Monday, December 28, 2015

Salmon Rösti



So, not long ago I was approached by a scout from a major food network, looking for undiscovered culinary talent.  I was asked to show my mettle by presenting an appealing recipe that makes use of only common ingredients found in the average household pantry...

I am sooooo lying!  What really happened was, I forgot to plan dinner (again,) and I was scrambling around at 5:00 trying to find anything whatsoever to cook.  Not so much as a thawed hamburger in the fridge.  Pasta?  No, we don't eat that any more.  Omelets?  We had that for breakfast.  Chinese takeout was starting to look like a dangerously good option, when suddenly I stumbled across a couple cans of wild Alaskan salmon.

Dinner is saved!

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

12 Days of Christmas



It's December, and the countdown to Christmas has begun!  (Hooray!)  

Head over to Crafty Allie every day to see what 12 crafty bloggers are sharing for Christmas.  

You might even run into someone you know there... (hint hint!)

It's time to get our Christmas on!


Friday, November 20, 2015

Scotch Eggs

'
I don't know about you, but the last thing I want to think about on the morning of a big holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas is what I'm going to make everyone for breakfast.  In fact, when I'm elbows-deep in giblets and potato peels, I'd prefer that the rest of my household just fend for themselves.  How do they feel about that?  Excited, actually, when they find out one of their favorite treats is waiting in the fridge...




Wednesday, November 18, 2015

My Granny's Chair


No matter where I live, how old I get, how rich or poor, sick or healthy, no matter how happy or tragic the events of my life may be, at the core of my being I know this:  I have been loved.  Deeply and unconditionally loved by two people in my life, and those people were my grannies.


Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Candy Fixes Everything

Marriage can be tricky in the best of circumstances.  Two people from different families, possibly even different countries, regions, genders, races, socio-economic status and political leanings start living under the same roof and attempt to merge their individual existences into a shared life.

For example, my husband and I couldn't be more different.  One of us is rather liberal, and the other leans towards the conservative.  One of us is the child of a successful business owner, and the other is the child of a tough-guy union ironworker.  One of us is a Star Trek-loving super nerd, and the other has developed a keen interest in biker tattoos.  One of us is a cat lover, and the other has never lived without a dog.  One of us rolls the toilet paper over... well, you get the idea.  But love conquers all, right?  Well.....

One of us graduated from the University of Michigan, and the other attended THE Ohio State University.  Whaaaaat?  A Buckeye.  Married to a Wolverine.  How do we resolve that?


Well, recently my husband took me on a lovely weekend trip to Ann Arbor to help me to better appreciate his alma mater, so different from where I went to school.  I thought the university was really lovely.  We had a very nice time there.



And then for my counterpoint, I made him these:


Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Are You Giving Your Children Enough?



We love our children, and we give them so much.  It is only natural to want our kids to have everything they need, everything that will help them grow to be good people, and even some things simply to make them happy.  But do we really give them enough?

Handmade Silvered Glass Ornaments


Behold a beautiful glass ornament with delicate, marbled threads of silver.  Is it a precious and costly adornment that can be found only in the finest stores?  Or...

Friday, November 6, 2015

Potato Smashers


Tired of the same old baked, boiled and mashed potatoes?  Why not try some smashed potatoes?  Grab 6 or 8 medium-sized Yukon Gold potatoes and give this a try.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Chicken So Good So Easy


How good is this chicken?  Slap it on your grill, and just the aroma will make every dog in the neighborhood start to howl.  And some of their owners, too.

How easy is this chicken?  Let me show you.


Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Dare to DIY - The Look of Mercury Glass



My big DIY project of the past several weeks has been remodeling my embarrassingly out-of-date guest bathroom.  From the brass-accented fixtures to the honey oak cabinetry to the stained glass pendant lights that look like they belong hanging over a booth at Applebees...


Yowza.

I've put a lot of work into giving this room a bright, clean, contemporary look, but on that you'll have to take my word for the time being and look for the Big Reveal in a future post.

