Hi, I'm Michelle! I'm a 23-year-old health-conscious foodie living in a small town in West Texas with my husband, Edgar, and our chihuahua-mutt, Maggie! I'm just trying to live and eat as well as I can.
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Have you ever hated a certain food only to find you like it later? That’s been my case with things like mushrooms, raw tomatoes, and red wine.
I really feel that in order to say you don’t like something, you must try it in a variety of different preparations and flavor combinations before making a judgment. This has led me to conclusions that I just don’t like raw broccoli, but I loved it steamed, roasted or grilled! I love fresh mushrooms sauteed in butter, but not served out of a can. I like cucumber in gazpacho, but not chopped up in a salad or in tabbouleh. Or celery diced fine and stewed slowly in soup or dressing, but never, ever served raw!
Which leads me to this recipe I found in my most recent issue of Z-Life (a magazine I receive as a member of the Zumba Instructor Network).
Beet and Apple Salad.
First, I will share with you my first former enemy.
Beets.
Omg.
I have tried so many times to love beets. But every time it just tastes like I’m eating dirt. Red beets, golden beets, roasted, pickled (ew), doesn’t matter. Dirt.
But every time I prepare them I find I sort of like them even more. I can’t say that I love them, but they have found a place in my life. I will continue to prepare them in different ways and find, every time, that I like them a little more. This recipe is one of those that makes me like beets even more. Perhaps one day I’ll be a beet-a-holic?! That will be the day I make borscht.
Beet and Apple Salad with Creamy Ginger Vinaigrette
Adapted from Z-Life
Serves 2-4
3 small beets (I used golden)
Oregano
1 apple (I used fuji. Ignore the fact that there are two apples in the pic. Unless you want more apple—then go for it!)
1/4 cup shelled pistachios
Creamy Ginger Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
First, peel the beets. I used a paring knife, and because I used golden beet instead of red, I didn’t look like a murder victim from CSI. But if red suits you, go for it.
Then, slice the beets into half-moon slices. Wrap up in parchment paper (I used this method) with a sprinkle of oregano and roast for 20-30 minutes or until tender (I just shove a toothpick through the parchment and gauge the texture from there).
Very quickly dump the beets into a bowl of water and ice and leave there for about 30 seconds. Some people call this “shocking” and it’s typically used to halt cooking and preventing green things from turning brown. I did it because I wanted my beets chilled when I mixed them with the apples. If you want warm beets with cool apples, omit this “shocking” step (hurr hurr).
Slice apple into thin half-moon-ish slices. I use this manner of slicing.
Mix beets with apples. Then gently mix in the pistachios and the dressing. Serve and enjoy!
This brings us to the second previously-hated item.
Mustard.
I have for many years proclaimed my disdain for mustard. My friends and I even have a year-long joke currently running where they will hide small packets of mustard in our house after we made the proclamation last year that we “are not a mustard family.” My disfavor came from the awful stench of mustard and the radioactive yellow shade of the French’s style I was exposed to growing up. However, to be frank, I’d never actually eaten it. But lately as I was reading over the ingredients on the bottle of my favorite store-bought dressing (Brianna’s Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette), I realized that what made this dressing “creamy” and gave it a certain depth of flavor that couldn’t be found in regular oil + vinegar concoctions was the mustard. After doing much soul-searching, I bought a small bottle of Grey Poupon and vowed to start with baby steps. And that first baby step, this dressing, is a major success!
Creamy Ginger Vinaigrette
1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp ground ginger (I used World Market brand, which amazingly tastes exactly like a real root of ginger! Not many powdered varieties capture that sweet-spicy-citrusy taste)
salt + pepper
Combine all ingredients in a small jar or bowl and whisk well.
Are there any foods you hated growing up that you now love?
This past month has been an adventure.
Since I last posted Edgar left his job working out of town (he worked for/lived with his dad three hours away during the week and came home on weekend), and spent the time since job hunting and practicing for his senior recital preliminary hearing (the last thing he needs to graduate).
This time of interim has definitely strengthened our faith. Edgar is the overwhelmingly primary breadwinner in this household, and we have really had to depend on God to provide in His time. This time has also brought Edgar and I closer together, since we had not been able to spend much time together since last June (hence the lack of blogging). I was telling Ed that I finally “feel married” again. It’s hard to be one person trying to run a two-person household. I’ll say it requires a lot of strength, patience, and faith.
And that faith has been rewarded.
