Easter Preparations!

My darling princess and I prepared ourselves for Easter last weekend. And Oh boy did we have a good time!!

We had seen pictures of Easter Gardens on Pinterest earlier this month and we decided that would be a really cool thing to try. My little lovely is VERY into Jesus and I am totally okay with encouraging that. So off we went to the local Pat Catans to get some supplies. When we got there we had the pleasant discovery that Pat Catans had all kinds of craft projects for kids going on. My princess had a wonderful time crafting and looking for the next craft station while I gathered up a "rustic" saucer/plate thing, some dried moss, and a small terra-cotta pot. We also sampled some yummy chocolate melt free samples.

By the time we were finished, she had 5 lovely craft items, and we had stayed WAY longer than we had planned. It turns out that crafting for kids at Pat Catans is a pretty common thing. I'm sure my darling and I will be back, although weekly trips into a giant and fabulous craft store might not be the greatest thing for my budget!

So we came out of Pat Catans with our ground coverings, our base, and our tomb for our Easter Garden. We knew that we had enough sticks in our yard to make the crosses. And I had checked so I knew we had some leftover garden soil in the garage. But we had no large stone to put in front of the tomb. I'm pretty sure that I didn't have any in my yard either. I mean, I knew where some pea gravel was, but that's hardly big enough to roll away from a tomb. Sooo I did what any life long sinner would do. I stopped at the gas station and stoll a rock from their landscaping. 

Once home, the princess and I set to work. First I put a shallow layer of soil down in the pan/saucer/plate. Then I put the tomb flower pot in on it's side and put the large stone in front to seal the entrance. I added more soil and mounded it over the tomb. While I did this, my darling went searching for some good sticks. She decided on 6 different sticks and the I twisted a rubber band around them to make the three crosses. She then decided on where to place them. We did have a discussion on which is the best cross for Jesus and how Jesus' cross had to be in the middle.

Then she made a pathway using some cool mossy rocks from Pat Catans. They're really light, so I'm not actually sure if they are real rocks. Anyway, she made a path from the crosses to the tomb. 

Then she covered the rest of the soil with moss and we watered it so that we wouldn't have crazy amounts of dust in the house.

We then moved to the computer and picked out a good bible verse to go with our garden. 

Mark 15:46

And Finally, the princess made a sign for when I roll the rock away from the tomb on Easter morning. 

Hallelujah! He is! risen!

This was a really cool project to do with my darling girl. I like the looks of the garden and I like that it is a fairly constant reminder of what Lent is all about. It sits right on our dinner table so we have some really good conversations about Lent and Jesus' death and resurrection. Yesterday, for example, we had a whole discussion of how painful Jesus' death must have been. I think it's awesome that my little girl and I can just randomly start discussing our faith. 

There was some serious concentration...

Of course shortly after making the garden, my princess decided it was time to dye some eggs. This is great! I don't have her for Easter this year, but I do like some hard boiled eggs. And I had loads of eggs in the fridge so why not dye some? Well, except I didn't have any egg dying kits. So in the spirit of winging it, I pulled out some white vinegar and put the kettle on to boil. Then I discovered that I don't have any more of those squeezy drippy food colorings anymore. But I figured food coloring is food coloring. So I got out the food coloring I used to make her galaxy mirror birthday cake. 

The food coloring I used.

She didn't seem to mind that we weren't doing usual food colors and I was curious to see if my homemade egg dyes would work. I'm pleased with how vibrant they came out. I think we'll be doing this again!

3 rose, 2 violet, 3 royal blue, and 2 sky blue

Homemade Egg Dye
3 Tbsp white vinegar
1 cup boiling water
Some food coloring (I used a heaping knife tip full)

Stir the coloring into the vinegar. Then add the boiling hot water and stir until well combined and there are no more floating clots of color. Dye your eggs.


After dying the eggs, my funny little princess left a note for the Easter Bunny.

