On Saturday I roamed the farm where I grew up, camera swinging from my neck, lens cap tucked in my pocket, eyes peeled for texture and angles; soul searching, too, I suppose, for memories, for clues to who I am…even why I am who I am.

I studied flaking paint on aging sheds, slowly stripped by winter wind and snow down to raw wood, warping.

Near the barn stand gates in disuse, leaning, rotting, rusting.

I photographed two old tractors parked under an overhang.

Every once in a while, Dad would let me lean against the fender and ride with him into the fields. I gripped the edges, petrified I’d fall. I’d feel the Bush Hog® power to life and the blades engage, spinning, hacking down weeds.

The tractors sit quietly in the barn lot, parked in the spot where Black Angus cattle used to eat from the manger.I stepped gingerly into the barn, on the lookout for spiders, swallows, mice and ‘coons. An old box car ladder was mounted to the wall years ago, maybe a hundred years ago, for farmers to get to the loft. I climbed it.

In the filtered, cloudy midday light, I studied the floorboards coated with a loose, thin layer of chaff mingled with bird droppings and layers of dust. Later my sister-in-law scolded me for going up there, thinking it can’t be good for a person with asthma.

One look at the loft and I remembered an afternoon in the ’80s when I carried up my silver boom box and turned on the radio waiting for “Footloose.” Within a few short minutes, it played. And I danced. The loft was almost empty, so I spun and leaped and it’s a wonder I didn’t slam a shoe right through the rickety boards.

A shaft of deep yellow afternoon sun streaked straight in as the sun set that day. I remember the shape defined by the window, how I danced through the beam, stirring up chaff, until I was sweating and spent. When the song ended, I sagged to the floor.

All these years later, I lifted and placed my feet slowly, deliberately, careful not to stir up dust. I am long removed from the days of dancing in the loft; I climbed back down, wondering how long it’s been since my dad kept cattle, when secure gates were critical…

…when bright white out buildings stood straight, boards nailed secure…

…when the tractor rumbled down the lane to hack down weeds.

I was prowling in the weeds out by the tool shed, focusing on old red fuel tanks and the corrugated roof of the dog house when my brother showed up to help my dad move some soil and cinder blocks.

While he emptied the wheelbarrow of rainwater and shoveled some soil, I was out looking for myself.

I pondered questions posed by a photographer:

1. Who made up your DNA?
2. Where do you come from?
3. What object is precious to your past?
4. What memory resonates most deeply?
5. What moment in history marks your childhood?

In the barn lot and loft, I’d hoped for a flood of vignettes and strong emotions. A psychological epiphany would be fun to report.

No vignettes. No powerful emotions. No epiphany.

No clues to who or why I am.

Only the dancing.

Dancing in the loft.

Alone.

* * *

All content and images are copyrighted © 2011 Ann Kroeker. These images may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without written permission.

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The post Dancing in the Loft: Reflecting on Self appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you want to talk about the blueberry seed that lodged between your teeth, that’s great. Posts like that are as welcome as menus and recipes.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post. It ties us together visually.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnToday is kind of a Food on Fridays “Show-and-Tell.”First, I made Charity’s Zucchini Bread in the form of muffins. The final product tasted something like pumpkin bread, and we love pumpkin bread. I barely had time to snap the picture before these muffins were gone.I slipped chocolate chips into some of the batter at the end. I know it’s not part of Charity’s directions, but I couldn’t resist.Also, I don’t think I showed you my first ripe tomatoes of the season. I was late getting the garden in, so everything seemed to be ripening kind of slow. But once those first small tomatoes presented themselves, it seemed like the entire garden turned bright red with full-sized cousins to these guys. And I have to say…there’s nothing quite like a homegrown Indiana tomato.

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post Food on Fridays: Show-and-Tell appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you want to tell us about the first person who taught you to cook, that’s great. Posts like that are as welcome as menus and recipes.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Simply Linked (a new tool I’m trying out this week).Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Charity!This week at High Calling Blogs (HCB), we launched a writing project called “You Are Real,” inviting network bloggers to write about connections they’ve made—real connections—with other bloggers. People throughout the HCB community are swapping posts. Charity Singleton of Wide Open Spaces is my guest blogger today for Food on Fridays, and I’m appearing at her place. Click HERE to read my post for today.So… may I introduce to you my new and very real friend, Charity Singleton:Long before I drove the 20 minutes to Ann Kroeker’s house, I knew we were both Hoosiers. She had told me so on Facebook.Before I ever sat with Ann on her patio and talked about organic farming, I knew she pulled her weeds by hand. She wrote about once in an email.And before I had the chance to sit at the dinner table with her and her children or drink a cup of her husband’s strong coffee, I knew Ann cared deeply about her family. I read about them in one of her posts on The High Calling Blogs.By the time I actually met Ann, we were already friends.

—

Developing relationships online is relatively new for me. Until about four years ago, I thought of the internet as nothing more than a tool. I used it for researching recipes, sending emails, and occasionally buying a book or an airline ticket. But then, I started writing a blog.Blogging gave me a way to claim a little space of my own out in cyberspace. As an aspiring writer, I had hoped it would be like hanging my virtual shingle. As it turned out, it was more like creating a home where I could invite people in. And the community that eventually developed is what this “We are Real” project is all about.It was my very first contact in the blogging world that providentially made my online life “real.” Ironically, I met her first in person at a writing conference. But since we lived several states away, our friendship quickly took to the ‘net.In those early days of blogging, I wasn’t always sure what to make of it, what would become of it. Back in 2006, I posted this comment on my friend’s blog: “Blogging is just another hue on the increasingly gray-scale palette of my life. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Sometimes a waste of time. Sometimes a perfectly useful way to process. Never always one way.”Then I was diagnosed with cancer. I hadn’t been blogging much in the few months prior. I was restless and distracted. The relationships I had started to build online seemed easy to set aside in favor of the drama that was unfolding in my real life. But I knew the people I was avoiding were real, too, and were probably wondering where I was. So I told them.Two days later, I found myself in the hospital.I know it was God’s providence that I reached out to my online community like I did just days before cancer. He knew I would need their support, would need their words of encouragement. When I finally made it home after a couple of weeks in the hospital and gathered the energy to post what I had been through, the response was overwhelming. Our relationship wasn’t just bits and bytes floating through cyberspace. It was real.Through continued connections with this same community that supported me through the ups and downs of cancer treatment and recovery, my path eventually crossed with Ann. Because we already knew each other online and had many mutual friends there, it was only natural to meet in person when we discovered we lived only 20 minutes apart.

—

The other thing you should know about my relationship with Ann, however, is this. Long before we ever sat at my table and enjoyed zucchini brownies, and long before we sat at her table sharing a plate of cookies, I knew Ann likes food. I read about it here, on a Friday.One of our first interactions came as a result of her now famous steel cut oatmeal recipe. And since then, every time we’ve met there’s been some type of food exchange, including the zucchini dumping (er, I mean “gifting”) that I did the morning we went running togetherThese online relationships, they’re real alright. Ann has the zucchini to prove it.

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In the tradition of Food on Fridays, here’s a great recipe for artisan bread I shared with Ann recently. It is from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007).Serves 4Note: This recipe must be prepared in advance.

• 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (about 1-1/2 packets)
• 1-1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 6-1/2 cups unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting dough
• Cornmeal

In a large plastic resealable container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm (about 100 degrees) water. Using a large spoon, stir in flour, mixing until mixture is uniformly moist with no dry patches. Do not knead. Dough will be wet and loose enough to conform to shape of plastic container. Cover, but not with an airtight lid.Let dough rise at room temperature, until dough begins to flatten on top or collapse, at least 2 hours and up to 5 hours. (At this point, dough can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks; refrigerated dough is easier to work with than room-temperature dough, so the authors recommend that first-time bakers refrigerate dough overnight or at least 3 hours.)When ready to bake, sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza peel. Place a broiler pan on bottom rack of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and preheat oven to 450 degrees, preheating baking stone for at least 20 minutes.Sprinkle a little flour on dough and on your hands. Pull dough up and, using a serrated knife, cut off a grapefruit-size piece (about 1 pound). Working for 30 to 60 seconds (and adding flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking to hands; most dusting flour will fall off, it’s not intended to be incorporated into dough), turn dough in hands, gently stretching surface of dough, rotating ball a quarter-turn as you go, creating a rounded top and a bunched bottom.Place shaped dough on prepared pizza peel and let rest, uncovered, for 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it in lidded container. (Even one day’s storage improves flavor and texture of bread. Dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions in airtight containers and defrosted overnight in refrigerator prior to baking day.) Dust dough with flour.Using a serrated knife, slash top of dough in three parallel, 1/4-inch deep cuts (or in a tic-tac-toe pattern). Slide dough onto preheated baking stone. Pour 1 cup hot tap water into broiler pan and quickly close oven door to trap steam. Bake until crust is well-browned and firm to the touch, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven to a wire rack and cool completely.

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post Food on Fridays: We Are Real (and so is the food) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you want to research plantains or papayas, that’s great. Posts like that are as welcome as menus and recipes.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnWhen we planted our garden, we put in three zucchini plants.“I can’t wait to eat zucchini bread!” my son exclaimed. “I looooooove zucchini bread.”That was back in May. When we would go out to weed or water the garden, he’d ask if the zucchini was ready.“Not yet,” I’d reply.“Awwww….I was hoping we could make zucchini bread.”“We have to wait until we get a bunch of them,” I said, “or a couple of big ones.”I sent out my son with peelings and egg shells for the compost. “Do we have any zucchini?” I asked.“Nope,” he replied. “I looked. Not yet.”The other day I was invited to Charity’s house for tea. But she didn’t serve just tea. She made brownies, as well.Zucchini brownies!They were fantastic! I eagerly and shamelessly accepting a second piece when she offered!I told her that my son often asked if the zucchini was ready, but we got our garden in late and so…no zucchini. In fact, I told her I’d seen blooms but no fruit, so I wondered if they needed pollination. She described how she successfully pollinated hers the year before. I thought about enlisting the help of my science-minded daughter for that task.“For now, I have more than enough to share,” Charity said, “so I’ll send some home with you and you can make zucchini bread with your son.”What a fantastic offer: I’d be bringing home zucchini for my little boy.After the brownies, we got involved in discussions about blogging and art. We forgot all about the zucchini. I left without it.Fortunately we saw each other a couple of days later, and fortunately Charity kindly remembered the zucchini.What’s more, the very next day I discovered our first zucchini of the season, ripe and ready for picking. Right there in our garden!Suddenly, we were awash in zucchini (cucumber, too, but that’s another post)!So I set my son to work making the zucchini bread. He said he wants to be a great cook, so we decided he should learn to make the things he likes, to share them with his friends.He followed this recipe, underlining where he was and checking off what he’d done:I pulled down some of the ingredients for him, but my son did it all himself…everything except pouring it into the pans.He even handled cleanup, which is important for a beginning cook to learn.And the breads turned out great.He was only interested in learning to make zucchini bread, not the brownies.But I was interested in making Charity’s brownies.The batter looked kind of weird and wormy at this point, with the shredded zucchini mixed into the batter. My picky-eater daughter refused to touch it.For some reason it looked better when spread into the pan.I snapped a picture after it was baked. It’s no thing of beauty, but boy was it moist, rich and fudge-like.We’ll be making these recipes again, not only because we’re about to be inundated with zucchini, but also because they were delicious.Charity’s Zucchini BrowniesFrom Simply in Season

• 1 cup flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Combine in a large bowl.2-3 cups zucchini (shredded)Stir in.

• 1 egg
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup plain yogurt
• ½ cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine in separate bowl and beat with fork. Stir into zucchini mixture. Spread evenly into greased 9×13 inch pan.

