Thursday, October 23, 2008

My Parents, I Though Davan Was Busy and Other Thoughts

We've had a nice day so far today. We skipped chores and had breakfast in the car on the way downtown to watch a Northwest Children's Theater production of Hansel and Gretel. We enjoyed the show. Davan particularly liked it. She's been singing the songs that she liked from the show. Yes, it was a musical.

One of the girls in the production who is probably about 11 does theater, gymnastics, dance, cheerleading, voice lessons and...that might have been it, although she did also go to school... My gosh, though, all expensive and mostly time consuming things. Davan, who has expressed an interest in theater before commented today that she didn't think it would be that fun to play the same part over and over in the same day. Okay, then. Not that I was going to spring for drama classes on top of gymnastics, but it's good to know that her dream isn't getting crushed.

I called my parents just before the show started to ask if they had time to meet us for lunch today. I'd have planned it in advance, but I guess I'm not used to them being in town these days. We were half way to their house when we saw Hansel and Gretel.

They did have time and treated Davan and I to lunch at the Paradox Cafe, which we all enjoy and has healthy (even to me) options. I enjoy spending time with them. Even if we don't eat out, I enjoy seeing them, but not cooking and being treated out is quite nice, too. :)

Our breakfast in the car this morning is one of our favorite to-go breakfasts and pretty cheap, as well, compared to our other morning standard of blueberry smoothies. It's pita pockets with cinnamon apples. I chop the apples (usually 3 apples for two people, depending on size) up fairly small, put them in a microwavable bowl with a little water, a couple of tablespoons of flax meal and a generous dose of cinnamon. The apples take about 6 minutes in the microwave to get to the level of done-ness I prefer. I warm the pita pockets (2 halves each) to make them easier to work with and load the apples in. I add walnut pieces to mine, but Davan prefers them just as they are. When Anthony joins us, he likes raisins in his.

I realize that, as I've been talking about food, I haven't mentioned what Anthony does at work. He takes leftovers from dinner for lunch. If there aren't any available, sometimes he takes pitas with peanut butter and sometimes we'll cook up a batch of rice the night before in the rice cooker and he'll take rice with a canned bean soup for lunch. For snacks, he takes apples and other fruits if they're available and he thinks of it, like berries or oranges or grapes. If I do it for him or he is in a grove with it, he'll take a couple of carrots made into carrot sticks, as well. He also likes edamame to snack on.

Anthony also eats breakfast at work, sitting at his desk, and his typical breakfast is steel cut oatmeal that he prepares the night before (or sometimes I do, but it's mostly him). He takes 1/3 cup of steel cut oats, some raisins, some flax meal, some hemp protein, some cinnamon, some raw cacao powder (sometimes) and a cup of water and combines them in a to go container that he puts in the fridge overnight. In the morning, at work, he puts it in the microwave for a couple of minutes (I've tried to convince him to take a bowl to work rather than use plastic in the microwave, but so far, that's to no avail) and adds some almond milk.

He keeps a container of almond milk and a jar of peanut butter at work to supplement his meals and snacks.

It's an hour until we leave to get Davan to gymnastics and I still have dinner to make, so I'd better get on that. Tonight it's brown rice pasta and veggies (broccoli and carrots today) with peanut sauce. I just sent the peanut sauce recipe to a friend, so I'll post it here, too:

4 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 cup water
2 tablespoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1 teaspoon coriander
2/3 cup smooth all-natural peanut butter
1 scant tablespoon pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons Asian chile sauce (depending on my chile sauce, I often only use 1 teaspoon so it's not too spicy for Davan)

In a small saucepan, saute the garlic and ginger in about 2 tablespoons of water over medium heat until the garlic and ginger are fragrant and slightly soft. Add the water, Bragg's and coriander and bring to a boil. Add the peanut butter and turn the heat to low. Whisk well until the peanut butter and sauce are combined. Mix in the maple syrup, vinegar and chile sauce. Remove from heat.

We also use this for a dip for fresh veggies and as a sauce for lettuce wraps. It's a favorite around here, although it's probably not the healthiest favorite we have with all the peanut butter and the maple syrup, but it's a fairly small indulgence.

No comments:

Post a Comment