Blog talk, Juice & chili, Rwanda Baskets

Merry Christmas Eve!

So far, we’re having a good time at my family’s in Nebraska. It’s been full of relaxation! Ha. I’m hoping to get a little baking done today … if I do nothing for too long I’ll go stir crazy.

Blog Talk

Yesterday, Andrea picked us up and we went to one of McCook’s hot spots for lunch … Sehnert’s Bieroc Cafe. I really don’t remember what my sandwich was called but it was on rye bread and was topped with veggies and “special sauce”. The taste wasn’t bad but I’m not sure how nutritious it was because to me the sauce tasted like a mix between mayo and Dorothy Lynch.

I took a picture of Andrea, but I don’t think she’d like me if I posted it because it didn’t turn out the greatest. But here is one of Erik instead …  

We had a good time talking food, health, nutrition, fitness, etc and our talk inspired me to want to post more helpful, informative posts that have more of a purpose. Sometimes I feel like my blog is boring and all about ME. However, I’d like to help and inspire others and I’m not sure how to successfully go about that.

Granted, it is hard to have a successful blog when you work full time and have a life outside of the internet … but I have fun blogging. I’m not sure what direction I’d like to go with Lesley Lifting Life or where my niche is but hopefully over time I can find it!

Juice & Chili

After lunch, Erik and I ran some errands and while out, I picked up a Naked juice.  A little birdie told me I’m getting a juicer for Christmas so I’m preparing my taste buds ; )

For dinner, my mom made a big pot of chili … it tasted great and was perfect for a cold winter’s night right before Christmas! Erik and I both went back for seconds a few hours later.

Poor Wilber doesn’t know what to do with all these dogs around who took over her house. She’s finding solace on my mom’s shoulder and in other high places …

Rwanda Baskets

My mom gave me a trivet from Rwanda Baskets and I thought some of you would be interested in hearing about the company. 

As their website says, “The Rwanda Basket Company is a program of Rwanda Partners that is working to change the lives of impoverished weavers in Rwanda. Rwanda Partners is a nonprofit organization that is working to restore and heal the people of Rwanda through reconciliation and poverty reduction programs.”

“The vision of the Rwanda Basket Company is to empower the impoverished women of Rwanda to rise above their subsistence level existence by providing them with the training, tools and support needed to sell their baskets in the west. The Rwanda Basket Company accomplishes this in several ways:

• Providing “Master Weavers” to work with these impoverished women to help them improve and expand their weaving skills
• Paying the weavers directly a premium wage for each of their baskets
• Supplying high quality sisal, dye and other materials needed to ensure a quality product
• Making available to the weavers (many of them genocide widows or wives of imprisoned perpetrators) such life skills training as healing and reconciliation workshops, trauma counseling, and basic medical assistance
• Opening up multiple markets in the west for the weavers’ baskets, thereby ensuring them a much better wage for their products than they could ever hope to receive in Rwanda “

I love companies like this, who are simply in business to help others in need. They are the kind of companies I like to support and promote!

They sell baskets, trivets, fruit bowls, and bread baskets on their online store. Check it out, buy a neat handmade basket or bowl, and know you’ve helped someone in need this holiday season : )

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!!

 

-Lesley

 

Lazy NE morning, Blogger meet-up

Happy almost Christmas everyone!! : )

Thankfully, we made it to Nebraska safe and sound last night. The drive was decent but full of fog, some spitting from the heavens, as well as a near encounter with some deer. Thankfully, Erik had a really fast reaction time and slammed on the brakes just in time!

Our morning started out like this …. oatmeal, computer, and tea … ahhh : ) Lots of animals

I couldn’t help but snap some photos of all the animals around … my mom’s kitty, Wilber…        

My sister’s dogs Charlie …

…and Norm My parents’ dog, Harley (unpictured), and then of course Rocky and Adrian.  We left my father-in-law’s dog, Bubba, at a nice doggie hotel back at home. Traveling would be too hard on the poor old guy!

Needless to say, there’s never a boring moment with all these animals around ; )

And Charlie is VERY good at defending herself, haha.

Two days until Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone!! : )

 

Blogger Meet-up

Now I’m off to get rid of my lazy bed head and meet up with Andrea from Boulder Bite. We grew up together in our lovely small town in Nebraska and we both happen to be back home at the same time : )  I’ll be sure to include some pictures later …

Hope your Christmas week is a joyous one :D

 

-Lesley

Cold and colorful couscous salad

What a crazy night!

