Good riddance 2012! Welcome 2013!

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Katherine

Happy New Year! I am very glad to see 2012 go. It has been the most challenging, difficult and trying year of my life for many reasons. But hey, we won’t get into that. Onward and upward dear blog readers! 2013 is going to be much better. I’m sure of it!

Like a good little sheep, I’m going to make a few New Year’s Resolutions!

EAT BETTER!

January will see a 21 Day Sugar Detox AND a Whole30! Nutso. I need this kick in the ass to become reacquainted with my kitchen and good habits and say goodbye to this little affair with takeout and purchased lunched. This challenge sounds difficult, but hey, combining the two has been done before! Let’s do this!

MOVE MORE! Yeah yeah, I’ve been lazier than I’d care to admit. I did somehow stumble across the finish line of a 5k in September, but I need to pick up my socks. I’m registered for another 5k in May and I did something kind of silly and registered Mr. Foodie and I in a duathlon in October! 3k run, 15k cycle and 3k run. We can do it. I bought a Groupon for a CrossFit box nearby so I’ll check that out too.

SPEND LESS!

I have an online shopping addiction. And instant-gratification-itis. Not only do I eat when I’m stressed, but I spend. Oopsie. January will be No Spend Month! Now I’m not going to go nutter and live only from pantry scraps, but spending will be limited to essentials like fresh veggies, eggs, and gas. Not nail polish, bike accessories, clothes, boots, makeup… Perhaps January should be more aptly termed a “mindful spending month” for me.

RELAX! I need to do a better job at keeping calm. And not like the annoying memes say. I’m going to try to slow things down a bit. Maybe check out a yoga class. I’m on the home stretch of my graduate degree so it if takes an extra semester to finish it up and maintain some type of balance in my life, so be it!

BLOG REGULARLY! Yes, I should do it. This follows from the previous point… slow down. Relax. Enjoy life. I do enjoy blogging! Santa (okay… Amazon and I) brought me From Plate to Pixel and I look forward to improving my food photography as well!

Welcome, 2013! You couldn’t come fast enough!

Weekend Adventures: Operation Vitamix!

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Katherine

I’ve been planning to buy a Vitamix for a while. I’ve balked at the cost, but now that I’ve swallowed that pill I am so glad that I did. It’s only been a member of our household for just over a day and I’m already in love. Why don’t I get a year off paid to spend with my blender like I did with my baby? Hmm.

I had planned on buying it in the US, but a Vitamix road show was at my local Costco. I had no idea until I was walking through a parking lot and stopped to admire it in the window of someone’s car. The owner was right nearby and we laughed at me admiring her Vitamix and she directed me to Costco. I sped off to make it before it closed.

Isn’t she a beauty? I also bought the dry mix container.

Here she is! Sorry for the poor quality iPhone photo.

I haven’t stopped playing with it! The first thing I made was apple, carrot ginger juice. I was too excited to take a photo. So far, I’ve made nut butter…

Roasted tomato and pepper sauce…

Kale, hazelnut, basil and garlic pesto…

Pureed lemon for cooking. I peeled and threw the lemons in whole, then strained. Yum!

Kabocha squash soup…

So velvety smooth! And yes, it’s true. The Vitamix can really heat up the soup from the blade friction. It’s kinda cool!

Roasted purple cauliflower and parsnips also became…

MORE SOUP! Doesn’t this soup look strange? It’s purple! ha! And kinda thick. It will be thinned out before I eat it. This “recipe” also caused the Vitamix to activate the safety stop before I overheated the motor. I had to process it in two batches to do it.

And of course, some ice cream! (frozen strawberries, pineapple and coconut milk. That’s it!)

Oh Vitamix, where have you been all my life?! Sure you cost almost as much as tuition for a Master’s course, but you are so delightful, wonderful, utilitarian and do wonders for my mood. Hey, you’re cheaper than a few hours of therapy! ha!

I’m not dead! August Update

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Katherine

It’s been almost three weeks since my last post! I’m not dead, I promise. So just a small update!

I’ve been swamped with personal stuff, work stuff, and finishing up my semester for my Master’s degree. The good news is that I am 60% done my course work and well on track to be finished this time next year!

Mr. Foodie and I have also been preoccupied with our new hobby: road cycling. We made the investment in two beautiful Trek road bikes and it is SO much fun! Here’s my beauty!

I’m planning a cross border shopping trip to ~~load up on essentials~~ buy stuff I really want but probably don’t need. i.e. a Vitamix blender. A haul of spices from Penzeys. And a load of cheese from Cabot. Some things are just so much cheaper to buy in the USA than here in Canada! We’ll also be heading to Vermont for another foodcation.

The keen eyed among you will notice that I’ve had a “I’m doing the Whole 30!” badge up for quite a while. I completed 29/30 days of the Whole 30 in June. I felt great. Then I went on vacation to the East coast. Then I ate my feelings while dealing with a lot of stress. Shameful.

For the month of August, I am doing the Whole 30 once again! This time, Mr. Foodie is also doing it with me (sorta… he’s already cheated!)

Another goal of mine is to redecorate this blog into something more visually appealing… I love the bacon, but it’s kind of boring around here! I’m going to look into more themes, so if anyone wants to volunteer to design me a custom Word Press template, let me know. Ha. I’ll probably end up just buying one!

I promise to post more this month, now that I’ve found some more time!

June Happenings

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Katherine

I guess my posts should have a theme, or some coherence, or be a recipe since this is a cooking blog and all, but I’m just going to tell you some random things that I want to share, dammit.

Use a bell pepper as “bread” for a sandwich. GENIUS. I saw this on Facebook, from the Primal Parent. Yes. YES YES. I made mine with turkey, mayo and arugula. YES. I need more. Love this.

I bought these little silicone cups at Ikea to make egg cups in. My mini muffin tins are okay, but I wanted to make giant egg cups. Cause I love to eat. I’m certain they were designed to make mini cakes, but who wants to bake cake anyway?

So I was home alone this weekend to do homework while Mr. Foodie and kiddo went camping with his parents. I had a lot of reading to do for my law and stats courses. It was beautiful so I sat in the backyard to read. I brought two books. Guess which one I read?

It Starts With Food is amazing. Just amazing. I loved it. I whipped through it in a few days (And this is unheard of for me!) You can come borrow my copy, or buy your own from Amazon or something. It Starts With Food reads like a conversation, just the right touch of wit and humour using clever analogies to explain very important scientific concepts. Read it!! I’m on day 19 of my Whole 30 and am feeling great!

It’s harvest time in my backyard garden! I planted these guys from seed at the beginning of May. They shot up pretty quickly and I transplanted them about 10 days later into pots in the backyard around mid-May.

May 13 – Arugula

May 13 – Red Russian Kale

May 23. 10 more days and already seeing some more growth. Putting the child labour to good use. He loves the hose. He thinks he’s a fire chief!

June 19 - Look! Food! I grew my own food! This is fairly impressive to have done this because I have a terrible black thumb and everything I grow usually dies! And I did it from seed, too! Mr. Foodie is obsessed with trying to grow kale over the winter, because apparently it can be done. We’ll see how that goes. The arugula is looking a bit wilty because it’s so freaking hot.

… and if you’ve made it this far. I want to try CrossFit but I am intimidated!! There is a new CrossFit box near me and they even offer a free trial class on weekends, but I am too scared of looking like an idiot!