Learn from my mistake

Don't try to freeze bean soup, in jars.

It makes a bean bomb.

bean bomb
n.
1. An explosive weapon of great destructive power derived from the rapid release of energy in the sudden expansion of small pebble like frozen beans.
2. A bomb deriving its destructive power from the release of gaseous energy.
Also called stink bomb, forced window bomb, run and barf explosion. Often seen in public places like a library or grocery store.

Camp Treats: Gluten Free Style

My bestest girlfriend ever felt bad since I had to forego smores and made this hobo pie. Let me tell you, this was out of this worl wonderful.
Just spread bread with peanut butter, add some squares of dark chocolate and put it in a pie iron. Since Tara made it for me I was able to avoid being burned. Actuall, I somehow avoided that for the entire trip.
Anyhow, after it came out, she spread it with cream cheese icing. As if it weren't already decadent enough.

I want another one. Right now.

How to make a million meals out of one canceled Sunday School Fellowship

Step 1: Boldy declare to your Sunday School that in an effort to learn hospitality (a much needed skill on the mission field of Ecuador), you will now have a standing invitation for Sunday meal.
Step 2: Freak out. What will you fix? How will you keep it ready? You will be at church all Sunday, not at home able to spend all day cooking.
Step 3: Make a plan. First meal will be taco salad.
Step 4: Prepare enough taco meat, and all the taco salad fixings to feed a small army of college and career age young people. (Don't forget those young men can eat their weight in chips)

I had it under control. I was patting myself on the back. "Good job, Becka. This is not so hard." Everything was done and it was time to leave for church.

And we had to take an alternate route out of our neighborhood. The road was emerged in water.

Step 5: Turn on the radio and realize that Ike made it's way through your town and you slept through the whole thing. Feel rather sorry for the people in U-city who were not sleeping through anything, but, were, in fact, being rescued from their neighborhoods by BOAT.

Step 6: Worry about your friends on the West side of the Mississippi who do not have power. Are they having to leave their homes by boats too? Begin to worry about you own home when your friends calls to let you know about water coming into her basement. After all, there is a CREEK running through your backyard.

Step 6: Cancel fellowship, in anticipation of spending the afternoon hauling water out of your basement.

Step 6: After realizing that Ike pretty much left you alone, look in your fridge and wonder what you will ever do with all that food.

(Hahahahahaha- I just realized I had THREE step 6's) (I TOLD you I was bad with numbers- and I have decided to leave it, because the fact that their are THREE 6's has me cracking up)

Anyhow, we have made use of all the leftover.
Meal number 1:
Taco Salad (of course)

Meal number 2: Taco Pie
Layer the following ingredients and cook at 35o until hot and cheese is melted.
Strip of corn tortillas
taco meat
salsa
cheese sauce
tomatoes
onions
REPEAT and top with cheddar cheese

Meal number 3: Nachos (you know how to make these, right?)

Meal number 4: Taco Soup
Put all ingredients in a soup pot and heat until hot:
Taco meat
Onions
Canned of diced tomatoes
Can of chili beans
Top with shredded cheese and sour cream. Eat with corn chips- which make a nice substitute for crackers when you can't have wheat.

Cookies and Chex Mix

Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies (Bob's red Mill)



INGREDIENTS:


1-1/2 cups Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
3 cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats
1 cup Butter (softened)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 large Eggs*
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 cup Raisins (Unsulfured)

Preheat oven to 350�F. Beat butter and sugars together until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs; beat well. In a separate bowl, blend flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and Xanthan Gum. Stir flour blend into wet ingredients. Add oats and raisins and mix well. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 � 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool one minutes then transfer to wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Eggless Option: Mix together 2 Tb. Flaxseed Meal with 6 Tb. of water and let sit for a minute. Add to recipe as you would the eggs.

