Operation: Kick Spring Break Tail

I have nine days in a row off work. Nine! It's Spring Break, and it's my first real vacation from work, aside from random days here and there. I am determined to make the absolute MOST of it. Operation: Kick Spring Break Tail has begun!

It started on Friday after work last week. It was an exhausting day (week, actually, no month - wait, it's ALWAYS exhausting), and I was so relieved to get home and forget about work for a week.  (That didn't really happen. I was up all through the night that night thinking about things I hadn't satisfactorily tied up and stressing about them.) It being the start of Spring Break for the kids too, I promised them they could have friends over. So Friday night, we had two extra girls in the house. Scott worked late, so I had five kids on my own all night. But I refused to let that get me down! We ate frozen pizza for dinner, and I started the break off with a bang - and by bang, I mean cupcakes!

With Cadbury's Mini Eggs

I was told by my two extra children that I was the coolest mom ever. Yes, dears, that's because I haven't yelled at you to clean your room and threatened to take away your allowance.

The next morning, we exchanged those two girls for three different children.  We kept my friends' kids (8 year old and 2 year old) over night so they could have a proper date night and went ahead and also invited over another kid to stay. Why not? Six kids? I used to keep six kids at a time as a childminder. I can take this.

We ordered pizza (pizza two nights in a row, talk about "coolest mom ever") and rented The Good Dinosaur. And ate cupcakes, of course.

Oh, and we dyed everyone's hair. Spring Break gone wild! Whooo!

Sunday morning was Secular Sunday, which is really just our and one other atheist couple's version of once-a-month church. We make a big breakfast, let the kids run around together in their pajamas, and "fellowship". The only church aspect missing is the sermon and the singing. And the praying. And the getting dressed. Okay, it's nothing like church. Yesterday, breakfast ran into lunch, and it was just a super great morning. In the afternoon, I took two of my three kids shopping for Easter outfits. We don't go to church, so it's really just an excuse to buy sweet dresses for my girls and a little suit for my boy, to wear absolutely nowhere. Yay!

Today has been an errands and phone calls day, while Jaguar watches endless episodes of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and the girls watch Minecraft videos on YouTube. I forgot how leisurely errands can be when you aren't doing them during your lunch break. It's 2pm, and I've spent the day getting the cars assessed, talking to the bank, taking a nap, shopping, and eating pretzels with cheese at Target. I'm considering taking another nap after this. Then I'm going to bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I might finish off the night with a dram of whisky and Netflix.

And y'all, it's only Monday! Whooo!

Operation: Kick Spring Break Tail is well on its way. May it never end, like Groundhog Day. 

Mini Pumpkin Hand Pies

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving! One more pumpkin day to go!

I didn't make anything yesterday, because I have officially run out of pumpkin. Ten cans lasted me a good while, though. Now that I've experimented so fully with pumpkin, I am going to choose my favorite recipes for taking to my various Thanksgiving dinners. I will make a traditional pumpkin pie one day (because you just have to), the Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake Bars for another and Pumpkin danishes for breakfast on another. Today - if I get around to buying more pumpkin today - I'm going to try one last recipe I was sent to try. But before I get to that...

Mini Pumpkin Hand Pies!

(Why they are called Hand Pies, I don't know. I guess because you sort of use your hands to seal them?)

I used this recipe shared by Sugar and Charm on tablespoon.com, linked to me by my sister-in-law. (Phew! That was a lot of links.)

Rather than use round biscuit cutters, though, I used some cheap Thanksgiving cookie cutters I got for 69¢ at the Dollar General. Acorns, leaves, turkeys and pumpkins. So cute!


I won't copy the recipe here since it's all there in the link (and I always feel like I'm plagiarizing if I copy a recipe), but they were really easy to make. Just cut shapes out of chilled uncooked pie crust, fill with a small spoonful of filling (pumpkin purree, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and heavy cream - see the recipe) and seal with a fork. Don't overfill them, though, because they will ooze out the edges while you're sealing. Mix up some egg with cinnamon and sugar for the glaze before baking.

Fifi, who normally loves pumpkin pie, didn't like them. Lolly, who doesn't like pumpkin pie to start with, helped me make these. I think Fifi didn't like that they had too much crust and not enough pumpkin. But I liked them, and so did all the other adults I shared them with. So oh well. Fun to make with kids, maybe not fun for kids to eat. Maybe mine are just picky.

