Tasty Tuesday- Grilling Fruit

I'm wondering if I should have labeled today Temper Tuesday... I have been really ornery today and I have no idea why (and no, it is not that time of the month...). It hasn't helped that it is the middle of vacation and Yar always tries to test (bad!) her boundaries when it is just the two of us for any period of time. For heaven's sake, I found out that she had wiped boogers all over her bedroom wall! Eww! (as we speak, she is currently scrubbing the porch to help "take care of our house")
Today hasn't been the best for breaking out the cookware and whipping up something amazing, but I couldn't leave the blog hanging AGAIN.

So, I'm breaking out my new found love: Grilled fruit

Why had I never thought to put fruit on the grill?!? It is simply amazing! Riker had a Bobby Flay cook book when we first got married (I think it may have been his ONLY cookbook) and it had a section dedicated solely for fruit. I always breezed past it to get to the meat and potato recipes for dinners.

However, one night I had some nectarines lying around and I wanted to make something sweet, but relatively healthy for the kiddos as a treat. On a whim, I pulled out the book (FYI, I really hate Bobby Flay, but he DOES have some decent recipes). In it, I found a recipe for grilled apricots with yogurt. I figured I would just switch out the fruit. The first time I made it, I didn't want to go through all the trouble of heating up the gigantic grill for 3 nectarines, so I pulled out the Foreman.

Grilling nectarines on the Foreman was a decent idea if you don't have any other option, but cleaning up was a nightmare (I have an older model that doesn't have removable plates). So, the next night, we were grilling hamburgers and I decided to try again. Boy was I surprised!!

The nectarines became nice and soft and had a subtle smoky flavor with a nice carmel from the charred sugar naturally found in fruit. I topped each half with a big dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt, a slight drizzle of orange blossom honey and a sprinkle of walnuts. Sooo yummy!

Luckily, the kids liked it! Now I am all about finding fruits to toss on the grill when Riker gets the urge to light something on fire :)

Try it out, I promise you won't be disappointed!

Miscellaneous Monday- I'm going crazy

I have had an absolutely CRAZY August and September and I am SO glad it is over. I have been dealing with a lot of court stuff regarding a custody dispute over Data and Worf. My ex husband tried to claim that I was mentally unstable and shouldn't see my kids anymore, despite the fact that they have lived with me since we got divorced. I had to go through a full-blown psychiatric evaluation (surprise surprise, I'm NOT crazy) and a custody evaluation to determine what would be in our children's best interest (another shocker: they should stay here). On top of that, Data broke his arm while on summer vacation with his father and wound up needing surgery to repair it once he got home.

You notice the nice bend in his forearm?? Yeah, that's NOT supposed to be there. That was after being set and casted for THREE WEEKS by the idiots that his father took him to... Not a happy Mama Bear >:( Then, we had our "normal" craziness of school starting and numerous birthday parites (4 birthdays in one month!!).

September didn't get any better with Riker working a ridiculous number of hours in order to pay for our attorney in the aforementioned court nastiness as well as the rest of our bills. Then, we decided it would be best for our family to move to another house (a whole mini-saga in itself). I am super excited about the new place and all of the promise it has, but it was a rough move. Just a mere week later, Riker's sister got married and wanted Yar to be the flower girl (which I had to make a dress for)

AND wanted me to make her cake (4 tiers of yummy, stress-filled goodness), so yeah... Oh, and then Worf got a bad ear infection the day before he was supposed to go to his father's and I had to deal with the headache that came with trying to convince the man that it wasn't really best for Worf to be going on vacation to 6000 feet from sea level with serious fluid built up in his ears... (common sense apparently isn't all that common)

Yeah... I think I'm doing pretty well to still have my wits about me at this point.

So, now I am taking the day off. I haven't done a single routine thing all day today, apart from heating up leftovers and giving Geordi a bath. I have been pretty laid back and read a book, played with playdough (fyi, real playdough is SO much more fun to play with than the cheapy stuff), and updated my blog. I probably should make something for dinner, but I have no desire to be productive. Especially sitting on my couch surrounded by boxes that need to be unpacked, a yard that needs cleaning and decorations that need to be put up. I really am excited about doing those things, just not today. It doesn't help that it is wonderfully overcast today and I have an even stronger desire to curl up with Riker, my fuzzy leopard blanket and a cup of cocoa and call it a day. Too bad it isn't cold enough for me to convince Riker to light up the fireplace...

Weighty Wednesday-Facing the music

As you may have noticed, the postings are few and far between and there hasn't been much of anything regarding exercise. That's because there isn't any exercising going on. :/

I have been wearing my new shoes that I posted about last month, and while they definitely give my calves a workout, I'm not sure they are doing much else (they are still cute though!) and neither am I. I have been an absolute mess this month. Between 3 birthday parties, school starting, cub scouts, and court craziness, I'm lucky to still have hair.