But, I used chocolate chips instead of raisins. Dustan abhors raisins. And I was feeling kindly towards him, so I added chocolate chips instead. These turned out wonderfully and I was glad I made two recipes worth, as I had plenty to put in the freezer. If you make these, watch them CAREFULLY. I burned a TON of them. And I ate them anyway, because the burned ones have no calories. It's a fact.


Chex Mix, as made by Weston Hilarious King (no, his middle name is not hilarious- but it should have been.

9 cups of rice chex (gluten free)
a handful or three of walnuts
the rest of the bag of raisins (I wasn't feeling kindly towards Dustan)
Most of the rest of the bag of pecans
1 1/2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar

Mix chex, nuts, and fruits into a large bowl. Melt the brown sugar and butter, bring to a boil for three minutes (or until you get sick of standing there) and pour over chex mix. Pile onto a baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for however long you want to. I cooked mine about 10 minutes, but I should have stirred halfway through. The bottom pieces were overdone, which worked out well, because I ate all the burnt ones, and since they are calorie free, I actually weigh LESS today.

Anyhow, take them out, let them cool (this takes forever) and then, if you feel very extra super loving to your kids, add some chocolate chips. I did not feel extra super loving towards my kids, and so, I waited until they had theirs, and had gone to bed before adding chocolate chips. I was feeling evilish.

Oh so random.

I have a jumbledness of thoughts today. Let me vomit them out at you.

We have a new housemate. My cousin Lindsey has moved in after my oh so very successful attempt at matchmaking was oh so very successful. Since she lived two states away from the oh so successful match, she has moved into the toasty toes mansion. It smells in our house, very much like a young lady in love. Which, in case you didn't know, smells like room fragrance and perfume. Add in some hairspray and you have the smell of love. Or, maybe that is just the general smell of teenage/young adulthood.

I have rediscovered the joy of peanut butter balls. The food rage of 1980 government issue food has now arrived at my house. Equal amounts of peanut butter, powdered milk, and honey. Yummy. I was going to take a picture, but my kids ate them all, and besides that, I was feeling to lazy to find my camera.

I have two good friends who are grieving loved ones. Tara lost her doggy, Stan, yesterday to what was most likely a brain tumor. It was heartbreaking.

And my friend Becki, who coordinates the TeenMops group has lost her daughter. Kari was young. My age. With two young boys. It is a sobering thought and my heart aches for Becki, as well as those two little boys. I would ask the question, "Why"? But the answer seems to futile, so I don;t even bother asking.

Esther wants to know when our Heidi dog will die. Weston wants to know if we can wave a magic wand over Stan and make him come back alive. All of them are now worried that I will up and die at any moment.

Homeschooling has resumed, and is no fun at all for anyone at all. I already want to quit. Marcus already has quit. He is a third grade drop-out. I keep reminding myself how many times I was a third grade drop-out myself. And how many times my own mother wanted to quit teaching me. And yet, here I am, with a great education (bad spelling and penchant for sentence fragments not withstanding...) and there my mother is, sitting in Ohio, looking at her vegetable garden and sipping hot tea.
I bet she does not miss the yelling, the constant search for the ever-lost pencils, or the chewed up erasers. I bet she is relived that she will never have to argue the value of multiplication tables or clear steady handwriting again.
Which is reassuring. I am only going to be a teacher for so long. One day I will have my own garden to sit in. one day I will never again have to hear two hours of whining about what would amount to thirty seconds of work.

And when I think of Becki, whose daughter has just gone to be the Lord. i feel guilty for wanting to speed along time. I think about all these random moments of peanut butter balls, new housemates, screaming and crying and ripping out of hair over the requirement of writing two sentences...and I decide to relish them.

At least for right now. At least for as long as I write this post.

Blackberry Communication

We set off to pick peaches. I try to freeze enough every summer to last us all winter. It never works.
So this year I started early.
"Sure" they said. "Peaches are perfect right now."
So, I pushed my luck with blackberries.
"Well, ummm" they murmered. "You can pick if'n you want, but they ain't quite ready yet."