I talked to my mom this morning and she told us that if we leave to head to NE at our scheduled time (Wednesday when I get off work around 3) that we probably wouldn’t be able to make it due to an impending blizzard/snow storm.

So last minute asked my boss for Wednesday off and we decided to do our traveling tomorrow (Tuesday) at 3 instead. Therefore, that meant I had to do all the laundry, figure out what I needed to bring for Christmas dinner, pack and get everything ready tonight.

I feel rather scatterbrained after all that but I’m still smiling ….

… and I needed another picture for this post since I didn’t have time to think about blogging today and this is one is the only I had to use ; )

I thought tonight would be a good night to post my couscous salad recipe.

Cold & Colorful Couscous Salad

 

Ingredients: (all as desired)

• 10 oz box of couscous (I used Hodgson Mill’s whole wheat couscous with milled flax and soy)
• yellow zucchini
• green zucchini
• red bell pepper
• yellow bell pepper
• red onion
• lemon
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• sea salt
• pepper
• Mrs. Dash’s garlic and herb seasoning

Directions:

1. Follow directions for cooking couscous, let cool and place in fridge
2. Chop all veggies into desired size (I like them small)
3. Place chopped veggies, seasonings, olive oil and balsamic vinegar into bowl together and place in fridge to allow flavors to permeate.
4. Thirty minutes to an hour prior to serving, fluff couscous with a fork, stir in veggie mixture, and serve.

Enjoy!

Time for Christmas

Thank you all for still reading even though I haven’t been very involved in the “community” lately apart from posting … life will slow down soon and I’ll be around more ; )

I may not see you all tomorrow as we’ll be on the road and pulling into Nebraska late in the evening.  Say a prayer and cross your fingers that we beat the storm!

And guess what ….. CHRISTMAS IS ON FRIDAY!  Ha, are you ready? I am!

 

-Lesley

Whole Foods & early Christmas

Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend!!

I don’t even mind that tomorrow is Monday since it’s only a three day work week for me … yay!

Today we had and early Christmas at my MIL’s house since we’re going to be at my family’s in NE on Christmas day. My MIL got me a nice flash for my new camera and I love it! (Thanks, Linda!!) We tried it out inside when we got home …. this will definitely come in handy! Erik and I volunteered to cook Christmas dinner “lunch” at my parent’s house so this afternoon we went to Whole Foods for supplies. Namely, we went there to get an organic, free range turkey but picked up some others things as well.

Our lovely little cart of groceries.

Before we left, we sat down and ate some wraps that we bought. I went for the grilled veggie with hummus wrap.

I love that cold grilled veggie taste!   

And we couldn’t forget our Whole Foods shopping tradition … ice cream on the way home!

Today we opted for Living Harvest tempt’s Coffee Biscotti made with hemp milk.

It was really good and included the perfect amount of “biscotti” chunks … mmm!!

And nutritionally sound as well!  Living Harvest’s tempt frozen desserts made with hemp milk is one of our favorite ice cream brands for sure.

We’re headed to good old Nebraska on Wednesday evening (and I’m praying it doesn’t snow on our drive!). I sort of feel like I have a lot to accomplish between now and then so if I’m not around a lot these next few days, that’s why ; ) 

However, I’ll be sure to share our Christmas dinner “lunch” menu with you all! Some of you asked for my couscous recipe too and you should be seeing that later this week as well. Until then ….

Don’t forget to enjoy the wonder of the season!!! : )  I’ll leave you with a quote I read earlier this week …

“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” 

–hamilton wright mabie

-Lesley

 

Couscous, new gym and cute dogs

It’s the weekend!!  And just think … next weekend will be Christmas : )

We had our holiday party at work today and here was my food contribution … The couscous salad turned out great! (At least I sure loved it : )  Most of my coworkers didn’t have a clue what couscous was so I think it scared them away a little, ha!

New Gym

As you may have noticed, I didn’t post yesterday and part of the reason was because of a basement reno we’re Erik is currently working on. (I only helped carry stuff ; )

We’re converting the unfinished side of our basement into our official gym. Until now, our workout equipment has been scattered between two rooms and I have often referred to unfinished part as “the dungeon”.

Well, just so you can get an idea of what I mean by dungeon … here is the BEFORE picture:

Pretty bad, no? This picture was taken when we first moved in and it was a mess because we were my dad was tiling the other room in the basement for us.

