I challenge YOU to the #chimmie500

I am still in recovery from our nutty holiday season. 

2016 = Cook from scratch 3-4 days a week + exercise more.

I'm attempting to cook in larger quantities and use leftovers more creatively throughout the week. A little tweak from last years #52tries with my girl Tiffany and the gang... The pictures above show:

Meal 1: A big pot of Chocolate chili Mole (I added purple + yukon potatoes to cheer on my Big Cats in the Outback Bowl. Didn't have any sweet potatoes in the house.) 

Meal 2: Chili leftovers + cauliflower + kale under an organic rotisserie chicken (Kids made tacos with it all - Boom!)

Meal 3: Pulled Chicken and Chili leftover lasagna 

Meal 4: Homemade stock and leftover chicken in my pea + noodle soup

My favorite family table line right now is: 

"BUT MOooooooom, YOU think EVERYTHING is delicious!"

I vacillate between feeling on top of the world and somewhere else (with a skinned up knee and ice on my brain). Terri Salminen, you are always on my shoulder in the kitchen inspiring me; You are my "soffritto sister.

NOW... how do I possibly fit more exercise IN and make it FUN?

Enter in my best friend Laura who moved away from me four years ago (sob). I call her my "chimmie" from Indy (aka racing land) and I challenge YOU to join our first annual #chimmie500. Three days ago I asked her to join me and sent this video explaining it all:

 

The #Chimmie500 = 10 sets of 10 push ups  + 10 sets of 10 squats every day, 5 days a week (I am NOT doing 100 all at one time mind you). My phone is on a 60 min timer and no matter where I am, when the timer goes off, I do my 10 reps of each for a grand total of 100 each for the day/500 each for the week. 

It was Laura's idea to add the squats. Thanks. I had fun telling everyone at the salon about our new fun game (thanks for taking the picture Mac!)

Today is my third day and my pecs are on fire. I won't be writing everyday here, so feel free to follow the shenanigans on Instagram and Twitter (High fives to my sister-in-law Vicki who launched her 100 push up challenge to her High School Dance team last year. I remember her telling me about it and thinking... that's genius. I can do that! But I never made it past day 1... Thanks for the inspo V!)

There is something else I'm after in 2016.

As a child, "the mullies" was the silly place my sister Katie and I would catapult ourselves during playtime, flying off swings and high places, yelling "to the mullies" at the top of our lungs and transporting ourselves in.an.instant to "infinity and beyond" (before our feet landed quickly on the ground). 

Our little souls were unbounded.

"To the Mullies" is right now and in a little bit. I have been reading more lately (slowing down) and found these two paragraphs quite fitting in articulating what my crazy blog name means to me:

"Every time you feel even a moment of joy and love, freedom and bliss, you have stepped into the land of light. You feel so wonderful that you want to keep the experience going, the way two infatuated lovers never want to be apart. But your ego, your safe house, calls you back. This pattern of coming and going is how letting go works. It takes repeated exposure to the unbounded soul for you to know that it is real. But your old conditioning will keep pulling you back. In time, your trips outside will last longer and feel more comfortable. Your soul is starting to seep into you; with this merging you begin to understand that you can live in the unbounded permanently. It becomes more natural than your safe house because in the unbounded, you are the real you. 

Therefore, expecting the best isn't about wishful thinking or optimism. It's about recognizing in advance that your goal is attainable. The unbounded soul is experienced, however faintly, in every impulse of the soul. This counters the prevailing attitude in psychology that happiness is a temporary state stumbled upon by accident. I find that attitude deplorable. To declare that love and joy, the primal component of happiness, are occasional is a teaching born of desperation. Keep in mind the image of the safe house and the land of light that surrounds it. No one will ever force you to let go of the limited space you occupy, but you always have the choice to seek the infinite, because that is who you really are."    

                                                                  - Deepak Chopra 

                                                                    Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul

Thanks Deepak. You nailed it right on the kisser mister.

To the mullies we go... in our kitchens, at our family tables, on the ground doing push ups + squats... to being goofballs who jump out of little safe houses.

Let's begin again

And make 2016 our best one yet. 

I freaking love cheese fries too Chris... Let's just keep it to the weekends, kay?:)

xoxoL

ps

I'm a goober for the Microbiome | Get more sleep: Unlocking the Sleep-Gut Connection

pps

Loving my new cookbook and all the legos Santa brought us. The force has indeed awakened.

a #52tries SURPRISE!

i love when an idea takes flight.

#52tries was a hashtag dreamt up by tiffany, for a meal planning quest sparked up by me.

together, we decided it was so much bigger than us. 

so we created something for all of us.

welcome to 52tries.com (we explain how it all went down)

read tiffany's week 3 post here and my week 3 post here. 

tuesday will continue to be our joint posting day!

it's the new home of our 2015 meal planning adventures and many others. read about our team of contributors here (and watch for it to grow!) #52tries can be about all sorts of things challenging, meal planning and otherwise!

my girlfriend tiffany and i have been busy, manic little beavers, collaborating away this past week. she built the website, started the twitter account and crafted our pinterest page + boards. 

i tell you what, this girl is good.

welcome to our #52tries party.

