As many of you know, last summer Chloe was having severe abdominal pain. We thought she might be allergic to gluten, so we put her (actully all of us) on a month long elimination diet. No diary, eggs, soy, chocolate (that was a hard one), night shade veggies and citrus. It is hard to be 15 and not eat pizza or pasta with red sauce. Chocolate and cheese were the foods she missed the most.

    Still I was determined we would all eat well. This was not going to be a month of loss but of gain. We would look at this as a new challenge and would eat well. Boy did we eat well! I cooked my butt off even though we found out hubby had shingles and then the girls got chicken pox. We survived, they did well and healed quickly.

    Anyways, I kept a diary of all the dinners we ate. Even though it ended up Chloe is not allergic to anything (thanks goodness and has been pain free for months!!) we are still making some of the recipes and incorporating a more gluten free diet. I thought I would  share with you our diary and links to some of the recipes we used. I hope it inspires anyone with has to go on an elimination diet or anyone who wants to eat a more healthy!!

PS. It was quite a snow storm last week. Poulsbo did not get the ice but lots of snow. This is a view out my bedroom window at 7:30 in the morning. Can you see the lights reflecting off the water?

It has been cold and clear here lately, so we are enjoy a lot of soups. My family use to hate soup but suddenly they love it, thank goodness!This soup is one I post about on FB and someone requested the recipe. Really you could add any veggies to it but I like the combo of pumpkin and kale. Enjoy!!

Italian Pumpkin Meatball Soup

Cooked Meatballs*

8 cups broth, any broth will do but I love veggie broth for this.

4 minced garlic’s

½ cup white wine

2 bay leaves

2 cups of pureed pumpkin or winter squash (or 3 cups of cubed, peeled uncooked pumpkin)

3 cups chopped kale uncooked

2 cups cooked white beans, I cook big batches of cannellini beans because they are creamy and thin skinned. Then I freeze them in one cup increments for future use.

1 can roasted tomatoes, chopped (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

 

1, in a large stock pot add broth, garlic, bay leaves and wine. Then add pumpkin and simmer 10 minutes. (If using uncooked pumpkin, simmer broth until the pumpkin is tender. Pull out bay leaves and puree the pumpkin or leaved cubed, if you like.)

 2, add kale, beans and tomatoes. Simmer five minutes or so, until kale is cooked. When ready to serve add meatballs. Garnish soup with parmesan cheese.

 

*Meatballs

¾ cup ground beef (or any meat)

2 eggs

½ cup bread crumbs

3 minced garlic cloves

¼ cup or more if you want it cheesy of parmesan cheese

1 TBL. salt

2 tsp. pepper

½ tsp. fresh grated nutmeg. If you do not have fresh nutmeg just leave it out.

 

Pre-heat oven 350°F.

In a bowl mix all ingredients above. Roll the mixture into very small meatballs, about the size of a large marble. Set meatballs on a baking tray and bake 20 minutes or until cooked.

    Do you like my "water" bottle David bought me? We were in Oregon, lost in pinot-land, I did not want to come home :-) I cannot think of a lovelier way to spend ones days, than going from one beautiful winery to the next, tasting and discussing wine!

    January always feel like a wakeup call to me. Which is good (I say with a monotone voice) but who really wants a wakeup call? I am really not one for New Year resolutions but I do feel the need for a fresh start. We are on sugar overload (although I am sure that will pass quickly!!), the steampunk theme is so four weeks ago, my freezer is barren and I have a wish in my heart that is lagging. As I said I am not big on resolutions but I am for making ones dreams come true. For me it is easy to know what my dream is, which is finishing my second Wren book but it more of an issue of finding the time to do it. So I am planning on carving out more time to write and less time running around. Not really sure if it can happen but that is my wish. So do you have a wish you carry in your heart? Are you working on making it come true?? It is all in the baby steps. Do not feel like you have to do something big. Just move forword, one step at a time, not over thinking it. Forward gets you to someplace new!!

    By the way, do you notice me using the word wish a lot? It is the theme of this next book. Having wishes but holding them gently. Not all our wishes will come true but they will never come true if we do not wish them!

"Those wishes in her heart were more than mere dreams; they were the strings pulling her towards the path of her life."

    The snow lightly drops icy, delicate flakes around Wren. Each one a masterpiece, telling the power and creativity of their creator.

    “How? Why, would someone put such thought into a tiny speck of water?” Wren ponders to herself as she sits by the frozen lake. “I mean, they could just be tiny balls of ice and leave it at that.”

    Lily and Wren have been reading about a gentleman, Mr. Wilson Bentley of Jericho, Vermont, who has been photographing snowflakes for over 30 years. After taking Lily to an exhibit of his work, both of them are fascinated with snowflakes.

    Again a reminder of the importance of observing nature! How the tiny details in the world around us are worthy of our time and observation! Mr. Bentleyunderstands this. His passion and dedication to his subject is humbling to Wren. It seemed to her, Mr. Bentley’s eyes lit up as he spoke of his work at his exhibition. Wren is not sure, if like him, she could stand for hours and hours out in the snow with hopes of capturing one photo of a perfect snowflake.

    Was she focused and determined like Mr. Bentley? Was she giving her full heart and attention to what she was created for? Those wishes in her heart were more than mere dreams; they were the strings pulling her towards the path of her life.

    With Christmas here and the end of the year around the corner, Wren makes a promise to God and herself to seek her wishes with a full heart and clear determination. She reminds herself not all her wishes may come true but she will have faith and do the hard work necessary.

 

 

Wren, I and my family (the girls say hi!!)

would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, a happy Holiday and a blessed New Year.

