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Weekend rituals

My weekend begins at 3:15pm Friday afternoons. When the last bell rings, I’m headed for the door knowing I have the rest of the day and a full weekend ahead of me before I go back to the fast paced world of Kindergarten. While I would love to leave my job at the door, most weekends I do lesson plans. I like to find a couple of hours in my own comfy clothes in my own chair to get them done. My thinking and planning is better and more efficient when I have a large block of time instead of disjointed minutes here and there. But, I love my job and that is just part of it. A good cup of coffee, a snack on a bright plate, and my striped socks make me happy even while working.

Most Friday nights, I’m too tired to think about cooking. But this past Friday, I threw together a chicken pasta dish in no time. chicken The secret was cooking my broccoli WITH my angel hair. I just brought the water to a boil, added angel hair and 1 cup of chopped broccoli, and let it all cook for 5 minutes. I then added some good stuff.

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  • sun dried tomatoes
  • artichoke hearts
  • Laughing Cow garlic herb cheese wedge
  • 1/4 cup of milk
  • cubed cooked chicken

The result was an Alfredo like sauce without the gazillion calories.

Saturday mornings are my favorite. In the winter, I love hot oatmeal with coffee or tea while snuggled up on the couch with the latest cookbook and Food Network. Spring, I love getting up early and eating something before hitting the road to the farmer’s market. Summer, I need to do my long run early before the humidity gets dangerous. The seasons affect my routine, but no matter what, I love to linger over breakfast. This Saturday, it was cold in the house. I’m still devouring as much oatmeal as I can. I know once the heat settles in for 9 months, I will completely lose my appetite for it.

oats

 

If I’m not crazy busy and running errands, I usually make a quick lunch on Saturdays. It’s no secret that I love Paninis. Lately, I’m enjoying a lot of arugula and ROASTED or grilled cherry tomatoes. If I don’t have any available, I improvise with sundried tomato paste.

Chicken, mozzarella, arugula.

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My favorite Saturday night ritual is grilling! But that depends on Stephen’s work schedule since I really have no idea how to operate a charcoal grill. Because he worked, I decided to roast some pork and vegetables.

Once upon a time, I hid my cabbage under my mashed potatoes so I could go outside and play. I had a good ten minutes of swinging joy before I heard the dreaded “first middle last” name. I knew when I heard my full name, I was in trouble.

Times have changed drastically. Most foods I hid as a kid, I love now, except beets and liver. Ew.

Chipotle rubbed pork tenderloin with cabbage, fennel, and sweet potatoes.

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I also made an apple bacon stuffing with some leftover jalepeno cornbread.

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This is so easy and good. I got this from..well..Rachael Ray about 5 years ago.

  • 3 bacon strips. Cook and remove bacon.
  • add 1/2 cup each of celery, red onion, diced red apple.
  • cook 8-10 minutes.
  • add 2 cups of cooked crumbled cornbread. Bakery corn muffins work well.
  • Stir all together and cook for another 5-10 minutes until cornbread is browned and heated through. Do not cover. Steam will turn the whole thing into mush.
  • Add chopped or powdered sage or poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Add crumbled bacon back to stuffing.

final stuff

 

Sunday afternoons are for grocery shopping and cooking up food for the week. We both take leftovers to work so I need to plan meals that I can double and easy to reheat. Thank goodness we both like a lot of vegetables.

Baked brown rice pilaf and roasted baby root vegetables. I can add either to some arugula for a salad and/or add some pork or chicken to either dish for extra protein.

 riceroots

Mixed fruit

friuit

And finally, the Sunday long run. And nothing beats the long nap after. I actually think about a nap while I’m trying to drag through the last mile.

Sunday night, my goal is to have clean clothes, a fridge and freezer of good food, and my run finished. Some weekends, all things fall into place. Some Sunday nights find me scrambling to find a sock, a banana and a bag of peanuts for lunch the next day with promises to myself to get it all together Monday after work.

But no matter how the weekend ends, I usually take the time to appreciate the little things…or Frankie-sized things. This little guy makes our world a little brighter.

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