Dying in Dish Detergent, Help Wanted

Do you have this problem?

Or this problem?

We do. On average, with just the two of us we'll (I'll) typically do about 3-4 full loads of dishes a week. A week! That's just us! Insane! But eating out is not so much fun for me, so I (we) cook a lot, which creates a lot of food like this.

White and dark turkey meat baked this past Wednesday. Yum!

And this.

GF Pancakes a la Gluten Free Pantry

And this.

Japanese Sweet Rice. Have some? We've got plenty.

And this.

Katherine's typical dinner during the work week (lately).

But it also creates a lot of these.

Typically, I'll eat out once every other month (food allergies don't make it very fun). No joke. My husband eats out a bit more, but not by much (poor guy). But according to the US Department of Agriculture, not everybody eats at home as much as we do. According to their findings, "Spending on food away from home was 48.6 percent of the $1,182.0 billion in total food expenditures in 2009." That's almost 50% of people's food monies!

Are we eating healthier because we're not eating out? Yes. Are we saving monies? I think so. Even with the cost of washing dishes, we're still saving money. According to the GE Web site, a dishwasher costs on average about $8 a day to use in Texas. So we're spending approximately $24-32 dollars a week to wash our dishes. Dude! That's a lot. But it's only the cost of eating out for a meal or two for two people, which equates to very few dishes (two-four plates or bowls and silverware, plus a cooking container or two, not an entire load).

But we still wash a lot of dishes, and that means a lot of pre-washing. So, I'm taking out an add in today's blog. See below.

Magic Dish Washing Tutor Needed.
Teaches spells that make dishes wash themselves (see example).
Preferably has white beard, reading glasses, and wears blue robe (oh, and a hat).
Jazz band included.
Will work for home cooked food.
No squirrel or fish spells, please.



Might look a little like this. Wand is necessary.


YouTube Video Update

The sound quality and video angles weren't quite what I was hoping for, so an upgrade is needed before the next AllergictoSitting video extravaganza. Looking to purchase this.  And thinking about this.

Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

I haven't been experimenting with food lately, but I have picked up a new fitness hobby. DANCE! I took a lot of dance classes as a kid and I never knew just how much I missed it until wonderful husband got me a gift card to the Civic Ballet.

Over the past year or two, I've been collecting different dance shoes and randomly surprising my husband with impromptu dance workouts. For example...

• Kevin was working on the computer one evening after work, when I decided to break out the ballet shoes and some 90s music. The scene reminded me a lot of that Garrison family video of the Christmas Carol, where the Garrison trio were eloquently playing their roles a la the Mickey Mouse version. There's a couple of shots of Glenn reading the news paper totally ignoring the spectacle. Well, Kevin was Glenn and I was the trio. We're goofballs!

Anyway, I guess I finally drove him crazy enough that he wants me out of the house when I'm dancing. Ha! Not really, but it makes for a good story.

Speaking of story, let me get back to it. Locally they offer hour-long "community classes" for people who are not in training and just want to have a good workout. So far I've taken a Broadway dance class where we learn the dance steps to a Broadway musical each week. Lots of spirit fingers! Several of the people in that class were in their 30-40. I even went out to eat with several of the ladies after class. They were all, "what are you 20," and I'm like "no, closer to 30."  That made me feel good. They talked a lot about their kids, but it was fun! I did borrow my knowledge from my visits with my new nephew. Came in handy, Kayla and Terrell! Sorry for using your son!

Two nights ago I took their modern dance class, which is a mixture of Jazz and Ballet. I liked it even more than the Broadway dance class because the dance moves weren't as corny, but more fluid, and the other students were more my age with similar backgrounds. One of the girls graduated with a minor in dance while in college. I was in really good company! And the language of dance is coming back too (slowly, very slowly).

In terms of a workout, it's pretty good. Nothing can come close to running as a high impact sport, but dance can be pretty intense. Mainly a lot of controlled, anaerobic muscle movements coupled with periods of aerobics. I actually feel more fit now in these classes than I did when I was a kid because I've got more power. When we were doing several jumps the instructor commented on my "air time." So cool! Then in the same sentence she reminded me to point my toes while jazz walking. Darn!

I think there's no doubt the strength I'm feeling is from the running. I wish I had developed a love for the run at a lot earlier age. But that's okay! There's no pressure now to memorize, practice, practice, improve, and move to the next level. Now it's just DANCE! Fun dance. Plus it's really motivating me to stay fit now that we've regained our sanity and are not training for a marathon.

After the dance workouts I'm so pumped that I get home and have to show off the routine to my husband and sometimes I have to ride the bike so that I can get out all that excitement and energy. So I think I'm still driving Kevin crazy, but now I can say that I'm not nuts and that "other people are doing it tooooo!!!"

Thanks Mom and Dad for encouraging me to dance!

