Having a Happy Cooking Thanksgiving Day! :)

All is quite. The turkey is resting in a water bath in the sink to help remove some of the salt from it's overnight brine. The hubby's asleep. The kids are asleep (Thank God!) and I'm using this one half hour on Thanksgiving morning to just sit.

And write.

Because that's what I love to do when I have time to think ;)

And I realized something. Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year. Why? It's all because of the cooking. I love to cook! I haven't been able to do much of it lately, but thankfully yesterday and today I've had the spoons to do it, so it's on!

And cooking up a storm, I am!

Which reminds me exactly why I want to open and run a B&B. I love keeping house and love cooking. Even in the morning. I'm a o'dark hundred girl from way back ;)

Thankfully I have great guest authors here on the blog for BB Writers Retreats and they leave me a special gift - the recipe for their favorite breakfast. I can't wait to offer up a menu full of author favorites. I think it'll be a nice touch to a writers' retreat, to eat what your favorite author likes for breakfast...

Well, my To-Do lists are calling my name. I've got to butter the turkey and pop it back in the fridge until it's time to start cooking it. In the meantime, I've got 4 pies to make, as I'm sure the pumpkin I cooked last night will yield 2 pies it self... And who doesn't like extra pumpkin pie laying around?!??! I know I do! :)

To that, I'm also making my classic apple pie with the thatched pie crust topping (my hubby's going to cry happy tears as he's gluten free too and never gets to have pie crust). And last but not least my favorite cook Amanda Green from A Whole Lot of Crock's Pecan pie.

Oooh. And maple corn bread.
And jalapeno tequila cranberry sauce (my own recipe ;)
And my hubby's favorite Giada recipe for parmesean mashed potatoes...

I better get cooking!

But not before I pop over to my good friend Dana Renee Style's blog for a unique Thanksgiving recipe card creation! I want to print these out for my own recipes so next year, I'll be organized. And I LOVE organizing ;)

Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful. Thank you for stopping by!

:)

TGIF!! ... What's in your cold/flu season arsenal?

It's Friday!!! Yeah!!! And I have the flu....yeah...ah, not so much.

My eyeballs hurt.

Actually, that's pretty funny seeing it written like that.

So, it's that time of year again. When we get to see if our wonderful immune systems can fend off the 100+ kinds of flu flying around. I would have gotten the flu vax if I thought it'd work. It only protects you against 3 of those 100+ strands.

Three.

To me, that doesn't seem worth the risk. And honestly, it's just the flu.

But it does bring up an item for discussion that I had thought I was going to timely bring up in October - what do you do for cold/flu season? Little did I know I was about a month too late for that conversation! ha

So, tell one, tell all - what do you do to help beat the odds during cold/flu season?

I typically chow down on chicken soup at the slightest provocation of illness and wash hands like it's nobody's business. That, and vit C, Kefir, Kombucha, and staying away from sick people!

But I forgot one. Moms know this scenario well: make sure the kids are all stocked up and clean and healthy, but forget about themselves. Yep, guilty and sick as charged...

It's just the start of the season. Just like having to pull out the winter clothes, it's time to start pulling out our defenses!

Join in with all your wise woman ideas, tips, and suggestions ;)

Leave your hints, tips, recipes, avoidance measures - everything you do to keep you and your family healthy during the upcoming seasons - in the comments below.

OR, on facebook ;)

And stay healthy!

PLEASE NOTE - this is not a blog/forum/comment box location for debates about vaccines. I understand not everyone agrees with my take on the flu vax as stated above. I get that. If you want to debate, please do so elsewhere. Thanks!!

Body After Baby Challenge: I'm Joining!

Ok, so I joined the challenge...I'm motivated...but do I have any goals that I'm hoping to reach? Hmm, I don't know...do I?

I should, because having goals keeps up the motivation. So, ok, goals. Think, Lia, think...

Alright, I got it!

I don't have a goal weight in mind and I already fit into my pre-baby jeans, so I think my goals are going to go beyond the norm. That's ok with me, I enjoy my freedom outside the box ;)

I think I'll organize my Body After Baby Challenge goals into two separate parts:

Goal #1: Eat Healthy Choices Only
My main goal is to eat only organic, local, fresh, whole foods all week, no matter what meal/snack, so finding it within my budget...it'll be a challenge in and of itself! But I believe eating whole healthy foods without pesticides, growth hormones, and toxic chemicals is the way to go if you want to be healthy, not just look nice.

Goal # 2: Increase Activity Level Daily
Ha! Ha! This one's going to be hard. I am a runner and usually run 2-3 times a week, 3 miles as the norm. But I haven't run since November because of some weird health issues I've been having, and they've also been keeping me from my usual active lifestyle. Sooooo.... My goal is to add either some easy activity to every day, either yoga, walking, or dancing in the living room... :) I hope to get myself back into my normal swing of things, as I love being outdoors hiking and running and just being active! I think that's one of the best things about being alive.

I'll post updates too, because I think it's important to check in and make sure what you're doing is actually working.

My main goal is to feel as good - health wise - as I did before I had kids. Having kids is really hard on your body, and I want to get back in shape so I can keep up with everything and everyone I love. This might mean taking something that I don't want to take and seeing a few more docs to figure out this mystery thing. I don't know, I'm still up in the air about it...

Every week I'll keep track of how I feel in general and decide if the food/exercise choices I've made are working or need to be tweaked a bit.

My starting point right now?
Activity level = zero
Healthy Food Choices = so far, so good
weight = I'll tell if you tell!
pre-baby jeans = still fit, don't hate me

Ok, so you asked for goals, you got goals...I'll post weekly and see how this challenge pans out for me.

;)

My Hair is Back!

I realized something yesterday as I walked past a mirror and saw my reflection...I finally look like myself again! It's been a long time coming too.

Last March I had to chop all of my hair off. The October before, it had started to fall out and what was left by the new year was a knotted frayed mess. Before it started to fall out in clumps, my beautiful blonde hair was long, healthy, silky and all the way down to my butt! However, due to adrenal inefficiency (that would take another year to truly diagnose) my body started to break down, starting with my hair.

Now, I know. Hair is hair. It'll grow back. But it was hard to loose like that, being the lovely locks that they had been all my life. But something had to be done. It was just a horrible bird's nest at the nape of my neck everyday. It's frumpiness was just dragging me down.

I had to force my mother to do it. A seasoned hairdresser of 25+ years, she still didn't want to see it all go. But there was no use keeping it. So, with a chop chop chop, 15 inches were gone. By the time she was done trimming the rest up, my hair was only one inch long...

Yikes!

So, with more than a year later and taking care of my self - making sure I get the right amount of sleep, staying away from toxic people, and doing things for myself - I have almost made a full recovery...and my hair shows it ;)

It may have been a big chop at first, but it was worth it. And in more ways than one. Yes, it got rid of all that dead hair leaving room for new healthier growth. But it also a very concrete reminder too. Every time I was startled from my reflection in the mirror, seeing that I had no hair! - I was reminded that I had to take care of myself.

Even if I didn't feel like I had time to actually do it on some days, seeing my hair - taking what felt like an eternity just to grow past the tips of my ears! - I was reminded that I had to do something for myself every single day: I had to take a shower that day. I had to get to bed on time. I had to get out side and run. I had to write. Anything, something. All I knew was that I had to do something for myself that day.

Someone very wise once told me: if you don't take care of yourself, no one will.

No truer words were ever spoken. Everyone needs to know this and implement it into their lives, even if it takes a catastrophic event to make them realize that they need to take care of themselves.

We are all worth a little time and effort for ourselves. Many of us don't realize this and go through our lives giving and giving...but if we only give and give and never take a little for ourselves to refuel, someday there won't be anything left to give.

So here's to all of us doing a little something for ourselves this weekend, whether it's sleeping in a little later or going on that hike that we've only been talking about taking for months.

Enjoy!

And take care of yourself!

:)

Green is as Green Does... A New Blog is Born! :)

I'd love to introduce you to a new blog, The Green Mamas, authored by both my beautiful sister-in-law and I. The blog is all about our adventures at being green in everything we do, every way we can ;)

So, please feel free to come on by, kick off your shoes and stay awhile...this is going to be fun!

:)

Not exactly the swine flu, but...

I've taken a bit of a break from blogging this past week due to my darling daughters mysterious all-of-a-sudden illness. She's back to her normal bouncy healthy self now, thankfully! But for a moment there I was actually scared!