I settled down after bedtime with one of these on Monday night, a dollop of pumpkin pie whipped cream and a pumpkin pie spice coffee. Mmmm. Autumny.

The Science of Pumpkin: Devil's Food (Pumpkin) Cupcakes

I consider myself an adequate, even good, baker. I can make delicious cookies, cakes, and breads from scratch. But I'm also a busy mum and have no shame in the fact that unless it's an occasion (or a weird month long food fetish), I will often resort to a mix. I learned long ago (from my own mom, passing down kitchen wisdom) that the oil in a cake mix can be replaced with applesauce for a less fattening option. (Now that I *on a good day* *obviously not this month* eat a low carb, high fat diet, I don't feel so grossed out by oil, but still.) After baking with pumpkin for nearly a month now, I feel I've come to be a bit of an expert on the science of how pumpkin interacts with baked goods. So I wanted to test my pumpkin hypothesis and see if it acts similarly to oil like I predicted. I bought a Devil's Food cake mix for 99¢ at Kroger and made cupcakes.


I simply followed the directions on the back of the box - combine mix, 3 eggs, 1 cup of water and instead of 1/3 cup of oil, 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree. I whisked it all up with a hand blender, and the batter appeared to have the right consistency. I taste-tested the whisk... tasted good to me!


And then I baked them. I baked them for the time stated on the back of the box for cupcakes, and they rose and baked throughout just as they were supposed to. The science behind it had worked!


But. How would they taste? Pumpkiny? Weird?


Drum roll please. They. Were. Perfect. I've used this particular mix before with oil and with applesauce. Both ways turn out great cupcakes. But perhaps it's just my obsession speaking, but I felt the pumpkin added a smooth velvety-ness that the other two ingredients don't quite match. They were a wonderful texture - not too light but not too dense - and were just... smooth. That's the best word I can come up with. I topped them with a can of chocolate buttercream frosting and oh man they are so good.

After baking my first dozen, I mixed the remaining batter with cinnamon to see if I could bring out the pumpkin taste. I would've used pumpkin pie spice, but surprise surprise, I've run out this month! I think I added just 1/2 tsp since it was half the batter. The cupcakes with cinnamon didn't have a very strong cinnamon taste but the subtle cinnamon flavor made me think a little more cinnamon wouldn't be too bad, and the slight spiciness made me think I should try crushed red chili peppers sometime too. Chocolate and chili - yum.


So there you go, another way to use pumpkin!

Pease Pumpkin Hot, Pease Pumpkin Cold, Pease Pumpkin in a Pot Nine Days Old

Except there is no pease because ew with the pumpkin.

Anyway.

Pumpkin Hot?

Yesterday I repeated a recipe somewhat from earlier this month; I made pumpkin oatmeal again. Only this time I remembered to put it in the Crockpot the night before. And the recipe was ever so slightly different from the Raisin Pumpkin Oatmeal. Basically no raisins and in a Crockpot.

Crockpot Pumpkin Oatmeal

Ingredients:
2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups milk
2 cups water
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp (or so) pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup brown sugar
butter

I put all of the ingredients minus the butter in the Crockpot the night before. I set it up to a timer to turn on High at 4am. It cooked on High from 4 to 6:30am when we woke up. It was perfect. A little stir and it was the PERFECT consistency. I put a little tab of butter in each bowl and didn't need to sweeten it at all. We all loved it. It fed all five of us and then some. I love warm, delicious-smelling oatmeal waking me up in the morning!

Pumpkin Cold?

Tuesday I made a Pumpkin Pie Frappe using this recipe from Peanut Butter & Peppers. I made the coffee version. This one takes a little pre-planning; you need to have some frozen coffee waiting. I realized after making this that this is the perfect way to not waste leftover coffee - freeze it! I always make half a pot yet only drink one or two cups, leaving some to get poured down the sink later after it's cold. Now I will put it in ice trays for making frappes later.

This was really, really tasty. Just please pay attention to the fact that the recipe calls for coconut milk IN A CARTON, not the kind in a can. Canned coconut milk is for cooking, not for drinking.

