Labor Day weekend

Saturday and Sunday were weekend warrior status for me (boo).  I work every 3rd weekend at the hospital which is a nice change from my previous jobs that were every other.  I guess that’s one of the big differences between full time and part time.  But it was still a bummer since the rest of the world had long weekend.

Anyway, my holiday pay started at midnight on Sunday (I think?) so even though I didn’t work on Monday I still got a little somethin somethin for ruining my 3 day off getaway potential.

 

Food thief! 

Here’s a run down of the random meals I ate (and took pictures of) over the past 72 hours (during which I slept 1 hour and 45 minutes – yes, you read that correctly):

Saturday’s night shift snacks.  I only had the cocomo joe bar because there was snack food in the break room (kettlepop kettle corn and Costco trail mix).

 

Sunday’s night shift snacks included roasted salted nuts, dried coconut meat (above), and banana chips.

I also allow myself to have 2 cups of weak (caffeinated!) coffee over the 12 hours.  The first is usually at 10 pm and the second is usually between 2-4 am.  No later than 4 am though.  Don’t want the java getting into my breast milk for my 8 am nursing sesh with P.

 

After I get home, shower, and feed P, I make myself decaf coffee and breakfast.

Saturday I had 2 fried eggs and Udi’s cinnamon raisin toast with almond butter.

 

Sunday’s breakfast was another fried egg and a mocha quinoa bake.

Sorry, no official recipe. But I will tell you what was in it: (leftover) quinoa, (leftover) coffee, cocoa, oat flour, coconut cream, stevia, and an egg.  Baked in the oven until it was set.

I had it in two portions.  Only separated by an hour.  I’m ravenous when I do night shifts. 

Saturday’s lunch was a trifecta of open faced deliciousness.  I really tapped into the sweet & savory combo with this guy!  Udi’s cinnamon raisin bread, topped with avocado, daiya provolone (vegan) cheese, and smoked salmon.

I followed it up with an (unpictured) bowl of roasted mixed nuts.  And candied ginger. 

 

Sunday’s lunch was pretty similar.  Only this time I used goat’s cheese (Redwood Hill’s california crottin) instead of the daiya cheese.  Accompanied by  carrots, not nuts. 

 

Rather than nap (which I realllllllly should be doing for my own health and safety), I played with P and cooked dinner.

(a) My little man has a kung fu grip and is quite the grabber.  Cooking around him is…work.  But I love it.  He’s a young foodie in the making. 

(b) He’s probably going to walk before he crawls.  He is light years away from crawling.  Standing, on the other hand, is something he’s not only good at, but improves at by the second.

First fantasy football draft for Patty-cakes.  I think he helped Kyle quite a bit!

 

Saturday’s dinner was a quickie salad that I threw together in the spinach bin.  It had spinach, carrots, avocado, and Hodo Soy Beanery’s chinese 5 spice tofu.  It was a Costco purchase that I will definitely keep buying.  Hodo Soy is a local company (Oakland!) with an awesome mission.  I like them and I like their products.  The yuba noodles are really good too, for the record.

 

Sunday’s dinner was inspired by a dish that my mom made all the time when we were growing up (from leftovers).  Cold pasta + cold salmon + veggies + an herb-y tangy olive oil dressing = salmon summer pasta.

Mine was with GF noodles but Kyle’s was wheat pasta.  Both were Costco finds.  We have been buying the organic garofalo for ages, so that’s nothing new.  But the truRoots penne was a first try.  A risky one too, considering I’m pretty iffy on GF pasta (some are okay, some suck).  The trick is bringing water to a rolling boil before adding gluten free pasta and then draining it and rinsing it with cold water immediately once it’s soft and cooked.

  

I baked the salmon plain, no seasoning, no oil, no nada.  20 minutes on 375 degrees F.  Then I let it cool and refrigerated it until it was time for dinner.

Actually that’s a lie, I gave some to P first.

 

It was a bit dry, so I added some zucchini to it (which he loooooves).  All good!

Back to our dinner.  The dressing had garlic infused olive oil, apple cider vinegar, basil, parsley, salt & pepper.  Whirled in the food processor until it was a green oily mess. 

 

Go heavy on the olive oil.  It’s the best part.

 

His had green beans and cherry tomatoes.  Kyle’s veggies were different than mine (because mine included cucumbers which he won’t touch).  Mine had cherry tomatoes too though.  From our garden.  🙂

After letting it cool and tossing it all in dressing, I added the flaked cold salmon. 

Super awesome dish.  I really didn’t mean to eat the whole thing, but…yeah…I did.  Oops! 

Needless to say, I didn’t need much in the way of snacks once I got to work. 

 

Annnnyway. 

As much as I love my job, I was beyond thrilled when Monday finally arrived because YAYYYYY my sister is in town!!!

She’s visiting for a whole month too.  So excited :)  She’s only met Pacman once, during her quickie trip to the states a couple of months ago, so I’m sure she wanted to get her auntie snuggle time in.

 

As soon as I got home after work on Monday morning we hit the road…heading to my parents’ house for the day.  Nothing much on the agenda.  Just hanging out.  I was contemplating stealing a nap, since I had been awake for-eh-ver at that point, but I didn’t.  I’m going to die of sleep deprivation. 

  

My little sis came over too so then we all took a stroll to Metro for lunch.

Apps to start:

 

Grilled organic Frog Hollow Farm peach bruschetta with goat cheese, caramelized onions & hazelnuts.  Winner.

 

Maine Peekytoe crab cakes with “bouillabaisse” broth & saffron aioli.  Favorite!

 

Spicy raw ahi tuna poke on cucumber salad with sesame crisp.  Definitely spicy. 

For my main dish, I got the shrimp salad with romaine lettuce, watercress, avocado & green goddess dressing. 

 

It was okay, but nothing fabulous.  I would have liked the shrimp to be marinated or grilled or cooked with some kind of rub but oh well.  The biggest problem was the watery dressing.  I added a ton of salt which helped, but it still wasn’t worth re-ordering. 

I took the leftovers home along with half of the tuna poke, which I had later that day.  Good thing the ahi had a serious spicy kick because that’s really the only thing that saved it as leftovers.

Kyle got the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale battered fish & chips with tartar sauce & lemon.  Looked amaze.  Sorry I didn’t take a pic.  🙁

I did, however, take a pic of Chris’ (my sister’s bf) dish. 

 

Beautiful! 

For the record, he got the organic diced summer vegetable salad with avocado, dijon vinaigrette & parmesan.  I want to order this next time.

 

Everyone say hi to Chris so he can feel like he’s famous for appearing on the blog.  🙂

  

We played for a bit once we got back to my parents’ house but then it was time to head back to Davis.  I was still nap free (aka barely hanging on) so Kyle drove home.  Had P not been extremely vocal I would have dozed off.  Instead, I did lots of head nodding and eye drooping. 

The camera died before I could take pics of dinner, and since I was in such a delirious state I can’t even tell you what I had. 

After we put P down for the night, a storm hit and the lightning did something to a local electrical whatever so our power went out.  I took it as a sign and just went to bed.  So.  Zonked.  I have GOT to figure out a plan for these night shifts that doesn’t involve staying awake all day because it’s just not working out for me.  That said, I can’t bear to miss out on the action!  Especially when it comes to seeing family and playing with my son.