A few days ago my MIL sent me the above picture in an email: "Just thought this was too cute and might fit into one of your Thankful Thursdays..."
And I LOVED it. It IS cute! But it made me think a little - usually my Thankful Thursdays I like to pick five things I'm thankful for and write about those five things. But...what if today, I AM just grateful for everything? Not just five things, but EVERYTHING??
Except, maybe mosquitoes. I don't think I can ever figure out how to be grateful for mosquitoes.
I'm thankful for my girlie - she makes my heart warm and my face grin. She is my everything, and today I am grateful for everything.
I'm thankful for my hubs - he drives me crazy and some days, honestly, I have to sit and wonder what on Earth made me fall in love with him in the first place because he's driving me SO insane I just want to call it quits. But he is a fabulous man, with a fabulous heart. He is strong where I am weak, and weak where I am strong. Being together makes us a whole team, and I know that together we can get through anything and everything. And today, I am grateful for everything.
I thankful for my family, both old and new - the amazing family I grew up in, married into, and have created together with Mr. Man. I truly believe there is nothing stronger or more important than family, and I have some of the greatest people ever in mine. My family is everything, and today I am thankful for everything.
I am thankful for my friends - a while ago I posted about not having friends. And I think at least sometimes, we all feel that way. But I do have friends. I have best friends who know me and love me anyway, who accept that I am not superwoman and that sometimes the ball I drop is on our friendship, but who will never let me down and are willing to give me and my family anything, and everything. And today, I am thankful for everything.
I am thankful for my home, my bed, my comfortable furniture, my clothes and shoes. I am thankful for food - OH how thankful am I for food! - for the nourishment and incredible enjoyment I derive from it. For water. I am thankful for technology, music, talents, education, books, toys, games, sports. Photos - I love photos. Looking at photos makes me smile.
I am thankful for sunshine, rain, wind and snow. For falling leaves and fresh-cut grass. For bugs and worms with their worlds to explore. For cats and dogs, and all the beautiful creatures we share this world with.
For flowers and trees, and the spider-plant in my living room that keeps sprouting 'babies.'
For paint, play-doh, glue and scissors. Beads, wire, and string.
Yes, today is a good day. As all should be. And today, with a cold, no work, an unemployed husband and an incredibly messy home, I am thankful. For everything.
I was scowering my Mom's large collection of cookbooks a few weeks ago, looking for some new recipes to add into the rotation with my new, fabulous, totally different regular diet - lotsa' produce, protein, and DIFFERENT carbs - because, well, you know how boring it is to eat the SAME thing over and over and over and over..... ANYway. I found some great ones!
This is one of them (for which I had to get my hot little hands on an immersion blender... hooray new kitchen gadgets! Thanks, Mom!)
Cauliflower Cheese Soup, from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Food Revolution
Ingredients:
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 medium-sized onions
2 cloves garlic
8 cups cauliflower florets
olive oil
1 3/4 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
salt & pepper
8 oz cheddar cheese
1 tsp English mustard (I had Dijon mustard, so that's what I used)
Directions:
Peel & roughly slice carrots. Slice the celery. Peel & roughly chop onions. Peel & slice garlic. Cut cauliflower into 1/2 inch slices. Grate the cheddar into a bowl and put to one side for later.
Put broth in saucepan & heat until boiling.
Put a large saucepan on medium heat and add 2 tbsp olive oil. All all your chopped & sliced ingredions and mix together with a wooden spoon. Cook for approximately 10-15 minutes with the lid askew, until the carrots have softened but are still holding their shape, and the onion is slightly golden.
Add the boiling broth to the vegetables. Give the soup a good stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat & simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on.
To serve your soup:
Remove the pan from the heat. Season with salt and pepper and add the cheese and mustard. Using an immersion blender or liquidizer pulse the soup until silky smooth. Divide between your serving bowls and grate over some nutmeg, if you like.
Lovely topped with some lightly fried crisp bacon.
It was SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!! And makes, as you can imagine, a nice big batch, so I had it...most days last week while trying to recover from my death-cold. (Having a cold at the same time as your four-year-old is...not pleasant. 'Cause I don't know about you, but the secret to MY recovery is SLEEP, and I CAN'T sleep if the kid is up on and off on and off ALL FRIGGIN' NIGHT, EVERY night. It was brutal. Mr. Man finally caught the cold, but Little Miss is better, so like, he gets off easy! GAH! What is WITH that??)
Okay, that's Menu Monday (plus a mini-rant - you are welcome!) and...time to plug into Netflix and lose some brain cells! O:-)
Alright, forget it. Here I'm ALL ready for Menu Monday, but I haven't put it up yet because I didn't get my Thankful Thursday finished last week. I'm sorry, but when my head is THAT full of cold AND I'm just getting back into the swing of my gratefuls...it's just...not pretty. hahaha BUT I didn't write NOTHING! So, HERE is what I wrote on Friday for Thankful "Thursday" - I only got 2 done (I had 5 listed, but just...couldn't...do it!) but better LATE and partially completed than never and nothing at all, right?? And THEN I'll go grab the camera and tell you about this fabulous soup I made JUST in time to have in the fridge for being sick - hooray!
I KNOW it's Friday. I know. It's been a pretty crazy week. We started off well - I got my Menu Monday posted on MONDAY (I've even taken pictures for next week's already! HOORAY!), got my Crafty Betties post planned and posted on time yesterday...Little Miss has been home sick since Wednesday, there was a bed-wetting incident with emergency laundry, piano lessons, a Scentsy party, ME getting Little Miss' cold after nighttime coughing-consolation... It's just been a WEIRD week. A good week, generally - neither Little Miss or I are deathly ill, we just have this icky, stubborn cough - but having her home throws us off a bit. And so between not feeling well tomorrow and looking after my house and family, obviously, I didn't get THIS post done.
Though I planned it, so I wasn't totally blog-free yesterday. Well, that's my story, anyway.... O:-)
But having Little Miss home for a few days, NOT with a crazy, hectic-with-fun, filled March Break, has been delightful. And I've some things to share today that may or may not be classifiable as T-M-I.
...You've been warned.
Thankful "Thursday"
The Disgusting Edition
read ahead at your own risk
1) Farts
Okay, really. They're gross, smelly, embarassing...a nasty byproduct of your digestive processes... But goodness me, they're HILARIOUS, aren't they? WOW. I mean, really. Is there anything else in life that is universally comical to such degrees?
Even our attempts to not be crude regarding flatulence is funny - 'toot,' 'pass gass,' 'cut the cheese,' or my personal, childhood favourite 'gas attack." GAS attack. For real. I was raised to think that F-A-R-T was a four-letter word and always said 'gas attack'. When my childhood best friend and her family all used the 'f' word liberally it made me blush and embarassed!! hahaha Meanwhile, I'm farting up a storm saying "Oh, excuse me. I gas-attacked." hahahaha (Don't worry, Mom - I have lots of great 'gas attack' stories I would never had if we hadn't had this crazy rule as kids! I LOVE that we did!)
AND, they feel amazing. hahaha I mean, really. Just.... aaaaaahhhhhhhh.....
Anyway. Little Miss and I are very proud farters - you know the saying 'girls don't fart, they fluff?' TOTAL crap in this house. This gorgeous little girl has been a FARTER since....forever. I remember being just absolutely astonished at the incredible decibles her adorable little butt was able to produce so early on in her life.... it hasn't changed. And Mr. Man? Well, let's just say that between her two parents, Little Miss comes by her farting expertise very honestly.
But yesterday morning, laying in bed with a sick Little Miss post her peeing-in-her bed accident....I farted.
And she GASPed! And said "You fawted!" And I said, yup - 'scuse me. And then SHE farted, looked at me with a big grin on her face and said "I fawrted, too! We're best fweinds."
Farts are now one of my absolutely favourite things, and I have a new bestie because of it. :-)
A little while ago, we were out for lunch with Mimi and Little Miss got a $5-free coupon for Indigo books from the server; I dunno for sure if it was part of her meal, a special promotion, or if she's just so darn stinkin' cute people throw gifts at her...I think it's most likely that last option. Anyway, here we're sitting with a crazy little 4 year old who loves books! With her MIMI, who loves shopping for kid stuff FOR the kid! With $5 burning some crazy holes in all our pockets.
(I think the Becky Bloomwood tendencies may be genetic...at least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)
Really, the whole set-up couldn't have been more ideal.
So we head off in search of a big box book store! And FIND one with relative ease.
Little Miss LOVES big book stores - so many books to look at, and there are always TOYS, too - we told her she had $5 and she went around to anything and EVERYthing that interested her in the remotest and said "this is 5 dollars. THIS is 5 dollars." ....of course, most of the most-desired items were like, SIXTY-5 dollars. hahaha Try explaining that one to a 4 year old having a conniption because of all the awesome she's surrounded with; it was like taking her to Santa's workshop.
Finally we told her she could pick a book. ONE book. We figured it was unlikely she'd pick one for $5 or less, but the difference between the $5 and actual price wouldn't be unaffordable. So one book, she set out to find!
Well, you can guess what she picked. I don't even know where she found it, or WHAT on Earth made her see it and think, hot-dang THAT looks GREAT! I mean, really? It looks DISGUSTING. In case you missed it up there, the cover is COVERED with brains, beetles, various worms, spiders in noodles that appear to be actually PART of the meal.... ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew eeeeeeewwwwwwww!!!
I TRIED to talk her out of the book. I TRIED to tell her how great THIS book, or THIS book....or ANY OTHER BOOK are. But she was convinced - THIS is the book I want.
Shudder
The book? It's DISGUSTING. Some of my 'favourite' entries? tick; tapeworm; tongue-eating louse; eyeballs (AS FOOD!!!!!); chocolate-covered ants; spit; phlegm (ew, looking at that one just made me gag); pus; poo; maggot therapy.
Can I just tell you, PEOPLE eat some REALLY REALLY REALLY nasty things. OHmigoodness. Wow.
Little Miss LOVES this book. She loves it. Nights when Daddy asks at bedtime "do you want to read the disgusting book?" she almost always bounds up and down and says YEAH! She loves it.
I won't read it to her. hahaha It's way beyond too gross for me.
But you know what? I LOVE that she loves it. I LOVE that she's her own little self and so grateful that she can just BE that. That she can PICK The Disgusting Book over some more conventional happy story about gumdrops, lollipops or princesses and fairies. That she likes herself some princesses and fairies, but she, at LEAST equally, likes her disgusting things too.
One of my FAVOURITE things about having married my husband...is my mother-in-law's SUPER easy, delicous recipe for chicken parmesan hahahaha. It's SOOOOOOOOOOOO good. It has become one of my absolute favourite meals, one of my favourites to cook when I have company, and a couple of my friends' must-not-miss meals at my house. hahaha It was also a cheat meal back in detox days - YUM!!
Here we go!
Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients:
boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp Italian seasoning or 1/2 tsp oregano + 1/2 tsp basil
butter
lots of shredded mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese
can of spaghetti sauce
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt butter in large frying pan. Meanwhile moisten chicken with water and shake in bag with breadcrumbs and seasonings. Place coated chicken in pan and fry in the butter until brown (both sides). Place chicken in a baking dish and cover with mozzarella cheese. Cover with spaghetti sauce (if you have more than five pieces of chicken you may need another can of sauce, FYI). Cover AGAIN with more mozzarella. Top it off with parmesan cheese (fresh grated or the shake-shake-shake kind) :-) Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes or until cheese is browned and bubbly.
like this!
Mmmm...fresh from the oven! YUM yum yum!
Serve with (whatever you want) spaghetti noodles. You can use the excess sauce (if you used a large enough sauce to chicken ratio - 3 chicken breasts to one can of sauce works pretty well) from the pan on top of your noodles OR..I LOVE to add a yummy white sauce to my noodles so that when I put my chicken on top I end up with a scumptious orangey/pink mixed mess. It's SO SO SO yummy!
White sauce: equal parts (unwhipped) whipping cream and FRESH grated parmesan cheese, and a pat of butter. Cook and drain the noodles, and then add the cream, cheese, and butter, and stir. That's IT and it's AWESOME. (Stole it from Better Homes and Gardens "new cook book" or whatever it's called. hahaha
So, I know it's Menu Monday, and I actually have two recipes all ready to go, but I haven't had a chance to sit and write yet today, and NOW...I can't be bothered. hahaha I'm tired, my 14-year-old bud is here for a sleepover (High School Musical marathon tomorrow - booyah! hahaha) and I really just...don't want to. hahaha SO...I'll post today's recipe tomorrow. :-)
Here's this FABULOUS thing my darling friend RaeDawn posted on Facebook, like, a minute ago. I LOVE it.
I know, I'm two days late. But I'm HERE aren't I??
I've had so much rattling around in my brain after coming up with this brilliant Thankful Thursday idea, and then so much actually going on in my LIFE, that I didn't get my post done on Thursday.
You may or may not know about me, I'm NOT the most, um, FEMININE of all the females ever. I don't always (or even often) enjoy....I don't know how else to put it, but stereotypically 'girly' activities. Some of them even make me gag, balk, cringe, or just full-on LAUGH. My poor mother, I think, has been somewhat regularly 'disappointed' in how non-genteel I can be, as she laughs in astonishment wondering how she got ME when she was told she'd had a baby girl! hahaha (Which is not at ALL to say I think my mom is disappointed with ME, she just may have occasionally over the past 29+ years thought GAH where's my little GIRL?! If only in jest.... sheesh, don't WORRY. My mommy LOVES me BECAUSE I'm a nutcase. Promise!)
Despite my somewhat, um, DIFFERENCES, though I will be the first to admit: I LOVE to shop. And while the mall is actually NOT one of my happy places - I ALWAYS feel unattractive, frumpy, chubby, plain, and filthy when I catch my reflection at the mall, I do NOT know why - there is something just BRILLIANT about retail therapy.
And while my mommy and I have had a BLAST on three separate occasions now since Mr. Man was laid off in October, shopped until we dropped and had some seriously fabulous times together (which could honestly be a whole post in and of itself, and it would not be short. Mom and I....are a force in the mall. People LOVE us. hahaha We scored a family and friends card at the Gap the other day JUST because the cash lady found us so delightful she didn't want to charge us full price for our loot! BOOyah!) I have to tell you how wonderfully empowering CLEARANCE racks are.
On a clearance rack this week I found a BEAUTIFUL skirt, my NEW size (it fits me PERFECTLY and I look skinny in it - hooray! Eat THAT mall mirrors! Muahaha!) and another one housed five-dollar blouses! FIVE FREAKING DOLLARS!! Well, I LOVE me a nice blouse, be it casually thrown over a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, paired with some nice dressy slacks, or over a skirt so I tend to go through blouses relatively quickly for a wardrobe. And I found two for five bucks each. NEW ones. Nice ones!
So, we haven't much income at the moment, but I make more than $5/week teaching piano. And you know what? I'm WORTH $5 AND looking neat and tidy and put together.
Yes, I absolutely know that there's a closet Becky Bloomwood inside of me. But one thing I LOVE about Ms. Bloomwood - she TOTALLY gets the satisfaction of a great new outfit. Made zillions of times better by a FABULOUS deal. I'm grateful for that rush of pleasure that helps ease the pain every now and then. (And no, I am not an addict. hahaha)
Another thing you may or may not know about me - I can never remember which of my deep dark secrets I've spilled on this blog over the past few years! hahaha - is that I suffer from clinical depression. I know, right? Sometimes people are SHOCKED to find that out about me, and other times (like after reading all my boo-boo-woe-is-me sporadic postings over the past year or so) people are NOT surprised. hahaha Depression isn't as cut-and-dry as I think most people think it is. But I digress.
So I suffer from depression. Not CONSTANTLY - since first being diagnosed and treated (and HELPED - literally saved) in 2003 I've been OFF medication for a few years, symptom-free. But, post graduation....yeah. It came back and reared its ugly-butt head again. And so I got chunky, which made me more depressed, unable to function...the whole thing made starting up at school again REALLY dicey... Little Miss and I were constantly bickering (which is pretty lame considering she's now four so would have been younger when I was at the height of my awesomeness - go me!) Yeah, a depressed me is just...not good. hahaha
Anyway, I went to my doctor, honestly to have my hormone levels checked out. Depression this time around hadn't occurred to me - been there DONE that! Got better! MOVED ON. Anyway, after testing and observation and lah-dee-da YES my depression was back. But not like, full-swing. I was suffering a 'moderate' case.
So, we, my doc and I, decided that I did NOT need a prescription; moderate depression I can beat with nutrition, EXERCISE (which I was not regularly doing at the time), and just accepting my problem and facing it head on. It's really, for me, just once I get moving I'm GOOD...I just have to get that first step done. It's excruciating.
For months I did what I was supposed to do. I tried to eat better. I tried to exercise. I signed up for kickboxing to make a financial and temporal commitment to ME to get my expanda-butt in gear and boost my endorphin levels! I tried to study. I got counselling.
It didn't work. None of it. I made NO improvement. It was kind of crazy, actually. How little affect my actions were having.
Nothing worked for me until I got back on medication.
And I know there's OODLES of controversy floating out there in the world about the usefulness of antidepressants, the placebo effect, overprescription.... Tom Cruise we all know is a strong advocate AGAINST these drugs while the big evil drug conglomerates are pushing pills down our throats faster than we can say "I'm having a grey day today." Well, WHATEVER you want to believe is going on with me, that's totally fine, and you can have your opinion. But placebo effect or WHATEVER happens to me when I'm sick and I get back on my medication to help... IT HELPS.
And honestly. Do you really think I would have been able, thus far, to handle my husband's laying off and HIS emotional struggles around that for the past five months if I didn't have this incredible resource in my life, helping me be the best me that I can so that I can be there for him, for Little Miss, and for ME as we struggle through the humiliation of having to ask for help with our finances, facing increasing debt loads instead of our previously-planned elimination, and sometimes interesting dinner selections?
I guarantee you there would be no way. I needed to get better, and this time around the only way for me to do that was a drug intervention. And for that option, I am truly thankful, because I can do what I need to do now.
My mom, over the years, has learned about both my brother and myself, that whatever it is about us, we are two individuals who NEED physical activity to like, survive. My bro is a BMX biker (what a psycho - hahaha LOVE you, Bravo!) and if he hasn't gotten out for a while I swear it's like he gets the shakes. He just HAS to ride.
Me? When I'm not exercising regularly, doing something I LOVE to do...I shut down. I mean, I get chunky pretty quickly, which is a bummer, but my depressive tendencies? Yes, not exercising doesn't help. I can get pretty bad. And getting OUT of that non-exercising funk is SO. INCREDIBLY. DIFFICULT. It's SO hard.
But right now? I'm totally out. I'm out. I'm exercising regularly. I'm exercising HARD.
I LOVE IT.
I try my darndest most weeks to give myself 3-4 sessions at the dojo for kickboxing. Just...for me. Because it feels awesome. Because I'm a better me after I've done it. I can just release all the crap and tension that I've let build up in me all day, and just..... aaaaaaahhhhhhh...... it's fabulous. I'm SO much more myself after a bout of exercise than before. It's the weirdest feeling, but immediately before I'm sluggish, I often have a difficult time talking myself into going, I tell myself that just this time staying home and watching tv is okay for me. And you know what? Sometimes it is, and I do stay home.
But usually I go. I NEED to go. I get out of the house. I get away from our troubles. My only focus when I'm kickboxing, running, playing soccer, is the SPORT. It's the sport, my performance. Gritting my teeth and getting through the pain. Feeling super-human when I survive an 'F-U' day, or a full hour-and-a-half on the soccer field.
I have FUN.
When life's got you down, who doesn't need fun??
I'm SO thankful that sports are fun for me. That I can combine so many of my physical and mental needs into one fabulous experience and come out on top. Even on the days when I can't remember which is jab, which is cross, or keep my rear leg from stepping in front of my lead. I feel like a superstar.
But ohmigoodness, can I just tell you how AMAZING it is to know that (assuming I pass all my registration examinations and requirements - EEK!) I WILL NEVER BE IN THIS SITUATION AGAIN!! EVER! EVER EVER EVER!! If Mr. Man gets another fabulous job that he love, that we live close to, that pays our bills and buys us food and clothing and all those things jobs are supposed to do....and he LOSES it? PSHT! No big deal! I'LL be ABLE to work! I'll be a skilled health-care PROFESSIONAL, with my own income to help the family.
I cannot tell you enough how insanely grateful I am for all the stars to have aligned to bring me this incredible opportunity. The school for offering the accelerated program for kinesiologists, the incredible people who've made it possible for me to participate in the program - you KNOW who. My friends and family for helping me, supporting me, yelling at me and knocking a wee bit of sense into my maniacal brain, encouraging me.... I wish the timing had been better and that Mr. Man's layoff had happened AFTER I had finished this course and was a viable help, but I think we needed to experience it this way to ensure we're going to be the best people we can become.
And that, is that.
5) People
I say quite often, I'm sad to admit, that people suck. Day to day, that's my opinion. People suck. I don't generally care for people. I find them annoying, nosy, intrusive, rude, insensitive, stupid... I don't like people knowing my business, knowing me, slowing me down.
But lately I'VE been down. I've been struggling with Mr. Man's struggling with unemployment. I've watched him hurt, flounder, and get stuck. And it's made it hard for me to be the awesome he needs me to be that my happy pills, shopping, schooling and exercising are pushing me towards.
So, I did something a little crazy.
I told some people.
I've told my parents - they're my go-to persons for just about everything. They're safe. They're my home-away-from-home, because Mr. Man and Little Miss are my home now. But my mommy is my sounding board.
I've told my in-laws. I figure it's silly for them to be unaware of what's going on with my family because my family is part of their family, Mr. Man is their baby, and he has a mommy too who loves him like my mommy loves me.
And I've told some of the men at church.
You know what happened???
My parents mobilized - with smiles on their faces they've chatted with Mr. Man, drawn him out of his shell. Helped him set some short-term goals for job-hunting, current programming projects he's had. Given him advice on HOW to present himself. And taken him shopping. My mother and my husband. In the Gap buying khakis and collared shirts. Anything in the store professional-looking and interview worthy Mr. Man tried on. Even my FATHER who HATES shopping offered his two cents on a blazer discussion. And then took us out for dinner instead of letting me cook for them so we could save our food for ourselves.
My in-laws - My MIL phoned to offer her support and service as a conduit to our church's employment specialty team. An hour-long drive down to our house to pick him up for a meeting up near her house isn't a burden, but an opportunity for quality time with her son. The whole family has come together to make family visiting easier on us and committed to come to OUR place more often so we don't have to worry about gas money. My SILs brainstorm ways we can work to increase our menial income RIGHT NOW while he's still in hunting mode and I'm still in school. There are offers to take Little Miss for sleepovers and visits. We are welcomed with open arms to mooch meals when we're in town, or invite ourselves over.
At church - I first wrote our bishop, not sure who exactly I should talk to about the problems we're experiencing at home. I was immediately referred to his counsellors and the Elder's Quorum president (the, uh, 'extracurricular' church group Mr. Man is part of aside from our regular sacrament meetings - boys go to various priesthood quorum meetings, ladies go to Relief Society - it's very club-like hahaha), to make sure that neither my husband or my family fall through the cracks. The next day the brand-spanking-new EQ president phoned to check in, offer his services, and arranged an in-home visit to do an even more thorough job in person. We've been visited, ministered to, blessed, heard, and loved.
You know what? "People" don't suck! And I am SO grateful to be learning this now, when we need it so desperately.
And even though it doesn't look like this video will play on blogger... I thought of this song right away when coming to the realization that I'm thankful for people. :-) Enjoy!
Okay, so this is one of my FAVOURITE meals. It's SO SO SO good. And while you can make all sorts of arguments against it's health value, it always results in my eating a GIANT amount of cabbage, onions, it's FRESH made, not full of preservatives and all whatever garbage (you know, all the garbage that was in last night's Kraft Dinner meal....) .... it's DELISH. (I tend not to share food I don't find absolutely delicious...that just seems like it would be mean! Here! Here's this meal...it's kinda' crap...)
