The Etiquette on Christmas Decorations

I'm reasonably sure that according to Hoyle, Christmas decorations should be removed by Twelfth Night which I believe to be yesterday, yet I have no desire to take down the tree. I almost feel that since store decorations have been up since well before Thanksgiving there's a bit of wiggle room here.

I like the tree, each ornament is unique and truthfully I just put a new one up yesterday. It is one of three that I received this year as gifts. Two are from my daughter in law Cate, a snowglobe with a deer in the snow and an angel bell. The other from my friend Laurie, is a slice of strawberry pie and is the sister to a three tiered cake ornament she gave me last year.  I am enjoying looking at them and I'm not ready to stop.

There's something about wrapping them in tissue and putting them to sleep in a box for a year that makes me sad. Perhaps it would be a more valuable use of my time to leave them there and enjoy gazing at them. It may help to balance my chi. Through feng shui, chi  energy should be able to roam freely in order maintain balance. Chi is a very powerful thing. The balance of your surroundings can greatly affect your outlook and mood. If you use the color green in the East part of your house it improves your health and helps balance your family life. Our Christmas tree just happens to be green and coincidentally resides in the South East corner of our living room. Close enough for me and a very compelling reason to leave the tree standing.

You may think I might be grasping at straws, procrastinating or lazy. Not true. I like my stuff. I think there's something romantic about using it. Why should china sit in a cabinet, and candles go unburned. When I'm on my deathbed  am I going to blurt out that I really enjoyed NOT using the stuff  I've cherished throughout my life. Gifts from best friends, letters my gentlemen husband wrote me in college, treasures from relatives, things I'd try to save in a fire, these should be enjoyed. O Tannenbaum I'm not sick of you yet !

Who knows when it will come down. When I find another way to balance my Chi I might feel led to take down the tree and decorations.  For now it stands.

All the best, Kate

Filet of Soul

There are days that I daydream about moving to a little cabin in the middle of nowhere with my gentlemen husband. It would be remote enough that we would have things air dropped to us but not so remote that I couldn't bump into a forest ranger every so often. A dog sled sounds nice too but I'd like to be able to drive a pick up truck in the spring, summer and fall, maybe a zamboni in the winter.

I'm probably just feeling a little melancholy. Things are catching up with me, I'm a little stressed and I can't get the taste of last night's dinner out of my mouth. It was filet of sole and it tasted fishy to the 10th power. Several brushings and a mouthful of peroxydyl still didn't do the job and I woke up feeling like I'd sipped the water out of the fish tank in my sleep. Perhaps I'm de-evolving and tomorrow I'll wake up with scales and a hankering for flaky food.

It dawned on me that yesterday I didn't follow the rules. I skipped meals which caused hunger and then I ate the wrong things. By the time hating dinner rolled around I was starving and crabby and ended up eating peanutbutter and jelly, a handful of animal crackers (does that make me a carnivore?) and a cup of low sugar cocoa- blaech!!

My soul is feeling fileted. My job requires large amounts of sugar, dairy, fat and high fructose corn syrup. Do you have a 50 pound bucket of glucose in your kitchen? My gentlemen husband, who I dearly love, requires large quantities of beef jerky, chocolate donuts and snacky crackery, chippy dippy things so I'm surrounded by the stuff and trying to ignore it. My new snack is peanut butter and raisins on a rice cake and I'm trying to shout it's praises like a cheerleader while family members look on with their eyebrows cocked. It's a little tough once in awhile, on days like this. It's not so dire that have a salami stuffed in the fire wood basket or a lamp stuffed with peanut butter cups but it's tough.

When my soul feels exhausted I think about a little cabin in the woods, a woods that does not contain a candy house and a couple of crumb dropping hoodlums.

All the best, Kate

Spin, Spin, Spin

I made it to the gym today with enough time to walk 12 minutes on the treadmill before spinning began. I realize that ranks me a top spot in the underachievers hall of fame but at least I didn't show up in my pajamas. According to leading authorities, (okay, it was Dr. Oz) you're supposed to walk 2 blocks for every 10 pounds of weight you're carrying, that is on your body, not whatever weights you're literally carrying. Not a back pack, heavy purse, toolbelt, boxes of velveeta or the weight of the world, you know what I mean. It takes 16-17 blocks to make a mile so you can figure it out for yourself, but let's just say I didn't get very far. I need to get up even earlier. We'll see how the rooster feels about it when I wake him up tomorrow.

When I say spinning I don't mean, straw into hay, a carousel,  yarn, or round and round. Technically, that's twirling and the two should never be confused. I'm referring to sitting on a stationary bike and riding slow, fast, standing or sitting with various levels of resistance. On the heavier side if you're not cheating. It takes a few days to get into it and if you have stairs in your home you may want to center your activities on the main level for awhile because your backside is going to be sore. I'm not kidding but you'll feel better...eventually. This tightens up your backside and legs so nicely that in a few months you'll discover that you've literally kissed your ass goodbye. The hardest adjustment may be the bike seat. You can invest in a cheap pair of bike pants with a cushiony bottom for about $20. You won't regret it. If you opt not to, rest assured that in a few months you'll toughen up, not to the point of callouses but you'll adjust. It's probably no worse than riding a horse all day.

There are lots of things to remember. If you follow the teachings of the Dalai Lama you'll learn to live in the moment. The past is gone, the future is ahead and you're just there, taking a ride, letting everything fall away. You'll be prompted to relax your shoulders, keep your elbows down and tucked in, your heels down and your hands relaxed. I use the time to collect my thoughts and sort things out.

The intensity varies and you'll get in a zone and start enjoying it. There's a lot of heavy breathing, sweating and once in awhile you shudder, I'm still talking about spinning. When you get tired you can concentrate on the music or if you're a scifi nerd like me you can recite the Moctar chant of strength. " norak toroth, norak toroth". That's 'torOTH not Torah. Reciting the Torah is much harder but I can do it, and while standing on one foot. I can teach you to do it as well, but another day. For now I need both feet on the peddles.

The camaraderie with other spinners is outstanding, there's a bond. We are a group of people who prefer beating up our bodies to the din of loud music in a dimly lit room well before dawn.  It's all good. You can thank me later, when you're able to buy jeans off of ebay without even trying them on.

I wanted to mention one other thing. There's a website that I frequent called livestrong.com. I keep my food diary there. You can track what you eat and develop meals every day. You can also figure out what your caloric needs are and set goals for yourself. If you want to lose 20 pounds the site will calculate how many calories you should eat to lose 2 pounds a week. The 'Daily Plate' gives you an opportunity to list your foods and tells how you're doing by calculating your calories, grams of fat, sugar, protein etc. You can also calculate in your excercises and it will spit out what you burned. It's easy too, 'point and click'.

I love it but a word of caution. If you're somewhat OCD just relax a little. Don't get so into the numbers that you start freaking out about the sugar content of tomatos. Don't deny yourself for the sake of the numbers. If you're a few grams over, you'll live and you don't have to go public with your information. You have to make it work for your lifestyle. My goal right now is 120 grams of carbs and 15 grams of sugar, but that's just for a little while because that's not realistic long term. It's all about choosing a plan that's right for you.

I changed my eating habits a little over a week ago and I have a little more energy already. To you I say " live long and prosper" and check out that website!!  http://www.livestrong.com/

All the best, Kate

To medicate or meditate, that is the question.

The answer is both. Sadly the healthy diet has not kicked in enough to thwart these awful migraines. It's getting tiresome and no doubt the complaining is too. I'm getting a little frustrated at having headaches for so many days in a row. It used to be when I woke up headache free it was a big sigh of relief because I knew it was a free pass for the day. Not so anymore. Waking up sans headache is no longer a free pass. Quite often I get through part of my day only to have a sudden onset migraine. Consequently I live on the precipice of panic.
                                                                                               

I crawled out of bed with a whimper this morning with some residuals of yesterday's headache afloat in my head. After my gentlemen husband left for work I went back and rested for an hour or so and crawled out again and popped a few Excedrin Migraine.  I practically had to force myself to start my day but I made it through  and ended on a high note. I cleaned and organized my office, sorted through the bills, paid a few, and created a sewing room in the spare bedroom. Oh yeah, I worked on cakes too. I'm gloriously satisified with my accomplishments and hoping that today's events may help me to relax and sleep well tonight. Last night I was very restless and awake for most of the night. Ridiculous.

I have quite a few pieces of fabric and looking through them was so much fun. I love fabric and have many projects in the works, a quilt, an outfit, curtains and chair cushion covers for a slider rocker I purchased at the local thrify establishment for just a few bucks. The BUTTONS were amazing and I have so many!!! As a child I used to spend hours sorting through my Mother's button jar and found myself enjoying it just as much today.

I suppose sorting and classifying is a type of meditation for me. There were rick racks, elastics, spools of thread, an ecclectic assorment of needles and pins, miniature tools, tape measures and a stack of multi colored fat quarters that I could just cozy up to all day long. These are all good things. I relaxed I feel good and there's a nice aroma of vegan wholegrain mostaciolli coming from the oven. I'm hungry and heartily satisfied at today's events. I hope it lasts. There's a little something clustering in my head but I'm hoping some hot food and warm cuddle will keep it at bay.

In the meantime check out Livestrong.com and we'll chat about it tomorrow.

All the best, Kate

Top of the Morning!

I've recently discovered a love for Southern Biscuits and Gravy but on day 3 of healthy eating in twenty-ten I'm not ready to fall off the wagon, or is it get on the wagon? Either way, pork sausage is not a part of my plan so I opted for Morning Star Sausage Crumbles. Not a bad alternative but I had to add a tablespoon of oil as there was no fat to speak of to make the roux. It got pasty so I fried the dickens out of and it got a little better.  I think next time I would fry up the sausage, leave the fond ( sticky bits) and 1/4 of the sausage in the skillet, make the roux and sauce and then add the remaining sausage back in. My daughter in law Cate, and son Ben thought it tasted pretty good too. It's nice to have a supportive family!! Cate suggested the addition of mushrooms to the sauce and I wish I would have thought of that. Mushrooms often add a nice meaty flavor to dishes. I can hardly wait to try it again.

For the  biscuits, I used a smidgeon more than half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour. I want to maximize my wheat and grains without compromising the taste and texture. I've begun incorporating whole wheat flour in half increments to everything that requires flour. It provides a nice nutty flavor and a delightful texture you can feel in your mouth. When you purchase the soymilk for baking and sauces double check to be sure you don't have vanilla. Even 'plain' has a sweet taste. Look for unsweetened and it's usually in the healthy food aisle, not refrigerated.

The taste was great and my gentleman husband thought it was fine. His tastebuds tend to lean to the refined sugar, chocolatey end of the spectrum so I was flattered. We're doing a little paradigm shifting and I'm enjoying it very much. It takes a lot of planning and a little creativity but I'm beginning to see that I don't have to eat dairy, sugar, and meat to feel satisfied and create meals that are tasty. Perhaps my tastebuds won't be unemployed ad infinitum after all but I haven't told you about my cupcake disaster yet so the jury is sill deliberating.

If you have a few extra bucks invest in a good baking scale. It makes a huge difference in flour and dry good measurements. Look for one that will 'tare' and you'll never have to move the bowl. Mine is a My-Weigh KD-8000 and it weighs in ounces, gram, kilograms and pounds. It's a good investment.

All the best, Kate

Whole Wheat Baking Powder Biscuits

7 oz all purpose flour
6 oz whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ounce butter
2 ounces shortening
1 cup unsweetended soy milk soured with 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine dry ingredients, butter and shortening and work with your fingers until mixture resembles small crumbs.
Add soymilk and stir until it comes together.
Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead slightly then flatten into a large disk of dough about 3/4 inch thick. Cut with 2" biscuit cutter.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Soymill Gravy with Sausage Crumbles.
1 pound Morningstar sausage crumbles ( not Italian style)
Coursely chopped mushrooms (whatever increment you want)
1 Tablespon olive oil
1.25 oz all purpose flour
2 cups unsweetened soymilk
2 sage leaves chopped
lots of pepper
salt

Fry the sausage crumbles, mushrooms and olive oil  in cast iron skillet.
Set aside 1/2 to 3/4 of the sausage in a seperate bowl
Add the flour and cook 3-4 minutes
Slowly add the unsweetened soymilk and cook until a nice gravy forms
Add the remaining sausage back in
Add sage, salt and tons of pepper.


Add the olive oil and flour and cook for 3-4 minutes.

A Word about Dr. Oz

I love the Dr. Oz show but I have to admit that it brings about a problem or two for me. Don't mistake my meaning, the information he imparts is invaluable and undoubtedly saves lives. It's a good show indeed, informative, timely and honest. He delivers his lectures in a kind and meaningful way.

What I find incredulous are the moments he lists the symptoms for these various and sundry diseases.  These are the moments that I'm struck with the realization that I have them all, hands down, nearly every symptom, no kidding, I swear on a stack! I am without a doubt a candidate for diabetes, heart disease, gluten sensitivity, aneuriysms, food poisoning, vertigo, legionnaires disease and scurvy, to mention a few. When he reported that at the bottom of the bread roll baskets they found scads of broken acrylic nails it made it much easier for me to cut down on carbs. What a day that was!

"Help me Obi Wan Ka-pharmacist" I cry as hypochondrical ancestors gaze upon me from the hereafter and murmur, 'The force is strong in our family young pill-taker'.  It's true, our family has a rich history of 'odd but true' diseases and syndromes that miraculously disappear as soon as we breathe in that good hospital air. After several rounds of surgical tests and procedures many of my aunts and uncles have had zippers placed in their bodies to make it easier for their doctors to access pacemakers, balloons, implants, pins, wires, cables, watches, sponges, whatever they've collected over the years. My Great Uncle Gus was the model for the body in the game of Operation. True, it's gender neutral and I can't comment  but I suspect my Aunt Gert may have played a roll in that.

