What's Cooking. . . .

The Salmon last night was great!  It was even very good for lunch today.  The couscous recipe was from my new cook book and the lemon aoli was from pinterest.  Fixed another couscous recipe tonight for dinner, it was actually a mish mash of two different recipes that had a Moroccan flavor.  I really like this pearl couscous, it is larger than the traditional couscous that comes to mind.  I am also using the whole wheat couscous trying to keep it healthy.  The pearl couscous is a larger kernel than traditional. 
Here is my mish mash recipe for Moroccan couscous:
1/4 cup olive oil
2tbs balsamic vinegar
2 cups pearl couscous
2 cloves minced garlic
2 small red peppers chopped
2 green onions chopped
Mozzarella cheese cubed
2 bay leaves
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water


Boil 1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup water and a splash of olive oil and 2 bay leaves,  after boil add couscous remove from heat and  cover for 15 minutes, 
mix together:  vinegar, oil, garlic and pour over couscous then add onion and pepper and cheese and toss and refrigerate.
I used Mozzarella instead of Feta. I do not particularly care for Feta cheese and I did not have any on hand. 
 Here is a picture of my lunch today with my Salmon and the other couscous from last night:

It was just as good as it was last night.  

I also made pumpkin muffins tonight, they were a little bland, I think it could use a little more spice maybe.  I am freezing some of them since I am the only one that will eat them.  Stay tuned for more recipe updates as I continue the "Real Food" adventure.                                                                                                                                                   

Another New Cook Book. . .. .

A friend of mine at work shared a cook book with me that she had recently purchased, 100 days of Real Food, by Lisa Leake.  I skimmed through it one night at work in between phone calls and I was intrigued.  You know I am always interested in a good cook book, especially one that has quick simple recipes, the bonus here is that they are also better for you recipes.
When you are working and trying to take care of your family you look for quick ideas to help you along, this is one of those resources. **** Full disclosure I am not being paid for this post, you all should know by now I post what I believe in and share things that I find have value. *****
There are a couple folks at work that are trying to keep everyone motivated with little tasks and helpful hints.  One is walking laps at the office when we are not taking calls to keep our energy up and our metabolism too.  Another couple of gals have created this great board to help keep us motivated and entertained with shout outs to other employees and little funny memes about talking on the phone all the time.  It is a big stress reliever and morale booster in my opinion.
So, with all of that said, my friend at work shared her cook book and I of course loved it.  I bought one of them on Amazon and have been reading it. 
The premise behind the book is to eat real food and cut out all the processed stuff that is available at the store these days.  It also hits home the amount of sugar that we consume on a daily basis.  She even tells what you can get at the different stores that are good choices for eating "real food."  I am off today and had to run some errands and decided I would go by the Whole Foods and pick up a few things suggested in my new book.  I do not normally shop at Whole Foods but I wanted some things that the book suggested that only Whole Food carry.  I am notorious for buying things not on my list and today was no different, we are having Salmon for dinner tonight with fresh dill, lemon, and butter.  I fixed my lunch today with suggestions from the book:   scrambled eggs, avocado, on a small whole wheat pita.  It was very filling and very good. 
Stay tuned, this is going to be an adventure for this crew.  Trying to cut back on eating out, eating more "real food," and cutting back on the soda (me).  This is not about calories it is about "real food."

Missing my Kiddo. . .

I thought I had this being a mom of a college student all in hand, boy was I wrong.   I do not have anything together.  I have been blaming work for not sleeping well since I have been working more nights and the truth is it is plain old worry.  I guess being a mom the worry never stops, I will worry when they are 40.  Kids do not understand that until they are parents themselves.  LOL!!  I sure did not understand.  My sister was quick to point out the worry I must have caused our mom when I was in college, when I was crying on her shoulder last week.
I know the parenting job is suppose to prepare our kids not to need us but must they not need us so soon.  Mine has gone off, Mr. Independent, tooling around the big city like a pro.  He loves it, and is having the time of his life and the worst part for me is that he does not miss home at all.  I know, I know he is suppose to spread his wings and fly to new adventures, I just did not think he would be this good at it. 
I pray every night that he will be safe while he is out tooling around the city and I pray that he does not lose his focus.  Focus being school and studying hard and preparing for his future.  Lots of prayers for all the moms and dads of college students that have gone off to spread their wings to new adventures.  This parenting thing is so hard and painful. 

The Boy is in Boston. . .

