document life: February 2013

Monday, February 18, 2013

Cass turns 8

Packed up the crew and headed south this weekend to celebrate Cass' bday.

Arrived in time for dinner - tacos! The kids played. The dogs played. The adults drank wine.

My parents arrived Saturday to add to the excitement. Again, the kids played. The dogs played. The adults played cards (and drank wine).

I didn't take many pictures, but I did get these.

My sister got some good ones.

I realized I didn't get my photo with the birthday girl. Oops.

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How to make Saturday night special....

Serve sloppy joes with cornbread waffles.

....and roasted cauliflower. And homemade French fries. And beer.

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T and I celebrated a day early. We went for sushi at my favorite place. Yum! And we continued to plan our trip to Portland, Oregon later this year. It was an early night for us, as we are both battling colds.

We spent actual Valentine's day eating heart shaped pizza with the kids.

Of course my sister sent these wonderful caramels a little early. Glad she did since I gave up sweet treats for Lent.

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Winter Carnival

T and I braved the cold earlier this month to stop in at the Winter Carnival in St. Paul. We followed it with dinner at Sawatdee. Yummy.

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Friday, February 8, 2013

leftovers recipe 1 - Sweet Potato - Poblano Soup

Leftover ingredient: slow cooker pork roast.

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 small carrot, diced
4 cloves garlic, mashed
1 poblano chili, seeded and diced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 (26 ounce) carton chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup coconut milk

Heat broiler and line baking sheet with foil. Toss sweet potato, onion, corn, carrot, garlic, poblano with oil in a large bowl. Arrange veggies in a single layer on baking sheet and broil. Toss once while broiling. Broil until browned (12 minutes)

Transfer veggies to a large pot and stir in spices, wine, salt and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Reduce heat and simmer. Use hand blender to partially blend soup. Simmer 15 minutes. Add left over pork. Simmer 10 minutes more.

Remove from heat, whisk in coconut milk.

Note 1: I had frozen coconut milk, so I used 3 cubes. I think that is about 1/2 cup.

kid approved meatballs

T didn't love these (thanks to the ground chicken), but the kids did. I thought they were a bit blah, but paired really well with a rice pilaf (with carrots and asparagus ...and some butter). AND it used up some ingredients in my frig that were getting close to expiration.

Chicken Meatballs
1 lb ground chicken
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
1 Tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup fresh spinach, finely chopped
1 Tbsp flax meal + 3 Tbsp water (or use an egg)
up to 1/4 cup bread crumbs, added 1 Tbsp at a time (I used about 2 Tbsp)

Preheat oven to 350degF. Spray a broiler pan with nonstick spray.

Combine flax meal and water. Set aside for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, add ground chicken, garlic, green pepper. Mix well. Fold in cilantro, onion powder, cilantro, cumin, salt, pepper, and spinach. Mix well to combine. Add in flax meal (or egg) and bread crumbs. Add just enough bread crumbs to hold together.

Form into meatballs. Bake for 18 minutes.

Note 1: I chose to brown them in a fry pan before finishing the cooking in the oven.

Note 2: You could probably make this work without any breadcrumbs. I just thought I should use them on my first attempt.

Swimming challenge, part 1

I am all signed up for my first triathlon. So I have tried to dedicate 2 days a week to swim workouts in order to prepare for it. So far, so good. Truthfully, swimming is hard. Please, please, please teach your children to swim as kids. ....I think it is much easier.

T gave me some tips ....and then expected me to remember to do about 10 things during each stroke. Not great for a person like me that likes to start with 1 or 2 things, then add on.

So I started going alone to the pool. And even that was intimidating. Especially if it was busy and I would have to share a lane with someone. The best lane-sharing was with an old Chinese women (who I'm not sure spoke any English, since she used hand signals for the lane sharing discussion). She was not a great swimmer. And neither was I. So we both chopped at the water for about 20 minutes together.

The good news is that after a few weeks of 2x/week sessions, I'm feeling comfortable in the pool. I checked the internet for tips on learning to swim and tried some drills. Now I can at least swim a half lap (mostly) without messing up the rhythm of my breath or (worse) running out of breath. I'm still getting the hang of the motion, but found that comparing the movement to a climbing move (as the internet suggested) helped me to better understand how I should be moving through the water. So I plod on. I find it a small accomplishment that I am now able to calm myself down while swimming a lap and get my breath under control. I think that may be all I need in a tri, as all the other ladies around me are swimming.