Friday 26 August 2011

Recipe Time: Better than Boring Pasta

Hi Bloggies, it's been a few days.  I am on the last day of my maternity leave and my head is all over the map and I need some time to sort out what I am feeling before I post about that.  What I have opted to share with you is my spin on the Carbonara.  While most North Americans believe the carbonara is heavy and creamy, it's not.  The basic recipe is olive oil, an egg, garlic and a little pancetta.  Salty and garlicy and yummy.  I however feel the need to add colour so I tend to add a lot of veggies (to my Italian husband's cries "This is not a carbonara"! ) It's a really fast pasta meal, loaded in veggies that just makes me and my tummy sing.  So here is what you will need:

Your favourite 450g bag of pasta.  (I use penne a lot because I can get it whole grain and it's easier for my little girl to eat.)
4 tbsp olive oil (good quality stuff as this is your sauce)
5-6 Garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 small onion, chopped
Something salty by way of prosciutto, pancetta, bacon etc. (A local deli would give you the ends of the meat for practically nothing if you ask.  You don't even need it sliced because you are just going to chop it finely.)  I would say about 200 grams or 5 slices of bacon.
5 white mushrooms, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 crown of broccoli, chopped
Something leafy green, I like kale, chopped
1 handful or two of frozen peas
1 large egg
6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Freshly grated Parmesan to taste

Firstly, get your pasta water going and boil your pasta according to package directions.

Then, in a large skillet, add olive oil and begin frying your garlic on medium heat.  After it gets a little fragrant add your proscuitto and onions.  Once the meat is crispy and the onions are translucent (about 3 minutes) start adding the rest of your veggies (except the leafy greens and  peas).  Once your veggies are nice and tender add your leafy green choice until they wilt.  Then throw in your peas to defrost but the remain sweet and tender.  Turn the heat off on your skillet.

By now your pasta should be cooked. Drain the pasta but keep a cup of the pasta water before you strain the pasta.  Just in case you  need to loosen the dish up a bit.  I use a really large skillet, this way I add the pasta directly into the veggie mixture.  Crack your egg on top of the pasta and begin to gently turn the pasta into the veggie mixture.  The egg should coat all the pasta and give it a silky texture.  The heat from the pasta will cook the egg.  If you feel as though your pasta doesn't gently slip around the skillet add a little of your starchy pasta water.  Just a dash at a time, until it is just how you like it.  Toss in your chopped basil and Parmesan and serve this beauty of a dish up.  And this time I remembered pictures folks.  I am getting better.  Super fast and a so satisfying.  Enjoy.

Monday 15 August 2011

Recipe Time: Sweet Potatoes and Carrots with Chickpeas

Well bloggies I think it's time to share a favourite slow cooker recipe.  This will definitely be used a lot come fall when I am back in the office.  I like this recipe because I can prepare it the night before and you can't really over cook it:

Start by greasing your slow cooker stoneware

Then you will need:

2 Sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 Carrots, peeled and sliced
1 can crushed pineapple, drained with 1/4 cup juice set aside
2 tbsp brown sugar

Topping
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup veg stock
Salt and pepper to taste

In your greased stoneware combine sweet potatoes, carrots and pineapple.  In a small bowl combine reserved pineapple juice and brown sugar.  Add to stoneware and mix well.

Topping:  In a foodprocessor or with a hand blender process chickpeas with broth, garlic until mixture is combined but chickpeas are chunky. Season with salt and pepper.  Spread mixture over sweet potato mixture.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

Sometimes I have also been known to add some leafy green, usually kale, for the last 30 minutes of cooking time. Just chop and stir it all into your mixture (no longer looks as pretty but you get some good nutrients from the green power).  Frozen peas work nicely too. For this addition I just put a handful in the bottom of individual bowls and laddle the sweet potato mixture on top.  The heat thaws the peas quickly.

Add some grilled pita or a crusty loaf of bread and you are set.  Crumbled feta also cuts the sweetness nicely too or a little balsamic drizzled on the bowl.

This recipe is courtesy of Judith Finlayson.  Her slowcooker recipes are the best.  They never taste like mush and she doesn't use prepared canned soups so your meals aren't loaded with nasty amounts of sodium.  http://judithfinlayson.com/index.html .  Really, check out some of her books at the library.  She's worth the time and the effort is pretty minimal.  The reward is some pretty fast, healthy and tasty meals.

I hope you give this a shot and enjoy the meal.

Saturday 13 August 2011

Getting Fit: Post Pregnancy

Well bloggers, here goes post number two that no one is reading.  I knew this would be more for myself than anyone else anyhow.  For some reason though I am feeling compelled to spew wisdom (loosely used and full of sarcasm) about someone's fitness ideals post pregnancy. 

Before I was pregnant I would work out 5-6 times a week.  My addiction was a hard core spin class.  The high I would get after pushing my body that hard for an hour was unbelievable.  After I got pregnant, I had to go down to 3-4 times per week.  If I wanted to go more than that I would have had to visit with a sports medicine doctor regularly and the idea of fitting in more medical appointments into my busy schedule was a no-go for me.  So I worked out a little less, did a pre-natal yoga class and just took my dog on longer walks to make up the difference.  The results for me were fantastic.  I gained less than 25 lbs and my whole labour and delivery story was 3 hours.  My little girl came out weighing a perfect 7lbs 4 ounces.  Big enough for her to be healthy and strong and not too big to cause me any damage.

