New Year!!!!

   Breakfast

It was nice to be able to sleep in this morning. With an 18 month old sleeping in takes a whole new meaning!  I had an egg with diced tomato on a whole wheat toast with a slice of tomato on the side. A small scoop of hummus and a cup of hot Earl Grey tea.  Delish!

 Lunch

LOVE leftovers!!  No defrosting, no prepping and very little clean up! Yay! I had leftover turkey meatloaf, balsamic roasted tofu and some diced up tomatoes.  A small oh so juicy Clementine for dessert!  I made a cup of Pellegrino with cranberry juice to go with lunch.

As Shrek plays in the background its time for mommy to catch up on her reading. Off I go to read for the next few hours with a hot cup of Earl Grey tea.  

 New Year’s Resolutions

I have never been a big new year’s resolution type of person.   A resolution to me come after a realization that can come at any time of the year.  But that being said, why not!? What’s the harm?

For this year:

·         Eat 95% local and organic. – Our current goal was to be 70% organic. We do most of our shopping at Whole Foods and stock up on all the staples.   But we found ourselves going to the grocery stores that are within a 10 minute walk, makes it convenient to go there to pick up anything we run out of. And you know what happens when you go to the grocery store for just one thing…….!

·         Organize!  - I started this year with the pantry but we still have a way to go in the pantry and in all the other parts of the house.  I have to start getting all our paperwork together and creating some cute ideas I have seen on other blogs. My craft area needs major organizing since I don’t have a designated space.

·         Increase Family  and friend time – I want to not lose focus of what is most important to me.  My family. 

·         Quality of Personal time  - Find activities/events that make the most out of “without baby” time.

Hummus time!

I bought the red pepper hummus from Whole Foods last month. It was the first time I had ever tried it. It was delish!  So after looking at various different recipes on the internet, here is my take on it.

I used:

·         Garbanzo Beans

·         White Beans

·         Organic Sesame Seeds

·         Olive Oil

·         Salt and Pepper



Both sets of beans were washed and ready to be thrown together.

Yummy goodness.

In the fridge it went.  Two cans sure made a lot!

For breakfast I made the usual.

And as usual it did not disappoint. It is super filling and carries me to lunch without a problem. Love it!

Is that a stick in my drink?

When’s the last time you had some cinnamon in your water?  Well, I think it’s about time.  Nothing like a cold winter day to enjoy a warm cup of it!

 You will need:

• Water
• 3-4 cinnamon sticks
• Milk
• Sweetner - I love agave but you can also use honey or sweet condensed milk.

And your FAVORITE cup!

Simply, fill your pot halfway with regular H2O. Bring it to a boil and add 3-4 cinnamon sticks into it.  The water will soon turn into a dark reddish tone and your house will smell soooo good! Let it boil for 15-20 minutes.

Fill your cup up with the cinnamon water.  

Add milk.

Sweeten it!

And enjoy! So good!

Tofu Time!

Lunch time came around much too quickly for this household. We ate breakfast and headed out, we officially become mall walkers!!! yay!  It was as though we owned the mall!! Along with the other walkers of course! For the first time EVER we had the whole kids playground to ourselves!! She could actually move around for a change! We stopped for a music notebook at Music & Arts were I saw the exact same piano for $1400.00 WOW, I got a great deal!!!

We were ready for lunch after putting the baby down for her morning nap.  I had never prepared tofu before. It was super super easy and it takes so good.

I cut the tofu block into 8 slices and placed them inside a few napkins with the cutting board and two gallons of water to take the extra water out.

                               I stacked them and cut them down into little 1 inch cubes.

They went into the hot pan that was sprinkled with olive oil. I waited 5-8 minutes until the bottom side was nice and brown. I then turned them over.

              Sprinkled some salt and pepper. And waited for the other side to brown nicely.

Ta-da!!!! So easy to make and it was great with the salad.

What's for lunch?

Tomorrow's lunch is ready! It was one of those evenings that we ran around shopping after going out for dinner. I was in no mood to cook anything for tomorrow. But I forced myself off the computer and into the kitchen.  For lunch I will be having Tilapia seasoned with a little pepper on a bed of collard greens.

I sauteed garlic, added the greens and waited for the wilting to begin. Delish! Simple but good.

For snacks I am taking a cheese stick and some of these buddies. Yummy!

Via Colori!

Today was the Via Colori street painting festival in downtown.  It was AMAZING!!!!

Wow!

Organization!

For me, I like seeing everything that I have right away.  I started to make this happen with this pantry idea. Take regular 2X4's, spray paint them, stack them and ta-da! Instant organization! No tools required, the board were cut at Home Depot for me! No more guessing at what is hiding in there!

 My love of labels knows no end! My daughter's kitchen area was starting to get chaotic. I found these baskets in the back to school aisle at Walmart. Now everything is in its place and easy to locate.  We love these small glass bowls to heat up her food in the microwave, no BPA for us!

Taking it a step further, I got inspired to make more bows.  A semi-forced inspiration since most of my daughters bows are somehow missing!!!

I looked in the craft bin and found this mess!

But thanks to these handy plastic bands, I was able to give this drawer a makeover!!!

Its much better now!

What are your organization musts?