• ½-1 cup semisweet or mint chocolate chips (Ann’s note: I used semisweet and mixed them in instead of spreading on top)
• ½ cup nuts (chopped; optional)

Sprinkle on top of batter. Bake in preheated oven at 350F until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.NOTE: I (Charity) used yellow squash instead of zucchini. I stirred in a whole bag (12 oz) of chocolate chips rather than pouring on top. Also, I had to bake for close to 45 minutes.My Son’s Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread

• 3 c. flour
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2 c. grated zucchini, unpared
• 3/4 c. oil
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (we left out the nuts)
• 6 oz. chocolate chips

Mix all dry ingredients together; then mix eggs, oil, vanilla and zucchini in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix well. Add nuts and chocolate chips.Grease pans. This batter can be poured into 2 loaf pans or 4 to 5 mini loaf pans, or into muffin pans (about 24). Bake at 350 degrees. Large loaves take about 50 to 60 minutes; mini-loaves about 30 minutes; and muffins about 15 to 20 minutes.

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post Food on Fridays: Zucchini Recipes appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to take a photo of black raspberries (I hear they’re in season around these parts), that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnWe need to “defrost” the deep freeze (read: melt away the massive hunks of snowy-looking ice attached to the interior walls).In order to defrost the deep freeze, we need to clear it out.In order to clear it out, we need to eat the food that’s in it.So we’re digging around trying to get creative with the things I’ve stashed in there over time.This morning I found a roll of sugar cookie dough (so much for cooking from scratch) and decided to make something that I’d seen before. I don’t know the official name of this treat, so I’m calling them “Sugar Cookie Cups.”This is how they turned out:This is how I made them:

1. Plop a blob of sugar cookie dough (or cut a thick “slice” into fourths or halves?) into mini muffin tins.
2. Bake for about 10 minutes. Maybe 12. I can’t remember.
3. When they are kind of brown around the edges, pull them out. Try not to squish the edges of the cookies with the oven mitt like I did.
4. Stuff something chocolate-y into the center when they’re still hot (could be mini Reese’s cups or kisses leftover from Easter). I shoved into the dough pieces of Hershey’s bar broken in half.
5. Watch the chocolate pieces get gooey.
6. Dig the Sugar Cookie Cups out of the muffin tins.
7. Pour a glass of milk to wash them down, because these babies are rich.

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post Food on Fridays: Sugar Cookie Cups appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

• Use my stainless steel water bottle. Stainless steel water bottles are often ridiculously expensive, but about a year ago I found some reasonably priced and bought five all at once. So I already own the bottles; we just need to start using them. Except for the plastic bottles that fit in a special holder attached to the frame of our bicycles, I’m going to donate or recycle all of our reusable plastic bottles.
• Look for Fair Trade chocolate. Tracey provides a lot of eye-opening information about the chocolate industry. She convinced me to find a store that carries it—it could be that Target might sell it; I just haven’t looked.
• Goodbye, paper towels. We use sponges, dish towels or rags for most cleanup, but we do usually have a roll of paper towels on hand for occasional spills. Years ago my uncle said that instead of using paper towels, he bought a stack of  “bar mops” for kitchen cleanup. “It’s how they taught us to do it in the Navy,” he explained. So just today I bought two packs of “bar mops.” They look like basic white towels. Then I went to Goodwill and bought a rectangular basket in which to store them. They’re on the counter, ready to swipe up splatters and blobs.
• Environmentally gentle dish-washing detergent. I’m going to pay a little more for Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers or Ecos brand detergents that Tracey recommends.
• Compost. We used to faithfully compost kitchen scraps, then I don’t know what happened. I guess I got lazy. I resolved to begin again and pulled out a plastic tub with a tight-fitting lid we can use while collecting peelings and egg shells during meal prep. The kids can run it out to the garden.
• Cloth shopping bags. I hate when I forget these, and it’s always when I’m standing at the checkout with my items rolling along the conveyor belt that I remember them. I will figure out a way to make this a habit.

Things we already do:

• Wash (most of) our clothes in cold water. I started doing this mainly because I was shrinking almost everything! Sometimes I do a load of extra-dirty whites in hot, but cold water has been working fine. And blouses are staying their normal size!
• Hang clothes to dry. This, too, I started because I was shrinking clothes and thought I should avoid the dryer. Plus, I like going outside in the quiet morning to hang them up and love the way they smell when they’re dry.
• Recycle. Apparently we recycle effectively, because our neighbors couldn’t believe our family of six could fit all of our trash into one container. We didn’t tell them that many times, the container isn’t even full.
• Cook from scratch. Because I usually cook from scratch, we use less packaging than if I used mixes and prepared foods. I like to think it’s healthier, without all those additives and preservatives.
• Buy organic and local. Whenever possible, I try to buy organic and locally grown foods. Shopping at the farmer’s market in the summer makes it easy. An organic farmer has a stand, and so far his produce hasn’t been much more expensive than the others.
• Bike whenever possible. For nearby errands, we are trying to use our bikes instead of driving the van. We can easily bike to the library, piano lessons, grocery stores, Goodwill, Barnes & Noble, Officemax, several restaurants and many other shopping destinations.
• Shop secondhand. Speaking of shopping (and Goodwill), I think of my Goodwill shopping as recycling. I buy 90 percent of my clothes from Goodwill (the remaining 10 percent represents swimwear, undergarments, socks, and a few nicer speaking outfits). I also buy books secondhand. And furniture. And cars.
• Glass storage. I’m trying to transition from plastic storage containers to glass. We aren’t totally there, but we’re moving in that direction.
• Travel mug. For tea or coffee, we are trying to use travel mugs. We usually make our beverage at home, but we’re also trying to grab the mugs if we’re off to church and will fill them there instead of using Styrofoam cups.
• Minimal A/C. I prefer relying on open windows and fans in the summer, but my husband does like to bring down the humidity with air conditioning sometimes. This morning, however, I came downstairs and he had opened all the windows to enjoy the morning breeze.
• Garden. We have a vegetable garden again this year. I’ve never been an amazing gardener, but I keep trying, year after year. We usually get a fair amount of tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers, and it is so rewarding to pick stuff for dinner from my own garden plot.
• Consolidate errands. Whether I’m in my minivan or on my bicycle, I try my best to minimize errands, doing as much as possible in a given outing.
• Natural cleansers. For cleaning, we use really basic, natural products.

We do a lot of “green” things that are so normal to me, it doesn’t occur to me to identify it—I’m sure I could add lots of things on the list that we’ve been doing for years. It’s kind of fun to think about what’s become normal for us, or habit, and what we could do to change even more.Be sure to drop by the book giveaway post and read Tracey’s thoughts on “Slowing Green.”

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post Simple Ways We've Gone Green appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to list your three favorite cookbooks, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnI had almost everything on hand to make Curried Chickpea Soup, a recipe that Breastfeeding Moms Unite included in last week’s carnival.So I tried making it, with modifications. I’ve annotated the recipe below.The biggest change was that I had to make a much smaller amount, but was too lazy to do any math. I also kept skipping over ingredients and then going back and adding things later. It got better and better. By the time I was done, this soup tasted so different from anything I’ve ever eaten and was so delicious, I wanted to cry. I ate three servings right away. Couldn’t stop myself.Curried Chick Pea Soup

• 8 cups vegetable broth (I used one can)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (probably less, but I rarely measure olive oil)
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced (I used a tiny bit of onion—too much and I have digestive issues)
• 2 tsp salt (much less)
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 garlic cloves (Whoa! That’s a lot of garlic. I used one clove in the mincer)
• 3 Tbsp minced ginger (Forgot the ginger—added a little bit upon reheating, but it was delicious without)
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded (Didn’t have these and can’t stand the heat; used part of a green bell pepper)
• 1 red pepper (I had part of one)
• 6 ripe tomatoes (I had one big one)
• 1 tsp cumin seed (I had some ground cumin)
• 1 tsp coriander seed (Didn’t have this)
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garam masala (I didn’t have this, either)
• 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1/8 tsp turmeric (I happened to have some of this)
• 3 cups canned/cooked chickpeas (I only used one can, which is why I had to monkey with the amounts of everything else)
• 1/4 cup prepared mango chutney (just a bit of Major Grey Chutney and once blended added sooo much to the flavor, wow)
• 1/2 can coconut milk (used almost this much, even though I made such a small amount of soup overall—gooooooood)
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, minced (Obviously just a sprig for the smaller amoung, but yum!)

Directions:Heat the oil in a soup pot and add onion, 1 tsp salt and bay leaves. Sauté until onions are soft and golden. Meanwhile., places the garlic, ginger, peppers, and tomatoes in a food processor and pulse until the vegetables form a rough purée. Set aside. Note: What makes this soup so good is the purée!Next, grind the cumin and coriander seeds. Add these and all remaining spices to the sautéed onions and continue cooking and stirring for 5 minutes. Add the vegetable purée and another tsp of salt and simmer until blobs of oil pool on the surface. Add the chick peas and vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. Cook several minutes, then add the chutney and coconut milk. Using a potato masher, gently mash the chick peas against the bottom of the pot to break them up slightly and thicken the soup. If this is something you don’t care about, don’t do it, as mashing the chick peas will cause their skins to come off, which many folks, including me and my kids don’t care for on their own. Simmer and season to taste with salt and cracked pepper. Add chopped cilantro just before serving.Serve with warm whole wheat chapati or pita bread and a salad.(Or just eat three bowls in a row without worrying about sides, because this is now what you crave more than chocolate.)

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post Food on Fridays: Taste-Testing Chickpea Soup appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post When "Watch Me, Mama" Gives Way to Individuation appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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I was talking with a friend of mine about how people relate—or don’t relate—in our world today.

I’m friends with little 82-year-old Miss Jessie Parker, who came from the deep southern parts of Georgia, complete with a southern-fried accent and a heart of gold. And this woman simply amazed me. She did her own gardening, she still drove, she became very computer savvy…We would have many, many conversations in the middle of the day, in the middle of the yard, sometimes on the back porch and on occasion, over a nice little café for lunch … I learned a lot from talking with Miss Jessie Parker… she taught me that the early years of her life were very, very simple and uncomplicated. And she was completely fine with that simple way of life. She didn’t ask anybody to come along and add all this technology and all this crazy business of trying to make our lives easier. This easier way of life for us, so it seems, has really kind of messed up her world. And she would say things to me like:“Jill, when I was a young mother, we had time to carry the children down to the park in the buggy. We washed their diapers out, sterilized and boiled their glass bottles and somehow still managed to come home and make dinner and have it on the table in time for our husbands when they came home…”Thinking about this simpler life, I said, “Miss Jessie, where do you think it all … where did it all become unraveled for you?” And she didn’t even have to think about it … She knew exactly the answer and she said, “Jill, we used to have land for miles and miles. We didn’t have television and we didn’t have a radio, and so after supper, after the dishes were done, we would go out, and we would visit with the neighbors … for the rest of the evening until the lightning bugs would come out.”And she said the minute these privacy fences went up, we all stopped wanting to get together at night and chat and visit. Suddenly everybody wanted to be by themselves and be alone and be private. She couldn’t understand it.

You’ll note that Miss Jessie did mention the absence of TV and radio opening up time for visiting. But she emphasized the advent of the privacy fence as a turning point. I have to admit that we’ve loved the privacy fence. It keeps our big dog contained. Our kids can play in the yard without wandering off, which mattered a lot when our youngest was little. I can enjoy long quiet times on the back porch uninterrupted. I can examine the garden in my jammies.But I don’t talk as much with our neighbors.Thanks to Miss Jessie Parker, I plan to spend some time sitting on the front porch swing with some sweet tea, more visible and accessible. She’s reminded me how important it is to take a walk with the kids and wave at whoever is out doing yard work, in case they can visit for a few minutes.I can enjoy the privacy, bit it’s more important to have relationships.Yesterday afternoon, we were working inside the privacy fence in the garden, putting in our tomato plants. One of the neighbors walked right in through the gate without hesitating and asked to borrow the extension cord so he could finish trimming his bushes. We gladly loaned him ours, and I was relieved that the privacy fence didn’t hold him back. Maybe our privacy fence isn’t so isolating and private after all?Given that, I think I’ll don a robe before heading out to check the garden tomorrow morning.

