Seen and Heard

Mommy! I pooped an Edamame poop! It's a three beaner!

Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

Made this for supper last night! Luke isn't fan of the raw onion. I think I'll use just 1/2 a red onion next time and 1/4 cup of cilantro like it says. I think I went a little heavy on the cilantro. I also added 1 lb of cubed cooked chicken for Kyle. This makes enough to feed an army! No mayo so it'd be perfect for picnics.

Quinoa has about the same amount of calories as rice, but 2 grams more protein per serving. It is also naturally gluten free if you need that...we don't, but thought I'd mention it. I really like the Quinoa and have decided to "stock" it and use it instead of rice sometimes. I made mine in my Pampered Chef rice cooker.

Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

INGREDIENTS

• 1. 12 ounces dried black beans, picked over and rinsed
  2. Salt
  3. 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
  4. 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  5. 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  6. 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  7. 1 chipotle in adobo, minced
  8. 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  9. 6 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
  10. 1 small red onion, finely diced
  11. 1 yellow bell pepper, finely diced
  12. 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large saucepan, cover the beans with cold water and bring to a boil. Cover and let stand off the heat for 1 hour.
2. Drain the beans. Return them to the pot and cover with 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat until tender, about 1 hour and 30 minutes; season generously with salt during the last 10 minutes. Drain and let cool.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the quinoa with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Cover the saucepan and simmer the quinoa over low heat until the water has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. Spread the quinoa on a plate and let cool.
4. In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice and chipotle. Add the olive oil in a thin stream, whisking until blended. Add the black beans, quinoa, scallions, red onion, yellow pepper and cilantro. Season with salt, toss to combine and serve.

***To make Quinoa in the microwave: Put in covered dish (I used my Pampered Chef rice cooker) and pop in the microwave for 11 minutes. Let rest 2 minutes and then fluff with a fork! Easy peasy!

Thanks to Ruth Ann Dreyer for sharing this recipe with me. She found it here.

Creamy Pasta Primavera

I made this tonight and it was a winner! Kyle and I both loved it. Luke tried the tomatoes and asparagus and deemed them "too sour", but ate everything else. I will definitely be making this one again, and I recommend you do to! It's a one dish meal, which I love and includes so many veggies, that this is all I served for super! Thinking up a "side" dish is a weak point for me so we usually have heated up frozen veggies.

Creamy Pasta Primavera

2 cups uncooked spiral pasta

1 lb chicken, diced and cooked

1 lb fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2" pieces

3 medium carrots, cut into thin strips

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup half and half (+ 2 or 3 more Tablespoons)

1/4 tsp pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions. Brown chicken. Remove from skillet. In a large skillet, sauté asparagus and carrots in oil until crisp-tender. Add tomatoes and garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in cheese, cream and pepper. Drain pasta; toss with asparagus mixture.

A few notes. The recipe doesn't actually call for chicken, but a meatless meal isn't a winner with my protein lovin' husband, so I added it in. Also, the recipe actually calls for 1/2 cup heavy cream, which I added just a tad more of since I'd added chicken to the recipe. It was really good, a bit rich for me, so when I make it again I will use 1/2 and 1/2 instead. Let me know if you try it with whole milk or something else etc.

Meal Plan!

I don't know if I even posted my last meal plan. I'm surprised I didn't get flooded with emails claiming all your lives had come to a screeching halt. I mean, how do you people even plan your meals without me?!?

I have several new recipes that I'm going to try this session, so I'll let you know how they turn out.

So, here's the low down:

Baked Salmon

Chili Cheese Fries Casserole

Creamy Pasta Primavera (new!)

Orzo and Chicken (new!)

Poppyseed Chicken

Tacos

Chicken Bundles

Black Bean and Quinoa with Chicken (new!)

Grilled Chicken

Creamy Baked Mostacoli

Cheesy Salsa Mini Meatloaves (made with ground turkey)

No new recipes to include with this plan, but hopefully my next post will have several. Since I went to Crest last night I got some Salmon which we will have for supper tonight. Yummy! I haven't made Salmon in a long time, mostly because it's hard to get good salmon here and frankly, I don't think the Salmon at Walmart would be that great so I usually pass.

