Hiring & Hummus

We were baaaaaaack at it today! Elisa and I wrote our day around the job fair we hosted with one of our partners downtown, and as usual, it was a great way to start the day. 

happy job hunting! 

Back at home, I got to digging through some recipes for a good, solid hummus. While I've occasionally experimented with different variations, what I would ideally like to have is a go-to that I can whip up without a second thought, and have it as it is, or add to it from there.

the struggle is oh. so. real.

Well thanks to Cincinnati Locavore's tips that I just discovered tonight on their blog, I think I may well be headed in the right direction.

Read 'Em HERE

There's also THIS: 

via THIS page

Give me a couple of days, folks. I'll report back once I've honed in on my new go-to. 

For now, have a beautiful rest of the week, blogbots! 

xo | cmd

Guest Blog: Boulder Locavore [AKA... FOOD!]

The world wide web is home to literally every piece of information out there. Sure, the validity of some of what's posted may be questionable, but I don't know if I've yet hit the search engines with a question that answered, "No Results Available." The worst I think there's been is that little dinosaur guy from Chrome:

rawrrrr

^ And yes, I Googled that image. See my point?

Anyway, I was on a quest today for some new recipes to refresh my collection. For once in my life, I actually went on this mission with a full stomach, so as to avoid an impromptu grocery run right in the middle of it - you know, hungry shopping? My wallet hates hungry shopping.

So yeah, there I was, brain open to suggestions and the web at my fingertips. To say there is a plethora of foodie pages out there is like saying there's a couple drops of water in the ocean, but fortunately I managed to stumble on some good ones.

For the sake of time, here's the one I'm highlighting today: Boulder Locavore. It's authored and kept by this gal Toni Dash, and it's chock-full of that light & healthy - but still edible food that so many of us have promised ourselves for this year. Not only does she post the recipes, she additionally shares the nutritional value of what's in them, and why our bodies depend on some of the staple elements in each of her recipes [protein, amino acids, etc.]. Having grown up with my own mother and her holistic approach to... well, everything, I have to say I agree with a lot of what she has to say here!

One recipe that immediately caught my eye was this:

SLOW COOKER ALMOND MILK TAPIOCA PUDDING

1. I love tapioca pudding. 

2. I have - and enjoy using - a slow cooker. 

3. This one is dairy-free! 

4. I seriously... love tapioca. 

If you're a fan of tapioca the way I am, and either need or want a dairy-free option, do yourself a favor and go save that somewhere for yourself. Here's a preview: 

........ want. 

I will make that. NOM! 

Also on her page: 

GLUTEN+DAIRY-FREE OVERNIGHT QUINOA-CHIA CHOCOLATE BREAKFAST PUDDING

That's a mouthful.... but LOOK: 

yum! 

yes, please.

^ AND, it's overnight?! Bring.. it.. ON. 

The more I share this with you all now, the more excited I am to actually get this stuff in my fridge! 

Just a couple more. Perhaps something I highlighted that isn't a breakfast/dessert option.

LEAN TURKEY+BLACK BEAN QUINOA CHIPOTLE BURRITO BOWLS

I'm tellin' you, this gal knows the way to my heart! Lean turkey? Black beans? Quinoa? AVOCADO?!

Okay okay okay, one more. 

For something even lighter than lean meat, fresh fruit & quinoa options: 

COLD CUCUMBER NOODLE SALAD

Gahhhhhhhhh, YES. There's a lot going on with this salad, which includes toasted sesame dressing, watercress, mint & a few other things. 

drooling.

Folks, I will gladly be in the kitchen for a few days; Ms. Dash [wait... no way....]. your page has been bookmarked, and if you should ever roll out an app, consider it downloaded here. 

A lot of those recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free or otherwise catered so that you can adjust to your specific dietary requirements. I'm pretty excited to get on these. Oh, and for the record, in case you didn't notice, all of those pictures and recipes above are property of Boulder Locavore, which means that I didn't create, devise or otherwise own in any way/shape/form... any of that material. What I WOULD claim is a call for you to get yourself over to that page and see what looks like a fit for your kitchen :). 

