HERITAGE RECIPE : Meat and Cabbage Casserole (plus some humor about aging)

I've been making my grandma's version of cabbage casserole ever since Jerry and I got married. I LOVE cabbage casserole. You can find that recipe here. (I also call it "Unstuffed Cabbage", because it tastes like stuffed cabbage, only in casserole form.)

When I saw in the heritage cookbook this recipe for Meat and Cabbage Casserole that was submitted by Jeanette Laura, I saw that it was quite different from my grandma's recipe and I wanted to try it. Jeanette is SO sweet. I made her recipe for sloppy joes while working on the heritage series, and when I'd started "researching" for the recipe back then, I learned that her husband actually built the house that I grew up in (from the time I was born until I was 15 years old)! She and her husband and their children lived there.

I just thought that was so cool. Anyway, her daughter saw the recipe on my blog and showed it to Jeanette. Jeanette actually sent me the nicest thank you card in the mail. And then she sent me a family cookbook (recipes of hers and her daughters). She is 97(?) years old and still in good health. I would love to spend a few hours chatting with her one day to learn more about my old house, her large family growing up there, and just life in general from back then.

For today, though, I am sharing my attempt at her Meat and Cabbage Casserole. I LOVE cabbage, so I was excited to make this.

As always, I am copying this exactly as-written by Jeanette; I did not make any substitutions or modifications to the recipe. See my notes after the recipe for any clarifications. The "printer-friendly" version is rewritten by me with my notes included.

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Meat and Cabbage Casserole

1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb. ground beef
1-1/2 cups cooked rice
1 small head of cabbage
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup beef bouillon
oleo or butter
salt and pepper
1 cup grated cheese
bread crumbs

Sauté onions and beef, brown slightly and add a little salt and pepper to taste. Mix with rice and set aside. Cut cabbage into cubes, brown in oleo about 5 minutes. Sprinkle brown sugar over the cabbage while it is browning. Butter a casserole dish. Layer 1/2 of the cabbage, the meat mixture, and the rest of the cabbage. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg, milk and bouillon, then pour onto the top of the casserole. Spread the cheese then the bread crumbs on top. Bake @ 350 F for 45 minutes.

Comment from Jeanette: "This is good for a cool day when you want to heat the kitchen."

(That was partly what drew me to this recipe. My heating pad just wasn't doing the job and I was freezing!)

My Notes:

It didn't specify the fat content of the beef, so I just used what I had--90/10 ground sirloin.

A "small" head of cabbage is really just relative to the cook. Since I love cabbage, I was tempted to use the large head that I had in the fridge, but after a google search, I saw that a small head of cabbage is about 28 ounces. So, I just cut mine up and used 28 ounces. (I was surprised at just how much 28 ounces is, though. Here it is next to the beef and rice.)

I used 2 Tbsp. *packed* brown sugar; whenever brown sugar isn't specified packed or unpacked, I go with packed.

I chose to use oleo instead of butter, since that is what she mentioned in the directions.

I wasn't sure what kind of cheese to use. I ultimately decided on mozzarella because it's stringy and holds together well. It was the perfect choice!

Since I wasn't sure of the measurement of bread crumbs, I estimated 3/4 of a cup. Once I started sprinkling, however, I thought it was going to be way too much. I guessed 1/2 cup. STILL too much--so in the end, I used 1/3 cup.

I was a little nervous about browning the cabbage--I didn't know if I should just cook until soft or if I should actually caramelize it. I went with the directions that said "about 5 minutes" and that's how long I cooked it for. After tasting the recipe, I definitely wouldn't want it to be softer; next time, I might do just 4 minutes. Here is before and after cooking the cabbage down:

And here is before and after I put it in the oven...

Overall, it was a very simple recipe to make! Definitely a different flavor from my grandma's cabbage casserole, but that's what I was looking for--something different. It was delicious! Despite how much I love cabbage, I think that it was a good ratio to the other ingredients and I don't think I'd add more next time.

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Tucked inside the recipe book from Jeanette was a note from 1996 at her 94th birthday party:

"To all of my family and friends,

Thank you for sharing the celebration of my 94th birthday. It is a joy and blessing to share my life with each and every one of you. You are all very much loved! God bless you!"

Also included with the note was the following. I'm not sure who it was written by, but it's pretty funny!

