Gasp! Another Recipe!

I must be butter. Because I'm on a roll.

Da-Da-Ching!

Okay - that was a completely lame joke. (That's the best I've got).

But I DID cook again. This time I tried to copy a recipe of my mother-in-law's because it was amazing when she made it. It was some sort of rice, tomato, soy sauced up tofu thingy. I really don't know the name of it, but it rocked.

Except the recipe never was written down. So I had to wing it. This is what I think the recipe was. But it may not have been? I don't know...

(Disclaimer: Since I don't know the best way to write a recipe - because, let's be real, I never read them - the way this is written may be annoying. Sorry ahead of time. But this dish had four parts, so that's how I'm splitting it up because that's how it makes sense to me.)

(Also - there aren't any specific measurements in this. We do everything "to taste"... meaning "a lot." Bryant likes to have leftovers, so I always try to make a ton of everything.)

Tomato/Soy Sauce Mixture of Goodness Part:

• tomatoes chopped/diced
• red onion
• cucumber sliced
• cilantro
• small sweet peppers (red, orange, & yellow)
• soy sauce (we use low sodium)
• (You could add other peppers too... like jalepenos or thai chili peppers or something if you like heat.)

Nothing in this part was cooked. Everything was diced/chopped into relatively small pieces and then drowned in soy sauce. Once done, I set aside to let the flavors settle and marinade for a while.

(Did that last sentence make it sound like I know what I'm doing??) 

(Because I don't.)

Quinoa Part:

(My MIL's original recipe used rice instead)

• however many cups you want to make (I used 3 cups so we had leftovers)
• double the cups of water, so 6 for you non-math folks

Throw quinoa and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Lower temperature to low-medium for 15-ish minutes, or until the quinoa is fluffy and not watery anymore. Get that simmer going.

I mix regular and red quinoa together, hence the red in this

Green Part: 

• coconut oil
• an entire extra large container of fresh spinach
• one bushel of kale (or more... whatever works! Remember, we love our kale around here)
• minced garlic
• garlic powder
• pepper
• 1 lime

I heated the oil on low-medium and then threw all the greens in together, tossed some garlic in, peppered and powdered it (to taste, I guess). Then I squeezed a whole lime over it.  I cooked it like this until the greens were soft and bright green. 

(This portion of the recipe almost didn't make it to the end because I kept eating it from the pan. Oops!)

Tofu Part:

*Alright people, I know most of you probably don't like tofu. BUT this fabulously vegan and uber-healthy meal could be made a little less fabulously vegan and uber-healthy if you substituted chicken or something here.... if, of course, you didn't want to be fabulously vegan and uber-healthy.  BUT... for those who have issues with the texture of tofu - because honestly, it doesn't have much flavor, so I don't buy that excuse - I cooked this tofu more crispy. More like a little tofu-y chicken nugget, if you will. Anyway, I encourage you to give it a try. This is my absolute FAVORITE way to eat tofu. :-)

• extra firm block of tofu
• chili powder
• pepper
• salt
• vegetable oil

The tofu needs to be drained and then squished with a paper towel to get any extra moisture out. From there I sliced it up into bite size pieces. Then I brushed a little bit of oil on them and seasoned with salt, pepper and chili powder. I stuck them on parchment paper (since cleaning pans suck) in the oven (400 degrees) for 10-12 minutes. I then flipped them over (with a little more seasoning on the other side) for another 10-12 minutes. 

Once everything was finished, the last thing to do was combine and enjoy!! I think we've added sunflower seeds to the top before, as well.

Let me know if any of y'all try this and what you think! My mama (who is NOT a tofu-y type person) loved it!

Thanks MIL for the recipe!!

1. Quinoa
2. Greens

3. Spoon tomato concoction with soy sauce over greens 

4. Add tofu

An Ode to Weeman: 5 Signs My Dog May Need Pet Therapy

Meet Weeman.

He's our 10(ish) year old extreme rescue mutt.

I say "extreme" mutt, because... well, the muddied bloodlines of this mutt are indeed just that - extreme. There is no pool of clarity on what breeds may or may not be thrown into the waters here. Every vet (or self-proclaimed dog expert) we've inquired of has proclaimed Weeman carries a mix of a multitude of different breeds.

Yes - a mix of a multitude.

Nobody agrees on just a breed or two. So we're going to assume he has them all. All the breeds.

Art credit to: Hyperbole & a Half

Anyway, as I was saying...

Meet Weeman. Weeman has an issue.

His issue is that he has ALL the issues.

This dog is so dag-gum awkward and weird, it's embarrassing. And a lot of people think he's cross eyed.

(Which he is not. His eyes are just set closely together. So there.)

Anyway, here are the 5 signs that showed me Weeman probably needs some Zoloft. If your dog suffers from any or all of these, you may need to seek some professional help, as well.

1) He shivers and shakes when you look at him.
2) He shivers and shakes when you don't look at him.
3) He finds the most awkward and uncomfortable positions to lay in.
4) He sits in corners for hours, not making eye contact.
5) He sits in corners for hours, not breaking eye contact.  

But I do want to go on record and state that Weeman is a phenomenal kid dog.

But not your kids.

Just mine.

He loves McKenna and Meda to death. Every time Meda cries, he rushes to her door and waits for me to get there... or he'll come (shaking, of course) to get me. And you'll notice, in many of McKenna and Meda's pictures, Weeman is photobombing somewhere.

So he's a good dog. (Sometimes). But he's a socially awkward dog. (All the time.)

Here's to you, Weeman. You officially have made it to your own little slice of the inter webs because of your weirdness.

Kale Jenga

Are you sitting down? You'd better do it, if not.

I cooked dinner again the other night. But this time, for real. 