Though you can get the recipe from the link, I'm posting it here using my own measurements, since I made a few slight changes.


Ingredients:
10 cubes of frozen coffee, partially thawed*
2 tbsp pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp Truvia**
1/2 cup CARTON Coconut milk, NOT CANNED

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. If desired, top with whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon. I didn't have any whipped cream or else I'd have tried that.

Okay notes:
* Definitely make sure your frozen coffee is partially thawed. I set mine out for, like, five minutes, and thought it was "thawed" enough. It wasn't. The blender couldn't break it up and at one point it actually shot a huge piece of ice (with frappe all over it) right into my eye! It pretty much hurt. And yes, the lid was on. I turned off the blender, opened it up to stir the ice that had gotten trapped and inertia or something caused the ice cube to shoot out of the blender and attempt to blind me. Damn physics. So yeah, partially thaw first.

Also, next time I'll just put in all the ice cubes. I was afraid it would be too strong with so much coffee, but I think it would've been fine.

** The original recipe has the measurements for Stevia. Stevia and Truvia are not the same so I had to do some math to figure out the Truvia amount (which is what I had). 1 teaspoon of Stevia is equal to 1 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of sugar is equal to 1 1/2 teaspoons of Truvia. I only put 1 1/4 tsp in my frappe and it wasn't quite sweet enough, so I'd recommend using the full 1 1/2 teaspoons, unless you prefer things not very sweet.

This was really good. I will definitely make it again. I've got frozen coffee in trays right now! And I think I'll get some whipped cream for next time too.

Oh, and don't like the idea of opening an entire can of pumpkin just to take out 2 tablespoons? Well, if none of these other recipes can inspire you, use the rest of the pumpkin in cornbread or dump it in a chili.

Pumpkin in a Pot Nine Days Old?

Erm, no, gross, but warm in a mini muffin pan? Sure!

This recipe from A Beautiful Mess for Sour Cream Pumpkin Muffins was yet another recipe sent to me on Facebook. I'm amazed at how so many recipes including pumpkin have been so good! These are super light and fluffy, not in the least bit dense or rich. They have a slight Fall taste to them due to the cinnamon and nutmeg, but it's not overpowering. I chose to make these in my Mini Muffin Pan, mainly just because I don't get enough opportunities to use my Mini Muffin Pan, so the only thing that really changed with this recipe was the baking time. I thought these being small would mean I'd eat less of them, but it actually just means I pop one in my mouth every time I walk into the kitchen. I must put them away. After I eat one more. Maybe two.

I did everything according to the recipe except decrease the baking time to about 15 minutes, so I'm not going to recopy the recipe. Just look it up here. These would be delicious for breakfast (especially full sized), maybe with some walnuts or blueberries tossed in? Mmm, I might have to do this recipe again and experiment with extras. Apple bits, banana, strawberry, gosh ANYTHING would taste good in these!

Honestly. All three of these recipes: Go and make them.

Pumpkinpalooza Times Two

Yesterday was a somewhat busy day, and by the time I realized dinner time was approaching, I had nothing prepared. I'd gotten off menu over the past few days, so I'd already made the designated curry for Monday night. I also didn't have a pumpkin recipe planned, because that too had gone off menu and already been made. So I robbed Peter to pay Paul - or whatever that phrase is. I took Thursday's Carrot Pumpkin Soup recipe and quickly chopped, sauteed, boiled and blended a delicious soup.






I found the recipe here on Hello Giggles and followed it pretty closely, except for the seasoning. I'm not a big fan of curry powder flavor and was pretty sure the kids would not be either. I also did not fancy adding nutmeg, so I just seasoned it with salt and a little crushed red pepper.

It was very yummy and is definitely going on the Make Again list.

Also, I wish that my house had better lighting, and my camera took better pictures. I'm always jealous of everyone else's food photography.

Anyway.


Then this morning, I made the MOST DELICIOUS PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE DANISH in the world. This recipe from Lauren's Latest was linked to me on Facebook by one of the many friends who have started connecting the name Lori to the word Pumpkin. I followed this recipe perfectly too. The filling was actually twice what I needed so I made two danish logs. Scott and I may or may not have eaten one of them entirely by ourselves...

Again, most DEFINITELY on the Make Again list. Make Again Soon. Make Again All The Time.



And if all this pumpkin lately just isn't your thing, maybe a cute black cat in a basket is?

Check the Wanted Ads

A few weeks ago, a woman who used to work at the community center passed away. One of my co-workers began arranging food and casseroles for the family, liaising with the family's church to arrange food for every night of the week for several weeks. It was very touching to see so many people rallying around a family in their time of grief. I began wondering if anyone would rally around my family if tragedy ever struck. We have some friends, but we don't have a church or a community like that to jump in when times are tough.

If I'm honest with myself, I have to admit that there are things about church that I miss. I haven't been to church in about ten months - with the exception of my niece's dedication - and for the most part, I haven't missed it. But there are aspects of church that I do miss.

Community
A little while ago, a friend of mine said the thing she misses most about church is the community. At the time, I couldn't relate. I didn't miss the church politics, the gossip disguised as prayer requests, or the hypocrisy at all.  I was still too close to the grief and anger to remember anything other than those things about church. But as time has healed the hurt, I have begun to remember all the good things about the church community: the get-togethers, the automatic friendships, the common bond. While I don't at all miss the religion part, I do miss the community. I miss belonging to a group. I miss knowing that there are casserole coordinators who would feed my family for a little while if I were to die and leave Scott in charge of the kitchen.

Group Singing
I love singing. If you ever pass me on the freeway, it's unlikely I'll even notice you because I'll be too busy singing along to the radio at the top of my lungs to see you waving wildly. My favorite part of church was the praise and worship time, because I love to sing. I loved leading the worship at church too, because I love to sing. I have yet to find anything short of live concerts in the secular world where corporate singing is normal. I should join a choir.

Potlucks
Okay, the reasons are getting a little frivolous here, but seriously. No one outside church does potlucks! Why is that? I love making something interesting and creative to share with a group - and I love eating all the interesting and creative things everyone else has brought. I miss church potlucks. I especially miss that person who always cheated and brought in the bucket of KFC chicken legs. I miss the three different varieties of baked beans, the cheese dip, the potato salads, the mystery casseroles and the entire table full of desserts. And the banana pudding. Oh, someone always brings banana pudding. Bless the person who brings the banana pudding!

(And bless my book club, because they sort of do potlucks too.)

Dresses
See? Getting frivolous! But seriously, I miss having an excuse to get dressed up on Sunday mornings. I miss having the excuse to dress my kids up on Sunday mornings. I miss having the excuse to buy a new dress in Spring because of Easter. Sure, I can wear dresses any day of the week if I want, but I miss having a really good reason to. I liked it being part of my weekly routine.

So segue into...

Today I attended my second MOPS meeting - Mothers Of Preschoolers. I went a few weeks ago for the first time with a new friend Victoria, and this was the next meeting on the schedule. Last time was a craft day, so I was curious to see what the discussion day would be like. Would it be super churchy? Would I feel out of place? I was actually feeling pretty nervous about it.

Somehow last time, by simply sitting at the first table with spare chairs, I ended up getting myself assigned to that table. Earlier in the week I was included in a group text from an unknown number saying it was our table's turn to bring food. I didn't even know I was a part of a table, but I love bringing food! Potlucks! So I offered to bring something (pumpkin of course) to contribute. I got up this morning early enough to get make-up on and put on a cute outfit (new skinny jeans, heels, a cute dress, infinity scarf), and I made apple pumpkin breakfast cookies*. I was really quite excited about all of this!

When I arrived, the nerves hit me like crazy. My hands were actually shaking as I put out the cookies on my pretty three-tiered cake stand. Why was I so nervous?

I am not entirely sure, but I think it was because I really, really wanted to like MOPS. And I was afraid I wouldn't.

It has so many of those qualities of church that I miss. The community especially. I really want to make new friends, socialize my son more, and have a thing I regularly go to. I am so desperate for a community  But I felt very vulnerable.

My thoughts were things like these:

Will they still like me when they find out I'm not a Christian?

Will they accept me when they find out I'm not one of them?

Will they view me with suspicion or keep me at arms length if I use the A-word?

Will they try to (re)convert me?

Am I going to end up considered a missionary project, rather than a friend?

I was already prepared for the praying and the Bible verses, and I was okay with all of that being a part of the group's purpose. I just worried about fitting in. Believe it or not, being anything other than some denomination of Christian makes it very hard to fit in here in the South.

