Great Healthy Dinner Ideas

Need a dinner idea that feeds a lot but doesn't require much prep?  And it should be healthy?  You've come to the right place.

At home, my husband and I are vegan.  I am also gluten free when we don't order out pizza.  (which also means we're not vegan when we order out pizza).  So how to do mend that technicality?  We have agreed to be vegetarian when we are out (fish, cheese, and eggs), but at home we're really good about being vegan.  This is going on year two!

So, sometimes, we are in a pinch to eat something that's not stale or redundant.  If we don't keep it interesting, the same flavors repeatedly can become very boring.  And after a weekend of vegetarian eating at a family's thanksgiving weekend affair, we really wanted to eat clean today!

So here was our list for today:

Fruit in the AM

Kale chips - baked in the oven for 30-40 min drizzled in olive oil with garlic and salt
Dolmas (from trader joes - they're g-free and vegan)

Cauliflower baked (tried to make the buffalo cauliflower recipe I've seen, by it was an utter failure!)

Almond butter spoonful

And then we got to dinner.  My husband and I, after eating clean finally all day, were definitely hungry by dinner time, so I wanted to ensure we had enough food in case my husband could eat dinner and his left arm.  So I made:

Sauteed whole onion and 2 bags of broccoli (get them from trader joes or whole foods in a pre-cut bag)
Baked Potato (4 large)

SO YUMMY!!!! lots of seasoning and some Earth Balance butter to finish off the potato!  Highly recommend it. Plus it could make a good "take to work lunch" meal!

Gift for Spanish Teachers!

Have a Spanish teacher on your list of teachers to buy for this holiday season?!  Here's a GREAT idea to give them a gift that they will love.  How do I know?  Because as a former Spanish teacher I used it regularly!!

http://www.amazon.com/Quotes-Spanish-Grammar-Stephanie-Caprini/dp/0615859909/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1417040020&sr=8-3&keywords=stephanie+caprini is by Grammar Topic

http://www.amazon.com/Quotes-Spanish-Theme-Stephanie-Caprini/dp/0615859933/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1417040020&sr=8-4&keywords=stephanie+caprini is by Theme

Show your teachers they have helped you and give back to them what will help them.  They will remember how special it was.

Summarizing Movies

So recently I was having a discussion with a co-worker about movies, specifically, The Hunger Games, and he was convinced it's a critique of America after the 2007 recession.  We took that thought further and decided that it was also a marriage of 2007 and the Vietnam draft, being forced to send boys (albeit not actual children less than 18 years of age) to fight.  It was an interesting concept, to look at the bones of the movie and the social critique it may represent.

We also took that idea to Harry Potter, and it quickly went to an ID and EGO / Freudian take on relationships and marriage.  Nonetheless, it's a fun way to theorize about movies and could even be a great exercise for teaching students about thesis writing and finding proof to back up an opinion.

..just a thought ;)

Now on to seeing the newest Hunger Games!!  Can't wait to see how our Vietnam War / Recession America theory turns out!

A New Standard

I was talking with a few friends this weekend about models.  You see, I'm obsessed with Project Runway.  However, having been a former eating disorder sufferer, I have this abhorrence for the models...

That's a loaded statement I know.  And here's the thing: I get it!  I get that you want a skinny model so that the clothes stand out and the perfection of the vision is shown.  But that's also where I have a problem.  NO ONE LOOKS LIKE THAT!  And the eating disorder in me taunts and mocks and screams at me to work on looking like those girls.  that's where the clothes "look best" so that's, therefore, how I should look.

WRONG!  Clothes should look good ON ME or I should keep looking until I find something that does - not force myself into unhealthy habits just to fit an industry desired norm.  That's what I challenge.  I had this vision a few years ago that if I were to be a designer, my models would be a minimum size 4 and up to a size 8, because THAT's what people want to see.  They want to see clothes that reflect the curves of a healthy woman.  And those are standards that give hope and real reflection, not self-deprecating enhanced self-hatred.

The fashion industry would tell me I'm crazy and that if I want to see a "plus size model" I should look to plus sized fashion.  But why is it one or the other?  Why is it size 0-2 or size 12-14-16?  Why can't it be size 6 is a new norm and everyone can work to feel better about clothes and themselves upon seeing the clothes reflected in magazines?  How terrible of us as a society to say "well, if you're not the size 2 then you better start reflecting yourself in the plus sized people."  Shame on you, fashion industry.  That's not how women's bodies exist. 

And is it the fashion industry's responsibility to promote good self-images?  There are those who would say "No, far from it.  That's on you," but I challenge that and say "Yes, yes it is."  It's not SOLELY their responsibility, but it's wrong to think it should play no part.

So here's to the real-woman, who knows how to be healthy and loves herself for it.  You are beautiful.