Happy Eats! 

xo | cmd

OK, I Lied [About Being DONE]

It's true. I think I may have overstated myself yesterday when I said that we'd finished all things Christmas. This has now become a nearly 3-week affair for us, but I'm not complaining! ;)

First came the work day: The girls and I came in full force at the office today, and seemed to all have the same idea: NEW YEAR, NEW EVERYTHING. Our first order of business was cleaning and rearranging each of our spaces, something that kind of speaks for itself in ushering in the aura of new. It's refreshing to switch things up, de-clutter and in a way just re-calibrate the zen for the space we occupy for 45+ hours each week.

So there's that... and to round it off, we ordered a supply trip to Office Depot & lunch at Fresh Thyme.

fun times at fresh thyme! |  cincinnati, oh

^^ You know you're an adult when office & market itineraries can actually excite you. Hah :p.

Anyway, today was a progressive lineup of awesomeness; once work was finished, I picked up Sydni and we headed home to get started on dinner. More specifically, Sydni's mission statement for dinner:

"Mommy, I wanna surprise Mister Rob with dinner
because he is always doing stuff for us." 

Say what, little heartstring?! Of course we will.
I gave Sydni reign of the recipe book, and she decided on chili. Have I mentioned how much I love this girl?

Chili it was!

chili! ♥

Sydni's chili recipe hit the nail on the head, and with bellies full, we dialed in for the highlight of the night: MORE Christmas presents!

That's right, Santa made a stop over Christmas to Rob's mom's house, specifically for Sydni. Now that she and the presents were both here, we wanted to share that with his mom.

it continues..... 

Here are the spoils of that adventure:

skype! 

fuzzy coats!! 

the coats not being hugged ;) 

dresses

and of course, shoes! 

All presents aside, I am so grateful for Rob's family. His mom & stepdad are continuously thoughtful and have a blast thinking of things and places that Sydni would enjoy. His dad & stepmom are the same, and his step-niece Ella now has a new friend with Sydni. There are a lot of families that clash against the choices of their son or daughter, but I'm fortunate not to have that problem. My parents love Rob, and vice versa, and that alone is enough for me :)

And NOW.. I think Christmas is complete. I'll keep ya posted if I'm wrong... again. ;)

xo | cmd

Potato Soup!

It's finally starting to feel pretty chilled out there..... it was clear today at work when the three of us decided it was a soup kinda day, at which point I confirmed my decision to make soup when I got home.

I promised to bring soup for the office tomorrow, too... sooooooo.. DOUBLE UP!

Here's a good old Recipe Blog for you Potato Soup lovers out there. It's super easy, and btw, deLISH.

Anyway, here ya go:

POTATO SOUP

Ingredients

* 8 - 13 small potatoes [I use red potatoes], cubed

* 5-6 carrots [the long ones, or about half a bag of mini carrots], chopped

* 5-6 celery stalks [and leaves, if you like them!], chopped

* 4-5 tbsp butter [I used less, right around 3 tbsp, but it's your preference!]

* ½ cup leeks, chopped. [use onions if you prefer those; I like leeks better!] 

* 5 tbsp flour

* ½ tsp salt & ½ tsp pepper

* 1 cup milk
* 1-2 cups vegetable broth [organic, if you're like me & weird about that stuff] 

Directions

1. Chop & CLEAN your vegetables [potatoes, carrots, celery]. Cut up your leeks, too, if you want, but be sure to keep them separate from the other veggies. Believe it or not, I have a few friends who don't wash their store-bough produce before eating it, and that.. just... juuust.... please wash your food. The easiest/fastest way to do it is in a colander/strainer & use a fruit/veggie wash [like mine, Fit!]

mmmm veggies! 

2. BOIL those veggies [use a pot big enough, so you can use the same one for the whole process]. Keep an eye on them so they don't overcook; you want them to be soft, but not mushy! Once they've boiled, strain them and KEEP the broth. Set both aside, separately. 

[doubled the recipe!]

3. Cut up your leeks if you didn't already do that. Reduce the heat to med-high. Melt the butter and saute the leeks for just a few minutes. Be careful not to burn them. Slowly add in the flour, and stir through until it's of a paste-like consistency. Add the salt & pepper and stir it all together. Pour in your milk and blend everything until there are no chunks or gritty areas. 

pre-measured flour/salt/pepper & leeks!

