to share her life. Still, she keeps on going, looking fabulous every step of the way. In many ways I admire her - it's a strong, SMART, woman. She's detail oriented and writes out lists of what she has to do - and then she does them!! She is also constantly busy - she constantly has some sort of plans going one. Even tonight - she had dinner planned with me and then Salsa with another friend later.

I have realized that I am VERY lucky - I am surrounded by strong, amazing women that love life (even when they are complaining about it - because those moments make the best storied) and are there for me whenever I need.

Tonight we went to Vino Wine and Tapas Room. I really like this place. I've been a number of times and I know what to expect.

The Sangria is wonderful. Even my friend who does not like wine enjoyed the red Sangria. The tapas are very god too. I really like the Eggplant with Honey, the Ground Beef with Hummus, the Papas Bravas and the Cheese plate. In fact, I haven't really had anything I don't like.

One caveat - the service can be spotty at times. You have to flag down a waitress for most things, but it is better than it was.

There is also live music on the weekends. I hope the place survives the economic times. It's nice to have a place like this in the valley - casual but nice. Easy enough for a group of girl friends but sophisticated enough for a date.

Here's the drool worthy menu.



By the way, does anyone know how to make my pictures bigger?

The definition of insanity

I have been meaning to clean up/out my mail for the last 2 weeks or so. I constantly let it pile up until it's spilling over and then get pissed and tackle it.

By the way, why do i keep getting magazines? I love Bon Appetit, but really, if I'm looking for a recipe I go online. So, why can't I just throw them out??? No clue!

About one month ago, I even went out and bought something similar to this:

It looks great. It organizes my bills, my coupons, my follow-ups, etc...

There's one thing it does do....open my mail and put it in the correct slot! OK - two things. It won't pay my bills for me! Stupid organizer!

The following is a true IM exchange I had with my friend tonight:

Me - hey! I skipped the gym 9:39 PM
Friend - you know - that's quite alright 9:39 PM
Me - I'm about to take care of ALL of the bills 9:39 PM
Me - hopefully 9:40 PM
Me - and junk mail - I'm effing sick of it! 9:40 PM
Me - I hate that I have to get to that point9:40 PM
Friend - you should sign up w/ ProQuo 9:41 PM
Friend - get off junk mail lists and catalogue you don't want - and sign up for ones you do want 9:41 PM
Me - but I like some of it 9:42 PM
Me - I just want to take a quick peek and then throw away 9:42 PM

Now - my statement about junk mail would be fine, if I actually did just take a quick peak right away and then throw out. Alas, I let it sit there until I go nutz!!!

This is a constant repetitive cycle. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results??

Oh well - on and on I go. Maybe tomorrow will be different ;)

Today is not one of those days

Today - I am not very lucid ;)

I have a lot of thoughts in my head, but none are REALLY landing in a cohesive pattern. So, with that said I will walk you through my day (not that anyone is interested, but I'm not really sure what else to write about). This day is pretty typical except for the fact that Wednesdays are one of the 2 days of the week when the monkeys don't have activities that I am taking them to or picking them up from.

7am-8am - Wake-up and take a shower. As soon as I get out of the shower, the big monkey comes in and starts talking to me. We review the concepts of "greater than" and less than" - this involves me making the "greater than" and "less than" signs with my arms and threatening to eat her because she is bigger than the little monkey. Pretty good for just wearing a towel . Subsequently, I get to referee a battle between her and the baby sitter about her "crazy hair day" hair style! Too late to make lunch for the big monkey, so $1 it is (for school lunch).
8am-9am - Drive big monkey to school going west, head back east to drop off the little monkey, listen to pre-school teacher complain that little monkey isn't memorizing her words for the winter concert (um, thanks for bitching about this every day but we have over a month left until the damn concert). Drive back west to work, getting in at almost 9am.
9am-7pm - Work, be nice to people calling on the phone, repeating the same answer I've given AT LEAST 100 times already, all with a smile in my voice. Get taken out to lunch by a vendor (yay! free lunch at a yummy place! with leftovers in the office kitchen for tomorrow! can't wait). Work some more, be nice to more people on the phone, off-load some work on to my amazing staff, work some more and go home! At home, review "greater than" and less than", "1 more and 1 less", "10 more and 10 less", realize that my ranting and yelling has worked and the big monkey understands (at least for today), eat some dinner and play with the kids for a few minutes.
7pm-8pm - Go to my FAVORITE new obsession - ZUMBA. This is like a dance class on CRACK! I can tell that I'm getting an amazing workout. It's also renewing my love of dance. I haven't taken dance class in so long that I didn't know if I would just suck the big one! Well - I'm on my 3rd week (2 times a week) and am actually doing quite well (in my own mind). I keep up quite well and am even starting to anticipate some of the steps.
8pm-8:30pm - Come home and read the big monkey the end of The English Roses by Madonna. Great book and the big monkey falls asleep.
8:30pm-now - Procrastinate cleaning and paying bills by zoning in bed, watching my TIVO'd shows and reading other peoples blogs for inspirations.

Wow! Wasn't that just scintillating???? If you're still awake after hearing about my THRILLING day, drop me a line and tell me what you do on a typical day!

What do you think?

Why does the big monkey think that I should come up with her spelling sentences? And decide whether her writing is neat. It's constantly "what do you think"? I guess I should be lucky that she's asking my opinion at all. It's just that suddenly -I'm in 1st grade. I don't remember my parents ever helping me come up with sentences - heck their English was pretty darn poor only 2 years after coming to America.

So how did I survive??

