What's for Dinner? Thai Inspired Stir Fry!

Another eat clean recipe! This was adapted from Tosca's book, but I changed it up enough to call it my own rendition. Here's what you'll need:

-Cooked Brown Rice (I think I have about a cup and a half there)
-Chopped onion (I used too much onion in this one according to my husband. I would say probably a half cup or less of chopped onion)
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-3 small to medium chiles
-Cooked chicken cubes (I used four tenderloins)
-Soy sauce
-Fish sauce
-Basil

The great thing about stir frys, is that you can basically put whatever you want in them. Want some more greens in this? Throw in some broccoli or peas. Be creative!

 Put some olive oil in a stir fry pan and saute the onions, garlic, and chiles until onions are a bit translucent.

 Add your chicken and stir it around a bit for a couple minutes.

 Add 1 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce, basil, and rice. Stir fry for a couple minutes so it's all mixed up and heated through. The basil is however much your heart desires (but probably at least 2 tsp).

Serve and enjoy! :)

Style File 10/14/11

 My dress for today looks kind of similar to Stylish White Female's dress. I love my white eyelet dress! I just bought it off a clearance rack and I was debating whether or not to follow the "No white after labor day" rule. And I decided that rule is stupid, you can wear white whenever the heck you want. You just might need to readjust how you style it. So here is my Fallified version of my White Eyelet dress (except that it's definitely 80 degrees out today).

 I love these boots. I was counting down the days until it was cool enough and far enough into the fall for it to be considered appropriate to wear boots. I just love boots! I am really wanting to get some flat, brown riding boots too.

Can I take a moment to say how much I adore ruffles? I do. And I like the ruffle on this dress. I think it's cute. I also wanted to take a minute to point out the chevron stripes that the eyelets make. I think it's cute. :)

Outfit Rundown:
Dress: target
Sweater: target
Earrings: ??
Boots: DSW

Neptune Festival 8k

 In lieu of a Style File this week, I'm going to show you what I did this morning. :) I ran the Neptune Festival 8k. You may remember when I ran the Shamrock 8k last year. This was a much smaller race, but I had so much fun! My over all time wasn't as fast as it was at the Shamrock, but I still had a blast.

 Just crossing the start. I can tell because I'm way too happy, haha.

 Somewhere in the middle. I think I'm wiping my face or something? This was right after an epic fail at trying to drink water and run at the same time.

 Approaching the finish...

 Almost there...

 YAY! I think I was trying to be Rocky? Maybe.

 Post race. This was before final results came out... I wasn't expecting to win anything because, well, I felt I was slow. My time was officially 41:54, which was slower than the last road race I ran. Which was disappointing to me, but...

 ...I got first in my age group! I was very very surprised. I think Brad was actually more excited, haha. It didn't really register with me that, oh hey, I won something...

Until I got my prestigious award (1 point to whoever can tell me what movie this is a reference to. HINT: it is a classic) from King Neptune himself.

I had a blast. I hope you will forgive the lack of style file today. Since I got home, I've been busy running to three different stores to find the stuff to make my Mom's Home Made Laundry Soap. Turns out, none of the Targets I went to had all the ingredients. But walmart did! It was the first time I stepped foot into Walmart in a good six months. I was reminded why I don't go there, but I think I can make a trip every so often for some washing soda and fels naptha soap. Since I am going all natual in my eating, I started thinking, 'Why not just go for it in all areas of my life?' Plus, making my own cleaning products is cheaper than buying them. As I use up the standard products I already have, I am going to begin using cheaper, safer home made cleaning products. Did you know with only a few ingredients you can clean basically any surface of your home? Borax, washing soda, baking soda, and vinegar will get you a long way. If you want to use an antibacterial, you can also use hydrogen peroxide. I'll be updating you as I begin making other things. My Mom blogs about simple living, and I think she's onto something. There is a reason our great great grandmothers cooked and cleaned the way they did: it was healthier, safer, and best of all...CHEAPER. :)

I've also been busy making a meal for a gal in our small group. She just had baby number 2, so we try to provide a few weeks of meals. I made some pizzas and a batch of healthy brownies. The brownies taste a little weird, but they're passable. If you don't call them a brownie, they are much more palatable.

