Pear Flavored Bean

Art

2011-05-15T20:57:00.006-05:00

Mr. Z and I took an impromptu trip to Dubuque this weekend and had a really great time! It was a weekend filled with two of my favorite things, good food and fun art. In fact we found art everywhere we looked!

Our first stop was in Dickeyville to see The Grotto, a beautiful shrine erected by a Catholic priest in the 1930s.

It's made up of colorful rocks, shells and glass and it's quite a site to see.

Next stop, Dubuque. A river town filled with tug boats, and barges and locks... oh my!

Dubuque also features an "elevator" or little street car that makes its way up a very steep hill in the middle of downtown. After a tasty lunch at The Bank (a restaurant that used to be a bank and still features old, original vaults) we took a spin up the elevator. It was a little scary, but lots of fun.

After our trip up and down the hill, we walked over to the river walk, which features some beautiful art.

These two horses are amazing.

The attention to detail is unreal.

Another stop along the river walk was this old phone booth converted into a prayer station. We weren't sure if this was another piece of art or not. Either way, it looks like it's being used (knee pad is worn) and it's pretty cool.

After our walk about town, we stopped back at the hotel for a cocktail and then decided on a place called Pepper Sprout for dinner.

I had the bison tenderloin with balsamic onion jam and horseradish cream sauce over garlic mashed potatoes. Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds. I think (I've never tried) it's hard to get bison right, because it's so low in fat it dries out quickly. But this was seriously delicious stuff.

And we even found art at the restaurant.

Don't be fooled. I ate my entire meal, these are Mr. Z's leftovers.

Most of today was taken up at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.

When Mr. Z and I go to museums, we have a plan. We pick a time and place to to meet up and then I cruise the museum stopping at all the audio/visual displays and anything else that's pretty or sparkles and he reads every single sign and description posted. So you see, every time I go to a museum with my mister, I can plan on substantial "me time" built in at the end and Mr. Z gets to take his time pouring over the artifacts.

Today, I spent some of my extra time snapping photos (do you see Mr. Z way back by the propellers?).

Of course we couldn't leave the museum without saying hello to our favorite river friend Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain.

All in all we had a wonderful weekend. If you haven't spent time in Dubuque I highly recommend it!

The incredible, edible egg.

2011-05-14T09:55:00.003-05:00

One of the things I like best about weekends is making breakfast. Especially when our neighbors are supplying us with fresh eggs from their backyard chickens.

This morning I whipped up two different egg dishes to suit our individual tastes...

Mr. Z enjoyed a two egg scramble with chorizo, red onion, bell pepper and cheese along with two pieces of peanut butter toast.

I fixed myself two open faced sandwiches on wholegrain toast with cream cheese, sauteed red pepper and spinach and an egg on top.

Both plates filled with protein and nutrients to start the weekend off on the right foot!

Spring (or summer?) is here!

2011-04-11T07:09:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was so beautiful. Mr. Z and I took advantage of the weather by cleaning the house. I know... not exactly fun. But it's great when you can do spring cleaning with every single window in the house open!

We finished off the day with pineapple shakes.

Very simple recipe: fresh pineapple and vanilla frozen yogurt in a blender. Blend and serve.

Days like yesterday are so good for the soul. After a long, stressful Madison winter, it was heartwarming to see families on bike rides, kids playing in the yard and tulips poking their head out for sun. These are the ingredients of a good life.

Whatever happens....

2011-02-22T07:18:00.002-06:00

WE SHOULD BE SO PROUD!

Dinner is served!

2011-01-30T19:30:00.002-06:00

Mr. Z returned home last night after a week on the road. We had plans to drive to Milwaukee for a post-Christmas party, so I hadn't planned something for dinner. However eight hours on the road was enough for him in one day, so we decided to stay home.

Gasp! What's a wife to do when her husband is hungry, tired and been eating at restaurants all week? Tear apart the kitchen, that's what!

I had some kale sitting in the bottom of the fridge for almost a week. This was the perfect night to turn it into something delicious. I sauteed onions and garlic, threw in some balsamic vinegar and red wine and reduced it until it was a thick sauce. Then I threw in the chopped kale.

Then I used the spinach I had been saving for green monsters as the base for a salad. We had some sad carrots begging to be used, along with a stalk of celery. Presto! A healthy salad.

And for the main course, you ask? Stouffer's! This lasagna magically appeared a few weeks ago in our freezer. It didn't look like something Mr. Z would have purchased on his own, especially since I do most of the shopping. As you can see it is "large size," which means it's more than enough for two hungry nibblers. But still... where did it come from?

It turns out that this was a gift from Mr. Z's lovely mother. She a no-cottage-cheese-in-the-lasagna kind of girl. Which is perfect, because I LOVE cottage cheese in the lasagna! And this unexpected treat completed the dinner perfectly!

Thank heavens for microwavable main courses, mothers in law and safe returns home!

2011-01-16T10:32:00.006-06:00

For my birthday, Mr Z got me a new camera. I love it! Although my iPhone takes great pictures, my new camera is fantastic. Note the difference below in a series I call "Two P's in a Pod."

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

iPhone

Who is the fairest of them all?

Canon PowerShot

The pretty princess in the stall?

iPhone

The one against the bathroom wall?

Canon PowerShot

I guess the stud will have to say.

iPhone

But wait. Which one? For beer or hay?

Canon PowerShot

Ahhh....my prince charming!

2011-01-06T06:57:00.001-06:00

1. Last night I made some new friends. It was Red's birthday and we went out for drinks and pizza after work. She has some really neat new friends from work and it was nice chatting with and getting to know them!

2. Today I learned that something really can be to sweet for my palate. I made Bob's Red Mill 8 grain hot cereal for breakfast and added two dried dates and 1/2 T Skippy peanut butter. WAY too sweet! We have Skippy left over from Christmas baking and since I'm used to spreading the all natural (only peanuts) peanut butter on my bread, eating Skippy straight up was kind of a shock.

3. And even though it's 6:30 in the morning and I'd much rather be in my cozy bed, I'm grateful for today. A good job waiting for me, Bikram yoga after work and a dinner with family to top it off. I'm a lucky lady!

2011-01-04T20:31:00.003-06:00

1. Today I made a friend laugh so hard that his drink went down the wrong pipe. I can't even remember exactly what I said (or I can, and it's not fit for grandma's eyes) but to me laughter is such an important part of life and it's nice to know that I share it with others.

2. Tonight I learned a new yoga practice: Yin Yoga. I'm going to start taking yoga again and I thought I'd pair a weekly Bikram class with a new class at the studio called Yin Yoga. Tonight was the first Yin class and I really liked it. It was a lot of long, deep stretches. Very soothing.

3. And I'm thankful that my brother-in-law is flying in tonight to celebrate Christmas with us this weekend. He and his lovely wife weren't able to spend any time with us in December, but he's flying in as I type and will be spending a week with us! As I mentioned yesterday, I love family time. And I love it when Mr. Z and I get to spend time with his family making memories that will be shared for years to come!

2011-01-03T19:25:00.004-06:00

1. Today I made a delicious dinner of whole wheat pasta, chicken sausage, red peppers, onions and red sauce. Yummmm!

2. I learned that the iPhone carries an awesome Weight Watchers app that even includes the particulars for the new Points Plus program. And I used this new tool to learn that you can enjoy (or waste) two points on 18 milk chocolate M&Ms.

3. And not just today, but everyday I am so thankful for my family. Around this time of year I get to see them A LOT! We've spent almost every weekend together since Thanksgiving, which is such a blessing. I'm grateful to have parents that set an example with 34 years of marriage, brothers who are as smart and funny as they are kind, a sister (in-law) who is as close and wonderful as any sister I could have imagined and a husband who I love beyond words.

2011-01-02T17:51:00.002-06:00

Today was a pretty lazy day for me. In the past ten days, I've worked one. Between the holidays and furloughs, I've been spoiled (well, except for that whole leave without pay thing....).

I spent the day lazing about and watching movies. I also cleaned the kitchen, which was a chore. Anyway, here are my daily three:

1. Today, I made a family budget and debt payment schedule. I recently took a new position that came with a raise (yay!) so we're sorting out how we are going to pay off certain debt quicker.

2. I learned about autism, squeeze machines and slaughter houses. I watched Temple Grandin, the HBO feature film and it was really good. My favorite part of the whole movie is when she is describing why it's important to implement systems that will keep the cattle calm up until the very last second before slaughter. She says (referring to the animals), "Nature is cruel but we don't have to be. We owe them some respect." As an omnivore, I completely agree.

If you haven't already seen the movie you should check it out: Temple Grandin (the movie)

Plus, I just learned that Temple was inducted to the Cowgirl Hall of Fame! Lucky lady! Temple Grandin's Official Autism Website

3. And I give thanks to credit. Although it can be a nasty curse, I've used credit to finance my college education, purchase a safe vehicle and put a roof over my head. I am thankful that I have the resources and education to use the financial opportunities presented to me in a responsible way.

I hope you all have a restful Sunday!

Three Things a Day

2011-01-01T21:32:00.005-06:00

I've been inspired by a new blog: Eleven in 2011

For me, eleven things a day is a lot, but I LOVE the idea. So I'm going to scale it back to three things. Every day I'd like to:

Make something
Learn something
Give thanks

And I'll keep track on the Bean Blog!

Today I made two more re-usable Christmas bags out of festive fabric that can be used instead of wrapping paper (see above photo).

I learned that Rose Bowl Parade floats must be made of all organic material (flowers, plants, food, etc.) and that Al Roker loves him some Bucky Badger!

And I am so thankful for our warm, cozy house that keeps us comfortable in this frigid weather.

Feel free to play along in the comments!

Footprints

2010-12-05T17:39:00.002-06:00

I was anxious to get to the barn this morning. The sun was out, the air was crisp and I hadn't been out since last Sunday!

I started a new job this past week and last night we hosted our annual tree decorating party with friends. It was a busy week filled with lots of "to-dos." Now, don't get me wrong... I'm so very thankful to have a list filled with tasks and reminders that point to an awesome job, a group of super friends and the best family a girl could ask for. But sometimes, the brain needs some quiet.

Pixie and I took a walk around the back of the farm. It's a beautiful area and as we crunched our way through the fresh snow I felt completely at peace. This beautiful black mare never fails to bring me the peace I seek.

One more thing to be grateful for! Life is good.

Time to bundle up!

2010-11-29T20:03:00.002-06:00

I remember being 15 years old and doing whatever I had to do to get out of the house on a freezing cold Wisconsin morning... without a hat on. Seriously. It went something like this:

Dad: "Bell, put on a hat. It's below zero out there."

Me: "Do I have to wear a hat?! It's going to mess up my hair. What if so-and-so (insert crush of the week) sees me? I'll die! I'm only going to be outside for 10 minutes total. I'm not wearing a hat."

I relived that conversation (in my imagination) this weekend when I brought out the winter coat for Miss Pixie. She was SO not into it.

Yes. It's pink. BRIGHT pink. Like highlighter pink. I love it. Not so sure about her. Mr. Z says she's probably embarrassed in front of her buddies.

Is that the look of a teen-aged girl or what?

"Come on mom, leave me alone, I'm hanging with my friends." (All of whom are wearing their own spiffy jackets!)

I snapped away, taking many pictures, even though it was freezing outside. No need to worry. I was wearing my hat!

French Toast Sandwich

2010-11-26T11:13:00.002-06:00

I've got the "post Turkey-day time to eat healthy and work out" motivation coursing through my veins today. How about you?

So I started the day with 20 minutes on the elliptical, followed by 10 minutes of yoga and this tasty delight for breakfast:

It's a french toast sandwich made with flax and sesame seed rustic sourdough bread, eggs from the ladies next door, peanut butter, banana and a teaspoon of maple syrup.

So tasty!

I'm starting a new job on Monday, so I'm trying to get my life in order this weekend. Clean the house, clean out my closet, organize everything. If you know me well, you realize this is no small task.

I better get going while I still have some of that pumpkin pie motivation pulsing through my body!

So much good stuff!

2010-09-27T07:18:00.004-05:00

What a busy and wonderful weekend!

Friday night began with serious Pixie triage. My little mare managed to cut her leg up pretty badly and I had to make my first call to the vet. She'll live, although she's a tad dramatic about the bandaging process (she must get that from her mother... her human mother). I didn't get home until well after 8 PM and my wonderful Mr. Z had a delicious hot meal waiting for me. With a very fancy place setting.

And an even fancier menu...

After a stressful, chilly, looonnnggg night, I laughed so hard at this set up. A handsome husband who can cook and makes me laugh every day. Seriously, could I be ANY luckier?!

Saturday began with another trip to the barn to make sure Pixie made it through the evening without tearing off her bandages. I was out there for four hours, rushed back to town, picked up our CSA box, made my way home, threw myself into the shower and welcomed my wonderful lady family to my house... for we were off to see the wizard!

Wicked is playing at the Overture Center for the next week or so and it was FANTASTIC. I knew nothing about the show, I haven't read the book or listened to the music, and I really, really enjoyed it. I kind of thought it might be one of those things that everyone raves about and doesn't live up to expectations... not so. A really wonderful production with awesome messages, entertaining characters and really clever lines.

After the show we went to an Irish Pub for a delicious meal and Irish car bombs. Yes, even Nana did one. I wish I had pictures.

After a long weekend of eating and drinking I knew it was time to get back on track. I've been following weight watchers for a couple of months now. I've lost almost 10 pounds, but the last couple of weeks have been a little stressful at work and that threw any healthy eating plans out the window. So it's time to buckle down!

Breakfast was 4 points. Cinnamon raisin Ezekiel muffin with 1 T cream cheese and blueberry tea.

Snacks for 2 points. A small banana and bruised pear.

Leftovers for lunch for a total of 5 points. This handy dandy tupperware consists of 2 T of my mom's homemade hummus, 3 1/2 oz chicken breast and loads of veggies.

I'm dreaming of future leftover lunches. I feel like fall weather really lends itself to leftovers: chili, soups and stews...OH MY! Speaking of soup, I have three different squashes sitting on my counter that need to be turned into something soon. Perhaps I'll have a recipe update later this week!

Happy Monday!

A good man is worth a zillion-bajillion diamonds...

2010-09-10T09:00:00.006-05:00

Mr. Z carrying our nephew Cooper around the Milwaukee airport at midnight upon our return from Jamaica.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

2010-08-31T20:18:00.002-05:00

I'm copying this from a favorite blog of mine. I thought it would be an easy way to get back into the swing of blogging.

From the simple woman's daybook...

Outside my window… is an amazing piece of art created by my brother.

I am thinking… of how lucky I am to be employed.

I am thankful for… my home that I can fill with new art and lots of love.

From the kitchen… I am dreaming of fall baked goods I will make.

I am wearing… a miss-matched pair of undergarments (it's hot!).

I am creating… beautiful memories with my husband each day.

I am going… to Maine in October to visit family. Yay!

I am reading… a book about Frida and Diego and the communist revolution in Mexico by Barbara Kingsolver. Kind of boring.

I am hoping… for peach in my mind. Always.

I am hearing… my husband eat his dinner. Munch, munch, munch.

Around the house… is cozy and warm and lots of dust bunnies.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Ride pixie for the first time since hurting my back, catch up with friends, work my body (elliptical!).

Pixie and I on the Playland!

2010-08-04T11:42:00.003-05:00

This has been one of the hottest, buggiest and busiest summers on record!

But I love it all!

This is Pixie and me horsing around on the teeter-totter (hehehe). It may not look like a big deal, but horses don't love things that move under their feet. This was our second time going over it under saddle and it went pretty well!

My Favorite Visitor!

2010-07-15T12:52:00.003-05:00

Another summertime visit with my mom! She's here for a week and we've really done nothing but yoga and eating.

After breakfast with Red, we ran some errands and wound up at a French pastry shop that I've been dying to try.

My mom got a chocolate eclair.

And I got the citrus tart.

As we nibbled our tasties, we wondered whether bakery just tastes better in France or if it really is better there. Because sadly, these guys didn't even come close to our Parisian delights.

Of course we ate every last bit... we wouldn't want anything to go to waste.

We continued our errands and I got three dresses from St. Vinnie's! I even found a dress for Mr. Z's sister's wedding that's coming up in August.

When we got home we made ourselves a lunch/afternoon snack/dinner treat and ate it on our new deck.

These are the best meals.

We had a baguette from the French bakery, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, Irish cheddar....

Kohlrabi, mushroom tofu spread, Mr. Z's homemade salsa, chips and a refreshing beverage made of juice and fizzy soda.

After our meal it was finally cool enough to go to the barn, but I forgot my camera!! We had such a great time. I gave my mom a ride on Pixie (I led them around with a rope) and I showed her how far we've come with soccer, cantering and bareback riding. It was really, really fun!

Finally: The Birthday Post!

2010-07-04T13:56:00.003-05:00

Pardon me for my recent absence. Some of you may know that a recent flash flood ruined my trusty Saturn. I've been dealing with insurance issues all week and haven't been in the mood to blog.

Luckily, everything worked out for the best, the weekend has been beautiful and I figured it's time to upload some birthday pictures!

Here is Julia enjoying her very first alcoholic beverage: a pear cosmopolitan. Nana really had to put the peer pressure on this one.

After dinner we went back to the house to enjoy cake, games and conversation.

I decided to decorate the cake with chocolate chip cookies.

The birthday girl totally dug it!

It's so wonderful to have a tribe of amazing women to call my family. In all there were 14 of us! We are each unique in many ways, however our commonalities include inner beauty, a sense of humor and love for the curly-haired birthday girl (ok...I'll add "outside" beauty as well, we are a group of fantastic looking women and girls!).

Happy birthday Julia!

Babe...

2010-06-25T08:00:00.004-05:00

Our dear friend Miss Leslie took some trips this spring to exotic places near and far and brought us back some yummy gifts!

And by yummy, I mean a really spectacular Cher magnet from Las Vegas:

Just how big is that magnet you wonder? Well, let me give you some perspective...

Yes folks, that is one sweet treat gracing the travel section of our refrigerator door!

But the real star of Miss Leslie's travels (sorry Cher!) is the Mexican vanilla that she brought back just for me!

I can't explain how it's different than vanilla you'd find in specialty stores here, other than saying it's just better. It's fuller, softer, more vanillaier.

I'll be busting this open tomorrow when I make a very special birthday cake! Perhaps I'll crank up some Cher as I'm mixing, beating and frosting....

Juge

2010-06-19T10:23:00.004-05:00

This beautiful girl turned 21 a couple of weeks ago and we're finally getting around to celebrating next Saturday!

The wonderful ladies of her family are getting together for dinner, games and drinks and I'm guessing it may get kind of rowdy. We're kind of a rowdy bunch...

(Grand Canyon 2009)

Anyway, I'm extra excited because I get to make the cake! I gave her a list of choices for cake, filling and frosting and she just got back to me with her selection: chocolate cake with whipped cream filling and vanilla butter cream frosting. A very tasty choice indeed!

When I know I'm going to make a cake, I can't stop thinking about it. I'll dream up different recipes for the individual parts and imagine creative ways to decorate it. I'm really excited about this cake because the frosting will be vanilla butter cream, so there are endless decoration ideas: writing, "happy birthday!" or other well wishes across the cake, decorating with shapes or designs, adding other sweets to the top, finding a crazy cake topper that may or may not be appropriate for a family birthday party... like I said, endless ideas!

And of course, most of all, I can't wait for the birthday girl to taste the creation I made especially for her. Hopefully she won't be so tipsy that she can't discern it from HoHo.

Of course there will be pictures to come!

Ok, I feel better now...

2010-06-13T20:20:00.003-05:00

My Nana is the cutest woman on the face of the planet. Seriously, she is.

Just look at this picture of her taken last year at the Grand Canyon. She's holding a little step stool Mr. Z made for her so she could get into the eight passenger van the ladies of my family rented to get us to the park (it reads: "Grand Canyon or bust!")

Anyway, she's a cutie-patootie (and probably my most loyal blog reader).

When she read my post about the boxed cake, she sent me an e-mail that began like this, "I loved reading your blog today. So the princess made a box cake...welcome to the rest of the royal family!"

That Nana cracks me up sometimes! I sure do love her.

The yellow cake with milk chocolate frosting was a huge hit at the birthday party. Only one person asked if it was from scratch (why do people ask that?) and I had to admit it wasn't and try to explain that I really am a great baker and yadda yadda yadda, like she cared...

Thankfully I had time today to whip out a masterpiece: a whipped cream yellow cake with strawberry jam filling and lemon buttercream frosting. Delicious!

Betty worked her tail off today and I could tell she was smiling the whole time.

2010-06-12T21:04:00.004-05:00

I buy lots of berries during summer, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries... you get the picture. And they all come in those holey plastic containers, which for some reason I have a hard time throwing out (kind of like the long cardboard tubes that come with paper towels). So toss them in the pantry and on occasion, when Mr. Z goes for some chips, they all come tumbling out. He grumbles and asks why on earth I am saving useless containers.

Well, now I know! To portion out spinach from our CSA (Driftless Organics) for green monster smoothies throughout the week, of course!

I washed and dried the spinach then portioned it into four different containers (ok... so I know what I'm going to do with four of the 80 containers in the pantry).

I figure each morning I can pull one out, toss the spinach into the blender with some yummy fruit and call it good (then wash the container and put it back into the pantry...).

We also got potatoes in our CSA box this week. Aren't they pretty?

I used them to make potato and kohlrabi au gratin for Sunday dinner.

It was very tasty! I love Sundays that include lots and lots of baking and tasty food!

Oh no she d'int!

2010-06-09T21:20:00.006-05:00

Oh yes I did! I openly admit it... I made a boxed cake.

There is a surprise party tonight for Farmer Ted - he's turning 60!

Luckily he doesn't read the blog, he doesn't even own a computer, and if he did own a computer, he'd likely never stray from the "Tyra Banks" google image search page. So I think I'm good.

I'm in charge of the cake and his favorite cake is yellow with MILK chocolate frosting. He's very clear about it being milk chocolate and not dark chocolate, or any other kind of chocolate for that matter.

(See Betty in the background in all her pink glory? She's kind of sad she didn't get to help out with Ted's birthday cake. It's ok Betty. Duncan took care of this one, but I promise you get the next tasty task!)

Now, why did I decide to go with pre-packaged, artificially flavored, preservative filled tastiness rather than true food deliciousness? Honestly, time and audience. Do you realize you can make a cake in less than an hour and only dirty four dishes?! It's amazing!

And the birthday boy will be the first to tell you how "country" he is. Even if I told him this cake came from a box and a tub (which I won't) he'd rave over it for days and call me "Susie Homemaker" for the rest of the month.

There are many reasons why I bake, but the number one reason is to make people happy. And I'm certain this cake will do the trick! Well, the cake and maybe a picture of Tyra Banks.

Game on!

2010-06-08T21:32:00.003-05:00

Equisoccer season is in full swing! Pixie and I took our place on the field this week for the very first time under saddle.

She did a GREAT job with the ball. Dealing with the other horses was another matter. It will take time for her to get used to maneuvering the ball around other horses. Usually, when she's around other horses, she's the boss. When she's under saddle and there's a soccer ball involved, I'M the boss. It will just take a little time to get used to that...

But seriously, get that ball in front of her and her name's Pixie Hamm.

See the resemblance?

Striking!!

Weekend

2010-06-05T21:45:00.004-05:00

Whew! What a weekend. I'm too tired to come up with anything witty to write, but here are some pictures to tell a story...

Bought protein powder at the co-op. I'm going to try it in our green monsters. I'll keep you posted.

Helped Mr. Z in the yard. Shoveling rocks is rough. Wearing a tiara while you do it makes it just a little bit more fun!

Riding lesson on Pixie. Practiced trotting and transitioning to a canter. She is so fast!

Sunday dinner. So yum! Sweet potato ravioli, pork chops and greens.

My view from dinner. What a satisfying end to a weekend of hard work!

I hope you had a great weekend!

Greenies

2010-06-04T09:04:00.003-05:00

Mr. Z has been working hard to make our lawn look beautiful. Mulching, shoveling rocks, laying that black fabric that goes under mulch and rocks. You know, general landscaping work. Last night he requested a big fruit smoothie for breakfast this morning. I was more than happy to fuel my little worker bee!

I threw together some spinach, strawberries, Greek vanilla yogurt, banana and frozen pineapple in the blender. Added a tablespoon of ground flax seed and came up with these green beauties:

I took mine to go and will have it as a mid-morning snack at work.

I put Mr. Z's in the fridge.

I'm headed to the co-op after work today and will load up on spinach. We're heading into a marathon weekend of yard work and there's no better fuel than green monsters!

Happy weekend!

Favorite new jam.

2010-05-25T07:39:00.005-05:00

I have lots of favorites.

Some are lifetime commitments:
Favorite Muppet - Miss Piggy, Est. 1983
Favorite Ice cream - Orange custard chocolate chip, Est. 1998
Favorite Color - Pink, Est. 1999
Favorite Husband - Mr. Z, Est. 2006

And some come and go like Lady Gaga's hair styles:
Favorite Song - Sweet Dreams (1982), Cold Hearted Snake (1988), Ice, Ice, Baby (1990), etc.
Favorite Sopranos Character - Dr. Melfi (November 2006), Adriana (December 2006), Silvio Dante (January 2007) Mmmhmmm... I watched 5 seasons of the Sopranos in one winter.

Well, this month I discovered a new favorite. A favorite jam. It's so tasty and goes very well with peanut butter on Ezekiel muffins.

Looks good, but can't forget the black gold!

What are some of your favorites?

I've made it!

2010-05-24T21:52:00.005-05:00

Finally. I have a soccer trophy of my very own.

I have two little brothers who grew up playing soccer. For years my mom washed and carefully folded colorful t-shirts adorned with family tradition: the number 8 and "Hutch" written across the back. My dad played football in high school, he was number 88 and all his buds called him "Hutch." My brothers proudly followed suit.

Growing up, our foyer was littered with cleats and shin pads and stinky duffel bags were sometimes forgotten in the back of the minivan. My dad broke many lawn chairs, forcing them to rock back and forth in nervous excitement during games. On a family vacation to Scotland, one of the first things my family purchased was a soccer ball. The boys (dad plus two brothers) played in the wide open green space bouncing the ball off their heads, knees and feet.

We are a soccer family, and I'm so glad to finally be part of it!

Another outfit!

2010-05-20T08:56:00.004-05:00

Today I'm wearing a dress I bought for $20 at a thrift shop in Amsterdam with a shirt I picked up from Red's Good Will goodies. I'm also donning the cream stretchy belt again. (Mr. Z will often comment if I wear this belt more than three times in one week...)

I've accessorized with awesome bird earrings made from bone (or antler?) that I got from my earring savvy SIL and a necklace that Mr. Z recently found cleaning out his closet. He's pretty sure it was a free gift his grandma got from a Fingerhut catalog. Isn't he a dear?

I'm sporting my favorite shoes today. Tan leather goes with just about anything.

These are four of the numerous (45) pictures I took of myself outside of my house this morning with my iPhone. A little ridiculous? Perhaps. But who doesn't love a self-imposed photo shoot in their driveway at 7:30 am?

I love putting together outfits and I love sharing them with you! I am the first to admit that I like getting my picture taken, I like looking good and yes, I am my own biggest fan (read more about that here). But let's not confuse this with arrogance, because one of my favorite things in the world is seeing other woman/girls who are THEIR own biggest fans as well!

And this little one takes the cake!

More fun with patterns!

2010-05-19T13:57:00.004-05:00

Have you been having as much fun as I am putting outfits together this spring?

Today's outfit comes to you from Red: yellow gingham shirt (I LOVE gingham) and green button-down sweater.

Miss Nancy B. (I believe!?): fabulous cream stretchy belt I wear at least once a week.

Mama Jennifer: the beautiful floral pattern skirt I picked out of her St. Vinnie's bags this past winter.

And Pareeeeee! The earrings I got in Paris with my mom.

I think I might start a movement: Slow Fashion. You know, like slow food - the idea that when you take time to learn where your ingredients come from, grow your own, cook your own, etc. your food tastes better?

Well, when I know that each piece of my outfit has a history or a story it puts an extra little spring in my step. When I can look at my earrings and remember the tiny jewelry store tucked in the streets of Ile Saint-Louis right down the road from the cafe where we sat and had red wine; or when I can look at my shirt, sweater, belt and skirt and think, these were given to me by my friends and I've paired them into new outfits that might not have been; when I can do these things, I feel good. And I'm a firm believer that when one feels good, one looks good.

I'll leave you with this super cute blog of a woman who wore the same dress for 365 days. It's amazing what you can do with accessories (not to mention a cute little figure with mile long stick legs...).

My little pony's all grown up!

2010-05-13T07:08:00.002-05:00

Last week we moved Pixie from the barn to her new home up on the hill. You see Pixie spent her nights in the barn this past winter because I was paying for training. But now I have to decide between stable board and pasture board... and there is a significant price difference. And not that I don't love my horse, but there's no way I'm giving up lattes and sushi for the rest of my life so she can come inside at night when we all know that horses are meant to spend their nights under the starry sky, right? Or am I justifying?

In any case, this is her new home:

She's back with her momma, Ami and two other horses Teeter and Sweet Pea. She has a very special new neighbor, the studly stallion Junior:

Junior and Pixie's crew are separated by an electric fence and I do believe that fence is the only thing keeping my sweet little Pixie's "innocence" in tact. I told Farmer Ted that Mr. Z would be extremely unhappy if we had another mouth to feed and it didn't have his eyes.

I've been out to check on her a couple of times and she's adjusted well. I can certainly understand Junior's intense feelings, she is a beautiful horse!

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T14:01:00.003-05:00

Your voice sung lullabies and read stories about the Berenstein Bears and Blueberries for Sal and it continues to give sound advice and tell us how worthy and unique we are.

Your ears have listened to crying babies, musical numbers, cheering soccer/track crowds and stories about how our day went. Your ears are the best listening ears.

Your arms have cradled three babies, dug hundreds of flower beds and given countless hugs both soothing broken hearts and celebrating joyous occasions.

Your legs have carried you over mountains in Scotland, pedaled bikes with babes in tow and walked me to the bus stop and down the aisle.

Your hands have tied our shoes, graded papers, combed hair, baked tasty treats and fixed things around the house.

Your love is unconditional and teaches me everyday to be a better person, wife and friend. I will never be able to thank you enough for my life.

I love you!

Devilicious Bakery

2010-05-08T19:49:00.003-05:00

Long ago, a friend and I created delicious and artistic cakes and sold them to co-workers for under-the-table cash. You see, we weren't an "actual" bakery, but the sinful creations flowing from out kitchen would have fooled anyone. We were on our way to fame and fortune with tasty treats in tow. People were actually paying us to make cakes for their own personal occasions! Of course, it usually took all night to whip up a masterpiece and after purchasing the ingredients and taking our labor into account we probably came out in the hole, but still, it was pretty cool.

And then life took over. I got a full-time job, got married and adopted Pixie. She and her husband moved to Mexico to teach English, then to New York for AmeriCorps, then to Wauwatosa to continue their teaching careers and raise their family. An adorable family that includes this little beauty here:

This little one by the way, is absolutely in love with Mr. Z and it's so fun to see him interact with his little fan.

Erin is my Devilicious Bakery partner and she brought her little one to Madison this weekend to attempt to make the French cookies, Macarons.

We were a bit nervous since the cookie is basically a meringue cookie and those can be tricky. You don't want to whip the batter too long because they will flatten out completely.

Miss Betty (the mixer) did a great job today, not only did she whip out a double batch of cookies, but butter-cream filling that took 30 minutes to beat (I learned that the longer you whip butter-cream, the better).

With these cookies, you pipe quarter sized dollops onto the cookie sheet then let them sit for 30 minutes to form a light crust before you pop them in the oven.

While the cookies were baking, we made the butter-cream. Four different flavors: pomegranate, almond, lemon and orange.

Then after the cookies cool, we piped the butter-cream on one and gently placed another on top.

This is the lemon cookie.

Here is a close up of the pomegranate and almond cookies (the pomegranate ones have pink filling and the almond ones are white).

A close up of a pomegranate macaron.

The final products.

The verdict? They kind of came out funny shaped, but they are so tasty! We used Penzey's flavoring and I think that is the key. High quality ingredients usually yield high quality tastiness.

If someone is interested in the recipe, post a comment and I'll add it.

It was so fun to bake with Erin again and having a special helper in the kitchen made it even better!

Fun in the Closet

2010-05-04T08:52:00.006-05:00

Spring is my favorite time to get dressed. You don't need heavy-duty sweaters, yet you can still layer. And with layering comes crazy combinations of patterns and colors. This article shared by my fabulous friend inspired today's outfit of colorful polka-dots and stripes.

Both the shirt and vest were found at thrift stores. The shirt is one of my favorites.

The skirt is second hand from a good friend. I love shopping when my friends are cleaning out their closets!

The pin is a gift from Red. She was in Kentucky for work a couple of weeks ago and this little jewel was given out as swag. She's so kind to have thought of me!

So basically I'm wearing a very thrifty and cute outfit.... oh wait. I forgot the shoes.

These puppies are the most expensive pair of shoes I've ever bought! But so worth it. Aren't they cute?! I've had them for years and already had them re-soled. I love them.

How are you going to have fun with colors this spring? What kind of patterns will hook up in your closet? Won't it be fun to find out?

