Use What You Got

The start of a new year is also the depths of winter.  Having come from one of the sunniest places in the world (aka Colorado), I find this time of year bleak.  The sun has made exactly one appearance over the last 3 weeks.  The children have been out of school since mid December and although we have unconditional love for each other, every day brings a new opportunity to keep them from killing each other.

Despite what my nutritionist tells me, I refuse to buy strawberries or any other fresh fruit or vegetable that is out of season.  My cupboards are also stuffed to bursting with tins and packages of items that jut simply didn't get used over the last year.  We've all spent way to much money over the festive holidays and we have probably set ourselves some resolutions about improving our financial standing over the next year.

We get a box delivered to us from the wonderful people at Abel and Cole every week.  The beauty of this arrangement is that they only deliver what is in season.  The challenge of this arrangement is that I am occasionally (aka usually) baffled by the contents.  Turnips, celeriac, and cabbage don't typically feature on my grocery list when I go to the shops but the rule is "If they send it, we will eat it."

With these objectives in mind, my children embrace (aka tolerate) the wonders of my Recipe Imagination. My husband will eat anything I put in front of him, so I worry less about him. His stomach is a slut.  My goals are to use up all the beautiful in season produce delivered that week and to empty my cupboards, fridge and freezer of the various bits and bobs that have been hanging around for far too long.  This also means I suspend the need to go to the grocery store or have a load delivered when, in fact, my family has plenty and doesn't need anymore.

I've tried referencing cookbooks, both online and printed.  I have an extensive collection of cookbooks.  I read them like novels.  But they have failed to provide me with a cupboard cleaning remedy.  So, into the depths of my imagination I have gone.

So far, my imagination hasn't let us down.  Or poisoned us.  Here's the first success!

3 Bean, Beef and Turnip Slow Cooker Chili

1 tin kidney beans

1 tin chickpeas

1 tin Berlotti beans

4 carrots, peeled and sliced thickly)

4 small turnips, peeled and chunked into bite size pieces

3 onions, peeled and sliced

1 tin whole tomatoes

2 cups beef (we had some leftover from our Christmas rib roast that I chunked up and threw in)

1 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp mild chili powder

1 tsp salt

Throw it all in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.  Serve over tortilla chips with grated cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream.  

This got 5/5 stars from my husband and I.  4/5 stars from my son.  And a mere 1/5 stars from my daughter.  She hates anything that isn't bread right now so I wouldn't put much stock in her opinion. 

May all your cupboards be bare (temporarily)!

New Month Resolutions

The start of a new year brings such optimism. Everyone dreams of fresh starts and new beginnings. They’ll be a better person.  They'll at least look like a better person. On 31st December, just about everyone I know makes some declaration that the coming year will be so different than the previous year.

And yet, fate, destiny, the hands of time doesn’t really know that the year has ended and a new one has begun. The sun set that night and will rise the very next morning on the New Year Day the same way it did on the old year the day before. It is also incredibly egotistical to think that just because 365 days have passed the next 365 days will be better because the stroke of midnight has encouraged you to declare it so.

Maybe just the act of wishing it were so may in fact make it so. If you don’t wish for being fitter you will never get fitter. The activities required to transforming a doughy blob to a svelte form require more than thoughts, of course, for without the thoughts and desires it would never happen. In fact, it is indeed the very determination driven from those desires that keep you running down the road in a driving, freezing rain or sweating in a gym that smells like dirty socks surrounded by others who have clearly been more successful in achieving their desires.

And yet, here I find myself nearing the end of the first month of the year and I’m not entirely certain I can even remember the resolutions I set for myself which clearly means I haven’t managed to keep a single one unless of course I wanted it so badly it has seeped into my sub consciousness and I am achieving without realizing. Somehow I doubt that.

I read somewhere that you were more likely to stick to your new year’s resolutions if you didn’t tell anyone what they were. I can honestly say that my survey size has proven this to be incorrect. Of course, the size may prove to be statistically invalid since it is just me. I consider it accurate enough to inform me that in the future I would do better to shout them out from a bullhorn in the middle of rush hour in Paddington Station (or Grand Central if you live over there).

I am disgruntled that this New Year so far hasn’t been much better than the start of last year. Whilst I am not bed ridden just struggling to breath from the fog of pneumonia, my husband’s car has died a death when we could least afford it and has put to bed any of our desires to avoid the 20% VAT penalty. Having received several boxes of chocolates as gifts my desire to lose weight was derailed. My day job consumes my thoughts and my writing struggles to find the wee little spaces of creativity that hide out in the darkness of a bad day at the office. I have managed to adhere to my pledges to just make sure that I clean my face every night before bed on at least 4 occasions. Yes, that’s pathetic but some nights I am just too exhausted. Or forgetful.

So far, 2011 is sucking. Major big time.

And yet I am not willing to give up on 2011 just yet. I think the problem lies in the length of time: 365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months. It all just seems like plenty of time to do all and be all we want to be. But you find yourself at the end of every year wondering where the time went.

So let’s break it down into more bite size chunks. Why can’t we celebrate the end of the month as an opportunity for a new beginning? Just imagine at the end of every month you sweep all that didn’t go so well that month into a metaphorical rubbish bin. That was then. Bye bye.

At midnight (or as late as you can manage to stay awake) of the last day of every month (keeping in mind the next day is more than likely a work day), you celebrate with a wee glass of bubbly (or hot milk) and imagine how much better the next month is going to be. Affirm your goals, aims, desires. Validate that the plan you’ve got for getting there is achievable. Make any necessary alterations and get busy. You might want to skip the fireworks. Or maybe not.

Bring on February! Happy New Month!

Standard Operating Mode

January 2 is a return to standard operating mode. All the Christmas decorations come down. Furniture is moved back into its normal place. The illusion is shattered and the cluttered coziness is by now getting on my nerves. Way too much food has been eaten and too much alcohol drank. We've stayed up well past our bedtime nearly every evening since 2 December.

January 2 is the day it all returns to normal in anticipation for a glorious year!