Today let's talk about small things...

Monday, October 12, 2015

This is No Ordinary Butternut Squash Soup


Not long ago I discovered a really great chicken recipe that I highly recommend you try.  The chicken is coated in a sauce made of mustard and maple syrup and then baked.  Even if you don't like mustard, you should try this because the cooking process transforms the sharp, yellow mustard sauce into something mellow and tangy and just a little bit sweet.

So, why am I talking about chicken?  What's that got to do with butternut squash soup?  You'll see.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

PORK (get in my) BELLY!


For months I have been wanting to try pork belly.  Seems like it's all the talk on the Food Network, but every store I went to had the same claim, "Oh, yeah.  Pork belly.  We get that sometimes, but we don't have any now."  I almost gave up.

But then COSTCO!

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Seeds of Change Organic Quinoa and Brown Rice with Garlic


Boy, do I love Costco!  One of my favorite things to buy there is the Seeds of Change organic quinoa and brown rice that comes in a microwavable pouch.  Healthy, delicious and ready in 90 seconds!

Lately I've given up processed foods, especially prepared side dishes that come in a box or a pouch.  (I explain why in this post.)  But this is a rare exception.

Check the label -- every ingredient is actual, recognizable food, except for a bit of soy emulsifier.  And though I try to avoid soy, I'm not going to flip out about the small amount in a product I enjoy in moderation.  Especially when it comes with quinoa and brown rice and garlic and onion and parsley.... yum!

(I am not in any way affiliated with this brand.  Nor was I compensated for this review.  I just think this stuff is good!)



I Buy My Green Beans at Target


These are the best-tasting green beans I have ever tried.  I get them at my local Target, and every time I go in there, I clean out their entire supply.

They make a quick, healthy side dish -- just 5 minutes in the microwave, right in their own bag.

I also use them to make a really tasty cold salad that is the perfect dish for a party or a potluck.  People always ask me for the recipe.  You can get it if you click here.

Recently I tried the same brand's roasted sweet potatoes, and they were great, too!

(I am not in any way affiliated with this brand.  Nor was I compensated for this review.  I just love these green beans!)


a.k.a Too-many-tomatoes Salad



Thanks to my weekly CSA delivery service, I have enough tomatoes to feed an army.  But only if the army is really, really hungry.

Desperation Chicken


I know I'm not the only person who sometimes finds herself staring at the clock at 5 pm and wondering where a whole day went... and what in the world am I going to make for dinner?! Recently, on just such an occasion, I found myself with under an hour to cook something using the only two fresh ingredients I had available at the time: a package of boneless chicken thighs and a pint of organic cherry tomatoes from my weekly CSA produce delivery.  Naturally, I turned to my bff Pinterest....


Friday, July 3, 2015

One Day Linen Closet Overhaul


About 5 years ago we did a major remodel of our master bathroom.  In the process, we upgraded from a stingy little corner shower to the roomy, luxurious, big-enough-for-two shower that we still enjoy today.  (Hey, GrandDad and I may be old, but who said romance has an expiration date?  And that sound you now hear is our kids heading straight to therapy...)

To get some additional space we needed for the new bathroom, we stole over a foot of depth from what had been an extra clothes closet in the hallway.  Our house has no shortage of closet space in the bedrooms, so I was perfectly content to convert this shallow nook into a space for storing linens, etc.  And so we lived happily ever after.  The End.  Well.... not quite.

Monday, June 29, 2015

Faux Gravy


Some time ago I bragged all over the place about my homemade gravy.  Delicious, yes, but sometimes you don't want to go for the real thing.  Maybe you need something quick.  Maybe you're trying to cut back on fat and calories.  At times like that I fall back on a gravy-like sauce I make from vegetables.

I know!  That sounds super NOT THAT DELICIOUS!  But trust me.  It's good.