So after I shakily put out my cookies, I filled my own plate with the Orange Table's delicious homebaked goodies and poured myself a cup of coffee and took my seat at "my" table. Victoria was already there, giving me someone to talk to and chill out a bit with. We small talked around the table before the announcements started, and then we had a speaker. The speaker was rather entertaining - he did a magic show which he then tied up with the topic of discussion "Taking Risks". Then it became table discussion time. The table leader went through four discussion questions like "When did you take a risk?" and "How will you teach your kids to take risks?" Girls at the table, timidly at first, spoke up to answer some questions, and eventually the conversation began to flow a little more. Nothing ground-breaking was said, but I got the feeling that a few people who needed to speak got the opportunity to do so, and I was touched by that. Afterwards, someone suggested arranging a table-wide play date with our kids. By the time we left, I felt I'd made a few acquaintances and had three new events to mark tentatively on my calendar - a play date, the Ladies' Night Out and the Christmas party. I even caught a couple of names.

I'm feeling optimistic about this group. I enjoyed it this morning, and I think I'll go ahead and join. I still feel nervous, afraid of how things could possibly change once it comes out that I'm atheist. But as my friend Esther said tonight at our kids' swimming lessons, if they don't accept me, they aren't acting like Christians. It was comforting hearing that come from a Christian, because while I know that this is true, and while I myself had tons of non-Christian friends when I was a Christian, I also can't help but notice how un-accepting some people can really be. It sucks being vulnerable; it's hard walking into a room full of people, knowing you are different, especially in such a culturally unwelcome way, and hoping to make friends.

I just want a community again. One with no strings attached. And singing, they need to add singing.


****

Apple Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies!!

I had picked out a recipe for Paleo Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies, but when I actually went to make them, I realized the recipe called for a few things I didn't have, like almond butter. So I searched and searched for a recipe that included ingredients I already had, and finally came across this one from Nestle (boo, hiss!). I didn't have every single ingredient, but I had enough substitutes to make it work. I ended up adapting the Nestle recipe somewhat and the end result was Apple Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies. They were very good, especially straight out of the oven! They are a little cakier than I wanted, and stickier because of the apple sauce, but still really yummy. The recipe makes over 5 dozen, so we actually have quite a few left. Someone needs to come over stat and eat them for us.

Ingredients (after adaptation)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups quick oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 apple, cored and finely chopped (peeled if desired, but I liked the flecks of red color)

Mix dry ingredients - flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small bowl. In larger bowl, beat butter, applesauce, brown and white sugar on medium speed until well combined. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla just until mixed. Mix in apple. Scoop onto a greased cookie sheet and bake each batch for about 14 minutes at 350°F. Cool on wire racks.

I used a medium scoop and got five dozen and four cookies out of this recipe. And like I said, straight from the oven, these are heavenly. At room temperature, they are a little sticky, so I'm going to refrigerate them tonight to see what texture they come out when cold. Pretty good recipe. Will I make them again? Maybe. Maybe if I get invited to another potluck.

The Day That Changed Cornbread Forever

Okay. I just have to say that my pumpkin experiment for tonight was so incredibly good that I almost don't want to share it with you, so that I can dazzle family at get-togethers and strangers at potlucks with this delicious "home baked" side dish. However, I will share it wit you anyway, because you need to eat this.

Pumpkin Cornbread.

It's not even an actual recipe. It's only technically "home baked" because you mix it up and bake it at home. It's nothing more than just a Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix with one added special ingredient - and you don't have to guess too hard to figure out what that is.

All you need is this:


Disclaimer: I don't work for the Jiffy brand or profit from them in any way, so believe me when I say, you should use the Jiffy mix. Use others if you wish, but I'm just saying... Jiffy.

So you need 1 pack of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix (8.5oz), 1 egg, 1/3 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, and olive oil for the pan. Optional: A cute kid to help you mix. Recommended.