TGIF!

2010-04-09T07:22:00.004-05:00

At the co-op yesterday I found a new granola-like cereal. Only 2 points for 1/2 cup! Usually granola is a lot higher in points. But this isn't exactly granola, it's granola flakes. It was on sale, so I decided to give it a try.

It's pretty tasty. I had 3/4 cups with 1/2 cup milk, one strawberry and half a banana. 5 points total.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get on the elliptical this morning because my Mister is out of town and when he is out of town I take advantage of my snooze button. I have a party at my bosses house this evening and a busy weekend ahead of me.

Tomorrow I'm meeting this little lady and her momma at the barn so they can meet Pixie.

Then I have my second real riding lesson on Miss P! Last week my brother Kent and SIL Amanda got to watch part of my lesson, it was really fun. We're coming along quite nicely, if I do say so myself!

Ou est la boulangerie?

2010-03-29T10:25:00.010-05:00

Ah Paris.....

City of lights. City of lovers. But most importantly, city of delectable baked goods.

The detail and time put into the pastries in Paris is amazing... and noticeable. I've never had sweets as tasty as in Paris.

And we got our macarons! Two different times actually. This is a picture of the first time. We bought a sampler pack, walked to the river and sat for a snack. Little Evie (brother) didn't like them very much but my mom and I were in heaven!

This next pastry was an accidental favorite. We stopped by a shop on the way back to our hotel to get a bite for dinner. It was a walk-up, walk-away shop. So we were kind of rushed as there was a long line and they were trying to move people through quickly. My mom, Evan and I got our sandwiches, then at the last minute my mom asked for a pastry for dessert. She pointed at one and got the one next to it. There was really no time to attempt to break the language barrier and sort out the confusion, so we went with it. And boy am I glad we did. This little guy was so tasty! Each of the pastry parts was filled with a vanilla cream and the caramel disk parts were a hard crunchy candy, it was delectable!

The next morning my mom and I set out for a museum. Of course we had to stop and get some bakery first. We walked into an amazing store that was set up more like an expensive jewelers than a bakery. Beautiful, pieces of art protected from the public by glass. We selected to treats to take with us, but they didn't have coffee, so I tucked them in my bag and we went of in search of coffee.

Finding coffee was interesting in Paris. There are all of these amazing bakeries, but none of them sell coffee, and the only "coffee" shop you can really find is a Starbucks. And you can bet your bottom puff pastry that we were NOT going to a Starbucks in Paris. The people who were drinking coffee were sitting at one of the many cafes dotting the streets of the city. But I wasn't sure if you could get to-go coffee from these cafes. So, realizing both of us desperately wanted coffee, we decided our pastries could wait and stopped into a cafe for a "French breakfast."

What is a "French breakfast" you ask? Well, it's simply the most brilliant idea in the world:

A French breakfast includes a slice of pound cake, a baguette, butter, jam, coffee and orange juice. I know, carb overload! When the waitress set everything down I thought, we're never going to finish this.... silly me!

After breakfast we continued our way to the museum. Along the way stumbled upon a bakery that multiple friends had suggested, Laduree.

This is an amazing place that could not be passed up. Of course we had to go in, and of course we had to purchase something! We bought some more macarons and that purple delight on the right side of the picture below.

Since we had just eaten breakfast, I threw these guys in my backpack as well. I said, "Mom, I probably have almost $50 worth of pastries in my back pack right now. No more pastries until we eat something first!"

We finally made it to the museum, which of course was closed on Mondays. And it was Monday.

So, we sat on the steps and pulled out our treats. This was the one I got at the first bakery of the day. I had no idea what it was, but it was pretty, so I thought it must taste nice.

And it did. I'm not sure what kind of berry it was made with, but it was scrumptious!

My mom had selected a custard tart. Very tasty as well.

After walking around a bit, we decided to stop at a cafe on a tiny island in the Seine for lunch. We had a cheese plate and wine. What else do you have for lunch when you're in Paris?!

It was heaven.

We toodled around Paris for the afternoon, stopping at parks, people watching and enjoying each others company.

For dinner... more pastries! Here is a picture of the black licorice macaron that I bought at Laduree. It was unexpectedly delicious. Not a strong anise flavor, but just enough to be interesting.

And my mom's beauty was a violet religieuse. This was also exceptional. And I just discovered that I have a cookbook that contains a recipe for this. We'll see how adventurous I get!

This is a good peek at how we ate our way through Paris. Good thing it's a very walkable city and we did tons of trecking around to different sights. We had a wonderful time and I'd love to go back!

Bonjour from Paris!

2010-03-21T13:16:00.002-05:00

This will be short because the keyboard is driving me crazy and I have no picutres to post (those will come soon!). I'll just say that our feet are sore and our bellies are full almost all of the time. Paris is great and we'll see some museums and sample more pastry tomorrow. Then Tuesday it's off to Amsterdam!

Love from Parreeee!

BIG DAY. AWESOME HUSBAND. SWEET RIDE.

2010-03-13T18:59:00.006-06:00

It's hard for me to put all of the emotions and excitement of today into words, so I'll let the pictures and video do most of the talking.

Mr. Z and I went out to the barn for my very first lesson on Pixie. I new that I'd need pictures, lots of pictures, so he brought out his fancy camera. The first surprise of the day was Horse Whisperer Paulette showing off Pixie's mad soccer skills! I was totally shocked! I didn't know they had been practicing and it turns out Pixie loves the game.

The next surprise was a doozy. Paulette was riding in her new saddle and she is very careful of her tack, so when I left to get my helmet and came back to find it covered with a sheet to protect it from bird poop, I wasn't too terribly shocked. But it was my turn to ride and I wanted to get the show on the road!

Attached to the saddle was a note that read, "To Bonniejean, From Eric (Mr. Z), All of my love!" (by the way, did you notice in the video how Pixie stood as still as a statue as I screamed like a banshee?!)

Unbelieveable! Mr. Z had been saving his pennies for months and working with Paulette behind the scenes to find me the perfect saddle on Ebay. It just so happened that the arrival of the saddle timed perfectly with my first lesson on Pixie. I lead a very charmed life with a very charming husband.

So here we are, off to the races!

I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I felt on her. I wasn't scared to trot, to play with the soccer ball or to just stand and be still. She's amazing. She is a playful, curious and gentle soul.

We have so much more to learn together, but to think back and reflect on how far we've come is kind of mindblowing!

Macaron (not Macaroon)

2010-03-12T07:11:00.003-06:00

A prospective new love has entered my life... Lauduree macarons! Not to be confused with macaroons. My mom and I are leaving for Europe next week and I've been collecting bakery tips from all of my friends. I believe these to be a Parisian winner!

What is a macaron? Here is the scoop from a very trusted source (no, not Fox news):

From Wikipedia - A macaron is a confectionery whose name is derived from an Italian word “maccarone” meaning paste. It is meringue-based: made from a mixture of egg whites, almond flour, and both granulated and confectionery sugar. The confectionery is characterized by its smooth, domed top, ruffled circumference, and flat base. Connoisseurs prize a delicate, egg shell-like crust that yields to a moist and airy interior. The French macaroon differs from other macaroons in that it is filled with cream or butter like a sandwich cookie, and can be found in a wider variety of flavors that range from the traditional (raspberry, chocolate) to the exotic (foie gras, truffle). Making macarons requires a great deal of discipline and is a process that is highly dependent on exactitude, technique, and proper equipment. For this reason it is a notoriously difficult recipe to master and a frustrating endeavor for the amateur baker.

Que magnifique, no? I mean look at all of the different flavors!

More about my trip later. I'm getting so excited!

Tomorrow's Lesson

2010-03-12T06:56:00.002-06:00

Trainer Ted and Horse Whisperer Paulette have been working really hard on getting Pixie rider ready.

And tomorrow I will get to reap the benefits of their hard work! I'm taking my first lesson on Pixie tomorrow morning! And Mr. Z will be there with his camera ready, so stay tuned for some awesome pictures! This has been a very long journey that begins a new chapter tomorrow. I can't wait!

Morning Snack

2010-03-09T09:59:00.004-06:00

Lately my morning snack has consisted of Greek yogurt and a granola bar. This morning I added some peanut butter. Yummmmmy! I've found that Greek yogurt definitely keeps me full longer. Probably because it has 15 grams of protein in it (compared to 5 in regular yogurt)!

Why does Greek yogurt have so much more protein? I have no idea. I went online to try to figure it out and it has something to do with draining it and removing the whey. In any case, it's tasty, creamy, fat free and filled with protein. A perfect morning snack.

Up Nort'

2010-03-07T17:48:00.005-06:00

My family went up north to Minocqua this weekend and we had a wonderful time!

The only thing missing was little Evan. He's studying in London this semester, but we brought a special picture so his presence was felt (that's him, center stage).

We even took him ice fishing with us!

I got to take my first ride ever on a snowmobile! I even got to drive!! It was so fun. I told Mr. Z if I didn't already have a horse, I'd want a snowmobile.

This is our ice fishing setup: my dad and his friend Tugger orchestrated the whole thing. The setting was absolutely beautiful!

Time for a beer. But how will I open it without a church key? Never fear, Tug is near! And he has a pair of pliers. Will that do the trick?

Of course! Tug saves the day.

Sister Bear and I took a long walk through the woods along the lake. It was such a gorgeous day!

Mr. Z and Brother Kent built an amazing shelter/igloo/fort thingy, it was pretty cool.

I think Mr. Z was pretty proud of it. Isn't he a cutie?

As you can see, "ice fishing" really means fun snowmobile rides, beer, long walks, good conversation and fort building. They did catch two fish. But of course, I didn't get pictures of them!

When we got back we made an awesome taco dinner and got into Tugger's bounce for dessert. If you're not from Wisconsin (or even if you are) you probably haven't heard of bounce. Imagine taking a mason jar, filling it with a cup of sugar, a bunch of berries, and then filling it to the top with vodka. Then letting it sit in your refrigerator for years. I mean YEARS. One of the bounces we tasted was from 1994! We tried cherry, raspberry and black raspberry. It was ok. I guess you have to like vodka.

After dessert, we had a good old fashioned Hutchison family dance party. There was some break dancing.

Boy, it's too bad I didn't get any video of that shenanegry. Really, too bad...

It was a wonderful weekend with great people. Lots of good food and love. What more could a girl ask for?

Equi-Soccer

2010-02-13T10:38:00.002-06:00

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet, but Harmony Horsemanship has been invited to demonstrate Equi-Soccer at the Midwest Horse Fair in April. Paulette has scheduled four big soccer practices at the Jefferson County Fairground between now and then in order step up our game. We travel to the fairgrounds because there is more space to play "inside." I say "inside" because it was still really, really cold! We just didn't have to navigate the snow.

Here is the team all tacked up:

I rode Zippy for most of practice. It was really fun! But sooooooo very cold. My little piggies were screaming for relief by the end of the four hour practice.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

2010-02-10T20:43:00.002-06:00

While my mom was in town last weekend we made the Brown Sugar Pound Cake from All Cakes Considered. Sadly, I didn't get a very good picture of it. This is the best I got:

It was very tasty. Super rich and yummy. It didn't even need a glaze, although we both agreed a cinnamon glaze would be perfect!

Baking with my dear mother makes for one uptight Bean. I am so used to doing things my way, I'm totally thrown for a loop when someone else is in the kitchen. For example, the sink area was still filled with dishes from dinner. I wanted to clean up before we started the cake. I said, "Let me get these out of the way first, I hate baking when the kitchen is a mess." She said, "Oh, I know!" And then she proceeded to take every single ingredient out of my cupboard, put them on the counter and fire up the mixer. I might have snapped and told her to please stop what she was doing until I finish the dishes. Ok, I did snap and say that to her. I felt bad for a minute, but realized that she didn't really care. She's used to my analtude and she's used to me speaking my mind. I don't think she'd have it any other way. I love that we can speak freely with each other. I'm so lucky to have such a great mom!

Strawberry Milk

2010-02-06T11:07:00.002-06:00

Breakfast is the most difficult meal of the day for me. I know it's important, not only because every single weight-loss site/blog/guru will tell you so, but because when I have a good breakfast I'm not starving two hours later. However, I'm never sure what constitutes a "good" breakfast and I like variety in my meals. This is what makes it difficult. So I play around a lot.

This is what I came up with this morning:

Half of a cranberry-oat bagel, 1 T neufchatel cheese, a few slices of apple, an egg, and 1/6 an avocado. It was really, really yummy. It kind of reminded me of sushi. I think it was the cream cheese/avocado/apple crunch combo.

Of course my breakfast was accompanied by a strong cup of black coffee. You know strong and black... obviously not like my men. If I chose my beverages according to my men (man) I'd be drinking strawberry milk for the rest of my life!

Anyway, we'll see how long this breakfast tides me over. My lovely mother is coming to town this morning and staying for the night. We have lots of activities planned. I'm very excited!

Happy weekend!

Ride 'em Cowgirls!

2010-02-01T20:13:00.002-06:00

I had a play-date with this little one and her momma on Saturday. She loves to explore new things and found this rocking horse at the neighborhood video store. Isn't she a sweet pea?

Speaking of sweet Ps...

That's right! That's me on Pixie! I got to sit on her and Paulette walked her around the indoor arena for a bit this afternoon.

However, that's probably the second biggest "Pixie" news of the day. The first? I made my last payment on her. She is officially mine. I am a horse owner!

Birthday Cake!

2010-01-19T21:22:00.008-06:00

Many people asked about my birthday cake this year. Did I make it? What kind? Where is it? Are you sharing? Can I have a bite? Etc.

Well, historically, my birthday cakes have been made by this very special lady:

And this year was no different!

A delicious, rich cake with burnt butter frosting and caramel syrup was delivered to my house this past weekend by my dad who was on his way back from dropping my littlest brother off in Chicago.

My mom told me over the phone, "You better be careful when you eat that cake. You might pee your pants it's so good!" Now I know where I get my modesty from. Love you Mom!

Saddle Up!

2010-01-19T21:15:00.002-06:00

At the barn this afternoon, I was greeted by a black horse in a big ol' saddle.

Miss Pixie had a long afternoon of training that involved getting used to the saddle and weight on top. Both Farmer Ted and Horse Whisperer Paulette got in the seat and took a stroll (a definite WALK) around the indoor arena. Pixie also met The Boss, a life size, weighted dummy that sits in the saddle. She walked, trotted and cantered with The Boss.

And she did a great job! Doesn't she look beautiful in that saddle? Head down, soft eyes, a true black beauty!

Size DOES matter!

2010-01-15T07:46:00.003-06:00

Eight-inch versus 9-inch versus 10-inch....

Come on ladies, get your minds out of the gutter, I'm talking about cake pans!

So for years, I thought I had two 8-inch pans and two 9-inch pans. As it turns out, after several "9-inch" pan disasters and careful measuring, I realized that, in fact, have two 9-inch pans and two 10-inch pans!

A sample of each:

How embarrassing! All these years I've been cursing the 9-inch pans when they are really 10-inchers. It wasn't their fault they produced pancakes.

Now that I have this figured out, baking life should be much easier. Plus, Mr. Z got me two REAL 8-inch pans for my birthday. Now I have just about everything I need!

Day 3

2010-01-07T07:38:00.003-06:00

Today is day three of the 30 day shred. I'm not doing it everyday, rather sprinkling it in among yoga and elliptical time. It's still hard. Although, I can tell it's getting easier.

I've been trying to eat better, but it's really difficult. I just love food. And I love food that isn't the greatest for me. And the winter months are so hard. You have Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas and then New Year's and then... my birthday! So I feel like I have a good two months of excuses to eat whatever I want. I keep thinking, ok, I'll start eating healthier after X holiday. The good news is, my birthday is next week. So NO MORE excuses! Although every day I do try to do my best.

I've been doing very well with the cakes actually! I've stuck to one tiny piece a day. And that is usually my treat for the day. And yesterday we ran out of cake! I guess it's time to make another.

Although it was kind of a disaster to put together, Red's birthday cake tasted very good. The texture was interesting (remember the two cups of heavy whipping cream?). I'll tell you all about it when I'm able to upload some pictures.

As I hate leaving a blog without photos, here is a picture of my birthday cake from last year made by my amazing brother and sister-in-law. Can you tell who it is? (like you have that many choices...)

Yep! It's Pixie. White socks and all on her back feet. I loved this cake.

Happy Birthday Red!

2010-01-05T13:26:00.003-06:00

This morning I baked the cakes for Red's birthday celebration tonight. After work I will head home, whip up some frosting and put everything together! It's a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. There are two cups of heavy whipping cream in the cake. I'm very excited to taste the finished product.

Me and Red

I tried getting on the elliptical while the cakes were in the oven, but since I didn't have music blaring (it was 7 am, and Mr. Z likes his shut eye), I was able to hear an annoying squeak coming from one of the wheels. So I sprayed it down with some lube, which fixed the squeak, but filled the room with a toxic smell. Hopefully the chemical odor will be gone by tomorrow morning.

Cheers!

My Space Man*

2010-01-03T20:55:00.003-06:00

*Mr. Z sporting the fancy flannel space-themed pajama pants I made him for Christmas. Ain't he cute?

Devil's Food with Quick Fudge Frosting

2010-01-03T17:57:00.003-06:00

I'm sorry to report that can't post the recipe for this cake, since I've lent The Book to Red (it's her birthday on Tuesday and I told her I would make any cake she wanted from it). So if you'd like the recipe, just comment on this post and I'll be sure to add it when I get the book back.

Here are the ingredients:

The recipe calls for two 9-inch or three 8-inch layer cakes. Since I only have two of each size I went for the 9-inch cakes. They ended up being really short. This is two layers:

I should know better. Don't mess with the 9-inch pans unless you're doubling a recipe or something. They will always leave you with flat cakes.

Luckily, it didn't take away from the taste! It's pretty delicious and chocolaty.

WARNING: This cake must be consumed with a large glass of milk! (however as I type, Mr. Z is on the couch eating it with a tall beverage of the malted variety)

p.s. I also spent 20 minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes doing strength training today.

Resolutions

2010-01-02T21:37:00.003-06:00

Man Catcher Pound Cake

I made the first cake from All Cakes Considered for New Year's Eve. It's called "The Man Catcher Sour Cream Pound Cake." I substituted vanilla yogurt for sour cream and it turned out very tasty. I served it with triple berry sauce (blueberries, raspberries and strawberries) and fresh whipped cream.

Here are the ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature

3 cups sugar

5 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup vanilla yogurt (or sour cream)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon orange extract

Since I don't have a 10-inch tube pan, I used one of my fancy shaped bundt pans:

Center rack in oven and preheat to 350 degrees F

Prepare a pan.

Cream butter and sugar.

Add eggs

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream.

Add extracts. Beat until flavorings are incorporated and mixture looks smooth and even.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 90 minutes.

Although the bundt pan looks pretty cool, releasing the cake from it is a huge pain and the finished product ended up missing a few chunks. Didn't take away from the taste though!

As for my other resolution? Well, I started the 30 Day Shred today.

It kicked my tail. Seriously. It has three levels, I was on level one, following the lady who modifies to make it even easier!

Jillian kept promising it will get easier. We'll see. And Mr. Z got the elliptical up and running today, so I should be able to take that bad boy for a test drive tomorrow.

Here's to lots of cake and exercise in 2010!

Contradiction is my middle name!

2009-12-29T12:14:00.002-06:00

Alright. My second New Year's resolution? To start at the beginning and bake my way through another Christmas gift: All Cakes Considered, by Melissa Gray of NPR.

So far, this is one of the best cookbooks I've ever read. Melissa Gray is a milder, more feminine version of Dave Barry (who I love). The first cake in the book is called "Man Catcher Pound Cake." I'll be making that January 1 for a gathering with Mr. Z's family.

So, yep. Let's recap. First resolution: lose weight. Second? Bake cakes. Great! Let's see how this all shakes out, shall we?

2010 Resolution: Lose Weight

2009-12-28T22:40:00.004-06:00

I know, I know. This is SO cliche. Can you even stand it? Well, I guess I have to. Because I need to get healthy! I've been slowly and steadily gaining weight for a couple of years and even though I'm not huge, my body feels it. I feel slow and sluggish and things hurt.

For Christmas, I asked for (and received) this:

I hear she's a doozy (both the dvd and the trainer). But I'm going to do my darndest to stay on task for 30 days. And hopefully this blog will help me do so.

And on New Year's Eve, this will be delivered to my home:

Wow! I'm very excited. We had an elliptical before our basement flooded two summers ago and we've finally gotten around to replacing it (ALERT! if you are a homeowner, make sure your home has "sewage backup" insurance, it sure did come in handy for us). It will nice to have a source of cardiovascular exercise in the house again. Pair this with the 30 day shred and I should be set, right?

And let's not forget yoga. Another resolution or goal is to make it to yoga class once a week in January.

So while I take the next three days to sit on my tail, be lazy and eat the leftover Christmas goodies, I'll be mentally preparing myself for January 1. I know that's not how you're supposed to do it. I know your supposed to say to yourself, "I need to get healthy and I'm going to start today!" But this whole "New Year's Resolution/beginning of a whole new DECADE" thing makes it much easier to wait three days.

And so I will. Happy New Year!

Betty

2009-12-23T22:40:00.004-06:00

I love my KitchenAid mixer.

She's pink.

And her name is Betty.

And she's helped me make some of the tastiest treats ever!

Tonight we made a Mexican hot chocolate cake with cinnamon white chocolate buttercream filling and dark chocolate ganache frosting.

I can't wait to try it tomorrow! Merry Christmas!

Dessert for Breakfast?

2009-12-21T07:22:00.002-06:00

Kind of!

This morning I prepared two waffles (frozen) with almond butter, cut up apples zapped in the microwave with some cinnamon, vanilla yogurt (looks like ice cream!) and a touch of maple syrup. It kind of did taste like dessert. Yum!

Christmas Bird Nests

2009-12-20T20:51:00.006-06:00

Mr. Z and I headed east (only about 90 miles or so) for a family Christmas celebration today. I brought a sampling of yesterday's cookies, and these puppies were the clear winners.

These cookies are a happy accident, since Red grabbed peanut butter chips instead of butterscotch chips at the store. Although I'm sure any kind of chips would make these treats a success. The nice thing about these guys is that there is no oven involved.

Heat. Mix. Drop. Cool. Eat.

Here is the recipe:
1 bag peanut butter chips
1 bag white chocolate chips
1 bag milk chocolate chips
1 bag chowmein noodles
Mini marshmallows
Peanut M&Ms

Melt all of the chips over low heat. Add chowmein noodles and marshmallows, stir until everything is coated. Drop on wax paper and top immediately with M&Ms. I drizzled white chocolate, but you could add Christmas sprinkles or chopped up heath bar... really, at this time of year, anything goes (you could also add nuts to the chocolate mixture withe the noodles and marshmallows)! Let cool and enjoy!

2009-12-19T16:08:00.003-06:00

Hmmmm....chocolate...sugar....what could this mean?

Why, Christmas cookies, of course!

By buddy Red came over this morning to bake cookies. We made a good team and some of the cookies were much easier with two people (chocolate crinkles).

We made peanut butter delights, chocolate bird nest thingys, chocolate crinkles and mini pecan pies.

Note: my pink outfit with pink apron and Red's, well, redness.

And they are tasty too!

Under the Mistletoe

2009-12-13T14:12:00.002-06:00

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

2009-12-11T07:26:00.003-06:00

You only need six ingredients for this tasty breakfast.

Oats
Apple
Cinnamon
Brown sugar
Milk
Water

I like to use Penzeys new special blend of cinnamon. It's heavenly!

First you chop up some apple. If I'm making a single serving, I use about 1/4 of a big apple. I put the rest of the apple in the fridge for tomorrow's oats. And yes, I definitely keep the skin on, that's where the vitamins are!

Put the apple pieces in a pan and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Add some water, just a bit, to bathe the apple pieces and simmer on medium low for a few minutes.

When the apples are tender enough for your taste, add one cup of water (for a single serving) then sprinkle on some more cinnamon. When the water and apples reach a boil add 1/2 cup of oats and sprinkle with cinnamon. You can never have enough cinnamon!

Stir the oats in and cook over medium to low heat for a few minutes. I like to stir continuously. I think it makes for creamier oatmeal. When the oats meet your desired thickness, remove from heat and cover for a couple more minutes.

I like to serve my apple cinnamon oats with a tablespoon of brown sugar and two tablespoons of milk. And of course, another shake of cinnamon.

This is a perfect wintertime breakfast and only takes minutes to make!

Snow Day!

2009-12-10T21:45:00.005-06:00

December 9. UW-Madison calls its first snow day in almost 20 years! The morning started with a little of this.

Apple cinnamon oatmeal from scratch. I'll post the recipe soon. A little ball of brown sugar on top is the perfect touch!

Outside it looked like this (hence the snow day).

And like this.

(like the new wheels? huh? can't see 'em? it's a really sweet ride, I swear!)

And like this.

After almost six hours of work (with a short coffee break with the neighbors built in) we came inside to this.

Beef stew. Yummmmy! I finished off the night with a dear friend (Red), some hot cocoa, vanilla schnapps, chocolate chip cookies and the season finale of Glee! Loved it!

Pixie's Progress

2009-12-08T07:17:00.003-06:00

Some of you may remember the horseshoe shaped bruise that graced my thigh last fall. It was very traumatic and it hurt like a son-of-a-gun.

Pixie had been out of her pasture for a couple of months and was in the very infant stages of groundwork. I was trying to get her to walk through a sandbox (see picture below) and she was having none of it. Rather than politely walking through the sandbox, like I was asking for, she jumped the box and kicked out as she landed... and I was in her way.

Yep, this is the very sandbox where our love was tested last fall (that's Miss Paulette in the picture):

As you can see, she's still not too sure. But this was Saturday, December 5 so she had four good days of "official" training under her belt.

She walked right through! It was something else.

She even stood in the box. This is huge for her!

Horses are prey animals, so they are always on the look out for the big, bad wolf. They are very observant and become nervous in new situations. They are also pack animals, so they need a strong leader to trust. In the wild there is a boss mare or lead stallion. In riding and groundwork scenarios, YOU want to be the leader. So Paulette and Ted are training Pixie to trust humans and become less skittish of her surroundings. Eventually, they will move to saddle work and start riding her. I will take lessons with them and Pixie throughout the entire process, which should last three months. I am so excited at the thought of riding her in March!

Cowgirl Tough

2009-12-07T07:07:00.003-06:00

Harmony Horsemanship has three different large pastures that are home to around six horses each. These pastures feed hay via round bales. You know, those really huge round bales of hay that you see in fields as you drive along the interstate? They look like this.

And they are so heavy they have to be moved around and delivered to the pastures by a tractor with a fork attached.

Hmmm....I wonder who is driving that tractor???

By golly, it's me!

Yep, Farmer Ted has entrusted his baby (the orange tractor) to moi! In return, I help him load round bales. I have to tell you, there is something really, really rewarding about handling such heavy machinery.

Besides the fact that it gives Mr. Z heart palpitations whenever I talk about it, it makes me feel... well, pretty darn tough. I mean look at me!

And there's definitely an art to dropping the round bale into the feeder. First you lower it (like in the picture above) then you have to cut off the strings. And make sure you get every single one, a loose string could mean very bad news to a horse's tummy. Then, you raise and maneuver the bail into the feeder so it's like a cylinder on its side with the flat part up. I didn't get a picture of this part, because Farmer Ted likes to instruct during this portion. But it takes some skill to be sure to move that bale into proper position.

Yes, I do love driving the fancy tractor. But of course, what I love most about going to the barn is seeing Miss Pixie. Her training is going very well. I'll post about that tonight or tomorrow.

We took Christmas pictures this weekend. I asked Mr. Z if we could use this as our family Christmas card this year.... he said no. Understandable.

Dinner on the Cheap

2009-12-07T07:02:00.003-06:00

A "Friday-night-my-fridge-is-empty-creation!"

A box of Annie's mac & cheese

plus random vegetables from the fridge (leek, carrot, zucchini, spinach)

equals a pretty yummy dinner!

Traditions

2009-12-02T15:35:00.003-06:00

Don't you love new traditions? Over the years Thanksgiving has seen many traditions come and go... mostly come (we hold on to our weird habits). For example, every year Uncle Mike brings a huge box of goodies for Bloody Marys. Then after dinner, we walk around the block smoking cigars and drinking Scotch. Finally we end the night with a screening of "Christmas Vacation." I think we all know every joke in that film. We are a family of traditions... not to be confused with a traditional family.

One more tradition, we dress up. This started when my brothers and I were kids. We would dress as Pilgrims and Native Americans. My dad once wore my mom's turquoise belt with a towel hanging from it and no shirt - he was obviously not a Pilgrim.

A few years ago we resurrected this tradition and each year has had a different theme. Last year, we dressed as our favorite character from a book. This year, at the last minute, we came up with what we thought was going to be a fairly boring theme "wear what you want to wear most." Turns out it was a hit. People came in their favorite t-shirts, pajamas and sweats. And my sister-in-law and I? Well, of course, we wore our wedding dresses.

Perhaps this is a whole new tradition of its own! I can only hope.

Decking the Halls

2009-11-29T17:05:00.005-06:00

Christmas decorations went up today! I love this time of year.

Thanksgiving kicks off a season of love, giving, sharing, family and of course, over-the-top holiday cheer. Our house welcomes decorations from all walks of life.

From a church garage sale Minnie Mouse...

to stockings made with tender loving care.

From candy bowls filled with the gummy, the chocolaty and the old timey...

to a beautiful Czech Nativity scene given as a wedding gift.

(I love the three kings!)

This is our eighth Christmas together (our third as an old married couple) and I love that our collection of holiday decorations grows along with our memories.

Stache-tacular!

2009-11-25T07:06:00.004-06:00

Saturday night Mr. Z and I enjoyed the local art scene. We went to a play downtown called "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940." It was a really funny murder mystery set (obviously) in the 40s. My good friend Jake's boyfriend stole the show as an uptight, mustachioed music director named Roger Hopewell. Seriously, take a look at that stache!

Live theatre is such a basic, yet magical form of entertainment. We enjoyed ourselves so much, I wonder why we don't make a point of getting out and seeing local productions more often. It's not like Madison is lacking options. Perhaps I'm making my way to a New Year's resolution!

In other, less interesting news, I had an egg white omelette sandwich for breakfast. It was pretty tasty!

I'm still tracking my units and trying to exercise. I'm down five pounds from when I began this adventure at the start of the month. As we all know, this week is a beast. Unfortunately Thanksgiving usually markes the begining of a one month eating binge. So, I'm going to try really hard to keep things under control... ugh, why is it so hard?

Giving Thanks

2009-11-24T06:57:00.003-06:00

Turkey Day is my dad's favorite holiday. That's my dad in the picture above, with my great-grandmother at her 104th birthday party. She's in heaven now, but my dad is in Green Bay...probably defrosting a turkey. So anyway, each year Mr. Z and I head to Titletown for a day of fun, family and of course...food. This year is no different and in anticipation of this wonderful feast, I thought I would start a list of things I am thankful for.

A wonderful husband who transfers the butterscotch candies and hair bands from the passenger door pocket of his trade in to his brand new car just for me.
A wonderful, loud, crazy family that loves and supports each other very much.
Pixie, Ted, Paulette, the poodles and all of the other creatures at Harmony Horsemanship.
Amazing, smart, witty friends from all different times and places of my life.
Good health.
Health insurance.
Food in the pantry and fridge.
A stable job.
A cozy home filled with warmth and nice things.

This is a good start. What are you thankful for this year?

Oh yeah, I'm also thankful for the "New Moon" date the H ladies have planned for the day after Thanksgiving!

Life Goal: Canter Bareback

2009-11-21T18:52:00.003-06:00

CHECK! I can't believe it! Today I cantered bareback on Drifter, one of the lesson horses at Harmony Horsemanship. Not only was I bareback, but I was riding with a one reign rope hackamore (no bit). It was the sweetest feeling.

I'm not a huge goal setter, but I've had a goal of cantering bareback for over a year. And I did it! Now, granted, I cantered on Drifter, a lovable quarter horse (quarter horse = Oldsmobile). And my ultimate goal is to canter bareback on Pixie, who is half arabian (arabian = Ferrari). This is a great start though!

Here is a two-minute video (my first video in iMovie nothing fancy!) that documents today's progress from walk to trot to canter. Wooohooo!

Have a good night!

Biggest Fan Friday is back!

2009-11-20T09:31:00.007-06:00

This little lover just learned to blow kisses to herself in the mirror. Her sweet momma is teaching her to love herself and respect herself. She is becoming her own BIGGEST FAN (even though she has lots of other fans out there)!

Take an extra minute or two (or ten) today to think about what makes you so fantastic. Because you are, you know. You are the only you. And you are strong and beautiful and smart. And you owe it to yourself to recognize your greatness. And guess what... as soon as you start paying attention to how awesome you are, everyone else will too.

Now lets be clear. I'm not talking about walking around thinking you are better/hotter/funnier than everyone else. I'm not talking about dominating a conversation about how silky and shiny your hair is. Because that's not fantastic and great and awesome.

I'm talking about self-reflection, walking tall, smiling at strangers and embracing your uniqueness. Being proud of who you are, while at the same time recognizing that each person deserves to feel that same way about themselves. Respecting yourself and others. That's what being your own biggest fan is all about.

