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Butternut Squash and Broccoli Quinoa with Hummus

1/19/2016

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So, this might be the most delicious thing ever!

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If you know me then you know I'm not very good at following recipes. I typically look at what I have in my fridge and Google those ingredients only to read a few recipes and combine the best ideas of each and then substitute the extra stuff based on what I have available in my cupboard...and wallah!

Sometimes...ok I'll brag...a lot of times, I get a winner like this dish that is so incredibly delicious I wish someone would write down what I just did and turn it into a real recipe so that I myself could look it up later and make it the same way again!
but so often I don't write any of it down and when I go back and try to make it again it's never as good because I can't remember what I did. So I'm making a vow to you and myself that I will write down some super yummy ideas that turn into delicious feasts and make it a real recipe.
So here it goes. And please ask any questions in the comment section if something doesn't make sense. I'm not a real recipe writer.

what you need:

- 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
- 1 cup of uncooked Quinoa
- 2 cups of water
- 3 chick on bullion cubes
- 1/2 cup of plain hummus
- a handful or two of baby spinach or spring mix
-1 cup of shredded cheese
- 1 medium sized butternut squash cubed
- 1 1/2 cups of broccoli
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

what to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Grease a 2 qt oven safe baking dish with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil.
3. Pour the cup of uncooked quinoa in the dish.
4. Bring two cups of water with 3 cubes of chicken bullion to a boil. (You can do this on the stove top or in a microwave safe bowl/measuring cup)
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5. Add one cup of hummus to the boiling water and bullions and stir together until hummus has thinned out completely.
6. Pour hummus mixture into baking dish onto the quinoa.
7. Lay spinach leaves or spring mix on top of quinoa.
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8. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese on top and bake uncovered for 20 minutes.
9. While quinoa is baking place broccoli into boiling water on the stovetop for 10 minutes.
10. While broccoli is boiling, sauté the cubed squash (unpeeled) on the stovetop in remaining tablespoon of coconut oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic salt.
10. Drain broccoli, add remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese to broccoli and 1/2 cup of milk and stir together until broccoli becomes shredded.
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11. After 20 minutes, remove the quinoa from the oven and add the broccoli and the cubed sautéed butternut squash.
12. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese on top and cook uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.
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13. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Serve while it's still warm, enjoy and share it with a friend!
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14. Write a comment and let me know what you think!
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Coffee Table Remodel

1/12/2016

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You guys I bought this coffee table from a yard sale website and as almost all the furniture I get from these types of places, it stunk! And it stunk bad. Maybe not as bad as the gun cabinet remodel, but still bad. Which means I have to hide it from my husband. He just doesn't have the same vision for "things"  (okay, we can call it "junk") that I have.

Trust me, he has some great visions for other things, like our coffered ceilings we put up in the office, our mudroom bench we built in the garage, the crown molding he put up in the dining room and the window bench he built in the kitchen! 

But when it comes to old furniture, it's usually just trash to him. And if I hear "why in the world did you bring that into my house" one more time, I'll quit refinishing furniture all together. So for your sake and mine, I have to hide it...until he see's how great it turned out and then he drools over it with me and tells me what a good job I did!

So, like any good wife hiding something from her husband, I "ran errands", came home and backed my car into the driveway, pulled the dirty smelly coffee table out of my trunk and carried it around to the back of the house and set it by the back door. I quickly found a tarp and covered it. I figured sitting outside in the fresh air would probably do this piece of wood some good anyway. It seriously needed to air out.

So the first thing was breaking it down to get it cleaned up so I could begin turning it into what I envisioned! I knew I wanted to re-stain both surfaces in a light wood color and I wanted to paint the outer edges and the legs. I wasn't sure what color yet.  

So I got out the vinegar, lysol and bug sprays and went to work sanitizing this sucker!

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Unfortunately I did not get a photo of it before I unscrewed it all. But you can see it was just your average dark cherry wood coffee table. Nothing special really and the fact that I paid the lady any money at all for it should tell you I paid too much. In my opinion these dark cherry pieces are a dime a dozen and are quite unattractive. But trust me, I'm not saying all dark cherry is terrible. I have many dark cherry wood pieces in my house I love deeply. But I also have some I can't wait to get my sander on!
I sanded it down the best I thought I could do. I cleaned it up, prepped it for staining and begun applying a pecan finish stain. I love this mimiwax product! I've been using it on all my Growth Chart Rulers as well!

It was only after I began to apply the stain that I realized what I thought were imperfections in the wood veneer were actually old cherry finish marks that did not come off with my original sanding and stripping.
I  was not happy with the way this was turning out and went back to sanding and stripping for a second time!
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As I mentioned above, I knew I wanted to paint the edges and the legs, but I wanted to sand them as well. It is so important to me to start with what was originally there. I do not like the idea of covering up the ugly. I love getting rid of the ugly completely and starting fresh!

