I’m no Rachel Ray, who could compete with that butt anyways (or at least that’s what my husband says). But I have come to master some pretty simple 30 minute meals since going back to work. Since food, and particularly healthy, quick, budget friendly food always seems to be such a challenge, I thought I would share.
What makes my meals 30 minute meals is a bit of prep work the night before. My husband will do up the dishes and I’ll prep for the next day’s dinner.
One of my favorites is chicken fingers and fries with a side of coleslaw. For this meal I use some homemade food and some pre-packaged food.
You’ll need:
1 chicken breast per person (frugal tip: use dark meat to save money, and if you de-bone it yourself it’s also a lot cheaper)
1 med. sweet potato per person (or a bag of sweet potato fries will work in a pinch. And yes, you can do the recipe with regular potatoes, but they’re not quite as nutritious.)
Bag of premade coleslaw & dressing
½ c Italian Bread Crumbs
1 c Cereal crushed (cheerios, rice krispies, cornflakes, special K, any neutral cereal will work)
Butter (1/4c will do 2 and a bit breasts)
The Night Before:
1. Crush up about 1 cup of your cereal and mix with ½ c bread crumbs and 2 tbs flour.
Melt your butter in the microwave. Cut chicken into strips.
2. Coat the chicken strips in the butter, then place them into the cereal mixture. Coat well.
3. Place them on a baking sheet, cover and put them in the fridge. (Time saver: you can make a large batch when you have more time. Freeze them on a cookie sheet then transfer portion sizes to a freezer bag so they are ready and on hand when you need them!)
4. Cut sweet potato into wedges or strips. Place them on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or until they are fork tender.
5. Let the potatoes cool (silly me, burnt my hand the first time). Place them in a bowl, dress with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Mix until they are all well coated. (You can use any spice of your choosing to dress these up even more. We like Cajun spice.)
Dinner Time:
1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Place chicken fingers and potatoes on a large cookie sheet topped with parchment paper. (Kitchen Tip: parchment paper helps the sweet potato to crisp up).
3. Cook for 25 minutes turning once at 15mins.
4. Open your bag of coleslaw, add the dressing and serve!
Yes, you could use store bought chicken fingers and store bought fries. What I’m trying to avoid is the huge amount of sodium found in pre-packaged food. Homemade = healthier.
Really me,
The Chef
Nik
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Spreadsheet A-Holic
Hello, my name is Nik and I am addicted to spreadsheets.
If I could I would live my whole life out on a spreadsheet. You can run macros that will carry out your demands in a split second. You can color co-ordinate your headings and totals, make life pretty! You can list and sort your life. Find a name/phone number in one click. Heck you can throw in a reset button and go back to where you started if things get messed up! What a life!
Of course have my personal finances on a spreadsheet. I love to manipulate the numbers. What if I won the lottery… *type type type* and voila I’m a millionaire! Look at all the left over money at the end of the week that I have to play with. Millions in savings, a car fund, a huge savings account for C, money to pay off all the bills, trips galor. Best of all, no grocery budget! Wouldn’t that be nice?
At work I have to calculate the price of pool liners, there is a whole sequence Length x Width x multiplier + base price = Y , then you have to calculate the pro-rated rate Y x X% = Z and then they want to know the taxes (((Z x 5%) + (Z x 8% )) + Z). Is all that scary high school math flooding back? (work within the brackets first!) I can’t be bothered doing that by hand on a calculator. It would take me weeks to come up with one quote. Heaven forbid I made a typo! This is why I love spreadsheets. I type in
=l x w and the pro-rata percent, POOF I have a glorious answer in seconds. It even calculates the taxes for me.
You know, there is a formula for just about anything! K asked me if I could help him with his lotto spreadsheet. He he! I was overjoyed. It was the sexiest thing he’s asked me in months! He wanted to know if it was possible for the spreadsheet to count only odd numbers. Ha! Like that’s any match for a spreadsheet wizard like me!
I kept track of C’s poopy diapers, pee diapers, feedings, naps and all kind of things on my little spreadsheets. I made up a calorie calculator/meal planning spreadsheet to help keep track of our weight loss goals. And when it was slow at work before I left on mat leave I created the mother of all EI calculators on a precious spreadsheet!!
Oh god, I think I need to get a life.
Really me,
Spreadsheet A-holic
Nik
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Nice Things
Like many people today I am Frugal. Always have been, always will be. I come from a long line of frugal people. My Nanna being the grandmother of all things frugal. Tack that on to being really good at materializing what she wants, and you have one heck of a lady! Many many many things in my house, and double that in hers have come from garage sales, church bazaars, the side of the road, or a garbage pile.
