New posts and old posts

In case you're out of hobbies and don't know what to do with your time (like me, ha ha!), try this one on for size :-)

As often happens (ok, it's not that often), I clean off my desk and purge my drawers in an effort to feel less clogged with meaningless junk. (It's amazing how much I can throw out when I get right down to it.) Over Christmas, I found the pack of postcards that I've been adding to and digging around in the last 10 years of my life.

Collecting postcards is a bit of a hobby for me. There are 3 kinds that I "collect." The first are the kind that people send me from other places. As I skimmed through the bundle of postcards from other people, I was touched at the number of people that have sent me postcards from various places over the years (particularly my lovely little sister, among others :-)). I was also thrilled to discover a good number from my handsome husband, which were so sweet!

The other 2 kinds of postcards I collect are postcards I buy. Whenever I go somewhere, I always buy 2 postcards. One to send to someone and one to keep. By getting one to send to someone, I am forced to write someone snail mail, but it can't be long and drawn out, because it's a postcard! So, it basically forces me to keep in touch :-) (However, as I went through my postcards, I found QUITE a few that had never been written on, so maybe my system doesn't work as well as I thought :-))

The postcards that I buy and keep are to have memories of the place that are far better photographs than I could ever take, and they are micro-diaries of my adventures in that place. For instance, the back for a postcard from our trip to Philadelphia this summer gave the date and read something about our good times trying to get Dad to try new foods (and keep his voice down), touring a ship, and playing Settlers of Catan in the hotel room. As I put these into a photo album yesterday, I was so happy that I had all these memories collected in one place. AND, I am super-excited to get even more postcards and adventures this summer as Ben and I and our friends Steve and Darla Shrock head to Europe for 2 weeks!

Hence, if you're in need of a new hobby, try collecting postcards from your adventures and briefly documenting the events of that time. Along with regular photographs, they are great ways of remembering eventful times in your life! :-)

Merry Christmas!

For your viewing pleasure, a little musical Christmas card :-)

Yummy Greek Chicken!

Sometimes recipes sound good on paper, but when you actually make it, it gets an "eh" at best. Sometimes they look boring on paper, but turn out awesome! (That's a pleasant surprise :-))
But then sometimes, the stars align and it looks just as good as it tastes. Try this one out :-)

Chicken, Lemon, and Dill with Orzo

4 c. chicken broth
3/4 c. water
1 T. butter
1 1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 lb chicken, diced
1 lb. orzo
2 c. crumbled feta or goat cheese (4 oz.)
1/4 c. coarsely chopped fresh dill
2 t. lemon zest
1 T. lemon juice
1 c. grated Parmesan (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan, bring broth, water, butter, salt, pepper. In a 9x13 pan, combine chicken, orzo, feta, dill, lemon zest and juice. Pour broth mixture over orzo and stir once to incorporate. bake until orzo is tender and cooking liquid is creamy, 35-40 minutes. Sprinkle Parmesan on top and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

from Everyday Food Magazine

Hot drinks, anyone?

After Rezzie ate what remained of my hot chocolate mix and spiced tea mix (I have a bright orange carpet stain to prove it), and the nighttime temps finally dropped into the 40's, I had to make more. Since I firmly believe my hot chocolate recipe is the best ever, (from my home away from home, Swan Lake Christian Camp) I'm sharing it here:
SLCC Hot Chocolate Mix
This makes a TON, as is appropriate for a camp. I usually half it. Below is the original recipe.

2 lb. Nestle's Quick
2 lb. powdered sugar
2 c. non-dairy creamer
8 c. powdered milk
2 pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix

Use about 1/4 cup per mug of hot water.

Spiced Tea Mix
I've heard this recipe go by everything from the above to Russian Tea, to Friendship Tea, and I'm sure there are more names...

1 pkg sweetened lemonade mix (3 oz) or enough mix to make one quart of lemonade
1 c. Tang
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. instant tea
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. cloves

Use about 1 T. of mix to a mug of hot water.

A few of my favorite things...