So what should  be the solution? Surely I don't have all or any of these diseases. The symptoms are so general and overlap so much that it's confusing to me. Maybe I'm just very open to suggestion. The truth is I'm very happy and healthy. I rarely catch any diseases, even colds and I have succumbed to only 1 childhood disease. I need to reign in the craziness and stick to the plan, which is to eat healthy meals and excercise. Aside from the nagging migraines that never go away I feel pretty good and I'm working on that. I don't yet own or have the need for a pill box and I never want to.

Tonight I had a delicious butternut squash tart, a lovely salad  made by my daughter-in-law and cranberry wild rice pilaf. It was beyond delicious and yesterday was great too with chicken and dumplings made with Morningstar chicken strips (soy) and thickened with unsweetened soy milk. These were amazing dishes and I  was surprised at the outcome. With tasty meals such as these I hope to have no problems sticking to my healthy plan.

Wild Rice and Cranberry Pilaf (Vegetarian Times)

2 cups wild rice ( cooked)
1 cup brown rice (cooked)
1 cup cranberries
1/4 cup splenda brown sugar ( 1/2 cup if using regular beown sugar)
1/2 cup celery
1/3 cup toasted almond slices
1/3 cup orange juice
2  Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

Cook the cranberries, almonds and brown sugar until sugar melts and coats the berries. (5-7 min,)
Add the rest of the ingredients and stir fry until warm.

Winter Squash Galette by Deborah Madison, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
1 butternut squash cut in half with seeds scooped out.
2 fists of garlic
Olive Oil
12 sage leaves, diced
1 onion, small dice
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Pastry Crust

2 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
12 Tablespoons butter
1/3-1/2 cup water

Brush squash with olive oil.
Stuff garlic (unpeeled) into hole in squash.
Turn upside down and bake in 375 degree oven for 40-50 minutes
Meanwhile, cook onion and sage in olive oil on low until onions are translucent
Scoop squash into bowl and squeeze garlic out of cloves.
Loosely mash.
Add cheese, onion and sage and stir.

Combine, flour, salt and sugar
Mix butter in with fingers until small crumbs for
Add enough cold water to make a soft dough
Roll out into a large circle.

When squash is done place it onto of the crust.
Fold edges of tart over squash.
Bake in 325 degree onion for 30 minutes to heat through.

Any of the recipes can be modified to suit your needs. Cooking is all about using your senses and trusting your instincts. I hope you get a chance to try these recipes.

All the best, Kate

Day 1- Breakfast with Perry Mason

I had been asleep on my side, cocooning as I slowly began to wake up but only enough to open one eye. I'm well rehearsed at trying to tease myself back to sleep being a chronic insomniac. After trying to recite a poem I mentally listed the books of the bible, but I could only get to number 5, Deuteronomy. It turned into a crazy repitious mantra that woke me up with the force of a defibrilator. I glanced at the clock and it dawned on me I had about 20 minutes before the Perry Mason New Years Day marathon would commence.

It was warm and I didn't want to get up. I began counting the cookbooks stacked on the shelf next to my bed, I got to 45 not including a couple of years worth of cooking magazines,can't part with those. There are 2 shelves full in other rooms that didn't make it into the count. It's crazy, I'm an obsessive collector of cookbooks and I'm considering one more.

My cookbooks are in order by type. Pastry books take center stage, and they are plentiful. There are church kitchen types, retro 50's and 60's casseroles, antique all inclusives with directions such as 'add some', international cooking, vegan, vegetarian, books devoted to one food group, one item, less than 5 items, less than 30 minutes, cooking for an army or only 2, to name a few.

There's always an alpha, and for now it's Alton Brown's newest, Good Eats, the Early Years. Every recipe that I've tried is a no fail. I'm also very attached to all of my vegan, vegetarian tomes since I'm trying to change my eating habits. The point is, I love my books. At any given moment one of them could take its rightful place as alpha, so I can abandon none of them. When my feet finally hit the cold, cold floor I went straight to the computer to look up a recipe. At some point I may explore the psychology in that but for now, Perry's on and I need to find out what comes after Deuteronomy.

Breakfast? Turnip Greens with a drop of sesame oil, eggbeaters and coffee.
Lunch? Unsure, I'll probably just replicate something.
Dinner? Vegetarian chicken strips and whole wheat dumplings.

Happy 2010! All the best, Kate