One thing I know is that every stage of life has its own unique set of challenges. Along with those challenges, each stage of life has its own set of benefits. May I share with you some of the benefits of "growing older?"

• In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
• No one expects you to run into a burning building.
• People call at 9 p.m. and ask, "Did I wake you?"
• There's nothing else left to learn "the hard way."
• Things you buy now won't wear out.
• You can eat dinner at 4:00 p.m.
• You can't remember the last time you laid on the floor to watch television.
• You can live without sex, but not without your glasses.
• You consider coffee one of the most important things in life.
• You enjoy hearing about other people's operations.
• You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
• You have a party and the neighbors don't even realize it.
• You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
• You quit trying to hold in your stomach no matter who walks into the room.
• You send money to PBS.
• You sing along with the elevator music.
• Your arms are almost too short to read the newspaper.
• Your back goes out more than you do.
• Your eyes won't get much worse.
• Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
• Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
• Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.

Hahaha! So much fun, and I can already identify with several of those.

Another great recipe from Jeanette; and definitely not the last!

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Daily Fun Facts and someecards

When I took Eli to the mall yesterday to buy cologne for his birthday, we walked around a little (mostly for Noah's sake; Eli and I don't like shopping). I saw one of those holiday set-ups in the middle of the mall with calendars and board games and little toys. Whenever I've seen those, I love looking at what they have. (I never buy anything, because it's so expensive, but I might make a mental note to look it up on Amazon later.)

Anyway, considering we're a week into 2022, the calendars were all 50% off. Still, I don't really *need* a calendar. I wanted to buy several of them because I thought they were cool, but what am I really going to do with it?

It's the same with those 365-day desk calendars where you tear off a page each day and there is a picture of a cute kitten, or a comic strip, or random fact, or things like that; I think those are so fun, but I've never bought one because I've never had a need for one.

Anyway, as I was looking at them, I had an idea. I could pick one of the 365-day calendars and post a photo of that day's page at the bottom of each of my blog posts. Or, on the days where I really don't have anything at all to say, I can just share the picture.

There were two that I just couldn't decide between: one called Did You Know? which has random trivia facts; and one that was filled with someecards (memes).

In the end I got them both. They were half off, so it was like I was just buying one, right?

Since the first week of January has already passed, I figured I'd just use this post to catch up--I'll post all of them that we missed! (Some of these will be dumb, no doubt; but that's just the risk you take when you buy these things!)  Also, just beware, the someecards may have adult humor.

Okay, here goes:

Aren't they fun? The weekends share a page, so I'll skip whatever day I decide to post my heritage recipe. Otherwise, I'll just end my posts with a daily someecard and some random trivia. :)

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Friday Night Photos

I actually have some fun Friday Night Photos tonight! And I even have one video. This week seems to be going by SO slowly--which is a good thing. Usually I feel like the time is flying by and I've missed so much.

Anyway, I'll get right into it. My photos from the camera roll this week...

Today is Eli's 16th birthday! For a couple of YEARS we have been talking about going to Detroit Cookie Company--if you follow them on Instagram, you will see why. Their cookies look insanely good. Eli and I both have a common sweet tooth, so we've been talking about going forever. I decided that today, I would let him skip school and we'd go up to Ann Arbor to get cookies for his birthday dessert (in lieu of a cake).

These are the ones we got:

Brownie Cheesecake Stuffed - (L's Famous brownie stuffed with creamy cheesecake stuffed in our original dough rolled in sprinkles and graham cracker crumbs)

PB Volcano - Our Ultimate PB cookie with a mound of creamy peanut butter coated in chocolate & dusted with graham cracker crumbs! (We got two of these, but Eli ate one before I got the picture)

Ghirardelli - 5 oz of our original Chocolate Chunk cookie dough hand studded with jumbo Milk Chocolate Ghirardelli wafers

M&M - 5 oz of our original Chocolate chunk cookie dough hand studded with M&M's

8 Mile - M&M’s, Reese’s cups & pretzels in our original dough.

Big 3 - Better Made™ Potato Chips, Michigan dried cherries, & chocolate chips in our original dough.

Bro Cookie - L's Famous Brownie Bits & Rainbow Sprinkles in our original dough!

Mad Mix - Better Made™ Sweet BBQ potato chips & Butterfinger. It's oddly delicious!

Circus Snack - Rainbows sprinkles & frosted animal crackers smashed into our sugar cookie dough.