Last Monday Edgar passed his recital prelim. This is what determines whether he graduates or not. This is the grade. His is finally graduating after three years of attempting his recital! It’s actually happening! After next week, our time at Wayland will be over!
On that same day he had an interview for a full-time job here in town. It is a job at a local hardware/home improvement-type store (like a mini-Home Depot). Several days later he was offered the job. He starts sometime this week.
And during this time, God has been faithful to provide all we need. And more.
But this special time of interim is coming to an end. We will return to a regular schedule. I will spend my afternoons doing more laundry and blogging and less cuddling and roaming around town with Edgar. Our days will be more compartmentalized. I am ever thankful for this time, and I look forward to the next.
To kick things off, I’ll share with you a recipe (if you can call it that) I put together one evening when the weather started getting beautiful enough to eat out on the patio.
Vegetable Enchiladas with Avocado-Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients:
- Onion, chopped fine
- Green chiles (fresh or canned), diced finely.
- Prepared corn salsa, about half the recipe
- Zucchini, cut into quartered slices
- Cilantro, about 2 TBSP chopped
- Avocado, mashed
- Vegetable broth, about 1 cup
- Plain yogurt (I used goat milk), about 1 cup
- Lime juice, around 2 TBSP
- Shredded pepperjack cheese (or other Mexican blend)
- Green onions (for garnish), chopped fine
- Spices: I use salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, paprika, ancho chile powder, and a little cayenne. I don’t measure, but I will advice not to go crazy with the cumin or cayenne. A little goes a very long way!
- Prepared corn tortillas (I made my own, so you can certainly do that, but I’ll do a separate blog post on tortilla making later!)
   
Combine onion, green chiles, corn salsa, zucchini, cilantro, and half your spice mixture in a hot pan with a little oil. Saute until onions are translucent and zucchini is crisp-tender.
In a separate pot, mix together yogurt, vegetable broth, lime juice, the rest of the spice mixture, and the mashed avocado, and whisk over medium heat. I just tasted and added more spices until it tasted right.
In a casserole dish I ladled a little sauce into the bottom of the dish, then I took warm corn tortillas a filled them (not too much! a little goes a long way!) with the veggie mixture, and placed them seam-side-down in the dish. I then covered the enchiladas with all of the remaining sauce, topped with cheese and chopped green onions. I put them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until cheese was melted and sauce was slightly bubbly.
I also always like to set aside a few enchiladas in these small Corningware dishes to stash in the freezer for an easy lunch or dinner. I don’t bake these before freezing. When I want to eat it, I’ll pull it out of the freezer, take off the lid, place it in the oven, THEN turn the oven on to 350 and let the dish warm up while the oven preheats and continue to cook until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly. Microwave works too in a pinch.
Until next time!
Here are seven things I’m liking right now!
1. Not having TV
About a week and a half ago Edgar and I decided to cancel our cable television service. There was never anything good on anyway, and we figured the extra $20 a month could be better spent elsewhere. I already knew that most the time I had the TV on, it was for white noise, so I reasoned with myself, knowing that if I wanted white noise, I could turn on Pandora or a TV show on Netflix. It’s been a week and a half since we have watched traditional television, and we don’t miss it at all! It’s so nice not having to see or hear television commercials all the time! And as a bonus, we’re spending our time better now since we don’t have the TV as a time suck.
And just for an FYI, I am currently listening to some bluesy, classic rock and roll, and I love it!
2. Baby Johnson
After months of being told that they were having a GIRL, Justin and Aubrey were surprised with an 8 lb, 11 oz, 20” long baby BOY! Little Joshua William Johnson made his public debut a week ago today! I’m so happy for my dear friends!
I got him this onesie!!
3. Bread baking
I’ve been going crazy over here with bread baking. In the past week I have baked two different loaves of gluten free bread, and I have a gluten free sourdough starter in the process of growing, feasting, and fermenting on my counter right now.
I’ve already decided it going into two different loaves—a gluten free sourdough from Get Off Gluten, and a soaked spelt sourdough recipe I’m adapting from this page. I have not been tested for Celiac disease yet, but to do so I need to be eating gluten to some extent. I don’t plan on getting testing until at earliest this summer so in the meantime I think I’m going to utilize soaked spelt and kamut recipes for my yeasted breads and remain gluten-free for everything else. I already know that I tolerate spelt and kamut better than regular wheat. Perhaps soaking (to reduce gut-irritating phytic acid) will help even further? We’ll see.
In addition to this, I’ve been stalking The Fresh Loaf a great deal. I love that place. It’s a big forum for amateur (or not???) bakers. They toss around terms like “autolyse” and “dough hydration” and I have to refer to a glossary when I read just about any post, but the learning experience excites me!
4. Birth Without Fear
I was introduced to this blog through a fellow homeschool graduate over facebook. With half the people around me having babies and my unabashed interest in obstetrics and gynecology (a seed planted during my uterine didelphys diagnosis at age 12, no doubt), the concept of birth has been on the brain. It is fascinating to see how starkly different modern American obstetrical protocol is from traditional practices of childbirth worldwide. The average American hospital these days only knows two births—a medicated and “controlled” vaginal birth or a cesarean section, which is quickly becoming more the norm than not. Whatever happened to uncomplicated births? How did people handle breech births before c-sections became protocol? How did people manage labor before the epidural? I’m not against hospitals or medical intervention when necessary, but these questions intrigue me.
5. Honey
But not to eat!
For the past almost-year I have been washing my face with it! Honey is a natural antiseptic, and ayurvedic medicine suggests it is good for oily skin, so I decided to give it a whirl. And it works! My skin started clearing up when I quit washing my face with products containing salicylic acid, and when I made the switch to honey instead of commercial face wash, my skin got even better! If only I knew this as a preteen, then maybe I wouldn’t have spent so much money on junky creams and washes!
6. Pinterest
I have been on Pinterest since last summer, and since then my boards have become a mess of random pins. I have done quite a bit of re-organization in the past few weeks, though, and now I have some boards dedicated exclusively to baking, gluten free foods, and vegetarian recipes! Check them out! (Feel free to check out the rest of my boards as well!  )
7. Fertility Friend
T.M.I. ALERT!
While many use this program to help them get pregnant (or avoid pregnancy, using Fertility Awareness Method), I use it to track the progress of my PCOS management. Since I’m not taking pharmaceuticals to manage my hormone levels, I have to pay attention to my body’s signals and how they respond to lifestyle choices. I take my temps every morning at 7AM. I have a special alarm on my phone, a thermometer by my bed, and an app on my phone I use to log my temps before rolling over and going back to sleep. I later plug in my temps and any other symptoms I’m feeling (headache, cramps, irritability, climate of the netherworld, etc.) as well as things like what medication I took and if I exercised. Then, when it believes it has enough information, it calculates which day I probably ovulated (if I ovulated all!) and seeing the chart patterns over time helps indicate a specific hormonal imbalance that may need tending to.
An abormally…normal…ish chart. This was last month—the shortest cycle I have EVER had, and the earliest day of ovulation I have ever observed (it’s normally observed around day 19 for me). Exercise (the 02 spot at the bottom) obviously managed my hormones levels to the point where my cortisol rose, my DHEA lowered, and my cycle didn’t last so frickin long. Of course, my scary low follicular phase temps might be a cause for thyroid concern despite my “normal” TSH blood test results. Another typical part of PCOS treatment I need to consider.
And in case you are wondering, no, we are not planning for children in the near future. We have some career and possible relocation decisions to make before then.
This past weekend I began officially instructing Zumba at the local YMCA and since then I have lead two classes. This little change in my routine has created a snowball effect of activity—I have worked out all but one day in the past week! This is definitely more than my norm, but I think my body is happy for it.
And since I have fitness on the brain, I thought I’d fill this out. I saw it on Cardio Pizza a while back and now actually feel like I have something to say in response to these questions! Seems like fun to me!
Five Fitness Things I can’t Live Without:
- iPod/iPhone
- ponytail holders (I am not one of those people who can tolerate working out with hair on my neck!)
- water bottle nearby (I am not on of those people who can tolerate going more than 5 minutes without a drink of water, and even that is a really long time for me!)
- dancing!
- group aerobics. I’m so unmotivated on my own sometimes.
Most Embarrassing Song I Listen to While Working Out:
- That totally depends on who I’m telling it to. I teach/do Zumba, so it’s understood that there’s a lot of dance/club/latin/world music going on. But it’s not generally music I listen to for the sake of listening to music. I suppose any top 40 songs, like “Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO or “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5. Though “Drop it Low” by Ester Dean and Chris Brown is a contender!
Favorite Pre-Workout Snack or Meal:
- Dates and almond butter! Eating exclusively carbs leave my stomach feeling empty not long after, but I don’t like to eat a lot right before working out. The date and almond butter combo gives me energy and staying-power without risking stomach cramps or lethargy!
On My Fitness Bucket List:
- Get more Zumba certifications (Basic 2 and Toning)
- Get group fitness certification
- participate in a bike race
- be able to touch my toes with my knees straight (my hamstring flexibility was shot with puberty)
Must-Have Tech Tools:
- iPod/iPhone. That’s about it. hehe.
Best Workout Song:
Top Exercise Gear:
- I generally avoid buying clothing from Walmart, but the other day I managed to find a sports bra with cups that was NOT racerback! I’ve tried, but I simply cannot tolerate a racerback sports bra. I know Lululemon is famous for their Ta-Ta Tamer which isn’t racerback, but $80 I have not. I did have $15, and the Walmart bra has been a godsend ever since I bought it.
- Comfy tanks/tees/capris/shorts. I do really love my running shorts, but it was 33 degrees today…
Motivational Mantra:
- “I’m getting paid to do this…” HAHAH!
Next Big Exercise Goal:
- Getting involved in more strength training. Since I have access to the YMCA now, I’m hoping to actually take advantage of the weight rooms. I also figure since I’m doing so much cardio between my own classes and the one or two other Zumba classes I still want to attend every week, I need to balance my fitness with some strength exercises.
Favorite Cardio Exercise:
- ZUMBA!
- Dance! I miss swing dancing dearly…
Favorite Strength Move:
- Mot a “move,” but pilates and yoga are my favorite strength-building activities.
I work in the kitchen of a coffee shop, and my fellow coworker, Jess, (the primary baker at the Brew), and I tend to routinely talk about food while we busy ourselves making sandwiches for customers. A few months ago she brought up in conversation a fact that I knew but hadn’t really given great thought, or at least a place in my value system until recently.
We discussed how the majority of the chocolate we use in America is produced by slave children in the West Africa.
I won’t go into specifics of what is going on with the cocoa industry in Africa right now, because so many other people explain it better (links to valuable resources at the end of this post), but I will list a few major points:
- 69% of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa; 35% in the Ivory Coast alone.
- 2/3 of the American chocolate market is dominated by two companies – Hershey’s and Mars, both of which purchase a large majority of their chocolate from the Ivory Coast, where tens of thousands of children are enslaved on cocoa farms.
- In 2001, the Harkin-Engel Protocol was established by the World Cocoa Foundation and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association as a commitment to end the problem of child slavery in cocoa-producing nations by 2005. Unfortunately, efforts and funding on this plan have since fizzled out.
So how does this affect me?
Well, first, I’m sharing this with you all. I’ve also decided to seek out and use only fair trade chocolate in my house. Unfortunately there is no fair trade baking chocolate in Plainview, so I’m limited to what I can find an hour away in Lubbock and the internet. I haven’t totally figured out white chocolate yet, but it will probably involve scouting out some cocoa butter and making my own (which would be healthier anyway).
For me, I have decided that it isn’t worth it to knowingly perpetuate the concept of unfair labor practices for the sake of a confection addiction or a more flexible budget. As someone who regularly spends a few dollars extra for grass-fed, local, humanely-raised meat and poultry and touts the importance of buying local and organic for the ultimate good of the economy, the environment, and humankind, I cannot in a sound mind and heart continue to turn a blind eye to problem bigger than anything we face here in the United States. I cannot make sacrifices for animals that I am not willing to first make for mankind.
And chocolate isn’t the only problem. Coffee is another export that is known to use unfair labor practices in production. I am so proud that the Broadway Brew, my employer, serves only fair trade certified and organic coffee to our customers.
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Is There Slavery in Your Chocolate?
Global Exchange
Children in Cocoa Production
TED Case Study
Stop Chocolate Slavery <—Great list of slave-free brands!
Ever since I graduated college I’ve pretty consistently made it a point to have breakfast every day. Some days it was bacon, eggs, and a homemade muffins. Other days it was a bowl of cereal, or a bag of trail mix as I walked out of the door. It may not have been much, but it was always something. I don’t think I really understood what a difference a good breakfast made until I began working with my holistic doctor. I knew that having breakfast would help me not be so starved and would pave the way for healthy choices throughout the day. But as I took my doctor’s orders in making sure every breakfast was high in protein and fat and devoid of grains, fruit, and sugar, I began to notice that on the days I ignored these rules I found myself sleepy and unfocused more often than not, and on days I did follow his orders, I was more likely to feel satisfied and alert most of the day.
