Happy Spring!

I hope you have the opportunity today to soak up a bit of sunshine, or listen to the birds, or catch a hint of color from a flower, whether it's a glorious red rose, a simple little daisy, or even a dandelion! I'm enjoying all of the above; it's a beautiful day.

I do have the obligatory chores that I must tackle today as well - a few loads of laundry, cleaning a bathroom, maybe running the vacuum. I have a couple of candles lit, some soothing music playing (Diane Arkenstone - thanks Pooh for introducing me to her!). I've spent a couple of hours in the kitchen already, which, honestly, I didn't feel like doing when I started. But it didn't take long to realize how much I've missed it the last few weeks.

I did some experimenting this week too, mostly out of necessity, but with some great results. Since starting a vegetarian diet in late January, I've made an effort to cook as many meals as I can in two batches - with meat and without - so that my husband isn't forced into going meatless if he doesn't want to. I had the makings for some really quick enchiladas for him - frozen rolled tacos topped with a can of enchilada sauce, grated cheese, and sliced olives. Easy! But I didn't have any meatless rolled tacos that I could eat. I did have corn tortillas, though, and knew I could come up with something to fill them. I had several pouches of Uncle Ben's and Seeds of Change brands ready-to-serve rice dishes in the pantry. One of them was a Santa Fe version and included black beans, corn, brown rice, red and white wheat, tomatoes, peppers, and spices. I warmed my corn tortillas in just a few drops of oil in a small skillet, put a couple spoonfuls of rice down the center of each one, and rolled them up. I used a 9" x 13" pan and filled it with half of the frozen rolled tacos, half of my rice filled rolled tacos, topped it all with enchilada sauce and sliced black olives. I used regular grated colby jack cheese on my husband's half, and vegan cheddar flavored grated cheese on my half. I was expecting them to be a little bland and not thoroughly enjoyable, but I was wrong. They were great!

Frozen meatballs are another one of my favorite time savers. I've found turkey meatballs and Veggie Patch brand meatless meatballs. Naturally, they're great in spaghetti, and the leftovers make great meatball sandwiches. Today I got out a recipe for Albondigas, a Mexican meatball soup. It calls for chicken broth, but I use vegetable broth, canned tomatoes, chopped celery and onion, and a sliced zucchini and chopped cilantro. I didn't have the zucchini or cilantro, but I did have carrots and kale. I also added a little bit of orzo. Because the kale cooks pretty quickly, I added it last. When it had wilted just a little bit, I removed half of the soup to another pan, and added turkey meatballs to one, and meatless meatballs to the other. Instead of albondigas, I made more of an Italian wedding soup. It satisfied my craving and is delish!

I'd had a whole bunch of kale in the fridge, but only used half of it in the soup. I usually chop it (after removing the stems) and cook it with a little garlic and onion. I soften the garlic and onion in just a smidgen of oil in a large skillet. I add the kale all at once, and sprinkle it with a few drops of aminos and a drizzle of vinegar, usually apple cider vinegar. Today I only had red onion, so into the pan it went. I softened it with the garlic and added the kale. I sprinkled it with a few drops of aminos, just a splash of ume vinegar and a smattering of rice vinegar. I gave it a little taste and immediately thought of the couple of pineapple spears sitting in my fridge. I chopped them up and added them to the pan. Yummy! A perfect blend of just a little salty and just a little sweet.

I've also cooked a pan of brown rice which I'll just put in a container and stick in the fridge. I can put it in a bowl with some kale and that can be either breakfast or lunch for me. Midway through the week, we'll want a quick and easy dinner. I'll get out the rice, the wok, chop up whatever veggies I have in the fridge that need to be used - broccoli, leeks, celery, green onions, carrots, bok choy - whatever I have. I'll grab the aminos or soy sauce and whatever vinegar happens to sound good at the moment, and we'll enjoy a wonderful fried rice. (I knew I should have grabbed that box of fortune cookies at the store the other day!)

I'm done in the kitchen for the day now. I'm sipping my second or third cup of tea as well as my water bottle with a couple of cucumber slices in it. I'm going to put in my last load of laundry, do a few minutes of yoga, and then have a bowl of soup. I think I might even brew a couple bags of chamomile tea, put it in a big bowl and enjoy a facial steam, perhaps followed by a nap.

