Spring has sprung!

WHAT IS THIS!?!  Almost can't even believe my eyes!  And he had FRIENDS too!  Light at the end of the tunnel, I tell you.

Yes, I decided it was time I get outdoors.  Winter is about over (I think) so I can come out of hibernation now.

We took a "nice" one first, but of course - the "nice" one didn't turn out.  Was blurry. So here is the "silly" one.

No one tells the Avos she can't walk in puddles.

Or Dylan, I guess.

Tonight we had blackened fish tacos.  These were really good!  The recipe is here and its from Cooking Light's March 2011 edition.  I used catfish instead of tilapia (I didn't mean to, but thats what I ended up with!) and it turned out awesome.  The sauce that the onions are supposed to chill in for a bit was on the mild side, so next time I think I'd try adding some chipotle pepper to it instead of the jalapeno pepper.  Other than that, this was pretty good.  For the kids, they just had fish with cheese on their tortillas and they seemed to like it.  I think this would be good with some salsa, rice and black beans too!  Can't wait to make them again and experiment a little!

And then after we were done eating, they kids took their pony out for a ride.  Always a good time.  For the camera person and the riders, anyway. ; )

Well, that's all from me!

Provencal Salmon Burgers

I spent a fair amount of time in potty training land today.  Its a wonderful place that doesn't require pants!  It does, however, require crazy accessories!

Her "looks" today were serious cracking me up.  But, any outfit sans pants is probably gonna be pretty funny.  Wish I could show the full ensemble but clearly I cannot.  Trust me tho - the pics are definitely gonna get some face time in oh...lets say 15 years when I'm needing some sort of payback.  Longer if her Dad has something to say about it. ; )

This evening's meal was fab-u-lous!  This is the Provencal Salmon Burger from March 2011 Clean Eating Magazine.  Seriously good eats and I didn't even make the sauce that was supposed to go on it!  (which looks fab too, but I didn't have a cucumber)

Here is the recipe:

Provencal Salmon Burgers

- 3 cups cauliflower and broccoli, each

- 1 tsp lemon zest

- 1 lb salmon fillets, cut into chunks

- 1 egg white

- 3/4 tsp herbes de Provence

- 5 kalamata olives, chopped

- 1 tsp capers

- 1 tbsp chopped red onion

- 2 tsp Dijon mustard

- olive oil cooking spray

-4 whole wheat buns

- Green leaf lettuce

Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

- 1/2 cucumber, peeled and seeded

- 1 cup nonfat plain Greek-Style yogurt

- 1 crushed clove garlic

- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Directions: In a medium saucepot, bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add cauliflower and broccoli.  Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until tender but firm.  Remove veggies from pot and toss with lemon zest; set aside.

In a food processor, combine salmon, egg white, herbes de Provence, olives, capers, onion and Dijon.  Pulse 3 or 4 times until mixed but still chunky.  Form into 4 patties and set aside.

Prepare cucumber yogurt sauce: grate cucumber over a cheesecloth or clean towel.  Wrap up cheese cloth or towel and squeeze tightly until all liquid is removed from cucumber.  In a medium bowl, combine cucumber, yogurt, garlic and lemon juice; mix well.

Heat a saucepan on medium-high and mist with cooking spray.  Place salmon patties in pan, mist tops with cooking spray and cook for 4 to 5 minutes per side.

To assemble burgers, place each salmon patty in 1 bun and top with 1/4 cup cucumber yogurt sauce.  Add lettuce to burger, if desired.  Serve with 1 cup broccoli-cauliflower mixture.

Serves: 4, Serving size: 1 salmon burger and 1 cup veggie mixture, calories: 372

 

 

In other news...OUR.SEPTIC.IS.WORKING.  We got ripped off!!!!!  Eric went out today to check on it (and I prepared for the worst with a big glass of wine and a few deep breaths) and came in and announced that it IS, in fact, working.  So we tested it out with a load of laundry and he could tell it wasn't frozen.  And he thinks it never actually was!  So, now comes the part where I call out Lon's Septic Service in Hillman, MN. DON'T USE THEM!!!  They ripped off our neighbor too I guess!  LIARS!  They came here twice and were probably laughing' it up each time they left. We'll spread the word tho, Lon!  So look out!

 

Thats all for now!  G'night!

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!