Too Long! Fun New Food

I cannot believe that it has been over a month since a post.  Oops.  The truth is that my tiny macbook air is full and my phone is full and I just need to motivate to clear everything off so that I can take photos again.  Sad but true.  Well that and this new medication is making me feel so sleepy that I have no extra energy for anything.  Well, it's either the medication or the three children.  I feel like either way I'm in trouble.

I am so incredibly excited that it is December. But first! Thanksgiving....we had a wonderful holiday. We started the festivities with traditional soup dinner at my mom's the night before, all 18 of us. The next say we hosted here at our house.  Ian's family came, grandparents and all.  It was such a calm wonderful celebration.  I used the convection setting on our oven and our turkey was done in 2 hours.  Amazing.  The kids enjoyed watching the parade on TV in the morning (thank goodness for our free satellite TV over and over again).  We ate by 1 and then sat by the piano and sang and played and talked.  We enjoyed a quiet evening just us 5.

And now Christmas.  I have always been such a believer, such an enthusiastic supporter of this holiday.  I love most everything about it.  The excitement, the anticipation, the magic, the meaning.  I LOVE giving presents.  I love baking and sharing love and wondering what's to come.  It can feel like a lot to fit into a few short weeks, especially with Ainsley's birthday and full weekends and all of the normal school/after school stuff.  This year I'm thankful to have done most of my shopping early.  I feel like I can relax and focus on the making which is my favorite part.

I'm almost done with the body of Louise's sweater and hope to have that done soon.  I bought yarn to make a few simple felted projects as gifts so I'll have to motivate for that soon.  I have one or two simple sewing projects to do for Christmas, nothing for the kids though.  I'm realizing I love just making things as they need them or request them.  I think new dresses for the girls are on the docket soon.

I've been loving a new cookbook I found at the thrift shop.  It's all Christmas cookies and I earmarked 22 recipes that sound appealing so I'm hoping to work my way through some of those.  I love trying new recipes.  The excitement that I may find a new favorite is addicting.  Yesterday I tried some toffee squares and cream cheese cresents.  They were both really good.  This week I'm hoping to do some gingerbread and some iced orange cookies I found.

And in other food related news I'm on another health kick/reboot, this time geared at finding a diet that gives me more energy.  Less than 48 hours in I can tell you I feel a marked difference in my energy, mostly in my eyes.  They used to always feel so heavy and now I feel like I can fully open them and I just feel lighter, does that sound crazy?

I literally typed in "foods for high energy" into google and made a list.  Here's what I ended up with for the week.

Breakfast:
Blue Smoothie - 1/2 cup each skim milk and fat free plain greek yogurt, 1 tsp, ground flax, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 banana, 1 tsp. honey, 1 large bunch of kale
I don't have a good blender, but my handheld did alright.  The flavor was good but the kale was still a little chewy for me.  I'll keep sucking them down though if they're working!

Granola on top of plain greek yogurt with strawberries and honey. I love Great Harvest granola or Eliie Kreiger's homemade variety.

When I'm in a hurry I grab one of the Melaleuca bars I keep on hand, either the Attain or the Fiberwise varieties are really good.  Or if I'm REALLY struggling to decided I just grab a banana and slap some peanut butter on it.  Yum.

Lunch:
Picture this, delicious fresh whole grain bread toasted, topped with 1/4. avocado smashed with lemon juice, arugula, sliced tomato and smoked salmon.  That was a good idea.

Chicken Curry Salad with a slice of that same whole grain bread and an apple (I can' find a link to the recipe I used! I did two cooked diced chicken breasts, diced apple, diced celery, chopped almonds and raisins, the dressing was simply half greek yogurt half olive oil mayo and a good teaspoon of mild curry powder, plus I always season with salt and pepper...it was really good)

Greek Quinoa Salad

Snacks: Dried fruit (cherries in particular are said to be good for boosting energy), Edamame, green tea and black coffee, I made some muffins today with Felix too if I get really hungry plus the kids love them for breakfasts and snacks (I didn't have any applesauce on hand so used apple butter, that was an excellent choice)

Dinner:
Herbed Pork Tenderloin with leftover brown rice broccoli casserole from the weekend
Lentils and Polenta
Sweet Potato Hash with sautéed greens and soft cooked eggs
Veggie burgers and sweet potato fries
Greek Cod Cakes with whole wheat cous cous and roasted zucchini
Whole Wheat tuna noodle pasta with peas
Canned Indian dishes over brown rice with carrots (trader joe's has a new line of canned Indian food so of course we had to try them!)
Brown Rice and Shrimp Risotto with Spinach
Trader Joes meat lasagna (I bought the individual spinach lasagna for myself because it's apparently much healthier, I hope it's good!)

I like that this menu feels very manageable and healthy and filling.  I bought enough that we'll have some meals to make for next week which is great because I know after a heavy cooking week I can get burned out and it's nice to have things already planned/in the freezer.

So up next will be the fun photo post I promise!
Happy December everyone!