Tex-Mex Quinoa

 Well, this recipe takes me back! I was searching for vegetarian recipes and it hit me - I have a tab on the side of the blog of recipes that I have found and made over the years and absolutely loved.

As I was searching through the recipes, I found one that we used to make all of the time, and I loved it.  It’s a Tex-Mex Quinoa, and it’s made with a recipe I found on Chelsea’s Messy Apron.  NOTE - I’m not receiving anything from sharing the link - I want to give credit where credit is due. The recipe is awesome!

I like this recipe for so many reasons. It’s a crock pot recipe.  We put it in the crock before we headed out, and when we got back - dinner was ready! The ingredients were easy to find, and overall it was relatively inexpensive. When you use the garnishes as Chelsea suggests, it elevates this plain looking bowl of  quinoa to amazing. My favorite garnish is Guacamole. (With a capital G.) 

We used to make this recipe for 5 of us.  (2 of those 5 being hungry teenage boys.) When we made it over the weekend, we ended up having enough for us to eat a really good dinner and to have leftovers for 2 days of lunch!  (Pictured above - one of my lunches, ready to go in the fridge.)

Whoop!  That’s a win!

External Link to Tex Mex Quinoa Recipe: https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/slow-cooker-tex-mex-qunioa-casserole/#_a5y_p=2118221

Random Pictures

 It’s a major photo dump! Okay, I’m going to try to keep it down to only a handful! 

Life, as viewed from my phone!

My attempt at a Gingerbread House!

Sunrise. Busboys & Poets is across the street. 

Watermelon Radishes. They’re beautiful, aren’t they?

I thought they would be sweet, but no - they’re bitter. 

Still good, but not the taste I was expecting with those colors!

The water fountain by Whole Foods has been converted to a light fountain!

The cat, listening in on the weekly phone call with the kids. 

The Udvar-Hazy Museum. 

It’s a branch of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

And it’s not on the mall.  It’s by Dulles Airport. 

Look at the price on this roast.  $147.

$101 with a Bonus Card. 

That’s $10/ pound. 

Granted, it is a rib roast. But still… it feels really high. 

Book Review: Mango, Mambo, and Murder

I found this wonderful cozy mystery last week. It's a wonderful series set in Miami.  Miriam Quinones-Smith is a Cuban American Food Anthropologist who moves from New York with her husband to be closer to his family. Within her first month in Miami, she finds herself immersed in a murder mystery that involves not only her best friend, but also a mysterious connection with her husband's family.  Just who is Juliet and what is this mysterious hold she has on everyone?

I really enjoyed reading this story! I love the smart characters, intelligent dialogue, and the quick moving plot.  Having been a young mother struggling to find a crowd to fit into when my kids were young, I identified with Miriam's quest to fit into the social scene. (Granted, she was being pushed into networking... but it was still a story that I could relate to!)

I love that the author has mixed in references to Cuban culture throughout her book.  From teaching her child to be Bi-Lingual, to the food she cooks to the Spanish mixed in throughout the conversations in the book…. There is just so much to appreciate from this Latinx author.

There is also a fascinating sub-plot that tells the story of Miriam's mother-in-law and her relationship with Miriam and the rest of the family. If you have had difficulties getting along with your Mother-in-law, you will relate well to the story. Actually, I think most of us will read that story and think "Wow". And also "I don't want to be that kind of Mother-in-Law in the future." It's a compelling sub-story that makes you think.

This was a fascinating story, with many layers (like ogres and onions!) 

There are two books in the series, and I am looking forward to the third!

Author Website: http://rvreyes.com/

And hey, there are some great recipes in the back of the book for recipes that Miriam made throughout the book.  I'l looking forward to trying the Cuban Style Chicken Fricassee. 

Mom's Little Dog

For Christmas, Mom received a wonderful little robotic dog. 