“spying on the neighbors” photo by cjc4454, available from Flickr through a Creative Commons license.

The post People and Privacy appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to describe the stinkiest cheese you’ve ever eaten, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

These little eggs are dying to change their reputation to “heart healthy.”How do I break it to them? That the trouble is right there in those heart-shaped yolks?Well, I know they aren’t part of a low-cholesterol, heart-healthy diet.And my vegan friends may be frustrated with me.But I must admit…I {heart} eggs.

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The post Food on Fridays: Egg Hearts appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Throughout spring, my kids would come to me with requests to join their friends on outings such as sleepovers, birthday parties, and a production of “The Three Musketeers,” but I had to say no to almost everything. Something was already scheduled 97 percent of the time.

With spring winding down, however, our schedule is opening up. The kids and I recently reviewed the week’s activities: soccer practice, cleaning day, and an afternoon class that three of them would attend.

My 14-year-old daughter was leaning back in a plastic chair, fiddling with a toy pirate hook as I added that we’d have to leave the house very early one morning.

“Why?” she asked.

“Well,” I began, “Mrs. Huber invited you two older girls to go with her family to King’s Island.”

My daughter leaped up, flinging the plastic hook into the air. “What?!” she exclaimed. “And you’re actually letting us go?”

King’s Island is a big amusement park a couple of hours from our home. “Yes!” I said, grinning. “Yes, I’m letting you go.”

My shocked daughter flopped into her chair. “I can’t believe you actually said yes!” she said. The eldest laughed, incredulous.

Yes. Has it been that long since I said the word? I guess I’d been saying “no” so often these days, I forgot the fun of saying “yes.” In fact, I’ve been saying “no” to almost everything lately, even simple requests.

“Can I have a piece of candy?”

“No, it’s too close to dinner.”

“Can we go to the library?”

“No, not now.”

“May I have a gumball from that machine?”

“No, I don’t have any quarters and you have a bunch of gum at home.”

No. No. No.

For the past few months, “No” became my automatic response. The kids expected it. And the thing is, I’m usually a “yes” kind of mom. Why so much “no”? I thought of Corinne’s recent post framed as a poetic and positive letter to her kids proclaiming the deepest, truest Yes:

While I might often say No, know that my heart always screams Yes for both of you. Yes to your hopes and dreams. Yes to acknowledge your fears and individualism. Yes to you. It’s my mind that gets in the way, that automatically wants to say No, even though it’s unnatural and learned… my heart says Yes a thousand times a day. To getting on the floor and playing for hours at a time, to building forts and to reading the story of the day for the hundredth time.

I wanted to bring back my heart’s “yes.”

Yet, “no” can’t disappear entirely. As Corinne acknowledged, there will be times when we parents say “no”:

“No, you can’t go to a party without adult chaperones.”

“No, you can’t text during dinner because this is a time to talk as a family.”

“No, you can’t watch that show just because your friends do.”

Knowing when to say yes or no takes sensitivity and wisdom. I want to say “yes” when I can and “no” when I must. Sometimes my answer is a thought-out, purposeful, wise and loving “no.” But sometimes it’s a lazy “no.” Falling into the habit of saying “no” to every little thing simplifies some of the work of parenting. After all, decision-making’s a snap when the answer is always negative. But it’s hardly the laughing, loving life I want for our family.

So the day my daughter leaped out of her chair in shock when I said “yes,” I decided to bring a stop to the lazy, automatic “no.”

I said yes when the youngest asked to finish a bag of Skittles.

I said yes to their request for popsicles and play time at the neighbors.

They asked if they could make Kool-Aid. I said yes.

They wanted to play in the sprinkler. I said, “Yes, if you put your swimsuits on.” Later I wished I had simply said yes. Their play clothes could have gotten wet.

That night, my husband said yes when the girls asked to go to the store to shop for a pair of summer shorts. When they got home, the girls wanted to play a computer game for half an hour. He said yes.

I will say “yes” as often as I can.

Yes, climb that tree in the back yard and use the old blankets in the garage to make a tent on the clothes line.

Yes, let’s go to the library three times this week, pick daisies for a bouquet, and buy one box of Cocoa Puffs cereal, just for fun.

Spread out some newspapers and pull out the paint-by-numbers. Make a batch of brownies. Use up the leftover icing in the fridge. Roll down the hill and wade in the creek.

And yes, you may have a 25-cent gumball from the machine at the grocery. All four of you. Yes, even the teens.

While we’re at it, I might even get one for myself.

Because I like this. Yes, I like this a lot.

* * *

Post originally published at The High Calling.

The post Time for Yes appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to list what’s in your crisper drawer at the moment, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

My in-laws just left after staying with us for several days. My mother-in-law is a clever cook, making the most of every little tidbit, nourishing people creatively.One night I made Mexican food, per Christy’s suggestion. My mother-in-law advised me to leave behind a bit of the sauce from browning and preparing the spiced ground beef. I transferred the beef into a bowl, leaving a dribble of the tasty red sauce in the skillet. She pulled out some leftover brown rice and dumped it right into the sauce, added a few crumbles of the beef, chopped up a tomato to toss in along with a bit of red and green pepper, onion, and some corn. She heated it all up, cooking the vegetables a little (it didn’t take long, they were chopped so small), and in seconds it was ready to serve. “When I’m making Spanish rice at home,” she explained, “I just use a little of this and that. Whatever I have in the fridge. I don’t want anything to go to waste.”I love that. I used to host “Make-Do Mondays” in an effort to encourage a make-do mindset. As a missionary, my mother-in-law often has to make-do, and it seems I learn some new solution or idea every time we’re together. In this case, we made the most of the odds and ends in the vegetable drawer to create a delicious side dish—such an great way to make the most of our resources! She taught me a simple, new way to add interest to our Mexican meals, and I’m delighted to share her easy, frugal, make-do Spanish rice “recipe” with you today.

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The post Food on Fridays: Easy, Frugal, Make-Do Spanish Rice appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to share a list of favorite salad dressings, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

My in-laws are here for ten days, but for three days we also hosted my sister-in-law and her family. When they were all here, I housed and fed six extra people. With our family of six, that makes twelve.

Then we invited some family friends over for an impromptu dinner party one night, which added four more for the evening. Total guests: sixteen.

I decided not to experiment with new recipes; I chose some tried and true meals that were easy to prepare.

You’ve seen some of them here before:

Breakfast Sausage Casserole (for a birthday brunch for my nephew): served with fruit salad, juice, coffee, tea and doughnuts that my sister-in-law bought at Dunkin’ Donuts for an all-American experience (they’re from France).

Hoosier Comfort Chicken (for the big dinner with 16 guests): served over egg noodles alongside a salad that my friend brought. We baked French baguettes, and for the vegetable I meant to cook peas—I thought I had some in the freezer—but I didn’t have any on hand. So we cooked corn. The meal wasn’t all that colorful, but it was tasty and well received.

Chili (for dinner the next day with just twelve people): I’ve not written about chili before, but here’s my recipe, if you can call it that:

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 3 or 4 cans of chili beans (one hot; the rest mild)
• 3 or 4 cans of chili-ready tomatoes

Brown and drain ground beef in a big chili-sized pot (if you’re going to cook it on the stove) or skillet (if you’re going to transfer to crock pot). Open all the cans. Dump them in. Warm it all up and eat when ready.

I served the chili with coleslaw (used the pre-shredded coleslaw mix and added mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and celery seed) and homemade cornbread using this recipe (I think I got it from someone participating in Food on Fridays, but I can’t locate the source):

Corn Muffins/Cornbread (adapted from Martha Stewart)

• 1/2 C butter (substitute applesauce for 1/2 butter or even pumpkin)
• 1 1/2 C milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 C yellow cornmeal
• 1 C flour
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1 T powder
• 1 t salt

Melt butter. Combine milk, butter and eggs. Sift the dry ingredients. Add to moist. Don’t overmix. Pour into 9×9″ pan or muffin tin. Bake in preheated 400° oven until done (about 15 minutes for muffins). Use the toothpick method.

The sister-in-law from France left, so it’s just our family with two extra laid back in-laws.

And we’re eating up the leftovers.

But tomorrow, I’m thinking I’ll make another crock pot dish:

Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes

How do you cook for a crowd?

Any tips? I’m all ears, because I’m hosting another gathering on Sunday!

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The post Food on Fridays: Menu for Guests appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

1. Hosting: We’re hosting out-of-country guests for several days–my in-laws from Belgium are here! What a privilege to spend time with them, catching up after a long separation (we only see them every few years).
2. 31 Days Project: Several of my friends at HighCallingBlogs.com (HCB) are participating in a 31 Day to Build a Better Blog project. With guests in town during much of the month, I knew I could never keep up. But one of the assignments was the create a list post, so this is mine. I created a list post over at NotSoFastBook.com, as well. Today’s assignment is to join a forum and participate. HCB serves as my forum.
3. End of School Year: Like many of us, I’m wrapping up the 2009-2010 school year. Wrap-up includes work with our homeschool co-op where I facilitate an American Literature class as well as our work at home. In fact, as soon as I publish this post, I’m grading a stack of papers. In addition, invitations to open houses and graduations are rolling in. May is maxed out.
4. Mini Marathon: I mentioned on Twitter here and here and Facebook that our family (except The Boy) finished the Indy 500 Mini Marathon, the nation’s largest half-marathon. The two older girls walked it; the Belgian Wonder and I “wogged” it with our youngest daughter.
5. Ann Kroeker Facebook page: I set up an Ann Kroeker Facebook page (which is unfortunately known as a “fan” page … please don’t think I’m picturing myself as a celebrity with fans!). It’s just a place where anyone can visit me on Facebook. Feel free to pop by and “like” the page. If you do so, updates I post there will show up in your news feed. You don’ t have to friend me on Facebook to follow my updates. Also, you can post your own links and such right on the Ann Kroeker page, so if you have a “slow-down solution” you’ve found, for example, or if you write a relevant blog post, post it there; the Ann Kroeker page can be a place where we connect on that Not So Fast topic, as well other ideas and themes. I’m just starting to tap into its potential and look forward to developing it when I get through May and enter the freer summer months.
6. To Kill a Mockingbird: The last book of the school year that we’re reading for the co-op is To Kill a Mockingbird. Re-reading it for the fourth time with the students, I find myself reading a chapter, slapping the book shut with satisfaction, and shouting “I love this book!” to anyone who happens to be in the vicinity.
7. Teen Driver: My eldest daughter has been driving on her permit for some time, but this Wednesday she takes her official driving test. The following Tuesday she can take her written test. After that, if all goes well, she gets her operator’s license. Don’t be frightened; she’s a pretty good driver.
8. Camera: I was given the gift of a nice new camera at Christmas—a splurge gift that the Belgian Wonder and I have been discussing for years (but never acted on … until now). I don’t have aspirations of gradually upgrading equipment to professional quality; I’m not even a gifted amateur. But even as an average, everyday photographer, I have really loved learning new things as I happily click away. Photoplay tips from the HCB photo editor Claire Burge have inspired, as well. The results motivate me to try new things and shoot even more snapshots of our daily lives. So I just want to publicly thank my husband and the whole family for blessing me, and I hope my experiments bless the six of us with pleasing visual records of this era of our lives. Ironically, I’m not including a photo of the camera; I tried to take one in the mirror, but it didn’t turn out quite right.
9. Speaking: I spoke at St. Mark’s Methodist Church in Carmel, Indiana, a couple of weeks ago. On the weekend of May 22-23, I’ll be interviewed at Grace Community Church in Noblesville, Indiana, on the topic of families slowing down and simplifying enough to nurture a more contemplative life, seeking and submitting to Christ together.
10. “How can I help?”: My father-in-law grew up in what was then the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC). We’re looking forward to hearing stories and seeing pictures from a recent trip to DRC. In his travels throughout the cities of Kinshasa, Kikwit, and out into the rural areas of the Bandundu province, he asked the people, “How can we help?” We will get to hear what the people said when my father-in-law posed the question and listened; we will learn how we can help.

