Keep It Simple: Sauteed Chard with Rice

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Andrea

The other day I was craving something warm for lunch. I enjoy having big salads and fresh fruit at lunch but sometimes I want something warm. Especially in the colder months! It’s hard to cozy up to a nice big salad when it’s 17 degrees outside.

We had some leftover rice from the previous night’s dinner and I had some chard that needed used up. Combine the two and you’ve got a great lunch!

It was super quick to put together. I sauteed up:

1/4 Onion, sliced
1/4 Green Pepper, sliced
Once large bunch of chard, chopped
Shredded carrots
A few broccoli florets

Sauteed in some olive oil with a pinch of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, chili powder, and garlic powder.

Added in the leftover rice at the end and cooked just long enough for it to heat through.

Spooned in bowls, topped with a bit of shredded cheddar and a few dashes of hot sauce.

Bamboo Rice

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Andrea

Bamboo rice is one of my favorite style of rices. I first discovered it at Whole Foods and picked some up because I couldn’t resist the green color of it.

It’s a short grain rice and I was curious to see whether the green color stayed once the rice was cooked or it if faded away.

I typically cook all my rice in chicken stock and this was no exception. When I first made it, not only was I excited by the gorgeous green color but the flavor is really unique.

It has almost a floral and yet earth quality to it. It also sticks together making it perfect for dishes where you want clumpy sticky rice.

Bamboo rice is green in color because it is infused with bamboo juice. It is a short grain white rice and takes on the color of bamboo from the juice.

Here is a description from Wisegeek.com

Bamboo rice is not a specific varietal of rice, but is rather a short-grained white rice which has been treated with the juice of young bamboo plants. While milling the rice, the chlorophyll from the bamboo is added. This process causes the rice to be high in vitamin B, and gives it a flavor and aroma much like that of a jasmine green tea.

It does have a very unique flavor to it and I do encourage you to try it if you see some out. Yes it can be expensive but for a little change up to rice, it’s worth the splurge.

Run January: Week 2

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Andrea

Read about why this is Run January.

Here’s a recap of Week 1.

Sunday, January 8th:

4 miles this morning! Whooo! I was going into this run hoping to get 4 miles in but also realizing that maybe my legs wouldn’t be into it, so I would have to go with the flow.

My legs were a bit tired but not enough that I couldn’t complete 4 miles. I felt strong during the run and like my legs are starting to get used to running again. I was able to get through the 4 miles without issue.

Since my legs have been feeling a little tired and achey, I busted out my leg sleeves after this run. Just to help ease with the achy feeling. I haven’t seen them in ages either so it was nice to pull out my little purple lovelies.

Monday, January 9th:

Quick 2.5 run to start the week off right. It was on the warmish side, pushing 30F to start. I felt really strong during this run. I kept the mileage short because I was coming off a longer run.

Let It Rip

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Andrea

This week has been a busy one here at the HQ, more cleanup projects! Mostly still dealing with wallpaper removal. Yesterday I got started on the half-bath and that removal went s.l.o.w. Oh man! I think because the laundry room probably got warm from doing years of laundry, that helped loosen up the paper a bit. The half-bath, not so much.

I had to start with just removing the top layer first and will then have to remove the glue at another time. I worked on that bathroom for just over five hours. After his work day ended, Scott helped me and we were able to knock out three of four walls.

To give you an idea of how tight this paper was on, we had to use razors to help loosen it. OY!

This weekend you know it will be all about more removal and painting!

So by the end of the day, this lady was ready for some pizza. And beer.

Keep It Simple

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Andrea

For Christmas 2011, one of the gifts that Scott gave me was a large cast iron skillet. I’ve talked about my love for cast iron before and I was not so subtly hinting that I would really enjoy a larger skillet.

I have a 9in cast iron skillet which is perfect for some things but not perfect for everything. A larger one would allow me a little more variety of uses.

Oh Christmas my wish came true and I was gifted with a 12 inch cast iron skillet. I even got a little handle holder and trivet for it as well!

Every year for Christmas Dinner, Scott and I enjoy a standing rib roast. It’s our once a year splurge and so worth every penny!

This year, I put my brand new cast iron skillet to work right away by using it for Christmas Dinner. It worked out perfectly!

