loose-wintry-watercolor-landscape-11.5-x-16.5-140lb-arches-cold-press
“The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.”― Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat
For those of you dealing with this cold, cold weather, stay warm and dry.
Wishing you a Dr. Seuss kind of day.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
It was so cold this past Sunday and hunkering in was the order of the day. While watching football playoffs (our Pittsburgh Steelers won!), I wanted a no fuss, but warm and comforting dinner to eat afterwards.
Beef chuck roasts are so versatile and cook so tender and juicy in the crockpot. I make them a variety of ways, but wanted to try something new and different, and this Cuban Shredded Beef was just the ticket! So yummy over a bed of rice with beans! We’ll surely be eating them wrapped in tortillas this week too.
A tiny bit of a spicy kick and tons and tons of flavor make this easy recipe a new winner in my book. And if you can’t get warmed up on the outside, this one will warm you up from the inside out!
I adapted this recipe slightly from Little Spice Jar.
Ingredients
Directions:
Make 3 deep “x” cuts into the chuck roast. Insert 3 whole garlic cloves into the cuts. Season both sides of the meat with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet. Add the chuck roast and fry on each side for 5 minutes to sear. Don’t cover the pan as the meat will end up steaming rather than searing.
Chop the remaining 3 cloves of garlic, and add to crockpot along with all the remaining ingredients except for the lime. Cover and let cook on the low setting for 7-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. When the beef falls apart easily when pulled with two forks, it’s done. Shred the beef with the forks and stir.
Serve over a bed of rice with beans on the side topped with additional cilantro and a few lime wedges. You can also use the shredded beef for burritos, quesadillas or tacos.
Enjoy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Cozy
Warm, crackling fire,
Soft blanket,
Brand-new fuzzy socks,
A favorite sweatshirt inside-out.
Broken-in space on the couch,
Smooshed pillows,
A furry four-legged friend,
A long-time love.
Dark red wine,
Creamy Godiva chocolate truffles,
Football playoffs,
Tender beef simmering in the crock pot.
Cold January Sundays
can be so cozy.
Cold January Sundays
can be the best.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Goldfinch – Winter – Mars, PA 01-06-17
When you love what you have,
you have everything you need.
(Oh to be so pretty AND so smart!! 😉)
(author unknown)
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Enjoy the little things in life.
One day you will look back
and realize
they were the big things.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Quick & Easy Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry
What a lovely treat it was to make for dinner earlier this week after all of the rich party foods of the holidays.
After prime rib and tenderloin and rich macaroni and cheese casseroles and haluski and snacks and cookies for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, followed by the generous bereavement food gifts, the New Year’s Eve snacks and New Year’s Day kielbasa and sauerkraut, it was wonderful to make a clean, quick and simple winner winner chicken and broccoli stir fry dinner with whole wheat pasta.
This is so simple and so delicious, it is a perfect go-to staple for a weeknight dinner. I’ll bet it would be great with shrimp too for a change up, but I was really in the mood for chicken. Chicken is the one protein I actually crave.
Here is the recipe as I adapted slightly from what I found at Damn Delicious. Hope you will enjoy as much as we did.
Ingredients:
Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, sesame oil and Sriracha; set aside. Reserve 2 tablespoons.
In a medium bowl, combine reserved 2 tablespoons sauce and chicken; set aside to marinade. This can be done several hours ahead to tenderize and flavor chicken.
Cook pasta according to package instructions. In the last 2 minutes of cooking time, add broccoli. Rinse and drain well.
While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet, add chicken, and cook until golden, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in pasta, broccoli and remaining sauce until heated through and coated, about 2 minutes.
Serve immediately, garnished with sesame seeds.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
watercolor floral in red – 9×11 300 lb cold press
Splashing water and paint
and creating something loose and lovely
and open to interpretation.
It has been a while since I’ve given myself
the luxury and gift of time to watercolor
with all the busyness of the holidays followed by the loss of my brother.
And what a lovely gift it was for me
to take just 15 or 20 minutes
and lose myself in the process of creativity.
It’s a wonderful thing to take time for yourself
and do something you love, because when you do,
you are a better person to be around.
Thanks to Andrew Geeson for his wonderful
inspiration of loose watercolor painting
that nudged me to do this.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Everyone needs a purpose in life.
The older I get, and the more I experience new life (like the birth of my first grandchild), and the deaths of those I love (like the recent loss of my brother), the more I ponder my life’s purpose…. the legacy I might leave behind… how people will remember me.
When I started this blog two and a half years ago on May 18, 2014 – just for fun and on the encouragement of my BFF’s daughter (my McHendy daughter, Jackie), I wasn’t sure what I was doing or what to expect. I think I secretly thought I might be the next Ree Drummond or Rachel Ray and get rich and famous. It was all about me.
