cold – Peaceful Reader

Huge gap

I’ve been diligent over the past months to post once a week and I’ve failed on this through this first half of January. What began as, I assumed, a simple cold quickly became so much more and as December ended and the week to return to school approached I decided to get tested for Covid-19. I didn’t have the major symptoms of loss of smell or taste but I did have a cold that defied all my natural home remedies and proven in the past methods of alleviating a cold. It was a lot of deep symptoms and the worst was that we were homebound over the holidays and could not pinpoint how we picked up this terrible virus. Not only did I feel terrible physically but I was angry because we’ve been so careful all throughout this pandemic.

The only highlight was that we’d made it through the Christmas holiday feeling good. It doesn’t matter that I spent New Year’s Eve on the sofa in my pajamas with a box of tissues near me instead of a glass of champagne. I did have an extra week off from school because of how I felt plus my positive Covid test. I went back to school last week and made it through the week with fairly flying colors. I did crash once I made it home but that’s okay. I wish I could say I feel great but that’s not the case; I’m still sneezing, coughing and tired. My husband shared the same symptoms with me and he still feels exhausted. Somehow our Groovy Girl did not get sick and really did a fantastic job of taking care of us. She is going to make an amazing healthcare professional when she finishes school. I felt really blessed that she was still home for her winter break. We all know (most) husbands are not great caregivers and mine was busy being sick himself. It was good to have someone else here who has a gentle hand and a thoughtful heart. She’ll be gone after next week and I hope by that time I feel 100%.

While I’ve been sick I’ve read a few books of course and streamed a little. After watching all of Bridgerton while I was curled up in bed I set a goal to get caught up on The Handmaid’s Tale. I’d lost the thread after a few violent and too close for comfort episodes so I shelved it for quite awhile but recent events got me fired up and I am now finished with season 2 and ready for season 3. With a lot more laughter I finished up Schitt’s Creek and will go back at some point and rewatch all of this series. Laughing out loud is a perfect way to recuperate or stay sane through a pandemic! We also enjoyed the adaptation of our favorite author Chris Bohjalian’s The Flight Attendant on HBO.

Right now I’m reading Deathless Divide, the second in Justina Ireland’s Dread Nation series and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. I would love to see Dread Nation and Children of Blood and Bone turned into movies.

I’m anxiously awaiting Inauguration Day because I’m very excited for Dems to be in the WH but most importantly for Kamala Harris to be sworn in as our very first female VP. I’m anxious for our country, for the protests but I have to hope for the best. Welcome to 2021.

Happy Mother's Day and post-prom bliss

Last night was prom for our local high school and Groovy Girl looked amazing with her crew of friends. Ballet pink is her color! It was pretty chilly but they weathered it well. My husband and I with a group of other happy parents helped with valet parking. It was a cold night and I had a hat and coat on while all the prom goers were without coats, socks, or sleeves in fact. It was fun to be there helping but not in the mix inside of hot sweaty not-really-dancing-young people. It looked like a lot of swaying to me. Times have changed and I loved watching tons of young women arrive on their own in beautiful dresses without a date in sight and I loved seeing several women arrive in very gender neutral attire. There were high heels, Birkenstocks, high tops, Doc Martens, and even someone with sneakers that were an exact match to her floral princess dress.

I’ve had a lovely Mother’s Day as well as I was given the opportunity to sleep in after a busy weekend. Love extra sleep!! We had an easy and delicious breakfast at a local coffee shop. This afternoon Groovy Girl and I headed to my mom’s house and played one of our favorite family card games, Spite and Malice, with her. We had chocolates and a glass of wine as we played. My mom won which is good because she’s competitive and so a sore loser. My son called yesterday and today. My stepdaughter sent me a card and texted. I’ve chatted with mom friends as we pat each other on the back for our journey into and through motherhood. It does take a village and you have to have a calm and positive crew around you. We walked the dogs and I have two peony bushes to plant. What more could you ask for? Well, if you are asking, WARMER WEATHER would be at the TOP of my list.

I hope your day was just as pleasant!

First day of Spring!

I went for a walk-about in my yard today to see if I could find any hints of Spring. Today is Spring Equinox and deep in my soul I needed to see a little sign that it would come. There are birds on the feeder flitting about, more than usual. I’ve seen squirrels getting extra friendly with each other but no real signs of Spring out there to me. I wanted to see sprouted green things as I marched around the yard in short sleeves, hopeful, but I froze and didn’t see one hint of sprouts. It is still dang cold out there even though we are seeing the sun a bit more and for longer in the day.

I had to search elsewhere for Spring. I read this Farmer’s Almanac article about the Spring Equinox which made me just want to see the “rebirth of flora and fauna.” I discovered this adorable dress growing over at Macy’s-it that made me think of Spring.

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I unearthed these gorgeous tulip blossoms at Terrain that make me feel like Spring could be around some corner (not this corner but somewhere). My grandmother loved tulips and I loved to see hers pop up. I have bulbs planted and I can’t wait to see them shoot up soon, with deep hope that the squirrels did NOT dig them up for winter snacking.

I found these DIY projects that make me want to get down on my knees and dig in the dirt especially this fairy-looking bird house arrangement. Groovy Girl will love to help with this.

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Isn’t that pretty! I’m going to gather the materials now so the first warm (really warm) day we can head out and put this together. I already have one bird house that needs a new home as it got knocked down during a winter storm.

What has you thinking Spring in your neck of the woods?

Bring on the soup…

No hint of Spring here. It snowed more over the weekend-it WAS beautiful and slippery and yes, cold. Our house is cold. It is getting a bit depressing.

To tackle this depression I made a somewhat unhealthy soup recipe that my friend Mary Kay shared with me. She passed the recipe on to me from her daughter-in-law who creates the soup at work with friends; they each bring an ingredient and then share for dinner or lunch. I love that idea and would love to find someone at work who would like to do the same.

I used a pound of ground beef from my friend Farmer John and I created my own taco seasonings using this video. I’ve got to get better at snapping photos of my own food!!

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Taco Soup

1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasonings
1 package ranch dressing (I omitted-I didn’t have it and don’t know how to recreate)
1 can of pinto or kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes or can of Rotel
1/2 bag of frozen corn (I added a can of corn)
1 can diced green chilis
1 can black beans

Brown the hamburger in a skillet, draining any excess grease. Drain beans and can of corn. Combine all ingredients in to crock pot and stir. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Serve warm with toppings; avocado, sour cream, blue chips, cilantro, or sprinkles of cheese.

Pretty easy. Next time I would double a few ingredients as I love leftovers for lunch. I made it on Sunday before I left for a play in the afternoon so it would be ready for dinner. I was happy I could substitute many items. I didn’t have even a a can of diced tomatoes so used the tomato juice my mom made from her garden tomatoes last Fall. I did have cans of black and pinto beans in the cupboard, which was perfect for this last minute choice. When I make it again I will try and soak my own beans first.

I enjoyed making the taco seasoning packet from spices I already had in the cupboard and if anyone knows how to make a healthy version of ranch dressing seasonings I would add that. I’m curious how the ranch packet would taste in the soup but not curious enough to buy a packet as they are just little containers of chemicals and flavor nubs.

The soup was delicious and we ate it during the Oscars; a very down home meal for such a festive occasion! And then last night Groovy Girl and I ate it again over baked potatoes (with small-ish dollops of sour cream).

Did you watch the Oscars? I thought for awhile Gravity was going to sweep it (one of them that I have not seen) and was pleasantly surprised when Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett won. I am extremely happy that 12 years a slave won and loved many of the speeches starting with Jared Leto’s tribute to his mother. Amazing.

We saw a lot of good movies this year and I loved in particular Philomena (and was sad it didn’t win anything), Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska (Bruce Dern was amazing also) and 12 years a slave. I have yet to watch Gravity but I will. I was sad Lone Ranger wasn’t nominated for enough as I loved that movie also. Our favorite dress was Lupita Nyong’o’s floating blue dress. She was a breath of fresh air!

Weekend Cooking; Chicken Tortilla Soup

It’s already a week into February and I haven’t blogged once. I think my fingers are too frozen to type. I did make a lovely treat for last weekend’s miserable SuperBowl game. I saw a crock-pot recipe for a chicken tortilla soup that sounded delicious-hot, spicy, and filled with goodness-everything I was looking for while the weather outside is still bitter cold.

Some soups are easy to whip together and those are good for those days when you need something fast. My chicken soup didn’t come together quite that fast but it was so well-worth the wait. It makes any recipe more difficult when you have to search out the right meat. I did have a frozen whole chicken that had already been cut into parts via my farmer friend, John. After that unthawed I baked it in the oven with drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkling of spices. Mine had the skin on it but that peeled off easy after I baked the pieces. My dogs loved that little treat.

I baked the chicken pieces at the beginning of the week and waited until Sunday to actual put the soup together. I meant to make it on Saturday so it could have a day to sit (always the best) yet I don’t know really where Saturday went. The soup still tasted great and it was a perfect for lunch several times during the week.

Chicken Tortillas Soup {PW Cooks}

Ingredients

2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1-1/2 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 cup Diced Onion
1/4 cup Diced Green Bell Pepper
1/4 cup Red Bell Pepper
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies
32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock
3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
4 cups Hot Water
2 cans (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained
3 Tablespoons Cornmeal Or Masa
5 whole Corn Tortillas, Cut Into Uniform Strips Around 2 To 3 Inches
_____
FOR THE GARNISHES:
Sour Cream
Diced Avocado
Diced Red Onion
Salsa Or Pico De Gallo
Grated Monterey Jack Cheese
Cilantro

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cumin, chili pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil on chicken breasts, then sprinkle a small amount of spice mix on both sides. Set aside the rest of the spice mix.
Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is done. Use two forks to shred chicken. Set aside. {I had to cook mine for much longer-bigger pieces.}

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add onions, red pepper, green pepper, and minced garlic. Stir and begin cooking, then add the rest of the spice mix. Stir to combine, then add shredded chicken and stir.

Pour in Rotel, chicken stock, tomato paste, water, and black beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered.

Mix cornmeal with a small amount of water. Pour into the soup, then simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Check seasonings, adding more if needed—add more chili powder if it needs more spice. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Five minutes before serving, gently stir in tortilla strips.

Ladle into bowls, then top with sour cream, diced red onion, diced avocado, pico de gallo, and grated cheese, if you have it! (The garnishes really make the soup delicious.)

I did do the cornmeal step of which I was leery yet I thought it added a certain Southern complexity. I used my regular can of diced tomatoes instead of Rotel. I happened to have a full can of dark enchilada sauce that I bought by mistake {I use green when I made regular enchiladas} so I dumped that in there instead of the paste. I wanted the soup to be authentically spicy and didn’t worry about Groovy Girl’s taste buds.

{Lots of garnish}

I love the garnishes; we added sliced avocado, diced red onion, cilantro, cheese, and sour cream. It was tasty.

Here is the link to PW’s original recipe.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads. Click the link to find many other food-related posts.

Cold, Cold, Cold Days…turn the oven on high and bake.

I’ve had an exciting day. Too cold for school. I don’t think the blizzard was as bad as predicted but I am not one to complain about a 3-day weekend. I had some time to myself while Groovy Girl went bowling with friends. I cleaned the house. I watched an episode of Parenthood. I read more of Cuckoo’s Calling-love it! I would have read more of Insurgent except my Kindle is acting up; I’m 52% finished and bada bing…no charge. Good thing I have plenty of “real” books around my house.

I made chocolate chip cookies with G.G. late in the day. And while the oven was on I whipped up this amazing dish with a butternut squash from my garden; it’s been in my basement pantry waiting for the perfect dish. One of my NY’s resolutions is to clean out my stacks of magazines and I found this recipe in an old November 2008 Cooking Light.

Savory Butternut Squash

2 medium peeled and cubed butternut squash
1 T olive oil
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 T. honey
1/2 tsp Madras curry powder
2 T minced fresh cilantro

Directions: Preheat oven to 500*. Toss squash cubes in oil, and season with sea salt and pepper. Place squash in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 500* for 10 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven; toss squash with remaining ingredients. Serve immediately. Yield: 5 cups.

My squash was smaller so I used less ingredients and after snapping a few key photos I tumbled it into a to-go container for my lunch tomorrow. Tomorrow we have a late start (so far) and already I’m looking forward to lunchtime. Last week I finished my lunchtime book, Palace Beautiful (review soon), and can’t think of what book is next on my pile.

Cold Day~No School Day!

The temps have dropped to an alarming number of -11 degrees. It is super, super cold. The dogs don’t want to go out to potty and the wind whistles through several of our old windows.

Our traditional snow day breakfast is chocolate chip pancakes with all the toppings and hot chocolate. Today we substituted hot cider leftover from the holidays. There were no complaints…

Yesterday Groovy Girl went to the video store with my husband. He was on a quest to find the next Game of Thrones and she was “just looking.” She came back with 2 games; an olympic event game and Little Big Planet 2 so we’ve spent some of our morning pretending to be Olympic athletes in archery, swimming, and gymnastics. The results tend to be hilarious as the only true gamer at our house is the teenage boy and he slept until it was pancake time.

I have two books I’m trying to finish today; an ARC of Seven Wild Sisters by Charles de Lint, which is excellent and one of my favorite authors Paulo Coelho’s The Witch of Portobello. I’m trying to finish it so I can pass it on to my friend Jen in Colorado. Teenage boy can take it to her tomorrow when he leaves us again for the balmy state.

I love a day off yet I have a lot of work to get done at school plus I feel like it can be a hard day for many of our students who are left unattended and don’t have delicious pancakes for brunch or even a bowl of cereal. What’s the temperature in your neck of the woods?

Hanging in the City; NYC.

We’ve driven cross country to visit my in-laws for two weeks. For something completely different we took the bus from DC to New York today. It was College Boy’s last vacation request before he leaves his home roost and heads to the great West.

We walked a lot today; from Madison Square Gardens through Times Square and Broadway trekking all the way over to Central Park West (through the park) and to our hotel, The Milburn.

Tomorrow we will head to Greenwich Village for lunch at Lupa owned by Mario B., which will be our only sit down meal for the most part. We ate at a Pizzaria for dinner close to the hotel. We stopped at a grocery store to pick up bagels, cream cheese and fruit for breakfast in our room. The hotel is old but refurbished and has a lovely but tiny kitchenette in the corner.

It is exciting to be in the city. I was lucky enough to come several times while I was a teenager but my kids have never been. It was fun to watch College Boy melt right in with the crowds while Groovy Girl was left hanging with her mouth open for many sites including the huge billboards and lights in Times Square.

Also it is Freezing here so the weather is pretty much the same as Iowa.

Chilly weather makes me think of soup!

Last week as the temperatures dropped down, giving me a reason to don gloves and my winter coat as I headed off in the morning, I dreamed of soup. I had lentils in my pantry and vegetables in the crisper. I have a usual lentil soup recipe but I wanted to try something different.

I pulled down Soup; A way of life by Barbara Kafka, one I don’t use often even though I love soup.

I found a delicious soup and I had most of the ingredients on hand.

Lentil Soup

(adapted)

1 T olive oil

2 strips of bacon, sliced into small pieces

3 large stalks of celery, chopped

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled, and minced

1 T cumin seeds, ground

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

3 cups vegetable stock (it called for beef but I still only ever have veg. on hand)

1 1/2 cup brown lentils, rinsed

1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil and bacon over medium high heat. Stir in the celery, carrots, and onions and saute a little to soften. Add garlic, cumin, and chili powder and stir to coat veggies.

Stir in the stock, 3 cups of water, and the lentils. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the lentils are soft.

Remove from the heat. In a food processor, puree about half the lentils. Stir the puree back into the pan, add the lemon juice, and black pepper. Heat thoroughly. Top each bowl with parsley sprigs. Can be served with soar cream dollop. Served with big chunky bread to dip.

The soup was delicious…for my husband and I. The kids noticed the kick right away and Teenage Boy managed to finish his bowl using the bread to absorb the heat but Groovy Girl, even after stirring in several heaps of sour cream, still couldn’t make it through. She ate two more slices of the fresh bread to compensate.

The recipe originally called for bacon rind with an explanation of what that was, but I had good, farm fresh bacon in my freezer so I used that instead which pleased the teenager a lot as he has come to believe that every meal should include meat. So much for his vegetarian start to life. He is very much in the growing stage though. Hungry all the time.

I made this one day and served it the next and so somehow completely skipped the blender part of this recipe. Next time I will do it because I know it would add a nice thickness to the soup. I also thought this would be wonderful over brown rice.

Now it is much warmer out and it may stay that way for the next couple of weeks but I’ll be ready when it decides to get cold on me again.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads. Click on her link and find many other wonderful food-related posts. I’m not going to think about soup though again until the weather takes another dive.

I came home early from work, scratchy throat, monster headache. Dear Daughter made me a snack of honey toast, a chocolate kiss and a glass of rasperry-flavored Emergen-C all on a tray with a note that says she loves me. Now she is going to read to me for storytime instead of the me reading our book, Evangeline Mudd, together. I need to sleep really well tonight so I can go back to work tomorrow. I have Vick’s Vapor Rub all over me, I’ve tea’d myself with Gypsy Cold Care and I made myself some onion, garlic miso soup when I first stumbled home.

I hope it is enough to scare away the cold germies!!

It is rather nice to have my children take care of me and I did finish A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

Good things abound.