Category Archives: food

The Fork

With the girls, going out to eat is always a bit challenging for me. Especially in a place like Kabuto’s. Even though Hannah and Reagan are becoming much more independent, you put them in an unfamiliar place and they’d rather sit on my lap (at the same time) than in a chair of their own.

I’m not sure how long ago, but it’s been quite awhile, maybe even last year, we were eating at Kabuto as a family. If I remember correctly, it was during a “fire show” at the Hibachi grill that one of the girls crawled into my lap. With all the up and down, in and out of my lap, things are bound to find themselves falling from the table onto the floor, or into my purse.

I usually keep my purse at my feet instead of hooked on the back of my chair because I’m a little paranoid of someone grabbing it.  And I usually keep it open for easy access. As a result, when I got home that night, I discovered a fork from the restaurant in my purse. I was too embarrassed to just take it back and say something like, “I promise I didn’t mean to steal it!”. My intent was just to sneak it back on the table the next time we ate there. I didn’t want to keep it in my purse, so I just put in our silverware drawer in a separate slot from the rest of our forks until we went back to the restaurant.

Of course,  we ate there quite a few times and I would always forget about the fork until I was eating or we had gotten back home again. The thought of mailing it back to them crossed my mind, but that seemed a bit much. So last week, my neighbor (who’s one of the best people I know, by the way) and I went to lunch together, at Kabuto, and I finally remembered to take the fork with me.

I was trying to be sneaky about it so I wouldn’t be too obvious. I also wanted to do it soon after we got there so I wouldn’t forget again. (Which was a good possibility)  I tried to hide the fork in my hand to place it back on the table. And of course, as soon as I go to put it on the table, the server walks up for our drink order. I probably looked guilty at that point, because even though I was trying to do something right, I still felt like I was doing something wrong.

Kinda like when I go to buy the real Sudafed behind the counter at the pharmacy because the meth makers had to ruin it for the rest of us. And while having to show my drivers license and give my blood type to buy a $5.00 box of sinus relief, in the back of my mind I’m wondering if people are judging me. Not that it really matters, it’s just how I feel.

Anyway, I finally succeed in putting the fork back on the table (unnoticed, I think), and then zipped up my purse so it wouldn’t happen again!!! Ah, the adventures we’d never have if not for motherhood!!

A day with Dad

Today started out pretty early for me. I agreed to meet Dad in East Nashville this morning at 8:15. That’s actually REALLY early for me to be out and about, but it was ok. After we finished up some business we went back to his house to do some cleaning since Aunt Penny was on her way to visit. We started cleaning, but decided we’d eat first and clean later. So off to lunch we go. Penny made it in shortly after we got back from lunch. After a little bit of catching up it was time to get to the racquetball court. And here’s where things got really good.

I don’t think I did too badly, especially considering how long it had been since I’ve “played”. For the most part we just hit the ball around, but with about 10 minutes left in the hour Dad decided we should play a short game. Penny and I against Dad. She and I actually won! It was great. Yes I know, two of us against one of him, but I’ll take it!  Most of the time I didn’t have a clue what was going on. Thankfully they kept score. I managed a few points, but they usually had to tell me when I made one. We laughed more than anything and I honestly can’t wait to get back on the court. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I started hitting the ball again.

After racquetball I raced home to get ready to go to church. Which was great, good lesson, good music, and great friends. Then back to our house for pizza, dirt cake, and more fun. I’m pretty exhausted, but enjoyed every minute to today!! Thanks Penny for making the drive, thanks Zale for taking care of the kids most of the day while I played,  and thanks Dad for lunch, dinner, and just a great day! Love you all!!!!

Oh yea, one thing I should probably mention, this morning Dad and I met up with a friend of Leeanna’s (Dad’s girlfriend’s daughter). I guess she didn’t hear when Dad introduced me as his daughter, so a minute later she asked if I was Leeanna’s Mom. This is the 2nd time that’s happened. Leeanna is 22 or 23, I’m 35. As a teenager I thought it was cool when someone thought I was older than I really was. Not so much anymore! I think she also assumed Dad and I were married instead of Father / Daughter. We get that a lot too. But I’m pretty sure I could comfortably go the rest of my life without anyone else thinking I’m old enough to be Leeanna’s Mom! :-) Big sister, sure. Mom, I’d rather not.

Dirt Cake

I think it was last month when Dad and I took a quick road trip to see one my most favorite people in this world. I call her Aunt Penny.  She was kind enough to make this wonderful dessert for Dad and I, called a dirt cake. And it’s so easy to make, I thought I’d share.