It wasn’t long before I used it again to roast some veggies. Scott was having leftovers and I was in the mood for some veggie action. I chopped up some:

Project Organize: Donating Furniture And Knick-knacks

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Andrea

One of the many things that needed done around the house was to donate household items that we no longer use. This included furniture items like office chairs but also things like knick-knacks and decorations.

Small decorative household items can be a challenge to donate because some places aren’t interested in those things.

They have to go some where though and throwing them out seems wasteful to me.

Volunteers of America is a organization that will take used household items and that includes things like decorations and knick-knacks. They will also come and pick up those items from your house for free.

Which is perfect if you have a little hobbit car like us and can’t transport many things at one time. It would have taken us several trips in order for us to get everything dropped off for donation. With Volunteers, that wasn’t an issue any longer. I called and scheduled a pickup appointment with them.

Run January: Week 1

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Andrea

Last December, I mentioned that I had lost my running mojo. I had lost my everything mojo because I had no umph to get up and workout. Which is really odd for me because I LOVE working out. I also LOVE running, so to have my thoughts change and become “meh” about the whole situation meant that something was going on.

I determined that my hip injury coupled with an unfortunate encounter, left me feeling very uninspired and frustrated which lead to feeling blah about running. In an effort to change this around and find my running mojo again, January has become, Run January.

Let’s recap Week 1!

Sunday January 1st:

I love starting a new month on a Sunday and the fact that this was a brand new year starting on a Sunday was even better! I woke up to a typical Columbus, Ohio winter day. Gloomy, rainy, and windy. Blech! It wasn’t raining at the time but it looked like it was about to start and rain was in the forecast. I sucked it up and decided to head out before the rain rolled in.

Tucking Away

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Andrea

It was nice to see pizza on the menu again this week as it’s been a while since I’ve made some. The week before Christmas we had pizza out and then the week between Christmas and New Years we did not have pizza because we were munching on other stuff.

I was looking forward to pizza all week! Our pizzas aren’t ever anything super special but they’re tasty to us. Plus it provides comfort. It’s a nice thing to have to look forward to during a week.

Especially a week back to work coming off a two week vacation.

Another thing I’m looking forward to this week is putting away the Christmas decorations. They’ll be tucked away for another year.

Normally I keep them up for a while because I love having twinkle lights up all over my house. Turning them on in the evening makes the house feel cozy and inviting. This year I’m ready for everything to be put away and for things to be cleaned up.

2012′s Word For The Year

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Andrea

There’s a blog I started reading based on the recommendation of a friend. It’s a blog by Elise Blaha and recently she reviewed her word for 2011, what that meant to her, and how that played out during her year.

She then talked about her word for 2012 and linked to this article to explain the process.

I immediately fell in love with this idea.

The concept is that you pick a word and you use that word to guide you through the year. You can choose to focus on it each day or when you see fit.

It’s meant to help guide you through the year and to also help you refocus or regroup when you feel a little lost or overwhelmed by life.

It’s motivation through a word. It’s a reminder of how you want to live this year.

I think we can all benefit from this type of guidance to help us navigate our way through a year of life. Sometimes we get frustrated. Sometimes we get sad. Sometimes we feel a bit disconnected from things. Sometimes we feel like the goals we’ve set are too high. Sometimes we fail.

Read more on 2012′s Word For The Year…

Unplugged Plugged In

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Andrea

For years (and years and years) now, Scott and I have been taking a “big break” over the holidays. Since we don’t really travel much and since we don’t take vacations during the year, we made the holidays a time for a break.

Starting right before Christmas and ending shortly after the New Year, we take off work. That gives us plenty of time to regroup, get grounded, and just chill.

This worked out great for several years and then once we moved to Ohio that kind of changed. We found ourselves with more commitments, more engagements, and with blooming businesses (and brands) for each of us, more time to need to be online and connected.

Not that we’re complaining about that, however, this year after Scott wrapped up his work week ( I finished mine earlier) and we chatted about our plans for break, we realized that we didn’t want to have any plans.

We wanted to take an actual “break” without commitments, without engagements, and without the need to be online. So we unplugged for a bit.