I Hope It Gets LOUD

“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” – C.S. Lewis

I had no plans to write about the unspeakable tragedy that occurred on Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in this space. The thing is, I don’t really know what to say. And, nothing that I do say will bring back the victims, will comfort the survivors, or effect any political change. I am simply another voice that rises up with the wave of others when an incident like this occurs and then quiets down again with time. This is perhaps what scares me worst of all and persuaded me to pen my thoughts this time.

Truth is…I am so angry. I’m sad, of course, but deep down my body is full of rage and fear and more anger about being fearful. I am no expert on gun control or mental health, but the fact is I am so sick of the complete dishonesty behind lines like “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” It’s pretty hard to argue with the news that when a man in China entered a Primary School last Friday with a KNIFE and stabbed 22 children, NO ONE DIED. The truth is guns do kill people. Period.

The Second Amendment has long outlived its purpose. I realize I am in the minority among my fellow citizens and that’s okay. But what is not okay is that ordinary Americans are made to live in fear, to question the safety of schools, to feel the inadequacy of their ability to protect their children. What is not okay is that once again we all are left to wonder how many more children will be killed before any meaningful change takes place.

My hope is that now, rather than next time, the voices of all who can’t bear to watch another Friday begin being heard. I hope we get loud and stay louder.

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Winter Citrus Salad with Dates

I’ve been lusting for citrus of late…it’s one of the best things about winter, if you ask me. The cold, bright pulp of lemons, oranges, minneolas, tangerines, clementines, grapefruits, satsumas…so refreshing, so crisp, so winter!

I am not alone in my love of citrus…many bloggers have commented on their pining for the fruit, saying that grapefruit was the only thing they could stomach during their first weeks of pregnancy or creating recipes that incorporate the fruits, highlighting their juicy, sweet, tangy, and sour flavors.

I simply can’t keep it in the house…I buy bags of it each week at the market and it gets happily eaten. This citrus salad that I created doesn’t help in keeping our hanging fruit basket stocked! We’ve been eating this as our side dish several nights per week, each of us loving the freshness of winter on our plates. The salad is tangy…it makes your mouth pucker…yet the dates embark the perfect amount of sweetness to tame the sour. It’s truly divine.

Winter Citrus Salad
Makes 3 medium servings

2 large grapefruits, segmented

1 lemon, segmented

1 minneola, segmented

a handful of dates, quartered lengthwise

Combine the citrus segments. Add the dates just before serving.

a note: you can use any citrus you have on hand…oranges would add a nice sweetness to the dish, but I wouldn’t bother with something as small and delicate as a clementine…too much work for such a small amount of citrus meat.

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Do you supplement? Kristin now will…!

She’s our lucky winner! Contest now closed.

I didn’t for so long…aside from the prenatal vitamins that I took religiously every night 8 months prior to getting pregnant, 9 months throughout pregnancy, and then 12 months while I was nursing…but, I do now.

Everyone chooses to supplement their diet for different reasons and as a dietitian, my mantra has always been, and will continue to be, food comes first. However, I do think that there are times when it is difficult for foods to provide us with enough of a certain nutrient or when our bodies are in need of something a bit extra to help us with disease symptoms. This is when I see supplements nicely complimenting a healthy diet and lifestyle.

I want to introduce you to the company ReNew Life and, more specifically, to their product Norwegian Gold Critical DHA. The company contacted me a few months ago to trial their products. Ironically, at the time I was contacted, I was searching for a good fish oil supplement to begin taking. I chose to try ReNew Life’s Critical DHA and I’ve been taking if all summer. I am very pleased with the product! Like the company claims, the supplement does not give you any of those horrid fish burbs that other fish oil supplements do and, while it tastes pretty strong as you are swallowing it, there is absolutely no lingering aftertaste. You must be warned that the supplement size is quite large, but it is a gel so, for me, it has been easy to swallow.

I take one fish gel each evening after dinner. In one gel, there is 760mg of Omega-3 oils through a combination of DHA, EPA, and ALA (listed in order of abundance). I eat a lot of other food sources of Omega-3s like cold-water fish, dark green leafy vegetables, and flaxseed, but if you are not a regular consumer of these foods, it is recommended that you take 2 of the fish gels daily in order to better meet the World Health Organization’s recommendation of at least 2 grams of Omega-3 oils daily.

The kind people at ReNew Life have offered to give a $50 gift certificate to a browngoat reader! Take a look around ReNew Life’s site…they offer many supplements in addition to omega-3 fish oils, such as probiotics, fiber powders, and supplements for your pets.

For a chance to win the $50 gift certificate, please leave a comment below by Wednesday night at 11:59 pm PST. The winner will be chosen at random and announced here the following day. Also, leave me a way to contact you, should you win!

Good luck! Sorry this contest is open to US addresses only.

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Homemade play dough

On a rainy day a few weeks ago, Jack and I made play dough for the first time. Jack still likes to put everything in his mouth, so I knew home made was the only way to go (despite the non-toxic label on the hasbro variety). I searched through a lot of recipes and combined a few together to make my “own” using what I had on hand and what sounded like it would hold up but not be too messy. I also wanted something I could make quickly, so I chose a “no-cook” recipe which worked great.

We had fun mixing it up…if you are going to let your little one help, just make sure the water cools enough before they start mixing.

We’ve been playing with the play dough almost every day (it’s a great activity for Jack at his little table in the kitchen while I am cooking) making balls, owls, ice cream cones, pretend dinners, letters, and worm families. And, I’ve gotten out my cookie cutters and biscuit tools for Jack to use with his “dough”. It is still going strong after more than 2 weeks! And, it is not too sticky, in fact, I think it has a perfect consistency. I just store it in the refrigerator in a plastic ziplocs between uses.