1 box of instant vanilla pudding (prepare according to directions on box)

1 package of softened cream cheese

1 package of cool whip

1 package of Oreo’s

Mix pudding, cream cheese, and cool whip together til smooth. Crush Oreo’s. Layer pudding mix and Oreo’s with the top layer being cookies in a bowl or trifle dish. Chill for few hours (or even over night) and serve. Enjoy!

dieting…..

I haven’t talked about my weight loss progress in quite awhile. Probably because there hasn’t been more loss to talk about. I haven’t done the weight watchers thing in quite a while, and I have struggled to maintain the 40 pound loss from last year. In fact, I’ve struggled to not gain back more than 10. Some months are better than others.

So when one of my friends from church suggested a new life group for woman who wanted to lose weight and get healthy, I was all for it. We didn’t really know what program we would go by, or if it would just be a support group to help keep each other on track, but I didn’t care. I realized a long time ago, that if I didn’t get to the source of my overeating, it wasn’t going to matter what diet I used, the weight was always going to come back.

Through God’s direction we’re doing the Weigh Down diet. I have to admit, the woman who started this program can be a bit over the top, and I would love to take her to my hair stylist. But the principles are sound and life changing. The bottom line is turning to God instead of turning to food. What a novel concept. We think to turn to Him for finances, our health, many other things, but our weight, not so much unless you’re like me and try to bargain with Him to magically make it disappear.

Here’s the jist of how it works. You don’t eat until your stomach growls. Weird concept, I know, especially since I’ve been taught for years not to let myself get too hungry so I won’t go over board. But doesn’t it really make more sense to not eat if you’re not really hungry?! To keep from overeating, pray over your food, take small bites, put your fork down in between bites and take sips of your drink. Eat slowly and stop when you start to feel full. The best part, is that you literally eat whatever you want. Whatever your body tell you it wants. No more diet food!!!!

As you learn the difference between real physical hunger, and head hunger (or thinking you’re hungry when you’re really not, but just want to eat), you’ll eat less, give your body time to use what you have eaten, and begin to lose weight. The even better benefit is getting closer to God and getting emotionally healthy as well as physically healthy.

The lady leading our group has lost over 70 pounds and other women in our group have lost 5 to 10 pounds since we started a few weeks ago. Unfortunately for me, I lost a couple of pounds the first week, then went back to doing my own thing for the next couple of weeks, so I’m not sure what my true weight loss is yet. But I do know this, I haven’t gained any and have been eating all kinds of yummy food. When I’m hungry! Real ice cream, Mexican food, fast food, etc. But in stopping when I’m full and only eating when I’m truly hungry, I know I’m eating less and less often.

Not to knock Weight Watchers or any other program out there that has worked for many. But it is so freeing to not have to buy diet food anymore, to not have to count points or keep a food journal, or work out because I want to add points back to my food journal because I want to eat more that day. I am learning to keep a prayer journal, because denying yourself really isn’t easy. To turn to God instead of turning to food is quite a challenge when I’ve been turning to food for so many years. But for food to not be the center of my day anymore, is a wonderful change. God Bless!

Baptized

Yesterday my Dad called and invited us to have dinner with him and my Uncle Allen, to celebrate Allen’s birthday. We were able to make it a surprise and enjoyed a nice meal together. Our good friends had agreed to watch the girls and Anthony was at Switch, our church’s youth program. It was unusual for us to be out having dinner on a weeknight, especially without the kids.

After we got home and were getting the girls settled in for bed, Anthony came in. I asked how Switch was and he said “good”, a typical teen response to a question from a parent. He went to his room and I went to the kitchen to get a SMALL bowl of frozen yogart. Heavenly Hash, my favorite. I got a bowl, spoon, and the yogart from the freezer. About that time I notice that Zale has logged on to FaceBook and I see a posting that 11 kids were baptized during Switch. In that instant I had a flash back of Anthony coming in and his hair wasn’t straightened like it had been when he left for Switch. So I drop everything, run to his room, knock as I’m opening his door and breathlessly say, “Did you get baptized tonight?!?!?!?” He looked up at me with this almost embarrassed grin and said, “yea”, as if it’s no big deal. I tackle him with a hug and screech, “Why didn’t you tell me???!!!! We would have been there!!!!!” Zale was behind me, congratulated him and said, “Just make sure you tell her before you get married”.

I get it, of course, if I had been there I would have been crying my eyes out and probably wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from completely embarrassing him in front of his friends. And I understand it’s a personal decision that he made between him and God. I’m grateful for all of it, and it’s certainly an answer to prayer, but still a bit teary eyed that I wasn’t there to see it happen.

