Author: Kari

Back in February we had hoped to spend a week in the Smoky Mountains and tack on a visit to my bestfriend Melissa to meet her son, Levi.  By April it became pretty clear I was not going to feel comfortable traveling so far from home, nor would it be a great idea to visit a friend with an infant since I’m still working at the office.  For awhile it seemed hopeless to plan a vacation, but I”m glad a few weeks ago we decide to figure out our “Plan B babymoon.”

We settled on Bedford after I fell in love with a listing for a beautiful farmhouse– “The Sanctuary.”  It sounded exactly like the getaway we needed– 17 acres perfect for social distancing with beautiful views of the mountains from the backyard.  The appeal of the Smokies had been a chance to “unplug” from technology, hike, and just relax.  Turns out the Blue Ridge mountains offer most of the same benefits 😉

We had an awesome weekend of hiking.  My favorite hike was “Sharp Top” at Peaks of Otter which we did on Saturday.  The view from the summit was amazing!  We were warned that it’s a popular hike, so we started at 8:00 and made it to the summit by 9:00 and were able to enjoy the views for a solid ten minutes before anyone else arrived.  It was magical.  It’s a hike I definitely want to do again!

We hiked around Natural Bridge on Sunday– first in Natural Bridge State Park and in the Jefferson Forest at the “Trail of Trees” (such a creative name!).  Natural Bridge was pretty, but compared to the large park system at Peaks of Otter it felt a bit anticlimactic. My impression may also be influenced by the fact that I managed to fall in the parking lot, creating a lot of drama with a search for band-aids.  Of course any fall is scary as a pregnant lady, and I’m glad I simply scraped my elbow and knee.  Once my adrenaline rush subsided and I was able to feel baby kick, it was all good but for a few minutes Daniel and I felt a bit panicked.  I guess it’s good preparation– certainly this child will give us many scares in life! 

On our last morning we tacked on a small hike along the Blue Ridge Parkway, “Fallingwater Cascades.”  We had considered another hike, but I’m glad our hostess steered us in this direction.  The hike was fairly short, but for at least half the time we walked along the waterfall.  It was so peaceful listening to the falling water.  Daniel really enjoyed playing with his tri-pod along the hike as well. 

In addition to hiking, I really enjoyed the peace and quiet offered by the farmhouse.  Most days we finished our hikes around lunchtime and went back to the farmhouse to shower and read/ nap for the rest of the afternoon.  One afternoon we stopped to pick peaches at a local orchard and get ice cream.  The best part of a weekend of hiking is ordering the larger size of ice cream without any guilt! 

Most nights, we ended the day by watching the sunset around the firepit.  I don’t think I would ever get sick of those mountain views! Each day our hosts set up the firepit, so we simply had to light a match and relax.  Those little touches were amazing! 

Turns out our “Plan B” weekend was just what we needed.  We certainly look forward to visiting that part of Virginia again– I’m sure it’s especially beautiful with fall foliage.  

Thanks for reading! 

XOXO,

Kari 

How does one celebrate their birthday while pregnant, during a pandemic? It helped to ditch the “normal” ideas and reflect on what makes for a satisfying day. For me, that was good food, time outside, exercise, and good company. Daniel, my parents and siblings did a lot of nice things to brighten my weekend– so much so that at the end of the day I said to Daniel, “Really, I don’t think there’s anything I would change. Today was perfect.”

Good Food

My parents dropped off dinner from Stella’s restaurant on Saturday– everything was delicious! On Sunday, I enjoyed baking cinnamon rolls– one of my first attempts baking with yeast since my 2015 New Year’s resolution dubbed “The Year of Yeast.” They didn’t come out perfectly, but they were still satisfying! I also baked Sugar Cookie Cheesecake bars which turned out amazing! That recipe is posted below. We closed out the day with burgers, corn on the cobb, campfire veggie packs and s’mores for good measure. Everything was so good!