Either kids were more resourceful back then or the kids today are just plain dumber (I'm only partially kidding). We've made it so easy for them to get help on the answers that they don't need to think too hard about anything. We are making "survival of the fittest" a crap shoot for their generation.

It's not just me either - there are plenty of articles that talk about parents enabling kids to the point of writing notes to their work excusing "Billy" from work due to illness or just being tired!! As I have stated before, my parents are immigrants. We are used to hard work! My parents stood in lines for hours for bread and then trudged home in the snow! No excuses for them!

Maybe that's why I am struggling to draw a fine line with helping my children with whatever I can (each generation has to do better than the previous) and teaching them how to be independent.

In regard to my goal of health and money savings, I've realized that I need to plan for bringing lunches - otherwise I'm more tempted to go out and spend money. I've been taking whatever is available. Some examples:

* Two garden burger patties (taken from home) covered with salsa and queso cheese dip (found in the work kitchen).
* Lean Cuisine Ravioli (that I brought to work about 1 year ago)
* Leftover Waffles

It dawned on me - if make a crock pot meal once a week I will be able to have at least 3 no-brainer, healthy lunches. Apparently I'm a slow learner ;)

Last night I decided to make a meal I have been eyeing for a while.

Crock pot Thai Chicken
Bettycrocker.com



8 chicken thighs (I use 3 lbs chicken legs)
3/4 cup salsa (I should have used 1.5 cups or whole jar)
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 Tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon grated ginger root
1/4 cup chopped peanuts (didn’t added – I had walnuts, pine nuts and macadamia nuts, but no peanuts)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (I forgot to add)

Place chicken in crock pot. Mix other ingredients except peanuts and cilantro. Pour over chicken. Cook for 8 hours on low. (4 HOURS ON LOW FOR BONELESS BREASTS)

Save the peanuts for garnish, along with the cilantro.

Posted by Claire 797 from the Cooking Light Bulletin Board


WARNING - don't do what I did!!! Don't layer each ingredient separately in to the crock pot. If you do layer each ingredient in to the crock pot, mix around before cooking, if you don't mix before cooking, mix about 1 hour before taking out of crock pot.

If not - the top pieces will have chunks of creamy peanut butter on them - BLECH!!! Then, you will have to re-heat in a frying pan (see above) to mix up all the ingredients sufficiently.

So - I think that this could be really good if it wasn't for user error - and a little bit of tweaking on my part.

Massage and fitness...right...

So, I got the latest Brookstone catalog in the mail.

Does anyone know what a Power Plate my5 Vibration Training Machine?

Based on the pictures it can be a lot of things, but to my dirty mind, it's basically a $4500 sex toy (lots of use either alone or together :))?!?!

When I went online to find the pictures, I found an even more interesting item at Brookstone.

Do I even need to say what I think this is?

And surprise, surprise - it's one of the "TOP 5 Our customers' favorite gifts". No effing duh!!

And on that note, does anyone really use the shower massagers they sell at Walgreen's because their necks hurt (especially the pink ones)??

Sunday mornings

During the week we are always busy. The kids eat a European supper (main big meal at 3:30pm or 4:00pm) and then a light meal (usually cereal and milk)at about 7:30pm (before bed). Which means that we don't eat dinner together as a family.

On Sundays, we try our hardest to eat breakfast/brunch together as a family. Recently, I received an AMAZING All Clad waffle iron (a Williams Sonoma exclusive) as a present. We had had the Disney Mickey waffle maker, and the Disney princess waffle maker, but neither of those turned out "REAL" waffles.





With this waffle maker I've been able to turn out wonderful (and pretty) waffles. Normally, I'm an omelet person, but I'm good with eating these waffles - because they are SO TASTY!

Lately I've been using a Mark Bittman recipe for waffles but my brain was so scattered this morning that I didn't remember which cookbook his recipe was in. So...Cooking Light to the rescue. I used the recipe from The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook (the one published in 2000, not the latest one).

Blueberry Waffles
Yield
8 (4-inch) waffles (serving size: 1 waffle)

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
Dash of salt
1 2/3 cups skim milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (I used mini chocolate chips and PB chips instead)

Preparation


Combine first 3 ingredients in a medium bowl; stir well. Combine milk, oil, egg whites, and egg in a small bowl; stir well. Add to flour mixture, stirring until well-blended.

Coat a waffle iron with cooking spray, and preheat. Spoon about 1/3 cup of batter per waffle onto hot waffle iron, spreading batter to edges. Spoon 2 tablespoons blueberries (I had the kids sprinkle on the chocolate and peanut butter chip) per waffle evenly over batter. Cook 6 to 7 minutes or until steaming stops; repeat procedure with remaining batter and blueberries. Serve with syrup.




Note: If you are using frozen blueberries, do not thaw them before adding to batter. (This did not apply to me).

Nutritional Information
Calories:152 (30% from fat)
Fat:5g (sat 1.0g,mono 1.4g,poly 2.1g)
Protein:4.9g
Carbohydrate:22g
Fiber:.9g
Cholesterol:22mg
Iron:1.1mg
Sodium:149mg
Calcium:110mg

These are really good, and don't taste "light" at all. The big monkey LOVES to cover hers with the Greek FAGE yogurt (very thick, almost sour cream like), syrup and strawberry slices. The little monkey LOVES to DRENCH hers with syrup.

I actually made a double batch of these so that the big monkey can take some to school for lunch - which is my daily battle to try and find something she WANTS to take for lunch instead of buying lunch at school (which I sometimes give up on and let her do anyways).