They obviously didn't have a clue. It was far too early for the peaches. They were massive in size, but hard as rocks. Anything that was ripe had been picked by people who had arrived with the first glint of the sun.
We barely picked enough to make it through the day.

But the blackberries! Oh my! They were black as tar and literally bursting with sweet/tart juiciness. There was no one else picking and so the kids and I had the run of the vines. We ate blackberries until our teeth were full of seeds. I think the whites of my eyes took on a purple glaze.

I don't freeze the blackberries. We enjoy blackberry jam FAR too much. So we came home and spent the morning canning.
Like my arrangement of jars? I was out of canning jars and made do with what I had. Since it was freezer jam, I could do this. They don't look pretty on the outside, but I am pretty sure no one is going to care.

How to make dinner from nothing: and a side of whine

Actually, I went to the store, but didn't plan out tonight's dinner before I went so I was left scrambling last minute to figure out what to feed the family. What I actually wanted to feed them was dogfood. Why?
a. It a kazillion billion degrees hot in St Louis and I didn't want to cook
b. It's not like they would actually APPRECIATE whatever I decided to make.
c. I am grumpy. see points A and B.

Some kind woman gave me a link to THIS WONDERFUL LIFE SAVING SITE and I was able to type in everything I had on hand, and it pulled up recipes for me.

Here is what I landed on. I would have gotten a picture but:
a. It was too hot to hang a camera strap around my neck
b. It was eaten far to quickly to even locate my camera
c. blog readers should not be so picky about pictures, and learn to use their imaginations. Imagine this: Shredded chicken, can of corn, ranch dressing, and cheese. Rolled up in a corn tortilla. Oh, I added to the recipe. It seemed a bit plain.

The dog ate one. He loved it. The kids ate three. Without complaining. Until after dinner. After dinner the griping ensued.
"I want to play wii"
"Can I have ice cream?"
"Why can't I have icecream?"
"You are the meanest ever mommy in the widest whole world."
"Why do the adults get to be in charge and make all the decisions?"
"Can I have a piece of bubblegum?"
"WHY can't I have a piece of bubblegum?"
"Why do YOU get a piece of bubblegum?"
"Marcus hit me!"
"Esther hit me"
"Weston hit me."
"Mommy, why do you look like you want to hit me."
"Esther is picking her nose. It's gross. make her stop."
"It's so boring. SOOOOOOO boring. There is NOTHING to do. Life is the most boring thing in the world ever."
"Can't I pleeeeaaaassseeee have icecream?"


Auuuuuuuggggghhhhhh.

I have yet to duct tape the kids to a wall, with a sock in their mouths. Though, I have threatened it. Bedtime will be here in a mere 60 minutes. And I am going to play wii. While eating and icecream. And chewing bubblegum.

BLT...gluten free style.

Sometimes you just need a BLT.
Really.
Sonic sells BLT's.
With bread.
That I can't have.
Phooey on Sonic. Who needs bread? Not me. I kept wanting to add things. Like olives and cheese. But I kept it simple. Lettuce, Tomatoes, and a TON of bacon. Who doesn't love a TON of bacon? Oh, and Ranch dressing.

Whoopee! Aieyieaie!

There were yells of joy at the Toasty-Toes Mansion today. Crackers. Crackers brought us the gift of exuberant joy! We are wheat free here and are really missing crackers. and bread. and cookies. and tortillas. But today! today we ate crackers. And, they are good by anyone's standards- not just those freaky gluten free freaky weirdos.
I need to thank my aunt Denise (who is my hero by the way- I always say I want to be her when I grow up). Anyhow, she sent me an email about a dinner menu site. Saving Dinner. This reminded me of another menu service that I had read about and was wanting to try. KITCHEN MUSE. I read about them over at my friend Val's. (aren't I crazy link happy today???)
Anyhow, I chose Kitchen Muse over Saving dinner, simply because they use whole foods and everything can be modified to be gluten free. And from this, I gained the best recipe for GF crackers EVER!!!!
Oh, and also, a nice Finnish Summer soup recipe.