Bright and early last Friday morning she woke me up saying that her belly hurt. Now this is not an out of the ordinary occurrence. Both she and my son wake up with this comment practically every morning, and I do believe I'm the one to blame. You see, we wake up famished! Starving! Tummies rumbling! I've been like this my whole life and now I see that my poor little ones are on the path of waking to an immediate feeling of hunger.

Soooo...here it was, 6:30 am, and her belly hurt. "Oh, just climb in with mommy and I'll get you something to eat...Just five more minutes, please," I beg with my eye lids still shut, hoping she'll fall back to sleep and we both can make it closer to seven before leaving the snuggley warmth of my bed.

Ten seconds later, after successfully climbing into be with me...she vomited.

And proceeded to not eat anything other than breastmilk (which she promptly threw up as well) for the next four days...four days!!!

I took her to the doc's office...doc said to just give her some probiotics and give it a couple more days. "Whatever she has she's keeping to herself," is what the doc tosses out on her way back out the door.

Ok...

Then, on the night of day four around 10pm - after not eating anything, nursing like mad, throwing that up, and oh I won't even get into what was coming out the other end - my little skin-n-bones, pale white little girl rises up and says quite sternly, "Daddy, get me pizza."

She stood patiently by the door until the delivery guy showed up...And then she ate.

And ate.

And ate.

And, within a day of pizza eating, her color came back and she was on the road to recovery! I'll admit that pizza isn't really all that nutritious and that chicken soup and rice or some other combination of healthy-for-ya foods would have been a better bet for my little two year old...but when they want pizza (and especially after what she had been through)...give them pizza!!!

So, least to say, it was the swine flu that has everyone crazy about, but it just had to happen at the same exact time as the breakout... Anyway, that was my weekend...

How was yours? ;)

The Sausage and the Stool

One morning long ago, I came downstairs dressed in my uniform ready for school when I smelled something wonderful: sausage. My mother had cooked up a batch and was about to set a plate of them onto the table. Eager, I propped myself up at the table. Fork in hand, ready to pounce.

"Now, now. Only two per person so we have some left for tomorrow," my mother lightheartedly - however seriously - warned me. Doing the calculation in my head, I deemed there to be more than enough sausages on the plate for everyone to have at least three, if not more. Why on Earth was my mother saving sausages? What good could come from not eating them right away?

When it was my turn, I took the two biggest sausage links that I could find and scarfed them down. Of course we had had scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast that morning too. But it wasn't enough. Those sausages - so plump, so juicy - were the crowning jewel!

Eyes growling along with my stomach, I watched as my brothers carelessly toyed with their portions. One even let a whole sausage link fall to the floor! Unfortunately, my mother cleared away their plates before I could attempt a steal-n-save of the remaining treat.

"Time to clean up, gotta leave for school soon," she said as she picked up the dish of leftover sausages and set it high up on the kitchen counter.

"Mom, can I please have one more? Just one?"

"No, because one will turn into two and before you know it we won't have any left! Now get your book bag and meet me out in the garage."

Defeated, I did as I was told. Grabbing my book bag and coat, I pushed my arms through the sleeves just as another waft of sausage aroma swept over me. Just one more, I thought to myself. What harm could one little sausage do?

Knowing everyone was elsewhere in the house getting ready, I walked over to the kitchen counter and reached. And reached. On tippy toes I could see them. However the dish was way out of reach. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw something: a stool.

A small yellow stool just left of the refrigerator. Quickly, I dropped my book bag and grabbed the stool. Second grade may have not gotten me much height, but in smarts it had! Plopping the stool down in front of my soon-to-be treasure, I paused only for a moment to ensure I was alone.

Licking my lips, I stepped up onto the stool. Boy, was I tall now! And, more importantly, I could really see them!

Leaning into the counter I was almost there.

On tip toes, my fingers glanced the side of the dish.

Just a bit more...

I leaned and tip toed until I could touch one...

...and...

BAM!

With a sudden slip of foot on stool, I came crashing down onto the floor and landed on my wrist. I screamed. I cried. My mother ran into the room, soothed me and set me in the dining room with my wrist on ice. I watched as my mother paced back and forth, calling the doctor to find out what to do, every-so-often checking on me to see if I was ok.

And as much as she was not ok, I was. Yes, yes, I was in pain. This was the second time I broke my wrist in two years' time. But the pain had greatly diminished with my smile.

Why?

Because my loving and all knowing mother knew exactly what would make me happy and keep me calm: a nice plate of sausages...all to myself.

:)

Whole Roasted Chicken

First of all, you need to find a cage-free, free-range, antibiotic-free, good wholesome chicken, preferably from a local farmer. Go to your local farmer's market and, if there isn't already a vendor there that sells whole chickens, ask around. Chances are most everyone there, vendors and shoppers alike, know of a good local source. If you're lucky, you'll find a local organic farmer who raises their own chickens!

Roasting a whole chicken is by far the simplest way to get a good - no, great - meal with very little effort. Plus, a whole chicken can be spread out to cover more than just one meal. I've made a whole chicken stretch to 5 meals, plus chicken stock! Now, that's using your food money wisely!

What You'll Need

• meat thermometer
• big bowl
• roasting pan

Ingredients

• whole chicken
• olive oil
• honey
• 1/2 onion
• 3-5 cloves garlic
• 3 carrots
• 3 stalks celery
• 3 potatoes
  
• Rosemary
• Thyme
  
• good salt
• pepper
• red pepper flakes (remember, heat = health!)

How To

1. Preheat oven to 375*F
   
2. In a big bowl, soak your chicken in a warm water bath with a good pinch of salt - let sit for 30 minutes
3. drain and place chicken in a roasting pan
4. chop onions, garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes and place around chicken in roasting pan
5. drizzle olive oil over chicken and veggies
6. sprinkle salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes over everything (toss the veggies to coat)
7. drizzle honey over chicken
8. sprinkle herbs over everything
9. add about a cup of water into the bottom of the pan
   
10. Pop into oven, bottom shelf, until Meat Thermometer reads 180*F. Usually about 1 - 1.5 hours.
    
11. Take out of oven and let stand for 10 minutes.

Serving & Saving
For dinner that night, serve the legs, wings, thighs. Save the breasts for two separate meals (1/2 for chicken pot pie, 1/2 for something else like chicken quesadillas or a topping to pizza). Or just dig in and then save what's leftover for chicken stock and chicken soup.

Bones
I save all the bones in a zip-lock bag in the freezer labeled "BONES". When I have a full bag, I will use those bones, along with some veggie scraps, to make chicken stock (aka: consomme). This is so much better tasting and better FOR you than what you get at the store. Plus, it's basically free since you have everything. Just boil for a couple hours in water, cool, strain, and store. Keeps in the freezer for months, in the fridge for a week.

Enjoy!

A Bowl of Popcorn, by Lia Mack

It was a Friday night. My dear husband was hard at work, the night shift, and I had the house to myself. Well, technically, I wasn't alone: I was seven months pregnant with my little boy wonder. And we were both in the mood for some crunchy popcorn and a good belly-laughing movie.

Up the stairs I huffed and into the kitchen I started to pull out the necessities: corn kernels, butter, salt, sugar (LOVE sugar on my popcorn), and a big bowl. Patiently I waited, listening to the pop-pop-pop of the hot kernels, imagining each and every bite, salted-sugary-buttered fingers digging in for more, and more.

The baby kicked, I drank down a glass of water, and the dog paced back and forth, knowing in her sweet mind that mommy wouldn't leave her out of the forthcoming delectables. I rushed to the bathroom for one last pit stop so that I could, hopefully, watch the movie in it's entirety without having to heave-ho off of the couch for another pit stop.

Finally, the kernels were all spent, warm and waiting their toppings. Butter, melted down over them, salt and sugar sprinkled in just the right amounts. It was a big turnout, needing a bigger bowl to contain all it's goodness. Pulling out the biggest glass bowl I had, it all fit just right, leaving enough room for one hand to plunge in and take away it's treasures.

Sidestepping the drooling dog, mommy and baby descended the stairs, huge bowl of the most perfect popcorn anyone had ever created lightly resting atop the baby belly, hands ever so carefully holding tight to it's rim lest it fall.

