{me again}

High desert sun, cold sharp breeze, winter brown grasses and summer blue sky; 

Harsh smell of spring on brightly chilled air, pounding of heart, wind on hair;

I run.

Limping gait, rippling lake, lagging dog, dragging my mind from fog; push past pain. 

Gasp, dry rasp, parched throat, burning arms, chilled legs, shed coat;

I spread my sun-starved bare soul.

Slow gained speed, aching knees, heart breaks free,

           I’m almost me again.

Poetry and photography by me

{abide with me}

It's a dark and cloudy Wednesday afternoon. We're expecting snow tomorrow and I'm planning to start up a roaring fire tonight. I have pumpkin pies to bake and loads and loads of laundry to do. 

As Fall teeters on the brink of Winter and we teeter on the brink of the holiday season I am swirling with ideas and possibilities for gifts and crafts and recipes and decor. I am plotting and planning away, trying to force myself to wait until after Thanksgiving to start truly embracing Christmas. Clinging somewhat idly to the last few crunching leaves and sunny afternoons. Embracing traditions and hearty stews and the last calm before the busy seasonal storm. 

Enjoy this waning Wednesday!

Images via: elfsacks, indoors/outdoors, of hearth and home, splendid sass

{monday things}

 We had a lovely weekend. It included so much fun with friends, from afternoon coffee, to bible study, to a long day at the lake, to church and then a fun lunch afterwards. I started to feel a little bit sick yesterday afternoon and have a slight fever and aches, but hopefully those will disappear in time for our trip to Durango tomorrow! 

I finally managed to visit some thrift stores and Hobby Lobby and scored some cute bottles to fill with some of my latest creations!

My mother in law and I made home-made vanilla back at Easter and I've been steeping it ever since. It is now all divided up in pretty bottles and ready to be given as gifts! (except the big one. that one's for me.)

Those two tall bottles in the back are full of home-made rose water! I made it earlier in the summer and it's been in the fridge waiting for pretty bottles to live in.

I found the rose water recipe on Roost and the vanilla recipe was all over the place on Pinterest. 

I'm going to spend the rest of today trying to heal up and also clean a bit. 

I hope your weekend was super fab!

{eat this}

It's Monday. So far not a very productive Monday. But I'm working on it.

Over the weekend I tried my hand at "Balsamic Beef Wraps." I saw a picture on Pinterest (that didn't lead me to a recipe) so I decided to try and recreate the recipe myself.

I (very) thinly sliced carrots, bell peppers, and green onions. I wanted to use bean sprouts too but my local grocery store is no longer carrying them. Apparently they're a "health hazard"? Anyway, I also had some leftover cilantro that I thought would be awesome in these, but I forgot to add it. Go me. 

I bought a huge (HUGE!) hunk of beef at Sam's club and I sliced about six thin strips about the size of my hand. I threw the rest of the beef in the crock pot and made shredded beef. 

I soaked the beef strips in balsamic vinegar and a bit of olive oil while I sliced the veggies. Then I simply piled the veggies inside the beef and rolled. I secured the rolls with toothpicks and Phillip grilled them.

Boy were they good! 

I unrolled mine to eat it because it was just too fat to bite. Phillip managed to keep his rolled up. He's such a neat eater. ;)

Last night we took a lovely walk in the gathering storm. It was a tiny bit cold and windy but the clouds and views were totally worth it. 

We also worked a lot in our yard and went to see Star Trek, which was really good. 

How was your weekend? 

Recipe Day: One-pan chicken, sausage, and sweet potatoes

Cold days call for hearty meals, and since it's April and has been snowing for days, that's exactly what I need. 

I used to make this delicious dish I liked to call "Rosemary Chicken." It involved frying up chicken breasts, sausage, and potatoes and then baking them with fresh rosemary. But one day I discovered this new recipe that's not only healthier, it's much easier, too!

1 pack chicken thighs

1 pack sausage

2 sweet potatoes

1/2 an onion

1 apple (I used fuji I think)

Olive oil

Maple syrup

Salt

Pepper

I just throw the chicken thighs in the bottom of a roasting pan of some kind. I cut up the sausage, sweet potatoes, onion, and apple. I drizzle it all with olive oil and a tiny bit of maple syrup and bake it covered in foil for about an hour at 400 degrees. I stir it once about halfway through and then in the last 10 minutes or so I remove the foil and turn it up to 425. Salt and pepper to taste. 

So, so filling and hearty! I love this meal! Phillip doesn't like the apples and onions, but I just cut them in chunks so he can avoid them. Enjoy!

Crafty Christmas Gift Idea: Wooden Spoons

Last year, I made almost all of my Christmas presents for other people. A few of the dudes got store-bought items, because, lets face it, it's hard to craft for guys. But all the women in my life got hand-made gifts courtesy of moi! I had such a blast crafting for my family and friends, and it really helped fill up my time when I first moved up here and didn't have much going on. 

This year is a very, very different story. I've been busier than I could have imagined in the past few months, and things keep coming at an alarming pace. I love my life, but it hasn't left nearly enough time for present making. I haven't made a single gift, in fact!

So I thought I'd pass some of my ideas on to you, since I've got no time or energy to complete them myself.
I'm calling this the wooden spoon gift set idea. Dye some boring wooden spoons with paint or something and you have a unique and fun gift for the chef in your life! Or for that decorista who likes a matchy-matchy kitchen. 

Good luck, crafters! 

Grandma Lueker's Cranberry-Orange Relish

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes with you guys!

Last year, we hosted my in-laws for Thanksgiving, and my mother-in-law Kimberlae asked me to make this cranberry relish for her instead of the traditional cranberry sauce.

Since I don't really care for cranberry sauce, I readily agreed to try it her way!

According to Kimberlae, this was her grandmother Martha Lueker's recipe. Grandma Lueker was from Germany, and, according to Kimberlae, all good Lutherans can make a jello recipe for any occasion! Grandma Lueker apparently used to make this with an old hand grinder that clamped to the counter and all the juice would run down the cabinets to the floor! 

I just love these details about old relatives. It gives a special meaning to the recipe for me, even if it IS mostly just jello ;) Tradition is super fun, and I like to think that generations of women before me have made and served this for Thanksgiving. 

The recipe calls for 2 cups of cranberries and a small orange - since I don't have an old hand grinder, I put them together in the blender. Make sure there are no seeds in your orange! I squeezed the juice out to give it a little liquid to help the blending process. I also went ahead and used a whole bag of cranberries, even though it was technically more than two cups. Maybe that explains why my blender almost overflowed at the end...

Sometimes the blending is a wee bit difficult. Don't worry if it won't all blend. 

Because....

You're gonna mix a package of strawberry jello, 3 Tablespoons of sugar, and a Tablespoon of vinegar into a cup and a half of boiling water. When it's all dissolved, just pour it into your blender and mix some more!

It looks like a delicious smoothie! And I'm not gonna lie, it was tempting to me to drink it like this.

You can either pour it all into one large jello mold or put it in individual serving dishes, like I did. I made 14 in all (which is actually a double recipe, but it won't all fit in the blender at once!) because I'm having 13 people total for Thanksgiving dinner next week. The extra one is for me to eat early, because I just can't wait! 

I hope you all love it as much as I do! I really like that it utilizes fresh cranberries instead of cooking them, it is so fresh and such an amazing, light, almost spongy texture! 

Enjoy!

Weekend, again

Sorry for the slow posting. I've been sorely lacking in inspiration this week, and have a million half-baked ideas rolling around my brain, none of which have come to anything.

This weekend we'll be painting the kitchen (again) thanks to some color choice problems. Who knew the perfect warm white was such a difficult color to find?

I have a crockpot full of amazing chicken and potato soup cooking and I plan to make pumpkin pies this afternoon. And it's a three day weekend thanks to Veteran's Day, so there is great rejoicing in our household! 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend yet again!
OH! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Baby Brother!!

{picky eater}

I never considered myself a picky eater. I love all kinds and varieties of foods, will try almost anything, and definitely don't turn my nose up at any food served to me in someone else's house. But when it came to the list of foods I didn't like, I was surprised to realize how many foods were on it. At the top of the list are tofu, caviar, eggplant, goat milk, and shellfish. Those are foods I simply would not touch.  Then there were the foods I didn't enjoy but would choke down if served by an unknowing innocent: zucchini,  yams/sweet potatoes, squash, mushrooms. Growing up, I remember having to sit at the table until I'd eaten several bites of zucchini. And I remember sitting there for a long, long time. 

