Sunday, Spices and Spaghetti

I've been inspired to organize so I've been picking one area to organize each week.   One spot in my kitchen that has been in constant disarray is our spices.  I dried all my herbs from my herb garden and today (Sunday) added them to some mason jars and made some delicious spaghetti sauce with the herbs which brings me to todays post:  Sunday, spices and spaghetti.

DRYING HERBS

As soon as winter was imminent, I cut back all my herbs from my summer herb garden and hung them upside down to dry (except for parseley which I kept upright in the fridge).  

Drying Herbs

SAVING THE HERBS

My herb garden has a home on my deck during the warm months so when I'm cooking I can walk out onto the deck and cut what I need.  To save the herbs though through winter, I cut them down to their roots and put them in our dark storage room so they would go dormant.  I water them once a month so they will bounce back this Spring (can't wait).

Oh, my herbs look pathetic but they are safely hibernating until Spring

ORGANIZING THE SPICES

The spices are now all together and in alphabetical order - no duplicates and I can readily find what I need.  LOVE IT!  My Aunt Paula bought this magnetic spice holder for me from a kitchen store for my birthday a few years ago and I love it.

Dried Herbs and Organized Spices

With my spices dried from my garden, I made one of my few masterpieces - spaghetti sauce.

SPAGHETTI SAUCE inspired from Bill Frane (Chad's dad)

Ingredients

1 pound lean hamburger
1 quart of tomato sauce (I use the sauce I canned this summer)
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
1 6 ounce can tomato juice (if I don't have, I add some diced tomatoes)
6 ounces of water
1 medium onion
5 cloves of garlic
4 - 5 stalks celebery
1 cup of fresh mushroom
Optional:  3 sweet Italian sausage cooked, cut and add to sauce
Add 1/2 teaspoon of each:
black pepper
oregano
celery seed
rosemary
onion powder
garlic powder
parsley
basil
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. parmesan cheese

Directions

Brown meat and cook veggies.  Once meat is brown, add tomato sauce, paste and water.  Then add spices and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours until thick.  I usually double this recipe.  I usually make it Sunday morning and it's ready for supper.  Gus had 4 helpings tonight.

Spaghetti Sauce has been cooking all day long on our wood stove

I had such a wonderful weekend!  It started with a great Thanksgiving with family, a shopping extravagenza at Mall of America, an amazing light show at Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls and today I was able to get out skiing and the kids played in the snow all day long!

The kids playing in the snow with Festis

Skiing on the groomed Birkie trail - as you can tell, I'm out of breath!

What have you organized lately?  I just feel better and lighter being more organized, and I've got a lot to show you but I need to save it for another day.  The Packers are on tonight, so I need to get everything done pronto.   

Do you have a masterpiece recipe?

Thanks for reading!

Kristin

My Favorite Things

I have discovered a 5 new products that I want to share with you before you hit the Black Friday sales.

1.   Mr. Tweezerman Tweezers - Best $20 Ever Spent

These little tweezers are a bit on the spendy side, but I can not even begin to tell you the difference between a $20 pair of tweezers and the 10 other pair of $2 tweezers that I have laying around.  OMG, you just can't believe it and I think I'm going to save money on wax because I can actually tweeze with great results.  Love it.



Hey, it's hard to take a picture while tweezing - Graham and I were laughing hysterically

2.  Physicians Formula Organic Make-up - $10 to $15

I've been wanting to switch over all of my make-up to a mineral based organic make-up because I know that 60% of what I put on my skin becomes absorbed into my blood stream.  It's taken me about 6 months, but I've finally made the switch and I'm extremely happy with the Physicians Formula make-up line.  You can find it at Walmart or Target, it's reasonably priced,  it works great, and you can be sure that you are not adding harmful chemicals into your body.

Physicians Formula Organic Makeup

3.  Swell Gal Products - $10 to $15

My friend Kristie Weber makes her own skin care products and I've used nothing but her products on my skin since she started her own business a few years ago.  Her products are all natural, hand crafed and my skin has never felt so great.  Before switching to her all natural products, I had eczema and dry skin and which never returned.  Swell Gal Products can be purchased from Swell Gal Products or at any Ventures Unlimited locations.

