Monthly Archives: January 2012

Remember when I used to blog?

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Man, oh, man…where does the time go?
So many things I want to write about, but so little time to collect my thoughts into a post that is worth writing.

Some things I’ve been wanting to blog about, but haven’t gathered a whole post…
…Seal and Heidi Klum. I called it from the days of bragging about all the sex all of the time. What married couple that you know brags about all of the sex all of the time? None that I know. And I know lots of people who have been married for a LONG time.

…Jennifer Garner’s pregnancy. Why does it seem to be lasting for 10 years?

…Drew Peterson: Untouchable : The Lifetime Movie I couldn’t wait to watch. I love Rob Lowe, and I love Lifetime Movies about real people. It was everything I wanted it to be, full of soundbytes! “I think I just may have found…wife number 5.”

…raw oats in yogurt with fruit. I have seen many bloggers do this, and it looked gross to me. I tried it today, and I ain’t afraid to admit I was so wrong. It’s delicious.

…kale chips. I can’t stop eating them. Love them.

…garlic gold. rocks my world.

That is all.
Miss you all. xoxox.

Takin’ What They’re Givin’

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…cause I’m workin’ for a livin’.  That’s right, I just quoted Huey Lewis and the News.  Don’t hate.

I have been a blogging slacker because late November through December was a bit of a big life transition for me.  I had a birthday (thanks for the super-kind birthday post, Beth WA), there was a lot of Christmas preparation, and in the midst of it all, I was in the process of making a somewhat significant career change.  This past week represented the culmination of those efforts. I went from working part-time to full-time, from a job that left me feeling drained to one with an organization that I have been a believer in for a long time.  While starting a new job can be stressful and intimidating, for the first time in my career I feel like I am where I am meant to be.

The flip-side is that the FS family is adjusting to settling into a new normal…new job, new schedule, new child care, less free time, more mommy-guilt, and a need for a lot more organization and planning to make it all work.  I’m nowhere near having it all figured out yet, but I’m working hard on letting go of the feeling that it all needs to be perfect all of the time from the start, and accepting instead that it will be a process for everyone involved. I’m mostly struggling with figuring out how to manage meal planning/preparation, homework, and housework while still having time for family fun and relaxation.

Is it bad that on top of these adjustments, I’m also struggling with the TV that I’m missing? There are lots of shows that I’ve never watched that I’d like to start watching or catch up on, and I feel like I’m missing out.   In no particular order, the top five are:

  1. Revenge
  2. The Good Wife
  3. Parenthood
  4. American Horror Story
  5. Ringer (thanks to a repeated and ringing endorsement by Beth WA)

Over Christmas vacation I DID finish watching Friday Night Lights.  It was the best six months of watching five seasons of  television that I have ever spent.  If you haven’t watched FNL, you must stop reading right now and go start.

And one more struggle…I am an avid reader and am finding that about ten minutes of reading at night is all I can squeeze in before falling asleep.  (I acknowledge that I could step away from iAssociate 2 and Words With Friends to make a little more book time in the evenings…)  I also think I am in need of more captivating reading.  I am currently reading Mockingjay and it just isn’t holding my interest like the first two books in The Hunger Games series did.  Maybe I waited too long between finishing Catching Fire and starting this one? Or maybe I just need some better book recommendations.

So if you have any working full-time time-management tips, prioritization suggestions for the above mentioned TV shows, or recommended reading, please share!

-          Beth FS

In a snackin’ kind of mood…

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It is so telling of my mood when I look at my groceries. I mean, when I look at my groceries after a list free shopping trip.
From the 2 bags of pop chips, the 2 bags of pretzels *1 sourdough, 1 regular*, the bag of some other type of natural chip, and the 2 boxes of popcorn, I think it is safe to say that I am craving snack food. What do you think?

The point of my trip was to pick up a few things to make homemade pizza (by homemade, I mean by a pre-made crust, and put toppings on it), and a giant salad for dinner tonight.
So, now I am home, drinking my husband’s homebrew – a delicious California Common – making dinner.
My husband has been a homebrewer since shortly after we got married and I told him he needed to get a hobby. He loves it. It’s more than a hobby. It’s his passion. I always feel a little badly because I don’t care for the IPA’s that he loves to drink and make, so I rarely drink his homebrew. One of my New Year’s Resolution is to try more beers, and maybe broaden my palate. I mean, it’s right at my house, in my basement, on tap. I should take advantage of this!
So, right now, as I cook, I am enjoying one of his beers.
Well, I better go cook, for real, the hubs is lurking in the kitchen, which means he is hungry.

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“Hungarian”

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As a compulsive overeater/binge eater there is a feeling that I rarely experience. Many of you probably feel it on a daily basis.
That feeling is hunger.
I spent so much of my life overeating, I can identify with the feeling of uncomfortably full much more than hungry.

When it comes over me, I am often taken aback, not sure what it is. My stomach starts to feel weird, I get really grumpy, and I am irrational in what I want to do, eat and say.