These two recipes were freebies on the site, but my menu for next week came in and I am uber excited to try it out. everything looks delicious.


Finnish Summer Soup
Ingredients Directions
2 c chicken stock (or water)
6 small potatoes, peeled and halved
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter
6 green onions, cut into 3-inch lengths
½ # carrots
½ # young fresh green beans, cut into 1-
inch lengths
2 cups peas, fresh shelled (or frozen)
1 c cream
1 c milk
3 T unbleached flour or brown rice flour
Sea salt to taste
Heat water to boiling in a wide 5-quart pan;
add potatoes.
Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add salt, pepper, butter, onions, carrots, and
green beans; simmer for 8 more minutes.
Add peas and cook for another 2 minutes or
until vegetables are crisp-tender.
In a small bowl, stir together milk, cream and
flour until smooth; stir into simmering
vegetables.
Cook, stirring until soup slightly thickened
(about 5 minutes)
Serve with cream cheese on rye and oat
cracker (see recipe)
Dairy free: replace milk and cream with a nut
milk.
This traditional Finnish vegetable
soup is known as "summer soup"
because it is made with the first
new vegetables of summer and
traditionally always contained milk
or cream along with stock.

Finnish Oat and Rye Crackers
Ingredients Directions
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups rye flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 cup milk
! T yogurt
3/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
1 tablespoon rapadura
Mix oats with rye flour, milk and yogurt. Cover
and leave in a warm spot overnight. Add the rest
of the ingredients and a little mor emilk if dough
is to stiff. Roll thin.
Bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for about
10 minutes- watching carefully.
Once cooled, break into pieces for serving.
Gluten free: Use 2 cup certified gluten free
oats and 2 cups gluten free flour blend with 2 t
xantham gum.


These recipes belong to the Kitchen Muse and were copied from her free recipe list. The cost of one month's menus is just 9.00. So far, just for the cracker recipe, it has been worth every red penny. Oh, and you can thank her for an accurate and detailed recipe. No vagueness for her. Which is why she gets paid.

Crazy is contagious

We have a really great chiropractor. But he is crazy. Seriously. We call him Dr. Quack behind his back. However, I take what he says very seriously (after I make fun of it). So, when my regular physician (who is brain deaf) refused to help me with some health problems, I took my issues up with Dr. Quack. Dr. Quack says he knows just what to do (after 200.00 and a slew of bloodwork).

Something something (I forget what it is called), is out of whack. And, according to the crazy man, we can knock it back into whack by drinking green tea with honey and lemon for two days. ONLY tea with honey and lemon. Nothing else.

So. I am on this crazy fast, suggested by a crazy doctor. Which infers that I too am crazy.

But, hopefully my something something (whatever it is called) will get back to normal and my health will return.

Meanwhile, I am a big cranky (and crazy) mess.

It's a Rainy kind of day here

And we all felt like a treat. So I made pancakes.With homemade berry syrup. Don't worry, I will give you one of my famous recipes at the end.
I made myself a giant pancake that was really more berry than pancake. I did this because I jumped back on my weightwatcher bandwagon. I almost quit last week. I had a big old pity party, convinced myself I was probably back up to my original weight, and yelled at mysef in the mirror. "You are a big fat failure!" I yelled. "You can't do a single thing right. You can;t see a single thing all the way to the finish. Failure...failure...failure..." It echoed wherever I went. I saw my reflection in the door of the microwave. "failure...failure..."

