New, sort of, Year's Resolutions

I know it's already a month into the new year but hey I tend to procrastinate a bit. I can't be perfect! I've been reading some really inspirational blogs about people trying to make a difference in this sad world's situation, trying to eliminate plastic from their lives or going whole hog like "No Impact Man" and drastically reducing their carbon footprint. I can't commit to go as far as they have but I am definitely going to try and lead a more conscious earth friendly life. First off I have made a vow to absolutely eliminate my use of plastic shopping bags. I have some old ones in my car I can keep using until they fall apart but otherwise I'm not going to get any new ones. I have plenty of tote bags that i can keep in the car. In the past I'd leave them in the car and then say "oh well next time" but now if I forget I go back to the car and get them. My daughter visited Midway Atoll a few months ago and saw the effects our plastic mania has had on the albatross. The birds' decaying bodies reveal a belly full of plastic!

Here's my list of goals for 2009

1. Eliminate my use of plastic bags
2. Attempt to only purchase products that are minimally packaged
3. Reduce our families use of processed foods which will also reduce amount of packaging
4. Find alternatives for zip lock bags and plastic containers
5. Repair rather than replace whenever possible
6. Eat and prepare healthy whole foods in place of prepared and/or fast food
7. Reduce the amount of animal products I consume
8. Collect gray water for use on outdoor plants
9. Use less electricity by using sunlight when possible and less lighting in general
10. Be more conscious of combining car trips for shopping, errands etc., carpool

So basically follow a reduce, reuse, recycle lifestyle. One of my biggest challenges will be the resistance of other family members to follow in my footsteps. I need to remember that I can't control the decisions they make but I can lead by example. I will try to track my progress and have updates and post ideas I come across. I think we can make a difference if we all try. This morning I was about to turn on a lamp to read a book and realized if I moved into the family room it is nice an sunny and I don't need to turn on a light. I collected the water in a large bowl in the sink when I washed my hands and used that water on a plant in the backyard. Its a glorious day outside so instead of driving to the mall for some window shopping I will go out back and pull some weeds.

Pretty flower but oh so fleeting

This Christmas Cactus was a real beauty! A lovely friend of mine gave me this plant for a house re-warming gift when we moved back into our home. Unfortunately shortly after taking this picture the many, many buds simply dried up and fell off. So sad for me, I followed the directions on the little tab on the plant but alas it wasn't meant to be.

Boo hoo feeling sorry for myself...and cookies!

Youngest daughter is on a trip today with another 18 year old girl and I think I'm going to make myself nuts! They are driving 500 miles to visit friends at college, then snowboarding. Of course all i can think about is how many things could go wrong instead of how much fun they will surely have. I guess its the mom thing because I wouldn't have thought twice about doing something similar a her age. Of course Iasked her to check in every few hours and it's been over 2 so i'm anxiously waiting for her to call. She packed a cooler full of vegan goodness so I'm not worried about them having enough to eat that's for sure. I made them some delicious vegan chocolate chip cookies this morning so they took those along also.

Here's that recipe:

Vegan Chocolate chip (more appropriately "chunk") cookies

1/2 cup brown sugar (I was out of this so used 1 T less of raw sugar and added a Tablespoon of molasses)

1/4 granulated sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup soy milk

1 T cornstarch

2 tsps. vanilla extract ( I use the amazingly delicious vanilla bean paste)

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips (I didn't have vegan chips so chopped up a chunk of dark chocolate*)

depending on how chocolatey you want your cookies.

I use a stand mixer to beat the oil with the sugars (and molasses in this mornings case), milk and cornstarch for a good 2 minutes to get this mixed really well. Mix in vanilla. I then remove from the mixer and do the rest with a wooden spoon and/or good-sized rubber scraper, one of those spoony shaped ones does the job really well and scrapes down the sides of the bowl as a bonus. Add about 1/2 the flour and the baking soda and salt, mix well and add remaining flour; fold in chocolate chips/chunks.

I use a disher or scooper or whatever you call it size 50. I forgot to count the number of cookies i got but I'm guessing around 30. use a parchment paper lined cookie sheet or not. if you don't use parchment paper you might have to scrape the cookies off the sheet but it will still work ok.

Bake at 350 for 10 - 12 minutes. Baked mine for 12 and they were perfecto! I have checked my oven temperature recently I know its accurate. Let them cool on a wire rack or eat immediately if you like them hot and squishy!

* Whenever I chop a large piece of chocolate I get quite a bit of shavings along with my chunks but i just throw them in too. i think you'll find the different sizes of chocolate chunks are wonderful in these cookies.

Shall we try again?

Good lord it's 2009! I've decided to stop saying "...it'll be here before you know it" because it always is and its starting to make me a little crazy. i get these notions in my head that before you know it something I'm looking forward to (or not) will be here and gone and then what? What I'm trying to say in my long winded way is that I am going to try to live each day to its fullest potential and stop lamenting that time is absolutely flying by! There, that is as close as I get to making a New Year's resolution. I am going to try to start blogging more regularly too because I've noticed that I haven't come across many bloggers in my age group. The over 45 age group that is... ok not going to think about the time moving fast thing, not going to do it!

I made some bread from the book "Artisan Bread in five Minutes a Day". I have been thrilled with the results. I can't figure out how to get my pictures in the right place on this blog. I try to drag them around but they don't seem to want to go where I tell them! I solved the problem I think by deleting one of the pictures. Apparently I need more experience with the blog world. These are pictures of the dough in midrise and the finished load of 100% whole wheat sandwich bread from the aforementioned (is this a word?) book. Delicious! My only complaint is the recipes are a little too salty so I reduce the salt called for by about 1/3.

One down about 23 to go

Well I finally rejoined Weight Watchers and lost a whopping 1 pound this first week. Down isn't up so I'm pleased. I certainly didn't suffer to lose that pound so I'm sure I can keep up this pace.

My tomato plants have a visitor. Noticed some chomping marks on some of my tomatoes and it appears I've found the culprit. I suppose someday he will be a beautiful butterfly or moth or whatever but right now he/she is a tomato plant foe!

Starting almost 2 weeks ago now, I made/grew/built whatever, some "wild yeast" sourdough starter and tomorrow will try to remember to take some pictures so I can post about my bread making attempts. i want so badly to tear into a homemade loaf and find that wonderful, holey, delicious texture I'm so desperate to achieve. So far my loaves are always too dense; I guess it takes one to know one. I have made some really good pizza dough and focaccia though.

Fat, fat the water rat

Oh man! What a difference a year makes! Back to weight watcher's tomorrow morning for me. Ever since I started perfecting my baking skills, cupcakes in particular, I have seen the pounds piling back on. Less exercise too in the land of constant heat so I'm getting the double weight gain whammy. more food, less exercise. Soooooo, it looks like self-discipline is not my forte and I need the extra nudge that a weekly meeting gives me. Not to mention the competitive spirit that goes along with the weigh-ins. This picture will have to do as my "before" because it's all I have at my current rotundity. Wish me luck!. OINK!

woe is me

I've decided I'm going to do this blog for me and me alone so whatever I say on here is straight from my mind to the keyboard.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by all that is required to start a biz and not entirely sure its what I want to do anyway. I mean I love love love to bake and could do it all day long but I have never spent an entire day baking so maybe I wouldn't love it as a job, career, etc. I just don't know. My life has been filled with child rearing and wifely duties for more than 25 years so this is all a big life change for me. I think I've decided I will charge forward with my plans and just see what happens. If we end up not being able to afford it then oh well that's the way it goes. I'll find something else to do. I'm still practicing my decorating skills as you can see practice is still needed.