2022 Resolutions - February Update (1 Day Early....)

How are you doing on your Resolutions? I have a list of 12 things I wanted to accomplish this year. Just 12. That's one per month.  There are some big goals on here, but I think that we can manage them!

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

I have kept a YA Book Blog since I was in grad school. Circumstances have prevented me from publishing anything to that blog for the last year or so. My goal is to review at least one book a month this coming year.  There are so many good books out there! 

This hasn't happened this month.  Considering that I haven't posted anything on this blog in over a year, I will need to rethink what and how I am doing this. It's an excellent platform for sharing books. But, am I reaching any teens with this platform?  There's something I need to evaluate.

2) Renovate the Master Bedroom & Bathroom. 

This is a huge goal many years in the making. There have been issues with that bathroom since we bought the house. 16 years later, and we are finally going to get it fixed!

3) Find good homes for the books  

I've been on a committee that has gifted me with thousands of new children's books. While my work on the committee will soon be finished, I need to find a home for all of the books. There are children out there who need good books.

4) Go explore 2 new to me places  

Who doesn't love an adventure? I have a list of places that I want to go see. I'm going to put out a map, and get some darts, and see where we end up.

5) 40 Bags in 40 Days Lenten Challenge

Have you done this challenge before? For the 40 days of Lent, you get one bag of junk out of your house. I've done this challenge before. Sometimes, I don't get the last bag out of the house until June, but wow.... it really does feel good to get 40 bags of junk out of the house. I'm thinking that some of these boxes of books will be counting up in the total count. I've got a lot of books.....

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 around COVID Restrictions is going to make this an extra special challenge.

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

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!

9) Clean out the Garage

If you've read the blog for any length of time, you know that we bought this house 16 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.) But the garage is another story. 16 years, and we have not yet been able to park our cars in the garage because of the amount of their stuff. Our goal is to be able to park a car in the garage by the end of the 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.

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.

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.

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.

This is going to be so much fun!

Bean Bowl

In my quest to go to the grocery store as little as possible, we made bean bowls this week. Some of you might call them Protein Bowls.)  Whatever you call them, I call them a quick and easy dinner to put on the table on a weeknight.

I started with the Tejano Beans we had made earlier in the week.  

We cooked up some rice, and sliced up an onion. I had leftover Vegan Cheese Shreds in the fridge, along with salsa and some guacamole.  If I'd had bell pepper in the fridge, I would have added that, but I really am working on staying away from the grocery store.

When everything was layered into the bowl, we had a pot of warm and comforting goodness that was perfect for a winter night.  Since we were using leftovers, our total time to put this together was the time that it took us to cook the rice.  20 minutes.

The Tejano Bean Recipe - this is not my recipe, but it is as close to what I remember my Mom making as I've ever gotten!  https://thefoodcharlatan.com/traditional-tejano-pinto-beans-slow-cooker-recipe/

Other Stuff:

1 cup of rice, uncooked

Vegan Cheese Shreds

Onion

Salsa

Bonus Items I found in the fridge:

Salsa

Guacamole

Feel free to mix this up however you want.  If you've got some incredibly wonderful variation you'd like to share, post it below!

The High Cost of Everything

When I began this blog oh, so many years ago, one of the things I regularly highlighted was stretching a food dollar and eating healthy. I had 3 growing kids (2 boys, 1 girl) at  home, and a husband who still eats like a teenager. I got away from that as they moved out of the house and this was no longer a huge issue for me.

And then, I went to the grocery store and did that eye pop thing that cartoon characters do when I took a good look around the store. There are empty spots everywhere on the  shelves. Even the meat section is wiped out. And the prices? Holy cow, the prices are unbelievable.

I still cook like I'm cooking for an army of teenagers. And I feel like I can squeeze pennies until they pop. So I figured, why not get back to my roots and the origin of this blog and share that with you?

There are currently 3 of us living at home: me and the husband and our oldest child. (He's with us until this weekend.)

I went grocery shopping last week and spent $39.50.

Here's what I bought:

1 chuck roast, on sale for $15

1 5 pound bag of russet potatoes

1 5 pound bag of sweet potatoes

1 pound bag of carrots

2 pound bag of onions

1 bag of celery

1 bunch of bananas

1 carton of coconut milk

1 bag of lentils

1 box of mushrooms 

2 pounds of Italian Sausage (on sale) for dinner next week

Here's what we made:

Mississippi Pot Roast with roasted sweet potatoes and frozen vegetables from the freezer.

How do you make Mississippi Pot Roast?

You put a chuck roast in the bottom of a crock pot. Cover it with a packet of ranch dressing and au jus mixes. Add 1/4 butter, cut up into cubes over the top. Add 8-19 pepperocini  peppers and 1 can of diced jalapenos. Cook over low heat for 8 hours. (Husband really likes the pepperocini peppers!)

*Mississippi Pot Roast calls for dry au jus seasoning and ranch dressing mix and butter. All of those things are laden with all kinds of things I can't eat.  I used these recipes to make safe alternatives for me:

https://40aprons.com/au-jus-recipe/

https://www.wickedspatula.com/homemade-ranch-seasoning/ 

I used Miyokos plant butter.

I didn't have any canned jalapenos, so I used a fresh one I had in the fridge.  

Please note that I already had the peppers, jalapenos, and fake butter in the house.

Beef Stew

Leftover pot roast

Beef broth left over from the roast 

Carrots

Russet Potatoes

Celery 

Onions

 

Ethiopian Lentils

Note: I did not have fresh tomatoes. I used canned tomatoes that were in the cupboard.