Only, I am not a failure. I can look all around me and see things that I have not failed at. So, I went back to my meeting today. My face was red and I was ashamed because I just knew I had lost all the hard work that I had done. My leader gave me a hug. She told me I was a winner just for showing up. And I knew she spoke the truth. It is far easier to quit in the sight of failure then it is to just push through. And, boy am I ever thankful that I pushed through. I had not by any means gained all my weight back. Not even close. My mind was lying to me. I actually lost 1.5 pounds. Lesson to self: Your grades don't come in until you die. Keep trying. keep working. And do NOT ever ever ever listen to the reflection in the mirror. She is a liar.


By the way, we have gone gluten free here, which means a shift in my recipes. Gluten free families will be thrilled. Everyone else will have to bank on my meat and veggie recipes.


Very Berry Syrup (Becka's Famous Vague Recipe)
Half a bag of frozen mixed berries (from aldi's)
Some sugar. (My guess is 3 TBS- though I admit, 1/2 a cup would have been far better)
Splash of lemon juice
Some water to thin

Heat on the stove. On low. For a long time. When it looks good, pour it on your pancakes.

Marcus loved the berry syrup. He said it was the best ever. I need to replace the reflection in the mirror with him.

PS, the pancakes we Pamela's brand. I have done Gluten Free before and eventually I got brave enough to try the million and one different flours, but for a while, I plan to just use the pre-made mixes. Besides- Pamela knows how to make yummy pancake mix.

For the love of Green

And we all know how much I love green. You can;t see it, but I am wearing a green shirt in this picture, and wiping the stove with a green dishtowel. I am greeninsane.Broccoli soup. Green yumminess. Hold for my usual vague recipe.
Does my bowl make you jealous? It's green. Cause, I love green. Dustan bought it for me at a small artist boutique in the AMANA COLONIES. It's itty small, perfect potion sized. I admit though...I had two bowls


Cream of broccoli soup
Melt some butter in a saucepan. Add onions.
Add some flour. Enough to make a dough ball. Cook this thoroughly but do not BURN.
Eat some of it.
Eat some more. Cause Roux is yummylicious.
OKay. Stop eating it now, because it will make you fat and you need it for the soup.
Add some finely chooped broccoli (I used raw, next time, I will steam it first because it took forever to get soft.)
Add milk. I wish I could tell you how much...but if I did, it wouldn't be a Beckified recipe. Add in small increments and just keep adding until it is the thickness you desire.
Cook.
Taste.
Add salt. It needs salt.

And then, add some grated chedder cheese to the top, and eat away.
Get seconds. Because it if wonderful good, and it has green veggies in it which will make you healthy. (ignore all the cream and butter you used)

It makes lovely leftover too.
Oh, and a warning against trying to feed this to children. Children do not have the same obsession for the color green that I do. They won't appreciate green soup. Unless they are aliens. In which case, I will trade my green veggie hating kids for you alien child.
For those who need a proper recipe...here is one that I found that was awfully close to mine:
Cream-of_Broccoli-Soup

Pizza love

Happy Valentine's day.
Again.


And I learned another thing "I was not thinking". Knotted Overalls? Not so good when Spunky Girl waits till the last minute to go pee.

What will we eat?

Dinner has been a bit of a struggle here at toasty-toes mansion. We have a rental house that is on its third month of being empty. It has become a great crimp in our pocket and I have to make do with what we have. At least until Saturday. On Saturday, I will get a bit of relief when our Angel Foood Box comes in. But until Saturday, I have to be creative. I found a couple of cans of salmon, but unfortunately, I had trouble finding any recipes that would accomodate my bare cupboards. So, like any good starving (we aren't really starving) person would do, I made one up. Dustan declared it was a winner! yay! I do need to make some changes, but I think my bare cupboard salmon cake recipe is a keeper.
I was at a loss for sides. I needed to use a bag of tuna and decided to mess around with a recipe that I had found for creamed spinach. It was not a success. Don't get me wrong. It was yummylicious. I mean REALLY YUMMY. But it was not a side. More like a spinach dip. and so, we pulled out the only bag of chips we had. Target brand Hot and Spicey, which doesn't really go with spinach dip(eating it with a spoon was far better), but when you are starving (we aren't really starving), you make do with what you have.