When my grandparents had their catering truck I would tag along during the summer. One day were were doing a call at a warehouse. Having sharp eyes like my Nanna, I spotted a bean bag chair near the garbage bin. "Nanna pull over!" I yelled. What 14 year old wouldn't want a wicked cool blag bean bag chair for free. I had to beg them to let me take it, and remind them how many items they picked up behind these warehouses... why couldn't I have one! Sure enough we kicked around the bean bag to make sure there were no holes. 13 years later and I still own it.
Last weekend K and I were driving to breakfast on Saturday morning. There was some slight drizzle as we drove down the back streets. When out of the corner of my eye I spot a rolled up carpet. Just what we need for our newly painted entertainment room! "K" I said, "Can we come back from breakfast this way and grab that carpet?" He looks at me, only slightly disgusted "But it's raining" he says, "It's in the garbage for a reason" Then looking to see if he's getting through to me "It's probably got a disgusting stain"
I look at him, lower lip in the pout position.
"Why don't you ever let me have nice things!"
Really me,
The garbage picker
Nik
When my grandparents had their catering truck I would tag along during the summer. One day were were doing a call at a warehouse. Having sharp eyes like my Nanna, I spotted a bean bag chair near the garbage bin. "Nanna pull over!" I yelled. What 14 year old wouldn't want a wicked cool blag bean bag chair for free. I had to beg them to let me take it, and remind them how many items they picked up behind these warehouses... why couldn't I have one! Sure enough we kicked around the bean bag to make sure there were no holes. 13 years later and I still own it.
Last weekend K and I were driving to breakfast on Saturday morning. There was some slight drizzle as we drove down the back streets. When out of the corner of my eye I spot a rolled up carpet. Just what we need for our newly painted entertainment room! "K" I said, "Can we come back from breakfast this way and grab that carpet?" He looks at me, only slightly disgusted "But it's raining" he says, "It's in the garbage for a reason" Then looking to see if he's getting through to me "It's probably got a disgusting stain"
I look at him, lower lip in the pout position.
"Why don't you ever let me have nice things!"
Really me,
The garbage picker
Nik
Saturday, March 20, 2010
What Are We Laughing At?!
Now it may just be that I'm PMSing, but I've got a real beef with sitcoms. I don't often watch shows like 'Two and a Half Men', 'King of Queens', 'Everybody Loves Raymond' or 'According to Jim' and the like, but I have on occasion caught bits and pieces that remind me why I don't watch these shows. Watching them makes me sick to my stomach. Sure they toss out some funny lines... they're comedies you might say, but really? What kind of post feminist garbage are we watching?
I'm putting on my feminist hat, boys, watch out!
The plots of these shows rarely change. Man comes up with a plan, does something he knows will piss his wife off, lies to his wife attempting to cover up what he did, wife finds out, couple argues, he apologizes, maybe gives her some flowers and she jumps in bed with him. Really? Oh, and I forgot to mention, for the most part the men are overweight, balding, lazy bums with wives who are petite, pretty and apparently dumb! Right, cause that's how life works!
The woman is portrayed as a wishy washy, emotional, PMSing, roller coaster ride often becoming irrational over 'trivial' (or not so trivial) matters. Or at least that's how her husband would describe her. But because it is billed as a comedy we all seem to just let it go. It's just a joke.
I don't want to pin it all on the sitcoms, the dramas aren't that much better. Let's take one of my favorite night time soaps 'Melrose Place'. A powerful, intelligent go getter like Amanda would make an excellent likable character... if only she was a man. Being that she's a woman who won't stop until she has what she wants, she's a bitch. How many times have you seen that scenario duplicated at your own place of work?
But how rooted do you think the lessons in these sitcoms become? So routed in fact that I started my blog by stating "it may just be that I'm PMSing" which would indicated that somehow I am less able to think rationally because I'm menstruating. I know this is not a concept they teach in school. I know my mother never taught me that, and yet, there it is at the very beginning of my feminist rant! Imagine my horror. I was going to erase it and start again, but I think it proves my point rather perfectly. Couldn't have planned it better if I tried.
My household operates a little less 'traditionally' than some. My husband does the laundry and the dishes, he's by far the better one when it comes to playing with C. And I do the majority of the house repairs, I own the power tools and come up with the budget. We share in the household chores for the most part. Even still, I obviously have bought into at least one notion that these sitcoms are selling. I am a woman who is menstruating, therefore I must be irrational because I'm making a big deal out of nothing. Right?!
If this is the way we are portraying relationships and women, it's no wonder the divorce rate is so high. Men can't be trusted, and women are emotional wrecks!
The next time you turn on the TV to sit down and veg out, think about what influences you're letting deep into your subconscious... and into that of any children who may be close at hand. If you think about it, it's scary.
Really me,
The Feminist
Nik
I'm putting on my feminist hat, boys, watch out!