I think that's all I have to update all of my (two) loyal readers. :) Have a great weekend!

What's for dinner 9/27/11

3 Bean Chili is what's for dinner! I didn't take pictures of the process because I totally forgot. I 'm not sure how I managed to do that, but oh well. I guess I'll just be extra thorough in my explanations. :) I loved this Chili, and will definitely be making it again. Brad even liked it and he doesn't like a.) beans or b.) spicy things. He did ask me to tone down the seasonings a bit next time, but I probably won't. Haha. It wasn't *that* spicy in the first place. ;) I need to figure out how to photograph my food better. Sometimes it looks awful in these photos. I promise it doesn't taste as gross as it might look!

Recipe (Based on Terry Walter's 3 Bean Chili found in "Clean Food" on page 211). I say "based on" because I didn't follow it exactly and tweaked some things, added others, and left some things out completely.

2 Tbsp Extra virgin Olive Oil
3 Cloves garlic, minced
1/2 of a really huge white onion (do one onion if it's not as huge :) )
1/2 cup diced peppers (I used Trader's Joe's frozen trio pepper strips and chopped them)
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped into small peices
1 sweet potato (bake it and take out the pulp :) )
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes (two if you really like tomatoes)
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
2 tbsp (yes, TABLESPOONS. ;) ) chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cayenne
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 can)
1 1/2 cups cooked aduki beans
1 1/2 cups pinto beans
1 32 oz Carton Vegetable or Chicken broth

In a large pot over medium heat, saute garlic and onion in olive oil until soft (about 3 min). Add in peppers and saute 2 min. more. Add the carrots, sweet potato pulp, tomatoes and tomato paste, wine, oregano, cumin, chili powder, cayenne and salt. Add the beans. This will render a very thick chili, add broth to thin. I added the whole carton and let it reduce down by simmering for 1 hour. If you don't add quite as much you could get away with simmering for only 30 to 45 minutes.

Notes about Ingredients:
* Wine- The wine is optional. Add less if you don't want a very bold flavor. This is also optional, you could just use tomato juice or add extra tomatoes. Wine is not exactly "clean", but it is not totally forbidden either. Just remember to drink or use wine in cooking very sparingly and no need to feel guilty!
* Beans- cook your beans first if you are using dry beans. The aduki beans are smaller and don't need to soak as long as other beans. For this recipe I put them in a pot, covered them with water, and brought the water to a boil. Then I took them off the heat, put a lid on it, and let them sit in the hot water for 1 hour. Then I boiled them for about 25 minutes to cook them all the way through.
* Pinto Beans- these don't really come canned and I only had time to cook the aduki beans, so I went with 1 can of white kidney beans. Next time I'm using the pintos though, not because the kidneys were bad, but because I think I would prefer to use three smaller beans as opposed to two smaller beans and gigantic kidneys. Just an aesthetic preference, I think haha.


Overall, this is definitely going in our rotation for fall and winter. I have the leftovers in my freezer to enjoy at a later date. Have fun cooking!

Style File 9/23/11

 Well today is the first day of fall! It was actually very rainy and very humid today with a high of about 80 degrees. So I wore a skirt and this denim jacket (which I scored at Salvation Army way back in May!). I always get cold when I am doing grocery shopping, so it's always nice to wear another layer.

 I love this necklace. I wear it a ton. I think you've seen it probably a million times by now?

Ok, this jacket... I love it! It's another thrift find, but it's calvin klein. I was very excited to get it and I have been waiting to be able to bust it out. Summer around here is not conducive to wearing cute denim jackets... but the fall is! Yay!