But after posting daily for almost 1,000 days, it’s become something very different. It hasn’t brought me the kind of fame or fortune I clandestinely fantasized about in the beginning. But what it has become – is a purpose… a personal mission of sorts… a small way of giving to the world… a place to encourage (and maybe even inspire) people to embrace the simple moments of life to cherish… especially those “in between” moments.
I have a very fulfilling career and full-time job I love that keeps me busy as the Director of Strategic Projects and Office of the CEO for a hospice and home health company. I have a husband of almost 35 years, two grown sons, an amazing daughter-in-law and another soon-to-be, and a baby granddaugher that bring such joy to my life (and of course there is also Charlie!). I have the most amazing BFFs a “girl” could ask for.
Yet, I still believe I need to have something that is my personal legacy, and that is what my blog has grown to be for me. When I consider my few talents and gifts, I have often been told my greatest is that of an “encourager” or “influencer.” I’ve taken many a DISC Personality Asssessment, and I am always an out-and-out straight High “I.” I have taken “Spiritual Gift Assessments” that tell me I have the gift of “exhortation” or encouragement. Hubby tells me I have the gift of “gab!” So why not use that gift – one that comes so easily to me – to benefit others?
I have never had difficulty talking with strangers. My goal in any situation, whether it be greeting the receptionist at an office, the UPS delivery person, the garbage collector, or a less-than-happy cashier at the grocery store, is to leave them smiling. Not sure why it is important to me – but it is.
And that is my goal here too. The goal of this blog is not to “show off” what I have or what I can do or to make you think my life is all peachy and perfect. My life is not perfect. That is not what I want people to think. In fact, my life is far from perfect… like all of ours are! I have an estranged relationship with my mother, I was separated from my birth father for 39 years until six and a half years ago, my brother struggled so severely with alcoholism that he took his own life by stepping in front of a train… I struggle with my weight and have always been “chubby,” I’m not particularly attractive, I have no musical talent whatsoever…. the list could go on. I tell you this not for pity or sympathy or for you to disagree. I tell you this so that it might allow you to know that despite life’s challenges and adversity, we can still seek to find the joy. We can still be kind. We can still feel love. There are still many, many moments to cherish… And we must seek them, and we must appreciate them.
So no matter how busy my day, and knowing there is no monetary or fame reward or prize to be given for posting every day, I still make sure I do. I spend a bit of time, often late at night, writing a post that might encourage you, that might make you smile, that might inspire you to bake or cook something new or paint something, or just look at something differently. It might be a few words that will remind you of something that makes you happy. Sometimes I am typing it at 11 pm with only one eye open. Other times I get ahead by four or five posts and give myself a break. But I still make it a personal goal to post something everyday (that appears at 6am EST) for my dear followers to either start their day (if they are living in my part of the world) or end their day (for my cherished blog follower friends in Latvia or Ireland or Australia or Japan).
So even on my toughest days, I seek to find something good and encouraging, because in encouraging you, I am rewarded in an even more profound way than could be achieved with fame or fortune. I feel my life has a personal purpose. I feel I am giving something of value to the world. I feel I might be remembered… for being kind. I might be creating my legacy.
Do you think about your life’s purpose? Your legacy? What you will be remembered for?
None of us know when our last year or day or breath will be, so my simple message is: Cherish the Moments!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
On New Year’s Day, Hubby and I canned the homemade sauerkraut we made this year at Krautfest about 12 weeks ago.
In past years, we froze it in Ziploc bags, but we decided to can it this year, and I’m so glad we did. It tastes so much better this way, and no freezing and thawing.
It was really quite simple to do. We “cold-packed” it – meaning we did not heat or “cook” the sauerkraut first. We simply packed the cold sauerkraut in warm, sterile jars and processed them in a hot water bath for 25 minutes.
Easy instructions can be found HERE.
Pork or kielbasa and sauerkraut is a New Year’s dinner tradition in our home and in our area. Eating it on New Year’s Day is supposed to bring good luck and fortune in the new year.
So eat it we did! Did you eat yours?
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Today I will choose to be kind –
most especially and intentionally to those who are not.
I will remember how precious and fragile life is –
and seek to cherish the moments.
We may not remember days or weeks or months,
but we remember moments.
And life is made up of moments –
ones that bring joy…
And others that bring grief
and sadness and loss.
I will cherish those moments too
and allow myself to feel them.
For a heart that cannot grieve or feel sadness or loss
cannot also feel the fullness of joy and love and hope.
Today, and every day, I will seek to choose to be kind,
and I will also embrace the kindness of others.
For every moment
is what makes up a life.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
the creative life in between 