And so I began sanding and stripping for a second time until I was finally happy!
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I restrained the top surfaces for a second time. Then I taped around the interior edges where I was going to paint. I really had not decided on a color yet but as I was browsing through Lowes I stumbled upon their "sale" section of paint. There was the perfect gallon for sale for $9 and the color was a cottage white!

And since I love bargains, I bought it! I starred at it for a few days before I decided to shake it up, pop the top off, and start painted!

Do you want to know how to paint furniture?


It's simple really. It is just like putting on a nice smooth coat of nail polish! Seriously.

You really don't want more than two or three thin coats or else it'll look pasty and thick and might even start to peel or clump up.

Each coat should go on very thinly. The first cost should not look finished at all and should still show lots of imperfections.

But by the time you put that second coat on it should smooth out the imperfections of the first coat and should look perfect! There is the occasional time where a third coat is needed.

It is important to let each coat dry completely before putting on the next coat!


So basically if you can't paint your nails without it looking like a hot mess than you will likely not be able to paint furniture either.
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I'm sure you can guess what happened. I pulled the painting tape off of the top only to find that some of the paint had leaked through. I was certain this was going to happen and was prepared with a razor blade in hand. I gently use the razor blade to scrape off any leaked paint. I razor-ed all I could until the paint formed a straight line around the perimeter of both surfaces.
Painting was complete! Wood staining was complete! Now it was time to apply a polyurethane to protect my new project from any scratches or marks!

Polyurethane should be applied in the same way as painting! Two or three thin coats!

However rather than using a paint brush to apply the poly, I use a foam sponge brush. It' leaves way less streaks and goes on super smooth!

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Don't forget to clean any brush or sponge that you use a polyurethane on outside or in a bucket (not the sink!) with a paint thinner product! Otherwise your brush/sponge will harden and get ruined (not that I have any first hand knowledge of this!
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DIARRHEA, ALGEA, REFLUX AND BLUEBERRIES 

1/12/2016

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*This post was originally written July 24, 2011
It was copied over from an old blog I had written.
We had a great typical enjoyable Saturday...until we got home...diarrhea, algae, reflux and blueberries...oh what a night.

The day started normal. My husband got up at 5:30 to meet a guy for a 60 mile bike ride. All the while, I was awake with babies and watched the sun come up, as I do most mornings now. The coffee pot can't make the coffee fast enough and I usually chug down the first cup burning hot and then sip the remaining cups as I cuddle my children. At 7:00 my 2 year old woke and at 8:00 the twins. All four of us; me, her and the twins, cuddled on the couch, which means everyone is sitting on me, and we watched as many Dora episodes as humanly possible before one gags, or until my 2 year old turns into Dora herself (is that possible?)
​

Then an hour later it was time to put the two bambino's down for their nap. At which point, I got dressed to go to the YMCA, got my toddler ready and packed everyone's diaper bags. My husband got home and we waited for the babies to wake up so we could leave. I had asked my husband if he would go to the Y with me and show me the workouts he used to do with a friend of his when we lived in Nashville. Both of them got in great shape following a simple regime and well, since I recently gave birth to twins, I will do just about anything to try to get in shape myself right now even if I have to ask my husband for help. If you know me I hate asking anyone for help, especially my husband! I feel like it has been years since I've really been able to work out. I got pregnant in 2006 and miscarried, I stopped working out after that since I felt I brought the miscarriage on from running 50 miles a week. I got pregnant again in 2008 and gave birth in 2009, breastfed for 9 months and while I started running again then, it became increasingly hard to find the time. I was working full time and so when I wasn't working I didn't want to stick my child in daycare so I could work out because I had that mommy guilt of not being with her enough. I mostly ran with her in the jogger. And right when I felt I was getting back in shape...I ended up pregnant again and so the cycle continues...
I never ask my husband to teach or show me anything, so this shocked him. He is my husband, not my coach, not my instructor, not my teacher and not my mentor. When he tries to "show" me something we end up in a fight. We actually call our canoe the "divorce boat" because we are stuck in it together and I always do it my way, which is the wrong way according to him and then we end up in a fight. The best thing we can do for our marriage is tip the thing over and swim. But that's a lesson for another time. You can read more about our marriage arguments here.