Michael is a boy in her class

Recipes that aren't really recipes: Chocolate Frosting and Crazy Easy Mac n Cheese

Sometimes, the life of me as a single mom gets a little weird about food. Most of the time it means throwing a frozen casserole in the oven, or dropping something in the crockpot. Other times it means I have really random food to eat. Quesadillas are something I frequently eat for dinner when it's just me. Or a scrambled egg. Or a rice cake with peanut butter. Or a bowl of Cheerios. Whatever is quick and super easy. And cheap would be good too. I'm still trying to get a grip on having a strict budget, and paying down debt from the 2 years of Hell is taking FOREVER.

Cutest nurse EVER!!

This doesn't look good

I think she's sorry.

Last weekend I managed to break my fourth toe on my left foot in a particularly exceptional fashion. Let's just say that the toe was a casualty in the fight to save a dishrag (one of the really nice knitted ones that my mom makes for Christmas presents) from my dog. So I'll be wobbling around in a boot for a couple weeks. A boot? Who gets a boot for a broken toe? Me. Because I am an overachiever and that toe is really spectacularly broken. I even have a follow up visit for more X-Rays in 2 weeks. Who does that for a broken toe? Orthopedic specialists who are concerned about said toe healing. I am really clumsy. So my new habit of getting in some cardio at the fitness center has gone way way south. And if I wasn't so pissed off at myself for breaking my toe like this, I could do one of the one footed workout videos on YouTube. Maybe next week...I have had lots of time, then, to play on Pinterest. And socialize with my coworker friends. And that's when I discovered two recipes that aren't really recipes. 

I tried the first recipe that isn't a recipe on Friday. My 100 year old grandma got the flu and ended up in the hospital. Scary stuff, but so far she's doing ok. My coworker friend had told me about making frosting for brownies with just a bag of chocolate chips and a can of sweetened condensed milk. Both of which can be found at Aldi's as well as a delicious gluten free brownie mix. Just so you know, if you are feeling emotional and you want brownies, the time that it takes to make a batch and to make the frosting and to wait for it to set helps to calm the urge to eat the whole pan. 

I only ate one piece!

Super Fudgey Frosting 
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 bag chocolate chips

Combine the ingredients in a a saucepan and heat while stirring until chocolate chips are melted and frosting is smooth. 

Yep. That's all there is too it. There must be some sort of chemical whatsimibob that goes on because I was expecting a thin glaze like a ganache and it's this really thick, really rich, crazy good frosting. And the upside is that it's so thick and so rich that I have come nowhere close to eating the whole pan. Ok. So far I'm at a little less than half the pan...

With the success of the super fudgy frosting, I decided to try a Pinterest recipe not recipe. This time it is for a crazy easy Mac and Cheese. It's just a picture. I spent a good chunk of time looking for a place to link to and I can't find one. This was actually almost a science experiment because it's so easy I didn't actually think it would work and I wasn't sure if it would taste good.  I used regular pasta instead of gluten free. That will be a later experiment. 

Crazy Easy Mac n Cheese
2 cups milk (I used 2% because it's what was in the fridge)
2 cups pasta (I used penne because the 1lb box is cheaper than the 2lb box of elbows at Aldi)
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (it was in the fridge)

Boil the milk and the pasta together. Until the pasta is cooked. The milk does not scald if you stir frequently, and the starch from the pasta thickens the milk a lot. Once the pasta is cooked, remove from heat and stir in the cheese. And it's done. 

See how thick the milk gets?

It was so easy that I got a little fancy and put it in a greased small pyrex dish and crumbled some bacon on top. I put it in the oven at 325°F for 15 minutes. Super Yummy! 

I'm so excited to eat the rest!!

It turns out that quick easy and cheap are possible! Not really great for the waistline, but if I can keep the portion sizes small.....

Hygge? Gemütlichkeit? Fondue!

SO. It's March, that means random snow storms. Pretty little snow storms. But still snow when I'm ready for my spring flowers. 

On Monday, I decided to do something different with my weekend. The darling princess was with her dad and rather than spend the weekend doing something boring like trying to advance in Candy Crush, I decided to have a cocktail party. This was perhaps not the best plan because when you invite people on Monday to come over Saturday, generally people have stuff going on. And I haven't entertained in long enough that people have clearly forgotten how much fun my gatherings are! Well sort of. Most of my friends had really legitimate excuses why they couldn't come. 

As the week wore on, I started to think about the upcoming gathering and the concept of Hygge (as explained in this fun little book that I picked up). The book explained that I should have candles. Not a problem, I have tons of random candles. The book also explained that it would be more Hygge to have a sort of group potluck where the cooking is all done at the same time at someone's house than to have pitchers of cocktails and teeny tiny little hors d'oeuvres. So I called up my friends who were coming and told them I had changed my mind and we would be having fondue! It seemed more Hygge even though it's Swiss and not Danish. And I should probably call it Gemütlichkeit because my heritage is German and not Danish. They sort of mean the same thing although it's more of a cultural thing in Denmark, I guess.

It also should be noted, that I had received an electric fondue pot as a wedding present and I had never taken it out of the box! I also had my mother's fondue pot and a teeny little crockpot called the little dipper. And it made sense to me that if I had 3 possible fondue devices, that I should make three separate fondues. And I did!! I made an unbelievably delicious Toblerone fondue (found here) that my friends and I discovered that pretty much anything dipped into it came out delicious! Grapes, apples, bread, strawberries, Rice Krispy treats, donut holes, pineapples, gluten-free snickerdoodles, giant marshmallows and teeny little skewers of blueberries, just to name some of what got dipped. Unfortunately my first try at making cheese fondue was a total fail. It was definitely stringy and globby. I'm not sure that's a real word, but it's an accurate description of my cheese fondue. Although, it was pretty good reheated on some potatoes for breakfast the next day!

breakfast!

And finally I made a marscapone and Calvados fondue from The Everything Fondue Party Cookbook. Calvados is kind of hard to find and it's a brandy made from apples. I had bought it for some other recipe and had to go all the way to Columbus to get it. The fondue was good. It sort of tasted like eggnog. The good boozy kind.  It was tremendous when we dipped apples in it. But it just wasn't mind blowing enough to compete with the Toblerone fondue.

We enjoyed a delicious chilled Pinot Grigio and a sweet Moscato with our fondues as well as great conversations and hearty laughs.

What I learned: I learned that making a cheese fondue takes a lot of patience and I think some practice. I also learned that I will be making the Toblerone fondue again. I learned that 3 different fondues for 6 people is a ridiculous amount of food. I learned that Walmart sells little Sterno 3-packs under where the tinfoil pans are. And I learned that I think I will either need to go to Goodwill or some garage sales and try to find traditional fondue pots. The electric one and the little dipper worked really good when I could have them plugged in, but the cords are really short and that didn't work so well for me. I might have to go buy a multi plug extension cord.

Sweet Potato Chorizo Breakfast Casserole

See? Not at all like a strata!

I am a plain old Cheerios and milk in the morning sort of breakfast eater. It is my go to quick fix. Unfortunately, Cheerios and milk is not really a lot of protein and generally if I eat right when I get up at 4:30 then I'm hungry again before I get to my desk at school. And I'm ready to chew my arm off by the time I get to lunch. So I've been trying to get some more protein in my breakfast. I made some yogurt to eat with granola. But it actually got moldy before I had the chance to eat it all.Then I decided to make a crustless quiche recipe as I've had success with eating those in the past. But I only ate half of it in a week. I was eating my Cheerios instead. As I'm trying to eat better food for me in this whole new era of recovery, I was getting frustrated. I mentioned this to my super cool science teacher friend while we were eating lunch with her three daughters after church. She told me that she had this really great breakfast casserole recipe. It had tater tots and eggs and cheese and she uses some ground sausage and vegetables. I thanked her and decided to give it a try. Except that I totally changed it. 

That whole top is melted cheesy goodness!

This is an amazing casserole! I had it for both lunch and dinner yesterday. And I sent pictures and texts to Super G to tell her how amazing it is. And she now wants the recipe. I can't say that I blame her. I was a little worried it would taste like a strata. I hate strata. But it didn't! It tastes sweet and savory and cheesy and delicious!

I almost sprang out of bed this morning with excitement that I get to eat the breakfast casserole for breakfast! And then I remembered that it's President's Day and I didn't have to spring out of bed. 