S'mores - Chocolate chips & graham-cracker in our original or double chocolate dough topped with toasted marshmallow.

B Special - Our staff favorite! Cinna-bun flavored cookie swirled with Oreos.

Crazy stuff, right?! Even crazier was the price. I had NO IDEA just how much a dozen cookies were going to cost--$53 (including tax and their automatic 20% tip)!!! I don't care how good they are (I haven't tried one yet), we won't be doing that again. It was fun for a one-time thing for Eli's birthday, though. I bought all the different types of flavors so we could cut them into fours and try different ones.

Anyway, Eli wanted cologne for his birthday, so I took him to the mall in Ann Arbor while we were out there and we went into Macy's for him to pick some out. I forget what he ended up getting, but I thought it smelled nice. When did he go from wanting Army figurines to wanting cologne?! He's so grown up.

In the mornings, Duck always wants to play. I can tell when he gets bored because he walks around just trying to find stuff to do--knocking things over, bugging Phoebe and Estelle, etc. So I always try to play with him. But I was really busy a couple of mornings ago, so I decided to try putting on a "video for cats" from YouTube on the TV. First, Duck ran over there and was swatting at the birds on the TV. Chick noticed and went over there as well. And then Phoebe even joined the party--yes, PHOEBE! It was so funny to watch them. That held their interest for a good 90 minutes.

Speaking of playing with Duck, this is a video of our usual morning game of fetch. I've been wanting to get it on video, but my house is always so messy and there never seems to be a good time. Well, my house is messy in this video, but I didn't care at this point. (I was working on my weekly planner on the couch, which is all the stuff you see next to me). But Duck will play this game for at least an hour every morning! And usually for a while in the evenings, too.

My blog reader-turned-friend Erin sent me the sweetest Christmas gift package--and included was this Friends shirt! If you're a Friends fan, then you certainly recognize it ;)

This was my alarm at 2:53 AM a few days ago...  (Seriously though... We just installed luxury vinyl planking throughout the whole house a few years ago (except bedrooms) so why does Phoebe choose the carpet to barf on?!)

I started my running plan on Monday, but I thought I might as well get in some exercise on the weekend, so I took Joey for a long walk where we used to go. He loved running along his favorite spots!

Jerry and I have really been into Carcassonne (Amazon affiliate link) lately. When we bought it, this box came with ELEVEN expansion packs inside. We've been adding them in one by one (otherwise it gets very confusing). We've probably added about 6-7 of them now. The box says a game takes like 45 minutes or something like that; this is easily a 3-4 hour game for us, hahahaha. We're just slow, I guess. We also get interrupted 10 million times. (I just noticed that Jerry was giving me the finger in this picture.)

This is the backyard slingshot I made for Luke and Riley for Christmas. I was really happy with how it turned out! I wish I could demonstrate it, but the video I tried taking while shooting the slingshot myself just wasn't working out. Becky just texted me to say they just filled a bunch of water balloons to freeze so they can shoot big chunks of ice. Should be interesting! (I made it so that the length of the band can adjust--if they are shooting something bigger and need to pull back farther, they can adjust the band on the sides.) I shot tennis balls out of it and they worked really well.

I went to their house last night to play with them for a couple of hours before they went to bed and then to hang out with Becky because I hadn't talked to her for a while. It was so fun spending time with the kids! Riley got a make-up set for Christmas (for kids--it's "real", but you can't really see it very well). She made up our faces.

This picture was SO hard to take! I couldn't seem to angle it right without my camera being in our faces. This was the best I could do. She's so cute!

When it was time for the kids to go to bed, I went in with Luke to read him a story while Becky went in with Riley. Luke is seriously the sweetest little boy ever! His bedroom is is SO relaxing. He has a projector that puts stars all over the walls and ceiling; a diffuser with essential oils to help him sleep; a white noise machine; and the lava lamp I bought him for his birthday. The ambiance was heavenly. Oh! And he has a Purple mattress which is like Heaven. I'm happy with my Tempurpedic, but I wish I'd tried out the Purple mattress while we were undecided!

And finally... I literally shrieked in excitement when my kids handed me a bag from my mom and dad (the kids had just come home from seeing them). My mom sent me some Asian pears! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Asian pears, but the last one I had was probably 3-4 years ago. I can never find them anywhere. I even have an Asian pear tree in my front yard that I have been growing for probably a decade, but it doesn't bear fruit. (From what I've read, I need a second tree in order to get fruit from it; and that will take way too long. I've been wanting a fruit tree ever since we moved in here in 2003!

