Kolter J.

Little brother,

Remember when we saw the Queen of England and went to the Ritz Hotel for afternoon tea, where you fit right in and I had no idea what to do with myself?  Then we toured Westminster Abbey, and you found a sunny spot to kick back in the vestibule. You're one class-act guy.  

 

Remember when you gave an awesome, short-but-sweet speech at my wedding, and jumped right in to help bustle my dress for dancing?  What other brother does that?

Remember when we went boogie-boarding, only taking breaks to devour chips and fresh guacamole? (You don't even like avocados!)  Then we built a formidable sand castle, even though we weren't kids anymore.

 

 Remember when we jumped in the lake together, probably 10 times in a row?  That was before the boat died in the middle of the lake, and dad sat back there "serving a purpose" as we towed him to the dock.

 

 We've been on so many adventures, in the mountains and all around the world!  Even pretend adventures when we sat in the car in the driveway, taking imaginary roadtrips while we told each other stories and I bossed you around a lot.  Now, you're flying all the way down here so that I'll have company on the 24-hour drive back home before school starts.  (I promise not to be so bossy.)

You are one fantastic, laid back, super-smart, silly, thoughtful gem of a dude.

Honeymoon Daydreaming.

During our week spent honeymooning in Jamaica, we spent 85% of our time floating in and around the little pool on the deck of our villa, a seemingly endless flow of champagne and fresh, local fruit on hand.  It was magnificent.  Sigh...

Hummus as good as candy (just ask Matt)

I love hummus.  It's good on everything.  But it's so dang expensive!

Luckily, better-than-store-bought hummus is one of the easiest things to make, ever, and literally costs less than $2.  Plus, you get to season it however you want.  If you have a blender - or even better, a food processor - and 10 minutes (tops) you have to try it.

Story: I made this a couple days ago.  Within 20 minutes of coming home from work, Matthew devoured almost all of it.  I came across the man scarfing it down in the living room, a solid three-quarters of the way through the entire batch.  I'd been out of the room for maybe 10 minutes. "Ummm... Matt, you just downed almost two whole cans of beans."  "This stuff is made of beans!?"  Reluctantly, he stowed the scraps of remaining hummus away, only to inhale the rest of it the next day.   

Yesterday, while I waited for the Husband to meet me for a date, I made another (double) batch.  As soon as he walked in - telepathy? I don't know how he knew - he bee-lined for the fridge, opened and closed it quickly, clicked his heels (okay, that part... not really) and literally exclaimed, "More hummus!?" 

Needless to say, the stuff is good.

"Hummus"

Serves 6
(at least, it's supposed to)

Ingredients

• 2 16-ounce cans Garbanzo Beans, aka Chick Peas
• 6 Tb Sesame Oil 
• For stronger flavor, use Sesame Tahini.  If you have neither, or want to sub some out for even milder flavor, Olive Oil works too.
• 5 Tb Lemon Juice
• 2-3 Tb Water
• 1 tsp crushed Garlic
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp ground Cumin
• Sprinkle of Cayenne Pepper to taste, depending on desired heat

How To

• Strain and rinse beans.
• Place all ingredients in blender or food processor, pulse until smooth.
• Transfer to sealable container and lightly coat surface with olive oil (so it doesn't dry out).
• Garnish with Cayenne Pepper or Paprika, if desired.

*Variation: Add up to 1/4 cup chopped Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Scallions, Kalamata Olives, an avocado, or replace Cumin with Pesto.

Ps.  I hate cleaning blenders.  I dream of my future food processor.

"Klassiska" Swedish Pancakes

A forever-favorite recipe of mine is my great-grandmother, MajBritt's, recipe for Swedish pancakes.  I have fond memories of cooking together in the kitchen of her little red and white farmhouse, "mormor" humming and spooning handpicked, homemade lingonberry jam into a serving dish as this liquid gold sizzled on the stovetop.

"Klassiska Svenska Pannkakor" - "Classic Swedish Pancakes"

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups Milk (non-dairy milk works too!)
• 1 cup Flour
• 2-3 Tb Butter
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 Eggs

How To

• Beat together eggs and half the milk.  
• Add flour & salt, mix until smooth.  Add remaining milk.
• Melt butter and blend with batter.
• Lightly grease a griddle heated to 350-375 degrees
• Ladle batter onto griddle, pancakes should be 4-5" in diameter. 
• When underside is golden, flip, repeat.  Keep batter well blended,
  and pancakes warm in 170 degree oven.
• Serve with lingonberry jam and powdered sugar. 
• Lingonberry products can be hard to come by or expensive here in the States.  If you don't have access to lingonberry jam, go for something tart like plum, cherry, or raspberry.

*The batter should be very liquidy, and the pancakes crepe-like thin.

(Today I'm Thankful) Husband.

I love how my husband...

...packs surprise picnics when we go hiking, my fave hard cider included.

 ...builds forts with me on a Friday night.

...takes me trail riding because he knows I miss it.

 (that's Pete.)

...comes home with flowers on our one-month anniversary - hydrangeas! Our wedding flowers.

... and was the cutest, is the handsomest. (!!!)

I love you!  I appreciate you!

For the love of Cooking.

If you know me at all, then you know I love to cook - really love to cook.  As a kid, I spent a great deal of time making my own "recipes," which never turned out quite as I envisioned, and pretty successfully baking three-ingredient Peanut Butter Munches from my "Mouse Cookies" cookbook.  I still bake those cookies.  "Mouse Cookies" was my first cookbook ever, and I just knew I was on the verge of adulthood when it showed up with the school book orders.  Oh yes, remember book orders?

When I started living on my own, I knew the basics but found that I quickly grew tired of my limited repertoire.  On top of that, food was (and is) one of the biggest expenses on my broke college student budget.  Each time I stepped up to the checkout at the grocery store, I found (and find) myself wincing as each item caused the numbers on the till to climb.

In culmination, I realized that a) I was bored of both cooking and eating my go-to meals, b) I had to spend a good deal of money on food, whether I liked it or not, and c) after the cost of living, I couldn't afford to do much of anything else.  I decided that I may as well do something fun and gainful with the whole scenario.  Expanding my skills in the kitchen would make the night-after-night monotony of eating in more exciting - gradually it has become even more enjoyable than eating out, in a lot of cases!  It would also give me a fun way spend my time while I wasn't doing all the other things I couldn't or shouldn't justify spending money on.  I turned the chore of groceries and cooking from not just a mandatory expense, but a main form of "fun" expense.

I began collecting recipes here and there, from magazines, friends and family members, online, and keeping my eyes open for great cookbooks.  (I suppose I should add that I am what some would call a "health freak," so we aren't talkin' Paula Deen here, people.)  Some of the people I love began to notice that I was taking a serious interest in cooking, and I've received some beautiful books as gifts.  From all of these resources and plenty of practice, I've learned enough that I can now make up my own recipes and end up with an edible, even tasty, finished product.  One of the more rewarding products of this endeavour is cooking for and with loved ones.  I swear this is a love language.  (If you don't have a clue what that means, don't worry.  You will once you're married.  Sometimes I'm kind of a little old lady.)  I also get way too excited about new kitchen gadgets.

If I have one piece of advice from all this rambling, this is it, and I swear by it: cook some of your faves in bulk, divy it up into one- or two-serving portions, and freeze.  On days full of freetime but low on funds, it's a fun project to take on, and on nights when you don't have the time or energy (ehem, midterms?), all you have to do is thaw and you have one dee-lish-us homemade meal.  Comfort foods seriously encouraged here.  Some of my go-tos include marinara, chili, chowders, Swedish meatballs, and pumpkin bread.  Yum.

1/2(Marathon)

I'm training to run a half marathon with Mom and her sister, Kari, on September 15 - my first half marathon, or any other prior-training-required experience, ever!  A few weeks into the training plan, and already I have so much great takeaway from the whole ordeal.  I expected to have an extra boost of motivation behind my workouts and their regularity, but I had now idea how much of an extra boost.  It is glorious! Seeing yourself progress along a schedule that maybe seemed a liiiiitle lofty to begin with makes you feel pretty dang good about life.  For example, "There's no way I'll be running 8 miles straight two weeks from now." Two weeks later?  You're kicking 8 miles' butt.  Awesome.

I haven't run the race yet, but I'm already looking ahead to the next one.   I've learned to love the structure and resulting progress of training this way, it really makes all the difference!  Even if you don't have a half marathon on the imminent horizon, you can still make your workouts more fun and rewarding by giving yourself a plan and a personal end goal.

Here's what I know:

• You need an actual training plan that includes cross-training, stretching, rest days, and gradual mileage.  Luckily, there are so many resources online for ready-made plans and piecing your own plan together!  Start here.  Your body will slowly reject you and all aspirations to move like a normal human if you set big goals and don't have a balanced plan.   
• It shouldn't take a big physical event to put this into practice, but: eat right!  Here's some inspiration.
• This kind of water-bottle holster thing is a must for long distance.  It's kind of like a jet-pack... full of... water... so not quite as awesome.  But! An hour into a run, with plenty more road stretched ahead of you, it will seem jet-pack awesome. 

Don't get me wrong, some days I am super sore and achey! It is hard work, but the benefits are well worth the cost!  Have I rambled enough to convince you yet?

Input or advice is super welcome!