Last Minute Details

My Greece trip is so close, I can almost taste it (or maybe that is the yogurt I am eating as a midday snack). Either way, a car is swinging by the house on Friday to carry me to the airport. Between now and then, life will be total chaos.

Thankfully, my bags are mostly packed. I started throwing clothes in my suitcase on Monday (thank goodness for Memorial Day). I also started collecting my toiletries and must have items- my passport, e-tickets, Bible, journal, charging cords, ect... I am trying really hard to keep my bag at 40lbs or less. The hard part is that I won't have access to laundry facilities while I'm gone, so I have to pack enough items to keep myself fresh even if I spill or drop something on my clothes (which is a given with me).

In addition to packing, I'm trying to squeeze in as much time with my fam as possible. Hubs and I will celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary on Saturday, June 4th. To make up for the fact that I am going to be gone already, we are making all of our favorite (healthy) meals this week and trying to spend as much time together as we can. Speaking of Hubs- can I just give him a shout out and say that he is looking stellar!!! Quite a few people who see him on an irregular basis haven't even recognized him. In fact, one of my dearest coworkers said that she saw a very good looking man waiting in a car outside of her work window the other day and she was wondering who he was- sure enough, it was my handsome husband! I love you Honey!

Together, Hubs and I have been trying to spend a lot of quality time playing with the dogs before I leave. Mom and Dad were down over Memorial Day weekend and they helped me pull out Grace's splash pool; she practically lives in it over the summer months. I got the pool all scrubbed down and filled it up for her. To my surprise, Judson also went in for a dip, which is pretty unheard of. He also brought a dead bird into the house on Monday, but that was less surprising...

In other news, I totally chopped my hair off. I call this my Opa! haircut. It is a pretty daring cut, but I'm feeling spicy with my new svelte(r) figure. Have I mentioned that I've lost over 50 pounds! Losing 50 pounds was actually my Greece goal and I met it two weeks early. Awesome. I hope you have a beautiful, blessed day.

Grimsvötn What?

Volcanic Ash is Raining on my Parade!

This morning I heard on the news that a volcano is currently erupting in Iceland. Why is this so important to me? Well, I guess the same thing happened last year and it grounded flights across Europe for 6 days!

Thankfully, all of the articles I’ve been reading claim that the volcano seems to be dying down. In addition, it seems the ash from this volcano is heavier than last year’s- causing it to fall to earth at a faster rate. At the same time, the exact impact that this eruption will have on air travel remains to be seen. It sounds like a lot depends on the weather and on how long the volcano will continue to spew it’s ash (on Saturday, it was shooting the ash 6 miles up in the air- crazy).

I’m fervently praying that the ash will not prevent me from flying out next week. This is an excellent reminder that God is in control- not me (amen).

Inch by Inch, Row by Row

Hubs and I planted our garden this past week. We planted tomatoes (grape, roma, and beefsteak), cucumbers, zucchini, red peppers, jalapenos, carrots, two types of lettuce, broccoli, white onion, and green onions.

Ketchup or Catsup?

So, I’ve hatched this crazy plan to make my own ketchup. What on earth would make me want to do something like that?

Motivator #1: Meet me in St. Louis starring Judy Garland. Tell me you know the scene in the kitchen where the family is trying to convince Katie to move dinner time, so that Rose can receive a private phone call from Warren in New York (thinking he’s going to propose)- all the while trying to season a batch of ketchup. This specific scene has always fascinated me and is really what got me interested in general canning several years ago. Since then, I have canned jams, jellies, apple butter, pear butter, pickles, and salsas.

Motivator #2: Homemade ketchup is much lower in sugar than the stuff bought off the grocery store shelves (and it is void of all those gross additives and saturated fat). This fits in well with the new lifestyle Hubs and I have adopted this year. Even better, you can jazz up your homemade ketchup with onion, chili powder, and fresh parsley—and you not only get a flavor that beats anything on the supermarket shelf, but you'll benefit from a concentrated dose of lycopene, courtesy of the tomatoes. (Our bodies actually absorb this antioxidant better when the tomatoes are cooked, as they are in ketchup.) Lycopene can decrease your risk of several types of cancers as well as heart disease. The antioxidant also helps eliminate skin-damaging free radicals caused by ultraviolet rays. Hooray for homemade ketchup!

The ketchup recipe I have my eye on comes from Saveur. It’s a great base recipe, allowing you to customize the recipe to suit your tastes. You can make it thicker or thinner by adjusting the cooking time up or down. What's more- this ketchup is fragrant due to the ground clove and ginger, and it gets the tiniest bit of sweetness from a few spoonfuls of brown sugar. Half a fresh jalapeno adds just a little heat. I am thinking this will be a good beginner recipe, allowing me to get my foot in the door before the summer tomato crop arrives (then I want to try this with my own tomaters and not a canned puree. Also, I want to can this, not just stick it in the fridge where it will only last about a month.

