Western Warmth: January 2014

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

I'm more of a functional cook, than a "make it look pretty" cook. I'll start out with that warning.

But then I'll tell you that being efficient equals less time in the kitchen. So there's that.

I've found with a few simple ingredients you can have something hot, homemade and with much less chemicals than in the tubes or frozen.

Even better...in less time. It was "an aha moment" when I made my store-bought frozen biscuits that bake for 25 minutes the second or third time and realized that this recipe could be done in about half that time, start to finish.

Source

Basic Biscuits

2 C flour

1 t salt

3 t baking powder

1 C milk

1/3 C oil

Mix together until barely combined (don't overbeat). Drop by spoonful onto cooking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees 12-15 minutes.

Monday, January 27, 2014

new poem

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Real Words

Hi! It's Bobi! For realz! I've been posting a lot of picture posters lately that speak to me. But I also want to share with you my heart since that is why I am here on the web.

I've discovered roller skating. Per my dream board you can see that I am hoping to purchase my own skates. I went from trying it (after about 25 years) with my kids one day to being totally in love with it as a hobby. I can go for 3 hours straight, get blisters, push my muscles, get a little sweaty, and STILL love it. I really can't say that about most exercise. I've been going to a couple 3 hour sessions per week. I'm also taking a once a week hip hop dancing class, which has been a fun change, too.

I've found it really empowering to find things I love doing and experience more joy in a given day than having goals of "shoulds," like learning something or achieving some body goal, etc. Embracing things that give me JOY has been so good for the soul. Of course books (and more books, and more books) from the library are part of that. I joined a site to review books online (come! follow me!) and have been trying to keep better track of all that I read and how it affected me.

I got a guitar for Christmas along with a system to help learn it. I practiced every day for the first four days and then discovered roller skating :). I did enjoy it though, although I soon remembered why I gave it up so quickly when my brother tried teaching me as a kid. My fingers are short! They were then and they haven't grown :). It's so hard to reach some of the notes, so I'm not sure if they'll get more flexible or I'll just be instrumentally limited.

I'm healthier, a lot healthier now. I take quite a cocktail of vitamins and prescriptions, even some prescription vitamins, but I am glad to have reached a much happier balance in my brain health. I still struggle and have the occasional panic attack I just feel stronger in a position of power to combat it or know what to do to avoid it. Sadly, that seems to often include events I used to enjoy, but I have so much more peace when I listen to my heart and body rather than force myself into a negative (for myself) situation.

SO, HOW YOU DOIN'?

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

art

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Dirt Road

Monday, January 20, 2014

Chocolate Cheesecake Ice Cream (homemade)

So, it's above freezing in the midwest today (over 40 folks!!), so that means summer is practically here, right?

We wish. We're dreaming of camping and lake swimming. But since that isn't quite around the horizon yet, we chose to spend this day at home using up some of our various dairy products in the fridge. With my daughter's hankering for chocolate cheesecake and my desire to use up a couple of quarts of cream this recipe was born!

Photo Source

Chocolate Cheesecake Ice Cream

2 qts heavy cream

1 1/2 packages of cream cheese

1 C sugar

1/2-1 C cocoa powder to taste

Using the blender (1/2 batch at a time) whip the cream cheese and cocoa and sugar into the cream. Then pour into the Ice cream freezer and make according to your ice cream maker's directions. We have an electric one that takes ice and rock salt in layers around it and several hours to make. If you have a smaller self-contained counter variety you may need to alter the recipe for quantity as I know those can be smaller.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Lovin' up the Chalkboard

I've told you I have a chalkboard wall in my kitchen, right? Almost two years strong, and haven't regretted it a bit!

Today I decided to wipe it down and change it up. The next upcoming holidays for us are our 15th anniversary! and Valentine's Day. I sought out inspiration on the web and it did not disappoint. Here is some of the words and designs I plan to adorn the wall with later tonight:

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Scripture Memes

It's that time again...

Preparing my church lesson

I think in pictures

So I made memes

with the pertinent

scriptures for my lesson

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Movie Suggestions from my Friends

So, I crowd-sourced a few months ago on Facebook (of course) and got movie suggestions from my friends. Here's the thing with me and movies. We don't get together often. This could be considered sad, but its got its benefits. I am SO BEHIND that someone can suggest a movie from pretty much anytime and it can be brand new to me! Wheeee!

So, for my own reference I am going to post the list here. I'm not endorsing these movies myself, as I've obviously seen none of them, but if you like recommendations and this gives you a starting point, enjoy!