Farro Kale Broccoli Bowls

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farro salad

While at the grocery store the other day, I went through the grain aisle and was going to pick up some more quinoa when I saw a bag of farro.  Its actually extremely healthy and packs tons of fiber and protein! I’d never tried it so I thought it might be fun to try to incorporate into dinner some how. Here’s what I came up with:

Ingredients:

  • farro: cook using package directions
  • raw kale (serious super food packed with tons of vitamins and minerals, delicious raw or cooked.)
  • broccoli and cauliflower florets (“steam in a bag” is ideal for this)
  • balsamic vinaigrette (see Nicoise Salad article for instructions on how to make this)

Directions:

  1. cook farro using package directions
  2. steam broccoli and cauliflower florets
  3. in a bowl layer farro, raw kale, florets and drizzle with vinaigrette

Delicious and insanely healthy.  So many vitamins, so much fiber and protein.  Couldn’t get simpler or more delicious 🙂

January 11th: Washed up Whale

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whale 8

Although it is never a happy moment to see a dead animal, I have to acknowledge how privileged I am to have seen this in person.

Every Saturday morning, I wake up early and run with my group by the ocean.  During these early morning runs, I have been lucky enough to observe all kinds of beautiful scenery and animals such as red foxes, raccoons, cardinals, pelicans, gulls, you name it.  But this whale is a first.

The whale did not die because he was beached.  His cause of death is unknown but she was already dead when he got washed up. Below you’ll find more info.

http://www.local10.com/news/dead-whale-washes-up-along-shore-in-boca-raton/-/1717324/23866398/-/u0ly88z/-/index.html

Jan. 10th: Freedom from Past BS

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freedom

That moment when you get a court order in the mail addressed to your ex and you realize what a loser he still is and how much you should thank your lucky stars that you’re no longer together:

  1. Because even 2 years after moving out he STILL hasn’t changed his address with the DMV and
  2. Because… he has a court order (same irresponsible idiot as always)

I may sound like a bitch but I was actually nice enough to put it in an envelope and mail it to his mommy so she can handle it for him….. 😉  Wouldn’t want karma to bite me in the ass or anything.

January 9th: Kids are so silly

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laughing kids

Today I’m thankful for working at a school because I LOVE being surrounded by children all day. Having worked as a psychotherapist for adults for most of my professional career, the past two years have been a welcome change for several reasons.

Kids aren’t jaded and they aren’t angry at the world.  They usually have no idea how hilarious they are when they are being totally serious and they are incredibly receptive and appreciative of your time and efforts.  I get all kinds of random hugs and greetings from children throughout the day.  They are always sincerely happy to see me and they get excited when they get to spend time with me… Pretty nice ego boost if you ask me!

Today, I ran into one of my little 3rd grade trouble-makers.  She has actually been behaving better this year so I’ve seen less of her lately (which is a good thing).  When I asked how she was doing, she shook her head so I asked her what was wrong… Her response was dramatic, as always, and she used one hand to cover her mouth in order to keep our conversation private and the other hand to point with her thumb.  “This one over here won’t let me get my colored pencils back and when I tell my mom, I’m going to get in so much trouble.”  She kind of sneered and rolled her eyes as she said this.

When I turned to see who she was pointing to, I realized that when she said “this one over here” she was, in fact, referring to her teacher.  I looked over to my co-worker, only to get a look from her that said “Dear Lord, help me.  This kid is driving me nuts!”  (but she said it aaaaaaalllll with her eyes, you know what I mean?) ….

Seriously though, how could I not laugh when this stuff happens?  She obviously got in trouble and had her pencils confiscated but… that little face, the melodrama, the seriousness with which she told me, and the way she was so confident that I would be the ideal person to tattle on her teacher to…. cracks me up!  LOL

Crocodile Rockin’: Fun “Crocodile Stitch” Accented Scarf

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1384873_760121274004483_545475670_n

Its cold weather season!  Time to whip out the home-made scarves and hats or start going through your yarn stash to make one!

Any of you modern crocheters out there who have surfed crochet websites or searched for patterns on Etsy lately have become aware of the new “Crocodile Stich” trend. When I first saw the stitch online I thought it looked waaay too complicated for someone like me who is only intermediately skilled. I thought I’d give it a try, though, and bought a pattern from BonitaPatterns on http://www.etsy.com. (BonitaPatters has its own web site, http://www.bonitapatters.com, that you can buy directly from) To my surprise, I picked it up rather quickly. I’m a visual learner and appreciate clarity and simplicity. Her photos and instructions made it pretty easy to understand.

Now that I know how to do the Crocodile Stitch (named this because of the scale-like effect the yarn takes) I’ve been trying to come up with new ways to incorporate it into different projects. I like to add it as an accent to larger pieces or limit it to smaller projects because it does consume a lot of yarn and, although it is not difficult, it is a little more time consuming than basic stitches. (I’m a bit impatient like to move on to new projects rather quickly. I admit to getting bored if I don’t get the gratification of admiring my finished product after long.)

Here is a crocheted scarf I made for myself with Crocodile Stitch fringe on each end. This was made with Lion Brand, Vanna’s Choice in Linen. It took about 2 skeins of yarn and one leisurely week of working on it off and on.

Materials:
2 skeins of 4 ply yarn
Size G crochet Hook

Instructions:
1. Chain 24
2. Chain three in 4th chain from hook and V-stitch in every 3rd chain thereafter until you reach the end.
3. On this row of V-stitches (you should have 8 in total), create your first 4 “scales” of crocodile stitch.
4. Chain up 3
5. Create 2nd row of V-stiches
6. Crochet 3 “scales” between the first 4 you created.
Follow steps 2-6 until you have created 7 rows of “scales” beginning and ending with 4 scales. (4,3,4,3,4,3,4)

Use this tutorial on-line for specifics on how to master this stitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MMPLqDMUuA

7. Chain up 3
8. Double crochet in each chain across. You should have 24 double crochet when finished with this row.
9. Repeat #7 and #8 until you have reached your desired length for half of the scarf. I made 60 rows of double crochet.
10. Fasten off.
Repeat to create two “halves” of the scarf.