Time Outside

I haven’t camped since I was 19, which scarily was 13 years ago! After years of camping as a kid with my family, I decided that I hated camping as a teenager and man–did I hold firm to that belief! Since getting together with Daniel, I thought perhaps it was worth giving it another try since Daniel really enjoys camping. The pandemic opened the perfect low-risk camping opportunity– pitch the tent in the backyard– if it was miserable I could simply walk inside. Easy as that. Man, I’m so glad we camped out back! It was so fun grilling, hanging out by the fire, and sleeping outside. It certainly helped that the tent we got as a wedding gift was large enough to hold a queen size air mattress and the wifi reached from the house to watch Netflix as we fell asleep. The only downside was noisy highway in the background, but alas nothing is perfect! I definitely looking forward to a weekend of car camping when baby Fourquet is old enough!

Exercise

In usual times I would be SUPER excited to have a Sunday birthday, since that would mean I could go to bodystep class on my birthday. Since the pandemic has made working out at the gym impossible, Daniel was awesome and bought me a step so I could exercise from home. Daniel used his “Apocalypse” step, so we were able to take Bodystep 118 from home. Not the same, but still fun.

We also had a beautiful stroll through the trail by our house. Honestly- between the trail and tent in the backyard we practically got the state park experience with the luxury of not packing a thing 🙂

Good Company

This weekend I enjoyed having a double date with my brother and sister-in-law over Zoom on Friday, visiting with my parents on Saturday when they dropped off dinner, and hanging out in the afternoon with my sister’s family on Sunday. These visits really brightened the weekend– even if it wasn’t for a normal birthday dinner/ party. Let’s hope I never take for granted the gift of seeing loved ones. Lastly, I am so grateful for my husband Daniel. Turns out he’s the kind of guy I would choose to be stuck on an island every time.

Thanks for reading and here’s the recipe for Sugar Cookie Cheesecake Bars.

Sugar Cookie Cheesecake Bars 

(adapted from Smart School House by Kelly Dixon) 

• One 16.5 oz tube of sugar cookie dough or 1 batch of sugar cookie dough
• 1 egg
• 1-2 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 8 oz  cream cheese (at room temperature)

Sugar Cookie Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 sticks of softened butter
• 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp. baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease a pie plate, springform pan, or 8×8 square baking dish. 
2. If making sugar cookie dough, prepare the recipe by mixing the dry ingredients first.  Using an electric mixer combine butter with confectioner’s sugar, then add egg and slowly the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined, then split the dough in two portions. Press half of the sugar cookie dough to the bottom of the baking dish. 
3. Combine the cream cheese, vanilla extract, and egg.  Then pour the cream cheese mixture over the sugar cookie crust. 
4. Using the remaining 1/2 roll of sugar cookie dough, drop 1 TB chunks of dough and place them evenly over the top of the cheesecake mixture.  These will melt, rise, and cover the top of the cream cheese bars, so it’s okay if there are a few “holes” where you can see the cheesecake. 
5. Bake for 30 minutes or just until the sugar cookie shows a golden color.  Check at 20 minutes– you may need to cover the top with foil to prevent burning. I like to add sprinkles for the final portion of baking. 
6. Let cool for at least an hour before serving.
   * Can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen. 

*I haven’t tried this, but I think it would also be delicious to omit the vanilla and add 1-2 tsp. lemon juice and zest and perhaps a layer of sliced strawberries. 

At the end of January, I received the best news. A little embryo the size of the poppy seed instantly gave Daniel and me a new title– parents! After months of negative pregnancy tests, I was so excited to see those two little lines. I called my doctor’s office that morning and received my first congratulations and an appointment to have my first ultrasound at eight weeks.

I cannot begin to tell you how hard it was to wait. I was feeling nauseous most mornings, exhausted, and for the first time ever I was oddly aware of my breasts (yes, breast tenderness is a REAL thing), and yet I was so afraid I would lose the pregnancy. I took a pregnancy test two weeks later, just to be sure I still was pregnant.

Daniel joined me for my ultrasound appointment in February and told the technician he was hoping for twins. Thankfully, we saw ONE baby on the screen with a healthy heartbeat measuring about the size of a kidney bean. Looking at the ultrasound, I kept thinking how surreal it was. I was finally seeing the little life growing inside me. That joy instantly erased the pain of our (thankfully short) journey with infertility. God haven’t forgotten us, it just wasn’t our time before now.

In many ways, my first trimester was easy. I felt nauseous, but never vomited. I started eating a graham cracker when I first woke up, and somehow that seemed to settle my stomach enough to eat breakfast and drink a cup of coffee. I was exhausted, but settled into a routine where I went to bed early and forgave myself if I didn’t have the energy to exercise. I also bought a super comfortable bra, which really made a world of difference too! I never had any weird cravings. My biggest complaint was the “pregnancy glow” was more like an encore of teenage acne. Thankfully, that’s mostly behind me now!

I really enjoyed thinking of creative ways to tell our families about our little pumpkin, which is what I call the baby as my due date is October 8th. Since Daniel’s parents live in Florida, I created a card with the ultrasound and wrote on the outside of the envelop “Call before opening.” Daniel’s mom sounded very confused with the instructions, but was then VERY happy to see/hear our good news.

Since my immediate family mostly lives locally, I decided to wait to share the news at our next family birthday party so I could tell everyone at once. I had a blast coming up with ideas to give my dad a birthday present that would announce his new grandchild. I settled on a pack of Founder’s Breakfast Stout (thanks to the picture of a baby eating oatmeal), a pack of spaghetti with Prego sauce, a Rockabye Baby CD with Grateful Dead covers, and finally a onesy with a picture of the ultrasound. My dad guessed with the third clue & you can see that by clue #4 he was pretty excited to have another grandbaby on the way!

I suppose the weirdest part of my first trimester was the Coronavirus pandemic. Just as I finally started to feel like myself (around 9/10 weeks), news of the Coronavirus spread. So while I briefly enjoyed getting back to my gym routines and having the energy to do social things on the weekends; that all came to a halt. I keep thinking when we’re finally cleared to leave our “social distance” and resume our regular lives a lot of people will be thinking I gained the coronavirus-15 (you know like the freshman 15 in college?). Nope, I haven’t been eating Cheetos and binge-watching netflix. Just growing a tiny human!

Probably the most exciting moment has been noticing “quickening” or the first fetal movements. The first time was a Monday afternoon (4/6) at work while I was filing papers; it felt like a wave of butterflies. As soon as I could touch my stomach it was over! A few days later while typing at work, I felt another flurry of movement. So cool! My pregnancy book says usually first-time moms miss these early movements, but honestly it seems more weird that I usually don’t feel the apple-size blob floating around my uterus.

I will leave you with a last funny moment from my first trimester. I knew from my labs (and my amazing OB/GYN) that there was a good chance I conceived in January. So one afternoon I stopped to pick up a pregnancy from the drug store. Of course, I remembered to pick up a Valentine’s Day card for Daniel and a few random items but realized I forgot to pick up the pregnancy test when I got to the check-out line. I asked the clerk where they were so I could quickly grab it and finish checking out. She sent me on my way, but turns out they were moved to a different aisle. The whole store had the pleasure of hearing the clerk shout “Young lady looking for the pregnancy test, they are right here! Come to Aisle 5.” Let’s just say I was very grateful to be self-assured married woman hoping to be pregnant. Otherwise, I would have died of embarrassment.

XOXO,
Kari

I remember reading the book Flat Stanley when I was in elementary school– I sent Flat Stanley in the mail to visit with family and was so excited to get him back and hear about his tails. So of course we said yes when our nephew Noah (a first grader) asked us to host Flat Stanley for his school project. Since we just sent him home to Florida, I figured I would tell you about our visit.

Now usually, Daniel and I are on the go– We could have taken him to outings with friends, family, dance lessons, gym classes, garden walks, etc. Well, unfortunately Flat Stanley came during the novel coronavirus outbreak so he mostly just “socially isolated” with us at home.

Here’s some pictures from our two weeks with him! Wish we could have gone more places, but Flat Stanley knows how important it is to flatten the curve, so he understood 🙂

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Did you set a New Year’s resolution? I started the year with a few:

1. Challenging my habit to over-schedule, so that I could free up time for recharging activities like reading, catching up with a friend, and creative projects.
2. Be present. Sort of related to my first goal– I wanted to really make an effort to enjoy life. More often than not, you can find me watching tv, folding laundry, scrolling through my phone, and trying to have a conversation with Daniel. Guess how often I actually enjoyed (or remembered) the episode? Or how many times that resulted in a satisfying conversation with Daniel? Rarely.