Asian pears (or pears in general) have a ton of fiber, too--and as I've said, eating more fiber is one of my goals for 2022. My mom said she bought them at Costco of all places. I ate two of them last night and they were SO good. Even better than I remember. I know I always say my favorite fruit is grapes, or peaches, or probably something else as well. But my very number one favorite is an Asian pear. I'm so happy I got these!

Have a great weekend! xo

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Return to Running Recap : Week 32

Finally... a post about running! With the cats being sick last month, I had no energy or motivation to go run. (It actually started a little before that... I just had a bad week in general, and then that's when Duck had to go and eat yarn, leading to the chain of events.)

I didn't want to lose all the fitness I'd gained (not saying I gained a ton of fitness since May, but I had definitely improved a lot). I started the Couch to 5K in May and then finished on July 26. After that, I just started running three miles, three times a week. And I continued that up until November.

I decided to branch out a little and try out the MAF180 plan I wrote, but I just wasn't able to stay into it for one reason or another. This is when I realized that I need to go back to the basics: three miles, three times a week. That's actually what I did in 2010 when I started running. Once I was able to run three miles, that's what I did--over and over until it got easier.

Anyway, I figured I'd lost a little fitness after a month of not running, but I was feeling positive that I'd get the fitness back quickly.

I started on Monday. The roads still have ice on them (and I just don't enjoy running in the cold much anymore) so I chose to do the treadmill. Running at my MAF rate is really difficult on the treadmill. It takes time to slow down or speed up and I feel like it's a constant battle with the arrow buttons. So, while on the treadmill, I'd been running at 5.0 mph every single time. I hoped that by doing it enough, it would eventually feel easier and my heart rate would be lower while going the same speed.

I was not feeling very good on Monday--at ALL. My heart was racing, which I figured was because I was nervous to run and I just felt kind of trembly. (During the whole cat fiasco, I started drinking regular coffee again--really stupid move--and now I have to try to quit it again. (It gives me anxiety and I get extremely shaky.) I figured the crappy feeling would go away once I started running. I'm really interested in a book I'm reading right now, so I set that up in front of me to pass the time and I started going.

The first couple of minutes felt easy--I thought that my fitness didn't take such a big hit after all. But by five minutes in, I was DYING. My lungs were burning and my heart was racing. I was stunned--there was no way I could do three miles! I just kept going, hoping that after I got through half a mile so, I would start feeling better. But it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. I just started to focus on getting to one mile and then I said I could quit when I hit that.

So, I stopped after a mile. I just figured I'd have to start there and work my way back up, maybe by adding a quarter mile each run or something. My heart was racing so hard and my lungs hurting so bad, I started to question if I might have COVID or something!

The run was a bummer. Definitely not how I wanted to start off the new year with my running. But I wanted to keep trying...

Today, I did my second run. My goal was to run 1.25 miles on the treadmill at the same speed as before. I didn't feel nearly as crappy as I did Monday, which was promising.

Once I started running, I started to think that maybe I could do more than the 1.25 miles. It felt much easier. I aimed for 2 miles. Once I hit 2, I thought I should just go for 3 and see if I could do it. And it felt like it took forever, but I managed to get it done and I definitely didn't feel like I was going to die like I felt on Monday.

My heart rate was high, but since I'm out of shape again, I just have to keep working on that. I really don't have any goals right now other than to get in three miles three times a week. Once I get back in that habit, I can try to focus more on my heart rate.

Today's run made me feel really good! I was dreading it after how hard the run on Monday felt. But at least I know I can still run three miles and not feel like garbage after! I just need to do it three times a week now.

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Wednesday Weigh-In : Week 32

Aren't those moccasins so cute? My mom got them for me for Christmas and I've been wearing them around the house ever since.

Even though December was a step back as far as weight loss goes and I didn't weigh in the last couple of weeks, I'm still counting this as Week 32. It's been 32 weeks since I started calorie counting to drop the weight I'd gained and the Couch to 5K plan to get back to running. I'll write about the running in another post.