I wonder what the world could be like if we all asked that question and listened carefully to the response? How can we help? We could ask it country to country, church to church, neighbor to neighbor, child to parent—anyone to anyone: “How can I help?” Can we try it today, with someone we love? Can we ask with open minds and hearts … and truly listen?

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The post Ten Random Things I Haven't Mentioned appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to make up a recipe for dog food (I did that when I was about six years old), that’ll do just fine. When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

To ensure that I get a Mother’s Day brunch, I decided to go ahead and make a Mother’s Day brunch.

The main dish: Breakfast Sausage Casserole.

Yes, that’s right. Sausage. I’m writing about sausage. Even though L.L. Barkat warned me, I’m all about about sausage today. (I’ll keep an eye on my stats to monitor the sausage effect, L.L.)

Ann’s Mother’s Day Breakfast Sausage Casserole.

This recipe even comes with a complimentary (and complementary) sausage photo:

The recipe is easy, but I didn’t trust my kids to pull it off. Instead, I put it together myself and froze it. Surely they can take it out in time to thaw and bake it?

Here’s the recipe:

Breakfast Casserole

• 1 lb sausage, fried & drained (extra mild or turkey sausage)
• 8 eggs, beaten
• 2 C milk
• 3-4 pieces of bread, torn to bits
• 2 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese
• 1 t salt
• 1 t dry mustard

Mix all ingredients and pour into greased 9×13 glass baking dish. Refrigerate overnight (or not, if in a hurry), so it will congeal and become more firm. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Let set a few minutes before serving. Can be made ahead, baked, frozen and reheated.It’s an easy recipe. I even doubled it to share one with a friend.Please note that the cheese is supposed to be mixed together with the other ingredients. I forgot the cheese (who moved my cheese?), so I added it after everything else was in the pan and stirred it in as best I could. It’s a casserole; it’ll blend just fine, right?The kids might have done better after all.Along with the casserole, I’m thinking about coffee cake. Over the years, I’ve collected several recipes, including one for a blueberry coffee cake that I posted last August. I’m not making that ahead of time—hopefully it’ll be easy for the kids to prepare.They can oversee the casserole, mix up the coffee cake, cut up some fruit, make a pot of tea, and we’ll be good to go.For those of you who will be celebrating a mom in your life, I recommend the easy sausage casserole. I’m telling you, nothing says I love you like sausage … unless, of course, your mom’s a vegetarian.As an alternative to coffee cake, I could make a big stack of crepes Saturday evening that can be reheated Sunday morning. Yes, I like crepes. Everyone likes crepes.Mother’s Day is sounding better and better.Nutella, anyone?

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post Food on Fridays: Mother's Day Make-Ahead Breakfast Sausage Casserole appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

If I waited for the perfect conditions to develop my writing life, I’d still be waiting.

Back in the early 1990s, I did manage to explore writing as my work, as a way of life. I wrote and submitted a few magazine articles and met with businesses to launch a career in corporate freelance writing. Then we started our family. Our first three children were born within four years of each other (the fourth came along a few years later).

Consumed by the demands and intensity of young motherhood, I could have shoved my computer screen, pen and notebook into a closet for about twelve years and waited until the conditions were right. I could have waited until my oldest two girls were old enough to babysit the younger two. I could have waited until I had a little office or study or library or nook to call my own. I could have waited until I had long chunks of uninterrupted time.

Instead, I wrote.

I wrote when the kids were napping. I wrote late at night. I wrote in my head when I took them for a walk to the park and scribbled down my ideas when they were eating a snack.

I stole time.

Sometimes I wrote well, but most of what I wrote served as compost, breaking down in my mind, heart, and spirit to feed new and potentially better ideas. Regardless of the quality of what I produced, I wrote. I practiced. I learned.

And I read. With a book tucked in my diaper bag or purse, I could steal a moment now and then to consume some new thought written by authors I respected, whose information I craved, whose ideas would feed the glowing coals of creativity that glimmered softly inside of me as I changed diapers, swept Cheerios and scraped hunks of banana from the high chair tray.

I kept the energy of writing alive during those hectic years, and when the flame flashed, I’d try to grab something on which to write, even if it meant borrowing a crayon and scribble pad that the kids were using for stick-people adventure stories.

This made for a spontaneous, messy writing life. Scraps of paper strewn on the kitchen table or nightstand represented that flash of insight I managed to scratch onto the back of an envelope. Life with newborns and toddlers required tremendous focus and energy, leaving little chance for a regular schedule. I grabbed opportunities when I could, leaving a trail of pens and paper throughout the house and shoved into cup holders in the car.

I identified with other writer-moms, such as Barbara Kingsolver. She would read about rituals of other authors who had seemingly endless time to create the writing mood—hours of photography or flower arranging before sitting at the desk to compose one word. She quoted one author who described his muse at length. Kingsolver, a busy mom with no time for flower-arranging, had to write with the time she was given. She described her own muse:

My muse wears a baseball cap, backward. The minute my daughter is on the school bus, he saunters up behind me with a bat slung over his shoulder and says oh so directly, “Okay, author lady, you’ve got six hours till that bus rolls back up the drive. You can sit down and write, now, or you can think about looking for a day job.” (p. 96, High Tide in Tucson, Barbara Kingsolver)

Kingsolver understands the limitations of motherhood and the challenge of writing in the midst of it. She quotes Lucille Clifton responding to the question “Why are your poems always short?” Ms. Clifton replied, “I have six children, and a memory that can hold about twenty lines until the end of the day.”

Clifton encouraged me to plan out my work mentally while I’m on-the-go, storing up thoughts until the end of the day, when the kids were in bed and the words could spill out.

My kids are much older now; my conditions remain imperfect but are much more conducive to writing. My children are more independent—my oldest has her driver’s permit. But it seems I still have to steal time.

Apparently the conditions for writing will never be perfect.

I need to be reminded of this again and again. Julia Cameron, in The Right to Write says:

The ‘if-I-had-time’ lie is a convenient way to ignore the fact that novels require being written and that writing happens a sentence at a time. Sentences can happen in a moment. Enough stolen moments, enough stolen sentences, and a novel is born–without the luxury of time…

Yes, it is daunting to think of finding time to write an entire novel, but it is not so daunting to think of finding time to write a paragraph, even a sentence. And paragraphs, made of sentences, are what novels are really made of. (p. 14, 15, The Right to Write, Julia Cameron)

This reminds me of a quote I heard at the Festival of Faith & Writing in 2010. Author Parker Palmer said:

If you can’t write a book, write a bunch of essays. If you can’t write a bunch of essays, write a bunch of paragraphs. If you can’t write a bunch of paragraphs, write lines. If you can’t write lines, write some words. And if you can’t write some words, write your truth with your own life, which is far more important than any book. (Parker Palmer at the Festival of Faith & Writing 2010)

Poets, bloggers, novelists, creative nonfiction writers, essayists, letter writers, journalists, composers; we must all get to work. Write a book, essays, paragraphs, lines, or just write a few words, but for heaven’s sake—be sure to write with your life.

No matter what complicates schedules—whether you have a full-time job or you’re a full-time caregiver—write what you can, when you can. Because the conditions are never perfect. 

___________________________________

52 Creative Writing Prompts: A Year of Weekly Prompts and Exercises to Boost Your Creativity

Sure, you can poke around the Internet collecting writing prompts and creative writing exercises.

Or you could buy an ebook that collects them for you in one place.

Convenient.

Inspiring.

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Learn more

The post Imperfect Conditions appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

At HighCallingBlogs.com today, Bradley J. Moore of Shrinking the Camel explores the question, “When is Negative Feedback Too Negative?” He spotlighted my post “Reward the Good and Ignore the Bad: Does it Work?”

We know that unhealthy criticism for no good reason can demoralize. But how do you point out negative behaviors if you want to develop people, to help them reach their full potential?

I’ve been thinking about this topic quite a bit, and his post generated some additional thoughts that I tapped out as a comment and offer here as food for thought:

On the receiving end of critique:

Many years ago, I attended a small group training session. The leader said that one of the critical steps in gaining valuable input from people in the group was to take them out one-on-one and ask each person, “How can I improve as a leader?” Then he said it’s critical to listen without saying one defensive or explanatory word. Just listen and take notes. The person may say something small at first, to test how you’ll respond. Write down the answer, thank them, and ask, “What else?” Little by little you can get great input for how to improve and build trust with the person in your group, demonstrating that you really care about his or her opinion.

I’ve done this with my kids as well as teams I’ve led (usually volunteers in a church setting). When the person offering input sees that you aren’t going to get angry or fall apart, he can feel free to offer invaluable (if painful) information. And because I invited it, it’s easier for me to take to heart. But it’s hard to hear what I’m doing poorly, as a parent or team leader. And it’s really, really hard not to explain or defend myself; but when I refrain from that and just listen, I can consider the critique and figure out if/how to change. My kids have been grateful to have me ask and know that I’m really listening when they offer some of their concerns.

When giving input/critique:

My eldest daughter has her driver’s permit, and I’ve been thinking about and practicing the positive feedback approach with her. Sometimes, however, for safety reasons I simply have to correct and stop a dangerous move; sometimes I simply cannot “ignore the bad.” But I am making a point to identify things she’s doing well, “rewarding the good” by pointing it out with a compliment.

• Check Tone & Motive: When I have to give some negative input–not just when out driving with my daughter, but with anyone–I’m trying to check my tone and my motive, too. I also try to add some explanation as to why the change would be beneficial. And I try to follow up when I see the person change and affirm them.
• In the Context of Trust, Respect & Love: The clicker training mentioned in my original post could be very superficial and only focus on behavior–it may work well for step-by-step training but not for subtle analysis. (Leslie Leyland Fields expresses her concern with actual programs that promote a clicker-training approach to parenting in her post “Training is Not Enough!!“) With my family and friends, I want to be building relationships and reaching their hearts. I want any input to be in the context of trust, respect and love.
• Praise Sandwich/One-Minute Praise: Erin of Together for Good added this:

Not only am I grateful for Erin’s reminder that God roots out the bad–the sin–and that the good in us is a result of His Spirit’s work and strength, but I also really like her idea of “praise sandwiches.” Kenneth Blanchard’s One-Minute Manager advocates “one-minute praise” as immediate and specific as possible. I should note that he also does advocate immediate and specific “one-minute reprimands” followed with a reassuring handshake that affirms the person is valuable to the organization. Blanchard’s three-step “One-Minute Praise” and four-step “One-Minute Reprimand” processes are summarized HERE.

Any human, young or old, can better hear what needs improvement when it’s sandwiched between or at least followed up with what he or she is doing right.

An Atmosphere of Affirmation

I grew up with a lot of negativity, where nothing I did, not even sweeping grass off the porch, could be done to the satisfaction of one of my parents. I longed to hear something good reinforced, but most of the input I received was criticism. As a result, I developed a skewed image of myself. Developing my identity in that atmosphere of negativity, I couldn’t come close to reaching my full potential; I was plagued with self-doubt and insecurity.

Now, as a mom, I think I’m extra tuned-in to this topic because I really want to figure out what works and how I can offer input that is both loving and beneficial. I want my children to flourish in an environment that is predominately positive. And when I must correct, I want them to hear the truth spoken … in love.

I agree with Erin that none of us is innately “good,” that we are lost without our Savior, and that we must watch out for pride. But I also know firsthand the crippling effects of criticism and negativity.

When I do point out a fault in my kids or offer some criticism or correction, I want to follow up with a hug—the family version of Blanchard’s handshake—so that each child knows he or she is loved no matter what. And as I mentioned above, I want to be open to their own critique of me. If I model gentle, loving correction, perhaps they’ll go easy on me when I ask how they feel I could improve as a parent!

