I love, love, love Fall fruit.  I look forward to Fall every year so that I can get persimmons and pomegranate. Yom.

I first discovered persimmons my Freshman year of college (that would be 10 years ago now *gulp*). I don’t know what possessed me but I decided to try one and I instantly fell in love.  They are crunchy, sweet, a little cinnamon-y, and just plain perfect. 

Persimmons that you can eat like an apple or pear (I actually eat everything but the little green top) are called Fuju Persimmons.  The longer pointy ones are called Hachiya Persimmons and are much better in baked goods.  If you are going to eat Hachiya Persimmons raw they need to be VERY ripe.  Fuju’s can be eaten either when firm or more ripe. I prefer them when they are firm.

According to Wikipedia, a persimmon is in fact a "true berry" by definition.  It was also known as “the fruit of the Gods” by ancient Greeks.  Those ancient Greeks are smart!

I eat one every day in the fall.  They are more expensive than most fruit but I think they are totally worth it.  I found a 12 pack at Costco for $4 last week and I snatched it up!

The other fall fruit that I eagerly await is the pomegranate.

My Grandma had a HUGE pomegranate tree in her yard and we used to get to harvest them and then eat them on the curb.  We were NOT allowed to eat them inside since they stain so badly.

I now sit on my couch almost every night and eat a half of a pomegranate.  I know you can get the seeds out by submerging one in a bowl of water and breaking it apart, but that takes all the fun and memories out of it for me.  I LOVE the ritual of eating a pomegranate.  I’m a grown up now so I get to eat them inside on the couch 😉

Off to go stain my fingertips!

Shaun stayed home with sick Lu today so that I could get some work done (this post needs to be short!). Last night was our hardest night but I her fever finally broke around 3:30 and she woke up VERY hungry.  It felt like we had a newborn all over again.  I checked on her at 10, 12 and then she woke up screaming at 3:30. I did the first shift-getting her meds and some milk and Shaun did the second shift-rocking her back to sleep.  She woke up at 6:45 today HONGRY-which is a very good sign.

I left a list of instructions for Shaun:

With dosing instructions from the doctor:

Thankfully, I left a smiley little girl:

Who was enjoying her O’s and nanner:

I just got a text from Shaun that she went down for a nap at 9.  I guess she pointed at her crib :(  She normally only goes down for one nap from 12-2.  So she’s definitely still sick but recovering. 

We went to the doctor last night and he gave us some steroids and I think they’re helping.

Sigh. It’s days like today that I wish I didn’t have to work.  It was really hard leaving her.  With that, I’d better hop to it so I can get home as early as possible.

Gratitude

I’m grateful for really great doctors who care.  I love our pediatrician!

Can you tell I’m a little obsessed with my crock pot right now? I found this recipe on Crock Pot 365-a great crock pot recipe site.  I made a modified version of this recipe. It was really good-I thought better than the other Apricot Chicken that I made.  That one was more Asian influenced and this one wasn’t (despite some soy sauce).

Ingredients:

• 1 pound frozen skinless chicken meat-I use thigh since Shaun hates breasts (chicken breasts…)
• 10 ounce jar of apricot preserves-no sugar
• 1 tsp dried onion flakes (sorry Kath!)
• 1 TBSP garlic aioli mustard
• 1 TBSP Braggs Amino
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes

Place the chicken in the crock pot. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl:

And then smother the chicken:

Set the crock pot on

And then:

For:

hours (6-8 for frozen. 4-6 on high for defrosted).

I made brown rice and just chopped some brussel sprouts and carrots and sautéed them in a little vegan butter, S+P, and cider vinegar.

Look at how pretty it was:

Here’s the finished product in the pot:

Plated:

Lucy didn’t have any-her appetite has disappeared 🙁 She has croup poor thing.  Shaun took his first bite and said “Wow this is AWESOME!” Later I asked him to rate it and he said 3 stars.  I asked how something could be awesome and then only get 3 stars.  His response? “It’s chicken.”  So many people comment on how Shaun will eat anything.  No one believes me when I tell them his particular. Do you believe me?