Like most people, I struggle with abstract goals so I gave myself a few specifics. First, I would strive to have at least eight “do nothing days” in 2020. I decided for me that meant having at least eight weekend days where I would not schedule a thing, so that I could be free to spend that day however I chose, doing whatever my body needed to feel well. I also decided to take a break from social media (Facebook and Instagram) so that I would be less tempted to multi-task.

So how did I do in January? Well, I did unplug from facebook and instagram on January 5th but didn’t really accomplish much else. I was hoping I would start a regular habitat of blogging. As you can see this is my first post since December, so that was a bust. I hoped I would pick up the habit of reading… well that didn’t take either. I did enjoy a fun weekend in Baltimore with Daniel where I had the opportunity to reconnect with a high school friend. I suppose it’s hard to change old habits.

Things started kicking into gear in February. I spent the first weekend in February away visiting with my friend Emily in Durham, NC. We enjoyed good food, conversation, and everything else that goes with a good girl’s weekend. Since Emily is a big reader (at least by my standard), we talked about books. We decided we both wanted to start reading through our backlog of books on our shelves. I love a good used book sale and as a result have shelves of books waiting to be read. Since we both had the book “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin for YEARS, we decided we would both commit to reading it in February.

I did finish Three Cups of Tea, but honestly found it disappointing. The story jumped around and honestly I didn’t find the Mortenson all that likable. Despite being on the best seller’s list for three years, it had several lawsuits that challenge the legitimacy of parts of the story and the way Mortenson managed the funds to build the schools. In February I also read “Love Poems for Married People” by John Kenney, “Little Bee” by Chris Cleave, and “Vintage Saints and Sinners” by Karen Wright Marsh. All three books were much more enjoyable and definitely helped me rebuild a habit of making time to read in the evenings, at least a few days each week.

In March I re-entered the world of Facebook with one big limitation. I no longer use Facebook on my phone. I simply can’t– Daniel changed my password which he saved only on my laptop. Now that I’m mostly socially distant due to the Coronavirus, I definitely appreciate logging into Facebook a few times a week to get updates from friends and family. As part of my Lenten practices, I decided I will wait to log back into instagram until Easter. I’m sticking with reading, although I’m now reading books with a religious theme through the end of Lent. This month I read “The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming” by Henri Nouwen and I’m in the middle of “A Song for Nagasaki” by Paul Glynn.

Thanks to the Coronavirus I will easily reach my quota of “do nothing days,” as I don’t have a social calendar for the foreseeable future. They say don’t pray for patience, since God simply will give you opportunities to practice it. It seems I have certainly been given ample opportunities to enjoy the simpler things in life. I’m trying to make the most of it by spending time in my garden, reading, cooking good food, and relishing the fact that I love my husband more now than the day we married.

Thank you for reading from a safe social distance 😉

XOXO,

Kari

Did you set a New Year’s resolution? If so how did you do? Towards the end of 2018, I stumbled upon an episode of the Dave Ramsey show, which prompted my 2019 resolution. At the time, I had been reflecting on my gratitude to my parents and in-laws for blessing us with a beautiful wedding and honeymoon in Europe.  Daniel and I shared we hoped we would be able to do the same for our future children, while also knowing it may not be possible.  Neither of us earn tremendously great incomes, so while we would always be comfortable financially, it was hard to know if we would be able to achieve the same level of financial success as our parents.

I was drawn to Dave Ramsey’s no-nonsense approach to financial wisdom–pay off your debts (including your house) as quickly as possible and plan ahead for big expenses (including car purchases) so that no further debt is accrued.  I loved his focus on achieving financial success, not so you could own nice things and take nice vacations, but so that you could strengthen your marriage and change your family tree.  Daniel listened to an episode or two, and he was willing to give Dave’s ideas a try.

Daniel crunched a few numbers and told me if we paid an extra $3,000 each month we could have a paid off house in less than five years.  I responded with disbelief– how on earth could we pay off a 30 year mortgage in 6 years?  How could we possibly spend an extra $3,000 each month without drastically changing our lifestyle?

I decided I should probably try Daniel’s plan before determining it didn’t work.  The first few months were HARD.  It was hard making a regular mortgage payment and then 2-3 weeks later watching another $1500 disappear from my bank account.  I’m a saver by nature and it felt weird spending so much money.  It was also hard scaling back our lifestyle.  Although we did not live extravagantly, we enjoyed going out to dinner or brunch a few times a week and taking a few weekend trips in addition to a few larger trips each year.

It was really annoying losing the cushion in our budget to go out for Mexican on weeknights when neither of us wanted to cook or saying no to a trip with friends because we really didn’t have an extra $150 in that month’s budget.  Now, it just seems like the new “normal.”  We plan ahead so that when we want to eat out or take a trip, we have money dedicated in the budget.  I find that I actually enjoy the experiences significantly more because they feel like a “treat” and I don’t need to feel guilty because I know they fit within our budget and within our vision for our life together.

Don’t get me wrong, it is still hard and sometimes I feel tired.  When that happens, we talk about our dreams–our dreams to hire contractors to redo our kitchen and bathrooms, to have a the freedom to retire early or work part-time, to travel more often, and try all the restaurants which opened since we met Dave Ramsey 😉

The goal that seemed impossible last December, we were able to surpass.  We paid an extra $40,000 towards our mortgage in 2019!  Unless something drastically changes, we will be debt-free (house and all) well before turning 40!  Indirectly, we have managed to strengthen our marriage and build a stronger vision for what our life will look like together.  

Did you have a goal for your financial future?  Maybe it’s time to start dreaming!

I have felt so sentimental all month, reminiscing about the last two years. I still remember walking through the house with Daniel, beginning to imagine what our lives might look like together. We loved the idea of buying a place to make our own, large enough to host family gatherings, and really build a shared home. At the time, many people said things like, “Wow, planning a wedding, first home purchase, and starting several DIY home improvement projects– are you sure that’s a good idea?” I remember my realtor specifically saying “Well, if you can survive home renovations, marriage should be a breeze.”

Painting and yard work might not be romantic, but it strengthened our relationship in ways I could not have anticipated. Before getting married I hated the expression “She’s marrying her best friend.” It seemed so cheesy, and quite frankly not true. I have so many amazing women in my life, it was inconceivable that a man could fill that role. While Daniel is still not my go-to for girly stuff like Downton Abbey, he really has become a “best friend” and a true partner. We have shared so many ridiculous, beautiful, and joyful experiences in this house–I can’t imagine sharing life with anyone else.

Here’s a recap of some of our favorite moments from the last two years

My favorite room makeover:

The living room was our first big makeover, and it still is my favorite project. With the right paint and a little TLC, the living room embodies the hallmarks of a cozy, inviting space. I truly adore the “grey-eige” color– it’s cool, and yet warm all at the same time. I love the furniture in the room too– the hand-me-down sofa and love seat from my sister, the Costco arm chairs, the church rummage sale desk, the Ottoman from the Habitat re-store in Charleston, and my curb alert antique trunk. None of it was meant to be together, and yet it all works.

Most-improved Award:

I cannot tell you how badly I wanted to paint the ugly knotty pine walls when I purchased the house. To me, wood paneling conjures images of crappy old bars and weird vacation homes. Daniel however is very much pro-paneling and insisted we find a way to update the room while keeping the warm, knotty pine. We settled on white-washing the fireplace and adding white-painted built-in shelves. Now the den totally embodies the Hygge life. It’s perfect for watching a favorite show, reading a book, getting lost in a conversation, or drinking too much tea.

The best instant gratification project:

Easy pick– tearing down the disguising, broken shower door in the master bathroom. Truly I think that went down within the first few days after I moved in. Fortunately the tile was in good shape after the removal. A simple shower rod, was all that was needed to transform from B-list horror movie, to B-list 60s bathroom awaiting it’s permanent makeover.

Most disgusting Makeover

Dealing with the woodpile in the backyard is easily the most horrifying thing I have ever done. Truly, I’m not sure if I have ever screamed so much in my life. If it wasn’t my house, you couldn’t have paid me enough money to touch it. Amidst the logs in various states of decay, we found plywood, bricks, several ant colonies, at least two snakes, and way too many scary-big spiders to count. Sure wish the last owners kept their fire wood in a covered area, or perhaps just chucked the stuff into the woods in the first place. I imagine they planned to have some glorious bonfire that just never happened.

