Quinoa Bowl

I've been eating quinoa for a while now, but usually only in a quesadilla. I can recognize the potential, though- it's a great base for adding other flavors. I prepared some the other day for my usual quesadilla but then I didn't want it that way after all, so I made a quinoa bowl instead. I threw in a lot of the fixings I would have used on the quesadilla and a few others- here's the throw-it-all-together recipe for one serving:

Quinoa, cooked, about 1/2 a cup if you're going for portion control*
Organic canned corn, rinsed, about 1/4 cup
Canned black beans, rinsed, about 1/4 cup
Diced plum or Campari tomato (or about the same amount of a larger tomato, although you can add more if you have a really good tomato sitting around!!)
Small Hass avocado, diced
Diced sweet onion cooked with a little olive oil until translucent
Diced bell pepper (any color) cooked with the onion
Shredded cheese, about 1/8 cup

Extra virgin olive oil, maybe a couple of teaspoons to drizzle
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together up through the cheese, salt and pepper to taste, drizzle on the olive oil, then dig in!

I thought about adding a dressing of some sort, other than just the olive oil, but the avocado I had when I made this was so creamy it acted as a dressing. The drizzle of olive oil was all it needed. It kept well in the refrigerator over night so I also had it for dinner the next day when a take out meal from a new restaurant left a lot to be desired. This would make a great picnic or travel meal.

*How to cook quinoa: when I first posted the microwave recipe for quinoa (thank you Melissa D'Arabian) I tried to get all fancy and use vegetable broth as the liquid, but it never turns out when I do that for some reason. It always has crunchy bits when I use broth. Just use one cup quinoa to two cups water, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a little bit of olive oil, microwave in a glass bowl with a lid (and put the lid on it!) for 9 minutes on high. (Results may vary depending on your microwave.) Let it sit and finish absorbing the liquid for a few minutes then you're good to go!

Food Fight

I remember the days when buying food was an easy task. I had a list, I went to one store, I bought the items on the list, paid, and went home. No more. Now I shop at three different stores (a local grocery, Whole Foods, and a warehouse store) and get different items from each place. When the opportunity presents itself I also try to shop farmer's markets, but unfortunately those are few and far between in my neck of the woods.

Awareness of food issues makes for a slew of complications, too. In addition to trying to avoid GMOs, high fructose corn syrup, and anything packaged in BPA- (or is it BPH?) laced containers, I have to avoid soy. I'm also mostly vegetarian, but not a strict one, married to a strict vegetarian, with two mostly veg daughters and a full on carnivorous son. Then there's the dogs- they are totally spoiled with a home cooked meat "top dressing" for every meal. So I get meat for the dogs from the warehouse store but meat for my son from Whole Foods, where I look for a "4" animal cruelty rating so he won't get Mad Cow disease. I buy almost everything processed from Whole Foods because I am more likely to find organic and soy-free items there. (Not that we use a ton of processed food, but we do use some.) I can get certain organic items from the local grocery (thank heavens they are carrying organic now!!) like milk and some of my produce. I get my bottled sparkling water from the warehouse store because I can get it in glass containers instead of polluting plastic.

Sometimes I long for the days before "Food Inc." and everything I've learned about the negative health affects of food purchased from major suppliers. It was so much easier! Driving through McD's or Burger King when the kids were hungry for a quick and easy meal... sigh. I can't even remember the last time I went to a burger chain, but I can tell you this- although I've gained back part of the weight I lost in 2007, I am still beating the odds because I've only gained back half. Almost everyone else who loses weight regains it all and then some, so I think it's worth it. I'll keep reading those labels and avoiding the fast food joints, because I'm healthier and my husband is healthier and my kids are healthier, even if it is more work.

Fibro Flare Ups

Mostly I can keep my fibromyalgia under control- I walk for exercise but not too much, I try to eat right, I try to live a low stress lifestyle and keep my schedule under control, but it still flares every now and again. Flares are the pits. I have friends who suffer from migraines (I don't, thank goodness) and it is debilitating for them. My flare ups are about the same- debilitating. I had a bad flare up yesterday from over-doing things the day before; not fun. It's like having the flu with the muscle aches and fatigue; it felt like I was trying to walk under water. I forced myself to get up and get some things done around the house but I would have to lay down between even the most minor chores. I cancelled everything I could cancel, which stinks since that meant the kids had to miss out on their activities, but I just didn't have it in me to drive them around.

Today is a busy day too and I'm still in the midst of the flare, but the activities are close by (driving is tough when I'm flaring) and don't involve much in the way of moving around. My family is pitching in to help out, too so I think I might make it! Having a good support system is crucial to getting through a flare; I think that helps more than anything to get me back on my feet.

It's frustrating because I have so many things I want to do! The fibro slows me down, but it can't stop me, so here's to carrying on!!

