N is for New Years Failuations

The promises we make to ourselves once a year aren't resolutions, they should be called failuations because nobody ever keeps them! Life gets in the way, and let's face it, old habits die hard. The gym is always SO CROWDED in January, then the resolutioners make the transition to the dark side and I can suddenly find a parking spot with ease for my morning Pilates class. 

I cannot remember one single New Years Eve where I was like, that was a full 365 days of commitment, goal reached! I have usually forgotten what I resolved to do. So why even make them? People love new starts, clean slates. Even if we make it a week of trying something new, I'd say that's a good start to the year.

Which brings me to the worst failuation probably in history. The husband wanted to try this new eating plan....called the paleo diet. He just wanted to try it for a month, I thought "ok dear, good luck! I'll be over here cheering you on." If you're not familiar with paleo, it's fondly referred to as the caveman diet. Meat, veggies, fruits, beans. Sounds simple. Sorry, no dairy, no grain, no sugar, nothing processed. For some odd reason, after reading about it, my watch-from-afar, be-a-supportive-wife stance, had changed into motivation to try it. SAY WHAT!? This is the same manner in which I got sucked into half marathoning. Dang you aspirational husband. 

I didn't last one day. NOT ONE! Talk about failuation. Lets just say somebody didn't think ahead and grocery shop appropriately for their own idea. And I love cheese. It has been decided I can eat healthy and cheesy at the same time. In honor of my epic fail, here's a new natural salad dressing recipe that I'm borderline obsessed with, along with special Kelsey touches I added :)

Lemon tahini dressing via eating well.com 

I double everything but here's the original measurements if you just want to test it out.

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice (roughly half a lemon's juice. Lemon has great cleansing properties!)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons tahini (I didn't know what it was either until I made hummus. But it's just ground sesame seeds)
• 1 small clove garlic, minced (I add a lot more. Because, hello it's garlic)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (Himalayan pink salt because this)
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (gives a little kick, and a metabolic boost!)

I put it on spinach with some sunflower seeds. And dip veggies in it. And maybe pizza crust.... I'm trying ok?!

Until next time...

Cheers,
KB

A is for Appetizing AND Healthy? No way.

I try to dabble in healthy food, and I would like to think of myself as a pretty healthy eater (besides the recent sugar cravings, that is). A while back, I subscribed to Women's Health Magazine Online, and recently, probably as some kind of subliminal messaging about not getting lazy, Mom got me a Fitness Magazing subscription. Just kidding Mommmmm!

My fellow coworkers at the aquarium are also eat really healthy. They eat things like chia seeds, hemp seeds, bran, seaweed, quinoa, and everything organic and/or vegan and/or gluten-free. Being surrounded by that kind of stuff makes you think about what you eat. So here's a recipie from an old Women's Health, that I tweaked a little, but its still healthy and yummy!

• Roughly 1 cup of crumbled cooked tilapia. Cook however you like, I just used lemon juice, salt and pepper on the George Foreman grill.
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced kale
• 1/4 diced tomatoes, drained
• 3 Tbsp crumbled feta
• 3 tsp lime juice
• 2 tsp olive oil
• A couple sprinkles of cumin
• Wheat tortillas, warmed

Mix it all together and wah-lah! This is great for leftover fish or chicken. And did you know kale has been found to protect againt breast and ovarian cancer? Red onions contain chromium, which can help protect against diabetes. And tilapia is a great source of phosporous, which keeps your digestive systme and skin healthy!

Now go try this recipie and tell me what you think!

Cheers,

KLM

C is for Cheeseburger....SOUP!

It is beginning to be soup weather!! The colder it gets the more I start craving hot, hearty, comfort foods. And the longer Andrew is gone, the more I start realizing, my recipie box is like a treasure chest! It keeps me busy, and fed which are both important during a deployment :)
I love cuddling up in the blankets with a bowl of soup. A whole meal in one bowl mmmm hmmmm. And if a pumpkin spice candle is burning it makes the scene much more amazingfull. Here's a recipie from my Momma that will be my lunch for the whole week I'm sure.

Cheeseburger Soup

• 1/2 lb hamburger
• 3/4 c. chopped onion
• 3/4 c. chopped carrots
• 3/4 c. choppedd celery
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. parsley
• 4 Tbsp. margarine
• 3 c. chicken broth
• 4 c. diced potatoes
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. flour
• 2 c. Velveeta, cubed
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

-Brown and drain hamburger.

