Sex Poll Wrap Up

I don't know about everyone else but I have been riveted by the sex poll results. And not so much by the results in particular but how all over the board they are. I think we all get caught up in stereotypical thinking and it was interesting to see how different everyone's answers were.

Here is how it broke down...

Here's How Frequently You All Are Having Sex:
27% several times a week
22% once a week
16% several times a month
11% once a month
22% what? I don't know what you are talking about

Here's Who You Are:
3% single
97% partnered or committed
46% children under 5
21% children over 5
20% partnered less than 5 years
22% partnered 5 - 10 years
27% partnered over 10 years
22% stay at home parent
33% two working parents


I tried to poll for the demographics thinking that would help to reveal something about frequency but NOPE. I would need to do one more detailed poll in order to really see who fell into the "what? I don't know what you are talking about" category versus the "several times a week" one. But here is what I do know for sure. I started this poll on the weekend and immediately those two categories were the front runners... at times flip flopping first and second place. Once Monday came around I thought maybe the working force out there amongst us would change the votes in the direction of more sex.... well it didn't happen. Sex frequency seems to have nothing to do with how long you've been together, how many kids you have, or whether or not you work outside of the home. Purely individual... who knew?!? I would have bet serious money that "once a week" would be the front runner but I suppose my subconscious has been tainted by the media in that regards. I also thought having little kids and staying at home would coincide with less frequency (I'm pretty sure those facts were impeding the Furious sex life). So there you have it. I'm posting a new sex poll later tonight. Anything you didn't get answered post in the comments and I'll try to include that in the poll. What I want to know now is how many of you are satisfied with your sex lives.

Saturday Procrastination

I should probably be tackling my desk or my cubby of shame... or that huge mountain of laundry the kids were playing in... but not just yet. I've got the house to myself (kind of Baby is sleeping) and these are the perfect blogging conditions.

So I'm going to throw out some topics and potentially get back to you with thoughtful posts if there seems to be interest.

#1 Baby is turning ONE in 6 days and I have done nothing in preparation for this. No gifts, no cake ideas, no invites, no party.... NOTHING. Second kid syndrome or is it just that with your second kid comes more perspective...

#2 Food sensitivities, allergies, avoidance.... Cooking without major allergens (yes I have a lot of experience with this)

#3 Momento storage and documentation. I actually do have great tips for this... for all you non scrapbookers.

#4 How to lower my body fat % without losing more weight... I may need some feedback in order to meet my new goal of 18%.

#5 Today is the last day to vote on the sex poll... wrap up discussion anyone?

Okay that's it for now. Feel free to let me know where your interests lie.

I Turned My Back For One Second....

What $100 Looks Like

Ever wonder what Mrs F buys at Whole Foods and exactly how far her money goes?
Wonder no more...
(click to enlarge photo)

Missing items:
1 bunch organic bananas that I left on the counter
duplicates of frozen food: an additional package each of the waffles, sausage & salmon filets

In case you were wondering I made quite a few impulse purchases this week:
The three boxes of cereal (I meant to only get the Morning O's!...I eat cereal for dessert and couldn't resist the organic Cocoa Comets!)
The baking mixes (one organic pound cake and one organic brownie mix... hey these are NEW products and someone has to test them for you!)

And NO this is not all our groceries these are just my Whole Foods groceries.
I spent about $70 (I can't find that receipt) at the regular grocery store and I bought our meats (natural... pork tenderloin, stew meat, chicken breasts), 1/2 lb Boar's Head deli turkey, dairy (hormone free... 1 gallon 2%, qt 1/2& 1/2, qt choc milk), 1 box "smart" pasta, 2 soups (organic), 2 canned pears for Baby (don't come organic?!?), english muffins, OJ, my big bakery muffin, coffee by the pound, fresh green beans, 3 organic pears, 2 packages organic (yes!) break apart cookie doughs, 2 pouches of "canned" salmon & two bottles of mineral water. (I think that is it)

Come One...Come All

Mrs Furious is at the ready....

Now is your chance to get all your questions answered.... So fire away!

Let the Q & A begin. I'll see you in the comments.

I Need Your Help!

I've got to tell you guys that I am TIRED. Really. Really. Really. T-I-R-E-D. And I should probably take this opportunity to nap since Kid is at school and I actually managed to get Baby down.
But I've got so much stuff to do...

I wanted to give you all a real post... (well I wanted to post a video of me whining but I'm really working on the 60/40 writing to video ratio)... but in the place of a real post I am going to toss out some post ideas that you can mull over in my brief absence.

Here goes...

I am really interested in creating recipes that require less than 10 minutes of prep. If you are like me you've watched more than your fair share of 30 minute meal type shows and just thought... "ridiculous... that is never going to happen". I want all you time-strapped-people out there to peruse my recipe section in my sidebar. Outside of the stew I don't think there is anything over there with a prep time over 10 minutes.

