It's Not Delivery...

It's....grilled?!  Yep. 

We had our friends John & Laura over for dinner last night and decided to grill some pizzas.  We went with a traditional margherita pizza as the safe one and then went a little crazy with our flatbread style pizza.  The flatbread ended up taking the prize for the night.

I cut up some yellow onion, zucchini, squash and eggplant, placed them in a ziploc bag and let them sit in olive oil and sea salt

while I was in between putting away our stuff from this weekend's trip to San Diego and putting out hors d'oeuvres.  Patrick was trapped on the couch with a baby and a bottle - its amazing how much longer stuff takes to get done when 1 person is out of commission.  Trader Joe saved me: a block of honey goat gouda with sliced green apple and a roasted red pepper/artichoke tapenade with crackers.  Nom nom.

We figured out the trick to getting the dough juuuust right...after almost burning one of the pizzas last night haha.  Roll your dough out into whatever shape you want and brush one side with olive oil.  Lay the oiled side down on the grill and cook for about 4-5 minutes.

Here's where we made our mistake: we cooked both sides and then brough the dough in for toppings.  What we should have done:  while still on the grill, brush the top with olive oil and then flip when the bottom side is done.  Leaving the dough on the grill, bring your toppings out and go to town. 

The veggies from earlier went onto the grill for a little charring before they went onto the pizza.  I had roasted some garlic earlier amidst all the veggie chopping and baby wearing, and cooked it just enough to make it spreadable.  For the flatbread I brushed it with olive oil, spread the garlic, loaded with grilled veggies and topped with cheese - a swiss/gruyere mix that is AMAZING.  Thank you again Trader Joe. 

I could have eaten both pizzas by myself, but I had to leave room for strawberries with fresh whipped cream. ;-)

I'm off to get a run in before Tripp wakes up hungry again.  Have a lovely Monday!

xo
Shaina

Taco Tuesday!

Happy Taco Tuesday!  We used to make that a tradition every week, but we've been on nothing even close to a routine the last few months.  We'll be at Tripp's first Dodger game tonight, so I decided to make fish tacos last night instead.  Lucky for you. :-)

Tripp is starting to work himself into a 7:30ish bedtime, so while Patrick was doing the bath/bedtime routine, I went downstairs to get dinner going and we enjoyed a nice adult dinner sans baby. 

I drank from my goblet to celebrate Patrick's last day in the Navy...today! 

Ten years of service and he's all done.  On to the next chapter!

I digress.  I'm normally not a huuuuge fan of Hungry Girl recipes because she uses a lot of processed ingredients, but I do have a couple of pages bookmarked in her "200 under 200" cookbook.  One I keep coming back to: San Diego Baja-style Fish Tacos <--- obviously I would fall in love with anything named after my favorite city.  Duh. 

This isn't her recipe verbatim; I've made my own little substitutions.

For Tacos:
4 small white corn tortillas
8 oz raw Cod or Mahi Mahi, cut into even strips (I always make extra so I have leftovers for salads)
1 cup thinly sliced green cabbage
1/2 cup Fiber One cereal
3 egg whites, beaten
1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
sea salt
black pepper
Optional: chopped cilantro, lime wedges, salsa, avocado

For Sauce:
1/3 cup low-fat mayo (I use Follow Your Heart soy-free Veganaise)
2 tbsp low-fat sour cream (I use Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream)
2 tbsp chopped yellow onion
1/2 tsp lime juice
sea salt
cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the sauce.  Mix well and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the tacos.  For the cabbage, you can buy a whole head and risk chopping off fingertips to slice it yourself (probably unevenly)...or if you're lazy smart like me and have a sweet food processor, you can use this amazing attachment

and put 1/4 of the head in at a time and watch your cabbage get sliced perfectly in 2.5 seconds.  You can also buy a bag of shredded cabbage at Trader Joe's. ;-)  Toss the cabbage with the vinegar and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble your tacos. 

In a blender or food processor, grind the Fiber One cereal until it has the consistency of bread crumbs.  Transfer to a bowl and mix with the garlic powder, garlic salt, onion powder, salt and pepper.  Place the egg whites in another bowl.  Spray a cooking sheet with olive oil spray.  One by one, coat pieces of fish in egg whites and then with the breadcrumb mixture, then transfer to the cooking sheet.  Cook for 12 minutes until the fish start to brown. 

