Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Poor Puppers

If Trooper could add a caption to this, it would run along the lines of how unfair life is.  What you can't see in this picture is how he is shaking and calculating how he can jump out of the tub.  Poor, wet, soapy doggie.  Even at his unhappiest, there is no sweeter creature than that little guy.
Tonight I am making Giada's Veggie Lasagna.  I omitted the asparagus and added in garlic.  I did not make the individual sizes, but used a 9x13 pan.  This allowed me to use the no boil noodles.  I also chopped all of the veggies in the food processor.  (I am never chopping veggies or grating cheese by hand again.) 
Pre half marathon training has been going really well.  We've had some warm sunny days (don't think too hard about global climate change) and my exercise partner and I went to Spin on Saturday, ran 5 miles on Sunday, and went to yoga last night.  Tonight I rest.  It should be interesting to see how tired my body is and how hungry I am when we reach our 11 mile runs. 
Trooper and I are counting down the days til Jim is done with his symposium and competition, allowing him to study at home a little more.  He'll still be busy, but we miss that guy in the evenings!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sweet Taters

Am I obsessed with sweet potatoes?  Slightly.  I have been for years.  Chips, fries, biscuits, I want it all.  Some weeks we have sweet potatoes multiple times.  I recently read on a blog that someone had made Ina's Chicken and Biscuits with Sweet Potato Biscuits.  My attempt at this is in the oven right now.  I am pumped.  I have made both of these recipes before but never combined them.  Poor Paula Deen, hopefully her diabetes media craze is over.  I can't wait to eat our awesome meal.  My running buddy and I did 5 miles today in 46 minutes.  Right now I'm watching the Sunday ritual of the Trooper bath.  He hates it so much.  He gets a bath every week with a medicated shampoo to try to help his skin issues.  As soon as Jim takes the towel wrack out of the bathroom, he hides and shakes.  When he gets out, we'll give him a blow drying and he'll pass out.  Poor puppers. 

Friday, January 27, 2012

TGIF

First of all, Jim wanted me to tell you all his FAVORITE snack: peanut butter.  Trooper seconds that.
By Thursday afternoon, Jim is over the hardest part of his week.  He was home by 5pm and even took Trooper for a jog.  And he made dinner!  He made awesome crab cakes with canned crab.  He doesn't even use a recipe, which is a skill I envy.  I need cooking guidance. 
I have a fun weekend planned: spin class, watching my LS's basketball game, going out for a drink tomorrow night, then long(er) run Sunday.  I'm also working on a new shirt pattern and reading the second book of The Hunger Games.  If you haven't read The Hunger Games, it's pretty enjoyable.  They are young adult, so they read pretty fast, and take place in the future.  Other than that, they are hard to explain, so you may as well just read them.  Next month's book club book is one that I read a few years ago, The Guernsey Potato Literary and Peel Pie Society.  I am hoping to get to reread before our meeting as it's been so long, but I do remember loving it.  So read that too!  Oh, and look forward to this post: I am planning on making Ina's chicken and biscuits but replacing the regular biscuits with sweet potato biscuits.  Watch out.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Healthy Snacks

It seems like a lot of friends and family have started the New Year on a healthier note.  If you know me, you know I am a huge advocate of exercise and healthy eating (but do indulge in buttery goodness and cheeseburger heaven when necessary.)  We make an effort to eat healthy most of the time at home and try to have a few veggie meals a week, along with a few seafood meals.  We've been trying to stock up on healthy snacks for the ever hungry Legal Beagle.  Here are our faves:
Apples and Oranges
Almonds
Home made trail mix (the bulk section at the store is a great place for cheap fixins.)
0% Fat Plain Greek Yogurt (You can mix in honey or vanilla extract.  I add berries and flax meal.)
Bananas (We both eat at least one a day!)
Cheese cubes
Granola Bars
Healthier Chips (We currently have the Trader Joe's Flax Seed Tortillas)
Hummus
Salsa
We have quite a few small reusable containers that we load up with snacks in the morning.  I seriously eat one snack about every hour.  At least they are healthy snacks, right?

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Rainy Days

Our favorite law student is working his lil tail off.  He's been getting home around 8:30pm most nights and then working at home after dinner.  On Tuesdays, he has a night class and will ride his bike home in the cold rain, so I am making this awesome sounding grown up mac n cheese.  I am planning on adding some peas in too for a little veg in there.  A side of salad and a glass of wine with it sound lovely on a cold and rainy day. 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Cynthia Rowley Top

I made this!  This shirt was made from Simplicity 2593, a Cynthia Rowley pattern.  The pattern was very easy to follow and did not take long at all.  The hardest part was sewing the binding around the neck and armholes.  If you look up close, there are a lot of errors in those areas.  The other hard part was sizing it to me, as the smallest size for cutting the pattern was a 6.  I think this will look especially nice under a cardigan.  My next project will be tackling the same pattern but with sleeves. 

Hungry Guys

 Trooper had a lot of napping on the agenda this weekend.  Poor pup.  He does seem to be itching less, so we are hoping his hot spot outbreak has passed.  Our current hypothesis is that he's allergic to mold and mildew, which blooms in abundance during the rainy season (fall, winter, and spring.)
Have you ever tried to feed a hungry law student?  Especially one who has high metabolism, rides his bike everywhere, and works out?  It's a part time job!  Today I prepped snacks for the week: trail mix, pita chips, cheese cubes, hard boiled eggs, and made the above pictured "healthier" peanut butter cookies.  I used the BH&G recipe, but replaced the butter with canola oil, eggs with egg whites, flour with whole wheat flour, and half of the white sugar with honey.  They are really good!  The next step is to decrease the white sugar even more and try another butter alternative such as apple sauce or over ripe bananas.  Until then, I'll be busy stocking the fridge.
Oh, and before I forget: an easy PW recipe: shrimp quesadillas.  They were yummy!  I cooked my shrimp in TJ's Serrano pepper salsa and bought pre-chopped onions and peppers to make life easier.  A good Friday night comfort food dinner.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Long Night

Poor Legal Beagle.  He did not get off to Bend until around 7pm or so (usually a 2.5 to 3 hour drive) and just his luck, the highway through the Cascades was closed due to a landslide.  He had to turn around and take a longer detour, but made it safely eventually.  Hopefully he won't have to be there all day and can return by this afternoon.
Trooper appeared to have major anxiety over him being gone.  He is currently on a round of antihistamines and antibiotics for a new hot spot outbreak and he has been very itchy lately.  Last night he woke me up every hour itching and licking but I couldn't find any irritated spots, so I am wondering if we was confused by his dad's absence.  Either way, it made for a long night for us.  Then he woke me up at 5:30am, ate his breakfast, and barked into the parking lot.  I think he was woofing his dad home.
We are hoping for a relaxing night at home tonight and a good night's sleep.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Tofu Wins

Last night I made this yummy tofu dish.  It is not only easy, but very flavorful.  Chili paste isn't available everywhere, but you might find it in the Asian section of the grocery store.  It does have a different consistency than chili sauce, so if you can find the paste, I recommend it.  I also added in red bell pepper for extra veggie goodness. 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Holy Monsoon

It seems that in the dry spell we had in Oregon, we forgot that it rains here.  It's only been raining two days, but it has been pouring.  It is winter in the Pacific Northwest, I guess.  Our favorite Legal Beagle has been riding his bike everywhere in it, as Tuesday was his first day of school.  He also works 20 hours a week, participates in a club, and is preparing for his competition in New York.  When he told me his schedule this morning, I said, "See you in May!"  And he said, "We'll have a great summer!" 
If you are a subscriber to Martha Stewart Living (you should be), last night I made the pasta and ham dish featured in the vegetable section.  I couldn't find any links to it online, but it's in the February issue.  It has broccoli and cauliflower and was pretty tasty.  It was a bit labor intensive for a week night dinner (involved food processing), but it made a giant pan.  I recommend it. 
Tonight my running buddy and I are braving the elements for another 4 mile pre-training run.  We might go the rec center, but we agreed that if we stay inside when it's raining, we'll be indoors until July.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Snowy Day

 I tried to get a picture of the snow falling, but it didn't work out so great.  It was a wet snow that never accumulated, but any snow is a big deal here. 
A little sunshine on a snowy day.  The honey bear is from the Heritage Prairie Farm, where we were married.
 I made white bread from The Joy of Cooking.  I thought it was yummy!  I broke off a little hunk of the dough and made a small cinnamon bread for breakfast.  (Just rolled cinnamon and sugar into the dough and put it in a small loaf pan.)
One of Jim's last nights of cooking until the spring.  He made a really yummy chicken noodle soup and didn't even use a recipe. 

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Hot Yoga

We had a big morning: Jim and I went to Zen Spot, a hot yoga studio in Eugene.  It was awesome!  Someone in our household thought yoga would be a little easier than it was.  The heat definitely adds a difficult element, but I loved it.  I usually go to Kira's class at Just Breathe on Monday nights, which is also a great workout and Kira is a wonderful teacher.  If I could afford Zen Spot more often, I'd go, but c'est la vie.  As I told Jim this morning, if more people did yoga, the world would be a better place.  He then promptly tried to take a nap. 
Did you know that Jim returns to school on Tuesday?  February will be a super busy month for him, with his thing in Portland and thing in New York. 
And the very absent rain has begun to fall again.  We forgot about that whole thing in the Pac NW.  The rain.  The cold rain.  Hot yoga helps though!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Bangers and Mash

