as of right now...

Life soundtrack

Ok, here's how this works.
1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For the first question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button TWICE
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...just type it in!


Opening Credits:
Radio Song by R.E.M

Waking Up:
Something Is Not Right With Me by Cold War Kids

First Day at School:
Rock of Ages by Def Leppard

Falling in Love:
Good Life by One Republic

Losing Virginity:
Giving Up the Gun by Vampire Weekend

Fight Song:
Starry Eyed Surprise by Oakenfold

Breaking Up:
Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men

Prom:
Yellow by Coldplay

Life:
Easy to Love by Ivan & Alyosha

Mental Breakdown:
The Way We Move by Langhorne Slim & The Law

Driving:
Half a World Away by R.E. M

Flashback:
From Finner by Of Monsters and Men

Getting Back Together:
Please Do Not Go by Violent Femmes

Wedding:
Without You I'm Nothing by Placebo

Birth of Child:
For You by Angus and Julia Stone

Final Battle:
Been A Son by Nirvana

Death Scene:
Summer Day by Coconut Records

Funeral Song:
Loser by Beck.

This was something circulating on Facebook YEARS ago. I never did it though and was interested in what mine would be. Used by iPhone rather than my iTunes. It's surprising how well some of these work for me...LOL. I totally want Loser played at my funeral...that would be perfect.

right now 05/22/13

excited to try my hand at these Cauliflower Tortillas. The filling looks awesome too:)

wondering if polenta pizza crust can be cooked on the grill as we head into the summer months

counting down the days until my favorite show of all time shows up for a special season 4!!

assuming these cookies will totally blow my mind. We'll see this weekend. I've given up all processed sugar so these are right up my alley:)

searching for a new hairstyle

dreaming of  warm vacation (weekend) trips this summer. Other than Arizona I mean...

looking forward to the 3 day weekend. The lead in to summer:) I always have such hope for an awesome summer. I think I'll have to head to slightly warmer weather to get the real summer experience though. Speaking of which:

planning a trip to see these falls this summer. Trying to nail down a date for camping there...

stressed about lots of things at the moment. Money. One of our cats. Alex's graduation (or her possibly not graduating is the actual stress factor)

feeling good (healthy)  despite the stress. Just need to get through the next few week and much of this stress will be lifted.

 

-jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing along: 31 things.

I've decided to play along with my friend Erica's  31 day project. I am horrible at documenting stuff about myself. I put pictures in my Project Life book but I don't really make pages that tell you my real story. Someday I think my daughter might care. Might want to know a side of me that I haven't let her see.In her current self-centered teen stage I know she doesn't care much but if I make it through the 31 prompts maybe I'll put these together into a book for her:) For now I am just going to do them on this blog so they are documented.

The first prompt is : 20 Random Facts about yourself

1. I hate cantaloupe and honeydew melon. Hate them. Won't even eat other fruit that have touched them.

2. Scooby Do is my all time favorite cartoon. I will still watch them even now at the old age of 43!

3. I sleep, most of the time,  with one foot under the comforter and one foot out.

4. I wanted 6 kids.

5. If I get attached to a certain song I can play it over and over and never grow tired of it.

6. I love the smell of freshly printed money (from the ATM or bank . I am not printing my own money...hahaha)

7. I like my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with potato chips in between the two slices of bread. I like the cruch it brings to the sandwich:)

8. Some of my favorite memories are of High School marching band.

9. I played the flute and piccolo in High School but secretly wanted to be in the drumline.

10. I do not like being the center of attention, in fact, birthday gatherings are one of the hardest things to get through. Even if they are all my friends or family.

11. I used to take flowers to the elderly neighbors on my birthday when I was younger (May Day)

12. I would like to live abroad  for at least 1-2 years of my life.

13. I was obsessed with the Kennedy assassination when I was 5 (my mom had a book with pictures that I would look through because I couldn't read all the big words yet)

14. I could fully read before starting kindergarten.

15. I am horrified by the spelling and sentence structure of most  people below the age of 25. "txt"...really...cause it would be SOO much more work to put an "e" in there...

16. I said my first "bad" word whenI was 10. It was "ass" after I heard it on a television show. It's all gone downhill from that point;)

17. My favorite food is Mexican food. I could eat it every day.

18. My nickname in Girl Scouts was "Bambi".  Seriously.

19. One day I would like to take a road trip across the US with my daughter.

20. My first concert was Duran Duran when I was 13.

This was hard actually. I wanted them to tell something about me and not just be totally random. Tried to mix in a few things from different points of my life. I think I did ok:)

Looking forward to the next prompt!

-jen

 

 

 

 

on the menu: March edition

I'm doing a 3 week cleanse (on day 9) so I don't really have any "on the menu" posts to make. What's on the menu is not much of anything:/

But....

before I started the cleanse I ate some really good food.  Seriously yummy eats. I thought I would share them here (mostly so I remember which dishes we really liked so I can go back to them):

 

Vegetarian Portobello and Poblano Fajitas + black beans

Roasted Brussel Sprout and Millet Gratin + protein (Quorn for Nate and chicken for me)

Sriracha Honey Roasted broccoli

Black Bean & Fire Roasted Corn Chili: this one is especially good if you have a Trader joe's near you as most of the ingredients are from there.

 

These will all be getting regular rotation into our menu planning. I also may just highlight my favorite recipes each month rather than a weekly post because really...I am one of the only people that visit this blog so it's really just a reference place for me to note my favorite recipes.  Often I plan out my menus during the week and it will be convenient to look up past recipes when i don't have access to my physical recipe binder.

-jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

on the menu this week 03/10-03/15/13 (+ last week's menu)

I started last week's post and then got distracted with work and otherwise so I have both weeks in this one post.

Sunday: Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas and harissa salad with wilted spinach (from last week's menu...it was that good.)

Monday: Grilled Corn and quinoa + Quorn (or chicken in my case) + streamed broccoli

Tuesday: Loaded veggie nachos with portabella mushroom

Wednesday: Red lentils and spinach in Masala sauce + brown rice + roasted cauliflower

Thursday: Potato, pepper and pinto hash + poached egg

Friday : Vegetable Tamale Pie . This is a favorite at our house.

 

Last week:

Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas and harissa salad+ roasted asparagus. Holy crap this was good. Hands down one of my favorite dishes this week. I've already got it on the menu to make again next week.

Tempeh tacos: These were very good. I didn't cook it in a cast iron pan though so mine never got crispy edges but the flavor was really good and very taco like:) I used cruchy taco shells though and I think I will make my own next time with Mission brand extra thin corn tortillas. I've been using these in the morning and they crisp up nicely. I don't like pre-made shells since they fall apart so easily.

Chopped Salad with quinoa, sweet potato and apple I liked this a lot but I wanted more with it. It wasn't very filling on it's own. I will probably add some type of meat (fake meat) to it next time.

Braised white beans and leeks + farro +spinach (slightly wilted). This was the first recipe I made from The Sprouted Kitchen cookbook and it was absouletly amazing. You could eat it without the cheese and it would still be rich and creamy. This one will definitely be on repeat a lot:)

Red Quinoa Bowl with Swiss Chard and Poached egg Great dish. Perfect for an easy Friday night. It said it only serves two but I can see being able to stretch it out to serve four with the addition of some other vegetable side.

 two weeks ago : Both the Vegan Peanut Chili with corn + avocado salsa and the Chickpea Cobb Salad were hits. I think I like our regular chili recipe better than this one but the corn + avocado salsa with the spicy chili was perfection. I may add the salsa to the mix when I make our regular chili next time. And the Chickpea Salad was super good. I made it on a night when I was so low on energy from the gym though that I skipped the Smoky Coconut bacon he adds in favor of the convenience of Morning Star bacon strips. I will definitely be trying the coconut bacon recipe though. Just not at 8:00 on a week night;)

-jen

 

 

right now 02/27/13

obsessed with Trader Joe's Coconut Body Butter. Seriously. Every time I open it I want to eat it. It smells that good. I bought some for Alex a few months ago but had not actually tried it (she's a stingy teenager anyway and keeps it out of my reach...hahaha) until I bought my own container. Heaven.

overwhelmed by all the trips I'm trying to plan this year. One to here. And here. And here. And here. And also one to here and our usual trip to here. I have the travel bug bad this year so let's see if I can work them all in:) It doesn't help that Nate started a new job and his vacation time doesn't start accruing for another month or so. Luckily most of these are weekend jaunts.

loving Project Life this year. I went through most of my scrapbooking crap and got rid of 80% of it. (By "got rid of " I mean it's sitting in boxes in my garage and I'm at a loss about what to do with it.) That seems to have cleared my brain by 80% too though because I'm actually keeping up with PL and doing pages that I really like. I don't seem to be blocked like last year. My goal is to get through the last bit of scrapbooking crap by the next month and rid myself of another boxful (or two).

watching Supernatural on Netflix. Why has it taken me so long to finally start watching this show? 

not reading. I am in a slump lately and just not interested in books. Went to the library the other night to try and remedy this situation so we'll see if that changes things up for me. I've been walking a lot on my lunch hour which is whenI used to read so I'm wondering if that is what is throwing me off. That and busy weekends with not a lot of extra time just to read...

That's all for now. Exciting things going on in my life...right?

