Warming the Core

Well yesterday was my first day back at work after two long, very relaxing weeks off. It was so nice to have such a long break at home so I could really unplug my mind and come back in the new year completely relaxed and rested up. I'd gotten quite used to bumming around and doing whatever I felt like doing all day, so I'd be lying if I said I was excited to set an alarm for 5:30 am and go back to reality, but in all honesty it wasn't bad and felt good to get back into a normal eating routine.

Matt must've known I'd need a delicious hot meal after my first day back and coming home at 8:20 PM from the city in 5 degree weather, because I came home to the house smelling of insanely good Indian spices last night. Talk about a surprise feast!

He made yogurt curry marinated tofu kabobs, spiced veggie kabobs, whole grain basmati rice and masala chic peas and peppers. I was totally stuffed after eating this meal and left one of my tofu kabobs for the next day. So, so good! Tonight's dinner - after work day #2 - was a little less exciting and reminded me more of our usual weeknight dinners...Lightlife non-GMO veggie burgers with avocado and homemade pepper jam, and baked butternut squash fries. Yep, basically a healthified version of burgers and fries. It was still good though, and hit the spot after staring at the computer screen all day.

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It's been pretty frigid here the last few days, as it is pretty much everywhere, so our weekend was mostly spent indoors. Mostly. We had to get out and sled for a bit since we got all that snow last Friday, but we only lasted two runs down the hill before all three of us were frozen stiff.

After sufficiently freezing our inner cores, the rest of the weekend was spent warming them up. Homemade soups, board games, movies, yoga, puzzles. You know, things you do when you're 80. 

On Sunday we did venture out and over to Heather and Kevin's house to watch the playoff games. The weather warmed up that day and Heather and I were both feeling a little cabin fever so decided we should get together so the kids could play and we could hang out and watch football. 

We both made snacks for the bunch, and I came with a big pot of homemade veggie chili with fixings. I don't use a recipe for my chili and usually just throw in a bunch of veggies (onions, carrots, garlic, zucchini), beans (pinto, black, kidney, chic peas), tomatoes and spices, so it comes out a little different every time. This time I added some of the smoked paprika I got at Sur La Table last summer, and it added great aroma and flavor. Love that stuff!

I had some of the leftover chili for lunch yesterday and it was just as good - if not better - the next day. Yum.

We're back on the cold snap now so I'm wrapped up in sweats and about to prep another soup for tomorrow night's dinner - an Indian lentil soup from my Eat Clean cookbook. Cold weather and Indian food just seem to go hand-in-hand for me. All that spice warms ya up!

Stay warm, wherever you are!

New Year Muffins (Paleo Banana Walnut)

Happy belated New Year friends! We rang in the New Year in a low key way this year, starting with a quiet dinner for two at a local seafood restaurant, Latitudes, where we ran into our friends Forrest and Casey whom we shared a drink with as well.

We ordered calamari with spicy pickled peppers for an appetizer, followed by salads and then entrees of surf & turf and lobster mac & cheese.

I literally never order mac & cheese since I usually feel guilty about eating something so rich, but it was a special New Years menu and I was dying for lobster, so I took the plunge. I have to say, I was a tad disappointed. The "mac & cheese" was more like penne alfredo and the lobster was overcooked and a little tough. Sometimes I wonder if I watch too much Top Chef because I might've liked it had I not been so nitpicky. Oh well. Foodie I am!

After dinner we spent the rest of the evening at Matt's parents' house with them and MomMom and Riker, eating snacks (like we needed more of them), some dessert (I had made a chocolate walnut strudel for the bunch) and watching Rockin' New Year's Eve.

We let Riker stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop. I honestly didn't think he'd make it, but he was a trooper and sat snuggled up with me for the last hour watching the show and waiting for his sparkling grape juice at 12:00. He slept in until 9:30 AM the next day so it was a win for all of us. ;)

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Today is my last day of vacation, and we're going out with a bang. It started snowing like crazy around 6:00 last night and we woke up to a winter wonderland.

I love it!

Matt went back to work yesterday but had a snow day today (nothing like a 1 day work week!) so our little troop is cozied up at home together. When Riker woke up he asked for muffins for breakfast, and I heartily agreed. Not only can I not say "no" to that little Mickey Mouse voice asking for muffins, but snow days call for warm, comforting breakfasts.

 

That said, now that the holidays are over I'm getting back on the wagon with healthy eating. I threw out the remaining Christmas cookies the other day and shopped for all new, fresh foods yesterday, and it feels really good to have the house stocked with clean foods again rather than all kinds of cheeses, olives, fudge and other holiday snacks. Sooo, I didn't want to break down and make sugary, carby, buttery muffins on January 3.

I whipped up a batch of paleo muffins using coconut flour, coconut oil, bananas and walnuts. No sugar and no refined flour. These muffins are not sweet, but they have a good bread texture and a crunchy walnut top. We all enjoyed them. I liked mine best smeared with a little organic natural peanut butter.

