Cooking cooking

I'm on an eggplant kick this week.  Too bad I know about 2 ways to prepare it.  No matter.  Fried it is!

Seriously, though, I have really hard time motivating to cook for one.  It's not that I don't still enjoy cooking, I just like cooking for someone, better than I like cooking.

I had Dave over for dinner Monday, and maybe went a little nuts.  But that's ok, it was appreciated.  :-)

Last night I cooked dinner with Michael at his place, and that was fun, if somewhat of a comedy of errors in the way that only Michael and I know how to do!  And, in theory at least, Michael knows how to make fried eggplant now too.

Cooking for myself, I have a tendency to do large batches, and eat the same thing for a week at a time.  Which is easy, but I'm not convinced that I'm eating enough of a variety to actually be as healthy as I'd like my eating to be.

Anybody who's on their own have any ideas for me?

I quit.

I quit.  Seriously.  I'm done.  Finished.

And it's a damn fine thing!

I've decided that I'm done letting stupid people and silly fears stop me from being happy.  I will always have OCD, and will always make things a little different for me, but IT WILL NOT STOP ME.

I'm finished letting other people convince me not to do something I know I will enjoy.  It's not YOUR life, it's MINE!  I was talked out of the Tough Mudder last year, I have been convinced to stay home when I would rather go out, I was guilted into missing things I wanted to do.  But you're not here anymore.  AND I'VE MOVED ON!

I went bouldering last night. I invited someone I barely know to join me on a hike (yes, I know for fact this person is not a serial killer).  I'm going to give a talk of sorts at a Girl Scout camp, despite what I think of public speaking.  I started playing my clarinet again, and (SCREW YOU, CONRAD!) I'm playing jazz!

I will work with my OCD, I will work around my OCD, but my OCD will not define me or run my life anymore.  It's my life, not yours.  You make it hard enough, OCD, without me letting you win.

I'm not letting fear of people thinking I'm weird stop me.  The people who love me, love me because I'm weird.  If you can't handle weird, it's not my problem that you're probably boring.

I'm going to be happy.  I've made the decision.   There will be bad days, there will be tough weeks.  That's life.  And I'm not going to let it get the best of me anymore!

Oh! Gross!

So, I love home canning.  You make have gathered that.  And for tougher/more complicated projects, I won't attempt them without a helper buddy, just in case my kitchen explodes or something.  Which is why I was very pleased to find out when we made Garlic Jelly back in April that Mikey is a pretty good canning buddy.

But, sometimes the canning bug bites and no one's available to help, so I pick an easier project.  Or in this case, the enormous amount of garlic I purchase a while ago, desperately need to be used and everybody had plans already.

I made this really simple Pickled Garlic from Serious Eats a while back, and I really liked it for salad dressing and Dave pretty much ate it straight from the jar.  So, all in all, it was a hit.  And keeping all that in mind, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and pickle at least the bulk of the remaining garlic.

Good news:  It was just as super easy as I remembered and I didn't catch anything on fire or do anything else stupid.
Bad news: I have now had my first, ever, canning jar that didn't seal properly.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it didn't seal at all.  So I only have 5 jars of garlic, instead of 6.
Really Bad news:  Since the jar didn't seal, the garlic was basically fermenting for the last two days, rather than pickling.  You cannot imagine how bad rotten pickled garlic smells, especially after how hot it's been the last few day.  So, nasty!

Making, fixing, cooking, doing.

This hippy is happiest when kept busy.  I'm not always that good at prioritizing what I NEED to do over what I WANT to do, fun often wins out over responsibility until the last possible minute, but I'm getting stuff done.

One of the things I've been trying to do, since I need to do some serious downsizing in the next few months, has been to pare down the things I've accumulated in the kitchen.  Dry goods that I rarely use, but somehow have 3 tubs of, spices that I have duplicates of, more frozen fruit than I could eat in a month, that kind of stuff.

My close friend, and fellow hippy, Mikey has been enjoying the fruits of this quite a bit, sometimes literally. Like right now, I'm making a berry topping for when have breakfast for dinner on Friday.  He's gotten most of my duplicate spices, and we've cooked a couple of meals from stuff I just happened to have laying around.

Tonight, after painting a bit, and taking the orange cat for a walk in the park, I used some leftover blackberries that I froze after a trip to Trader Joe's last month, and the last of the dried jalapenos that Carl didn't want, even though they were his, and made Blackberry Jalapeno Sauce.