Wishing you a peaceful afternoon,

It's Tuesday . . .

. . . and I feel like I'm still recovering from the weekend.

Well, let's see . . .

On Friday, I got hubby off on his fishing trip. Up north. Where it's cool. Lucky bastard*. Don't know what else I did that day, but I'm sure there was something. Some form of domestic chore, no doubt.

Saturday morning I was up early and off to the home improvement store for paint. Walked out of the store with four gallons of paint, some new roller covers, a couple of tray liners, a yardstick, and two ferns. (I can't resist the garden center. Ever!) Stopped at Starbucks on the way home for a cinnamon dolce latte, a lowfat raspberry muffin, and some sort of a chocolate, chocolate, chocolate cookie that was for my afternoon break. (It was heavenly! Can't remember what I did on Friday, but I remember every crumb of that cookie.) Got home, changed clothes, washed walls, and gathered my paint supplies/tools. I got 7/8ths of the room painted, but I can't move the bed by myself, so must wait for hubby to get home to finish. Moved furniture back, replaced switchplate and socket covers and cleaned up the mess. Including me. Had a short nap and ate some little Amy's organic tortilla casserole bowl thing for supper. Watched the mama cat and the kittens in the back yard. Named them all - Mama Cat, Kiko, and Zorro. (oh oh.) Walked in and out of the bedroom a number of times to get a "first impression." Decided I needed new curtains and made a trip to the store at about 9:00 p.m. Put new curtains up and went to bed. Didn't sleep well and finally got up at about 1:30 a.m. and turned on the computer. Ate a couple of crackers and played around on www.polyvore.com for about an hour or so, then went back to bed.

On Sunday morning I was up by 7. Started laundry, cleaned bathrooms, and made a trip to the craft store. Bought a hinged display frame to hang on the wall to hold some of my necklaces. And a new basket to hold magazines. (Oh yeah! I just remembered. On Friday I went to Pier One to buy baskets for spare toss pillows and throws and books.) Put up a mirror above my nightstand and moved some other things around so I have a little space similar to a dressing table. Kind of girly and kind of fun. More like playing dress up that way. ;) More laundry, including hand washables. Outside to take care of the birds and water the plants and sneak a treat to the kitty cats. (Oops! Did I just say that? No, hubby dear, I was just kidding. I would NEVER feed Mama Cat and Kiko and Zorro. I mean those darned cats that aren't even mine. And aren't cute at all.) Climbed through the kitchen window (that thankfully wasn't locked properly and I could force open) when I realized I'd locked myself out. (Remember, hubby is out of state fishing, theluckybastard, and the in-laws with the spare key are at my sister-in-law's house 5 hours away.) Prayed that the neighbors wouldn't see "someone" climbing into my house through the window and call the cops (where I work, by the way. would be totally embarrassing). Pulled a muscle that started in my right "cheek" and ran all the way down the back of my thigh to just behind my knee. And, oh yeah, it was about 110 degrees and 30 or 40 percent humidity. Nice day to be locked out of the house at noon. Recovered and cooled off and wrote myself a note to have a spare key made and hide it in the shed someplace. Finished laundry and took a (long) nap. Had soup for dinner and gave myself a pedicure. Slept better.

Monday morning, got to work at about 6:45 a.m. Home at five. Soup for dinner again, along with a wedge of romaine lettuce, some cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of blue cheese dressing. Blogged for a bit. Talked to my son on the phone for a while. Got to bed a little after ten. Slept like a rock.

Today, at work before 7 a.m. again. At lunch time, I had a duplicate key made, stopped at the health food store for more soup (which I didn't buy because I'm not going to pay almost $4 for a can of soup), stopped at the ATM, and went through the car wash (all in just an hour). Home at 5. Talked to a friend in El Paso (while yawning), had a bowl of cereal (while yawning), blogged and read blogs (while yawning and squinting). Now it's time to get ready for bed.

Tomorrow? We'll just have to wait and see. :)

*NOTE: In this blog, Are We There Yet, the terms "bastard" and "bitch" are (almost always) used as terms of endearment. Sometimes in a fit of jealousy.