As you know, December was extremely stressful for me. Duck needed emergency surgery after swallowing yarn, then he got a virus, and then all three of my other cats got the virus. I was up to my eyeballs in puréed cat food, and syringes, and antibiotic drops. The worst part was just worrying about Duck non-stop for at least two weeks. I hated leaving him at the hospital (twice) and I felt so terrible. Then when the other cats got sick, it was awful hearing them with congested breathing and sneezing. Forcing them to eat. Ugh! I'm so glad it's over. All of the cats are back to normal now.

And they are all TERRIBLY spoiled from all the canned food. They wake me up earlier and earlier each day--today was 4:00--waiting around the kitchen for canned food! I cut them back to getting it once a day (in the morning) and I may just keep it at that. They share two cans, so it's not too bad. They just learned how to get what they want by tugging at my heartstrings! ;)

Because I was so stressed in December, I didn't care about my weight loss at all. And I'm a stress eater. So I'm actually quite amazed that I didn't gain 20 pounds! On December 8th, I weighed in at 155.4. Up just a little from my low point a couple of weeks earlier. I gained a few pounds pretty quickly once Duck went in for his surgery.

I made a plan for the new year (including getting back to calorie counting and running). On January 1st, I was at 161.6; so I had gained 6.2 pounds during the stressful month. To some, that may sound like a lot; but for me (and knowing how quickly and easily I tend to gain weight) I was pretty surprised that it wasn't more.

Anyway, today's weigh-in was a good one, all things considered:

I was at 157.6, so I'm down 4 pounds since January 1st, and 39.4 pounds since I started this 32 weeks ago. I'm so glad that I'm doing this--even if I don't end up losing any more weight, I still feel SO much better than I did last spring.

Jerry and I started our six-month DietBet on January 1st as well, and to win that, I have to get down to 147.1 by the end of June. If I stick to my plan (which is modest--nothing extreme) I really do think I'll get there (and hopefully closer to the 130's). I've been actively working on getting in more fiber for the last few days, and it's kind of nice to look at foods from a different perspective.

I'm off to a good start for the new year, so let's hope (once again) that this year is better than last--in so many ways!

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Transformation Tuesday #54

Happy Transformation Tuesday! I have a couple of simple (but fun) transformations to share. These first two are from Sarah, and the third is from my friend Emily...

Our bathroom has a large built in cabinet and two drawers. I’ve been meaning to paint the outside sides of the drawers white because they looked dirty and kind of messy with old paint marks. And then I remembered that I had a stencil from my three season room project! I went ahead and stenciled in black. I’m happy with how it turned out. I already had the stencil, paint and brushes on hand. It took me a little over a week due to letting the paint dry and cure.

Sarah, this looks awesome!! I hated the outside of my drawers so I just used contact paper; the stenciling looks so much better. You did a great job. -Katie

Our house was built in the 1930s and the garage is detached and sits back from the house. It’s hardly used because it’s too small to fit a car and it’s filled with bikes, scooters, the lawnmower, etc. We had this storage shelf hanging from the ceiling, but it was totally useless because the boards were too far apart to actually hold anything.

So, I bought several slats of wood and screwed then on. I probably spent $30 in wood. Easy! Again, I wish I would have done this sooner!

Sarah, isn't it amazing how much space you can "find" when you look for it like that? The only problem I had with drywalling the garage ceiling was that I no longer had rafters to store things. (I did build wall shelves, which definitely helped a lot.). Anyway, way to get creative and come up with a simple solution! :)  -Katie

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Over the past few years, I have really started enjoying baking - particularly bread. For Christmas I got a cookbook that was just released called "Bittman Bread". The book is all about how to bake bread with whole-grain wheat flour, not just whole wheat. It uses a starter in a similar way that sourdough does. This beautiful loaf was created after several days of making the starter and learning the process, and it did not disappoint!

Emily, it looks DELICIOUS. I want a piece so badly right now! I'm glad you were able to enjoy it with my peach preserves, too ;)  - Katie

I keep feeling like I have a transformation that I've been meaning to post, but I can never remember what it is. Hopefully I'll think of it this week. But thank you so much Sarah and Emily for sharing your before and afters!

I'm always hoping to get new transformations to share on Tuesdays, so please transform something (it can be super simple--a dog before and after being groomed, your nails before and after painting them, etc. Then send me a before photo and an after photo at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. Include your name and a description of your transformation! Thanks :)

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The Heritage Recipes I Made in 2021

I'll get back to my "regular"-type posts soon; with it being the first of the year, I love looking back over the previous year to to sum things up. And as you know, I love lists! So the end of December and beginning of January, I tend to make a lot of lists.

In 2021, I wanted to cook new-to-me recipes, and I made a goal to cook one new recipe per week (or just 52 overall). When I got the idea to make the recipes found in my hometown's heritage cookbooks, I wanted to try working on one per week. It doesn't sound like much, but a week goes by so fast! Sometimes I found myself flipping through the books at the last minute for a recipe that had simple, always-have-on-hand ingredients; but I didn't want to always make "safe" recipes--I wanted to pick things that looked interesting or that I'd never heard of.

It's been nearly a year since I started this project, and while I don't have 52 recipes done yet, I made some really great ones that I never would have discovered otherwise! Here is the full list (in reverse order; it was just easier when linking). Afterward, I'll write about a few favorites...

Gobby's Christmas Eve Tourtière (Meat Pie)
Grandma's Jumbles
Autumn Cheesecake
Pumpkin Bars
Sausage Upside-Down Pie
Grated Raw Sweet Potato Pudding
Popcorn Balls
Poached Egg on Toast
Apple Delight
Hattie's Icebox Rolls
Devil's Food Cake
Creamed Ham, Asparagus, & Mushrooms
Barbecued Beef (a.k.a. Sloppy Joes)
Peach Muffins
Maple Nut Cake
Fruit Cocktail Cake
Meat Loaf
Hermit Cookies
Blender Carrot Bread
Tender Crust Dinner Rolls
Oatmeal Cake
Drömtårta (Swedish Dream Cake)
Nan's Coffee Cake
Tourtière (Meat Pie)
Pumpkin Bread
Sweet Buns
Swedish Almond Cream Cake
Nut & Raisin Sandwiches on Graham Bread
Spread Cookies
Boy Cookies & Girl Cookies
Brown Dumplings
Poppy Seed Tea Bread
Smuckle Doodle Cake
Onions Stuffed with Sausage
Corn Oysters
Onion Shortcake
Viola's One-Course Meal
Beef Biscuit Casserole

Some of these recipes were delicious, some not so much. Some had great stories behind them or the person who submitted the recipe; and others, I just wasn't able to find any additional information.

Prior to starting this project, I was terrible at baking. I always seemed to screw something up. Cooking comes very natural to me because there is no real measuring or chemistry involved. However, a lot of the heritage recipes are for baked goods; and since this was an adventure, I just did my best.

I got a lot better at baking in 2021! Before posting the recipes, I would research things that I wasn't sure about (recipes from the 1800's have different wording than from the 2000's, for example; I wanted to make sure I was using the correct ingredients). I learned what "fast oven" and "slow oven" means; how sour milk differs from SOURED milk; that true graham flour is nearly impossible to find; how to make a noodle ring (and that there is a such thing as a noodle ring!); and that there are more recipes for meat pie than you could ever taste in a lifetime.

Some of these recipes REALLY surprised me in some way or another. Here are the ones that were notable:

Favorites We Tasted:

Poppy Seed Tea Bread - Jerry LOVED THIS and couldn't get enough of it! The extracts in it give it a very different flavor than you may expect, but it's really delicious. This is a quick bread, so it's very moist and dense, kind of like a pound cake. So good!

Fruit Cocktail Cake - I had no idea when I made this that it was actually a very common dessert back in the day, but wow, did it surprise me. This is one of the best cakes I've ever eaten!

MOST FAVORITE OF THE YEAR:

Pumpkin Bars - I am not normally a pumpkin spice type of girl. Pumpkin pie is okay, and pumpkin bread can be good. But for fall, I wanted to do something with pumpkin--so I made these pumpkin bars. And holysmokestheyarethebestdessertever--I don't believe I've ever made such a bold, 100% for-sure statement on my blog. You MUST make these! The texture (and the cream cheese frosting) is what makes these so amazing.

One that really surprised me with how much I liked it was the Creamed Ham, Asparagus, and Mushrooms. I love asparagus and mushrooms, but it was the "serve in a noodle ring" that really made this unique. I can't remember what I wrote about the noodle ring in the end, but I do remember thinking that I wanted to make the creamed ham, asparagus, and mushrooms into a chowder. I haven't done that yet, but this post reminded me of it--and I am going to put that in my planner.

