My 30 Before 30 List - The Wrap-Up

Well, technically since my 30th birthday was a little over a week ago, I'm calling this the wrap up, but I'm not calling it finished. For obvious reasons. They're still things I want to accomplish, soon, so maybe I'll stretch it out, and hopefully I can actually get 30 things on it!

1. Get my Mandarin fish tattoo - would love to get this, but still sort of undecided on the location of the tattoo, and it's expensive (and I'm a cheapskate).
2. Sew myself a wearable skirt - only laziness to blame for this if I'm being honest with myself, well, that and my irrational phobia of cutting into fabric.
3. Sell at least 1 of my photographs - I think I'm going to work through RedBubble for this, I'll have a link up soon to my portfolio.
4. Paint again (canvas, not walls) - just haven't felt inspired to pick up a paintbrush, the camera has been my biggest source of artistic expression lately.
5. Embroider a pillowcase - ooh, just got a fantastic book - Embroidery Companion: Classic Designs for Modern Living by Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy, I intend to work on this as the weather gets colder.
6. Preserve vegetables that I’ve grown in my garden - I actually did really well with this.  I froze several bags of green beans, at least 7 two-cup bags of shredded zucchini, some cherry tomatoes, red peppers and jalepenos.  I also ventured into pickling and pickled 3 jars of green cherry tomatoes. Which, by the way are excellent, here's the recipe I used.
7. Go to a stitch and bitch or knitting group - was too shy to do this yet.
8. Volunteer - I have recently talked to a person at the Ohio Wildlife Center to start volunteering with the wild animal rescue center there, and hopefully mentor with her and learn to handle the animals and teach.
9. Run a 5K - still want to do this, but nowhere near the fitness level I need to be.
10. Read at least 5 books on my bookshelves (preferably that I haven’t read before) - Getting there, but still have a little ways to go.  The intention was originally to read five books so that I can get rid of them, however, two of the books below are Kindle books. I'm still counting them as I'm glad to have actually been completing books. I still would like to get several more books out of my house though.

• Completed books: 


• 1.Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kinsgsolver
• 2. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• 3.The Princess Bride -William Goldman (in progress)
• 4. Winter's Bone-Daniel Woodrell

11. Invest some money for retirement (auto 401K with work does not count) - opened a Roth IRA on ShareBuilder, but haven't moved any money there yet.
12. Yarn Diet-knit down my stash - success! sort of, I haven't brought any new yarn into the house, but, I didn't do a whole lot of knitting this summer. For some reason, during the summer, I don't knit as much, I think there's just too much else going on outside. But, I did finish a couple of projects, and only started one, and it was with stash yarn.
13. Bake and frost a layer cake from scratch - talked about this and have pictures here.

14. Sell or give away 50 things that I currently own - success with this as well! Got rid of quite a few articles of clothing, shoes, makeup, books. Just as importantly, I didn't add much to replace them.
15. Paint the hutch in the dining room - no, but I got it cleaned out fairly well. I'm still up in the air as to what I want to do with it. I kind of want to get rid of it/sell it, because it takes up quite a bit of space, but, it also has a lot of storage, so, I'm torn.
16. Get into an exercise routine - I feel pretty good about this one, and am proud of the fact that I have been working out 3-4 times a week for the last three months. I really enjoy it now too!


All in all, I'm not completely satisfied with my progress, but I want to keep at it. Wish me luck! Anybody else have a list? Leave me a link in the comments, I'd love to see it!

**Disclaimer-the Amazon links are affiliate links, just FYI.**

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This is the Zucchini Bread recipe that Jeff started asking for as soon as I told him I was planting zucchini this year!   After my giant zucchini (pic below) was shredded, along with a couple other smaller ones, I now have enough to make 14 loaves of it!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cloves
3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1/2 cup nuts (optional) (I never use them)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 2 large (4 x 9) loaf pans.  Beat eggs, oil and sugar together.  Add zucchini and vanilla.  In separate bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, spices and cocoa powder.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mix only until combined.  Add chocolate chips and nuts (if using).  Bake for one hour.

That's it!  It's easy and so good.  It has the spices of standard zucchini bread, with the little bit of cocoa powder and the chocolate chips, but not too chocolaty.  I understand that you can freeze the bread, but it goes pretty fast in my house, and the second loaf never makes it to the freezer.

Sorry, no pictures of the bread, but check out the size of this zucchini! (sorry for the blurriness)

My Sloppy Joe Recipe

Wow, let another couple of days get by since my last post!  Whoops!  In my defense, had a couple health issues going on.  Here's a quick recipe to keep the blog moving, should be back either later today or tomorrow.

A couple of years ago, I came across a great Sloppy Joe recipe, way better than that canned stuff!  Since then, I've tweaked it a bit, added a couple things, and made it spicier.  Let me know if you try it!

1 lb. ground beef or 1.25 lb ground turkey (I usually use turkey)
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 red or green pepper, diced
1 (or 2!) jalapeno, diced fine
2 cloves garlic
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika (I love the smoked spanish type)
1 tsp. dried oregano
A few shakes of your favorite hot sauce
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tbsp. white vinegar

Brown meat in large skillet, drain fat off if using beef.  Add onion, pepper and jalapeno.  Cook until onion and peppers are slightly softened, about 5 minutes.  Add tomato paste and water, stir and cook until paste is completely dissolved.  (Quick tip: if you don't have tomato paste, a 14 oz. can of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup water is a good substitute, you just have to cook it down for a little longer) 
Add spices and rest of ingredients, let cook down till nice and saucy, 10-15 minutes.  Serve on buns with either shredded cheddar cheese or good old fashioned Kraft American cheese slices!

Rustic Tomato Sauce with Zucchini and Sausage

I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago when I had a few fingerling zucchini to get rid of and wanted some spicy pasta.

Rustic Tomato Sauce with Zucchini and Sausage
1 lb. bulk sausage (I use spicy)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 small or 1 large clove of garlic, pressed or minced
1 medium or 2 small zucchini, 1/2 inch dice
14 oz. can crushed tomatoes
28 oz. can whole tomatoes with juice
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tbsp. sugar (to counteract some of the acidic, canned-tomato flavor)
10-12 leaves fresh basil chopped or 1 tbsp dried
1 lb. pasta of your choice cooked according to box directions

Brown sausage, drain off fat and set aside.

In large skillet, heat oil on medium.  Add onion, garlic and zucchini.  Cook until onion is translucent and zucchini starts to soften, about 5 minutes. Add both cans of tomatoes, sugar, oregano and basil (if using dried, if using fresh, wait till the end).

Start pasta water. 

While waiting for water to boil and pasta to cook, bring sauce up to a simmer.  As the sauce cooks, break up the whole tomatoes with your spoon.  This keeps larger chunks of tomatoes and gives it a more chunky, rustic consistency.  If you have more time, you can add the sausage and let the sauce simmer on the stove for an hour or so to let all the flavors meld together.  If not, you can just throw in the sausage and fresh basil and serve as soon as your pasta is finished!

Serve with lots of grated parmesan cheese (fresh if you have it!) and a green salad.  Easy, delicious and filling!

Mother's Day Cake and Changes

As you can see, the blog has a new header and a new background color.  What do you think?  I'm going to try and change the header on a more regular basis, now that I'm starting to get Picasa figured out!  I'm also probably going to be investing in Photoshop Elements soon.  IPhoto does a pretty good job with my photo post production, but I'd really like to have PSE.  (Actually, I'd really like to have full Photoshop, but I'm not ready for that splurge!)

Also, number 13 checked off the 30 Before 30 list!  

This is the amazing Strawberry Shortcake Cake from the Pioneer Woman.  This was the dessert I chose to take to my MIL for Mother's Day.  I have to say that it wasn't hard to make and split, but icing it was a little tricky.  Okay, so I cheated a little bit, and Jeff helped.  He helped me split and ice it, but, I'm still counting it, because it broke the ice!  I won't be afraid to attempt a layer cake again!

