Falling Off

So I've fallen off of my diet efforts.  Started with a cough that lasted almost 2 months, and then the holidays came.  However in all of that I have still managed to lose about 20 pounds and we are planning to get starated again soon.

Things I have managed to accomplish however...
Finished a baby blanket. 

 

&  make a ton of baked yumminess for my team.

 

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Moving to so-cal my group of coworkers expanded dramatically, and my team with it.  Before I worked in a team of 3, now I manage a team of 14.   That is a lot of people to buy gifts for.  So I decided to try something different last year.   I baked. They got browniese, blondies, meringues, mock toffee, & shortbread, all individually packaged and super cute. 

 

This year, I started baking a bit early and realized if I continued as planned the cookies would either be all eaten... or stale so I went at it a little differently.

 

The first batch I delivered contained the infamous "Nieman Marcus" cookie, shortbread cookies & candied orange peels.

 

My second round  had those same cookies again, plus Sweet Potato Fudge, Chocolate Haystacks, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin, Brownies, Mom's Butterscotch Chews, Spritzer Cookies & Melomakerona.

 

Today I discovered

 

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

OMG I am super inspired and have already signed up to participate next year.  But that means I need a food blog, so today I start one...but it's going to be a brand new one.  Now I have three.

Here you will always find just me.
At Hoverbug Online you can discover the internet with me.
and at 4 Square Feet you'll find my new home for all things baking.

Wish Me Luck

Created by MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods

Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins

Stumbled on this recipe last week and have now made them twice.

As it is, its lovely, I made only 1 substitution, Pecans instead of Walnuts.

Having a chat with a friend at work today though, I think maybe some more changes are in store to maybe make it a vegan treat too. I'm pondering upping the pumpkin for egg, and using applesauce for butter. (She also wanted more pumpkin just because its yummy).

Great recipe and way to use up a some delicious Quinoa.

WIC

We know some people who are both young, and un-experienced cooks. They are soon to have a baby and qualify for wic... but were a little concerned with their limitations from the WIC menu... time for my favorite thing to do... research

Here's some really great things I've found to make the tight budget not seem quite so unfriendly.

Cooking with WIC

CA Dpt Public Health

Food Stamps Cooking Club

Military Wives Saving - Cooking with WIC Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5

The Bean Book

You don't have to give up the good stuff.

My husband is lactose intolerant, almost severely so. I love ice cream - but feel guilty buying the delicious treat for just myself.

Then I realized his grandma left us an ice cream maker... and cow's milk is no longer the only choice.

So I went on a hunt for Chocolate - Coconut Ice Cream. OMG! I am so glad that I did.

We tried a Gnowfglins recipe for our first try... sorry, I didn't take any photos of this experiment. I used 2/3 cup of cocoa powder and everything else to the recipe. A little bit of user/mechanical error caused it to freeze a little too hard - but the taste was perfect.

Some other recipes I discovered on my searches can be found at...

Kitchen.m

The Nourishing Gourmet

Living Well On Less

Love and Olive Oil

I also did a little bit of math... while I really enjoy Coconut Bliss ice cream from my local freezer section... it costs over $6 for 1 pint... Making my 2 quart batch... I spent just a little less than double that amount. (2 quarts = 4 pints)

Family Cabin

We just returned from a trip to see the family cabin. I've been a part of this family officially for a little more than a year and half... but on an unofficial part for just about 7 years. This is my first time to the cabin. We've been invited before, but some people don't like other people's driving... *sigh*.

It's a rustic, hand cut and built shelter up in the mountains south-east of Chico, (closer to a little town called La Porte) an area known as Strawberry Valley... but even still a ways up the hill from there.

It's wired for a generator - but if you don't bring one with you can have batteries or gas light.

The first floor has a table, a small futon and the kitchen. It's roughly 12' x 10' or so.

Second floor is really just a narrow set of ladder/stairs climbing through the rafters to a place for laying out a bed or sleeping bags.

There was a smallish amount of snow on the ground still, in a pocket mounds

And a creek running just behind. Super cold water so don't fall in.

Best part, while Sacramento was experiences temps in the 90's... we were chillin' out in the 50's. Looking forward to our next trip, this time hopefully with lots of family in attendance for Labor Day weekend.

Family Recipe

There is this old family memory of Empanada's in Scott's family. Nobody has made them since his Great Grandmother Nettie passed away. We weren't even sure if anyone had the recipe, but we were able to get a copy of at least a part of it. However, this "part" was very vague, and wasn't even much more then an ingredients list... with comments like "3 cans sauce" and "1/2 dozen hard boiled eggs".

The list itself doesn't sound very cohesive, but after picking the brains of all who remember helping out in the kitchen, or even eating them, we THINK we got it pretty well worked out.

This past weekend, off to the store for some stew meat, and the few ingredients we didn't already have. Food scale, measuring cups, pen & paper in hand as we worked... we have come to a pretty good set of instructions.

As the first ones were coming out of the oven, his parents were able to stop by on their way home from a visit elsewhere, and after a minor bit of tweaking, believed we had it right.

So now, the only things we await... a picture of Gma Nettie if one exists, and a family event at which to share them with everyone else.

I'm so happy to have been able to make this family memory come to life again.