Sparkly Snow and sunshine and triggers

Pic from Friday night

Saturday was a wonderful, remarkable day for us up here Northern WI.  Remarkable because it was sunny (which is indeed amazing in itself) and NOT -20 and NOT windy.  This resulted in a day that felt warm!  You can tell we are all delusional here because the warmth was  grand total of maybe 18 degrees, but wow this year it is all relative!! Fred actually left the door of the cabin OPEN while he was doing his little project outside, because it was colder in the cabin.  Now to me whether the cabin was 7 degrees or 17 didn't seem to make much of a difference when he was working outside, but hey, whatever floats your boat, honey.

I was struck by the sparkles.  This doesn't give what I saw justice.

The cool thing is that TODAY is supposed to be about the same, only a touch warmer!!  I am  hoping for sun, too, but that might be a bit much to expect.  We shall see what comes.  Today is Sunday and it is the day that I try to shove all the things in that I didn't get done Saturday.  Fortunately the house is clean (YAY) and the groceries and food are dealt with too, but I do want to work on one more thing to eat this week.  I also want to get in a walk on the road, get to the gym and try and work upstairs for a while.The upstairs is an ongoing project of clearing out 25 plus years of accumulated kid stuff and well, some of our old stuff as well.  I have already taken several boxes to the library, thrift and transfer station and I know I have at least 2 more boxes of books and who knows what else to the thrift and dump.  It is cathartic and it also has brought back a lot of good memories looking at some of those things I have come across.

I recently read an article about how to make something a habit.  It was one of those things that seem innocuous, but turned out to be something that I have thought and thought about!  One of the steps is to have a trigger.  A trigger is an event or place or time or object that will trigger your memory to do that process that you want to have made into a habit.   In other words- finding something that will make that action automatic.  I'm trying to do a "Lola a Day" picture on Instagram, and I'm trying to establish getting outside about 7 am (before I have an armload of school bags) to take a shot of Lola. I put it on Instagram later- So my trigger is when I am putting my boots on, before I put my coat on.  This isn't working perfectly yet, as I have had to go back to the porch to take a pic with an armload....  The other thing is that I want to add a little meditation to my morning routine, but that definitely needs work.  My schedule is very lazy in the morning. BUT I do like the results of my attitude for the day when I remember it, so I want to establish that routine.

Why do I talk about this today?? Good question, I just found it an interesting way to think about a habit.  Conditioned response in psychology class!  My conditioned response to leaving school is to drive directly to the gym!  I am a random sort of person with occasional gusts of linear thought, but today is not one of those gusty days.

So what to do, what to do....  I want to have about 4 extra hours this afternoon to be able to do what I want- but that won't happen so I need to prioritize.  Since I have a 5 mile Snowshoe coming up here in 3 or 4 weeks, I need to get some distance under my feet, I will also go clean upstairs later and def. get to the gym by noon.  Then I have time to snow shoe after that if I want or do some other things- what those are will appear to me later.  I definitely will be hoping for a good photo day, though.

I hope you enjoy these pix from yesterday, I wish I could reproduce the amazing, blinding sun and the sparkle of the puffy snow and the really nice day it was to be outside.

On a side note- this has been a really WINTERY winter.  Cold and a lot of snow.  I mean, you can't believe how much snow we have out there when  you walk where no one has.  I've been breaking new snow shoe trails for myself and when I get going the snow is higher than my knees.  I tried to take a pic to show how deep it is, but it just doesn't work very well.  Holy smokes. This will be good for the trees and the water table, so I won't complain. (Oh yeah, yes I will- but you will forgive me, right??)

See?  These do not show how deep the crazy snow is.

Anyway, on to a new day and a new week.  I feel like there are new possibilities coming to me.  I am trying to hold this great attitude, in spite of a very stressful week coming up with appointments and the end of the quarter and new things I have to do at school and such. But for some reason I am willing to take them on and make them mine - whatever the outcome.  I'm going to search for a few triggers to add 2 new habits to my day/week and always ALWAYS be a joy giver.

A vegetarian type of post~ food and assorted miscellany

I began my morning in the usual Saturday way.  I was choosing what sort of food I was going to make for the upcoming week, by searching through my Pinterest boards and my Feedly blogs.  This takes place at 5 or 6 (6 in this case) in the morning, whilst drinking my coffee...  Anyway, I was reading one of the blogs ~ the "Blonde Vegan" and she had the top 10 questions people ask Vegetarians and Vegans.  That is as close to the name as I am going to get for now.  She said basically that she thinks it is flattering that people ask these things and frankly I find it annoying after a while.  I don't mind if someone asks questions at all, except for the dreaded: So you eat fish don't you?  LORD have mercy that makes me crazy.  I, in my imagined wry humor commented such a thing, and then finished off with a confident- my family never asks me those things any more.....

Fast forward to breakfast:

The MA is having his breakfast as he is hunkered over his daily dose of Bejeweled Blitz. I, being in a good mood today, asked him if there was anything he'd like me to make for lunch, or whatever, as I was going to be grocery shopping and had a bit of time this afternoon.  (This was after he asked me what these scary sharp things were in the bread (his toast). HAHAHAHA- Well, toots, that would be called cracked wheat pieces.) CRACKED me up.

Back to business here- So he says that he hasn't had tuna and noodles for such a long time and he wouldn't mind that. (This was a shock, as he is not a noodle person generally).  You'll eat that won't you?  Um, no.  Tuna- OH, you don't eat fish?  FFS!!  And then I assured him I would make it and make my part with something good and whatever.  And actually I put tempeh in it and it was yummo!  Had it with the balsamic roasted veggies that I did right before noon-  yup, heaven.

Note to self- Don't ever let your vegetarian guard down.  And never assume they are ever listening, I guess.  Good grief. Then I reminded him I hadn't eaten any meat for two years, including fish, with the exception of the anniversary dinner fiasco, and we just don't need to go into that!  Water under the bridge so to speak...  We did spend some lovely time outside in this sparkly snow back by the cabin...  That will be in another post I guess.

Some of the things I made today!!  I have linked blogs here, as I pretty much made them as they are written

Quinoa breakfast bars

These breakfast bars are pretty darn good and healthy!  The came from the Lean Green Bean blog HERE

Lasagna Roll Ups

Lasagna Roll-ups were super easy to make and it was GOOD. Even the ever suspicious MA liked these.  Lol, actually, as long as there isn't soy involved or peanut butter, the MA does try quite a few things that I make.  I just don't expect him to eat vegetarian- I always have some type of meat  or a burger for the little darlin'- gotta make sacrifices for the sake of togetherness.  :)  The Lasagna Rollups can be found HERE on Oh My Veggies.

These don't photo pretty, but they taste REALLY good

AND then there were these chocolate and nut pieces of amazing.....  They also came from the Lean Green Bean Blog.....  No bake and done in about 10 minutes, plus freeze time.    You can find it HERE
See that bowl next to the little chocolate cups??  I **may** have attacked that thing with a spatula when it was "empty".   And it was good!!

I did some roasted veggies and quinoa and a batch of cooked beans, too- I'm exhausted!  :) But ready for the week to come....  and that is a joy!

Walking and shooting and things going on

This was a bit of a monochromatic weekend, as you can see by the pictures here!  I did notice the sun was out while I was in the gym (of course it was) but by the time I got home, threw on additional layers of clothes and clicked into the snowshoes- it was gone.  Oh well.  It was OVER 0 so that was a plus.  In fact, I ended up changing my clothes a lot as I really did get pretty sweaty- under all those wind proof outer layers.  It was a pleasant change of pace.

The MA and I went snowshoeing on Saturday night and I have absolutely no pix of that as I left the phone by accident in the house and I am such a putz getting all of my stuff on anyway, I didn't want to take the time to go get it.  We used the head lamps that the kids gave us and off we tromped around the field.  We have a really nice trail made, so the snowshoeing will continue!  

The other interesting thing I did this weekend was take a concealed carry class.  I debated about telling people this, and did not post it on facebook.  But as this was my decision and it affects no one else in the world (well other than the guy who has all the ammunition!) I thought it was somewhat blog worthy!  :) My main motivation is not fear of people- it is fear of walking in remote areas with lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  Seriously.  I am assuming I will never use it, but I am practicing so at least if I have to I will accomplish what I need to.  I do enjoy the target practice.  It is pretty fun to be able to improve my aim in a very short time.  I am apparently a pretty quick study.  

The other shooting I did this weekend is I FINALLY WENT FOR A LONG WALK!!!  and of course that involved a camera as well.  I MISSED the stone house and my favorite tree so much!!  It has been at least 6 weeks, but I think more, since I have walked on the road.  Winter has not been kind for that.  It hit hard and with a vengeance.  If the weather wasn't terribly cold, the roads were awful.  Things shaped up out there quite a bit with 2 days of just barely above freezing.  YES!  

I made sure I got pictures of my landmarks, plus included here are a couple from snowshoeing. The house from across the field is quite fetching, and then the MA likes it when I take cabin pictures.  I don't think he has ever even seen this blog, other than the rare times I show him something on it, so he won't see the cabin here, I'd venture to guess. BUT I try to get it on facebook occasionally.  Makes him feel important and proud.  Lol, he and the Barber are working on bed frames for the cabin now.  Busy little beavers that they are.

My pretty grey house and the garden shed

Little cabin in the woods

Favorite tree 

The old abandoned house across from the stone house

Stone house

I really wanted to hike up the side of the hill to get up by the house, but it really is deep snow.  REALLY DEEP However, I have a feeling that will not work next time.  I want to get up there again and shoot it in that snow.

I am in "training" with my snow shoes for the "Book Across the Bay" from Ashland to Washburn in a month.  It is a walk/run across Lake Superior- which scares the heck out of me. But I'm going to do it!! So I am needing to get in some long walks to repair my endurance and work on the snowshoes for the muscles needed.  I like the idea of this bookin', I will be a skeered skeeter when I am walking though!!

I got in a lot of activity today, sort of like I used to when I was losing.  I have definitely let myself relax in that whole obsessive watching every morsel I eat and exercise until I want to drop thing. It was awesome to get such a great workout - I truly love it.  I just question this whole idea of starving yourself to become a replica of things/people that are randomly chosen as ways that you are supposed to be and ways  you are supposed to look.  It seriously breaks my heart when sweet, wonderful people are hurting because they don't live up to an ideal that is in their head when they are strong, gorgeous, handsome, amazing, intelligent people. WHY do you need to be 120 instead of 130?  Who came up with this idea that you should exercise for HOURS a day and then not go home and feed your hunger??  How is this logical?  If you have kicked your own ass and had a great workout and you are so starving that you are weak and desperate, I think you should be eating something, the hell with the number on the scale.  Obsession is a wicked, insidious thing. It still haunts me.  Scale obsession lives deep inside me.  I have not stood on a scale since my last major weight freakout.  A lot of things have happened since then, I have come to terms with this idea or at least come to my senses and I am very happy not to know.  It is my way of coping and it is my way of being at peace.  I have been told that it is just a number and I agree- TOTALLY- but I am not able to be happy with or at least not care about whatever that number may be.  Ignorance is bliss for me in this regard.

We are still the same people no matter what we weigh.  I know I may be more self confident, but I am the essence of me still.  I am still the same person who gets distracted by clouds, who loves photography, children, art, animals, smiles, sunshines and lions, reading and gardening and food and cooking.  And whether I am one weight or another really makes no difference. Our character and the way we treat others is far more important than any physical trait that we might have.  I'm having one of those reflective moments apparently!  This type of subject has been rolling around in my mind for quite a while and it has the need to be mentioned again.

But I am beginning to get sleepy now and while there is more to be said - I don't think I am capable of continued coherence.  If I ever had that in the first place.

Anyway, I have to be off to dream land- so I hope that this day has brought you some joy and that you brought some joy and smiles to others!

Greek Stewed Cauliflower

Greek flavors involve savory and more traditionally sweet cinnamon and orange zest.  And a dose of salty in the olives!

So I did almost no cooking this weekend-  yesterday I was busy doing a little 4 hour class at the tech school in Phillips and then I got outside and snowshoed twice.  This morning I went for a long walk, then hit the gym and then went snow shoeing.....  yikes.  So, I discovered a decided lack of food that I can use for lunch this week and had to rectify that.

I had seen a recipe on my Pinterest board, or rather I saw that someone had repinned this recipe and it gave me an aha moment.  And I had some quinoa left in the frig, so I had everything allllll ready for dinner.  Woo hoo!!

Oh yeah, I lied, btw.  I made blueberry muffins before lunch.   Sort of forgot about that.  That recipe is right here--  I made a slight adjustment, didn't have enough oatmeal, so I used oat bran to make up the rest of it.  AND for some insane reason there was no cinnamon in the recipe.  CRAZY TALK.  There was cinnamon in mine.  I had one today, and have another planned for tomorrow and have half in the freezer.   The MA on the other hand, has had more than one, which is why half of them are hidden in the freezer.  

Blueberry muffins!

Ok, so this went together super fast, just chop up what needs to be first then it is as simple as 1, 2, 3!

 Chop the cauliflower, onion, prepare the garlic for pressing and plan to slice the olives later.

Literally dump everything into a pan (after you quickly saute the onion and garlic)  except the olives and cook down for about 15 minutes.  Then simply add the olives, add salt and pepper to taste and serve over rice or quinoa or whatever you want!

Greek Stewed Cauliflower

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 onion (chopped)

1 head cauliflower (chopped)

Zest ½ Orange

1 cinnamon stick

1  can crushed tomatoes or diced tomatoes

1 – 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon celery seed

⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup kalamata olives (chopped)

Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Heat oil in large pan and saute the onion until soft.  Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds.  Add  cauliflower, zest of orange, cinnamon stick, tomatoes and tomato sauce, oregano, celery seed and red pepper flakes.  Cook down until cauliflower is tender.  Remove cinnamon stick and add olives and salt/pepper.  Serve hot over rice or other grain.  YUMMY!! 

Now that was a great way to end a busy day!  And pretty joyful, too!

But wait!!! There's more! Curried lentils and kale and how much I LOVE curries

PEOPLE!! I am having a moment with Indian food. 

I had a practical affair with the fabulous Tandoori vegetables and dal that I had in Minneapolis at the Bombay Bistro....  le sigh. Really, can I live there? 
And now I have found a recipe for a curry that I could eat monthly if not weekly.  The smells are perfectly like those that were wafting around the Bistro and also the Middle Eastern restaurant that we went to for lunch whilst floating about Minneapolis searching for fabulous ethnic foods...  

The curry with the cinnamon and the coriander and the cumin and the turmeric.....  heaven.  Just heaven.  The taste, the fragrance is divine.

Ok, I have been waxing poetic for long enough.  

Indian Spiced Slow Cooker Lentils with Spinach

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 tsp. minced garlic 
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander seed
1 tsp. ground turmeric 
1/2 tsp. Garam Masala
1 tsp. ground cinnamon 
1 1/2 cup red lentils 
4 cups vegetable stock 
1 can (14 oz.) light coconut milk 
4 cups chopped fresh spinach (or baby kale mix) 
salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste -

Lime and/or greek yogurt for garnish/finish

Heat olive oil and add onion, gently saute until partly cooked- about 3 minutes.  Add garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, Garam Masala and cinnamon until fragrant.  Put into slow cooker.  Add lentils and veggie broth and cook on high for about 2 hours or on low for 4.

Allowing the vegetables and spices to meld

In the crockpot with all of it

Turn down to low and add the spinach or kale and coconut milk, cook covered another 30 minutes or so.  

Add in coconut milk (I used light coconut milk) and kale/spinach

Trust me- add the lime squeeze to the bowl!

This is just beautiful and divine!!  So simple and so good - I can't recommend this enough- if you like the flavors of India.

I believe this is also vegan (I am now tired and cannot remember) SO that is your cooking marathon for me today- hope your day was warm and toasty!!  AND perhaps just a bit joyful.

And the arctic votex descends upon the Northwoods and the MadArt teacher cooks up a storm

OH my goodness, it is a tad chilly out there. I was fortunate enough to not have to venture out until late in the day, by virtue of the fact that I bribed the hubs with a hot breakfast, which resulted in him feeding the horse and me not having to go outside until the nighttime feeding!  I did tiptoe out a couple times, but those adventures did not last.

When I did go out, it was incredible how cold it was.  Even I, who ventures out with very little provocation, found an excuse to stay in.  The cold pierced right through my coat!  My hand that had held the feed bucket got so cold on the way to the mailbox I had to pull my fingers inside my glove.  Yikes. 

Oh well.  I didn't sleep very well last night, the house kept crackling and then I would wake up again, and I kept thinking that the furnace was going to quit or something.  Idk. I finally did get to sleep, but I slept in a bit today. My morning was unfocused- didn't know what to do with myself today. It took me a little while to get moving in a forward direction.  Shutterfly, the place where I get my calendars made, had a 101 free pix deal, so I took the time today to upload 101 pix mostly of family things.  I am thinking that I should get a few nice  big prints made of some of my pix, too.  Really Big ones.  The ones I had printed right after I got my camera are tragically over exposed.  Burn out.  I didn't know at the time what that was, but I do now and it bugs me.  So it's something I am thinking about.

We have another day off tomorrow, and I am looking forward to that as well. I will be getting to the gym though- no staying home all day.  

What I DID do today among other things is a lot of cooking!  It is relaxing and fun and now I have several things to have for lunch and/or dinner in the frig and freezer.  AND it also heats up the house very nicely to have the stove/oven/crockpot running all day.  

Here is round 1 of cooking:

Ruths's Refrigerator rolls

My aunt Ruth gave my mom the recipe for these things back in the day and they are fabulous and the cool thing- not that it directly affects me- is that they are milk free and so my sister Rose can make and enjoy these!  #ftw

2 cups of water

2 pkg yeast

Mix in large bowl  and add:

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp salt 

3 cups flour (will be more flour to come)

I mix this with my Kitchenaid

Add :

1/3 cup shortening

1 egg

Mix well.  Add a little at a time-

3 - 3/12 cups flour 

 until dough forms a ball and it has mixed for a minute or two.  Or else dump it onto a floured counter and knead it for a 5 minutes to get the rest of the flour incorporated.

Cover  and refrigerate.  2 hours before needed, form rolls into balls and place on greased baking sheet.  Let rise and then bake 15 - 20 minutes in 375 degree oven.  Until they are nice and brown and sound hollow when thumped.  Remove from oven and brush tops with butter or margarine.

You can keep the extra dough for a few days, covered, in the refrigerator.

These are amazing and the extra dough will last a couple days in the frig so you can have fresh ones again!

Next up- Mushroom and Chickpea Ragout

This was so good I could hardly believe it.  It actually has some of the flavor components of a stroganoff with the worcestershire sauce and tomato paste.  It began life on Pinterest as Rosemary flavored, but I a. didn't have any and 2. don't care that much for rosemary.  So therefore my favorite herb- thyme- was pressed into service.

I got the original recipe here and it looked really great, but things were changed.....

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, fine dice
1/2 tsp dry thyme leaves
10 ounces/heaped half pound mixed mushrooms, sliced (I used all baby portabellas)
splash of red wine vinegar
1 tsp tomato paste
1-2 tsp vegetarian worcestershire sauce
1 can of chickpeas
1 cup vegetable stock
big splash of unsweetened non-dairy milk, I used coconut milk that I had left over in the frig
1 tsp cornstarch
salt + pepper
2 thick slices of good bread

Heat olive oil and saute onion in pan- on low heat, watch for scorching.  Sprinkle on thyme leaves until you can smell them, and then dump in the mushrooms.  Let them cook a few minutes until they begin to soften.  Add in your tablespoon or so of vinegar, tomato paste and worcestershire sauce.  stir around for a few minutes and add your chick peas.  Again let it mix together for a few minutes (stir to keep from burning), then add in vegetable stock.  Cook down until about 1/3 of the liquid is gone.  Add the coconut milk or what ever you want to use.

When it is starting to look thicker, mix a couple tablespoons of water with the cornstarch.  Stir into the chickpeas and let cook until thickened. Taste it and add salt and pepper. Mean while, toast the bestest bread you have and put it on a plate.  This is not the prettiest but the flavors are sublime and rich.  I think a touch of sour cream would be good, too.  But not necessary!  AND there are left overs.

So this is vegetarian/vegan and yummy!!  I used Ezekial bread for toast.

 And so I was thinking that a nice dessert was in order, so I made a variation on homemade Lara bars- sort of a several recipe mashup!

Chocolate Protein Balls

1package of dates
about 1/2 cup of raw almonds
1/2 cup hulled hemp seed (if no hemp seed, add more almonds)
3 heaping Tablespoons raw cacao (can use cocoa too)
water if necessary
mini chocolate chips

In food processor- process dates until a paste. Add water if you need to. Remove to a different bowl.  Add almonds to bowl and pulverize to a good powder and then add in hemp and cacao and process until well blended.  Add to dates and mix, sprinkle in water if you need to make it stick better.  Mix in mini chips.  Roll into balls and then I rolled it into more cacao powder.  YUMMY!!

The hemp seeds add an extra boost of protein, and they are just tasty!

HA but I'm not done yet!!  On to the next post!!  

Isn't that a joy?  Two food posts in one night??

Lola, la la la lala Lola

So, one of my friends on the internet said that he misses seeing Lola, my favorite tree and the Stone House on my blog. Until he said that, I didn't realize how much I miss seeing the stone house and my tree, myself. I have been truly NEEDING to go for some long walks on the road, but MAN they are nasty.  And so I will stick to snow shoeing in the relative shelter of the woods.  For the time being!

So consequently, I RAN outside tonight and took a quick pic of Lola just for Phil, who is currently worried about his teenage driver.  :) that is so sweet. It'll be ok, it's something we live through!  

I found a couple of pics of miss Lola from the last few months.  They are just a few I found on my phone!  I love Lola!  I know she looks a bit chilly, but she's a tough one.  Stays outside all year long without complaining, what a grill! ;)

Lola with a cone-head through the window

OH LOOK who snuck into my Lola post!  :)

Ugh, this is how it all started.  

Anyway, I wanted to make someone's day a little more fun -  because usually it is the smallest act of kindness, a little gesture or word that can make a person smile.  And that is such a joy!