Crawling!

Leta is officially crawling. Gone are the days of the "frog lunge/worm" and army crawl. On to well coordinate hand-knee movement anywhere her little heart desires.

And she is pulling up. On the couch, end tables, toys, us, laundry basket....anything she can get to work for her.

In other news...Since Body and Soul is on a break so instructors can learn the new routines, I decided that this would be my best time to potty train Luke since we don't have to go anywhere. We are on day 3.

Day 1: No accidents. No #2 on the potty (in his diaper before we got him out of bed this morning)

Day 2: 3 accidents. 1 #2 on the potty! (much celebration and 6! yes 6! mini M&M's)

Day 3: 1 accident. 1 #2 in underware. 3 #2's in potty!

Day 4: Not finished yet, but so far no accidents and 1 #2 outside in the lawn. He was very proud of this, although he was not awarded any M&M's.

He will occasionally tell me he has to go to the bathroom (which is good) but I still have been trying to take him about every hour to prevent. When we get good at an hour, I will extend this time. He is still wearing a diaper to bed and to his naps.

Kyle is gone to Houston this weekend to see Jeremy and help him with a deer stand and ride 4-wheelers. Home alone with the potty training. And if you've noticed a certain facebook status of mine...you'll know Kyle already owes me.

Alright...for those of you who missed it:

Kyle: Did you feel that earthquake?

Me: When? Just now?

Kyle: Yeah, just a few seconds ago.

Me: That was me coming down the stairs.

9 days 'til B&S starts back.

Body & Soul Workshop

Once a year Body & Soul has a big training workshop in the Baltimore area. We learn all the new routines for the new programing, new moves are introduced, and there are classes. This year there were several classes: marketing, shoulder impingement, and a Pregnancy Q&A. There were also MANY workouts: Cardio (twice), strength training and pilates (twice), Boot Camp (twice), Power strength, and Dance Blast.

The workshop was 3 days. Since Leta is still nursing, little, and won't take a bottle, it was either bring her with me or stay home. I asked Kyle if he wanted to go as a family and watch both kids all day and then bring Leta to me when it was time for her to eat...however, he said it wasn't his idea of a good time (wonder why?!??!?!). So I asked my mom. She drove down to Oklahoma Tuesday and we flew out Wednesday morning. Leta was able to have her morning nap at home. She did very well on the plane (especially considering we left OKC 2 hrs late). She had one crying fit right before she slept on the plane for 30 minutes. Thursday and Friday were 12-13 hour days, so very long and tiring for all of us. Saturday was just a half day of workshop and traveling home. Leta did very well, all things considered. She was definitely ready for workshop to be over...she was done sharing me. It got to the point Saturday morning that she wouldn't let my mom feed her, so she came and got me. The only thing that worked for breakfast that worked for breakfast that morning was for me to hold her and mom to feed her. So she pretty much spent Saturday with me. I always nurse Leta before she gets her baby food, but Thursday when mom went to feed her for the first time, she wasn't sure of the order and figured that it probably didn't make any difference so she began feeding her. Leta let her know in no uncertain terms that she does NOT eat baby food first. She only took 3 30 minute naps a day, which is worse than normal (she usually does 3 45 minute naps). She woke up in the night Thursday night because she was cold and so she got to sleep with us in the big bed. Then she woke again early to eat at like 5am, so I put her down in her pack n play and she got up for the day at 6:30. Friday night she woke in the night and slept with us again until she had to eat at 5 again. Friday night we also took Leta swimming before bed and she LOVED it. Too cute.

The other good thing about workshop is the CEC points (continuing education credits). To maintain my ACE certification I need 2 CEC points every 2 years. I got 1.3 CEC's this workshop alone. You can get them other ways (through the ACE website etc) but they cost lots of money, so since I have to go to this anyway, it's good to kill two birds with one stone.

I was definitely glad to have mom come, and I think she had a good time playing with Leta every day, but I was ready to have my baby back and we both were definitely ready to get home. We are both still recovering from out long days and short nights!