Kinda Like A Turtle

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WHOLE 30 INSTANT POT BEEF STEW It's a bright, but cold and breezy day, so I decided it was the perfect day to make some beef stew.  I got an Instant Pot for my birthday, so I'm still trying to figure out how to use it, but I must be getting the hang of it, because this recipe is amazing. And easy. And can be made Whole 30 compliant... just be sure you use W30 compliant tomatoes and broth. INGREDIENTS 1 - 1.5 lb stew meat 2 small onions chopped into thick slices. 8 oz of petite carrots (half a 1lb bag) or 4 carrots diced 4 celery stalks diced 6 red or small yellow potatoes cut into large chunks 1 15 oz can petite diced tomatoes 1 cup beef broth (or beef bone broth) 1 TB avocado or olive oil 1 TB minced garlic 1 tsp ancho chili powder 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp thyme 1 tsp basil 1 TB balsamic vinegar 2 bay leaves DIRECTIONS Brown meat in 1 TB of oil on the sauté function for 4 minutes. Add onion and cumin and ancho chili powder and cook for 3 more minutes o...

Sofia the First Birthday Cake So, I make birthday cakes for my family. That's one of my primary functions in the pod, ( besides being the cool aunt, of course). For her fifth birthday, my niece Lex wanted a Sofia the First cake. "Who's Sofia the First," you might ask.   GOOD QUESTION! She's a new Disney princess geared towards younger girls. She has a weekly show.. or bi-weekly or something like that. Anyhoo... She's new.  So new, in fact, that there is very little inspiration out there to draw upon.  However, God was on my side when I went to the Disney store... My friend Sarah spied, with her own little eyes, the very last  of the Sofia figurines. (Thank you, God for Sarah's eyes!!!).   I ran to Charming Charlie's and got a $15 tiara. I ran Michael's and Hobby Lobby and got a big purple feather and these feathery clips from the spring collection and clipped them onto some wooden skewers, (which I pain...

  Once upon a time in February, I spent an evening working on a couple of journal pages. I found a few drawings of some mushrooms that were inspirational. I copied some of the sketches almost exactly, others I made up as I went along.   I actually learned a bit when I was making this journal page. (but it was so long ago, I can't remember what!)   I decided to play with some ink I have in ink droppers for the next journal page. I don't know why,  but I love working directly with the dropper in a jar of ink rather than using a paintbrush or something. It's super soothing. I was just playing around with this one, but think it's quite pretty. That's all for now, folks! Until next time......

About a month ago I asked my niece what kinda cake she wanted for her birthday. (cuz I make the cakes) After making some suggestions, (fairy, monsters, flowers) , she said, "I want a witch cake. With green skin, a hat, and a cart. (aka a cape) I went on an exhaustive search for some ideas on Pinterest and the world wide web, I discovered there weren't that many ideas. I also knew I didn't wanna bother with fondant.  It looks pretty, but lacks in the flavor department. In the end, I just winged it.  I made chocolate cupcakes and some homemade creme de menthe  butter cream frosting. (Which was the best icing I've ever made,  in my not so humble opinion). I used fruit roll ups for the capes,  a dark chocolate fudge stripe cookie, frosting and a Hershey's Kiss for the hats, and candy eyes I acquired from the local baking supplies shop. (Where, I swear, being rude and exhibiting poor customer  service skills is a prerequisite of all applicants....

Which includes being more intentional about pursuing the creation of art.   Years ago I picked up a book called The Creative License by Danny Gregory. Keeping true to my turtle-like form, I'm just now digging into it.  If you're a little creatively rusty or never believed yourself to be a creative type, (but feel the "ember," as he calls it, burning) you really need to think about picking this book up and reading it.  (and do what it says too) . The first part of the book I covered tonight directed me to draw a chair, mug, person and table,  and I wasn't allowed to erase anything. To remove the erasing temptation, I drew in some oil pastels: It was actually a lot of fun.   But now I must sleep.  Will share more of my artsy fartsy adventures soon.   I promise!

So, I belong to this co-op of sorts that sources organic and locally grown fruits and veggies... and they deliver your order TO YOUR DOORSTEP!! Yes. You read correctly: DELIVER. TO YOUR DOORSTEP! If you live in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Columbus or Dayton, I highly suggest you check out Green B.E.A.N. Organic Produce and Natural Groceries at: www.greenbeandelivery.com ANYHOO...  The point of this being, sometimes I forget to adjust my order, so they send me what is in season and such.  This means I often end up with some kind of vegetable I would NEVER buy EVER. Thus, the leek in this recipe.  Not that I have anything against leeks.  I just never cooked with them. I had to watch videos on how to prepare them. (Thank God for the World Wide Web) My sister hosted our Thanksgiving dinner, but I ended up with one of the legs of the turkey as well as a few pieces of white meat.  That's a lot of meat for a single gal. Full disclosure: I don't ...

I'm embarrassed to admit that I throw out a bit of food. (In my defense, I'm single.  I oft have grand delusions of making many different recipes during my week. Then I get busy and am not home. Or I eat out with friends... only to have my fresh foods spoil). Earlier today I had a migraine and came home from work a little early to sleep it off. Then I didn't feel like going out to get some food. Then I realize, "Hey, self, you have a fridge filled with fresh fruits and veggies.  Here's a novel idea... make something with them!" Then I thought "Self, that is a GREAT idea! Whatever shall I make?" Then I remembered that my friend and co-worker Mike was warming up some amazing looking dish his girlfriend made  of kale, sweet potatoes, potato and carrots. She calls it Winter Veggie Hash  (or something like that). Inspired by this dish, I decided to get a lil' crafty in the kitchen. Here's what you'll need:          ...

After three and a half years of her being on this earth, my niece had her first sleepover at my house over the weekend. Earlier in the week we discussed what she wanted to do: 1. Make reindeer. 2. Have Pizza. 3. Watch a movie. As soon as she got here, we started making pizza dough in my bread machine. Best pizza dough recipe I've tried, so far. (Probably cuz there's beer in it. I like beer.  A lot.) Here's the recipe if you're interested: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bread-Machine-Pizza-Dough/Detail.aspx?prop31=1 Anyhoo... Back to the craft.  While the dough was.... like... becoming dough, we had about an hour and a half to kill. We killed the time by making reindeer.    Here's what you'll need:                       1. Empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls (cut into size of TP rolls).           ...

I came across this clever idea last year that had bells in a shadow box. I just had to do it. (with my own flair, of course)   It was really quite simple. I got the frame from IKEA, the bells from Michael's (40% off), and a big pad of Christmas scrapbook paper (also 40% off). Using the matte that came in the frame as a guide, I cut the sheet down into a  9x9 piece of paper. I poured the bells into the frame and then put the scrapbook paper and the backing on. (Holy moly... totally off subject, but there is this CRAZY wicked  thunderstorm going on just outside my  window.  There was just this big, loud, ominous roll of  thunder, flash of lightening,wind and pounding of the rain  against my window,  and it freaked me out a little bit.) Where was I.... OH!  The Batman Smells Project.... ... And wa-lah. Little craft project semi-completed....   But it's missing something. ___________ I just can't figure out what...

Have you ever gone into a project thinking it would take about, like, 10 hours total? (Cuz, seriously, how long could it take to scrape a  few layers of gazillion year-old paint off of a gazillion year old porch?  I mean, so much of it is practically  BEGGING to be scraped off.) Aaaah….. you’ve got to appreciate the positive thinking one has at the beginning of a new makeover project. (Positive or Delusional, me thinks more delusional) I wanted to paint my porch, but wanted do it the “right way,” by taking the existing paint off first. So I bought some environmentally paint stripper. (One layer of the 5 or 6 came up.) Desperate times call for desperate measures. I had to bring in the big dogs and bought some seriously hardcore, heavy-duty, environmentally unfriendly paint stripper.  ( It eats through up to 15 layers of paint, ya know!) One more layer pulled up. Other areas bubbled up.  Mostly, the paint just got gummy. (Eats through 15 layers ...