I am not sure if this meal tasted so good because it was shared with dear friends, or if it was just freakin awesome.....but seriously. If you have not put sweet potatoes in the oven for 25 minutes at 425 degrees...you are missing out!!
Cooking Light often puts together a suggested menu--so I went with their suggestion this week and the result was a super delicious result....
Spiced Chops with Mango-Mint Salsa
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Sauteed Baby Spinach
Game Plan
1. While oven preheats: cut potatoes, and coat with spice mixture.
2. While potatoes bake: prepare salsa, cook pork, saute spinach.
Spiced Chops with Mango-Mint Salsa
Allspice and mango bring Caribbean flair to this dish. The salsa, redolent of mint, also packs a bit of heat thanks to a dusting of crushed red pepper. A Jamaican beer, such as Red Stripe, would complement this meal.
TOTAL TIME: 35 MINUTES
Flavor Tip: To tweak the taste of the salsa, use lime juice and rind instead of lemon. Or substitute chopped papaya for the mango, or if you prefer; look for ripe, golden-yellow papaya that yields slightly to finger pressure.
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
4 (4oz) boneless center cut loin pork chops, trimmed
cooking spray
1 1/2 cups finely chopped peeled mango
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl; sprinkle evenly over pork.
2. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork; cook 4 minutes on each side or until done.
3. Combine mango and remaining 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Serve with pork. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and about 1/3 cup salsa)
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Cut 2 (8oz) peeled sweet potatoes in half lengthwise; cut each half lengthwise into 6 wedges. Combine sweet potatoes, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, and 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper in a bowl; toss gently to coat. Place wedges on a baking sheet, baking at 425 degrees for 25 minutes or till tender.
When I made these, it seemed like 25 minutes was just right--although some of the pieces were a little brown.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Flavor Friday
I don't want to brag about my culinary skills....but do you ever find yourself looking through your recipes, choosing something to make, and then when you are making it think, "wow! this is much easier to make than I remember." I love having that feeling because it makes me feel like I am growing. And who doesn't enjoy growing--except if it is your waist--hee hee.
Anyways, a great stand-by around here is Superfast Salisbury Steak. I don't think I realized until this week how superfast it really is. If you are "young" and do not have relatives from the Mid-West like me, you may not know (I didn't) that salisbury steak is just a fancy way of saying meatloaf.
I served some instant Idahoan mashed potatoes and corn with this. But you could also do some red potatoes and carrots if you wanted.
Guten Appetit
Anyways, a great stand-by around here is Superfast Salisbury Steak. I don't think I realized until this week how superfast it really is. If you are "young" and do not have relatives from the Mid-West like me, you may not know (I didn't) that salisbury steak is just a fancy way of saying meatloaf.
I served some instant Idahoan mashed potatoes and corn with this. But you could also do some red potatoes and carrots if you wanted.
Guten Appetit
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Are You a Shlumpadinka?
So. Ask yourself. Are you a Shlumpadinka?
I don't like to quote Oprah...as it reveals that I am a viewer...but I must say that she really does have something when it comes to this theory..
Basically, if you are guilty of running errands in your pjs or wear your husband's sweats a lot--you qualify.
I started to think about this because I have been watching a lot of "What Not to Wear" on TLC. A lovely little show of 30 minutes where the hosts tear apart women that either are wearing too many cat sweaters or think that neon is still in. Or they fall into my category of "being too busy" to look nice.
I don't know about you, but when I only have to impress my office manager and the 5 month old everyday--the motivation to dress in real clothes is pretty low. I have been challenging myself to try to look a little nicer--so that at least by the time my husband comes home he has a shred of a reason to remember why he married me in the first place.
Today I tried to jazz it up a bit (mainly because my shorts that I had worn all week and t-shirts were all covered in baby spit up). I put on my khaki capris and a nice tank top. Dressing nicely actually helped me feel a little bit better about the day. My co-worker calls it, "dressing for success." She says that even though she works at home, she makes a point of wearing work clothes. She says it makes her feel more like she is "at work." I don't know if she has stopped that since she had a baby herself....
In any case...don't give up on dressing in REAL clothes! (okay, but I think that nursing moms should get some kind of exception though. As soon as I put on a shirt, there is spit up on it. Today was a miracle to go for more than a couple of feedings without a big pile of yuck).
Real clothes really do help your outlook on life for the day.
PS If you have a chance, check out the link on Oprah's page. I think that I match Dawn most closely in what I would wear everyday if I could.