Thursday, June 25, 2015

Sometimes You Just Need a Win


There was something about today -- I don't know what hit me -- but suddenly this morning I knew that I just needed a win.  Didn't matter what kind; I just needed to feel in control of something.

Maybe it's because I've been trying to work myself out of a funk which I've written about

here:  Un Funk Yourself Part One 
and here:  Un Funk Yourself Part Two - Eat the Toad 
and again here:  Un Funk Yourself Part Three - Less is Best

Maybe it's because I've begun following Jen Jones'  i heart organizing blog. where she is currently doing a "Four Week Wait No More Organizing Challenge" by focusing her talents one week at a time on four areas of her life that desperately need organizational help.  (Just four?  Really?) 




Maybe it's because I looked around this morning and saw this:



and this:


and this:



Yep.  That was my kitchen only a few hours ago.  Oh, don't judge me.  My kitchen is where I spend a lot of my day.  Not just cooking (although I do a lot of that!) but concocting, crafting, cleaning (no, honestly!) and colliding with my family because they hang out there a lot, too.

I decided my win for the day was just going to be a massive countertop cleanup, which I kicked off by simply putting things away.  Why do I have a toaster on the counter, when we don't eat bread?  Why is there bread on the counter?!  What barn-raised dolt just up and left their dirty breakfast dishes literally three feet from the dishwasher?  (Oh, wait.  That was me.)

Actually, truthfully, honestly, I started by hauling every single item that wasn't affixed OUT.  Even the stuff I know I use all the time.  Even that massive microwave oven.  You can't be nice to clutter.  Or even civil.  I discovered that last year during my week-long purge-athon.  That was an adventure!  But I digress...


Once things were cleared away, I discovered I could actually reach the walls and the backsplash, so they got a good scrubbing down.



Drawers and cabinet spaces were supposed to be beyond the scope of my quick little project, but I couldn't help noticing the jammed up and overcrowded state of my sponge drawer.



And the chaos in an island drawer that was mostly filled -- it turned out -- with long-expired coupons.   But also a few actually-useful items that would be great to have handy.  Assuming one could ever find them.


To take care of the first problem, I simply found a nice, tall, decorative pot and relocated all the big, clunky scrubbers and brushes from the the sponge drawer, which now holds -- you guessed it! -- sponges.

Quick tip:  I keep my dishwashing liquid in a repurposed oil cruet.  It looks nice on the counter, and it dispenses the soap more slowly than squeezing it out of the original bottle, and that cuts down on waste.


As for the "coupon drawer," most of its contents are off to the recycling bin, but I restocked it with a selection of envelopes, stamps, address labels, notepads, a calculator and a roll of tape.


Finally I gave the windows a good washing, using a sheet of newspaper and 
my favorite homemade glass cleaning solution:  
     1 cup of water
     1 cup of isopropyl alcohol
     1 tablespoon of white vinegar

(I've sharpied the recipe right on my spray bottle so I don't forget.)



And now, just a few hours from when I started, my kitchen looks like
this:


and this:


and this:

 
and this:



I needed that.

Before you dismiss this as making a big deal out of a little cleanup, Nate Berkus was once asked for his best advice on how to transform a living space without spending a lot of money... his #1 tip was, "clean up."

And then there's FlyLady Marla Cilley who transformed, not just her living space, but her life.  The very first thing she did, and the first thing she advises her followers to do:  shine your sink.

So there.




Monday, June 22, 2015

Picnic, Potluck or Party Perfect





It's summertime!

Time for church picnics, weekend barbecue potlucks, lazy Sunday brunches, and nights when you just don't want to turn on your stove!  What we all need this time of year is a good recipe for a healthy and tasty dish you can   cook up fast,   take on the road,  and serve up without a care.
I've got just the thing:  a hearty, delicious and picnic-worthy salad.  

