Today, I posted my first VT Spätzle recipe reel on social media ! I’m happy how it came out both the dish and the reel.
Such a quick and easy one pan dish great as a side dish, lunch, or add a grilled protein and you have a delicious dinner.
1 12 oz package of Vermont Spätzle Company spätzle 1/4 cup olive oil 1 pint cherry tomatoes 4 oz feta cheese or 1/2 a block 2-3 cloves minced garlic 1 pinch red pepper flakes *optional Kosher salt & pepper to taste 1 handful fresh basil leaves
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a 9 inch baking dish, add cherry tomatoes to the dish. Next, place feta cheese in the middle of the tomatoes.
Drizzle with olive oil then season with crushed red pepper, kosher salt, and pepper to taste.
Make for 30 minutes. Remove dish from the oven and add the garlic and basil. Mix well into the tomatoes and feta cheese.
Turn oven to 450 degrees and bake for 10 minutes. Remove baking dish from the oven and serve. Enjoy! Makes 2-3 servings.
I’ve tried many times to bring herbs inside before frost hits them. I usually manage to keep them alive until Thanksgiving, when they die.
This year was different now that I have more plants. I picked up a basil plant in the fall for $2.99 instead of a package for $2.99.
It needs to be watered every day or it gets droopy. That’s when it hit me. I was watering my herbs when I watered my house plants.
All of my indoor plants besides a spider plant are some form of succulents which don’t need to be watered as much as regular plants.
Ah, so that’s why my herbs dried up and died. I make sure that all of my herbs are watered if it hadn’t rained , why in hell did I think I didn’t have to water them indoors? 🤓
It’s mid February and my rosemary and sage are still alive! Yay!
Sage
This makes me so happy and at the same time like a big dummy it took me this long to figure out.
My huge rosemary I got from a friend died last winter. I kept moving it around because it was loosing needles but did I think to water it more?
When I lost 65% of my hair a year and a half ago from stress due to an illness I panicked. Who wouldn’t right?
My hair began falling out in August 2023-April 2024. It was terrifying watching brush and handfuls of my hair coming out several times a day
Thank God I had a lot of thick hair to start with. I was able to camouflage bald spots with brush in root cover. Yea, I’m good with shit like that.
Anyway, I began praying every day to relieve my worry about my hair. When it stopped falling out, it immediately started growing back.
Everyday, including today I give that worry away. Manifesting and positive thinking does work to contrary belief.
With my new virgin hair, I decided that I wanted to take care of this hair and not fuck it up like the hair that still existed.
Coloring my hair black was no longer an option. I began using a shampoo and conditioning natural dye that is gentle on my hair.
The color of my new hair is my natural hair color. The old black shit wouldn’t go away. There was no way on earth I was going to strip my hair so I lived with it.
I didn’t know why I could never be happy. I kept on wondering. My hair was growing back fast and thick, as I had prayed for, but now I wanted the black gone.
I noticed in photos back in the fall my dark hair and makeup were too harsh for my now thin face and body or was it more than just that?
I went to Sephora and asked for help switching to brown eyeliner, mascara, and a lighter eyebrow pencil.
The difference was softer, matching my now softer heart and laid-back calmness. But my black hair, which I loved, was now a big no-no.
Yesterday, I used a gentle color remover and some clarifying shampoo to try to get my hair back to my natural color. This was a huge nail biter for me.
To my surprise, after I rinsed out the color remover and used the clarifying shampoo on the lower half of my hair several times, my hair was back to my natural color!
I danced around the house and grabbed my phone to take some photos before the sun set behind the mountain.
I snapped photos in my complete natural state trying to not be too self conscious. I knew I wanted to write about this journey.
I went through a gigantic shift spiritually and mentally. My body went through another transformation back to my healthy weight and bmi.
Now, my hair is natural again, too. It’s so much softer and looks natural—it should be, as it is the color I was born with.
These two old Easter photos were taken the same day inside and outside showing my natural hair color
Many people haven’t seen my natural color ever since I began using Sun-In on my hair in high school.
It’s very fitting because in these photos was before my life changed when I was nine years old when my mother Eileen turned on me.
I am not the same person I was a year ago when I forgave Eileen. My mind and heart have opened again.
I feel the same joy, happiness, contentment, and love I felt before the abuse began. It’s a beautiful feeling.
Looking in the mirror and photos my appearance was too harsh for me now. I was no longer an angry, disappointed, hurt victim shrouded in all black.
