zucchini corn pancakes

I like to cook.

More importantly, I like the creativity and intrigue of cooking. I love to peruse cookbooks, the internet, Pinterest… all for recipes that sound, well, a little odd. Kinda like, I’m either gonna LOVE it… or, perhaps, ~~epic fail~~ not-so-much. Yep. I love trying new recipes, new restaurants, new chefs, new combinations of foods… outa the box kinda stuff. Now if you knew my family (of orgin), you would get a chuckle out of this. They are a “meat and potatoes, very basic, no condiments (of ANY kind)” sorta fam. My sister won’t even TOUCH a bottle of mustard. Literally. In our home we have a minimum of at least four or five different varieties of mustard at any given time. Ya. My brothers and sisters look at me as a bit of ~~a freak~~ an odd bird. About a LOT of things, actually… but let’s keep to the subject of food for now.

So yesterday I was thinking about dindin. While researching recipes for my spring newsletter, I stumbled across a recipe for zucchini corn pancakes (click HERE). Yum. The more I thought about them, the more obsessed I got. Let me just say that I was not disappointed. Garnished with a little Peach Salsa (Trader Joe’s), a dollop of sour cream (dairy free for me!) and a little minced cilantro… Boom! It was my lucky day because shrimp has been on sale (Fresh Market) so we had grilled shrimp and springtime oven roasted asparagus (both with a little Olive Tree olive oil) and some fresh blackberries. In a word… DELISH!

So… What’s next? Found a recipe for a family fav Indian dish that is prepared in a CROCK POT?? Served with a little “twist” on the usual basmati rice. Hmmm…

Post coming soon…

Zucchini Corn Pancakes from "girl vs DOUGH" — Zucchini Corn Pancakes from “girl versus Dough” (Click on pic)

what a crazy month…

3 / 11 / 15

Wow. What a month.

Whatcha been up to? Me? Oh, ya. I HAVE been busy. Like “Super-D-Duper” busy – Thanks for asking. The easiest way to explain my absence is a quick timeline of events (Ya, RIGHT!! Quick! That’s something I’m super good at… hahahaha!) OK. Let’s say more of a ~~never ending~~ long, rambling sequence of unrelated random words… Yep. Good at that.

It all started with New Years resolutions. Cleaning/purging the basement. BIG job. Lots of time to think. Got sick for a week. More time to just think. (Too miserable for anything else). During this contemplative period, began exploring the idea of re-entering the “retail rodeo”. WHAT?? (I know. Crazy. I blame the fever) On a total whim, I decided (on a Monday) to contact two gals that own a cute little boutique about seven minutes from my house re: rental space. By Thursday I had “verbally agreed” to sign on to rent the entire basement space of CHARM, a cute little (1905) house in “Martin City”. We agreed that I would open the basement space on Thursday, March 5. And the crazy began…

First of all, I needed merchandise. You know; something to SELL… Not enough time to go to market, so I started contacting reps, perusing my catalogs, searching online… quite a challenge really. Like REALLY!! Then there are fixtures. Gotta have a way to DISPLAY all of that incredible new merchandise! Mapped out a plan on my “to scale” graph paper, and felt really good about that. I still had my fixtures from Trendz (my previous rental space), and it appeared that they would all work perfectly. Needed new business cards with my CHARM info, and in the process of searching those out, stumbled across a site “Angie makes”. Loved the artwork/design, so ~~randomly~~ decided it was time for a complete overhaul… new logo, new website/blog, new merchandise tags WITH my new logo… along with those new business cards – the very thing that started this whole domino effect. Ya. All great ideas. Because I didn’t have enough to do already.

Everything took longer than anticipated. Of course. Eventually the merchandise started to trickle in. But the tags were delayed, because the “final answer” on my logo was delayed. Then there was a delay on being able to move in because of weather issues. It was, to say the least, very frustrating!! We finally found a “window” just days before my official open. Bad weather was due to arrive the very next day. It was literally a case of “now or never”. My sweet bro-in-law and my devoted hubbie were there for me, once again, ready to help move all of the “big stuff” over. I had three main pieces; all beautiful painted wood shelf units. Big ones. To hold lots of good stuff. The first one was rejected on paper. I realized that the height was ONE stinkin’ INCH too high for that old basement ceiling… at it’s highest point. Ouch! DOWN ONE. Stay positive. I still have two more. The second piece, a real BEAR, made it out of my Creations room to the basement door before it was rejected. The “reality check” was that it would not make the turn at the bottom of those old wooden basement stairs. Panic! DOWN TWO. OK, gotta re-think this. I will figure it out. I still have one more… So we loaded her up on the truck, along with some random tables etc. and off we went. On the outside, I was fine. But inside, I literally felt sick to my stomach. How was I going to display everything with 2 of the 3 major pieces GONE!! Ugh! Luckily, it’s a very short jaunt between my house and CHARM, so not too much time to dwell on the situation at hand. When we got there, we entered and started measuring everything between “point A and point B”. Final answer? There was NO WAY that 3rd shelf unit was gonna make it down those stairs. I’m done. DOWN THREE…

The next morning was crazy. In moving that 2nd shelf unit the previous day (the one I referred to as a “bear”…), my husband had pulled a muscle in his back and I was worried about him! I would not let him lift a finger to help. (He was not very happy with me…) But there was a big snow/ice storm coming our way, and I had boxes and boxes (and boxes) of merchandise to move over before it hit. Alone. So I started packing my car (it was already snowing hard) and began the process of moving everything over. Several trips. Box by box by box… Shoveling the snow every time to make a path to the font porch of CHARM. Not fun. But I did it! Once it was all finally inside and down the basement, I stopped to look around. There was merchandise stacked everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE! None of it was tagged yet because of the delay on my tags. There were empty holes where shelf units were supposed to be. Where was everything going to GO?? For a moment, my eyes filled up with tears at the “overwhelmingness” of it all… and then I sprung into action. Nothing about any of this has gone “as planned”. So what. This is just a “chapter” (my 2015 “word“) in my book of CHARM. I will make it work. I CAN do this.

So I DID…

“my word”

2 / 1 / 15

book dandelions — Source: Eqinox/We Heart It

I finally decided on “my word”. For 2015. My word is “chapters”.

Whew! I mean, here it is, February 1st. Already. That means I existed the entire first month of January, 2015… with no word. What? How? OK. Here’s the deal. I didn’t want to just grab any random word; and call it MY word. I had to ponder. And dwell. And stress. Now I probably shoulda coulda woulda started this process a little earlier, but to be quite honest with y’all (my son moved to Dallas. Gotta do that y’all thingie every once in awhile now…), I DID NOT KNOW we had to have “a word”. Yep. I’m just being really honest here. I just didn’t know. Did you know? Ya. You probably did. My friend Dawn has a word. (Click HERE) And she had a word last year as well. She just kinda “knows” these things tho…

“What’s the greatest chapter in your book? Are there pages where it hurts to look?”

A couple lines from one of my fav Blake Shelton songs… Truth is, I have always looked at my life as a book, and every single chapter in “my book” has made me the very person that I am today. The good, the not so good; accomplishments, defeat; amazing triumphs and overwhelming heartbreaks; over-the-top joy, and excruciating pain. It is all me. It is my book. Those are my chapters.

2015 promises to be a big year for me. As it stands now, I will be writing many new chapters throughout the year. And closing others. Case in point, I started the year off by closing the longest running, absolutely hands-down greatest chapter in my “book of life” thus far… The chapter dedicated to raising my (amazing) kids. You notice I did NOT say the chapter dedicated to “Motherhood”. Oh no, no, no. I know better than that. There is no “one chapter”; no “end” to the privilege of Motherhood. My kids will ALWAYS be my kids, and I will ALWAYS be their mom. Nothing will ever change that. EVER. Yes; there are many levels, and chapters, to Motherhood. But the reality is, I am done “raising” my children. They are both almost 25 years old now. Adults; living and working on their own. But I must be honest in telling you, it hurt like crazy to turn that page. To leave behind that amazing chapter and move on.

“What’s the greatest chapter in your book? Are there pages where it hurts to look…?”

2015… Stay tuned.

live happy… Cathy

orange cranberry pistachio biscotti

1 / 8 / 15

Orange Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

Ingredients:

1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour

¼ t. salt

1 t. baking powder

¼ c. OLIVE TREE Butter olive oil

¾ c. white sugar

1 ½ t. vanilla extract

½ t. almond extract

2 T. fresh grated orange peel OR 1 T. dried orange peel

2 eggs (room temp)

½ c. dried cranberries

1 ½ c. pistachio nuts

For dipping:

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate; chopped

½ T. OLIVE TREE Butter olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil & sugar until well blended. Add vanilla & almond extracts along with orange peel, mixing well. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Gradually add flour mixture & mix until evenly incorporated. Stir in pistachios & cranberries by hand.

