Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Peanut zucchini noodles with chicken


We've been on more of a clean eating kick now that summer is over--- however, boring food is not my thing so I try to incorporate lots of flavours, textures and veggies into what I'm doing. Enter Asian inspired zoodles! 

Ingredients:


5-6 zucchini
1 large onion 
1 clove of garlic
1/4 cup of cilantro 
1/2 bell pepper, cut into strips
1 carrot, cut into thin strips
1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
1.5 pounds  of chicken, cut into small cubes(or more or less depending on your preference)
1 tbsp of oil 

Peanut sauce

1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
1 clove of garlic 
1/4 cup of cilantro
1 tbsp of sesame oil
2 tbsp of rice vinegar (or other vinegar if you don't have rice vinegar)
1 tbsp of hoisin (optional)
1 tbsp of sweet chili sauce (optional)
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
Honey to taste
Hot sauce if you wish

(blend all of these together well and the peanut sauce is done)

Optional Toppings:

Toasted sesame seeds
Cilantro
Green onions

Method


1- Cut zucchini into strips or spirals. I have a veggetti but you can use a spiraliser or even a mandolin or cut into tiny strips yourself.  Set aside.


2- Use a mini chopper (if possible) and chop onion, garlic and cilantro. (I'm all about saving time)
3- Place 1 tbsp of oil in pan and when hot, throw the onion mixture. 
4- When translucent and fragrant, add the chicken and brown it. Reduce heat to medium high
5- Add the veggies except for the zoodles. 
6- Add peanut sauce, tablespoon by tablespoon as necessary until saucy--- yeah, that's right. Saucy.
7- Either remove from pan or in a separate pan, heat oil and throw in zoodles. Cover pan to simmer for two to three minutes until steamed . Add chicken mixture until well combined. Add more sauce if you wish. The zoodles do give off some liquid!



8- Top with cilantro, green onions and sesame seeds… if you wish.



Also, there's a bit extra peanut sauce but it can be used as a dipping sauce or I just mixed it in with some regular pasta for my kids. 

This recipe was seriously so, so flavourful and yummy! I used a spoon to scoop up the extra sauce from my plate. It would go well with shrimp or tofu also. 

I can't wait for when it's on the rotation again!


Tuesday:
Linking up with 
 Kate and Emily for Tasty Tuesday
 Kristen for Handmade TuesdaySusan for Love From the Kitchenand Beth and some other lovely ladies for Tuesday Talk


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Friday, September 25, 2015

Friday Favourites



Hurray for Friday!! Definitely a favourite around here. I asked C what her fave day was and she did say Friday as it was Family Movie  Night! Can't say I blame her. 
And here are my favourites this week.

1- Zoodles

We're all about the zoodles around here. The light way to get your veggies in and eat your pasta. This veggetti makes easy work out of it. I made some Asian inspired chicken peanut zoodles recently and it was so, so yum! Recipe coming soon.

2- Popcorn and Tires-- together

My not so favourite part of this week was when I banged my tires and had to get them replaced fixed. Such an awful experience but the customer service at Kal Tires was exceptional and they had popcorn and coffee. I was stuffing my face at 10:30 am!

3- Pantry love

Organised pantry = happy lady! Took me quite some time but I finally made some progress on my overstuffed, disorganised pantry. I would have done a before but we would not be friends anymore if you saw it. Yeah, I wish I had all matching containers and chalkboard labels but this is still much better than it was last week! So yeah, a huge favourite. Now to bring the label maker out!


4- Settling in

After a challenging couple weeks, my six year old is settling in to her new school. Lots of newness, strange people and a huge school did not a happy camper make initially. Now, she comes home with happy stories and talks about her friends and what they do! And I begin volunteering next week at her school. So very happy that I'm able to do that. Lots of changes!!



5- Girl Power

And because it's a girls' world is all about the girls,  a few quotes in case my girls come back to read this blog when they grow older!








And here are my other posts this week:

Linking up with AndreaErika and Narci for Favourites on Friday
Amy for Hey Friday
Amanda for Friday Favourites

Have an amazing weekend! 



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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Falling into Fall--- all of my faves….

And hello fall!!! If you can't beat them, join them, no? And though I will miss the wonderful summer we've had and the beautiful memories made, fall is also fun for these very reasons:

Fall Fashions

I've always loved fall jackets and cloth scarves before the chill of winter gets to me. I prepped in July at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale and yeah, one might observe that I'm into blazers, blanket cardigans and tunics this year. And let's not forget the darker nail-polishes and booties!!


Pumpkin

Pumpkin EVERYTHING. I'm actually not the biggest pumpkin fan but my family certainly is. From these amazing pumpkin poppers, to pumpkin pancakes to a PSL or two to pumpkin pie…. they just can't get enough. And slowly, I'm coming around! And forget about BBW's pumpkin soaps and candles. i.can't.even. 


Soups

I love soup. Even in the summer. We make them at least once a week. but I step my soup game in the fall with all the seasonal produce.  My butternut squash recipe is a fave among my group as is this Trinidadian corn soup. (perfect while you can still get fresh corn)




Candles

My fall candles deserve a special post all on their own. I wait for a sale and then do some damage on the BBW three wick ones.  But then we use them ALL up. My absolute favourite is the pumpkin pecan waffle. It smells so, so good! 