I think in a way I was grieving how life felt to me before everything changed. These were some very profound feelings I carried around with me for decades
Don’t get me wrong I still love black clothing that will never change because of the pure classic look they give. After all, black goes with everything.
This post goes above and beyond my change in hair color, it’s just another positive step on my spiritual journey in this lifetime.
We’ve been having the most beautiful winter this year, with snow on the ground since Christmas time.
The small amount daily snow that we have been receiving keeps the snow white and dream like.
The other day, I had a craving for shepherd’s pie—technically, a cottage pie since I was using ground beef instead of lamb. I am not a lamb person because I don’t like the flavor.
I keep my recipe simple by browning the ground beef, adding minced onions, garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, a slight touch of tomato paste, beef broth, and peas.
My mashed potatoes are simple and basic. I always add one can of creamed corn to top the beef mixture to add moisture and additional corn as well.
After I top the corn with the mash, I grab a fork and make a design. This design reminded me of an Irish sweater!
The photo I took of the sweater pie I took on our Aga stove made me feel really Irish! I am very Irish, almost 80%, so it felt very fitting.
It was the perfect meal on a cold and snowy day. I served it was short rib gravy that Sam insisted I freeze from our Christmas dinner.
Oh, how I thanked him! It was perfect! I always make a gravy to serve with my cottage pie so this saved me a big step!
I never had shepherd’s or cottage pie growing up in New Jersey. Was it just my family Jersey friends or is it a New England?
The funny thing about me making shepherd’s pie for dinner was that Noah made one the night before! He must have been channeling me or our ancestors. 😂
My adopted mother Eileen’s family came from Ireland but we never had shepherd’s or cottage pie.
She rubbed it in my face every St. Patrick’s Day telling me I was allowed to be Irish on St. Paddy’s Day because everyone was. Thanks, mom.
This was what growing up as an adopted person hurt the most. I hated not knowing where the fuck I came from.
I guess since I didn’t find out I was Irish until I was 48 years old, I didn’t think I belonged in Irish pubs so I never saw shepherd’s pie on a menu.
Even though I don’t drink anymore I still want to visit Irish pubs. It’s more of the feeling and charm than the alcohol itself to me. I’d love to go to Ireland one day as well.
By the way, I forgot to take photos of my plate and my cottage pie. I was hungry, and so looking forward to eating it that I scoffed it right down.
Before I start writing my blog posts, I usually do some research. When I looked at images of Irish sweaters, I hit the nail on the head, thinking my pie design looked like one of the traditional Aran stitches.
My birthday is at the end of the month. Don’t tell Marty I told you this, but I really want a traditional Irish sweater for my birthday.
It’s a personal thing to pick out the design choices since they can mean different things. I do love the design the model below is wearing though. 😉
I do love this design from Celtic Clothing Company.
It is so weird to me asking for a specific gift. For so many years, I could never think of anything I wanted or deserved (mental illness thinking) for a gift.
I didn’t want anyone to spend money on me let alone something I didn’t need. I would always say I don’t need anything when asked what I wanted for Christmas or birthdays.
My mother Eileen took this as face value and listened to what I said and would remind what I told her, I didn’t need anything. A piece of gum would have been better than nothing.
I had a seriously warped sense of my self-worth and worthiness to others. Thank goodness I’ve worked through that bullshit!
That’s water under the bridge now, and even though I have forgiven Eileen, those painful memories pop up.
I acknowledge them, feel them, and let them go.
It’s healthy for me to do this because it makes the forgiveness continue to make me feel free from what those memories used to do to me.
I’m unsure if anyone else will see an Irish sweater woven into my cottage pie, but I do. Being Irish has slowly woven itself into my life, and I love it!
For the record, the cottage pie was delicious and delivered exactly what I was craving and feeling, a comforting meal that made me feel like I was wrapped up in an Irish sweater. ☘️
Before starting this post, I’d like to give you some background information. Marty would complain about my Irish storytelling, but I think it’s essential so you know who I was and who I am.
When I was a newlywed or a young homemaker, I used to read Martha Stewart Magazine and watch her TV show.
I loved every detail of her homes, gardens, and everything and anything she baked or cooked.
She filled my head with ideas, hopes, and dreams. She made me want to reach the unachievable. She made me want to be her in the sense of the word.
Then I got smacked in the face of reality and realized how many peons must have worked hard for her creating her lifestyle that was unattainable to most people.
I realized all of the things I loved cost a lot of money, time, and more effort than one person could ever do.