Sweet Potato Chorizo Breakfast Casserole

Changed so much from the original it might as well be an original Shazamer recipe

Serves 8

1 bag sweet potato tater tots

1/4 cup salted butter (1/2 stick)

1 lb chorizo

1 green bell pepper (chopped small)

1/2 white onion (chopped small)

5 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

Arrange the sweet potato tater tots so that they all fit in the bottom of an 11 x 7" glass baking dish. Melt the butter in the microwave and pour evenly over the tater tots. Then cook the tots as otherwise directed on the package. Mine needed to be cooked at 425℉ for almost a half hour. 

While the tots are cooking, brown the chorizo in a skillet with the finely chopped onion and green pepper.until cooked through. Also in a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and the milk.

When the tater tots are done cooking turn the oven down to 350℉ and remove from the oven. Pour the chorizo mixture onto the tots and using a spoon, spread the meat and vegetables evenly over the tots. Then pour the egg mixture over the meat and potatoes. Finally sprinkle the cheese on top. Put the casserole in the oven and cook for 30 minutes more. 

Time keeps on slipping slipping slipping, into the future...

Hello. 

My Darling Love and I as Lady and the Tramp

I know. I've been gone awhile. 
See, it's kind of been a hell couple of years for me. Or two and a half years anyway. 

But let's start with the loveliness of the past several years. My darling princess. The true love of my life grows more beautiful and more interesting and more hilarious every day. I am forever the luckiest woman on the planet that she is my daughter. I frequently thank God that I get to be her mommy. She rolls her eyes when she hears me say that prayer. I simply cannot express the joy she brings to me. She's an amazing kid and the older she gets the more I enjoy her. We have started an adventure that we are going to travel to every state in the country together. Since deciding this we had an amazing summer vacation through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. I think that might be a separate post though. 

Diggerland New Jersey!

This summer we will head to Washington and Oregon. She wanted to go to Alaska or Hawaii and I told her we had to do those last...

About two and a half years ago, my husband decided he didn't want to be married anymore. I was kind of sideswiped hard by the semi truck of devastation. Although our marriage was hard work, I didn't realize exactly how badly it wasn't working. As my cousin, who is also now divorced, says, growing up we were told that marriage was work and how were we to know that it wasn't supposed to be THAT much work. With that said, I have no intention of speaking poorly about him. It's in the decree that I can't and there's really no point in it anyway. So in the summer of 2015 he was done. And after an eternity of fighting we were officially done in October of 2017. So remember my darling little love? I only get her 50% of the time. And although my mom would roll her eyes and tell me I'm melodramatic, It breaks my heart every. single. time. I have to give her to him. But in the interest of personal growth and being a whole person, we shall not mention him for the rest of this blog because he is no longer important. We are pleasant to each other because it is best for our daughter, but he is not an important piece of my life anymore. And really I am much happier now.


So what else have I been doing? Well, there was the whole cancer episode. 

Getting some chemo!

Which we shall refer to as when I was sick. I found the lump myself. And although WebMD said it could be cancer, it wasn't a surprise. WebMD says EVERYTHING could be cancer. and besides that I was dealing with a difficult home situation and it was December. I have a $2600 deductible and I hadn't touched it. There was NO WAY I was going to the doctor before the new year started and I forgot about it. I forgot about it? I FORGOT ABOUT IT! It seems like such a weird thing to do. To forget about a lump in my breast. Although it was really kind of over by my armpit. More on my side boob. And seriously who has breast cancer in their side boob at 44? And did you read the last paragraph? I had kind of big things going on at the time. SO, after he had moved out and I could breathe again because the tension dropped. I maybe was laying on the couch drinking a bottle of wine and watching Downton Abbey (Such a great show!) and feeling sorry for myself because it was the first weekend that my precious darling wasn't in my house. And there was this episode where Mrs. Hughes finds a lump and her and Mrs. Patmore go to get it checked out. In my wine drenched stupor, I remembered. With trepidation I felt around. Yep. It was still there. The next workday I made an appointment with my gynecologist and he assured me that he didn't think it was anything, but suggested we check it out to be sure. So there it was. Stage 2B breast cancer. Ugh. It was awful. Chemo, Baldness. Radiation. Exhaustion. Surgery. Surgically induced menopause. Hormones can kill me. Hot Flashes. The whole shebang. It's not quite like in the movies, but I only realized how terrible it was in retrospect. My family may have PTSD from watching me projectile vomit or not being able to walk because of weakness or balance issues or passing out from dehydration. But I had a laser like focus on surviving for my precious daughter. So while I was focusing on that, I wasn't focusing on just how awful the whole thing was. So in March of last year I finished the treatments of Herceptin. My survival chances go up significantly if I can make it through the first year without it recurring. After 5 years I will be considered "cured". 