Everything is closed today so there isn't much on the agenda other then some snowman-making once it warms up, and starting Season 5 of Sons of Anarchy when Riker goes down for a nap. We finished Season 4 last night and are on another of our SOA benders. :0

Paleo Banana Walnut Muffins

Makes 12 muffins (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients

4 bananas

4 eggs

1/2 cup pecan butter

2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup coconut flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Mash bananas with a fork, then add to a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, pecan butter, coconut oil and vanilla; blend to combine.

Add all dry ingredients. Mix well, using a hand mixer or wooden spoon. (Batter will be a little chunky, do not overbeat.) 

Pour batter into greased muffins tins, and top with chopped walnuts. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. 

The Days Are Merry & Bright

The last week has been a whirlwind of family, friends and holiday festivities...and a lot of eating too, of course. I've loved every minute of it. I had a bunch of vacation days to use up before the end of the year, so I took off a full two weeks of work to spend at home with Riker and Matt, who also has almost two weeks off. I love the end of the year! I feel like the days have been simultaneously relaxing and lazy while packed and busy, and I haven't had a chance to sit down and blog since last weekend, so we have some catching up to do!

In holiday week recap, here we go...

Sunday

I was on a lox kick all weekend and ate it for multiple meals. My favorite was Sunday's lunch of whole wheat toast with herb cream cheese, lox and fried eggs. Can't get enough of this stuff.

That evening my sister Amanda, her boyfriend Justyn and my grandmother arrived to spend Christmas with us. Since it's rare we get to stay up late for Sunday night games, my grandma offered stayed home with Riker while the rest of us went out to our favorite local hangout, The Spot, to watch the Eagles game.

A fun little night to kick off the vacation/holiday week!

Monday

Monday was spent doing a lot of prep cooking for Christmas Eve, running last minute errands and hanging around the house working on puzzles and watching Christmas movies with the fam. 

I got up early and made a quick batch of apple muffins for breakfast before we got started on the day. I hardly ever make muffins, but you gotta have something a little special and home baked when the family comes to stay.

We like to snack in this household, so around mid-afternoon we made a cheese & cracker spread to nibble on before dinner, which was our annual Christmas Eve-Eve dinner of Nana's Tomato & Mushroom Mac & Cheese. I didn't snap a picture before devouring mine, but it was fantastic as always.

Christmas Eve

We host Christmas Eve at our house every year. We usually just have our immediate family of around 10 people, so we're able to do a sit-down dinner. I absolutely love hosting this evening. Cocktails and appetizers start at 5 in the bar, dinner is at 7 in the dining room, and then dessert and after-dinner drinks come sometime around 10 in the living room. 

My friend Heather always gives a hostess gift or favor to all her guests on Christmas Eve, which I thought was a really cute idea, so decided to do the same this year. I ran out of time to order something, so had to make my own. Which, let's be serious, I loved doing. I made everyone Mason jars full of holiday muddy buddies and tied them off with name tags that served double duty as dinner place cards. They were really cute, but almost everyone forgot to take theirs home at the end of the night. Booo.

The details...

The appetizers...

The Main Event...

The Menu:

- Mixed greens salad with glazed walnuts, blue cheese, dried cranberries and balsamic vinaigrette

- Homemade crab cakes with homemade hollandaise sauce

- Roasted asparagus with citrus fleur de sel

- Lemon, butter and parsley rice

Dessert...

- Chocolate cake with peppermint hot fudge, homemade whipped cream, Oreos and peppermint bark

- Chocolate peanut butter truffles

- Christmas cookies

We ended up staying up until about 2 am putting together a train set for Riker - the one thing he had been asking for for weeks - so by the time I went to bed I was exhausted, but it was all well worth it to see the look on that little boy's face on Christmas morning. The joy was palpable. <3

Christmas Day

Presents! 

And Overnight Blueberry French Toast!

And A Christmas Story, naps, a quick visit with Heather and Kevin at their family's open house, and then a big dinner and party at Matt's parents' house with all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

It was a really wonderful Christmas. If you celebrate, I hope yours was as well!

Thursday

A leisurely morning at home, followed by an early dinner and presents with the family at Matt's parents' house. That night we also had Heather, Kevin and their girls over to hang out and try Matt's three new homebrews - a chocolate orange stout, black IPA and pumpkin stout.

The kids all had a blast playing with Riker's new toys, especially the teepee Amanda and Justyn got him. They screamed like wild children in this thing!

Love them.

Friday

Matt and I have an annual tradition of going on a day date over Christmas break, which I always look forward to. On Friday morning we dropped Riker off at daycare, then went to see a movie (American Hustle - so good!), out to lunch at an amazing Cuban restaurant on the ocean called Cubacan (which is now our new favorite and I can't wait to go back) and then to the outlets for a little shopping. 

The rest of the weekend we felt like we should be a little productive after a week of fun, so we've been laying low and getting stuff done around the house. And going out with friends last night to celebrate a good friend's Christmas engagement. And working on a new puzzle my grandma got us for Christmas. ;)

I've also been trying to get back to a normal eating schedule after such a crazy week of feasting.

Lots of yogurt, fruit and vegetables. Except for tonight. Amanda and Justyn just got here to spend the night with us and watch the very important Eagles game tonight. None of us feel like cooking, so it's going to be a pizza delivery kind of night. :)

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!