At last, the movie was set, the popcorn perfect, the dog ready to curl up with mommy and the big belly, ready to dash off to retrieve any fallen treats. I was tempted to taste the popcorn, knowing by the aroma that it was going to so good, however I needed one last trip to the bathroom.

"Don't touch that, Marley, ok?" I said to the dog as I rushed down the hallway, however penguin like.

When I came back into the living room everything was as I left it. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I sat on the couch only to realize that the TV tray that the bowl of popcorn was upon was far out of my reclined reach.

Hoisting myself up off the couch, I picked up the edges of the TV tray and slid it closer still to the couch, gauging the distance, hoping for the perfect placement lest I have to drag myself up off the couch again. It had been a long day, working since six in the morning. Mommy just wanted to put up her feet and eat her warm treat.

Assuming it couldn't get any better, the distance and the relaxing night to follow: a romantic comedy staring Meg Ryan, my favorite, and a big beautiful bowl of perfectly buttered popcorn all to myself, I released the TV tray in it's place.

Only, the stupid folding legs of said TV tray had, unknowingly to me since I couldn't see past my big belly, had collapsed, causing the table, popcorn bowl and all, tumbling down on to the ground, crashing with such a slam that the biggest glass bowl I owned turned into a million shards of glass, covering the entire span of the family room, perfectly coated with butter sugar goodness and the last of the popcorn that I had in the house.

The dog lepted off of the couch, ready to devour every last bit.

"NO! Stop! It's glass!" I cried, pushing the popcorn crazy dog out of the room.

Not wanting to face the mess, but knowing I was alone in the house, and would be for at least another three hours, I pulled out the vacuum.

And I cried. And cried. And cried.

My popcorn. My beautiful popcorn, so perfectly buttered and salty-sugary good. Not one piece was spared a shard of glass. Picking buttery glass-sharpened-popcorn out of the carpet I blubbered and cried, squinting hard against the tears to remove it all lest the dog find a piece, eat it, and then I spend the rest of my night in the doggy-emergency room.

Hunger and hormones combined, morning the loss of the best bowl of popcorn to ever be created, I cried three straight hours. Three gut wrenching blubbering hours, until there wasn't strength left in my mind to feel an ounce misery.

However, to this day, I have not made a more perfect bowl of popcorn. And I still need a mega-sized glass bowl...

THE END

Drink some Magic Tea!

Magic Tea - Slowly sip this Magic Tea and feel it's healing powers! :)

At the slightest provocation of a cold, sore throat, ear ache, or sinus problems of anyone that crosses my threshold, I jump to the kitchen and brew up some magic. It doesn't matter how young or old you are, Magic Tea will either cure what ails you or, at the very least, help sooth the symptoms. It's easy, cheap, and you can't have too much (won't turn on you like medications if you 'over dose').

Ingredients:

• Hot water
• tea bag - your favorite
• a tiny sliver of a smooshed clove garlic (the braver the patient, the bigger the clove!)
• honey (as much as you like)
• apple cider vinegar (1 teaspoon)
• 1-2 ice cubes
  
  

Directions:

• brew your favorite tea and add honey
  (however much honey you want, but you'll need some and it's great for sore throats)
• add apple cider vinegar
• before adding garlic, add ice cubes to bring down the temp.
  (If you cook the garlic, you'll loose all the magic!)
• once tea is cool enough BUT still warm, add the smashed garlic
• stir, and sip slowly

Drink this 1-3 times a day as soon as you feel the symptoms of a cold/flu/ear ache/sinus trouble. It's magic!

The magic is the combination of vinegar, garlic, honey, and warmth

• Apple Cider Vinegar: helps 'open' you up and is high in Vitamin C
  
  
• Garlic: when you smash it (to the point it's almost liquid) you release allicin, Garlic's antibiotic mother load! however, if you cook it, you kill all the power (aka, all the good guys that will destroy the bacteria)
  
  
• Honey: Nature's elixer, very good to sooth a sore throat, and is anti-bacterial
  
  
• Warmth: the hot water opens your sinuses and helps all the magic above seep into the right spots ;)
  

Tip: If you need more honey to 'mask' the garlic, go for it. You can't have too much (so long as your not allergic)

Hope everyone has good luck this upcoming cold season. Take it easy, take care of yourself, and DO NOT hang out with any sickos!!! It's just not worth it. You can always see them in the Spring ;)