Heathy food=lots of energy! :)

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

After taking an unusual route yesterday from Meadowbrook Playfield and having to go out of our way due to lack of sidewalks, Rena and I "somehow just randomly" ended up at Whole Foods just before lunchtime. (Hubby said it was typical Pie.) So I bought us some food that we could take and eat at one of the benches outside. Our healthy fare consisted of a Jamba Juice apple and greens smoothie; organic minestrone soup with veggies, beans, peas, etc.; and herb Mary's Gone Crackers.

Rena not only perked up (she had napped in her stroller on the way there from the playground) but walked herself almost the entire way home without even being very worn out by the end.

Cute compliment from hubby! :)

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

Hubby called me a "hot chocolate." It made me chuckle as I mixed water, organic skim milk, organic vanilla extract, organic and fair trade unsweetened cocoa, and organic maple syrup in a pot to make my healthier version of this favorite drink. ;)

Post-Party Excursion

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

When we got home from the party, hubby decided he needed some root beer so I headed to Whole Foods to get a healthier version than diet or regular, Oogave made with agave. I bought that and also picked out a treat for myself: A Theo milk chocolate bar- organic, fair trade, and with a Jane Goodall seal. (Yes, it does have sugar but I rarely eat a treat with sugar in it!)

I headed for a bench outside the store, purchases in hand. After enjoying my chocolate bar, I finished my blog post about the night before. Then I relaxed on Facebook and listened to someone singing and playing ukelele in the background. Ukelele seems to be a popular instrument around here.

When I started to get chilly and the hour was getting late, I headed home to hang out with hubby and give him his promised root beer. :)

"Slumber Party" with Hubby! :)

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

To celebrate my new job, hubby and I decided to have a special chicken dinner. I gave Rena an early, simple dinner of crepes (I make them with coconut oil instead of butter or margarine to cut down on my dairy intake, as I might be slightly lactose intolerant, and to avoid using a product with soy) with some raw tomato and some raw avocado on the the side (she loves them; I don't always have to cook side dishes for her) and then put her to bed. I headed to QFC at the University Village Shopping Center to get kosher chicken, as Whole Foods around here doesn't carry it.

I decided to call my parents on the way. They're three hours earlier, as they live in Cincinnati, but it's ok for me to call them late. They had actually just walked in the door: They'd been out late at the wedding of a local Chabad rabbi's daughter. They reported that there must have been 600 people there and that a bunch of them asked about me. It made me happy to know that so many people in my hometown still think and care about me. Even someone who wasn't at the wedding asked my mom about me recently when she ran into her at a grocery store.

At QFC, I headed to the kosher poultry section. I hadn't seen Empire Organic chicken in ages, but lo and behold, it was there last night! I bought all the drumsticks and left the whole chickens and boneless skinless breasts for others.

Back at home, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and made a one-dish dinner out of a dozen drumsticks, a couple big bagsful of cremini mushrooms, and a pile of raw cashews; seasoned with salt, red pepper flakes, and a little turmeric; with coconut oil mixed in. Forty minutes later.... Yum! :) Hubby and I ate up all the drumsticks -- we each ate half a dozen and saved some of the other stuff for today.

Then we had fun singing, dancing, joking, and playing around. We do that part of a slumber party most nights, really, but this was special because we were celebrating my new job! :)