To assemble tacos, warm the tortillas in the microwave (or if you're lucky enough to have a gas stove, over a low flame).  I found these at Sprouts and will never buy another brand:

They taste like your Nana just made them from scratch.  Amazing.

Place a fish strip in the tortilla, top with cabbage and sauce.  If you like, add avocado and cilantro and serve with lime wedges.  My big fail for the night: I forgot to ask Patrick to stop by the store and pick up some more avocados and limes.  Rookie move Shaina. 

The "refried" black beans are actually just my slow cooker black beans that I put in the food processor for about 10 seconds to give them the consistency of refried beans, topped with a little bit of cheese.  Refried beans really aren't that healthy, so is was my way of Shaina-fying them.

I hope you enjoy!  Tripp & I are off to make some new friends this morning.  Have a wonderful day!

xo Shaina

Home Sweet Home

We had a lovely trip down to San Diego last week.  I'm always excited to go down there!  San Diego is where Patrick and I were living when we met & started dating, so there are lots of fun memories for us. 

Haha...don't ask. 

Vacations are always fun, but there are definitely things I *don't* look forward when we return home:
1. the mountain of laundry
2. a refrigerator that's about as impressive as the day before you move into your new place.  exactly.

Its always so tempting to just grab some takeout when we get close to the house.  We actually turned the AC completely off before we left (not my idea), so walking into a stuffy sauna when we unlocked our front door pretty much took away any appetite either of us had.  We snacked and called it a night. 

I spent my Saturday tackling said mountain of laundry and grocery shopping.  Then we had a dinner party!

We had family over and finally got around to inviting our neighbors for dinner.  Bad Shaina.  We've been here for almost 4 months!  The best part of the night:  I did some prep work and that was it!  The men cooked.  AND cleaned!

Except Tripp.  He just flirted with the ladies.

We learned that we made a mistake in renting this house, though.  Its too small already and we only have 1 baby!  We really enjoy having people over and entertaining, but anything more than 10 is a tight squeeze around the dinner table.  Looks like we need to get on that patio furniture shopping!

We're off to church and then I'll be having a cookstravaganza this afternoon to prep for the week.  Hopefully my veggie burger experiment isn't a complete bust.  Hope you're having a great weekend!

xo
Shaina

It's Been Awhile

Hey there - happy hump day!  We needed a little breather last week - wedding, baby shower, family gatherings and much needed naps - but we're back!  This post is coming to you from America's Finest City. :-)  Google it. 

Patrick had to come down for a class on base this week, so Tripp & I decided to join him, hang out and breathe in some of the fresh ocean air that I miss.  The view from his pack 'n play:

Poor kid.

Yesterday, we enjoyed lunch al fresco at Burger Lounge while Daddy was in class.  It was the veggie burger of my DREAMS:

It doesn't look like much but it was fanfreakingtastic.  Quinoa, lots of veggies, a little cheese....yes please.

I feel like every restaurant's veggie burgers are so different....along with all the frozen varieties you can get at the grocery store.  It inspired me to try and make my own at home next week.  This could be a great experiment that rocks my world on the first try....or a work in progress for the next 6 months.  We'll see! 

I love experimenting in the kitchen.  Usually, I will see a recipe on one of a few blogs I stalk read and get inspiration from that.  I tend to not follow recipes exactly, but instead I give it my own little twist.  Its been a while since I came up with a new recipe that was entirely my own, though, and I'm excited to give you a few new ones. 

SO - let's hear it.  What recipes would you like?  Do you have a favorite dish but feel guilty every time you eat it because it has an entire day's worth of calories?  A favorite snack that you always have but you're hungry 20 minutes afterward because it lacks staying power?  Let me know!  I'd love to compile a list to start working on. 

In the meantime, here are some recipes I've recently come across that you may enjoy.  I haven't tried all of them, but they're from reputable sources. ;-)

For the sweet tooth:

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Crazy Woman Chocolate Blender Pudding 
Black Bean Brownies

Breakfast:

Quinoa Granola
Vegan Cinnamon Buns
Baked Oatmeal

Snacks:

Amazeballs
my homemade protein bars
Avocado Fries

Lunch/Dinner/leftover schmorgesborg:

Quinoa Broccoli Casserole  <--- I'm scary excited to make this next week
Falafel
Low Yolk Egg Salad

We're off to enjoy the sunshine!  Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone. :-)

xo
Shaina

Body by Tripp: 1 Month

I got the green light for exercise yesterday!! Woohoo! Time for the burn. I was excited to strap these babies on last night for the first time in a long time.  