And as you know, I like to write about the person who submitted the recipe whenever I can. It's hard to remember (without going through all of them individually) who made what recipe and what I wrote about them. But my favorite one to work on was the recipe for Oatmeal Cake. I read an amazing news article about my grandfather (which is in that blog post) and it prompted me to want to learn more about my family.

I got together with my mom and my Aunt Mickey and we went through old photos; I loved hearing stories about my grandparents, mostly. (My grandfather died when my mom was just 16, so I never met him; and my grandmother had Alzheimer's while I was growing up, so I--ironically?--don't have many memories of her prior to her illness.)

This has been such a fun blog project to work on and I definitely want to continue until I've tried most of them. I would definitely be up for trying ALL of them, but I'm not exactly a hunter and I don't believe they sell muskrat at Kroger ;)

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Books I Read in 2021

Ever since I got my Kindle Paperwhite a few years ago, I've been reading more and more. (I've mentioned God-only-knows how many times I love it!) The version that I have is now insanely expensive--it's the 10th generation--but the newer one can be found here on Amazon (affiliate link). I don't want to be redundant, so I won't list the reasons I love it, but you can find a review of it here.

Anyway, I wanted to make a list of all the books I read in 2021. I listened to some audiobooks while I was walking daily during the beginning of the year, but I'm not going to include them here. These are just the books I actually read. Here they are, in the order that I read them: (Amazon links are affiliate links; none of my blog reviews have spoilers)

'The Selection' (Book #1) by Kiera Cass - 5 Stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'In An Instant' by Suzanne Redfearn - 3 stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'It Could Be Worse: A Girlfriend's Guide for Girls Who Detest Running' by Beth Probst - 3 stars (Here is a link to a guest post with the author)

'West With Giraffes' by Lynda Rutledge - 5 stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'The Caging at Deadwood Manor' by Sandie Will - 1 star

'The Elite' (The Selection book #2) by Kiera Cass - 3 stars

'The One' (The Selection book #3) by Kiera Cass - 3 stars

'The Evening and the Morning' (Kingsbridge series #0) by Ken Follett - 4 stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'Looking for Alaska' by John Green - 3 stars

'The Guest List' by Lucy Foley - 2 stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'One of Us Is Lying' by Karen McManus - 5 stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'There's Something in the Water' by Catherine Steadman - 2 stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'One of Us Is Next' (One of Us Is Lying book #2) by Karen McManus - 3 stars

'The Last Flight' by Julie Clark - 5 stars

'The Boy From the Woods' by Harlan Coben - 4 stars

'Don't Let Go' by Harlan Coben - 3 stars

'The Best of Friends' by Lucinda Berry - 4 stars

'The Girl Who Lived' by Christopher Greyson - 3 stars

'Then She Was Gone' by Lisa Jewell - 3 stars

'One For The Money' (Stephanie Plum #1) by Janet Evanovich - 3 stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'Invisible Girl' by Lisa Jewell - 4 stars

'The Running Dream' by Wendelin VanDraanen - 4 stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'She's Come Undone' by Wally Lamb - 4 stars (Here is a link to my blog review)

'Educated' by Tara Westover - 3 stars

And there you have it--I actually read 24 books this year! Before I got my Kindle Paperwhite, I would read maybe 1-2 books a year.

Out of these books, my very very very favorite was definitely 'West With Giraffes' by Lynda Rutledge. I was completely fascinated with it and I even bought a copy for my dad to read because I knew he'd like it, too.

It's really interesting that I even read it, because it was a "First Reads" book from Amazon, which are usually not-so-great books (I rarely read them.) As a Prime member, you get to choose one per month for free (usually they have about 6-8 to choose from). The ONLY reason I read it is because I was doing the Friends-themed read-athon and I had to read a book about animals. It's now in my Top 10 Favorite Books of All Time.

(My sister was concerned about reading a book about animals because she didn't want to read about animal abuse or anything like that. I don't want to post spoilers, but if you're concerned about it, you can check out my review on Goodreads and I will answer it there without any real spoilers.)

Other books I recommend:

For a fun young adult book, 'The Selection' by Kiera Cass was great.

For a mind-blowing book that will really stick with you and is great for discussing at a book club, 'One of Us Is Lying' is perfect for that.