Yes, he was shocked, but agreed to "show" me his workout. He reminded me that the only time I've listened to him was when I was giving birth to our first child naturally and the pain was getting out of control and I was about to lose it. He grabbed my face and said, "get it together, now". Suddenly that was all it took for me to calm down and in fact, I did get it together. He said that might just be the only time I didn't try to argue with him and tell him I was right and he was wrong, so he'd be happy to show me his workout, but added that he wasn't sure why because he knew I wouldn't listen to him anyway.
​
The babies woke up and off to the YMCA we went. I can't believe we were able to work out a full 45 minutes without the nursery workers coming to get one of us. Every time I leave the babies in the nursery at the Y, which has been most week days for the past 3 weeks, they have to come and get me because someone is crying and they can't get them to stop. It really puts a damper on working out. I may or may not have hidden from the nursery workers before when I see them walking into the fitness room looking around. I may or may not have bent down to tie my shoe behind a large piece of exercise equipment. It may look like I am tying my shoe, but I am just trying to duck as she walks by looking for me. The other mothers in the fitness room can rest assured she's not coming for them because they always come for me. And I am happy to report that when they can't find me, they usually resolve the issue on their own. I've gone to pick up my kids and they mentioned to me that one of them was crying, but when they couldn't find me they rocked him or her and eventually all was okay.
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So it amazed me that this trip was a success. No babies cried, I learned a new work out routine and everyone was hungry so we headed to chick fil a, so we could eat and our 2 year old daughter could play. Then we were ready to go home and take a nap. That too was a success. As everyone napped, including my husband. I on the other hand used nap time to prepared our grocery list and organized our coupon book. Everyone woke up and off we headed, all 5 of us to the grocery store. Our trip to the store is a story for another time too because that in itself is full of lots of rights and wrongs. A trip with a two year old, four month old twins and a husband and wife juggling food and babies is a sight to see.

We took 15 minutes after the grocery store to go to the bookstore to let my little girl play with the trains as this is one of her favorite things to do and off we went to head home. It was now 7pm and time for everyone to eat quick, get a bath and go to bed.

Oh, if only that went as smoothly as the rest of the day. Here is where the Diarrhea, Algae, Reflux and Blueberries all begin! 
We came home and before we could even walk into the house we could smell the stench of diarrhea! Where was it? Where did it come from? It covered the whole house. We knew it was there but hadn't found it, until we walked into my daughters room and covered on her beautiful floral pink rug was a very large pile of doggy diarrhea.

​It didn't stop there, it trailed off her beautiful floral pink run onto the carpet. It appeared we had a sick dog and a big mess to clean up. I put the babies down and went to unload groceries, which my husband had already beat me to it. So I decided I'd feed the babies and then clean the poop. They didn't want to eat and I couldn't stand the smell. I got the gloves and started to clean. I dragged the rug outside and sprayed down her carpet, scrubbed and vacuumed.  The mister had put all the groceries away and started to cook dinner, babies seemed happy enough and everything seemed fine so I headed outside to clean the rug. I got the hose and scrubbed it with cleaner and used the hose as a pressure washer.
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As I was outside I noticed my daughters kiddie pool was filled with green water because it had been sitting out there for days unused and algae was growing covering the entire bottom of the plastic blow up pool. So I thought, while I have the hose out I'll clean this out too. I started picking up the toys in the yard, dumped the water out and came inside for the bleach. I noticed my husband was still cooking dinner and now he was holding one of the twins while he did it. My two year old looked happy as she ate some turkey and cheese and fruit and the other twin seemed content, so I headed back outside with the bleach for the kiddie pool and said, "I'll be just another minute." I sprayed the pool out, poured the bleach in and realized I needed a sponge. I had already finished cleaning the rug and it was hanging to dry. I came in for the sponge and noticed that the mister was still cooking dinner, but this time he was carrying two babies who didn't look so happy and my toddler was sitting at the table complaining about her food. I was just about to say, "I'll be just another minute", when I got that look from my husband that said, "if you go back out that door, I will..." not sure what came after that but the look was bad so what followed would've been bad too.
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I decided not to finish what I was doing. I took one baby, offered to take both, but he just gave me one. Went outside to turn the hose off, and came back in. Dinner was on the table. Oops. I don't think anyone was happy. All my husband said was "I'm not you and you're are not me". I took this to mean that he can't cook a meal while watching three babies and I can't clean dog poop as well as him without getting distracted. I was really hoping he didn't now I was doing 10 other things outside, but guess he did. So we sat and ate dinner.
And this is where the blueberry comes in. As we sat and ate dinner, my 2 year old swallowed a blueberry whole. And yes, it got stuck. We panicked, I almost dropped a baby as I stood up to figure out what to do. And in just a few moments it felt like an eternity had passed. She stuck her own hands down her throat and coughed up a whole blueberry.

