This is probably going to be a bizarre collection of tidbits, but that's okay :) None of these really warranted their own post, but are all new things I've discovered that are making my life happier, so I thought I'd share.
I don't know about all of you, but even with only 2 people living here, I am amazed at how quickly the apartment becomes cluttered. I can spend hours one day a week really cleaning, and it lasts about 40 minutes. For a bit of a neat-freak like me, this drives me nuts. This past month, in one section of the latest Real Simple they asked readers their best trick to keeping control of household clutter--how to keep your living space from becoming unlivable so quickly. My favorite trick is one I've started implementing--the 25 Item Rule. Once a day, I run around the apartment and pick up 25 items that have somehow made it to a location other than the one in which it lives. Even after only a few days I am amazed at how much this helps!
Has anyone ever cooked with Quinoa before? (Pronounced Keen-Wa) It's a whole grain that is super high in protein, gluten free, cholesterol free, and provides all 9 essential amino acids :) I wasn't sure what exactly to do with it, but knew it was super healthy and kind of rice-like. Since white rice is my husband's favorite side dish, but has zero nutritional value (especially when doused with soy sauce) I thought I'd try to experiment to see if Quinoa would be a passable substitute. It's super versatile, you can throw it in soups, salads, use with chopped veggies and chicken as a stir fry etc. Tonight I'm cooking it with chopped peppers and asparagus and using it to put baked salmon over. You cook it just like rice, boiling water and letting it absorb until fluffy, and then do anything you want with it. Anyone have any favorite quinoa recipes for me? The one we tried last week was from the back of the Trader Joe's box of Quinoa and was delicious! You can find it here.
I'm attempting to make my own granola tomorrow, from a recipe I found in this month's Real Simple. Breakfast around here has become my husband's new obsession (he has never been a breakfast fan!) and granola has become a big part of it. But it's kind of pricey, so at whole foods today I bought the ingredients I need for homemade granola way cheaper than a box of premade stuff. We've been making fruit smoothies every morning and mixing it in a bowl with granola and eating it like cereal for our morning meal (really, Charles is obsessed, he has to have his morning smoothie now!). It is kind of nice to start the day knowing you already have eaten about 4 servings of fruit, yogurt, and whole grains! But it's not the cheapest meal either--frozen fruit gets expensive! Costco and I are getting to know one another well when it comes to their frozen fruit aisle!
My new favorite entertainment while cooking/cleaning is to listen to NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on podcast. For those who haven't become acquainted with this fabulous show, it's a weekly news quiz put on by NPR with famous panelists trying to figure out the week's headlines by filling in rhymes, picking the true story out of a list of several absurd tales, deciding who people are by hearing quotes from them etc. It's hard to describe but it is seriously amazing--hysterical, and informative! Go to itunes and enter Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and you can download past episodes for your listening pleasure.
Well my timer just beeped, which means the salmon and quinoa should be done. Happy Monday night to you all!
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