Category Archives: Domestic

Slowly but surely the year comes to an end

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Terri | 2 comments

I feel the need to be domestic, and yet there’s barely anything for me to do! I cleaned the house really well before we left for CA since I knew we’d be tired when we got home. There were no decorations so that didn’t need to be dealt with. All that has left me to do is laundry and the daily clean-up in the kitchen.

All that spare time means I’ve been catching up on my blog reading and that might have gotten me into some trouble 😉

It’s been fun seeing what everyone is planning for 2015. I mentioned to Mister this morning that I can’t believe it’s already been 15 years since the world was freaking out about Y2K.

My own plans to date have included my going back to 101 things in 1001 days and I’ve set up my page. I don’t know what version I finally published because I caught myself waking up at night thinking “oh wait! I want to do this too!”. But it is what it is and I’ve left myself some breathing room as far as my quilting and stitching goes. It’s probably cheating but I can’t imagine trying to create needle and thread goals for 2 3/4 years.

Speaking of those goals, I’m going back to participating in WIPocalypse. I wish I still had my old lists so I can laugh at myself. My lists were so long that I scared myself from getting much done. I wasn’t quilting at the time either. Since the guidelines have changed and quilting is included, I’ve decided to try it again, but this time around I’m starting small and building. It contains 5 stitching things and 5 quilting things. I’ll be posting the list next week.

For now I’ll leave you with the list of movies I watched all day while stitching and doing laundry: A Christmas Carol, Meet me in St. Louis, Elf, A Lion in Winter, and Trading Places. Quite an eclectic Christmas season selection 😉

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Posted in Domestic, Movies, Quilting, Stitching, WIPocalypse

Bizeeee!

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Terri | 2 comments

😀

I swear, for someone who’s “retired” my calendar sure is full these days. I’m not complaining, but feeling very lucky and in some cases very appreciated 😉 There are stitch-togethers one night a week at my LNS; twice a month sew-togethers with a local group; guild meetings twice a month; a sew-in at my LQS; manicure and pedicure appointments, dental appointment, COMICON meetings – the event is next weekend!; and Christmas and our trip to California is just around the corner. Plus there are 2 other sew-togethers each month that I haven’t been able to attend yet, because of my busy schedule. Oh, and let’s not forget the mystery quilt!

While all of this is bringing me joy (okay, except for that dental appointment – which actually contained good news on the surgery front) it is sapping my mental capacity and I’m forgetting to blog again. I haven’t felt like there has been that much to share.

So, I’m pulling out my phone to see what pictures I’ve taken this past week.

Our oranges are starting to turn. Yum! Winter harvest.

I bought a new cooking tool. I’ve wanted one for quite a while and it ended up on sale at my local grocery store, on 10% Senior Discount Day! Yay! Haven’t used it yet, but I see a pot of stew brewing in my future.

I finished another stitching project

which meant I got to start a new one

As to the mystery quilt, I managed to get 28/100 of the first part made. I’m cool with that. Last year I got behind and gave up. This year I’m following Bonnie’s instruction to stop where I am and start on the next part when it come out. After I hit “publish” I’ll be working on part 2.

Before I forget, again, I know I haven’t shown any weight stuff on here lately. With the busy-ness I have had I have been hopping on the scale Tuesday morning, writing it down, and hitting the road running, so to speak. I actually haven’t been running. Or even walking. I’m just now back to my knee not hurting after my graceful tumble down the mountain a month ago. I’ve been throwing a month-long pity party and eating sugar. I’ve paid for it the next day waking up with a headache, and my weight has bounced up and down. I’ve reminded myself that this is a lifelong way, forgiven myself, and this past week, it was back down to what it was the week I fell. I’ve got my alarm set to get out and start walking again tomorrow.

Unless I get a chance to share my Part 2 Grand Illusion progress, I probably won’t blog again until after next Sunday.