It’s allllmost ready for the AFTER picture but not just yet.  Until then … here is a teaser of the BEFORE and AFTER floor ; )  

Dogs

I finally got some good pictures of Rocky, haha.  When we’re sitting and/or laying on the couch (which is right in front of the staircase leading to upstairs), a lot of times she goes and sticks her head through the rail when she wants to play and I caught her in the act last night.

Rocky is our loyal dog. Everywhere we go, she goes … no matter what. If you go in a room and shut the door, you can bank on the fact that she’ll be right outside of it when you come out.

And here’s Bubba being cute. He was begging for more attention by putting his chin on Erik’s lap.  Who can resist that???

Not me!

Have a fabulous weekend!! : )  I might be back tomorrow but if not, see you Sunday night!

 

-Lesley

 

Portabella mushroom pizza

Happy Wednesday!

Is this week going by slow to anyone else? The full week before a holiday seems to always be extra long!!

However, I just love this time of year : ) I keep saying that but I just can’t help myself! A lot of exciting things seem to be happening in our lives as well, so that makes it even better.

Christmas Card

Here is our finished Christmas card. The color turned out darker than I had expected but they’ll work (you can’t see the dark color in this picture ; ) Now I just need to get them addressed and sent out!

Dinner

Last night’s dinner is an “old” favorite of ours … portabella pizza! (Except for Erik … he had “real” pizza).

And here’s the portabella …  

I LOVE this pizza. It’s any mushroom lover’s dream … not to mention a total guilt free and healthy pizza. It’s great topped with any of your favorite pizza toppings but here’s my mix …

Ingredients:

• large portabella mushroom
• no salt added tomato paste
• no salt added tomato sauce
• no salt added diced tomatoes
• ground turkey
• chopped onions
• reduced fat feta cheese
• 2% shredded mozzarella cheese
• olive oil
• Mrs. Dash’s garlic and herb seasoning
• pepper
• sea salt

Directions:

• Wash large portabella mushroom, removing stem and hollowing out the inside to desire thickness
• Add desired ingredients beginning with sauces and ending with the cheese
• Bake directly on the rack at 425 degrees until cheese melted.

Tip: place some tin foil on the rack underneath pizza to catch the dripping

What’s your favorite way to eat portabella mushrooms?

 

-Lesley

 

Business with benefits

Hey guys!

Thanks for the couscous ideas! I think I’m going to make a combination of several recipes suggested, but I’ll let you know! My plan is to bring it to a Christmas “potluck” at work.

Fun In the Mail

I feel like I’ve hit the mail jackpot lately ; ) haha.  My new vegan bag I won, Angela’s package, and  today I came home to another one.

First up, the package from Angela …

We are fellow Trio bar lovers (99 cents … yes, please!) and we decided to do a trade since her grocery store carries the Tropical and Strawberry flavors while mine carriers the Cranberry and Blueberry flavors. Being the wonderful foodie friend she is, she not only sent Trio bars but tea and Trader Joe truffles … complete with a cute homemade Christmas card : )

I immediately dug into the truffles and tried one out … mmm!  I don’t have a TJs so the TJ love was appreciated, haha.

Business with Benefits

Okay, so we’re already seeing a wonderful benefit of the new small business we have embarked upon. A company called Love Street Living Foods sent us some possible products to see if we’d want to put them in our vending machines. 

While on the phone with them, my husband told them about my blog and they decided to send extra so I could review them here on Lesley Lifting Life. Thanks! : )

Here’s the loot …     The above fudge is even sweetened with agave nectar … I love that!

 

Anyone ever heard of wild jungle peanuts?? I tried them right away because they intrigued me!

 

Ahhhh … raw walnut butter, raw almond butter, raw macadamia butter and raw cashew butter? Ha, these are the perfect things to let me sample … they must know me!!

I have yet to use coconut butter in anything so I’m excited about that. In fact, I didn’t really even know there was a difference until now.

And last but not least in this wonderful loot,  100% raw vegan chocolate spread. Does that sound good or what? haha.

I can’t wait to try all of these products … they are right up my alley. You’ll see more of them in future posts :)

I love my life! I can’t wait to get our vending machines up and running. We started out with five machines. So far, we have four locations secured, 2 are in schools and 2 is in a huge ice arena. As soon as the fifth location is secured we’ll be getting the machines and getting started … I’m so excited to see how it goes!!

For now … I’m relaxing a little bit before bed and eating one of my favorite snacks.

Cottage cheese with apple slices, almonds, cinnamon and stevia …. perfect bedtime snack : )

What’s your favorite “before bed” snack?

 

-Lesley