Six Months on the “Job”

August 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

As of today it’s been six months since I left my job to be home full time with Jesse! We had been planning to take this step for so long, sometimes it’s still hard to believe we are actually here. We have certainly had our share of challenges in making this life transition, but overall the change has been great.

Having the ability to make a living from home has had the greatest impact on Jesse’s health. After years of being non-compliant with treatments, he has consistently been able to make time for them now. Saving that commute time freed up time he never had to do morning treatments. The flexibility to take time to rest or go to doctors appointments as needed, without having to make up the hours missed from work, has made a big difference in his stress level. I think being exposed to less people everyday and not touching germ-y surfaces helps keep him healthier too. I hope that he is always able to continue working for himself.

Saving moneySince I started staying home the business has really grown, despite our ups and downs. Jesse feels more efficient and has been able to complete projects quicker than he could when he was doing the book keeping that I now do. I also think that our house just runs smoother overall now that I have more time to do things that always got pushed aside. One of my accomplishments has been how much I have been able to shave off of our grocery bill. We were buying too many prepared items and often picking up groceries here or there without realizing how much it was costing us. A little extra planning and a little more time devoted to meal prep has really cut our expenses. Saving money is my new paycheck!

Honestly, I haven’t always been sure this arrangement would work out, but so far… it really has! We are still so sure this was the right move for us. I’m so proud of the company and reputation that Jesse has built. Keep up the GREAT work!

Filed Under: General

Paleo Buffalo Stir Fry

July 28, 2011 By 4 Comments

Have you ever tried buffalo? Neither had I until I landed myself on this crazy allergy diet. With the elimination of pasta, a frequent meal at our house, dinners quickly became a rather boring rotation of chicken, beef, pork… chicken, beef, pork, salmon. So we decided to be adventurous and check out the exotic meats section at Land and Sea Market. We tired several new meats that we hadn’t eaten before. We didn’t care too much for the others we tried, but the buffalo we really enjoyed!

Buffalo has a very similar taste to beef, but you can definitely taste the difference. Since the ground buffalo is a bit on the expensive side I wanted to use it in a recipe that would make it stretch, but still be filling. This is the recipe I first tried with the buffalo and I’ve made it the same way every time since we both really like it.

I start by sauteing chopped onion and garlic in some olive oil. I usually like to use green onion in this recipe, but I forgot to buy some… this onion worked just as well.

Onions and garlic cooking

Once the onions start to get soft, I add in my chopped green and red peppers and cook until everything starts to caramelize nicely.

Peppers

I use a half pound of ground buffalo. The ground buffalo comes in a one pound package. I already had this second half browned and frozen from the last time I made this recipe. I also added most of a package of frozen leaf spinach, just the right amount until it looks like a good ratio. Jesse really likes spinach and although I don’t mind it in a recipe or fresh on a sandwich, I wont eat it plain like he does.

Buffalo and spinach

I don’t like to add to much in the way of seasonings or sauce in this recipe because I don’t want to hide the buffalo flavor. I used a good amount of salt, some black pepper, and just a hint of red pepper. I like to pair it with either a baked potato or quiona.

(Side note: I realize neither of those are paleo approved, but I’m on an allergy version of paleo. I use a lot of paleo recipes for the use of fresh and simple ingredients, not necessarily for the lack of grains.)

Buffalo dinner

So what do you think, do you want to give buffalo a try? It’s really quite good!

Filed Under: Allergies, Recipes Tagged With: , ,

Nuggets: This Week

July 27, 2011 By 2 Comments

One of my favorite blogs to read is called Dig This Chick. I love her writing style and her fabulous pictures. But what I love most about the blog is imagining what it would be like to live somewhere that I was able to grow my own produce and have chickens in my backyard, like she does. I think it’s always interesting to learn about how other people live.

Hump Day NuggetsDig this chick does a weekly post that she calls hump day nuggets. The definition, according to the urban dictionary, of hump day: Wednesday, the middle of the week, implying that you have to get “over the hump” before you can anticipate the weekend.

Once you’re over the hump, it’s fun to look back at a few small snippets from the activities of the week. She calls it “little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week.” She invited her readers to join in with their own nuggets from the week. Too bad we don’t have any real signs of the season in Florida, but I thought I’d give it a try and documents little thoughts that aren’t enough to make into blog posts of their own.

:: My sister is in town, home from grad school for several weeks. We thought it would be fun to explore a few cute antique shops we always pass by on the way to the beach. They weren’t quite what we were expecting. I guess it takes a unique person to own a shop like that, we were a little creeped out by some of the owners. After a few shops we realized the reason they were following us around so closely was because they must have problems with shoplifters. Each store had signs about being on camera, one store even said we couldn’t enter with a purse… said we must go lock them in the car and then come in. We weren’t interested in walking all the way back to the car just to see this particular store. We must have looked extra suspicious because when we would stop to comment on something that looked cool they’d ask if this was the kind of thing we were looking for and if we were going to buy it. And it wasn’t just one weird store… they were all like that! We had fun anyways. Our most interesting item was an old coffin in a consignment shop… always a good idea to sell those when you’re done with them, you never know who else could make use of it.

Antique shop

:: I continue to enjoy using my own hand-picked tomatoes in my cooking. I’m sure they taste a lot more tomatoe-y than the canned kind. I’m fighting my natural urge to save them so I don’t run out. I’ll have to be sure and pick lots again next year.

Frozen tomatoes

:: I watched an interesting documentary about farming called The Future of Food. It talked about the relationship between farmers, business, and government. It renewed my interest in using fresh ingredients and made me want to find out about buying local produce. How could you not crave some nice veggies after learning about where they come from and how they get to you?

Squash

:: We had the opportunity to babysit for one of our friends. I have done hardly any babysitting since high school, back before I had to get a “real” job. We realized we could use some practice before we’re ready for foster kids. Amelia is usually very picky about who she lets hold or play with her so we were prepared for her cry a lot that night. Luckily she did not. However, I don’t think she really enjoyed her time with us either. She tolerated us playing with her toys, but got upset when we tried to encourage her to play with us. We had no trouble getting her to go to bed after she made it clear how sleepy she was.

Amelia

:: My treats for my second official product review came in. I’m so excited for the opportunity to get to try out all of these brand new products. I’ll be sure to let you know what I think.

Cookies

That’s all the nuggets I have for this week. I need to get better at snapping pictures of things that we do if I’m going to keep having nuggets to share. Happy hump day, the weekend is getting closer!

Filed Under: Nuggets Tagged With: , ,