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Mom, housewife & life hacker! Corporate drudge escapee writing recipes, tips & discount alerts. Still bring home the bacon & cook it up in 101 healthy way. You’re also going to find out that I’m a total Disney geek. I don’t know if it started with the Read-Along records (“When Tinker Bell waves her wand – bbblllliiiinnnggg – turn the page!”) or the Disneyland book my grandfather gave me around age 3, but however the innoculation happened, it was very effective. I’m happy that my kids share my passion, and I’m even happier that Portland has one of the fancy-shmancy new Imagination Park Disney Stores!
Photo credit: Daniel Ferenčak / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
We’re past this stage with the kids, thankfully, but there was a time when there were serious concerns about the mysterious regions known as Underbed and Closetback. You see, that’s where the monsters lived.
There were a few rough nights, there, I’m not too shy to say.
“Mom, I’m not tired.”
“Mom, I’m still thirsty.”
“Mom, I’m scared!”
After a beautiful church service this morning, I was struck with how wonderful and transforming God’s forgiveness is!
So, today’s inspiration is a quote from one of my daughter’s favorite Christian authors, Melody Carlson. My daughter grew up reading her book, “Diary of a Teenage Girl”, as well as the sequel books and related series. I also read the books, and have a special place in my heart for the identifiable stories and the Christian lessons they impart.
The quote I love from Melody is:
Read More→Happy National Quiche Lorraine Day! To mark the occasion, I have written up my personal Quiche Lorraine Recipe for you — I think you’ll really like this take on it!
Quiche Lorraine is a major French staple dish that all cooks should know how to make, because it is just so simple to get right. It is named after the Lorraine region of France which is up in the northeastern corner of the country, which is near Germany and Switzerland — which is apropos, because the dish is most commonly made with Swiss cheese.
Truly, the dish is quite simple. You have some crumbled, cooked bacon, some sauteed onion, some grated Swiss cheese, and you layer those ingredients with an eggy custard mixture in a pie shell and bake. 🥚 Honestly, you don’t need to get super-fancy with it for it to taste like a million dollars!
Read More→Did your mother make Chicken Divan, growing up? Ours did, and it is one of those flavors that takes me back to my childhood! It’s made me think how great it might be to do up a cookbook of those classic American dishes!
Reading up on it now, Chicken Divan was invented at the Hotel Chatham in New York City at the turn of the 20th Century, by the hotel’s chef, Anthony Lagasi. Lagasi was apparently also the past president of the Escoffier Society and the Chefs de Cuisine Association — but, while he was apparently Italian, he was not related to Emeril Lagasse, despite their similarity of surnames! (I love that the inventor of Chicken Divan was Italian!)
Read More→Just a quick note here on National Spanish Paella Day!
I have fond memories of travelling through Spain once with friends right after college. At one point, we shared a paella stirred-up for us in a street festival in Valencia on an outdoor fire, and the flavor will always be in my memories! The flavors of the seafood, the saffron, and the essence of the smoke from the fire melded together to make a warming and satisfying dish!
Read More→“For I am about to do something new. 🌅 See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” 🌼
Isaiah 43:19
I decided I’d celebrate National Ravioli Day by sharing my special recipe for Walnut Gorgonzola Ravioli with you. This is probably my husband’s favorite dish that I make, although I do it mainly for special occasions. It’s rich, creamy and with the perfect counter-balancing notes between the walnuts and the gorgonzola cheese. It’s a dish that you could definitely find in a restaurant in Northern Italy, but it’s really not at all pretentious.
For those who are Lacto-ovo-vegetarians, this entree is perfect. It’s not gluten-free, but can be made so by substituting the flour.
People often believe that making your own pasta from dough is too labor-intensive, but it’s really not, and the flavor is much richer and warmer when you do. That’s why this dish and others with homemade pasta are much better and will seem more like “restaurant quality”. Also, once you’ve done it once or twice, it becomes easier and quicker. The main trick is that the dough must be the right consistency.
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Punxsutawney Phil at age 130
Well, here we are, February 2, Groundhog Day, that infamous day when the country looks to a large rodent to predict the weather. How did this all start? Did the folks in 1887 get tired of the weathermen always being wrong and decide a large gopher could do just as well?
Punxsutawney Phil could be Celtic, rooted in the Pagan holiday of Imbolc, when a hibernating animal casting a shadow predicted six more weeks of winter. It’s more likely that Phil is of German descent, though, with all the German settlers in that part of Pennsylvania. The German tradition holds that blue skies on February 2, Candlemas Day, predict more cold weather. Somehow the hedgehog got involved, and the myth became that if the skies were clear, a hedgehog would see his shadow. When the Germans settled in the New World, the tradition transferred to groundhogs, and in 1887, Punxsutawney Phil was born. He now lives a couple of miles outside Punxsutawney with his wife, Phyllis, and daughter, Phelicia.
What most people don’t realize is that there has only been one P.Phil. Every year he’s given a sip of Groundhog Juice, a secret recipe that gives him seven more years of life. Other fun facts about this famous rodent can be found here.
So how do we celebrate Groundhog Day? I will admit most of our traditions stem from the Bill Murray movie, which is one of our favorites, and which we watch after our dinner of leftovers (you know, the same dinner we had the previous evening). We all drink Groundhog Juice (a secret recipe, of course) for 7 more years of good life, and have a shadow-puppet show. How do you celebrate?
I try to stay on top of “life hacks” because I think they just make life easier. You may remember my life-changing tip to put a tape tab on your credit cards or ID so you can pull them out of your wallet easier. Well, that’s small potatoes compared to what I saw this morning. I watched this video three or four times with gaping awe, and a tiny smidge of irritation: That’s so simple – WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?!?!?
Of course, I say that about a lot of things. And sometimes when I use these hacks, I feel bad for the ingenious people who created some gimmicky item that wouldn’t sell if everyone realized they had something lying around the house that would work just as well. However, I do feel pretty clever when I use one very casually and astound my family and friends with my genius.
Housewife and DIY mommy blogger! Corporate drudge escapee writing recipes, tips & discount alerts. Still bring home the bacon & cook it up in 101 healthy ways. 🙂