As her health has continued to deteriorate, she finds herself wishing for things that used to be. One of those things is a dog. She wants a dog.  Her favorite dog of all time was Geraldine.  Geraldine was a Beagle that my parents brought into their life when they got married.  Geraldine was Mom's companion while Dad was in college. Mom worked to support Dad while he went through college. Geraldine kept her company. When I was born, Geraldine kept me company, sleeping under my crib and standing guard while I slept. I don't remember Geraldine, but Mom still loves that dog.

My husband and I don't have a dog. We have a cat. And the very last thing we want to do is take the cat - who hates card rides - for an hour-long drive down to Virginia and then back up again. 

I found this adorable robotic dog at the Alzheimer's Association Store.

It interacts with the patient when they talk - barking, moving its head towards the sound of the voice, opening and closing its eyes, and moving its ears. You can scratch it on the head and it will have some vocalizations and move it's head around. 

As soon as we took the dog out of the box, the first thing Mom did was turn the dog upside down to see if it was a girl or boy.  She decided that "she's a boy, and her name is Benji."            

 Mom loves her little Benji! She sleeps with him. When she wakes up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep, little Benji is there with some nudges and makes some wonderful little noises while she pets him until they both fall asleep. 

If you're interested in finding out more about this little dog, you can find the link here:

https://www.alzstore.com/doll-pet-therapy-dementia-s/1516.htm?utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=Alzheimer%27s%20-%20General%20-%20Exact%20-%20tRoas&utm_medium=ppc&msclkid=76d9cad4994b18f0cc08a91fd7fbfa82

You Can't Make This Stuff Up, part 2

In the apartment building, we park in the garage. 

One day, when I was driving in, I noticed the car that parks next to me going out. What struck me was that not only was the window rolled all the way down on a really cold day, but the driver had their arm out through the window, physically holding the door shut. 

It struck me as weird, but I didn't think anything else about it until a couple days later. I was out in the garage, unloading groceries from the back of my car when the owner of the car next to mine stopped and asked me if I'd seen anything lately?

I asked him what he meant.

"Well you see, my car was broken into last night.  Okay, so I can't shut the door because I was in an accident. I hold the door closed when I drive, and I push the door as closed as I can at night. But last night, my car was broken into and everything was stolen. My cell phone, my work laptop, my wallet, and my extra keys.  Did you see anything?"

I stared at him blankly for a minute and then asked him if he had reported the theft to the police?

"No, no.  I don't want to involve the police. But whoever broke into my car took my apartment keys.  They've been in my apartment, too." 

I asked him again if he'd reported the theft to the police.  I mentioned that he needed to get his lock re-keyed, and the only way that apartment management was going to do that was if they had a police report. 

He stared at me like I had 6 heads. He then said "they got my work laptop".

I repeated again: you need to get a police report. Your IT department needs to know that the laptop was stolen. 

Again, the stare.  "So do you know if they have cameras in the garage of any kind?"

"Well, if they do, the only way any one is going to get a chance to look at them is with a court order. And those are only issued with the help of the police." 

And then, I excused myself and walked away.  That surreal conversation had just crossed the line from odd to something that wasn't making me completely comfortable. Because if all of your electronics, your wallet, and your apartment keys are stolen and you don't want to involve the police, I really don't know what to say.... 

(There was also the insane part of me that wanted to ask: So, what if you do get access to the footage? What exactly are you going to do?)

Eggs - HOLY CHICKENS, BATMAN! THEY'RE EXPENSIVE!

What are you doing to save a few "monies" (as my kids used to say) at the store this week?

Our local farmers whose hens are still laying are charging $5/dozen.  They're $7.23/dozen at my local grocery store. Don't get me wrong. I love eggs, but those prices are deal breakers for me.  I'm not willing to pay over $7 for a dozen eggs. 

We've given up on eggs for the time being.  Right now, I'm using an Egg Replacer. I picked up several bags of Egg Replacer several months ago when they went on sale.  BUT, I have been replacing eggs in baking products for years.  

When you decide to replace eggs, the first important thing to remember is that eggs are a binding agent.  You are looking for something to bind your product together. The second thing to remember is that an egg contains 4 TBSP of binding stuff.

Mashed Bananas or applesauce. 

I feel like these make your baked product a little heavier, and that they tend to go bad faster. When I use bananas or applesauce, we either eat it the same day (muffins), or I will cut whatever it is into smaller servings and freeze them. I've also baked things in small loaf pans and then frozen them to eat later.  Whatever works to keep everything safe and usable in the future.

Yogurt - either dairy or non-dairy. 

This makes for a really nice, creamy texture in your baked good.  Just make certain that you are using unflavored, unsweetened yogurt.  Voice of experience here.  Although, the pina colada yogurt did add an interesting twist to the banana bread.

Chia Seeds

1 TBSP Chia seeds + 3 TBSP water = 1 egg.

Stir the chia seeds and water together in a small bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes until a gel forms, then use this in place of eggs.

Can I just say that using Chia Seeds in meatloaf and applesauce is absolutely amazing? They work really, really well as a binding agent!

So, do you use something in place of eggs?  How much are a dozen eggs where you live?

You Can't Make This Stuff Up - Part 1

Our apartment is in the middle of a suburban city. We’re across the parking lot from the public library, and half a block away from Whole Foods Market. It’s a nice neighborhood. We feel relatively safe living here. But crazy things do happen. Because it’s an apartment building and when you have that many people living that close together, things will happen. 

 Sometime back in October, we had someone banging on our door. Not just any kind of banging, but a heavy push and shove to the door. I could see the door jamb shaking and I was afraid that whoever it was would break open the door. Being filled with not much common sense and way too much bravado, I looked out the peep hole. I could see someone on the other side of the door, getting ready to throw himself at the door again.

Let me insert here: 1) I am stupid. I’m used to working in a library where I deal with a lot of human problems every single day. 2) I did see police walking across the parking bridge to the balcony outside of our doors through the peephole. I realize I should have waited for them to get to us, but... 3) The moron was going to break our door down before the police got there.

Did I ever mention that I used to teach in the inner city? I have a mean teacher attitude when I need it that has served me well over the years. 

Anyway, I picked up my tiny little black cat who was arched up and bushed out and pointed all 24 of her pointy ends at the door, unlocked the bolt and tossed the door open. “What!” I screamed. (I’m pretty sure I looked like the wicked witch of the west at that moment. Hair awry, angry hissing black cat with pointy ends clawing towards his face.) 

The police turned in our direction as the dude looked at me and said “Woah. Cat. Angry Cat. Sorry.” He turned, saw the police headed his way and took off running in the opposite direction. 

One of the officers stopped to talk to me for a moment. I wanted him to check the integrity of the door before he left. He looked at me, and my very pissed off black cat and said, “Just what were you going to do if he tried to come in?”

“Throw the cat at him. A fully loaded, claws out, pissed off 6 pound black cat is not to be taken lightly.” After he snorted, he gave me a lecture on the dangers of opening the door to unknown people. 

I know, I know. I was dumb. And very lucky. 

This cute little warrior!

PS – before you lecture me, in addition to the cat, I did have a can of self-defense spray in my hand. Not the one holding the cat. The one behind the door. I might be stupid. But I’m not completely stupid. Remember the part about teaching in the Inner City? I bought the self-defense spray when we moved into the apartment over the summer – just in case. 

 PPS – We now have one of those nifty under the doorknob door jambs that won’t permanently damage the apartment, but it does supply an extra layer of protection after the useless chain and not very serious deadbolt provided by the management of the apartment.

2023 Goals

The past many years, I've had some very lofty goals.  I kept track of them on here, because it forced me to come back and revisit them monthly and remind myself what I had set out to do at the beginning of the year.  It has been very helpful. It has kept me motivated when I would otherwise have forgotten what I wanted to do.

But this year is already starting out differently than other years.

Mom is 11 months into Hospice.