I said fuck that shit and went about my life with what I had the money for, the time and effort to make our home nice.
With all that being said, this is still kind of post that people can react to in several different ways.
A few of these things I do around the house at this point in my life cost very little, take little time and effort.
First question, is there a difference between light and bright or clean or dirty light?
Light is one of the most important things in our lives without it nothing would thrive and too much of it makes living things go berserk.
Light is important to me in our home. I love candlelight that is just bright enough to see what you need to. I love the bright sunshine shining through our windows.
In our kitchen, I like clean light for food prep and cooking. The light also affects how my food photos look.
I like soft, warm light bulbs, but nothing with a blue tone. I even purchased two hygge bulbs in our back room when we need more light.
We used to have intense bright bulbs in the back room pendant lights which made us squint.
Now when we need significant lighting, it helps us see things but not make us need sunglasses at night.
This winter whenever I was setting my dining room table for guests, I couldn’t figure out why it was so dark when I used lots of candles and the chandelier dimmed low.
This used to be the perfect about of light for dining, but over the holidays I had to turn the dimmer up making a weird light. Low and behold I figured out why this morning. 🤦🏻♀️
The led chandelier bulbs were filthy! They were cloudy from grease and dust was sticking to them even though I dust my chandelier usually without the lights on.
I took out the bulbs and cleaned them with a little vinegar and water. Presto! I screwed them back in and had that perfect amount of warm light. Duh!
I guess it didn’t occur to me that led lightbulbs last longer than incandescent one and basically get dirty.
These light bulbs were a few years old and I never cleaned them I don’t think. I guess I never thought about it or maybe I didn’t look up.
Now some people may say good for her if light is that important. It is important since it sets the stage for dining and the mood. People eat with their eyes.
Some may say, good for her but I don’t give a shit what the light looks like while we are eating. I get that.
Some may think I need a second job because I have too much time on my hands to notice such trivial details. I get that too.
To me, it doesn’t matter what other people think when something makes my life feel warmer, brighter, cleaner, happier, cozier, etc.
Everyone who does walk into our home at night always comments how cozy or charming it looks. I beam a little because coziness is something I love.
Coziness gets me through winter, rainy, or gray days. I am also huge into aromatherapy which also helps to create a certain kinds of atmosphere especially if it’s seasonal.
I love simmer pots, naturally scented candles or essential oils to defuse. Spending a little bit more on well-made naturally scented hand soap is another one of my must haves for a cozy life.
I went for years not having the time or energy to care about these things, but at my age I’ve learned that I deserve to indulge in small things that bring me joy or that special feeling.
House stagers are masters of this as are good real estate agents. Home designers and ads sell people that feeling of home.
This is why some realtors bake ready-made cookie dough before an open house or showing.
Personally, I’d prefer a this “place is clean” smell but not in a mothball kind of way. Mothball smell in my opinion is one of the worse smells.
Years ago, we once did a gig at someone’s old home and all I could smell was a musty mold smell which made it hard for me to perform. Ugh!
Before and after. It does make a difference.
As I am typing, the globes to our kitchen lights are in the dishwasher. I use the fast setting and the globes are clean and dry in under 40 minutes.
This afternoon, I went around and cleaned all of our mirrors and other light bulbs. All of them were dirtier than I thought. It’s too early to spring clean, but this made me feel good.
The mirror in this photo is so hazy and dirty. Those are the small details I am talking about.
Am I being ridiculous for caring? Yes and no. That’s up to you to ponder or not care at all.
Will some of you look to see how clean your light bulbs are? Will some of you clean them and be shocked by how different everything looks?
I’m sure some of you don’t give a rat’s ass and go back to whatever you were doing and never give it a second thought.
This isn’t about shaming people with filthy lightbulbs like mine were, or to inspire people to run around with ADD/ADHD behavior tendencies like me.
This post is more like the Seinfeld show where I am writing about silly or stupid things that make people tick.
Have a great rest of your weekend. I’ve put down my cleaning rags for a while to sit with my girls.
We had a whirlwind visit to NJ to visit my family. We had a great time! I had my first real biological family dinner on Sunday night.
It was a lot of fun and we had many laughs. I felt like I was part of the family and not an outsider anymore which meant a lot.
I was thrilled to finally be in a cousins photo! I am not posting the photo we took because I am keeping my promise of respecting J’s privacy.
The next day, we spent some wonderful time with J. She took us to Costco at our request where we opened an account.
A Costco is coming to Albany, NY in June. We really know our prices and there were a lot of very good deals we took advantage of.