For a oh-my-gosh-I-can't-put-this-down book, 'The Last Flight' fit that description for me.

For a drama/mystery that really makes you stop and think about what you'd do in that situation, I recommend 'The Best of Friends' by Lucinda Berry.

For a very heart-warming book with all the feelings, definitely check out 'The Running Dream' by Wendelin VanDraanen.

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My Goals for 2022

Yay for a new year! Even though today is no different than yesterday (just like when I turn from 39 to 40 later this month, I will be the same person the day before as the day after) I absolutely love what feels like a completely fresh start for the next 365 days.

As you know, I also love to set goals for the new year. Call them the cliché "New Year's Resolutions", but I can't help but feel excited about the clean slate lying in front of me--a whole year!

I wrote yesterday about the goals I made last year and whether I completed them or not. Last year was not a good year for me--at all. Not only because of the goals, but because I felt like nothing was going right. I was in a lot of pain all year long and after 10,000 tests, I still don't really have an answer other than "fibromyalgia". I've finally accepted that it's likely not going away, so I'm going to have to learn to live with it. But it really did make last year suck. 

Starting a brand new year today is exciting! It doesn't resolve a lot of issues--like the pain--but it does make me excited to work on new goals. In my new planner for 2022, there is a space to write out five main goals--long-term ones that require baby steps--so here are my goals for 2022...

1. Lose the rest of the weight I gained over the last few years. Ideally, in a perfect world, that would be to get my weight down to 130-135 pounds. But I won't really know until I get there. I'm stating my goal as 133, but I just want to feel comfortable in my body and my clothes, and I want to be able to maintain it without a constant battle. So I need to work on habits that I can maintain forever.

Interestingly, I have a new focus for my diet this year (when I say "diet" I mean a day-to-day diet, not a short-term way of eating in order to lose weight). I do plan to count calories (the only thing that's ever worked for me long-term), but I want to focus heavily on getting more fiber.

I think that adding fiber will be an alternative way of saying that I'm going to "eat healthier"--eating healthier is such a generic phrase. I don't want to quit eating my favorite foods, so I'm just going to start focusing on making my favorite meals that happen to have a lot of fiber. I have a lot of recipes that have beans and lentils and brown rice and peas; I also happen to love fruit. Eating a bunch of recipes I don't enjoy simply because they have a lot of fiber would just fail quickly, so by making foods that I already love (which just happen to have a lot of fiber), it'll be much easier.

I also want to drink 4 liters of water a day. I got out of the habit of drinking water at some point (I used to drink a ton of water) and I always feel better when I am well-hydrated. My hands feel puffy when I don't get enough water and I hate that feeling! So I'm going to try to drink a liter of water four times a day.

2. Run at least 3 miles, 3 days a week. When I got back into running earlier this year, the 3 miles, 3 days a week was working really well. Once I tried changing things up, I didn't do so well. I'd love to be able to follow a running plan with a goal, but for now this will be best for me. When I first started running way back in 2010, my "rule" was to run 3 miles, 3 days a week. It doesn't amount to much, but it's definitely more than nothing! And maybe I'll get the urge to train for something again one day.

3. Work on practicing people's love languages. If you haven't read the book 'The 5 Love Languages', I can't recommend it enough. It is life-changing and especially relationship-changing (for the better). I even bought the Love Languages book for teens for my kids to read. I know Jerry's and the kids' love languages so I've been putting them into practice as much as possible. I'm especially terrible at physical touch; to some people, hugs and kisses come so naturally. I really wish I was one of those people! I want to work on it.

4. Start moving my body first thing in the morning. My pain is the worst when I wake up in the morning, so I am usually inactive--I sit and read a book, watch TV, play a game on my phone, or something else that's unproductive until my body doesn't feel so stiff and painful. I'm hoping that by doing something active in the morning, I'll feel better faster: start laundry, prep dinner, walk Joey, run, do back stretches, etc.

5. Work on people skills. I am terrible at meeting new people or making small talk; I have horrible social anxiety. I want to work on this so that I can feel more comfortable with it. It's not exactly ideal, considering COVID has made social interactions very restricted, but I'm going to do my best when I have opportunities.

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And there it is! I think these are good goals to work on throughout the whole year--not just the black and white one-and-done type goals. Today went really well! It's only one day, but I already feel good. Let's hope the rest of 2022 follows suit ;)

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