i’ll be honest, my blogging mojo has been a tad MIA this week. you see, work is in-FLIPPING-sane right now. because i have invested all my energy into my day job, there is little to nothing left in terms of blogging energy.’ (this also should explain why you haven’t heard back from me if you are waiting for an email reply. sorry!)
but i do, however, happen to have things to share with you guys. while i haven’t been blogging much—i HAVE been taking photos.
i will show you.
in no particular order, mind you.
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almost every day this week, i have been eating my usual cinnamon protein oats.
except this week, i have been adding chia seeds to the oats just before they are done cooking on the stove.
the result? extra thick, plumped up oatmeal.
some people are creeped out by slimy chia seeds. i love them.
although they do kind of look like bugs.
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yesterday, i made my very first pot roast. i know, aren’t you proud?!?
in the morning, i put a 2.75 lb cross rib roast into my slow cooker along with two quartered onions, 3 cups of baby carrots and a pound of baby red potatoes. i just love anything that has “baby” in the name. as long as it doesn’t involve my uterus, that is.
i threw a packed of mccormick savory pot roast seasoning into the mix, set the crock pot to low for eight hours and went to work. set it and forget it! (what infomercial is that from? i can’t remember.)
upon returning home, the house smelled incredible. and reminded me on sunday. you see, i grew up eating this meal as a sunday dinner. we would have it about once a month. actually, momma b had about four sunday meals she rotated through my whole childhood. therefore, roast will always be sunday dinner to me.
everything was perfectly tender! i was so proud of my laborious efforts.
the meat was perfectly cooked. again, pat on the back for me.. i worked so hard at this one.
i actually didn’t eat right when i got home. i set the slow cooker to “keep warm” and hit the gym for an upper body workout. i will spare the details and skip right to dinner.
i steamed some organic broccoli to go with the meal and then dinner was served.
simplest dinner, ever.
doesn’t that broccoli look neon? organic broccoli always is so much brighter than its conventional counterpart.
sometimes you just need a little meat and potatoes in your life.
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the very perfect and amazing tiff sent me something horrible. we’re talking really, really gross and bad.
GINGERBREAD SPICE CHOCOLATE?
positively disgusting.
wink.
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do you guys want to hear how big of an idiot i am?
who am i kidding? of course you do.
i recently purchased this awesome microwave hard boiled egg cooker as per april’s suggestion.
from everything i have heard, the egg cooker works SO well and hard boiled eggs come out just right each time.
unless you are janetha, then you may have to try three times.
the first time, i put four eggs in the cooker, saw that a hard boiled egg took 9 minutes, set the microwave to 9 minutes and came back to my (what i thought were) hard boiled eggs.
crack.
yeah. not so much. hard boiled egg FAIL.
so i did something quite novel. i read the directions.
oh, what’s that you say, directions? “fill plastic base up to water level line—this is absolutely essential”
right. idiot.
much better. back into the microwave they went for another 9 minutes. they came out with condensation on their shells. that was encouraging.
however, upon cracking one open.. they were soft boiled.
another fail.
i guess my wattage approximation was a little off. you see, my microwave at work does not list the number of watts, so i went with the middle figure and cooked the eggs for nine minutes. i made an executive decision to throw them in for an addition five minutes.. since i knew the water had cooled off a bit since i had my soft boiled egg photo shoot.
5 minutes later…
JUST RIGHT. you know what they say..third time is a charm.
i mixed my perfectly cooked hard boiled egg + 2 additional hard boiled egg whites with annie’s dijon mustard, nasoya nayonaise and oikos greek yogurt. about a tablespoon of each. i promise, these three ingredients create the best tasting egg salad sandwich around!
if you like your egg salad with mayonnaise (like me), try my recipe.. you will not miss the mayo at all.
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marshall bought a kettlebell the other day. he says he wants to get strong like a farmer.
his words. not mine.
i didn’t ask. i left it at that.
although don’t be surprised if i soon talk about him harvesting the fields and milking the cows.
i really want to learn how to use it. i know you can seriously jack yourself up if you use it improperly.
any pointers?
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flashback friday!
i thought about doing some sort of theme for this week’s flashback… but who needs themes? not me, obviously, clearly shown in the randomness of this post.
how about a few shots from the ol’ photobucket account?
sure! one from each year for the past five years? yeah, i can do that!
