getting ready for school

i saw this recipe for corn dog muffins and it looks like something quick and easy to pick for our jewel's lunch. i think i'm going to give it a whirl. i know it's not the best for you, but, well, i'm going to make it anyways. i'll pack it w/ some carrots and snap peas :)

Home on a Thursday

I have so much more energy when I don't go to the gym... well, and also the fact that i got 8 hours of sleep (off and on, but i was in the bed for 8 hours!)

so... with all my energy, we did puzzles together, i made roasted potato salad (see below),
cookies, onion rolls (see below), and seaweed soup (mi yuk gook).

the onion rolls recipe has a sentimental attachment as it was given to me by my late mentor. she passed away about 3 years ago. i always think of her whenever i use any of her recipes. this one is a favorite of ours. it's hard to find good bread recipes uses whole wheat flour, but this one is IT! (however, not as good if you buy the flour, much much better if it's milled fresh)... and since i had the energy,, i milled some flour - had some extra so i made some cookies too.

Roasted potato salad:

Red potatoes cubed
Chopped garlic, I used as many as I wanted,
coursely chopped onion, the original called for wedges of red onion.

Drizzle with olive oil, toss the above.

Roast on 400 degrees until tender,
stir and add frozen corn after 20 minutes and continued to cook another 15min. until brown.

Then I ground up some rosemary, thyme and pepper corns in spice grinder and sprinkled a little of that and chopped fresh celery, boiled eggs and mixed with Hidden Valley Ranch dressing or any good ranch. I topped with fresh scallions and crispy bacon. The original recipe said to use the dry ranch dressing mix with mayo and vinegar, but I already had the dressing. It may have called for some flat leaf parsley or maybe I just thought that would be good, any one fresh herb would be good ie. basil or a little dill but I had scallions so I used that.

Onion roll recipe:
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4C hot water (105 to 115 degrees F)
2 tsp pure maple syrup
4C whole wheat flour, finely ground
1/3tsp sea salt
1/2C olive oil
2/3C water
2 TBL pure maple syrup

topping:
1/3C olive oil (might need 1/2C)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 TBL dried sage
1 medium onion, finely chopped

1. mix 1st three ingredients in a bowl. Temp. of h2o is critical! Mix well and let stand for about 5 minutes until the mixture bubbles or looks like it has foam on top.
2. 2. Mix flour and salt together in large bowl.
3. Combine last three ingred (EVOO, h20, and maple syrup) and add to yeast mixture
4. 4. Pour yeast mixture into flour mixture and knead for 10 minutes (easier if have bread machine). Put in a greased bowl in warm place to rise for 45min to an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. While dough is rising, combo topping ingred.
6. When dough is risen, do not punch down. Divide dough into eight equal portions. Mold each into a round all w/ our hands. Place on a well-greased cookie sheet, and press down until one inch thick. Press a little bit of a dip into each top of roll so topping doesn’t fall off.



7. Push onions to the side in the topping mixture to dampen brush w/ oil, and brush top of each roll generously w/ oil. Smother each roll w/ as many onions as it will hold.



8. Let stand in warm kitchen. They will rise a bit as they wait. About 12 minutes before dinner is ready, put ina oven for 9 minutes. Place briefly on cooling rack, and serve warm.

vegetable garden

some years i try and it comes to nothing! so other years i don't even try. this year was a try year! and i'm so glad!! two cucumbers are coming in and i see the beginnings of some green bell peppers. my tomatoes are lookin' good too! hope the deer don't get to them!!

chocolate chip cookie recipe update

remember how i wanted to make this?

we finally got around to it. it was good. a little bready. i think it's because i ended up adding a little more flour than the recipe called for because i didn't have a cup of ground pecans. i kept adding more flour because the batter looked too wet. i also cut the sugar in 1/2 but used 1/4C rapadura, 1/4C xylitol, and 1/4C maple syrup.
i also added 1C cranberries and i milled my flour. in the end, it was yum!! i just hope my man thinks so too... he doesn't like it when i modify recipes to make them healthier... at least our jewel dug them

summer days

our jewel had an infected toe so we stayed out of the pool for two weeks. one for the infection and then one more just for safe measure. she's been so excited to go back into the water!! she's been putting her head under water and swimming across the pool - with a life vest, but able to go the whole distance.

it's so odd though that i'm sweating bullets from a workout and then we go out to get hit by the summer heat and humidity. but the pool water feels so frigid to me!! i hate going in cause it's so cold. it just occurred to me that i should take a picture before the summer ends. is it safe to take the camera to the pool though? hummmm

happy belated anniversary!

my man and i celebrated our 7 year anniversary yesterday. it was spontaneous. it was 10:45pm and i was hungry. we found a place near our house that was open until 1am on a sunday! wow!! that's pretty crazy as i thought everything in our area closed at 10pm... and trust me, we looked around! anyways, we got there at 11pm. they seated us in a dining area even though technically only the bar area was open. my man and i shared a grilled flat bread for appetizers, then shared a steak w/ mashed potatoes and green beans for entree, and then a fig tart for dessert. went nicely w/ my blue moon and his gin and tonic. i guess i could have gotten a drink that was a little more celebratory, but at that hour --- does it really matter? it was awesome! my man and i are going to go there more often. esp now that we know they're open so late :)
gotta admit, it was fun while it lasted but i was paying for it today... had a tummy ache all through my workout today. but it was worth it! God willing, we'll be able to have a few more late night dinners before our old age kicks in :)

Fresh tomato basil soup

we had this for dinner tonight.
i wanted a soup using fresh tomatoes. the only thing i did differently was that i didn't simmer it that long. once it came to a boil, i popped it into my vitamix and pureed the thing. and then it was ready to go. oops, another change - i forgot! - was that i added about 2/3 TBL of butter. oh, for my man, i grated in some parm. cheese (lots of parm cheese, in my opinion and some prosciutto). he really liked it! mine was tasty vegetarian style :)

Au revoir, my dear friend

I'm sorry to report that as of September 2009, Southern Accents will be no more. It has had a good 32-year-run. It has brought me joy as i've perused the pages and drove me to tears when i looked up the prices. it's bought me inspiration and sheer glee. my friendship with you, i admit has been fickle depending on the cost of the relationship over the last 15 years. but the moments we'd had together have been wonderful! so long my dear friend. may you rest in peace.

friday's post

our jewel has an amazing ability to play by herself for long periods of time and very contently. it's probably because she had to learn since she's an only child. but i've been really impressed as of late. sometimes i do have to resort to popping in a video while i clean or make dinner, but most times i don't. God knows what i need. thanks, God!

no interesting title

3 workouts in less than 18 hours and less than 5 hours of sleep. i'm wiped out and the day has just started! i promised my man a workout date tonight, but i don't know if i can make it - esp since i also promised some friends i'd run tomorrow at 5:30am. it would be so nice if everyone in my life got together and synced up their workout schedules!

chix tortilla soup

yesterday we ate out (AGAIN!) and i had a chix enchilada soup that was awesome! i wanted to see if i could replicate it. since i didn't have enchilada sauce on hand, i did the next best thing. chix tortilla soup as you'll see from this recipe, they called for the enchilada sauce. it was good without it, but i'll have to try and remember to pick up a bottle the next time i'm at the store. i think it'll really "kick it up a notch".

we had that with cheese quesadillas. for my man's i added farm-raised pork sausage to his and he said it was Great!

not bad for someone who doesn't have the energy to cook.

what is WRONG with people?

i am surrounded by insane people. really. i have a friend who ran her 4th 24 hour run (that's right! she runs 24 hours straight and she's insane enough to do it again and again!). she clocked in 95 miles this year.

then i've got 2 friends who meet at 4:30 in the morning to run before going to the gym for their regular workout.

then, there's the perpetual ultra-runner. i can think of at least 3 from my running group who have signed up for the JFK 50 this year and have done other ultras this year.

you'd think they're single guys, right? nope! they are all married with kids... one has 4 boys, the youngest less than a year.

then there's me. just trying to stay afloat and do a little of this and a little of that.

our jewel

our jewel has compassion. she probably got it from her papa... but it's been so sweet to see her show her compassion

the other day we were driving to the post office and there was a truck that had turned over.

ka: oh no! what happened?

me: it looks like a car turned over

ka: mama, let's pray for them. i'll pray right now.

she went on to pray... i have to admit some of the stuff she prayed wasn't doctrinally sound, but that's ok. her heart was so precious to want to pray for the safety of that driver and the urgency she sensed in the situation was awesome!

lately, she's been showing compassion towards me too. unfortunately, i don't want her to get to the point where she feels like her um-ma is ALWAYS tired and so can't do anything for her....

new twist on chocolate chip cookies

i saw this and want to try it when i've got some energy. what i like about it is that it uses coconut oil. i'm trying to implement that more into our diet because of the amazing nutritional benefits to it. i'll probably tweak it a bit, use rapadura, whole wheat flour, etc... but it looks good, no?

the inevitable side effects of fatigue

1. irritability
2. guilt

it's a vicious cycle. i'm tired so i have no patience and i'm very cranky. i wouldn't even say i'm moody because to say i'm moody would imply that i've got some ups. but there really aren't any ups during the day. it starts w/ mild fatigue and then it's just downhill from there. which leads me to #2. i'm so tired that i take the "easy" route. i pop in a video for our jewel while i nap. i buy junk food because i have no energy to cook. and then the guilt sets in. guilt because i'm giving her left over energy and bad-for-you food. guilt because i'm not living up to the proverbs 31 model. i know it's not there to make you feel miserable about yourself and i know it's not what God is saying. i'm just telling you that it's how i feel and while i know intellectually that God isn't wagging a pointed finger at me, it's just how i feel.

you could ask why i'm still working out. that maybe if i conserved energy and didn't go to the gym that my day as a mom would go better. but aux contrare! i'm even more irritable because i didn't make it to the gym and there's the added guilt from that too. so for now, it's better to just go the gym. although if this keeps going down the same road, then it won't be long before i don't have the energy to go to the gym no matter now guilty i feel.

fresh marinara sauce recipe

i'm not sure why but i had a hard time finding a recipe for this. my two criteria were: 1) use fresh tomatoes (tis the season) and 2) i didn't want the sauce to cook for a long time. (turns the tomatoes acidic - another post for another time).

we tried this one last night and it was wonderful!

just when you think you're on track

i'm perpetually a 1/2 day behind in my reading. just when i think i'm going to catch up that day, something happens that causes me not to be able to finish. ugh!! this time around i'm not on top of things. but then again, this seems to be my overarching issue of my life these days. i'd like my anal, organized, remember everything, not lose anything, type A person back please! if you find her, please let me know. i'd like to this take head that is in the clouds and exchange it.

it's official - i'm obsessed

ok. here's the real naked truth. there's no getting around it. no sugar coating. no hiding behind the bush. are you ready? wait for it, wait for it.... i've gained 15 pounds in less than a year. i can't fit into any of my summer clothes! well, i guess i can "fit" into them, but they're really tight and it makes me look like i'm a hootchie mama. my man is sick and tired of hearing me whine about it. but it's kind of hard not to think about when it stares me right in the face every time i walk into that closet. i know. i could just go up the next size in clothes... but hummmm... no. it's bugging the crazies out of me. why? because i don't think i can do anything about it. i'm not eating poorly. i know i act like i eat at mcd's all the time, but i really don't. i workout enough. and when i say enough, objectively, it really is enough. and here i am 15 pounds heavier. it's probably all tied into this whole "what is wrong with me" bit that i've been circling around these days, but it's still quite frustrating. sigh sigh.

i never thought we'd be one of THOSE families...

but there we were. in the gym, "playing basketball" with our jewel. that in of itself wasn't such a weird thing, but in my head i could hear all those athletic coaches/ trainers saying, "it's all about changing your lifestyle and making workout fun for the family". it's not a bad thing, you know. but i guess i just never thought that i would be that person. that person who gets up at 5 on a saturday morning, to put in 5 miles before the rest of her family gets up. and then to head off to the gym for a "family workout". but i gotta admit that our jewel LOVED it! she ran around that court, playing catch and shooting the ball. my man tried to shoot too, but well, our jewel wanted some attention, so i don't think he got in a good workout. after 45 minutes of "family workout", i went upstairs for a quick 30 minute bi/tri/ and abs workout. then i switched off w/ my man while he went upstairs and i hung out w/ our jewel. not bad for a saturday morning. we'll see if this turns into a lifestyle or just a freak saturday thing.

God-inspirations needed

Lord,
as i'm reading through numbers, it's rather easy to just read it as a historical text. i pray that Your Word would seep through the pores of my soul. it's getting to be a little dry and i pray for your merciful hand to guide my reading. i pray for personal encounters with You as i read your Truth. teach me. show me. inspire me.
-amen.

Brownies recipe

i thought about going running and then decided to make brownies instead. i tweaked it a bit.
i used 1/2 rapunzel's rapidura and 1/2 xyitol as my sweetner.
i let someone borrow my mill, so instead i used unbleached white flour.
also, i couldn't find chocolate extract. i looked in 2 stores and they didn't have it. i guess i could have ordered it online, but... well, i didn't want to wait that long to make these brownies, so i used almond extract instead.
oh and i also added chocolate chips at the end instead of making the frosting.

they're in the oven right now... i'll let you know how it turns out!

FOLLOW UP.
it's good. i'm eating my 2nd piece as we speak. however, the texture is quite different. it's a bit more grainy. but it's moist and very chocolatey. i think i'll make it again. but will probably see if i can decrease the amount of sugar to about 3/4C instead of a 1C.

90 day challenge

this is the second 90 day challenge i've started this year. let's hope this one actually takes me 90 days rather than 120.

this is week 2 of the the Bible in 90 days

week one i was perpetually behind. i'm still trying to catch up, but i'm gettin' close!

this is the 4th time around for the Bible in 90 days and it's nice to see new things each time i read it. in 2006, my highlights were in red. 2007, my highlights were in purple. in 2008, there were no highlights because i used a podcast (bad idea!), and this year my highlights are in green. yes, i love to color coordinate and i love seeing the different colored God-inspired thoughts throughout the years. it's my little rainbow covenant w/ God (kind of like God's covenant w/ noah but not really)....

my little PS... we started Bible 90 on August 2nd. so today is day 10.

wonderful surprise

we have this house plant that quite frankly, is just ugly. we've been meaning to throw it away for years!



well, to our amazement, this is what we came home to today.



we had no idea this plant even flowered! i can't recall it ever flowering in all of my life and we've had this in my house since i was a kid.

not just one, but two!

day at the lake

my in-laws live at a lake. we took a family from our small group and went down for the day for some fishin', tubing, swimmin', and great fellowship.

our jewel got her first fishing rod, courtesy of my man. she was so surprised when she got in the car and saw this pretty pink thing sitting on her car seat, waiting for her.



my man and his brother, fishing off the dock. could this is a snapshot of what they'll look like when they're both retired?



a moment of father daughter bonding. my man was so happy to see her into it. she enjoyed her fishing rod the entire time and was really getting the hang of casting it into the water.

Best brisket recipe

ok - don't know if it's the BEST ever, but it's the best i've ever had/ made. granted i've only tried 3 brisket recipes, but this one is the tops. the funny thing is - i made it a while ago and then i couldn't find the recipe. the other day, i was talking to a friend and she mentioned my brisket recipe and how good it was -- i had to ask for my recipe back :) thank goodness for email!

BBQ'd brisket:

1/4C worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 catsup
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2C sugar
1/2 tsp sage
1 tsp celery salt
1 beef brisket
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

for the bbq sauce:
combine all except the brisket in a saucepan until the
sugar melts, stir constantly.

for the brisket:
1. preheat oven 275
2. spoon 1/3 sauce into roasting pan. sprinkle beef
with salt and pepper (i didn't do this part). place in
the prepared pan
3. pour 1/3 of the sauce on top. cover tightly with
foil.
4. roast for 4 to 5 hours or until very tender. cut
into thin slices
5. serve on buns, topped with remaining sauce

can also grill this over medium-low heat until done to
taste.
oh today, i just crock potted it and it turned out awesome!

i found it!

i finally found the library's video!!! wahoo!
it was in a most inconspicuous place so i think our jewel it did. makes me feel better as i thought i was losing my mind!!

more memory loss!

for three days i've been looking for this video! our jewel borrowed it from the library and as we were cleaning up the other day, i thought - opps! gotta make sure we put this in a safe place so we don't forget to take it to the library. esp since the day before i took a video cover and forgot the video in the dvd player. so this one video cover had 2 videos we owe to the library in it. well, 3 days later and i'm still looking for it. it's bugging the crazy out of me and it's all i've been asking our jewel about. it's gotten to the point where i just look at her and she says, i don't know where the video is!! ugh!!!!