Yesterday, I made raisin bark with some millet that needed to be used, leftover semi-sweet chips from a batch of my Miracle Max's Death Pills, and a little bit of cayenne and most of the Himalayan Pink Salt I had laying around.

Tomorrow there will likely be no cooking because I have plans for a bike ride with my mom, but you never know!

Hippy Kitchen Magic

So, forever ago, I started writing a cookbook.  No one was particularly encouraging about it, and I understand some of it.  My mom didn't want to help me taste test desserts, she was trying to eat healthy.  No one wanted to try pasta dishes because everyone was eating low carb.

Well, I've got a friend who wants to learn to cook, and another friend who can't believe the way that I cook ahead for a week of breakfasts at a time, so I think it's time I pulled this project back off the back burner.  It's actually a two-fold project, probably going to end up as two cookbooks, but I feel like I may as well work on the recipes together because I can't just eat cake and biscuits, and even if I could I like a lot of variety in my food.

So one of the books is going to be super easy recipes made, in part from boxes mixes and ready to go items,  for people who don't like to cook for hours and the other is going to be single serve and easy to freeze make ahead goodies so simplify packing lunches and breakfast on the go.  If you have an idea you'd like to see me try, let me know, I plan on crediting where the suggestions came from.

Happy cooking!

Wish me luck!

Miracle Max's Death Pill

1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Flax Meal
1/2 cup Hull Hempseeds
2 Tbsp Chia Seeds
1/2 Tbsp Hawaiian Spirulina

Optional: Baking chocolate or candy melts for coating (about 9 oz.)

Mix everything but the chocolate until it's an even consistency and weird green color!

Roll into balls and dip in melted chocolate (follow instructions on the package for melting)

Makes about 20.

Keep refrigerated because of the flax meal and hempseeds.

Enjoy!

(I'm not such a) Tough Mudder!

So, yesterday I participated in the Philadelphia Tough Mudder!  (Go, ME!)

And I have to admit, I use the phrase participate very loosely.  I only made it 1 mile!  I had to pack it in really early because of my knee.  I twisted it on Thursday, climbing this:

So it's not like I'm just a total wimp.

All in all, it was a good experience.  I learned a lot.  I had fun.  I spent some time with dear friends (who spent much more time with each other, because they actually finished).

I had a lot of trouble with my asthma in the humidity yesterday, which is new for me, and I think related to the pneumonia I had over the winter.

I made the first obstacle with no trouble, but by the time I got to the second one, my knee was already starting to protest the uneven ground and I couldn't adjust my brace because of all the mud on it.  So, rather than risking a serious injury, or preventing the boys from finishing, I bowed out gracefully and waited for them to finish.

They had a blast and now we all know the things we need to be better prepared for to do it next year.

I also noticed that I was, by far, the heaviest girl I saw all day who was a participant.  In a way, I'm proud of that, of the fact that despite my size, I tried anyway.  But mostly, I'm sad.  I'm sad that more bigger girls don't just get out there and try.  And closer to my heart, I'm sad that I let someone I should have been able to trust, affect me, my health and my self-worth in as negative a way as I have in the last few years.

But every day is new day, and a new chance to make a change, and change I will!  I'm already less lonely and more social than I've been in ages.  I'm spending time with more people who are better influences on me and I'm already seeing the positive impact on my health. (and my waistline!)  I'm eating better and keeping up around the house.  I'm getting art projects finished.

And most importantly, I'm really, truly happy for the first time in a long while!

Good things are afoot!

So, in the last month or so a lot has happened.  I don't really want to go into all of the gory details, but suffice it to say, it has become time to make a change.

That being said.  My house is cleaner than it's been in longer than I care to admit.  I sold a bunch junk that I was guilt-tripped into taking at a flea market and made a few bucks.

I've been doing yoga again and I've been out hiking twice already this year. I got to take a friend who'd never been there, to Jim Thorpe and to Tuscarora

I'm eating better and more regularly.  I'm packing my lunches and actually cooking breakfast.  I'm making foods I enjoy, and prepping healthy snacks.

I've learned how much my wedding vows meant to me and how much that doesn't matter if you spouse doesn't feel the same.

I've learned that amazing people can be found in unexpected places and that my family and friends are pretty much the most amazing people in the world.

I've found that I'm happy.  Really happy.  I love my freedom and I don't regret where I am.

And I got the chance to remind myself that there really isn't any better place to be that with the people who care about me.

Canning!

So, we tackled a couple of small home canning projects the other day.  We made 3 half pints of pickled garlic, 2 of which were promised to friends in exchange for sharing the recipes they create with it and we made 8 half pints of Blueberry Lemon Jam.

Highlights:

• It takes way longer than I ever thought possible to peel an entire pound of garlic.
• We ended up with an extra jar's worth of garlic and brine.  I could have processed an extra jar, I guess, but - jackpot!  I don't have to peel any garlic for the tomato sauce I'm making tomorrow.
• I couldn't find my zester, so the lemon peel bits in the jam are a bit big, but it's delicious anyway.
• Even after the jam cooked over, all over the stove, we still ended up with extra!  More than I could fit in the water bath pot, in fact.

The jam I would totally make again, but I wish I knew why my jellies seem to randomly cook over?  I think I may be hurrying them to a boil, but I'm not sure.  So far, I've made 3 batches of jelly.  2 cooked over, one didn't and I don't know what I did different.

The garlic needs to sit, at least until tonight before I can open it to taste.  I may not have the patience for pickles, it's making me crazy waiting.  And I'm dying to see what Liam and Lisa come up with for it.  They're both excellent cooks and the only people I can trust to remember my food allergies without having to interrogate them for their ingredient list.

As for what we're making next?  The list of what I want to make includes pretty much then entire Ball Blue Book, as well as their whole website and a bunch of stuff on Serious Eats.  So, pretty much everything!

Anybody want to narrow it down for me?

How-To: Soda Bottle Drainage System

This is my second How-To Video, although the first one for THIS blog.

You'll need a soda bottle, a flower pot and sharp knife.  And of course, potting soil and the plant you want to pot.

Please be careful with the knife, I don't pretend I practiced good knife safety in the video, but you should anyway!  It's tough to cut something elevated enough to be in frame and also facing away from you.

Enjoy!

Hanging Gardens of My Kitchen

I've always wanted an window garden in my kitchen.  Grow a few herbs (this was before I realized I'm apparently incapable of growing herbs indoors) or maybe some tiny little succulents like aloe or hen and chicks.

THE PROBLEM:

I have one window with a good sill in my kitchen, and I have cats.  Who love the window sill.  Desperately.  And who are about as graceful as a dumptruck.

I figured my window garden was doomed.  Years ago, I had some plants on a little tray table in my apartment, and I was constantly picking the pots up from the floor.  I assumed this would be, if anything, even worse.

Then I saw a friend link to this list on Buzzfeed.com and the wheels starting turning.  It's all about small space and container gardens for not a lot of money.

THE SOLUTION:

Hanging window garden!

I don't have the plants yet, because apparently I'm crazy and you can't buy succulents at Lowe's in January, but otherwise I'm ready to go.

Total cost out of pocket = $16

• painted tin buckets - $4 at Target ($1 each)
• 7/8" dowel rod - $2.50 at Michaels
• curtain rod brackets - $6 at Bed Bath and Beyond (clearanced for $2.99 each)
• cactus soil - $3 at Lowe's (markdown for torn open bag)
• jute twine - was already laying around the house

Just need the valance/cafe curtains on the window and the plants for my buckets and I finally have my kitchen garden!

Laundry Day!

So everybody and their brother has a trick to keep your whites whiter,  and we all know, some of the work and some of them don't.  There's bleach, which works, but doesn't smell that great (unless you're my mom) and an assortment of whitener/brightners that work to varying degrees.  The Rit one pretty well, but it can be hard to find sometimes.

But what about your blacks?  How do you keep your blacks blacker?

Ooh!  I know!

More Rit Dye!  This is all you need:

1 pack Black Rit Dye
1/2 your usual amount of detergent
1 cup of white vinegar
a pile of faded black clothes.

Add your laundry and detergent the way you always do.  Then add the whole pack of dye and the cup of vinegar to the washtub.   Run through on a regular wash cycle, plus an extra rinse to get the excess dye out of your clothes and any residue out of your washing machine.

If any dye residue still remains in the washing machine, run a load with bleach, but no actual laundry, but I've only had this happen once, and it was when our old washer was acting up.

This can also be used for adding blue back into fading jeans or for re-dying and changing the color of items.  Changing a color altogether may take twice through with dye, but it depends on how dramatic a change you're going for.

Enjoy!