Our house.  Wow.  We finally started working on the major repairs we had been wanting to get to since we moved in 17 years ago.  The house is 53 years old, and either us or my in-laws have owned that house for 50 of those years.  Sadly, there were many issues when we moved in.  My father in law promised he was going to have them fixed.  He passed away a couple of years after we moved in, and my MIL proclaimed that any issues were our issues. And so, we have done what we can over the years. But this fall, as work began in earnest, we realized that the issues our house has are serious issues. We had to move out, and our house has been torn back to the studs. 

We are living in an apartment.  Lots of stories to go along with this adventure. Oh, so many stories I need to share. Some good, some bad, some are genuinely WTF?

I have applied and been turned down for two separate promotions this year. I know it happens, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.

I want my focus to be a little different this year.

I want to move back into our house and make it our home again.

I want to finish going through the storage units and take care of the things we no longer need. I will even go so far as to say that I want to rent a van and drive stuff out to Kansas to the middle child just to get it out of my house.

Oldest child will be finishing his post doc later this year, and will be searching for another job. If he doesn't stay where he is, I want to go explore his new area.  I also want to finish exploring Central Pennsylvania before he moves. Once he moves out, I don't know that I ever see heading back up there again "just because".  It's a long way from home, I didn't go to college there, and without him in the area, I have nothing to make me want to go back.

At my last check up, my doctor told me that my cholesterol was up. I have 10 months to bring it back down before I see her again. Getting that down is a major goal for 2023. I told her when I went in to see her that I was positive all my numbers were off because of the stress.  Shockingly, the cholesterol was the only thing that was off. (Was that the coconut milk products or the sheer volume of crap I've been eating on my visits to and from Mom?)

This year I am going to focus more on me.  Taking care of me. And of my relationship with my husband. Now that the kids are all out of the house, it feels like we need to get to know each other all over again.

I want to develop some friendships and find new interests.  The pandemic put a damper on my social life. Many of my friends retired and moved away from this area, and may of my social activities never resumed. I need to find new things!

I'm not going to be updating these goals monthly, but I intend to write about them throughout the year. 

So, those are my goals moving into 2023. 

What are your goals for this year? 

Elk, fall 2019, Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
I need to get back here - soon.
(Picture taken by me.)

Reviewing 2022 Goals

 It's a little late, don't you think?  I missed all of November and December. 

11 months after she was admitted, my Mom is still in Hospice. I don't have words for the horror that we are watching unfold with her.  That is where most of my time has been spent over the last couple of months.  Between trying to keep up with work and spending time with her - I really haven't had the wherewithall to put words together at the end of a day. 

Anyway.  I had put together a list of things that I wanted to do in 2022.  Let's see how well I've done with that, shall we?

1) Post 1 book review a month on my YA blog. 

I have posted 12 reviews. Not one per month, but there are reviews.

You can check out my YA Book Blog here:

https://librarynut-booksforteens.blogspot.com/

2) Renovate the Master Bedroom & Bathroom. 

Progress is being made! Everything is on track to be finished in May of this year. 

That is 5 months from now...

3) Find good homes for the books  

They have all been homed outside of my house.

4) Go explore 2 new to me places  

1) Oregon - for a little adventure!

2) Turkey Run Park in Virginia.  It's on the way home from my Mom's house.  Beautiful park on the banks of the Potomac River!

3) Dallas, Texas. I went for a funeral, but stayed an extra day to explore.

5) 40 Bags in 40 Days Lenten Challenge

These were kitchen size garbage bags full of stuff, along with several BIG boxes. I've since gotten rid of much, much more.  But the Lenten Challenge was a HUGE success!

If you saw last weeks post, you know that we got rid of 100 boxes of shredding. JUST shredding. We cleaned out a LOT of stuff.

*UPDATE*

I don't want to talk about how many boxes went to Goodwill and Green Drop - but we sent a LOT of stuff out of the house.  Permanently.  We currently have items living in a storage unit, and I am pulling out a box a week and going through the items in the box to see what we need and what we can get rid of.  