These could be muffins, if you prefer muffins, but I like making johnny cake. To make johnny cake just right, cover the bottom of a cast iron frying pan with olive oil and preheat it in the oven at 400°F. (Use just enough oil to cover the bottom, you don't want the mixture swimming in it later.) Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients together. I actually doubled this recipe since my frying pan is large, and because we love cornbread.  Once the oil is hot, pour the mixture into the frying pan. It will instantly start sizzling and cooking around the edges, which gives it that beautiful brown crust. Put back in the oven for 25-30 minutes. (The Jiffy mix says 20-25 but with the added moisture from the pumpkin, I gave it a little longer.) Serve with butter.

Holy grains, this cornbread is AMAZING. Sometimes normal cornbread can be on the dry side, but this was so perfectly moist and tasty. And it in no way had any pumpkin flavor. You may hate pumpkin with all your squash-hating heart, but you will never know there is pumpkin in this. All the recipes for pumpkin cornbread I found wanted you to add pumpkin pie spice and sugar to make it pumpkiny, but I wanted savory cornbread, not sweet, to go with our broccoli and cheddar soup. I'm so glad I forewent the internet's advice to sweeten it and just made it plain. My kids raved about dinner all night and begged for more cornbread.  There's just enough left from my double batch to put a little slice in their lunch boxes tomorrow. If Scott and I don't eat it all before that.

This has changed cornbread for me for life. I will never make it again without pumpkin. Cornbread isn't low-carb anyway, so might as well add in the additional carbs if I'm going to serve it already and make it worth our cheat!

This is going on the Make For Every Family Holiday Get-Together Ever For The Rest of My Life list. It's that good.

Stars and Scones

Enough with the success-dress; today I'm slumming it. I wore The Dress with a yellow tank top, cropped red star-covered hoodie (thrifted from Goodwill) and my favorite red tartan sneakers (from Next). I pulled my hair into a ponytail with a stretchy white headband and wore my star earrings handmade by my friend Paula in Scotland (30th birthday present, I think). And no make-up.

Click to enlarge

What? Someone taking a picture of me?
I wasn't aware. Of myself. Taking my own picture.

Standing in a fairy circle

I had a nice, fairly chilled out day. I went to Zumba, ran some errands and made scones for Fifi's Girl Scouts food tasting night. (Each girl had to put on a blindfold and taste a different food provided by each parent. I was amazed that out of all the girls, only two of them - Fifi being one - liked the scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam! How anyone could dislike scones with clotted cream and jam is beyond me.) But anyway, my scones were delicious and fluffy and fun to make.

Yuuuuuum

And when Jaguar finally took his nap, I went outside and enjoyed the beautiful crisp, cool weather all by myself.

Weeee!

Cold. Conspiracy. Cheesecakes.

Tonight the wind chill is supposed to dip as low as -10 degrees Fahrenheit. In my book, that's pretty darn cold!

I do remember it getting cold before when I lived here. I even remember trying to tell someone how cold Arkansas could get and not being believed. Through the Scottish years, I began to believe that nothing could be as cold as Scotland, except perhaps northeastern Europe or Siberia. But I was wrong. Rains and winds and low temperatures are the bain of Scottish existence, but I never thought about freezing pipes. Tonight, in Arkansas, it's gonna get chilly. It's clear global warming is just a conspiracy theory. (Just kidding.)

Speaking of conspiracy theories, though, I love them. And actually I believe a lot of them. Scott kind of wants to elbow me in the gut when I start talking about them, but seriously, why not? Do we really believe the government is that honest and open with the public? After all, everyone thought Watergate and the NSA were conspiracy theories but surprise! Nixon was a crook and the NSA is monitoring your World of Warcraft activity.

(They probably have wire taps installed all over our house, thanks to Tec over here.)

Anyway, I won't go into detail on which theories I adhere to, as my husband's opinion of me is still something I moderately value, but just thought I'd throw that in there.

On the weight loss front, Scott and I are now seven pounds lighter each. Today was the first day I looked at my semi-naked figure in the mirror and thought, 'Is that tummy a little flatter?!' Incidentally, I feel great too. I have more energy than I've had in a long time, I'm never hungry and my cravings are mild. The one complaint I have of this keto diet is that it is affecting my sleep. I used to be able to fall asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, but these past few days I've tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable or sleep for long. I keep waking up all night long, and this morning, which should have been my lie-in morning, I woke up at 7.30 when Jaguar woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Scott says my body will adjust to this new energy. I hope he's right. Sleep is my favorite pastime.

