Kitchen Experiments

Have been trying some new recipes out lately. Here are a couple things I've done (and actually photographed).

Goldfish! Asher loves these crackers. But I don't love the long list of weird ingredients. So I decided to try out Smitten Kitchen's recipe. Asher loves them! (The fish shape doesn't hurt!)

I also recently tried making homemade yogurt. My first attempt was a big FLOP. But this recipe worked very well. The consistency is great. And so is the taste. The best part is that I only need to purchase milk to make more! I can continue to use the yogurt I've already made as a starter for the new batch.

Can't wait to try some more real food recipes!

More Food

After our visit to the Please Touch Museum last week, we made a brief stop at Trader Joe's. Oh, how I wish we had a store locally. 

I picked up these beauties (my favorite ever flower).

Picked up some coconut oil at a fantastic price.

And stocked up on their amazing chocolate chips.

Oh, and how can I forget to mention these dark chocolate pb cups. They are SO.GOOD. (notice how they're nearly polished off - later in the same day I purchased them!)

In other food news, check out what we found growing in the backyard!

And do you remember the unknown berries I showed you recently? Well, my friend Chanda informed me that they're black raspberries! I picked a bunch and Michael was willing to try them out. I waited a couple days (to make sure he survived) and tried them myself - they were great; I think they're better than red raspberries!

On a sidenote, I've been making green smoothies almost daily. The recipe I've been using is actually good. Never thought I'd say that about a green smoothie. (I tried a different recipe back when I was pregnant, and gagged the whole way to work.

Date Morning

With my littlest man.

Taking a cue from this blog post, I decided it would be fun to go out to breakfast with Asher on occasion. I can't be sure that it will be a weekly occurrence, but definitely once - preferably twice - a month. We went to Miss Emma's before church on Sunday, and picked a nice sunny seat by the window.

Colored while we waited. Working with his right hand...

And his left...

 Waiting patiently.

And not-so-patiently.

Food!

Get outta my way, toast.

Double forking it.

The eggs were his favorite. Of course.

Next time I'll have to be sure to get a photo of the two of us. 

It was such a fun way to start the day!

New Week, Please

The last seven days have been an interesting first week (of the 3rd round) of Weight Watchers and seventh week (of the 2nd round) of Couch to 5k. Each of us were sick at various times, though I'm not 100% I can pinpoint where it began. I suspect Asher, who was sick first (and for the 1st time in his life with the flu), got it from one of the other children at MOPS last week. Thankfully, his bout lasted less than 24 hours. Here he his with his barf pail.

Isn't he sweet? He was happy because he was watching the Veggie Tales Jonah movie. Pronounced "doe-bye", Jonah makes everything better.

Then Michael got sick. Like bad. Was in bed all day on Friday. Then I got sick after eating my curry dish, which you may remember, for dinner. I'm not convinced that's what caused it. I mean, I've made this dish before and had no problem. But let's just say I won't be making curry for a while.

The bright side of all of this - for me anyway - is that I lost a few pounds in the process. I've since gained the sickness weight-loss back, unfortunately. I'm hoping I'm still down a couple pounds from last week though. We'll see in the morning.

Week 7 of the Couch to 5k program has me running 25 minutes straight. Well, I actually made it today. I was feeling fantastic, and confused as to why I didn't have a more difficult time with it. I had a sneaking suspicion that the treadmill was at a decline. Michael confirmed it. Makes me nervous for my next run, now that the machine has been adjusted.

Can't I just go back to eating whatever I want and not running? Who's dumb idea was it to do start eating and exercise plan anyway?

The Last Supper

Ours was last night. At Olive Garden. And it was D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S. Like, so so so good. 

And how was this our last supper? Well, we've starting Weight Watchers today. (again.) (for the 3rd time.) So I'm considering it our last overindulgent supper. It's interesting, I have gone through this process twice since Asher was born, and both times have lost a good amount of weight. And I think, at the time, that I'm on such a good trajectory and can quit the official program to just do it on my own. Well, it hasn't worked out that way. I don't know what I'm going to do at the end of the 4 months (there was a special - buy 3 months online, get the 4th free). But I'm going to remain dedicated through the time I'm committed.

Since we're talking about food here, let me share some recent dishes I've prepared.

I enjoy cooking. I have for a long time. What I don't enjoy is the dishes that need to be washed after. Specifically, the pots and pans that I don't put in the dishwasher because they take up too much room and maybe I'm not supposed to? But that's not what this post is about. You've read enough about my abhorrence dislike of cleaning.

Here's some fantastic homemade whole wheat sandwich bread. I'd been using a different recipe for a while, but this is far superior in taste and texture.

And here is the most amazing BBQ Chicken Pizza. I used Bob's Red Mill gluten-free pizza crust, which is scrumptious, as well as Bulls Eye brand barbecue sauce. Original flavor I think. So good. I also added bacon, though the recipe didn't call for it.

And for tonight's meal, I made a Chicken Vegetable Curry in the crockpot, served with brown rice. Also tried homemade naan for the first time. It was VERY good. Though this meal maybe wasn't the best choice for our first Weight Watchers dinner since coconut milk is about a thousand points.

(If you were wondering, I ordered the Braised Beef and Tortelloni at OG. It was divine.)