What's Good This Week

Hey friends! Hello! It's me! 

I came back from Chicago incredibly jetlagged, but also fired up to spend more time on this site. But then life happened, and it's been a real doozy lately, so I've just been managing to keep my head above water and not much else. 

Earlier in March, just a few days after I got home from Chicago, we bought a house! A perfect little house. It needed substantial renovations, but it ticked all of our boxes and we were excited for the opportunity to make it our own. 

We decided that one factor in looking for a house is being able to maintain our lifestyle of being able to bike to work, and we literally couldn't get any closer to the city than this house. I didn't even know there were houses in the area!

So we spent some weeks in a flurry of activity with the bank, brokers, etc, and working frantically to get our apartment ready to be photographed and out on the market. It was so much work.

But then, things fell apart so spectacularly with the sale of our apartment that we had no choice but to pull the emergency brake and break the contract on the house. 

It was bonkers. Sh*t hitting the fan so forcefully that I literally could not stop shaking for more than 24 hours. And naturally all of this went down on the week that Paul was away, one kid was already home sick from school, and right at the moment when things were really going wrong, school called and let me know I had to pick up the other one. 

And then of course I ended up picking up whatever virus the kids had and got knocked off my feet for a few days, on top of all of this and on top of being stretched very, very thin at work. It was crap piled on crap piled on crap. 

You know how they say that when you have a lot of balls in the air it's important to know which ones are plastic and will bounce and which ones are glass and will break? This was like standing and watching glass balls drop and shatter all around me, and just trying to figure out how I was going to clean up all of the broken glass.

I'm not getting into the specifics because there's some still potentially some legal ramifications we need to deal with, but I will say that things are calming down and will ultimately be fine. And at the end of the day, it's just a house. It's been an expensive and stressful ruckus, but we have our health, we are fine and safe, and there will be other houses. 

Now we're catching our breath, licking our financial wounds, and just chilling a bit before we figure out what to do next.

But man, it's been a lot. I feel like I can't get rested no matter what I do, so at the end of the day once the kids are in bed and work is buttoned up I've just been crawling into bed. 

I also watched the entirety of Ted Lasso, which was the exact feel-good mindless kind of mush that my brain needs right now. I told Sarah that if Roy and Keeley break up in the next season I'm not going to be able to handle it, so I will need her to pre-screen it for me. 

In the interest of self care, I've realized I need to scale way back on the blog. It makes me sad to not be able to put in the effort I want, but I need to be realistic about how much I can get done in a week. 

Last week I had a day at work where I only had two 30-minute windows without meetings, and somehow needed to squeeze eight hours worth of work into them. I'm no mathematician, but that just doesn't add up. So blogging in the evenings after a day like that? Just not an option.

I'm hoping to aim for fewer posts, but better ones. Rather than frantically trying to push content out and do a half-assed job at all of the other stuff that's required to get my work in front of the Google gods, I'm going to aim for one-ish post per week and make sure that everything is buttoned up with that post. 

So you'll probably see less of me in the coming months, but I hope that what you do see will be really really good stuff. 

I have managed to keep up with running more or less, which is good, even though we're solidly into April and it's freaking snowing here. Not as frequently as I would like, given all of the sickness and general chaos that's been going on, but enough to maintain where I'm at which is frankly good enough. 

Last weekend we had a nice patch of sun in the park in front of my apartment in the afternoon, and the boys and I went out to kick a soccer ball around. Odin only wanted to run while holding my hand, which wasn't very effective, but I did get to spend some time chasing Niko with the ball, and man that kid is FAST.

I don't think that a year ago I would have been able to go out there and run hard with him like that, so I'm thankful that I've persevered with this running nonsense for me, but also for them. 

ON HEY NUTRITION LADY LATELY

My ambition was to get this Lentil Shepherd's Pie updated and republished before St. Patrick's day, but alas, life was a mess around St. Patrick's Day. Regardless of what the calendar says, this vegan shepherd's pie recipe is well worth the effort. 

This Broccoli Tart with Brown Rice Crust was languishing deep, deep in the archives. Like, 2011 deep, with no recipe card, no optimization, and some very questionable photos. Glad to finally bring it up to the front, and with a video showing you how it's made to boot.

WHAT’S TRENDING ON HNL

Yeah, yeah, we all know that Mung Bean and Coconut Curry and How to Cook Mung Beans are in the top spots. Yes, still! So let’s look at what else is trending.

1. 10-Minute Vegetable Ramen Noodles. Still holding strong!

2. Black Bean and Quinoa Freezer Burritos. Love these guys.

3. Red Lentil Dal. It's been far too long since I've made this!

4. How to Cook Adzuki Beans. The people want to know!

5. Savory Cottage Cheese Muffins. These babies are gluten-free and grain-free!

Featured Comment

Cassie left the following comment and 5-star review on our Vegan Poké Bowls recipe:

This recipe was a no brainer for me....I love vegetables. My husband on the other hand....it can be a challenge to get veggies into his meal. He LOVED this recipe. It's so full of flavour and goodness. Thank you for sharing this!!!!

Yay, I'm so glad you like these poké bowls as much as we do, Cassie!

THIS WEEK’S MENU

This is a bit of a funky week with the Easter weekend in the mix, but here's what's on plan so far.

HERE’S WHAT’S ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

Monday: Taco Quesadillas from leftover weekend taco fixings.

Tuesday: Going to make these Tex Mex Rice Cakes from  Weelicious. It's been ages since I last made them!

Wednesday: I'm having some colleagues over for dinner. Menu is still TBD but I'm thinking Vegetarian Baked Ziti so I can prep it in advance. 

Thursday: Snack dinner since Friday is a holiday. 

Friday: We have some leftover cabbage soup and homemade perogies in the freezer from Christmas. This feels like a good time to use them up!

Saturday: Fancy dinner! I'm going to make my Curried Deviled Eggs and you better believe there will be carrot cake. 

Sunday: Pizza night with my Spelt Pizza Dough.