Yesterday was Shaun’s birthday.  I offered to cook him whatever he wanted but he didn’t want me to have to go to all the trouble, especially with a sick kiddo at home.  He decided that he wanted sushi, so we went and picked some up to bring home.  I offered to put it all on plates so that we could have a nice dinner and Shaun wouldn’t hear of it.  He wanted it all out of the Styrofoam containers. His reasoning? Why dirty plates?

Here’s the whole spread:

Classy, huh?

Here’s the birthday boys’ dinner:

That’s a Lion King Roll, a Rainbow Roll, a Cherry Blossom Roll, and some Seaweed Salad that I ate.

He proclaimed his entire meal (Guiness included of course!) “The Perfect Meal”

He was a happy dude:

Here’s my dinner:

Salmon and Tuna Sashimi and Miso Soup.  I only had 4 pieces since this was a TON of fish.

We got Lu some Chicken Katsu-breaded and fried chicken and she wanted nothing to do with it.  She ate some veggies and then some of cherry yogurt that I had made her earlier in the day-I make fruit purees and then add them to whole milk yogurt and she gobbles it up every day.  No sugar!

She rallied for Daddy, but you can see her little sick eyes in these pictures 🙁 She went to bed shortly after this.  I woke her up at 9 to give her some Motrin and then checked on her throughout the night.  When I went in at 6:45 she was laying there awake (I hadn’t heard a peep) and she reached out to me with a sad little “Mama”. It broke my heart.  Her temp was back up to 102 and she has some congestion.  She’s doing a bit better now.  I’m at home with her today and we just watched a Madeline DVD.  She doesn’t normally watch tv but she was happy to sit on my lap for about 15 minutes and then actually got down and played.  I think that’s a good sign.  If she still has a fever tonight or her breathing gets worse I’ll call the doctor again. I’m in the process of bleaching her humidifier and I’ll run that tonight.

Shaun is on his way home now so that I can jump on a conference call.  The rest of the day will be spent cuddling with my little sick girlie.

Gratitude

Today I’m thankful for all our Veterans.  Thank you!

On Sunday I threw together a soup using a bunch of stuff from my cupboards.  It wasn’t supposed to be a soup originally but I changed my mind mid recipe.  It was seriously good and easy.

Ingredients:

-Tri Tip

-1 TBSP Paprika

-2 TBSP Montreal Steak Seasoning

-S+P

-1 Box Chicken Broth

-2 Cans of Navy Beans, drained

-1 Can Chopped Tomatoes with Roasted Garlic

-1 Can No-Salt Corn

I took a big hunk of tri tip that I had in my freezer from Lu’s birthday party-probably around 1.5 pounds and put that into the crock pot frozen.  I topped it with the seasonings and a little chicken broth.  Cook on low for 4 hours. 

I added the rest of the ingredients (including all the broth) and cooked on low for an additional 2 hours.  I had envisioned the meat shredding but that didn’t happen.  So I took it out and that end and sliced thin pieces of meat (like Carne Asada) and added it back to the soup.  I think the sliced beef ended up much better than shredded beef would have been.

I topped mine with Fage and Avocado.  Shaun got Sour Cream, Avocado, and Cheese on his.  I think it would have been great with some corn chips too.

Lucy gave it a “mmmm-mmmm-mmm-mmm” and Shaun gave it 3 stars-big praise from a man who claims to “HATE soup”.

I just dropped Kath at the airport-she’s back on her way to Matt and the bears!

