Susiej

There is a secret to eating healthy, and not calling for that emergency greasy pizza box– it’s in your pantry. More precisely, what you put in your pantry. You can be sure of one thing: meal time will be crazy every night. Here’s the only chance you’ve got to put yourself a bit ahead of the game, and give yourself a shot at cooking a healthy meal.

Stocking your pantry (to see how to stock your refrigerator click here, and to see how to stock your freeze click here.) with the right ingredients, can make all the difference between desperation about what to fix, and the accompanying guilt for ordering too much fast-food. Once you’ve got your list, don’t forget to make yourself a handy little re-usable grocery list so that you can keep a running tab on what you’re running low on.

13 Must-Haves to Stock in your Pantry

1. Red or white wine
2. Pasta and couscous
3. Onions (I prefer red) and garlic
4. Canned Beans: Garbanzo, Black Cannellini (looks like Northern, but they’re not. These taste like butter better.) You can do anything with these three beans.
5. Marinara Sauce
6. Canned tomatoes and tomato paste. (Be sure to get the ones with the extra veggies and spices.)
7. Canned tuna. Albacore is the BEST.
8. Vinegars: Balsamic, Red Wine and Apple Cider.
9. Oils: Extra Virgin (for salads and bread). Extra Light Olive Oil for baking and sauteing.
10. Salts: Sea, and table salt.
11. Herbs: Black Pepper, Rosemary, Oregano, Whole Nutmeg, Red Pepper, Paprika and Cinnamon.
12. Jars of Greek Olives and a jar of capers.
13. Dried mushrooms.

Here’s a delicious fast and easy, no-cook 100% healthy pantry meal:

White Bean, Tuna and Red Onion Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 can of tuna, drained and rinsed
• 1 can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons of capers
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons of capers
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Black Pepper and a dash of Salt

Place beans in a large serving bowl, and add tuna. Break up tuna with a fork. Scatter red onion and capers over tuna; then drizzle with oil, and red wine vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.

or

Black Beans, Couscous and tomatoes

Cook one cup of couscous, per package directions

Drain and rinse one can of black beans

Once couscous is done, fluff with fork, add beans and tomatoes and heat through.

You could even open the fridge and add some cheddar.

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Filed under: Life, eat, health, reviews by SusieJ - 38 Comments →

UPDATE: Our power came back on around 6:30 p.m. — about 18-19 hours without heat. The inside temp was 50. The day was not idyllic. I did not like being held captive by four rambunctious boys all day along who thought their idea of fun was to build a fort in one room, and see how far they could stretch various blankets, quilts and every single sheet we own it into other rooms, with chairs from the dining room, and the kitchen piled into the living room, while they hooped it up like Indians all DAY LONG…. while munching crackers, and dropping crumbs all over the floor.

I learned this about myself. I really love my vacuum cleaner. I missed sweeping up crumbs more than you can imagine. I’m glad to have my vacuum back.

Oh, and just because I like a little challenge… I wanted to see what I could make, without power:

My friend just rescued me in her van, and took me to Caribou, where I am able to relax a bit, get warm, drink a chai latte and post this.

The last thing he said before he went to sleep was, “it’s going to get down to 19 degrees tonight.”
Our circa 1923 brick house is already drafty, and we suffer to the whims of weather inside. I went to each boy’s room to cover each one with an extra blanket.

Less than an hour later, the power was knocked out by a wicked storm that brought lots of rain and strong winds.

I got up to cover the boys with yet another blanket. (My Mom was a quilter.) I tried to sleep, but kept thinking about the last time, 3 years ago, when the power was out for 36 hours during a bitter cold ice storm. How long will this one last?

It’s been ten hours now, and every seat in the house is a bit chilly. You’d be surprised thought at how warm a good pair of snow pants can keep you.

I absent-mindly asked for the time, and this toy was presented.

Our Middle School has no power, the Elementary school does. Of course, our elementary kids don’t want to go and miss all the fun here… and in my old age, school is becoming less important to me. So, we’re all here together.

Of course, we can’t find the key to the side door of the garage… so we’re locked in.

We have a fire going, but we’re running out of newspaper fast – there’s a nice pile of recycled paper stacked up in the garage…

Why am I always surprised when the toilet flushes when the power is out?
And we can have hot water, but no heat? They’re both gas?

We have unloaded the game cabinet

and of course, the train.

“We can play ghost in the graveyard tonight IN OUR HOUSE!” I didn’t get this one at first – but then realized that it gets dark so early – around 5:15-5:30. So it will be dark soon… so yes, we can play ghost in the graveyard in our house.

Our finished basement, as it is below ground level will keep us warm. We have a bathroom there, sofas and plenty of places to sleep. They’re playing their I-Dog as long as the battery lasts…

I love the echo. No humming refrigerator. No furnace blowing – just their voices. I do hope we get the chance to huddle in the basement tonight. Maybe it’s time to build a fort…

Quote of the day:
“As soon as the power comes back on I can play the Wii. But as soon as the power goes back on I have to go to school.”

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Filed under: Laugh, Life, memories by SusieJ - 8 Comments →

It’s been a tough week. Facing death’s sting, coming to terms with the limits we have in this physical world, watching the end of childhood, and cold, bleak weather that makes me want to stay home and never go outside again.

This morning, like so many others, I woke to the sound of wooden Brio train tracks clinking as they were being built by little hands. I realized how thankful I am to hear that sound. Little boys jumping out of bed as soon as they wake, heading downstairs in their jammies to build some new rail system they dreamed up over the night. Little hands grasping for toys. Even though I fall apart under the demands of these boys some days, I’m so grateful… I just don’t want to see it end.

