No Regrets Abstract Watercolor
Never regret a day in your life.
Good days give happiness.
Bad days give experience.
Worst days give lessons.
Best days give memories.
(source unknown)
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Never Regret A Day
Revised Christmas To Do List
My Revised Christmas To Do List – I posted it last December and also the year before.
It is a great reminder every year around this time for all of us.
With only 10 days left until Christmas Eve (which to me is just as special a day as Christmas Day), let’s not get caught up in what is not important.
I know I could.
I still have gifts to buy, let alone have anything wrapped. I’ve barely baked, haven’t written or sent out cards yet…. The list of things I have not done yet could go on.
But the older I get, the less it matters.
I am going to cocentrate on the revised list…
I want to focus on being present, giving hugs, sending love, taking time for and with the people I love and myself.
Will you try too?
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Quick & Easy Vegetable Lo Mein
What do you make when you have A LOT of leftover spaghetti?
I made this super quick and easy vegetable lo mein last night while baking cookies for an upcoming cookie exchange.
Are you like me and have a hard time judging how much spaghetti to cook?
Our youngest son came over Sunday, so I made one of his favorite chicken dishes, Pepperoni Chicken. I wanted to make sure to make enough extra so he could take a meal or two home with him, so I got a teensy bit carried away and made two pounds of whole wheat spaghetti.
After I filled a gallon Ziploc bag about 2/3 full and he started calling “halt” to any more, I realized I still had half of what I made left.
Since I had some leftover cut up veggies, tossing them together and making a quick sauce, made this dinner come together in about 10 minutes! Can’t beat that – right?
You could really use any vegetables you have on hand. Here is how I made mine. Use it as a base recipe to flex to your taste! I imagine mushroom lovers would totally enjoy them thrown in. Want a protein? Add some leftover chicken, pork, beef, or shrimp. I’ll bet some steamed broccoli or fresh green beans and/or sliced sweet peppers would be great too! You could even toss in some water chestnuts or peanuts, walnuts, or sliced almonds.
Quick & Easy Vegetable Lo Mein
Ingredients:
- 1/2-1 lb spaghetti (I used whole wheat)
- 2 Tbsp oil (olive, sesame, canola or vegetable)
- 1/2 sweet onion chopped
- 1 cup shredded or chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup green peas
- Sauce – Whisk together:
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- Dash Sriracha hot sauce
Directions:
Heat oil in stir fry skillet. Add vegetables and cook 3-5 minutes until crisp-tender. Add spaghetti and sauce. Cook until heated through 1-2 minutes.
That’s it! Enjoy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
My First Portrait Subject in Watercolor
My Sweet C – 8 x 10 watercolor – 300 lb Artistico Fabriano
I am typically a more “impressionist” style amateur watercolor artist. (At least that is what I consider myself.) I don’t necessarily try to exactly replicate something, but more try to interpret my impression of how it makes me feel.
As many of you know, I am a new grandma for the first time, and ECSTATIC doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about that!
So you are probably not surprised that the first subject I chose to attempt a watercolor portrait of is my sweet little granddaughter.
I didn’t do her beauty justice, but the process of looking at her picture and painting her brought me a lot of joy. It was a fun experiment. I was hoping it would be nice enough to give to my son and daughter-in-law for a Christmas gift framed, but I am not happy enough with how it turned out, so that idea didn’t work out.
I decided to post it anyway, though, as my first watercolor portrait. Hopefully I will look back some day and compare it to something much better.
My sweet granddaughter, on the other hand, is absolutely perfect!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Best Ever Homemade Caramel Corn
One of the things I make every holiday season for parties and gift-giving is homemade caramel corn.
This is not your ordinary caramel corn, however; and the secret is that its made with Hulless Puff-n-Corn instead of regular popcorn.
Its super simple, makes a huge batch, and I have never taken it somewhere or given it away without being asked for the recipe.
I got this recipe years ago from my dear friend, Pam, who is, by the way, one of the best Jewish “Christmas cookie” bakers I know!
Here’s the recipe, and be warned….. it is crazy addictive!
Best Ever Homemade Caramel Corn
Ingredients:
- 2 6-oz bags Snyder Puff-n-Corn (or a brand you can get locally)
- 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
- 1 Tbsp peanut butter
- 2 cups brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup Karo light corn syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Directions:
Spray large roaster pan with Pam cooking spray, and empty both bags of Puff-n-Corn into it. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
In a large saucepan melt butter and peanut butter over medium-high heat. Once melted, add brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil. Stir constantly, and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and baking soda and stir well. Pour mixture over popcorn, and stir well to coat.
Bake in oven for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Allow to cool.
Enjoy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
The Weary World Rejoices
The Weary World Rejoices
There are always bright, beautiful spots
if only you open your eyes
and believe in the magic.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
PS – See! Told ya! yep – another Christmas song running through my head!
Baby It’s Cold Outside
Seymour Snowie – Watercolor Holiday Snowman with Cardinal – 4 1/4 x 5 1/2
Baby It’s Cold Outside…
I swear everything reminds me of some song.
No matter the discussion, I typically can break out into song about it…
or at least have a song running through my head at the same time.
(If you are anywhere nearby, you will likely hope it only runs through my head as carrying a tune is not one of my stronger talents!)
This time of year,
everything brings to mind a Christmas Carol.
It started snowing yesterday!
And turned C O L D!
I really can’t stay…. but Baby, it’s cold outside….
I’ve got to go away…. but Baby, it’s cold outside….