Garlic Herb Vinaigrette



I don't know why I bother making homemade salad dressing.  You can easily buy bottled salad dressing at any grocery store and probably some gas stations.  Sure, it's expensive.  And yes, a lot of dressings have terrible, unhealthy ingredients, but you can figure out which ones are healthy (ish) by reading all the nutrition labels.  And so what if everybody only wants Ranch all the time -- it's not my job to expand other people's palate preferences.

And making salad dressing at home is a complicated process of dumping 4 or 5 ingredients into a bowl and blending them......

Okay, I DO know why I make my own clean and healthy salad dressing at home.  If you've never tried it, a good place to start is with a simple (but delicious!) herb vinaigrette.  It's easy.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Un Funk Yourself Part Three - Less is Best





Abundance.  Variety.  Choice.  These sound like great things, right?  And scarcity, uniformity and limitation sound really bad.  But what makes you happier?  Hmmmm….

As I was reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, I came across an interesting description of a study where participants were given a large menu of food items and told to order snacks for several weeks.  Of course most people chose an interesting variety of items.  However, when they repeated the study, but had people choose snacks one week at a time, the participants usually just opted for their favorite thing over and over.   

An article in the London-based newspaper The Daily Telegraph claims that, while the average ten-year-old child owns more than 230 toys, he actually plays with only about 12 of them.  (And those are British kids.  One look at the playroom in my house tells me that American kids own about 4,827 toys.)  

On the Becoming Minimalist blog, Joshua Becker notes that the average American woman today owns 30 outfits (…and yet can never find anything to wear.  Am I right, ladies?)

By contrast, in an article in Harper's Bazaar, art director Matilda Kahl tells the story of the last time she arrived to work late, unprepared, and wearing an ill-chosen outfit (which, it turned out, she also had on inside-out!) because of the excessive time she spent fretting over various ensembles before choosing the one that she regretted anyway.  What made it truly the last time was her immediate decision to go out and buy 15 white silk shirts, a few pairs of black trousers and a black blazer, and to wear the same thing to work every day thereafter.

About the time I came across all these interesting facts and stories, I was involved in my seasonal ritual of dragging warm weather clothing out of storage and packing away cold weather sweaters and coats.  And thusly...

I realized that I own 
a shocking amount of clothing.  


Even worse, a good number of the sweaters I took out of my closet and packed away had never even been worn throughout the winter!  

This.  Is.  Nuts.


So I embarked on my own little experiment:  rather than sorting and carrying and folding and hanging all my summer garments, I sifted through them and chose about a dozen shirts, about half a dozen pairs of shorts or capri's, one nice pair of jeans, and three dressy outfits, all of which I actually like to wear.  I left everything else in the storage closet.  For now.

Well, not everything.  While I was deciding which items made the cut, I harvested a few bags of serviceable clothing to donate, all of which I actually hated to wear.  It felt good to give those things away.  And it felt really good to finally be honest with myself. 

So can such a small change really make a lasting difference in the level of satisfaction I have with my life?  Holy smokes, you bet!  Every morning I pull my “uniform” for the day from one of two drawers.  I no longer spend half the morning searching through every drawer and all over my closet for something to wear, nor refolding massive piles of rejects.  And since I am not constantly faced with wardrobe dissatisfaction, I am not tempted to waste time and money buying new things I think I'm going to like better.  Likely that's how I got into this mess to begin with.

Having fewer clothing choices actually feels like I have more to wear.  And that makes me...

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Un Funk Yourself Part Two -- Eat the Toad


In her book The Happiness Project,  author Gretchen Rubin kicked off her twelve month pursuit of a more satisfactory life by attempting to elevate her energy.  It makes sense.  After all, how can you be happy if you feel drained?  If you're too tired, how can you engage in joy producing activities?   So Rubin tries out several vitality-boosting resolutions. 

I've taken on something of a happiness project of my own.  And while I agree that improving energy is a great place to start, parts of Rubin's attack plan weren't terribly useful to me: 

          Get more sleep, she says.   (I think I sleep adequately.) 
          Get more exercise, she says.   (I think I sleep adequately.)