Swell Gal Creme

4.  Norwax Facial Cloth - $10

My friend Colleen gave me Norwax wash cloth for my birthday and I absolutely love it.  I can wash my face at night without using any chemicals AND it's great for removing eye make-up.  Apparently, crystals in the washcloth make it possible to completely clean your face without chemicals.

5.  Norwax Window Washing Kit - Best $30 Ever Spent

Even more exciting is the window washing kit.  You do not need chemicals - you just rinse the cloth, wipe down the window, and dry it.  Usually, I hate washing windows and most of the time they look horrible but with these cloths I actually do not mind washing windows and even I can get them perfect.  The cloths work great on stainless steel and mirrors too.

Outside washing windows as Gus took a picture

My goal is to buy as many products locally as possible - we live in a small community with many unique businesses - where else can you buy fishing lures and dill pickle popcorn from the popcorn store all on the same block?


What do you want for Christmas?  Besides duct tape (that's the only thing on her list), my dear Greta would like the following for Christmas:

What is your new favorite product?  Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading,

Kristin

Happy 85th Birthday Grandma Johnson

November 21st is a special day - my Grandma would have turned 85 today so we celebrated by visiting the grave, singing Happy Birthday, making pumpkin torte (her recipe) and devouring some root beer floats (her speciality).

And lucky us, we found three new things from my Grandma Johnson just a few days ago.  How appropriate that we would find these items (even a note) only days from her 85th birthday.  This is what we found: 

1.  Nativity Set and Note

My Grandma left me this nativity set along with a note that said, "I'd like to give this set to Kristin - do not donate to a thrift shop.  This was given to me in 1976 by Lori" (her daughter who died 7 years ago).   Inside the nativity set was a Swiss army knife which Gus was absolutely sure was set inside the Rubbermaid container just for him.  You should've seen us jumping up and down.    My Grandma has been gone for almost 3 years and I'm wondering why it took us 3 years to find this.  Well, I can tell you why (hello, Hoarders Here).

Just found - Nativity Set AND a note from my Grandma

2.  Teacup and Saucer

I inherited many cups and saucers from my Grandma, but this one is probably the most beautiful and we just ran across it this weekend.  Isn't it amazing?  My mom said her friend Winnie from England gave it to her.

Teacup and Saucer I just found from my Grandma

3.   Family Cookbook and Another Note

My Grandma gave me a family cookbook from 1985 and she wrote me a note that said, "to Kristin, with love, Grandma Johnson".  May sound like a simple note to you, but my Grandma was full-blooded Norwegian and the word LOVE didn't come out very often.  We TOTALLY knew she loved us and felt it, but it wasn't a word that was ever shared.  Anyway, inside the cookbook there's recipes from a lot of my relatives including:  Erinn Stewart (play dough  ), Twila Jacobson (brownies) Kara Paulson (carrot cake),  Paula Stewart (lasagna ) and my Grandma and Hilma disclose their famous lefse and krumkakke recipes and secrets step by step - how cool!

Family Cookbook and Note just found from my Grandma

In honor of my Grandma's birthday I decided to try the recipe she entered into the cookbook:  Pumpkin Torte.

PUMPKIN TORTE

Ingredients:
2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter

8 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs

2 cups pumpkin
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Unflavored gelatin
3 egg whites

DIRECTIONS

Mix first 3 ingredients and press into a pan.  Beat cream cheese, sugar and 2 eggs and add to top of crust.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.  Combine and cook pumpkin, egg yolks and cinnamon.  Dissolve 1 tablespoon of unflavored gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water and add to hot pumpkin mixture and chill.  Beat until foamy 3 egg whites gradually adding in 1/2 cup sugar until a meringue forms.  Fold meringue into cooled pumpkin mixture.  Spoon over cheese layer.   DELICIOUS!!


We visited the cemetery in Osseo today.  I almost hate visiting the grave because it usually brings about some ugly crying, but I wanted to visit on her special day and my Grandma LOVED her birthday (really, any celebration) so we needed to pay our respects and sing her happy birthday. 