December snow is the best snow. It is when most of us actually get excited to see snow – as opposed to March snow – when we are usually soooo over it!
So I was inspired to paint this chilly little guy – Seymour Snowie.
He is a holiday snowman, and he is chatting with his little friend Cameron the Cardinal. I think they are so GLAD it’s cold outside! At least Seymour is.
Wishing you cold, snowy fun outside, and warm comfort inside!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
(PS – I thought this might make a cute Holiday Greeting Card or Holiday Thank You Note, so I made these little cuties into cards for our McKinneyX2Designs ETSY shop. You can check them out here!)
Quick & Easy Crispy Pork Stir Fry
Stir frying any kind of protein with your favorite veggies makes a quick, easy, and healthy weeknight dinner.
Yesterday, I pulled a small piece of pork tenderloin out of the freezer in the morning with no idea what I was going to do with it.
By 6 pm, I decided I better figure out something to do with it. After all, the spaghetti and meatballs I made for Sunday’s dinner, that hubby also ate leftovers of on Monday while I was out of town, and that we made into meatball hoagies onTuesday was losing it’s charm and appeal!
A quick “google” resulted in a few ideas I combined to come up with this quick and easy, but more importantly AMAZING Crispy Pork Stir Fry! Coating the thinly sliced pork with seasoned salt and cornstarch before stir frying resulted in a wonderfully crispy coating and texture, and the simple sauce really packs a flavor punch! You can use whatever veggies you have on hand or love. Some may love mushrooms, snow peas, sugar snap peas, green beans, and/or water chestnuts. Stir frying is one of my favorite ways to create a healthy, colorful, delicious, fast, and easy weeknight dinner.
Hope you give this a try!
Quick & Easy Crispy Pork Stir Fry
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. pork tenderloin or sirloin, sliced thinly
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp Vegetable or Canola Oil
- 1/2 large sweet onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup sliced sweet red, yellow and/or orange peppers
- 1 cup steamed broccoli
- Sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Sprinkle thinly sliced pork with seasoned salt and cornstarch in a bowl with a lid or Ziploc bag. Shake to coat.
Prepare sauce by combining garlic, pepper, brown sugar, and soy sauce in a small bowl. Stir well, and set aside.
Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large stir fry skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced onions, peppers, and minced garlic. Stir fry approximately 2-3 minutes. Remove from skillet, and set aside. Add the other 1 Tbsp. oil and heat for 1 minute. Add coated pork, and stir fry approximately 5 minutes. Add steamed broccoli and return onion, peppers and garlic to skillet with all. Stir fry an additional minute. Add sauce and cook an additional 2 minutes.
Serve over steamed jasmine (or your favorite) rice.
Enjoy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Paint and Imagine
Watercolor Iris Painting – 7×9
When its dreary and rainy,
but you’re dreaming of bright and snowy…
think of flowers,
remember the sunshine…
paint purple puddles,
imagine they are irises.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Apricot Nut Bread
For those of you that have been following my blog for a while, you may recall this recipe.
It is worth repeating – at least for me.
Let me share what I wrote in my post two years ago when I first shared this recipe that is one of my ALL-TIME favorites.
One of my favorite things to bake (and eat) for the holidays is my Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Apricot Nut Bread.
For me, it is like spending a little time with Grandma – even though she’s been gone for 20 years now. The smells that fill the house… using her recipe card – complete with stains from baking episodes past… using her old tin measuring cup, snipping apricots, chopping nuts… To me, the holidays aren’t truly here until I make Grandma’s Apricot Nut Bread and spend a little time with her through this ritual.
When I was young, I spent Christmas vacations (and every other moment I could) with Grandma. We spent a lot of our time together in the kitchen. While we were cooking or baking, Grandma would tell me stories about her childhood. It was sadly a pretty short one, because she had to become Mama to her baby brothers at only 9 years old when her mom died at a devastatingly early age. We would talk about her early married life with outhouses, coal furnaces, and washboards. And some of my favorite stories, especially when I was young, were the ones she would tell about me when I was a baby and how she danced in the hospital hallway with the doctor after I was born and how she fed me her homemade chicken soup on my first day home.
We laughed while we worked, and I never felt so loved.
One of the things Grandma made every year was Apricot Nut Bread. Growing up, it really wasn’t my favorite. I much preferred the lady locks or nut horns or nut roll – even the chocolate chip cookies. This bread is not overly sweet. It is not overly moist. But as an adult, it has become my absolute favorite. A slice with a swirl of creamy salted butter or a schmear of rich cream cheese and a cup of coffee might just be my favorite way to start the day.
This weekend, I once again made my annual batch of Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Apricot Nut Bread. I can only hope for cherished times like this to share with my granddaughter some day.
Here’s the recipe if you’d like to try. May it bring you as much joy as it does me.
Ingredients: Mix together 1 cup chopped apricots and 1 cup boiling water. Let stand until the rest of the ingredients are ready. In larger mixer bowl, beat two eggs and gradually add 1 cup of sugar. In a third large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder salt and baking soda. Add the first two mixtures to the dry ingredients – alternating as you incorporate. Fold in chopped nuts. Bake one large loaf at 375 degrees F for approximately 40 minutes, then 350 degrees F for 20 additional minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. For smaller loaves, bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. P.S. I typically quadruple the recipe, and I get 8 mini loaves and 1 large loaf. We eat the large loaf (right away!) and I give away the mini loaves.Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Apricot Nut Bread
Cheers & Holiday Baking Hugs,
Jodi
the creative life in between 