How do you organize your linens? On the cruise each night they fold their towels in unusual ways. this monkey is one example. I will share more later must get on the bus
Being in the southern hemisphere at this time of year is fabulous. I love light. It was just getting dark as 10:30 last night and it was light before I woke up at six. I am going to quickly share a few photos with you I Hope you are all enjoying the snow
I am in beautiful Santiago Chile. The weather is warm and sunny. I don't know what the weather is like where you are but I am loving being in summer during January. There is a ghetto part of town where they brighten up their lives by adding color to the outside of their buildings. Isn't that what we try to do many times. Take out talents and use them to improve our living spaces. I thought I would share some of these murals with you. There were many more murals but I just wanted to share a few to get your imagination going. We can do so much to make where ever we live more fun and beautiful. I believe that if we will make our homes an extension of ourselves by using our talents we will enjoy them so much more. Some of us have to try hard to find our talents but I'm hoping they are there. For me it is a bit tricky to figure out what fits my personality and what is just popular opinion. Sometimes it is easy to focus on our failures, like not living up to all of the New Year resolutions for the year 2013. But since that can get too depressing I like to focus on my successes instead. Last year was a success in many ways. I had a son leave to serve a two year mission in England. I had two daughters get married to wonderful men. My last wedding cake that I had to make for my girls was made! Each cake was as unique as each girl. And in 2013 I started to blog. The many benefits to blogging are too long to list, but one of my favorites is that I am getting my recipes in order. I make up a lot of recipes and then I forget how to make the dish again. No more!!!!!!!! Especially when I find a recipe that all those who are living at home will like (it is a lot easier with only one child at home). My husband loves legumes. I have a hard time making enough for him as well as pleasing my son who isn't as big of a fan. So when I made a recipe that they both really enjoyed, I recorded it and put it in my pile to try again and make sure that it wasn't a fluke. Beans and Rice. What could be better. Not wanting this recipe to get lost I am sharing it with you.
I pressure cooked three cups of dry red beans. While they were cooking I sauteed 1/2 a large onion diced and 1/2 pound of ground sausage. To the onions and sausage mixture I added 4 cups of water, 2 Tbs Beef Better than Bullion, 1 to 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, 2 Tbs Chili powder, 1 tsp Cumin. To thicken it up a bit I put 2 Tb corn starch in 1/2 cup cold water and added it to the rest of the ingredients. Add the beans and heat everything together. Now you have fabulous beans to go over rice. We also have put them over french fries for a twist. One thing that I did different with this recipe than I have tried in other bean recipes is that I left out tomato products. Tomato products have a tendency to harden beans a bit when they are added together. We like our beans soft and smooth. I think I will be very creative and call this dish Sausage and Beans. Have you ever been in a funk? You know, a time when you just aren't feeling it. You are going through the motions but those choirs of angels just aren't singing.
Sometimes there is no apparent reason but you just aren't feeling it. Well I think I have been in a little bit of a funk. My husband who is always supportive and helpful has been trying to get me out of it without even knowing it (Ok, he always knows I'm in a funk before I know I'm in one). He has been giving me all kinds of suggestions on what I could blog about. Or I could blog about how to make fabulous green beans by stir-frying them in a little olive oil and garlic and then adding a touch of salt. He reminded me to take pictures of all the paint cans we had just pulled out of the washroom so we could stain the cement floor. My favorite suggestion was last night he told me to take pictures of the vegetable scraps that had been saved to make broth to use in soup (he is getting desperate). His suggestions have all been good but I haven't been able to wrap my head around them.
Things that help me get out of a funk:
However you choose to lift your spirits the important thing is to enjoy your funk. It really never helps to ignore your feelings. It is far better to learn to enjoy the downs as well as the ups. How do you handle your funks? PS (My husband thinks I have used the word funk too many times. Maybe I am in a rut as well) Our annual White Christmas Party was a success! Remember this is the party where we eat when they eat. Using our new website for the Francom Family Traditions (I explain this in an earlier post) I was able to organize the party better than before. Next year it will also be easier to plan because I will have everything already laid out for me. The movie is going for about 14 mins before any food or drink is introduced. Since everyone is pretty hungry when we start the show I usually have an appetizer to hold them over. This year I used a pepper and onion relish by Harry and David mixed with cream cheese and served with crackers. It was gone before I thought to take a picture of it. When Judy and Betty are in the dressing room they also have a hot beverage so the Hot Chocolate is still on the menu. The first sign of food is when Bob and Phil go to check out the sister act at a club. You have to really be paying attention to catch them eating but it is there. While the sheriff is eating and Bob and Phil are preforming the sister act we had a mini meal of green beans, duchess potatoes and meat balls. Bob, Phil, Betty and Judy are in the dining car of the train where they enjoy Lemon-Aid, Club Sandwiches and a Malt. We usually like to serve a White Christmas Punch that is slushy and sweet. But this year we were running a little behind so we skipped it. I got a few complaints afterward. Their first night at the inn while the girls are preforming their sister act again, we have tomato soup and a vegetable tray. Buttermilk and sandwiches are the late night snack. Most of my family does not like buttermilk so we substitute egg nog. I keep the sandwiches small since we have already eaten a lot. Phil and Judy roast hot dogs for lunch during rehearsals. I serve mini hot dogs or a hot dog cut in thirds. For the ending dessert we chose an apple chip cake this year that wasn't too sweet. Topping it with whip cream also cut back on the sweetness and everyone loved it. By the end of the evening everyone was full and satisfied.
Christmas just doesn't seem like Christmas without our White Christmas Party! To view how I have organized it on our website click here White Christmas Party What are some of your traditions? My daughter called me to share her latest accomplishment. She had just finished fixing her toilet. It had been leaking from the back tank so she had gone to Home Depot and picked up a kit with which to fix it. She had then gone home and simply fixed it. I know what courage it takes to fix plumbing issues in your home and I was so proud of her. I mentioned that she had just saved a lot of money by doing it herself, she agreed and said that they had paid a plumber $200 to do the same thing a couple of years ago on a different toilet. The kit from Home Depot had cost her $20. She has watched my husband and I fix many sinks, toilets, disposals, and dishwashers through out the years. The knowledgeable sales people at a good plumbing store will tell you what parts and tools you need as well as give you step by step instructions on any project you feel courageous enough to handle. You can also find instructions to almost any problem on the internet. After getting off the phone with my daughter I was reminded of my own little plumbing problem to fix. On the back of our toilet in our bathroom sits some bamboo. I noticed that it was low on water and took it to the sink to add some more water. As I pulled on the handle it came flying off. If you have a handle like mine and this ever happens to you it is an easy fix. Using a screw driver take off the center cover. The screw in the middle is what holds the knob onto the faucet Once you put the other pieces back on the faucet use a screw driver to tighten the knob on. All that is left is to press the center cover back on the knob and you are done. You will want to check and make sure that you attached the knob correctly so you are really turning on the cold water when you turn the handle to the right and the hot water when you turn the handle to the left. My first try it was upside down. This same general concept can by used to fix knobs on many shower faucets as well.
To ask a plumber to fix my faucet it would have cost me $65 just to have them come and look at it. I would also have had to wait for them to come ( I am not a very patient person). Yet in just a couple of minutes I had running water again. This is a really simple example of fixing plumbing problems, but if you will start with the simple things, you will be more empowered to try the harder stuff. I would love to hear about any DIY project you have done that made you feel empowered. I have really been wondering about the psychology behind,
I don't even know how long ago it was that one of the glass panels in the bottom half of this curio cabinet was broken. So the question is why hasn't it been fixed? There are a number of possible answers but the main one I came up with is, that I didn't know how to fix it (my husband will tell you that is my standard answer). Lame! In this day and age of internet knowledge abounding, that is such a lame excuse. There is an answer to almost any question you have just waiting for you at the touch of the keyboard. But what is even more lame, is the fact that I didn't even have to go to the computer to get the answer to know how to fix the broken glass. I already knew the answer. All I had to do was go to a local glass store (there is one just a mile away from my home). Give them the dimensions of the glass needed, and ask them to cut some for me. It seriously took less than 30 mins to return home with the glass panel needed to fix this curio cabinet. So if my first reason is so lame, why didn't this curio cabinet get fixed sooner? Honestly, I think the main reason it didn't get fixed sooner, is that subconsciously I believed it was someone else's ( my husband's) responsibility. And that someone probably subconsciously believed it was my responsibility. Nothing was ever said about it except that it should be fixed. We both must have felt we had done our part by stating the obvious and waited for the other to take action. Well, today I finally took action! While the glass was broken, the curio had been sadly neglected. It had been hidden in the basement and had been scuffed and left to get dirty and dusty. It is amazing what a little cleaning and dusting can do for furniture, but it was going to take more than that to get rid of the scuff marks on the wood. Taking a brown sharpie in hand I was able to color them away. I would not advise doing this in front of children as they may get the wrong idea. I feel so accomplished and proud ( and ashamed that it took so long) of myself for fixing this curio, and a little amazed at how satisfying it is to be putting little treasures that have been given to me through out the years into it. Such as: I truly am learning more and more about myself and what makes me tick as I strive to get my house totally in order.
What did I learn?
I hope as you bring more order into your home it will be just as enlightening and rewarding. Happy Organizing! At this time of year when the temperatures are falling below O, nothing quite hits the spot like a steaming cup of hot cocoa. But the real reason I want to talk about hot cocoa is that this week I am organizing and preparing for our annual "White Christmas Party". You may ask what is a "White Christmas Party"? A "White Christmas Party", as we define it, is a party where we watch the movie "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin. While we are watching the movie we eat when ever they eat (which is quite often). When we first started this tradition, some 25 years ago, I would try to serve exactly what they ate, or as close to exactly as I could get. I found that by the end of the evening we were all so full of, and too sick of, sweet things that we couldn't even look at the cake at the end of the movie let alone eat it. So I have adjusted the menu to make a fun nutritious meal with between 8 and 11 courses depending on how ambitious I am feeling that year. To make organizing this event easier, I have kept meticulous notes on what I serve "lol". As you can see, the need to get my records in better order is great. And since hot cocoa is the first thing they eat, or should I say drink, that is where I am starting. Now remember, this is the first of a number of courses, so it is important that people don't drink too much yet, and that they don't get that sick feeling that can sometimes come from drinking hot chocolate. That is why I love this recipe that I am going to share with you. Using agave syrup ( a low glycemic sweetener) instead of sugar seems to be the trick to making hot cocoa that doesn't make you feel sick. To make this cocoa you need; fresh milk, cocoa, agave syrup, stevia ( this is optional, it adds sweetness but it is also an immune booster, so I have been told), chili powder, vanilla and cinnamon. If you look at the picture below you will notice that I put a bottle of cumin in place of a bottle on cinnamon. Luckily I caught my mistake before I added it to the cocoa mixture. Since we like to drink a lot of hot cocoa this time of year, I will sometimes replace the fresh milk with powdered milk and water. It saves me from having to run to the store every other day for more milk. I keep the powdered milk in this little container in my cupboard for convenience. While the fresh milk or water is warming up on the stove you mix the other ingredients into a bowl. If my cocoa is a bit clumpy I like to sift it first. This isn't necessary, but it can make stirring the ingredients together a little easier. If you are using powdered milk you may need to add a little fresh milk or water to your ingredients to make a paste. If you are using fresh milk the agave syrup has enough moisture to make a really nice paste. Below, I used powdered milk and added a little fresh milk to give the added moisture needed. Pour your cocoa mixture into your water or fresh milk and whisk. I really feel that topping the cocoa with whipping cream and dusting it with cocoa or chocolate shavings is a must. The first time I made this recipe my son told me that my hot cocoa was the best. It didn't make him sick like hot chocolate usually does.
That is just what I need for the "White Christmas Party", "Hot Cocoa" that doesn't make you feel sick. For the party, I will have two batches of the paste made ahead of time. I will make up one batch and put it in a crock pot to keep warm and keep the other batch in the fridge just in case I need to whip up some more cocoa quickly. What is also nice about this cocoa paste is that you can use a Tbs or two with fresh milk or water for an individual cup, warming it up in the microwave. Hot Cocoa Recipe |
AuthorCarolyn Francom I am a stay at home mother of 6. Adjusting to a new stage of life and reorganizing everything. Join me in my adventure Archives
November 2016
Categories |