HOLY GUACAMOLE!

Food.  I LOVE food.  And so when my hubby and I come up with an amazing dinner, and something about it goes 'POW' in your mouth, I want to share. 

Tonight, we made fajitas.  It's an 'old standby' in our house when we are looking for tasty but healthy.  This was the view as I jammed these yummy suckers in my mouth...

The composition was as follows:

Marinated BBQ chicken breast
Sauteed red and green peppers with onion strips
whole wheat tortillas
low fat sour cream
salsa (this was homemade but whatever)
fresh cilantro
homemade guacamole
homemade 'fajita' special sauce

So, without further ado, here are the 'recipes'.

Chicken marinade (1 or 2 hours):
Olive oil
garlic
salt and pepper
fresh-squeezed lime juice
fresh chopped cilantro

Guacamole:
2 ripe avocados
fresh-squeezed juice of 1/2-full lime (to taste - I put about 3/4 of a lime via a fancy press)
chopped red onion (maybe 1/4 cup or so)
1-2 tbsp salsa
sprinkle of salt
chopped fresh cilantro (a good amount - 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup)
*Mango - tonight I added finely chopped fresh mango. OMG good...about 1/4 cup

- mash it all together et voila!

Fajita 'special' sauce
(something my hubby tossed together this afternoon that I CANNOT recommend enough!) You can char all of this on a BBQ or roast under broil in an oven, like he did this afternoon.

1 fresh poblano pepper, roasted and de-skinned
1 fresh orange pepper, roasted and de-skinned
2 cloves garlic, roasted
1 habanero pepper, roasted and de-seeded
1/4 red onion, sliced and also roasted/sauteed

- combine all the above in blender with enough olive oil to blend into nice, thick saucy consistency. Add a dash of sugar and salt and about 1/2 tblsp of white vinegar.  Ah...mazing.

Enjoy!

Losing it - Week One

First, let's just chat briefly about how awesome it is to have grandma and grandpa living for the next 7/8 months here in town.  It's so great.  So very wonderful. They love it, the babies love it, and this Momma loves it.  'Nuff said.

Movin' on. 

This past week (the first after my first 39th birthday) was week one of my Losing it in Ottawa / Mummy Tummy extravaganza.  How did I do? Well, I lost about 5 lbs, and, it seems, already a few inches! My starting weight of 215 or so was down to 208.  My bust down from 45 to 44", my waist down from 47 to 45.5", and hips down .5" to 45.5. Still a ways away from a lovely hourglass figure, but a start, nonetheless. 

Also, it must be said, I am still breastfeeding.  Why does that matter?  Well, given my supply issues (we all know them by now, right?  If not, you can see this post, or this one, or even this one for some details), and the fact that they say you 'burn' an extra 500 calories a day per baby while breastfeeding, I figure I can't drop my eating down by much, because I will then risk reducing my milk production.  Actually, I have to say that I did notice a decrease this past week, and so I may have to bump it back up a bit to be sure that I don't sacrifice what's more important at this particular moment.  I have many more months to come when I am not breastfeeding to get back to a small portioned grazing routine again. And before anyone asks, no, I don`t know yet when I will be weaning and stopping breastfeeding.  I just know I`m not ready to stop yet.  And that`s just fine for now...

My Diet

So what have I done about my eating? Well, cut out most of the refined sugar, for one.  That wasn't helping anything, except my mood, somewhat perceptively, for a small period of time, multiple times a day.  I never had a sweet tooth before the babies, but they say that breastfeeding stimulates the desire for sugar.  Who knew? 

Also, meals became less processed immediately, more about meat and veggies (protein and vitamins) and sauces reduced. All of a sudden last minute meal ideas no longer included Gabriel's Pizza, where our account must be flagged as 'frequent customers' because we often get free, unexpected drinks with our orders?!?  Uh...oops.