Keeping Up

I'm letting my blog go; it's suffering from a terrible case of neglect. I open it up almost daily to get to my favorite links- I can see who's posted among the blogs I follow and click on the games I like to play; very useful. But posting? Not so much.

After the roller coaster that was our November and December, I was hoping January would slow down so I would be able to write more but that hasn't happened, obviously. DH and I did find a day to spend roaming around a small town some distance away and, I think I'm half crazy for taking this on, we decided to purchase a rental/vacation home. As if I didn't have enough on my plate already!! It's something I've been thinking about for a while, though. We went house hunting once about a year ago and didn't find anything so we gave it another go when we had the chance and found a house we liked. We made a low ball offer and the sellers accepted it- I was shocked!! It needs work but not too much so we should be able to rent it out after we get it fixed up. The area sees a lot of snow birds so the idea is to rent it seasonally over the winter, then we can use it during the summer months. The yard is about 4 times the size of our yard at our main residence so I'm looking forward to planting fruit trees. We can't do much as far as vegetable gardening since we won't be there during veggie season, but I'm happy with the idea of getting an orchard going. It will be so much fun to take the dogs up there and let them run around in the huge fenced back yard!

As far as getting it ready to rent, the main thing we have to do is paint, furnish and decorate the place. It's a 4 bedroom house so we have to buy a lot of furniture really quickly. We also want to put in a dock (it's on a lake) and maybe a pool. DH doesn't want the pool but I think it will attract more renters so it's an investment that should pay off in the long run. It's not something we have to do right away, though. Prioritizing is key at this point- this is a small business venture and I want to do it right, but yet still exercise some budgetary caution and common sense.

Pinterest is coming in handy, that's for sure! I've been browsing decorating and furniture websites since we made the offer. It's frustrating, though; I get all of these great ideas on-line but it's so hard to find the things I'm interested in purchasing at a reasonable price and quality level. We're going for a tropical, beachy feel since we want it to say "VACATION" the second you walk in the door. Lots of ideas out there, but not a lot of stuff to bring the ideas into reality.

We'll close in a few weeks, then the fun really begins. We'll take air mattresses and camp out that first weekend and just get to know the place; I'm looking forward to that part of it. After that, the work begins in earnest. I'm sure it will give me plenty to blog about!

Happy 2013

Happy New Year! Here's hoping for a wonderful year for everyone filled with love, laughter, and joy. Around here, we're wishing for all the fun of 2012 minus the bad parts. And we did have fun- we went to San Francisco for the first time, The Eldest finished her first two years of college, The Wild Child made incredible strides with his reading, and we were able to go to North Carolina to see my family. All really great things, along with all the regular, day to day great things.

And now it's off to bed, to start the year off with a good night's sleep.

Merry Christmas!!

It's been a mixed bag this holiday season, but in spite of the disasters the actual holidays themselves have been very special. We got to spend Thanksgiving with my mom and her side of the family, then Christmas Eve with just the 5 of us here at home, then for Christmas Day brunch my brother drove my dad over to hang out for a few hours. We cooked some amazing food (I'm never going to work off the calories!!) and had a great time with loved ones. We were also able to get together with friends a few times during the month; we are truly blessed.

I'm hoping for a 2013 with just as much good stuff as 2012, but without all the bad things that happened!! I'm also wishing the same for you and yours- Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings, and a Happy New Year!!

My dad, my brother, Martha Jr., and DH waiting to eat Christmas brunch. (The Wild Child and The Eldest were milling around somewhere; I was behind the camera.)

When it Rains...

It really pours!!

It's been a run of bad luck around here for the past few weeks, but it all falls in the "could be worse" category. The Eldest wrecked her car thanks to a police officer running a red light (the car was a complete loss but no one was hurt) as we were leaving for a visit to my mom several states away, then she wrecked DH's car a mere 11 days later (once again no one was hurt and DH's car is fixable). As if that weren't enough, DH turned soccer into a contact sport and broke his hand last weekend and had to have out patient surgery on Wednesday. (But he's right handed and he injured his left hand.) A day or two before the soccer game we received 4 notices from our home owner's association about work we have to do around the house including pressure washing the roof and painting. It's all stuff we needed to do but I was hoping to wait until after the holidays; no such luck, they want it done in 30 days or less. That means I'm driving The Eldest to classes, orchestrating our schedule around surgery, fighting with the car insurance company, dealing with contractors about the work around the house, and trying to get ready for the holidays all at once.

Sigh...

I guess it all comes under the heading "first world problems", but put it all together and it makes for a stressful few weeks.

On the positive side, for those of you who hate cheerful holiday newsletters, I can put together a doozy of mournful letter this year!

Here are before and after pics of the house: