Fitness Friday - Zumba Love!

So I start teaching Zumba tomorrow morning!  I was finally able to get into the studio and use the mic yesterday so now I actually feel like I'm ready to do this.  It seems silly to be so nervous about teaching a fitness class!  But when you have to dance, cue, try not to fall off the platform, smile and look around the room at your participants - it CAN be kind of nerve wracking.  And I haven't even done the last 2 things yet (it feels weird to smile at no one! LOL)!  But it all seemed to really come together yesterday, so I'm feeling confident that tomorrow will go well.  I am co-teaching tomorrow with the Zumba instructor who already teaches at the YMCA (where I will also be teaching).  She is going to do a few songs and then I will do 4-5 songs plus the cool down.  It should be fun!  She usually gets a crowd of 30-40 people, so I would be lying if I said I wasn't a tad nervous.  But excited too!  And then I will be teaching class on Thursday mornings for now.  Hopefully I'll have more classes soon!  Anyway, I thought I'd upload a video and embarrass myself a little.  Hey - if I can't share it with the world, then how can I actually do it in front of people?! Right?!  So here ya go!  Click on the link again, cuz like last time - can't figure out how to embed a video here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/trishthedish79?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/YFwJ9M57huM

SnotRod Soup

Good morning!  The house is quiet and its "mama time" so I thought I'd let you peek at some of yesterday's happenings.  The kids and I went for a walk to the bridge because the ducks are all starting to return.  There is open water there so thats where they all hang out.  So we went to take a gander.

The big white ones standing on the ice are the Trumpeter Swans.  If I had a savvy well marked blog, I'd link you back to the pictures I took of the Trumpeters two years ago.  Actually, I think Eric may have taken the one that turned out great.  ???  I can't remember.  Anyway, they needed to come closer.  Could barely see them. : (

Avos was mad about that too.  She wanted to GET THOSE BIRDS!

Can you tell they are posing for me?  LOL!  I said, stand together and look at the ducks.  They did just that.  And it only lasted a few seconds and then Dylan turned around and said, "done?"  Uggg.  I guess. ; )

Avery took his hat and then he pushed her down trying to get it back.  That was the end of out time outside.  She was angry!

Today's soup de jour - SnotRod Soup.  Yeah, so I made up that name to please Dylan.  I've made this soup quite a few times and its always a hit with the kids.  Avery laps it up pretty quickly!  Well, not so much yesterday.  She was being "difficult" yesterday.  Finally I just gave up and took her out of her highchair.  Then Eric came down from his office and wouldn't ya know it - the little turd ate it just fine for him!  She requested seconds even.  Lame, Avos, LAME!  Especially since this really is one of her favorites.  And for good reason.  Its pretty fabulous.

SnotRod Soup

Adapted from Williams Sonoma catalog! (LOL)

1TB olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

4 cups butternut squash puree (I used 2 15 ounce cans, but if you cant find that - you'll have to roast your own and puree it yourself)

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable if you want this to be a veg meal)

2 small bay leaves

3 tsp salt, plus more to taste

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp grated fresh ginger (tip: I keep my ginger in the freezer so I always have some on hand)

In saute pan over medium heat, add olive oil and onion.  Cook until soft.  Transfer onion to slow cooker.  Add butternut squash puree, apple, stock, bay leaves, 3 tsp salt, coriander and ginger to slow cooker.  Stir to combine.  Cover and cook for 2 hours.  I did mine on high for 1 hour and then low for the rest of the time.  You can leave it all in there for longer than 2 hours if you want.  Just don't have the temp on too high or it might burn.

Discard bay leaves.  Using a stick blender (or if you have to, a blender or food processor) puree the soup until smooth.  I like to serve this with crusty bread or sandwiches.  Enjoy!

 

The white stuff you see there is a dollop of greek yogurt.  It didn't add anything, so next time I'd omit it.  We've put sour cream in it before and that was good though!  : )

Well, since it's Fitness Friday - I will have another post for you shortly.  Now....if only I could figure out how to imbed a video here....hmmm.  Stay tuned!

 

Snow.

We didn't have much snow last night when we went to bed.  Well, we do now!  Dylan keeps reminding me that it won't be here for long because its spring now.  Wise boy.

And you just know he had to try and climb it!

Avery was angry because the deep snow slowed her down too much.  I had to go out and rescue her in a snowbank because she was laying there like a slug.  She never revived after that.  Instead, she just sat there whining away.

So my attempt at a cute brother/sister snowbank pic was a no go.

This is a sammy from yesterday evening.  It was just so-so.  Its ground chicken with marinara sauce and it was just too messy.   The recipe was in Cooking Light from this month.  You can find it here.  I dunno - maybe you like messes?

And today I had to make more of the dip I'm obsessed with.  Ahhhhh!  Its so good!  Its good with pita chips, veggies, on sammies or if you are wanting a faster method to get it into your mouth - use a spoon!  Works great!

And in an effort to avoid making more dough balls, I decided to make banana soft serve instead.  If you haven't made it yet and you own a food processor then shame on you!  Does this or does this not look like ice cream?!  All it is is frozen bananas that have been processed for a few minutes!  The brown blob is dark chocolate peanut butter.

Finished product.  This seriously cures any hankering you might have for ice cream.  Its sooooo good.  Even without the dark chocolate peanut butter, I swear!

Well thats all for now.  My TV and couch are calling my name!  Have a good night!

Farewell 'Berdeen

Well, we are heading home today after our weeklong stay at Grandma and Grandpa H's house.  Back to reality.  No more running water, flushing toilets or taking long showers and giant bubble baths for us!   Yep, still waiting on the septic to un-freeze.  Can't wait to get home! ; )

Here are some of the happenings from the last couple of days here.  See anything funny in this picture?

Oh Rock-o!  So funny!  He stood there motionless for quite awhile.  He didn't want in or anything.  He was just hangin' out.

Grandma's lack of Kodiak Cakes was shocking.  So I had to make pancakes from scratch.  These were pretty good I must say!

Grandma's daily nap.  It was nice and cozy with D and the dogs.

Making pizza with my assistants.

This pizza got the thumbs down from D.  He said there wasn't enough toppings.  He may have been right.  Oh well.  But apparently he's never heard of the "even if its bad, its still pretty good" rule of pizza.  Words to live by.

Avery worked away at her computer. She kept playing her favorite tunes and then she'd get up to dance to them.  Hmmm.....perhaps she's copying me?  Zumba practice is rubbing off on her!  Tho, my routines aren't to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  But she makes it work.

Seriously gorgeous child.  And its a good thing too.  She's been extra naughty the past few days.  Will she EVER stop trying to eat EVERY random thing she finds?!?!?!?  SERIOUSLY!

Painting time with Grandma.  Her idea!  She didn't factor in the Avos factor though.  So we had to be on the lookout for...

SNEAKY PETE!  She pops up often.

"FINE!" says Sneaky Pete. "I'll play with Creepy Baby."

 

And finally, enjoying some popcorn from our future popcorn machine.  It will be ours.  Oh yes, it will be ours.  MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

Well, catch ya later from Hillman!  Where the water doesn't run freely and the internet is slooooooooow.  Fun times!