A Healthier Me?

Today marks the first day of my 21-day cleanse.  So far so good.  First breakfast and second breakfast down.  Munching on a mid-morning snack.

• Breakfast #1: Organic cocoa pebbles w/ Rice milk (unexpectedly delicious)
• Breakfast #2: Oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins, fresh fruit (oatmeal is not nearly as tasty without the brown sugar, butter, and milk)
• Morning snack: smoked almonds = yummy!

Have plans to cook a lovely sweet potato salad with avocado for dinner.


A few other happenings in my social circle:

• BrentO got his first job!  (And first apartment)
• I hear little miss Addi is doing well
• Felipe and I had our first realtor meeting.  Hoping to start looking at houses/apartments this weekend!
• My mother-in-law is on a New York adventure

I love knitting!

House Hunting

Got an e-mail from the landlord today - he's going to be starting the remodel project rather soon.  Our lease is up in June, and he's willing to extend to December to help us out.  Super stressful since it is already mid-march.  Is it time to settle down and buy?  Move in with the in-laws? ;) 

New toys for the kitchen

Cashed in some credit card points this week for some fabulous new things - 2 baking sheets, a silpat baking mat, a cast iron skillet, and a dutch oven.  The dutch oven is absolutely gorgeous - this deep blue.  Can't wait to try them all out!  Also bought 4 novels - some chick lit and action adventure.  Just need to find time to read.  Unfortunately its all too easy to lounge on the couch in front of the tv rather than picking up a book. 

PS  I'm confident that winter has finally spent itself out.  Spring will soon be on its way, which means time for my first herb garden.  I'm thinking basil, mint, and chives.  Any other suggestions? Maybe cilantro too.

Happy St. Patty's!

Everyone has their pet peeves at work.  Mine happens to be patients that are wasteful and those that don't take care of themselves.  The wasteful ones come in to the ED for a chronic problem, but get admitted anyways to hang out in the hospital a week, ring up a $20k bill, and get seen by specialists when all of this can be done as an outpatient.  Also, those patients that don't take their blood pressure medications and get admitted with a BP of over 200, or those that don't take their diabetes medicines and get admitted for blood sugars over 400.  There is no cure for laziness.  These patients take up the finite number of beds in the hospital and take up the doctor's and nurses valuable time while others in dire need of health care sit for hours in the ED waiting for spot.  Just my two-cents.  It was a long day.  My other pet peeve is co-workers that don't pull their fair share, but we'll save that one for another day.

On the bright side, I got 2 new pairs of shoes in the mail today!  The pair I posted last week and a vintage pair of cowgirl boots.  Can't wait for a day off to wear them.  Counting down to next Tuesday.  I've got plans for a new 'do and to bake up some bread.  I found a great no-knead recipe for a yeast bread I've been wanting to try.

Your Own Private Island - Budget Travel

Your Own Private Island - Budget Travel

Wow! I wouldn't mind a week at Dunbar Rock, Honduras.  Any takers?

21-day cleanse

uch to my husband's disappointment, I have decided to embark upon The Quantum Wellness Cleanse.  Oprah first made this program famous when she went on the cleanse and blogged about her experience.  Kathy has also been featured on the Ellen Show.   I'm a sucker for celebrity-endorsements.

Rather than actually purchasing the book, I'm going off an an excerpt laying out the basic premises: 21 days without sugar, caffeine, gluten, alcohol, or animal products.

So, I thought I'd give this alcohol-free, caffeine-free, sugar-free thing a try.  We'll see if I feel better.  I'm guessing I'm going to miss my morning coffee.  I love herbal tea, but not as an eye-opener.  I've decided to start on March 31st, so that I will "graduate" for our 1-year anniversary.  Felipe definitely would not be down for a meat-free anniversary celebration.

 
Here's Kathy on the Ellen show:

 

Barefoot contessa obsessed

Miss Ina is my absolute favorite, all of her recipes are magic.  Delicious, fresh ingredients combined into dishes that are 100% husband-approved.  No weird ingredients. Felipe is not the most adventurous eater, he seems to have inherited his father's delicate GI-tract while I have been blessed with my father's stomach of steel.  Lucky me!  Oysters, no problem.  Foreign countries, bring it on.

Anyways, the first pic is Ina's portabello lasagna.  While whipping this one up, I thought it might be my first Ina failure.  Rather than using whole milk for the homemade white sauce, I substituted the 2% we had in the frig, to rather runny results.  Luckily, with a bit of cornstarch things thickened up nicely.  It was my first adventure with a roux as well, which was much simpler than I anticipated.  With a little planning, I managed to make this a one pot meal.  After I boiled the noodles I used the same saucepan to make the sauce.  Transferring the sauce back to measuring cup (that I used to measure the milk), I wiped out the pan and used it for the sauce.  Less dishes, but my kitchen was still a mess!

Second, is Chicken Piccata.  After a long day in the hospital it was so satisfying to pound the chicken strips nice and flat.  The lemon-butter sauce on top is delish and this meal really dose only take 30m to prepare.  I substituted chicken tenders for the chicken breasts which seemed to work nicely. 

Recipe #18: Sesame Beef

Work is going ok - survived my first 30 hour call with only a few mishaps.  When you're on call you are tied to the hospital and cannot leave the premises.  However, I decided to take this policy rather liberally to extend to the outdoor perimeter.  I was enjoying my stroll in the sunshine, 50 degress, gentle breeze when this large mini-van goes splashing through a gigantic mud puddle.  The rest of the day, I got to see patients spotted with this mysterious brown substance (which I knew was mud, but it definitely resembled a more odorous brown substance as well.)

I've had time to try one new recipe this week - sesame beef.  I stayed up late the night before marinating the beef and preparing the rice so that when I got home all I had to do was stir-fry it up.  It ended up rather tough.  Definitely not a keeper, but much better than the cafeteria food I have been nibbling on.

Today is my first day off.  To celebrate I slept in until 1030 and drank two gigantic cups of coffee.  My one productive deed of the day was spring cleaning the living room and study.  Its amazing how many bits of junk I found stuffed into drawers.  Goodwill is going to be receiving a big deposit.  I also treated myself to some cowgirl boots.  I had my heart set on a vintage pair, but decided spenting over $50 for used shoes was not the best plan.  I ended up scoring these boots by Mia.  I found them on Piperlime (Rachel Zoe, one of my favorite stylists helps edit the collection!) but got lucky scoring a brand new pair on Ebay.

Heading in to the hospital now for my first day + night of call.  Got my toothbrush packed as well as an extra pair of socks.  Something about putting on a fresh pair at midnight makes you feel so good.  I'm already anticipating my return home in 30 hours. . . . .

Back to life, Back to reality. . . . .

Since getting back from sunny cozumel I've tried to take it easy and retain the laidback island-vibe but I haven't been very successful.  I've done 3 loads of laundry, tried 2 new recipes, spent 2 days doing surgery at the VA, gone to the grocery store, cleaned the litter box, put away dishes, and watched countless hours of television.

The highlights have definitely been the recipes - Orecchiette with bacon and tomato sauce from Martha's Everyday Food magazine (great gift, schumachers!) and Ina's Honey Vanilla Pound Cake.  Both are absolutely delish!  I've tried the pound cake topped with strawberries, and also with jam. (The best jam in the entire world, which you can only buy in Texas - thanks for the supply mom!)

Recipes 16 & 17 down, 35 to go.