Category Archives: Life

A Healthy Cayenne Dill Dip & The Next “Breaking Bad”

Whether sweet or savory, I love having a good dip around. In the savory department, I make an easy and healthy cayenne dill dip that always satisfies my cravings.

Cayenne Dill Dip on Arugula

Store bought dips and spreads are typically loaded with ingredients you need a dictionary (or Google) to figure out what they are, and they definitely are NOT found in the common kitchen. If more people would just read the ingredients list on things they buy, maybe it would act as a deterrent. Or maybe not, but who wants eat something full of chemicals made in a science lab?

Speaking of labs, I think Going Mom and I found our new “Breaking Bad”; “The Walking Dead”. We’ve heard all good things about it and one of my co-workers (when I worked) let me borrow the first season twice but we never watched a minute.

Ever since finishing the awesomeness that is Breaking Bad last year, we haven’t found a good replacement. We found and quickly went through the first and only season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in just 2 weeks, and just watched the first season of The Walking Dead this weekend. Us = hooked.

But that poor horse at the end of the first episode! He was promised a safer place in Atlanta only to be eaten by zombies. That’s beyond a broken promise!

Just like our Breaking Bad experience, watching shows is difficult with a kid. Last year we had to hold Avery and dance around the living room or rock her in her swing as we subjected her to the show. At nighttime, the volume was so low you couldn’t chew snacks without missing what someone said.

Had to make sure Breaking Bad was paused for the pic!
Had to make sure Breaking Bad was paused for the pic!

Now that Avery is older, we only have nighttime to watch something, and with her resistance to sleep and Kelley falling asleep when nursing her most of the time, things are still difficult.

We are not TV-watching people; we pay $5/month for the basic of basic plans, and hardly, if ever, turn the TV on during the week. Since my wife is the worker bee in the family, I respect her need to sleep, so no Walking Dead marathons are in our future, but we’re gunning for at least one episode per night.

Hope this works out, cliff-hangers drive us crazy!

Anyway, I might talk more about what we see as we encounter Rick fighting his way through zombie land, but for now, how about a spicy recipe?

Hey, nothing like watching quality TV with a good dip and something to dip with, right? Use any raw veggie or even homemade beer bread to dip or spread this on and you’re set.

Healthy Cayenne Dill Dip

by RC Liley

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
  • 1/2 cup Plain, Non-fat Greek yogurt
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 ½ T dill
  • 1/2 T cumin
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder (not the salt!)
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • Ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl (I used the half empty cottage cheese container so I could just keep everything inside for no cleanup) and mix well. Let flavors marry in the fridge for at least 2 hours. After sitting overnight the flavors only get better.

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If you’re wondering, we did exactly nothing for Easter. We usually go to see family like last year, but just kept it low key by staying home and listening to Avery talk to herself instead of take a nap.

Do you enjoy a good dip?

Would you rather have something sweet like this peanut butter pumpkin dip or savory like the above?

How was your Easter?

 

Give This Divorced Dad Blogger Some Love

The blogging community as a whole is pretty tight-knit, but us dad bloggers take it up a notch and share the common bond for the love of our family and writing. This divorced dad and I have been reading, commenting, and sharing each others’ posts for a while now, and I’d even say we have become online friends.

Sounds corny, huh? Maybe he even thinks so and would quickly disagree. But just like he says about his blog, this is my blog, I own it, and I can say what I want. So there!

His name is Gary Mathews (yes, just one “t”….blame his mother), and he owns the blog Skipah’s Realm. He is as open as he can be about his feelings towards his ex-wife daughter’s egg donor and has an awesome sense of humor. All around great guy and wonderful father to a beautiful girl. Almost as beautiful as Avery, but obviously I’m allowed to be biased just like any parent. 😉

Guess I should explain the title to this post. When I say “love”, I don’t mean it in the sense that most of your dirty minds are probably thinking, I’m talking about NuttZo Love, or #NuttZoLove, just for the Twitter aficionados. Gary and I have been going back and forth about Girl Scout cookies and NuttZo for some time now. He’s all about the only packaged form of legal crack that’s sold by cute little girls just to make it even harder to refuse, and I’m all about NuttZo. Obviously, I’m a proud ambassador because I believe in it’s healthy goodness!

NuttZo, ambassador, nut butter

Like most people I know, he’s resistant to changing from his tried and true peanut butter (albeit hydrogenated), but I’m hoping he gets the chance to try and love NuttZo! As I told him before, if not for his own sake, for his precious daughter’s sake. Give her the healthy benefits without sacrificing taste so she has all the energy to ride bike and walk with her daddy for years and years to come.

Okay, I’m not trying to make a sales pitch here (I won’t earn anything from your purchase anyway), just wanting Gary to get some NuttZo (besides his ex) of his own to try and share with his little girl. I shared a few recipes he could try with NuttZo, and meant to give him the NuttZo Banana Bread Recipe I posted a couple weeks ago but forgot. So there it is now, Gary, put down those crack-infused cookies and make something for you and your beautiful blonde bomber!

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Since your daughter is seven, I probably wouldn’t feed her like I do Avery though. Just a tip. 🙂

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So, if you’re around the New Albany, Indiana area and happen to have or want to get an extra jar of NuttZo, please swing for Gary to try (I rhymed!!). Gary, hope you don’t mind me sharing your location, but I just figured it’s okay since it is on your Twitter page!

Or if you’re a lucky NuttZo employee who has the power to send this guy a jar, please do so! I know he won’t be disappointed and will “spread” the good word after trying and sharing with his daughter. It might even make her as excited about the set of cool cinnamon-scented socks from littlemissmatched.com he was able to let her have and write a review on. Notice I said “set”, they come in threes and not a pair. Genius!

Wow, I’ve gone on about this single dad for a while now, huh? Should Going Mom be worried? Ummmm, no, she’s beautiful enough to turn a gay guy straight! But I’m already straight, I wasn’t saying she turned me straight. Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay. Ahh, shut-up, R.C.!!

Anyway, if you don’t want to give him NuttZo Love, just go over to his blog and read about his adventures of being taken back to court by the crazy egg donor, spending time with his daughter’s Russian KGB spy, vodka-drinking hamster named “Hammy”, how he overcame the depression of divorce, and his blissful time with his daughter when she gets to stay with him.

Disclosure: All stories about Hammy are completely fictional, but he does house a Russian Hamster named Hammy for his daughter.

As he says, co-parenting sucks, and I’m forever grateful not to know about that firsthand. And never want to!! Hear that, Kelley? 🙂

Also, I’d like to thank Mr. Skipah for mentioning me several times (like here and here) on his blog and linking back to my blog. It’s all a part of the dad blogger (or all bloggers really) community just supporting one another.

Thank you, Gary, I enjoy reading your posts and the comments you leave on my posts. Wish you and your daughter the best, and it’s obvious you are the best dad/parent for her! Now go find some NuttZo!

A Trip to Trader Joe’s, Soft Star Run, and Our Rain Barrel

Trader Joe’s recently opened up shop right next to us and I’ve been wanting to go check it out. I’ve been to TJ’s several times before, but it’s been awhile since my last visit. As a proclaimed foodie, I’m drawn to the less mainstream grocery stores, and decided to finally pay the new location a visit.

And what better companion than my daughter, Avery, to peruse the aisles of a new store! But not before someone decided to back into us as we were parking. A guy in front of me turned into a perfectly open parking space on the left and I turned into another on the right, then the proceeded to back up to park in the other space next to me! It ended with his rear bumper connecting with mine. Nothing too serious, but annoy nonetheless. Just one more “to-do” by needing to call the guy’s insurance to have it repaired.

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Like I said, not that bad, but also not that good. But guess it could be a lot worse and I’m thankful the guy was actually nice and apologetic. Avery didn’t even know what was going on and she kept rather calm.

We left Going Mom at home so she could have some time to work on getting her rain barrel setup and on our refreshed veggie and herb garden. Yep, I do the grocery shopping while my wife works on the yard. No shame here, plus I still do the mowing. Well, except for when Kelley wins an argument over who gets to use our EGO Power+ Lawn Mower.

But next time, it’s all mine! Unless there’s a good sale at Costco Then I’ll drink beer and grill steaks!

Back to Trader Joe’s; I was not impressed. After spending some time picking up every item and reading the ingredients, I finally remembered doing the same thing last time I went and couldn’t figure out what makes it so great. Most of what I found were packaged foods with processed vegetable oils, sugar, modified corn starch, sulfur dioxide, etc. when all I really want is some freakin’ frozen mixed veggies or a decent bag of snackworthy mixed nuts. There were some good finds, though, one of them being this bottle of cold brew coffee concentrate.

trader joe's cold brew coffee

Normally, I make my own, but this will be a lifesaver when I’m in a pinch. So I don’t plan on making many trips back there as my usual stores suit me just fine.

After Saturday’s let down of an exciting store trip, Kelley kept Avery with her as she continued yard work so I could go on a solo Sunday run in my Soft Star Shoes. I’ve been  running rather short distances with Avery in the stroller and holding the leash for our Golden, Abby, to tag along, but haven’t had the chance for a solo run in a while. Needless to say, I was excited for the bit of freedom.

I ended up running about 66 minutes and covered 7.8 hilly miles. It was wonderful, liberating, and….it kinda hurt. Stupid chafing. Just a few years ago, this distance would be an easy, laughable even, run, but now it’s my long run!

However, I did see a giant home with a Ferrari and Lamborghini parked in it’s own upscale shop. Just for a little motivation, I ran up their driveway for a closer look, waved to the owners standing outside, and turned right around to continue my run. Sorry, no pictures since I run with as little as possible, but trust me, the cars were nice!

When I returned, Going Mom had a lot done and our garden is ready to grow several organic herbs and vegetables. Waiting sucks, but hopefully it will all be worth it.

New Garden by Kelley

Avery kept busy by running wild and throwing dirt every which direction as Kelley watched her while trying to get her own dirt “thrown” around. Being the Going Mom that she is, my wife did an outstanding job on the revamped and extended garden and the rain barrel G-Ma got her for X-Mas.

Rain Barrel

Now we just wait for the next rain and see how everything holds up.

I’m not sure what it was exactly, but that evening, after her nap, Avery was a wild child the rest of the day. She was in the sun a little longer than usual, so the only reasonable thing I can think of is that there’s some strange correlation between the sun and inner demons. It might sound far-fetched, but Avery has been known to house a demon in the past.

I mean, even the cat, who usually doesn’t mind her, went into hiding….

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Or maybe it’s just being a toddler.

What do you think of the sun-demon connection? Is it a thing or just a passing phase?

Do you have a rain barrel, a garden, or other aspect in your home that you’re proud of?