In the kitchen

I am on a roll in the kitchen. I already mentioned that waffles are my new favorite quick breakfast. I continue to make small tweaks whenever I make them. Right now I am using up some dried plums, a.k.a. prunes, and I sent CF a batch recently.

The past couple of weeks I used my crock pot a lot - chicken and dumplings, taco chicken, beef stew - and I have more to make with the crock pot too. Danielle pointed out that when cooking for one person, freezing some from your crock pot meals makes a lot of sense. I have found that chicken turns my stomach after one round of left overs, but crock pot-cooked chicken does not. So freezing crock pot chicken will be great! The taco chicken I made was just a couple of chicken breasts, some left over black beans, the last of a jar of salsa, some chopped green pepper, and some spices. Cook on low for 6 hours. Shred chicken. Ta da!

This weekend was a chance to try recipes found on my latest obsession, Pin-ter-est. One is a flax meal crust for pizza that my sister found. This is RIDICULOUSLY easy. I did not have any tomatoes or tomato sauce or anything. I mixed some plain yogurt with some onion soup mix to spread just a little on the crust for some sauce stuff. (The remainder will be used as onion dip for veggies later.) On top was the last of some bacon chopped and fried before putting on the pizza, chopped spinach and artichoke hearts from the freezer, some cooked mushrooms.

Obviously cheese on top. Here in the Midwest, cheddar is yellow. It still bugs me.

This made a small pizza, but the third of it I had for dinner was very filling. I liked this crust better than the cauliflower crust I made recently. If I want to make the flax meal crust more regularly, I need to find an inexpensive source of flax meal though. This recipe was worked out as a carb-free alternative to pizza crust. I managed to keep the pizza pretty carb-free (except for the onion soup mix), but would ultimately love a healthier crust that still tastes like bread. I may play with this one by adding some beer to give the crust a yeasty taste. I am sure you will be on the edge of your seats waiting for that post.

I also made some quinoa cakes, which are not nearly as visually appealing as the ones pictured on the link, but are still delicious. My sister had already made these and said they were good. I actually made them for breakfast tomorrow, to be topped with red pepper spread from Trader Joe's, goat cheese, and an egg.

Skimming through my Food! board on Pin-ter-est, I see I tagged zucchini pancakes. I highly recommend those too. I made them over the summer, and also shredded and froze a bunch of zucchini I may have to thaw to make the pancakes again.

A journey

I open the curtains for the cat so if it is sunny, she can lay in the sun, but also so she can look out the windows. I went looking for her last weekend before I left, and she was laying at the foot of the bed in a patch of sun. She did not greet me when I got home a few hours later so I went to look for her again. She was now at the head of the bed in a patch of sun with a clear path of indented comforter from her earlier spot. This is what I suspect happened:

Karma, Part II revisited

Dear Jenski,

Happy New Year!

I am the lady that you gave your BB&B coupons to. I just wanted you to know how much I appreciated that act of kindness. You saved me alot [sic] of money. It was the Christmas season and you definitely spread your Christmas cheer! Thank you! :-)

Lady*

* Names have been altered

I had this Thank You card in the mailbox on Saturday. I think the woman must have noted my address on the coupons. I got the warm fuzzy feeling all over again for doing something so easy to make someone happy. Seriously all I did was walk to my car and grab coupons while she held my stuff!


This weekend, I shoveled all around my downstairs neighbors' cars after a couple of inches of snow and their walk way. When I came home later, they had spread extra salt all over, including on the walk to my stairs. Neither of them are particularly in shape, in any stretch of the word. I am happy to save them a shoveling-induced heart attack in exchange for more exercise on my part and salted walkways!

"Pay" it forward, even in simple nice acts. It does come back to make you feel good about yourself all over again.

Cited

Funnies seen on Le Pin-terest.

• I don't get drunk. I get awesome.
• You are not stupid. You just have bad luck when thinking.
• If you're happy and you know it, share your meds.
• Wine! How classy people get sh*&faced.
• Real women watch football.
• I usually try to keep my sadness pent up inside where it can fester quietly as a mental illness.
• I didn't see anyone important today, so I'll just wear these clothes again tomorrow.