If I’m going to err in a direction, I want it to be in the direction of affirmation and praise.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to post photos of your picnic basket, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you can access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

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I like flexible, forgiving recipes that are difficult to mess up yet allow for creativity.Quiches fit that description.I threw one together the other day. We’ll call it:Tomato-Bacon Florentine Quiche.I had a ready-made Pillsbury crust, so that part was easy. Cooked about half a bag of frozen spinach, drained it, and spread it on the bottom. Diced half a tomato and two leftover pieces of cooked bacon. Tossed those on the spinach.Pulled out a bag of Kroger Italian-style cheeses, a blend of Mozzarella, provolone, Romano, Parmesan, Fontina and Asiago. Spread about a cup, maybe a cup-and-a-half on top of that.Then, to make sure I had the liquids fairly balanced, I did a quick search and turned up this “Basic Quiche Recipe” and noted the remaining necessary ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 – 1/2 cups crème fraîche, heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk (I had fat-free half & half)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• dash of nutmeg

The recipe suggested cooking the crust at 400º for 12 minutes and then cooling before adding the filling. But I didn’t do that. The crust, which turned soft and moist instead of firm and crisp, tasted fine to me…but I’ll bet precooking improves the texture.Anyway, I followed the rest of the instructions:

• Using a whisk, beat together the eggs, creme fraiche (or heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk), and seasonings. Whisk just until mixed.
• Pour the egg mixture on top of the quiche crust and place in 375°F oven for 40 minutes, or just until the eggs are set (the quiche will continue to cook some after you remove it from the oven, so be sure not to over cook it). The quiche will puff up and turn a nice golden brown on top.
• Cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

Here’s how mine looked after I poured the egg-milk mixture on top and stuck it in the oven.Here’s how it turned out:And here’s the entire Basic Quiche Recipe that I referenced:

• 1 pie crust
• 2 cups filling
• 4 eggs
• 1 – 1/2 cups crème fraîche, heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• dash of nutmeg

Fit the crust to a tart or pie pan, then prick the bottom all over with a fork. Place the pan in the freezer for 20 minutes or longer, then bake in a 400°F oven for 12 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients.Prepare the filling ingredients. Vegetables should be blanched to tenderize them and meat or seafood should be cooked. Cheese should be shredded or diced.Layer the ingredients in the cooled quiche crust, starting with the meat or vegetables, then adding the cheese.Using a whisk, beat together the eggs, creme fraiche (or heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk), and seasonings. Whisk just until mixed.Pour the egg mixture on top of the quiche crust and place in 375°F oven for 40 minutes, or just until the eggs are set (the quiche will continue to cook some after you remove it from the oven, so be sure not to over cook it). The quiche will puff up and turn a nice golden brown on top.Cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to post photos of your knife sharpener, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you can access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays with Participants

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The other day, we ran out of store-bought bread. Instead of running out for a plastic-wrapped loaf from Kroger, I decided to make some whole wheat bread at home. I tried one of the first recipes that came up with the search terms “whole wheat bread recipe moist soft”: Whole Wheat Honey Bread We tried it and loved it. It really is moist and soft, just like I hoped for when I typed in those search terms. We ate the whole loaf in record time.Next day, I made another loaf that turned out as fabulous as the first. Set a new consumption speed record with that loaf.The day after that, I made a third loaf that was just as good as the first two, quickly snapping a photo before it, too, was gobbled up.I’ve never had great luck with bread. Until now.This is officially our bread.I altered the recipe ever-so-slightly, so click on the hyperlink to see the original. My tweaks are indicated below.Everyday Whole Wheat Honey Bread

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“Snow Jog” photo by Ann Kroeker © 2007

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to post photos of your lettuce seed packets, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

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A few weeks ago I wrote about Lenten Lentils for Food on Fridays. My friend Linda and I were talking about the honey-baked lentils recipe I posted that day from the More-with-Less cookbook. I made a batch recently and devoured them. But she couldn’t say enough about the More-with-Less Lentil-Barley Stew recipe. Her enthusiastic recommendation convinced me to try it.As I was cooking the lentils with the sauteed celery and onion, it wasn’t looking super appetizing.But I still had things to add, like the barley, tomatoes and spices (picture doesn’t include everything).It started looking better as the barley began to cook.I let it simmer for quite some time. As you can see from the recipe, it cooks for 45-60 minutes. I actually ran some errands. When I came back home to check on the lentils…I dipped into a pot of thick, nourishing stew.When it was in the soup-stage, I was not overly impressed.In the stew-stage, however, I’m lovin’ it. Unfortunately, my kids aren’t lovin’ it. They don’t share our love of lentils at all.One of my daughters still gags on mashed potatoes and refuses to choke down more than one single pea. On the rare occasions we insist she ingest one single pea or one spoonful of mashed potatoes, she washes it down (after a weepy 20-minute delay) with an eight-ounce glass of milk. I won’t tell you how old she is; suffice it to say she’s definitely old enough to eat one pea or tablespoonful of mashed potatoes without a fuss. Anyway, after many years of these struggles, I didn’t even bother asking her to swallow a lentil. While the Belgian Wonder and I each enjoyed a generous serving of Lentil-Barley Stew (and packed some for tomorrow’s lunches), the kids defaulted to Leila’s Mac-n-Cheese. Yes, I caved. But at least it was effortless to throw together their alternative, thanks to Leila’s mac-n-cheese virtual mentoring.Enjoy the lentils.And if you don’t enjoy the lentils, enjoy the mac-n-cheese.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to post photos of your food processor blades, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnFor years I’ve made macaroni and cheese from scratch by whipping up a white sauce (flour-based roux & milk), adding cheese, and mixing it into the cooked macaroni. Now that I’ve made it four hundred twenty-seven times, it’s easy to throw together. But it dirties a lot of pans.So when I read through Leila’s fast, easy, creamy, cheesy macaroni and cheese instructions, I couldn’t wait to try it.People, I will never go back.I’ve been transformed; or, my macaroni and cheese has been transformed, and that’s almost the same thing.So get out your cornstarch, pick up a bag of sharp cheddar cheese next time you’re at the store, and have fun with Leila’s charming, freeing, beautifully documented step-by-step tutorial.I’m here to tell you…Dinner will never be the same.

Photo of Leila’s Fast, Easy, Creamy, Cheesy Macaroni and Cheese from “Our Mothers, Our Daughters.”

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—your link could be your favorite lentil soup recipe, but it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If it’s about shopping at Aldi’s or you want to share your plans for Lent, go ahead and link up!When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

Valentine’s Day tradition at the Kroeker house is to have a family feast.We make a big meal, set the dining room table with a red or pink tablecloth and good china, light candles, turn on some fun music, and pass around homemade Valentine’s cards.After the meal, we take turns sharing at least one thing we enjoy, love or admire about each person in the family.Our hope is to create a tradition that the kids look back on with fondness and look forward to with joy, knowing that they are loved and accepted no matter what…that there will always be a Valentine in their mailbox.The main dish for our feast is a crock pot recipe for chicken. The original recipe is HERE, but we modified it and took the liberty of coining a much more satisfying name:Hoosier Comfort Chicken (crock pot recipe)

• 8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (we slice them again into smaller pieces)
• 8 strips bacon (one slice for each piece of chicken, so you’ll need more if you cut the breasts into smaller pieces)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (or I’ve substituted a from-scratch version made with flour and oil, adding chicken broth and some cream)
• 1 jar dried beef (the original calls for it, but we leave it out, sometimes substituting additional bits of bacon instead)

Preparation:Wrap a strip of bacon around each piece of chicken breast. Line bottom of crock pot with cut up chipped beef (you can substitute bits of bacon if you don’t use the beef…or skip altogether). Place the chicken breast halves or pieces on the chipped beef. Combine sour cream and soup; pour over the chicken. Bake in crock pot on low 6-8 hours or until chicken is cooked. (You can bake this in a baking dish in the oven; the cooking time is about 2 hours at 300º and bacon may get more crispy.) Serve on cooked egg noodles.Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Photo by HCB-network member nAncY of Just Say the Word.

“Hammers on Black.” Just Say the Word. 7 January 2010. Web. 27 Jan. 2010. <http://justsaytheword.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/1929/>.

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Merry Christmas!

If you happen to have a food-related post you’d like to include in today’s Food on Fridays, by all means, link it up.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants1. Never Fail Pie Crust, Awards and GiveawayFood on Fridays with AnnYou are absolutely welcome here and I’m glad to share this space with you on Christmas Day.What’s your Christmas breakfast like?In the morning we’re having cinnamon rolls from a can.We were going to have Trader Joe’s chocolate croissants like this:

But we made a mistake and bought “mini croissants” instead (with no chocolate).

Once we realized our mistake and shed a few tears, we agreed we would be fine with plain croissants—perhaps with a bit of Nutella spread on them while warm—and cinnamon rolls from a can.

While enjoying the Nutella-smeared croissants and rolls, we’ll light the Christ candle in our Advent wreath, read some Scripture, pray, and then exchange gifts … all while dealing with a sugar high first thing in the morning.

I hope we can keep our focus.

Small traditions help keep our focus.

The Christ candle (which was, by the way, the unity candle at our wedding) is placed in the center of the Advent wreath as a reminder.

It reminds me that’s right where He belongs in my life, as well … in the center.

Get ready … Mega Memory Month returns January 2010!

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can simply tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish or post and link to a picture of your pies.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

Thanksgiving is over and our fridge is packed with leftovers.So I decided to share some leftovers here, as well, adapting an old Thanksgiving post from the archives:I learned a handy potato tip from a Belgian cook named Jacqueline.My mother-in-law asked Jacqueline how she prepared for big gatherings. What did she do in advance?Jacqueline lifted the cover of a clean white bucket to reveal a mound of peeled potatoes covered in water.“What’s this?” I asked my mother-in-law in English. The meal wasn’t until the next day, but the potatoes were already peeled.“The potatoes,” my mother-in-law replied.“I see that, but…” I hesitated, not wanting to seem like I was doubting her friend’s kitchen know-how, “I thought potatoes go brown if you don’t cook them right after peeling.”“I thought so, too,” my mother-in-law admitted, “but Jacqueline says that as long as they’re completely covered with water, they’re fine!”Tip #1Get Some Dirty Work Out of the Way: Submerge Peeled PotatoesInstead of peeling potatoes at the last minute while the turkey is being carved, I follow Jacqueline’s example and peel them as early as the day before, though this year I peeled them in the morning. Then I just cover them in water and top with a lid, all ready to go.Tip #2Don’t Mash the Potatoes–Blend!Instead of mashing by hand, smashing for several wrist-wrenching minutes, simply plug in the hand mixer and whirr away. So fast. So simple. Such smooth, lump-free potatoes.And if you really feel crazy and daring (maybe not on Thanksgiving, but some other time), you can also cook sweet potatoes or carrots and blend them together with the potatoes.Tip #3Ann’s All-Time Favorite Pumpkin PieMy mom made the pumpkin pies this year, but when it’s my turn, I have a favorite pumpkin pie recipe.I’ve experimented with several recipes. Most of them have been, well, “meh.”My all-time favorite?Stokely’s:

PUMPKIN PIE (STOKELY’S BACK-OF-CAN)1 can (16 oz) pumpkin1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk2 eggs, slightly beaten3/4 C brown sugar1 T flour1/2 t salt1/2 t ground cinnamon1/4 t ground ginger1/4 t ground nutmeg1/4 t ground cloves1 9-inch unbaked homemade pie crust.Preheat oven to 450. Blend all ingredients and pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake 20 mins.Reduce temperature to 350. Bake 35 minutes more or until knife inserted comes out clean. Cool completely on rack.

