My Midwest Life January 12, 2021

 Happy New Year!  I'm finally sitting down to write the first post of  the year.  We've been out on a lot of hikes in Door County these past two weekends, which has been great. The weather has been very mild for Wisconsin in January.  My book club met for a walk and talk Saturday morning.  This month we read A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson.  I enjoyed the book; it was a simple read and there were a few parts I could skip. But overall the book made me want to go out and hike.   Most of my pictures these past few weeks are from Door County.  It was just beautiful.

I also made a quick individual French apple tart for dessert one night.  The base is puff pastry and I top it with sliced apple and cinnamon sugar.  Cook for about 20 minutes at 425 (check the package directions on the pastry).  When it comes out of the oven I glaze the tart with apricot or peach jam. 

And of course Magic is ready for dinner.  Some things never change.

I hope you've had a pleasant start to the new year.

And as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth

My Midwest Life December 31st

 Hello and Happy New Year's Eve! I love an excuse to celebrate. And what a great thing to celebrate the end of 2020. It has definitely been a year; we've had our ups and downs this year for sure.  But I thought I would still stick with my posts of my Midwest Life, a theme I really enjoy and will continue.  As I write this I look outside and see snow.  In the past few days it snowed about 5 inches so we are in a winter wonderland. It's beautiful; I just hate shoveling when it's wet and heavy. It makes it time to retreat indoors and get creative.  So on with the past week or so.  

Sunday dinner during the Packer game: Sloppy joes with lentils, baked sweet potato fries, arugula salad and a few homemade pretzel bites that my husband made. 

Monday I spent a relaxing morning reading and enjoying the Christmas tree. My book, A Walk in the Woods is a hoot.  

Tomato Soup for lunch. I used my own canned tomatoes, homemade chicken broth and dried herbs from the summer. I added some tomato paste that I had in the fridge and sundried tomatoes as well.   Delish!! 

A snowy 7 am.  So calm and beautiful. 

A snowy morning means pancakes for breakfast.  I topped them with frozen cherries.  The smoothie is peaches and greens from Kelly Leveque. 

I'm working on the most intricate cowl ever. I'm definitely learning new skills with this knitting project.  So far so good, but it might take the year to finish. 

Made sourdough bread with my local flour.

Made a rutabaga soup with mashed rutabagas and served with hummus deviled eggs and carrots with peanut dipping sauce. 

My husband gave me new watercolors for Christmas so I took time to play. 

I with you a happy and healthy new years!

And as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth

My Midwest Life December 18th

Good Morning! I hope you all are well this Wednesday.  I just found out last night that my son, the youngest, has been accepted to UW-Madison! Hooray!  He's so happy.  Otherwise these past few weeks I've been doing my Christmas thing, which I always enjoy.  We've been baking and eating cookies, looking at lights, enjoying Hallmark movies and listening to Christmas songs during dinner. 

I also made a squash chili in the instant pot.  I cooked my dried beans I had kicking around the pantry too, my squash from the summer and then cooked it all in the Instant Pot for 7 minutes. I love when I have lunch for the work week.

We went on a light viewing drive.  This picture doesn't do this house justice, but it is huge and fantastic.  

I made these coconut almond macaroons from Sally's Baking Addiction for my daughter who needs to be grain free. They were delicious and a welcome gift for St. Nick's day.

Speaking of St. Nick - here he is and he makes me happy.

We still had some packets of leftover turkey in our freezer, so turkey pot pie it is.  I thought I made way to much for 3 people, but my son ate all of the leftovers. 

Yummy breakfast one day - scrambled eggs with broccoli and kimchi and a slice of avocado toast with everything but the bagel seasoning.  

A snowy and windy Saturday morning. I stayed inside and read and did yoga.

I finally finished my hat I've been knitting and went to our local knitting shop for the poof. I'm very proud.

One more creative piece - another miniature painting. 

I hope you have a great weekend full of doing things that make you happy.

And as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth

 

My Midwest Life December 3rd

 Hello! I hope you all had a relaxing Thanksgiving.  I also hope you have remained healthy so far.  We were able to see my parents and my mother-in-law on separate days this year at our home.  And now that Thanksgiving is done it's on to Christmas and holiday baking and decorating.  One of my favorite things to do.  I don't have too many pictures of this past week; I guess I've been too busy baking and getting ready for the next holiday. I started our Thanksgiving with a home edition of our local Turkey trot. A 5 mile run is always a good way to start the holiday.  

I followed with breakfast and of course a Bloody Mary for lunch. Lunch was a tuna salad full of veggies on homemade sourdough toast.

The table for Thanksgiving dinner. I like to use my good china and silver.

Pies, because I love them.  Apple and Pecan.  

The rest of the spread: turkey, roasted veggies, kale salad, sweet potato apple purée, potatoes dauphinoise, cranberry sauce, pickled veggies. 

Now our table is ready for Christmas time.  I picked up these darling napkins last year and the end of the season and it is so nice to use them.

Our Christmas tree at night. We always have a real one.

I just discovered coco nibs. They are delicious on my steel cut oats in the morning. The oats had the last of my sweet potato puree, coco nibs, hemp seeds and a touch of molasses.

Holiday baking: chocolate covered pretzels. Yum.

I'm also currently reading Pachinko for my book club.  It is long, but is really a worth while read. Since it is dark outside much earlier it's nice to have a good book.

I wish you a pleasant week

 And as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth

My Midwest Life November 21th

Happy Saturday! It's a quiet morning as everyone else is sleeping here. I've practiced yoga and eaten breakfast, leftover teff flour pumpkin pancakes, baked apples, peaches & green smoothie and coffee). I'm also starting to think about the holidays and what to make for dinner of course. However in the past week we celebrated my husband's birthday.  It's always nice no matter what to celebrate something no matter how big or small.  But on with the week..

Last Saturday was fermenting day. I made sauerkraut and sourdough bread.  I'm loving the book Fermenting Vegetables. 

The Christmas Cactus started blooming.  This plant is probably 6 or 7 years old.  I'm amazed. 

Our turkey friend was back!  This time just one, maybe it is the baby from the summer. 

We celebrated my husband's birthday with a brunch, eggs benedict.  My mother-in-law brought me flowers.  It's so nice to have fresh flowers and I rarely buy them for myself.

Making cake and pulled out these 2 cute eggs. 

Speaking of cake, my husband and son's favorite, German Chocolate. 

I also did some miniature paining and sent our cards. It really is nice to send mail to people. 

First of the chili for this cool weather season, Cincinnati style. 

I hope you had a wonderful few weeks and a Happy Thanksgiving no matter how that looks for you this year.

And as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

 

Weekly Eats November 11th

 Hello! First of all I would like to thank all of the men and women who serve and have served our country on a daily basis.  You are truly appreciated. This past week was beautiful here, yet I didn't take too many pictures of my daily life, but I did take pictures of food.  So I decided to give you some inspiration in the kitchen with my week's eats. 

Breakfast on Monday as scrambled eggs topped with radish micro greens, pears and a piece of cracked wheat toast topped with homemade jelly and natural peanut butter.  Everything is local except the peanut butter.

Monday's dinner was moo shu mushrooms and pork.  I served it with local brocolli and rice.  I added some hoisin sauce on the side. I love this meal.  I brought it for lunch a few days later with cauliflower rice. 

Avocado toast, spinach, homemade kimchi and an egg. Trust me the avocado is there as well as  the bread. 

Dessert was German chocolate cookies again from the New York Times.  I would put in a bit less fillings for more cookie, but it was yummy. 

Lunch for most of my week was bean enchilada soup. It was okay; I didn't think it merited saving the recipe.  

Dinner with the Packer game was Defined Dish's turkey skillet nachos. I served roasted butternut squash on the side.  This is a family favorite.  I highly recommend this book. 

It was so warm on Friday we decided to grill hamburgers. This is crazy in November in Wisconsin.  

Saturday's dinner - Calvados and apple chicken with rice and local bock choy.  This comes from the Bonne Femme Cookbook , again another favorite cookbook. 

Sunday I finally made my favorite teff flour pumpkin pancakes.  These are so good and gluten free if that is something you need or want. Yup a smoothie of blueberries and spinach as well as apples. I was full for hours. 

I hope this inspires you in your kitchen.

Bon Appétit!

And as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth