Tessandore Creative

Truly

xo ~ k

Now I'm Cookin'

Specifically, cooking Southwestern Turkey Meatball Skillet Supper...the cover recipe from the October issue of Clean Eating magazine.  It was yummy!  If I make the recipe again I think I'll spice up the meatballs a bit, but I'm not sure yet what I'd add.  I'm really going to try to cook more (more than never) this year.  For one thing it's certainly healthier to cook from scratch because I know exactly what's going into the meal.  But it also stretches my food budget much farther than always eating out or buying pre-made, heat & eat food.  Does that make me master of the obvious?  :)   I stopped at Costco on the way home this evening so we're all stocked up with yummy ingredients to make fresh, tasty food and have homemade meals to take for lunch too.

In case you'd like to try the Southwest Meatballs with the Corn & Black Bean Salsa:

Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey breast
2 large egg whites
¼ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup frozen yellow or white corn
1 15oz BPA-free can low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed well
2 cups diced vine-ripened tomatoes
½ cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Tip:  To ensure your meatballs boast their best flavor, create a caramelized crust by first searing them on all sides until they’re golden brown. 

Instructions:
One:  In a large bowl, combine turkey, egg whites, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper and mix well. Shape into 16 meatballs, each about the size of a golf ball.

Two:  In a large skillet, heat oil on medium high. Add meatballs and cook 3 to 5 minutes, turning frequently, until browned on all sides. Add corn, beans, tomatoes, broth, lime juice, and cumin and mix well. Reduce heat to medium, partially cover and cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Nutrients per serving (4 meatballs and 1 cup corn-bean mixture):  Calories: 320, Total Fat: 4.5 g, Sat Fat: 0 g, Carbs: 32 g, Fiber: 7 g, Sugars: 5 g, Protein: 37 g, Sodium: 340 mg, Cholesterol: 55 mg.

~ k

Four Point Oh!

So far, so good!  I'm just heading into my 5th semester of school and I'm still at a 4.0 GPA.  Yay!  Thought I'd do a little celebrating now because next semester I have to take a math class.  *Imagine foreboding music and darkening skies here.*  A co-worker told me not to psych myself out, which is probably good advice.  When I was in high school, algebra wasn't a requirement so I never took it.  I'll be starting with pre-algebra in a couple weeks.  Wish me luck!  I'm sure I'll get through it since I'm super motivated to get here:
That's the little business card holder I'll be using once I have my own counseling practice.  :)   My mom got it for me for Christmas from a Los Angeles based Etsy shop called Rice Bowl Factory.  So awesome!

Since I haven't been able to take quite a full course load each semester (with work and all) I'm just now out of my freshman year and officially a sophomore now.  But I'm going to try to take four classes this semester.  Considering that math will be one of them, it ought to be a challenge to keep that 4.0.  Looking forward to it though.  One foot in front of the other and soon I'll be a psychologist.

~ k

p.s. Take a look at the About section on my blog (just under my photo there on the top left).  I'm expanding the focus of what I'll write about here this year, so I wanted to talk about that decision.  :)

Chilly New Year's Day

This is the first winter that I'm not heating the chicken coop.  It was a hard decision because I don't want the girls to be cold.  But reading the forum on www.backyardchickens.com and hearing from more experienced cold-weather chicken-keepers than I made me realize chickies are more cold-hearty than I thought.  The girls have a heated water bowl so I'm not having to break the block of ice out three times a day.  It stays about 20 degrees in the coop, but since there's no breeze they do just fine.  Every time I check on them, they're just doing their chicky thing...pecking around.  For the longest time none of the three hens have been laying - not since mid-summer really.  But Penny has started to lay again - yay!  The new problem is that I have to figure out what time of day she's laying.  If I leave the egg too long in the nest it freezes!  This one seems to be in-tact, but I've had others that expanded while they were freezing and cracked.  Oh the joys of winters in Alaska.  :)  It is very pretty though...
This photo was taken at about 3:00 or 3:30 this afternoon...just as the sun was getting low on the horizon, starting to set.  I'm glad we're past winter solstice now and starting to gain a little more light each day.  Still, it will be awhile before I'll be hanging clothes out on the line again...
One fun thing about it being -5 below zero today...I tried blowing bubbles in the back yard with this result:
They froze in the air and when they landed, they either dented in a bit or else they kept their shape and just rolled down the snow bank.  I tried to get a video to show you, but between keeping one mitten on and trying to keep my other hand dry (too cold to get bubble stuff on my fingers!) I just wasn't quick enough to work the camera too.  Fun though :)

Happy 2012!

~ k

Jammies with Bear Ears

A little drawing I made of my friend's baby girl, cozy in her p.j.'s.

~ k

Holiday Evenings

Did a little present wrapping and tree decorating tonight.  Now it's time so sit down with some hot spiced cider and gingerbread - my favorite.  Yum.

I had forgotten about this cute little felt reindeer I got last year.  Found her at the feed store actually, when I was buying chicken food.  The angel beside her is an ornament my mom and I made when I was a little kid.  Crafty runs in my family.  :)
I'm feeling more Chistmas-y now that school's out for the semester.  But last weekend was fun too - my school had a movie night...
"'Tis the season to be jolly and joyous...fa la la la!"  I've loved the Muppet Christmas Carol for ages, but had never seen it on the big screen.  It has a great soundtrack + what's better than the muppets?!  The school did a good job arranging the event too.  Before the show they had craft tables set up for kids to make paper-bag puppets.  I wanted to go make one too, but reluctantly restrained myself and left the craft supplies for the little ones.  What a good night though.

xo ~ k

Christopher Hitchens, 1949 - 2011

Christopher Hitchens died today. 

I came to know him through his writing and television appearances only after he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, so too late for me to enjoy discovering him during the arc of his long career.  He wrote and spoke about his illness with what I came to know was his characteristic incisive insight.  My descriptions of him will fall short of so many others who said things like, "the incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant" and he "will be remembered for his elevated but inclusive humor and for a staggering, almost punishing memory that held up under the most liquid of late-night conditions" and also that he "was everything a great essayist should be: infuriating, brilliant, highly provocative and yet intensely serious".

I'm surprised at how much his passing saddened me today as I'm not one to attach myself emotionally to people I don't know...celebrities and such.  But he was just wicked smart.  Ferociously intelligent in a way you don't often see.  I agreed heartily with about half of his opinions and not at all with the rest.  But in this age of people--politicians mostly I suppose--flapping their lips, expressing loudly opinions for which they have no basis on topics about which they have no knowledge - Hitchens was just beautiful to me by comparison.  He took sides and took them boldly, unapologetically - but unlike most he had the substance to back them up.  I suspect he was rarely outmatched.  I respected his take on whatever topic he turned his considerable attention to because he knew whereof he spoke. That doesn't make him right all the time, but it's worthy of applause in the current culture.

I'm sitting now in the gorgeous library of university where I'm working to earn my degree as a counseling psychologist.  I'm a good student and I work hard to learn all I can and do well.  But I will never in a million years, no matter how many books I read or how many degrees I earn, be half the intellect he was.  Which isn't to say I'm even striving for that, but just that I so admire it when I see it.  The world is poorer for his loss. 

This is Hitchens, a bit younger, but as I imagine his friends often saw him and may remember him:

And a poster that pretty much sums up the impressive batch of people he managed to piss off in his too-short life:
He said in one interview that his ideal way to die was, "Fully conscious, and either fighting or reciting (or fooling around)".  Hope he got his wish.

~ k

Obits to read:  NPR, Reuters, Vanity Fair.  And words from the man himself...the article about Hitchen's self-imposed experience with waterboarding:  "Believe Me, It's Torture".

Maui No Ka 'Oi

Why-oh-why do I go on vacation in November?!  Less than 10 hours ago this was my view.  Now I'm home and just waded through several inches of fresh snow to get to my front door.  The abrupt change in temperature and weather aren't such a big deal actually.  It's when I realize that I still have several more months of the snow that I start to think my timing wasn't the best.  Shoulda gone in January.  :)  But it was a great vacation so I can't actually complain at all.  Here are some of the things we saw and did...
That's the fun jeep we rented to explore Maui.  If you look straight out from the guard rail toward the water you'll see a faint rainbow out there.  Love the very red dirt too.
You'll probably just have to take my word for it because it was almost impossible to get photos of things just under the surface of the water - but there were a lot of turtles!  This was right outside of our condo.  Fun to see them every day...there must have been about 15 turtles that lived right in that area.
The flowers and plants are so beautiful and different from what I'm used to seeing too.
I almost brought this piece of coral back with me, but decided that wasn't a very good plan.  Better to leave it for others to enjoy...
We played in the sand at a beach that was pretty near where we were staying...
And happened to see this little guy carrying part of some kind of seed...
Finally, sorry to jump from a bug photo to a food photo...but having a condo while we were there was nice because we had a kitchen to cook dinner.  Honestly, at home I don't normally cook so I was pretty proud of this meal...
Ok, time to wind down and get some sleep.  I am glad to be home, but I'll be missing Maui until I can visit again.

xo ~ k

Happy Thanksgiving

Looking at the weather report this morning I realized we'd be flying back from the state with the warmest temps today to the state with the coldest.  I really do love Alaska, but I dream of finding a way to live in Maui someday...even for part of the year.  When I opened the curtains this morning there were about a dozen people paddle surfing out in the ocean.  Going to have to try that the next time I'm here.  :)

Aloha!

From the zero degree temps and tons of snow at home...we've escaped to Maui!  :)
Having been here several times now over the last couple years I feel less compelled to "go go go" and see everything.  This trip is just about relaxing and having warm toes.
Ok, warm toes and my Starbucks Gingerbread Latte.  It may be 80 degrees, but hey...it's still nearly Thanksgiving so I'm enjoying the available holiday perks.  We also did some shopping and found the Sanrio store which equals Hello Kitty purchases.  This little hula kitty is now the mascot of our trip.

~ k

Officially Winter

We had our first big snow of the season last night.  I think this is my puppy dog's favorite time of year!  He had been out in the backyard for quite awhile this evening so I decided to check and see what he was doing.  Turns out he was just chillin' in a snow drift.  :)  Funny pup. 

~ k

Crazy Chickens

While I was digging through my photos from the fair, I found these couple of chickens I wanted to show you.  This poor girl...she looks like an unfortunate combination of some sort of prehistoric animals.  I'm not sure what breed she is and she was the only one there.  I'm just fascinated by that face!

Then there was this fluff ball...
Quite a hair style, don't ya think?  :)  There was a little white fluff ball in there with her.  I wonder if they were named Salt & Pepper?

~ k

Mandolin Girl

An idea I'm working on for a painting.  Sketched her during a staff meeting at work.  :)

~ k