I don't like to quote Oprah...as it reveals that I am a viewer...but I must say that she really does have something when it comes to this theory..
Basically, if you are guilty of running errands in your pjs or wear your husband's sweats a lot--you qualify.
I started to think about this because I have been watching a lot of "What Not to Wear" on TLC. A lovely little show of 30 minutes where the hosts tear apart women that either are wearing too many cat sweaters or think that neon is still in. Or they fall into my category of "being too busy" to look nice.
I don't know about you, but when I only have to impress my office manager and the 5 month old everyday--the motivation to dress in real clothes is pretty low. I have been challenging myself to try to look a little nicer--so that at least by the time my husband comes home he has a shred of a reason to remember why he married me in the first place.
Today I tried to jazz it up a bit (mainly because my shorts that I had worn all week and t-shirts were all covered in baby spit up). I put on my khaki capris and a nice tank top. Dressing nicely actually helped me feel a little bit better about the day. My co-worker calls it, "dressing for success." She says that even though she works at home, she makes a point of wearing work clothes. She says it makes her feel more like she is "at work." I don't know if she has stopped that since she had a baby herself....
In any case...don't give up on dressing in REAL clothes! (okay, but I think that nursing moms should get some kind of exception though. As soon as I put on a shirt, there is spit up on it. Today was a miracle to go for more than a couple of feedings without a big pile of yuck).
Real clothes really do help your outlook on life for the day.
PS If you have a chance, check out the link on Oprah's page. I think that I match Dawn most closely in what I would wear everyday if I could.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Flavor Friday
Heidi asked for a fish dish...this one tastes good re-heated. And the salad it suggests you make is pretty good too...Herb-Crusted Salmon with Mixed Green Salad. Note that you don't HAVE to use fresh herbs on this. They can be so expensive!
According to OChef.com, you can substitute one TEASPOON of dried herbs for one TABLESPOON for fresh herbs.
I also found this "leftover" recipe.....Fish and Couscous Salad
Enjoy.....
According to OChef.com, you can substitute one TEASPOON of dried herbs for one TABLESPOON for fresh herbs.
I also found this "leftover" recipe.....Fish and Couscous Salad
Enjoy.....
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Greater Love Hath No (Wo)man than this....
than (s)he who scrapes away the astroturf from someone else's front steps.
We have a brick entryway to our house that was once covered in astroturf. When we moved in, the majority of it had been scraped off, except for little bits here and there. Today my mom spent a couple of hours scraping off the rest.
Not to be a Debbie Downer to the young moms reading this, but if you think that you are serving your children now....just wait till your kids are grown and have kids of their own. Today, my mom arrived at my house at 8am. She helped give Baby P a bath. Then she did his laundry, then she did our laundry. Then she made our bed. She cleaned up the bath stuff and put it away. She probably started scraping the astroturf about then...but I can't be sure. Then she gave Baby P his bottle. Then she played with Baby P. And then we put him to bed. She helped me get my sandwich ready even though she was starving.
Then she told me this really cool story about how she got to see her very first American friends yesterday. They actually were the ones that picked her up from the airport when she first arrived in 1968.
Then she cleaned up lunch and then she made this beautiful fruit platter with nectarines, apples, and cherries. I should have taken a picture of it, because she arranged the fruit in a way that only a mom can do. I'm sure she did some other stuff after that, only I haven't discovered it yet. Then it was time to feed Baby P again. And then she played with him.
She was such a blessing to me today. I hope that I can be as helpful to my children as she is to me.
We have a brick entryway to our house that was once covered in astroturf. When we moved in, the majority of it had been scraped off, except for little bits here and there. Today my mom spent a couple of hours scraping off the rest.
Not to be a Debbie Downer to the young moms reading this, but if you think that you are serving your children now....just wait till your kids are grown and have kids of their own. Today, my mom arrived at my house at 8am. She helped give Baby P a bath. Then she did his laundry, then she did our laundry. Then she made our bed. She cleaned up the bath stuff and put it away. She probably started scraping the astroturf about then...but I can't be sure. Then she gave Baby P his bottle. Then she played with Baby P. And then we put him to bed. She helped me get my sandwich ready even though she was starving.
Then she told me this really cool story about how she got to see her very first American friends yesterday. They actually were the ones that picked her up from the airport when she first arrived in 1968.