Me time

Yesterday I think Zale sensed that I was about to lose it. The girls have been on a screaming kick this week, things have been a  little tense with the teenager, the dogs are driving me crazy, I wasn’t able to go to my life group because of scheduling conflicts, etc. (Jill,  if you’re reading this, Noah wasn’t the cause, promise!) Zale stopped working around 2:30 and took the girls shopping, to the park, and to the green way to ride their bikes. I don’t know that I would even attempt to do that. Needless to say, I was very grateful. Noah took a nap while they were gone, I put the dogs up, and relaxed in the recliner for about an hour. It was so nice, but I still felt a bit on edge.

After Noah went home and we settled in for a typical evening I began to feel an even bigger need for some me time. So I asked Zale if he would mind taking care of everything while I rented a movie, got some food, and hid out in the bonus room for a couple of hours, completely ALONE. He’s such a wonderful and understanding husband that he immediately agreed and sent me on my way.

I really wanted some Mexican food and some Heavenly Hash frozen yogart. The Movie Gallery where we rent movies is in- between a wonderful Mexican restaurant and Kroger. But then I began to wonder how I could keep the food warm, the ice cream cold, and not spend a bunch of money. When I got to the shopping center I remembered that the Little Casear’s Pizza place just moved in that shopping center too. So as I’m getting my chick flick at Movie Gallery my game plan changed a bit. You know how they have the movie size candy at the movie rental places? I decided that would solve my sweet tooth, I could get a drink there too, and run into Little Caesar’s (where they have the pizza’s ready to sell and a large is only $5) for a pizza, and head back home. And that’s what I did. I got home with my pizza, candy (a package of Reese’s and Twix because I couldn’t decide which one I wanted, so I got both) a diet soda (diet instead of regular because if I’m going to consume a couple hundred empty calories I’d rather be chewing something, like chocolate) and a movie. I go to put the DVD in the player and discover that they didn’t take the security thing off so I couldn’t open the case. I started to get really frustrated about that, but decided I wasn’t going to let it ruin my alone time and got over it. Besides, there’s a microwave in the bonus room, so if my pizza got cold I could always  nuke it. I went back to the Movie store, where they fixed the problem right away, and then back home.

I had the perfect “me” night. Junk food and a movie with no interruptions. It was heavenly. But after the movie I realized I had probably consumed two days worth of calories in that two hours and started to feel a bit guilty about it. I got on the treadmill and walked a quick half mile before heading back down stairs.

I feel so refreshed, even today, as a result of that time. Thank you Zale, for making it possible! You rock! I was energized enough to get up early and walk another 1/2 mile this morning (even after very little sleep), as well as taking care of the dogs, vacuuming, and getting some laundry done. So husbands, if your wives are acting a bit stressed, it may just be that they need a couple of hours for themselves to do whatever they want to do. I’m quite sure she’ll appreciate it!

he broke her

One of Zale’s clients owns a company that makes sauces. Hot sauces, BBQ sauces, syrup, seasonings, etc. They gave Zale a few samples as we are big fans of BBQ sauce and Zale loves all kinds of hot sauces. Since Reagan has such a mature pallet and has been known to enjoy spicy hot things in the past, Zale shared some soup he had doctored up with one of the hot sauces (just one drop).

Now this was after he tried some himself and was actually laughing with surprise at this hot sauce. I am not a big fan of hot sauce, so I’ll have to trust his judgement in this. But he said that the sauce was so good that he kept feeling the “heat” coming in waves, even after having something to drink. And a couple of hours later he commented that he still felt the heat of the sauce in his stomach.

Anyway, after taking a bite of the soup, the expression on Reagan’s face was priceless. I wish I had taken some pictures. It was a thoughtful expression, as if she was thinking “I’m not sure what the heck is in that soup, and I’m not sure if I like it or not.” And yet, she had another bite. After the second or third bite, she just stared at the soup as if she was concerned it was going to jump out of the bowl and bite her. Then she started moving her tongue all around her mouth, inside and out. I’m not sure if she was trying to feel and make sure her mouth was still there, or if everything had just gone numb. I began to wonder if she hadn’t gone into shock because she was just staring and moving her tongue around. We were finally able to get her to drink some milk in hopes of putting out what I can only assume was a fire in her mouth. I think it was a full hour before she spoke again.

Shortly after all that, she got a burst of energy that you wouldn’t believe. She was all over the place, running around the house, getting the dogs all excited (which is always fun for us since Griffin is probably about 60 pounds now and is like having a miniature pony living in the house with us), and trying to climb me as if I was a jungle gym. I looked at Zale and calmly said, “I think you broke her.