I only ran a mile, but I felt like I could have done another at the end.  I don't want to increase my mileage too fast and get hurt, so I only did 1 and came back for some jump roping, squats & lunges (body weight only) and some ab work.

Meet my personal trainer:

He looks harmless, but he keeps me on a strict schedule and gets really angry with me if I don't do what he wants.  He's got abs of steel - here he's demonstrating leg lifts without putting his hands under his butt.  I can't even do that right now. ;-)

I'm definitely going to have to take it slow - my endurance and muscle strength are not anywhere near what they used to be - but I'm still excited!  Muscle memory is a fantastic thing and I'm hopeful that I'll be back up to my crazy circuit workouts in no time. 

the day before Tripp was born - 38 weeks & up 39.5 pounds

home from the hospital! 2 days post-delivery

1 week post-delivery

4 weeks post-delivery, down 22 pounds (1 lb of which might have been from my haircut)

I'm pretty happy with the way things are going so far.  Does the ridiculous, girly, impatient part of me want to be back in my skinny jeans already?  Of course.  Does the other, more mature and realistic part of me realize that 3 months is a more likely timeline?  Yes. 

I have about 17 pounds to go before I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Some of that my body might hold on to while I'm still breastfeeding and that's okay.  Whatever Tripp needs. :-)  Some women hang on to about 10 pounds or so while breastfeeding, others are smaller than their pre-pregnancy size at the 2 or 3 month mark.  Who knows!  I'm just glad to be able to work out again.  Besides the fact that it will get me back in shape, it's such a big part of who I am and gives me so much more energy - which proooobably has something to do with my being overwhelmed earlier this week.  I have a feeling I'll be much more like myself once I get back into a regular workout routine. 

Some things I didn't expect:

-laying on my stomach to feel soooo gooood.  But don't try it the day your milk comes in.  Bad timing.  Painful.
-for 20 pounds to fall off in about 10 days, and then slam into the worst plateau EVER.  Talk about frustrating. We're starting to move again though.
-to rival Dolly Parton the day the milk man came.  Yikes.  Thank God that goes away a few days later.  Out. Of. Control.  I think Patrick was scared haha.
-I never got the dark line down the middle of my stomach...until after Tripp was born.  Weird. Its really faint, so I'm wondering if it was always there but I couldn't see it because my skin was stretched so tight.  One of my maternity nurses said it could take up to a year to go away!
-NO STRETCH MARKS!!  I honestly thought I'd get some - my belly was SO tight I thought it was just going to rip open by the end.  I'd like to thank my Mom for those genes and whoever decided that putting coconut oil in a jar and selling it would be a good idea.  Lather up ladies!  (I have no idea if it helped...but I'm certainly not willing to go without it next time and test the theory.)
-By the end of my pregnancy, I was housing half a pizza...and salad, dessert + a snack an hour later.  Even with my stomach squished by the human taking up my entire torso, I was able to eat a ton.  I was a little nervous about that after he was born.  Luckily, my appetite went back to normal pretty quickly and my pre-pregnancy portions are satisfying me.  Whew.

That's enough about me...how about a dinner recipe?  Isn't it awesome how exercising just makes you want to eat healthier?!  I love that.  After my workout sesh last night, I wanted something really healthy/not too heavy for dinner and really needed to unload some produce from the fridge.  What we ended up with took literally 15 minutes to throw together...who doesn't like that??

I still had a lot of bok choy from our delivery this week, so stir fry is what came to mind.  I cut 1 yellow onion, 1 red bell pepper, 2 sweet chiles and 1 bunch of brocollette and tossed that into the skillet with some olive oil.  Once those started to get soft, I added 1 clove of chopped garlic, about 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger and some Tamari (gluten free soy sauce).  I have no idea how much...measuring is overrated sometimes. :-)  Once the sauce coated everything, I added some frozen shrimp and the chopped bok choy & cooked until the shrimp were hot and the bok choy was wilted. 