Here goes nothing…

Homemade Ketchup

Recipe from Saveur

1 28-oz. can tomato puree

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered

1 clove garlic, crushed and peeled

1/2 fresh jalapeño, stemmed and seeded

2 tbsp. dark brown sugar

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1 cup water

Pinch cayenne

Pinch celery salt

Pinch dry mustard

Pinch ground allspice

Pinch ground cloves

Pinch ground ginger

Pinch ground cinnamon

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Yields about 4 cups of ketchup (that’s about 3 1/2 pint jars)

Grab all of your fresh ingredients. Toss them into your blender with the tomato puree. Blend. Transfer to a pot. Add the spices and simmer over medium heat for 45 minutes to an hour. Cool and bottle.

"Börk, börk, börk!"

Last night, I got home late because my train was delayed outside of the city (boo hoo). It was so frustrating to be standing on the train platform in high heat and humidity- without any idea of when the next train would arrive. Not to mention the fact that there were not that many people around and just the day before, one of the girls in my office was approached by a man who supposedly hangs out at the train stations (this according to the police).

By the time I finally walked through my front door, it was already past 6 o’clock. When this would happen in the past, Hubs and I would run over to McDonald's or Burger King to grab some last minute food, but we’ve changed- dramatically (OK, so sometimes we will still run to Subway last minute for subs, but that is really the exception and not the rule).

Last night, I headed to the pantry to grab some inspiration from my Skinny Taste recipe printouts. Hallelujah- we had all of the ingredients to make one of the newer recipes- Swedish meatballs (just typing “Swedish meatballs” makes me wish I was at IKEA).

The meatballs were simple to make and downright delicious! I mean the meatballs were awesome, but the gravy that went on top of them was completely out of this world.

The best thing about this recipe is that 5 meatballs are only 4 WW points (including the gravy).

You need to try these…

Swedish Meatballs
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 5 meatballs • Old Points: 4 pt • Points+: 5 pt
Calories: 213.5 • Fat: 10 g • Protein: 25.1 g • Carb: 8.5 g • Fiber: 1 g • Sugar: 2 g
Sodium without adding salt: 346 mg

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 celery stalk, minced
• 1/4 cup minced parsley
• 1 lb 93% lean beef
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 2 cups reduced sodium beef stock
• 2 oz light cream cheese
  

In a large deep saute pan, heat oil on medium heat, add onions and garlic; sauté until onions are translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add celery and parsley and cook until soft, about 3-4 more minutes. Let cool a few minutes

In a large bowl combine beef, egg, onion mixture, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and allspice. Mix well and form meatballs with your hands 1/8 cup each (fill 1/4 cup then divide the meat in half).

Add beef stock to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and slowly drop meatballs into the broth. Cover and cook about 20 minutes. Remove the meatballs with a slotted spoon and set aside in a serving dish. Strain the stock, add to blender with cream cheese and pulse until smooth. Return to pan and simmer a few minutes to thicken, then pour over meatballs. Garnish with parsley and serve over noodles or with toothpicks if you want to set these out as an appetizer.

This makes 22 meatballs, nutritional info is based on 5 meatballs with gravy.

*Ten points if you can identify where the title of this blog comes from

Oompa!

Here are a few things I recently nabbed for my Greece trip:

[1. A khaki Wallaroo travel hat (SPF 50), 2. sunglasses by Ralph- from a Lenscrafters half off sale (yes, they are prescription because I think I look better in specs), 3. my favorite shoes/sandals ever- Keens in mimosa/azure, 4. midnight/pomegranate sanitizer-lotion from Bath & Body Works (I also got lemon because they were on sale), 5. Charmin to-go toilet seat covers (because I've been in some disgusting bathrooms), and 6. a High Sierra daypack in blue]

Ahoy Matey

I went into the college bookstore yesterday to buy an encouragement card for my amazing student worker (It's finals week and she's swamped). I did end up buying a really sweet card with a squirrel on it, but I also found something else...

Here's the story- Shockingly, I hadn't been in the bookstore for a while, so I took the opportunity to have a quick look around. I always like to look at the recommended books, the clearance section and the t-shirts.

I casually made my way over to the scarf section, when my eyes fell on a small bowl containing what looked like rope bracelets in a myriad of colors. They were rope bracelets! The sign on the bowl called them sailor's bracelets. I fell in love with their chunky design at once!

I know I could probably make one of these for myself, but I'll probably end up going back to the bookstore and buying one with my staff discount instead (I should have gotten one when I was there, but I wasn't feeling impulsive enough).

Here they are (I really like the blue and white one):