Comfort Candle Bereavement Gift
It only takes a spark
to get a fire going.
Create a spark today.
Be the spark today.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
(PS – thank you JH for the beautiful comfort candle bereavement gift – it touched my heart – you lit a spark)
Blue Eyed Yellow Cat Face Close Up Watercolor – 7.5 x 9.5
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done.
Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”– Andy Warhol
Just making more art!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Watercolors: Quinacridone Gold, Cerelean Blue, Opera Rose, Paynes Gray
Oodles of Zoodles.
Has anyone else joined the zoodle craze?
Low carb, low calorie, gluten free, grain free, wheat free, healthy, nutritious, unprocessed, vegetarian, cheap and and easy ZOODLES!
Zoodles are zucchini noodles. Or better put, vegetable noodles made from spiral cut zucchini. They can be used in so many ways!
I recently purchased a SpiralLife Vegetable Slicer, and couldn’t wait to give it a try. Super inexpensive at $14.99 on Amazon, it was easy to use, easy to clean, and easy on the wallet.
I made my zoodles to accompany a light dinner of Lemon Butter Chicken this week, and we loved them.
I simply sauteed them ever so briefly in olive oil with salt and pepper and a couple cloves of minced garlic. After about two minutes, I added a handful of halved grape tomatoes and a generous grating of fresh Parmigiano reggiano cheese. After sauteeing another two minutes, my zoodles were ready to serve and eat. Yum!
How are you making your zoodles?
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
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
the creative life in between 