But something strange has been happening to me. My tastes have evolved with age and I am venturing into the deep adult waters of actually buying and cooking with foods I formerly loathed. 

Last summer, my in-laws brought me a giant zucchini from their garden. This thing was enormous. I shredded it all and made a giant gluten free chocolate zucchini cake, and it was very very good. But I still had a lot of shredded zucchini left over. So I started experimenting with it. I cooked it in butter with lemon pepper. And, to my surprise, YUM! I spent the latter half of last summer buying up and cooking zucchini in all sorts of new ways, and I'm still loving zucchini. My very favorite new recipe is zucchini bites. You can find the recipe here. 

But my tastes weren't finished evolving. This summer, I was eating dinner at my mom's house, and I decided that, for the sake of my health, I would eat half a baked yam with my dinner. I put a little butter on it (rather than the usual sugary/marshmallowy stuff) and it was actually pretty good! When I came home I bought yams for the first time in my adult life! And my very favorite thing to do with them is make fries, of course!

They're delicious and so super easy! Just cut the yams into fairly thin slices, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and bake at about 450 for around twenty minutes. I stir them at least once to make sure they get evenly baked. 

I'm also learning to really like cooked mushrooms, some squash, and even some goat cheeses!

But the biggest taste change surprise of all? I no longer like tomatoes. I guess you win some and lose some!

Have you ever experienced a change in your taste? 

Friday, again

It's Friday again, and I haven't had anything to say all week. I mean, I've had things to say. Small fragments of scattered thoughts that wouldn't come together into anything coherent. I'm in a blogging slump.

This morning I'm drinking coffee, FB chatting with my pretty Brie friend, and making pumpkin muffins for small group tonight. The weather has been miraculously below 100 for the last couple days, and it made me start to crave Fall. Thus the baking and the pumpkin.

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw all about my fun weekend with Tiana and Diana. We went to a Farmer's market, had lunch at a tea house, shopped, cooked, ate, walked, talked, laughed hysterically, hiked, and had a generally fabulous time. I miss them already. 

Isn't she just the cutest Aunt?

Since they left, I've been slowly preparing for the next big adventure: 

My friend Emily is going to move in with us while she goes to the Denver Seminary to study Justice and Mission as she prepares to follow God's call to the people of Burma. I can't wait to finally live in the same country, state, and city (not to mention house)! She's coming on Wednesday, so I've been trying to get her room ready and my house a little bit tidy. 

That's all I have to say for now. I'm working on coming up with some more interesting posts. Until then....have a good weekend!

Simple Summer Salads

I know a lot of people who say they don't want to spend good money on a salad when they go out to eat. They feel like it's something they could easily make themselves. While I totally understand the sentiment, I am all about ordering salads at certain restaurants. I love those really complicated salads with fancy cheeses, fruits, sugary-toasted nuts, and funky dressings. And frankly, I'm lazy about salads. All of my childhood, my mom insisted that we have salad every night with dinner. I helped cut up countless cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, etc for years and years. And I guess I learned to hate making salads. All that dicing and chopping, and they were not nearly as good as the restaurant kinds. So to me, buying salad is totally worth it. 

But lately I've been making super simple salads for almost every meal. Well, not for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner. I think I may have found the trick to making them quick, easy, and absolutely delicious! So I thought I'd share some of my favorite salad combos with ya'll, in case you need some summer salad inspiration. 

Here was our dinner last night:

Phillip had a big bowl of romaine hearts, cheddar cheese, grilled chicken, and Ranch dressing.

I had romaine hearts, a peach, slivered almonds, grilled chicken, and a bit of Italian dressing. 

Mine looks way bigger because it was in a much smaller bowl.

I've been coating chicken thighs in barbecue sauce and grilling them. Sometimes the grilled thighs go into salads as a main course, and other times I'm really inspired and make actual sides and a full meal. I try to always grill extras and then cut up the cold leftover thighs in lunch salads during the week. 

