so far, so good . . .

I accomplished my goals last night! I fit in 20 minutes of yoga after I got home, and managed to be in bed by 10:10 PM. (Close enough, right?) I won't have time for yoga tonight or tomorrow night, but I can still keep working on those earlier bedtimes. :)

What have you been focusing on lately?

priorities

I've hinted around this here on my blog this past month or so, but I'll catch you up if you haven't been reading between the lines lately -- I have become one stressed person since I've started my new job. There are multiple factors involved in this increased stress, some of which I have control over and some of which I don't, some of which I can write about here and some of which I can't.

Do you know what I can write about, though? My priorities. And I've noticed that in all of this stress, I've mucked up my priorities and haven't been taking very good care of myself. Sure, we've still been eating healthy over here, and I'm still getting plenty of exercise, but do you know what I've been missing? SLEEP. And yoga. And general down-time at home. I'm glad I've held on to the healthy eating and exercise, but I NEED to get myself to bed earlier, we need to de-crazy our weeks, and I need to try and do a little yoga, at least a few times per week.

So, here are my goals for tonight, in light of my need to realign my priorities:

Goal #1: 20 minutes of yoga as soon as I get home from work tonight
Goal #2: I must physically be IN BED at 10 pm, lights out at 10:30

Wish me luck! And please harass me later if I don't get these two things done!

an afternoon in my kitchen

It's been a busy Sunday afternoon in my kithcen . . .

First, I finished up the oven-dried tomatoes:


Next, I baked a batch of cookies . . .


And a batch of muffins . . .


And I also made a double-batch of hummus, cut up a watermelon, washed and cut up lettuce for salads, made the sauce for some pad thai we'll eat later this week, and prepped all of the veggies/other ingredients needed for the pad thai, portioning it out into containers for a couple of meals. (Oh yeah, and washed all of those dishes, too!) Whew! How was your Sunday?

last week's meals, this week's shopping

In no particular order, some eats and treats from last week . . .

A delicious coconut curry, using some of Dan's brother's CSA veg:


Brownie sundae:


Beans and rice:

We've been going through a huge batch of this every week. I'm still not sick of it, but I've decided we're going to take a break from beans and rice this week. You know, for the sake of variety and everything.

Enchilada casserole:

This is what you make when you find out you've purchased brittle corn tortillas that will not roll up, no matter how delicately you treat them. :)

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I hit up two stores plus the Farmer's Market this morning, in hopes of picking up our weekly haul under budget. Sadly, we're over by $40 this month, which I'm thinking we might just "borrow" out of next month's budget, since we did so much stocking up on sale items and in-season produce this month.

The glorous Farmer's Market loot:

Clockwise from bottom row: red peppers (already roasted and frozen,) mini heirloom tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, a red onion, apples, lettuce, a mountain of grape tomatoes (currently being oven-dried,) and broccoli!

From the Asian grocery store:

Rice vinegar, tamarind concentrate, bean sprouts, limes, rice noodles, tofu, and brown rice.

And last, from the co-op:

Seventh Generation TP, organic bananas, organic fair-trade coffee, organic peanuts, Goddess dressing, unrefined peanut oil, organic mayo, coconut juice w/pulp, and three ProBars.

(No, the cat was not purchased at the co-op, just in case you were wondering.)

:)

I picked up the ProBars since I'd heard good things about them, and knew I wasn't going to have time to eat lunch today. Another Clif bar will never enter my house! ProBars are delicious and nutritious and just plain awesome! Yum.

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I have a few cooking/baking projects planned for tomorrow, so stay tuned! Happy Saturday to all!

another "darndest . . . "

I: "I wish it was snowing so we could have a snowball fight!"

Said in sunny, 80-degree weather.

A die-hard Minnesotan, if I've ever met one!

kids say the darndest . . .

I realize I haven't posted one of these in ages . . .

A: "Miss Catherine, you're such a nice kid."

Me: "What a nice thing to say! But you know, I am actually a grown-up."

A: "WHAT? You CAN'T be a grown-up!"

Me: "Why?"

A: "Well, 'cause you're my friend!"

What a sweetie!

i so sick.

Hey, folks -- sorry for the extreme delay in posting and general lack of food photography here this past week! I, of course, have a lame excuse -- after a whirlwind weekend including hiking, biking, eating out THREE times, a "cleansing" juice from the co-op while shopping, and movie theater popcorn, (which I blame fully for the following,) I am mighty sick today -- like, up half the night in the bathroom sick. Ugh. Fortunately, I've been keeping food down just fine since the sun came up, and I'll be back to work tomorrow.

I do, however, have a backlog of some eats and treats that I discovered on my camera! Woo! Some food to show you!

A wonderful, summery dinner:

I made Melody's All-American Burgers, stuck them in a bun with some Vegenaise, lettuce, heirloom tomato, and sliced avocado, and served oven-roasted sweet corn and sweet potato fries on the side. If I had an appetite right now, I'd be wishing I had one of these! In my humble opinion, these are the BEST VEGGIE BURGERS I've ever had, storebought or homemade. Thanks, Mel, for sharing your recipe!

Anybody else gorging themselves on heirloom tomatoes lately?

Homemade pizza topped with caramelized onions, heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, olives, and a sprinkling of Italian seasoning. YUM. Oh, by the way -- those beets on that salad? They are from my dad's garden -- thanks, Dad!