Favorite Wildlife Sightings

Growing up in Suburban hell, I never have seen so many critters in my backyard. Once I was sitting on the porch with Daniel and saw an owl swoop down (probably to pick up a vole) in the front yard. That would NEVER happen in my old neighborhood in Burke Center! I love looking out the window to see deer, woodpeckers, cardinals, squirrels– makes me feel like I’m away in the woods while still being a quick 10 minutes from Downtown Richmond.

Finding My Green Thumb

My whole life my parents have been active gardeners. In the house I grew up in, my dad managed a huge vegetable garden and I loved watching the sunflowers and pumpkins grow as a kid. My mom has always planted beautiful flower beds, a mix of hardy perennials and sunny annuals for pops of color. Honestly, they made gardening look so easy. Who knew how difficult it would be to build flower beds from scratch? Well, actually, I guess a lot of people know that and that’s why it costs significantly more to buy a house with mature landscaping.

I have really enjoyed experimenting with different things in the garden– seeing what worked and what didn’t. Turns out I’m not much of a vegetable gardener, but I have loved building flower beds along the front of the house.

Thanks for reading & I hope you enjoyed my little walk through the last two years.

XOXO,

Kari

A few friends asked questions about our recent experience with whole 30, it seemed easier to recipe dump here vs. over several separate emails.  I hope it might be useful to you!

Daniel and I followed Whole 30 in March and completed the reintroduction phases in April.  I was not excited at the start, but it honestly was a much better experience than I expected.  The first two days I was an irritable mess– everything Daniel did drove me nuts that weekend. Thankfully it got better, but I would definitely suggest trying to “taper down” sugar intake 1-2 weeks before whole 30 or just be prepared, since sugar withdrawal is REAL.

The biggest take-away from Whole 30 was realizing how much I lean on food to ease stress, celebrate, and pacify boredom.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but it was helpful to be forced to use new ways of navigating those feelings. The other main gain I took from whole 30 is that it got me out of the habit of snacking.  I now eat a more substantial breakfast and lunch, so that I do feel hungry between meal times. I find that I feel more satisfied when I am eating, and I appreciate actually feeling hungry when it’s time for the next meal.

Survival Tips:

• I was not willing to drink black coffee for a month.  Both “califia farms” and “nut pods” have good diary/sugar-free creamer options.
• Lara Bars & RX Bars are great to have for occasions when it might be difficult to stick to the whole 30 rules (e.g. long outings).
• I found once I embraced the guidelines, it was easy to find “treats” that really were satisfying, e.g. eating bacon, topping a burger with guacamole.
• Water gets boring; it helped to drink sparkling water and hot/ iced teas.
• Eat BEFORE food-heavy social outings, it was so much less tempting that way.

Favorite Recipes:

Breakfast:

• Not a recipe, but we often ate some version of eggs, roasted sweet potatoes, and a green vegetable or piece of fruit.
• I followed this recipe once, then I sort of used it as a springboard for variations.  This was great to have a breakfast I could simple reheat in the morning.
• My favorite “sweet” breakfast (e.g. to soothe cravings for pancakes or muffins) was roasted sweet potatoes, topped with almond butter, shredded coconut, and slivered almonds.  

Lunch:

• Leftovers!  That’s why it’s so important to cook dinner at home!
• Buffalo chicken served cold over spinach.  I follow this recipe for buffalo chicken (I’m actually not a fan of the chicken over yams).  
• Frozen veggies with compliant chicken sausage (read labels but Aidells has several choices)

Dinners:

Eggdrop soup with thai meatballs from A Saucy Kitchen. I usually serve with stir-fry veggies

Copycat PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps

Eggroll in a Bowl by Jessie B.  I don’t like shrimp, so I cook this recipe with ground turkey and it tastes great!  

No-bean sweet potato chili by Skinnytaste.  

Tuna Patties- 2 cans tuna (low mercury brand), 2 TB coconut flour, 2 TB almond meal/ almond flour, ¼ diced onion (dehydrated works well too!), 2 eggs, and 1 TB lemon juice.  Combine ingredients and cook each side a few minutes on a skillet.