 

Every time I took the picture - a bright dot appeared in the picture
Reminded me of an orb and gave me comfort

 

 

 

It's a day of mixed emotions for sure.  But at supper tonight my mom and Aunt Paul gave my cousin and I each one of my Grandma's rings that she wore every day and my brother a knife from my Grandpa.  It was another sad but happy moment.

My cousin and I inherited my Grandma's rings tonight
Pictured next to my Grandma's pumpkin torte

What are you doing for turkey day?  We visit my family first and then Chad's family.  It's a little hectic, but I'm pretty blessed to have family living close so we can see everyone.

Thanks for reading and Happy Birthday Grandma.  I miss you every day.

Kristin

Franes First Episode of Hoarders

I don't know how it happened, but our house could be eligible for an episode of Hoarders (which I watched for the first time while visiting SIL Michelle).   Seriously, this weekend I cleaned out our storage area and my closet and I took out 20 bags of items to be donated and 5 bags of trash!!   Now before you call protective services on me, keep in mind most of my stuff was either in my closet or in Rubbermaid containers (toys the kids aren't playing with and clothes they've outgrown).  But still - how did we accumulate so much stuff?

STEP ONE:  THE FRIDGE

For whatever reason, I was inspired to clean and organize my fridge.  While cleaning and organizing I realized I had 3 jars of mayonnaise, 4 bottles of mustard, 2 bottles of soy (you get the idea).  But now that everything has its place, I'm not duplicating products.

The Organized Fridge

I have a tub for healthy snacks and a tub for salad supplies.  Otherwise, I have my entire fridge LABELED with the following:  salad tub, dressings, bread spreads, meat, snacks, drinks, pickled goods, eggs, miscellaneous, and dairy.  The drawers are labeled as cheese, potatoes, and onions.  What a difference and now it's impossible for me to buy triple of something already located in my fridge.


STEP TWO:  MY CLOSET

Never let me wait two years to clean out my closet

So, it took me about 1/2 an hour of complete concentration and I was able to transform my mess into this:

The organized closet - it's a walk in but you can't tell.  On the sides you will
find my fashion hats, scarves and belts in CLEAR totes.

Because of my utter lack of organization, I discovered I own 7 pair of black yoga pants, 5 black cardigans, 4 pair of identical black leggings AND 80 dollars!   My new organizational skills are going to help me save money - I'm sure of it.   I organized my closet from left to right hats, belts, summer shirts, summer dresses, summer skirts, winter shirts, sweaters, blazers, winter dresses, and winter suits.  Think of all the time I'm going to save - every morning I was going through EVERYTHING trying to find something to wear and now I can go right to the winter side.



STORAGE ROOM

And, this lead me to our laundry room which was completely full of Rubbermaid boxes full of toys the kids no longer played with and clothes that had been handed down.  Trust me, it was FULL and now:

The cleaned up storage room - whew!

I also organized my spices and made myself an "office" where I can actually blog and pay bills uninterrupted.  But, for the sake of making my blog too long I'll save that for a later date.

My goal is to organize one small area a week - just one a week and it's made such a huge difference!!  It's also helped that I've actually been staying home at night and on weekends.

I must say I'm thankful for Chad too - since he's unemployed he has been cleaning the house giving me time to focus on organizing and purging.

Do you have a method organizing or a tip for me??   I. Must. Do. Better.

Happy Monday,

Kristin

New Quinoa Recipes

We've had a super quiet weekend which has included:   'go to the dump' card tourney, cleaning closets, decorating for Christmas and going to the movie "Wreck It Ralph - 3D" which we all loved.

I also experimented with the amazing quinoa grain.    Quinoa is delicious, nutritious, gluten free and very versatile.  As I blogged about earlier, the health benefits of quinoa are endless.