I cover the crust-edges with strips of aluminum foil formed into curves and balanced along the rim of the pie pan. They stay there almost the entire baking time. For the last 10-15 minutes I take off the foil and let the crust get a little brown. Otherwise it almost burns.p.s. For those who saw my Thanksgiving Preview, I chose not to use the white tablecloth. Instead, I opted for two very long coordinating cloths on our two long tables. They’re golden. I thought you should know, as I felt sort of hypocritical folding up the white one and tucking it back into the storage cabinet. My mom assures me that we will, however, have pea salad; and for that, I’m truly grateful.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can just take a picture of your hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate at last week’s football game. That’ll do just fine.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

When the temperature goes down, I start to monkey around with soup concoctions.

Tonight’s combination turned out particularly well—the Belgian Wonder, who grew up with soup as a dietary staple, praised the blend and balance of flavors. “Very smooth, very tasty, very healthy,” he said. He took two servings and set aside some for lunch.

Here’s what it looked like in the pot. It uses all orange veggies.

I’ll do my best to explain it below.

Creamy Harvest Soup

Ingredients:

• 2-3 T olive oil (I just poured a little in–I guess that’s about what it was)
• 1/4 C diced onions (at most–I have to go easy on the onions)
• 1 or 2 carrots, diced (I was using baby carrots, so I’m estimating)
• 2 cans chicken or vegetable broth (vegetable broth makes this vegan)
• 1-2 C water (maybe more–enough to cover the veggies when cooking)
• 1 butternut squash, cut into pieces (you can cut it up raw or pre-cook slightly to soften it in the oven or microwave)
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed or diced (cooks faster if diced)1/3 to 1/2 C canned pumpkin (I had some left from baking muffins; you could make this recipe without it)
• Additional broth to thin out as desired
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

• In a large pot, cook carrots and onion in oil until onion is soft (carrots don’t have to be cooked through yet).
• Add broth and then add squash and sweet potato.
• Add water to cover.
• Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer until veggies are soft.
• Add pumpkin (if you have some–not too much, though, or it will taste too pumpkin-y).
• When soup is slightly cooled, puree in batches using the blender; or it’s easier to use a hand blender to puree the soup right in the pot.
• Add water or additional broth, stirring until soup is desired consistency (I like my soup pretty thick, but some people like it thinner–you can experiment and decide what you prefer; after blending, this soup was very thick, and even I added a lot of water).
• Salt to taste.

If you have some, put a dollop of cream or half-n-half in the soup when you serve it. But it’s delicious without, so don’t sweat it if you don’t have any on hand.

Serve with a salad and thickly sliced multi-grain bread.

Food on Fridays p.s.

I scored big with a Kroger manager’s special: crème fraîche was on sale. Wow, was it good in this soup!

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The post Food on Fridays: Creamy Harvest Soup appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can just spell your name with macaroni noodles, take a picture, publish it on your blog, and link right up to the carnival. That’s fine with us.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnAll I can say is that if you like curry a little bit—and if you like sweet potatoes a lot—this dish is the next thing you should try in your crockpot.Crockpot Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes (and coconut-milk-rice)Ingredients:4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts1 onion2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced2/3 cup orange juice1 tsp salt1/4 tsp ground pepper3 tsp curry powder1 clove garlic, mincedInstructions:Main Dish: Cut the chicken breasts in half and half again, so they are skinny strips. Or you could cut them into cubes, I suppose. Arrange in the bottom of the crockpot. Cut up the onion in big pieces and place on top of the chicken. Peel and dice the sweet potatoes and spread on top of onion and chicken. Mix all the spices into the orange juice and pour over the top. Place the lid on the crockpot and cook for 5-6 hours on low (add liquid if your crockpot cooks a little hot or if you think you might be late–you can add more OJ or add some chicken broth or water with bouillon).Rice: One typical can of coconut milk yields about 2 C of liquid. I made the rice in a rice cooker using 2 C rice and for the liquid, 2 C coconut milk + 2 C water. The coconut milk adds subtle flavor to the rice, jazzing up the entire dish when served together. (** Updated **) Prepare rice as you normally would on the stove or in a rice cooker.I’ve doubled this many times and it does well in my big crockpot. On the other hand, tonight I made the standard amount in a baking dish in the oven.Visit this link for a nice photo-tutorial on how to prepare this dish.

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The post Food on Fridays: Chicken Curry w/Sweet Potatoes appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can write about the Indiana State Fair’s chocolate-covered bacon or link to a post about how to freeze zucchini.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

1. Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker (Yoplait Giveaway–ends Friday night!)
2. Twirl and Taste
3. Passionate Homemaking … Becoming P31 (Mocha Freeze Mini-Cheesecakes)
4. Stretch Mark Mama (10 Summer Recipes)
5. At Home N About (Quick -n- Easy Baked Beans)
6. thoughtsfromovertherainbow (Spinach Salad)
7. Inside the White Picket Fence (Zucchini Recipes)
8. Newlyweds! (corn dip)
9. Cook with Sara (lemon blueberry zucchini cake)
10. Kitchen Stewardship (Sausage Zucchini Bake–many ingredients from Farmers’ Market)
11. Home Ec 101 (Homemade Noodle Tutorial)
12. Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free (Healthy, Five-Minute Blueberry Banana Ice Cream)
13. Hoosier Homemade (Zucchini Cupcakes)
14. The Byrd House (Versatile Pastry Dough)
15. The Prudent Pantry (Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup)
16. Gravity of Motion (An Original Recipe)
17. Earth Friendly Goodies (Organice Blueberry Kefir Pancake Recipe)
18. Coping with Frugality (Yummy Soup–Needs a Name)
19. Hopeannfaith (Summer Tea)

Food on Fridays with AnnI wanted to serve a friend something special with tea the other morning and found this Blueberry Coffee Cake recipe that I modified slightly. I’ll Annotate the recipe below.Oops. I cut into it and started to serve, but my guest stopped me. “Get a picture!” she exclaimed. “For your blog!”Excellent advice.But even a piece that’s been cut looks appealing to me.Blueberry Coffee CakeIngredientsStreusel topping (Note: I made only half of this)

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter (I had to make-do with oil, and it was delicious–can’t wait to make this with butter)

Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (Note: I left out about 1/2 C flour, because people on Allrecipes recommended doing that so that it would be more moist—an excellent decision, in my opinion)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (again, I was out of butter and substituted oil–can’t wait to try butter)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (Note: I used frozen)
• Almond slivers (optional Ann addition)
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting (I didn’t use that much sugar to dust it; and my kids laughed hysterically when I said I was going to be dusting the cake)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a Bundt pan well with cooking spray.
2. Make the streusel topping: Mix 1 brown cup sugar, 2/3 cup flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl (or half of that, like I did). Cut in 1/2 cup butter or margarine; topping mixture will be crumbly. Set aside.
3. For the cake: Beat 1/2 cup butter or margarine (or oil) in large bowl until creamy; add 1 cup white sugar, and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Whisk together 2 cups flour (or 1/2 cup less), baking powder, and salt; add alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition (this was really thick and hard to spread, but it worked).
4. Spread half the batter in the prepared pan. Cover with berries (I poked them into the batter individually, then topped with half of the streusel topping), and add remaining batter by tablespoons. Cover with streusel topping (some streusel is on the inside, and some on the top, which will become the bottom when inverted after it’s baked; then I tossed on a few almond slivers, which browned slightly as it cooked and added a wonderful texture and flavor—who knew I could be so fancy?).
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes, until deep golden brown. Remove pan to wire rack to cool. Invert onto a plate after cake has cooled (oops–I inverted before it was cool, and it was fine), and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

I thought it was amazing.

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The post Food on Fridays: Blueberry Coffee Cake appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can just share a picture of your fridge snapped on the day you cleaned it out, explain where mushrooms come from, or write a rollicking raspberry rhyme.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

1. Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker (Chicken Curry and Naan)
2. My Practically Perfect Life (Fondue Pot-Power Outage)
3. Hoosier Homemade (Fruit for the Fourth)
4. Halala Mama (Spinach Rice)
5. Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free (Homemade Strawberry Jam)
6. Kitchen Stewardship (Freezer Food Tips)
7. Meanwhile, back at the ranch… (Easy Home Cookin’)
8. My Country Haven (Pina Colada Cake)
9. Newlyweds! (Outback Steakhouse Bushman Bread)
10. Glimpse of Sonshine (Cherry-Apple Bran Muffins)
11. Momtrends (Friday Feasts: Grilled Corn)

Food on Fridays with AnnA big thanks to Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker for her homemade Warm Delights recipe!If you have cake mix on hand, these are a super-easy, super-tasty, super-fast and super-fun way for friends and family to create personalized desserts.I had one just last night with chocolate chips and caramel sauce stirred into chocolate cake mix and recreated it especially for this post (see photos below).Be sure to drop by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker to thank her for this life-altering dessert experience.Here are the instructions:Warm DelightsIngredients:

• 1/4 cup cake mix (any flavor)
• 1/8 cup water
• 1-2 tsp filling/mix-in of your choice(ex: caramel, hot fudge, strawberry or raspberry jam, coconut, marshmallow, nuts, peanut butter, chocolate chips, etc.)

Instructions:

1. In microwave-safe cereal-sized bowl, stir water into cake mix.
2. Add filling(s).
3. Microwave on high for 1 minute (microwave times and temperatures vary; start with less time on your first attempt).
4. Warm Delight will be very hot. Let sit at least 3 minutes before digging in.

In this photo, the 1/8 C water is combined with 1/4 C cake mix.Here, the chocolate chips are about to be stirred in. I snapped another photo showing what it looked like when the caramel sauce was added, but it was out of focus. Imagine the swirls of sauce drizzled artfully over the mixture.Here it is, straight from the microwave, piping hot.Forget ice cream sundae parties—now Warm Delight mix-in parties will be all the rage!

More Friday Carnivals

Is Food on Fridays not fun enough for you?  Not in the mood for food? Check out these other great carnivals!

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• 7 Quick Takes Friday, hosted by Conversion Diary
• Aloha Friday, hosted by An Island Life
• Favorite Ingredients Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed With Joy
• Fifi’s Fashionable Friday, hosted by Fifi Flowers Design Decor
• Finding Freedom, hosted by Cents to Get Debt Free
• Finer Things Friday, hosted by The Finer Things in Life
• Four Foods On Friday, hosted by Fun, Crafts and Recipes
• Friday Felicities, hosted by beckyperry.us
• Friday Fill-Ins
• Friday Show and Tell, hosted by Canada Girl
• Photo Story Friday, hosted by What Works For Us
• Say It Forward Friday, hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom

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Join Mega Memory Month for the month of July!

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can just list your favorite cold beverages, tell us whether or not you salt your watermelon and cantaloupe, or describe a day of fasting (instead of a Food on Fridays, I guess that would be a No Food on Fridays post).In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

1. Hoosier Homemade (blueberry muffins)
2. Newlyweds! (Super Easy Cobbler)
3. $aving Makes Cents (Chicken and Squash Saute with Rice)
4. Halala Mama (Chai Tea Latte)
5. Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker (Homemade Maple Bars)
6. My Practically Perfect Life (Make-Do Meal)
7. Glimpse of Sonshine (Peach Cobbler Muffins)
8. Stretch Mark Mama (Fruit Pizza)
9. Meanwhile, back at the ranch… (Fried Tacos)
10. Cook with Sara (Summer Pasta)

Food on Fridays with AnnMmmm….more muffins.Forget corn muffins.These are banana chocolate-chip muffins (even the mere mention of this muffin makes me drool).I used a banana bread recipe, scooped the batter into muffin tins with an ice cream scoop, and cooked them for typical muffin minutes (around 15-20—pulling them out whenever they looked done on top).Banana Bread (Easy)1/2 C shortening (I used butter this time, but sometimes I use part butter, part oil; other times, I substitute some applesauce or yogurt for some of the oil)1 C sugar2 eggs2 C flour (I use a lot of whole wheat and a little white)dash salt1 t baking powder1/2 t soda3 mashed bananas1 C chocolate chips (optional)Directions:Cream shortening and sugar.Add eggs and beat.Sift and add dry ingredients.Fold in bananas (and chocolate chips, if using).Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes for bread, 15-20 for muffins (use toothpick test for both).