When I was in the mood for Italian, I would break up a frozen burger in the skillet & cook with sugar-free tomato sauce and zucchini.  Topped with nutritional yeast, it almost tastes like meat sauce!

Hawaiian Pork Tenderloin by Eazy Peazy Mealz (just omit brown sugar).  Serve with sweet potatoes and a green veggie side.

Chicken Souvlaki skewers by Chef de Home– great over a salad.

Treats:

• 2-3 cups frozen fruit blended with coconut milk- eat immediately or freeze until it’s the consistency you would like.
• LaraBar or RX bar (check because not all varieties are Whole-30 safe).
• Almond butter & apples
• Bacon-wrapped jalapenos stuffed with pineapple

Thanks for reading & hope you try some of these recipes too! If you’re on instagram, following #whole30 is a great way to get meal ideas in real time 🙂

Cheers!

Kari

My Aunt Susan generously gave me her sterling tea set, and Mother’s Day seemed like the perfect occasion to put it to use.   After going to afternoon tea at the Jefferson this year, I had lots of ideas I wanted to try at home. It was quite fun pulling recipes for a tea-themed luncheon.  I can’t wait to share some of the recipes I used!

A traditional afternoon tea is served in three courses, with the first course being sandwiches.  Because we have several vegetarians in our group, I wanted to focus on vegetarian sandwiches. After much debate I decided upon: turkey & cheese with artisanal pickles on sourdough, curried carrot on multigrain, cucumber on classic white, almond butter & jelly on white, and minted avocado-pea on multigrain.  They were ALL fantastic! The curried carrot truly was suburb.

The second course is typically tea breads and scones served with clotted cream and jam.  I have been trying more paleo baking and wanted to incorporate a grain and dairy-free recipe.  I think even folks without dietary preferences would like the zucchini bread– it wasn’t super sweet but still tasty.  You can find the recipe I used here. I took a traditional route for the scones, picking a recipe for “British style” scones with currants (or rather raisins, because that’s what was in the pantry).  As much as I wanted to to serve clotted cream, I couldn’t muster the energy for another recipe and plain old butter worked just fine.

The third course is the BEST course– sweets!  I served Russian tea cookies and jelly thumbprints which used the same base dough, which was a big time-saver.  I finished the dessert tray with chocolate-covered strawberries since that seemed like a “mother’s day” sort of sweet.  

As for the tea, we drank darjeeling, peppermint, and a chocolate black tea followed by a course of “beer” tea.  It seems one can’t host an event in Richmond without incorporating craft beer in someway.

All and all, it was a wonderful afternoon and fun to try something different that the typical sit-down dinner.  I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day too!

Make your own tea party with these recipes:

The turkey & cheese sandwich is self-explanatory, however the pickles are what MADE the sandwich.  I’ve been making my own pickles using plain-old grocery store pickles. They take 2-3 days to “cure” in the refrigerator.  

Refrigerator Pickles

Slice 2 large cucumbers into “chips” and place in a large glass jar.  Add 1 tsp dried dill, 3-4 cloves sliced garlic, ⅓ cup dehydrated onion, ½ TB mustard seeds, ½ TB peppercorns, and 1 TB pickling salt (or a little more to taste).     Add one cup white vinegar, then fill the remaining space in the jar with water. Seal the lid and give it a good shake! Place in the fridge & taste every day or so, they should be done after 2-3 days.

Curried Carrot Sandwiches

• 2 medium-sized carrots, grated
• 2 TB cream cheese, softened
• 2 TB good-quality mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. sweet ginger paste
• ½- 1 tsp. Curry powder
• 1-2 TB raisins
• 1-2 TB chopped walnuts
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, combine carrots, cream cheese, mayonnaise, ginger paste, curry power; add salt and pepper to taste.  Mix in raisins and chopped walnuts. If you are not ready to serve the sandwiches the filling can be refrigerated up to 1 day before preparing the sandwiches.

When ready to fill, spread a thin layer of the curried carrot filling on one piece of bread, then top with baby spinach or micro greens.  Press together, then cut off crusts to serve.

Cucumber Sandwiches

• 3 TB cream cheese
• 1-2 TB mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. Dill
• ¼- ½ tsp. Garlic powder
• 1-2 tsp. Lemon juice
• 1 English cucumber

Mix cream cheese, mayo, dill, garlic, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  Spread a thin layer of filling, then top with cucumber slices. I like to serve them open faced.

Minted Avocado Pea Sandwiches

• 1 avocado
• Zest & juice of 1 lime
• ½- 1 tsp. Sriarcha
• 1 tsp. Fresh mint, chopped plus more for topping
• 2 TB thawed green peas

Mash avocado, then add lime zest, lime juice, chopped mint, sriarcha and salt and pepper to taste.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

To assemble sandwiches, top multigrain bread with avocado mass, followed by peas and fresh mint.  Serve immediately as avocado will brown over time.

Raisin Scones

• 3 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 Tbsp butter (unsalted)
• 3/4 cup dried raisins, soaked in hot water at least 5 minutes
• Zest of one lemon
• 1 cup whole milk (or cream)
• 2 eggs

Heat oven to 350 F. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut butter in several pieces and add to the dry ingredients. Pulse in food processor until it looks like small crumbs. Whisk together milk and eggs. Add to flour mixture and pulse until just combined into a ball. Dump the dough on a floured surface and add raisins and lemon zest. Knead dough 25-30 times on well-floured surface with well-floured hands until the surface of the dough is smooth and doesn’t have any cracks.

Flour your rolling pin and then roll out dough to 1 inch thickness. Cut out scones using a round biscuit cutter. Transfer scones to a lined baking sheet. Gather remaining dough into a ball, knead a few times, then roll it out to 1 inch thickness. Cut out the rest of your scones and transfer to the baking sheet. Brush the top of the scones milk and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake scones for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Serve with butter, clotted cream, whipped cream, lemon curd or jam. Yield: 12-16 scones

Russian Tea Cookies & Raspberry Thumbprints

Base Dough

• 1 cup (2 sticks or 226 g) unsalted butter, softened
• ⅔ cup (80 g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 2 egg yolks from large eggs
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp. Salt
• 2½ cups  unbleached all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325ºF and line baking sheets.  Using an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or handheld electric mixer, beat butter until creamy and smooth. Beat in confectioner’s sugar and mix until well incorporated scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula when necessary. Add egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt; mix until well blended. On low speed, gradually add flour and mix until just fully incorporated. Once again, scrape the bowl with rubber spatula when needed. Do not chill the dough, instead immediately split the dough in half to prepare both recipes below.

For jam thumbprints, scoop dough and form small balls, then roll in sugar.  Make a thumb imprint, then bake until cookies are just beginning to lightly brown, about 15 minutes.  Once out of the oven, fill with your favorite seedless jam. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For Russian tea cookies, mix in ½ to ⅔ cup of pecans or walnuts.  Scoop dough and form small balls. Bake about 15 minutes, cookies should be lightly browned.  Once out of the oven, carefully roll in powdered sugar. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Back in college, I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity for several service trips.  Habitat requires their new home owners put a certain amount of “sweat equity” into their home or the home of another recipient.  The other day I started wondering how much “sweat equity” I have put into my yard. Between weeding, planting, and mowing I think I have easily banked hundreds of hours of sweat equity by now!  It has certainly been a labor of love.

While scrolling through my phone, I stumbled upon this picture from this time last year.  What a sad picture! Two mostly dead butterfly bushes and a couple of hostas– that was the extent of the garden.  What’s sad is that it actually took a lot of work just to get to that point– the front “garden” was totally overgrown with weeds.

Last year I planted several perennials and of course a few annuals for color throughout the summer.  This year, it has been a joy to see many of the perennials I planted last year return and start to blossom- I especially love the creeping phlox and daffodils.  I can’t wait for the knockout roses and Irises to begin blooming. It makes me happy to walk past the garden each day on my way out the door. I am really looking forward to lazy weekend mornings drinking coffee on the porch.

In the backyard, Daniel has started his beehive last week.  So far it seems the hive has accepted their queen and the bees started building honeycomb.

Lots of exciting changes in the yard- definitely getting exciting for nights by the firepit!