 

jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the menu: February 17th- 23rd, 2013

I've been really good about doing a menu each week and sticking with it (except when I was down with the flu for that week...) but I've not been so good at posting it here:P

This week:

Sunday : Dahl + brown rice + Bhujia (green bean and potato curry)

My husband LOVES Indian food. It's just a little time consuming to make so I don't do it often. He was given a cookbook for Xmas from a friend of ours though and I decided to try a couple of recipes from it so I don't have links to these recipes...or some of the others I made this week)

Monday : Leftovers from Sunday since it made so much

Tuesday: Bok Choy, Broccoli and Edamame Skillet + Quorn + roasted asparagus.

This recipe is also from the same cookbook but I located the recipe online:)

Wednesday: Chickpea Cobb Salad

Thusday: Vegan Peanut Chili with Charred Corn and Avocado Salsa

Discovered this blog last week and both of these recipes looked amazing. I'll let you know how they come out:)

Friday: Dinner out with Nate's family

Saturday: Chickpea and Zucchini soup

(no link to this recipe either since it's from the cookbook listed above.)

 

-jen

 

Onthe menu : January 13-January 29th, 2013

Trying to get back into my menu planning. The holidays always throw me off because we have so much going on and sometimes dinner is whatever we have on hand. Cereal was a popular one the last few weeks...but I wanted to get back to our HEALTHY eating again and so I put together a menu. I'll let you know how they came out:)

Sunday: Vegan White Bean Chili -this was my 3rd attempt at a white bean chili recipe because Nate is just not a fan but I am and so I was trying to find one we would both agree on. This one was it. Great flavor and we both loved it. This will definitely be making an appearance in future menus:)

Monday : ended up not feeling so great this day so I moved all the recipes forward one day and ate something Nate picked up for dinner (Chipotle's!)

Tuesday: Cobb Salad (ours will be vegetarian style with pseudo bacon and chicken)

Wednesday: Greenest Salad + roasted chicken for me (fake chicken for Nate)

Thursday: Mushroom and lentil pot pie    + roasted green beans

Friday: Breakfast Skillet (made vegetarian with lentils instead of ground beef)

Saturday: Not-so-sloppy Tempeh Joes + green salad

 

Jen

 

 

 

Right now: Pre-Thanksgiving edition

laughing at this recipe a friend linked to on Facebook.  The comments are awesome.

enjoying all the Peppermint Hot Chocolates I can fit in this holiday season:)

anticipating the end of my (short) work day today. Then I don't have to come back until Monday;)

thankful, beyond words, for my wonderful family. Life would not be as amazing as it is without them

excited to really start planning the mom-daughter trip with Alex. The trip we planned had to be postponed but we've rescheduled for March!

looking forward to all the delicious food we're making tomorrow:) This and this and this.  Plus mashed potatoes (my favorite!) and a few others:)

hoping to catch up some on my Project Life over the next 4 days. I stopped about mid-October which is when I stopped last year. Must be something about this time of year...

bummed that I didn't do ANYTHING on my fall list. Even after making a list.  I just can't seem to find any extra time during the Holiday season for extra activities. Work, Alex & Nate, cooking and gym is about all I have time for.

not loving the Daylight Savings time change. I have so much trouble adjusting to this change in light and I get so depressed and unproductive when it's dark at 5:30. My energy has felt sapped for weeks now:(

drinking one of these tonight. Or when I get home;)

preparing for the Black Friday shopping-fest. We go every year even though we don't really need anything. It's just fun to be out in the craziness. no...really. This year we're hoping to score a TV for Alex.

freaking out that my daughter is going to be 18 in less than a month.

 

I'll end the post on that note...haha. Wishing you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

on the menu this week October 14-20th

You won't be seeing these posts with much regularity because honestly, I'm lazy. Which is funny because I put together each week's menu the week before. I spend days putting it together. I love making the menu and shopping list and look forward to the task each week. Eating good and menu planning has become such an important part of our lives that I feel lost without it. If i didn't make this effort we would be eating chips and salsa every night or very large bowls of cereal. Seriously. Which is okay every once in a while but probably not good in the long run:)

This week:

Sunday: Three Cheese Tortellini and mushroom soup

Monday: Black Pepper Tempeh (from Super Natural Every Day cookbook) + Firecracker Broccoli

Tuesday: Broccoli Gribiche (also from same cookbook by Heidi Swanson) I also saw this on my friend Erica's blog and she gives it a high rating so super excited to try it:)

Wednesday: Quick Mexican Stir Fry (from Shutterbean.com)

Thursday: Black Bean, Sweet Potato and Quinoa Chili with Smoked Chipotle

Friday: Eating out

Saturday:  Spiced Lentil Soup with coconut milk

Sunday: Sweet Potato and Kale Bites + big green salad

Embracing the fall season finally by incorporating sweet potatoes into the menu. Next will be Butternut Squash. (After my 2 week cleanse and subsequent return from a mom/daughter trip mid-November that is...)

 

Jen