-Saute onion, celery, carrots, basil and parsley in 1 Tbsp. margarine until tender (about 10 min)

-Add broth, potatoes and hamburger. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer till potatoes are tender

-In another saucepan, melt remaining margarine, add flour, cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Mix well until smooth.

-Remove from heat and blend in sour cream.

-Add mixtures together and ta-daaaaa!

I used ground turkey, and extra celery and onions. Momma adds peas, corns and green beans sometimes. Adapt how you wish, and munch away!

Oh, and there's an example of my "bread bowl," which is actually just a french bread sandwich roll cut into a circle and hollowed out ha! Until next time....

Cheers,
KLM

Y is for Yellow Chairs

One of my goals when I moved to the Pacific Northwest was to start pursuing my ultimate goal of working for a zoo or an aquarium. During college in Winfield, I was an hour away from the nearest zoo, so volunteering never worked out. And last year I was working 8-5, along with the occasional weekend shift, and was again, an hour away from the nearest source of zoo experience. So finally, I am a 20 minute ride from the Seattle Aquarium. Although I have the degrees, and some experience in the education department of the Topeka Zoo, I still am starting from the bottom, and working my way up.

Volunteer orientation started Saturday morning. It was pretty straight forward, the most exciting part was when they let us walk around the aquarium for 30 minutes to explore and “talk to other volunteers about their experiences.” I spent the whole time talkin with the otters of course.

Octopus trying to escape....

I was feeling very tired, so I had planned on just going home to nap after orientation. But the weather was amazing, and spending time by the water never gets old. I went and had a seat on Pier 59, where they had set up these bright yellow Adirondack chairs. It was nice just to soak up the sun for a while; since I’m sure it won’t be around for that much longer. My thoughts on going home to nap were quickly dissolved and I made a day of being downtown.

 It is beginning to look like AUTUMN in the city!

 I feel like a goob taking pictures of myself but I had to document these awesome chairs!!

 Love.

 Remind me of dinosaurs

 Post Alley

 The only thing at the antique shop that I liked....a toddler size houndstooth coat, should've bought it!

An antique mall (which was too unorganized for me to stay and dig for treasures....), Pike’s Place Market (which either smells like flowers, or fish….ick), the “Made in Washington” Store, and Starbucks of course. I did end up heading home in the late afternoon because my phone was dying and I was waiting to hear from Andrew. Not soon after I had put my feet up and showered, I got a text from Emily about a girl date for sushi. I rode the Light Rail for the 3^rd and 4^th time that day, and we headed to Umi in Belltown (the “bar” district north of downtown). I stepped outside my sushi box (a california roll never fails me) and had a “Belltown Barbie,” which had crab, seared salmon, cucumbers, avocado, and some real funky sauces. YUM.

After spending Sunday morning cleaning, watching 9/11 documentaries, feeling a great sense of pride to have a boyfriend that serves our country, and then pushing it to the back of my mind so I wouldn't get sad, for some reason, today I decided I was in the mood to bake. Definitely not something I’m familiar with at all. But one day after school last week, I noticed a TON of blackberries were ripening right outside of our playground fence.  After everybody was gone I started picking and filled almost a whole Ziploc bag full. I could’ve gotten a lot more, but I was too dang short. I received plenty of pricks and ate way too many along the way, but they’ve just been sitting in the fridge being snacked on, so I did something different. Found a recipe from Iron Chef, Mario Batali and I was so proud of the end product!!!

 Baking is messy.

Here’s the recipe, which I messed with a little bit. After snacking, I only had 1.5 cups of blackberries, so I divided all the other ingredients by 2.6 so they’d have the same ratio as the original recipeJ I followed the crust instructions as they are listed though, and froze the extra dough for my next baking endeavor since I had so much fun with this one! I found little pot pie tins at Safeway because a regular size pie pan would be wayyyy too big. I used a little extra lemon juice because I would rather have a tart/sour pie than a sugary sweet one. I also added an egg wash (one whole egg and salt) so the crust would be pretty and I heard it helps it not to dry out. Oh, and I didn’t have a fancy cooking brush so I used an actual paint brush to apply it…..I’m always an innovator! After one hour at 350, my crust was fully cooked and the berries stayed tart and not too sweet; I baked a real pie!

Ice cream + blackberries = STUPENDOUS

I may or may not go eat some more pie now....so I'll catch ya after the next adventure!

Cheers,

KLM