I also couldn't find spinach at the store, so I didn't use it.  It's still good anyway!

https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/spicy-ethiopian-lentil-stew/ 

Black Beluga Lentil Mushroom Stew

recipe here: https://rainbowplantlife.com/creamy-mushroom-and-black-beluga-lentil-stew/

 

Pinto Beans

I used the ham bone leftover from our Christmas Ham and made this recipe, which I really love!

https://thefoodcharlatan.com/traditional-tejano-pinto-beans-slow-cooker-recipe/ 

Enchiladas

I used the leftover pinto beans to make Enchiladas, with corn tortillas I had in the fridge and homemade gluten free enchilada sauce.

Baked Potato Soup

I skipped the tempeh bacon since I didn't have any in the house.

https://ilovevegan.com/vegan-loaded-baked-potato-soup/

With 3 of us living at home, that was 4 meals. (Not counting leftovers for lunch.)

So, we came out to $5.64 per meal.  With 3 of us, living at home that came out to $1.88 per serving. (Again, not counting the leftovers we ate for lunch.)

The biggest problem with cooking like this is that you are cooking from scratch, and that means that you have to plan your meals out well in advance and do some serious meal prep on the weekends so that pulling something like this together on a weeknight is easy.

What are you doing to stretch your dollar at the grocery store?

Random San Antonio Pictures

 

This adorable squirrel was playing peek a boo with us!

The Mercado!

Ah, the Riverwalk! It’s was 78*. In January. At home in Maryland, it was 12*. 

More Riverwalk. This is my Moms favorite spot on the River. 

The original bells from the Mission, on display down at the River. 

San Fernando Cathedral..

The Tea Garden at Breckinridge Park.

The Alamo! Above & below!

Mission Trail in San Antonio

 San Antonio. Such a beautiful city. It is the home where my mother was born, and it’s my ancestral family home. For the first time in years, I was able to get back down there. I was able to visit my grandparents grave, and pay my respects to Moms brothers who were buried near by. It was wonderful! We spent time walking up and down the Riverwalk and the neighborhoods around the Riverwalk as well as the Mission Trail.

The Mission Trail was awesome! 5 missions that were built about 300 years ago. Each mission was integral to the community, providing a community protection and trade. They were absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed walking around each of the missions. Some were in better shape than others, but each mission property had something beautiful and worth exploring.

The best part of all?  I was able to meet up in the park with some of my cousins and we were able to catch up with each other. It was just so much fun! 

I’ve included pictures from the Mission Trail below. Enjoy!

Book Review - The Personal Librarian

Belle De La Costa Greene was the Personal Librarian for J.P. Morgan. At a time when career women were rare, she held a job most people could only dream about. She was responsible for purchasing rare manuscripts and books for the Pierpont Morgan Library. Traveling around the world, she used the power of J.P. Morgan's money to acquire rare and one of a kind items that would enhance the standing of her library.

The character of Belle De La Costa Greene is based upon the real person, who worked for the Pierpont Morgan Library until 1948 - for a total of 43 years. What many people do not know about Belle is that she was born Belle Greener. Both of her parents were of mixed race, and Belle was light skinned and passed as white throughout her career. 

While the story in the book is Historic Fiction, the authors did extensive work to make certain that they matched the historic details of her life as closely as possible. The book itself is a fascinating look at race relations in the early 20th century, as well as the inner workings of a private library and the work that goes into acquiring new materials for a collection of historic books. Remember that Belle was a groundbreaker. A career woman in the early 20th century was a rarity. This book delves into the decisions that she had to make on a personal and professional basis. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something to brighten these cold winter days!

Pierpont Morgan Library has become the Morgan Library. You can find their webpage here:

https://www.themorgan.org/

The NPR News Story about this book can be found here:

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/04/1012600661/j-p-morgans-personal-librarian-was-a-black-woman-this-is-her-story

Author Marie Benedict Website: https://www.authormariebenedict.com/the-personal-librarian.html

Author Victoria Christopher Murray Website: https://victoriachristophermurray.com/ 

AACPL Challenge #42- Read a book by 2 authors. 

Vermont

 We stopped for a few days in Stowe, Vermont. While it is known primarily as a ski town, in the summer the hills are filled with beautiful trails to hike and a small city with so much to see. This beautiful mountain town was a wonderful place to explore! We drove across New Hampshire to get to Vermont. I didn't get pictures of New Hampshire - I was entirely too busy gawking at the beautiful scenery that is New Hampshire. We did not make it to the top of Mount Washington. at that point, I was getting a little car sick. Instead, we stopped in town, walked around for a while and got a meal to eat. 

We did stop by the Trapp Family Inn for a quick look-see. It's a gorgeous Inn, with beautiful views overlooking the mountains. I didn't take any pictures while I was there. I kept getting drawn in by the views. I love Vermont! I'll be back!

Smuggler's Notch State Park.

Upstream from the waterfall.

Along the creek in the park in the middle of Stowe.

We made a stop at Ben & Jerry's. While there were no factory tours due to CoVid, the store was open! They even had Dairy Free Sorbet!

Another one of those beautiful trails! This is supposed to be a snowshoe trail in the winter.

It really seems kind of rocky for snowshoes or cross country skis.

And then we found this wonderful place, the Stowe Mercantile. They had a little bit of everything in the store. Penny Candy! Maple Syrup everything! Knick-knacks, shirts, books, stickers, everything you can posibly imagine. I spent a couple of hours exploring this fantastic place! (Pictures above and below. I have a couple hundred more pictures in my phone, but do we really need that many pictures?)