More Friday Carnivals

Is Food on Fridays not fun enough for you?  Not in the mood for food? Check out these other great carnivals!

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• 7 Quick Takes Friday, hosted by Conversion Diary
• Aloha Friday, hosted by An Island Life
• Favorite Ingredients Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed With Joy
• Fifi’s Fashionable Friday, hosted by Fifi Flowers Design Decor
• Finding Freedom, hosted by Cents to Get Debt Free
• Finer Things Friday, hosted by The Finer Things in Life
• Four Foods On Friday, hosted by Fun, Crafts and Recipes
• Friday Felicities, hosted by beckyperry.us
• Friday Fill-Ins
• Friday Show and Tell, hosted by Canada Girl
• Photo Story Friday, hosted by What Works For Us
• Say It Forward Friday, hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Just write about how well your peas are coming up in the garden, snap some pictures of your compost bucket full of egg shells and corn cobs, or share your best dieting tips—it is, after all, swimsuit season, so I know I could use a little inspiration.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:(I think Mr. Linky is working, but if it’s still having technical difficulties, leave your link in the comments and be sure to visit other people’s sites from there):

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts. 

Food on Fridays Participants

1. Hoosier Homemade (Black Forest Cupcakes)
2. Newlyweds! (Homemade Salsa)
3. Like Mother, Like Daughter (The Secret to Braiding Bread)
4. Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker (Magic Apple Pie)
5. Cooking During Stolen Moments (Italian Chicken Sausage Spaghetti)
6. Glimpse of Sonshine (Marinade)
7. It’s All About Love (Avocado Mango Salad)
8. Better Is Little (Peach Crumb Cake Mix)
9. Cook with Sara (Toasted Almond Granola)
10. It’s Frugal Being Green (Cream Cheese Strudel)
11. Gravity of Motion (Divine Desserts)
12. Cents to Get Debt-Free (Garden Update)
13. Outward Expression (Work vs. Sugar Cookies)
14. Cutting Coupons in KC (Pumpkin Spice Granola Bar)
15. My Practically Perfect Life (Eggs for Dinner)

Food on Fridays with AnnMy friend and I were talking about making granola from scratch, and as soon as I got off the phone with her, I made my shopping list.I follow the Belgian Wonder’s mom’s directions. If you need more precise directions, try this recipe. It’s similar.Start with a bunch of old-fashioned oats (flakes, not steel-cut).A box of All-Bran.Freshly grated coconut (yes, they buy an actual coconut, poke a hole through the shell to drain the milk, crack it open, and grate it; the Belgian Wonder performs this duty for our family).I add some Grape Nuts, because I like them, and slivered almonds, because I love them (the Belgian Wonder’s mom doesn’t add those).Then blend honey (my mother-in-law uses brown sugar heated on the stove in place of honey) and oil, about equal parts, some vanilla, a little water (not much), and I should have added cinnamon, but I didn’t. Anyway, whisk that together and pour it over the granola, stirring to coat.Spread a single layer of the mixture into some pans and bake at 250 for a while (stirring occasionally) until it looks toasty.Pull out the pans and let the granola cool. Store in the emptied oatmeal canisters or other airtight containers.Serve however you like, adding dried fruit or other mix-ins.When it’s in the oven, the house smells like a bakery.Eat healthy!

More Friday Carnivals

Is Food on Fridays not fun enough for you?  Not in the mood for food? Check out these other great carnivals!

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• 7 Quick Takes Friday, hosted by Conversion Diary
• Aloha Friday, hosted by An Island Life
• Favorite Ingredients Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed With Joy
• Fifi’s Fashionable Friday, hosted by Fifi Flowers Design Decor
• Finding Freedom, hosted by Cents to Get Debt Free
• Finer Things Friday, hosted by The Finer Things in Life
• Four Foods On Friday, hosted by Fun, Crafts and Recipes
• Friday Felicities, hosted by beckyperry.us
• Friday Fill-Ins
• Friday Show and Tell, hosted by Canada Girl
• Photo Story Friday, hosted by What Works For Us
• Say It Forward Friday, hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom

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The post Food on Fridays: Vague Granola Directions appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

On the off chance that your child would utter the words “I’m bored” at some point this summer, here are some websites with creative ideas:

• 100 More Things To Do When You’re Bored: Summer Edition (some of her ideas are geared for an older child, but could be done with mom & younger child)
• How to Have Fun with Your Kids
• 101 Summer Ideas (the flashing sunshine clipart is really annoying, but the ideas are good)

The post Creative, Creation-Lovin' Kids appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts. 

 Food on Fridays Participants

1. The Finer Things in Life (Act Your Age Cupcakes)
2. Cooking during Stolen Moments (Sausage Smothered White Beans)
3. Practically Perfect Life (TVP Cooking)
4. Stretch Mark Mama (Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan)
5. Inside the White Picket Fence (Angelfood Cake with Meringue Frosting)
6. A High & Noble Calling (Chocolate Eclair Squares)
7. Hoosier Homemade (Chicken ‘n’ Noodles)
8. Gravity of Motion (Food Funny–Cheetos)
9. Newlyweds! (Crock Pot Pinto Beans)
10. Better Is Little (Breakfast Cookies)
11. It’s All About Love (Eating Out–19th Century Style)
12. (Missed updating this on last week’s Food on Fridays) It’s Frugal Being Green (30 Quick, Green, and Frugal Meal Planning Resources)
13. (Missed updating this, as well) Beauty in the Mundane (Roast Beef with New Potatoes)

Food on Fridays with AnnThe Belgian Wonder and kids have come up with a simple menu for Mother’s Day that they can handle preparing on their own, freeing me to sit on the couch and eat bonbons with my mom and sister-in-law.However, as I thought about foods that I love, quiche popped into my head.Quiche is not on the menu.Next thing I knew, I craved it (quichequichequichequichequichequiche). But the kids don’t know how to make it. Neither does the Belgian Wonder.But I do.So I’m going to just do it. I’m making myself Mother’s Day quiche.I’m thinking about a spinach and cheese quiche.Or maybe Quiche Lorraine?If I keep the filling as simple as cheese only, though, maybe the kids will try it.On the other hand, I might want it all to myself; if so, I should probably make shrimp quiche.Any favorite quiche recipes out there? I’m obviously undecided and would welcome input.What’s on your Mother’s Day menu? Are you making yourself quiche? Or are you enjoying a swanky champagne brunch that culminates with a chocolate fountain flowing beside mountains of fresh strawberries? 

More Friday Carnivals (new links added this week)

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• 7 Quick Takes Friday, hosted by Conversion Diary
• Aloha Friday, hosted by An Island Life
• Favorite Ingredients Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed With Joy
• Fifi’s Fashionable Friday, hosted by Fifi Flowers Design Decor
• Finding Freedom, hosted by Cents to Get Debt Free
• Finer Things Friday, hosted by The Finer Things in Life
• Four Foods On Friday, hosted by Fun, Crafts and Recipes
• Friday Felicities, hosted by beckyperry.us
• Friday Fill-Ins
• Friday Show and Tell, hosted by Canada Girl
• Photo Story Friday, hosted by What Works For Us
• Say It Forward Friday, hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom

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At Make-Do Mondays, we discuss how we’re simplifying, downsizing, repurposing, buying used, and using what we’ve got.It’s a carnival you can visit to celebrate creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity. If you want to participate, you can share your own make-do solution in the comments or write up a Make-Do Mondays post at your blog, then return here to link via Mr. Linky.Here’s a mini-tutorial on Mr. Linky:

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.To visit people’s posts, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page that they provided. If I have time, I come back and update the post by hand.

  Make-Do Mondays Participants

• The Goat (Free Printables)
• mominapocket (Pillow Project)
• Sunnydaymama (Baby’s First Year Photos)

Make-Do Mondays with AnnWe just got back from our weekend visit with the Belgian Wonder’s niece.Leftover Spaghetti Carbonara came back in a cooler for tomorrow’s lunch.And the Krispy Kremes are gone, though their calories live on in my midriff.We’ve unpacked and settled in for the night, so I don’t have much energy left for a totally new post. Instead, I’ll be pulling from an old photo to show you how we’re making do in the bathroom. These photos originally appeared in a Works For Me Wednesday post. They’re pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll tell you a few details.The bathroom storage under the sink offers a good amount of space, and we could probably do more to make the most of it. But a fun make-do addition to our bathroom storage came from Goodwill.We found a pretty, brand-new, Shabby-Chic brand, over-door shoe storage unit made of a cloth. The pockets are deep and durable, so there’s a lot of space for all our bathroom gadgets—curling iron, blow dryer, hair brushes, cleaning cloths, scarves, deodorant, and even some medications in the high pockets.We open the closet door while we’re getting ready, and everything is readily accessible. Close the door, and it’s hidden from view.How are you making do?

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At Make-Do Mondays, we discuss how we’re simplifying, downsizing, repurposing, buying used, and using what we’ve got.It’s a carnival you can visit to celebrate creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity. If you want to participate, you can share your own make-do solution in the comments or write up a Make-Do Mondays post at your blog, then return here to link via Mr. Linky.Here’s a mini-tutorial on Mr. Linky:

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.To visit people’s posts, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page that they provided. If I have time, I come back and update the post by hand.

Make-Do Mondays Participants(updated as possible throughout the day)

1. Sharinskishe (Scrap Paper Cup)
2. Trish Southard (whittle wardrobe down to 100 items)
3. Sunnydaytodaymama (Fabric High Chair Alternative)
4. The Goat (Repurposing Recycling)
5. It’s All About Love (Making Do)
6. Simple Journeys (Paper Craft)

Make-Do Mondays with AnnI don’t have any fancy jewelry, so I don’t feel the need to have a fancy jewelry box. I’m making do with a repurposed box that held some decorative letters. The letters were on clearance at Target for practically nothing. (Shhh…don’t tell the Belgian Wonder, because I gave them to him as a gift.) The “l-o-v-e” letters came in a simple box made of very thin wood. I ended up using the box for my jewelry.When I bought it, one letter was in each of those sections. Underneath was nothing.I divvied up my rings, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets into those sections, and placed a watch, pins and other stuff in the generous space below.The box fits in the dresser drawer.I might paint it someday to add a little fun, but it’s fine for now just to have my few items contained and organized.How are you making do?

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The post Make-Do Mondays: A "Love"ly Jewelry Box appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.To visit people’s posts, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page that they provided. If I have time, I come back and update the post by hand.