In half an hour, we're heading over to my mom's for dinner. She's made chilli, which is off limits for us on our diet. However, we were saving our carbs all day for dinner anyway, as I had some spicy chicken nuggets we were planning on having, which are a little higher in carbohydrates than we would normally eat. I guess we'll just substitute yummy spicy breading for yummy jalapeños and beans. I've ordered us some Ketostix (though the off-brand, much cheaper), so we can verify if we are still in ketosis after moderately over-indulging now and then.

I'll leave you with this. Last night Scott made us some incredible low-carb cheesecakes in the microwave. Find the recipe here at Your Lighter Side. Each 1-cup serving was only 2.5 net carbs and 299 calories. All I have to say about these is DO IT.

Christmas Cakes

Our little elf got baking again last night. He also made a lot of mess. I guess it takes being a little bit naughty to be a little bit nice!

Banoffee made us all some delightful little cupcakes last night. Using star, heart, and teacup shaped silicone cupcake moulds, he made a couple of batches of fluffy white cake with red (pink?) and green icing with sprinkles. (He tried so hard to get the icing red, but after what seemed half a bottle of food colouring, even he with his E-number addiction couldn't bear to add any more.) He even displayed them on my lovely Pampered Chef Tiered Cake Tower*. And wrapped it in cling film to keep the cat out.


But then I guess the excitement of the sleet-in-snow's-clothing outside made him a little crazy, and he started making snow angels in the flour. Boy, did I have a mess to clean up this morning!


You see, the cling film kept the cat out of the cakes, but not out of the flour. I woke up this morning to flour all over the counter as well as the floor. And poor Banoffee... he was lying on the floor too. The kids found him there this morning, terrorized by the cat. Daddy told the girls to pick him up and put him back on the counter, but they refused. Because they know if they touch their elf, he loses his magic. Silly Daddy. So there Banoffee lay until Mummy woke up later and rescued him.

And then cleaned up his mess.


The Advent Activity today was supposed to be making gingerbread men cookies to hang on the tree... and eat as the days go by. I have a fab recipe for gingerbread men using molasses but alas(ses), it is in Scotland. So I bought in advance some gingerbread mix. The kids helped me clean up the kitchen and wipe down the table for the project, washed their hands and donned aprons, just for me to discover that they mix still required sticks of butter and eggs. Eggs I have; butter I do not. So the project was a flop. Lots of pouting going on afterwards, for which I can't blame them. But I got a clean kitchen out of it, so thanks, kids! Dad gave them each a biscuit from the shortbread tin to make up for it. We'll make our gingerbread men another day, when the roads aren't coated with a sheet of ice, and I can get to the shops for butter.


*I guess I ought to mention that this is the older style; the new style is glass.

Forgive Me, Internet, For I Have Sinned: September Shopping Challenge Confession

So how has the September Shopping Challenge been going for all of you? Anyone still doing it?

This week has had a few bumps, but in general, nothing to be horribly ashamed of.

I did my shopping on Friday, as I said. But on Saturday, I ran out of dishwashing detergent. I had a $5 off coupon for Dollar General, so I headed back into the store, feeling very guilty-slash-giddy. The kicker for the coupon is I had to spend $30 to get the $5 off. Tricky, eh? So I decided to get things I'd need anyway eventually to make it worth the $25 I'd have to spend in the end. I bought my dishwashing detergent, some breakfast cereal, some canned goods, and then... a $5 lamp shade. Well, I just got a bed and a new room, and I had a lamp with no shade! So sue me! I also bought 3 $2 picture frames for the mantle. I know, it wasn't necessary, and I felt guilty about buying them, but I'm not sad now when I look at my three kids all framed and sweet looking above my fireplace!

Sunday, after church, Fifi asked if we could get Shipley's Donuts. This was starting to become our little Sunday after-church treat, but I was strong and said 'Not this week.' (Or any other week this month.) We had to make an exchange at Walmart, and I did it without purchasing any other item. We came home and had homemade lunch like good boys and girls. No money spent.