Over time, though, I’ve adjusted these rules somewhat for the sake of variety and balance (and the demands of my more-active job), but not much. I still try to focus on protein and fat, but I do tend to include a small bit of whole (gluten free) grain or fruit. And since my work rarely requires me to be in before 10am, this usually gives me a good amount of time to prepare a quality, filling breakfast!
Here are some of my breakfasts from the last week or so. All taken on my iPhone, because I’m still nerding out over the fact that I can now take a photo on my phone and within 1 minute have it tweeted! (I’m aware that I’m grossly behind the times)
Omelet with goat cheese and spinach with a side of sweet potato hash and ice mint green tea…
Scrambled eggs with salsa verde, leftover GF cornbread (Ashley’s recipe!), pomegranate arils, and more mint green tea (I love the tea pot Ed got me for Christmas!)
Scrambled eggs, small green smoothie (banana, spinach, and Amazing Grass), and more mint green tea…
Ed brought me breakfast in bed! Fried egg and apple slices… (and unpictured Tazo black tea)
Blue corn tortillas with eggs, nutritional yeast, and salsa verde, with a side of orange and chai green tea with almond milk
And for a change of pace… plain Greek yogurt with pomegranate, crushed almonds, and a little honey, plus a muffin on the side (made with mostly almond meal and a little teff flour and molasses—for iron and gingerbread-y goodness!). I don’t like to eat much yogurt because it doesn’t always agree with me, but it was on crazy-sale and I knew it would provide a bit more variety to my breakfast options.
So obviously we have an egg lover in the house. Really, eggs and I have gotten real comfy. No, I do not dispose of the yolks. Contrary to what nutritionists have been trying to tell you for years, dietary cholesterol does not raise blood cholesterol. Saturated fat does, and eggs really don’t contain much of that. It’s so chock-full of other nutrients (and flavor!!) that it’s a shame to discard them. I frequently eat about two eggs a day.
This is what works for me for now. I don’t like to eat carb-heavy breakfasts because I get sugar highs and lows all day if I do that (even if it’s 100% whole grain!), and I usually will get a blood sugar headache (PCOS thing. Hypoglycemic symptoms.)
Do you like carb-centered or protein/fat-centered breakfasts? I honestly do miss the options in a carb-centered one, but I usually regret it later. 
IN OTHER NEWS! I begin teaching ZUMBA at my local YMCA next month! SO EXCITED!
Today I received a box from UPS containing THIS!
And that’s not even the best part…!
It’s signed!
This moment of excitement brought to you by my dear friend, John, my unofficial webmaster and fellow food freak. He lives in Houston and sometime last month Alton Brown was visiting the Houston area for a book signing, so John picked me up the second Good Eats cookbook and had AB himself sign it for me.  He actually gave me the first volume of the Good Eats trilogy last year, and Edgar gave me the third volume for Christmas. Now my collection is complete!
It’s no secret that Alton Brown is my favorite food inspiration. Most my recipes are based off of his, and since my food education really began with Good Eats, my approach of cooking tends to be, “know the rules so you know how to break them!” Which is honestly how I approach painting, drawing, and photography too…
Do you have a particular foodie inspiration?
Another year has come and gone, and honestly I consider it to be a fairly tame year. Perhaps because, for the first time in several years, I did not move! 
But when I really look at it, there have been several important and exciting things that happened this year.
* I went to Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria with the Wayland School of Music. A trip I’ll never forget!
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* I spent a weekend in Santa Fe and Glorieta, NM with several of my closest friends in a cabin. An unforgettable weekend with irreplaceable people.
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* I finally sought a professional opinion about some hormonal imbalances I’d been having the past few years, and after battling several ridiculous doctors I finally discovered that I have mild Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. In the process I identified my gluten intolerance and have shifted my dietary focus away from calorie-limiting and more toward endocrine-supporting.
* After three years of Zumba participation, I finally received my Zumba Instructor Certification!
* After a year of planning I built up the courage to quit my full-time desk job to work part-time at a coffeeshop and make myself more available to my home, my health, and family (and blog—still need to work on that one)
I am not typically one for New Years Resolutions. I figure you shouldn’t wait for January 1st, or Monday, or any particular date to work toward a goal. I do, however, believe if that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I knew that there were things I wanted to accomplish and the only thing keeping me from accomplishing those goals was my lack of focus. So on January 1, 2011 I wrote down a list of goals I wanted to tackle for the year. Some are too personal for the blog, but here are a good majority of them:
* Go to Europe – CHECK!
* Get Zumba certficiation – CHECK!
* Go to one food blog conference – didn’t happen this year due to unavoidable obstacles, but this year Edgar and I are planning to make the trip to San Fran and Wine Country together!
* Get new phones with data – Edgar’s phone with his prepaid plan bit the dust suddenly and unexpectedly in May so he was the first to upgrade to a smartphone. I was actually 1.5 years overdue for an upgrade and completely without even text messaging capabilities until this past month. We were planning to add me to Edgar’s phone plan on Verizon until over Christmas we all decided it would be smarter to remain on my parents’ family plan with Sprint. I came home with an iPhone!
* Consistently save something every month – Mostly done! We flacked a bit at the beginning of the year, but my job change became a definite possibility, we became super-vigilant about it, even if it was just a few dollars. I tell you want, it really adds up! And while I got a significant pay cut with my job change, we have actually been more financially stable than we were before, and we haven’t noticed the reduction in available money for our quality of life. Food for thought.
* Get home organized – HAH! I’ve done a little of this, but there’s plenty more to tackle for 2012.
* Get laptop – Edgar and I only ever had desktops until this year. We decided it would be best for me to take a laptop with me to Europe, so we budgeted and made it happen. 
* Run in the Race for the Cure – CHECK!
* Cut back on diet sodas – CHECK! However, this only happened after I stopped working at a desk job and started working at a coffeeshop. Hehe…
* Kick sugar habit – Amazingly enough, cutting back significantly on gluten has done wonders to curb my sugar addiction! While I do still love my sweets, my tolerance has greatly diminished, and my cravings are rare.
* Get back to Happy Weight – For me, this involving redefining my Happy Weight. Being diagnosed with PCOS and gluten intolerance has reshaped the way I look at my body. I’m more concerned about what my body is capable of accomplishing than what it looks like. My clothes still fit (actually they fit better since reducing the gluten) and I haven’t looked at a scale in months. I see no point. I consider this an accomplished goal.
* Get my blog self-hosted and on its own domain – CHECK!
* Increase blog traffic – Uh. I don’t think it changed much. Oops. This is totally my fault.
* Redesign blog – Did this when I started self-hosting!
* Diversify blog – This was an unrealistic goal for my circumstances. I’ll see how far my blog can go this year before making this ambitious leap.
* Quit my desk job – this wasn’t officially on the list I wrote, but I knew it was something I wanted to accomplish by fall of 2011. My last day was one week before the Autumnal Equinox. 
I would consider this year largely successful as far as my yearly goals went.
This year, I suppose my goals are a bit simpler. Many are rehashed from last year. Many are still personal. But here are some to share…
* Go to FoodBuzz!
* Get a confirmed diagnosis or non-diagnosis for Celiac (may be easier said than done)
* Follow up on health changes
* Invest more time and creative energy into the blog
* Declutter house – I have the advantage of having a huge-ish house with a good amount of storage, but we really have more than we need or want to try to move around with us, which brings us to the next goal…
* Find out where we are going from here. We have never wanted to stay in Plainview long-term, and we know that by the end of the year circumstances will easily dictate our next direction, but having it as a “goal” gives us something to look forward to.
* Teach Zumba!
* Get an advanced Zumba certification (Basic 2 or Toning)
I suppose that’s it for now.
Do you believe in resolutions? Any goals for the new year?
*blows dust off keyboard*
It has been three and a half weeks without posting. I assure you, it’s not without good reason. If you attempted to visit this site in the past week or so, you probably noticed that my URL lead to the great internet wasteland. Yes, this discovery put me into such a mixture of panic and confusion that my only consolation was cleaning the house in a frenzy in attempt to suppress and deny the fact that my blog disappeared and I had no idea how to get it back up. Thankfully, my unofficial webmaster, John, came to my rescue, thumbed through my files, played advocate to my host, and managed to get the site back in the air. I owe him so much!
But enough of that. What have I been up to since I last posted?
Well, I hosted two separate Thanksgiving dinners!
The first one was with my local friends, Justin, Aubrey, and Kris. You may remember that last year I also celebrated a Thanksgiving dinner with them. It was so exciting this year to have a more pot-luck dinner! Edgar smoked a turkey (first time ever! I’m a convert.)