Then she cleaned up lunch and then she made this beautiful fruit platter with nectarines, apples, and cherries. I should have taken a picture of it, because she arranged the fruit in a way that only a mom can do. I'm sure she did some other stuff after that, only I haven't discovered it yet. Then it was time to feed Baby P again. And then she played with him.
She was such a blessing to me today. I hope that I can be as helpful to my children as she is to me.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Bomb Scares...It Is Not Going to Be That Way and etc.
Today I survived my first lengthy separation from Baby P. I had to attend the 1st of a 4 day trade show.
You want to know something funny? After all the stressing I was doing about milk production, I FINALLY realized LAST night that today would be the longest time apart from Baby P since he was born. Obviously someone was focusing a ton on milk production. Anyways, it didn't freak me out too much to be apart from him--seeing as I was finally able to come up with enough milk so that I could leave for 12 hours. Yea! I guess the dark beer and Fenugreek really helped things out.
There were actually parts of the day where I thought, "hm. This is kind of nice. I only have to care for myself at the moment." Part of caring for myself involved heading to the car around 1130am to pump (something I was pretty intent on doing since the pediatrician was harping on the importance of the frequency). As I neared the parking garage, I saw 2 police officers standing in front of a lot of yellow tape. The entire parking garage was blocked off.
Seeing as I know more about law enforcement than the average lady, I knew immediately that this was a "perimeter enforcement." Perimeter enforcements are super boring for police officers (unless you are like a certain someone and enjoy standing around; I guess it beats chasing after bad guys). They have to stand for several hours in front of yellow tape and answer questions from vexed people like me asking, "when can I return to my car?" "why is this tape here?" "what do you mean, you are conducting a special investigation?" "is it really going to be 45 minutes or are you just saying that?" "can't I just go to my car and get 1 thing?"
Well..those were all questions I wanted to ask...but didn't because I knew secondhand that it stinks to have that job and have to interact with the public in that manner. I surmised that the "special investigation" was code for a bomb scare and I would have to wait 45 minutes until I could get into my car again. I s l o w l y strolled back to my prison cell..I mean, booth and tried to pull myself together. I was already so concerned about how the day would go...this deviation in schedule was NOT appreciated. Besides, I am not with Baby P today so I shouldn't have to worry about my schedule being up-ended. I guess God had different plans for me. I would like to say that handled the whole thing gracefully...but I didn't. I was frustrated and irritated....just another area for improvement I suppose.
Fortunately, when I went back at 1230 all signs of law enforcement and yellow tape had disappeared. I quickly took care of business.
**
Working at the show today was interesting because I had a chance to reflect back on the last summer show I worked (we do one in the Winter and one in the Summer). This time last year, I was only 8 weeks or so along in my pregnancy. I had not told anyone yet and I remember being exhausted at the show. I was nauseous and extremely tired. I recall eating lunch in a secret place I found at the convention center (I will show you sometime) and at one point laying down on the floor (which was kind of gross), bursting into tears because I was so tired and hormonal. I just wanted to go home and sleep.
Thankfully this time I was more of a normal human....just a human with an excessively huge appetite due to nursing. Hey, it take a lot of food to keep a 19 pounder going. I remember coming home from the show last summer and being discouraged because I was SO tired. How am I going to care for a child when I come home from a show if I am this exhausted?
Turns out that it is not as hard as I thought it would be. I was so excited to see Baby P after the long day, that I was actually looking forward to feeding him more than I usually do. I mention this as an encouragement to the pregnant ladies reading this. If you are anything like me, you might be trying to visualize what it will be like living with your new little one. You run through your day, kind of "working in" what it would be like to have a little someone by your side. And then you get discouraged because the baby isn't even out yet and you can't seem to manage to get the simplest things done.
I realized today that those kinds of visions are not realistic if you are using your current energy level as a yardstick. The fact is, making another human is a pretty tiring process. There is nothing like it, and hopefully you are not crazy like me--making assumptions about the future based on how your pregnant body handles a long work day.
I don't know about you, but I definitely have a lot more energy when I don't have another person growing inside me. Of course....I am sure there will be some day when I have to work a show or something and I am pregnant...and then I will have to return home and take care of Baby P....that is a scenario I haven't had the chance to OVERthink yet.
**
If anyone is still reading at this point...another thing I came away with this week was that I am really grateful for my job (not my motherhood job, my other one). I really love it. I love the work that I do. Not many people can say that. I love that I can work from home, I love most of the people that I work with, and I enjoy my job description. Some time away from Baby P was helpful to remind me of how much I enjoy owning my company.
