Monthly Archives: September 2013

Farewell Credit Card

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IMAG2051We are excited to say a much anticipated farewell to our largest credit card. We will not miss you. We will not mourn the loss of you. We will never ever use you again, and we are so excited to see you go! We will allow you to let our credit score look awesome for a brief second, and then we will shut you down, because you are a horrible piece of plastic that I hate, hate with a vengeance. We hate the $50 of interest you gave us every month. We hate how you gave us the option of slavery. And we hate how you never seemed to go away no matter how hard we tried. So, fare thee well you stupid piece of plastic that caused us so much pain and hurt and familial discord. You are out of our lives forever and you are never coming back.

Dairy Free Spinach Dip

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IMAG1957We had a fondue night with some friends, and needed a non-dairy dip for our lactose intolerant daughter. I wanted something like a cheesy spinach dip, without the actual cheese. After browsing many spinach dip recipes, I decided to try a dairy free white sauce, mixed with spinach. To give it a bite like cheese, I added cayenne pepper.  This is really good with chips, cheddar cheese, and bread.

 

4 T butter*, coconut oil, or olive oil3-4 T cornstarch or arrowroot
2 C coconut milk
dash of cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 C FD** spinach
1 1/2 C chicken stock or water

*Our lactose intolerant can handle small amounts of butter.**freeze dried

1. Melt fat of choice in a sauce pan. Add cornstarch to thicken. Stir in coconut milk and heat over medium heat to thicken. Add spices and Worcestershire sauce.

2. Heat spinach and stock until stock is mostly gone.

3. Add reconstituted spinach to white sauce. Heat over medium heat for about 15 minutes until thick. Stir frequently.

Remembering 9/11

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AdorableIt’s been twelve years since that terrible day. Life continues as normal, although we have since experience a recession that we never fully recovered from. I have children now, who have no idea such a thing has occurred on the land they live on. One day I will teach them of that event, and how I was there, and Daddy was there, and Grammy and Papa and aunts and uncles, but we were on the other side of the country, so we were just watching the news in horror that day. I had teachers that disobeyed rules so we could watch the news all throughout their class. I remember the second plane hitting, and the plane in Pennsylvania going down. I remember my mom talking to me about myths that had started spreading that weren’t true, and helping me understand what was going on.

The next day, the moment of silence took place while I was in my health class. I wrote a poem in my English class. It wasn’t very good, because I was still too young to fully grasp what had happened. In my poem, though, I wrote about how we Americans came together and supported each other and loved one another. In my short life, I had never seen America so united, and it was wonderful and inspiring, and sadly short lived. For now, I teach my children about patriotism. They love the flag, and keep begging for fireworks. They got to see my cousin receive his Eagle Scout award, where they experienced a flag ceremony with a color guard and a room full of at least 50, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. And, one day, I will teach them about that day when something terrible happened, and America united.

Zucchini Raisin Cookies

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Hi everyone! It’s been a while, and to make up for so much time not posting anything, I have a fantastic recipe that will use up all your giant zucchinis that got away from you. One giant zucchini can probably make three or four batches of these delicious cookies.
zucchini cookies

2 C water
1 C raisins
2 C flour
1/4 t salt
1 t soda
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1 t cloves
1/2 C butter, soft but not melted
2 C zucchini, shredded
1/2 C honey

1. Boil raisins in water until only 1 C of water remains. Reduce heat to medium so as not to loose too much water, and add more water to bring up to 1 C if needed.

2. While raisins are boiling, combine flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl.

3. Add butter to the flour mixture and cut in with a pastry blender.

4. Add zucchini and honey to the flour mixture.

5. Add 1 C of raisin water and raisins to the flour mixture. Dough/batter (it’s kind of in between the two) should be thick.

6. Spread on greased cookie sheet.

7. Cook at 375°F for 15 minutes.

Viola! Delicious zucchini and raisin goodness in mere minutes.