Thursday, August 16, 2012

Camping

We are headed out camping tomorrow for the weekend after an almost full day of work for the both of us. 

A little Friday to Sunday trip to Leo Carrillo State Beach, which is in Malibu about an hour and a half north of us, we are hoping for the traffic fairies to fly our way.  We've never been to this campsite but the reviews and recommendations that I've gotten say it's a great spot. I made these reservations over 6 months ago, I'm pretty sure it was before I knew I was pregnant, but it should be a good time, round belly and all.  We are upgrading from our normal camping mattress to our full-on queen size air mattress, which we use when we have extra guests in the house.  Yes, we have a converter to blow it up directly from our Granola Hippy Car.   

I am hoping for some relaxing time in the sand, under a mellow sun, while felling cool ocean breeze.  It has been so hot here the last couple weeks, that I am dreaming of the days of  sweaters and blankets.  Actually in all honesty, last night I had nightmares about my child birthing trip to the hospital, but I'm sure it's just the hormones, the reading I did at lunch yesterday, and the realization that I am in my third trimester and that the 3 month count down has begun.


Time to talk about the food.


We decided to attempt some simple pre-prepped cooking for our camping trip.  This really didn't take long to do, i had it all packaged up in about a half an hour and even had time to sit down at the computer tonight! 

Can you guess what we'll be eating? 


Clockwise from the top we have bread for our tuna sandwiches kit (low mercury tuna from Sprouts).  I made up a little mayonnaise mix which has curry and salt/pepper, I also packed some hummus and I have some shredded veggies which will go in the tuna as well.  On the side, we have some red pepper sticks to dip in the extra hummus.   Below that bag we have our dutch oven Stew Kit.   There are beef chunks in there, they are just hiding.   At the 6 o'clock position we have a dutch oven pizza kit.   I read you can place an aluminum pie tin in the dutch oven and cook the crust in that.  Then layer on your toppings and cook some more and you have a yummy pizza.  They only thing I had to purchase for this was the crust and the sausage.  I decided to go with sausage because pepperoni has nitrates in it, and apparently nitrates aren't that great when you are pregnant.  At Sprouts they have amazing homemade chicken sausages (the price is pretty good too, I think I paid $2.00 for these two full size, braut size sausages.) and I snatched up a spicy one for the hubby and a regular one for me.  I figure we'll grill them up, use half for the pizza and half as a side to the pizza.  More protein for a carb based meal.





The rest of the items are goodies.  Well, we have the one bag of brown, which is the pup's food and treats and the rest are our people treats.     The clementines and fruit snacks are for my snacking needs and the almonds are for the hubby's snacking needs.  The plastic container holds chocolate chips, mini mallows, and caramels, a pantry clean out with a smile.  These goodies will get stuffed into banana boats which will be wrapped in foil and thrown into the fire.   A little something I saw on The Pioneer Woman the other day, I doubt she'll let us down.  We also have popcorn that we can attempt to pop over a fire.

Hopefully it works out and we have the patience for everything to cook.  We actually have a portable stove with pots and pans but all this dutch oven cooking seems so exciting.  Not pictured is a carton of egg substitute and some bacon that we will cook up on our stove one morning.  The other morning we will probably have yogurt, granola, watermelon and/or store bought smoothies.

Have a great weekend~ I will be attempting to unplug and reload, all while eating well and playing well.


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Julia Child

Happy 100th Birthday to Julia Child today.  I love the dedication picture on the front page of google today.

You can watch full episodes of her show here: PBS Julia Child

A fun quote from the Washington Post: "She had an incredible work ethic; she loved a good joke; her work is, perhaps, more relevant than ever; even longtime chefs were thrilled when she complimented their dishes; any extra effort that it took to see her in person or on television was worth it; it’s okay to make mistakes as long as you learn how to fix what went wrong; cooking is fun."  Washington Post Julia Child 

Have a great day and Eat Well and Play Well ~

Monday, August 6, 2012

A Quick-Fix and A Throw Together Lunch

Sometimes the best meals or snacks are not planned and come out of a quick burst of creativity.
I had just returned from a store called the HB Farmer's market, which has a deli of fresh hummus, tzatziki, and baba ghanoush.  Don't mind if I do.   Shopping makes you hungry, so it was quickly snack time.


 My husband was putting some of his fresh caught fish to good use and made himself a scrumptious fish salad.



 We also wanted to try out a quick recipe suggestion from a friend and whipped up these baked breaded zucchini coins.   They turned out delicious.

It all came together on the table. 
I thought I would leave this photo un-cropped because in doing so, it tells a story. 
It reminds me that this was a Sunday afternoon, the day after our anniversary.  I see part of the gift that I got for my husband which was this mini portable ping pong set.  (5 year gift tradition is wood, which was difficult to adhere to)  We had a nice little rally that day set up on the kitchen table, a little playfulness goes a long way.   You can see he is patiently waiting for me to snap the photo before he eats the meal he (mostly) just prepared.  Good thing he has that beer in hand, to buy me a few seconds.  You can see my camera lens cover on the table, which shows my haste in "Wait, let me take a quick picture of this gorgeous food."




Here are some other quick snacks or meals that have made it on a plate.   These are what I like to call "quick fixes" because they are satisfying, healthy, and are made up, from "what's in the kitchen."
Simple Pear Slices and Cinnamon and Sugar Toast.  A sweet alternative to junk food. 

 Using left over steak, I was able to quickly able to assemble a nutritious steak taco.  Look at all the colors.


 Add an orange on the side and we may just have a well rounded meal or snack.

Here we have another quick taco with a Trader Joe's chicken patty and peppers.  On the side is cucumber, tomatoes, hummus, green onions, salt, pepper, oil and vinegar.  Turns out to be a wholesome salad.


Have a great night and Eat Well and Play Well ~