2018 Recipe Round-Up

2018 held new recipes, lots of tried, true family favorites and memorable moments, but I also said goodbye to one of my favorite shows~The Chew. 

With no renewal for the 2018/2019 season, I lost one of my most valuable go-to's for new recipes, techniques and daily laughs with the hosts. It was great while it lasted, I'll give them that! 

Image from jacquespepinart.com

I even managed to keep a written record of most of our dinners for the year in a daily planner. This is something I'm hoping to continue into the new year, as well as put my first entry into my READ from Christmas. This is a beautifully illustrated book to hold all the memories from dinner parties or family get together's. I'm pretty excited about it and debating on getting a Canon Ivy to instantly add photos from our celebrations.

In 2018, we ate everything from moose to jackfruit. I've even been super helpful and complied a Pinterest board with all our top recipes from the past year. 

If you're wanting to adapt Meatless Mondays or try something different, give jackfruit a try. 

Pulled "Pork" (Jackfruit) Sandwiches

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 med onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans Jackfruit in brine, drained

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp Worcester sauce (if you are a vegetarian, read the ingredients to make sure it doesn't contain anchovies, as many do)

1/2 bottle of barbecue sauce

Turn Pot onto Sauté

Add olive oil when the pot is hot,  then saute onions and garlic until softened

Add jackfruit and seasonings and stir

Close lid, press Cancel, and set Pot to Manual/Pressure Cook at high pressure for 4 min.  (I know it seems like you should have to add liquid, but trust me - there's enough from the onions and jackfruit.  Shhh.  It's going to be okay.)

Natural release for 10 min, then release the rest of the pressure.

Shred with a fork(s) or potato masher. 

Add 1/2 bottle of your barbecue sauce of choice, stir, and serve on top of toasted hamburger buns with coleslaw. 

After Christmas I browsed around the local stores and looked at so many cookbooks for inspiration and what to possibly to add to my collection. Anthony Bourdain's Appetites might be the next addition to the kitchen shelf. His chopped liver on rye looked quite intriguing and adventurous. Flipping through the book, I immediately heard his voice narrating each and every page. His voice is right up there with Mike Rowe and Morgan Freeman. I also peeked inside the newest release from Carla Hall-  Soul Food. She shared some deep South favorites and this mouth watering delights like Ham Steaks with Cantaloupe and Blackberry Sauté. FYI-Costco carries all the necessary ingredients for this dish in case you want to make it for a crowd and I'll be trying out that recipe in the near future. An honorable mention to Christopher Kimball's Milk Street:Tuesday Nights cookbook for hundreds of new weeknight meals but full of weekend flavor. I still haven't picked up the newest Cooking Light magazine, but as always it will have several new recipes to throw into our rotation of favorites. 

If you're looking for one cookbook to add to your personal collection, my pick for 2018 is Alaska from Scratch. Maya's recipes do not require special ingredients or fancy gadgets and if it's a wild game recipe, she normally includes a substitute that people from the Lower 48 can readily find.  




I've been following Maya's blog since 2013 and finally got to meet her in person back in May at her book signing. She's such a sweet person and meeting her in person was a blogger/fan-girl top memory.






I'm hoping that 2019 leads to many adventures, whether they're in the kitchen or out exploring!

Follow me at my new site, I'll continue to cross post on both for a bit! 

End of Year Musings

After a conversation with a friend yesterday, I began thinking about personal resolutions for the new year. How does one not set themselves up for failure?  Do you set simple or a realistic goal to achieve to in the coming year? Each new year brings a clean sheet of paper in a 365 page novel of one’s life and most people strive to live an abundant life, hopefully become a blessing to others and the generic wish for others to have health, love and peace. 

My youngest and I just finished reading a book set in the early 1900’s, where the mother of the main character recorded all her children’s resolutions in the family bible and then read them aloud during their New Year’s Eve celebrations. I found this a interesting idea for families to track their goals for the year. 

In year’s past, our family has adopted a “Happiness Jar” and jotted down things that have brought us joy or happiness daily. A task so simple, but made you analyze a bad day just for the smallest glimmer of joy that was contained within it. Then on New Year's Eve, they are read aloud and you reflect on the past year. It makes you realize that your bad days aren’t even comparable to those who have it worse off than you. It’s crazy that something as so simple, could have a profound impact on one’s life.

With the advent of social media, people are once again posting their top nine or best nine photos of the year selected by followers. It might not even be one of your top nine memories contained within that grid. It just  happens to be a picture that most people happened to ‘like’ at one given time. I think back on what a whirlwind 2018 has been for our family. We stepped outside our comfort zone in so many ways. We bought a house, became more involved in our church and spent more time making memories together as a family. What surprised me the most its that some of these things didn't even show up on my top nine or could tell a fraction of 2018’s story. So, I ended up choosing my own top nine; Nine pictures that meant more to me, than the 2.2K "likes"I had received this past year. 

There are certain things that I’d like to personally strive towards in 2019, but the main thing that keeps circling my thoughts is not let other’s steal my joy. Daily, I see bickering and just plain nastiness towards one another, whether it’s in a public setting or from keyboard warriors on social media. This tends to get me down and makes my heart hurt. We need to heed Paul’s words from Colossians and clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and most of all, love.

Be the joy in 2019. 

{Colossians 3:12-17}

Observations from the Stacks

Question: Why does this older gentleman have two laptops?

Photo Credit

Observation:

Mid 50’s to late 60’s, enamel souvenir pins adorn his brimmed hat. Well-kept snow white beard. Columbia style button up shirt with sleeves rolled, pants and lightweight fishing vest. One laptop (right) and iPad/tablet with keyboard attachment (left). Smart phone in hand. Seated at a table between travel non-fiction and cooking non-fiction.

Theory #1                                                                      

                             

His name is Theodore and recently became a tour guide for one of the cruise lines here in Fairbanks. He spends his off days inside the local library studying local lores and legends to make his guided tours the most profitable. His arch nemesis, Sharon has won tour guide of the summer for the last 8 years. Theodore hates Sharon with a passion and has successfully collected more souvenir pins from travelers as tokens of appreciation than she has in the last 15 years. Theodore’s hatred stemmed from overhearing Sharon say some ugly things behind people’s backs. Theodore wished she had heard Clara talk about her orthopedic shoes. The only thing Theodore can’t accept is that he is the sole person responsible for abandoning Stubbs and his littermates in downtown Talkeetna some 20 years ago. His actions haunt him daily since the news of the mayor’s death. Theodore enjoys the cold side of the pillow and Saturday evenings are reserved for documentaries narrated by Morgan Freeman. His favorite song is “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell. 

Presently..Life in Alaska

So. Here we are. Finally living in Alaska. Is it all we've dreamed of? 

Well...

Moving during the winter, I can tell you one thing for sure. It doesn't snow as much as it did in Upstate NY. It's not a bone chilling wet-cold type of climate and I'm not outside shoveling EVERY TWO HOURS. However, I don't think we've witnessed enough of Alaska's beauty nor experienced all the seasons to make a final decision. Then again, we had a pretty terrific view once we disembarked the ferry in Haines. Time will tell if we're cut out for living in the last frontier or if our hearts' still long for North Carolina blue skies.

Autumn is arriving soon and so are the movers...

Autumn is my favorite season. There's football, crisp cool air, leaves changing colors, Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and of course all things pumpkin flavored or scented. And in the North Country that means apple cider and cider donuts. 

It also means a time of change and preparedness; back to school, animals prepare for Winter and the Army tells us it's time to head to another duty station. 

So after 3 years in Upstate New York, we're moving to Alaska. More specifically the largest interior city in Alaska, Fairbanks.

 It's population is roughly the size of Salisbury, NC, the birthplace of Cheerwine. There are no sit-down chain restaurants, just a few fast food options. Everything else is a locally owned restaurant, which is going to be kind of a nice change. Their coldest months are November and December, but here in upstate NY its January and February. Another welcome change is the amount of snowfall. Fairbanks averages 65 inches of snow all winter and here in Watertown, they average 106 inches each year. The winter of 2014/2015 we saw 181 inches. That's 15 FEET of snow! And I'll take sub zero temps over crazy amounts of snow anyday. 

My husband is over the moon and excited about all the hunting, fishing and endless outdoor activities and of course no silly NY gun laws. I'm pretty excited too, mostly for the opportunity to see the Northern lights in person, all the wildlife, ice sculptures and cooking all the wild game that makes its way into my kitchen. 

Our kids are slowly warming up to the idea of a new state, new city, and new friends. But we've made the best out of every duty station we've been assigned. Now we 'hurry up and wait' for the movers to arrive and enjoy one last fall season here in New York. 

Happiness is...

One of my New Years resolutions is to appreciate all things that I've been blessed with in life and to be grateful for them. Much like stopping to smell the flowers, I want to pause at the end of each day and jot down something that made me happy. I recently stumbled across this idea multiple times on New Years; first when a friend posted that she had just opened their '2015 jar of happy'. It was filled with random snippets of dialogue from her children, memories from living in Korea and other fun times throughout their year. The second time I saw a happiness jar scroll across my newsfeed was from the personal page of Elizabeth Gilbert.

I read through several posts from Elizabeth's fans and was intrigued by several of their stories of how they found happiness even on a horrible day or time in their lives. 

After seeing jars filled with gratitude and happiness, I knew that this was something that I really wanted to do during the year ahead. I want to remember one good thing that happened during my day when the rest of it might have been a bit more chaotic. I want to look back a year from now and see that even on my darkest day, it was filled with light. 

As I said in my first blog entry for the year....

I really want this year to be focused on happiness and not let any negativity seep in and destroy what I've got going on in my life. I've joined a new community of like-minded people that just want to be happy and I like that idea. 

So here it is.  Just a simple jar with a lid that I picked up at a local craft store. I wood burnt the tag and tied it in place with jute. Colorful things make me happy, so I picked up some 2x3 inch cardstock to jot my happy moments on. I had the word happiness leftover from a scrapbook and taped it to the bottom of the jar. For less than $10, I created something that will bring me joy in the year ahead and I think that's pretty neat. Along with writing down happy moments, I'm taking it a step further and including wallet-sized pictures of happy times with my family from throughout the year. I know when I see a picture of us having a family game night, it'll remind me of the fun time we had playing Catan on New Years Day. Another idea is to eventually compile all the happy moments into a scrapbook after we open the jar on NYE.  

I'm looking forward to 2016 and all the happy things it has in store for me. 

Happy Birthday Hunter!

Today my dog turns FIVE! 

My sweet Weimaraner, Hunter has turned five and is slowly going gray around his muzzle. He's been my deployment/hubby isn't here buddy since we rescued him almost 3 years ago. It's hard to believe that I wasn't a "dog" person until I got him and now I couldn't picture him in my life. He's already traveled cross country twice, once to the beach for the very first time and the second time when we moved from Kansas to New York. 

Hunter loves car rides, playing at the dog park, chasing squirrels on our walks, laying on the couch with his sister, Bella and cuddling with me while I read. He loves to steal potatoes and hide them around the house, catch frogs and bring them inside and even purrs when he's happy. 

Happy 5th Birthday Hunter! 

Happy New Year!

It's a brand new year & a brand new day. As I sit here thinking about all the things that I'd like to accomplish in the year ahead, I'm amazed at what the last year has bought me. I had been given a year where my spouse hasn't deployed, a year where my children were healthy, a year where we found an amazing church family to worship with, a year of new friendships and a year where we've been content with our lives.

A few things that are happening right off the bat in 2016; a happiness jar is in the works. I really want this year to be focused on happiness and not let any negativity seep in and destroy what I've got going on in my life. I've joined a new community of like-minded people that just want to be happy and I like that idea. :)

I'm slowly getting back to my fitness goals from last year and carving out some well deserved time for myself. I've saved a ton of self-care and motivational pins on Pinterest in the past week and I'm looking forward to putting those into action. I'm also making more time for a project of mine that's been in the works for over 6 long years. It's been pushed to the back burner far too many times. My spiritual relationship is also in need of some repair, so I'll be diving back into my weekly PWOC meetings here on post and striving to lead a more Christ-filled life. 

There are some big changes ahead in 2016. I'm working on myself from the inside-out and I'm excited about all the changes God has in store for me and my family. Hope you all have a fantastic 2016, filled with lots of love, laughter and joy! 

Here's to a new year! 

Fall Into A Good Book

October is my favorite time of year.

It's no secret that I love a good book. However, this is the time of year is when I read the most of all. The air is crisp and leaves are slowly changing color. I love being able to curl up in a comfy chair and stare outside in between chapters. Plug in a wax burner filled with apple pumpkin, crisp fall leaves and toasted campfire wax melts and it's almost perfection. Fall is the time of year, you wish you could just enclose it in a bottle to remember the sights and smells. Last year we took a weekend trip to Lake George and saw the last of the leaf peeping season here in the North Country. We stopped alongside the Hudson Watershed and snapped a couple quick pics. Autumn in New York is brief, however it is breathtakingly beautiful. 

October is a time for fresh apple cider and hot cider donuts. Enjoying one in front of a waterfall is an added bonus. Impromptu picnics on the remaining days of an Indian Summer and spend the evening under a full moon warming yourself beside a roaring bonfire. It's more than PUMPKIN everything. As I said, it's my most favorite time of year. New books begin hit the shelves at local bookstores and  The New York Times Best Seller list produces tons of fall worthy reads. Which brings me to my original thought. I love a good book. A few ladies in our neighborhood have formed a book club and although we took  the summer off from reading we started back up in right before school started back. For August, we picked a historical fiction WWII novel, "War Brides" by Helen Bryan. Although most of our group enjoyed some parts of the book, we mainly agreed it was a little slow going. It received 3 1/2 stars. 

September's selection was a debut novel, California by Edan Lepucki. It was a post-apocalyptic novel following the characters, Cal and Frieda into the wilderness leaving L.A. behind in their past. Our group enjoyed the far fetched reality that Cal and Frieda faced, but we were left hanging by the ending. California received a week 3 stars. For October's selection we decided to go with a thriller to fit with this time of year. "The One that Got Away" by Simon Wood was a fast paced thriller that had us rooting for Zoë and that the Tallyman got what he deserved in the end. Wood's book received 3 1/2 stars. 

For November's book club pick we decided to read another thriller.  Reese Witherspoon's Instagram account provided our selection. "In a Dark, Dark Wood" by Ruth Ware is a mystery/thriller based on high school friends that loose touch, only to reunite at a "hen weekend" to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Clare. I picked this book up after our meeting to get a jump on reading. It was a page turner and had you guessing until the very end. Ware's debut novel received a strong 4 stars. I'm also excited to see news that Witherspoon is taking this novel from page to screen. Meanwhile, I'm trying to finish up reading the first book in the Outlander series, so I know what all the hype is about and then moving on "Into the Wilderness" by Sara Donati. I'm hoping that there's no thick Scotch accents to read like in Outlander. I hope this rambling of my love of all things fall and a few book club selections kept you entertained. Until next time y'all and keep on reading! 

An Autumn Meal

Tonight, I made a super simple Sunday supper that screamed "Fall is here". We had apple bourbon pork loin, a sweet potato, apple & pecan 'hash' and braised bacon Brussels sprouts served alongside some Harvest Pumpkin stuffing. Dinner was delicious and I had several friends on Facebook asking for the recipes. So, here they are! 

For the pork loin, I marinated it for about 20 minutes in a packet of McCormick brown sugar bourbon made as directed along with 2 tablespoons of apple cider for a little kick. Then I seared the loins in a cast iron skillet and once done I transferred them to a stoneware dish. I baked the pork loin at 350*F for 45 minutes until it reached 170*F. 

While the pork was cooking I peeled and diced a few sweet potatoes and granny smith apples. In my cast iron skillet, I melted 3 tablespoons of coconut oil and cooked the sweet potatoes for about 8 minutes until they were beginning to soften and starting to turn golden brown. I added the apples next and continued cooking them until they were browned. A couple teaspoons of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice were added to the apple and potato mixture. Then I tossed in a half cup of pecan halves and a cup of Craisins (soaked in warm water for 5 minutes, then drained before adding to the hash). Stirred it all together and cooked for about 2 more minutes. Then you're ready to put it on the table.

Bacon braised Brussels sprouts are probably one of my favorite go-to dishes during the spring, fall and winter. Bacon makes everything better. I take a bag of frozen Brussels sprouts and cook them partially in my Pampered Chef micro-steamer. Meanwhile I'll dice and begin to cook 3 strips of thick-cut bacon in another cast iron skillet. Once the sprouts are done in the microwave, drain and cut them in half. Add about 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to the sprouts in a bowl and season with some McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning. Then scrape the sprouts into the skillet with the partially cooked bacon pieces, mix together and cook alongside the pork loin for the last 20 minutes at 350*F. The harvest pumpkin stuffing I found at Aldi's in their seasonal aisle and made it according to the directions on the box. Dinner was simple enough, on the table in about an hour and gobbled up by my boys. 

Hope y'all enjoyed my take on an autumn meal! 

Wedding Anniversary Weekend

So last week, the hubs and I celebrated 13 years of marriage. We kept our celebration a little low key, but still had fun. We went on an impromptu trip down to Syracuse to B&N  to browse books, popped in at Trader Joe's for a couple things I love from there and we even squeezed in a trip to Wegmans for steaks to grill the next evening for dinner. 

The hubs got me some beautiful irises and tulips, since I'm not a roses type of girl. The boys were out of school for Columbus Day and we decided to take our fall family portrait in 70* weather with sweat rolling down our backs. Mind you that 4 days later it snowed. Yep, October is broken up here in the North Country. However, our family pictures turned out great! Then we capped off the afternoon with a picnic, steak dinner and watched Billy Madison, just like we do every year on our anniversary. 

We even had a cake. Wait, let me explain. I made a delicious lemon pound cake from the same recipe used for our wedding cake 13 years ago. Then the hubs used the Rummage family decoration skills that I lack and iced this 2-tiered sugar confection to perfection. And then we smashed it in each other's faces...twice. The first time our oldest bumped the camera tripod that we had set up to recreate the cake cutting and we ended up with 10 pictures of the window in the dining room. The second time was way more successful.

So, here's to 13 years and many more with my best friend!

Crazy busy.... Or I'm a slacker at blogging.

I apparently took off the spring and summer from blogging. BUT I had several DIY projects in the works. The last one I had posted was the coffee mug wall hanger I like to call "Paradise". Which turned out super functional and pleasing to the eye. Then for a belated Mother's Day gift (since the hubs went on a training mission for a couple weeks), my sweet husband crafted this beautiful console table from plans out of The Handbuilt Home by Ana White. This book has tons of plans and we're slowly building furniture pieces from this book. 

I also did some decorating on the front porch. For the 4th of July I crafted this wooden American flag to hang. All it took was a couple 1x6 boards joined together, wooden stars and a couple pieces of stripping. Then I just stained it all with Mission Oak, leaving it darker or lighter on the areas that needed it. It's a lovely addition to our porch and looks great. Another fun project was the DIY wooden tags to add to my fall wreath. I just cut a couple 1x6's, drilled a hole and hand painted "give thanks" onto the tags. 

After a trip to a local antique store and I found a solid wood door. Pinterest-inspired, I set out to make a corner door shelf. The hubs cut it down the middle, added some shelves, blinged it out with a crystal door knob, cleaned up the original hinges and covered it in a coat of Caribbean Sea. 

My biggest project that consumed my time was what I like to call the "Great Dining Room Redo". I once had yellow chairs surrounding the farmhouse table that the hubs built last year for our 12th anniversary. However, those got a fresh coat of Caribbean Sea, the same color as my console table and door. If you couldn't tell, I love this color! And it matches my Fiesta-ware plates in Peacock.

Then I built this super simple rustic wood planter to house some mason jars and candles. The next addition was the giant chalkboard. I have awful chalkboard art abilities, but I love how I can change out my quotes anytime I like. The final touch in the dining room is the awesome DIY lanterns made from 1x2s, 97¢ glass tumblers, clear adhesive caulking and white candles. The dining room turned out better than I expected and then the next project waiting for the hubs and I to tackle was a new tv stand, since a guilty Weimaraner chewed the MDF corners on the one we had. We once again turned to Ana's book for inspiration and knocked out this beauty in a weekend.  

Future DIY builds we hope to accomplish are 2 matching bookcases to flank the media console, a farmhouse bed frame with storage, a desk for our oldest and an apothecary console for the living room after we redo our second living space off the dining area.  I hope some of these DIY projects have inspired you. Happy DIYing Y'all!

Planning my heart out!

The other week I took a leap of faith and ordered an Erin Condren Life Planner after my sister, Mande received hers in the mail. I had been using a my iPhone, a wall calendar and a monthly planner to manage my appointments, things going on the our family and monthly budgeting. Sometimes things didn't get input into my iPhone calendar or on the wall calendar and there I was missing an appointment or trying to remember where I was supposed to be.

On Saturday, this gem arrived in the mail and I'm impressed. Let's start off saying that I got a deep discount on this bad boy and $10 off with a referral from my sister. Normally the basic Life Planners run $50 and it doesn't even include shipping. However the Erin Condren website were offering them 40% off and the coupon from my sister covered my shipping. So, with a few extra goodies added on (Pop-in Meal Planner and budget book) I didn't even spend $40. I had it personalized with my name on the front, which is included in the price. 

After I ordered this and patiently awaited it's arrival. I searched the web for how most people used them. Let me just say, there are some people who decorate the heck out of their planners.  I got tons of great ideas for adding things in my planner, like cleaning schedules, monthly budgeting and lots more. Right now I'm using the 2 page monthly spread for my budgeting and overview of appointments. The weekly spreads I'm adding in when library books are due, when my son is ungrounded, my meet-up group's activites, when to blog, grocery shopping and the biggest thing I'm working on...writing my novel! I've been trying to carve out time to work on it, but sometimes (like always) life has got in the way. Hence, why I've started this project almost 6 years ago. So I'm excited for this planner to help control the chaos in my life and finally get myself organized. I have high hopes for this planner in the hands of a mom with ADD. 

On a totally different note.....GUESS WHAT OPENED THIS WEEKEND!?!?!?

One of the local drive-in theaters opened this weekend. So the hubs, kids and I loaded up and went to the Alexandria Bay Drive-in Friday night. We opted for the kid friendly double feature of "Home" and "Insurgent". I'm excited because nothing says summer, like evening spent at the drive-in with those you love. And of course, we enjoy the "Star Spangled Banner" prior to the movie starting.