Just got home from dropping my oldest at College.  Wheww!!  I must give the school credit, it went very smooth, they had student leaders and student athletes helping the freshman get their stuff moved in to the dorms.  That was a huge help, and they were very organized, the most organized move in process I have ever seen.  I vaguely remember my brother moving in and I do not remember my sister moving in except in her apartment.  I remember my move in and we did not have help of any kind except what came with me. 
Because the school is up North there is no AC only heat.  It was pretty hot moving and setting everything up even with the help.  We got him set up and he has two roommates in a  room built for two people and furniture for two people.  They had events planned throughout the day for everyone and we had planned to leave to come home that afternoon.  Needless to say we stayed and attended all of the events for the family.   I love that this college has a culinary school because the family dinner we had was amazing!!!  We were able to meet several of the boys on the lacrosse team and a couple of the soccer players that helped move us in.  Everyone was very nice and helpful, I feel at ease about my sweet Sprat being there.  I am going to miss him terribly though. 
I was a little worried at first but then he escorted us to the car and told us he had to go find the rest of the team.  I took that to mean, I am ok and ya'll can go now, and the hubbs and I reluctantly left our first born in the big city. 
I left him with the letters I had written him over the years about different things and how he was at certain times of his life. In those letters I also enclosed a little money, which he does not know about yet.  I do not know when he will read them or if he will read them, I hope that he keeps them because I wanted him to have something in my handwriting.  I have some old journals from my mothers father and I cherish them because I never knew him, he had passed away before I was born.  The journals are just about his daily activities but it mentions my mom a couple of times and her sisters and brothers and what they were doing at that time.  I hope that Sprat will keep my letters the same way. 
Here are a few pictures from the day:

Dad giving last minute advice, the building in the background is one of the education buildings.

The trunk covered in stickers to hold all of his extra gear. 

Facebook Help or Hindrance inOur Social Lives. . .

A dear friend of mine from high school teaches third grade right here in my backyard.  We had found each other on the almighty Facebook but we had not physically seen each other since high school graduation (I could tell you how long ago that was but I want bore you with dinosaur history)  That is sad. Facebook can connect us to people far and wide but we lose that physical connection to those closest to us.
My very sweet friend reached out via Facebook and asked her friends and family to adopt her third grade class and supply each child with a book and a note of encouragement for that first day of school and prayers throughout the year.   I was thrilled to sign up for that since bringing snacks and surprises for the kids is frowned upon for the Sophomore year of high school.
We decided to schedule a lunch date so that we could catch up and I could bring her some goodies for the class.  It was great to see my friend and find out how she wound up here and to tell her how I wound up here, funny thing was, they were very similar love stories. 
We laughed and cried telling each other our terrific love stories.   We have vowed to keep in touch personally and not just with Facebook.
So back to my title of this post.  Is Facebook a help or a hindrance?  I think it is a hindrance, we like a post and comment here and there and you think you are keeping up with your relationship with that friend.  I think Facebook is driving a wedge between friends and family with all of the political nonsense and all the hate that is publicized that before Facebook we would not have heard about.  I do not delete people for their posts but I might hide a post or two if it is offensive to me.  I have been deleted before and I am not really sure why this person deleted me, I am not political and I do not argue with anyone on Facebook because that is useless.  Arguing with someone on Facebook is like arguing with my Basil, there is no point.
So what do you think about Facebook, help or hindrance? 

Stay tuned, prepping this week for taking Sprat to school. . . .

Work and a Few Tidbits. . . Here and There. . .

I am not able to post a lot about my job because of privacy and things like that but today we had a staff meeting and they introduced a new out reach campaign to get people to sign up to be organ, eye, and tissue donors.   It is called "Be the Hero your Dog Sees."   We have a lot of animal lovers in our company and they decided what better way to reach out to the community, than with their animals.  Basically, if you have dogs you know that your dog thinks the sun rises and sets with their human.  So our campaign wants you to be a hero to everyone by signing up to be an organ, eye and tissue donor because your dog already thinks you are a hero.  If you are interested or would like more information about organ donation if you are in North Carolina go to Donate Life NC, if you are somewhere else you can go to Donate Life America.

#Betheheroyourdogsees

My job is not easy and many nights I cry on my drive home thinking about the sweet folks that gave so much of themselves for someone else.  I think about that year that my sweet hubby was laid off and how God had a plan for our family and more importantly he had a plan for me.  I do love my job and I am very thankful for the opportunity I have been given to make a difference and to be a hero my dog sees. 

College Prep continues. . .

Sorry for the gap in posts; work has been busy and so has getting Sprat ready to go off to College.  I had no idea there was so much paperwork involved in this college thing.  I do not think there was this much paperwork in buying our first house and signing for our first mortgage.  Every day there is a new email with more things to do and sign that we have read. 
I must admit, I have felt a little overwhelmed these last few weeks trying to prepare for this send off.  I am so afraid I am going to forget something that he might need for school and there is just not a Walmart or even a drug store on every corner in Boston. 
In the midst of all of my own worry and fretting my very sweet Sprat brought me this book this morning.  It is a photo album that he and one of his girl friends put together for me.  It is some of his baby pictures and it is the sweetest, thoughtful gesture I think he has ever made.  I was blown away.   Big ugly tears today as I think about him leaving home for the Big City.  Today, I feel like I may have done some things right, today I feel very blessed and a little sad that I did a good job raising this one.  He is going to go off on his own and make his own way in this big old world. 
You know we talk about this when they are young, but I am here to tell you that nothing has prepared me for this.  You want them to go off and be successful but nothing prepares you on how to deal with them being so good at this going off part.  My heart is full of love, pride, and sadness today as I think I only have four weeks left with this very sweet kid that I have spent the last eighteen years preparing for this very thing.
Stay tuned for the drama to come . . . .