First of all, the vodka marina recipe from my last post was really yummy.  Instead of pancetta, I mixed in broiled salmon to make it slightly healthier.  Both of us enjoyed it.
Wednesday night was the kick off to pre half marathon training!  My new training buddy and I ran 4 miles.  I even bought new shoes for the adventure.  "Real" training starts the week of Feb. 27, when we run a lot.  On a lot of days.
Jim went to Portland today with a gal from school to do something or other for his symposium that's coming up in the beginning of February.  If he's back early enough, I'm going to make Ina's Bangers and Mash.  I have never made this, and am not the biggest mustard fan, but it will be fun to try.  If you know me, you know I love sausage.
There is a chance of snow in the valley this weekend!  It rarely snows here and if it does it's wet and melts.  It would be fun to have a snowy Sunday, walk Trooper to the dog park to play in it, then bake bread and make chicken noodle soup.  Trooper goes crazy when the grass is frozen, so I'm really hoping to see him play in the snow (still haven't seen much snow since we adopted him!)  If we do, I'll try to get some good pictures or video to post.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Pasta and Salmon

Tonight I am trying this Vodka Marinara recipe.  Instead of pancetta (which I love with all of my heart) we are making it with salmon (to try to recreate a dish Jim had an Italian place in Illinois.) 
I realized that I haven't blogged about Trooper lately!  I bet you are wondering about his health.  Until a few days ago, he'd been hardly itching at all.  No hot spots, no issues.  But the last few days we've seen an increase in itching and licking.  As long as it's not leading to hot spots, he's okay (except for a cranky dad who can't sleep at night when he hears the itching.)  We'd been hoping to decrease his medicine to every other day to save money (you don't want to know how much we pay a month for puppers) but the vet recommended waiting until he's itch free.  Otherwise, he's a happy guy.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Next Trip

I don't think we travel too much, but we are lucky enough to visit friends and family.  Our next trip is to NYC in February, where Jim will be competing in a law school related deal and I'll be visiting my brother and his family.  Jim's dad and step mom will also be in town to cheer on our favorite law student and see the sites.  Get ready, NYC!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Mount Baldy

 I am still LOVING my birthday flowers that one my best friends sent me.  They are so bright and wonderful.
 Today we picked a hike from a new book we received for Christmas (Best Eugene Hikes) and went to Mount Baldy, part of the Ridgeline system in South Eugene.  We are still having warm, dry weather, thanks to La Nina and/or Climate Change.
 We could just barely see a few snowy mountains, but they didn't come out in the photo.


Luckily, no bears or cougars.  I like the last line: "If attacked, fight back."

Friday, January 6, 2012

Mexican Chicken Soup

I think I have posted this recipe before, but it's a good one.  Ina's Mexican Chicken Soup is a yummy Mexican version of chicken noodle soup.  This is yummy, healthy, and can be gluten free.  Jim was in charge of cooking it and did a great job.  The only funny mishap was that he accidentally put a dollop of vanilla yogurt on top instead of plain (I like to substitute fat free Greek yogurt for sour cream.) 

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Back to Life

We are slowly returning to our "routine" in Eugene.  Jim returns to school on Jan. 17 and is busy working part time at the court house and building up his domestic credits around the house.  I'm trying to adjust to being back at work and all that jazz.  After dinner, I've been scurrying to finish my Book Club book.  I am down to the wire and should finish it tonight for our meeting tomorrow.  It's the book I mentioned before, Paula by Isabel Allende.  It was great at first, but slowing at the end.  Memoirs are really a self indulgence, and I'm sure it's hard to edit them.  It's interesting, but a little long.  It will be nice to see the gals and eat snacks.  Jim and I are planning a hike this weekend AND going to yoga together (part of his birthday gift to me.)  I should also be back on the crafting and cooking train, so will be sure to update you all with fun new recipes and ideas!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Cute Blog

I haven't recommended any cute sites or blogs lately, so thought I'd share Young House Love.  It's a nice blog to check in at once and awhile.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Birthday Fun

 My nice husband bought me a mini champagne and flowers.
 And he grilled me a steak and made me sweet potatoes.  We ate at the table like grown ups and listened to Andrew Bird.
 We keep oh-ing and aw-ing over our dog, like he's the cutest organism in the world.  Maybe it's because we missed him so much or because he is actually the cutest organism in the world. 
My coworker's wife bakes cakes as a side job and sent this one fore me.  Pretty cute!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy 2012.  We made it safely back from our trip to Illinois. We had an awesome week, lots of visiting and eating.  We slept in every morning, caught up with friends and family, played some Wii, and had an overall great time.  We ate all of the favorites that we can't get in Oregon: Italian Beef, Chicago Dogs, Deep Dish Pizza, Thin Crust Pizza, Fried Cheese Curds.... (We ate tempeh burritos and falafel upon our return to Eugene; our arteries welcomed the change.)
We picked up our wonderful mutt this morning before work.  He seemed more excited to see Jim and kissed him all over.  They dropped me off at work, and Jim said that when he went home he went right for his new dog toys that he was given for Christmas (thank you, in laws!) 
I am counting down until 5pm.  I'm going to get a nice work out in while Jim grills me steak and makes baked sweet potatoes and salad and we are going to open a bottle of wine from Sweet Cheeks that we've been saving.  A nice start to my 31st year.