Hurry up, now wait.

Hurry up, now wait.

I feel like that is the story of my life.

I have always been in a hurry to get where I am going, even if I wasn't exactly sure where that was.  I graduated from high school a year early.  I finished my first bachelors degree in under four years.  In each case, I was in a rush to get to the next thing.  I felt that way in my most recent tenure in grad school.  I just wanted to get through, so I could start doing the work.  Then once I was doing the work, I just wanted to finish my hours so I could get licensed and move on to what ever was next.  

Getting laid off is compelling me to change my ways.  As challenging as it has been financially for me, it has forced me to slow down, take a breath and has blessed me with the opportunity to think more strategically about what I want my career to look like.  I am reminded that I am going to spend the next thirty years, at least, working - often more than I want to - so being a bit more methodical and less rushed is really the best gift I could give myself at this stage in my career.  What a challenging and good gift.  

Adventures in cake baking...continued!

I have been trying to expand my food choices, develop a whole foods and plant based way of eating, and try to find new ways to enjoy food.  And I miss cake.  There I said it.  I have missed delicious sweet treats, that up until recently I would pour out of a box, plop in a couple of eggs and oil and call it good.  I am trying to get away from that.  I am trying to eat foods that I understand what is in it and how I feel after eating it.

With that in mind, I have been experimenting with baking.  I wanted to make a chocolate cake that my family (picky no veggie or healthy food lovin boys!) would enjoy and that I could share with my vegan friends.  So I started with my good old Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook and checked out the chocolate cake recipe.

The basic chocolate cake is as follows:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour, which made the cake a bit more dense.)
1 teaspoon baking power
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup Earth Balance Butter (vegan)
1 3/4 cups pure cane sugar
1/2 cup silken tofu (processed in the food processor)
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (100% cacao baking chocolate), melted and cooled.
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients and set to the side. In a large mixing bowl eat the butter on medium high for 30 seconds.  Add sugar, beat until combined.  Add tofu and continue beating.  Beat in chocolate and vanilla.   Add dry mixture and 1 1/3 cups water alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just till combined.  Pour batter into pan(s) and bake.  I used a bundt pan and it took 50 minutes.  Use a wooden toothpick to test the cake starting at about 35 minutes and then go from there depending on what type of pan you use.

For the frosting - I jumped on Pinterest and explored vegan recipes.  I wanted something chocolaty and decadent. I was lead to a recipe on The Cupcake Project's  website.  They got the recipe from Vegetarian Times and made their own version, which I took and made my own version.

3/4 cup silken tofu
3 ounces of chocolate (I used unsweetened, but next time I am going to use sweetened)
1/4 cup pure cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place tofu in a food processor or blender, pulse until smooth.  Add vanilla, pulse.  Melt the chocolate in a double broiler or microwave. Pour the chocolate into tofu, pulse until mixed together.  If you use unsweetened chocolate, you might will want to add the sugar here, pulse.

It makes a smooth easy to spread chocolaty frosting that completely covered the bunt cake.

It turned out great!  Very rich and chocolaty!!  Everyone asked for seconds, so it must of been a hit.  Now I just have to figure out how to get some veggies hidden in there....

Morning Glorious!

I have been wanting try out some new juicing recipes for a while.  I have been doing smoothies a couple of times a week and have really enjoyed it.  We have a fancy juicer that we got as a wedding gift, and it was gently placed on the highest shelf in the house when we moved in here.  So this morning I asked the kiddo, who is now the tallest person in the house at 6 feet even, to reach it down for me.

Today I tried a recipe from Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr, called the Morning Glorious.  The recipe is as follows:
1 larger cucumber
A fist full of kale
A fist full of romaine
2 or 3 stalks of celery (I used 2 as I think celery has a really strong taste in juice)
1 big broccoli stem
1 green apple, quartered (I used a pink crisp as it was all that I had on hand)
1/2 peeled lemon, quartered

I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about how it would taste.  I have experimented a bit with juicing in the past and have learned that one flavor can really take over a juice.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  It has a very mild flavor, slight sweet with a bit of an almost salty after taste.  It's a beautiful green color and poured over a bit of ice, I found it to be completely refreshing.

Keys..

Thanksgiving weekend my car keys went missing.  We searched the house high and low.  We had done several house projects and been to Home Depot a dozen times, so we called there to check.  We were in my parents truck, and searched it multiple times. No matter how hard I tried, I could not remember where I had put them.  The hubs had driven my car on Thanksgiving morning to run to the store, but he swore up and  down that he had taken my extra set of keys that were still hanging on the key rack.  

A couple of times since moving into our house, I have come home from work, unlocked the door and forgot my keys in the lock.  The hubs usually came in behind me and would pull them out of the lock and bring them in the house while making fun of me for leaving them.  We have a screen door, so you wouldn't notice them from the outside, unless you walked up and opened the screen door.  So in the last few months I have had a few moments of panic, where I thought maybe I had left them in the door and someone had taken them.

From the very beginning of this ordeal, the hubs has sworn that he had never touched my keys.  I have continued to look everywhere and it was like they just disappeared from the earth.  Fast forward to this past Saturday.  We decided during a sun break that we were going to work in the yard.  Hubs goes to pull on his U of O hoodie that has been hanging on the coat rack forever.  Guess what he found in the pocket?  You got it...my keys. All's well, that ends well I suppose.  At least it wasn't me that lost them this time... :)

We've almost got the spirit...

It's been a little rough around here lately.  Lots of transition and unknown, more on that later, which are not encouraging the Christmas Spirit.  But finally today, Gage and I decorated the tree, I wrapped the gifts and it's finally looking a bit like Christmas at the Mongoose Manor.

We also got a dusting of snow, which helped move us along...

Now, just two more days of work then we are off to spend the holiday with Nena and Pa.
Happy Holidays everyone!

Hello 37.

37 arrived yesterday out of no where.

I rolled over, snuggled deep beneath my covers, 

and there it was, staring me right in the eyes.  

I haven't decided if we are going to be friends, yet.

It came on a little strong from the get go, 

leaving dripping roofs and mud puddles.

It left me lonely, as one by one my loves left the house.

Today, we have eased into a mutual understanding, 

that with the rain, there too, needs to be some sun.  

37 arrived yesterday, and I am not sure yet how I feel. 

Blissful Bites #10

This week was about self-care.  I am the first to tell you that self-care is oh so important to being able to be the best person you want to be.  Yet sometimes, I am the last person to take that good advice.  So here are some moments of simple self-care that helped this week.

1) Time off!  I took off three days and only checked my work email twice.  I am getting better at being away.  I have sometimes found it hard to be away since entering community mental health.  I find myself worrying about clients who may currently be more vulnerable.  I will continue to work at finding balance in my life and not let work override my personal life.

2) Camping with the Fam!  We spent four days and three nights on the Umpqua River.  It was lovely weather that ran the gamut of  gorgeous, sunny and warm to muggy, expansive thunderstorms, to cool foggy mornings.  It was perfect.

3) Loving on my sweet sweet nephews!  My parents had three of my four nephews with them this weekend, so I got to spend hours lovin' on them.  We played in the park, swung on the swings, played an amazing game of red light green light where I learned that purple light was a dance party, which by the way was tooooo cute for words!

4) Quality time with my parents!  I do love spending time with them.  I am very blessed to count them as my dearest friends.

It was a great weekend and I can't wait to see the pictures everyone posts up to Facebook as the week unfolds.  I also cannot wait to sleep in my own bed tonight!  That's real self-care!!