I almost always use organic romaine hearts, because they come pre-washed, are delicious and nutritious, and are super easy to just cut up into a bowl for a really fast salad. But you should use whatever lettuce mix floats your boat.

Plain romaine hearts get pretty boring alone, which is where just a few special extras come in and make some surprisingly yummy meals.

For lunch I've been adding slices of mozzarella cheese sticks and chopped green apple. I toss in a bit of Ranch and it's a whole different flavor from my peach-chicken-almond-Italian salad.

I've also added blueberries, baby carrots, strawberries, lemon juice, turkey, you name it. Almost any fresh ingredient I have lying around the house has been thrown into my salad this summer. Every day is a new combination. I should invest in a romaine-hearts company, I'm buying so much of it. And I'm lucky I have such an easy-going husband. He likes salad, too!

What is your favorite salad? Do you have any quick, light meal ideas for summer?

Recipe day

I invented a new recipe the other night. Mostly, I was just trying to come up with something for dinner as quickly as possible without going to the store. And we were out of almost everything. I thought I'd share it with you, since it turned out quite delicious. Sorry there aren't any pictures!

Bacon-Mushroom Alfredo

Ingredients:

bacon

mushrooms

parmesan cheese

milk

butter

salt

pepper

noodles of some kind - I used a package of cheese tortellini from Trader Joe's

In a large skillet, cook the bacon 

Remove bacon to a plate and wrap it in paper towels

Pour off most of the bacon grease, but leave about 1/2 cup in the pan (I'm totally guessing on all the amounts, I didn't measure anything)

Add about 1/2 a stick of butter to the pan (did I mention this meal is super-duper healthy?)

When butter is melted, add about 1/2 cup (or less?) milk

Add sliced mushrooms until they soften a bit

Add a generous amount of parmesan cheese

At this point, you'll just keep cooking and stirring and adding the cheese until it comes to a thickish, alfredo-ey consistency

Crumble in the bacon, salt and pepper to taste

Pour over the noodles, which you probably needed to start cooking sometime near the beginning.

Eat it all, and forget about taking pictures, because it's not a pretty meal, just a good one.

Enjoy!

In my {refrigerator} dreams

As you all know, Phillip and I are right in the middle of the home-buying process. Most of the homes in our area and price range will require some kind of repairs or updates. I've been researching kitchen renovations and trying to gather inspiration for the upgrades that will probably be in our future.

                                                                        Source: housetohome.co.uk via Daniella on Pinterest

                                                                     Source: fromgreenwich.tumblr.com via Daniella on Pinterest

                                                                            Source: designsponge.com via Mary on Pinterest

                                                              Source: mila-loveology.blogspot.com via Megan Nelson on Pinterest

                                                                       Source: hautemamasfaves.tumblr.com via Brie on Pinterest

I'm totally enamored with these bright, funky refrigerators!

In reality, we'll probably end up with the cheapest working fridge money can buy.

But a girl can dream, can't she?

An afternoon treat

My afternoon treat: 

Hot, fresh homemade bread with butter and jam, a cup (or two) of tea and Downton Abbey.

My mom showed me the recipe for this incredibly simple, incredibly healthy no-knead homemade bread. It really is apparently almost impossible to ruin, no matter how confused you get or how upside down you make it. I made mine with whole wheat flour, and by leaving it for 18-20 hours, you are allowing the yeast to break down the wheat and make it easier to digest. This article has a great explanation about why naturally leavened bread is more healthy. I may have mentioned in the past that I have a really hard time digesting carbohydrates, and have had to mostly stay away from all grains for the last year. I'm hoping this bread will be different! Super healthy, super yummy, what's not to love?!

Next time I want to attempt sourdough, although that may be a tiny bit more complicated. 

Hope you have a wonderful Monday afternoon!

Pictures via my cell phone

But first,

                                                                              Source: Uploaded by user via Daniella on Pinterest

I have a huge amount of chores to get done and cooking to do. I have laundry to wash and fold and sort and put away, and bathrooms to clean and guest rooms to prep and then a doctor's appointment and errands to run.

I actually love these kinds of busy, hustled days, they are always filled with such a feeling of accomplishment.

                                                                              Source: weheartit.com via Daniella on Pinterest

Have a great Tuesday!

Happy Friday!

Today is not going entirely as planned. However, I did finally manage to get my pumpkin pies in the oven for a party tonight!

Whatever you're doing this weekend, I hope it's fabulously fun and relaxing! 

Happy Friday!!

Happy {first of fall} weekend!

                                                                 Source: tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com via Daniella on Pinterest

                                                                        Source: prettystuff.tumblr.com via Daniella on Pinterest

                                                                   Source: crushculdesac.tumblr.com via Daniella on Pinterest

                                                                                Source: None via Daniella on Pinterest

I'm so glad fall is finally here! I can't wait for cooler days with boots and scarves and chunky sweaters galore! Today I'm off to celebrate the changing seasons by baking pumpkin bread with my friend Kristin! And although the days are staying in the 80's for the foreseeable future, I'm still counting on chilly nights and hot chocolate right around the corner. Have a fabulous first weekend of fall!

Thursday's Child: Color Craze

                                                                          Source: havenspie.tumblr.com via Daniella on Pinterest

Pretty! I want to make those pennants so badly! I've made them before using craft paper, but I have so many scraps of fabric that I know would be perfect. And that rug is adorable! And I think the canopy is just an upgraded IKEA canopy, so that would be easy! In fact, a lot of this stuff looks like it's from IKEA. But it doesn't look IKEA, you know?! 

In other news, I had to Google for several minutes before I could remember the word "pennant," even though I've used it many times before. I Googled "triangle banner" and eventually found the right word. Don't you hate it when a word is right on the tip of your brain? This doesn't just happen to me, right?

Also, I made a crockpot pot roast for dinner because hopefully Brie and Joanna will be here by then! I actually technically made two pot roasts, because I had two very small pot roasts in my freezer that I didn't think would be enough for all of us. But now it'll probably be way too much food. And my hands smell strongly of onion and garlic. Speaking of which, how do you make pot roast? Do you put anything in to flavor it other than carrots or potatoes or onions? I used all three, and since I was kind of bored with my last few pot roasts, I poured about 1/3 cup red wine into a jar and shook it up with salt, pepper, garlic, and parsley and then poured it over the pot roast. I'll let you know if it's any good. 

I suppose I better get back to cleaning up my house. Writing blog posts is far more entertaining, but probably less productive. Have a great Thursday!

Coconut Curry Chicken (and some sister time)

I promised my mom I'd get her my recipe (which is really a rip-off of my friend Shannon's recipe) for coconut curry chicken stir fry. And I figured, if I'm going to be typing it into the computer, I might as well share it with all of you! I love this recipe because it's much more of a Thai curry than an India curry, meaning it's not overpoweringly curry flavored and isn't too spicy. 

Here are most of the ingredients (and some banana's. I didn't use the banana's and I don't recommend it).

I started by cutting three large chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and cooking them in organic virgin coconut oil. I sprinkled them with a little salt and lemon pepper and squeeze in a bit of lemon and lime juice. 

Once the chicken was cooked, I added the coconut milk and water chestunuts and a little more lemon pepper, salt, and lemon and lime juice. I also added the curry powder. I got my curry powder at Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers. I think I basically picked the cheapest one. I added maybe four tablespoons of curry powder? I'm not positive on any of the amounts, just flavor to taste! I think this time I didn't quite use enough curry, and I may have used too much lemon and lime juice, because it turned out very citrus-y. 

I let it simmer like this for a little while because I was waiting for Phillip to get back from the store with the rice, which I forgot earlier in the day. This recipe is incredibly quick to make, so you'd probably want to start your rice before you start cooking this, especially if you're using brown rice, which always seems to take longer. But simmering it works just fine. When the rice was cooking, I added a package of frozen green beans and simmered some more. 

When the rice was done, I served it all up and it was quite yummy!

Did I mention that Sophie's here and we went to Goodwill and played dress up? Or that I got used cowboy boots (which I've been wanting forever) for $15?! 

Yes indeed. We had a tea party involving berries and cream and earl grey tea and some cute little cookies I got for my birthday. It was oh so glamorous. 

Some day she's gonna make one beautiful bride! Watch out, daddy, she's growing up fast!