I know you're shocked to know we didn't need an entire box of Cassette Tapes that I taped off of K-92 back in the day....

6) Get together with 1 friend each month  

I don't think I should have to write this down, but you know, it's been a weird couple of years. I want to make seeing people we love a priority. Doing this after 2 years of COVID Restrictions is going to make this an extra special challenge.

January - Jim & Kathy! We had a fire outside in the fire pit and got to catch up over a couple of hours!

February -  Joe, James, Dan

March - Crissy, Gloria

April - This was the month we had Covid, so we saw nobody and went nowhere.

May - Vince & Suzanne, Judy

June - Sharon

July - Crissy and her Mom

August - Esther and Tim            

September - All of my cousins.

October - Andrew & Cheryl

 November - Doug & Patty

December - Bridget

7) Another stamp in my National Park Passport

The Mission Trail in San Antonio!

8) Landscape Front Yard 

This has been on the list for several years now. I really want to get this checked off this year!

I don't think this will happen this year. With the renovations going on in the house, I want to wait until they are finished before I begin working on the yard. I don't want the contractors tearing up the new landscaping. 

9) Clean out the Garage

If you've read the blog for any length of time, you know that we bought this house 17 years ago from my in-laws. And you also know that they were borderline hoarders. We've made progress in the house, and while there is still clutter in the basement, I believe that we will have the last of it out by the end of this year. (See the 40 bags in 40 days challenge.) There is no longer any junk in our basement! 17 years later and we have finally cleaned out the house. Finally.

 But the garage is another story. 17 years, and we have not yet been able to park our cars in the garage because of the amount of stuff. Our goal is to be able to park a car in the garage by the end of the year. when we move back into the house next year.

One major advantage of having hired a trash hauler to finish cleaning out the house is that we now have the name of someone who is willing to come and clean out the garage next year.

10) Get the kayak out in the water once each month during May, June, July, August, September, and October.

Seriously, we have a kayak.  Why aren't we getting out in the water with the kayak more often? What is our excuse? The kids have moved out. We don't have to worry about finding a sitter or getting an extra kayak for them.

We didn't get it out at all. Something about clearing out tons and tons of stuff out of the house.

11) Get my Bike fixed and get out for some bike rides.

I bought my bike over 30 years ago. I rode it a lot before the kids got busy in high school. Now that everyone is out of the house, it is time to pull out some of the things I really used to love. The top of that list is riding my bike. In order to do that, I need to get the bike fixed. The tires are dry rotted, and I'm sure it's got a host of other issues going on.

Maybe now that the house is finally cleaned out, I can dig the bike out of the garage and get it fixed up!

12) Visit My Cousins in Texas (a trip postponed from 2020)

Done! We made it down over a long weekend in January! It was so good to see my cousins and my aunts and uncles!  I even posted a few pictures from the River Walk in San Antonio. It's been 10 years since I last got down here. I can't wait another 10 years to get back. Family is too important. And time is fleeting.

Breckinridge Park! We met up with my cousins at the same outdoor pavilion where I had my 5th birthday party! That pavilion is just off to the right from this picture.

Second Trip to Texas in September for a family funeral. I got to spend time with cousins from as far away as Japan. We really need to find a way to get together that does not involve funerals. I think this will be one of my goals for next year.

Other Goals:

I’ve got a couple of other goals I would like to accomplish this year, but I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to get to them. If I do, I’ll be thrilled beyond words. If not? I’ll add them to the list of things I want to get to in 2023.

Goal #1

Get out to Kansas to visit Middle Child. 

Done! We went out earlier this year.

Goal #2

Get the large piles of brush out of the yard.

Done! 

Note:

None of this is quite what I had envisioned when I set out to write these down earlier this year.  Mom headed into Hospice - for 11 months now - has definitely had an impact on my ability to get other things done.  Here's to a much less interesting - maybe even BORING - 2023.