AMANDA'S BASKETS: NEW YEAR'S EVE and I'M FINALLY FEELING GOOD!!!

Thursday, December 31, 2015

NEW YEAR'S EVE and I'M FINALLY FEELING GOOD!!!

Another year is rolling to an end and the new one gearing up. The good thing about today is that I feel well for the first time since before Christmas!! Even went to pick up a few things at the community grocery store.

And...AND...I have been cooking. First time since Christmas...really! So what have I cooked. Well, I picked up a small bag of pita low salt chips to snack on. Then I thought...'Um, humus would sure go good with these.' So I made some humus.

As I was working on that I thought that I haven't had any pea soup for a while. So, I got the pea soup going in the crockpot.

Next, I realized that the heavy cream which I just bought was not needed for my eggnog recipe. So, I thought...'How does one make clotted cream?' Off to the computer to find a recipe. Easy...whip the cream to stiff peaks, add some sour cream and confectioner's sugar (both of which I had).

But now that I had the clotted cream made what to serve it on? Well, I had oranges and cranberries plus flour, sugar, etc. Orange/cranberry scones sounded good. They're cooling right now.

Finally, I realized that I have almost always had hoppin' John's for New Years. Out came the black eyed peas, the couple small breakfast patties, onions, carrots and seasonings. After a quick soak, I added the veggies and sausage and seasonings which I had already precooked. As soon as the black eyed peas are done, I will add the rice and hot sauce. (Just added the rice!!)

See what I mean...I cooked. Still haven't eaten except small tastes of the clotted cream and humus.

One doesn't value feeling well until you don't. I know that lesson well but it seems that I have to relearn it every time. If things keep going like this, I will definitely be able to enjoy some of those Christmas decorations missed earlier.

Of course, my days have also been full of...yep...you guessed it...football. The next two games will decide who goes to the College Playoff Game on the 11th. Those I am looking forward to...should be interesting.

If you are going out and enjoying New Year's Eve parties, I hope you have fun but please be safe. I'll be watching the ball drop...alas...from my apartment. But very thankful for the gift of another year completed and the anticipation of the new one beginning.

Thanks for stopping by...

Talk to you tomorrow...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?