​The poop, the algae, the roll-reversal, the crying babies, the gym, the bookstore, nothing, nothing mattered at that moment. We were all scared.
At this time my stress level had risen. No one would know it, not even me because when I am stressed I appear extra calm. I went to feed the babies to put them to bed and forgot to give my son his reflux medicine until after I fed him. This doesn't happen much, but when it does it's a bad beginning to the night. He can't settle, he cries more and longer and can't get comfortable. Not only were we up all night with sad babies, hungry babies, but also with a dog who was constantly pacing and whimpering to go outside. If we had a fenced yard he would've stayed outside, but each time we had to get up and take him out, get up and feed a baby, get up and rock a baby.


​But you know what, I'd do it all again. I was just happy by little girl didn't choke on a blueberry.
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ChickPea Salad with Avocado and Almonds

1/12/2016

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I made a delicious feast for Thanksgiving full of fatty foods and sugars and it was great! That was over two months ago now. And just a few weeks after when December rolled around something happened...

I decided to stop eating sugar. Not just artificial sweaters or food with added sugars, I decided to stop eating all sugar in all forms. This meant no fruit. This meant no honey.

I'm sure you are thinking I am crazy and you're trying to figure out what in the world is left to eat if I took all sugar out of my diet! And you might be wondering why in the world anyone would do this.
It all started with a conversation I had with my husband about one of our nieces who has been suffering from low energy levels on top of other ailments.

As we talked about her ailments I was quickly reminded of a time when I was in high school where I too had similar complications. It was 1996 and I was running cross country for Coral Gables High School. I was coming home after practice everyday craving bread and feeling too tired and weak to study. I was so lethargic and I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep the rest of my life away.


My mom being the hippy she was (and still is) rarely gives in to modern medicine, so she took me to a homeopathic doctor, like every good hippy from the 60's would do. The doctor quickly diagnosed me a Candidand Dissorder.

 

Candida: How To Reclaim Your Body and Mind (Digestive Disorders: Leaky Gut Syndrome, Candida and Diverticulitis Book 2)

Basically I've been living on caffeine and sugar and feeling the lack of greens in my diet. And knowing myself if I don't do something drastic, I won't do anything at all. Normally I do a juice cleanse to get rid of my icky-lack-of-greens-feeling. But this time I called my mom and asked if she still had the Candida book we bought 20 years ago and if she'd bring it at Thanksgiving when she came to visit!

And well, yep, she had it. Remember, this is my mother who loves family heirlooms if you read my 
bio, and well she loves books too and when she gets a good one she holds on to it! So she brought it with her.


If you are interested in learning more about Candida there are lots of new books and recipe books available. I doubt this book from 20 years ago is even in print still. Just click here for Updated Books.  

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So starting the beginning of December, I stripped out all sugars and white grains and breads and began eating vegetables and meats. Would you believe me when I tell you I've been drinking my coffee BLACK! And I love it!

I put creamer in it a few days ago for the heck of it and felt like I was being poisoned by all the preservatives! Crazy how quickly our body adapts to new normals.


I did eat a banana today and I have added some sugars back into my diet, and put honey in my tea from my dads homemade honey from Key Bee Honey. If you love honey it doesn't get any better than straight from island paradise. You can place an order for yourself right off his facebook page.
 
I've added a little fruit into my diet too. But mostly I've been snacking on nuts and bell peppers dipped in hummus. Our family has been eating lots of delicious meals lately like spaghetti squash and Edamame Pasta!.


And so here is a Chickpea Salad Recipe I made last night I wanted to share with you! It was delicious! And I hope you try it and love it too!


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Chickpea Salad With Avocado And Almonds

what you will need :


- 2 cans of chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 1/2 of a small red onion finely chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper finely chopped
- 1/2 green bell pepper finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks with leafy tops chopped
- 1 tomato finely chopped and seeds rinsed out
- 1 avocado sliced into squares
- 1/2 cup of Almonds (chopped, sliced or whole)
- 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon of garlic salt
- 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (I used Lemon Olive Oil we got for Christmas)
- salt and pepper to taste

directions:


1. Combine chickpeas, onion, peppers, tomatoes and celery into a large bowl.
2. Pour red wine vinegar and olive oil into the bowl, adding crushed red pepper flakes, garlic salt and salt and pepper and stir all together.
3. If you made more than you will eat store remaining salad in an airtight container and put in fridge.
4. Add avocado and almonds only to the portion you will be eating as you want these two ingredients to remain fresh.
5. Enjoy, smile, and share! 😉


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    Author

    I am a  mother of 4 small children. I am happiest when I am busiest and if the kids don't keep me busy enough I need projects to fill my days.  I love Jesus and I love my family and I love the chaos around me for it brings the calm.

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