First Giveaway!

Hey blogettes!

Thank you so much for your kind words on my last post. I truly appreciated everyone’s commentary, I could tell that you all put a lot of thought in your comments. and I concluded that I want to keep blogging fun. That is my number one priority. I hope to gain more readers and I would love to ignite interesting conversations in blog land, but at the end of the day I need to enjoy this process. In the past I haven’t been the best about replying to comments, which I will definitely begin to do because I get the most insightful comments sometimes and I’d really like the dialogue on certain issues to continue. So I’ll just keep doing my thing and hope that you guys like what ya see!

I’ve been getting my Chobani on lately:

This was my attempt at a waffle. I always make my own waffles, but I saw this multi grain mix and thought it would be good for a weekday morning. Except it turned out more like a pancake. It’s cool, I like pancakes, but I was craving a crispy waffle. I topped this deflated waffle baby with bluberry chobs, frozen raspberries, sliced banana, and coconut.

This morning I was going to make a decadent oatmeal creation until I learned that one of the girls needed to bring in a baked goodie for her class but failed to tell anyone. I was asked to bake something and bring it to her school before noon, only I planned on hanging out with a friend on the windward side and I wanted to leave asap after dropping off Silvino. So at 7 am I DEAB aka Dropped Everything and Baked. I decided to make Ghiradelli brownie mix cupcakes because they would cool much faster than pan brownies. In forty minutes I concocted the following:

Is there a Baking Olymics? If so I’d totally be eligible for that.
Anyway due to the olymic games that occurred in the kitchen this morning, I had less time for my planned indulgent breakfast creation (the horror!) so I got my Chob on again:

Which I used to make this:

A breakfast parfait with honey chobani, hemp plus granola, and sliced banana (ps loved the granola, it’s probably at a health store bulk bin near you).

After three Chobanis I have included that Chobani is the perfect Greek yogurt if the intense thickness of Fage and Oikos is too much for you, as was the case for me when I first tried Greek yogurt. It’s like the GY gateaway drug–it’s a nice thick step up from standard yogurt but not quite as hardcore as other brands. I really like how smooth it is, and will definitely be purchasing it on my own. I can’t wait to try the other flavors!

Plus I have to respect a company that really goes out of their way to create a positive costumer experience. Morgan at Chobani was quick to respond to my emails, sent the Chobanis in less than a week of our correspondence (in a refrigerated case! It’s no joke sending yogurt all the way to Hawaii!), and offered my readers a giveaway!

Comment on this post for one entry, and mention the giveaway on your blog for another entry. I’ll close the entries at Tuesday on midnight EST (this is important as I’m six hours behind the east coasters!) and announce the winner on Wednesday.

In other news…

Today I had no idea what to have for dinner when I remembered that I had a few TJ peanut butter filled pretzels left and some tofu begging to be eaten. I remembered that Caroline posted a recipe for pretzel coated tofu. It involves coating sliced tofu in a dijon mustard/agave mixture and then dredging the slices in crushed pretzels and baking at 375 for 20 minutes. Honestly I didn’t have very high expectations, I thought it would be a bit bland, but I had no other ideas, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

How silly! It was delicious! The mustard/agave combo gave a sweet, spicy mellow flavor to the tofu and I loved the peanut butter pretzel crunch. A definite must try! I had broccoli in soy sauce/hot sauce and grapes on the side. (btw the kitchen lighting is crap…apologies)

I’ve been eating broccoli on the daily (thanks costco bag) so I was getting a little tired of it. Though hot sauce and soy sauce sounds like a simple combo, it really made the broccoli pop, and I really enjoyed it.

Alright must be off, I just got back from an hour+ walk (after running the past two days) and I have a few things to do before I go to bed. Which includes some happy baby yoga posing on my bed while listening to music. My thighs will be very happy. Don’t forget about the getaway to get your own Chobani loot!

A toute a l’heure!
Maya

Choice

Being a full time nanny is very different from occasional baby sitting.

The occasional baby sitter benefits from the sense of novelty. If the child knows the baby sitter well, he/she looks forward to her/his visits–the baking treats, the special bag of tchotchkes, story time. But a full time nanny has to deal with a lot of the not so fun activities. Getting up for school. Cleaning the child’s room. Homework.

Granted, though I am a live in nanny, I technically get off work when the mom comes home, generally at 3 or 4. The older girls, with the occasional exception, generally take care of themselves, but the 6 year old Silvino? I need to chase after him about a lot of things, often telling him 5-10 times before something gets done.

This of course is typical of children (heck, my mom still has to tell me several times to do something, too). But it gets exhausting day in and day out. Yelling is ineffectual, plus I downright cringe at doing so. So lately I’ve been thinking about ways to get Silvino to cooperate.

I read in the New York Times an article about unconditional love. Silvino isn’t my son, but I think it’s still important for him not to feel obliged to do something because otherwise I’ll withhold affection. Who wants children who only do what you want because they hear your nagging voice in the back of their heads? So I’ve set up an incentive system of sorts–if Silvino listens (for the most part) and does as he is told he gets a star for the day. Stars mean several things, but the ultimate prize is a treat at the end of the week.