1 Minute Playdough recipe:

Put 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup flour (I used oat flour which gave it a sandy texture and cool brown color), and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar in a large bowl. Then, mix in 1 tablespoon of oil and
I cup of boiling water. Knead all ingredients together until the stickiness of the dough vanishes.
You can also add food coloring at this point or a natural food dye to create colored play dough. We haven’t colored ours yet and Jack seems content.

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my apologies. but, i need a break.

hello lovelies.

i am sorry that i haven’t gotten my act together to post the recipes and pictures i promised.  life is a bit busy…i am dealing with this nagging daily feeling that we need to use every spare moment to pack while at the same time knowing that is impossible since we still need to live in our house plus i don’t have the desire to come home from work to pack boxes!  and, we just spent a wonderfully fun weekend with family and new friends in nashville and are looking forward to a family filled upcoming weekend to toast david as he graduates from medical school.  all of this paired with life’s other happenings…whew!  lots going on…

so, i have decided that i need to step back from daily posting right now and blog when i have the time.  let’s just call this the official “time off because i am moving.”  and, no promises of future posts because that just makes me feel bad when i can’t deliver (and i don’t need another stressor!).  i will say that i hope to share pictures with you over the next few weeks from all of those special moments that are keeping us busy and i even hope to include a recipe or two. 

oh boy…i am already excited to restart the weekly dinner menus just as soon as i am sitting in my new home office space (perhaps with a view of the puget sound)!  i will have so much to share!!! 

until then…xxo.

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red bird ink

in saturday’s post i shared my new cow print with you and promised i would give you more details about the artist in a later post…since several people have asked me about it, i thought i would share the details sooner rather than later!

the artist is julia from red bird ink, a design, art, and letterpress studio in atlanta.  

 

i was introduced to red bird ink while shopping at the beehive about a month ago.  i was shopping for a new dress and across all of the wonderful handmade goods, i spotted the letterpressed cow print and knew it was the perfect atlanta take-away!  david and i have a tradition of buying a piece of art for our walls right before we move.  before leaving boston, we bought a large map of the charles river basin since the charles river served as our inspiration and companion for many of our long marathon training runs. 

i found the cow to be a wise take-away piece of art from atlanta since our food obsession really exploded here.  and, because we try to eat mostly local meats, the fact that the artist is local makes it a completely appropriate choice!  i am so excited to find its perfect spot in our new seattle kitchen.

here are a few other pieces from red bird ink that i think are great:

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trouble with snacks…help!

readers, i need you help.  jack’s new routine on the way home each day is to have a snack in the car.  he eats a big, nutritious snack right after his nap before i pick him up, so this car snack is purely for entertainment.  i pack it in the morning and trust him to hold it and feed himself all while sitting in his carseat in the backseat of the car.  i try to find things that don’t need to be kept cold and that won’t stain ifwhen dropped on the seats.  and, i would like to keep the snacks somewhat healthy, but i am running out of ideas.  jack is not eating nuts yet, so we don’t have that option.  what do you suggest?  all snack ideas welcome…don’t worry if they don’t seem like “kid” snack ideas…jack sometimes eats dried seaweed for snack time at home (i won’t let him eat it in the car because it would soon smell like a fishing boat)- my child has an amazing palate!

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weekly dinner menu + update, april 10th – 16th

hello.  i hope spring has made it’s way to all of you by now…we are certainly basking in the spring sunshine and loving every minute of it.  i keep joking with jack that we have to spend as much time as we can outside so we can soak in the sunshine to carry with us to rainy seattle!

speaking of jack…look at the photo below that david’s dad sent him.  it’s of david as a one year old getting his first haircut.  wow!  it looks so much like jack that it take my breath away! 

stephanie’s attitude + david’s looks = our little man, jack!

so, what’s for supper this week?

sunday: slow cooked vegetables and chicken meatballs over pasta

monday: not a dinner post, but a “please help me” post— i’m in need of good snack ideas!

tuesday: sausage, southern greens, and lemon lasagna

wednesday: use your slow cooked leftovers over baby broccoli and white beans

thursday: grilled flank steak

friday: in celebration of karen and mike and their wedding weekend, i will share a super tasty recipe for brownies with you while we enjoy a whole dessert party!

saturday: we will be celebrating at a wedding and having farm fresh georgia food (yay!)…so i am taking tonight off from cooking.

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i love a boy and his dog

there is really nothing better than the love a boy has for his dog. 

xxo.

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sun in my belly

we enjoyed an amazing night out last friday night…a date night!  we conversed with adult company and lingered over a 3 hour dinner including 5 courses and plenty of wine.  it was wonderful.  thank you to karen, mike and laura for tag teaming on the babysitting so that we could go out and enjoy ourselves!  and, thanks to reid, kirk, jack, and hailey for a super fun evening at sun in my belly!

here is what we had for dinner:

cocktail and appetizer course ~ blood orange bellini; southern pate crostini with lady apples + cheddar cheese and apricot on herb crostini (delicious! great start!)

first course ~ spaghetti carbonara with caramelized ham and fresh asparagus tips with aged parmesan (glorified mac and cheese…good, but i am glad it was just a small bowl)

salad course ~ early spring salad of watercress + ruby red grapefruit + marcona almonds + tarragon vinaigrette (the tarragon vinaigrette was amazing!)

entree course ~ beef bourguignon + rutabaga and roasted cauliflower mash + grilled wild ramps drizzled with walnut oil (superb.  this course was by far everyone’s favorite.)

dessert ~ pistachio + honey pastry torte with black pepper creme anglaise + stewed apricots (this was so disappointing.  i love my desserts and this was frozen!  they said it was supposed to be that way, but that is hard for me to believe since all you could taste was freezer.)

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