Speculoos has nothing to do with doctors

Speculoos, as I learned today, are actually Belgian spiced shortbread cookies. For those of us who fly Delta, think Biscoff cookies. Yeah. Delicious. This is the recipe I found online:

Ingredients:
2c AP flour
2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ginger
1/4 t. allspice
1/4 t. cloves
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1 c. butter, soft
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
(it called for additional sugar to sprinkle on top, but I omitted that)

Instructions:
You combine everything before the butter in one bowl, then everything else in another, then add the two together. Roll out the dough and cut with cookie cutters or press it into a cookie sheet. Bake at 350: shapes bake for 12-15 min, a sheet for 20-25 min. Cool on a cooling rack and serve!

Because we don't fly often, I thought I'd try to make the cookies from scratch as a treat. My husband had a hop flight to Raleigh, NC from Atlanta for a conference. He remembered how much we enjoyed the Biscoff cookies we shared from our flights to and from Honduras last summer. So he brought me his pack of cookies and we shared them over cups of tea while listening to a sermon we had missed from church. <3 (Yes, I've been dubbed a "theological flirt" and it fits.) He said that he thought about eating them, but knew he'd enjoy sharing them with me more than eating both himself. So thoughtful!

Ok, before you all get sick from our sappiness...the verdict on these cookies?

They're make-you-drool delicious. Would I say they taste "just like" a Biscoff? Hmm, pretty close. They taste like the wholesome, not mass-produced version, which in some ways is actually BETTER than the processed variety. They're true-buttery, flavorful, and crisp. I'd definitely make them again, especially around Christmas.

Here's the original link to the blog where I got the recipe. http://matzoandrice.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/speculoos-belgian-spice-cookies/

Gravy: the good, the bad, and the worst for you

I grew up in the South. We often ate a breakfast of biscuits and milk gravy with the occasional sausage gravy. Whoever decided that this kind of substance was "good for you" probably deserved the heart attack they died from. But man, was that stuff delicious.

In honor, or I should say "memory" of whoever that was, here are recipes for three southern tradition gravies that are sure to send you to an early grave, but you'll go the whole way smiling!

1. Mom's Milk Gravy (all amounts in all recipes are estimates)
1 T bacon grease
1 T AP flour
6 c. milk
Salt/Pepper to taste

Heat the bacon grease in a large skillet until melted. Add flour and whisk to make a stiff roux, continue to cook until the roux begins to brown. Add milk "until it looks like you've ruined it." Continue to whisk constantly until the gravy thickens to desired consistency, about 10 minutes, then add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve on top of freshly baked biscuits.

2. Sausage gravy
Same thing as above, but with sausage grease and add 1/2 lb. cooked, crumbled sausage with the milk.

3. Red-eye gravy (also called Stricker gravy)
1 slice country cured ham
1 cup hot coffee

Fry the ham in its own juice. When done, remove ham and add coffee to ham fat, scraping the bottom to incorporate.

What are some other delicious but artery-clogging recipes you use to indulge?

I finally broke out my Christmas present...and made AWESOME!!!

My mom is too cool.  Even though I'm probably one of the most difficult people to buy presents for, she consistently comes up with wonderful gifts that brighten my life.  This Christmas, she waded through the Black Friday crowds to get a great deal on a Ninja (trademarked) blender.  Because its specialty is icy beverages, I waited until the weather warmed up to break it out and give it a thorough test run.

The recipe I made was frozen strawberry lemonade.  I used several large frozen strawberries, about eight large ice cubes, the juice of two Meyer lemons, and a smidgen of sugar, and put about one and one-half cups of water in the mix to round it out.

This is a very mean brew to make with a standard blender, with frozen fruit as well as ice cubes, and I think the new addition did very well.  I did have to remove the lid and poke a few of the topmost ice cubes down to where the blades could chop them, since they floated on top of the mixture halfway into blending, but I think an extra set of blades would have been the only way to get that to change.  It chopped both frozen things and made a drink with incredible consistency--we even had to break out the straws!

I'll probably still keep my old blender for a backup, but this one is much more powerful (and actually chops ice without making screeching death sounds and leaving massive chunks).

With summer on the way, it's great to be able to stop ogling those amazing smoothie concoctions on Pinterest and start making a few of my own!  We make lhassis, smoothies, milkshakes, and juice blends often, and this will be great for all of those things!