2005. vegas with the ladies.
2006. i really, really love thumb holes. like, a lot.
2007. snowboarding in canada for the 12 hours i was allowed in the country, before getting deported.
2008.
i have to do two for 2008. because i didn’t have bangs and then i did. so i basically think of my life in “before bangs” and “after bangs” terms. you know.. B.B. and A.B.—kinda like BC and AC.
at the bar. little did he know i’d make a husband outta him.
at the dog park. i love this place. i promise there were dogs with me. i asked randy to take the photo for me but he said he couldn’t, because he doesn’t have thumbs.
2009. at the baseball game. don’t mind my creepy co-worker in the background.
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in other news, i got an interesting text from marshall today.
i wanted to do one of those fancy conversation screen shots of my phone.. but apparently that feature is only for iphones and i am not that hip. so i will just type it for you.
marshall: “the kids have been sharing their food with a cute little mouse named Paco. I saw him.”
janetha: “Paco?!”
marshall: “Yeah. Illegal. From Mexico.”
please don’t tell the border patrol we’re housing an illegal immigrant.
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we are going to the jazz game tonight. should be a good time! i’ll be back this weekend to tell you about websites several of you suggested. i will also have a delicious giveaway. get excited.
Qs~
1. what meal screams “sunday dinner” to you?
2. do you use/have you used kettlebells before? thoughts?
xo. janetha g.
Next Comments →
Have fun at the jazz game! Seriously, we had that exact same roast recipe every Sunday growing up…must be a Utah thing. Now we rotate between that, spaghetti, papa murphy’s take n bake pizza and something barbecued.
You nailed the roast, it looks so good!
I have never used a kettle ball but once you learn how to use it, please teach us:)
Hopefully, work slows down for you. Have an amazing weekend.
You have to try the gingerbread chia pudding I just posted…so yummmmyyy.
And why did you get deported from Canada?? Hate to think of a beauty like you getting deported from my country!!
Random fact: I keep thinking you’re from Vancouver because of your cool style and fun attitude to life.
Your pot roast looks amazeballs, girlfriend! Grilled steaks and baked potatoes were our favorite Sunday meal growing up.
I have never used a kettlebell, but I am highly intrigued.
We have quite the family of “illegals” that live in our backyard and eat out of our birdfeeder. And out of context, this statement is awesomely wrong. :)
Sunday dinner in our house was ALWAYS made by my Dad… My Mom suuuuuucks at cooking ;P He would always start in the morning… He’d tenderize all the T-bone steaks and then put the marinade on, then throw ’em in the fridge all day to do their thing. This was always served with baked potatoes with butter and sour cream & we always had some kind of steamed veggie – either broc, b-sprouts or something like that.
Your oatmeal is so smooth it looks like cream of wheat! I read something about how a kettlebell workout can burn up to 20 calories per minute + gets your heart rate up way more than standard weight lifting. I’ve never tried one though!
Oh yeah -I haven’t quite figured out what’s going on (with the blog) ..still figuring everything out…I’ve only gotten to the about me page. (lkmhomemade.wordpress.com) It’s a start! (:
Um, who’s the guy in the 2006 “thumb holes” picture?? He’s a hottie! =)
Love my KB! I bought “Enter the Kettlebell” and also looked up some videos online to do proper form before using me. It’s such a great workout and there’s a huge variety of things you can do with it.
kbs are pretty simple once you get the hang of it. i have a couple of handouts from a friend that is RKC (russian Kettlebell certified) and she taught me how to do a russian swing. i know how to do a american swing, as well as cleans and push presses. i did a whole bunch for 5 minutes and my shoulders are wiped out!
love the roast. and the egg fiasco- i can’t boil eggs without that nasty gray sh!t on the yolks :( :( :(
you can do most exercises with a kb and vice versa- swings can be done with dumbbells.
Hahaha before bangs and after bangs = way more normal than before Titanic and after Titanic. I’m not kidding, I still divide my life at the start of the obsession.
My boyfriend uses kettlebells and I always joke that just lifting me would be a way cheaper workout…
oh i totally would have done the same thing with the egg boiler. glad it works though, I must order one!
I love sunday stews, pot rock, pork tenderloin, anything with some southern comfort.
Rest up and chill. Work can take it out of you! Happy Weekend!
haha, I meant to stay pot roast, not rock. See, I’m just as looney!
It’s the damn altitude again. That’s probably what’s effing your eggs up. BTW I have that egg cooker on my list from Santa. And the Soft cooked ones looked off the hoooooook.
I love you with bangs and without. Both adorable.
Ask Jenn Girl Hero re. kettlebells- she’ll def. rec a RKC instructor to run him thru the basics.
Sunday roast? We never had it but Derek always did- it was chicken. I’ll roll with that :-)
And your day-glo broccoli- love it!
hehe that would totally happen to me with the microwave egg. Though it’s weird, even though I love scrambled eggs and poached eggs, I’ve never dug the hard boiled version. As for kettle bells.. I’ve worked with them a bit, but there definitely is a lot of technique to it, and with what a klutz I am, I usually just stick with dumbbells :p
I made pot roast in the Crock Pot today! I love the way the house smells so yummy when food cooks all day! My pot roast was a little bland, I’m going to look for the McCormick seasoning you mentioned.
I hope you get some much deserved REST this weekend! I haven’t tried the chias…so intrigued. hahahha- adventures in cooking eggs in the microwave starring…JANETHA! Isn’t that thing amazing? You rock….have I told that yet? Its like my most favorite new toy. I’m going into egg overload. Great job on the pot roast. I love cooking anything in the crock pot all day- the results seem to always be moist + delicious (can’t beat that).
1. what meal screams “sunday dinner” to you? Growing up, my parents ALWAYS cooked steak on Sundays. Obviously I don’t eat steak now, but we used to always have baked potatoes with the steak…so now baked potatoes (sweet or regular) scream Sunday to me.
2. do you use/have you used kettlebells before? thoughts? Totally rockin.
Our Sunday meal was t bone steaks and baked potatoes. Mmm…
Sunday dinner will always be a big sourdough bread bowl of chunky potato soup :) perfect comfort food…but best when serve in the wintertime too!
I am the same as you, a good pot roast dinner is my picture perfect Sunday dinner! Yours looks amazing! Love it when the crock-pot does all the work!
Most of the workouts that I’ve done with kettlebells were fairly simple. Basically just subbing in a kettlebell for a dumbbell, but there is one move that I deem “The Ultimate Kettlebell Move”: Squat over a kettle bell and while keeping your back straight, pick it up with both hands and swing it up and away from your body, coming back down and squatting to touch the KB to the floor. I’ve always heard them call “kettlebell swings.” I love the way this move works your upper and lower body!
PS: I LOVE thumb holes!
I think the set and forget it thing was that Ron Popeil rotisserie cooker.
The pot roast looks amazing – I very rarely eat red meat, but I might have to give that a go, since leaner cuts can stay moist with slow cooking.
My Nana used to cook a pasta and gravy (aka spaghetti sauce) dinner every Sunday. My parents and I would bring salad and my aunt’s family brought bread. We haven’t done this since I was young, but I would do it again – if only she had given us the darn gravy recipe!
Janetha, you always crack me up! I love pot roast but i’ve never made it myself and that totally SCREAMS Sunday dinner to me! Anything crockpot does!
i want pot roast and gingerbread chocolate now. i don’t think that’s going to happen, though.
Any food eaten while watching Entourage and True Blood scream sunday night dinner to me. Or anything from costco because it seems the weekends are “costco excursion” days.
As far as kettlebells, my gym has tons of em and I’ve taken a few classes so my best advice would be to start with a light weight until you get used to the “swing”.I suggest walking a little bit while swinging the kettlebell so you get the hang of it. There are lots of youtube videos that show you moves.
Wait, so are the dogs getting along with Paco? I guess good thing they arent cats!
woodchops! do woodchops! I love them!
I think the key is picking the right weight for you to start with… do you and marshall lift the same weight? I think 12kg would be a little heavy for me! ha
I bought my husband a kettlebell for Christmas last year, but I think it’s been used 10 times? And 9 of those by ME. Hehe.
My mom always used to make casseroles or spaghetti for Sunday dinner. We all had to eat together without the tv on. :)
Now I want a pot roast to cook itself in my slow cooker. I’ve never made one and (stupid question) what kind of beef do you use?
oh man i wana cook a pot roast! I feel like itd be so easy!!!! that is SO comforting. you are a baller wife w. all the meals u make!!! do you put the chia seed gel in there or the chias themselves?
glad you finally got the egg mojo goin’!
