Yummy Goodness

So I am writing this post for any of you out there that think maybe we are wasting away and surviving off of PB & J for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We have been asked several times, "what do you eat?"  So I thought I'd share a little of the day to day with you.  If you know Sean, you know that he would scoff at the idea of eating peanut butter and jelly for lunch or *gasp* cereal for breakfast.  He is the man, after all, that after days of pleading with him, he only went out and bought his pregnant wife pop-tarts because he found them in an organic variety.  In the past year I have slowly said goodbye to cereal (extraordinarily painful for a girl who would happily eat cereal for dinner 3 times a week)  But, I can't complain, because although I can follow a recipe and cook up some yummy goodness, Sean is gifted with cooking healthy meals from scratch with no recipe.  He just makes them up.  Salmon with fresh ginger and balsamic glaze?  Check.  Buffalo tacos with fresh mangoes and homemade to-die-for guac? (Thanks, Mich!)  No problem.  So I gladly have coffee, laundry, and baby duty, which includes entertaining cutie, making his food, changing diapers, etc.  I happily take on these responsibilities when I do not have to lift a finger in the kitchen.  I mean, he actually enjoys grocery shopping!  I have offered to do it, but he always turns me down.  So on our drive to one of our first races, we decided we needed to make a menu and shopping list for the week.  Here is our dinner menu.  Yummy :)  For lunch, we usually eat leftovers (except fish!). 
 

Monday	Grilled Fish	Edamame Salad
Tuesday	Chicken Tacos	Guacamole
Wednesday	Turkey & Cheese	Broccoli
Thursday	Buffalo Burgers	Sweet Potatoes & Salad
Friday	Grilled Fish	Fruit Salad
Saturday	Chicken Tzatziki	Asparagus & Peppers
Sunday	Barbecue Chicken	Veggie Skewers

So Monday and Thursday we make our way to the nearest Whole Foods (if we can find one) and Sean goes in, armed with our pre-made grocery list to purchase our food for the next few days.  We eat the same thing every morning for breakfast...which some might think gets old, but look at it!

The bowl contains plain organic yogurt, agave nectar for sweetening, granola, and fresh fruit which in this case happens to be strawberries, raspberries, and peaches.  We switch the fruit up as the seasons change.

Here is our fruit salad:

Seriously?  In a melon bowl?  Presentation is everything to this man.  It's the little things in life, people.

Mmmmm....salmon night!

Grilled Salmon and veggies, a side salad, and a bonus of shrimp :)

And....

Oh woops :)  How'd that get in there?  Mama can cook too!  We've got chicken, yellow squash, carrots, and bananas, which he won't eat unless they are all mixed together!

 And of course, my favorite part is s'mores.  Unfortunately, we haven't hit a lot of campfire friendly places lately, so we have had plenty of time to perfect our raw s'more technique.  Though Sean and I disagree on this front.  Please see below for what Sean calls the "Squirrel Method."

In this method, you put the s'more together like you would if you had a campfire to make it.  The difference is it doesn't stick together, and you must hold it together very carefully so as not to lose graham cracker in the process.  Thus the "squirrel."  Not attractive, but it is effective.

Then we have Sean's method.  He thinks it is much less wasteful. 

Here, Sean uses one quarter of a graham cracker, one piece of chocolate, and he has since modified it to half a marshmallow.  He puts it all in at once.  Less mess, less waste....but somehow, not as fun.

So, enough about food.  We are still in Salt Lake.  A couple of days ago, we needed to scout out the city to pick out the points for the challenge.  Usually Sean drives us around to check it out.  However, we are staying very close to downtown, and I was going stir-crazy, so we decided to walk around the city with the baby and chicken dog.  Sean warned me it would be about 7 miles, but I didn't care.  He didn't however, warn me about the gigantic, San Francisco-like hill we had to hike up to get to the Capital Building.  But, it was fun, and we really enjoyed seeing the city on foot.  It's a very nice city, surrounded by beautiful mountains.  We really didn't happen across any bad parts of town, and it is very walkable.  Five hours later, we made it back to our home in the dark.  Here are a couple of highlights:

After the long walk up the hill, we made it to the Capital Building!

Please note sign.  They are very safety conscious here.  Orange flags on the street corners to cross the street with.  Safety first!

Giddy-up Chicken Dog!

Consequently, Chicken Dog became quite the guard dog earlier this morning.  There is a rogue dog that has escaped from his site 3 times now, and each time he has made a beeline for Cooper.  He also peed all over the grass and driveway while running around--we don't even let Cooper pee in our clean little area.  The first two times, Cooper was friendly.  However, the third, and final time, Coop attacked.  I had to pull them apart (while the obnoxious owners came lolly gagging behind).  The only difference between the other times Rogue Dog came over was that Beckett was out playing in his exersaucer this morning.  Coop decided he needed to protect his baby.  :)  He's such a good dog!  I rewarded him with doggy treats and told him that we'd take him hiking tomorrow.  He's very excited!  And the best part is that you are allowed to have your dog off the leash on odd numbered days.  Hooray!  Pics to come!