Tomorrow is the first healthy day of the rest of my life!

Every New Years Day for the past 15 years I have made this claim.....why do I think this year will be different I don't know.  Something has sort of snapped in me and I am determined I'm going to be healthy and attractive (i know that is shallow... but I want to be pretty) by the time I am 50.  I have 2 years and 3 months and 28 days.  I plan on making this happen in several ways.  #1 I will continue with acupuncture (if anyone needs a good acupuncturist I've got the best) it helps me with pain but also with my anxiety, and I know I am in a better place than I was 6 months ago.  #2 I will eat better including adding super foods to my diet.  #3 I will exercise ....this is the hard one for me.... but I have a plan.  #4 I'm going to be more present more conscious in my life and enjoy what I have.  & last but not least #5 I will paint.....this will help me mentally and give me peace....I need to make myself be creative it helps push aside the negative. 

This is a hawk that was in the back yard a few day ago.  It's hard to tell but he is about 2 to 2&1/2 feet tall.

Very cool....

Happy New Year!

What to do with all the food???

I had sooooo many cold cuts left over from Christmas Eve and what the heck to do with it all????

When all else fails make soup!

I chopped up celery, onion, carrots, garlic and parsley,

cooked them down and added beef broth.

Added some rinsed barley,

chopped up the all the roast beef that was left and 

 "but a bing-but a bang" a nice pot of beef barley soup.  

Joe and I each had a little bowl and then into the freezer it went.

I made some pizza dough and cooked the soup while it was rising.

I took the rest of the cold cuts, cheese, and some pesto and made a huge calzone.

I intended to freeze most of it but needed something filling 

to serve Joe after he did snow removal ALL DAY LONG.

This is the back yard yesterday...just a dusting....

This was around 9:00 a.m. today....it didn't stop snowing until late this afternoon!

It is so amazing how you can love something as a child 

and as an adult it actually causes pain, mentally and physically.

I got a chance to play with my favorite Christmas gift from my sister.  

It's an ebelskiver pan.  They are very good and very hard to describe.

Sort of like a pancake but sort of like the texture on the inside of a popover but more dense.

 YUM!

Ho! Ho! Ho! I'm tired......

Well.....another Christmas over.....I'm tired and sick.  Just a little cold but still yuck!  Joe and I had our Christmas Eve open house and it was lots of fun as usual.  My niece Shannon who lives in Newport Beach CA was really into cookies this Christmas so I told her I would post mine here and if she wants any of the recipes she'll let me know.. OK here we go.......

I have these great snowflake cutters...just basic rolled cookies (sugar cookies) a little white frosting and a heavy sprinkle of chunky sugar. 

The top plate has my moms mini cheesecake tarts.... she makes them for me every year...these are 

Joe's favorite part of Christmas!

Next is the French torte minis with whip cream and shaved chocolate.

On the bottom are the malted milk ball cookies.

Little cake bits made by mom.

On the top some Christmas cookies made by mom.

On the bottom Chocolate dipped pretzel rods.

The Russian tea balls (some call them snowball cookies) are on the plate below.

The rest of the buffet is below (as usual I made too much food)

Asparagus wrapped with prosciutto

Bruschetta with crostini

Pea salad with smoked almonds and jicama

meatballs, sausages with peppers and onions and lasagne

Moms famous potato salad

marinated veggies, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and olives

There was a cold cut and cheese platter as well.

I didn't do the traditional Swedish food that my family did every year 

when I was a child like the raw pickled herring, but nobody seemed to notice.....Shhhhh!

This is my handsome baby brother Carl and his girlfriend Sherri

My very good friend Shirley and my grand niece Katherine 

(who brought her recent drawings for me to critique)

And my sweet cat who loves being under the tree (but only after everyone leaves)

Oh Candy Tree' oh Candy Tree, how lovely are your branches!

Look at this pretty Christmas tree.  My good friend Joan made it for me.   It is so beautiful at a distance, but then you get a little closer and WHAT, IS THAT CANDY????  Well thats what Joe said anyway.....  

Then you get closer and yup thats all CANDY!

Joe has been asked to please not eat any until Christmas!  I feel kinda bad because I've been cutting some off the back and he hasn't taken any.  Lucky for me he doesn't read my blog!  

Christmas is Coming!

Every Christmas Eve we have open house and lots of people stop in.  I've started getting ready earlier this year so hopefully I'm not so stressed last minute.  I started baking a few days ago (well the stuff that can be frozen).  The first is my mothers recipe for French Torte.  

First you take 16 Ritz crackers and smash them to death!

I doubled the recipe (sooo 32)

Chop 2/3 of a cup of walnuts or pecans and add to crackers.

(1 1/3)

 3 egg whites (6) beat with a scant cup of sugar ( 2) and 1 (2) teaspoon (s) of vanilla

 and 1/2 (1) tsp baking powder.  Until stiff peaks form. 

Then fold the nuts and crackers with the egg WHITE mixture.

At this point my mom would put it into a pie plate and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

I put it into tart pans and bakes for about 15 minutes.  (Oven temps vary so watch carefully) 

They should be a light golden color on top 

Top each with whipped cream and shaved chocolate! Yum.... 

The next is a cookie from Dorie Greenspan "Baking" cookbook  "Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops."  They are so good.