I’m happy to report there aren’t any lasting side affects and she’s gone back to normal. I have to add that last night Zale made the girls pancakes and used some of the syrup they gave us. I’m guessing it has a higher content of sugar than the sugar free syrup we normally use (ha ha), because both the girls were bouncing off the walls for quite some time. I told Zale theses sauces need to come with a warning label that they aren’t suitable for children. (I’m kidding of course, and I have to admit, watching the kids and their reactions had me laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my face)

new favorite food

I have blogged before about Zale’s talent of cooking. How he can cook by smell and throw stuff together to make all kinds of good stuff. Well, a few days ago he got an idea based off of a stuffed prime rib burger that September’s makes. I have to admit, this burger is the best “hamburger” I’ve ever had, so I couldn’t wait to try Zale’s new dish.

Of course we didn’t go to the extent of using ground prime rib, Zale used ground turkey. But, he added several of the key elements of the stuffed burger to a meatloaf. Bacon, saute’d onions, and blue cheese. Now I know the blue cheese sounds a bit odd, and I’m not even that much of a blue cheese fan. But, not only does it make an awesome meatloaf,  it’s makes an even better sandwich the next day. Yummy….I’m ready for him to make another one!

And yes, it’s pretty wonderful to have a husband who enjoys cooking!

Tastefully Simple

Sunday, August 30th at 5:00 I’m hosting a Tastefully Simple party for my good friend Sandi Hoke. I was able to try some of the food at our LifeGroup on Tuesday night, and I have to say it was VERY good! When I got the message from Sandi about hosting a party I stopped reading when it said something about the host getting free food, and immediately sent her a reply that said sign me up!

Tuesday I was able to sample the beer bread and a couple of the dips. I’m really looking forward to having it all again! In fact, she’s already brought me the food to prepare for the party..it’s just sitting on my kitchen counter and I have to say, it’s VERY hard to leave it there and not make some of it early!! :)

Please feel free to look over the  web site and see if there’s anything you’d like to order. If there is, please let me know so Sandi can get credit for it. (You don’t have to be in TN or even at the party to order something, it will be shipped directly to you.)

This will make the third party at our house during the month of August. I think I’m going to be done for awhile and maybe relax a bit before hosting something else….oops, Labor Day is coming up isn’t it? That means Aunt Jean will be in town and maybe cousin Kenneth…ok, so after that I’m taking a break!

Blessed beyond measure!

Yesterday was travel day for Zale and I as we began our adventure to Maui.  We had a short layover in Dallas and were able to get an early lunch with one of Zale’s (and I consider him mine too) best friends. I had been worried that we’d be so close to him, but not have time to see him. Our layover was only about an hour and a half and I knew we’d have to go back through security before we could get to the gate and have always been a bit paranoid when flying that I’ll miss a flight. Of course I shouldn’t have been worried at all, God was well in control of the situation.

God had our whole day planned out for us and everything went so smoothly. Our friend was able to pick us up on the curb, and hop over to a restaurant right beside the airport, we had a wonderful half hour or so to catch up and reconnect. We could easily spend hours with our friend but were blessed with what God provided! We were back through security and at the gate with plenty of time to spare before they started boarding us.

In that very short amount of time before we boarded God showed up again, not once, but twice. I got on the plane feeling almost giddy over the obivious hand God has over us yesterday. While we were waiting to board I saw two young military personal waiting to board our plane. I was honored to be able to tell them how much we appreciated their service to our country. They tried to shake it off as if it were no big deal and that it was just a job, but I know that’s not the case and was able to tell them so! I don’t know anything about where they were going or what their jobs are in the military, but I pray God will keep them safe and return them home to their families!

The next cool thing that happened was we were able to meet another attorney that’s a part of this conference that Zale met on Facebook. And it turns out they were sitting right behind us on the plane. Zale had been hoping to get a chance to chance to meet him before the conference started, and God showed up and took care of that too! I was able to meet his wife and felt completely comfortable with both of them. That’s actually not an easy thing for me, so I felt very blessed to at least have two familiar faces to look for while we’re here and maybe even a new friend to spend some time with while our husbands are in class.

Another blessing as part of our travel day happened in the shuttle from the airport to the hotel. It was quite a long ride and we got to meet a really sweet (lady) attorney from Florida. To be honest I was a bit concerned about fitting in here and not embarassing Zale. I feel a bit out of my element being surrounded by all these highly educated people throwing legal terms around that I can’t even pronouce, much less understand. But meeting this lady on the shuttle and sharing some stories and finding some common ground really helped put me at ease.

It was a wonderful day, and I am so blessed and grateful to be on this beautiful island this week! I pray you’ll find God showing up in your lives every day even more than what I felt Him in mine yesterday! Blessings!