Divide dough in half. (Dough will be very sticky!) Form two logs side by side (12” x 2”) on the parchment lined cookie sheet; several inches apart. (logs will spread during baking!) Bake for about 35 minutes, until logs are light brown and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 275 F. Set biscotti aside to cool for about 10 minutes.

Carefully transfer the logs to a cutting surface. Using a serrated knife, cut logs on the diagonal into ¾” slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, back on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake approximately 8-10 minutes, or just until dry and golden. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Once the biscotti have completely cooled, place chopped chocolate and ½ T. OLIVE TREE Butter olive oil in a (DRY) microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds; stir; heat another 30 seconds; stir… until melted and combined. Dip the bottoms of the biscotti in the melted chocolate, and allow them to set, lying on their sides.

So why this recipe? Well… there’s a story. There’s ALWAYS a story. So my daughter and I don’t do dairy. It doesn’t like us. So when making my biscotti for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to try the butter olive oil from my dear friend, Mindy, at Olive Tree. (My very, very FAV place to buy olive oil and vinegars, BTW!) Loved the (buttery) flavor, so I took one in for her to taste. (Yes. One. Sorry Mindy. There were actually two left at the time. I ate the other one…) As it ends up, the very day that I popped into the store to drop it off is the same day that she had decided to team up with Jasper Mirabile (renowned chef, cookbook author, radio host and owner of Jasper’s Ristorante and Marco Polo Italian Market. Whew!!) for their first annual cookie contest together. So I decided to enter my Orange Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti (with my BUTTER olive oil from Olive Tree)… and I won 2nd place!! WooHoo!!! So exciting! So why not give the recipe a go, and let me know how they turn out! Better yet, bring some by and I would be happy to let you know what I think. I’m just nice like that. OK, Fine. Whatever. Just bring one. I understand if you simply must eat all the others. (wink, wink…)

A great big shout out and THANK YOU to Mindy and Jasper!! xoxo

jaspers cookbook — Check out Jasper’s Facebook page HERE

“Calling all bakers!
Live! From Jasper’s Kitchen Radio and Olive Tree have teamed up this year for our First Annual Cookie Contest. Submit your favorite holiday cookie using an Olive Tree olive oil and/or a balsamic vinegar and you could win BIG!
…
1st Place – $100 Jasper’s Gift Certificate
2nd Place – $50 Olive Tree Gift Certificate…
3rd Place – Signed Jasper’s Cookbook
4th Place – Bottle of Jasper’s Blend Olive Oil from Olive Tree

Must be an original recipe. Entries must be submitted by December 18th and winner’s will be announced on Live From Jasper’s Kitchen show on Saturday, December 20th at 11:00 a.m. 710KCMO. Please send submissions to office@olivetreekc.com or in person at Olive Tree 4937 W. 119th Street (Hawthorne Plaza).”

easiest dip ever!

12 / 30 / 14

swiss cheese dip Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve.

OK, wow. Did that catch anyone else off guard, or is it just me?

So if you are playin’ on “my team”, you might just be in need of a quick, simple, yummy appetizer for tomorrow night, and I can DEFINITELY help with that for sure. Yep. I’ve gotcha covered. This is the easiest appetizer in the world, and everyone LOVES it!! No worries – You can start Weight Watchers AFTER New Year’s Eve… (teehee!)

Swiss Cheese Dip

1 1/2 c. shredded swiss cheese

8 oz softened cream cheese **

1/2 c. mayonnaise (regular or light)

1/2 c sliced toasted almonds

** reg or lite… but PLEASE don’t EVER use fat-free cream cheese!! For ANYTHING! I don’t even think it’s a legit food product!!

Mix first 3 ingredients together and spread in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle almonds on top and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Serve with Wheat Thins, sliced apples, carrots, olive bread, pita chips… Whatever floats your boat.

THAT’S IT!! Yes. It’s REALLY that easy. And they WILL love it. I promise you!! I suggest that you try it at least once in it’s simplest form. As is. Then if you wanna change it up a bit and go all “Martha” on me, try it the next time with one new ingredient. Here are a few ideas for “add-in” suggestions… chopped green onions, sautéed or caramelized sweet onions, chopped cooked bacon, Dijon mustard, horseradish – Use your imagination!! Go crazy! Or just (KISS) Keep It Super Simple and make it as is!!

Happy New Year!! live happy…

leftovers; again…?