“are we all lost stars, trying to light up the dark?” 

let’s begin again, each week. 

light me up with #52tries.

x+o=L

ps

the mullies will continue to be a cozy, personal home of my growing food rev adventures, the place where i post whatever i want you lovelies to all know about, and most especially "the mullies sister kitchen" adventures coming soon this week or next! katie and i are on a mission to link & grow our family tables together this year.

to the mullies we go...

to the mullies with #52tries - meal planning in 2015

2015 is the year of my family table.

these lovely cookbooks are going to be my best friends for a while and i'm sure they'll get some new friends along the way.

i am striving to sit down with my family 3 days a week at our kitchen table for a shared, made-from-scratch meal. 

if i make more meals per week, great, if i make less, boo hoo... try better next time. 

no matter what i'm sharing it. unless my computer breaks.

i hope you'll join me - or at least be inspired to try you're own genius plan.

tuesdays = my #52tries weekly recap 

(if you're itching to see what's happening in real time, ride along with me on instagram, facebook & twitter)

each week, i'll compile and share my chalkboard scribble of a meal plan + the best pictures and notes of how it all went down the hatches. 

the good. 

the bad. 

the ugly. 

the gorgeous. 

the "i don't like it-ness" 

the love of food. 

oh gawd help me.

hold on to your butts, cuz i'm trying to get even more organized around three theme nights:

vegetarian/vegan (meatless... nuff said)

comfort food (cozy up and sigh as you stuff your face full of goodness)

food legacies (famous dishes from around the globe or stateside; let's travel back in time; cooking with famous chefs; food trends... i want to broaden my family's appreciation and understanding of FOOD (and my own of course!) and all the glorious culture that surrounds it... hello world).

here's how this meal planning ball got rolling and i want to introduce you to my team of besties that may try & make appearances over the next 52 weeks!

my sister katie 

we decided to begin connecting our kitchens over break. to cook the same recipe, take pics, perhaps make a video or two and see how it all shakes down in our mullies kitchens. i love her to death and as the co-inventor of our childhood fantasy land dubbed "the mullies," this is exactly where i want her to be with me since she lives in denver! she has two kids and i have three spanning 2 years to 10 years old. her husband loves to cook and eats everything; mine does not cook and is extremely picky like my kids. i am hoping her kids' thumbs up will inspire my kids to try a few more bites along the way when i push their culinary taste buds. i cannot wait to begin connecting our family tables and the evolution should be a hoot! 

my girlfriend tiffany, aka "bunny"

she was the genius who suggested i commit to a meal plan blog every week. it's our new year's resolution and this is how we're gonna keep it! meal planning is one of those things that is NOT hard, i simply have NO routine that i stick to and i'm trying to change that. she'll be cooking -vegan.all.day.all.night - along with me and we'll be sharing notes like mad hatters. she is one of my very best friends, my kindred life's sounding board who also lives in across town from my lovely sis. i tell you what, i would not be where.i.am.today without this fancy southern lady. she puts the chic in whatever she looks at (her camp1899 pinterest boards kill me) and i can't wait to cook & bake more vegetarian/vegan meals with her. link up with her on twitter for some bunny good inspiration. 

my "far and away" girlfriend terri + global food rev ambassador teammate

we facetime almost every week and email like we've known each other forever. she is my real life cookbook i conspire with! we brainstormed the other day and the meal planning really took shape into a more exciting, thematic structure. she is my mary poppins meets julia child from the netherlands, my heart's closest inspiration and mentor in the kitchen. it's like we share the same brain of energy and we soak each other up. i'm so lucky to be friends with this ridiculously talented executive & private chef and mother of 2. we are "cooking across continents" with each other and working to spread the food rev far and wide. link up with her on instagram, facebook and twitter for food inspiration that will blow your mind.

my girlfriend laura aka "chimmie" 

she is my hilarious, nutrition trained, beautiful soulmate who will be joining in on the meal planning fun. she's got two kids, i talk to her almost everyday and well, she's crazy awesome and real and i don't know what i would do without her in my life. she's just under and next to me in indiana and i can't wait for you to get to know her better. when we're not talking about food, we're talking about something crafty... watch out, us 2 chimmie-chonga-choo-choo's = nutballs. you can link up with her on instagram and get inspired.

my girlfriend christina + mundelein food rev teammate

not sure what i would do without this local lovely lady cake friend. check out her 2015 plan: she will use one cookbook per week to meal plan out of = so simple. i cannot WAIT to see what she and her husband will cook up each week with her two beautiful girls. you can find this talented stevenson high school family and consumer science teacher (gourmet foods and clothing design) on instagram. oh christina lets cook + cocktail this week!

ok ok, enough chatty kathy... let's get to it. 

week 1

salmon burgers + kale chips + glazed carrots = 5 thumbs up

via j. oliver's "comfort food" crab cakes + g. paltrow's "it's all good" salmon burgers

i combined oliver and paltrow's recipe like this:

1 lb salmon (my four patties were still a little frozen = good for processing according to paltrow)

3/4 c fresh cilantro

1/2 small red onion

zest of one lemon

2 T worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

combine above ingredients in a food processor.  pulse until well combined, but not a paste. place salmon combo into a bowl. and mix in:

a heaping 1/2 tsp of dry mustard powder

1 c gluten free panko breadcrumbs

1 T 21 spice blend (find at trader joes or costco)

1 egg

form into patties. size em to your liking.

fry in organic virgin coconut oil, 4 min's to a side (or until crispy and gorgeously brown).

acorn squash stuffed with baked ziti = 5 thumbs up

via the pollan family table

my family adores this simple "the pollan family table" baked ziti. i thought i was so clever in putting the ziti in the acorn squashes!!! well come to find out, mr emeril lagasse already thought of that, so hit this link and i won't have to type it all out for you. i pretty much did exactly what he did. so just do it. 

i love making my homemade tomato sauce (no fruit plums in this sauce. instead, this one had chopped kale ribs in the soffrito instead of celery, two red peppers, a yellow squash zucchini and baked acorn squash pulp. i anticipated i'd be the only one eating the squash with my pasta so i snuck a bunch in the sauce. i also pureed it until is was silky smooth with my handheld immersion blender. my family likes it better that way and it's extremely versatile with leftovers!

doesn't it make the most beautiful leftover lunch! my raw salad is simply sliced brussel sprouts + avocado + tomatoes + kale + homemade ranch.

hit and run tray baked chicken + side salad = 5 thumbs up

via jamie oliver's amazing iphone/ipad app and part of his #10healthymeals roundup. i just added some fingerling potatoes to the mix = easy peasy.

vegetarian chili = 1 thumbs up (only because i made it too hot darnit!)

via food revolution. 

those cute little round white things are called "bunapi" mushrooms... and i forgot to put them in... oops.

my family has the most ridiculously sensitive tastebuds ever to the "spicy". i'm not sure what i was thinking when i went to town on the cayenne pepper flakes. oops. 

we added plain sheep's milk yogurt (whole foods) to the bowls of chili to tame the heat. that's how i got the kids to eat it... poor chris took about four bites and was done. wouldn't even try the yogurt trick. to the moon alice...

lesson learned. i'll add just a pinch of cayenne next time. someday, someday they'll be able to handle a little heat. it's such AMAZING chili and i definitely will be making it again!

my vegetarian chili lasagna + ina garten's winter slaw = 4 thumbs up

slaw via ina's "make it ahead"

i tamed down the heat with this dish.  layered gluten free brown rice lasagna noodles + my leftover tomato sauce + aged manchego cheese (sheep's milk cheese). i like to use sharper, high quality manchego because then i don't have to add as much cheese to get the flavor i want. abbie was the only one who didn't like it.

layer:

sauce

noodles

chili

sauce

noodles

chili 

sauce

cheese

noodles

sauce

cheese

done

today starts a new week. 

i'll post my new chalkboard on instagram later today taters tots.

and i'll be seeing you mundelein/lake county locals at dakotah's farmer's market on saturday 9am-3pm. i'll be cooking and talking with you about your meal planning ideas around 10am-2pmish or until my food sampling runs out!

mark your calendars and start dreaming of the warm sunshine.

food revolution day is friday, may 15, 2015.

i can't hardly wait!!!

x+o=L

ps

begin again. 

every week. 

have you heard this song? 

"are we all just lost stars, trying to light up the dark?"

it's a little tuesday tune for you 

love.

meal planning - bring on the theme nights!

i am super excited about this one.  thanks to my hot mama sister katie for getting my wheels turning!

the most common issue with this clean eating & more cooking thang is that there is only so much time in the day especially if you are a working parent.  you're not getting home until after 5pm...your time is restricted, your freakin tired but you have to get dinner on the table!  whether you stay at home or work, planning, cooking and juggling the schedule is an issue for all of us, so i am on a mission to try and figure out a way we can all start eating real food without making ourselves even more stressed out!!!

starting themed dinner nights will be easier to plan, to shop for & hopefully crazy fun for the kids to look forward to!  in my pipe dreams, i'd really like to get the kids more involved with cooking too...maybe this will get them excited about being a part of it all!!

here are some of the ideas we came up with:

taco tuesdays
meatless mondays
make your own pizza night
german night
slow cooker night
soup night
breakfast for dinner night
italian/pasta night
hong kong night
make your own salad night
hawaiian luau night

i mean, you could really have fun with this one.  depending on your family's food tastes...the sky is the limit, right!?

here are some great links to some pretty sweet blogs...get your creative juicies flowing!!

family theme night dinner ideas

weekly menu theme ideas

theme nights and monthly food planning

my plan is to sit down with the family tonight and pick out the top 5 to 7 theme nights we'd like to try out for a while.  gotta leave room for a few leftover nights and i think if we spread the theme nights out between two weeks that will be a good starting point for us.

to the mullies we go...