Here's my 2 new and delicious quinoa recipes:

1.   Quinoa Pizza Bites

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, diced
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup fresh basil (or 1 Tbsp. dried)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
Pizza sauce for dipping

Directions
Rinse quinoa and place with 2 cups water in a covered pot. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender.
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix together the cooked quinoa with all ingredients (except pizza sauce) in a medium bowl.
Distribute mixture into a lightly sprayed muffin tin, pressing down gently to compact.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, then cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.
Serve warm with pizza sauce for dipping.

These are SUPER delicious and were really good the next day - yum!

Quinoa Pizza Bites - on my Grandma's platter

2.  Chickpea Quinoa Crockpot Soup
**inspired by Girl Evolving Blog

Ingredients

2 cups of chickpeas (I used 2 cans)
1 jar roasted sun dried tomatoes
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cumin
4 cups of water
4 cups of broth
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (more or less depending on taste)
Nutritional yeast or mozzarella cheese for garnish

Directions

Combine and cook on high in crockpot for 6 - 8 hours - delicious!

Quinoa Chickpea Crockpot Soup in my Grandma's tea cup
My mom told me she inherited this cup from her friend "Winnie" who was from England

 Hayward, Wisconsin is a beautiful place to be this time of year.  The businesses downtown are completely lit up and the town looks absolutely magical.  The kids and I were so inspired that we came home and decorated early for Christmas.  In sorting through our Christmas boxes, I found a bunch of treasures from my Grandma Johnson AND I found this teacup and saucer that she left me.  The kids and I were so excited.  I'll blog more about my findings on Wednesday as we celebrate her 85th birthday  (I'll be in my hometown Osseo, WI so I'll be able to visit her grave).



Sending Gus and Greta out to play - you can never be too safe during hunting season.
Notice anything different about Miss Greta? 

What's your favorite quinoa recipe?  Have you decorated for Christmas yet?  Visit Hayward and you may be inspired. 

Thanks for reading,

Kristin
 

Yummy Smoothies

Below you will find two of my favorite smoothies:  pumpkin and fruit smoothie - both delicious.

My smoothie of the moment is the pumpkin smoothie.   About a month ago, I canned a ton of pumpkin, so I was happy to find a simple way to consume this healthy vegetable.

1.     PUMPKIN SMOOTHIE

1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1 T stevia (or more if you like it sweet)
1/2 T cinnamon
1 t nutmeg

Blend and enjoy!  My daughter thinks these taste like a pumpkin pie blizzard - can you say kid friendly!  The key is to get it sweet enough so the vegetable taste isn't quite so overpowering.

Pumpkin Smoothies - pictured in my Grandma's dishes

My stand-by smoothie recipe this fruit recipe that I've had every week for about 3 years.

FRUIT SMOOTHIE

1 cup blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or whatever you have (I still have some in our freezer from this summers harvest)
1 cup Kefir
1 tablespoon flaxseed (I alternative between the 3:6:9 flax oil and the actual ground seeds)

Combine and enjoy.  This is by far my favorite and Kefir is a great probiotic and here you can find the health benefits of kefir.

Blueberry Smoothie - taken this summer in my Grandma's dishes featuring her vase (she loved flowers)

I'm away for work again - first Mineral Point, WI and now Fort Atkinson, WI - both places I've never been.  Since I'm sidelined from exercise for another week, I've really enjoyed light exercise in the pool.    But, in reality I'm missing my kids.  FaceTime helps, but there's nothing like cuddling up to my family after work.

And, in case you missed you - please check out my three tips for healthy eating.  Just by organizing my fridge we've had better luck choosing healthier foods:  Three Tips for Healthier Eating

I know there's hundred of smoothie recipes, but these are topping my list lately.  What's your favorite smoothie recipe or ingredients?

Thanks for reading!

Kristin

Three Tips for Healthier Eating

Below you will find 3 easy ways to make healthy eating a cinch for you and your family by simply organizing your fridge. 

The Organized Fridge - each section of the fridge is labeled to keep us organized
Top shelf to the right contains the salad tub and dressings.
The middle shelf contains the "snack tub".

 

1.   SNACKS

Healthy snacks are essential for our busy family.    I noticed that when we are super busy or on the run we tend to grab the processed snacks because the healthier snacks require some effort and time.

Greta making ants on a log - our house is 80 degrees (called wood heat - yeah)

In order to make snacking easier I took all of their favorite snacks and added them to a Rubbermaid container in the fridge.  Inside the fridge there's a "snack tub"  filled with their favorites:

• celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins
• broccoli and ranch dressing
• carrots and hummus
• cheese curds measured in 2 ounce bags
• yogurt
• apples

The snack box takes a bit of effort once a week.  On Sunday nights I cut up the veggies and measure out the PB and cheese (organic veggies and apples only - see the Dirty Dozen ).

To be totally honest - I did this for myself.  When I come through the door after a busy day at work my second job begins.  Supper, homework, back into town for extra-curricular activities (15 miles away) and laundry all require my attention.   If I'm going to succumb to some unhealthy emotional eating - it's when I walk through the door.  Lots of times I feel too overwhelmed to take time to cut up the broccoli or even search the fridge for hummus but with the tub I'm ready for a healthy snack.

2.  SALAD

We all love salads - even the kids, but since my fridge had the salad ingredients all over and unorganized I needed a change.  In the fridge you will now find a "salad tub" that we can grab from the fridge and make a salad.  In the salad tub I have:

• Organic Herb Mix Salad (my favorite)
• Serving size bags of walnuts
• Feta cheese
• cranberries
• Nutritional cheese
• Black beans ready to go
• Pickled hot banana peppers
• Hemp seeds

Now my personal rule for the salad is to add one of the healthy fats (either feta cheese, hemp seeds, nutritional cheese or walnuts - but not all 4).   I love a salad when I have great ingredients ready to throw in and if I'm organized it means I might actually make one.

3.  WATER

I spent years drinking 32 ounces of water religiously because that's what I was supposed to do, right?  I bet I ran to the bathroom every 45 minutes for 5 years.  When studies were released indicating that all that water wasn't necessary I really cut back on my water intake.   Based on my low blood pressure though, I know I need to up my fluid intake so I bought a fancy carafe from one of my favorite Hayward stores, Hayward Mercantile, and I've been adding all sorts of fun ingredients making me LOVE water again..  Even my kids are more apt to grab the carafe and drink this yummy water.

What we add to the water carafe:

• Dried mint leaves (from this summer's herb garden (HG))
• Lemon
• Lime
• Cucumber
• Ginger
• Dried stevia leaves from the HG
• Agave nectar
• Dried spearmint (from the HG)

Simple - yet it works for us.

Spearmint Lemon Water

How do you keep yourself motivated to keep healthy foods front and central?

Thanks for reading!

Kristin

Nutritional Yeast and Madonna

What does nutritional yeast and Madonna have in common?  They are both super healthy (wow, Madonna) and I got to know both a little bit better this weekend.  Below I'll review nutritional yeast and the Madonna concert (very random, lol).


NUTRITIONAL YEAST

After reading the book Eat and Run by Scott Jurek (see my book review here), I was inspired to try a few new things including nutrional yeast.   Nutritional yeast has 14 grams of protein in one ounce and is a great source of B12, magnesium and fiber plus it tastes great (like Parmesan cheese), but here's an article about all the Benefits of Nutritional Yeast.  No worries though, the yeast is de-activiated so it doesn't blow up in your stomach.


Here's my two nutritional yeast recipes:

1.  BEAN DIP

1 can of black beans
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt

Blend and serve with chips, veggies, or in my case I added it to a baked sweet potato with salsa - DELICIOUS!!

Bean Dip served over a Sweet Potato

Next, I made a delicious healthy "fake" cheese sauce:

2.  NUTRITIONAL YEAST CHEESE SAUCE

1/2 cup Nutritional yeast
1/4 cup Flour
2 tbsp Cornstarch
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
2 cups Water
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
2 tbsp olive oil

Mix together in a a small pot and cook on medium heat until boiling.  Stir until sauce thickens and then take off heat.

I had this with both vegetables and chips and it was absolutely delicious!!!!

