Happy Easter!

For most of the Christian planet, Easter is NEXT Sunday... For our house, Easter was yesterday. For about 8 or 9 years, my mom has had Easter and Thanksgiving the week before each event (usually the Sunday before) so that with the various in-laws, grandparents, etc., folks aren't shoving an egg in their faces at her house and dashing off to the next event. 

It makes sense. Hubby and I have done the bulk of the cooking for lo these many years, and frankly - for us, we like it because on the ACTUAL holiday day, we can vegetate. 

What was the menu? Glad you asked... 
Ham
Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
Avocado Deviled Eggs
Sausage (mom did these)
Nadif (a strata-like dish that I'm inheriting next year)
Homemade Bread (from Kid #2)
Veggie tray (my sister)
Hren (pronounced like you're clearing your throat: beet + horseradish relish)
Green onions
Vegan Lasagna
Potica & cupcakes

Here's what some of it looked like, before the "vultures" got to it! LOL 

Vegan Lasagna: That was a first for me. I looked up a recipe and then added to it (because I just can). This used 4 small-to-medium zucchini, hand sliced because we couldn't find our mandoline. I also used a medley of mushrooms and leeks; mushrooms included cremini, shitake, and baby portabellos. The sauce was a vegan, sugar-free one I found at Fresh Thyme (yeah, from a jar. I'm stunned myself). The "cheese" was made from blanched almonds, nutritional yeast, basil pesto I made (minus the cheese), and salt/pepper. Then, I bought vegan Parmesan cheese (which are 3 words I would never have thought I'd string together). It was good, really. Everyone including my brother tried it. Except my mother, sister, and BIL - who are notorious "no mushrooms" folks, so they do get a pass. Everyone seemed to like it or at least not gag. 

I tried some vegan cheese, a slice of "American cheese." It tasted like...nothing. It was cheese texturally, and I suppose that if I closed my eyes, and shut off my taste buds, I could "imagine" it was real cheese. 

I'm just  not interested in pursuing that at this moment, though. I'll suffer through "no cheese," though I will say that the "ricotta" I made with the almonds was surprisingly tasty. 

Next up were the Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes. Seriously, take your favorite from-scratch recipe and add a whack of cheese (your choice of cheese - ours was a mixture of Italian Sharp and Parm because that's what we had in the freezer). The cheese goes into the bechamel sauce you're making (flour & onions & butter + milk). Add more cheese on top just because you can. 

Hubby - for a brief moment - contemplated adding bacon to this, but felt that with the ham, Nadif, and sausage, we were rather "porked out." But the nephews all voted YES on the bacon for the next holiday. 

Maybe by that time I can eat cheese again? Who knows?

So the next up is the Nadif. I'm probably not spelling it right, because it's a dish I grew up with, with one of those "recipes" where whoever wrote it actually knows what they're doing and has probably left out a few significant steps. So when my mom re-wrote it, it went from an index card to 3 pages... Shhhhhhhhhh - secret here. She got distracted and forgot to add the cornmeal. 

Everyone ate it anyway, and nobody commented that it was missing. 

This is served chilled. It takes a good bit of a day to make it, but it's worth it. Only at Easter. It's pork butt (we use a small ham), green onions, day-old Vienna bread, eggs (LOTS of eggs), cornmeal, salt & pepper. Oh, and the cornmeal. It's labor intensive because it's all got to be chopped by hand. She takes forever, I'm not gonna lie. Hubby did it for her last year and it took him about 1 - 2 hours. 

Next year, it's all us. Which is fine by me. I believe the old recipes need to be handed off while the prior cook is still alive. (Dad, I'm looking at you - dying before you gave me the Mushroom Soup recipe? Not cool!! And Granny, what did you forget to tell me about your dumplings, since mine are like bricks??)

Then we had the Avocado Deviled Eggs. This one, I tweaked big-time. Because I made my own mayo and added a few things to it. 

I found the recipe on the internet, and thought it would be cool. How was I to know that my sister's violently allergic to avocado?? I owe her deviled eggs, the regular style...

Take your eggs and boil them however you want. I used the Instant Pot and it has changed my life. It takes just about as long in that as it does in the pan, and I can peel these much easier! 

Slice 'em in half, yolks in a bowl, whites on a platter. Dice up an avocado (peel and seed it first, please) and add it to the bowl. Salt, pepper, cumin, Tabasco sauce (I used the green, milder one). About 2 tablespoons mayo. Mash or whip it up (I whipped because I was doing the "fancy piping" thing this time). Stuff the whites and then sprinkle with paprika. 

I used yellow mustard in mine, too, for additional bite. The little kids were soooooooo excited to see "green eggs" with our ham, and even more excited that they were, in the words of my nephew K: "GUACAMOLE EGGS!!" Even the somewhat snooty niece L was sort of impressed. 

I'll stick the mayo recipe in the next blog entry. 

Finally, potica. And nope. You're not getting the recipe for this. Unless you're family. And you can ask anyone who makes it and you should get the same answer. 

My potica story: since I've been on this metabolism thing, where I'm essentially resetting my entire gut? I've undergone a sea change of sorts. I'm no longer craving sugar. 

At all. I mean, my MIND is, but my body? It's "meh" right now. And potica is my favorite, favorite, FAVORITE thing. And I had a little nub of it - like one of those crusts there. And I was ok with that. 

This is huge. 

Immense. 

Bigly...

I've never been on a "detox" that has actually worked. And it looks like this one will be The One. Finally. At my age, I don't want to fool with my health. I need to get on - and STAY on - a healthy path. And I've found it. 


So, what did we wear for Easter?

Parkas. 

This was the view as we drove off to church. It snowed several inches, with a slushy mix thrown in just for fun. 

Yes, I know. I just planted my garden... Red and green romaine, leeks, carrots, radishes, borage, basil, parsley, oregano. 

All under covers now, because it's going to be crummy for one more night (sun is shining now and it's about 49 degrees out. 

Tuesday and Wednesday, it'll be in the 70s and then Thursday, all day t-storms and crap. 

Welcome to spring in Illinois. That wasn't "thunder snow" you heard in the Chicago area. It was my mom, cursing up a storm at the weather... 

The Knitting...

It occurred to me that I haven't updated you in a while. The Close To You for the auction is done and sent off. 

I haven't heard about its eventual new owner yet. Will keep you posted on that. I think it turned out nicely, though I'm now over the MadTosh Copper Pink yarn. And I have a lot of it left. Since it's 100% merino, with no nylon, no socks will be made, even though it's fingering weight. Maybe a quick hat? We'll see. I already have a shawl in this, so I don't need another one. The glitter doesn't show up here, but in person, it's really pretty. 

And I started another travel sock. This is in my bag. It's one of the Opal yarns in my stash, and honestly, I don't know which one. Illusion, I think. I think it's colorway 9686. I'll double check that for you. It's very cheery and it'll make nice socks. 

I'm using DPNs again. It's just my default. I do have 9" circulars and I need to get back with those. After these. 

I'm still holding the Green Traveling Socks. Remember, if you will, that I need to snip the one and reknit the toe. And I'm almost at the heel for the mate, so I'm just keeping those at home right now. 

I'm planning and researching my next knitting project. I have several shawls in the mix, some UFOs and I may  have baby knitting; we'll know in a month or so. 

All of this is from current stash. I'm really trying to plow through some of that, though I've gotten diverted a couple of times by yummy yarns and fantastic patterns. But I really do have to focus. It's my own thing; if you're a knitter who does otherwise? That's cool. That's knitting. I just feel like I need to hunker down and get that stash pared a bit. 

Artwork...

So I'd finally gotten the statue that Kid #1 made for me into the studio. For months, she resided on my living room floor. Now, she's where she's supposed to be. 

This is his interpretation of my studio's logo. She weighs a ton, and Hubby put felt feet under that bottom saucer so that she wouldn't scratch the floor. 

I love what he did with the texture and the patinas. When you see her, you really don't notice all of that till you look for a moment. 

Our logo is kind of "floaty" and I think he captured that right off. He's an ingenious fabricator and I like that she does look like she's hovering over the floor. 

It's a great piece of art, and long after I'm gone from the studio (on that far-away date), I'll have this and another piece he made for me to remind me. 

Tippi...

I'm putting it out there that I'm frightened for my girl... As you may notice, she's got a growth under her right cheek. A big one. And it's not going down, with antibiotics and turmeric doses. 

The vet may want to do surgery. 

Which has its own set of terrors, as she's now 11 years old. 

Her left cheek is fine; but the other one is very troublesome. I've reached out to our rescue group for prayers. She's my treasured dog; not only because she's a therapy dog, but because she had a crappy beginning and I think she deserves a great "golden years" period. 

Vet today at 5:20... I'm kind of biting my nails.

Asking for prayers, good vibes, healing energy  - whatever you've got. If you've ever had a "heart dog," you'll know what I mean. I've been lucky to have had more than one, and this girl is my last hurrah. Once these 3 dogs go to the Rainbow Bridge, our lives as dog owners will be no more. Looking at our ages, and the demands of dogs (if you take care of them extremely well, which we do - ask our vet!)? We know that this pack is our last hurrah. 


Random Picture...

Being a small business owner, I can't usually take advantage of perks and goodies to give away. But I splurged a bit, and I'm hoping it'll garner some students. I'm probably guilty of being too eager, but at a recent college health fair, I gave away cut-rate coupons for classes, had a drawing for specific 3-card class passes, and gave away this "grand prize" of an embroidered yoga bag + mat. I'm pretty sure that the embroidery cost me more than the bag & mat combo. Hubby picked it up for me and he didn't say anything. Just filed the receipt in our envelope. A local embroidery place did it for me on the quick, so no logo. Just the name, in a lovely blue thread to match the logo. And the gal at the desk said she'd come to class! Win-win if it happens.