Total Take-out TGIF

Day 17 with a headache now....let's just say that my plans for this week were pretty much crushed.
I didn't feel like cooking tonight (nor doing the dishes! hehehe) so I ordered a poutine and an awesome chef's salad!
OH but guess what......

I'M GOING TO SAO MIGUEL!!!!!!!! 

 (Azores Island!)

My family (dad's side) is from that island. We still have the house there. 

The house is the one with the Palm tree in the front. 

On the first picture it's second house on the left 

and on the second picture it's on the bottom right.

I'm going with Erik, my uncle and aunt, Avo (grandmother), cousin and her boyfriend and my dad....and possibly my other uncle and aunt.
I was gonna bring my daughter but so many people told me i shouldn't cause she so young and Id appreciate the trip a lot more if she wouldn't be there...not cause she wouldn't be there, but i'd be more free to do whatever we wanna do...besides, we'll go back when she's older and can appreciate the trip back to her roots!! hehehe!

Peace!! <3

"What's with Today, today?" Spinach dish

What a day!

This is how my morning started!

- My daughter woke up at 5:15 am (I had finally fallen asleep at midnight!)  and would NOT go back to bed, so I brought her in our bed.

- Where she proceeded to whack her head exactly where it's been A Hurting Real Bad ! (Russell Peters!)

 Russell Peters

- Erik, then burnt himself on the coffee machine

- Then, as soon as he was gone, Clara whipped herself on the eye lid with Erik's Work pass ID thingny

- Who then I wanted to inform immediately that his pass was here and not lost....Knocked my toe on the side of the wall

- Then I realize I need to do my morning business, While washing my hands, All I hear is PONKCH-PONKCH! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

- Turn around....Clara boinked the back of her head on the tub and ricocheted on the toilet bowl...POOR BABY!!!!!

- Picked her up and proceeded out the door and right before I got out, knocked Clara glass bottle of the bathroom counter onto my other food (then the walls victim from above)

- Sat down at the table, gave her a cheerio (I've been doing that for 2 MONTHS NOW!!) SHE CHOKES...

 Why?!

I then called Erik, told him about my morning, hung up, called my MKL (mommykins-in-law), told her the swimming was off due to this bad Mojo following my little family today and just held on to my daughter until lunch.

From that moment, my day was Fantabulous!! 

I got a surprise, my boyfriend was in a good mood, 

I took a walk with MKL and Clara, went to the Health store,

got some great info on different supplements, Clara was an ANGELLLL ****,

walked by home in the great weather, played in the snow with Baby for the first time,

she ate snow for the first time, made some realll healthy supper, 

worked on my Zumba Choreography I'll be teaching next week and simply hang out at the end of the day!!!!!

For supper I made

Tilapia

spinach

canned diced tomatoes

balsamic vinegar

zucchini

onion

garlic

hot pepper paste

 Photo taken form Foodie Hunter

Cooked together and served on cheese Tortelinis!!

Peace <3

Cream of leek soup and Cheddar cheese pretzel

 For a while now, I`ve been wanting to to make Cheese pretzel sticks and cream of leek soup.

I FINALLY did it tonight.

Picture take from this Blog

Olive Oil

3 leeks, white parts only (Tonight I used 5)

2 potatoes (I add 1 for every extra leek)(Tonight I used 4)

Vegetable or chicken broth Or simply water

a pinch of salt

Cut Leeks and potatoes in chunks.

Heat Olive Oil.

Add leeks and potatoes.
Stir until all veggies are covered in oil.
Add salt.
Add enough broth or water to level with the veggies.
Cook until potatoes are tender.
Blend the soup to make a unctuous cream. (Blend parts at a time because the contents are realllly hot)

To accompany this soup, I made these Yummy yummies.

 Picture taken from Annie's Blog



These are not the ones I made... hehehe ...I couldn't take a picture cause the battery for my camera was charging and We couldn't wait to eat 'em!!!

2 things I`ll do differently next time: 

#1 - I will not use whole wheat flour. It tasted great but I wanted the "pretzel" look.
#2 - I will not make these when my daughter is clingny...

This is a repeat recipe for sure!
It was easy to make, it didn't take more than 1/2 hour.
It was MM mm good!!! :o)

Peace <3

Bean Salad for lunch

 I made this Bean Salad for lunch today: 

1 can of mixed beans
vinegar + Olive Oil
celery salt + garlic powder
1/4 red onion + Mixed Italian herbs
a handful each of fresh coriander & crushed mixed nuts
1 squeezed Lemon wedge

I topped a handful of greens and drizzled some Balsamic vinegar on top..