Pies and Drama

Ok, I have a confession to make.  I'm afraid of pie crusts.  Not eating them (for the most part, but man, I've had some BAD ones!), but making them.  This weekend for Mother's Day, I threw out the idea that I make some sort of baked good and buy a plant for Jeff's mom.  He agreed, but suggested a pie of some sort.  "But I've never made a pie crust!" I told him.
"So, just make one, it's easy," he tells me.
"No it's not! Have you ever made one?"
"Yeah, it wasn't that hard."
"When did you make a pie crust?"
"I don't know, I was still living at home and we didn't have any pie crusts, so I called my mom, and she said, 'Just make one', so I did."
"..." (this is my reaction of shock and disbelief)
"What?"
"Um, nothing, I'm just surprised is all," I said.

So, I'm still not convince that pie is a good idea.  I'm not sure I like the idea of my first pie crust being for a person who makes excellent pie crusts.  Oh, I didn't mention that?  Yeah, my MIL makes probably the best homemade pie crusts that I've ever eaten.
Now, I know I'm a good cook, and my baking skills are improving, but I'm not sure I'm ready for a pie crust.  Maybe I can convince Jeff to do the crust, then if it goes wrong, I can blame him!  Is that wrong?

When did this turn into a cooking blog?

So, I am still on my cooking and baking jag, and I don't think my husband has any complaints!  The other night I made this awesome black beans and rice recipe that I hadn't made in forever and it was so good (recipe below).  I could literally enjoy eating it for days on end, but it only lasted for lunch the next day!  Weird how that happens sometimes, huh?  I've made Smitten Kitchen's Blondies twice, with walnuts and chocolate chips, and my husband has requested those again.  I made these Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk cookies to rave reviews, mostly mine, since anything with bananas in them, wins.  And tonight I made Smitten Kitchen's snickerdoodles, wow, are they amazing!  They'd better be though with 2 sticks of butter!  They're so good that I told Jeff that he was lucky I liked him, cause I might eat them for every meal otherwise.  Yes, they are that good.

Black Beans and Rice (originally from a veggie cookbook from my MIL)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 med onion, finely chopped
1 med carrot, finely chopped
1 med celery stalk, finally chopped
4 med or 2 lg garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp minced fresh oregano leaves or 1 tsp dry oregano
Tabasco sauce to taste (start with a few shakes to 1 tsp)
2 cups/1 can vegetable broth
2 15 oz cans or 1 cup dried (soaked and cooked) black beans
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 chipotle pepper, plus 1 tbsp adobo sauce from can
1 bay leaf
salt to taste
cooked white rice

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add carrot, onion and celery (I also added a finely diced serrano pepper, you could use any kind of hot pepper), and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic, oregano and Tabasco sauce, cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the broth, beans, tomatoes, chipotle pepper and sauce, bay leaf and salt to taste, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened but still brothy, about 15 min. Remove and discard the bay leaf and chipotle pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve over hot rice or refrigerate in airtight container for several days.

 Oh, and in case you're wondering about my Ravelympics project, I discovered that I do not have size 10.5 DPNs and thus have not been able to start the sleeves.  So, tomorrow, I am headed to my MIL's house to borrow her set.  I haven't worked on it since... Thursday I think, so I've got some catching up to do.

The White Death is Coming!!