Yes, I realize that they’re all sleeping now, and no one is fighting, whining or asking me for a single thing. Still, it’s great to not be alone. I love the journey with these guys.

Not following the rules today for Wordless Wednesday. Maybe life’s just too short…

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He studies the garden railroad book. The book with real pictures of miniature railroads.

The trains that have real smoke coming from the engines, that climb across miniature bridges, and wind around tiny plants that look like trees.“Can you buy this for me?”

I explain that the trains are too fragile for little hands. Your wooden train is perfect for practicing; perfect for your hands. Grandpas have real trains.

He moves the wooden tracks of his train in a new configuration. He uses Lincoln logs to build houses to create a village for his train. He stacks wooden blocks as buildings. They fall, and he struggles. “How come my Grandpa doesn’t have a real train?”
The book is in his lap again.

He turns the pages, slowly, pausing on some pages, and flipping back the pages to look at some again. He wants to know when we can visit one. I try to think of who I know who has a train like this, so that we can visit.“How about you can get me a train like this, when I’m a Grandpa, as a present.”

I tell him that’s a great idea. Content, he takes his battery engine back to the track he’s built and lets it run across the track.

He watches it go up and down the hills and across the bridges. He puts a bowl of water under the bridge to serve as a lake.

“How will I not forget that I like trains? How will I remember I like trains when I’m old?”

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Filed under: Life, Tears, boy by SusieJ - 17 Comments →

Have you noticed this?

Funerals move too quickly –

they close the casket

before you’re ready

I need — and want — to linger.

Is this is a favor?

That truck with the dirt

shows up as we leave the grave.

Please, don’t let me see.

He lived a long life

so, you think you won’t be sad.

Death is expected.

Still, a reminder

your place in the universe

has shifted a bit.

Then you see his son…

sitting in that same church pew

where you sat with Dad.

Please spare him this pain…

and then, the tears flow in waves.

You move your gaze,

And see the sibblings

the baby brother is now

left behind, again.

I’m so happy

that I still have someone small

who sits on my lap.

My tears fall on his

little shoulder; can I stop

grief’s sting in his life?

I hug him tighter

then I whisper in his ear

love is forever…

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Filed under: Life, Tears, boy, haiku, spirit by SusieJ - 24 Comments →

Snow! Snow! Snow! Nothing brightens up a gray, dreary day better than crisp, white, crunchy snow — a gift to an otherwise overcast blah, Winter day. If there’s no chance of snow, you can make your own snow out of ordinary computer paper. Check out these patterns. Soon, you will definitely be generating some white stuff floating all over the INSIDE of your house. ( I throw a tablecloth on the floor, and we sit on the tablecloth, and go to town. So to speak.)

The art of making snowflakes helps children learn math symmetry, and sacred geometry, as all snowflakes are hexagons, with six equal sides and six equal interior angles. Also, cutting your own snowflakes teaches kids about snowflake classification.

If you haven’t discovered Snowflake Bentley (a Caldecott Medal Book), now’s the time. Wilson Bentley was a Vermont farm boy who was mesmerized by snowflakes, acquired a microscope with a camera, and spent his entire life photographing snowflakes. His exquisite images are still used in nature photography today.

I have step-by-step instructions on how to make a six-sided snowflake below, but there’s even a YouTube Video here, and here, on how to make a snowflake. And here’s how to Make German Stars. The best way, however, is to print your own patterns from cool websites like Ben & Jerry’s patterns (yes, the ice cream guys) for snowflakes, or these patterns here, Enchanted Learning, and other Paper Snowflake patterns. Here are the instructions on how to make a 3-dimensional snowflake, with a video for the 3D snowflake here.

Here are the snowflake instructions from WikiHow:

1. Using computer paper, 8 1/2 x 11 size, cut off an inch from the bottom of the sheet to make it an 8 1/2 by 10″ sheet.
2. Fold in half – join the two 8 1/2 inch sides together at the top so you end up with an 8 1/2 x 5 rectangle.
3. Hold the the folded side of the paper in your left hand, holding it upright.
4. Hold the middle of the fold. Open up the right side of the paper and push the fold the opposite way toward the left side of the paper, so that you’re inverting the fold, and pushing the right sides fold into the left side of the folded paper.
5. You need to stop pushing about 1/3 of the way into the other side.
6. You’ll start to see that a triangle is forming. Actually, the right side will start to look like two triangular wings. Press those folds down.
7. Once you see that you have the right-side triangles, take the rest of the left side and fold it up as you did the right side. The bottom fold will go up to meet the right folds of the two wings.
8. This should result in a perfectly aligned triangle – the sides should all match, the point should be down and the top should have jagged points from the corners of the paper.
9. To make the six-sided snowflake, take the triangle of paper and fold it in half so you get a thinner triangle. The point will still be the same point, just of a skinnier triangle.
10. Now the fun part — it’s time to cut the design of your snowflake. Cut along the edge of the triangle that has multiple folds showing (not the jagged top, not the single-fold side).
11. Make sure you start cutting far enough down the side for your design to show on each snowflake prong. You’ll see the lowest part of the paper folds when you look at the side you’re supposed to cut on. It’s probably 1 1/2 to 2 inches from the top.
12. Start by cutting a very simple pattern – try a diamond shape at the end. Make a short cut down diagonally away from the edge, a second cut back toward the edge but not completely (say 1/4″ from edge). Then cut a straight line down parallel to the edge to about 1/2″ from point. Then cut down diagonally, completely across.
13. Unfolding takes some patience, but you’ll have your first six-sided snowflake.

Happy confetti!

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Filed under: Life, Make Something, Thursday 13, asides, try this by SusieJ - 25 Comments →