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Posted in Bonnie Hunter, COMICON, Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, Health, Kitchen Tools, Lizzie*Kate, Sam Sarah, Stitching

Chicken Cacciatore

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Terri | 2 comments

One of the things I’ve been very consistent with is pre-prepping my food after I kill it and bring it home 😉 This is something I tried to do when I was attempting to lose with Weight Watchers, but it never became a habit. Now, my refrigerator constantly looks like it’s full of leftovers because I slice, dice, and chop before I put something up. At first I was worried about “what if I need this carrot for a recipe?” then realized – with very few exceptions – it really doesn’t matter how it’s cut up, as long as it’s in there. There is always bowls of carrots, peppers, and broccoli, and usually mushrooms (but I forgot to grab them this week, which makes me sad). I do the same thing with melons.

Another thing I’ve learned is that organic grown tastes better. I used to shy away from raw carrots because I couldn’t stand the dry taste of the “baby” carrots, or how wet they’d get in the package after opened. I’ve learned why they’re like that, but that’s a post for another day.

Organic carrots are sweeter. Like kale, I now throw carrots in just about everything I cook these days. I buy 2 pounds, and immediately cut half of them into coins and toss them in a bowl when I get home. I grab a handful for lunch, or toss them in our salads. I also eat almost a whole one while I’m cutting them up. I don’t cut them all up since I keep some back for roasting, but I usually have to slice some more to refill our bowl.

The great thing about this is the ease to grab a handful and chow down. We eat a lot of non-lettuce salads around here now.

My mom used to make Chicken Cacciatore when I was growing up. (Cacciatore means “hunter” in Italian. ) This reminds me of her recipe, but it’s not the same. It has a super quick prep time, since my veggies are already prepped, but it is something that you need to plan as it takes about an hour to simmer. It’s made with my favorite jarred sauce:

Chicken Cacciatore

4 chicken thighs (skin on)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 jar tomato/basil pasta sauce
1/2 bag broccoli slaw
1/2 C rough cut mushrooms
1 C rough cut carrots
1 C rough cut peppers (red, yellow, orange)
1 C rough cut kale (or spinach)

Pour olive oil in a non-stick pan. Heat on medium high and fry thighs until brown on each side. Use a large enough pan that the thighs do not touch. Pour a thin layer of sauce into a pan and place thighs skin side down on top. In a bowl, mix remainder of sauce and all the veggies, and pour on top of chicken. Cover, and cook on medium to a boil, then low for 30 minutes. Turn chicken over, cover back with sauce, and cook an additional 30 minutes.

It will be thick at first, but will thin out during cooking. The veggies never get mushy during cooking. And I’m pretty much guestimating the amount of veggies since I just grab a handful and toss them in.

Serves 4.

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Posted in Recipe

Tagged Paleo recipe

A whole lot of spending going on

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Terri | Comments Off

Yesterday Mister and I went shopping. It’s been a long time since the 2 of us shopped like this. I had a list and some coupons and was on a mission to replace some things and wanted his opinion. I love to shop with him.

First stop, not on my list but his, was Sports Chalet. He wanted me to have an easy to carry water bottle for our hikes since he’s going to start running and leaving me hiking on my own. He normally humps a Camelback. I also needed a whistle. Isn’t he thoughtful?

Next was Bed, Bath and Beyond and here’s where I did some major damage. I had 20% off coupons from before September 2011 😀 I love BB&B!

Asian Fusion Wok and Spider

We eat a lot of stir fried foods and even though I lived in Okinawa for 6 years I’ve never owned a wok. It’s been on my wish list for a long time, but it seems like other things always bumped it down the list. I also wanted a spider since they’re great for poaching eggs.

Salad spinner, dressing carafe, storage jar, Spirooli

I bought the cheapest salad spinner I could find. I didn’t want a fancy one, and I wanted a small one since I normally wash our greens after I’ve chopped them. My current dressing carafe leaks so it needed replacing. The storage jar is the first of several I’ll be buying for my non-gluten baking goods. And the Spirooli! I can’t wait to start using it for zucchini noodles, etc. Huge shout out and “thank you” to Mel for all of our back and forth texting and email conversations about this lovely 😀

Zwilling J.A. Henckels Pro 7″ Santoku Knife and Steel

I have had Henckels knives for about 5 years. Mister bought me paring and utility knives for Christmas one year, and it was an immediate love affair. I never knew I was that capable with a kitchen knife until I had a quality one to use. Good knives, and a good cutting board (I use bamboo), are miracle makers, and while I’ve always loved to cook, those 3 items ramped up my skills. The next year I bought myself a 5 1/2″ Santoku knife and just about swooned. It was so much better than my slicing knife. I’ve had a steel for a while, but lately my knives have felt like I needed to sharpen them more often. Yesterday, I found out that the steel I have been using wasn’t hard enough for the Henckels. I went in to the store to buy myself a Chef’s knife, but ended up with a 7″ Santoku instead after my 30 minute conversation with the “knife guy.” I had to go find Mister afterward, since he got bored and wandered off. LOL I still have that chef’s knife and a peeling knife on my wish list. I also have the bread knife, but am now considering taking it off the list since, hey!, I don’t eat bread anymore. 😉

I headed over to another store to look at sheets but decided on some at BB&B and trotted back in there to snatch them.

I have 1 more purchase to make. I want a Lodge 6-qt Enameled Dutch Oven, and a Lodge 8-9″ skillet, then I’ll be set.

Mister’s 35 mile bike ride had him dragging and he wanted lunch at Olive Garden. Of course, by that time it was 1:30. What I ordered was okay, and I left food there instead of bringing it home. Since we ate so late we ended up just having a snack at 8 last night.

I guess I’ve made up my mind about which version of Dear Jane I want to do. I had posted a photo of an Amish version in this blog post, and this morning I ordered this:

Kona Swatch Card

303 cotton swatches.

Still haven’t sewn this weekend. I did stitch last night during the LSU game. Boy was THAT something to raise my blood pressure.

Today’s a lazy day. A little bit of laundry, and decide how to prepare some salmon for dinner tonight, are my only have-to-dos for the day. Want to get a Wild & Goosey block stitched up and then get on my Civil War Club tablerunner.

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Posted in Civil War Club, Domestic, Kitchen Tools, LSU, Wild & Goosey

Kowabunga

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Terri | 1 comment

The weather was perfect yesterday for our hike. There was a slight breeze, the sky was clear and our humidity has dropped to 47%. Even at 7 a.m. the parking lot was filling from people having a long weekend. We didn’t see any hikers on the trail, but were passed several times by bikers. I rarely stop on the way up, as I don’t want to lose my momentum, but I had to stop to share evidence of our trail being shared, and why I’m glad we’re out there at daylight. You’ll probably have to click the photo to see it.

There is so much evidence of the influence of water here. I usually want to stop and snap photos all the way down the mountain, but Mister was quite a ways ahead of me so I only stopped a few times.

I would love to take this home with me and put it in my front yard. I think it’s so beautiful. I’m thinking of asking Mister, or my dad, to paint me a photo of it for the house.

The rain from last week is being taken advantage of.

All the saguaro have blooms either coming or going. They’ll all be gone in a couple of days, though, since we’re not expecting any more rain, and they only bloom 1 day.

Look! A desert squid.

By 11:00 yesterday I’d had my hike, taken the dogs for a quick walk, gone to the grocery store and had everything cut up and put away. So much energy! I had to make myself sit and read a new quilt magazine.

We had a late lunch at Chipotle and hit the movies. By the title you probably know we saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Wish Son had been with us. The TV program was one he enjoyed growing up, and I can remember us going to one of the movies at a drive-in. (Am I the only one that misses drive-ins?)

The rest of the evening was spent watching baseball and puttering.

So far my getting back to eating healthy is going great. My ‘frig’ is full of fresh veggies, my cupboards are getting emptier and emptier (I’m struggling to think of things for “pantry night.”) I hit the store just right yesterday and got 2 free range natural fed whole chickens, 3 grass-fed steaks, wild caught salmon, and 1 package of pork ribs for $30 less, so my freezer is at capacity. This is 15 meals for us.

Mister is headed out for a 30 mile ride (he has a tri in October) and I’m hoping to get some stitching done while I wait on him to come back. Later this afternoon I’m shopping for more weapons and tools.

Still no sewing this week, but I hate starting something when I only have a few minutes. There will be plenty of time after shopping and the rest of the weekend.

1 Comment

Posted in Domestic, Hiking, Movies

Stuffed Peppers

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Terri | Comments Off

The unhappiness that the Rainbow Hash recipe brought has stayed on my mind and last night I couldn’t take it anymore so I changed it up and fell in love with it.

Stuffed Peppers

1 lb chicken breakfast sausage
1/4 head red cabbage
4 carrots
1/2 head cauliflower
1 cup chopped kale
2 green onions, sliced thin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 T tomato paste
1/2 C water
4 yellow “bell” peppers (red, orange, or green will work. See NOTE)
1 T coconut oil
sea salt & black pepper

Set oven for 350°. Grab a bowl large enough to hold all of your chopped veggies. Get your food processor out. Pre-chop the cauliflower florets, toss them in, and process the heck out of them until it looks like rice. Pour it into the bowl, then get to chopping your carrots and cabbage, separately, and pour them in your bowl. Add coconut oil to pan, heat it up, and cook your sausage. Add salt, black pepper, and red pepper. Once meat is cooked add in your chopped veggies, stir it up good, cover and cook for 10 minutes on medium low, stirring twice during cooking time.

Slice your green onions, and chop your kale, and set aside. Cut a circle around the top of the stem of your peppers, and pull the core out. Use a spoon to scrape the veins down as thin as you can without breaking through the peppers.

At the end of the 10 minutes, stir in the green onion and kale and taste to see if you need more salt. Add in the tomato paste and water, stir, and simmer for 5 minutes.. Stuff your peppers as full as you can. Place them in a casserole and cover. Bake 25-30 minutes.

NOTE: If you’re using green bell peppers, or you like your peppers soft, you may want to boil them about 5 minutes, once they’re cleaned out. Do this at the beginning and turn them over to drain while prepping the rest of the ingredients. Also, on the red pepper, we like spicy so you may want to start with 1/4 tsp and taste. You can always add more right before you stuff your peppers. Our spicy was just enough to make you think “man that’s real spicy and I need some more.” Or, just barely make your nose run 😉

I served them with roasted green beans, and could only eat half of my pepper.

Mister calls these Rainbow Bright Peppers because of how bright all the veggies are.

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Posted in Paleo, Recipe

Tagged paleo dinner recipe, Paleo recipe

Recipes

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Terri | 2 comments

Back on August 3rd I shared this tease photo on FB for a new recipe. I can’t say that this recipe was a full success, though, but I’m going to share it anyway.

This was a free recipe from Nov 12 / The Performance Menu

Rainbow Hash

1 1/2 lb turkey sage sausage (I used pork)
1/3 head red cabbage
3 lg carrots
kale
coconut oil
sea salt & pepper

Heat oil over medium heat in large skillet and cook sausage.

Chop veggies separately in food processor. Add to skillet with salt and pepper (can add other seasonings).

Cover and cook 10-12 minutes. Stir often.

xxxxxxxxxx

I couldn’t find turkey sausage at the time, but have a source now. I cut the kale with a knife instead of using the processor and kept it out until the last 2 minutes. This was super easy and fast. The problem I had with it – too sweet between the sage and the carrots. This is what it looked like cooked, and one of the ways I served it.

I am going to change it up and serve it a different way in a few days and will share that, too.

I used the left over cabbage and made a quick slaw to go with the pulled pork I made earlier this week:

Red Cabbage Slaw

1/2 head red cabbage
1/4 inch slice of red onion
2 T olive oil
2 T rice vinegar
sea salt & pepper

Slice the cabbage, or dice it, however you prefer your slaw cut. Dice onion. In a separate bowl whisk together oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour it over slaw, toss it, and immediately serve. Easy peasy 😀

2 Comments

Posted in Paleo, Recipe

Tagged paleo breakfast recipe

Ginger Beef Stew

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Terri | 1 comment

This is one of those recipes that I’ll be tweaking the next time I made it, but man oh man, did I love it. I wanted to eat the leftovers for breakfast the next morning but made myself wait for lunch, and then there was plenty for Mister and I to have for dinner, too!

Ginger Beef Stew

2# stew meat
2 lg yams (Not sweet potatoes. You want the yellow ones.) Cut into bite size pieces
4 lg carrots, thinly sliced
3 stalks celery chopped
1-2 T fresh minced ginger
1 can coconut milk (whole fat, and shake it before you open it)
1 T coconut oil divided

Cut up your veggies, and mince your ginger before starting. Pour the milk into a dutch oven, stir in the ginger, dump in the veggies, and set your heat to medium low. Divide your oil into a separate pan, and brown half the meat. Dump the whole thing into your dutch oven; add the remaining oil and meat to your pan, and brown it up. Dump it in. By this time you should have a good simmer going on your dutch oven. Stir everything up the best you can. It’s going to look like you don’t have enough liquid, but it’s going to cook down, and thicken up.

Cover and cook for about 25 minutes. Stir a few time and check the tenderness of the meat and potatoes.

NOTE: Next time I make this I’m going to cook it for 20 minutes, then add in my potatoes and cook for 15 (or until they’re tender). My potatoes were too soft for me. I will share those results.

As shared in my previous post I’ve had a good weekend. Another trip we made was into Scottsdale to visit the Williams-Sonoma store. I received a birthday gift card 3 years ago (I know, bad, bad Terri) and finally spent it on this month’s new kitchen tool(s). I love them. If you bigify the picture you can see on the bottom the different grinds you can get. The pepper grinds down to super, super fine (6 different grinds altogether), and the salt had 3 different grinds.

It’s been a lazy day for me. After staying out so late last night, I got out of bed really late and watched NASCAR, baseball, and now NFL’s on.

1 Comment

Posted in Kitchen Tools, Paleo, Recipe

Recipe correction

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Terri | Comments Off

I realized tonight, while whipping up some Refrigerator Oatmeal, that I incorrectly stated 6 tablespoons of agave/honey. That should have read 6 teaspoons (I have a 2 teaspoons, spoon). I’ve corrected the recipe to read 2 tablespoons.

I hope I’m not too late.

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Posted in Recipe

Honey Roasted Carrots

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Terri | 2 comments

I’ve been working real hard on menu planning. I have 2 pantries. One by the kitchen I keep things that we use a lot, and snacks. The snack part of the pantry is looking rather bare 😀 I think the only thing in that part is my 2 lonely packages of cashews and almonds.

The other pantry is where I store our extras and paper goods and it’s still full. Since I’m slowly transitioning, I’ve decided to pull one meal a week from there until it’s all gone.

I don’t know that it’ll ever be perfect, but I think doing this is another thing that’s keeping me on task, and I don’t feel like I’m wasting money by throwing things away. I do know there are some things in there that I need to donate.

Only once this past week did I ever feel hungry, and it was because I didn’t plan properly for that day. We had a lot of outside things going on, and I ended up hitting the drive-thru at Sonic. In the past I would have gone xlarge, but I ordered medium, felt guilty about it, but shoved those tots down my pie hole anyway. I’ll be honest and say I really, really enjoyed them.

The other meal I had out this week was planned, and I didn’t enjoy it. Our Taco Bell supports the DBacks and every time they score 6 runs TB offers 3 free tacos with the purchase of a large drink. We used to take advantage of it every single time, but, in addition to the DBacks having a rough season and not scoring 6 that often, the few times they have we have had other plans. This past week we did the deal, adding a quesadilla to the order. I ended up eating only 2 of my tacos and only 2 small pieces of the quesa.

So, all that blather leads to this. I try to only buy what I know we’ll use up between store visits. I’m determined not to toss anything because, let’s face it, organic is expensive!

I had some carrots that I bought for another recipe that didn’t happen because I forgot to buy one of the ingredients. Instead of taking the chance of them not going bad I roasted them, and served them will grilled steaks and a salad.

Honey Roasted Carrots

Set oven to 400° and line a baking sheet with foil, dull side up.

1 lb carrots. Cut into uniform pieces.
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp local raw honey
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/4 tsp cracked pepper

Toss it all in a bowl until carrots are covered.
Spread them all out in your pan being sure none are stacked on top of the other.
Bake 30 minutes, turning pan after 15 minutes.
Let cool a few minutes then serve.