Finished!!

Woohoo Dee!

I used the last spice tonight with one day to spare before the end of the year. Cream of tartar was the last one I needed to use and in honor of my great grandfather I attempted angel food cake. It was apparently one of his favorites. It looks pretty good and it smells great. I'll find out if it tastes good after it cools. I'm very proud of myself for following through and finishing my little challenge. Also, for attempting new recipes I was previously intimidated by (angel food cake, baklava, and crab cakes). It was a lot of fun and helped my creative juices flow in the kitchen. I was smelling and tasting all sorts of things to see if they'd go well together. For the most part, we ate good food. There were a couple bumps though and not everything turned out extraordinary, but overall it was a success.

Hope your book challenge is complete. It's fun working towards something, isn't it? :)

Love you,
Donna

Numb

Hey Dee,

I don't want to put it on Facebook and I don't want to whine to my friends, but I want to get it out because I just want to. Today has sucked. Royally. I'm at the point right now where everything that feels like it has gone wrong has and inside I've shut down. I care, but I don't care. I'm stressed, but I'm numb to the stress. I'm moving along but I'm detached. If I care and allow the stress to really set in I'll break down and cry. I don't want to cry right now. I just want today to be over. But it can't be. There's still things I have to take care of and I just need to suck it up and push through to finish it all. But really, I know if I stop and think about this any longer I'll cry. So I should wrap this up before I think anymore. I've got breathing to take care of first.

Love you,
Donna

My ADORABLE Kids

Dee ~

So ya, I've used more spices (dill weed, ground ginger, chili powder, bay leaves, turmeric) but haven't taken pics. Still need to do a count and still pretty sure I'm on track to use them all by the end of the year. But that's not what I wanted to post.

The pics of the kids that Kristen took are now posted on her website and are ready to be enjoyed. Ok, maybe I just enjoy them thoroughly because they're of my little munchkins & I remember the day that she was here and when they were taken.

I can't believe how quickly they're growing. I know you must feel the same about yours.

Ok ~ that's it for today. Cam's stuck under the desk & I gotta play super hero for a second.

Love ya!
Donna

Falling behind on the posting

Dee,
Opps so time is escaping me. Sorry. On Thanksgiving I used marjoram in the gravy & fennel seed in the roasted vegs. All the other spices I used had already been used. I'll have to stop and do a count later, but I think I'm still on track to use all my spices by the end of the year.

It was good to visit with you today. I do miss hanging out with you.

Love you!
Donna

Used some more spices

Hey Dee,

So I used more spices and I need to post about them before too much time goes by and I forget. Ummm.....lets see, I used italian seasoning in a bow tie pasta dish I made and it was of course yummy. What Italian food isn't, right? Also used tarragon yesterday in the eggs I made for breakfast burritos...at lunch time. ;o) I put nutmeg along with cinnamon (already used) in the banana pancakes I made on Saturday morning. So that's another 3 more spices that I hadn't used before which brings me to 25 left to use.




I've also become a bit interested in trying to take pictures of the stuff outside our house. I want to save up to get a really nice camera, but until then I'll try to find ways to get our cameras to do the things I want them to. Whaddya think of these pics?







It was good talking to you on the phone today...even if for just a little bit. And also good to see you yesterday...even if for just a little bit.

Love ya & miss ya mucho!
Donna

Tonight's mix

Dee,

So tonight I ran out of time, but my grandma emailed me a recipe today that was quick & I decided to give it a shot. It's a tuna and pasta cheddar melt. In the recipe, it doesn't list any spices so I had to try and figure out what to use besides the go-to salt/pepper. Looking in my cabinet I saw celery seed. Hmm. Celery seed. So I tasted the food and then smelled the celery seed. The taste and smell didn't fight each other so I figured what the hay? I put some in and I actually think it made the dish better. Levi wasn't a fan though, but it's because he thinks tuna should only be used for tuna melt sandwiches. To knock off another spice off my list I added some garlic powder (along with salt & pepper) to our side dish of green beans. It also seemed to help. Who knows...maybe I was just hopeful for them to work out and so I thought they did. Even though I thought both dishes came out ok, they're nothing in comparison to last night's lemon chicken, pierogie casserole, and baklava. HAHAHA, but I don't think tuna could ever compare so my hopes were set real high anyway.

Two more spices down and only 28 spices to go.

Donna

The results!

Dee,

Well it all turned out great! The pierogie casserole was YUMMY! Levi said the lemon garlic chicken was the best chicken I've ever made. And we liked the baklava so much that Levi suggested I make it again for Thanksgiving. I'm very pleased with how it all went. I will say, however, that the "lazy" pierogie isn't really lazy after all. It was pretty time consuming....but I was also visiting with someone while making it so I might not have been moving as fast as I normally would. :o)

The first pics are of the baklava process. Making the filling, layering the filling & phyllo, after it's done baking, and my own special touch of putting filling on top and baking a little more. The next pics are the chicken....the marinade & after it's done baking. I guess I could've plated it before I took a pic, but oh well. Maybe I'll get fancier next time. The last pic is the pierogie casserole. I forgot to take a pic of the process but here's the final product and the spices used.









All in all, a pretty good day!
Love ya!
Donna