Despite the incentives, Silvino does not get a star every day. We’re making progress. It’s about the baby steps here, people.

I mostly eat my vegetables, with lots of love. But some days, I’d rather have anything but my veggies. Enter a few incentives:

I topped my steamed broccoli with tomato basil sauce and dipped white sweet potato cheetahs (welcome back into my life lovers!) in ketchup, hummus, and Naturally More peanut butter.

I needed all the veggie incentives in the form of dipping sauces I could get. I also baked some tofu a la Gliding Calm in a soy sauce/mustard/agave sauce. The hind of sweet, spicy, and salty worked very well.

With these incentivies for your veggies, the choice to go for the veg is obvious!

In other news, my morning was spent watching these buggers:

I help out at a local yoga studio in exchange for classes, and today I baby sit while the wee ones’ moms were vinyasa-ing. And yes, Mr. Blondie fell asleep on my lap, he was kind of hard to move! The girl doesn’t look too happy in the photo, but she was totally boogying to some grooves afterwards, she’s so cute! I returned to the studio for some Ashtanga in the p.m.–hopefully yoga is enough cross training for my marathon schedule!

What are some of your tactics for baby sitting? Have any tips?

A toute a l’heure!
Maya

Look Ma! All veggies!

I became a vegetarian at the tender age of 4.

I would like to think that it was 100% ethically motivated, but the truth is I don’t remember ever eating meat, or making the switch to vegetarianism. According to my mom, I ate meat and then one day I didn’t.  Her theory is that I made the connection between the chicken I would hear about in say my bedtime story and the chicken that was served for dinner. Some would say that it was probably due to the taste of meat. But in defense of my young self, I did go against my taste buds for ethical reasons for one of my favorite foods. I used to love hot dogs. Absolutely loved them. I did not know, however, that they were meat derived and my parents were glad to see me consume a little protein. I still clearly remember the day when my friend told me, at the age of 5, that hot dogs are meat. I haven’t had a hot dog since.

Here’s the thing though–I was a vegetarian who didn’t like vegetables. Or much of anything, really. I ate mainly Kraft macaroni and cheese, Ramen noodle soup, and pizza. My parents had to pack boxes of the neon orange pasta on our trips to Chile. We even brought mac n’ cheese to restaurants in tupperware containers. That’s how picky I was. The thought of it makes me shudder today.

But slowly I began adding vegetables and fruits to my diet. I remember it started with carrots, and then broccoli. Now one of my favorite things about visiting Chile is the food–fresh produce is available right outside my great grandma’s door and it is plentiful.

Luckily I had supportive parents who let me stick to my vegetarianism. I know many parents who do not let their kids pursue vegetarian lifestyles. My mom makes almost all of our meals (that is when I don’t cook for us!) and simply gives me everything but the meat. I owe my parents a lot for always letting me be who I am, and part of my identity is my vegetarianism.

I don’t particularly like the taste of meat, but I think that is out of pure habit. After being a vegetarian for almost your whole life, you don’t know any other way to live. And so much the better, as my current ethical stance on meat align with my eating preferences. I think it’s a more sustainable way to live as our global population soars to incredible heights. Not to mention the fact that many in the East, who only ate meat sparingly, are now adding more meat to their diets to mimic Western habits. The meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all SUVS, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined (source: GoVeg.com) Here are some other surprising facts from GoVeg:

• The official handbook for the Live Earth concerts says that “refusing meat” is the “single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.”³
• According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads.

• The University of Chicago reports that going vegan is 50% more effective than switching to a hybrid car in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

(In the past year I did add fish to my diet for both health reasons and convenience, as I was living in Belgium where my vegetarian lifestyle was hard to maintain. I found it to be a compromise that works well for me, and still eat fish occasionally. However, I do not eat chicken, beef, pork, etc)

Fortunately enough, now I can’t get enough vegetables! Evidence A: today’s lunch.

A salad beast with romaine, carrots, and broccoli.

To adorn my salad, I made one of my latest favorite dressings combos: hummus and balsamic.

I also thinned out the dressing with some of the broccoli cooking water.

Topped with a Morning Star veggie burger. This salad is proof that there is hope that even the pickiest youngsters can one day consume enough veggies to put even a rabbit to shame.

Are you a vegetarian/have you ever been a vegetarian? What do you think about it from a health/eco/animal cruelty standpoint?

This was the perfect lunch after a long swim…in the ocean! Rarely do I swim as a workout, and I’ve never swum in the ocean purely for exercise. This was my first excursion to the beach without my friends or the kids I nanny, and it was glorious. I swum in the waves for about an hour, and I love the fact that it’s an all body workout. I was a bit jealous of all the surfers, this beach is the PERFECT beach for surfing, and many were out to take advantage of the waves! Hopefully I will join their ranks soon enough, I plan on taking a lesson as soon as I can!

A toute a l’heure!

Maya