Edamame Hummus

I have been trying really hard to make at least 1-2 new recipes a week. I used to do this before Evie was born and it made me feel better about myself somehow. Being a stay at home mom has it's challenges, and let's just be honest, sometimes its just downright hard to have much motivation to do much of anything else on top of all the daily tasks, but food is so important to me and my family and we try really hard to eat most of our meals at home. I just feel so much better knowing I made something healthy for my family to eat, so I am trying to really make it a top priority again.

This week I made Edamame Hummus. I thought it was delicious. Evie and I practically fought over the stuff, while Miles wouldn't even give it a try (he's 4 and very opinionated right now when it comes to food) and Tim had a few bites and said it was 'pretty good' which I think means, he didn't really like it all that much. But he is still warming up to a lot of my 'healthy' foods so I will cut him some slack.

I have never had my regular old blender not be a decent replacement for a food processor, but in this case it did not do the trick at all, and I had to scrape the ingredients into my Mini-Cuisinart Processor (which I love by the way). I also didn't have any coriander on hand so I skipped that, and we ate it warm with some warmed up naan bread. I preferred it warm, it almost tasted creamy and cheesey to me....it was also good with carrot sticks.


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/edamame-hummus-recipe/index.html

Leaf Piles

This year

Last year

Wow what a difference a year makes when you have little kids. Last year at this time Evie wasn't walking yet, she just scooted around on her butt while Miles jumped in the leaf piles that I was raking up. This year they were both jumping together and running and raking and having a blast. 

Linden Hills Hay Day

Our neighborhood continues to win us over. There are always little events in the 'village' of Linden Hills. Yesterday was the annual Hay Day Halloween event, where families bring their little kids all dressed up in their Halloween costumes for some trick or treating and festive fun. The shops of Linden Hills really take part and hand out treats and/or have projects for the kids to do. We made witch wands at Heartfelt and brunched at Tilia one of our favorite restaurants. It was the very first time Tim and I have braved going out to brunch with the kids. They did great. I see another brunch in our future!

Our little Spider Man.

Evie peeking out of the tree at Heartfelt

           

First ever family brunch at Tilia.

Happy kids = happy parents.

Granola Girl.

I can honestly say I have never bought granola, besides maybe in a Kashi cereal box. I just never had an interest in it, but lately I am trying to find more healthy snacks and looking for something my kids would eat too. I stumbled upon a great site on Facebook, www.100daysofrealfood.com and am loving it! It's so simple and a lot of times I do eat like this (avoiding as much crappy processed food as possible), but then sometimes I look in our cupboards and they are filled with packaged bars, cereals, crackers....anyway, I want to get back into making a lot of our own food at home. It makes me happy doing this and before Evie was born I was trying several new recipes a week, lately, not so much and there are several days where I will realize we haven't consumed a single healthy thing. Yuck. So I decided to give this granola recipe a go and it is fantastic!! I have been putting it on yogurt every single day, and Miles even had a bowl of it for breakfast. Next time I may skip the cashews so Evie can eat it without me being a nervous wreck. It makes a lot of granola too, so I gave half to a friend to try. The house smells delicious while it's baking. Perfect for a fall afternoon at home.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/04/04/recipe-granola-bars-cereal/

Broiled tofu and carrots? Yes please!

I am always looking for new tofu recipes as I love tofu and find myself making it the same every single time....doused in Bragg's liquid aminos and seasoned with oregano and basil baked in slices. I eat them up like crazy, but need to expand my tofu go-to recipe box. My neighbor and friend made this dish for me this past May when I threw my back out and sent Tim with the kids to the cabin for memorial day weekend while I recovered. That is another post....anyway, let's get to the recipe already!

http://www.marthastewart.com/317722/soy-glazed-tofu-and-carrots

Simple, healthy and yummy. I used almost a full bag of baby carrots halved lengthwise (next time I may leave them whole as they cooked way faster than the tofu and use more than a whole bag) and Bragg's liquid aminos instead of soy sauce, also didn't have the green onions on hand so skipped those and didn't miss them one bit. Served with brown rice. I will make it again!

Fall Gym Plan

I'm so over the top excited that Evie FINALLY does the YMCA daycare by herself!!!! It is going on month 2 since she gave in and finally gave it a try and now she actually likes it...she asks to go!! I feel selfish bringing her there every single day Miles is at preschool, but I get my work out which makes me HAPPY AND she gets to play with kids her age and do fun stuff without me, we both win. For now. So with this new activity that I tried years to get my kids to do with no luck, I am going to take advantage of it 100%. Now if we can all just stay healthy so we can keep at it.

Mondays - Yoga class at Blaisdell (both kids)
Tuesdays - Spin
Wed- run/weights or bodypump
Thursdays - Spin
Friday - Rest day or RUN
Saturday - Run
Sunday- Bodypump

That is my plan for the month of October and I'm going to stick with it in November as much as possible. I know I have to understand that some days are not going to stick to this plan and that I have to take each day as it comes, but after last week's craziness of our entire family having the worst stomach flu bug for the entire week makes me want to take advantage of feeling healthy and WORK OUT most days. Trust me, I'm a much happier person when I take my medicine exercise.

Back to the blog......

Lately I read other people's blogs, and the first thought that pops into my head is "why did I stop blogging?" I love reading blogs especially about food and fitness, and of course blogs of long lost friends so I can catch up with their lives. These past 2 years have been so busy and crazy. The addition of our daughter Evie to our family 2 years ago really rocked our world. She is amazing and so tiny and sweet (when she wants to be), but can turn on you in an instant and make your life, eh hum, let's just say difficult. So that is why I am going to say keeping up this blog was definitely on the side lines for quite awhile. But I would love to try it again, and instead of making a whole new blog doing what I call a 'fresh start', I am going to just pick up the sad broken pieces of this blog to have a place to save recipes and document memories. Here we go....