So...as much as I love what I do...I don't love it so much that I enjoy giving up my Saturdays...tomorrow I must trudge back to the convention center. I hope it goes well...
You want to know something funny? After all the stressing I was doing about milk production, I FINALLY realized LAST night that today would be the longest time apart from Baby P since he was born. Obviously someone was focusing a ton on milk production. Anyways, it didn't freak me out too much to be apart from him--seeing as I was finally able to come up with enough milk so that I could leave for 12 hours. Yea! I guess the dark beer and Fenugreek really helped things out.
There were actually parts of the day where I thought, "hm. This is kind of nice. I only have to care for myself at the moment." Part of caring for myself involved heading to the car around 1130am to pump (something I was pretty intent on doing since the pediatrician was harping on the importance of the frequency). As I neared the parking garage, I saw 2 police officers standing in front of a lot of yellow tape. The entire parking garage was blocked off.
Seeing as I know more about law enforcement than the average lady, I knew immediately that this was a "perimeter enforcement." Perimeter enforcements are super boring for police officers (unless you are like a certain someone and enjoy standing around; I guess it beats chasing after bad guys). They have to stand for several hours in front of yellow tape and answer questions from vexed people like me asking, "when can I return to my car?" "why is this tape here?" "what do you mean, you are conducting a special investigation?" "is it really going to be 45 minutes or are you just saying that?" "can't I just go to my car and get 1 thing?"
Well..those were all questions I wanted to ask...but didn't because I knew secondhand that it stinks to have that job and have to interact with the public in that manner. I surmised that the "special investigation" was code for a bomb scare and I would have to wait 45 minutes until I could get into my car again. I s l o w l y strolled back to my prison cell..I mean, booth and tried to pull myself together. I was already so concerned about how the day would go...this deviation in schedule was NOT appreciated. Besides, I am not with Baby P today so I shouldn't have to worry about my schedule being up-ended. I guess God had different plans for me. I would like to say that handled the whole thing gracefully...but I didn't. I was frustrated and irritated....just another area for improvement I suppose.
Fortunately, when I went back at 1230 all signs of law enforcement and yellow tape had disappeared. I quickly took care of business.
**
Working at the show today was interesting because I had a chance to reflect back on the last summer show I worked (we do one in the Winter and one in the Summer). This time last year, I was only 8 weeks or so along in my pregnancy. I had not told anyone yet and I remember being exhausted at the show. I was nauseous and extremely tired. I recall eating lunch in a secret place I found at the convention center (I will show you sometime) and at one point laying down on the floor (which was kind of gross), bursting into tears because I was so tired and hormonal. I just wanted to go home and sleep.
Thankfully this time I was more of a normal human....just a human with an excessively huge appetite due to nursing. Hey, it take a lot of food to keep a 19 pounder going. I remember coming home from the show last summer and being discouraged because I was SO tired. How am I going to care for a child when I come home from a show if I am this exhausted?
Turns out that it is not as hard as I thought it would be. I was so excited to see Baby P after the long day, that I was actually looking forward to feeding him more than I usually do. I mention this as an encouragement to the pregnant ladies reading this. If you are anything like me, you might be trying to visualize what it will be like living with your new little one. You run through your day, kind of "working in" what it would be like to have a little someone by your side. And then you get discouraged because the baby isn't even out yet and you can't seem to manage to get the simplest things done.
I realized today that those kinds of visions are not realistic if you are using your current energy level as a yardstick. The fact is, making another human is a pretty tiring process. There is nothing like it, and hopefully you are not crazy like me--making assumptions about the future based on how your pregnant body handles a long work day.
I don't know about you, but I definitely have a lot more energy when I don't have another person growing inside me. Of course....I am sure there will be some day when I have to work a show or something and I am pregnant...and then I will have to return home and take care of Baby P....that is a scenario I haven't had the chance to OVERthink yet.
**
If anyone is still reading at this point...another thing I came away with this week was that I am really grateful for my job (not my motherhood job, my other one). I really love it. I love the work that I do. Not many people can say that. I love that I can work from home, I love most of the people that I work with, and I enjoy my job description. Some time away from Baby P was helpful to remind me of how much I enjoy owning my company.
So...as much as I love what I do...I don't love it so much that I enjoy giving up my Saturdays...tomorrow I must trudge back to the convention center. I hope it goes well...
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