And sun nite…that’s my fri nite and i am off mon/tues so just that is good enough. I dont care about what i am eating, just that work is done!
:)
Tonight my comments come from Eric:
Kettleball… is that going to give him retard strength?
Good thing we’re moving to San Diego to build a new border crossing to keep little guys like Paco out!
And from me:
Pork chops and Chicken and rice should also be featured as a Sunday dinner recap! What is the fourth?
I use kettle bells for a couple of things but am planning on going on a course because I really want to know how to use them for all exercises. x x
Is that all you had to do to make the pot roast? Throw a seasoning packet in there? Seriously? I need to make this everyday of my life.
I’m glad you have some patience. I would have been like that freaking April was a liar LOL! I have found that if I do 8 mins they are perfect, 6 mins soft boiled. I got my mom one for Christmas too :)
Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans!
I’ve never used kettle bells.
I love the sliminess, too. Also why I like okra so much. And I love thumb sleeves. I think that okra, sliminess, and thumb sleeves all need to be employed more often!
hey !
Kettlebells are awesome,
I do a full body conditioning class for my legs,and sometimes upper body. But mostly legs.
Here’s a day in the life of that circuit:
1) warm up jogging 10 mins… in between jogging do 40/leg kickbacks for your but, 20 squats, 20 lunges
2)follow with burpees(15), floor to sky jumps(15) and squat thrusts(15)
3) now your warm, 2 mins of kettlebell swings (dont go into a full squat when you hinge in the waist you can hurt your back… just follow through with your hams and glutes to squeeze, if the kettlebell looks like its fully horisontal, its righgt. if it looks like its just danging there, you pulled it up with your arms too much. It should come up from momentum from your glutes and hamstrings.
4) do a set of 25 walking lunges. then repeat swings. repeat lunges
5) kettlebell Sumo squats. Set yourself up on 2 benches or something elevated with one foot on each side, and come down into a Plie like squat. superset these with pop squats. repeat.
6) stiff legged deadlifts. 1 foot at a time. You can raise the same foot you have the kettle bell in your hand with, or the opposite foot ( if you see what i mean).
They have great tutorials on how to use them on bodybuilding.com or just on youtube. The figure 8 is my favourite. You can do windmills, clean and press.. etc!
Good luck with them!
That pot roasts looks delicious! I can’t wait to break out the slow cooker this Winter
Not so sure about those egg cookers… i can cook ’em on the stove in the same amount of time!
lamb chops remind me of sunday dinners at my grandparents’ house!
and pot pie :D
never used kettlebells… they scare me a bit.
don’t worry, your paco secret is safe with me ;)
xo
Janetha, you’ve inspired me with this post! 1) I’ve never cooked a pot roast either, but I received a Crock Pot for my birthday a few weeks ago, and it’s been staring at me, unopened ever since. I think roast would be a worthy first meal, don’t you? 2) You don’t know how many times I’ve messed up hard boiled eggs! Gah, I commiserate with you…But you’ve planted a craving for egg salad in my tummy! It’s probably my all time favorite sandwich, and I haven’t eaten it in AGES. 3) I did a kettleball workout a few months ago and loved it. It’s definitely time for another one!
And the meal that screams Sunday? Roast chicken and homemade macaroni and cheese. :-)
1. i love pot roast. i love any roast really, i’m def a meat and potatoes girl. it (roast pork tenderloin or eye of round) would be my last supper seriously!
2. here’s my tip for perfect eggs. bring the water to a boil and drop eggs in for 5 mins. turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat and let them sit in the hot water for 8mins. et voila! they are perfect, not overly dry inside but not drippy either. ina garten taught me that haha ;)
3. tips for the kettlebell (check mark’s daily apple forum in the workouts section) and also be sure not to hyper-extend your arms, you will wreck yourself fo sho!
4. i too love thumbholes, i have at least 4 thermals with weird patterns and also a northface fleece hoodie with the thumbs :) it’s the best!
Things have been busy over here too :)
I want to try kettlebells. I have not yet but would love to give them a go sometime! I have heard good things about them :)
~Lori
oh i LOVE kettlebells! i’ll never forget the first time i worked out with them i was like wow this is fun and not so hard. yep. the next morning i cursed the day i ever said that hahaha.
hope you had fun at the jazz game girl! btw deej so wants to trade you for me. she’s SUCH a meat and taters kinda gal and i’m so not hahaha
“…as long as it doesn’t involve my uterus…” You are hilarious.