So, we're supposed to get a pretty good snowstorm over the next day. It's 11am and it's actually already snowing out there, schools are announcing early releases. We're supposed to get between 4-8 inches, maybe up to a foot in the outlying areas. My only complaint is that it's starting in the middle of the work day and I'm going to have to drive home during rush hour in it. At least I have 4 wheel drive on my jeep though.
I personally like snow, and would rather look at snow than the gray everything that Ohio calls weather the rest of the 6 months of winter. Also, it means we'll have a snow day tomorrow at home! I'll get to do fun stuff like cook and knit and drink tea! And yes, the whole ambitious and motivated streak continues. 3 nights ago, I made a cake, not from scratch, but it still counts! Then 2 nights ago, I made some really good chicken enchiladas and my Dabu-Dabu sauce. The sauce turned out pretty good, very similar to a salsa at first, but then I stuck it in the blender and made it more of a sauce. Good stuff, definitely will make it again, and probably soon, cause I still have all of the ingredients! Here are the recipes:
Chicken Enchiladas
1-1 1/2 lbs cooked and shredded chicken (I just boiled it)
flour tortillas
can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 C plain yogurt or sour cream
can of tomatoes with green chiles, drained
2 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp chipotle powder
dash of cayenne
very small dash of cinnamon
shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. While chicken is cooking, mix soup, yogurt, canned tomatoes, and spices. Drain chicken, cool and shred, mix with filling. Fill tortillas with mixture, top with a little cheese before rolling and placing in large baking dish. If there is any extra filling after you use all of the tortillas, you can just slap it on the top. Then top everything with as much cheese as you want. Bake until melty and bubbly, about a 30-45 minutes. Serve with your choice of taco toppings.

Dabu-Dabu Sauce (Indonesian hot sauce)
Several chile peppers-I used 2 serrano chiles (they were the hottest I could find this time of year), seeded and diced very fine
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped fine
4 shallots, chopped fine
juice of 1 lime (about 3 tbsp)
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste

Mix all ingredients. We put ours immediately on the enchiladas, but it's better after it sits about a day. The next day I popped it in the blender so it's more of a sauce instead of a salsa. Good stuff if you like it hot! Those chiles are no joke!!

We now return to your regularly scheduled blog posts...

Sorry for the delay, lets get back on the blogging track. This post will be just a quick catch-up post on what's been going on for the last month I've been MIA!
So, got back from our fabulous trip to Indonesia last Tuesday, still recovering from the 13 hour time difference and the 30+ hours of travel time, each way. Man! Talk about jet lag! I'm actually surprised that I feel as close to normal as I do. I've heard it takes a day per time zone, it's amazing the effect that flipping your days and nights has on your body. Oh yeah, not to mention the dramatic climate differences! The first couple days we felt like we had the flu, hot, then cold flashes, stomach issues, insomnia mixed with exhaustion. Fun stuff. But it was so worth it. It was an amazing trip! Stunningly beautiful, both topside and underwater. The culture and people were wonderful. Food (for the most part), was FANTASTIC. I'll give more detailed info when I post pictures over the next couple of days.
So that was 2 and a half weeks of January, from the 10th through the 26th, so what else have I been up to? Well, not much, so don't get too excited! Before the trip, was mostly prep work. Getting packed (roll up spacebags are a Godsend!), filling prescriptions (OMG, the expense of this that you don't account for when you plan a trip), scuba and camera gear checkups, lists, lots of lists, document compiling and finalizing everything. Overall, everything went extremely smoothly! Considering we were going to the other side of the world and all!
Since we've been back, I've been shockingly ambitious and motivated. I have major motivation issues, as mentioned before. But I've just been wanting to knit and sew and cook! Especially cook! I think I've been inspired by both the Indonesian food and the angry chicken and Smitten Kitchen blogs. I've also been trying to eat more naturally, I'm not doing perfectly, but I'm trying! That's one of my goals, to eat more natural, less processed food. The food in Indonesia was all from scratch with no preservatives or chemicals. Not only did it taste better, but I felt better. All the swimming and exercise probably helped too!
After work yesterday I hit Whole Foods for some produce and other miscellaneous items. I want to make the local hot sauce that we ate on absolutely everything, from fish to french fries! It's called Dabu Dabu and it is super simple. I also want to learn to make Nasi Goreng and Pisang Gorang. Basically fried rice and fried bananas. Yeah, not low calorie, but better than cheeseburgers and Wendy's Frostys!
Well, I'll be posting pics soon from our trip and tell you how the Dabu Dabu turned out!