Life is a bit pinched here at our mansion. But, it's good. We have our home when so many others have lost theirs. In fact, we have two of them. Want one?
We are blessed, and I aknowledge that.

Bare Cupboard Salmon Cakes:
Mix the following ingredients in a bowl
2 cans of Salmon
1/2 cup of cornmeal (NOT OATMEAL LIKE I ORIGINALLY SAID)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup mozzerella cheese
2 or 3 TBS Dijon (I didn't actually measure)
1/2 cup egg substitute

Form into eight patties.

Now here is where I need some fiddling. I baked at 350 but it was taking to long so I switched to using a convection oven. I like my salmon cakes crispy on the outiside and moist on the inside. But this ended up a little too much of both. Next time I will add some extra cornmeal and pan fry then end with a quick broil.

These were great as is though. Dustan said they were far superior to any that he has had before. Also, if my cupboard had not been so bare, I would have made a sauce with plain yogurt and some chipolte. I also would have served it with a salad.

Hospitality is not a gift I have

Everytime we have people over, I panic. I always forget the little things, like asking if they want a drink, or cleaning the toilet. One time I walked into the guest bathroom after our visiters had left and found a giant green booger on the mirror. I doubt it was left there by our guest. I just stink at thinking of things...like looking at the mirror (which I have never actually forgotten again).
Anyhow, this year I set out to learn to be hospitable. I wanted to learn the art of hostessing, and I use my mother in law as my prime example. THAT woman has a gift. It's rather supernatural in my opinion. She knows how to decorate, how to cook for large crowds, and how to make sure that every single person feels inportant. I have a long way to go, but I have learned a lot from her.
One thing I have learned is to have a party routine. Pam cooks the same meal every Christmas, and puts out the same party platters for every party. She knows exactly what to do because she has done it so many times before. So. When I volunteered to host our Sunday School get together, I went to my party standby.
Make-Your-Own-Pizza-Party. It works well. I make the crust and let it rise while everyone visits, then I just fill bowls with a variety of toppings and call everyone into the kitchen to make-their-own. This is the third time I have done this, and it was a relief to have everything already practiced out before hand. It was easier to remember everything.



I still have some perfecting to do though. I forgot to push start on my oven and the pizzas sat in a cold oven for about thirty minutes when I finally wondered what was taking them so long to cook. One step at a time. Right?
That's our Sunday School teacher. Nick. Yep, he's young. But is mature in the Lord. And he's looking for a wife. And I like to play matchmaker. And I think it's probably a good thing he doesn't know I have a blog.

Crockpotting my day away

I woke up today, inspired by a blog I found several weeks ago. 365 day of Crockpotting! What a treasure. This crazy woman has vowed to use her crockpot every day for a year. her craziness, my gain. She also cooks with gluten free recipes and since we will be back on a gluten free diet in just a few weeks, I was THRILLED. Anyhow, she used her crockpot for making chicken stock and I decided to try it.
(With a few changes) What I lovd about her recipe was that she blended up all those yummy and wholesome veggies into the stock. I loved this because now I can pretend to be healthy! Yay!

I have two crocks agoing because I had enough chicken parts (Thanks to Angel Food ministry) to fill up both. The were fully cooked at about noonish and I deboned them. I hate- I mean I absolutely abhor deboning chicken. Yuck. It's a disgusting job, but I did it with gusto. I reserved some broth for tonights dinner, which is very loosly based on an internet recipe, but I changed it so much, I will just make it my own and take credit for it. Then i addes veggies, and mushroom stems (which crockpot lady didn't add, but hey, I needed the caps for my dinner, might as well toss those stems into the stock crock). anyhow, now I have a crock of stock and one of veggie rice chicken lickin soup. I just made up that name. I'm clever, ain't I? the lickin part makes it mine.

