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

Bruffins

Hey hey!  How was your weekend?  My sister flew in last week, my Aunt & her beau are here for a few days and Tripp made an appearance at his first lingerie party for Colleen's shower so we've been doing the family thang. 

I had a little cookstravaganza on Thursday afternoon to prep some food.  Must have grab-and-go things on hand these days.  I brought back an old-but-not-forgotten breakfast favorite:

Breakfast muffins! (or as my Mom likes to call them: Bruffins)

You can really do whatever you want with them; mine are different every time.  This time I chopped some broccolette, mushrooms, green onions and veggie sausage.  Fill a muffin pan with the ingredients and pour egg whites over top until the muffin cups are full.  Bake at 350 for 10ish minutes until the egg whites are set.

Grab a couple on the way out the door!  How easy is that?!

Some more recent eats:

grilled portabella mushroom, sauteed chard, roasted golden beets and a sweet potato with cinnamon

lunch salad with greens, cucumber, artichoke, avocado, chickpeas, olive oil & balsamic vinegar

lingerie luncheon: fresh fruit, tomato/mozzarella/basil skewers, quinoa salad and I'm totally stealing this shrimp-ceviche-in-an-avocado idea!

I actually didn't end up eating a cupcake at the shower but how cute are these?!

Little man is sleeping so Mama's going to squeeze in a workout.  Have a lovely afternoon!

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

Showered with Love

I guess its a good thing I still have some energy reserves!  What a weekend its been!

Friday night, we went to our first baseball game of the season @ Dodger Stadium.  Last time we were there, it was a pretty eventful afternoon:

Friday night's game was a winner, but I don't think anything will top August 22nd, 2009. :-)

Patrick and I got to spend a few hours yesterday with friends and family at our baby shower and it was everything we could have hoped for.  Lots of good food, some fun games, and people we love.  I get a little emotional when I think about how excited everyone is for this baby to come - s/he is already surrounded by so much love. 

(I was a little tired by the end of the day.)



I definitely needed to sleep in this morning.  I'm just enjoying a leisurely breakfast while the troops are out on a trail run through the mountains.  Jealous?  A little.  Relishing the quiet?  Absolutely. 

2 eggs over-medium, sauteed spinach, black beans, homemade salsa, toast & juice

We're off later to celebrate an Eagle Court of Honor with some family friends before church and some much needed relaxation....and by relaxation, I mean baby laundry and putting away all the lovely gifts we received.  Let's be realistic.  I can't sit still for more than 20 minutes haha.

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon! xo Shaina

Back from the Stone Age

Oh hey 2012, its nice to be back. ;-)

When I decided to rent the townhouse that we currently live in, I didn't even realize that there was no microwave!  I was so excited about the gas stove that it just slipped right by me.  At first, Patrick was convinced that we could get by without one and I was willing to try.  There have actually only been a handful of instances where I was cooking and wanted it for something, but I survived.  The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that it was going to get on Patrick's nerves more than it would mine.  He does leftovers most of the time if I'm not home, so we added finding one to our ongoing to do list. 

Its not the stainless steel over-the-stove-type that we're used to, but Craig's List is good for some things.  We figured when we buy a place (in a year?), that it will most likely come with a microwave - or I'll want a new set of kitchen appliances that are all matchy matchy anyway. :-)

Last night's dinner didn't call for a microwave:

grilled blackened salmon atop fresh greens from the farm, cucumber, tomato, black beans, roasted corn on the cob (cut off the cob), and feta + roasted broccoli.  Patrick said it was a little better than the salads he had been eating on the ship. ;-)  Nothing says summer to me like chowing down on a corn cob, but it was just as delish in the salad.

My current favorite way to cook broccoli:

-cut & wash
-toss in olive oil, sea salt, pepper and this amazing stuff (normally I try to stay away from seasoning mixes because of the sodium content, but this has none!)

-spread on a cooking sheet and bake at 400 for 20ish minutes.  I like mine a little crispy so I do 25 minutes.

Breakfast this morning was a favorite:

banana, strawberries, peach, apple, cashews, walnuts, cinnamon, flax seed, yogurt, a little milk, steel cut oats + a blob of PB

We're tackling some more of the pre-baby to do list today!  Have a fantastic Thursday!  xo Shaina

The Day Is Finally Here!

Well, today was definitely a day of running around like a nutcase.  Laundry, errands, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, work...and a late night cookfest.  :-)  All in preparation for this guy:

*minus the mustache*  I skyped with him today during his layover in Spain to make sure he wasn't bringing that home.  He'll be here tomorrow late afternoon!!! :-)))))))

I had to make sure the kitchen was stocked with his favorite goodies: IPA, cheesecake, hummus, baked goods and salsa. 

I made my first batch of Pioneer Woman's restaurant salsa and I'm not really sure how I ever lived without it.  I'll never buy salsa again.  I made banana bread the other day and froze it, so that's defrosting tonight.  Beer and cheesecake, front and center.

Normally I would make the cheesecake from scratch, but the to-do list was a little overwhelming and he loves the one from TJ's...so win-win.

In all this craziness, I *almost* forgot to make myself some dinner.  I had some mushrooms that needed to be used and some fresh spinach from our produce delivery this week, so into the skillet they went

with chopped yellow onion, garlic, sea salt, pepper and olive oil.  Add some lentils and brown rice

and dinner is served (along with lunch tomorrow).  I had an afterthought of adding tofu, but I was over cooking at this point haha. It was delish without.