I am really excited and committed to trying to come up with SUPER quick, easy, and healthy meals that anyone can do (even with two kids attacking you). I think getting dinner on the table, and a dinner everyone in your family will eat, is doable. Is it doable seven days a week? Not if you don't want to lose your freaking mind. But it is doable 5 days. I take my two days off in the work week (genius). Wednesday because by then I am feeling it... and Friday because by then I am dead. It is a lot like working out and cleaning and all that. It is chosing to make it a priority and making it happen.

I completely respect if this isn't your thing (cleaning is not mine) but I'm reaching out to all of you who are interested in this. For those of you who are looking for ways to make dinner work... what are your obstacles? The other thing I would love to know from EVERYONE is what things do you find yourself making frequently? What is your tomato & meatball soup... you know that meal you can throw together without even thinking? Your input will greatly shape the direction I take my cooking segments and recipes... so please comment away!

Todays Rock Star Fashion Tip

This look is brought to you by Baby:

Check out that baby booty...

This One's For You

Ever have one of those days when you just don't want to do it? You just don't want to exercise or follow your diet or whatever.
Well even Mrs F has those moments.... we all do.

I sucked it up and you can too.You can still turn it around, make yourself proud, and reach your goal...one day at a time.

An Oldie But A Goodie

Some of you have already made this and so for you I am sorry that you are suffering through a repeat... but for everyone else I cannot stress how good this is. Seriously. We eat this once a week. It takes about 17 minutes from start to finish and only 2 minutes of that is prep time. It is so simple and you can have it on the table faster than take out with just as much ease. For real. If you haven't tried it out yet you should.

Tomato and Meatball Soup

1 -32 oz carton Organic Creamy Tomato Soup (or 2 cans Campbell's tomato soup)

3 oz elbow noodles (dry)

12 mini party style meatballs (frozen)

1/2 c water or chicken stock


Dump the soup, the noodles, and the meatballs in a sauce pan. Pour the water or stock in the soup carton and shake to dislodge any remaining soup and add to the pot. Bring this to a simmer and continue simmering for 15 minutes. Be sure to stir occasionally while heating! Once the meatballs are heated through I cut them in half in the pot to make them easier for Kid to eat.

makes 4 - 1.5 c servings for 263 calories each

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Cooking Notes:
You could easily extend this by adding 1 c chicken broth, 3-4 meatballs, and 1 oz of noodles for each additional serving! If you are adding more than 2 extra servings just double the original recipe (obviously... right?)

Also if you have a Trader Joe's their Tomato Soup is the BEST and it's cheaper! I also use their brand of mini party meatballs.

If using Campbell's soup omit the extra 1/2 c or water or stock and prepare the condensed soup following the can's instructions.
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Mrs F Food TV... You can watch me make it!

In Case You Are Wondering...

"Several Times a Week" has just taken the lead with 25% of the vote in my ongoing sex survey. Seriously people?!? Seriously?
Interestingly "What? I don't know what you are talking about" is following closely behind in second place with 23% of the vote. I'm not really sure which I am more surprised by... but I certainly know which one I am more relieved by ;)

This Week The Plan

Okay... I"m a little discombobulated after having my Dad in town. FYI...Mr F is home for MLK day too and you all know that completely throws me off!
So here is how everything went down:
We ended up getting everything clean and picked up... VICTORY!!! Our basement is currently kicking total ass, although I have no idea what Mr F did with all the stuff and I kind of fear that our storage rooms are potentially filled with random shit... but oh well we'll deal with that later. It is almost child safe now too.... NEAR VICTORY!!! I managed to keep my desk cleared off for two straight weeks.... VICTORY!!! I did not, however, have time to clean out my cubby of shame and that is on the docket for this week.... TOTAL FAILURE.
Menu wise I think I stuck on target. I try pretty hard to be prepared yet flexible... a delicate balance... when entertaining. In the end it usually means I spend more money on "junk food" and drinks and what not but I'm just one of those people who likes to always have something coming out of the oven to snack on and stuff when people are visiting.
Exercise?!?... well lets just say it didn't pan out for me this week. You can watch my video confessional but the short end of it is that with company and Kid's fevers I kind of scraped the last few... okay 3... workouts. I was disappointed because I really wanted to join in the challenge and help motivate everyone to give it a try. But life happened. I really did want to workout everyday but I felt it was rude and infringing on the "family time" so I wasn't able to fit it in. The lesson learned from this is that everyone has things that come up that can mess with their best intentions. Today is a new week and the opportunity to start fresh.

