New Year, New You...

I am excited about the prospect of new beginnings, trying new things, and freshening up my living areas.  Normally I don't make New Year's Resolutions, because they seem to peter out before the month of January ends.  This year I started some resolutions before January 1st!  Sounds weird?  Maybe, but I found that I focus on what is important to me, rather than what I think I "should" focus on.  There are two things that I began; one well before December and one in December.


I finally prioritized my artwork!  December was a great jumping off point for this, as I prefer to give handmade gifts rather than something purchased at an overcrowded store.  The time I spent creating each gift fulfilled my need to create and gave me some beautiful quiet time during the busy holiday season.  I still don't understand how I let housework, laundry, and the never-ending to do lists take precedence over my art.  Here are some of the pieces I created for Christmas gifts:

These Short story bracelets are made from recycled materials like dog food bags.

The containers to give the bracelets were made out of toilet paper holders and sprayed with Glimmer Mist and stitched closed.

Homemade tomato juice and dilly beans for my dad, complete with 50's/60's retro labels.

Potted Amaryllis and PaperWhite Narcissus for the neighbors.

Potted bulbs wrapped and ready to go.

Now I find it easy to spend five, fifteen, thirty minutes or more to work on a project or at least one step of a project in my daily life.  This has brought great peace and joy to my life.  I will not let go of it!  The laundry and housework will always be there....waiting!

The project that I started far before December was something that I struggled with for a very long time....my weight and my health.  I prayed for years, asking God to remove this burden from me.  I did not want my fat to be the cross I had to bear!  I recently realized that He answered my prayer in an unexpected way.  I got a job at Curves in Dundee this last April.  At the time, the company was promoting a new weight management program to it's employees before releasing it to it's members.  I had no choice, or time to prepare.  I was an employee and had to get on the program.

62 pounds later, I am grateful to God for answering my pleas.  I still have 38 pounds to go to reach my ultimate goal, but this program is a lifestyle.  There is nothing to count, measure, or journal.  I do not have to focus on food each day, the way I did on other programs.  I shop at my local grocery store and I don't ever have to eat processed, packaged food.  I have already been keeping off the 62 pounds now for several months.  I maintained my weight through the holidays, not even trying to lose, so that I could enjoy select treats.  I did not gain!  Here are my before and after pictures...so far!

Pesto Presto

Lately my garden has had a wonderful abundance of spicy globe basil, and what better to use it for than some nice green jars of pesto? I just love how versatile pesto is, we use it on pasta, potatoes, even pizza! (Chicken Pesto Pizza that is; a recipe that I can provide upon request :) Below I include my much used, and much loved recipe for canned, freezing Pesto.

You will need:  

1 cup pine nuts

4 cups fresh basil leaves, fimly packed

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Make sure your fresh basil is washed, then spread the pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast in oven at 450°F until lightly browned.

Puree toasted pine nuts, basil, and garlic in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Add Parmesan cheese, processing just to blend. In a slow steady stream, add 1 cup olive oil through feed tube of food processor or lid of blender while machine is running.

Pour pesto into can-or-freeze jars, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Drizzle 1^1/_{2  teaspoons olive oil over pesto.}

Seal, label, freeze.

Enjoy!

Homemade Applesauce

We tried a new variety of apples last week that went over like a lead Frisbee.  What to do with a bowl of beautiful, crispy but bland apples?  Add lemon juice and make applesauce!  I figure if the lemon doesn't add enough tang to liven up the taste, I can at least use it in my baking as a substitute for oil!

The applesauce turned out quite tasty.  It's so easy to make, I regret not getting a bushel or two of apples last fall. It seems by October and November I am burnt out from all the previous canning.

To make the applesauce, I just peeled and cored the apples I had on hand and put them in a thick bottomed stock pot to simmer with about a half cup of water (just to prevent scorching).  I also added the juice from one lemon.  Then I just let it simmer for a couple of hours.  Since our family loves chunky applesauce, I only mashed about half of the soft apples down to sauce consistency.  You can stop there, but sometimes I add apple pie spice or cinnamon candy red hots.  This time I added a few packets of Stevia as I prefer not to add sugar and called it good.  And it is!

Old Fashioned Comfort Food and New Fashioned Reactions

I have a friend in the hospital after undergoing major back surgery and I have a Pastor who gives of himself more than there seem to be hours in the day.  I also have a daughter in a pre-calculus class that celebrates Pi day on March 14, of course!  Well, it was a good day to make some home grown comfort food; chicken noodle soup and two deep dish apple pies.

I love to hear about and see the reactions of the recipients.  Sometimes I wonder if anyone cooks from scratch anymore?  Shelby was sharing the fascination one boy in her class had with the tiny apple cutouts all over the pie. Apparently, he peeled the mini apples off the top to savor later.  I asked her if anyone else made a pie.  She said nope, the rest came from the grocery store.

Lynette's reaction to the soup was even funnier.  I got to her room just as her lunch arrived.  Dick, her husband, asked the nurse to bring an empty bowl.  Before the nurse had time to even leave the room, Lynette had the cap and ring off the canning jar and was spooning mouthfuls straight out of the jar!

My Pastor, after discovering the other pie in his office, called me to ask if he should cut a slice or wait until his wife came home from work, and even if he didn't wait he wasn't sure he could cut something so pretty... People sure are amusing!

If you are interested in the recipes, I usually get them from allrecipes.com.  In the case of the chicken noodle soup, the only change I made was adding whole wheat egg noodles instead of white.  We just don't bring anything into our home that isn't whole grain.  The apple pie is here.

Home Grown

Unbelievable!  It is October 29 and I still have a bushel and a half of pears to finish preserving!  The very end of the end of the tomatoes were turned into 3 quarts and 1 pint of spaghetti sauce this week.  I have to admit, I love making spaghetti sauce.  I love letting the newly strained tomatoes cook down over 24 hours until I have sauce thicker than than the Prego brand!  Even in the dead of winter, when you crack open a jar, the scents and flavors of summer are right back in the kitchen.

But I am truly amazed at how well the pears produced this year.  I have already put up dozens of sliced pears and pear-cherry chutney.  Tomorrow I think I will make spiced pears and more chutney, as Mike eats the chutney by the jar if I don't hide them first   And of course, we give quite a lot for gifts.  My apples nevey really provide anything more for us than a few treats for the horse...I'm certain this is because we don't spray enough.  Honestly, I wouldn't spray at all if I could get any fruit otherwise.  I am determined to expand my no-spray policy from the garden to the fruit trees, if I could only get my husband on board.

 After reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver I am convinced the more we spray, the more pests we end up with.  Don't buy that theory?  Read the book!  She can explain it far better than I, a novice can.  We've made some very good changes at home using sustainable methods of composting, recycling, raised bed gardening, rain water collection, etcetera, but I really need to research and actively try to control my fruit pests in a more natural and balanced way.  I think my biggest fear is that it is going to entail a lot more hands-on work for me.  I already am overwhelmed in the spring, summer, and fall with planting, hand picking pests, weeding, harvesting, preserving all the produce as well as the animals we keep.  Stay tuned we'll see what happens in the spring.

Oh, and hopefully after tomorrow I'll be posting about some artwork I'm working on! :)