What I've Been Up To

Pureeing and Cooking:

The last week has been so much fun! I'm in love with Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook Deceptively Delicious. I love the idea: sneaking pureed vegetables into foods that your family loves. I spent the weekend buying vegetables and then making them into an arsenal of purees, which are now tucked into the freezer.

We've been trying out recipes with great results. We've made the applesauce muffins (with carrots) and brownies (with spinach),

The macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes (both with cauliflower),

Tuna salad in whole wheat pitas (with cauliflower puree, and spinach and tomato)

And the meatloaf (with carrot puree, and onion and celery).

No one has said "yuck" to any of it! My kids all love vegetables, but my husband has a hard time, so it's especially beneficial for his diet, and he loves the fact that he can eat the veggies without having to actually see them. And, of course, we always serve fresh or cooked veggies on the side, along with a nice salad. We've eaten more vegetables in this house in the last week than ever, and we're all feeling great!
I also love Dr. Roizen's and Dr. Oz's book You: On a Diet for its simple explanation of the workings of the body as they relate to food. The recipes in the back were worth the cost of the book. We've been having soup and salad lunches for quite some time. More veggies! We make a huge pot of soup on Monday, and then eat from it all week long. We love the Spicy Vegetable Lentil Soup and the Garden Harvest Soup the best. More veggies!

We've also tried to have salmon a few times a week and to switch from ground beef to ground turkey. And for snacks? Whole grains and fruit and veggies. The kids are in heaven. I'm very lucky (or I've done a lot of work for a lot of years) that my children prefer to snack on fruits and veggies than anything else. I love the feeling of building little bodies and brains. I take that responsibility very seriously, and though I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, it sure feels satisfying at the end of the day to count up all the vitamins and minerals they got that day.

What else have I been doing? Reading! I've just recently finished Cormac McCarthy's very haunting postapocalyptic tale, The Road; Stephenie Meyer's third vampire installment, Eclipse; Khaled Hosseini's stirring debut novel The Kite Runner; and Carol Lynn Pearson's latest, No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around our Gay Loved Ones. I highly recommend any and all of them.

My three older kids got back on Thursday from their visit with Dad, and we're getting back into the swing of homeschool. Love it! Lyndsay is working her way through the Work and the Glory series, Dylan's plowing through the Chronicles of Narnia, and Aiden is working hard to read The Book of Mormon on his own.

I've been walking, almost every day. Last week I logged 21.5 miles, pushing chunky baby in the stroller. When they're home, the kids walk with me, and I love the fact that my 12 and 13 year old are not embarrassed to go walking with their mom...yet. Even when I wear earmuffs.

Oh, and I got a hair cut! I'm finally past the had-a-baby-let-everything-go-phase, and my friend Amy gave me a new do! Can't really see all the wispy layers in the back from this photo, but it feels good to have something new.

So, that's where I've been, since I haven't been here! And, upon coming back I was greeted with a lovely and flattering award from fellow-blogger, Don, who left a very kind comment about me on his blog. Thank you, Don! It's an honor, and I'll do my best to pass the torch! You made MY day!