My unbelievably supportive family!

Moral of the story? Feel your boobs. Really really get to know them. If you find a bump get it checked out. Had I waited until I was due for my next mammogram, I probably would be dead. 

So what does that mean for this blog? Where is it going? 

Well, I still cook. Although chemo messed up my intestines and gluten isn't really agreeing with me anymore. But now my home situation is changed and I can broaden my horizons. I LOVE to travel, both with my precious girl and without. While she was with her dad doing her obligatory "family vacation" where his family all packs in the same house and up each others rear ends and all through each other's business, I got to skip off to Iceland. It was amazing. That might be another post too...

Me at Þingvellir

And I have developed a sort of habit of reading as many books as I can. Lately, I've been reading a ton of self help books, but I also like to read fiction, like this great Icelandic Murder/ Detective series. I also really love funny books and inspirational books. Maybe I'll blog about some here. 

And I've been sewing some. I've been poking around on some sewing blogs and those can be really interesting. I have a ton of fabrics and a ton of patterns and maybe if I were to blog about them I would get some of those projects done. 

The beginning of a Split Rail Fence Quilt

I'd also like to knit more and show off what I've done if I ever complete anything.

And I've really really been bullet journaling. Oh my golly I love bullet journaling. So I may share some of my spreads and collections. I'm on my second Leuchtturn 1917 journal and I just got a TON of Tombow dual brush markers for Christmas.

Workout Log

Planning last year's vacation

Habit Tracker and Gratitude Log

Oh and I got a sweet sweet puppy.

My other little girl!

So I'm thinking rather than limiting this blog to simply being a food blog as it has been in the past, I will posting much more varied and interesting things.

Beef Stew with Collard Greens

So we'll just continue on with this really intense winter. As a friend of mine posted on Facebook, she had thought whew! January is done, but "Well played February, well played." We had our 11th snow cancellation today. Tomorrow we are on a 2 hour delay. The county I teach in is on a level 2 snow emergency though. That pretty much means that unless the roads get a lot better it's gonna be day 12 tomorrow. 

Big tender pieces of beef, tender carrots, and delicious collard greens!

Fortunately, I now own a pair of snow boots. I ordered those at Christmas. And then I got some birthday money and ordered a pair of snow pants. And today the Princess and I frolicked in the snow after she woke from her nap and I finished snow blowing our enormous driveway. (Our driveway isn't enormous like long, it's enormous like a parking lot.) We had a BLAST!

Here's the interesting thing about parenting. At the same time as I'm experiencing pure joy, I could also be experiencing some pure frustrations. Today, the Princess was as cute as could be. See? Isn't she darling peeking out from behind the tree? Who can resist her? 

She told me to stay where I was because she was peeking!

And yet. She is full of bodily fluids and they all happen to come out on me. On snow days like today when I don't manage to get up before her and her nap time lasts only as long as the snow blowing, I don't get to shower and I get the vague feeling I smell like poo. Or throw up.

