Whoaa, Christmas!

Hey Y'all,
It has been way to long since my last post, and I do apologize. However, these past few weeks have been.. Well, INSANE!
This is the first year of Jesse being in any kind of public program. I'm sure you have hear all the ladies talk about how "That fist year".
Well let me just say, wether it's true or not, we have been passing around a number of things. Ok, so yea, it started with an ear infection, pawned into a number of other things and then BamB! Christmas is here. All we have left is a cough and remnants of a another ear infection.
Somehow we have managed to get the shopping in. And well, this is also the fist year Jesse has some understanding of "Santa".
The only thing the kids is set on is this butterfly game. So, of course, I find the best deal and go to get my simple high of satisfaction.
I'm not one to.....hmmm, be adamant about something, but I had some my homework and that thing was mine.
Let me just say, amazon will be my friend and toys r us can, well, not be included in my world.
Here it is 9:11 and the boy is getting ready to go to bed.
Let the Wrapping kaos begin!
Merry Christmas y'all, and may you enjoy the crazy call of parenthood :)

Post Thanksgiving, I mean sick

Wow, so this past few days I have been out of commission  Sick with my quarterly sinus infection that gets way out of control because once again, my file is not at the doctors office. What? Really, Again? Can you hear the disbelief in my response?
Whatever, make me an appointment, I'll pay the hundred bucks just to feel better. I mean, I have a TURKEY to cook after all.
Yes, this year my mother in law has asked me to cook the turkey. WOW, that is big in the daughter in law world. I am extremely excited and start scoping out where to buy my bird.
Next thing ya know, I'm laid up sick as a dog. Do you know what happens to the house when there's no mom?
Well thankfully Mr. Mom stepped in, took off work, drove the little to class, me to the doctor and handled the next 4 days pretty on par.
Needless to say, I could not cook the bird. Heck, I couldn't even brush my teeth.
So, it was up to my mother in law to take over the relished duty she had asked me to preform.
We arrive to the house and everything looks and smells great, I haven't eaten in days and am starving! Somehow the coffee and dose of antibiotic just didn't fill me up ;)
During my inspection of her bird, she quietly says "This is the first turkey I've ever cooked by myself".
Wwwhat? Holy cow, what a courageous thing to tell me. And how much better did I feel about not being able to do it.
Supper was fabulous and the bird was something else, juicy and well seasoned.
So this Thanksgiving I was excited, let down ( by getting sick), humbled and was able to find joy in someone else's accomplishment. And that is why I am Thankful!

Whole Foods Columbia!!

WooHoo, Whole Foods has opened here in Columbia! I was so extremely excited to hit it up. I dropped my son at school and my daughter and I headed that way on opening day. Mind you, I had no shower and was wearing workout cloths. Geesh, at least I had a fair chance of not knowing anyone.

 I had heard how fabulous it from a friend that went on the pre-tour and I was drooling like a bull dog to get there. I was dreaming of all the fabulous local product I was going to discover and  I was excited to see some I was already familiar with.

We get there and bam, holy parking craziness. There are cars everywhere and nobody is being , well a courteous driver. I finally scored a sweet spot by the Basil restraunt. Sweet!

In we go! No carts, no biggy, it’ll keep me from buys a bunch of stuff. I swear it was so packed in there but somehow it really didn’t matter. I was in my own Disney world. We roamed around trying to get a handle on what was where, and how to shop the store. It was glorious.

The floor was super shiny and the bulk section was just amazing. The fish man was refreshingly smiley and helpful, even after I had a twenty min conversation with someone I ran into that I know through friends. Great, yoga pants and funky hair.

Bulk foods

It was so much to take in, I opted to enjoy what I had seen and, actually left the store without even getting the groceries that I really did need.

Mr. Mom Monday rolled around and I headed back to my Disney World CHILDLESS! I picked up my friend and we rolled out.

Parking was easy, carts available and I was still overwhelmed and excited. After I relaxed and started to see it as a grocery store and not my imaginary pantry, I started noticing things. Comparing products from all the stores I shop, looking at prices, looking at where thing come from and most of all looking for some local farmers product I was positive I would find.

I saw several items from here, but mostly not. Glad to see City Roots made it in but I kind of figured they were a given.

My overall realization was that yes, It’s a wonderful addition to our community. However, Whole Foods is not a farmers market, and if you want to shop local you still need to go looking for it. Rosewood Market, Earth Fare, Soda City Market, Kershaw County Market, Old McCaskills Farm, Ovis Farms and the many others I am so thankful for. I may not get to everyone all the time, but I do make my rounds and am so very grateful to have you in makeup community.

So I welcome the great addition and am still super excited for my shopping trips there.Shop on Columbia :)

Make your own Trail Mix :)

Random Recipes I make

                                             


 Meat Loaf                                                 

1 Lb Ground beef
2 eggs
1 cup or so of stove top stuffing
1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 diced sweet onion
1 tsp olive oil

Saute onion in olive oil, and mix with the other ingredients bake at 375 for about 45 mins covered then another 10-15 uncovered.

Steak fajita's


Flank steak
Sweet corn
Tom's
Jalapenos
Cilantro
Onion
                                                      Lime

Rub: Crushed red pepper flakes, paprika, salt, ground mustard, ground ginger, Cumin, brown sugar. about 1/2 or so of each minus the red pepper  flakes. adjust to your liking add a pinch of pepper flakes for light heat, two for medium and three for more heat.

put rub on meat, let come to room temp then grill or broil ( I usually do about 10 mins each side on a piping hot grill.) slice against the grain and pile rest the ingredients on a soft tortilla and squeeze lime

Broiled Salmon

Fresh Salmon Steaks
Ground Ginger sprinkle
Ground Mustard sprinkle
Olive Oil drizzle

Broil for about 10 mins or s, until flaky


Brussels & Bacon

Brussels quartered
2 strips Bacon chopped
Salt & pepper
Lemon zest

Roast first 4 ingredient in oven at 425 for about 10 mins, toss roast for another 5 ish. Put in bowl add zest, toss and serve

Bucket kicking

Holy smokes, where does the time go? I think I ask myself this question at least five times a day. So much has happened since my last entry tern years ago, geesh. What can I say? I'm a woman that has many projects going on plus, a husband and two little ones at home. Ya, ya, ok so I have been spending my time kicking the bucket. I have a list similar to everyone else's, but I have finally been getting some items done! Yay me. I have been cultivating great relationships, adding new experiences to the list of firsts, and even  getting a good rhythm with the whole school thing.
Boy am I ever happy to have met some of the people I have. Having people with similar values and outlooks really make life's journey more fun. So a big thank you to my new friends that bring me a sense of community and to old friends who know me well enough to keep me motivated and rooted.
Never did I think I would be recording a tutorial and posting it on Face Book. Learning the process was time consuming and down right irritating. But now that I know what and how to do it, I look forward to the next one.
We put together the recipe exchange and that was really so much fun. There was many great recipes and I am eager to try a few in particular.

We partnered with my friends from "Premier House Cleaning of Columbia" and are offering a Cook & Clean option. We did our first one last week and it was unbelievable!!
I hear people talk about passion and  how when you love what you do it's no work. I thought everyone who said that was just plain full of it. The day that we did our Cook & Clean I discovered they were telling the truth
Being able to share what I know about food is....well, not work.

Secret Ingredient..."RAIN WATER!"

Jay and I had a quick, kid free, overnight get away! So excited and just bursting to run around like I myself was a kid.
Jay packed the car, did the g-shopping, and drove us off to Table Rock. I was super impressed by his choice of menu items and was eagerly plotting how it would turn out. I mean the man got grass fed bison, asparagus, cherries for heavens sake..lot's of great stuff. I drooled over how I would cook with the cast iron over the open fire sipping on scrumptious beer and enjoying the hammock.