You could serve this over brown rice, but I wasn't feeling something that filling.  I wasn't in the mood for a full blown salad either, so I cut some tomatoes and drizzled them with olive oil. 

We're definitely going outside to enjoy the beautiful weather today.  Maybe we'll see how Tripp likes the jogger on the way to the Farmer's Market tonight.

Have a lovely weekend!  xo Shaina

Slowing Down

Happy Hump Day!  I've got a little pep in my step this morning.  Tripp ate at 9:30 and was asleep by 10 last night...and then didn't wake up again until 3!  Thank youuuuu little boy.  I decided to stay up after feeding him at 6am to get some laundry done and put away our special delivery.

In this week's box: romaine lettuce, carrots, broccolette, 2 avocados, 2 green bell peppers, golden beets, 5 plums, 1 honeydew melon, baby bok choy and garlic.  Definitely doing a stir fry with some shrimp this week. 

Last night, I decided (after realizing how precious my time is over the last few days) that the slow cooker and I are going to become best friends.  If anyone has any good vegetarian - or not, I'm good at subbing - recipes, feel free to send them my way!

First experiment: thai cocunut curry.  I use the term experiment because I literally just threw a bunch of stuff in there and said a little prayer as I walked away.  Isn't that how some of the best stuff is made?  :-)

I used 1 can of organic light coconut milk, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon + a little extra thai green curry paste and 1 tablespoon brown sugar.  *Most curry recipes use fish sauce - I'm not so much a fan, so I skipped that part.* I whisked that together and poured it in the crockpot.  Then I threw in 1 eggplant (cubed), 1 package of extra firm tofu (pressed dry and cubed), 1 green and 1 red bell pepper cut into big chunks, 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped) and a bunch of baby bok choy.  Turn the crockpot on high for 3 1/2 hours and walk away.  I'm a fan of that part. 

Verdict: my kitchen smelled amazing this morning, but next time I would use twice as much liquid.  Its delish, but I like it more coconutty.  I'll throw another batch of the coconut milk/soy sauce/curry paste mixture in there, heat it up and serve over brown rice for dinner tonight.  Boom...done. 

I'm off to get my hair done today!  Its been a looooong time and these roots need some serious love.  I'll be enjoying my (hopefully) last day of the "you're not allowed to work out" phase.  Be ready for some workouts to make their way back into the blog! 

xo
Shaina

Weekend Recap

Morning!  How was everyone's weekend?  Ours was full of excitement:  Tripp's first wine tasting, Father's Day and Henry's birthday.  Lots of pictures!

Recipe for those shrimpies can be found here. Have a lovely Monday! xo Shaina



Anxious....

Hey hey happy Monday!  I hope your weekend was fantastic and the week is off to a great start. :-)

We had a good one over here.  Friday night Farmer's Market that ended with a tamale that set my mouth on fire:

Saturday we got a special visitor from the East Coast.  Tripp got to meet his other Grandpa for the first time!  

What's a weekend without a fantastic grilled feast?

shrimp & veggie kabobs, sweet potato w/ a drizzle of honey and cinnamon, lettuce-less salad: cucumber, tomato, avocado, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt & pepper.

Yesterday was relax & catch up day, complete with Tripp's first time at church (he slept...shocker), a nap (!) and a 30 min walk with some stretching.  I'm not doing anything crazy on the workout front yet - but holy cow I can't wait.  Just walking, stretching and doing a few planks today felt so energizing!  I'm starting to add some planks and cobras in (only a few) because I can tell my lower back and abs are super weak.  I want to start lifting again as soon as I get the green light in a week and a half, but if I don't strengthen my back and abs a bit...it could be ugly. 

In other news, I'm a little anxious about tonight.  I'll be leaving the baby for the first time.  It will only be a couple of hours and he'll be with my Dad (who is awesome with babies and happens to be a fantastic ER nurse), but I didn't think it would be this soon and I cried on Friday when I realized it was going to happen.  Patrick & I have a dinner to go to that wouldn't really be appropriate for Tripp to attend.