4. Once you've stirred the milk into the pot, add about 1/2 cup of the broth from the boiled vegetables. Stir it up, and add the vegetables [potatoes, carrots, celery] back. Stir that in, and then slowly add in vegetable broth - just enough to cover everything. If you like a soupier consistency, add more. If you like more of a stew, add just enough to cover everything, but not much more. I would also recommend saving some broth for leftovers; this stuff gets super thick in the fridge & sometimes adding water makes it bland. *FYI!;)* 

nom nom nom!

5. You. Are. DONE! Go eat!! :D

6. Optional step: Let your boyfriend disappear into the kitchen for 20 minutes and come back with these. And eat them also, because he is thoughtful & they are delicious. 

surprise smores, by the boyfriend! 

^ And yes, that's the Express logo that you see there; to clarify, I was doing a little bit of work - that is not my wallpaper ;)

Hope that recipe finds its way into your bellies!

xo | cmd 

Family Visits & Pad Thai!

My parents dropped Sydni off in Cincinnati today, after their mini getaway over the weekend. Sydni got to go see Shrek: The Musical, as produced by the Mt. Vernon Theatre organization. She had a blast.

I decided to take the gang to Piada, since they'd never been there. We followed up with froyo at Orange Leaf, which made for some very satisfied bellies.

mom & syd @ piada ♥

I love that they had a blast, and was super happy to have been able to spend my lunch with them!

After work, the food obsession continued, but in my own little quest of things homemade & fresh. I found a new recipe for pad thai, which was given a thumbs up by both Rob and me tonight; I'll share it for all you Thai food-loving blogbots.

Super Easy Pad Thai **

so. good.
[& yes, ali - that's an express edwardsville cup in the back :p ]

need:

::for the pad thai sauce::
- 3 tbs soy sauce
- 1 tbs sriracha
- 2 tbs lime juice
- 2 tbs canola oil
- 2 tbs brown sugar

::for the pad thai::
- pad thai noodles [8 or 16 oz; I would definitely say at least 16 if this is for more than 2 mouths]
- 2 eggs
- cooked chicken [The original recipe calls for 3 full breasts; I used 2 and it was fine]
- 1 cup bean sprouts [we skipped, but only bc we forgot to get them....]
- 1 cup cilantro
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 1/2 cup chopped peanuts

do:

::1. Prepare [aka, SOAK] pad thai noodles - I did it by pouring HOT water into a bowl, covering the noodles, and soaking for 30 minutes. I don't recommend boiling pad thai noodles on the stove as you traditionally would with Italian noodles.
::2. Cook your chicken. I just did this on the stovetop, pan-seared. Set aside.

::3. While chicken is cooking, prepare the sauce. Do that by mwhisking together everything for the sauce except brown sugar, in a small bowl. Add the brown sugar at the end, and whisk into the sauce.
::4. While noodles are soaking, scramble eggs for 2-3 minutes or until done, and set aside.
::5. Once noodles are done & chicken is cooked, combine the noodles, chicken, egg and sauce in a large skillet over med-low heat. Stir for a few minutes until everything is at the desired blend. Top off with bean sprouts, cilantro, green onion & peanuts!
** recipe credit : rachel schultz **
Yeah... this absolutely beats ordering pad thai at a restaurant, save for the whole bean sprouts thing, which I will NOT forget next time. I hope you're willing to try that out, if you're a pad thai person!

Haaaaappy Tuesday!

xo | cmd

Crafts & Chicken

I had it in my head that I wanted to be crafty, and I wanted to cook tonight.
Thanks to my ever-faithful little friend Pinterest, I was able to do both: 

From the craft table:
It was time for me to put some mini photo albums together for some people, so this is what happened:


card for dad!

inside of dad's card

card for ali

inside of ali's card

And from the kitchen: Crockpot chicken!  

yum!

 (Recipe for the chicken is super difficult... so get ready)..

You need 1 bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce, chicken, a crockpot and 4 hours of uninterrupted time for your chicken to sit in there bathing in barbeque sauce. Shred it apart when it's tender enough to do so, and you've got shredded BBQ Chicken sandwiches.

YUM.

I'm crafted out for the night, folks.
See ya next time!

xo | cmd

Meal Prep.. GO!

My mission at the end of last week was to do a test run of cooking ahead [aka, weekly meal prep] for an entire week's worth of lunches. I eventually want to phase into both lunch and dinner, but baby steps.. baby steps.

okay little guys..

Thanks to Pinterest and some other tips from the world wide web of people who are professionals at this, I gathered some tips, recipes and things to avoid, and dug in to a bulk cooking session.  

meal prep

Chicken, fish, cous cous, rice and a variety of different vegetables are on the menu for this week, and at the risk of bragging, I'll just say that I'm actually proud of myself for doing it!


finished, labeled and ready to go! :D

Success. Believe it or not, this is the first time I've actually done a full week's worth of cooked meal prep that didn't include sandwiches and light stuff. Here's to frugal, healthy eating!

xo | cmd

Nommas Nommas Salmonnn

Work? Check
WorkOUT? Check
Quick trip to the grocery store? Check

Awesome dinner and consequently a fun salmon recipe to share with the class?
Check & Check!

Yep, it's another recipe post! This one can be found here on the First Home Love Life page; I added some of our own touches to it, but for the most part I stuck to what I had.. and it... was.... amazing. (:

roasted red pepper salmon (:

NEED

* Salmon. For us, I just got 2 fillets from the seafood counter.
* 2 tbs light oil [I used olive]

* 2 tbs soy sauce [low sodium if you really want]

* 1 cup teriyaki sauce

* ½ cup balsamic vinegar 

* ½ cup honey
* 1 tsp sugar

* 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

* ½ cup dicded red bell peppers

* salt & pepper

 

DO

1. Dump all of the ingredients into a large freezer/ZipLoc bag to mix it all together.
Add the salmon and marinate in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

 

2. Once everything is marinated, broil the salmon until it is finished. I didn't actually time this out, but rather used the old-fashioned fork & toothpick method to make sure it was perfectly cooked through. Some people prefer the inside to still appear fleshy; I took it just past that to make sure it was opaque all the way through and slightly browned on top.

 

3. Add some sides and ENJOY!  

dinner time!

I whipped up some cous cous and added green beans for this, and I am definitely going to make this again. It really didn't take long at all to dump everything into a plastic bag, mix it up and let it broil.

NOM. NOM. NOM!

Have a great week, blogbots!

xo | cmd

 

Post-Dated Easter Cards & Mini Pot Pies

Happy MONDAY!  

love love loooooove!!

My little Easter egg is back, and we started off our week with a mama+mini selfie, because... we can (: We had big plans for this evening, so we made it a point to get started as soon as we got home.

1. DINNER!
I'm going to share this one with everybody, because it's just... that easy. And delicious.
Here ya go. Here's the scoop on making mini chicken pot pies:

NEED

2 cans pillsbury grands dinner rolls
1 bag frozen veggies (the peas/corn/green beans/carrots work well)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups of shredded chicken (or 1 can.. if you're into canned meat)
Shredded cheese, if you please!

Muffin tin
Cooking spray (or flour, if you do it that way)

DO

1. Pre-heat oven to 375. Thaw your veggies & cook your chicken if you need to. Put all the ingredients in a ziploc bag.

looks great. uhhhh.. haha

2. Prime your muffin tin with either cooking spray or flour, whichever method you like best. Try not to have a heart attack while opening the grands container.... even though we all know what's coming, if you're like me, it still scares the crap out of you every time.

3. Stuff grands rolls into the muffin tins. 





gettin' there.

4. I used 2 tablespoons of the bag mixture per dough cup. Spoon everything into the muffin tin. Bake at 375 until the dough starts browning slightly. Since everything in the mixture should be cooked already, be sure not to overdo it.

noms.

5. EAT!

deeeeelish!

These were a huge hit tonight. I wouldn't say I have a picky eater, but it was exceptionally easy with this one. No, not the healthiest thing we could've done, but we don't regularly eat this way.