I made my breakfast ahead of time since I have an early morning for work tomorrow:

oats, frozen blueberries, cinnamon, flax seed, almond milk and the remnants of the PB jar.  They sit overnight to soak up the milk and are waiting for me in the morning.  Why dirty a tupperware?  :-)  Another fantastic Fitnessista idea that I've come to love.

Last time Patrick saw me, I looked like this:

(on a hike we took about a week before he left).  He's seen pictures of me and we've skyped a few times, but this might be a little different in person.

I go for shock value haha.

I'm off to *try* and get some sleep, the operative word being try.  I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve!  Last time I saw my husband, it was 2011! 

xo
Shaina

Making A Comeback

I felt the need to redeem myself for dinner last night after yesterday's epic failure for breakfast.  I was in the mood for protein pancakes but wanted to change it up a little bit.  I chopped an apple, tossed it with a little honey and cinnamon and threw that mixture on the stove to brown a little bit and soften the apples. 

So far so good.  I should have just used that as pancake topping.  Instead I decided to put it in the pancake batter.  Looks harmless enough:

You try flipping that.  It was really just a pile of cooked pancake batter mixed with cinnamon apples.  Still delicious, but not the presentation I was looking for (to present to myself of course). 

After work, I was brainstorming: something veggie...cold...protein...not tofu...a quinoa salad!  It was pretty freaking delish - possibly horn tooting quality. 

While the 3/4 cup of quinoa was cooking, I sauteed some chopped mushrooms, 1/4 yellow onion and some garlic.  Once that was done, I put it in a mixing bowl with 3 diced roma tomatoes, fresh chopped mint (from our plant!), 1/2 diced cucumber, and 1/2 package of TJ's steamed lentils (cold).  I let the quinoa cool a little bit and mixed it into the bowl, along with a little bit of balsamic vinegar.  The idea was to eat it cold (mint...cucumber...refreshing...you get the idea) but it was pretty bangin the way it was at room temp - straight out of the mixing bowl.  I knew I'd get to test the chilled version today for lunch so I went for it.

While all that was going on, I had some kale chips in the oven too.

Even better than last time. I prepped the kale as usual, but this time, I came up with a magical seasoning blend. 

Verdict: my half is gone.  ;-)  I had to save some for Colleen though. 

Have a fantastic Friday!! xo Shaina

....aaaand we're back!

Hey hey! Sorry for being MIA.  The last two weeks have been one notch down from insane BUT we're all moved in to our new place (complete with a white picket fence)! 

After doing the last two moves completely on my own (and my husband thinks I haven't caught on to his little game haha)...I found this amazing thing called "help" in the form of Moms. 

My mom and Patrick's mom came over and blitzed through almost all of my boxes in 2 days.  It was pretty magical.  Patrick's dad helped me put our bed together the first night and my sister-in-law came over yesterday to help with the rest of the boxes and set up the dining room.  Aaaaaamazing.  I think 1 week has to be some kind of record. 

I will forever be thankful to Henry and Colleen that I didn't have to come home to a scary, dark house by myself for 6 months.  That being said, I'm giddy to have my kitchen back <---the best part.  Opening those kitchen boxes and seeing all of the things I'm used to cooking with was like those Crate & Barrel boxes showing up on our doorstep again!  First order of business:

beeeeans!  I *always* have beans readily available in our house.  Such a good source of protein and you can use them for anything: salads, side dish, mixed with rice, with eggs in the morning....the list goes on.  I make a big crockpot about once a month and split them up into weekly portions and freeze what we aren't using.  Beans go bad pretty quickly and the smell of rotten beans is right up there with rotten lettuce = awful. 

I soak the beans overnight and then rinse in the morning.  Put them back in the crockpot with enough water so that its about 1/2" above the beans, 1 yellow onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin (the magic ingredient).  Cook on high for 8 hours.  Sometimes I do black beans, sometimes I do pinto beans.  Sometimes, after they are done cooking, I'll put them in the food processor for about 10 seconds to give them the texture of refried beans - but WAY healthier.  Lots of options.

Another reason I'm happy to have my kitchen back: my bulk storage.  I totally could have made this happen in the apartment, but I didn't have my glass jars (or room to store them really) and its just prettier in there than grocery store plastic bags right?! 

I made a trip to Sprouts last night (a farmer's market-type grocery store...Whole Foods quality without whole paycheck prices) to stock up on our staples.  Its so much cheaper than buying the packaged versions - and greener. :-)

I enjoyed a delicious breakfast this morning on my dining room table that I missed so much (amazing wedding gift from the grandparents!):

2 eggs, tomato and vegan cheese on a slice of toast, a bowl of mixed fruit with a drizzle of honey, and tea in my new mug that a certain handsome man mailed to me.  That certain handsome man happens to be coming home soooooon.  Not soon enough, but we're definitely getting there!  I'll keep you guys updated.  I may disappear for a few days again when that happens, so just prepare yourselves for blog inactivity.  :-)

I'm going to enjoy the California sunshine on a walk around our new neighborhood this morning.  Have a fantastic Tuesday and I'll see you tomorrow with a baby update!

xo
Shaina