So here I was in lala land thinking once Gracie was 12 weeks old I would stick her in my gym daycare and I would get back on the bike.    Bloody hell my daughter, like her mommy, was a snacker.  She would nurse often but in small doses.  I would have to wait 20 minutes or so before I offered her the second breast.  She just wouldn't want it right away.  And of course, even though I had a freezer full of milk, she wouldn't take a bottle.  I hated the softness of body but I was too tired to care most times.  Then slowly, when she hit about 5 months I made it to my first class, but I was still barely fitting in one class a week.  I was still walking everywhere and I was wearing all my own clothes by the time little girl was 2 weeks old, I just didn't feel right.  I kept sobbing about it to my husband, and honestly folks it wasn't a vanity thing.  I just wanted to feel strong again.  My body was something that I always depended on and it never let me down, and now I just felt like this awful shell of a human being.  And then it happened.  I said screw it.  This first year still isn't about me.  It's about my Belle.  She's building up stores of iron, and learning how to eat  and I need to be as gentle and kind to myself as my friends and family were being with me.  So what if I am not as fast as I used to be.  It'll come back.  I'll make the time when my Belle can eat square meals and not need me as much.  She's almost a year old and it is easier to take her to the gym now, so I do.

I also was fortunate enough to have a kind friend who's a pharmacist that pulled me aside during one of my I hate how my body feels moment to kindly remind me that my Belle was taking all my iron.  Even though I eat really well I knew she was right.  I had low iron before I got pregnant and have had issues with my iron for over 15 years.  Taking an iron supplement was more than helpful.

What isn't cool is a few fitness instructors and so called friends who say stuff like "so-and-so had a baby too and is here all the time".  Well what they fail to realize is "so-and-so" has family close by to watch their baby, I have no one.   Secondly, my gym daycare is great but I have to pay separately for that.   When you go on maternity leave every penny is accounted for and on top of my monthly membership fee I am paying $4 for parking and $10 for daycare each time I work out.  Seriously, add that up and I would be paying an additional $170/mos just to go 3 times a week. Even if I bought my Belle the $40 monthly pass, with parking I would still be paying and additional $88/month to work out 3 times per week.   If you are fortunate enough to be in a situation where that is something your family budget can accommodate I am really happy for you, but it's  not something we can all do.  So you know what people who tell me others manage to work out more than me, back off.  My social and fitness life has a budget and I have to make due.

I was in my favourite spin class yesterday morning, and the instructor is a beautiful woman who is 37 weeks pregnant herself.  There I was sweating, pushing and barely breathing and I was staring at myself in the mirror, thinking your body is gorgeous enjoy this moment.  Who cares if you won't be here again until 3 days from now.  You will be here again, don't worry about exactly when.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Six months to clear the fog

My first blog entry and I have decided to fill it with something that no one will share about motherhood.  I hated the first six months of being a mother and spent most of my time going what the hell was I thinking.  I used to love my life.  I had a great job, worked with creative, caring and wonderful people.  A hot husband with a steamy sex life and we traveled whenever we wanted to.  I traded it all in to become a bloody cow every two hours with nipples so severely cracked that I was in pain and bleeding most of the time.  I couldn't even complain about lack of sleep because my 100% breastfed daughter slept through the night by 8 weeks.  Even before that she was giving 4 hour chunks at night.  (I know lucky bitch, what are you complaining about).  I think my mom said it best.  She had me at 18 years old, and she just adored having me in her life right from the start.  I waited until I was 32 and by then I had developed such a strong sense of self that I resented the intrusion my daughter brought to my life.  How did this resentment shift ? Living in Toronto provided me with a life line I didn't know I would need desperately.
Living and Learning with Baby brought to you by Toronto Public Health was just what I needed.  http://www.toronto.ca/health/parenting/living_learning.htm  As you get older it's difficult to extend your circle of friends in a meaningful way.  I have wonderful supportive friends who were also having babies but I wasn't geographically close to them.  Joining this group provided access to public health nurse weekly and I met an incredible group of women about my age going through the same thing as me.  I am an older mommy, who wants to be perfect in everything I do without a clue of what to do when I doubt my choices.  My group consists of a family doctor, flight attendant, dietitian, social worker, not-for-profit event planner, Brazilian IT consultant, legal assistant, high school teacher, marketing professional and me, an adult education portfolio manager.  When would I ever have a chance to be with such diverse and exceptional women?  These women provide me with support when I feel as though I am failing miserably at what everyone and their dog claims to be the 'most important job in the world'.  Motherhood is important but at times it does lack mental stimulation. (Seriously, I found myself recounting to my husband how many poopy diapers my daughter had)  I am not sure how long these women will be in my life, but for the past year they have been critical to my confidence in learning how to do this new job.

I will be heading back to work shortly and I am terrified of handing over the day-to-day care of my daughter to someone else.  But it's also a job I don't think that I want full time so I have to accept that someone else will be doing it and probably not the way I would like.   I think having my daughter matured me in a way I didn't know I was capable of. It took me about 6 months to feel as though I was doing better than treading water and now I am starting to feel like I love her for who she is not just because I am supposed to love her. This has been the steepest learning curve of my life.

Now bring on the rest, I'll try and get ready for it...