Easy Macrobiotic Family Meal

I miss you people! 

I've been so busy with school

I haven't had a chance to blog 

about all the great food I've been chowing down on.

Monday night I was beat! I've been doing about eight hours of homework a day,

and between that, toddlers and life, I was exhasted.

I came home from picking up my daughter from a play date 

after my four hour class, and I felt awful.

My hubby made this amazing dinner for me and it was just what I needed. 

Very medicinal and restored my body.

I followed it up with vegan chocolate cake of course.

Here is what we ate:

- Adzuki beans (leftover from Tasty Tostadas)

- Arame with Carrots and Onions from The Kind Diet

-Fried Rice with Kale and Scallions from My Father's Daughter.

Yum!

Everyone in my family ate this, everyone.

Including my one and two year old. 

I think this is toddler friendly food because it is loaded with flavor,

but macrobiotic flavor is very subtle

so they can easily eat it.

The Brown Rice Dish is easily my favorite rice dish.

So good!

As you know, I'm learning to appreciate sea vegetables.

Thankfully, Daniel accidentally added 

way too much soy sauce to the Arame with Carrots

so I couldn't even taste it! Love it! 

It makes me so proud when my family eats this food. 

I can already see their bones strengthening and their skin brightening.

And lastly, we must reward ourselves with a healthy chocolate cake.

I made it with my toddler over the weekend.

Baking is one of our favorite things to do together,

so I make time for it.

We added strawberry jam over the frosting for the middle filling.

Totally delicious!

You can get this gluten-free, sugar and dairy-free cake recipe here.

A while back, one of my readers ask if I'd share what is in my pantry.

I hope to share this with you this upcoming week!

Until then, if you want a good ghost story

read Turn of the Screw,

a story I just read for class.

Or IS it a ghost story?

Dun dun DUN!

Can you tell I've been spending way too much time doing homework?

Turning slightly geeky.

Sneaky Veggies: Broc 'n Berry Shake and Menu Plan

I got a great response from my other green shake, 

so I had to share this one with you.

This one is yummier and doesn't turn green when you make it. 

My two year old asks for these shakes everyday.

Super yummy and you can't taste the veggies hidden inside. 

Both strawberries and broccoli should be well rinsed if frozen.

Broc 'n Berry Shake

1/2 heaping cup strawberries

1/2 cup rinsed frozen broccoli 

Large 1/2 of banana

1 tablespoon almond butter

1/2 cup juice (I use Apple)

1/8 cup water

Blend well. 

Thérèse plugging her ears while the blender is on. 

Fresh strawberries are the best! 

I had to share this picture. Check out his morning hair! 

Name that celebrity from the 70's that she resembles. 

Weekly Menu Planning:

Every Sunday evening I plan out a menu for us. 

This is super important to me since it cuts down 

on time, money and stress.

To give you an idea of what our menu looks like

here is what we ate this past week:

(Monday is the only day I make two meals since our fridge is on empty. 

The rest of the week we eat sandwiches and leftovers for lunch.) 

Monday: Lunch: Spaghetti. Dinner: Sushi

Tuesday: Veggie Burgers from My Father's Daughter

Wednesday: Tostadas

Thursday: Sweet and Sour Tempeh from Real Food Daily and Dumplings

Friday: Daniel's Pizza (I'm excited to eat this! I'll be sharing it with you soon)

Sneaky Veggies: Swiss Chard Potstickers

I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to write about again. But when I asked my husband his opinion the answer was simple. Do the potstickers. 

Now, one thing you need to know about me is that I don't like swiss chard. I just don't! It's bitter and not easy to consume. But since I try to have a variety of vegetables streaming through our kitchen, I'm always looking out for ways to enjoy this high vitamin food. 

Thank the Lord for Potstickers! I love pasta. Potstickers are pasta at it's best 'cause, surprise! Something super yummy is hidden inside. These potstickers hide the bitterness of chard and actually transform them into something...delicious! Impressive! 

All adults I feed these to fall instantly in love. My toddler doesn't know what the enthusiasm is all about. But if I can get her to eat a couple, that's enough to make me satisfied. Any way to get their dark leafy greens right? And I don't feel bad forcing her to eat these greens 'cause I know they taste good! 

Start with one nice big beautiful punch of swiss chard. I eliminate most of the steams, but keep some in cause they are packed with nutrition! 

Stir fry them with shiitake mushrooms, scallions and garlic.

Transfer to a bowl and mix in rice-wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil and soy sauce.

Put a rounded teaspoon of the stir fry into each wrapper. (I use wonton wrappers).

Spread a little water on two edges of your open potsticker.

Seal that bad boy shut. 