So, okay.  But what really caught my attention was Rubin’s resolution to boost her energy by battling household disorder.  In other words, to energize herself and make herself a happier person, Rubin went on a month-long clutter busting rampage in her home.  Now we’re talking!

Some readers of this blog may recall that last year I went on just such an adventure myself.  It was during the week of my family’s annual biking/camping vacation that I enjoy not attending every year. 

Instead, I spent that precious week of “me time” purging my home of
     general clutter,
     paper clutter,
     and even food clutter.

Compared to Gretchen Rubin, however, I fear I am a clutter-busting amateur.  By her account, she took on classifications of clutter that I’d never even thought of, like:

Nostalgic clutter – when you cling to useless relics of an earlier phase of life.  (Yes, I still have my prom dresses, circa 1975.  Yes, I have a drawer full of crayon scribble “art.”  Yes, I still have the spelling bee trophy I won in fourth grade.  What of it?)

Conservation clutter – when you hang onto things because they are useful, even if you will never, ever use them.  (What do you mean this set of gold charger plates is nothing but a dust collector?  I might need them someday when I host an elegant dinner party.  Maybe.  One of these days.  It could happen.)

Bargain and/or freebie clutter – comes from buying/taking unnecessary things just because they are on sale/free.  (Why do I have an entire cupboard of empty plastic reusable cups from the pizza place?  I never use them.)

Buyer’s remorse clutter – hanging onto things you don’t use, need or even like just because you can’t admit you made a mistake buying them.  (One word:  juicer.)

Aspirational clutter – keeping things around because you love the idea of using them, but never actually do.  (I know that tower of fat quarters is about to fall and crush the dog, but I swear by all that is sacred --  I am GOING to make a quilt!)

Outgrown clutter – holding onto old versions of things, even though you now prefer something better.  (Behold my collection of beautiful stationery and colorful note cards.  For when I stop using email.)

Crutch clutter – This one is kind of the anti-clutter.  It’s when you hold onto dreadful things because you really do use them, even though you know you should get rid of them.  (I know they’re horrible, but I wear those trousers for gardening.  If you don't like it, call the Pants Police and file a report.)

Of all, I suspect the most crippling, the most happiness-suppressing form of clutter is what Rubin describes as “the invisible but… enervating psychic clutter of loose ends.”  She is referring to all those “neglected tasks that make you feel weary and guilty whenever you think of them.”  So, if you want to be happy, it's best to stop thinking of them and get them done!

In a more graphic manner, my daughter Kate refers to handling loathsome tasks as eating toads.  She says, if you wake up in the morning knowing that today is the day you need to eat a toad, isn't it best just to chomp it down and be done with it, rather than spending the whole day bummed out because you know, sooner or later, you have to eat that toad?  She's right, of course.  And I realize that one reason happiness may be eluding me these days is because of all the odious tasks I've allowed to mount up .instead of just taking care of business.  I have more than one toad hopping around me, and sidestepping them all is making me very weary.

So, help me tie on my bib.  I have some toads to eat.






More to come.....


Thursday, June 11, 2015

Un Funk Yourself - Part One


Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about happiness.  Mostly because it’s eluding me.  It would be absurd to say I’m UNhappy, because I have blessings beyond measure.  I gratefully acknowledge that I’m more fortunate than the majority of people who walk the planet.  Or have EVER walked the planet.  Knowing this, however, doesn’t always keep me from feeling…




I am in a funk.  Majorly.  I need to figure out how to un-funk myself.

So recently I read Gretchen Rubin's book The Happiness Project.  (And to be honest, my frequent reaction was an urge to suggest to the author that she get over herself.  Nevertheless... )  I found some of Rubin’s ideas intriguing.  Basically, she advises all earnest seekers of greater contentment to:
  • identify the essential components for your personal pursuit of happiness
  • come up with a set of measurable actions (resolutions) for achieving them
  • tackle each component in turn, devoting full attention to one before moving on to the next. 