Here we go: Chinese Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 head Chinese cabbage (Nappa, or you could use Romaine lettuce)
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 package noodles, crunched up (use the noodles from a package of Ramen, or some other uncooked chow-mein type noodles)
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/3 cup almond slices
cooked chicken breast, cut up in chunks, as much as you want in the salad
DRESSING -
1/4 cup vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Directions:
Brown sesame seeds and almond slices in 350 degree oven. Let cool. Combine dressing ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour into a jar and let cool. Before serving shake well.
Break up Nappa cabbage and mix with all other salad ingredients. Toss with dressing and serve immediately.
*make it even healthier for you by substituting in xylitol or stevia for the sugar in the dressing, gluten-free soy sauce, or rice or some other type of dry, oriental noodle for that extra crunch without the wheat, gluten, or whatever your intolerance may be for.
Easy and fabulous. My two favourite things in food.
So, I KNOW it's Menu Monday, but today I have a Little Miss home with a sore throat, so I'm thinking we're sticking with good old chicken-noodle soup and Kraft Dinner type meals today - she's EXTRAORDINARILY picky when she's sick and, frankly, I'm okay with that. hahaha Anyway, I realized I won't be cooking anything really worth talking about today (except the horrible, mass amounts of MSG, preservatives, colour number 6-bazillion and goodness only knows what else I'll be feeding my family today - hahaha) so I'm going to do "Menu Monday" TOMORROW, okay? Look for the deets on a very very yummy Chinese Chicken Salad - just thinking about having this for lunch tomorrow is making me salivate. YUM!
AND I know I didn't post on Thursday. Thankful Thursday I DID remember, but let me tell you, I'm so out of the Thankful-Thursday-groove at the moment, I couldn't come up with anything to write about!! Isn't that awful? And I don't mean that I'm not thankful for anything, I mean that I'm so out of it I couldn't come up with my five things.
All the ideas I had to write about were the things I've in the past purposely AVOIDED writing about - they're so cliche and HUGE I've steered myself away from writing about them specifically: my family - holy CRAP I am thankful for my family, but what do I write about? My kid? My hubs? My mommy? My in-laws? My infuriating baby brother (who's SO OLD now! hahaha), my goof of a father, oozing with wisdom? Just saying "I'm thankful for my family" isn't what Thankful Thursdays are supposed to be about aaaand so I didn't write about it.
I started Thankful Thursdays to help ME. To help me look at the piles of crap laying around my house and to find something I love and am grateful for. So, what have I written about in the past? Kraft Dinner, for pity's sake. My stereo. Naps. Being SICK for goodness' sake. So to cop out and write a post on something so OBVIOUS as my wonderful friends or my cannot-live-without-them family? Psht. SO not what it's about.
So I didn't write anything. Obviously.
My goal for this week is to get my head back in that game and come up with my five things to write about. I don't even know or care if anyone reads my Thankful Thursday posts; they're for ME. They help me have perspective and be a better, happier, positive person.
Fingers crossed I can get it together and get it done. Maybe we'll do "the unemployment edition" or something. Actually, I'm liking that idea... hmmmm.... :-)
I am thankful for my family, for sure. It's the middle of the day, so Little Miss is feeling, I think, as good as she's going to today, and Mr. Man is busy giving her a mani/pedi over in the living room. Who could possibly NOT be thankful for a life that includes that fabulousness?? Ohmigoodness, for all our faults, I have the GREATEST family. My little nuclear one here at home, the one I grew up with, the one I've been added to, my 'adopted' families. I love these folks.
Anyway, that's enough of that. Excuses for not doing what I said I was going to do, rambling through my fingers...lah-de-daaaaahhhh....
Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great Monday! I'll be back with a food post tomorrow. :-)
I'm a happily married (to Mr. Man) mother-of-one (to Little Miss) gal with a degree in Kinesiology who occasionally feels the need to CONFESS her personal health-care woes. This is where I do it. Not to mention the other, random subjects rattling around in my brain that eventually end up spewing onto the computer keyboard...
Happy reading!
Feel free to contact me anytime at redlovestomove@gmail.com :D