Every New Year is filled with opportunities, challenges, blessings and trials.

I pray you are filled with wishes and a determination this New Year xox

 

ps. I am taking a little break and will be back in two weeks (unless I am dying to tell you something) !!

Image from All The Beautiful Things

 

I have one more steampunk craft to share with you. I always like to have a small trinket at each place setting for guests to take home. This year I made mini trees. These were not hard BUT a lot of little steps.

I made a paper cone and covered it in one inch circles. Added a gear to the top for a star, cut and painted a wooden dowel which I glued to the tree. The base is cooper painted chipboard gear. The dowel just fits in the center hole but I added some glue on the bottom for stability. The final touch is randomly placed glitter made from tiny metal balls.

I am really happy with these and I think my guest will be too. I am off to get ready, our Christmas eve is tonight. I think I need to chill some Champagne for Santa ;-)

Good day, I have 3 days left until our Christmas eve and do not feel too behind!! Thought I would share our menu's. I am quite thrilled because normally we could never afford a prime rib but we bought half a cow (grass feed!!) this year. So it is quite a treat! This is the tree in our library and where I hide out!! I love to displaymy red transferwear in it. So what are you cooking this Christmas? xoxo

Christmas Eve

Grilled tuna with a Lemon Caper sauce

orange/pomegranate salad with a simple vinaigrette

french bread and brie cheese

Olive Wreath

sparking white wine

cookies and candies we have been making

 

Christmas Morning

Overnight Potato Sausage bake

Overnight eggnog french toast (made with almond milk)

Fresh fruit

tea

 

Christmas Dinner

Mushroom soup garnished with sour cream and sherry

Prim Rib

Yorkshire pudding

Creamed spinach

Roasted fennel with onions and bacon

Peppermint chocolate filled crepes

Brandy mincemeat pie

pumpkin pie (dairy free and gluten free)

 

Sometimes the simplest things work.

Keeping in our steampunk theme, I took an old rusted wheel, wired on some holly from our property with copper wire. Yes, sometimes simple is best!

I mentioned on Facebook, I was making these hand-pies for a get-together and promised I would post the recipe. I have to say they turned out really good!!

 

Smoked Salmon Brie Hand-pies

makes about 2 dozen

2 pie crusts, room temp. Soft enough to cut and fold over without the dough cracking but not so soft it is mushy.

a wedge of brie, cut into ½" cubes

a piece of smoked salmon, broken into pieces about the same size as the brie

caper

1 large lemon, zest lemon onto a plate. (You will only need the zest, not the lemon.)

 

Cut pie crust in circles with a glass. I used a glass with a 3 ½" circumference. Take two pieces of brie and set them in the zest to pick up some. Not lots of zest, just a little. Set brie, salmon and about 5 capers in the center of the circle. Fold circle over and press edges down firmly. You can come back with a fork and press the edges but be careful not to poke holes in the sides. Then prick the top with the fork.

Set hand-pie in fridge for at lest an hour to firm up crust. * note below

Pre-heat oven 375°F  Grease a cookie sheet and bake hand-pies 25-35 minutes, until cooked and edges are browned. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

 

* They can be made a day ahead but cover with plastic wrap with the dough will not dry out.

I do not know about you but I need a little serenity today! It is hard to not feel overwhelmed this time of year. Our Christmas is early, I only have 6 days left! Not one package wrapped, I do not have my menu nailed down. We were suppose to make candy yesterday but ended up running errands. A good friend of mine is helping her 101 yrd. Grandmother move into a nursing home!! Life is busy and there are soooooo many things we want to do, need to do. Gosh I had some girlfriends over the other day and I served store bought cookies and used pre-made pie crust for the hand pies. (Shock, thank goodness for Trader Joes).

I am trying to embrace what I can do and let go of what I cannot. I am trying to stop and enjoy the season. I spent a half an hour last night, just staring at our Christmas tree. I sat as low as I could on the couch looking up at our 9 foot tree, remembering how as a little girl I loved to lie under the tree and look up in it branches. So my Pinerest photo today, will hopefully give you a moment to stop, take a breath and remember to let go of perfect. Enjoy these next few weeks. I am off to make candy and if something happens, oh well, I can buy some good chocolate. Love you  xoxo

 

The last thing I wanted to share was our favorite ornament we made, altered pocket watches. This one is Auberne`s.

This is Chloe's and below, is mine. I have to say, I am so glad I take the time and money to do these projects because it creates memories. The girls and I will carry forever the love that goes into these Christmas themes. Each Christmas we pull out different trinkets and "we remember the year we did such and such." Instantly it bring us back to that time, what was happening, what we loved, what disasters we created. These are memories that hold us together as a family.

I also have to share the wonderful pocket watches Linda made us. It is amazing because Linda had not seen ours but look how hers so reflect what we were doing. Linda was in WA and came for tea with her hubby (Hi Jim!!). She was able to see our steampunk tree and how beautiful her ornaments looked with ours. Thank you Linda for the presents but mostly for you love and friendship. We adore you xox

We also decorated gears and clock faces. The gears are chipboard's I purchased at Etsy's, which made them easy to paint and glitter.

Linking to Ruby Jean !!

We decorated old keys for our Steampunk tree!!

The most interesting thing we did for our Steampunk theme was making ornaments for our little tree. Each day I will share what ornaments we made.

First we made clock snowflakes. All we did is punch a 1" circle from some thick scrapbook paper. We glued the hands from a clock on the circle and blinged up the center. Believe it or not, I used Fabri-Tac glue and it worked great!!