Finding Joy During Covid-19 House Arrest

Hi Friends! I'm reaching out to the universe to say "Hello! We miss you!" to all the planet. We are on day two of "stay at home" lockdown here in New Mexico, but school has already been out for two weeks and we have basically been self-quarantining since then except for a few necessary departures from home. 

First thing this morning I took dear Hubs to an emergency endodontist appointment. Having a tooth die during a pandemic, while on lockdown is not a lot of fun. Like you need more problems. Thank goodness for Tylenol with Codeine or I'm not sure what would be happening here.

As I said, Kiddo has been out of school now for two weeks already and now with our latest state lockdown that has added at least another week, not that anyone is feeling very optimistic that the kids will go back to school this year. Kiddo says she's learned her lesson about leaving things like jackets in her locker. I think I may have mentioned that in warning a few times over the past three years but no one was listening to me on that. Ha. Whatever it takes, a mom's gentle, wise warning or a global pandemic. Insert "hands thrown up in the air" emotion here and then "laughing" emoji -- haha.

We are staying busy completing a list of chores, tasks and odd jobs around the house that have needed attention. Progress is slower than I had hoped but we are crossing things off just about every day. Yesterday I fixed three loose tiles on our master bath tub. We've been weeding and trimming up the yard in 15 minutes stretches that really end up being 30 but no one has rebelled yet. Crossing my fingers there is no uprising about it not really being 15 minutes even though I keep selling it as that.

The Man has replaced some electrical plugs this week, fixed a plastic storage cupboard that was knocked over and cracked in a crazy wind, and sorted through a box of shoes in the garage. Progress.

Kiddo has finally caught on to the philosophy The Man and I have been preaching for years that if you tidy your room up in a few minutes every day you don't have to spend a whole Saturday cleaning up a giant mess. If there is to be any silver lining to this crazy March 2020, I'll take a long-term commitment to keeping her room clean. But I'm going to hold back my celebratory dance a little longer to see if things stick.

The one person who thinks having the entire pack at home 24/7 is the greatest thing ever it is our German Shepherd. Everyone taking breaks to play with him throughout the day, people to snuggle with, no one too busy for him or leaving home for long hours. This IS his best life!

Meanwhile for we humans there are a lot of stresses underlying all this and worries for the future. Just managing the daily anxiety for children and adults requires a lot of attention and effort. But there is an interesting lesson I've learned as I've watched social media over the past two weeks. Those who are positive are positive still, those you are happy are finding ways to stay happy and make the best of life. Those who are generally grumpy, negative and sour still are. Attitude really is everything! Doesn't matter what you are going through. Some people act like this is only happening to them and some people are reaching out in every way possible to bless others and share love EVEN THOUGH this IS happening to them. Such a life lesson!

A friend dropped off a brownie mix, some microwave popcorn and some chocolate in the cutest bag on our doorstep yesterday. I have lots of friends texting to see if we need anything while they are out. 

Perhaps my favorite act of service this week was after we heard Monday afternoon that the governor was going to put the state under "stay at home" rules. So we decided to run out and just see if we could grab a few more groceries. As we were getting ready to leave, The Man got the brilliant idea to grab some food for our dear "senior" neighbors so they would not have to go out and expose themselves to the potential health risks of grocery shopping. At the store we each got a cart and tried to divide and conquer on our list.

When we met up again his cart was filled with stuff for the neighbors. In the end he delivered a giant box with tons of fresh produce because the wife is a vegetarian, juice, bread, toilet paper and other goods to them. It was so sweet! He tried to doorbell ditch the box at the porch but their dog started barking and the wife saw him. But I thought that was one of the sweetest, most generous things I have ever seen him do -- and he has always been very generous.

So I say, keep on watching out for each other, friends. Keep looking to the positive people to buoy you up. This is hard and none of us has ever done it before -- so we have to give ourselves a lot of grace and be gentle with ourselves. This is a "figure it out day by day" situation. We can do this! Brave and strong! Resilient. Loving and caring for each other.

PinTest # 30: Zucchini Pizza Boats

I have committed to eating as little carbs, dairy and sugar as possible. It's a challenge, I don't especially like it but it's good for me and I'm going with it. This means a pretty much wholesale change in eating habits, even though I eat a lot of healthy foods already. But saying goodbye to bread, crackers and sweets is a toughy for me. So I'm collecting recipes and looking for new meal ideas. That brings me to Pin Test #30: Zucchini Pizza Boats.

via delish.com

I have been thinking about trying these for a while because I am a pizza fan and the crust is the killer. I realize I mentioned earlier that I'm limiting dairy and these obviously have cheese on them. I'm allowing a little dairy here and there and if a little cheese is going to help make saying goodbye to carbs and sugar less miserable I'm okay with that.

Now I'm not one of those people who says modified recipes taste just like the real thing. I've never said tofu tastes just like chicken, I don't like rice milk or almond milk and no they don't taste just like or better than dairy. So swapping out zucchini for delicious crusty bread dough is a bit of a stretch for me.

I followed this recipe from Delish.com and then made the following additions. In with the sauteing zucchini bits, I added a 1/2 teaspoon of minced fresh garlic, 1/8 tsp. of New Mexico green chili from a jar, 1/4 cup minced onion, a very small dash of red pepper flakes and a few shakes of Italian Seasoning. This really punched up the sauce I think and even gave it a tiny kick.

Oh! Forgot one thing. I didn't have any pepperoni in the house so I used finely diced cooked bacon and some left over  seasoned ground beef I had used for tacos earlier in the week. I definitely think pepperoni would be tasty on these and give it a lot of flavor -- but the bacon and seasoned ground beef worked great too. Mushrooms and green peppers would be a great addition too. One other note, I initially wished I had cut my zucchini up a little smaller but it cooks down very softly anyway. But if you're trying to hide it from your family, cutting it up in finely diced pieces would work. It will be hard to find when you get down below the cheese.

After we had everything assembled I added some fresh sliced garlic, freshly ground black pepper and another quick shake of Italian Seasoning on top. Then there's one other thing I did differently, I baked these at 350 for 15 minutes and they were cooked but we like our pizza a little crusty on top so I bumped up the temp to 400 for a few minutes and got the cheese a little browned and the tops a little bit crusty. A family preference thing.

To go along with these I cooked up some Trader Joe's breaded chicken breasts, which are super easy to heat in a pan with a little olive oil - and they take about the same time as it took to cook the boats so you can throw them in a pan after you put the boats in the oven. I didn't realize it at the time but together they make a Chicken Parmesan style dinner - and they taste great together. Now I bet you're wondering if this pizza replacement is going to get a thumbs up or a thumbs down from me and the family.

I am even a little bit surprised to say this, but I give Zucchini Pizza Boats a big thumbs up. I loved it. Kiddo gave it an 8 out of 10. Then man gave it a 7.5. I thought it was delicious and ate it for dinner last night was already looking forward to having it for lunch today. The one thing about these is that they are better when first cooked. Putting it in the fridge over night made the zucchini a little soggy. It was more crisp and fresh tasting last night. Today it was much softer. But still delicious and today I didn't add anything to it, just heated it up and it was as delicious.

So  big thumbs up for Zucchini Pizza Boats. Will be making these again. It may turn out that I'll still make homemade pizza for the family and make the boats for me but we'll see how it goes. I think an occasional boat dinner will work for the family too.

*A good friend recommended this Thyme-infused chickpea, vegan, gluten-free pizza crust option. I can't wait to try it out but wanted to share it with you now. h

Where Did That Summer Go?

I can't believe we're two weeks into the school year already! Shocking. I don't understand how this happened. It seemed like the shortest summer ever. It was full of fun, but I feel like I would've like to pack so much more into it. I realize it's been a month since my last post, which is poor on my part. Let's catch up!

It seems like it was Memorial Day just a couple of weeks ago and we were celebrating July 4th with visiting friends and so many wonderful friends from here just days ago. Since then we were able to pack in another golf camp for Kiddo and a visit to my family. Kiddo stayed for a week and had all kinds of fun camping and playing golf with my family. Lucky girl. The best part is that my sister brought her home and we had a fun weekend with her here in ABQ, even though it was WAY too short of a visit.

 We ended off the weekend before school started with a fun barbecue dinner on our back patio. Only the second or third we've had all summer. Aunty Tru made copycat Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies which were delicious! Here's the recipe she used. For our dinner we had all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables, chips, barbecue bacon dogs...oh it was so good and such a beautiful night outside. We need to have a few more of those nights before summer's official end.

It's been rainy and overcast here much of the past four weeks, which makes it feel not very summery. I feel like fall hit us towards the end of July and isn't going to let go. I can't complain about the cooler temps and less intensely hot sunshine but it's a bummer to not be swimming in the pool in the afternoons when it's overcast or raining...not to mention that everytime it rains it leaves a huge amount of water on the pool cover that has to be cleaned off before even thinking about uncovering the pool. Needless to say we haven't been in the pool the past few weeks, which is a big drag.

We've had some crazy, amazing torrential downpours and major lightning/thunder storms in the past few weeks. It's fun for a change of pace, but still I feel like summer is cheating us a bit. Autumn is undoubtedly the most completely enjoyable season of the year here in New Mexico. Along with it comes Balloon Fiesta which is such a fun time to be here in the city.

We are gearing up for school and extracurricular activities to get very busy for the next couple of months. I have always been that parent who insisted kids schedules are not overbooked, but despite my best efforts we're going to be a little bit overbooked for about 8 weeks. But by then we'll just about be into the holidays and things will quiet down again until we get into spring. Life in middle school seems to be going okay which I'm happy about. I'm staying plenty busy during the day managing my little empire, squeezing in some service opportunities and catching up with friends now that all the kids are in school again.

I think this will be a nice fall. Looking forward to it. Yesterday while I was driving home from brunch with a friend as I looked up at the mountains I thought I like my life right now. Things are good. This is not to say there aren't life's major challenges, heartbreaks and frustrations, but counting one's blessings makes if apparent that there is more good than bad in life.

How are you feeling about the last month of summer, the beginning of school and the changing of seasons?

Summer Kick-off Trip

School ended near the last full week of May and then we had just the right amount of days to unwind and rest of before we headed off to visit family and attend sports camps. In the aftermath of our trip I will say that I really liked getting away and starting summer off with a bang right away. It was good for the soul to see family, get out of town out and be somewhere different, and start the summer fun of splash pads and picnics right off the bat.

Sometimes I find that if I don't really start summer off with intention for summer fun, suddenly it's late July or early August and we are just getting having our first barbecue, trip, big bike ride, night at the city park or baseball stadium and we've missed the majority of the summer. So jumping right into the spirit of the season the week after school got out was great.

Kiddo attended golf and basketball camps in the mornings and then in the afternoons and on the weekends we had time to spend with immediate and extended family. We met lots of cousins at a local splash pad one day and another day we took a fun evening bike ride around Midway, Utah. It is a wonderful little town that was settled by Swiss immigrants and has the look and feel of a beautiful quaint European village. After  our ride, that we had the best burgers and fries at a local food truck.

It was so good for the soul to be with our people, to see old friends and to be about different things than we generally are on regular days at home. I met up with a fun friend from California who is now an esthetician working in American Fork and had a great facial and chat. Things have changed so much since I lived in the area where I grew up that it's a challenge for me to find my way around anymore. But it is fun to adventure to new places that I often hear about from locals that I haven't been to.

I also had a chance to do a little undisturbed clothing shopping and scored on a few great deals on summer clothes. We enjoyed some great meals at my folks home and out to eat at fun old favorite eating spots and some "new to us" spots too. I think I got a bit of heat exhaustion one day and eating a lot of salads really helped with recovery. Fresh fruits and vegetables just make summer such a happy time for me.

We were sad to leave everyone, but once we were home we were also happy to be back in our own home, beds and routine. Thanks to our fun 10-day trip we came home in full summer mode. Even though we have work, home chores, classes and camps to attend to,we are still making the most of summer by taking some free time every day to relax, swim and watch a little TV or go somewhere fun. Bedtime has also gone out the window, for better or worse. It feels like it's okay so far and I think everyone in the family seems to be benefitting from taking a break from the rigorous and tiring routine of the school year.

It's been insanely hot since we got back and we feel like we're roasting a lot of the time, so that downtime really does help us keep our sanity and stay as cool as possible. Swimming has helped cool down our core body temps in the late afternoons and we stay cool the rest of the day. What a blessing it's been to have a pool, even though we kept telling our realtor we did not want a pool. But there are a lot of houses in the southwest that have a pool so it's not always so easy to find the house you want that doesn't have a pool. In the end I'm so glad we have a pool. Lesson learned. Living in the southwest and having a pool is a good thing.

Summer is in full swing now. Kiddo is in a local golf camp this week and I am working as much as I can while also making time for downtime for myself, with the family and with friends. One thing I still want to work on is getting out with friends to do things. I am not very good at initiating plans but am always so happy when friends call and invite us to do things. This summer I want to plan some mom and kids outings and a few night time family picnics. Better get on that!

Saying Goodbye To May: Patio Outdoor Space Ready

May is pretty much my favorite month of the year and I am always sad to see it end. With Mother's Day, my birthday and Memorial Day weekend it's pretty much a month long party. Not complaining!
I have so many beautiful cards on my mantle along with fresh flowers and potted plants that have come my way the past couple of weeks. It just makes everything feel so festive.

I have been working hard on outdoor living spaces as I have talked about repeatedly here. I am happy to report that for the past several night we have been out on our front patio, with the solar lanterns lit playing games and having fun. Every day it seems I add something new. First it was a couple of tea lights in jars, then I broke open a big box of wicker lanterns like these on the table above.

Story about those wicker lanterns. In December 2011 (!!!!), we had just gotten engaged and I was in full-blown, excited wedding planning dream land. I found these wicker lanterns at TJMaxx and ended up driving all over the Los Angeles metro area buying them out of every store so that I had enough to use them on the long tables for our wedding. You can see my original blog post full of enthusiasm about having found them here. Well fast forward 6 1/2 years (oh my gosh....) and we never had our big wedding thanks to a little detour called Afghanistan.....and these lanterns, along with anything else I purchased for our wedding have been languishing in storage ever since.

I didn't have the heart to get rid of them, thought perhaps someday we might actually have a vow ceremony/reception of some kind that we could share with family and friends. So in boxes they have sat. Finally I brought one box out and opened it. Along with six lanterns I found a couple hundred really cute paper napkins I had purchased for a pre-wedding picnic or rehearsal dinner or something. Wow. Anyway I put three of these lanterns out on the coffee table on the front porch and they look so fun and festive and create such a lovely light in the evenings...and I feel a little sad that they are going to get used and get ruined without every having served their true purpose but whatever. I have to get over that...

I started making a small buffet table for the back deck with two towers of four cinder blocks and a pretty wood top that I built. I spent part of Friday night at Home Depot with my building plans, trying to figure out the best materials to use and pushing one of those gigantic pull carts that was so heavy I had to totally lean my entire body into it to get it to move. Then I packed everything into my little VW Golf (crazy amount of cargo space, even fit 6' wood plants and 10 cinderblocks with room to spare!).

I have been working on this table since Friday night and hoped to have it done Saturday but it's definitely a work in progress and I should have it done by Wednesday. I have the top done, just need to even out the edges on each side and then stain it and polyurethane it for outdoor use. It's a bar height and will fit our new little portable barbecue grill and leave room for serving food too. You can see the example of the table I'm building here. I'm not doing the sides, just one long 6' length. I figured we can add the sides later if we feel we need them but I think the three-sided table is more than we need and doesn't fit out space all that well. We have a fairly narrow patio but it's very long so a long table along one wall makes great sense for us. I'll share more details when I have a finished product to show you. Excited about it! Really makes my soul so happy to have a creative project.

We also got our temporary, but large and fabulous, bi-fold door/sawhorse dining table out of the shed last night. Hooray! throw a giant tablecloth over that and we have a table to eat at outside. I made a makeshift grilling table out of a 3x3 stack of cinderblocks to hold the little portable grill I picked up at Ace Hardware on Friday. I was looking for a different grill which they have on line but apparently don't carry in the stores.

While they didn't have the one I wanted, they had this little grill on sale for $12.99 and how could I beat that?! Some day we plan on having a nice big grill in the back - and are so lucky to already have a gas line from the house out to the patio -- but until we decide what we want and how we'll configure it all, this little grill will work just fine. I probably should've bought two or three and we could've had an awesome little grilling station for $36. I might still do that. That would get us through some fun entertaining and they are so small and easy to deal with. I like the idea of having three of these on a long table and cooking up all kinds of fun things that way.

I couldn't let Memorial Day Weekend pass without a barbecue so that was my big goal for the weekend. I kept the menu easy and light. Burgers with cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion. Here's a link to my hamburger recipe I've been refining for a few years now. I think I've found my groove with the spices in these and they always taste good. I picked up some already cut up pineapple, a big watermelon and chips today and we were in business!

We ate dinner just as the sun was setting with our cafe string lights on, wicker lanterns on the table and a delicious, simple summer feast. We had a great time and after the meal we played with Kiddo's plethora of glow-in-the-dark bracelets, necklaces and other trinkets she's been stashing in a drawer. Nights here in Albuquerque are so perfect for outdoor time. Little to no wind, no bugs, perfect temps so you don't need a sweater. It's just lovely being outside on summer nights here! I hope we'll start eating outside every night we can throughout the summer.

Now that we have everything set up, it should be a cinch to enjoy our outdoor areas as much as we can throughout the summer. Looking forward to having friends over and swimming the summer away. Speaking of which, the pool is up and running as of today --- with just one little challenge. Our heaterless pool is still a little cold. Water temps at 63 degrees. We need some hot sunny days!....or I need to finally order that solar pool heating blanket I kept looking at last year that is supposed to heat pool water up by a good 17 degrees. That would work.

I am so happy we're set for summer finally. Being able to go outside to read, have a cup of tea, relax, take a nap or eat a meal is the best and it just makes our home feel tons bigger when you add these outside rooms where one can go. Hooray for summer. Here are a few more things I am thinking about building for the backyard this summer.

Sectional seating
Dining Table
Outdoor Rugs
Two by Four Bench
Simple Concrete Planters

Pin Test #29: Beefy Tomato Soup

Welcome to Pin Test #29: Beefy Tomato Soup. This was a fun and easy soup recipe by Mantitlement. and I made quite a few small alterations that I don't think changed the content/context of the recipe very much but just added a little of my own cooking ideas to it.

via Mantitlement

I made the recipe as listed except for a few things. Here's what I did differently and why.

1) I used sour cream instead of cream cheese because I had sour cream I needed to finish off and didn't have cream cheese. Another tester at Pinterest said she just used whatever cheese she had in her fridge. I don't think the cheese matters much, other than to give it a bit creamier texture. A half cup of any kind of cheese isn't going to alter a large pot of soup all that much one way or another.

2) I added extra liquids along the way. Since testers said the pasta will soak up the liquid mostly and turn this more into a goulash if you're eating leftovers, I added a little extra chicken stock and water.

3) I tossed in a can of kidney beans. Needed to use them up, they seemed ideal for a hearty soup like this. I also included all the liquid in the can.

4) I added a can of Italian herbed diced tomatoes. More liquid.

5) Added a few extra spices along the way since I was adding so much extra liquid. Extra basil and oregano and a little thyme, I also added about a 1/4 teaspoon of Garlic Pepper Seasoning. This is a seasoning mix I made a few weeks ago with the recipe at the link.

6) I used rigatoni, again because I had it on hand and needed to use it up. I added at least two cups because it seemed like I could with all the extra liquid I added, but in the end after it had cooled off it did look more like golash than soup but tasty all the same. You can rehydrate it with a little stock, tomato juice or even a touch of water when you eat the leftovers - or just eat it as more of a pasta dish than soup.

Next time I am going to add a cut up carrot and probably a zucchini if I have one on hand. With all my alterations it's becoming more of a Minestrone but simple or with additions it's tasty just the same.

This soup turned out exactly as I expected it would and was quite tasty. I made it on Saturday April 29th and the family ate it right up and it went well with the hot homemade rolls while we watched it snow outside and joked about singing some Christmas carols and what a fine December we were having. Would gladly recommend this recipe! Let me know if you try it.

Banana Bread Baking Success

The Man loves a good slice of banana bread. The Man also buys a lot of bananas and invariably there are one or two that get too brown before they get eaten. We finally got smart about peeling them and throwing them in a bag in the freezer. So now we always have a pretty good stash of very ripe bananas to use to make banana bread.

The Man likes his banana bread with banana flavored frosting which I find somewhat reprehensible, lol. But I oblige any time we can keep banana flavoring in the house. Banana flavoring grosses me out because it's artificial and it's just gross. Ha. It can be a little hard to find....darn - not darn. I don't frost the loaf, I just make a little container and he can frost by the slice.

So I thought I would share our Go To recipe for Flour's Famous Banana Bread. Since it's not a recipe I created I don't want to reprint it here but I'm linking you above to the original post on the Food Network website. As you can see when you go over to the recipe it had a good strong 5-star rating from a few hundred people. I definitely give it a thumbs up.

Here are a few of things that I think have helped me make this our favorite recipe.

1) Per the recipe, cutting parchment paper to line the bottom of the bread pan is a life changer. It makes it so easy to get out of the pan. This is a very moist loaf so getting it out of the pan without it coming apart is a challenge without the parchment paper. Once I let it cool for a while, I just slide a knife around the edges of the loaf and then turn it upside down to remove the loaf. This keeps the loaf looking so beautiful and if you want to give a loaf away, a pretty loaf is a must for one's self esteem, right? This seriously makes a difference and makes washing up the pans afterwards a breeze.

2) Historically, in my experience, Banana Bread gets dark brown on top quickly but the center takes forever to cook through so there is always a battle between the top being too brown (or burned) and the inside still being runny. So the past couple of times I've made this recipe I've put a piece of tin foil over the tops of the loaves for the last 15 minutes or so of baking. I just cut it to size and lightly bend it so it covers the top. I don't really even press it down over the pan, just lay it on top and curve the sides down a little bit to fit the curve of the loaf top. This has been a game changer too. Perfectly baked loaves with solid centers and the tops are perfectly browned without any edges getting too crispy, dark or shriveled from overcooking. Loved figuring out this simple trick.

3) I usually double this recipe and end up with three loaves. I make it in my KitchenAid Professional mixer and the bowl is as full as you'd want it to get once I get all the ingredients in there. Hopefully that gives you some idea about how much this recipe makes and how to handle making more loaves at one time. The bread freezes well in an airtight freezer bag...but I have to say we don't ever had it last more than two weeks or so. So it's not like I ever have loaves in the freezer for any extended amount of time. If The Man knows there's Banana Bread in the house, he pretty much can't ignore that fact until it's gone.

4) Oh, one last thing. I don't use oil. I just melt a stick of butter in the microwave for this recipe. I don't use vegetable oil much anymore. I just use butter in all my baking. Long story short.

If you try out this recipe I'd love to hear how it goes. Do you have any hot tips on Banana Bread baking you want to share? I'd love to hear how you like your Banana Bread!

Two Things That May Make Kids Feel Unloved

I've been thinking about this for a bit and more importantly looking at ways I can NOT be doing these two things that I believe make kids feel uncared for. The first is Busyness and the second is Tiredness. A big facet of both of these is stress.

These two words seem to be somewhat synonymous with parenting, but I think we have to be very careful that those words do not become more a part of our household than feelings of warmth, welcomeness, love, peace, caring and togetherness. We grown ups seem to get very carried away with talking about our tiredness and our busyness and I think that rubs off on kids which makes them more distant and gives them a sense that they should not bother us which the believe will only cause us to be more tired and more busy - and possibly more grumpy and more unpleasant to be around.

When kids feel their parents are too busy and too tired they are less likely to choose to talk to them about things they are struggling with, that make them sad or that even make them happy and excited. They are more likely to retreat to far spaces in the house to be away from the busyness and tiredness (aka STRESS) and get involved in activities that are not that beneficial to them like long hours of gaming, texting, etc. They are likely not cleaning their rooms, reading, eating healthy food, and being otherwise productive as they might with more parental involvement.

This is a bad cycle to get into! I wonder how often we are actually pushing our kids away and not realizing it. Another big parent distraction that likely all parents will admit to shamefully is time on what my husband calls "fidget devices" - phones and computers. There is likely no parent alive who hasn't let a child walk away feeling a little uncared for when preoccupied on the phone or computer. I know when I am working at the computer, even on worthwhile activities, I can lose track of time and kid and that is not a good thing.

I think for me the goal I have to keep this from being a problem in our home is to avoid busyness and the very appearance of it. I have to keep paring down and cutting back and getting rid of activities that are not my top priorities, even if I love to do them. I have to prioritize what is best for the family and for me -- a mix of those things, but I have to have a very few items that make that list.

Next is self care. I've written about that here many, many times. If I'm not well I can't do my best with other people or myself. That means taking time to unwind, taking care of eating well, getting exercise and doing things that feed our souls. This  year I have been sleeping much more than I have historically and it has been a big difference. I have gone from 4-6 hours of sleep a night to 8-10 hours many nights. The difference in my abilities and functionality is a little big frightening. My physical health has improved a great deal too and gosh darn it, it feels good to actually feel good!

Lastly I think I want to be very cautious about how we talk around our kiddo. I want to take "I'm so busy" and "I'm tired" out of our vocabulary and incorporate the feelings and words that say "I have time for you.", "How can I help  you today?" and "Can we spend some time together?" into our every day. I want to open up the opportunities and dialogues that build stronger relationships, especially as we head into the teen years.

So even if I do feel a little "stressed", "busy" or "tired", I'm not going to put that on my Kiddo. She needs to know I'm "available", "looking for hugs" and am full of love, time and energy for her.

Lilacs And Garden Planting Season

Last year when I was in that dumb cast I missed out on enjoying all the lilacs we have in our yard. To get to them I would've either had to hop down a crazy, loose dirt path or climbed down some steep and unven natural boulder stairs to get to them and that just was not possible. So today was my day to walk happily on two working feet down to the lilac bushes to cut a big box full of blooms to bring into the house.

I was reminded that lilacs are pretty messy but I thought to myself some of the greatest joys in life bring messes with them. You can't have the sweet scent of fresh flowers without a bit of a mess when they crumble. I'll clean it up when it's time. Meanwhile I have a vase of blooms on the kitchen windowsill, on my desk, on our dining table, the foyer table and in our powder room.

There are still tons of blooms to come so I hope I'll make time to go out and retrieve more as these die and new blooms come on the bushes. We had some good rain this week but our backyard is not looking so hot. Needs some attention. Of course I'm thinking there are snakes just waiting to jump out at me from behind every rock. Agh. I think I need some study leather cowboy/work boots to protect my ankles.

It's an adjustment to me to think of lilacs the last week of March and first week of April. Growing up they were Memorial Day blooms and my grandmother would gather jars of them to take to the cemetery to decorate graves that weekend.

We have had a very odd year with our forsythia bush in the back yard. It should bloom tons of bright yellow flowers in February or early March and then leaf out for the summer. Our front bush did bloom but our back bush only didn't. It got about five blooms on it just about the time it started to leaf. Last year is was full, vibrant and flowered early in the Spring. Not sure what's going on with the back yard, but it needs some love.

I also need to brush up on taking care of some of these plants I'm not that familiar with. I'd also like to get rid of a few weedy-looking things that are meant to be there but just look ugly. We also have a far back patch of dirt that could/should be grass of something. This house was empty for a while and before that lived in by older people who just let the yard go pretty much. Yards are a lot of work. I did well to keep up with a little garden patio in our last house.

I am itching to get some planters going with sweet peas, herbs and tomatoes. Having a fresh herb garden is just the best. My family has been so spoiled to have fresh tomatoes the past few years that they can't stand grocery store tomatoes - and they both love tomatoes. Hopefully this year I'll buy some better plants and we'll get a little bit bigger harvest. I should grow some peppers and chiles if I can too. We need to plant a bunch of mint in pots around the yard to ward off bugs, especially ants and mosquitos - although we don't get too many mosquitos here.

I also read that there are herbs to help ward off fleas. Last year we had a couple of weeks of pure misery with fleas. They didn't bother the dog at all because he was medically protected but we humans took the brunt of it. I've never dealt with fleas before but it was awful and we don't want to experience that again this year!

Gardening is so much fun. We certainly have the space but the upkeep is a lot of work, although the rewards are delicious. We still have about two weeks until recommended planting season - after the last frost traditionally. After being able to garden year round in California this waiting to plant business makes me antsy. I'm going to start preparing my gardening beds and pots now and then in a couple of weeks I can just start popping in seeds and plant starts. I think I'll start planting some seedlings this weekend and that'll give me a couple of weeks head start on planting outside. Fun stuff! Are you planting anything this year? If so, what are you most excited about growing.

Pin Test #26: Baked Fries & Sweet Potato Fries

We had a few leftover burgers in the fridge last week that I decided they would make a good dinner on Thursday. But we were short on a lot of things we often eat with burgers. We didn't have a wide assortment of fresh veggies and fruit which I usually serve with burger meals. We had a few carrots and just a little lettuce and no tomatoes for the burgers. So I was looking for something different I could whip up to round out the meal.

I had potatoes and sweet potatoes so I thought it might be a good night to try a baked fries recipe using both. So I tried Miminalist Baker's Crispy Baked Garlic Matchstick Fries and Gimme Some Oven's Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Fries.

Now it seems like often I do something to screw up these Pin Test recipes so I can't always say it was the recipe. This time, Kiddo made the sweet potato fries and I'm not totally sure what happened but they got a little too much cayenne in them, so no one ate them. I think we need to try this recipe again with a little more adult supervision. The Man loves a good sweet potato fry so we'll definitely try this one again soon and I'll try to gauge the cayenne situation a little better.

The crispy baked garlic fries were good. I would say I need to work on my cooking methods for both. I think maybe I overcooked them. While they weren't photo-worthy they did taste good! I think these could've used a little more oil on the pan because they stuck to the pan. I think I need to work on my garlic tossing of these when they are done too. But they were yummy and every one of them got eaten up. The Man had two servings and Kiddo and I split the rest. Despite my failing in the artistic creation, they were yummy and we'll try them again soon.

It's very challenging to make a recipe for the first time and try to figure out all the subtle and not so subtle nuances. Both these recipes have made it into my personal cookbook and I'll pull them out and try them again soon. I recommend them both, you might just want to be judicious about cayenne in the sweet potato recipe. I'm not sure what happened there, I guess I'll have a better idea as we continue to experiment with these.

Here are the links to both recipes:
Crispy Baked Garlic Matchstick Fries
Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Here are a few other Pin Test recipes you might want to check out.
Crack Broccoli - A family favorite we eat almost weekly!
Mongolian Beef Ramen
Slow Cooker Recipes

It's been rainy and cool here in the desert. It feels like northern Europe, which I love a little dose of. It's been more drizzly than rainy and I have so many memories of days like this in England and Scandinavia. I good scarf around the neck and good rain jacket layered over something warm seem to be just the ticket on days like this. It's nice to have a little break from the usual desert weather. I need to drink tea, sit by a window and read a book or something to celebrate it.

If I were in northern Europe I'd ride my bike somewhere cozy or light some candles. Ooh, it is a perfect cozy day...this is where Hygge comes in...you know that Danish lifestyle trend that suddenly everyone is talking about. I met Hygge in 1988 and she's been a friend these long years. Candles, tea, good company. Done.

Wood Serving Trays For Fruit And Cheese Plates

This is a long overdue blog post for sure, but one I had such a good time putting together. I love wood serving trays and we've been loving fruit, veggie, cheese plates the past few months. I think it all started last summer when I was looking for light fare that would incorporate a lot of different kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. We started trying to eat the rainbow and began counting how many vegetables and fruit we could pack into one dinner. I had a couple of small, oblong serving trays that were so perfect for lining up a rainbow of beautiful fresh foods along with cheeses and crackers. But they weren't quite big enough and I happened upon some beautiful new wood trays one day at TJMaxx.

I thought these would be perfect for entertaining too and I could just imagine serving all sort of foods on our patio with them. I bought two matching sets of these rectangle wood trays, each came with three different sizes and I picked up two bamboo tongs for easy serving as well.

I can't wait til it warms up so that we can have friends over for dinner outside. We've been working hard getting the inside of our house pulled together so that when warmer weather gets here we'll be ready to go. It will be especially fun to have a pool party or two this summer. With a white sheet we can pretty easily pop up a movie theater in the back on the wall as well. Fun stuff.

I also found these wood fruit-shaped trays the same day and couldn't resist. The wood is so beautiful and I like the big, flat, open space on these for a nice variation from the thin rectangle trays I have quite a few of. These would work for so many things and we've been using them for our fruit and veggie cheese plates the past few weeks.

Of course, I'm especially fond of the pineapple tray. I have another small pineapple tray that this would go perfectly with. Wouldn't this be delicious covered in pineapple bites. I am totally craving pineapple and fresh fruit right now, I think because we don't have a lot in the house and it's winter and all. I think we only have apples and pears around right now.

I would love a big tray of strawberries, pineapple, oranges and more to appear in our kitchen on one of these trays right now! My mouth is totally watering just thinking about it. We need to splurge and get some pineapple soon! Actually we have some canned pineapple in the cupboard and I may just crack open a can to go with our Japanese wontons, gyoza and rice dinner. (Inside right now I'm silently screaming "Oh Yes!" - ha)

I have been refurbishing and collecting wood trays for a while now. I use them all over the house. I think I still have one little one I haven't even fixed up yet in a drawer in my craft storage. Wood trays can be quite expensive at full retail price but buying and refurbishing them from a thrift store can be quite a great deal. Most of the bowls and trays I have purchased and fixed up were all under five dollars. Here are a few other posts on beautiful wood trays and bowls.

Thrift Store Small Rectangle Tray (with DIY instructions on how to bring a crusty old tray back to life.
My dream bread bowls I saw these at ABC Home in NYC and couldn't justify the investment at the time but found something at my local thrift store just days later.

Bamboo Tray Fix-up A great thrift store find that I fixed right up and made look new again. So easy.

Woven Tray This large serving tray is perfect for transporting things outside, to the dining table or for breakfast in bed. A great deal and it was so easy to repair.

Big Likes #1: My Favorite Cocoa

I was feeling like I hit a bit of a rut this week here at the blog. It's funny how you can feel like you have lots of blog post ideas and then some days just nothing inspires you. So today I decided to start a new column of sorts called Big Likes. Big likes are things I'm really enjoying at the moment.

I was out early this morning for an appointment and I will just say that the freezing cold wind is still blowing. Ergh. So when I got home I was ready for something cozy and decided that some cocoa would really hit the spot.

Yesterday would have been my paternal grandmother's 116th birthday and she made the absolute best cocoa I have ever tasted. I learned to add salt and vanilla from her. She also made her cocoa with evaporated milk which of course was delicious. I think she mixed regular milk with the evaporated milk. It's been so long since I watched her make it as a little girl that I realize I can't quite remember anymore. That's a little bit sad. Life passes so quickly!

I generally don't make a big pot of cocoa and I'm really the only one in the family who drinks it. The Man drinks his cocoa from a water-added packet made with his Keurig machine. Ick! So I make my cocoa one cup at a time for myself.

I have been loving Swiss Miss Simply Cocoa all winter long. I love all these "Simply" products that have been coming out that use real sugar and real ingredients without all the additives. I will gladly pay the extra to support any company who is returning to a more all natural ingredients list for products that I want to use!

I love that Simply Cocoa is a "mix with real, hot milk" version. No watered down gunky cocoa for me! I want creamy and not too heavy. Last fall I found these on sale for a dollar per box so I loaded up and what a great idea that was. I had a nice supply to get me through the winter and it was there waiting for me any time I wanted something warm. I'm down to one box, so it's time to stock up soon. Here's my secret recipe:

For a large "cappuccino" size mug:

Cup full of 1% milk

1 & 1/2 packets of cocoa mix

3-5 drops of vanilla extract

dash of kosher salt

I heat the milk up in the microwave on high for 90 sections, then stir it so that the heat distributes evenly and does not curdle the milk. This time and temperature can vary from microwave to microwave. In LA, our apartment microwave could only do a minute at a time without ruining the milk so you have to experiment. I have a bunch of little whisks I use for stirring throughout my cocoa making process. I use one to stir the milk and then they are great for incorporating the cocoa powder and other ingredients.

After stirring I microwave the milk for 30 more seconds. Then I add the cocoa mix, vanilla and salt and stir it again with my cute whisk. And we're done. So yummy. You can top it off with whipped cream if you want or add cream or half and half or whatever you want. We keep a can of spray whipped cream in the fridge at all times so it's easy to create a big whipped cloud on top if I'm in the mood.

I can't tell you how happy it made me to sip a cup, all alone in my office this morning when I got home and was chilled to the bone. I turned on my little space heater and was one happy camper! I paired my cocoa up with toasted waffles topped with a yummy new preserve I picked up this week. That will be the subject of my next "Big Like."

If you want to make a big pot of delicious, rich cocoa here is a fantastic recipe. This is perfect for a party or family gathering. 

California Catch Up

I flew to Los Angeles on Friday to attend the funeral of a dear friend who passed away at age 83 on February 3. My friend Dave was a wonderful man, who was successful in business, raised a wonderful family and was so good to people around him. Everyone liked Dave and it was a great experience to celebrate his life on Saturday with his family and many friends.

A side benefit to attending the funeral was a great reunion with so many friends in Los Angeles. I shared a hotel room with a dear friend and we spent many, many hours talking. The great thing about this friendship, we said, Saturday night is that our conversations always lead us to three things, 1) knowing that we are doing okay, 2) knowing that we can carry on and continue to do what we need to do in life and 3) feeling loved and accepted no matter what. Such great blessings! Such a great friendship.

I had three goals for my trip beyond the funeral on Saturday. I wanted to see a few friends, eat only at restaurants/fast food chains I missed from living in LA and 3) to go to IKEA. I did pretty well achieving those goals although there is never enough time to do them all.

Friday I got into town and met up with a wonderful friend who years ago wrote this blog post on living happily in the current moment. After we had eaten lunch we had a good laugh saying "gosh it's too bad we have nothing in common and nothing to talk about anymore." We chatted and chatted and could've chatted for many more long hours. We covered home decor, creative projects, career goals, time management, staying sane, exercise, health issues relative to our current decade of life, marriage and family life, elementary school and so many other topics. It was a very fun and filling afternoon.

Then I buzzed back over to the Westside to get a mani-pedi at my favorite nail salon that I went to for years just around the corner from our old apartment. It was fun to see all the ladies and I will say I splurged a little on the extra massage add-ons. But it felt wonderful. I also picked a polish for my toes that was a little too bright for my liking but I'll live with it for a couple of weeks.

I had a classic LA moment next when at 7 p.m. on a Friday I tried to drive six or seven blocks and it took about an hour trying to get from one side of the 405 under it to the other side. Ugh. Don't miss that. But when you're not is a big hurry it sure is not as irritating.

I was still awaiting the arrival of friends from out of town, so I decided to have my favorite Chinese Chicken Salad at California Chicken Cafe. I don't know why but when I get that salad and I'm hungry it makes me so happy I can barely stand it. It's so good and a feast for the taste buds. I took it to the hotel and enjoyed it while watching HGTV.

Once my friend arrived we chatted for several hours until we were so tired we couldn't carry on. There were laughs, tears, deep thoughts and silly ones. Saturday morning we were up early to get to the funeral early enough to get parking and a seat in the chapel. We knew there would be a big crowd. By the time the viewing, services and luncheon were over it was last afternoon. We were quite tired by then and three of us stopped in at a little french cafe in our old neighborhood for a drink, some food and a nice chat. So that was the third place I hit for food that was an LA favorite eatery.

After that we stopped to visit with Dave's family, which his wife had asked us to do earlier in the day. It was fun to sit with his wife, children and grandchildren and catch up and decompress from the day. By the time we left there it was well into the evening and we headed back to the hotel to change clothes and then we chatted while we were collapsed on the bed, nursing good, hydrating beverages.

The next morning the friends were off early for their long drive home. I attended church at our old congregation which was lovely. Saw so many good friends. I went for a walk afterwards, grabbed some lunch and headed to the airport in the late afternoon. When I got back to ABQ it was snowing heavily which I was not expecting at all. Such a change of environment! It was a wonderful weekend and so filling for the soul and exhausting for the body. I slept for a good long time the morning after I got back.

This was my first real trip back to our old home stomping grounds and it was so wonderful in so many ways and it was hard in some ways too. There were so many things that were so familiar. There was much that I miss and so little time to do all many things I wanted to do. There was much that had changed and felt strange. I found myself torn between wanting to go back and feeling some weird regrets about things I wish I would've done differently while I did live there and things I wish I'd done that I didn't. Then there was a wave of gratitude that we did move and all the blessings that came from that too.

It was kind of intense and a lot of that hit me while I was alone Sunday afternoon. It was a bit of a challenge to process and part of me just had to remind myself not to get sucked into overthinking anything too much and appreciate all the good things. I am so happy to have gone back and hope I'll be able to process all my thoughts and feelings and be able to focus on the things I gained from the trip. I really did leave the funeral and conversations with friends committing to focus on things I took away from those moments and make them more a part of my life. Those are great blessings.

Fill Your Hamburgers With Flavor

 I have been experimenting with making hamburgers a lot since we moved to New Mexico. With a very unique flavor palate all it's own, New Mexico is an inspiring place to really jump into trying new spices and punching up the flavor of your meals.

We've been eating a lot of homemade hamburgers lately and I find they are the perfect companion to a big plate of sliced fresh fruits and vegetables...and we often add some chips and salsa or good old Lay's Potato Chips along as well. With all the add ins, you might think my burgers are hot spicy but they aren't. They just taste like regular old juicy hamburger. But the added spices give is a richer, more delicious flavor. Here's a printable recipe version.

To make 4 big hamburgers I usually start with about two-and-a-half pounds of ground beef. I use 80/20 lean ground beef. Then I start adding things. Here's my list.

KK's Tasty Burgers

2.5 lbs ground beef
1/2 minced fresh medium size onion
1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic or 4 cloves minced
(I use the minced garlic I buy in a jar at the grocery store).
1 tsp. New Mexico green chile (roasted, from a jar)
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Large pinch of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
 Optional: A few shakes of Lowry's Seasoning Salt and/or garlic salt

I mix this all together, then form my patties and layer them between freezer paper or parchment paper until I am ready to serve them. I make them really big (6" diameter) and they tend to shrink down quite a bit and fit a bun perfectly by the time they are cooked. I fry them in a pan with the lid partially covered so they stay moist but get nicely browned at a higher heat.

To top them off once they are cooked, we toast the buns on a stovetop griddle quickly and then here's what we add:

1 slice Provolone cheese
1 slice Monterey Jack cheese or Cheddar
*add cheeses the last couple of minutes of cook time for a perfect melt
1 slice onion
Tomato slices
Crisped butter lettuce
Generously salt and pepper to taste (sometimes we use garlic salt which is delicious!)

For our fruit plate here's what I usually throw on the sweet little rectangle tray I regularly use:

Sliced Honeycrisp apple (get an apple slicer that does it for you. Makes my life so much easier!)
Sliced pears (usually Bosc and Barlett)
Red grapes
Sliced oranges
Sliced European cucumber (sometimes I put these on my burger like pickles)
Carrot sticks
Celery sticks

It makes for a nice mix of nutrients and colors, crisp and sweet to go along with the burgers. I find it's a good way to sneak in fresh foods along with the burgers. We are trying to eat the rainbow every day and I like to count and see how many fruits and vegetables I can get in their mouths each day without having to beg. Pairing them with burgers and hot sandwiches has been very successful!

So that's the scoop on our the big, tasty burgers we're enjoying at our house frequently.

image: kalanicut

Pin Test #25: Mongolian Beef Ramen

It's way past time for another Pin Test. This is where I choose a pin from Pinterest,and try it out and share my experience. Sometimes I give it a straight thumbs up and sometimes it doesn't go so well. But most of the time Pin Tests are successful. This one was a bit of a challenge because I think it's a fantastic recipe but I ran into challenges with a family who doesn't like sweet sauces on meat. It was a risk and I knew it from the outset.

Original Pin: Mongolian Beef Barbecue by Jo Cooks.

I liked this recipe a lot. But I think there were a couple of things I did that didn't make is as good as it could have been. Rookie mistakes, totally my fault.

First challenge I had was that my grocery store was out of flank steak. So I asked what might also work and they suggested skirt steak. My family is very picky about meat, they have filet mignon tastes -- so skirt steak was toooo chewy for them, even after I tenderized it. That immediately put them on the defensive about this dish. Next time, if I make this again, I'm just going to get some really good steak and use that. I also needed to slice the meat much thinner. Lessons learned.

Second, I used brown rice and millet ramen noodles. This type of noodle seems quite a bit softer than wheat noodles, as you would expect. So they got a little soggier in the sauce than would've been ideal. But we bought this big bag of noodles at Costco, so I need to use them up. I think I overcooked these and the next thing I will mention will probably help make them better for the future.

Third, I think I didn't let the sauce thicken up enough or else I should've drained some off. It was a little too soupy/saucy/soggy for my family. But again they don't really like sweet sauces on meat dishes, and I knew that in advance. So I'm not sure I'll ever know if it was too much sauce or they just don't like sweet sauce on stuff.

I will say that I liked this dish quite a bit more than my family did, notwithstanding some of the improvements I would make doing this a second time. I think the recipe is good, just that my execution was inexperienced and my family was a little picky about it. Probably won't make it again just because it's not a flavor set that my family likes. But I would wholeheartedly recommend it to others. If you like Mongolian Beef Ramen I think you will really like this dish.

My Recipe & Tips For Killer Good Pancakes

We have become real connoisseurs of well-made pancakes at our house over the years. Sadly my husband hates going out to breakfast anymore because he only like the pancakes we have at our house, along with the real butter and maple syrup. Sadly you don't get real butter or syrup at a lot of places. Over the years I've learned some interesting things about making the best pancakes and I thought I would share them today.

When we lived in California we used to have friends over for pancakes frequently and it became our go-to meal for having friends over on weekends for dinner, brunch or breakfast. So I got a lot of practice making pancakes and we came up with some systems to make big batches with multiple griddles, etc.

Quick Tips

• I mix all my wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately first. Then I incorporate the dry ingredients into the eggs, milk and melted butter.

• Rather than use half a carton of milk making pancakes I add 1/2 c. water and decrease milk by half a cup. It saves a little and doesn't change the recipe at all.

• I use melted butter instead of oil.

• I let my griddle heat up on low for a few minutes before I start cooking. Then I turn it up slightly. But haven't a good hot griddle pan gives you good pancakes right from the start.

• Here's my biggest tip: Make your batter the night before. Most of us wake up Saturday or Sunday morning and whip up a batch of pancakes and then cook them up and devour them. Instead make your batter the night before and store it in an air tight container. I like to keep mine in mason jars. You might need two jars to store the amount this recipe makes.
• This gives all the ingredients a chance to blend together really well. Then you don't taste the baking powder as much and the pancakes come out so much prettier, are more tender and fluffy and the flavor is so much better.
• Making it ahead also saves you cooking time. When I'm making our usual, favorite breakfast it often includes breakfast potatoes, eggs, bacon and pancakes. So if the pancakes are ready to pour, I only have three things to take care of.

• Butter the pancakes while they cooking on the second side. The Man really likes this.

• Heat up the syrup for 20-30 seconds in the microwave. Cold syrup is tragic. We pour ours into a tiny glass pitcher then head it up about a 1/2-1 cup at a time depending on how much we need.

• Try a variety of topping options. Instead of maple syrup we're also big fans of slice strawberries and whipped cream. Another option is lemon juice and powdered sugar. Yummy. My dad always loves peanut butter and chocolate chips with syrup. Gross. To each his own!

I originally wrote this recipe down for The Man because he really wanted to recipe and wanted all the instructions - he says he's going to make these one day. So envision this recipe is written for him and then all the additional instructions will make a little more sense. I thought it would be fun to keep them in there because they help explain my mindset when creating the recipe and trying to explain why I do things the way that I do in the recipe. Here's my recipe and along with a PRINTABLE RECIPE version.

Kalani’s Pancake Recipe

Start with two mixing bowls. You will mix dry ingredients in one, wet ingredients in the other and then combine them in the wet ingredients bowl. So you may want to put the wet ingredients in a slightly larger bowl. This is a double batch recipe and makes about 16 pancakes.

Dry Ingredients 
2 cups flour
1 ¾ tablespoon baking powder (same as 5 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Sift or whisk together lightly

Wet Ingredients
2 eggs 
beat until fluffy first before adding remaining ingredients

4 tablespoons melted butter
I microwave at 30% capacity for 2 minutes to melt it and still keep it relatively cool so it doesn’t cook the eggs when mixed together

1 ½ cups milk + ½ cup water
I just add water in with the milk so that I don’t use so much milk. Works fine.

Mix the wet ingredients together until smooth and then with a large wire whisk, stir the wet ingredients while slowly adding in the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. You may need to add more water if the batter is too thick to easily pour.

Cook pancakes on a hot griddle. I like to warm up the griddle for a few minutes at a low temperature then turn it up just a bit.

Put any leftover batter into the fridge in an airtight container. I like to use a 1-quart canning jar.

If you try this recipe I'd love to hear how it goes!

Pin Test #24: Crack Broccoli

It's time for more Pin Tests! I take a pin from Pinterest and try it out and give my thumbs up, thumbs down or even thumbs sideways with some additional explanation about what I've tried differently that originally suggested. This week's Pin Test (I won't keep you in suspense!) is a total thumbs up. It's deliciously perfect for the cold days of winter and full of "good for you" things like garlic, lemon and healthy dark, leafy greens! Meet "Crack Broccoli" from the blog A Beautiful Plate.

image via A Beautiful Plate

I have been making this about once a week since around Thanksgiving time and it's a hit and every bit of it gets gobbled up. It seriously takes Broccoli to a whole new level. It is so tasty. Can I first sell you something amazing about Broccoli. The big thick stems are not to be cut up and thrown out! Peel the thick hide off them and the insides are amazing, delicious and tender. No matter how I'm fixing broccoli I cook the stems and love them! In this recipe I would just cut off the bottom half inch or less of the stalks and then you don't need to peel them, just slice them up. 

Quick explanation, you slice the heads of Broccoli up like steaks from top to bottom. You can see that in the photo. Then you mix Olive Oil, Pepper Flakes, Garlic and Salt together in a bowl then toss in all the broccoli until it's well covered. (Please note that in this recipe, the salt is listed in the ingredients list but not mentioned in the process of mixing the ingredients. I either add it in with the oil mixture or just sprinkle Kosher Salt on the Broccoli once it's on the pan. I think either works.)

Then you lay it all out on the pan, roast it for 10-12 minutes, then flip all the stakes over and add your Almonds and roast for another 8-10 minutes. Then sprinkle with cheese and a bit of lemon juice.

A few alterations I've made:

1) 475 degrees is a little too hot with our oven and I was continually burning the broccoli. So I am using 470 now and it seems to be working well. No more burning. This is something to gauge with your own oven as they all work a little differently.

2) I use whatever cheese I have on hand and it all tastes good. My favorite is Parmesan, but I've used Cheddar, Monterrey, Monterrey Jack, Mozzarella...whatever I have available. If you want the cheese a little toasty you can add it the last couple of minutes of your roasting time on the second side.

3) The amount of Lemon Juice in the recipe was a little too lemony for my family. I sometimes just skip it or I just add a few drops here and there. Less is more if it gets too intense.

As I said, we are gobbling up this recipe like crazy. I even included it in our Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve dinners. We usually depend on a lot of salads to get our greens but now that it is colder it's nice to have something warm and crunchy to help us get all our veggies in our diet every day. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

Update and Revisit: Creating Your Dream Life

The new year is always a time that gets me excited for what can be and this year I am revisiting one of the great activities I've done over the past 8 years that has really helped me focus on what I want to do in my life.

I take a sheet of paper and usually draw an circle in the middle of it and write MY LIFE inside it. Then I start out drawing a line from the circle and at the end of the line I write one thing I feel I must have in my life or that I really want. For instance, it might be a garden, more peace, exercise, a different car, etc. And I keep going until I run out of ideas. I've learned a few things over the years about this activity and now I usually make it a two step process. One day I write down everything I can possibly think of that I would like for my life. Then a few days later I review it and cut out anything that really isn't a must for my happiness or that isn't something I feel I can accomplish realistically right now. I try to hone it down to things I really do want most and that are true necessities or very strong desires.

This helps me to focus a bit more, not overwhelm myself and to be a little more serious about what's truly vital to my life, my happiness and my needs. Then I recreate a new MY LIFE chart. I hang this up in my office and then when I am considering opportunities and how I spend my time I am able to reference this chart to see if said opportunities fit any of the categories. If they don't it's probably something I don't need to do or is not going to take me where I want to go in my life. A simple example, say for instance I wrote down that snow skiing was a must have in my life. It would make no sense to move to a tropical island.

So far this year I have created my The Sky's The Limit version of MY LIFE and now I'm in process to hone it down, eliminate excess and complete the project. It was helpful for me to review how I've done this in the past, so I wanted to share those posts with you. Here's the post from the first time I did this project.

My First Dream Life Chart
Dream Life Chart Update: This was written shortly after I experienced a life-threatening infection and lost my hearing for a few months. Challenging time!

Below I am also adding a post I wrote several years ago that was originally published in 2011 on the blog: reFind Joy. The website, that was more lifestyle at the time, is now a business site, so my post is no longer available there. I wanted to have a copy of it available and added it here.

Actualizing My Dream Life and Finding My Joy

By Kalani Cropper

I am so happy to be here talking about joy today. I love joy. In 2009 I was working long hours in a stressful industry and had given up many things I love to focus on my career.  I was tired and too busy. I sat down one day, with a pretty piece of yellow cardstock and wrote My Dream Life in the center of it. I drew an oval around that then drew one line out from it and wrote down one thing I wanted for my dream life.

In a few minutes I had drawn 33 lines out from that oval. Things that ranged from the vehicle I wanted to drive, the family I wanted to have, the way I wanted to look and the work and play I wanted to do – all the things I felt I needed to have an abundance of real joy in my life. This life existed for me in another space and time and how desperately I wanted to arrive there.

I carried that yellow cardstock with me every day. I would look at it longing, from time to time, looking forward to the day. Then one day a couple months later, I decided to look at it with fresh eyes and note everything that had begun to happen. I was able to check off nine things that had either come into my life, changed in my life or were in the process of changing. I wanted a garden. Without thinking about it I planted a few vegetable and herb plants on my patio and was harvesting beautiful tomatoes and fresh thyme and basil. I wanted a life where I could ride my bike most places. I started riding my bike more places. I had begun to more conscientiously live my dream life.

I looked a few weeks later and realized that even more things had begun to change in my life. This time I marked 21 items. A few weeks later 29. At that moment I was amazed that the life of my dreams didn’t require a move to a new state, a large yard, charming little free-standing house, a quiet small town, a different body or new closet full of clothes. It did not require an all-out evacuation of my current life. It only required a more conscious living in the space where I was. It came to me that I already had all the elements of my dream life right there with a little more awareness, a few small changes and more enjoyable actions.

With this new appreciation I continued to make more changes in my life. Some were easy, some were harder. Some looked like they would be painful and weren’t.  Life continued to change and I continued to enjoy more and more the life of my dreams.

On a Sunday afternoon in January of this year, I found myself being ordered by an urgent care physician to get to a hospital immediately for a CAT scan. I had expected to get a prescription for antibiotics and head back home to the couch. Twelve hours later when I left the ER to be admitted to the hospital I expected to be hospitalized overnight. The next morning when I asked the specialist who checked me out if I was going home that day he said oh no, you’re not going anywhere.  Two months later, I’m feeling much better but still have lingering effects and more treatment to come. After being unable to do anything but lie down or sit and rest for four weeks, my priorities had begun to change yet again. Sitting still is not something I am good at.

But I knew this experience had happened for a reason. As I considered all I could’ve lost, all my recuperation required and the lingering health issues that might never fully repair, my perspective on all I needed in my life had quietly but intently changed. Weeks later, I decided to create a new dream life chart for 2011 and as a new start.

I started out the same…the oval…the lines shooting out from it. But this time I only came up with nine things -- nine things that really and truly mattered to my life and made me happy.  I would be okay without my dream wardrobe, I would be okay without my dream work, I would be okay without my dream house, vehicle or travel. What now mattered most to me was my life, my health, my loved ones, peace, calm, laughter and basic living needs. I felt a huge burden lifted from me. I felt lighter, more agile, more settled down and more certain of what mattered to me. At that time it was impossible for me to get caught up in wants that were unnecessary. I also felt less tolerant of spending one minute doing anything I despise or to be disingenuous in anyway.

At the same time I felt more motivated than ever to have the life I dream of and make good use of my time, energy and resources. No more playing small, more Just Do It.  It was a sweet time, that moment between painful illness and entering fully and completely back into regular, busy, stressful life – where I could watch my life for a moment with a clear, peaceful head.

I will never be able to think of that time without being reminded to keep life sweet and simple – and to remember that all the elements of my dream life, my joy, are here right now, today all around me.

Here's another update from 2013 that talks a little more about my process and the things I've learned along with a link to an inspiring article from Drew Barrymore.

2013 My Dream Life

If you feel inspired to try to create  map of your dream life I'd love to hear about your process and inspiration. Leave a comment below if you like!

Tired Holiday Family aka Simpler is Better

I started the holiday season out in early November with so much excitement and energy. By mid-December, while I was still excited for Christmas there was a part of me that was just ready to get to the New Year already. I think part of that was that I had not been feeling for a while and with a little anxiety was hoping that some upcoming doctor visits would help shed some light and give me a plan that would get me back to my usual self. I'm in progress on those things and the clarity I have gained has definitely helped.

I think our family overall was a little tired and ready for a break. Despite our best intents to keep Kiddo's life "unbusy" it still feels really busy with just a couple of extra curricular activities, not to mention trying to teach her a good work ethic, have her participate in chores around the house, find time for friends and rest and all those important things.

This is something I want to try to remember for future holiday seasons, you will get tired. You might get sick. When I plan in those eventualities it sure does make things easier. I mentioned in yesterday's post that thanks to getting sick and being forced to rest the week before Christmas I saw a dramatic difference in our family.

Everyone was calmer, kinder, spoke more gently, had more patience and was just mellowed out. That made me realize that we had been operating with a lot of stress, were tired and cranky. And it helped me realize that life doesn't have to be that way. Overall we need more rest, more quiet time, more relaxing activities, simple, healthy meals and much more sleep.

These are things I am really going to monitor more often. When I was growing up, a couple of times a year my sisters, my mom and I, would do a shopping day together. Invariable about 3 p.m. people would start falling apart, getting cranky and very low energy. I realized one day that if we got a little treat and took some downtime for 30 minutes we were all fine shortly thereafter and able to continue on with our day and get home without any stress.

I try to remember this small but helpful lesson on family outings now and especially in the afternoons after school or when we are working on challenging projects. Rest and refreshment go a long way to minimize anxiety and exhaustion. I want to make sure we're using our downtime on activities that actually rest and revive the soul, rather than just allow us to numb out. I have found that screen time does not quiet or relax or refresh the soul. It's just more noise most of the time. Stillness is stillness. Going outside, sitting in a soft seat surrounded by quiet or peaceful music, having in-person conversations,  accomplishing a small task, these kinds of activities restore the soul.

I'm glad we had that week of sickness to help me see how I could help my family and our home life with more stillness and rest. I'll definitely carry that lesson forward with me and when things get tired and tense I'll remember there are solutions and that life doesn't have to feel so chaotic.

How were your holidays and did you learn anything about your family that you'll carry forward with you into the new year? I bet you did.