 

Brocolli and Nutrtional Yeast Cheese Dip served in my Grandma's Dishes

 

I also sprinkled the yeast on popcorn, pizza, and salads and I loved it every time.

 

.
MADONNA CONCERT

 

The Madonna concert was EPIC -  what a show!!    Paul Okenfold  opened the show which I thought was a PERFECT pick - nothing worse than sitting through a bad opening act.  Madonna started very late (after 10:30) and most nights I turn into a pumpkin at 10 p.m. so I was a little worried and her first two songs were odd ball songs and she was acting out violent scenes (shooting people - blood splattered on the big screen).   After that though, the show kicked into high gear reminding me of a Broadway-type musical full of tight ropes, contortionists, dancing, lights, trap doors, political bantering and of course singing.  My favorite song of the night was Like A Prayer - she had an entire choir behind her and the music was powerful - I had goosebumps.

Erinn and I in our seats at the Xcel Energy Center - 2012
I was hoping I could find a picture of us at the concert in 1985 but no luck.

Her singing is not quite top notch and she only sang a couple of her big hits as we hear them on the radio.   Her show was very original though and I can appreciate her artistic twist on her hit songs.  The best part (besides our awesome seats) was spending time with my awesome cousin Erinn.  We saw Madonna in 1985 at her peak, so we knew we had to go back.  Let's just say, Madonna looks better than 1985 and her show has improved light years (and even then she was very good).

So if you get a chance, I'd check out Madonna in a heartbeat.   

Here's my recent concert reviews to give you an idea of how Madonna ranked:

• Madonna - 1 3/4 thumbs up (less because of her vocals) but GREAT show
• KISS / Motley Crue - 1 1/2 thumbs up (weird set lists, but still good)
• U2 - 2 thumbs up plus - best concert EVER hands down
• Stone Temple Pilots - 2 thumbs up - front row, Scott Weiland's vocals were primo

Who are you hoping to see in concert?  What was your favorite concert of all time?  Up next, I'd like to see Pink, Foo Fighters and Lady Gaga all touring this Spring.  How was your weekend?

Thanks for reading!

Kristin
 

Book Geek Bi-Monthly Review

The only nice part about being laid up is that I've been able to catch up on my books and I've read some incredible novels and one great autobiography.

• The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh - 2 thumbs up

This book is the story of a woman growing up in the foster system - both touching and tough.  Super easy read and absolutely LOVED IT!!!

• State of Wonder, Ann Patchett - 1 3/4 thumbs up

In her newest novel, State of Wonder, she writes the story of an ordinary woman who finds herself in the heart of the Amazon searching for answers surrounding the mysterious death of a colleague.  LOVED this book too, but it took me about 50 pages or so to get into the story.

State of Winder by Ann Patchett

• Wild, Cheryl Strayed - 2 thumbs up

Fantastic, true story about a woman's hike and along the Pacific Crest Trail.  I could not put this book down - totally amazing story.  This book is also on Oprah's newest Book Club pick.

• The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho - 2 thumbs up

This book is one of my top 10 books of all time.  This is the simple story of a man following his heart and living his dreams but the message is profound and moving even the second time around. 

• 11/22/63, Stephen King - no rating yet

This book is HUGE and I'm not through with it yet - but so far I LOVE IT.  A man goes back in time to try and prevent the assassination of JFK.  I never thought I'd read another Stephen King book again - but I'm glad I picked this one up.

I've spent close to a week reading in bed.

In case you missed it, here's my August and September Bi-Monthly Book Review.

You know how much my Grandma's dishes mean to me, well I broke one of her 60 year old bowls last month and I was heartbroken.  Today, I loaded the car, drove 5 miles on a hilly gravel road and suddenly Greta reminded me that I put my Grandma's coffee cup on the roof of the family mini-van.  I pulled over, and through some miracle my Grandma's cup survived the trip.  What a bloody miracle.

My Grandma's cup went for a ride this morning on the roof of the car - and survived!

What book are you reading?  Once I finish 11/22/63 I'm going to need a good book - I'm on a roll!

Thanks for reading,

Kristin