Spring, Exercise, Recipes, and More

Well, I think spring has sprung. The sun was beautiful yesterday and it definitely brightened my mood.  I was even more excited when I saw these daffodil bulbs sprouting. 

Tomorrow Ryan and I are going to the Shrine Circus in Indianapolis.  The entire fourth grade in our county go on this field trip every year and I'm sure it will be a fun day with George.  We're going to take George (Ryan) and some of his friends bowling after the circus so he can celebrate with them.  I don't know how the boy did it, but he's had 3 birthday parties this year.  It must be nice to turn 10!

As part of Fit Friday, I have a recipe to share, a supplement to tell you about, and exciting news (well, for me it is).

 I want to share this recipe with you - it was on 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray and it looks so delicious!  It's called Charred Chili Relleno with Green Rice.  The picture doesn't look as appetizing as it did on the show, so please don't let that distract you from making this dish.

Charred Chili Relleno with Green Rice


Ingredients
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock, divided
1 bay leaf
2 cups white rice
4 large poblano peppers
6 ears corn on the cob or 3 cups frozen corn kernels
3 tablespoons corn, peanut or vegetable oil, divided
1 red onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained well
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1/2 palm full
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, eyeball it in your palm
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 pound spinach leaves, deveined and coarsely chopped
4 scallions, coarsely chopped
2 limes, zested, juiced
1 cup shredded Chihuahua cheese, Asadero or Monterey Jack

Directions
Preheat broiler or grill pan to high.
Heat about 3 1/2 cups stock in a sauce pot with a bay leaf to boiling. Add rice, cover pot reduce heat to low and simmer 18 minutes until tender.

Place poblanos under broiler or on hot grill and char evenly all over, 15 minutes.
While peppers and rice are working, scrape the corn off the cobs or defrost frozen corn and dry by spreading out on clean kitchen towel. Heat 2 tablespoons light oil in a skillet over high heat. When the oil smokes or ripples add corn, onion, jalapenos and toss until the vegetables char at edges and onions are tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high and add in garlic, fire roasted tomatoes and season with cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook another minute or 2 then turn pan off.

Place the cilantro, spinach, scallions, lime zest, half a cup of stock and a tablespoon of oil in food processor and process into coarse green paste. Stir into your rice pot in the last 3 to 4 minutes of its cooking time.

Sprinkle the lime juice over the corn mixture.

Split the charred peppers open but not in half with small sharp knife then scoop out the seeds with a small spoon. Place peppers in a shallow baking dish and stuff each split pepper with lots of the corn mix, top each pepper with 1/4 cup cheese and place back under broiler to melt and char the cheese.

Serve peppers on beds of green rice. Yum-o!

Please take a moment to check out Colleen's blog and see what everyone has shared on her Weekly Recipe Swap.  I always find a good recipe or two to try when I visit.

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The next thing I would like to share is a supplement that I purchased at GNC called Tonalin CLA.  I was told that this supplement would help reduce belly fat.  Supposedly it is a fatty acid known for promoting good health. After looking at decades of research scientists have found that CLA may help the body to deposit less fat, build more muscle and may even help prevent fat cells from refilling.  If you would like to read more about CLA or Tonalin CLA, please click here and here and here.  Now I know that there is no "magic pill", but a little extra help can't hurt.  I'm going to track my progress and promise to report back weekly.

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For my last bit of news to share - on Monday, I tried out for a part in a play at the theater (The Vanity Theater) in town.  It's called "The Women" and I am going to be the exercise instructress.  It's a small part which is good - I've never been in a play before and don't have a huge amount of time to devote, but I do want to do something other than "work".  To see a review of the 2008 movie, click here, or to see a review of the 1939 movie, click here.  I think this will be a good thing and maybe my boys will eventually want to try out for some plays.

Have a wonderful, sunny, warm weekend everyone! Spring is on it's way!!

George's most recent artwork

My youngest son loves to draw.  When he is working on a drawing, he really concentrates on what he is doing.  Usually it's some type of underwater scene, or something to do with the Army, or robots.  This is his most recent drawing (similar to the chalkboard drawing that I recently posted), and he was so excited about it that he colored it and brought it to school.  I managed to get it back from him and post a copy on my blog.  Maybe Santa will be bringing art supplies to our house this Christmas.

I'm so proud of you George!!

George and his bike after the race.  He can't wait until next year to do this race again.

George's chalkboard art

George is so proud of this drawing.

Go George Go!

Sent from my iPhone

There's George!