Here’s us at dinner last night:

This morning we woke up early enough that we could share a bowl of oatmeal:

Each bowl has:

-1/3 Cup Thick Cut Oats

-1/3 Cup Rice Milk

-1/3 Cup Water

-1/2 Banana

-1/2 TBSP Chia Seeds

-Dash of Salt, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Vanilla

Toppings:

-Ezekiel Granola

-Coconut Butter

-Peanut Butter

-Pumpkin Butter (on Kath’s, not on mine)

Here’s mine up close and personal:

It’s nice to know we have almost the same method.  I smush my nanner where as she cut this one up.  It was delish!

It was GREAT getting caught up with Kath.  It was amazing to realize that we’ve “known” each other for over 4 years!  It’s nice to have a friend that you can talk to about almost everything and they know exactly what you’re talking about since we’ve been reading about each other’s life for 4 years now :)  She’s been here 3 times in that 4 years.  I think I need to plan a trip to the East Coast!

Unfortunately, Lu woke up with a fever this morning :(  I’m staying at home to take care of the Lil Munchkin.  We have a doctor’s appointment in about 30 minutes.

OH! As part of November I’ve been posting one thing that I’m thankful for on Facebook.  I think I’ll post it here too.

Today I’m thankful for fun visitors!

P.S.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!!!

There are various 2 camps when it comes to feeding a toddler:

1. My kid eats what I eat.

2. I make my kid his or her own meal.

Lucy eats what we eat with very few exceptions.  If I make something with peanuts or with shell fish she gets a different meal but otherwise she eats just like us.  Back when she was eating purees she was actually eating better than us.  At that point I was working crazy hours and eating “convenience” totally processed food.  She was eating organic fruits and veggies prepared by me.  I always used to joke that she ate better than me!

Here she is this morning, eating Ryvita toast, eggs, and milk.  Mommy had the same thing-only I had 2 egg whites and 1 egg.  She had 2 whole eggs. She needs the fat-I don’t 😉

I also don’t like to give her refined sugar or white flours and try to stay away from that as much as possible.  I do give her those things sometimes but usually she eats really well.  There is one exception.  Daycare.  Lucy goes to a great daycare where they make all the food for the kiddos.  By and large it’s not processed and it’s pretty good for her.  She does get more sugar than I would like there but I decided that I’m paying for it and it’s relatively healthy. I’m not going to stress.  I do cringe when I see that she got chicken nuggets that day but that only happens every once and awhile and I just remind myself that it’s not going to kill her.

Last night I made Chicken Sausage and Veggie Pasta.

It was good!  In fact Shaun gave it 3.5 stars-that’s big praise! (He gave the meatloaf 5 stars-do you see why I cook comfort food-even if it’s ugly looking?)

I found those mini sausages at Costco the other day and bought them on a whim.  All their big chicken sausages had dairy in them and so I ended up with these.  I REALLY liked them.  They seemed to carry more of a flavor punch! To make this, I just sautéed the sausages in a little bit of olive oil.  I deglazed the pan with some chicken broth and then added cauliflower and brussel sprouts.  Once those were on their way to cooking I added green beans, mushrooms, and some coarsely chopped garlic with some additional chicken broth to help steam.  I added some leftover canned corn from the other night right at the end.  I served it over whole wheat penne and put a sprinkling of parmesan on top.

Lucy ate her entire bowl!  Look at how much I gave her!  That kid can eat.

I feel like she’s saying in this picture “What Mom? Can’t you see I’m eating?”

I did cut up the sausage and green beans for her but everything else she ate-oh and I added some carrots and peas since those are her favorite.  She was enthusiastically chowing down her bowl when she made a horrible face!  She had gotten a chunk of garlic and it wasn’t quite what she was expecting-I wish I had gotten a picture of that!

It’s so nice to be able to give her what we eat.  Like a good friend says, I’m not a short order cook nor do I intend to be!

I was craving dark chocolate after lunch today and I didn’t have any.  I ate a fun sized Twix bar and almost immediately I felt a sugar rush and I started shaking.  It was scary!  It wasn’t a good feeling at all.  I think I need to make sure I have some good dark chocolate at work so that I don’t make that mistake again.