Monday and Tuesday went by without a penny spent. Then came Wednesday, and I was cooking dinner for my dad and step-mum. I was using a fabulous Greek burgers recipe given to me by the lovely Judith (my bento partner in crime), and I realized I was short several key ingredients. With a sigh, I finished up what I could in preparation, and hauled the kids down to the grocery store again. I went with a list of six ingredients: a lemon, a cucumber, Greek salad dressing, oregano, cream cheese and Cool Whip. (The latter two were for the impromptu cheesecake I'd decided to make for dessert about three and a half minutes before leaving the house.) I came home with this:


The only extras I bought were an oil pourer and a glass jar. The oil pourer (if that's even what it's called) has been on my mental list for ages. When we moved into our new house, I bought lots of cupboard items to get us started, including a mammoth-sized metal container of olive oil. It was cheaper by the fluid ounce, you see. However, it's impossible to use. I've been avoiding using anything calling for olive oil since I bought it. So spending the extra $1.59 on the oil pourer seemed reasonable. The glass jar was for my icing sugar (powdered sugar, whatever). I keep all my dry ingredients in glass jars to keep them sealed and tidy in the cupboards and the giant 2lb bag of icing sugar lying in front of my other jars was driving me bonkers. So, no, it wasn't really totally necessary, but again, I don't feel guilty when I open my baking cupboard and see my icing sugar jar resting neatly beside the brown sugar and the cocoa powder jars. It actually makes me want to sing.

One day my glass jar collection will be complete.

So that was Wednesday. And by the way, the Greek dinner was delicious.

Today is Thursday. One more day until shopping day again. I was doing well today. I even had to run some errands in town right before lunch time, and I successfully passed McDonald's (milkshakes!) and Taco Bell (tacos!) without stopping. It wasn't until right before I went to pick up Fifi that I noticed on the calendar that tonight was my night to bring snacks to soccer practice.

Oops.

I had nothing at all snack-worthy for four year olds ('Here, kids, who wants a leftover Greek burger!'), so sadly, with head hung low, I drove back into town.

I could have just bought boring old boring gummy snacks or Cheez-its packets, but the thought occurred to me: 'This is their last practice before their first game!' I wanted to do something extra special, so I went to Kroger and picked out some cupcakes. Kroger has lots of cupcakes covered in E numbers and various themed plastic rings; I was sure to find soccer balls. Well, they didn't have any soccer balls. I was just choosing between Wreck-It Ralph and Dora the Explorer when the bakery assistant asked if I needed any help. I put on a disappointed face and said in a pathetic voice that I was really hoping to find some soccer balls, but alas, there are none. Customer service being kick-A in America, she immediately offered to give me twelve soccer rings from the back to replace whichever other cupcakes I chose. So I left Kroger $8 poorer but with red-icinged, chocolate cupcakes and soccer rings.


Then about an hour later, soccer practice got cancelled due to the rain.

So I took the soccer balls off the cupcakes to use another day, and we ate the cupcakes for dessert.

Happy shopping day to me tomorrow! (Let me just first lick the rest of this red icing off my fingers before they are permanently stained the color of a fire hydrant.)

Jelly Orange Slices

From my other blog, Lunch Is Boring



I saw a picture of these on Facebook and just had to try them.  They are super easy and don’t take a lot of time.  In fact, they are so easy, they don’t really need the following step-by-step, but since I bothered to photograph the process, I might as well share it.

This recipe took between four and five navel oranges.  It depends on the size of your orange.  I started with four and had just enough jelly (jello) left for one half more.

 
 

The orange pieces we managed not to eat on the spot will feature in tomorrow’s lunches.



One word of caution – don’t pierce your peel at all.  Or pull out the navel leaving a hole.  It ruins everything.

 
 

You don’t want your jelly/o to fall apart so make it thicker by adding only 3/4 cup of cold water to your 1 cup of boiled water and dissolved jelly mixture, instead of a full cup of cold water.



Big tip – use a muffin pan to hold your peels.  I don’t have a muffin pan yet in my new home, and this was the most precarious part.  The peels kept tipping over and pouring out my jelly.  I had to prop them all up together to keep them upright, and still they spilled when I transferred them to the fridge for chilling.



After they are fully chilled, quarter and hey presto!  I can’t wait to put these in tomorrow’s lunches.  They’d be good for parties too.  I’m going to try it with lemons, limes, any fruit with a firm peel! Ooh, and if you use sugar-free jelly, they are keto-friendly too.