Sew, a Few Weeks Ago...

I started something that exploded into something else.  Hmm...actually I started several things at once thinking, of course, that I was wonder woman and could handle everything smoothly.  I mean, The Pioneer Woman does it.  She was an inspiration for me and I was SURE I could do it too!
:-\


So here I sit in the middle of the night thinking, how? How does she do it?


I feel like the Grinch, standing atop the mountain looking down at Whoville and scratching his chin trying to figure out how in the world it's possible? Who knew that starting homeschooling, starting a food blog, starting a new hobby (my beloved ukulele), teaching myself to sew and deciding to start a business (Sew Pretty Sisters), aside from trying to maintain a house, a husband, a son, dogs & life would snowball into this giant load of cargo on a sled teetering atop the mountain while I stand scratching my now hairy chin and wondering, HOW?  Yes, I said hairy chin! I'm beyond 40 for heaven's sake! Hairs don't just turn gray, they turn up in places they never should exist! Oh yeah, and did I mention I decided to try to write a novel this month? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! I thought it would be a good way to improve my blogging skills.  nanowrimo.org No biggie. Fifty-thousand words in 30 days, roughly 1700 words per day. I easily speak that many words in a day, surely I can put them on paper. Humf...I'm at right around 4000. "I still have 4 days left," the crazy in me remembers.


Yeah. Snowball turns to avalanche.


So what have we been eating? Have we been eating? Have I been cooking?  What have I cooked? I've gained weight, so there's a pretty good indication there's been a LOT of bread in my diet.
:-/ 
Sandwiches. Lots of sandwiches.

Take last night for example.  I didn't bother with sandwiches last night.  This time, we just ate an entire loaf of bread with stuff on it.  OK, so it was crusty bread (which I bought) and it was slathered in cheeses, but YUM-MY was it good.

Yep. Jarred pizza sauce, mozzarella & feta on some of them. Goat cheese & cranberries on some of them, sliced tomato on some of them and all of them painted with olive oil. 


Today I cooked for Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house.  I haven't ever done that. Usually she does all the cooking because her family is very traditional about holiday dinners. I was scared to death I would screw it up because of my whole inability to follow rules or directions of any kind. You know, the whole "fly by the seat of my pants" mentality that I am renowned for. 


Sweet potatoes. Green beans. I can do this. And I did.  Did I take pictures? No. 
:-\


Seriously. How? How does she do it? (The Pioneer Woman, I mean.)


Potatoes were simple & honestly, I loved them. I've never loved that gooey, marshmallowy, syrupy stuff before, but today I actually loved it. What was it?  No biggie. Quartered about 8 large yams, put 'em in a baking dish (two dishes, actually), slathered them with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and put 'em in the oven for a couple hours on 200. (Because I was also roasting tomatoes for myself and had to keep things on a low temp.) 


Then I pulled them out of the oven, let them cool to handling temperature, peeled the skins off, chopped them into bite size pieces & tossed them into one of the baking pans. Wait! Back up. While they were cooling, I fried 5 pcs of bacon & while the bacon was cooking, I mixed 1/2 cup of butter, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, a Tbsp of molasses, and a 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup in a small pan and cooked it on low until the sugar was completely melted.  I poured that over the top, chopped the bacon into small bits and dumped it into the dish. I mixed it all with my hands. Yes, my hands. It's one of the things I love about Jamie Oliver. Lots of mixing can be done with your hands. Just be sure they're clean before you begin.


Anyway, toss that into the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Pull it out, top with large marshmallows and put them back in for another 10 minutes or until nice and melty.  Done.


Green beans were sauted in bacon grease, butter, salt, white pepper, garlic & onion. Done. Delicious. All of it. Not remotely heart healthy - any of it. But delicious still.


So, what will I do for food for the rest of the week? Got me. I know I have chicken thawing out for tomorrow. I wonder what that's going to end up being?  I wonder if I'll take pictures? Tomorrow's another day. Actually, I guess it's officially today since it's 1:30 in the morning.


One thing I love about the Grinch. He has a plan, or so he thinks. But before he can blink an eye, he finds himself joyfully flying down a mountain with a pile of stuff behind him that he can't wait to share and his faithful dog (though mistreated he'd been) stands on the top of the pile wagging his tail and smiling.  Ya gotta love Max. In the end, we love the Grinch too. Plan or no plan, flying by the seat of his pants, he figures it all out.


Maybe someday I will too.


Joyous holidays, everyone!  Feed the ones you love. Even if they're just getting sandwiches, they know you love them because you took the time to do it.


Thanks for reading!  Oh!  And Oliver's Olive Oils has FREE SHIPPING this weekend, Nov 25-28th!!!  Order something from them. The free shipping is worth a bundle in savings and their oils & vinegars are the best I've ever tried. If you're in the market for what to get me for Christmas.  ;-)


Peace!