I was so happy to see you put ketchup on your dinner! That’s what I would do too, and get a lot of funny looks ;)
Couple things:
Pot Roast looks amazing! Have you seen those little poyple potatoes? http://scrumptious.typepad.com/srbeack/images/2007/04/02/purple_potatoes.jpg Those are so yummy and I think of you when I see them.
Another thing, That oat bidness looks yummy I’m going to try that.
Also, I took that photo of you at tanner on the tree log :) that was a fun day. Randy was king of the rock.
Finally, You look gorgeous in San Fran. I love your boots you look glowy.
as long as it doesnt involve my uterus!!!!!! hahahaha. just laughed for a good two minutes straight.
thumb holes!!
oh and btw, i think jillian’s latest DVD that came out was a kettlebell one. they scare me, but maybe youre brave enough to give it a go.
ps dont be jealous of my super clever witty pun filled post titles :)
Oh I really like using the kettlebell! I bought one that came with a workout DVD and have had a good experience with it!
I don’t know about screaming Sunday dinner but the first childhood thought I had was pork chops and boy did they suck. I had to teach my mom how to make then not too long ago. So sad.
I have used a kettleball in bootcamp but I wouldn’t be a good candidate for instruction.
i think marshall and ben would be quite good buddies. Ben told me the other night that we should make a cardboard submarine for our house. We had just watched ‘Community’ and they had a blanket fort. I had a smile and said ‘ok let’s do it’. :)
Ah man, I need to get some chia for some plump-tastic oats!
Well the whole kettle ball thing scares me just because of our rather lack of coordination, I fear we—– well one or the other of us —-may fling it right through a window or wall!!
And as for the rotation of the 4 Sunday meals…….as least I cooked and left you with 4 fond (or not so fond) memories!
Yes, roast still screams Sunday dinner to me and we had it EVERY Sunday when I was a kid!!
Love you to the moon!!
Chia seeds rock…but holy crap, you can boil eggs in the microwave now?!?! WANT WANT WANT. Seriously, this is going on my Christmas list. Aw heck, don’t know if I can wait that long! I am a hard-boiled egg freak…but I am also one of those freaks who can, half the time, screw up stove-top hard-boiled eggs. Thanks for the recommendation!
So THAT’s how you make a good-looking pot roast!! I’ve finally started using my crockpot (now that I know you truly are supposed to let the meat cook as long as possible and not assume that it’s finished in 2 hours) and I have to say that my pot roast looked nothing like that. Who’da thought leaving the onions a bit larger in size, throwing in baby potatoes and all that jazz would make it that much more appealing? Mine was fairly tasty but yours definitely looks like it’d have a lot more flavor. See? This is just one of the many reasons why I love your blog – even if I don’t always have the time to comment as much as I’d like!
I’ve just started using kettlebells this past year when I train my clients (I use them myself sometimes). I don’t ever do a workout that consists entirely of kettlebells, but I’ll throw in things like kettlebell swings, or squats to upright rows where you kind of “toss” the kettlebell from one hand to the other at the top of the upright row (when you come out of the squat). Or I’ll do reverse lunges into a single-arm shoulder press while holding the kettlebell, or pushups with one hand on a kettlebell, or, one trainer recently showed me this awesome new exercise that’s a kettlebell burpee. You set up so that you’re going to do a burpee on the kettlebells. Hop your feet back behind you, do a push up, hop your feet back in, and then when you go to stand up you pick the kettlebells up at the same time (don’t hop) so that you’re coming out of a squat with those weights in your hand. I used 35-40lb KBs for this and it was an awesome exercise!
Good luck!
Sorry – I meant pushups with each hand on a kettlebell…not one-handed pushups on a KB…ha ha! That would be impressive! :)
I never read directions, either! That’s why I often nearly ruin recipes!
Hmm, Sunday dinner means something hearty and comforting and a little more special than M-F fare.
kettle bells are the sh*t! i’ve neer gotten DOMS as bad as I do with kbs. :)
there’s definitely good advice above. i’d add kb halos while balancing on a bosu. how to do it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhPKoas303A&feature=related
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