My stash this year.

Outings/Holidays

There's pumpkin patching and apple picking for sure. Halloween, our Canadian Thanksgiving and Divali…. lots and lots going on!!

Maybe fall's not so bad after all :-)






Linking up with P!nkPers!stance for Falling into Fall
Annie and Nat for Thoughts on Thursday.
and Extremely V and Penny for Thank Goodness It's Thursday

Cheers!!

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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Twenty Questions

Twenty questions just in time for Tuesday Talk with Beth and some other lovely ladies!!
I got this idea from Kaitlin a little while ago and it seemed so fun.

1. Favorite food:  
I love food in general-- but these days I'm really into mexican, thai and trini food. Told you I love food. 

2. Flip flops or high heels: 
Flip flops in daily life. But high heels to dress things up… I do have sensitive feet though so the heels come
after a while.

3. Favourite places to shop for yourself: 
I love a good sale--Nordstrom, Anthro, Macy's, Loft, Ann Taylor…. but on SALE

4. Standard Coffee order: 
Skinny Hazelnut Latte extra hot!

5. Road trip must have snack: 
Something salty to munch on…. chips or popcorn. Kind of weird as I'm a sweet person usually but I need the salt then.

6. DIY or hire it out? 
I'd like to say DIY but I'd be lying. I make edible things-- at least one- for each of my kids' parties.
And a couple decorations. Does that count?

7. Top 5 TV shows: 
Grey's, DTWS, The Good Wife, Modern Family, How to get away with Murder, NAshville-- oh wait, that's six! And forget the Bachelor Franchise!
I love TV>

8. Favourite Book: 
I don't have a favourite book but I do have a favourite author. Elin Hilderbrand for the win!

9.  Favourite Form of Exercising: 
A good aerobics class in the gym with great music--- like it was 1989

10. How tall are you?
Just under 5'6"

11. Do you try something new at restaurants or stick to your favorites?
I mix it up but there are certain things that I like a gravitate towards for sure! 

12. One make up item you can't live without:
Lipstick! But let's face it, I need more than lipstick! 

13.  What's on your nightstand?
A glass of water, ear plugs, Vicks Vapor Rub (I'm ninety years old).
I'd say my iPad but I hide it under the bed because of the blue light :-)

14. What's one thing motherhood has taught you?
The purest love in the entire world. 

15. Music that reminds you of high school: 
NKOTB 

16. If you could live anywhere in the world besides your current city where would you live?
Hmmmm, maybe North Carolina or Italy! 

17. Websites you read/browse (besides blogs):
Nordstrom, People (ha), Skimm

18. Morning person  or Night owl?
Since having kids, I've definitely become a morning person. 

19. Favorite Breakfast meal:
I love toast but alas my waistline doesn't! So it's smoothies, oatmeal or granola and yogurt most mornings…. but on weekends I bust out the carbs. 

20.  What do you collect? 
Candles on sale! Especially fall ones! But I also go through them.


Have a wonderful day!!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Monday morning madness hacks

Weekends--- the time of smiles, sweetness and so.much.fun… Monday mornings though, not that much. Dragging my kids and myself out of bed, ick. Packing bleary eyed lunches and brushing little teeth and getting everybody out of the door every morning is always a rush but on Mondays, so much more so no? Here's what been working around this time around for back to school. It takes a bit more time on the weekend but makes the mornings so much easier. 

1- What shall I wear? Here's what?

Honestly, this has been saving so much time. My six going on sixteen year old sometimes wears the most electic, weather inappropriate clothes year round. Adding to that the favourites she insists on wearing every week and the lack of rotation of her outfits, this was quite the stressful part of our morning last year. This year though, these hanger labels for each day of the week has been really helping us out. We check the weather coming up and decide together on a weekend what is to be worn and it's so much more painless. So much so, I really need to get on it for my three-nager's closet as well. SO.MUCH.EASIER.


2- Where is everything?

On Sunday night or before, I make sure I know where the bags are,  that the planner (a new thing for C) is there, any homework is done and packed and where the lunch kit is. And I put it in the same place every day/week as well. Ain't nobody need to be racing around searching for stuff bright and early on a Monday.

Yeah, I label everything. My label maker is one of my favourite.things.ever.

3- What's for lunch?

I try my best to head to the farmer's market or supermarket on a weekend for the week. If not, I try to at least have the basics for Monday and do the rest of my shopping on Monday….. balanced meals, kids!



4- Back-up plans

When even that fails, I always have stuff in the freezer and the pantry to throw together a somewhat healthy lunch. There's always frozen edamame, cheese, crackers, apple purees and raisins to throw something together. 

5- Tidy up, buttercup

Even though weekends are hectic, on Sunday night, we try to have everything tidied up so it's not stressful staring at toys, dishes or stuff first thing on Monday…


Simple enough, no?
 What are your favourite tips for making Monday mornings easier?


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