12 / 5 / 14

Guess what I had for breakfast today?

Nope… nope… nope… (to whatever you guessed) I actually had soup.

Yes. For breakfast. I’m kinda weird like that. I like to eat “out of the box” when it comes to meals sometimes. I mean who (besides my hubbie) doesn’t love having pancakes for dindin once in awhile? Right…? Now as gripping a storyline as this is thus far, I’m not actually here to chat about my breakfast habits. It’s really just a quick follow-up to yesterday’s post, “Thanksgiving dinner; repurposed”.

Yesterday was all about the actual leftover food; but – as I told you yesterday – I don’t like to waste anything! Including the (Ugh!) turkey carcass. So into a big soup pot it went yesterday with anything I could round up out of the refrigerator… onions, celery, garlic cloves, carrots, whole peppercorns and a huge handful of fresh herbs. Covered the pot with water, brought it to a boil, then reduced the heat and slow simmered for the better part of the afternoon. Once everything tasted “done”, I let everything cool for awhile. Once it was cool, I strained all of the solids out so that all that was left was a delicious hearty turkey broth. Easy peasy!!

Now, at this point, if you are asking yourself why in the heck I didn’t just toss that doggone carcass back in the very beginning; allow me to enlighten you. There are several great reasons. First of all, the house smells all warm and “comfort food-ish” for the entire day while the broth is on the stove. Second; Preparing for flu season. Who doesn’t love homemade chicken (or turkey) soup when they are down and out with the flu? I package up little baggies of homemade broth and stick them in the freezer so that I am ready to roll when someone is down and out. (Thaw the broth and add a little cooked rice or pasta… Voila!) Finally; Dinner. This was easy. Already had some leftover (cooked) pasta and oven roasted tomatoes from the night before. Into the pot they went. Along with a can of pinto beans and some (precooked) turkey meatballs that I had in my freezer (Thank you Trader Joes). The point is – Use what you have on hand. Keep it simple!

So that about wraps it up for our leftover 2014 Thanksgiving feast. OMGosh – Wait… the ham! Forgot about the hambone. Alrighty then. Looks like a little split pea soup is on the menu!? Ahhh…Thanksgiving. It’s just the gift that keeps on givin’…

thanksgiving dinner; repurposed

12 / 4 / 14

Thanksgiving was about a week ago. The glasses and dishes are washed and (finally!) back in place, the extra tables and folding chairs are stacked and stored away and the fall decorations are securely wrapped and packed away for next year (or, at a minimum, “carefully placed” in grocery bags and random boxes on the floor in the unfinished part of the basement; strategically placed so that you are forced to climb over them to retrieve 100 bags of Christmas lights??? Hmmm…) OK. Ya. New subject.

So do you know where your turkey leftovers are…? I will admit that I do enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers. It’s so relaxing to re-heat a plate of turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes and gravy… and then plop yourself down on the floor, in your ratty pj’s in front of the TV, with a glass of wine and no timers going off. Tastes SO much better the next day. But for me, that thrill lasts about, well… once.

Ya – I’m not one of those who can do the whole “Thanksgiving leftover thing” – day after day after day…! But I don’t want to waste anything, either. So what to do??? Simple. Repurpose that Thanksgiving meal! So earlier this week, that’s exactly what I did. I challenged myself to “get creative” with what was leftover.

I started with the roasted sweet potatoes and onions. A little chicken/turkey broth and some sort of milk (in our case, a mixture of coconut milk and almond milk for dairy free) plus a handful of fresh herbs… Voila! Sweet potato soup. I mashed up about half the potatoes with a potato masher which thickens the soup nicely without any additional thickeners. Delish!!

Next came the dressing. I started by forming it into little patties, kinda like a burger. I then made two little mixtures. First, an egg beaten with a little ground sage and thyme. Second, the leftover crunchy onion thingies that you put on top of the green bean casserole mixed with some Panko bread crumbs.

The next step was to heat a skillet with a little oil, dip the “dressing patties” into the egg mixture , then the crunchy topping and, finally, into the skillet until crispy on the outside and warmed through.

Last up was… the turkey. For starters, we did not have a lot of turkey leftover, so I decided to make a light little “turkey salad”. I cut up the turkey into bite size pieces and mixed with a little light mayo, some leftover fresh cranberry/orange relish, a handful of toasted pecans and a little green onion.