And so Rubin started her own happiness project with a fully developed and documented plan that included 11 different targets and their associated resolutions -- one target per month with a final month to relish it all coming together.  The Happiness Project chronicles this mission:  one woman’s entire year of thoughtfully and mindfully striving to happi-fy herself.

 I myself decided to dispense with most of the fussiness, and – how about that! – I’m happier already! But seriously, I gleaned some good kernels from this book, and I’m ready to try putting them into action.  I’m ready to find out if happiness is truly something that can be crafted. 



Friday, June 5, 2015

Healthy Subs for Starchy Sides

It's not news:  grains are bad for you.  My family has cut wheat from our diet completely, and cut way back on other grains, such as rice, corn, and even quinoa.  The evidence in favor of this change is, well, evident... around our waists and around the time we go to the doctor and find out how much our blood sugar, serum cholesterol, blood pressure and other metrics of health have improved.

One of my personal challenges, however, has to do with my once-ingrained (ha ha) belief about what constitutes "a healthy, balanced meal."  For me this was a protein, a starch and a vegetable.  And as for the starches, I habitually served my family tasty, convenient, just-add-water side dishes that were a snap to prepare and had a seemingly endless shelf life.  You know what I'm talking about -- that San Francisco-style treat, that rice from everybody's favorite old uncle, that zesty taste of New Orleans in a box... Trouble is, such processed, grain-based, chemical-laden foods were bad for us.  But coming up with something better to serve as THE STARCH in my meals?  That has been a challenge.

First I had to throw out the whole idea that protein-starch-veggie is the ideal makeup of a meal.  The formula has changed in favor of a moderate amount of good-quality protein, lots of vegetables and some healthy fat.  It's good, for instance, to skip the starch and serve some steamed fresh veggies and a green salad -- provided you don't ruin your nice salad with a deluge of fattening, unhealthy dressing.



Instead, try making your own, starting with healthy, homemade olive oil-based mayonnaise.

Then check out my recipes for homemade 




But inevitably we all find ourselves craving warm, starchy comfort foods.  Is life without creamy mashed potatoes and hot, buttery noodles even livable?

Granny says NO!
(Buuuuut... keep an open mind.)



It seems that all over the internet these days, someone is touting a recipe for something that used to be bad for you (but really, really delicious) that can now be made healthily out of cauliflower.  Cauliflower bread, cauliflower pizza crust, cauliflower tots, cauliflower tortillas, cauliflower "rice".....  And that's because these things are GOOD!  Not just fewer-calories-lower-glycemic-vitamins-and-fiber good, but TASTY!

My personal favorite is cauliflower puree in place of mashed potatoes.  Half the time my family doesn't even know they're not getting "the real thing."  The rest of the time, they marvel over how yummy this stuff is.


We also really enjoy zucchini noodles made with a spiral slicer.  (Readers tell me an inexpensive Vegetti tool works really well, too.)  There is a trick to keeping these from getting overcooked and soggy, so check out my post to learn how.


I am always looking for delicious grain-free dinner ideas.  What's your favorite?






Also look for more good ideas at these great parties:
Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday
Sincerely, Paula's No-Rules Weekend Blog Party
Share the Wealth Sunday Blog Hop
Fabulous Friday Party
Friday Features Link Party
Creative Ways Link Party
Best Recipes and DIY Projects
Saturday Sparks Link Party
The SITS Girls Saturday Sharefest
Share the Wealth
Share Your Creativity
That DIY Party
Silver Pennies Sunday
Inspire Me Monday
Best of the Weekend
What'd You Do This Weekend?
Inspiration Monday
Delicious Dish Tuesday
The Gathering Spot
Do Tell Tuesday
Tuesday Talk
The Wednesday Roundup
Wow Me Wednesday
Work It Wednesday
Full Plate Thursday