So we get there, set up camp and head to Cesar's Head for a quick warm up hike. We head down to the falls and park. Unfortunately there was a corner there. So sorry for the family.
We grabbed our gear and headed out.
It was so beautiful. The smell, the air, the lighting, all just perfect.Then it started to rain. "Ok", no big deal. We got to the falls and ooo'd and ahh'd, then some tweekers showed up! what? really? Oh dear lord.

So off we went, in the rain, a bit weird-ed out by the randomness. Back at the trail head it stops raining.Yay! Off to cook.
We arrive back at camp, get the fire started and jay heads to the shower. He get's back and I have it all prepped,. just waiting on the coals. About that time we feel a few sprinkles.  I throw the asparagus in to steam with some beer, seasoned up the meat and it's raining. Not sprinkling but now raining.

 Now, I have to improvise..one pot method in the pouring rain! Sweet pot's almost done, tossed in with onion and asparagus, and the fire is not hot...And now it is like a monsoon just came falling from the sky. Our pot was drenched, our veggies were pretty much washed ashore but thank god we has the Bison still.
So my loving husband, huddled under the tarp that covered the hammock I was supposed to sleep in, finished up our poor supper while I made a new place to sleep in the car.
Needless to say, our supper did not turn out quite like I had envisioned. It was all fun though, we laughed pretty hard at the situation.
The next day we headed out to hike Table Rock and were very great-full it was not raining and that we had some of uncle Kenneth's honey.
Tired from the night before, and kind of in a bit of shock I think, we headed up and up and up.

And this was our reward for all the rain, traitorous up hill hike, and washed out supper :)

The Land of Crazy

I often hear people say the just cannot afford to buy fresh, local or organic.  Me being me, I took that as a challenge.

Instead of my special trips around town yesterday, I decided to find out for myself if that was just another excuse to be lazy. So Daisy and I were off to Wally World.

It was quite interesting because when we pulled in there were cops everywhere, directing traffic. (It turned out to be the thing with Chick-file.) Anyway, I had a mission and we were on it.

Veggies were first since they were right there at the door, under a huge sc produce logo. I thought, “Huh! See you can get local veggies here.” Ya, no, not so much. 

Now, let me just state I looked hard and thoroughly. I read those itty bitty labels. And not one true South Carolinian veggie or fruit was found. Ahhh, depressing.

 I did find some of my staple items though at a better price. And I also found some little jewels. When I read the labels, I was pleasantly surprised to understand what I was reading. And even learned of a new veggie..woohh! I had to look it up. It’s called “ Tero”. Not positive that is the correct spelling, but it’s a root veggie.  It wasn’t a fresh item so I honestly couldn’t give a taste comparison. I will be looking for it downtown next time I go.


Onto the Meats!! Can you say way confusing? Now, I know a bit about meat, but marketing has gone bananas.  There was so much “It’s Healthy Meat” plastered all over the packaging I could barely tell what I was actually buying. So through the digging and tossing, picking up and putting back I found some humane, free range, non hormone chicken J Was it expensive you ask? Not too bad actually. I paid about $2.00 for each breast. I was also able to find some non-farm raised salmon too....happy dance.

I wondered onto the Isle section and could see all the processed, sugar riddled products with their vibrant colors just calling out to be bought. I did not go down every isle. By the time I got to the isles, I was so overwhelmed by just the pure carnage of finding my food that I could not bare anymore small type.

I grabbed my last few staples and headed for the checkout. 

Oh, the checkout. I was rejected! Told I could not use one of the three 20 items or less checkout because well, I simply had to many items. I understand that. But there was nobody else in line. So, ok, whatever. I headed down to the over 20 section, and was greeted by a nice young girl that was singing to herself and was happy enough to keep my items sectioned together as I had grouped them.

 I am watching the tally like I am an extreme couponing queen.  Bam!  There it was, I am under budget!

I will still have to hit my usual spots for my “got to have” items, but overall I shopped in Crazy Land on the 1^st of the month and found “My type of food”, under budget.

Eat real food J