I decided to top the little dressing patties with the turkey salad and garnish with a little extra fresh cranberry relish, toasted pecans, green onions… Whatever floats your boat. So easy!! No recipe, just a little creative thinking. And that, my friends, is Thanksgiving dinner; repurposed!! Gobble, gobble!

the magical Christmas tree

12 / 3 / 14

It’s early. And quiet. And the tree is on…

I am supposed to be doing something else right now; but I can’t. I am completely wrapped up in magic and memories this morning. So I succumb to the moment. I turn on some relaxing music, my “Spa Christmas” CD (not kidding.), light a Christmas candle and pour another cup of hot coffee. We need to chat…

You see, I realized something very, very important this morning.

Our Christmas tree is magical.

Here’s the deal. Over the years our tastes have changed, decorations have come and gone, we have even moved from house to house. But something significant occurred to me this morning. Our Christmas tree is different. It defines us as a family. It is the one true constant that ties every single Christmas together throughout the years.

We are not a fancy tree family. No white lights, Waterford crystal and Christopher Radko ornaments here, my friends. Our lights are bright and multi-colored; our ornaments an eclectic combination of wonderful memories. A snapshot of who we are as a family.

A Chiefs ornament that my sweet (widdle) hubbie made as a kid in 1971; a Santa walking his 3 little pigs (that’s mine!), a collection of treasured ornaments given to my kids every year from their grandparents, our very own “Christmas Vacation” squirrel, a beautiful assortment of treasures hand-painted by my (very talented) mom…

We have decorated this tree together as a family for more than 24 years. When it comes to our favorites (Mom & Dad), however… that is easy. We have a little box that houses all of our very, very favorite little treasures. Most of them date back 20+ years to the preschool days. Our precious little angels – perfectly framed in construction paper stars and sequins. Glittered teddy bears with crooked little googly eyes hand-crafted by two adorable little three year olds. Priceless. And, without a doubt, magical…

In the quiet of this magical morning, as I was snapping pictures of our beautiful tree – I was overcome with emotion… the treasured memories of days gone by. An intense happy and sad at the same time. Our son moved to Dallas in the fall. He was home for Thanksgiving, and it felt beyond wonderful to have both of my kids home at the same time again. As a family, we treasured every single moment together xoxoxoxo And although our time passed so very quickly, we were able to accomplish one very, very important thing before he left. We decorated the tree. Our magical tree…

For those of you who may not believe in the magic of Christmas, allow me to share one final thing. As I was reminiscing this morning, completely wrapped in a warm blanket of memories from the past, I was also very focused on the happiness of this given moment. The present; a gift. A thought suddenly occurred to me. What about our kids? I wonder what favorite memories and traditions they will carry with them into THEIR futures? Our daughter LOVES Christmas, her family and tradition. I think it is safe to say that she will probably take a lot of her memories of Christmas past into her future. My son is also very family oriented, but decorating for Christmas was never a real “priority” for him. When they were little, both of my kids each had their own little tree in their rooms. Santa would always leave one little gift under their (room) tree on Christmas Eve… if it was up!! My daughter had one tree with lights AND three bright tinsel trees plus an entire collection of her own ornaments that she had collected over the years. No problem there, Santa. My son? Well that was a completely different story. Trying to get him to decorate his one little (room) tree was next to impossible. That is, until he finally figured it out. He started hiding the little tree (completely decorated) in the back of his closet from year to year. From that point on, it was never a problem.

So you are probably wondering, as I was this morning, what special memories will he carry into his Christmas future…? He is on his own now for the first time, far from home at Christmas time. He lives alone and although he will be back in Kansas City a few days before Christmas, I was sad thinking that that he would not have any “Christmas” in his new apartment over the next few weeks. It was at that very moment that a text came through on my phone. “Mom, I’m thinking about getting a Christmas tree… Any chance you could send my ornaments? They should be in the back of my closet.”

I cried. Yes, sweetie. I know where they are.

And that is the story of the magical Christmas tree. The end.

steak soup weather

11 / 11 / 14

Right off the bat I’m gonna tell you that I am a believer in recipes, but more as a guide than a rulebook. Sort of a suggestion on how to “begin the process” of creating your own personal culinary masterpiece!!

Or not.

Yep. That’s part of the deal when you allow yourself to be a creative cook. You must take risks, think out of the box, have fun and – yes – be willing to fail sometimes. Boo-Boos happen. So what. One of the biggest problems I have is trying to re-create something that does end up coming out pretty tasty. I start “creating” with a little of this, a pinch of that, a little more of the other and a whole lotta whatever. At the end of the day, I have NO IDEA how much of this or that is actually in the final product. My poor hubbie… “Hey sugar lump; any chance you can duplicate this?” Ummm… ya… No. Sorry. And, sadly, he does not actually call me sugar lump.

So I’m getting better about tracking my “culinary creativity”. I have always been one to mark all over the recipes in my many, many (many) cookbooks. Cross this out, halve that ingredient, omit this, sub that… What I have also started doing is making notes on a post it note until I get to the “final answer”. I write down the exact ingredients as I add them, updating the amounts as I go along. For example, I may start out by adding a tablespoon of minced cilantro to a dish; but after two more adjustments I end up at 1/2 cup in the end. The same goes for something you might add that you aren’t so keen on. Make a note. Cookbooks were meant to be tattered and dog eared and scribbled on!! It’s a sign of love and affection! (Side note: the exception is BAKING. For the most part, stick to the exact measurements when baking)

So it’s the first really cold day outside today. All thoughts are on comfort food. So how ’bout some Steak Soup? I am going to give you the recipe as it was given to me, first. Then we’ll talk.

STEAK SOUP

8 T butter ½

1/2 c flour

40 oz. cans beef broth

¼ c diced carrots

¼ c diced onion

¼ c diced celery

½ c chopped canned tomatoes

1 T Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce

¾ t seasoning salt

¼ t black pepper

5 oz frozen mixed vegetables

½ lb lean ground chuck, chili grind, browned and drained

Melt, but do not brown, the butter in a large soup pot. Add flour and stir to form a roux. Cook over medium heat without browning for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add beef broth to roux and stir until smooth and slightly thickened. Bring to a full boil. Add the carrots, onion, celery, tomatoes and pepper. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are just tender, 20-30 minutes. Stir in browning sauce to achieve a richer color and flavor. Stir in frozen vegetables and cooked ground beef. Simmer an additional 15 minutes, or long enough that the flavors become well blended. Makes about 4 servings.

Here’s how I “personalized” this soup to make it mine… I gathered whatever veggies I had fresh, and oven roasted until tender, rather than boiling them in the soup. (In this case that included carrots, onions and tomatoes.) I had frozen peas and corn on hand, so those were my frozen veggies. (On the fresh and frozen veggies – I don’t measure. Just add as much as you want) I also had some oven roasted sweet potatoes leftover from the night before, so in they went as well. I don’t use butter. I use a combination of a little olive oil and some of the stock. I use unsalted beef stock, eliminate the seasoning salt and add in 1-2 packets of beefy onion soup mix. My hubbie likes a meaty soup, so I double the amount of meat… or more!! I also add dried thyme; to taste. (I like a lot) and I double the pepper to 1/2 t (or more).

So there we go. My version of Steak Soup. Would love to hear what YOU add into your Steak Soup to make it special…

live happy

hello, again

11 / 1 / 14

hello. again….

I’ve been gone awhile. Six months, to be exact. But I’m back. In my usual, haphazard sort of way. You know; a post every day for 2 weeks. Then nothing for the next three weeks.

Or six months.

I needed a little social media hiatus, I guess. A time to chill. Regroup. Collect my thoughts. Ponder life…

Bold statement: “I’m going to attempt to be a bit more consistent in my blogging” (don’t think that I don’t hear the muffled giggles amongst you…)

Followed by the “however…” statement: “In order to do so, however, I must learn to be a bit more, well.. brief?” (OK – the muffled giggles just turned to outright laughter…!)

OK, Yes. I said brief. I know. It sounds ridiculous coming from me, doesn’t it!? I agree. But I’m sure gonna try. Truth is, I think that I really need this place, this little space, to share what’s in my head and my heart. I’ve said it a million times before, but blogging – for me – is an online journal. My diary. My therapy. I’m sharing my thoughts, feelings, experiences with you, in hopes that something that I say may touch your life in some small way. Perhaps we will connect on some level. Start a conversation. Or not. It may simply be something you just needed to hear or see at that very moment. Something in your heart; not to be shared with anyone. That works for me too…

So it’s November. A beautiful month to honor the spirit of gratitude. Every day this month I am going to post a picture on Instagram; something that I am grateful for. I am going to jump back on Facebook, as well. Although not as often as I used to. And, of course, stay tuned – right here – for future “brief, yet meaningful” blog posts from yours truly! (teehee!!)

yes. it’s hello. again…