Spring Fever and Peachy Chicken

I've been on a hiatus. Sorry! But it's spring time and my husband and I have been spending a lot of time outside and not by a computer. To make up for it, I have a peachy keen recipe to go with the lovely weather and a picture montage of our outdoor work!

Peachy Chicken

6  skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 oven safe pan (at least 1-2 inches thick)

2 cups of orange juice

1-2 cans of sliced peaches (in 100% juice)

salt and pepper to taste

aluminum foil or oven-safe lid

Place chicken evenly spread apart in pan. Add orange juice and sliced peaches (the tops of the chicken should not be completely covered in juice). Add salt and pepper to chicken. Cover with aluminum foil or lid and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

microwave recipe

Use a microwave safe dish and vented lid to cook chicken with salt and pepper (15-20 minutes). Add 1 can of peaches during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Orange juice is optional.

Picture Montage

Here's a bush that we planted in the back yard between the two windows of our master bedroom. It's a Hawthorn bush that has white blooms in the spring. Should get pretty tall and wide.

Here's a better view of where we planted the Hawthorn (attempt number one). It's also a great picture of the dog who dug it up 24 hours later. She also kicked half of the mulch into the grass. Glad we started with one plant and not two.

Great picture of our retaliation efforts (attempt number two). We built up the stones around the bed so that if digging occurs, it all stays inside. That's wire used to keep out rabbits (Kaiya's an awfully big rabbit) and wooden stakes for support. And we have a success now. A new Hawthorn (with pink blooms) is now planted in the center of this new fandangled contraption. It's been over 5 days now and everything still looks pretty good.

Here's the front/side yard landscaping attempt number one. We've planted a new Oleander bush up front since the old one died a horrible death. Then side by side, we've planted three grape vines! Two are red grapes and one is white. They're all seeded, but should be tasty just the same. We also installed another hose and covered up our sorry looking air conditioner. Currently the grapes are doing great (they've already grown a couple of inches) and have another successful yard project accomplished. Yeah us! \

Doesn't seem like much, but that's about two weeks worth of planning a construction. Lots of trips to Lowes and Wal-Mart.

Gluten-Free, Cow Milk-Free, Soy Free Beef Stir Fry, on YouTube!

Ingredients:

1 pound of beef

2 medium onions

1/2 large can of green chillies

1 cup frozen green beans

1/2 can of mung bean sprouts

1 cup frozen peas

1 large sweet potato

dried minced garlic

fresh chopped ginger

caraway seed



Instructions:

See my video! Or visit my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.allergic2sitting/ .

Stir Fry Veggies

Sorry to miss last week! I'm working on a new blog project that I'll post shortly (or post about it's failure). :)

Ingredients:
1 can of sliced water chestnuts
2 sliced green bell peppers
1/2 can of La Choy mung bean sprouts (found in the Asian section of Wal-Mart)
2 medium sliced onions
Pam cooking spray (your choice of oil, but I used the original)
1/2 to 1 tsp of gluten free soy sauce (I like La Choy's)
Salt to taste

Directions:
Spray pan with Pam and cook onions and bell peppers on medium high heat. Might have to cover the pan temporarily to cook quicker. Once cooked, add bean sprouts, water chestnuts, soy sauce, and salt. Cook for about 10 minutes more. Easy peasy!

Chicken Veggie Quinoa Mixer

Ingredients:

• Boiled chicken
• Boiled (from frozen) corn, peas, water chesnuts, sugar snap peas
• Quinoa
• Orange Ginger Sauce (La Choy) - personal favorite

Calories: 350

_________________________

So the 400 calories per meal diet wasn't doing much for my weight. I stalled at about 132.  And my goal is 128. Then I got annoyed and started snacking again. So I'm trying out 350 calories per meal. A sample lunch is above. Since I've started the new diet I'm back down to the stalled weight. We'll see what happens. In the mean time, enjoy a pic of a snow day with the dogs.

Turkey Pasta Cassarole Heaven!

So I was looking at a couple of recipes online. There was an article on MSN about easy meals to freeze and eat later. Well most of them are gluten-filled and cheesy, but they sparked a recipe idea of my own. So I went home and got to cooking. Oh man is it good!

Ingredients:
1 pound low fat ground turkey
1 box of quinoa Pagoda style noodles
1 onion
1 package of frozen chopped spinach
1 can of diced tomatoes (no salt added)
1 package of cream cheese style goat cheese
salt
onion powder
garlic powder

Make the noodles according to package instructions. Cook spinach and onion together and drain the water. Cook turkey in microwave with salt, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste (stronger is better). Add noodles, spinach and onion, cheese, tomatoes and turkey together and mix well. Place in a greased pan and cook at 375 for 30 minutes or until the top noodles turn slightly golden. Have as the main meal or add a veggie side like I did above (that orange stuff is baked butternut squash). I love cheese!