The Day to Day

Nothing too exciting around here really. CF's moved 17 days ago to start his new job. A seven-ish hour drive or a $400 flight (and 40 minute drive on either side of the flight) away. What have I been doing to try to keep busy? Some random stuff of which I thought to take pictures...

CF gave me a crock pot for Christmas. He bought it when he was with his family, and apparently his mother was not so sure about this as a gift. I have used it quite a bit though! I made apple sauce Saturday morning, then a beef stew (secret ingredient = a beer) for the evening when some friends came over, then chicken and dumplings Sunday to get me through most of the week. Here are the chicken and dumpling ingredients for the most part.

The soup part of the chicken and dumplings was good; the soup part was not hot enough for the dumplings, so they ended up a bit mushy. Still delicious though.

The cat tried to swat at me and ended up sitting like this. Hah.

Amaryllis that CF bought is in full bloom now.

I have been quite straightforward when talking with CF about how I am not all that happy with life right now and it is not very exciting. I received a dozen of these yesterday from CF with a note that hopefully this would make my day exciting.

Stuff I did not take pictures of?

I did not shave my legs for two weeks. TMI? I figured there was not really a point. Then I did shave because I had a massage coupon to use the other night. I had a massage.

I have been to the church's "young" adult bible study a couple of times. I keep thinking about what to write about this, and I surely will at some point, but really what this has made me realize is that I am not versed in the Bible at all. I did not really expect to be, but the other people who come totally are. Last week, I resolved to call friends. I called one who had called me two weeks ago. That is apparently my current turn around time. What am I so busy doing? Nothing really; just don't feel like talking about me at all.

I got a new work-study student to train who will help do some of the non-data-generating work I have to do.

I now check Pinterest obsessively when the blogs to which I subscribe do not have new posts. I tried a banana bread scone recipe I had pinned, that turned out okay. The freezer step did not freeze it enough or the texture was not right; regardless it was more like flat non-quite-cooked banana bread. I still ate it, of course. I also made this delicious smoothie. I highly recommend it!

I keep working during the day and vegging out in front of the TV at night. This is not conducive to getting my paper done. I am having a difficult time feeling like I need to work harder though.

I got out some t-shirts and picked up some supplies to work on a t-shirt quilt. I will have to take pictures as I go for some final post about it. These are t-shirts from an MS Walk I do every year. My Mom offered her t-shirts, but I said if mine looks good, I will make her her own quilt. SO, photos along the way is a GOOD idea.

Went to see the new Sherlock Holmes with a college classmate who just moved here.

That is all the randomness I can think of at the moment. I have been eating healthier, thanks to large batches of healthier crock-pot meals. I still have toooooo much candy and chocolate around the house. I am bringing the non-chocolate candy into work tomorrow.

Executive decision

Our lab manager is going to be splitting her time and transitioning to a new position at the University. This is a great opportunity for her, and one she could not pass up even though the head of our lab will not be retiring for at least three more years. As a result, the lab manager will be out of the lab for about 1 1/2 days every week for the next six months before they reevaluate how busy she is at the new job. I have been appointed the go-to person for lab emergencies during this time. I cannot really imaging much people would need me to do while she is out unless someone needs a reagent for their experiments ASAP, and then I can place an order, as I have done in the past.

I knew this was coming for months, because the lab manager and I are friends. Most of the other people in the lab did not know. The official lab email announcement was sent at the end of the day on Thursday and mentioned that the lab manager would be out Friday, Monday and half day on Tuesday. This happens to coincide with the head of the lab being out of town for those days as well. I was officially put in charge.

Putting in a few hours of lab work on the weekend definitely makes me feel more productive during the week. I have been going to church Sunday mornings then working in lab in the afternoon in recent weeks. (I consider Saturday my "day of rest" mostly.) I planned to work this afternoon to start a couple of things for the week.

I am going to take this opportunity of "being in charge" to make the executive decision* to stay home and catch up on work reading and data analysis. Plus this is what I get to look at from home! Time to make another pot of coffee.

* I could have made this decision regardless, but whatev. I MUST get work done. I MUST get in the habit of being work-productive at home. Today seems like a good day to practice.