As somebody who is on WW and always trying to lose weight, I try to plan my day so I don’t get too hungry, because when I get too hungry – that’s when, pardon my French, sh#t goes down.

That’s when I can eat a bag of Dove chocolate, with a dorito chaser.
Or ice cream with delicious toppings, such as coconut, peanuts, and magic shell.
Or the McDonalds 2 cheeseburger meal. Mmmmm. (Don’t hate, people. I like really good food, but a couple of times a year, I just have to have a McDonalds cheeseburger and fries. Usually during a hangover.)

But, one of the things I am trying to get better at is my coping mechanism when I am starving.
And I’ve been doing a lot better this time around.
And today, my will power was truly tested.
I had to go somewhere that I hadn’t planned on after school today, and it took a long time. I didn’t finish up until 6:35 and I still had to go to the store, cook dinner, eat it, and then do the treadmill. I knew what I had planned to make for dinner would take a while to cook. After eating lunch at 11:50 I was starving by 7:00 when I got home.
I told my mom, I ran in my house and starting eating clementines (0 points) and I looked like a heroin addict right after they inject themselves (so I’ve seen on the show Intervention).
They were the best clementines I’d ever eaten.

That’s the thing about eating when you are hungry.
You taste the flavors more.
And that’s what I need to do.
Keep working on stuffing my face less, and
tasting the flavors more.

Have a great Wednesday night!! Two more sleeps and it is FRIDAY!!
-Beth WA

I titled this blog Hungarian because that is what my roommate in college would say when she was hungry. She would say, “I am hungarian.” Fifteen years later, I still say it.

Cayenne Pepper is Hot.

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Hey…Beth WA here…
Tonight I made these Sweet Potato Fries. I used only 1 tbsp of olive oil instead of 2, and only half a teaspoon of salt instead of two teaspoons.
They looked delicious, they smelled delicious, and I think they would be delicious if I hadn’t put so much cayenne pepper in the mix! ay-yay-yay. I had not used cayenne pepper that much in recipes, and so I thought I’d go with the whole half a teaspoon. For most people this might be fine, but for me, it is *too* much. My mouth is burning. So, it was hard for me to taste the other delicious seasonings-which are some of my favorites.

And I burnt the pork chops, so I had to do plan b on those, and made Market Day Naked Chicken Cordon Bleu. It’s actually not bad for a pre-made chicken, but it’s not what I had in mind. The savior to the meal was the salad which I chopped the tomato and cucumber really small (I love when restaurants do that) and added black beans and a pinch of cheddar cheese.
So, I ate the potatoes and the salad, and I am waiting for the chicken.

Does anybody have good sweet potato recipes? I love them so much and am always looking for good ways to use them.

Also, guess what I did yesterday, besides grade my face off? I got all of my magazine recipes in page protectors in one binder!! Now, I just have to organize them in categories. But, just having them not sticking out everywhere and easier to leaf through has relieved some of that stress.

I’ll leave you with a picture of the salad and the potatoes pre-oven…

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Chia Seeds for Life

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I’ve read several food bloggers adding chia seeds to things, and so I ordered some and started adding them VERY sparingly to things. I don’t like seeds in things, they get stuck in my teeth and my permanent retainer, or as my 6 year old niece calls is, my container.
And when I saw that people added them to smoothies, I knew that wasn’t for me because I don’t make smoothies with berries for that reason. I hate seeds stuck in my teeth.
Well, as I was watching Dr. Oz this week on my super unproductive Christmas break, I saw WHY chia seeds are recommended. I didn’t realize they expand and make you fuller. I probably read it somewhere, but it didn’t sink in until I saw the Dr. Oz demonstration.
So, I thought I’d give them a fair shot. I added them in my smoothie one morning, and in my cereal the next morning. And they did *not* get annoyingly stuck in my teeth!! In fact, I couldn’t even feel them in the smoothie. In my cereal, I could tell they were there a little bit, but nothing too annoying. However, the most exciting thing is, THEY WORKED. Cereal doesn’t usually fill me up as long as it did yesterday. This is exciting for me. I thought it might be for you, too.
I hope your 2012 is going well. I am about to watch Bridesmaids and do the grading I had planned on doing gradually through break….but instead I have to do it all today. Hooray for procrastination. : /

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-Beth WA

Recipes

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I am a wanna be organized person. I have lots of things that are very organized. But usually it is half organized. For instance, my bills and paperwork. All of the bills and paperwork that are filed are organized and very easy to find. But, the last 6 months worth of paperwork and old bills is sitting in a stack and begging to be filed. I had that as a to do list for Christmas break, but as I previously stated, this break was not at all productive on the “to do” list front. I need to do it on a regular basis rather than saving it for one big job.

That brings me to recipes. I am a recipe hoarder. I have cookbooks, magazine cutouts, binders, starred entries in Google Reader, Bookmarked websites, little recipe cards and boxes with recipe cards, and word document folders on my computer. It drives me crazy that they are every where. I want them all in one place. I don’t know why, but I just do. I think that maybe if they are organized I will actually try some of them.
Any suggestions??

Because this isn’t working for me…

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-Beth WA