Fry them for about 2-3 minutes. 

Alright so I really fried the heck out of these. To avoid letting them get this crispy, make sure your pan isn't too hot and watch the time. But I actually really like them fried like this. When I'm making some for my toddler though, I try not to let them get too crispy 'cause it's harder for her to eat. 

Remove to another plate and add 1/2 cup water to the pan. 

Put them back in the pan.

Cover, and let them simmer for about 4-6 minutes. 

Uncover and let them cook for another minute.

Serve with soy sauce and enjoy! (No soy sauce for my toddler. Taste buds aren't ready)

Oh my gosh, those are so good! 

They seem involved but they are actually pretty easy. The first time I made them, I was so in love that I made some more for lunch the next day. 

Chard Potstickers 

Makes 24

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, such as safflower
• 8 ounces Swiss chard (one small bunch), leaves coarsely chopped, stems minced
• 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and discarded, caps chopped
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons rice-wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 24 round dumpling wrappers

Directions

1. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add chard, mushrooms, scallions, and garlic and cook until chard stems are crisp-tender and liquid has evaporated, 3 to 4 minutes. Squeeze excess liquid from chard. Transfer to a bowl; stir in vinegar, sesame oil, and soy sauce; season with salt and pepper. Wipe skillet dry and set aside.
2. Place 1 rounded teaspoon filling toward the edge of a dumpling wrapper. Moisten one edge with water using your finger. Bring two edges together, forming a half moon and enclosing filling. Pinch a couple of small pleats along top layer of wrapper. Seal by pressing pleated and unpleated edges together. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat. Keep dumplings and unused wrappers covered with damp paper towels while working.
3. Heat remaining tablespoon vegetable oil in reserved skillet over medium-high heat. Arrange dumplings in pan, tightly, flat-side down, and cook until deep golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add 1/2 cup of water. Return to heat. Cover and cook until heated through, all the water has evaporated, and bottoms are crisp, 4 to 6 minutes more (remove the lid for the last 30 seconds of cooking). Slide dumplings onto a serving platter, and serve with dipping sauce.

Read more at Wholeliving.com: Chard Potstickers 

How I Get Through My Day

In our house, Monday's are Mandatory-Get-Our-House-Clean days. Here are some of  the things I do to get through the day.

Eat a good breakfast

I'm pretty good at sneaking veggies. My two year old loves these.

Green Strawberry Shakes

1/2 heaping cup strawberries (fresh are best or rinsed well if frozen)

1/2 of banana

1 Tablespoon Almond Butter or nut butter of your choice

1/2 cup apple juice

1/4 cup water

2 cups lettuce (or spinach) 

Yesterday I made it with blueberries and different proportions. If the right texture isn't there, this shake doesn't work. I couldn't stand it. But Thérèse loved it. She drank hers, and then she drank mine.

She loved it so much that she put on music and danced while she ate it. 

I used to make my shakes with protein powder. I've tried lots of different powders, but mostly they just make me feel bloated. It only takes eight amino acids to make a complete protein. Bananas have all eight! So between the bananas and nut butter, this shakes ranks high in the protein.

Exercise

I don't always get to, but I love to start my days off exercising. Working out gets me ready to chase my babies around (by warming up my muscles) and gets my blood flowing. But I think the best part is the deep breathing. If I can't exercise in the morning, I like to get in a couple stretches and take a couple minutes to get in some good, steady, deep breathing. Really helps to energize and cut tension.

I work out with Tracy Anderson. She is fantastic, superb, I can't say enough about her. I have her post pregnancy work out and I love it! It's set to classical music which is nice if you have babies around. She doesn't talk to much so you really have to pay attention to what she is doing. But she is great 'cause she focuses on giving you a dancers body, compete with long muscles.

I now do her dance aerobic work out too. I'll put in the dvd, and skip around to different songs. If I can get 15 minutes in, I'm happy. 

Here is a sample work out she made. Beware! It's intense!

We couldn't stand looking at her undie thingy so I broke down and gave her a modesty skirt. Hehe.

Keep up with the work
My mother-in-law found this checklist. I now try to stick to it. It makes long term clean-up much easier.
Click on the picture to visit the site. 


Snack-Up!
I'm constantly hungry. I've always been this way. Always needing to eat. If my blood sugar level drops too low, I get tired and cranky. Since we don't have packaged snacks around, I'm always looking for something quick to make. Here is one of my favorites.

Toasted Ezekiel bread with butter, avocado slices and a little salt sprinkled on top. Sometimes I add sliced tomatoes on top too, but some days I don't have time for that!

How do you get through your day? Hope you all have a fabulous Monday!