The plots of these shows rarely change. Man comes up with a plan, does something he knows will piss his wife off, lies to his wife attempting to cover up what he did, wife finds out, couple argues, he apologizes, maybe gives her some flowers and she jumps in bed with him. Really? Oh, and I forgot to mention, for the most part the men are overweight, balding, lazy bums with wives who are petite, pretty and apparently dumb! Right, cause that's how life works!
The woman is portrayed as a wishy washy, emotional, PMSing, roller coaster ride often becoming irrational over 'trivial' (or not so trivial) matters. Or at least that's how her husband would describe her. But because it is billed as a comedy we all seem to just let it go. It's just a joke.
I don't want to pin it all on the sitcoms, the dramas aren't that much better. Let's take one of my favorite night time soaps 'Melrose Place'. A powerful, intelligent go getter like Amanda would make an excellent likable character... if only she was a man. Being that she's a woman who won't stop until she has what she wants, she's a bitch. How many times have you seen that scenario duplicated at your own place of work?
But how rooted do you think the lessons in these sitcoms become? So routed in fact that I started my blog by stating "it may just be that I'm PMSing" which would indicated that somehow I am less able to think rationally because I'm menstruating. I know this is not a concept they teach in school. I know my mother never taught me that, and yet, there it is at the very beginning of my feminist rant! Imagine my horror. I was going to erase it and start again, but I think it proves my point rather perfectly. Couldn't have planned it better if I tried.
My household operates a little less 'traditionally' than some. My husband does the laundry and the dishes, he's by far the better one when it comes to playing with C. And I do the majority of the house repairs, I own the power tools and come up with the budget. We share in the household chores for the most part. Even still, I obviously have bought into at least one notion that these sitcoms are selling. I am a woman who is menstruating, therefore I must be irrational because I'm making a big deal out of nothing. Right?!
If this is the way we are portraying relationships and women, it's no wonder the divorce rate is so high. Men can't be trusted, and women are emotional wrecks!
The next time you turn on the TV to sit down and veg out, think about what influences you're letting deep into your subconscious... and into that of any children who may be close at hand. If you think about it, it's scary.
Really me,
The Feminist
Nik
Monday, March 15, 2010
If you're not Attachment Parenting, what are you doing?!
During my pregnancy I did a lot of reading. When I say a lot I mean I went from one end of the internet to the other in the course of my 9 (10) months. There were so many things I didn't know, and a whole bunch of other things that I didn't even know I didn't know! As I started to become more comfortable with all these new pregnancy and baby terms there was one I kept hearing over and over again that had me puzzled. Attachment Parenting. What does that mean?
Attachment Parenting seemed to be the new trend headed up by Dr. Sears. This is not a 'new' style of parenting, but rather a return to a more tribal form of care. I started reading up on Attachment Parenting, and looking for other methods of parenting. Of course most of us have heard of Dr. Spock and his 'evil' cry-it-out method, but I couldn't really find any other aptly named parenting styles, so, I figured, AP it is!
Great! I started reading and talking to other AP moms, trying to figure out what I had to do. From what I gathered AP raises children who cry less, understand more and become emotionally sound, intelligent, compassionate adults. Fandamntastic! Who doesn't want that for their child, right?
I started checking things off the AP list
-breastfeeding/extended breastfeeding- check!
-babywearing- got it!
-skin to skin contact- great!
-many AP moms are also cloth diapering moms- excellent!
-feeding nutritious foods- Love it!
-bed sharing with infants- um, if that's what I'm supposed to do
-babywearing almost all the time- well, I could try...
-baby led separation- how does that work?
-toddler bed sharing- wait a minute...
I found some of the AP principles fantastic, and others just weren't for us. A family member suggested The Baby Whisperer book to us just after she had her first child. Her recommendation stuck in my head because I remember her saying "I cried every night for the first 2 weeks, then I read The Baby Whisperer book and I was like 'OH!'" So off we went to get TBW book, and I made K read it before baby girl was born. The book definitely spoke to us, and the methods seemed more along our lines. But how could I reveal my flip to the other AP moms? If I wasn't Attachment Parenting, then what the heck was I doing? Raising a hellion maybe? Contributing to society's problems by raising an uncompassionate child?! OH MY!
It has taken me a while to figure this out which is why I wanted to share... I'm raising a very healthy, well adjusted, intelligent, kind, secure and loving child. We may not be "attachment parenting" in the strictest sense but we are most certainly attached. I don't really think it's possible to raise a child and not be attached unless you lock them in a room by themselves (which I DO NOT recommend!) We're using Nik & K's parenting method, and you know what? It works perfectly for us! So I say to you; take the good and leave the rest. Don't get caught up in labels, lead with your best judgement and do so with your child's best interest at heart.
Really me,
Parenting Specialist
Nik
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