Anyway, that was the solution to dinner. The rest of the night was dedicated to the creation of Easter cards! Okay, correction: Post-Easter Easter cards. It's never too late for well-wishes ;)

prepared earlier last week!

here we go!!!

Our dining room table transformed from an eatery to a craft bench:

colorful girl

mister rob, come help!

markers & colors & eggs, oh my!

love these nights

After what seemed like "fooooooreverrrrr, Mommmyyyyyyy," the glue had dried on all the eggs and our cards were ready:

egg cards!
artwork compliments of miss sydni herself ♥

........... Whew! That's a lot for one evening, but we're caught up now and relaxing together like we should be. Here's to a great week!

xo | cmd

Naked Silver Linings[On My] Bad Day

Ummm.. what?

Today wasn't a great day. I suppose that's all relative, though, right?

RIGHT.

I didn't feel like telling myself that today, even by the time the day had boiled down to just over an hour left at the office. It was just one of those days, ya know? It wasn't a catastrophe, no, but it wasn't a smooth little sail, either.

I learned a little practice from a great friend of mine some odd years ago in college. It's not always easy to do, but I've honed in on my own technique over the years and in most scenarios, can execute perfectly.

It's simple: In the midst of a trying situation, disappointment, frustration or otherwise unpleasant moment, I force my mind to remove itself from the present for even just one or two minutes, and focus, wholly, on two things:

1. I am not God, but I am His, and He will never give me
more than I can handle with Him.

 

.. and

 

2. There is someone out there facing something far worse, far more intense and
faaaar more urgent than what I am facing now.

 

When I first started trying this out, it seemed stupid to do at times, because obviously the world isn't ending because I'm having a bad day, but that doesn't change the fact that I am in fact having an awful day. It just takes time, discipline and an open mind to realize that it's true.

 

Take a deep breath, Cori.

There's an icon from the world of yoga who I follow on Instagram. Her name is Rachel; she's a world-traveller who leads workshops, uplifts everyone she finds and somehow manages to find the beauty in the core of darkness.

 

Until recently. I, along with the multitude of her followers, read a post of hers a week or so back that detailed disaster in her world: Her apendix ruptured in an airport, sending her into a 7-hour surgery at a hospital in another country. She awoke to surgical scars marking the new absence of her appendix and people telling her that in addition to this, her best friend had passed away in a car accident.

 

Are you having a bad day?

Read:

 

 

The reason I called this entry Naked is because I have read and re-read her entries, absorbing the pain she is facing. I have lost friends unexpectedly, but to have your life's passion [yoga] taken from you momentarily as well as you struggle to cope with a loss of that magnitude must be paralyzing. Whether I would admit it or not, I think I do find some level of comfort in seeing someone be so candid and raw in expressing the honesty and emotion that must happen before healing can begin. All of Rachel's posts up to this point are packed with a type of realistic inspiration and encouragement; I'm praying now that she will find her own in the comfort of her friends, her family and the warm memories of her best friend.

 

And so I look at my day, and I look at hers.
I see mine, filled to the brim with inconveniences, backtracking, miscommunication and a dreary weather pattern to boot.

And then I see hers, balancing endurance with reverence on the edge of a void freshly-created by the unexpected death of her best friend, and the three scars reminding her that yoga will still have to wait.

 

My day tomorrow may or may not be an improvement of today, but it is not like that.

So I'll stop whining about my first-world problems and start approaching them with the grace and patience I'm supposed to.

 

I thought about this all the way home, and by the time I walked through the door I was itching to channel it into something productive. Since the sky had been the same dull, placid color for the entire day, I opted to add some color, with a dash of salt & pepper.

homemade soup!

Some may have read this and now wonder if I'm as far detached from reality as it kind of sounds, but I promise you I'm not. I fully understand the gravity of bad situations and the like, but I'm actively choosing to weigh the pros before the cons. We are after all partially defined by the ways in which we react to circumstance.

 

So...

.... how's that for a heavy entry on a Wednesday? Hah (:

 

Life. Is. Good.
We. Are. Blessed.

 

xo | cmd