Finishing:
1. With right sides together, slip stitch halves together in the center of the scarf.

913270_760180850665192_209491055_n
2. Weave in loose ends.

***Note:  When I saw how quickly and easily the project came together, I made two more scarves as gifts.  This time, they were intended for children so I used brighter, more vibrant colors.  I simply switched yarn colors after the crocodile stitch was complete and moved on to the double crochet.

I then added a neat little accent around the circumference of these to tie the project all together. Once you have pieced both side of the scarf together, simply slip stitch around the body of the scarf with the accent yarn you used for the crocodile fringe…. Cute huh?!

January 8th: My sister, Georgette

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me and georgie bellydance

Today, I am most thankful for my sister, Georgette.  She is more than just my sister.  She is my best friend, my confidante, my advocate, my advisor, my biggest fan and my best consoler.

She is the one who shares my same little quirk of sighing after she laughs (which sends our friends into fits of laughter when we do it in unison unknowingly), the one who only has to look at me to know that I have some sort of deliciously cruel comment to say about something that we’ve just observed, the one that is able to finish my sentences after we’ve spent a lot of time together and the one who totally gets me (even if I don’t “get me” at the time.)

The relationship you have with your sibling is the longest you will have in your lifetime.  Who else can so deeply relate to you than a brother or sister who was possibly there when you were born, played an integral part of your earliest memories and will, hopefully, be there with you into old age after your parents are gone?

I love you lots xoxox.

Nicoise Salad: Dinner in 10 minutes flat

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nicoise salad

After I came home today, I was starving and wanted to put something yummy together quick.  Good thing I recently bought groceries and had fresh produce in the fridge so I was able to whip up this awesome little go-to salad for dinner. Its my version of nicoise salad. This traditional French salad has only a few simple ingredients:

Ingredients:

  • lettuce- I use romaine and sometimes mix it with arugula (roquette lettuce)
  • tomatoes- I prefer grape tomatoes or mini plum tomatos
  • steamed green beans- “steam in the bag” packages are ideal for this
  • black olives
  • boiled eggs
  • tuna- you can use canned or fresh but this can be eliminated all together because you have enough protein with the boiled eggs.
  • boiled potatoes- I always omit this. The salad if filing enough without it.

Directions:

  1. Put 2 eggs in a pot of water and bring to a boil.  The minute the water begins to boil, set your timer for 8 minutes.  In the mean time….
  2. On a plate, put a layer of your lettuce of choice as the base of your salad.  Simply place the remainder of the ingredients in sections on top (think, cobb salad)
  3. Make your dressing.  Here’s how I make my favorite Balsamic Vinaigrette

4.  When the timer goes off, peel the eggs and place on top of the salad.  See how the yolks are super yellow and don’t have that yucky green/ gray ring around them?!  That’s ’cause you didn’t over boil them!  No more than 8 minutes for the perfect boiled egg.

5.  Drizzle dressing and sprinkle some cayenne pepper if you’d like (and I always like.)

Basically, you just made dinner in the time it took to boil those eggs… Enjoy!!

nicoise salad with tuna

This is another nicoise salad I made myself a while back.  With this one, I included fresh tuna.  It tasted amazing but it was kind of protein over-load with the eggs.  Plus, it was very expensive….  food for though 🙂

January 7th: Super Yogi!

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superwoman

Today I am thankful for tricking myself into going to yoga class through my usual quirky and bizarre antics.

This morning it was cold…. Well, for the rest of the country 45 degrees isn’t cold but, for me, thats arctic.  As a result of the frigid elements, I decided I needed to layer.  Living in South Florida I, of course, don’t own long johns so the only thing I could think to wear under my pants were my running/ yoga capris…. and, since I had already gone so far as to wear the capris, I decided that I’d also go ahead and switch out my standard push-up for a sports bra. I stuck a dry wick shirt and a pair of flip flops in my yoga bag and headed out as usual.

Basically, the plan was that I’d rush over the the yoga studio the minute I clocked out from work and would arrive there minutes before the 4:30 class.  But, due to my clever planning, all I’d have to do is pull a “Clark Kent” and there, underneath my nerdy school uniform would be my rockin’ yoga outfit ready to go for Hatha Vinyasa, baby!…..  unfortunately, it was only until the 1 1/2 hour long class had finished that I realized I had been wearing my yoga pants inside out all day….  Not so cool.  “A” for effort, though?

January 6th: Back to the Grind

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download

Now, don’t think that I’m some kind of weirdo workaholic when I tell you this but, I was actually looking forward to coming back to work today after my two week winter break.  I WASN’T looking forward to getting up at 5:50am or driving almost an hour on the Turnpike to get there but, I was looking forward to getting back into my daily routine.

I enjoy feeling productive, feeling that I’ve made an impact in someone’s life even in the minimalist of ways.  I like that I can be creative daily and that I have flexibility to try new projects and ideas with the kids.  I also had fun catching up with co-workers and friends.

January 5th: Max

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Max is my little Yorkie-Poo.  He is sweet, attentive, affectionate and thinks that I’m the best dog-mommy ever.  He’s great at cuddling, always listens when I need someone to hear me out and is extremely excited to see me (even if I’ve only been gone for half an hour on a run).  He’s been my little shadow today and I love him ❤