Snacktime was the most drastically altered, though.  Gone were the chips and fatty dips to be replaced with my favourite substitute, Roasted Red Pepper Dip and homemade, unoiled whole wheat pita chips.  Want the recipe?  Here it is:

Roasted Red Pepper Feta Dip


2 Large Sweet Red Peppers
¾ cup Crumbled Feta Cheese
2 tsp Red Wine Vinegar
Pinch each of white sugar & cayenne pepper

Place peppers on greased grill over medium-high heat (or in oven approx. 375/400 degrees) until roasted and skin is charred and coming off. I spray the peppers with oil to assist. Let cool and peel off skin (another tip is to cover with plastic to sweat the peppers – skin peels easier).

In food processor (or blender if necessary), puree together all ingredients.

Refrigerate for up to a week, let stand for 30 minutes before serving for best results. Serve with toasted pita chips.

----------

Exercise was simply getting out of the house for some good, old fashioned walking. In the new warmth. With babies. And friends.  That, and just a smattering of Tupler technique breathing clenchy thingies.  No, I don't like them. No, I still don't get many done in a sitting, and I certainly have a LONG way to go to get to the FIRST stage of 3x100 of them, 3 times a day.  Sigh.  Oh well, right?  Baby steps (literally).
That is all.  Week two, here we go.  Onwards and upwards.  How are the rest of y'all doin'?

Desert by moonlight - A great anniversary

You know, with two little babies around 24/7 these days, it was pretty easy not to have given any thought at all to our 3-year anniversary. But, as luck would have it, the idea for a special night dropped in my lap, and I jumped on it.

Our recent trip to Mesa, Arizona was a study in orchestration (more on that in another blog post), and meant that for a good chunk of the trip, my husband was back in Ottawa.  However, on the evening of his return to Mesa for the last few days of the trip, a special phenomena was taking place; what they called the 'super moon'. I discovered that a nearby county park (one of the amazing benefits of my parents' location is their proximity to the nearby desert mountains for hiking) Usary Mountain Regional Park was putting on a park ranger-led moonlight hike that night, and it was free.

Now, I don't think there has been a single trip I have taken to Mesa yet that hasn't included a nice, sunny hike, but this time? No go. I was hoping to go with the girls in carriers on an easy hike, but, uh...you'll hate me for saying this but the temperature was too hot for hiking while we were down there!  So...enter moonlight hiking!

It was great, and so very romantic.  Just the two of us...and about 400 others. But really, it WAS great. Very cool to see the Saguaro cacti rising up against the night sky, and see all the funkier cacti, like the jumping cactus, lit up along the path. The iPhone even managed to capture the scene with the lights of Mesa and Phoenix in the background.

The hike was admittedly short (there were a lot of kidlets and seniors along for the ride), but I really enjoyed the evening, which started off wonderfully at a nearby restaurant which came highly recommended to us, El Rancho Tia Rosas. 

YUMMY.

I started with a margarita (of course) and we had the tomales for our appetizer. For the main course, Art chose the traditional fajitas, and I had the seafood enchiladas.  Sooo good.  Some pix:

And of course, we couldn't stop there. We ordered desserts, and those might have been the best part. We shared the churros (that had custard piped in them and were drizzled with caramel -OMG) and tried Sopapillas for the first time.  Soooo goood!

It was a great night. So lovely. So unplanned. Such a treat, with honey on top (of the sopapillas).

Guacamole

This post is what it says...a recipe for guacamole.  Random, I know, but I have been exhausted recently and was rather rocked by news of a health scare last weekend in the family that could have turned out much worse, and it's been occupying my thoughts a lot.  Thus...GUACAMOLE!

So much healthier than any other chip dip around, and easy to make.

Here's what you do:

Scoop out 2 ripe avocados into a bowl
chop up a handful of fresh cilantro
finely chop some red or spanish onion (optional)
add the juice of a full lime
add a sprinkle of coarse salt
add about 1/3 cup of jarred or fresh salsa (or chop up some fresh tomato)
finely chop up 1/2 or a full jalapeno pepper (also optional)

squash and mix

It's not rocket science, but it tastes amazing, and because I made some tonight, I thought I'd share!