Quick and easy lunch!!

Pizza Bites and soup night

So yesterday, my friend Marie-Claude and I decided to try these Pizza Bites from Annie's Eats .
We used her pizza crust recipe (we used active dry yeast instead of instant yeast and it worked great) and made the pizza sauce she suggested.

In general, I thought it was an awesome recipe. But there were mistakes made and changes I'll make next time I try this recipe...cause OH YES! It will be made again!!

Here aresome of the changes I'll make and some mistakes:

Mistake #1 : The Pizza Bites recipe requires only half a dough batch to make 20 to 24 bites...well...we forgot that detail and made 24 bites with the whole batch...when we could of made 48 bites!! Needless to say, Mistake #2 followed.

Mistake #2: The Filling to dough ratio was way off! hahaha !!!

Mistake #3: The green olives we added to the stuffing were really bland. (we stuffed them with cheese and green olives)

Change #1: I will be adding GARLIC to these glorious bites! And maybe Chorizo, or shrimp, or Brie, or...aaaaaah the ideas!!!! :o)

Change #2: The Pizza sauce. I did not like it at all. It was lacking in flavors and it tasted only of tomatoes. So next time I'll probably just use some garlic sauce or some pesto sauce or pizza sauce.........

As for the soup, well we had:

Chicken broth
Chicken Left over
Carrots
Frozen Yellow beans
Frozen Edamame
Zucchini
Mushrooms
Red onions
Celery
1 can Tomato soup
Potatoes
a VARIETY a herbs and spices I had at home
and lots of love :o)

Have a Good sunday every body

Peace <3

YUMMY Maple Pork

This is a family favorite!

I try to make AT LEAST once a month.

It's SO easy to make!!

Simply put all ingredients in the slow cooker, leave it for 4hrs /high temperature or 8hr /low temp.
Then, ENJOY!

You will need:

1/3 cup of Grainy Dijon

2/3 cup of maple syrup

about 1 cup of water

good size pork roast.

Mix the Dijon and the maple syrup. 

Put Pork roast in the cooker.

Pour the water over the roast.

Cover the pork with the Dijon/syrup mix.

Place cover on top of cooker and leave for 4hrs (High) to 8 hrs (Low).

Serve with Little potatoes cut in half and steamed vegetables.

#6 (new recipe) Butter Chicken

Ok so I discovered this recipe through Kathy's Kitchen (AWESOME BLOG!!!!) http://kitchenkathy.blogspot.com
I highly recommend you check it out.
She has inspired me to start cooking/baking again!!!!!

So a big THANK YOU to her!!! :o)

Here is the recipe I tried and LOVED!
http://kitchenkathy.blogspot.com/2010/04/butter-chicken.html

The only thing I did differently is:

The onions and ginger. I put 1/2 the ginger recommended in with the sauce and the other half I cooked with the onions. It's taste is more distinct, that's all! :o)

Oh and I served it with some broccoli.

My 11 1/2 month old daughter LOVED IT!

Even as left overs this meal is fantabulous!

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!

#88 Zumba instructor training DONE!!!

I DID IT!!!!


 I NEVER, EVER would of thought that me, Gen, the girl who was told in 6th grade she was too fat to be in the dance show, would be a ZUMBA FITNESS INSTRUCTOR!!!

On January 15th, 2011, I completed the challenge with Sophie. We started the day at 8am and danced our way to 6pm!!

I am extremely happy and proud of myself for accomplishing this. I was SO scared to be judged, ridiculed, laughed at...you name it, it frightened me. I didn't have the confidence to accomplish such a physical task.

I didn't want to do it, but Sophie REALLY wanted to go and didn't want to go alone so she "convinced" me to go with her and as a Christmas gift, my in-laws got me registered!!!

Now, I know I can do it. I may not be a little girl, but I have the stamina, the heart and the passion to do what ever I want in life.

 This is Sophie, Jaime :Hi-Me" Farfan our Instructor and me!

Thanks Tiana for introducing me to such a fun life.
Thank you Sophie for "forcing" me to go along with you at the training.
Thank you In-laws for the Christmas gift.
Thank you Erik for loving me.
Thank you Clara for giving the will to take care of myself and to be happy.
and
Thank you me for not backing out!!! :o)

I love life

Peace <3