Make-Do Mondays Participants

1. SunnyDayTodayMama (art easel in a small place)
2. My Practically Perfect Life (where to put kitchen towel)
3. Like Mother, Like Daughter (make-do with cardboard boxes in your freezer)
4. The Goat (zippered bags)
5. mominapocket (seasonal table)
6. Trish Southard (thoughts on poo)

Make-Do Mondays with AnnThose closets in Real Simple magazine with the wooden hangers and color-coded clothing?I like those closets.Sometimes I think if only I could put all my clothes on wooden hangers, life would be so much better. Nicole Balch at Making It Lovely has a closet like that with cute dresses hanging straight down from rows of wooden hangers (to be clear: this is, sigh, not my closet):Dreamy Closet (not mine)

Credit: Nicole Balch, Making It Lovely

Isn’t that beautiful?And in this Real Simple closet makeover, they may have opted for less expensive plastic hangers in place of wooden, but everything is uniform and pleasing to my eye (unfortunately, this isn’t my closet, either).Another Dreamy Closet (also not mine)

Somehow I could never quite bring myself to invest in all those wooden hangers to replace my mish-mash collection. Over time, I’ve accumulated mostly white plastic hangers, but even those aren’t exactly the same. Some have notches in them for strappy dresses and tops, while others are smooth. Some have an extra strip of plastic in one spot that others leave off, and some hang a little higher or lower than others.And then there are several wrapped wire hangers my grandmother used to make.This lady wrote instructions for how to braid material around a metal coat hanger, creating a slide-resistent surface for a slick blouse or jacket.I have some hangers like those. If I had my dream closet, I probably would have banished Grandma’s braided treasures to a box in the basement.But I’m making do. After years of hanger hankering, I still use those braided hangers.Here—see for yourself (this, sigh, is my closet):Make-Do Closet (mine)I could have straightened everything up for a more attractive photo shoot, but that wouldn’t be honest. This is my closet, where there’s no uniformity at all. See the braided ones here and there among the white?And in my closet, when I reframe the way I think about hangers, I find that I appreciate the way nostalgia offers practicality: Mingled with white plastic is an occasional memory of my grandma, and thanks to her handiwork, several jackets and blouses stay on their hangers instead of sliding to the closet floor.Make-Do Closet (mine)But you know, I’m glad. When I let go of that craving for clean lines, I see something more beautiful. Some summers I would spend a week with Grandma, and we’d sit in her living room watching The Lawrence Welk Show while she taught me to knit, crochet, do needlepoint, sew, and press flowers to make cards. And though I don’t remember a precise day or moment when she pulled out the long strips of stretchy fabric and some old wire hangers from the dry cleaners, I’m sure I braided at least one of these when I visited.We’re making do, and it’s good.How about you?

The post Make-Do Mondays: Imperfect Closet appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.

Food on Fridays Participants

1. hopeannfaith (physical health is next focus)
2. Beauty in the Mundane (diabetic recipes: crustless spinach quiche)
3. A Day in the Life (frugal fridays recipe swap: (crock pot roast pork)
4. Newlyweds! (sweet bean burritos)
5. Stretch Mark Mama (Thai Chicken Salad)

Food on Fridays with AnnThe Belgian Wonder’s niece and nephew visited us back at Thanksgiving and introduced me to a French recipe that their mom makes called “Roti Orloff.” I got intrigued, so they phoned their mom, my sister-in-law, for instructions.I was afraid it would be a super-fancy, complicated dish that I wouldn’t be able to handle, as I’m not too confident in the kitchen. But when she explained it, I thought, “Hey, I can do that!” It’s different and seems special without a lot of extra effort.Here’s what you need:

• Pork tenderloin
• Swiss cheese (or Gruyere or Emmentaler if you have it–I used my manager’s special cheese)
• Ham (any inexpensive sliced ham you’d buy at the deli is fine)
• Cream or half-and-half 

Pork tenderloin can be expensive, so watch for a good sale or manager’s special. I found it half-price.I think you could brown the tenderloin in a skillet beforehand, but I didn’t. I just stuck it in the oven in a baking dish until it was cooked through.Then pull it out of the oven and slice it thinly, stopping before the knife goes all the way through.Place a piece of ham and cheese between each of the pork slices.Put more cheese on top (shredded or more of the slices). Then pour cream or half-and-half straight into the pan juices. I used almost an entire small container of half-and-half.This is what ours looked like at that stage (vegetarians, if you’re still with me at this point, please avert your eyes):Then we stuck it back in the oven for another 20 minutes or so, until the cheese was melty on top and the sauce was warmed through. This is what it looked like when we pulled it out to serve:Maybe it doesn’t look like much, but it was delicious. Our niece said that her favorite side dish with Roti Orloff was “pommes dauphine.” Alas, our American grocery store didn’t carry anything so French. We served it with the closest thing we could find in the frozen potato section: “Smiles.”Not too long ago, I made it again with only cheese. I recommend it that way, as well, though we should call it something different. I like the name coined by our niece and nephew: “Roti Kroekoff.”

More Friday Carnivals

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Biblical Womanhood
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

The post Food on Fridays: Roti Orloff appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.To visit people’s posts, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page that they provided. If I have time, I come back and update the post by hand.

Make-Do Mondays Participants

1. Like Mother, Like Daughter (Winter-Sown Seeds)
2. The Goat (bread crumbs, golf tees, airplanes)
3. My Practically Perfect Life (Whisk-sifting)
4. Queen of the Castle Recipes (10 Tips for Buying Seafood)
5. 50’s Housewife (Make-Do Photographer)
6. mominapocket (using what we have)

Make-Do Mondays with AnnFor many reasons that I won’t get into here, we resisted investing in a gaming system that hooks into the TV. The kids had resigned themselves to using their handheld Nintendo DS gadgets that they bought with their own money. They enjoy playing Wii at friends’ houses and assumed they’d never own anything like it.As we neared Christmas last year, one of the kids and I slipped into Goodwill. She found a used Nintendo Gamecube (a game system that’s no longer being produced new). It was a little high for a used price, but that week it was half price.We bought it.So while it seemed that everybody in the entire country was buying a Wii for Christmas, we wrapped up a used Nintendo Gamecube for the kids to open together:They had no idea what it was.And when they opened it, they still didn’t know what it was.Then the sister who was in the know said, “It’s a Gamecube.”The response:  Can you see the mouth dropped open in shock?They kept saying, “We have a Gamecube? The Kroekers? Us? I can’t believe it! Us! A Gamecube!” The gift came with restrictions–they have to ask permission before playing, for example, and both chores and school work must be completed or the answer will be no. It’s been fun to plug in on some of these dreary winter days.And because we make-do in so many ways, they were thrilled to have a used Gamecube for Christmas.How are you making-do?Updated: Visit Ship Full O’ Pirates and watch the SNL skit she’s posted. It fits with the Make-Do Mondays theme.Tune in tomorrow to see the final logophile lists–there’s still time to submit a word via the comments!

The post Make-Do Mondays: Used Game System appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

1. Ship Full O’ Pirates (Cheese-y Garlicky Biscuits)
2. Stretch Mark Mama (Quesa-Pizzas)
3. Newlyweds (Mardi Gras King’s Cake)
4. Homemade and Wholesome (Soup vs. V8)
5. Like Mother, Like Daughter (Bland Diet & Tray Meals–inspired by flu season)
6. thebyrdhouse (sweet potato fries)
7. Tuesday Afternoons (Cajun Chicken Fettuccine)

Food on Fridays with Ann[Updated with photos–scroll down!]Have you noticed my chocolate trend?Last week, it was Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake. I’ve also posted about Chocolate Gravy, and of course there’s my ongoing Nutella-mania. Even Chocolate-Chip Pumpkin Bread (or “Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Bread,” depending on what you want to emphasize) contains chocolate.Well, here’s yet another dose of chocolate.One-Bowl Brownies4 squares unsweetened chocolate3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or marg.2 cups sugar3 eggs1 teas. vanilla1 cup flour1 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips or white chocolate chips (optional, but we really like the white chocolate chips)Preheat to 325 degrees.Melt chocolate and margarine/butter in microwaveable bowl on high 2 mins or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.Stir sugar into chocolate until well blended. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour and nuts until well blended. Spread in greased, foil-lined (I just spray with Pam and forget the foil) 12×9 inch baking pan.Bake 30-35 mins (or until toothpick comes out clean). DO NOT OVERBAKE.(source: Baker’s unsweetened chocolate box)Do not overbake. Do not modify this recipe to try to make it healthier. Use all the eggs. All the sugar. All the butter. If you’ve got the chocolate chips, put ’em in.And then…prepare to swoon.(To clarify, the ecstatic swooning would be a reaction to the taste, not the calories or fat content.)Updated with sort of step-by-step shots, mostly for entertainment rather than instruction. Final snapshot is swoon-worthy; prepare the fainting couch.It starts with unsweetened chocolate. Usually I use Baker’s, who kindly provided me with the recipe. This time I’m using Trader Joe’s Belgian chocolate, because we like to think we’re kind of Belgian-y around here. And the wrapper was very appealing with the vintage, foreign postage stamp design.Then the butter (we only use butter–no margarine for Belgian-y Kroekers) and chocolate go into the microwave for a minute or a minute-and-a-half. It melts. You stir. It smells divine. The kids start to show up in the kitchen. “Whatcha makin’, Mom?”Stir in two cups of sugar. It sure looks like a lot of sugar. Try not to panic.And here, the brownies offer us a little Rorschach fun–in reverse, white-on-black.Don’t forget the chocolate chips. We didn’t have white. Sigh. It was a little disappointing, but we didn’t let it stop us. A very important step and perhaps the reason I’m partial to baking over cooking.And finally, step away from your keyboard–don’t want to be responsible for any short circuiting caused by a stream of drool.Please note their super-rich, mega-moist texture and the melty chocolate chip oozing from the back brownie.I’ll write about lentils or pumpkin soup later. For now, let’s just all sit back and take in the chocolate-y goodness.

The post Food on Fridays: One-Bowl Brownies appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

To participate in Make-Do Mondays, simply join in the discussion via the comments or Mr. Linky.

The Mr. Linky for WordPress.com isn’t as robust as the version that Typepad and Blogger can use, but I’m making do in all kinds of ways. Even with blog technology.

Here’s how Mr. Linky works:Click on the Mr. Linky icon, and a separate page will pop up where you type in your name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.To visit people’s posts, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page that they provided.Make-Do Mondays Participants

1. citystreams (easy child-proof solution–for a while)
2. Ship Full O’ Pirates (T-shirt sewing-machine cover & curtains)
3. My Daily Round (homemade mayonnaise)
4. Judith Coughlin (getting motivated to exercise)
5. The Goat (buy once–use twice)

Make-Do Mondays with AnnToday’s make-do post is simple:Cards.The kids have started playing several card games (and taking photos of their favorite decks).They like a game called Spoons, another they call Nerts (making-do using normal cards, of course, not the commercial version), and even simple games like Go Fish and War.Most of these games expand to accommodate multiple players. A deck can be tossed into a purse or backpack without weighing anybody down. No cords or batteries are needed. Some games teach strategy and math skills. And quite often some interaction is possible during play.Pretty nice benefits from a low-tech, low-cost, make-do activity.We all played a card game together at my parents’ house the other day. Three generations gathered around a table laughing, strategizing and talking–it provided make-do fun for everyone.I think we were building a memory.And all we needed was a deck of cards.

The post Make-Do Mondays: A Deck of Cards appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

The post Through the Garage Door appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

1. Stretch Mark Mama (Family-Pleasing Sloppy Joes)
2. Newlyweds! (Sweet & Spicy Pickles)
3. thebyrdhouse (Leftover Flank Steak or Chicken Ultimate Nachos)
4. Like Mother, Like Daughter (Rutabaga Fries)
5. Ship Full O’ Pirates (Pirate Bread)
6. This Pilgrimage (Cannelloni & Cheesecake)

Food on Fridays with AnnWe’ve been making this chocolate cake recipe for years. It’s called “Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake.”It’s well named. It really is absurdly easy, fast, economical, and simple. It’s so foolproof, my kids learned to stir it up when they could barely pronounce “absurdly,” and the final product always turned out perfectly. Another feature is that it uses just a few ingredients that we almost always have on hand (recipe also found at this site). You know what that means?You can have chocolate cake anytime.

Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake

Ingredients3 cups flour (680 grams)2 cups sugar (450 grams) (read this first)6 tablespoons cocoa (100 grams)2 teaspoons baking soda (10 cc’s = 10 ml)1 teaspoon salt (5 cc’s = 5 ml)3/4 cup vegetable oil (200 cc’s)2 tablespoon vinegar (30 cc’s)2 teaspoon vanilla (10 cc’s)2 cup cold water (480 cc’s)

DirectionsMix dry ingredients.Add wet ingredients.Stir until smooth.Grease & flour pan(s).Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.When cool, frost.(Makes two-layer cake or one sheet cake.)

More Friday Carnivals

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies
• Frugal Fridays at Biblical Womanhood
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

The post Food on Fridays: Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.