Have a great weekend!

Gimme a "P!" Gimme an "O!" Gimme an "M!"

2009-11-19T21:34:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Mr. Z and I were introduced to pomegranates by neighbor Molly. We had Molly over for dinner while her Mister was in Japan. We started talking about weird foods and pomegranates came up. Mr. Z and I both commented that we'd never had one so she dashed across the driveway and brought back one of her own to share with us. They are crazy fruits!

First she scored it into quarters.

Then she cracked it open.

It was so beautiful!

The arils are the little red fleshy guys that you eat. There is a tiny (edible) seed in each one. You have to dig through this funky skin to get them out.

The juice stains (and squirts) very easily so take care when fumbling around with them. They are kind of like popcorn, you can either eat them one at a time, or shove a handful into your mouth at once. I recommend the shoving method (with pomegranates and popcorn).

These little jewels are delicious. They taste like sweet, sweet cranberries. Yum! They are definitely worth the work. You can toss them on salads, throw into oatmeal, add them to cottage cheese. The opportunities are endless!

Sweet Tater Love

2009-11-18T20:27:00.006-06:00

I'm back! My aunt Anne inspired me to start writing again. Life has gotten pretty busy, and when it gets busy I get stressed, and when I get stressed I get lazy. But really blogging is something that relaxes me, so I should MAKE time for it , right?

I planned on visiting Pixie tonight and when I left work just after 4:00 it was already dark! It was so dark and drizzly I almost didn't go. But I hadn't seen Pixie for almost a week, so I hit the rush hour traffic and 20 minutes later I was pulling up to the barn. It was actually really pretty in the blue-gray mist.

Earlier this year Farmer Ted discovered MyMenu. He occasionally rants and raves about the various products he gets hooked on. Since I love to cook from scratch so much, I rarely tune in to these reviews. However, today he started talking about their sweet potato fries. And I LOVE sweet potato fries, they are probably in my top ten favorite foods of all time. I told him they sounded delicious and would check them out if I ever found myself in the store.

After working with Pixie indoors for a bit I took her out for a walk down the long, paved driveway. It actually turned out to be a beautiful night. I mean it's the middle of November and I wasn't wearing a winter coat! On our way back Ted met us by my car with a plate of piping hot sweet potato fries (he has a FlavorWave... I hadn't heard of it either... click on the link... seriously... Mr. T?!) Anyway, what a treat!

(yes that is his gum on my car and yes he put it back in his mouth)

Pixie of course, couldn't wait to get some of these tasties in her mouth. She eats anything. But as it turned out, she wasn't a huge fan. In fact, she passed after the first bite. Very surprising. She'll eat her own poop, but not sweet potato fries. Ain't she special?

I bet we cleared the plate in under a minute. They were SO GOOD! I guess I know what I'm going to buy if I ever find myself in a MyMenu.

So it turned out to be a great night: me and my gal, crisp autumn weather and sweet tater love.

Tracking My "Units"

2009-11-02T21:30:00.004-06:00

That's right "units." I'm definitely not pirating a well known weight loss program and bypassing the ridiculous membership fees to go it on my own. Nope. Not me. Today I started counting. You know what I mean... fat, calories, fiber... counting... units. I've successfully followed this program twice in the past. I've also successfully gained most of the weight back. There seems to be a magic number for me, a number I see on the scale that sends me running for the skinny cow ice cream snacks and no pudge brownies. And I've hit it. It actually might not be the number, it might be how I look in pictures, or how my clothes (don't really) fit. In any case, I'm there. So wish me luck!

In addition to tracking my calorie intake, I've started tracking my running routes and today I ran 2.28 miles! This is a huge accomplishment for me! I don't remember the last time I ran more than a mile.

So overall today was a great day. That's all you can ask for right? Good night!

(p.s. Happy fall!)

Monday Eats

2009-10-26T20:05:00.007-05:00

I've decided to keep a photo log of everything I eat. It's pretty easy to do with my iPhone, although the pictures aren't the best quality. I really have to learn how to use my digital camera.

For breakfast I ate a bowl of pumpkin oat bran with soy milk, topped with granola and almond butter.

Mixed nuts for a mid-morning snack.

Pork, applesauce and roasted veggie leftovers for lunch.

Also some cheese and crackers.

After lunch I had two pieces of Halloween candy. Dang. I have to be careful about that stuff!

And an apple. A honey crisp. Tasty!

After work I went for a run around the neighborhood. Very short, about 10/15 minutes. I had a headache, so no music, just the light rain.

Dinner was butternut squash pizza with spinach, pecans and caramelized onions. This is one of my all time favorite dishes!

Mr. Z had a slice, but then decided to polish off his leftover pizza from this weekend (he prefers the pepperoni to the squash).

For dessert, Mr. Z made us fruit smoothies. What a treat! This beauty was made of an old strawberry fruit popsicle, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple coconut juice, flax, wheat germ and vanilla yogurt.

Very, very tasty!

2009-10-25T21:28:00.003-05:00

I spent last week in our nation's capital, Washington D.C. It's a beautiful city that encourages lots and lots of walking....which I did. I was in town for a conference, but in my free time I got to see some of the many splendid sites.

Starting with the National Cathedral.

A magnificent feat of architecture and beauty.

The food at the conference wasn't to bad. This is my dessert plate Wednesday night. Dave Barry spoke after the meal. He was fantastic!

On Thursday night, my in-laws (stay with me here - my husband's brother's wife's parents) took me out for some yummy sushi and more site seeing. It was really cool to see the monuments at night.

Then on Friday evening I went to the National Zoo. One of their famous giant pandas was napping.

There was a recent addition to the zoo!

She was so cute!

As our conference was winding down, another was setting up. See anything wrong with this phrasing? Yikes!

Today I went to visit Pixie. I got to take this little fella for a walk. His name is Munchie and he is a mini.

It's a peace pumpkin! I love this time of year!

Finished Mexican Hot Chocolate Cake

2009-10-12T11:02:00.002-05:00

Picture as promised (taken by neighbor Chris):

And you can see birthday girl Molly in the background!

More Cooking

2009-10-12T06:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I could not tear myself away from the kitchen!

I made two versions of granola (same base, different add ins).

Dried fruit and nut for me:

And cherry chocolate chip for Mr. Z:

And I also made cashew caramel corn. So delicious! Mr. Z doesn't usually like caramel corn, but he can't keep his hand out of this homemade tastiness.

I also made roasted sweet potatoes and green beans with caramelized onions to eat with leftovers. Now on to the grind of the week, no hours upon hours of cooking here. Dang.

Fire it up!

2009-10-10T21:25:00.007-05:00

It snowed today. Craziness huh?! But it turned out to be the perfect fall (winter!) day to cook some yummy comfort food and put in a fire.

I started the day with a peanut butter, banana, chocolate shake. Really! For some reason I was craving a carnation instant breakfast this morning. But after a summer of green monsters, I couldn't let it go at just that. So I added a frozen banana, a tablespoon of ground flaxseed, a tablespoon of peanut butter, some milk and some yogurt. It was pretty tasty!

This is our week to pick up the CSA vegetables. Aren't they beautiful? I'm very excited about the butternut squash and sweet potatoes - two of my favorite veggies.

I made roasted veggies with the following: parsnips, carrots, eggplant, fennel, red onion and red pepper. Before.

After. SO GOOD!

The roasted veggies paired well with this homemade mac and cheese.

Then, after dinner, Mr. Z surprised me with a load of wood (notice the carrying case Mom?).

In a blink of an eye we went from this:

To this:

C-O-Z-Y! What a wonderful day for a first snow.

My Brother, the Artist

2009-10-10T21:14:00.006-05:00

This past week a piece of my brother's art was auctioned off for charity. His butterfly captured the highest bid of the evening at $7,000. I'm so proud of him I can hardly stand it!

Here are some pictures I took of it (it was stationed on the river in Green Bay for the summer) with my iPhone:

Isn't it beautiful?

Sweet Sunday

2009-10-04T15:56:00.005-05:00

Today I made curried vegetable soup with romanesco (an Italian cauliflower), cauliflower, leeks and pumpkin.

Then I made some tasty white bread in the bread maker.

I ate the soup with sour cream and hot sauce.

Finally, I made cherry, chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies.

I love Sundays filled with cooking!

Memory Walk '09

2009-10-04T15:34:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, MIL (mother-in-law), AJ (Aunt Judy, MIL's sis) and I participated in the Alzheimer's Memory Walk. It's an annual tradition that we do in honor of their father Donald Dix who suffered from Alzheimer's and passed away almost 10 years ago.

This is the eighth Memory Walk I've done with the family, and the first one that Mr. Z has had to miss. (He was hard at work at the World Dairy Expo, see picture at bottom.)

Russ Feingold was there to kick off the festivities. Russ started an Alzheimer's program in the state back in 1986, way before many knew of this terrible disease. (p.s. Thanks for trying to protect our civil liberties Russ!)

After the walk I got my picture taken with Bucky Badger! Go Bucky!

Every year after the walk we head over to the Cottage Cafe for breakfast. Yummers!

Even though the weather was a little dreary, a wonderful day was had by all. Later yesterday afternoon I went to visit Eric at the World Dairy Expo. He spent the entire week running camera for the prestigious cow judging. That's almost 75 hours of pure heifer!

That's him carrying his camera across the arena. It was something to see, I tell you, something to see (not my cute mister working, but rather the cow frenzy).

However, because I was born and raised in Wisconsin, cows are kind of in my blood and I admit I did enjoy parts of the show. You know what else is tattooed into my cheese brain? The Packers. Because even though I haven't watched a full Packer game for years and years, I am very excited for tomorrow's Packer/Viking face-off! What will happen? Who will win? And MOST importantly, how will Brett play? See?! I'm crazy.

Go Pack!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cake

2009-10-04T15:11:00.003-05:00

Here is the delicious Mexican hot chocolate cake I made for neighbor Molly's birthday and dissertation party on Friday night. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product and I'm hoping I can soon pirate one from her husband's flickr site.

Moist, chocolate cakes flavored with cinnamon, orange and coffee.

Cinnamon, almond buttercream filling.

Dark chocolate ganache frosting.

Assembled cake, pre-decorating.

I have to say, I'm very proud of this cake. It was deee-lish!

Tis the season...for punkin oats,

2009-10-01T07:30:00.003-05:00

It's officially fall and I've been waiting for some chilly autumn weather to try out another food blog favorite - pumpkin oats.

On Tuesday I made oatmeal and stirred in some canned pumpkin at the end. I think I added a sprinkle of cinnamon and maybe some sugar... (oh yeah and a dollop of almond butter)

... it was TERRIBLE!

Again, I don't like oatmeal! Why don't I remember that? I just really think I should like oatmeal. Well, never fear, my tasty oat bran hot cereal saved the day today.

Very tasty! The difference is not only the type of cereal, but in addition to the pumpkin, I added A LOT of cinnamon, some nutmeg, ginger and cloves, brown sugar and vanilla. It truly did taste like pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie with a boat-load of fiber.

Tonight I'm making chili for Mr. and Mrs. Red. And tomorrow I'm making a Mexican chocolate cake (inspired by Kristin's wedding) for a friend's birthday/dissertation party. I'm SO EXCITED! I've been dreaming up the recipe all week and I made a test cake last night. Pretty tasty, but could use some more cinnamon (apparently that's the trick for just about anything!). I'm going to fill it and frost it with almond buttercream and top it with a pourable chocolate ganache. Oh boy, I can't wait! I'll post pictures for sure.

Twin Cities Wedding Weekend

2009-09-27T21:39:00.002-05:00

I met some awesome girls my freshman year in college. We all lived on the 7th floor of Ogg West (a dorm) at UW-Madison. We have seen each other through a lot - bad dates, crazy vacations, graduations, new jobs, and weddings - three of 'em so far!

This weekend we gathered from all over the country (literally - Washington to Maine) to celebrate Kristin's wedding. She was beautiful of course, and we had a wonderful time. It's a special thing when you have a group of friends you can meet up with a few times a year and have an absolute blast with.

I'm so thankful for these beautiful women!

Weekend Photos

2009-09-15T21:21:00.002-05:00

My dad made delicious tomato, pesto, mozzarella and balsamic tasties.

Nana made really good mushroom and swiss bread.

I made a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate whipped cream frosting and strawberry filling.

Whenever my family is in town we have scotch before bedtime. A nice family tradition!

This last picture is from this morning after my three-song Tuesday run. Yes, I'm sweaty. But I also feel great! I love a good sweat, especially when it's actually from physical activity!

Three Song Thursday

2009-09-15T09:56:00.004-05:00

Camera is still busted! Well, the camera works, I just can't get the photos from the camera to the computer. Bummer! But I did capture some Ironman pics on my iPhone.

Here is my amazing uncle:

Finish time 13:54:42

The Ironman is one of the most inspirational events I go to each year. These people are amazing athletes and have incredible drive. I cried. A lot. One of the most inspiring moments was seeing the very last swimmer come out of the water. He had been swimming for over two and a half hours and was automatically disqualified from the rest of the race (2:20 cutoff). He was struggling. He was probably 50 yards out and kept bobbing up and looking at the crowd, looking at the 70 volunteers in the water (on bodyboards, kayaks, boats). We were going crazy, cheering him on, pulling him in with our hearts and thoughts. He eventually made it to shore. He stood up with a huge grin, smiled at the crowd and turned around and said "thank you!" to all of the vounteers. What a strong, gracious man. Talk about waterworks!

This morning I went for a run with three songs inspired by the weekend.

The (original) playlist:

Stronger - Kanye West
I Got a Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
So What - Pink!

However, after the VMA controversy involving Kanye West and Taylor Swift, I just couldn't bring myself to run to "Stronger." All I heard during the song was "Wahn, wahn, wahn, I'm a jerk, blah, blah, I step on kittens, wahn, wahn."

So I changed it up a bit and ran to this:

I Got a Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
So What - Pink!
Single Ladies - Beyonce (now she's a class act)

I Love My In-Laws (thank God!)

2009-09-11T07:50:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Mr. Z was working, so I took the day off to spend with our visitors BIL and SIL. We went out for lunch with Mr. Z's littlest brother, Brent at his place of employment, Capitol Chop House. This is the fancy shmancy restaurant located inside the Hilton on the Capitol Square. It was a very tasty lunch. I was happy to find out that SIL likes to split things as well (Mr. Z isn't always a good splitter).

So SIL and I split the seared tuna salad:

And this amazing flat bread concoction:

It was whole wheat flat bread with a goat cheese, cranberry spread topped with butternut squash and sage. To die for!

After lunch Brent went to work and BIL, SIL and I walked around downtown for a bit. Madison is hosting an Ironman competition this weekend (on Sunday) and the air is electric with anticipation.

For those not familiar with Ironman stats, the event consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike race and 26.2 mile run (yep, that's a whole marathon!). It's an amazing challenge and every year I try to make it down town to cheer on the athletes. It's hard to explain, but I always get emotional, it's such an accomplishment for these people. Don't get me wrong, I have no desire to compete in one myself, it's just an inspirational thing to witness.

And BEST of all, this year my UNCLE MIKE SMRZ (another loved in-law) is competing! Much of my family is coming to town tomorrow and we will be out in full force on Sunday, cheering him on.

Tomorrow I'll be fixing a spaghetti dinner and chocolate cake (carb load!) for the family. What a treat! I LOVE cooking for family.

This is only a test...

2009-09-09T22:13:00.003-05:00

Photos are back online (my camera is still not working) but at least I can upload the photos from the weekend! I'll be back tomorrow morning. Have a good night!

This is a test.

When technology fails...

2009-09-09T08:19:00.003-05:00

...the bean blog is boring.

Something is terribly wrong with my camera/computer relationship and with blogger's photo upload process, which makes for a very boring blog. Here's a picturless recap of the last couple days.

On Labor Day Mr. Z and I drove to Wauwatosa to visit our friends Erin, Sachin, Violet and Hazel. We had never met Miss Hazel (she's only been on this little blue marble of ours for 3 months!) and we hadn't seen the rest of the family for over a year! So we had a wonderful time catching up and telling stories.

Erin and I even squeezed in time to bake a cake. We used to make amazing cakes back in the day (again, photos here would be lovely right?).

Yesterday we welcomed two very special visitors to Madison. Mr. Z's brother Brad and his wife Laura are staying with us for a week. They currently live in Maine so it's a real treat to have them with us for a week. They have a pretty packed schedule, but I think we'll be able to fit in some quality porch, beer and food time.

Last night after we picked them up from the airport we headed straight over to Mr. Z and Brad's sister's house for a photo session. She also has a little three-month old and we had a great time taking family pictures, eating pizza and spending time getting to know our new nephew a little better. He is so cute!

Hopefully I'll get this picture thing figured out soon!

Costco

2009-09-06T20:49:00.005-05:00

Today Mr. Z and I made the trip over to the west side to run some errands. We hit up the Labor Day sales at all the outdoorsy shops: Erehwon, REI and Fontana. I got some yoga tops, Mr. Z got some shoes and we both loaded up on tasty energy/snack bars. I even found some more almond butter packets at REI!

Since I new we were going to be gone for most of the day, I packed a lunch and we ate it outside of REI.

A little parking lot picnic. We had crackers, humus, peppers, cheese, fruit and granola.

My little sandwich.

Our final destination was COSTCO!

We'd never been and of course now we're members. They totally suck you in. But I swear we made up the cost of our membership in savings in this trip alone. Some of the prices were unreal.

Here's a picture of our cart as we left the store.

My favorite Costco purchase? Probably the mini Naked juices. It's a variety pack with berry blast, superfoods and might mango. YUMMY!

When we finally got home I whipped up this plum torte. A very special lady sent me this recipe in the mail this week. Thanks Nana!

This is before it went in the oven:

And after:

I have to let it cool off a bit, but I bet this will pair perfectly with the vanilla custard I have sitting in my freezer. Tasty, tasty!

Pixie & Red

2009-09-06T20:12:00.007-05:00

Red and I went to spend some quality time with Pixie at the barn yesterday and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful afternoon.

Of course, Red got to meet the poodles.

Then I worked with Pixie a little bit.

After we got our work out in, Red helped me groom Pixie and give her a bath.

Then it was snack time!

What a wonderful time with two lovely ladies!

Busy Little Bean

2009-09-05T12:24:00.004-05:00

What a great sleep in this morning. I didn't get out of bed until 10:00! But I've been a busy little bee ever since.

Mr. Z and I had waffles for breakfast. I topped mine with fruit and almond butter. And he put butter and maple syrup on his. I commented that our waffles probably have similar amounts of fat and sugar on them (in completely different forms) but mine would probably be more filling.

Then I made granola. My friend Susanna sent me four granola recipes in the mail and I was so excited to try them out! I made a tasty base using our new sunflower oil, honey, oats, wheat germ and powdered milk (weird ingredient, huh?). When it was finished, I separated the batch into two containers and added craisins to one, and cherries and chocolate to the other (below).

Then I made chocolate chip cookies for a very tasty care package.

I'll be spending the afternoon with Red and Pixie at the barn. Can't wait to take some fun pics!

Biggest Fan Friday (a day late!)

2009-09-05T12:11:00.005-05:00

One week in, and I forgot about Biggest Fan Friday. Shame on me! Well since you should be your biggest fan EVERY day, I suppose it's not that big of a deal to do Biggest Fan Friday on Saturday. So use the comments section to give yourself a pat on the back!

I had a good Friday, kicking it off with some tasty almond butter for breakfast.

Then I met a friend for coffee at the Memorial Union. I'm parking at a new spot on campus, so I got to walk along Lakeshore Path to get there. Isn't it beautiful?

My Fabulous Friend, who is always her own biggest fan, put at least six sugars in her triple shot cappuccino! Holy moly! I told her I had to get a picture for the blog.

After work, I headed to the stable to work with Pixie a bit. Propel is my drink of choice while I'm at the barn.

Then home for a tasty dinner of leftovers. I made a quesadilla with the ingredients from Wednesday night's taco bar. Tasty!

Mr. Z was working all night, so I picked up a movie. I watched, "I Love You Man." Wasn't a huge fan. It's one of those movies that makes you squirm with embarrassment throughout. I'm usually not susceptible to that kind of thing (I LOVE The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm) but this one got to me for some reason. I spent half the movie hiding behind a pillow... and I was the only one in the room!

Now don't forget to use the comments section below to ring your own bell! Happy weekend!

More Almond Butter

2009-09-03T20:22:00.003-05:00

This morning after my "run," I whipped out the other pack of almond butter - maple, yum!

I added it to hot cereal mixed with yogurt and topped with peaches.

For dinner I made roasted veggies with pasta and pork chops.

Very tasty. I'm saving the plums for this weekend and a plum cobbler dish.

After dinner Mr. Z and I went to Java Cat for some gelato. I got pirates' booty (everything) and chocolate malt. The lady behind the gelato counter is super nice, but I'm kinda embarrassed that she recognizes me so easily!

Three Song Thursday

2009-09-03T09:00:00.002-05:00

I had a great workout this morning. I ran for three songs and did 20 minutes of yoga.

Today's set list:

"Come on Get Higher" by Sugarland
"Come on Get Higher" by Matt Nathanson
"Ain't Nothin Wrong With That" by Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Yes, I love the song "Come on Get Higher" and it's a great running song! "Ain't Nothin Wrong..." is one of those songs that makes you want to dance. I really picked up the pace to this song (meaning I went from someone barely running, to a slow jog).

Tonight I'm making dinner for Red and Mr. Red. Pretty sure it's going to involve some of those plums and maybe pork chops. I'll be dreaming up recipes all day!

Time Flies (so fast!)

2009-09-03T07:33:00.003-05:00

Remember Emma, the almost 13-year-old that I spent a super fun Friday night with a few weeks ago? Well her whole family came over for dinner last night and we enjoyed a tasty taco bar.

I made fresh pico de gallo and guacamole.

This guacamole was so good!

Now to give you a perspective of what crazy things time and life are, here is a picture of me, Susan and the kids at my 21st birthday NINE YEARS AGO! (not a great picture of me, but it's one of the only ones I have of us!)

And here we were last night. WOW! So grown up!

I love these kids. They are polite, interesting, funny, and talented people. And I'm so lucky to have them in my life!