It was so fun having everyone contribute!
Justin made sweet potato pie! It’s been several years since I’ve had sweet potato pie, but his may be the best one yet. 
My plate. See the gluten on the top? Heh… yeah. Bane of my being. But the turkey! And the green beans! Oh my! The green beans were sauteed simply in garlic, butter, lemon, and red pepper flake. LOVE.
Of course, we all ate too much and had to roll ourselves to the living room, find a place to unfold, and moan and nap our stomachaches away. I will admit that this was my first experience with obvious GI gluten poisoning, but other than that, it was totally worth it!
The second Thanksgiving dinner was with my family and my in-laws. They all came in town and we had WAAAAY more food than could possibly be sampled on one plate, but it was all (that I tried. I was good about avoiding gluten by this point, since up to that point I’d effectively and regrettable gluten-poisoned myself twice in one week) wonderful! I also loved having my family in town. It was the first time my youngest sister had even seen my house, and I’ve been living here for over a year!
Baked goat brie with Crofters, Glutino crackers and pecan nut thins! My mom brought me a WHOLE BUNCH of gluten free boxed goodies she found on sale for me! Thanks Mommy!
In between these two dinners, Edgar and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary! We decided to take a trip to Palo Duro Canyon to finish hiking that trail we started but never completed last year, then spend the night in the cabin where we spent our wedding night.
It was wonderful seeing familiar places with fresh eyes. I feel like Edgar and I have grown so much in the last two years!
Then the weekend after Thanksgiving we visited Edgar’s parents in Canadian since they wanted to take us out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant just inside the Oklahoma border. I don’t recall the name of the place (sorry), but I was excited that they had a vegetarian menu! I’m not a vegetarian, but I don’t like depending on meat so much in my diet, especially from sources that are not guaranteed responsible or sustainable, and I usually find vegetarian dishes to be more culinarily creative. My spinach enchiladas with avocado cream sauce were pretty delicious!
Since then the school of music wrapped up its season with the American Family Christmas concert, where I sang a nerve-wracked solo that I feel was sub-par in my usual tonal quality, but Kris, a vocal music education major and my harshest musical critic, was very positive with me in his review (though admitted proper breath control would have corrected my tone). So I probably shouldn’t beat myself up over it. After all, it’s only the third vocal solo I’ve ever done, and it’s certainly better than my first!
Not long after that concert my computer started acting up, and Edgar had to do a full wipe of the hard drive. This of course meant that he moved all my photos to his external hard drive which I had no idea how to access until last weekend. My bad luck with computers never ceases to amaze me.
So there you have it! That’s been my life as of late, in addition to the norm, y’know. I look forward to finally getting back in the blogging groove after a busy month!
Today, we prepare.
This year we are playing host to two Thanksgiving dinners. The first, which is scheduled for this evening, is my annual dinner with friends. It was a tradition we started in 2007 and have held in some fashion each year since. The guest list has been shifted some, as friends have moved away and new relationships have been established. But it’s still special every year. This year I’m particularly excited because last year, due to understandable circumstances, the whole burden of preparing and serving food was upon me. This year, we share the load.
And for that I am thankful. I think there is more joy in preparing together. To bring all your gifts and strengths to the table to share with others. It’s beautiful. And that means I only have to make one pie!
Next week we are also hosting my family at our house on Thanksgiving Day. When I moved in my house I wondered what it would be like to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in my living room. It looks like I’ll be able to find out this year! This one will be all on me as far as food goes, but that’s okay. My family is wanting a lighter meal and I would like to make the meal entirely gluten-free. I like the change of pace. New venue. New menu. I’m all for tradition (I’d work for Hallmark if I could), but I think we were stuck in a rut. Time to create new memories.
I’ll admit—the ideal of hosting two full Thanksgiving meals within one week does make me anxious. That’s two (slightly different) menus, two turkeys to brine and cook, many pies to bake… but I’m not nearly as stressed as I would have been if I’d been doing this last year. I must be daft or something, considering I’ve actually planned and prepared very little for either event, but I’m slowly learning that this is part of the joy! What’s the point in stressing out over making everything perfect? It’s not going to be how I could imagine it in my ideal, but if I go in without preconceptions, I always have a wonderful time and everything works out. Who cares if the turkey is dry or the dishes don’t match? If I worry about that, it will detract my attention from the people I love, and the gathering of loved ones is the point, my friends.
See you on the other side!
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