What's Cooking?

Ben and I have a plan to eat healthy and lose weight this year. We're trying to limit our meat consumption (Word of Wisdom), only diet soda, and when we eat out (hopefully less often) we'll eat less of the portions and order lower calorie foods. Ben is also committed to cooking one meal a week so he's less dependent on me for dinners.

Here are some of the things I made in my kitchen so far this year.

BBQ boneless chicken with corn muffin and roasted brussel sprouts (my favorite new way of cooking them).


Roasted carrots and parsnips, lemony lima beans with parmesan, and buttered noodles.


Blueberry lemon muffins.


Broccoli soup. The creaminess comes from using oats - there's no cream, cheese, or milk!


Chinese chicken soup (chicken, peppers, carrots, and garlic)


Turkey meatloaf, braised butternut squash and sage, wild rice.


Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and candied ginger.


Tofu udon soup with spinach, shitake, and scallions. I HATED this. Ben liked it well enough.

Tofu tacos. I hate tofu, but this was an acceptable way of eating it. Black beans would have been better though.

My version of massaman curry with sweet potatoes in place of regular, scallions instead of onions, and lowfat coconut milk.

Ben also made some pasta and bean soups that didn't get photographed. I made old vegetarian favorites that I didn't record as well. Overall I'd say we're doing pretty well this year.

Good Times

I took these photos while hiking on Apex trail a few weeks ago. The snow was still very deep (the last week has been sunny in Denver, melting about half of our winter accumulation)




By the way, my fishy died a while ago. It was really cold, he lost most of his color. I switched him to this jug and rigged a heating system. For the night he warmed up and got his color back.

But the next day I left him by the window and I think he overheated from the sun and glass. I got home from work and he was floating. Bummer dude. I guess I can't be trusted to keep fish in winter, it's too cold! I'll try again when this spring, maybe with a goldfish! For now my uber cool pod is acting as a flower vase.

Not as exciting, but still very pretty.

I finally finished a craft project

Here's my first quilt ever.


I did a fairly terrible job. I measured the squares by eyeballing only and I ripped the fabric into pieces instead of cutting. The lady at the craft store was very disapproving when I told her I wasn't going to use a frame to tie it. She gave me an earful of advice I decided to ignore. See, I have no patience for quilting, all the painstaking measuring and ironing, moving at a snail's pace. I like to create shortcuts wherever possible. With help from mom on the telephone, this came together rather quickly.

And I don't care if it's perfectly smooth and aligned. It's warm and it's Star Wars!

(We had to leave church early because Ben felt a migraine coming. He's napping upstairs now while I post these pictures and enjoy a snack of crackers and goat cheese with mineral water and craisins. For some reason I find that funny.)

Friday I finally painted our bedroom! I haven't hung much art yet, but here's a look at it so far:



We also replaced the ugly faucets with something more appropriate for a pedestal sink.

I love being a homeowner.

Counterattack - Disney World!!!!

The pictures really say it all, so there won't be too much commentary. More pictures from family members posted here.


We stayed in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.


It had Japanese TV with Sumo every night. This is a puppet show of a blood vessel (we think).


These animals are right outside our room balcony.


The following safari pics are from the Animal Kingdom park.





Onto Epcot!










And the Magic Kingdom!


I maxed out the score on Buzz Lightyear. Andy and Ben were uber jealous, then accused me of cheating.



Who's that guy in the skirt? Oh right, my uncle :-)


Hey look! A line!


Jungle Cruise



And now MGM Studios.



I love this one of me and Ben.


And this one is to be sure you all check out my sweet sweet fanny pack




Dinner in the Sci-Fi cafe, where you eat in cars and watch a reel of old movie promos and ads. Very fun!




Honey I shrunk the kids playground set


Back to Magic Kingdom on the last night.



And Downtown to kill time before our flight.




It was a Fantastic vacation. Thanks Mom and Dad!