We also went to the beach. No alcohol or drugs could ever make me feel the way the ocean does.
The second I see and smell the ocean and walk on the beach I am in my happy place. I can feel my love of the ocean in deep my soul.
We touched the ocean with our hands and it didn’t seem as cold as I thought it would be.
We went to a real Jersey diner for breakfast and I ate one of my favorite things, a pork roll, egg, & cheese sandwich
My breakfast cost only $7.45 which included home fries. I’ve been living in an expensive touristy state and was giddy when I saw the prices on the menu.
For lunch we ate at a restaurant one block from the beach that has a large gluten-free menu.
I had a steaming hot bowl of award winning New England Clam Chowder and half a turkey club sandwich.
I love that I can get soup and half a sandwich! Again, the prices on their lunch specials menu were reasonable.
We got on the road earlier than planned but we lucked out and didn’t hit that much traffic even though we were going thru the busiest part of the state at rush hour
We stopped to see my sister Jennifer on the way down. I got to see my niece Sofia and my nephew Julian too! Yay!
We were home before 8:30 pm and were so happy to see our girls. Tiredness hit hard and I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.
The trip was great and my heart was happy. I do have to say, it was way too “peopley” for us in Jersey and we were to glad to get back to Vermont.
Happy Saturday! It’s been a busy week of work and having dinner with friends.
The other night, we had a delicious dinner at our friend Martin’s house. I wanted to show you how lovely his dining table looked.
Today, I have belly dance practice and some cooking to do. I am bringing some dishes with us as we travel to visit my bio mom “J’s” house on Sunday morning.
J invited all of our cousins to Sunday dinner. I’m excited to see the ones I’ve already met and two I haven’t met in person yet.
I’m really looking forward to our visit. It’s been three years since we were at J’s last.
Marty is looking forward to going to the beach and seeing the ocean.
We both need to breathe in that ocean air and the weather is forecasted to be cold of course but sunny.
Our son Sam will be home taking care of Nelly and Roxy for us. They love him and are as comfortable with him as they are with us.
On our way home, we will be making a quick stop at my sister Jennifer’s house. It’s a bonus to the trip to see her as well.
I am planning on disconnecting from our business and social media while we are away and focusing on where and who I am with.
Be well everyone and I’ll catch up with you when we get back. ♥️
*** If the video clip isn’t appearing, please click on the blog post’s title, and then you should see it. Oy, technology!
I’ve been experimenting with my Go-Pro camera filming food demo shorts for our spätzle business.
I made a video the other night and figured out what would improve my videos.
I will have to film the Feta Tomato Spätzle demo again to make it better. The real success was that my recipe was on point.
I’ll share it with you when I am ready to post it on our spätzle social media pages. I will be including the recipe like I’ve done for this short video.
With today’s video, the mise en place and the filming took about 25 minutes, whereas it normally takes less than 10 minutes.
All of the overnight chia oat recipes I have tried are delicious, filling, and satisfying.
The chia seeds add plenty of protein to last you until lunch. When I used to eat regular oatmeal I wanted to chew my legs off from hunger.
On second thought, that’s going a bit too far; maybe a finger or two.
Here is my very first food demo short.
Video
Overnight Carrot Cake Chia Oats
Ingredients
1 carrot shredded
1 cup rolled oats
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
2 pinches of kosher salt 1 tbsp maple syrup 4 tbsp raisins
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans 1.5 cups milk
Additional pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup yogurt optional
Shred the carrot and divide it evenly among your serving jars or containers.
Add the oats, chia seeds, cinnamon, nuts, nutmeg, pinch of salt, maple syrup, and raisins to each jar. Stir well so the ingredients are mixed.
Pour in the milk, dividing it equally among the jars. Stir or shake the jar thoroughly to ensure all ingredients are well combined.
Cover the jars and place them in the fridge to set overnight.
Before serving, give the oats a stir. Top with pecans or walnuts, a dollop of yogurt, and, if you’d like, an extra sprinkle of shredded carrot for added crunch and flavor.
I topped mine with 3 crushed Trader Joes’s Praline Pecans in each jar.
Makes 2 servings
I hope you enjoyed my demo short. I’m tickled pink that I have been able to film and edit videos all by myself.
This my friends is a BFD (Big fucking deal) since I am not a techie at all.
I wrote this post and recipe on my iPhone so the recipe isn’t as fancy as when I write on my MacBook.
I will go back when I have a second and jazz it up a little.
