Tuna for Tuesday

Life's little whirlwind has slightly calmed around my house, but I'm not feeling the love for meal planning what remains of the week.  I'm struggling to find enthusiasm for food at all right now.  Last week was full of pasta and fast food, which was convenient when we were so busy, busy but I really don't want to fall back on that again.  I'm thinking I'll make a pseudo plan based on what I have in my pantry, fridge and freezer.  Today I want to use some of the four -yes, four- heads of lettuce in my refrigerator.  (It's a Bountiful Basket thing.  We always get more lettuce than my family can eat so it stacks up.)  I remembered the yummy tuna lettuce wraps a local pub specializes in and set out to find a recipe.  I found several that really sounded good, but this one is the winner because I happen to have every ingredient on hand - again, a Bountiful Basket thing.  Who knew the jicama we got last week would just pop up in a recipe for tuna lettuce wraps?  So, here's what we're having for dinner.

(I copied/pasted this recipe and pics below from Appetite for Life.   I found this blog through a recipe search but I know I'll go back.  I like her style.  Please click through and maybe show her some love!)

Ingredients for tuna marinade:
¼ C rice wine vinegar
2 T soy sauce
½ tsp sesame oil

Ingredients for wrap:1 medium head of Boston lettuce, cored
½ medium sized jicama, peeled and diced
½ C carrots, diced
¼ C green onions, thinly sliced
1 acorn-sized fresh ginger, minced
½ C cilantro, roughly chopped
3 T fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
2 T fresh lime juice
10 oz. canned white albacore tuna, packed in water - not oil!
Mix together ingredients for tuna marinade in small bowl. Drain canned tuna and stir into marinade. Refrigerate while you chop veggies.

Mix together in a large bowl: jicama, carrots, green onions, fresh ginger, cilantro, mint, and lime juice. Stir and refrigerate to let the flavors socialize.

Make a side of edamame. I know you know how to do that, so I won’t insult you. I WILL, however, give you a friendly reminder to put out a “dead soldiers” bowl for the empty bean pods, or else your peeps will be putting the shells on the table and/or throwing them on the floor and that is just plain annoying. This isn’t a peanut bar, cowboy.

Remove marinating tuna from fridge and drain excess liquid.

To assemble: Lay two large Boston lettuce leaves, stems up, on your plate. Spoon tuna (about a half cup) into the base of the leaves. Fill in remaining space with jicama mixture. Fold leaves, wrap together, and eat over a plate to catch the drippings.

No Blogging for Me!

I have had a busy week!  I haven't sat down to write about it, but I've pretty much done everything else under the sun.  I've actually done ALL my morning basic and daily chores - a first since I started this whole endeavor last fall.  I made (or bought) and mailed Mother's Day gifts.  I accompanied kids to tumbling and soccer and spent a gorgeous afternoon at a park with friends.  I did a little yard work and tried a new recipe.  AND, I went on a date with the spouse.  Yes, I'm pretty pleased with all I've done this week.  I would have liked to blog about it all, but I knew if I spent any more time on line than I had allotted I would never log off.  I have a few things from the week I'd still like to share so hopefully I'll be disciplined enough to sit down, write and leave.  I have another fabulous day mapped out so I'm closing the mac book and heading out to conquer the world!

A  few highlights from our week.

Teaching Mr. A to roll down a grassy hill.

Hanging out in the sun.

Soccer!

Backyard Beach Party

May's First Meal Plan! Yay!

During my extended winter break from blogging, I did continue making meal plans.  It's just such an easy way to make every afternoon easier.  It helps me spend less time grocery shopping, and my family always eats better when I take the time to make a plan.  Usually, I order a Bountiful Basket, which is a fabulous produce co-op.  (I first blogged about them here.)  Then, I plan my meals around the fun surprises in my basket.  I took a break from the basket this week though, so my plan had to start from scratch.  Okay, I didn't really start from scratch.  After all these months of meal planning (and a lot of documenting here) I simply looked back at bygone plans and chose some of our favorite meals.  Now I just have to grocery shop and I'll be all set to feed us for the week!  Check out my Week at a Glance page for this week's plans including links to any on line recipes I'm using.

As for FUN plans, I'm thinking I'm going to play that by ear for now.  I know, I know- failure to plan is planning to fail. When I was burned out, part of the problem was feeling constrained by the FUN plans.  I kind of stopped enjoying our FUN because I felt I HAD to do what I'd written down.  So, I'm giving myself the freedom to say "What should we do today?" this week, and we'll see how that goes.  I have several fun things in mind but we'll whatever we're in the mood for when we're ready to play.

Fun with Pets!

Wow, that week went by FAST!  I can't believe it's already Friday!  But, here we are so I guess it's time to get started on today.  I actually have a pretty big day outside of FUN Time.  In addition to getting both girls off to school, which is more or less a two hour project by the time I get home from preschool drop off, I am running my errands today.  I decided to skip my Bountiful Basket this week, so I'd like to have all my errands done so I can stay home and enjoy all of my Saturday. Errands will possibly take me the whole time M is at school, then I'll still have all my Morning Basics and Daily Chore, which will take me to when E gets home from school.  Thankfully, I have a slow cooker meal planned so I can have a little FUN Time before dinner.

Today's FUN is going to be something very simple we can do any time, or even a few minutes here and there.  We're going to give all our pets some extra love and fun.  M loves "training" the dogs, probably because she loves feeding them treats.  I'd love to see if she can get them to listen to her well enough to do real tricks, beyond the finding scattered cat food M throws for them, which is her idea of a trick.  Both dogs to do basic things like sit, shake and turn for E so I'd like to see if she can come up with something new for them.  We also have three cats who are pretty playful.  Watching them chase their balls or a laser pointer all around always gets us laughing.  That's what FUN is all about!