yummy treats......

o.k. as you may have noticed i like food, cooking it, eating it, smelling it....... it's all good. Well i did a whole lot of talking about yummy healthy food not too long ago and it is time that i start eating, finding, and sharing some of this healthy food i was talking about. I have done a whole lot of eating of bad for you treats over the past week or so and now is the time i start a turn around with my food choices.

Hear is one yummy snack that i have always enjoyed and it is pretty good for you. It has protein, fiber, vitamins, low in sodium and calories.

green apples with peanut butter dip

peanut butter
cream cheese ( you can use reduced fat if you want fewer calories)
brown sugar

mix together equal parts of peanut butter and cream cheese;
mix in a tea spoon of brown sugar for every cup of dip you make; you can put more or less to adjust the sweetness of the dip, i tend to put less.

slice up your apples ( with the skin on is better ) This goes really well with green apples but you can use any variety of apple that you like they all taste good.

I think that i will be sharing this treat with my friends!!

I am planning on putting up more recipes for different things as i find them. It won't be just snacks i will put up other types of recipes too.

Happy eating!!

christmas is here and almost over

hi,



well today is Christmas it was a good day. I spent time with my family, we had a nice dinner and exchanged gifts. I am definitely a little spoiled when it comes to Christmas. My mom always goes over board, it is not unusual for me to get at least 8 or 9 gifts just from my mom. here are a few of my favorites.

This is a new mason-Dixon knitting book with several projects that i want to try out when i get a chance. I would also like to get the original book which i have been eyeing for awhile now.

any time you get something from the yarn harlot collection that is a good thing. ( i think i just channeled Martha Stewart for a second)I only have one of her books but i am a fan and check her blog on occasion.

My mom also gave me some knitting gadgets. She always finds some obscure tool that she thinks i would like. Some of the past i have used while others i have just looked at with awe partly because i don't know if i would ever have the skills to use it or i can't figure out what it is for. This year two of the tools she got me ( cable needles and bobbins) with both be very useful. She also got me a very cool looking Norwegian thimble. This is a tool that you put on your finger while knitting and you us it when you are knitting a pattern with two colors of yarn. it has two loops that you run the two different yarns through to help keep them from getting tangled. it looks very cool i will have to find a pattern that i can use it on!

I of course got several non knitting gifts too.

She gave me this really cute shoulder bad that will be great in the spring and summer. It has a lot of pockets and the straps are long enough to put over my shoulder. I love anything with turtles and this turtle shape puzzle looks like it will be really fun. I have never been a big puzzle person but if i have someone to do it with i do find it to be enjoyable. My mom loves puzzles and she said she would work on it with me!

I also got a couple of sweaters and the standard socks and underwear plus some really soft flannel sheets! I told you i was spoiled by my mom at Christmas ;)

so all in all it was a very nice holiday!

tomato soup

i made the best tomato soup ever about a week ago. I think it may have been the best batch i have ever made! I decided to share the recipe with all of you:

1 12.oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes
1 12.oz can of chicken or vegetable broth
a couple of pinches of oregano or a couple of whole bay leaves
salt and pepper

put the tomatoes and broth in a pot with the spices; bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 to 30 minuets; if you used bay leaves remove them now; let the soup cool down a little and then put in the blender ( in batch's if you have a lot ) and blend until smooth. I have a hand held immersion blender this make it easier because i can blend it right in the pot, if you don't feel like blending it you can leave it chunky it is good that way too.

This makes about 2 or 3 servings you can make a bigger batch if you want as long as you have equal parts tomato and broth just get a bigger can of each.

well that is my soup it is pretty easy to make and really hard to ruin.

why do we put up with it?

I was watching a show about a battered woman the other day, it was pretty bad. i just kept asking myself why do women put up with this kind of treatment? we deserve better. we are strong beautiful smart independent women and we still for some reason put up with crap from men. is it because we don't want to be alone? are we afraid that we will never find anybody better? perhaps we often choose the devil we know instead of the devil we don't know? I will never understand what makes us put up with this type of treatment. I know it is not fun being alone it can be very hard at times especially as we get older but I have decided that being alone is better than being abused.

i want to scream.........

well lets see work kind of sucks right now. why is it that the people who are reasonable, non judgemental, flexible always seem to get all the crap thrown at them. I also hate that when someone else makes a stupid decision other people ( ME ) get stuck living with the bad consequences.

let me back tract for a moment. a year ago we interviewed a woman for a part time position in the room next to mine, My feeling was that she wasn't capable of doing the job and that if i had to spend more than 10 minuets alone with her i would rip all of my hair out. well the woman who would be working with her said she would be just fine in her room . so they hired her and she has proven to be incompetent. so, they MOVED HER TO MY ROOM!!!!!!!!!! i said no don't want her!!!! they encouraged me to give it a try ( they didn't give me a choice ) so it i talked to my other co-teacher and we decided to have an open mind she couldn't possibly be as bad as everybody was saying. the first two weeks weren't bad at all then it went down hill fast. She has significant limitations, he's forgetful, pessimistic, spacey, nosey, gossipy, doesn't know how to clean-up after lunch or play with the children no matter how many times i explain to her what she should do or examples of things to try just not capable. So because the idiot in the room next door has no judgement or standards for hiring i now have a crappy teacher in my room! I hate when other people's fuck-ups mess up my day!