This morning, after a difficult start, the Princess sat in her high chair in the kitchen coloring pictures for Grandma Peggy while I whipped together this stew for the crock pot. I should probably say I started with a tasty looking stew that I found on Pinterest by Betty Crocker. But it's been very snowy. And I did not have any beef bullion granules. (really who does?) And I wanted to serve it over rice because my mother-in-law says that rice helps to stop up a baby with a digestive system on overdrive. So I left out the potatoes. And my mom always put celery in her chili and putting celery in stew made me think of her so I doubled it. And then I got a little fancy with the deglazing the pan with red wine. (But that might have been because at that particular point in the morning I was wondering how stay at home mother's don't crack open the wine before lunch. The length of time I deglazed was about equal to checking the Princess for a fever, picking up the crayons that were thrown on the floor, wiping applesauce off the floor, the counter, and the Princess, and then giving in and parking the Princess in front of Daniel Tiger. But that doesn't sound all nice and recipe like. So until it is reduced by half.) And then I had some collard greens in the fridge and I thought that they wouldn't turn to gross mush when sitting in a crock pot forever and they might be a tasty addition. And yeah I don't have any quick cooking tapioca. I bought some about 5 years ago for a mushroom pork chop crock pot meal and I haven't cooked it in forever and I haven't used the tapioca since. So I threw it away. Last week. So I smooshed up some butter and flour to thicken the sauce instead. I will tell you that it turned out great. The Princess loved it. The Brain liked it. It might be the leftovers that won't last long. I just wish it photographed better.

Beef Stew with Collard Greens
an original Shazamer recipe

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 pounds beef stew meat
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup red wine (a cheap, but drinkable variety)
2 stalks celery cut into chunks
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 1/2 cups V8 (or other non-name brand vegetable juice)
2 big handfuls of chopped up collard greens
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour

Pat the beef stew meat dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a fry pan over medium high heat.  Working in 2 batches brown the meat on all sides. Put the meat in the slow cooker. Pour the half cup of red wine into the fry pan and scrape up the crusty bits in the pan. Simmer for a while until the red wine is reduced by about half. Pour it into the slow cooker. Add the celery, onion, Worcestershire, V8, and collard greens to the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours. Smoosh together the butter and flour, then stir into the slow cooker until it dissolves. Continue to cook for another half hour then eat. Serve over rice.

How Many Eggs Yolks?

So after making that delicious birthday cake, I took the leftovers to work and my coworkers happily and speedily took care of it for me. I did have one small problem though. The cake takes 13 egg whites between the Japonais layers and buttercream. Which means that I had 13 egg yolks in the fridge. thirteen? THIRTEEN! What in the hell does a person do with 13 egg yolks? Well, 4 of them went into these cookies. Still working on the rest.

Delicious Drop Butter Cookies

Wait? Who makes cookies after giving away all of the leftover delicious birthday cake? Well... the princess walked up to me and asked for a cookie as we were stuck in the house again (thank you polar vortex). And really, these cookies are a bit addictive. They came together quick and are flying out of the cookie jar. Which might be bad. 

Dammit. More Snow. Bitter cold to follow.

See we've been walloped with alternating weather patterns. We start out with a big clipper system and several inches of snow. Then while we are out with the snow blower and clearing off the driveway we get blasted with the polar vortex. We close school because of the snow. Then the wind starts which causes blowing. (We delay for blowing snow.) Then, with the wind comes the wind chill. brrr. So far in January we've had days with wind chills around -35 (lost 2 days for that polar vertex), and then Friday wind chills went to -23 (and we closed again). We are now at 8 days closed for weather. We are only allowed to have 5 before we have to start making them up.

I'm a little stir crazy. 

And it does not look like there's an end in sight. We're supposed to get another 2 inches tomorrow. Then some winds and blowing snow. Then Tuesday we'll have a nice high of -3. A HIGH of -3. Crap. My students are going to fail the OAAs. Those pesky standardized tests that determine whether I'm a good teacher. And I'll be teaching through June. And this weather is brutal on my arthritis. So very little working out for me. I'm thinking of going into the garage and finding the cane. Depressing.

Cookies work well with the coffee!

So yeah, these cookies. These cookies are super good. A teensy rich, but super good. I might need to make them again soon. Because the princess is running out of them. Mostly because Mommy and Daddy are eating them all. The princess has been far too busy playing with Playdo, finger painting, coloring, playing with tater head, and learning Spanish from watching Sesame Street and Dora.

Painting a picture for Abuela Peggy!

Drop Butter Cookies
an original Shazamer recipe

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 375 F
Combine the flour, soda, and salt in a small bowl and mix together. Set it aside.
Cream the butter and the sugars until it is nice and fluffy. Add the vanilla. Then add the egg yolks one at a time, making sure they are fully incorporated before adding the next one. Drop by teaspoonfull (or small scoop) onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on a rack.