Veggie Rice Chickin Lickin Soup (Please don't sure me KFC)
chicken pieces (umm, if you have read my blog, you know I don't much deal with measurements)
Chicken broth (preferably the stock you cooked your unknown amount of chicken pieces in)
Water (to thin out that highly concentrated broth
A box of shrooms
Green onions (a handful)
Sage (everything that was left in my little jar...my guess was 2.5 pinches)
Italian seasoning (A sprinkle...maybe 5)
Half an onion (doesn't count as a measurement since you have no clue what size my onion was....but it was large)
celery (a bunch- chopped beyond recognition since my family hates the stuff)
carrots (LOTS!)
rice (1 Cup- YAY, a real measurement...but i warn you to cut it in half. It soaked up ALL my yummy broth)

Cook it for as many hours as it takes to get done (I love how my recipes take on a life of their own) and then eat it up, with some frozen rolls if you want to. you will need some frozen rolls (but cook them first) because as soon as your kids see all those veggies, they will freak, puke, and then demand to eat only rolls.

Good Morning Monday!!!

Fall is here and the skies have become gray. My Monday morning pep has gone the way of the Canadian geese. South.

It happenes every year. Fall is my favorite season but I can hardly enjoy it due the the foreshawdowing of winter. winter is cold, gloomy, and lonely. And every year I fret that my trees will not burst forth in new foliage come spring. By the time winter gets here I am tired of gloominess and seek out medicinal help. It happpens every winter. You would think my doctor would see a pattern and diagnose me with seasonal depression. or whatever it's called.

But, because I have a goal to declutter my life, and because gloominess has no room (I filled it up with smiles, and laughter, and soft-voices remember?), I am going to be proactive. I have heard that there are special lightbulbs that can help with SAD (seasonal affective disorder- I just looked it up) and I plan to buy some. It can't hurt. I also plan to do some research and see if there are some herbal remedies that may help.

Do any of my readers suffer from SAD? Have you heard of it? Do you know of any non-medicinal remedies? Let me know.

no picture today because blogger is broken. How depressing. I think I will go back to bed...

Yummy

I think my children have taken over my blog lately, and I thought maybe I should post a recipe to even out my homemaking journal. This is another "diet" meal. Let me tell you, this new way of eating feels a bit like luxery. I have really enjoyed trying new foods and this was no exception. Although, it's not quite new anymore...we have had it twice now. Yummy both times.

Apple-crusted pork with sweet potatoes (core)
2 servings cooking spray
1 lb lean boneless pork chops or pork tenderloin
1/8 tsp salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
2 medium apples, MacIntosh, cored and diced
1 c unsweetened applesauce
1 TBS red wine vinegar
___________________________2 tsp Dijon mustard
___________________________1.5 tsp ground cumin

Preheat oven to 400*. Coat a shallow roasting pan with cooking spray.

Season pork all over with salt and black pepper. Place pork in prepared pan and place sweet potatoes and apples alongside. Spray apples and sweet potatoes with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine applesauce, vinegar, mustard, and cumin. Pour over pork.

Roast pork until cooked through and sweet potatoes are fork-tender, about 40 minutes. Let pork stand 10 minutes before slidcing crosswise into thin slices. Serve pork with apples and sweet potatoes on the side. Yields about 3 oz. of pork and one cup of vegetable-fruit mixture.

Good Morning Monday!

Let's Simplify our lives shall we?

These Monday Morning posts come to you from an effort to make my life less cluttered. Read this post to understand better.

Todays tip is:
Slow down your morning. Take at least the first hour of your morning and press the sllllloooooowwwww button on your life's remote. There is no need to zip through your morning routine as if your life will pass you by unless you hurry hurry hurry. actually, I have found it to be the opposite. Life passes you by while you hurry and scurry doing things that don't really count as living. However, if you slow things down a bit (ok- a lot) you will find that you have time to do a lot of living in those simple mundane moments.