I know... good thing you took a seat.

So, as I was saying, I got a wild hair up the rear and decided to throw some veggies in a skillet to see what happened.

Here's what met its final destination in my belly.

• Big ole scoop of coconut oil to lather up the pan (mainly because I love the smell)
• Roughly 3/4 of a large, but sort-of small onion
• A few cloves of garlic.... I think I used 3? Maybe? I don't remember.
• A bunch of small sweet peppers
• 4-6 baby portabella mushrooms
• 1 extra large, honkin' zucchini 
• pepper
• salt
• rosemary 

Because I lack creativity in the culinary arts, I wasn't quite sure what to do with all the veggies once they were done, so in another pot went, what else? Spaghetti noodles.

After the noddles started cooking, at the last minute I chopped up a tomato and a little, some, quite a bit, colossal load of kale to go in, as well.
(Three bushels, to be exact. Not a Costco sized bushel, though. We're Kroger stock holders around here, so whatever size Kroger bushels tend to be are the size we used.)
(I'm pretty good at this whole measurement thing, aren't I?)

(PS - Don't you need to go pick up some extra sugar or something at Kroger after you read this? Just a friendly and totally non-biased reminder.)

If you aren't able to tell from the above picture, the cooking adventure became quite the strategic game of Kale Jenga. That's a 13 1/4 inch cast iron skillet, people. We don't play game when it comes to kale around here.

Though no worries, I won.

(What can I say? We love our kale.)

So once it all cooked, I put a tiny bit of marina sauce (to make it taste more like spaghetti, of course) and voilà! 

Our dinner of kale and a side of veggies and noodles was served. 

And everybody liked it...

(I think...)

And everybody lived.... 

(Despite a couple times where the smell of burning noodles and kale overtook the kitchen and emergency personnel were almost dialed. But don't worry - I can count on only one hand the number of times I had to reach for my phone to almost call in reinforcements. No big deal.)

And the best part? I didn't have to clean after.

Booyah.

Join me in a Stalker Fest!

If you're like me, you easily get caught up in stalking reading of blogs online. There are lots of interesting people out there. I thought I'd do a quick run down on some of my favorite blogs to stalk follow that post regularly.

(For the record, these are not the only ones I follow, but some of the ones that popped into my mind immediately. If you want a complete list of who I follow, check out Bloglovin.)


Hyperbole and a Half
One word. Hysterical. She just recently published her first book and it was awesome. Her blog is filled with comics about her life and experiences. And her blog is the birth place of the ALOT monster.

The Matt Walsh Blog
And here's the controversial blog. Matt Walsh is a former radio DJ that stirred things up a bit when he posted about SAHMs. I love his straightforward, sometimes sarcastic, and always unforgiving style of sharing thoughts and opinions. Probably because I tend to agree with him on his "controversial" topics.

A Bowl Full of Lemons
This blog makes me swoon with envy at her completely organized and clean home. Not to mention her home is beautiful. Quite a few of her posts have helped me de-clutter my cluttered, but not as cluttered anymore life. :-) (Follow all that?) Since I started following this site, the blog has grown from a 1 man operation to an entire community and organizing team. It's pretty awesome.

Tuttle Tales
This is my sister's blog, and while she doesn't post on a regular basis (just like her older sister), she does post some pretty stellar pics of my adorable niece and nephew. They live in Missouri on 80 acres and I live my wanna-be cowgirl life vicariously through them.

Denim & Dots
A New Mexican turned Seattleite turned New Yorker, Amy Reh is a former sorority sister of mine who's a fashion guru that shares fashion ideas & recipes often. She and I went to high school together and sang in the "legendary" LCHS choir, once upon a time. (Note: "legendary" is a loosely used-term in the preceding sentence.)

Single Infertile Female
I've been following SIF for a few years. It was one of the first blogs I ever read, actually. I was suckered in by not only her intriguing story, but also her wit and blatantness about... well, everything. Since then, we've become what I would call "online friends" and she's actually now my book's developmental editor. Pretty cool, if you ask me. BUT... she just put out there that she's putting an expiration date on her blog. SIF will no longer exist after December of this year. GASP! To which I say...

Simple Life of Delta Daises
A Memphis lifestyle blogger. She's a teacher and most often posts about fashion and some recipes. She is super cute and seems super sweet. We've talked about getting together a couple times, but it just hasn't happened yet. Hopefully soon... she's probably heard the truth about me and is staying as far away as possible.

Simply Smithwick
Another Memphis blogger. I've met Caroline a few times and she's super sweet. We met through the running community and then over our children's mutual enrollment at The Little Gym. Very cool girl who shares about her new embarkment on Mommyhood, among other things.

Big Mama and Boo Mama Blogs.
These two sweet, southern ladies CRACK ME UP. Boo Mama (aka Sophie Hudson) wrote one of my fav books out there right now and Big Mama (aka Melanie Shankle) wrote another of my fav books on motherhood. They even have a podcast together and it always makes for a good time.

Landee See Landee Do
Because I'm such a crafty person (ummm.... not....) I decided to start following Landee a while back just because she makes pretty things. With her blog, I was able to look at pretty things in the pretty pictures she posted. (Swoon.) After a while, I got tired of just looking and decided to try my hand at a couple of them. (Anyone remember the random wreath post?) And it worked. So, if I can make something pretty, just like Landee, then you definitely can!

The Southern Wife
A fellow Memphis runner, Christin is another lifestyle and running themed blog. We've hung out together a few times and we both enjoy a nice glass of wine and wearing running shoes. Oh, and if I recall correctly, she also has an appreciation for ABC's The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.


*for the record, I received nothing in return for this post... I just wanted to share who I'm stalking keeping up with these days.