 

I think part of my fear about leaving him was whether or not he would take the bottle - or if he did, would he take me back?  I started pumping toward the end of last week and everything went off without a hitch.  I feel a lot better than I did a few days ago.  I'll miss him like crazy and probably smother him with kisses the second we walk in the door...but I need to do this and get it over with.  I can do this.  I think.  (nervous laugh)

xo

Shaina

Back in the Kitchen

When we came home from the hospital on Saturday, I wondered if I would ever be interested in cooking again.  Actually, I wondered if I would ever be interested in anything other than staring at Tripp haha.  It does change quickly, but those first few days I got absolutely NADA accomplished.  I'm back in the kitchen....but dinner hasn't been until 9pm.  Something to work on.  Baby steps right?

Recent eats:

his & hers dinner: grilled mahi, pineapple, asparagus, sweet potato and salad

1 whole egg + 2 egg whites scrambled with beans, fresh cherries from the box, toast & half caff coffee (for my 5am wakeup yesterday)

smoothie: banana, mango, chocolate chips, spinach, cinnamon, peanut butter, flax seed, almond milk

breakfast cookie dough cereal a la Fitnessista ..... I had the original version made with sunflower seed butter and strawberries

AND I made the rapini last night!

I'm not really a follow-the-recipe kind of girl.  After checking out a few different ways to prepare the broccoli rabe rapini, I just decided to wing it when we needed a quick dinner last night.

I carmelized a yellow onion and set that aside.  In the same pan, I added some olive oil, crushed red pepper, garlic and white wine.

I gave that a couple of minutes, then wilted the greens in there and added the onions back in to mix the flavors.

Put that on top of some pasta with olive oil and grated cheese (I used a cheddar/gruyere block I found at TJs this week) and dinner is served!

I'm off to see what kind of trouble Tripp and I can get into while Daddy works today. 

Birth story will be up on Monday....promise! Have a fantastic weekend. xo Shaina

38 weeks....

...still baking and hanging a little lower (and mama's tired).   

We actually had somewhat of a false alarm on Monday.  My blood pressure has been a little iffy, so when I woke up with fat feet and a headache, the doctor wanted some blood work done.  Off to L&D we went....after buzzing around the house cleaning, packing our bags (just in case) and getting some food together for Patrick.  We checked in, they hooked me up to the monitor, watched my BP, and drew some blood.  Everything ended up being fine so we went home a couple of hours later.  At one point, the nurse said "oh yeah, your contractions are about 5 minutes apart."  What?!  I thought that was gas haha.  Since then, they've gotten a little more noticeable, but nothing crazy yet.  Just waiting....  I promise you will know when its the real deal. :-)

Last night, we had the fam over for dinner.  I threw together a veggie lasagna - easy way to feed a crowd.  Dinner guests contributed the salad, garlic bread and dessert so we had a yummy feast.  Lasagna can be a looooong process, but if you're good at multi-tasking, its not too bad.  First, I prepped all my veggies and doctored up some sauce:

lasagna layers: sauteed chopped spinach, sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, sauteed zuccini, roasted peppers (bake at 400 for 40 minutes and then throw in a ziploc baggy so the steam helps peel the skin off - a little trick I learned from my Grandma)

and the "ricotta cheese" :-)  it was actually tofu.  Throw a package of drained firm tofu into the food processor with some garlic, basil, oregano, salt, pepper and the chopped stems from the mushrooms and pulse until it has the consistency of ricotta.  A great way to add some protein to a veggie dish!
After all the ingredients were ready, I set up my assembly line:

layered the lasagna and baked at 350 for about 20-25 minutes, until the cheese started to brown.  After I threw it in the oven, I realized I forgot something....

sad.  No peppers.  It was still yummy though, and we have leftovers in the freezer. 

(I forgot to take a picture of my plate before the food disappeared.)

While we were all sitting around the table, our produce delivery came - 12 hours early?!  Our delivery guy is so cute - he's this 60ish year old man and he's so nice.  I think I'm going to start making him some treats.  He dropped off our amazing box for the week, and then came back 2 minutes later with goodies that he said were for the baby!

Fresh juice anyone?

In the box this week: 1 lemon, 1 avocado, 4 peaches, 1 package blueberries, 1 bunch broccoli, 1 bunch turnips, 1 bunch carrots, 1lb mixed lettuce, 1 lb assorted potatoes, 1 lb zuccini and a bundle of parsley!  I think a big pot of vegetable soup is in our near future. 

We're relaxing today.  Have a fantastic Wednesday everyone! xo Shaina