What is your favorite thing about fall fashion? I have three things I love to wear when the season starts getting more fall like: sweaters/jackets, scarves, and BOOTS! It's not quite boot weather yet, but I am waiting patiently.

Outfit Run Down:

-White Tee- Target
-Jacket- Calvin Klein, thrifted
-Necklace- Vintage (thanks Grandma!)
-Flats- Target

Style File 9/16/11

Again, I feel like pretending it's Fall... haha. I love my scarf, and thought I would use it with my LBD for a little bit of color.

 I like this dress too. It's very comfortable. Easily worn to the office or out depending on how I style it. I love having dresses like that in my closet. Gives me much more flexibility with the things I own.

These are my new black pumps! I got them for a bargain at 9 west during a sale. I've needed new close-toed black pumps for a while now. I'm very excited about these. I love the detail on them.

What do you like to start wearing when the weather gets a bit crisper? I can't wait until it's cold enough to bust out the sweaters and boots!

Outfit Run Down:
Dress: Target
Scarf: Target
Shoes: Nine West

Blogging From My Heart

One of my favorite Scrap bloggers (and mommy, and wife, and a gal who just loves to live life... ;)) challenged her readers to blog from their hearts this morning. I try to keep it real around here because I value authenticity and genuineness. But I thought I would do a special post to tell you all what's been on my heart and mind lately, just because I think it might be carthartic for me. ;) It's going to be in list form, but I think that's ok. I tend to think in lists anyway. ;)

1.) I'm sitting here at 7:58am with my hair still wet and lounge clothes still on. I need to leave for work in less than a half hour, but I find myself not really caring about that. Of course I don't like being late for work, but I am tired and I have a jammed evening tonight... so I'm going to take the five minutes and blog. I'm noticing that at work I tend to feel a bit pressured to stay late and help with events (there's pretty much always an event), or stay late because that's what everyone else is doing. Work is not my number one priority though; nor do I think it should be. Of course I care about my job, but people and relationships are much much more important to me. So that's why I leave work promptly at 5:00pm. Not because I'm lazy and don't do my work, but because I assume that whatever I'm working on can wait until tomorrow morning. Why rush it to get done if I really don't need to? All that does is make my outside life suffer.

2.) Eating Clean is making me feel awesome. I never realized how good I can feel if I cut out processed sugars. While I haven't totally cut them out (I use a bit of it in my bread so the yeast can feed on it, and I refuse to use agave or artificial sweeteners in my baking), I am working on it. After I finish off this bag of refined sugar, I am going to buy raw sugar. I figure I can afford it since I'm not using it all of the time. :) But mostly I just feel better. So excited to keep this going and discover new foods.

3.) I really love the community group we've been involved in this summer. We had been attending a group, but we just never felt like we clicked there. I honestly don't think the people there were doing things on purpose, but we never felt we got to know anyone after being there for a good long while. But with this new group... I felt like I fit in from the very first week we showed up. The girls there wanted to take me out for my Birthday and I almost cried. I know that sounds dramatic, but it's because I just never though they would want to do that for me. They noticed I exist and wanted to celebrate with me. It was awesome and I love them for it.

4.) Lastly, because I really really need to finish getting ready for work, I've been pondering what it means to continually get to know someone throughout your life. This does relate to my marriage, but i've also been thinking of it in a broader sense. You can't possibly know everything there is to know about a person, even if you've known them your whole life. My relationship with Brad is really great (I mean that), but I have noticed that we've definitely fallen into a routine and have kind of lost touch with getting to know one another right now. I think the solution is to break out of the routine a little bit. I'm thinking dancing lessons. :) With friends, I suppose it might be the same. Obviously a little different, but breaking out of the routine will help you see your spouse, sig other, friend, sister, brother, mom, dad, whoever in a different way. You'll get to see another facet of them instead of the same ones you're always looking at.