August 23, 2011

TMI Tuesday with RLAM Divas

The lovely long-legged ladies over at the real Run Like a Mother facebook page do a TMI Tuesday question each week.  They get questions that we runner-mamas would like to know but are sure our spouses or non-runner friends would look at us in horror if we even asked. Or maybe they would run screaming from the room.  Hey maybe that is how we should recruit runners!  Anyway, the responses are hilarious, serious and helpful all at the same time.

This week question reminded me of a post I did awhile back on one of my favoritest inventions.

"TMI Tuesday, and Heather wants to know: what do you do when the heaviest day of your period and a long run or race coincide? "I had major issues today," she says, "And I only ran 7 miles." Any advice?"
Oh yeah.  Two words.

Diva. Cup.


The lil cup even comes with its own lil sack and
pin to let everyone know you are the Diva ordering l'Omelette Rouge


Previously posted here
________________
Warning: this may be a TMI post, but this is my blog and I like talking about my vagina and I think this topic is relevant. Warning over.  


Heeeeerrrre’s…..TOM!!!! 



Kidding…not him. 
(If the TMI warning didn't lose you, then talking about my vagina and then showing a picture of Tom Cruise probably did. Oops. Sorry.)

I’m talking about TOM as in Time-Ofthe-Month.

A.K.A.
Auntie Flo's stayin' over
Scarlett's Come Home to Tara
Trolling for Vampires
A Dishonorable Discharge from the Uterine Navy
Feelin' Menstru-riffic!
Massacre at the Y
T-Minus 9 Months and Holding
Game Day for the Crimson Tide
Panty Shields Up, Captain!
Arts and crafts day at panty camp
Taking Carrie to the Prom
Playing Banjo in Sgt. Zygote's Ragtime Band
Ordering l'Omelette Rouge
Rebooting the Ovarian Operating System

Don't these seem like O.P.I. period shade names? IrishBonnie, you really are quite creative!

Anyway, my BFF during my TOM is not food, but something else. Frankly, (I find it funny that this post is about women’s menstrual cycles, yet I bring Tom and Frank into the picture)…wow stick with one train of thought, Christy….

Frankly, I don’t really get cravings or food issues around those days. I just try to remember to drink enough water to avoid the migraines and eat right to avoid the um…bloat. Other than that I don’t change a thing. But….I used to have other issues.

Damn-flippin-horrible-achy-o.m.g-I-can’t-even-move-debilitating-feel-like-my-uterus-is-wrung-like-a-towel-type-CRAMPS.

Until the Diva entered my life. Ah.The Diva.

And by Diva I mean the 
Divacup.

THIS PRODUCT CHANGED MY LIFE!

What is the Divacup you ask? It looks like a mini-chalice (Oh, believe me, the irony is not lost on me!) made of silicone. Fold it over, pop it in, twist and the suction keeps it in place, collects everything it was intended to collect with no leakage and you never feel a thing.

It pretty much fulfills all the pre-requisites for a cheapassmama like me. 

  • Environmentally friendly. Who wants to contribute to the billions of sanitary pads and tampons that are dumped each year? We've used canvas bags since I was a kid, why not get a re-usable period product?
  • Keep my body chemical free! Most tampons and pads contain surfactants, adhesives and additives. Many pads contain polyethylene plastic whose production is a pollutant. And dioxin, a known carcinogen, is a by-product of the bleaching process of tampons containing rayon. Yeah, I only want um… known substances near my hoohoo. (Is that "Known" in the biblical sense? *ahem*)  
  • I can run! Running with a tampon sucks. I don’t know what it is, but I it rubs all up in there and hurts *shudder* not to mention the leakage issues. (TMI…forewarned!) But the Diva cup? I ran 9 miles last week with no issues. In fact, I really do forget that I have it in. I clean it out every morning in the shower and that is about it. Good.to.go. 
  • I am cheap. Der. So why in the world would I spend $150-200 bucks a year on feminine hygiene (so…hygienic with those chemicals) products, when I can spend about $25 bucks for the Divacup which lasts well over a year and then some?!
So, you survived the TMI post. And now you want to get it, right? Or maybe you already know about this little gem but didn’t know who else knew. Me! Me! Me! Or maybe this just grosses you out. Leave a comment…anonymously if you’d prefer. I’d love to hear your feedback.

If you want to get one for yourself, check out 
Divacup online. If you don't want to order online, I got mine at Whole Foods, in the outer aisle….in the feminine hygiene aisle.

August 15, 2011

Cold Summer Squash Soup - For Real this time



The other day I put up a picture of all our squash to force me to give an update with the soup I was planning on making.  It worked, I did make the soup.  I am not sure which was more exciting, using up some of those up there or using the immersion blender again. That thing is a dream!