Cake-n-Ice-Cream:

The cake is called "Reduced-Guilt Chocolate Brownie Cake," and I believe the recipe came from Nava Atlas. A cinch to prepare, moist, and delicious! I'm deeply saddened that we lost THREE-QUARTERS of this cake to the "fuzz," though. I'll make room in the fridge next time!

Applesauce-making:

Yes, I confess . . . I am the biggest dork . . . EVER. Alton Brown would shun me for owning this unitasker, but hey, I live in MN, and when it's apple season, I don't want to spend hours over the garbage can with a peeler! So there. Chunky, slightly sweet, slightly cinnamony applesauce came in handy today with my touchy tummy.

Last, but not least, MORE heirlooms:

But really, what else does one need this time of year???

Courtney was right.

I started reading A Civil Action on my bus ride home from work tonight. Typically, I take two busses to get home from work, and walk about a mile through downtown Minneapolis after the second bus to complete my journey home. Tonight, I hopped on a THIRD bus through downtown, just so I could keep reading! :)

a book talk

I don't write much here about one of my other passions in life -- good books -- but I have to tell you about my most recent read. I just finished Eat, Pray, Love today, and I'm feeling so sad that this book is over. Do you ever feel like that when you've finished an excellent book? Almost like you've lost a "friend" or something?

Well, this was one of those books for me. Sigh. I know everyone and their next-door neighbor's book club has already read this book, (I'm always a little slow on the up-take,) but I adored it, and if you haven't already read it, READ IT!

I guess the only good thing about finishing a book is starting a new one! Next up? A Civil Action. I don't usually get into legal thrillers, but this comes highly recommended from my friend Courtney, so I'll give it a go.

What have you been reading lately?

super Catherine!

Let me tell you, I deserve this title today. I have no pictures for you, (and you'll see why in a second,) but, I've accomplished SO much today! In addition to attending church and going for a mid-afternoon hike with Dan, I've accomplished the following cooking/baking projects:

roasted potatoes, poached eggs, and greens for breakfast
zucchini bread
granola
sandwich bread
hummus
the base for some veggie burgers we'll eat later in the week
beans and rice (which I'm having for dinner -- yum!)
steamed beets
pasta sauce

We've also done four loads of laundry, and washed mountains of dishes. I've barely had time to eat today, let alone snap pictures, but never fear! They'll show up in meal form later in the week. :)

I'm feeling much better about this coming week, now that I've accomplished all of this. Hope you had a productive and/or relaxing Sunday!

guest blogger -- Dan can cook!

Yep, I cooked this scrumptious meal tonight and I must say, it was delish! When I lived alone, this was a weekly routine. The wok is my friend. Crumble up the tempeh and add tons of garlic and onions and then throw'er in the wok and add some carrots, eggplant, red peppers and last but not least, broccoli! Yay!



This is me cutting broccoli and my new buzzcut. I'm ready to join the Marines! Yeah! I have a big knife too and it works a lot better then the butter knife that I used to use at my old place.



So I took a picture like Catherine does but it turned out blurry. We didn't know that until we were finished eating. So Catherine took another picture; the leftovers were ever so gloriously and beautifully placed by moi in a Minnesota made state-of-the-art tupperware container. So there you go. I cooked and I'm the housewife as of late because I also mopped the floor and licked the bathroom sink clean with my tongue. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures of general kitchen time mayhem.

weekend recap, delayed

My schedule has been insane, still! Dan has refered to my general mood these days as "frazzled." Goodness! I'm sure glad we've decided to skip camping this coming weekend, in favor of possibly a day trip. I need some time at home to get caught up!

Anyhow, my frazzled state of mind was no different in this blog post -- it's taken me four days to get up! One day to upload pictures to my computer, another day to go through pictures, delete duds, and shrink down ones I want to post, a third to upload the pictures to Flickr, and now today, finally posting! Hope it's worth it!

Labor Day Weekend, Dan and I drove down to southeastern Wisconsin to see family and friends. We had lunch with my grandparents on Saturday, hung out with friends in Madison on Saturday night, and visited my parents Sunday-Monday. Dan had requested we spend some time visiting Lake Michigan, which was GREAT! We drove up to Kohler-Andrae State Park on Sunday, did some hiking in the dunes and on a marsh walk, and enjoyed a gigantic picnic lunch my mom packed. Here are some nice photos from our day:



































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I promise I've still been cooking, but it's been pretty minimal -- I've made two batches of soup this week, and we've been surviving mostly on salads and sandwiches. I have training for work tonight, (blah!), and then one more day of work before WEEKEND! WOO! And Dan's cooking Friday night, which is fun for everyone! I've suggested guest-blogging to Dan, and he's thought about it. :) We'll see what he comes up with!

I'm really looking forward to the weekend -- looking forward to getting caught up, finding some time to relax, hitting the Farmer's Market, and possibly taking a hiking day trip, too! What are you looking forward to?

nature, meals

Sorry for the delay in posting, but it's been a busy week again! (Big surprise!) I enjoyed Liz's solution to my lack of time dilemma . . . she suggested we just move to St. Paul! :)

Anyhow, here are a few pictures from a day hike Dan and I took last Sunday at the MN Valley State Recreation Area:










A few meals from the past week . . .

Cheesy beans and rice with a side of greens:

"Mediterranean Baked Lima Beans" from Veganomicon, "Saffron Rice" from Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen, and steamed artichokes:

It's nice when the words "I feel like a treat" are met with, "I'll go get ice cream!"

"Eggplant and Tomato Gratin" from Deborah Madison, again, with bread and butter:


And to conclude, an awesome picture of my little hobbit-kitty: