What?? How can it be the end of the year??

I know it is the end of 2013, but it really doesn't seem like it should be.  It is astonishing to think that the school year is only 3 weeks from being half over.  Without trying to be too over sentimental, let's take a quick peek...

Happy New Years
Eve!

Unlike what a lot of people here and there scattered across the country and the blog-iverse say, 2013 hasn't been a bad year at all for me.  It is nice to be able to say that.

The best thing about the year was the arrival of my little grand girl Ella and the next best thing about the year is the fact that we found out next year will give us another grandchild.  THAT is the most awesome thing - the joy this brings is indescribable.

Other highlights:

Well I HAVE to say that the ongoing renovations of my house are a JOYFUL part of my year.  The total gut and rebuild of my living room was spectacular and finished with a painting orgy over the weekend of the school play which is where the Mad Art Teacher found out she teaches her children well and that she is indeed dispensable with a less than spectacular bout of the flu on dress rehearsal day.  The Thursday of the play weekend was my day down and out and then Friday night, Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to painting....  and of course the actual play performances.

Following on the heels of that, later in August came the application of new siding on my new garden shed and also my house.  I can't tell you how amazing it is to see that beautiful grey contrasting against the snow right now.

Related to all of this, that I haven't actually blogged about is the total disarray parts of my house was in because of those two events.  This was distressing to me, but I never really had the time, energy or ambition to do much about it until Christmas break here.  Let's just say the upstairs is many boxes lighter than it had been and that there is more to come.  I'm making excellent inroads into reorganizing closets that NEED it- badly.  And when the upstairs is done, the downstairs will fall into line.  And hopefully there will not have to be anymore "chocolate pie incidents".

I did a bit of traveling here and there during this year, the best of the best was a weekend I spent in Janesville, then Chicago and then Janesville again.  I met a person who was an online friend but has turned into a true best buddy and confidant and I can not wait until I can meet up with again next summer.

Being the person I am, a lot of things that I think of as 2013 big items are not things I discussed on this blog.  Either too busy, or it was too personal, or it involved someone who wouldn't want to be discussed.  (this doesn't happen too often, but once in a while I leave a bit of my life unexplored.)  I have things I am working on, and at this point aren't really shareable, and I may have travel plans coming this spring.  We shall see how that comes out.

So what do I want to think of when I might choose to remember 2013?  Well Ella's birth is the prime thing, along with a really long winter and weird northern Wisconsin weather.  A healthy weight, a better attitude about life and eating and exercise.  Not expecting perfection, but not giving up or giving in.  Finding joy.  Giving myself a break, but pushing myself along.  Accepting that I don't have to do it all, but doing the things I choose to well.  Really well.

And I'm looking forward to 2014 and the adventures to come.

And always looking forward to joy- both in the giving and receiving.

Vegetarian recipe WIN-WIN!

After 2 nights of not a lot of sleep, I decided that today had to be a good workout day.  While I like getting all of this cleaning done upstairs, it is not conducive to calorie burns or even relaxing.  Too much going on in the mind, dust that infested every nook and cranny of my body, and tired but not apparently tired enough.

Beans and kale with the peanut sauced tofu

Today, I went back to the cabin with the MA and I merrily built a fire in the fireplace.  Once you are forced to have to start those things to keep your house warm (which I did for many years) you become an expert.  I am SO GLAD I don't have to do that any more. Once I began my full time job, it was necessary for us to ditch that damn wood stove and put in a gas furnce.  Lp or whatever it is.  Lol. But that is neither here nor there!  It was fun to play around with the fire and it brought me back to the Boundary Waters and making a 1 match campfire.  Ah the good memories....

So after lunch, I went to the gym and kicked my own tail feathers doing a fabulous chest workout.  I am refocusing on my weightlifting - not that I haven't been doing it, but I lost some of my drive.  No wonder I have to rest my arms every so often here.  Then, because I do want to be exhausted tonight, I went for a snowshoe when I got back from the gym.... that ought to do it!

After all that, I decided to do a little cooking.  I had scoped out a few recipes and bought a couple ingredients.  I really didn't know if this actually "goes" together, and it certainly didn't photograph pretty.  But the flavors are divine.

Alright, the 2 things I made were Smoky Maple Black Beans and Kale  and Spicy Vegan Peanut Butter Tofu with Sriracha 

They are both somewhat spicy, but completely adjustable as far as the heat factor.  The flavors are wonderful, especially if you like the combo of spicy/savory/sweet.  What is not to like, right?

The pix I have are not terrific, they are just taken with my phone, as I decided during the making of this that it might be enjoyable to blog about it if I like the way it tasted.  Well let me tell you, totally glad I at least took a pic with the phone.  This is not beautiful stuff, folks, but who cares when it's in your mouth?? 

In my usual way, I substituted like a fiend in these recipes.  I have no problem messing around with the ingredients if the integrity of the taste is intact.  One thing called for agave and I subbed in honey.... you get the idea.  I didn't even realize that this was vegan until I was putting it on Instagram and decided I could use that hashtag!

Smoky Maple Black Beans and Kale
Calorie count is approximately 200 for 1/2 - 2/3 cup of awesomeness
adapted from a recipe by This Dish is Vegetarian

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium-size onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups coarsely chopped kale
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups cooked black beans or 2 (15-ounce) cans beans, rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons tamari (which is a low salt soy sauce)
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar (apple cider vinegar)
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 chipotle chile in adobo (optional), minced (I used smoked jalapeno chili powder)

Instructions
1. Heat the oil or water in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook on low until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and heat until you can smell it, about 30 sec. Add the kale and season to taste with salt and pepper, add a bit of water if necessary. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the beans, then add the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Simmer for 10 minutes longer to blend the flavors.

The maple, though there is only 2 Tablespoons of it is really forefront in this dish.  Divine!!  If I make this again, I will add additional veggies, maybe carrots and celery with the onion and garlic. 

Not the prettiest of pictures, but definitely tasty

Spicy Peanut Butter Tofu with Sriracha sauce

I am guessing the calories is about 175 for 3 pieces.  And a BUNCH of protein!!
adapted from a recipe by Kalyn's Kitchen 

Ingredients:
14-16 oz. firm or extra firm tofu
1 T olive oil
2 cloves peeled and lightly crushed garlic

Sauce Ingredients:
3 T soy sauce (reduced sodium is fine) I used Bragg's Aminos
3 T rice vinegar (I used seasoned rice vinegar)
2 T smooth natural peanut butter
1 T honey
2 T vegetable stock or water
1/2 T Sriracha Rooster Sauce (more or less to taste)

Instructions:

Drain the tofu well in a colander placed in the sink.  Then put tofu pieces between a double layer of paper towels and press down with your hand so the liquid in the tofu is absorbed by the towel. (I use a cotton flour sack clean dishtowel, so I don't waste all that paper towel.)  Cut tofu into lengthwise strips about 1 inch wide.  

Whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, peanut butter, honey, stock or water, and then add the Sriracha Sauce.  (I would start with a smaller amount of Sriracha, taste, and decide when it is hot enough.)  Cut the pieces of garlic.

Heat a heavy pan (I used a cast iron frying pan) over high heat for one minute.  Then add the olive oil and heat about 30 seconds more.  Add the sliced pieces of garlic and cook just until they are fragrant (about 30 seconds); then remove and discard.  Add tofu pieces, lower heat to medium high and cook, turning often, until the tofu is nicely browned on all sides, about 7-8 minutes. The website where I got this has a nice picture tutorial if you need that.

When all the tofu pieces are browned, add the sauce, turn heat to low, and cook just until the sauce thickens slightly and coats the tofu.  Remove from heat and eat!

So the cool thing is that BOTH of these were made in under 30 minutes and I managed to multitask them finished in about 45.  That is a definite YAY- plus left overs and I will freeze some of the beans in containers for school.  

This was a great way to end the day!  And definitely gave me some joy.  

Cherry and White chocolate scones

So it was a tough night for sleeping last night.  It is always a mystery why in the world this happens, but it does.  So attempt sleep in several locations, get in a solid 4 hours,  then go ahead and get up and make scones makes total sense, right??   When I woke up I didn't even know where I was, so I am not sure why I thought baking was a good idea.  I'm glad I didn't fall down the stairs in my stupor.  Sheesh.

The scone, taken with the iPhone camera with cheesy cute coffee mug full of Snowplow blend coffee.  

Well, one really should not attempt to bake when one is bleary.  Actually the results were really good, but there was one weird thing after another that I either did or discovered in the recipe, or thought I discovered in the recipe but in reality I just needed the caffeine to kick in.

First off, in my glee to find a CRANBERRY white chocolate scone,  I didn't manage to read the part that said dried cranberries. I have some frozen cranberries that I wanted to use- guess I will make the cranberry chutney! Anyway, I didn't notice that until I had the recipe partially put together.  FFS.  Fortunately, I did have dried cherries, which worked really well.

The recipe itself called for coating the formed mega-scone, which was placed on a sheet of parchment, with egg-white and sprinkle with sugar.  I read it as coat the parchment with egg-white.  Yeah.  Fortunately I had decided there was no way I was going to separate an egg to put it on the parchment.  For pity's sakes.  Then I reread it later and noticed they said to put it on the scone- you know to hold on the sugar.  ugh.  Oh well, didn't matter because I sprinkled that beast with turbinado sugar and it stayed in place, as I had moistened the top with water anyway.

The other thing that is a bit misleading is the fact that they say (in the original recipe) that this is lower calorie, but when one cuts ANYTHING into 12 pieces it is going to be lower calorie.  We all know that we are eating 2 of them.  That is a decent sized breakfast.  Let's be serious here people.  And you really don't care about the calories if you are having a scone.

You'd think this would be a disaster, but you would be wrong!  :) I did all sorts of thing differently, so I'll just write out my recipe, but the original link is above.

Disorganization at 6 am

Notice that the coffee creamer is close by and my coffee cup must be within reach somewhere!

Ah there is my coffee- onto the dry ingredients

So it is a simple mix the wet and dry ingredients in bowls separately and then cut in the butter with 2 knives.  That always cracks me up.  Who does that??  I have a pastry blender that I can use like nobody's business- I have strange conversations with myself at 6:15. I'm sure I need more coffee.
It was right after this I discovered the whole dried cranberries thing.....  eye roll.

I see I only cut it into 10  HAHAHA!! oh well

So mix the whole thing together and pat it out and sprinkle with turbinado sugar or like they said, a mix of sugar and brown sugar. (Dirty little secret- these were meant to not be overly sweet- YOUKNOWWHO thought they needed frosting and so I melted a few white chocolate chips and made cheaters frosting that I artfully drizzled.  Yeah there are no pictures of that.)  So it was really good- either way.  I didn't need the drizzles, but that didn't stop me from having a piece and then promptly getting a tummy ache from it.  Oh well.

Cherry White Chocolate Scones
Oven- 375
Use parchment on a baking sheet for scones or grease baking sheet

3/4 cup buttermilk (HA I actually bought it for this, at least I had that one odd ingredient on hand!!)
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flout
1/4 cup oatmeal
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

3 TBSP butter- softened
1/3 - 1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries or even raisins
1/2 c. white chocolate chips

turbinado sugar OR 1/4 cup white chocolate chips melted for later

Mix wet ingredients together in a big bowl.  Mix the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl. Cut the butter into the flour and for heavens sakes use a pastry cutter.  Mix the fruit and chips into the dry ingredients. Dump the flour stuff into the wet stuff and mix just until together.  Place on parchment on baking sheet, form into a disk.  Moisten hand with water and pat the scone so it gets damp and sprinkle on sugar.  OR just wait until the thing is done and frost with a little melted white chocolate mixed with a tsp or two of milk.
Cut dough into 12 pieces and bake for 22 - 25 minutes.  Don't separate the wedges, just bake it precut.

**NOTE- scones really taste best the same day that you make them.  So eat them or else put the extra in the freezer.  I mean, you can eat them the next day, but they are seriously best eaten about 1/2 hour out of the oven.

So onto a day full of cleaning and reorganizing.!

And that will eventually give me some joy!

Baked Cranberry French Toast

After all that cooking for our Christmas the weekend before actual Christmas, I really had no intention of doing too much for a while.  Enough already.  But as is my habit, I was checking out the blogs I follow on my feedly and there popped up a really good looking recipe for Baked Cranberry French Toast.

And since I had most of the ingredients, I decided to get the couple things I was missing- well the only thing- which were eggs, and make it for breakfast for the MA and I on Christmas morning.  

The original link is here-  http://www.kristendukephotography.com/almond-cranberry-french-toast-casserole/

I changed a lot of things.  First of all, I did NOT let this soak all night long as I totally spaced putting it together the night before.  Besides I know that for a strata like this, you really don't have to let it sit for more than a half hour or so. I also used halved cranberries. Next,  the recipe called for a cream cheese icing, but I thought that was totally unnecessary....  and I was right.  I also cut the recipe in half, except I used 4 eggs instead of 3.  So yeah, I really made it Debi friendly.  I added some walnuts later to mine as the DH doesn't like nuts.....  doesn't that figure!  :)

SO!

Baked Cranberry French Toast

This is the full recipe, I cut it all in half, except I used 4 eggs

1 loaf of french bread (consider using a grainy or fruit and nut rustic bread, also!)

6 eggs

3 cups of milk or almond milk

2/3 cup of sugar

1 T cinnamon

1 cup of cranberries- halved

1/2 cup brown sugar

walnuts or almonds (optional)

Whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar and cinnamon.  Tear up bread and place in a buttered13 x 9 pan.  Toss the cranberries with the bread. Pour egg mixture over top and sprinkle brown sugar over breakfast.  Let sit for at least 30 minutes.  Top with chopped nuts if desired.  

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the egg looks set.

Top with real maple syrup if desired.  But it is not necessary!  SO yummy.  What a nice Christmas breakfast!

**This was so easy to do, would be nice with many sorts of fruit instead of the cranberries.  But the tart cranberries were good!  

**I used 3 french bread rolls as there was no french bread to be found.

Merry Merry Christmas!

To all of my favorite people in the world! 

Have a lovely, joyful day!!

Cleaning out and and going back...

So I had a bit of a "Christmas Vacation"moment today.  I went upstairs to do some cleaning, some long long needed weeding out of things that are no longer needed.  And part of the cleaning involved boxes in the upstairs closet.

Of course, I did not have on the turban! 

Because Ella was here this past weekend, I was thinking about the toys that used to litter the floor in years gone by and started looking for them. I found some over the weekend, but today I found more.  And along with the clothes and the stuffed animals came a whole lot of memories.

I know that a lot of them were stirred by Christmas and Ella and the potential little ones that are and will be coming.  The laughs, the smiles, the exasperation and irritation all comes as part of the job of being a parent.  And it all becomes part of your story, your family tale.

So I washed up some blankets and other things that my mom and my Grandma made and cleaned up some toys that have been in storage for many years and I will be ready for lil visitors and be able to give things for little ones to be!

I guess if I already had my allotted amount of family time for the season already, I will choose to indulge in some family time from the past.  Each thing that I saw today, discovered while Ella Bella was here, each item that was cleaned up from lack of use, made me think of those boys.  That baby fine hair, those little hands and feet-- the squealing voices, the toothless grins.  Everything has a memory attached and those memories flowed today.

I did not keep a lot, but it was just enough.  To make a joy giver happy when her babies have grown up and moved away.  It was enough for today.

Don't let anyone steal your joy- life is too short

Smile, Relax, Enjoy, Cherish, Remember

And this is why it's stuck in my head

Lol so I finally turn on the Christmas music and this was just starting!  

Baby it's cold, ah but it's cold,  outside!!!