On the walk home from school today, Yar turns to me and, out of the blue, says "Mom, when are you going to start exercising again?" I honestly didn't have an answer to that question... I keep thinking that I will start after the court stuff is sorted out, but that keeps getting pushed farther and farther away. In reality, if I say I'm not going to start until after court is settled, then I might as well say that I am not going to exercise until Worf turns 18. That is a REALLY long time...

I need to do SOMETHING. This is getting ridiculous. I just don't know where to start. I keep thinking that if I have a schedule, then it would be easier to fit exercise in regularly (along with housework, kids, and other commitments), but my schedule never seems to last for more than a few days. My willpower to get out of bed early is minimal at best. *sigh* I HAVE to change.

SO, I am starting over. New measurements, new goals.

Waist: 30 in
Hips: 38.5 in (holy crap! when did I lose that??)
Weight: 140 lbs
Body Fat: 32%

Goal: exercise at least twice this week.

Scrappy Saturday- Girl's bed canopy

Yar is currently obsessed with Tinkerbell and fairies. However, I don't want to succumb to the craziness that comes with buying decorations from a certain conglomerate company. You buy the comforter, the girl wants the sheets. You buy the sheets, she wants the wall decals. You buy the wall decals... you get the idea. So, I decided to go more with a floral theme, since Tink is always flying around in the flowers right? Needless to say, Yar was not happy with the fact that I wasn't going to go out and buy every single Tinkerbell thing ever made (yes, she even threw out the "my MOTHER decorated my room with Tinkerbell." Well, great. Now you already have a Tinkerbell room, so you can explore other options...). Even after seeing all the hard work I put into her room and how cute it turned out, she's still not entirely convinced (I'm sure that has to do with her void issues, which is a whole other story).

Anyway, I made these cute tissue paper flowers that I think were supposed to be dahlias, but turned out more like peonies. I hung them from the ceiling with fishing wire and thumb tacks. The bedding was from my younger sister, who is now married and has more "marriage friendly" bedding (what guy in their right mind would sleep on multi-colored floral bedding? Willingly mind you), and was kind enough to donate to the cause. I also put up a cute curtain that has multi-colored polka dots (yes there are a lot of colors and shapes in this room!) and some vinyl stickers in pink and green circles. It still seemed to be missing something. I figured that a canopy over the bed would add a touch of whimsy. Besides, I had wanted one for years as a kid (truth be told, I still want one...). Here's what I came up with:

So, I grabbed 4 old sheer curtains that I wasn't using anymore, but didn't have the heart to toss and started brainstorming. It wound up being SO simple. Before my husband tossed it out, I pulled the front frame off of our oscillating fan that died last week. I could have used a wreath form, and probably should have just due to the time it took to remove the stupid fan frame, but it was late at night and I was in craft mode (must... complete... craft...). I snipped the wire to allow for threading the curtains on and then wrapped the frame in ribbon to help the curtains not catch on anything. I put the curtains on and hot glued the ends of the frame back together. I then put two ribbons across the frame in a cross (between each curtain) and hung it up! Easy peasy! Aside from the fan frame, I think this project took all of 15 minutes. 20 if you count the ribbon wrapping. You could easily buy fabric instead. I just wanted to use up what I already had on hand.

Tasty Tuesday - Rhubarb Pie

It's days like today that I really miss my great grandma. Her birthday is just a few days before mine and I think of her often on my birthday (not to mention her birthday would have been yesterday). She died just a few weeks after my 15th birthday from cancer and I took it really hard. She was an amazing woman who I thought could take on anything. She had a strength and determination (some would call it sheer stuborness) in her that I have never been able to match. I have admired her (or the rose colored memory of her) for years, and know that she is watching over me and urging me on as I go through my life and try to live up to the great qualities she had.

So what does my great granma have to do with pie? Well, for my birthday each year, I make a rhubarb pie from her recipe. There are a number of reasons for this. 1) I make a lot of cakes for other people, so I am pretty tired of making cake by the time my birthday rolls around 2) with the sheer number of birthdays, anniversaries, and reunions in my family during August, I am sick of EATING cake and 3) my grandma's birthday is the day before mine, and we are the only people who really like rhubarb in our family, so we make a pie to share. (my grandma was her daughter. I'm not sharing a pie with a dead lady. I'm not THAT crazy...)

This year, I wasn't able to visit with my grandma, so I had to eat my pie by myself (and, yes, I ate the majority of it by myself... so much for losing weight!). It turned out so amazing this year, that I have to admit that it was probably the best pie I have ever made. Therefore I thought I would share it with you so you can have an aweome birthday (or any day) pie!

Nonie’s Rhubarb Pie

4 c rhubarb, chopped

1 ½ c sugar (I typically cut this amount in half because I like mine tart)

6 T flour

½ tsp salt

2 T butter

½ tsp orange zest

Double pie crust

Brush pastry w/ butter and chill

Mix sugar, orange zest, flour, salt. Mix in rhubarb.

Put in shell & dot w/ butter

Cover w/ top crust, crimp edges, vent

Bake at 450 F for 10 min

Lower to 350 F, cover edges of crust and bake for 45 min.

Enjoy!