Sent from my iPhone

It's a bird. It's a plane. No wait - it's #988 in his first Ironman race!

Sent from my iPhone

George at the start.

Sent from my iPhone

George is ready! I don't know if you can see his "game face" but I'm afraid :)

Sent from my iPhone

Race Day!

Today is race day at the Ironman. The air is crisp, the sun is barely up, there is the sound of dirtbikes everwhere, and you can feel tons of excitement. This is George's first year of racing here, and as you can see he is very excited.

Legos, Legos, and more Legos!!

A few weeks ago, Grandma and Grandpa took Boscoe and George to a town close to us to see Dr. Darrow's Lego Show. And the reviews are....it's awesome, cool, legoy, plasticy, and a dream come true for George. This is "true Lego architecture" according to George and he informed me that it took Dr. Darrow 6 years to build each display, plus 6 hours to take apart and assemble each display. There was also a game where you could play tic tac toe against a Lego machine. Here are pictures of Dr. Darrow's creations.

George would really like to have this display in his bedroom.

This is a replica of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

George posing at the back end of the replica.

This robot would come toward you if it saw you.

George and Dr. Darrow.

George really likes Legos and has several sets, plus some that belonged to Prince Charming when he was a young boy. He also has a subscription to the Lego magazine with plans to submit a picture of one of his own creations. Maybe one day he will build "true Lego architecture" like Dr. Darrow.

An Evening of Riding with George and Boscoe

I've been telling one of George's friends that I would post more pictures of him riding. So Elliot, here it is. I hope you like watching it. By the way, did your mom tell you that George wants to jump our house?

Mooch's Motorcycle Club Hare Scramble

Prince Charming and George did a hare scramble on Sunday. It was so nice to race at this location because it's about 40 minutes from our house and we didn't have to leave as early as usual. This is the second time they have raced here and I think Boscoe raced last year instead of George. All the rain we had the night before made everything slimy and slick which resulted in problems through the track. Here are some pictures from the race.

George at the start of the race.

George and Prince Charming checking things out.

George should be looking at what's ahead instead of what's behind...

George is somewhere at the bottom of the hill in this bottleneck of bikes.

Boscoe and George at the (unfortunate) end of the race. One wreck changed everything. Better luck next time!

This is a friend of ours that takes his son K racing. K had a wreck and came back with a souvenir in his helmet.

George giving Prince Charming good luck knuckles.

George was giving Prince Charming some pointers.....

The end of the race. Even though the track was tough and there were some bumps along the way, they both had fun.

We saw this tree when we were waiting for Prince Charming. We like to call it the "tree of shame". Can you see the parts on the tree? It made us realize that we aren't along in bringing home broken parts.

Holiday World - better than a Krispy Kreme sugar buzz!

Yesterday was sooooo much fun! We went to Holiday World with our church youth group and had a blast. Boscoe toured the park with another group and we didn't see him much, but he did tell me that he rode the Voyage three times in a row and grand total of 7 times for the day! Holiday World says The Voyage is the #1 Wooden Coaster on the planet. You'll experience 24.2 seconds of zero-G, one of the steepest drops on any wooden coaster and 90-degree banking at highway speeds! Frankly, I'm not that impressed. Ummmm....actually, I'm really afraid to ride it. The drops are too steep for my taste. Boscoe also went on the Liberty Launch, the wave pool, and all of the other roller coasters. I know his stomach was satisfied because he had pizza for lunch :)

George and I stayed with friends of ours, M and J. We went on the Raven roller coaster, the spider, the scrambler and the tilt-a-whirl (M loved all of those), the Hallow swings, Revolution, and so much more. George and J got the highest scores on the Gobble Getaway. George's score was 627 and J's score was 870. I was happy with my score of 230 especially since the last time I went I got zero (but don't tell anyone that I had the gun pointed backwards the entire time), I think M's score was around 190. The water park was also great. The wave pool was a favorite of George and J. Our group really liked the "funnel" and all the tube slides. It was so hard to fit everything into one day. Lets not forget about the ride home. It was almost as exciting as the park because of the wrong turn I made. I think going through Switz City was definitely what you call taking the scenic route. Here are some pictures from our fun-filled day.

Boscoe and N waiting to enter the park. I'm sure they will try to have a good time.

George and J waiting to enter the park. They were so excited that I think we only heard "are we there yet" two times on the way down.

M on the Hallow Swings. Too fun!

George ready to get wet!

Santa, we've been good. Really, we have!