Actually I really was trying to figure out what else to do with all this squash. Here's somethings we've done:
Stir fry with butter.
Grilled.
Steamed.
Squash with marinara, pasta  & Parmesan cheese.Yum.
Given them away. 

Even since this picture was taken, I've had to pick about 3 more. Yes, I really do think you can sit and watch them grow.

So it was quite a blessing when I saw a cold zucchini soup recipe pop up on my facebook feed through Food, Inc and Takepart.com.  This comes from Two Kitchens.

Cold Squash Soup
1 tbl or so of olive oil and some butter
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
6 zucchini or summer squash , or a mix (I used some zephyr squash, thinking they were kinda already mixed ) 
4 cups broth
sour cream for garnish
Immersion blender.

In a large pot over medium heat, cook the onions and garlic in the olive oil and/or butter until they're brown.
Add zucchini and summer squash, toss with the onions. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, lower heat to a simmer, and cook 10 minutes, until zucchini are tender.

Let cool to lukewarm and blend. Serve lukewarm or cold. Garnish with sour cream.
_____

Zucchini, yellow squash, zephyr squash
Browning the onions

Adding the squash
Broth & the immersion blender

With yogurt - I didn't have sour cream.
In hindsight, I wish I did have sour cream....
 __________
Ok, a couple things.  I didn't really care for this soup as I made it.  I didn't like it cold and I don't think the zephyr squash was the best idea. Nor the yogurt.  I wish I hadn't used that.  BUT I did change it up and as leftovers I had the soup hot, and added Parmesan cheese and it was pretty good.  I tried cheddar and didn't think that worked too well, but the parm...ok. I did not try it with sour cream, maybe that was my downfall. 



August 12, 2011

Abundance of squash

Between our garden and our farmshare, I think some cold squash soup is in order. 
I've never done it before, so this is my post to make sure that I do....
Stayed tuned!

Friday's drawers - Peaches!


Eggplant, lettuce, shallots, green beans, dandelion greens, tomotoes,
peaches !!! squash
I had one of these peaches and all I could think of was Xena.

As for the rest:

  • Tomatoes & basil along with the Lemon Boys from our garden
  • Izzy likes the green beans raw
  • I'm thinking some egg plant parm with pasta
  • And maybe butter beans and shallots 

August 10, 2011

Edible...Everything?!

This week Izzy had a surprise get well gift from Gigi (Gramma-Great = GG = Gigi) and Granddaddy: an Edible Arrangements princess fruit arangement.  The fruit was a fine complement to the "pink stuff" to crush those pneumonia bugs.  And unlike the pink stuff, the basket was certainly enjoyed by the entire Z family.

Like in a day.
Contemplating strawberries, honeydew or the crown...
fresa it is. 
"I love you. We love you. You give us the heart." - Simon
In the Z household we love fruit sure, but there was more to this basket than just sticks of cantaloupe, grapes, strawberries, honeydew, and butterfly & heart shaped pineapple.  There was one more treat.   

See the decorative green stuff hiding the foam brick and bucket between the fruit sticks?  Yup. Kale. Totally edible.  And around here there is no way we are going to let that kale go to waste! 


You got it!  Yummy kale chips!

Quick Refresher:
Preheat oven to 350.
Rip the kale into chip sized pieces taking the leaves off the tough stems.
Coat with some olive oil & sea salt. A tsp or 2 goes a LONG way.  You can even give em a good rub down.
And bake for about 10 minutes. Watch them! So they don't burn, I mean.  Don't just watch them.

Or if you are like me and don't feel like taking all the pans out of the oven in a hurry to scarf these puppies down, you could just use the toaster over.  Two small batches and done.







David smelled them a mile away....Ok, not really.

But this is where he ended up after coming back from his mile+ walk this evening. So I guess you could say he smelled them after a mile away. That would be true. Literally.


I don't know if the edible arrangement folks know that you really can enjoy ALL of their arrangement...even the decorative filler. What kind of cleaner eating mama would I be letting good kale go to compost? 

August 05, 2011

Friday's Drawers - Beet that honey

Baby bok choy, peppers, tomatoes, chard,
onions (these were awesome!) squash, beets, eggplant, garlic
This was our share from Aug 5th.  I am so far behind on posts!  

The star in this bunch were the beets.  The bok choy was good too, I sauteed that with ginger, orange juice and soy sauce.  But it was the beets with my friend Alison's recipe that was the best. 

I roasted them at 350 for about 1/2 hour. I used the toaster oven and that worked well. 

Once they are cool, they are wicked easy to peel.  Cut them into 1" chunks and put them in a container with 2 parts balsamic to one part honey. Let them steep overnight. I ate them as is, they were so good.  But Alison makes it with goat cheese, walnuts, avocado, arugula, and dried cranberries.  She uses the honey balsamic juice left over from the soaked beets as the dressing. 

I also made them with white balsamic and they were fantastic!

Thanks Alison for sharing!