I’ve been working on a project for behind our couch.  It’s bare right now and I’ve wanted to put pictures of Lu up there since she was born.  I’m determined to do it this weekend.  I want to do a bunch of different sized black and white pictures in black frames, kinda like a collage but with picture frames.  I have some professional photos that I’m going to put up there but I also have some that we took.  It’s been a real trip down memory lane.

That was one of our first nights home from the hospital.  This picture always makes me tear up.  Shaun wasn’t read to as a child and he proactively went and got a book to read to her.  I love my husband 🙂

Look at this one:

That’s after her first bath.  She looks like a little old man.

Here’s another bath photo:

Sigh.  I try not to get too sad about how fast she’s growing up because every stage is so fun and great.  I don’t want to be one of those people who is continually sad that the past is past and always looking to the future.  I want to be happy in the moment!  Sometimes it’s hard but I think I’ve gotten much better since having Lucy.

Last night we were home and I was doing something on my phone and not really paying attention to her and I thought “what am I doing?” I put the phone away and we played and danced and sang until it was time for bed.  It was so fun and it made us both giggle. She really makes me so happy.

Another thing that I’ve been trying not to do is obsess about my weight. I’m not doing such a great job of that.  My friend said “we’re doing this to feel better about ourselves, now to make ourselves feel bad.” I need to remind myself of that EVERYDAY.  It’s been 5 weeks now of me REALLY trying and I’m doing GREAT.  I’m eating whole foods, I’m not over-indulging, I’m working out, I’m cooking more.  Like most, I berate myself for small little hiccups (like a fun sized Twix) but in the grand scheme of things, I’m doing a really great job!  I’m healthy and I’m teaching Lucy great eating habits.  I’m not eating crap all day.  In fact, I’m not eating crap hardly AT ALL.  I’ve lost 5 pounds and that’s nothing to turn my nose up at.  I just wish I was at my goal NOW.  I doubt I’ll wake up tomorrow 26 pounds lighter 😉

I don’t have any pictures and I was going to let that stop me from blogging today but then I decided to just write.

I’m feeling 90% better.  I think I may sleep in one more day before getting back on the exercise wagon.  Maybe I’ll do some core exercises tonight?  Who knows.

I ate some sugar today and ick it made me feel so ill 🙁 I had two little slivers of pastries from Starbucks and about 15 minutes later I realized that it was a bad idea.

Food today:

B: Protein Shake

S: Those damn pastries, persimmon, nuts

L: Whole Paycheck salad

S: Larabar

D: ?? We were supposed to do lefovers tonight but Shaun ate it ALL last night and the night before was a miserable failure so I have to figure it out.

I always read how protein shakes aren’t good because you don’t realize you’re taking in calories since your drinking them and all that jazz.  I have to say that I completely disagree.  Protein shakes are always a good choice for me for breakfast and I always feel satiated.  Take that weight loss experts! 😛

Wow, I had such a great plan for tonight and it did not work out AT ALL.  Shaun had to work late (in fact, he’s STILL at work-2 hours later than expected) and that left all the Lucy responsibilities to me.  I had to pick her up, entertain her, cook, feed her, get her ready for bed, and put her to bed all by myself.  This isn’t a big deal when I know it’s coming but when it’s unexpected and I have a dinner that requires some fussing with, it becomes hard.

The meatloaf and potatoes needed to cook for 45 minutes rather than 30 because they were cold from being in the fridge.  I didn’t get home until a little after 6 and it just threw everything off.  Thankfully I got Lucy fed, I got me fed and I even managed to take some pictures 🙂

The finished product-it may be ugly but dang was it good!

Lucy thought so too!

GIVE ME MORE MOMMY!

I was supposed to go to knitting tonight but since Shaun is still at work, I can’t go.  Oh well, it’s probably better that I not overdo after being so sick.

Have a great night all!  I think I hear some stove popped pop corn calling my name!