With a baby on the way, it's nice to know that I have a powerful, easy-to-clean blender to help me mix baby food on the fly.  I love the idea of offering Minja some nutritious, whole food blends that are fresh from the garden, rather than buying over-processed baby food.  I'm even planning on steaming/canning my own jarred baby food this summer so that I will have some ready to supplement whatever our table has to offer next season as well.

So, for those interested, here's the recipe in line form.  Crack out those blenders and enjoy this amazing weather!

Frozen Strawberry Lemonade
8-12 large, frozen strawberries
8 ice cubes
the juice of 2 medium lemons (I used Meyer, but normal is good, too.  1 1/2 large lemons should be fine)
1 1/2-2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar (to taste--we don't like much sweet, so we used even less)

Add all ingredients to the hopper of a good blender.  Blend until smooth.  Scoop into cups and enjoy immediately.  Yields 3 tall glasses of delicious strawberry lemonade!

Seed starting

I adore me some gardening. Though I'm in no way an expert and tend to try far more than works out, I adore the entire process.  I love weeding, I love seed starting, I love planting, I love watering, I love watching things grow, I love harvesting, and I love fertilizing plants.  I love summer storms when God waters my plants for me.

I decided that I would make gardening a priority this year.  One reason is that I'm pregnant and the exercise will be great for me.  The other is that I would love to have healthy, home-grown fuel to power this growing baby.  Another is that it gives me goals to look forward to.  Honestly, it can be a little dreary living in someone else's home with little responsibility when you're itching to enjoy family life.

So, about two months ago, I kept every kind of container I could think of so I could start seedlings.  Cardboard boxes, plastic boxes, tea boxes, cardboard and plastic egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, and one electronics box that I don't know quite what it is.

Those assorted containers are now filled with moist soil and there have been seeds germinating in them for about two days.

I'll blog later about which containers did well, how easy/difficult transplanting was, and which seeds win the sprouting prize!

Here's the starter list:
Muscadine grapes
Parsley
Oregano
Rosemary
Basil
Marigold
Phlox
Tomatoes

How to handle your money better

I've come to love learnvest.com.  It is the tool I use to cringe at my budget, and is much more non-math-person friendly than Excel or Word, which is how I used to keep our budget.  It lets me set savings goals, subtract bill payments from the rest of the budget, and create custom folders so I can manage where the money goes as well as see when we're approaching going over budget in any of the folders.  This is especially useful since I can update and change the budget any time.  I rarely "know" how much income we're going to have until it actually comes in, so I can edit the income and add money to whichever folders are high on my triage list.

The less income we have, the more I'm looking for ways to make it stretch.  I was super happy to see this article: http://www.learnvest.com/2012/03/7-habits-of-highly-effective-money-managers/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=lvdaily&utm_campaign=read-on

Here are the principles from it (because that's what I'm most interested in) that can help anyone move toward handling money more responsibly:

1. Make a promise and keep it. 

 A promise is a goal that you're held accountable to reach.  Someone who doesn't keep a promise is a liar, someone who doesn't reach a goal just "didn't make it."  Tie your integrity to what you're trying to accomplish.    I might be able to make a promise with my husband about what we'll put away in savings this month.  

2. Trade stress for focus

 Stressing about things doesn't make them happen.  Instead, choose to focus on that thing and actual tenable steps you can take toward accomplishing it.  This comes easier to me than to most people.  

3. Be informed about your purchases

 You can't have enough information.  Impulse buys are financially stupid--the more you "shop around" the better.  I love using the internet to search for better ways to get something.  I saved thousands on textbooks alone during college by not just showing up at the college bookstore with a list in hand--I got the information early and shopped online for used textbooks.  

4. Consistency is mandatory. 

 You can't give up dumb spending for Lent.  This is all your life or don't bother.  You must change who you are, not just what you do.  There is no such thing as "we're doing better, so I can blow more money now."  That opportunity of having a good month is a great time to further your financial goals.  

5. Be conscientious (self-discipline, need for achievement, and organization)

I am definitely high on the conscientious scale, but my mom takes the cake on this one.  I'm self-disciplined and organized, but I don't necessarily feel a need for achievement.  I think tying goals into promises will help me on that area, because then I'll have a very good reason to achieve those things.  

6. Be able to calculate.  "Brush up your math skills!"

 Ugh.  This is my weakest of the seven.  I tend to rely on my husband to do the math for me, as I can barely count to 20 without having to think about it.  Ask me to explain the parts of speech, and I'll be all over it.  I think there are 8, but that's a number.  I may bring a calculator with me on grocery shopping trips.  

7. Delay gratification

This one is so hard for our generation.  Few of us had parents who, when we asked for X item, told us to "save up for it."  My sister and I used to make plans on how many teeth we would have to lose before we could buy a certain toy horse.  Christmas and birthday money was well planned out, too.  We pooled our money, and I don't know how many teeth we lost, but we eventually had a whole box of toy horses.  

You can get the game/CD/DVD when the price goes down.  You can watch the movie in the cheap theatre or wait until it comes out on DVD.  You can wait for a coupon to get that item.  You can buy that or you can grow your own.  You can learn to make your own.  

Each time you delay gratification and it saves you money, write down how much you saved.  Keep a log of it. Some people do this and put the saved money away for a yearly vacation.  

The other thing to emphasize about delayed gratification is that this does not conflict with the consistency bit.  Your money is there, in part, for you to enjoy.  This does not mean that enjoying your money is equivalent to frivolously blowing it.  Even in your fun, maximize your savings.  The planning and information-gathering actually adds to the anticipation of planning a vacation or event.  

I have some principles to work on!  Which ones are the most difficult for you?  How can you work on them?

Making Food While Pregnant. Period. Amazing is irrelevant.

Hormones have not changed my love of cooking, nor have they taken away my enjoyment of a good meal.  Au contraire, eating has taken on a whole new meaning, as it is the primary way I fend off nausea.  But the nausea becomes a whole new obstacle in cooking.  Just the other day, in the middle of making tomato basil soup (recipe below) for my husband's dinner, my body decided that it couldn't handle the smell of tomato basil soup.  He had to finish cooking the food himself as I hunkered down in the bedroom to avoid smelling the kitchen.  Another aspect of this is that I skip "hungry" and go straight to "nauseated."  This means that I will not feel like standing and cooking a meal while waiting to eat.

Thankfully, the latter issue is relatively easy to fix.  I grab a cereal bar, a piece of fruit, or some graham crackers and peanut butter, and I can snack while I prepare the meal.  Bye bye, nausea, hello, breakfast!

To the aversions, I'm not sure what to do quite yet.  I'm only 7 weeks along, so I know that fried foods and strong-smelling foods are not doing so hot for me.  I can avoid those, but smells come with cooking.  Ahh, well.  We shall see how it all goes.

Now, to the recipe for a delicious tomato soup (unless you're in your first trimester)

1 quart canned tomatoes, juice and all (I home-canned mine)
1/2 cup cooking wine or apple juice (apple juice is usually cheaper)
2 slices bacon, cooked
1 onion
1 clove garlic
a few leaves of basil
a tiny bit of lemon juice or zest

You can cook the onion and garlic in the bacon grease for an easy flavor enhancer.  If you do this, you may even be able to put the bacon pieces into the tomato stuff whole and fish them out later, so you get the flavor without mouthfuls of bacon fat.  Or, if you really like bacon, you can just cut up the bacon and put it in.  Other than sauteing the onion and garlic and cooking the bacon, just toss it all in a pan, be sure you mash the tomatoes with a fork or whisk, and cook until desired thickness.  If you chop up the basil leaves, you can leave them in as well.

Slider heaven

My dear husband always encourages me/us to eat healthily--organic, all-natural, complex carbs, veggies, free-range....

But he LOVES hamburgers.  In fact, after a foray through Five Guys, the next night he was still craving a good burger.  Apparently his appetite was only whetted.  So I intervened.

In the same pan, I fried an egg (runny yolk), a couple slices of bacon, cooked some small turkey burgers (for a recipe, see previous post on burgers), and sauteed onions, garlic, and mushrooms.  

The bottom layer or "bun" was a piece of sourdough bread that I lightly buttered and turned upside down onto the pan to "grill" or "toast."  Next came a little mayo and mustard and some spinach leaves as a lettuce substitute.  Then the burger and a half piece of all natural Vermont white cheddar, followed by the mushroom/onion mixture, the egg, and topped it all off with a slice of bacon, curled as a garnish.  I used a toothpick to hold it all together, and it caused the yolk to drip down over the entire dish.  In short, it was fantastic.  He ate three that evening and two the next.

I haven't heard a peep about burgers since!  Mwahaha!  And all that with only 1 lb of turkey meat and a couple slices of bacon.  (We normally use turkey bacon, but this was given to us so we're using it)

I'd like to make one with avocado next time, and maybe some sauteed bell peppers.  The more veggies, the better!