Choose something you love for that first hour of the morning. If you have a task that MUST be done, find a way to enjoy doing it. Do it slowly with reverence and calm for the gift of a new day that God has given you.
*Make your bed and take a deep breath. Sigh with pleasure about crawling into a nice soft bed after a long day.
*Take your dog outside and don't hurry him. Even if it's raining. Take time to enjoy the rain. Take a deep breath.
* SIT DOWN with a cup of coffee and your favorite magazine. Take a deep breath.

I want to also say that in this age of rushing, rushing, and more rushing our children are likely feeling as frazzled as we are. Let them slow down too. I payed close attention to my mornings for a week, and I noticed that when my children sat down to curl up on the couch, went outside on our deck to snuggle with Heidi, or laid down on the floor for a good old fashioned stretch, I was quick to give them a barrage of to-do questions.
Did you make you bed?
Have you gone to the bathroom?
Did flush the toilet, wash your hands?
Marcus, take this washcloth and wipe down the bathroom sinks.
Weston, bring down your laundry baskets so I can do the laundry.
Esther, go straighten up the shoes in the foyer.
all of you, get over here and eat your breakfast.
Are you done with that?
I need to wash these dishes. Hurry up.
Lets' get our school work started. Sit down. get your glasses on. Go get your math book.

And on and on and on.

No wonder it felt like our lives were cluttered

Our new mornings are clear from all this garbage for at least one hour. We have things we have to get done. Breakfast has to be eaten, the dog has to be taken out. But we slow it down, and we enjoy each other while we do those things. Anything that can wait until hour two, waits until hour two.

For those of you who have to leave the house in the morning- you will probably need to wake up and hour early for this to work. I homeschool and can allow ourselves an extra hour in the morning. However, I have found myself getting up earlier in order to extend the morning calm. Now I usually have at least half an hour of time to myself before the kids wake up. I slllloooowwwwwly make myself a cup of coffee and stand on my deck watching all the suburban wildlife scamper through my yard.

This slow time always feels a bit like camping. Which hapens to have been the point.

And because it's Monday: Here's my weekly menu

Fennel-Crusted Pork Loin with roasted potatoes and pears
Roasted pacific cod with olives and lemons
Spanish chicken and rice
Easy Shepherd's Pie
Chicken Picada
Tamale Pie
Autumn veggie Minestrone (Crockpot meal)
2 14.5 oz cans vegetable broth
1 18 oz can crushed tomatoes's undrained
3 medium carrots -- chopped (1 ½ cups)
3 small zucchini -- cut into 1/2" slices
1 medium yellow bell pepper -- cut into 1/2" pieces
8 medium green onions -- sliced (1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic -- finely chopped
2 cups shredded cabbage
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup uncooked instant rice
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Mix all ingredients except rice and basil in a 3 ½ to 6 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat setting for 6 to 8 hours or until vegetables are tender. Stir in rice. Cover and cook on low heat setting for about 15 minutes or until rice is tender.

Per serving: WW Points: 1; 195 Calories (kcal); 2g Total Fat; 7g Protein; 39g Carbohydrate; 1mg Cholesterol; 1198mg Sodium

Update on a Heidi...and some lunch while we're at it.

Heidi is doing well. The vet said she has dislocated her knee bone and that, though she is in pain, she will survive. She is on some meds that will hopefully take away some of the pain and let her heal up. Unfortunately, this is probably a chronic problem and we may be facing some surgery down the road a bit. But, I am no longer worried. My Heidi girl is gonna be okay!



Also, since I made myself a yummy veggie pizza, I thought I would share the great news that I am down almost 15 pounds. Eating all this delicious food is paying off. Here's my pizza in all its overdone glory. I like it good and crisy so I cook it to death. I just piled some sauce and a load of veggies onto a flatbread. Then I added soy mozzerella and seasoning. it was yummylicious and took care of my pizza craving in a big way.