For no particular reason, I felt the need to share some of my favorite things. :-)

1. On the rare occasion that I have time to read, some of my favorite books are ones that present normal ideas in a different light. One example is from Outliers, in which the author explains why professional hockey players in Canada all tend to have January/February birthdays. The reason that author Malcolm Gladwell noticed was because children's hockey leagues' age cutoffs are in December. Hence, the oldest, most developed children are the ones with Jan/Feb birthdays. Each chapter follows a different phenomenon. All of Gladwell's books follow similar topics. Freakonomics is another book in the same vein.

2. I am a faithful coupon clipper, (though I'm not quite as much of a genius as some) and I LOVE getting a good deal. I've discovered that you have to know how to work the system in the right places in order to get the best deal. My best recent example of this was last week when I got a pint of Starbucks ice cream (usually $4.49) and I had three coupons for it that took off $4 of the price. Luckily, I had a great checker at Safeway who ignored the fact that all the coupons were expired AND let me use multiple coupons for one thing :-) Can't beat $0.49 ice cream :-)

3. Since I've been on fall break, I've worked out every day, trying to get outside as much as possible. To keep my head busy while I'm working out, I've been catching up on my favorite podcast, Stuff You Should Know. A smattering of interesting facts of learned from it recently: employer-based health care started as a method of pre-paying for pregnancy/birth care for female teachers in the 20s; sarcopenia (or some of the physical effects of aging-stooping, drooping, some pain, etc.) can be reversed and prevented with physical exercise; and that the original Muppet Show characters can be directly correlated to characters on 30 Rock. :-)

4. Also, on fall break, I've baked bread a LOT. My goal has been to bake every day :-) So far, I've made zwiebach, pizza crust, bagels, and hopefully pumpkin chocolate chip bread from Simply in Season before the week is out :-) It does my heart good to see dough rising (I'm never sure it actually will) and then the smell of baking bread is unbeatable!

5. Finally, the most relaxing part of fall break has been catching up on my favorite TV shows (I LOVE the DVR) including The Office ("R is a very threatening letter. That's why it's called murrrderr and not muckduck."), Ugly Betty (Tu mama scared the living jesús out of me!), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ("What do you want Frank, you fascist meat hog?"), Parks and Recreation ("Viva Mayor John Gunderson!") and Glee ("Not everyone has the walnuts to take a pro-littering stance, but I will not rest until every square inch of our state is covered in trash. That's why I pay taxes. It keeps garbage men earning a living, so they can buy tacos for their family.") Laughter is the best medicine, right? :-)

And, an added bonus favorite thing, one of my favorite blogs to read is 1000awesomethings.com, which is dead on, and so funny!!

What are some of your favorites?

You Right to Jail!

After a discussion at supper group tonight about the ridiculous situation the economy in, and how much responsibility the banks hold, we decided that the only thing that would make us feel better is if they went to jail. Which reminded me of this clip from last week's Parks and Recreation, which is a great show, by the way. (Especially if you like The Office.)

By the way, this is the recipe for the cookies I made for dessert, a great fall cookie :-)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.

Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Can't stop!

So, I'm basically in love with this recipe I found for poppy seed dressing (and yes, that's the extent of the excitement in my life). Because of it, I haven't stopped eating spinach/strawberry salad for like a week! (Also, I've served it to basically everyone who has walked through my door, which is a lot, as of late.)

I think it's a good recipe in general, but it's awesome with some champagne melon vinegar I got on clearance at SuperTarget a LONG time ago. :-) As usual, the recipe came from Allrecipes.

Poppy Seed Dressing

1/2 c. mayo or Miracle Whip (I've been using mayo)

1/4 c. milk

1/4 c. sugar

2 T. vinegar

1 T. poppy seeds

Whisk all ingredients together and chill. Makes approximately 1 c. of dressing.

The only thing I've been changing is the amount of milk, because it keeps ending up really thin for me. However, as I type this, it occurs to me that maybe I could add some kind of thickener (cornstarch, flour, etc.) Have to try that...