Okay this week's plan:


Menu

Monday - Tomato & Meatball Soup

Tuesday - Pork Tenderloin w/ rice pilaf & green beans

Wednesday - Kid's Date Night

Thursday - Brown Sugar & Ginger Salmon w/Asian veggie stirfry & spring rolls

Friday - Take out

Saturday - Creamy Chicken Pasta

Sunday - Sweet Potato & Molasses Beef Stew


Cleaning and Chores

Monday - Laundry & vacuuming

Tuesday - Grocery Shopping & sheets

Wednesday - Grocery Shopping & vacuuming

Thursday - Clean out Pantry

Friday - Put Away All Laundry


Exercise
Okay so I want to be a role model for the "Crazy Cardio" to help you all see that it can be done. But here is the deal I've moved past working out for weight loss and I need to put more into my Pilates training to help both get stronger and to help manage my pain. So here is my plan...

Monday - 60 min Cardio

Tuesday - 45 min Pilates

Thursday - 60 min Cardio

Friday - 30 min Pilates

Saturday - 60 min Cardio

Sunday - 30 min Pilates

My goal is to workout for 5 days this week. I'm scheduling 6 days since I would like to reach that and I want to have as much in place to help me achieve that.... but.... I do realize that things may happen and I'll just do the workout for that day regardless of whether I skipped some days or not.


Cardio Confessional

Dinner Is Served

Everyone has got their childhood food favorites. For me that was my mother's Tuna Noodle Casserole. I love it so much I could eat it cold out of the fridge in the middle of the night. Yum. I have changed the recipe very little. The only thing I have changed is the main ingredient. I use canned (well I use it from a pouch) boneless skinless wild pink salmon. You know I'm a little nutty about things like heavy metals in my food so I changed it out for a much healthier fish... you actually can't taste the difference. I've been reluctant to post this recipe despite its near constant presence at our fall and winter table because I've been embarrassed to admit that I make something so... well... cream of mushroom soup reliant. But here it is. It is a cinch to make and is infintely flexible. I make it with just an ounce of pasta per serving so it is fairly low carb, low fat, and high in protein. You can get it ready in a few minutes the night before or in the morning and bake it when you are ready to eat. It reheats well in the microwave or eat it cold... it really is good that way! I have the recipe worked out for 4 servings but you can stir in an extra ounce or two of pasta and stretch it for a couple more servings. I stir peas into ours but you can leave them out if your family doesn't do peas. This is not rocket science... it is a casserole... and it is delicious.

Salmon Noodle Casserole

4 oz shaped pasta (elbow, rotini, etc)
7-8 oz canned salmon (no bones or skin), such as Chicken of The Sea in a 7.1 oz pouch
1 can cream of mushroom soup, Campbell's Healthy Request
1/4 c light mayo
2 T milk (2%)
1t mustard (dijon)
salt and pepper
optional:
1 c frozen peas

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
Bring a pot of water to boil.
Stir in pasta, salt the cooking water, and return to a boil following package directions. When there is 7 minutes remaining on the pasta stir in the frozen peas if using and return to a boil.
Meanwhile in a casserole dish combine salmon, soup, milk, and mustard and mash with a fork to break up the fish.
When the pasta is finished drain the pot of pasta and peas and add to the casserole dish. Stir ingredients together and season with salt and pepper. At this point you could refrigerate the casserole until ready to use or pop it right into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

4 servings at 315 calories a piece (including peas)
add 2 ounces of pasta to filling to make 6 servings at 245 calories a piece


Cooking notes:
I use light mayo because it stays creamy even after baking and it keeps both the fat and calories down. You can use regular mayo and any type of milk for this. My calorie calculation is based on the light mayo, the 2 %, and the peas so adjust accordingly when you make your changes.
And yes you can make this the old fashioned way... with Tuna!

Mrs F Food TV... you can watch me make it!

I've Been Duped

Some of you may know that winter in Michigan is no walk in the park. It is cold... and not a little bit cold... it is freaking freezing cold. Today, right now, it is 11 degrees outside. It is so cold you can feel it in your teeth. But for me Michigan winters are harder to suffer through due to the lack of sunlight more than the frigid temperatures. Can we say "Seasonal Affective Disorder"?! I certainly can. This is the main reason everyone goes to Florida for Mid-Winter break. So I decided to get myself some "full spectrum" light bulbs. See how excited I am.....
Oh wait these aren't "full spectrum" after all. I was so excited that I apparently read what I wanted to read on the package and not what it really said. For Real. Has this ever happened to anyone? I swear I read "full spectrum". I read it several times... I showed it to my Dad and he read the same thing. I came home all pleased with myself thinking "jeez these aren't even that much more expensive". I looked at the package again... yep still reading it as "full spectrum"... take the dumb excited photo of myself to encourage the world to go out and get their own. Then I show Mr F and when I point to the "full spectrum" I read it for what it actually says "Enhanced Color Spectrum". Dumb founded I flip the carton over. What?!? "Enhanced Color Spectrum"?!? I get the other carton... "Enhanced Color Spectrum"... If I believed in fairies or leprechauns I would believe I had been duped.