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#ThankfulThursday Vehicular Freedom

It is with great joy and relief that I can share that we once again have a vehicle. In early August, our van overheated and stopped running. The diagnostics gave us a quote that left us stranded in the mountains of Northwest Georgia with no end in sight. Fortunately, we seem to have landed in an area that still believes in Southern Hospitality and community. I have been incredibly grateful for the assistance we’ve received from friends, as well as getting to know them better along the way. Yet there’s something to be said about not needing to think about scheduling a ride when it’s time to go to work. There’s something sort of special about being able to load up the family, turn up some of our favorite songs, and go for a drive just to spend some time together. I missed that time with my family — well, maybe not the screaming and whining parts, but you get the point.

Two years ago, this wasn’t something I’d worry about. Two years ago, I lived in a city with fairly decent bus service. But now we’re here, and now I’ve lived life without a vehicle in a rural community. It’s easy to go car-free when you’ve got public transportation and everything within a reason distance. Riding a bike 7 miles one way along a treacherous mountain road to get to work? No thank you! Give me my gas-hungry, money-hungry vehicle any day. It grants me the freedom to live in a such a beautiful area.

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#TuesdayTreat Gluten Free Chocolate Gingerbread

Right, so I got lazy over the past few days, but I figured out a great save — the Tuesday Treat! I baked some very delicious mocha spice cupcakes a few weeks ago and came up with a great idea — gluten free chocolate gingerbread. While I’m not ready to share my mocha spice recipes with the world yet, I am ready to adapt a recipe I’ve been enjoying since March.

Chocolate Gingerbread (Adapted from Healthy Flourless Chocolate Cake)
1 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
5 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil (or 1 stick of butter)
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsps ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan. Put drained and rinsed beans, 3 eggs, vanilla, and salt into a food processor or blender. Crank it to high and run the machine into you’ve got a liquified concoction in the bowl of the processor (or blender). Add the other eggs, sugar, molasses, and oil. Turn on the processor/ blender again. Put your dry ingredients in, and blend it again. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan. Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool. Makes 12 slices.

GFchocogingerbread

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#MondayMeditations The Crossroads of Change

There comes a point in life — usually more than once — when you’re faced with inevitable changes that must occur for the sake of growth and staying in the same old rut. That rut is known and somehow comforting, even if it’s not a comfortable place to be. It’s just comfortable knowing what to expect from day to day. But that tired routine of stagnation isn’t healthy or fulfilling. Change has to happen. But of course, the fear of change, the fear of the unknown, the fear of failure all come into play. Doubting one’s self leads to a lot of second-guessing and procrastination. There are so many opportunities waiting to be grasped firmly and confidently — so why then is it that we (or more specifically I) are squandering these opportunities? What’s holding us back?

I’ve been questioning myself and second-guessing myself a lot, lately. I’ve got so many ideas in my head, but it seems I’m just leaving them as unfinished projects in my spiral notebooks. When it came to school and comes to work, I see my projects through to the end — why can’t I translate that into my own personal pursuits? What prevents any of us from achieving the same sort of greatness that only a handful actually obtain? Why do we allow barriers to block us from our dreams and goals? We should surpass these obstacles. We should channel our strength and live our dreams. Blame it on my recent affinity for the lunar phases, but I’ve been very philosophical and introspective as of late. I’ve practically torn through everything in my life, scattering everything on the floor, searching for the answer, and now I’m trying to put everything back together in the right order — trying to find a new balancing point. The problem: I don’t know where I’d personally like to start. Add some more blame to the increasing number of candles on my birthday cakes — I’m a little over a year away from entering my 30s, and I’d certainly like to see my efforts blossom into something worth bragging about at the next high school reunion. It sounds silly, I know, but somehow I think we all get stuck in the mindset that we need to measure up to standards set forth by someone else at a set period of time. Maybe that’s where the problem lies.

Maybe it’s time to stop using someone else’s measuring stick. Maybe it’s time to evaluate myself — ourselves — based on our own standards. Maybe it’s time to be gentler with those standards, to be kinder to ourselves. Maybe it’s time to wake up from the day-to-day and embrace change as a necessity to growth and progress. Maybe we need to face our fears and step forward, telling those fears that we will not be controlled any longer. Maybe it’s time to face our problems and change them. Maybe instead of second-guessing myself, I should have more confidence in knowing that I’ve made it this far and have a fully capable head on my shoulders. Maybe it’s time to stop rehashing the same old story and start rewriting it.

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#ThankfulThursday Cooler Weather

The weather we’ve had the past few weeks has been decidedly pleasant. The temperatures have stayed below the 85 degree mark, making for great outdoor time. My family and I have been spending a lot of time together outside. I enjoy writing on my porch or deck in the evenings, staring up at the bright stars periodically. We’ve also been opening the windows and letting the breeze be our air conditioner. While air conditioning and heater are a couple of the greatest inventions ever, nothing beats fresh air, sunshine, and pleasant breezes.

On top of the pleasant weather, the leaves are beginning to take on hues of yellow, orange, and red. It’s still subtle, but soon fall leaves will paint the landscape. It inspires me to add apples and pumpkin, cinnamon and cloves, and hot chocolate and cider to the menus. I’m looking forward to bringing out the sweaters and scarves. It really is the little things that make our quality of life better.

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#MondayMeditation Playtime

Who exactly decided that you have to outgrow playtime? This thought has vexed me for quite a bit now. I don’t buy into that crap — that’s right, you heard me. Why should age dictate ability to go out and enjoy one’s self? It shouldn’t. And lately, I’ve been taking steps to separate my age from my play. Just today I spent a good chunk of time blowing bubbles, coloring on the front walkway, and hula hooping with the kids. The weather was far too beautiful to ignore, and the kids are growing up way too fast. To be honest, health is also fairly fleeting, so why waste time sitting around letting old age set in? Life is meant to be lived. I find myself surviving too much instead of living. I meditated a bit upon the floating bubbles that shimmered in the sunshine, contemplating life and my direction — and it was pretty relaxing, actually. I highly recommend spending an afternoon blowing bubbles just for the fun of it. Your whole perspective on life gets a little nip-tuck. I can’t quite advocate for taking up skate boarding in your late 20s, but you never know.

Playing helps me uphold my integrity, which is a very strong theme for me this year. In order to thrive, I must cultivate my life with integrity. I need to be authentic with myself. I need to embrace my desires to frolic in the sunshine, to embrace my need to enjoy the fleeting moments of youth before life pass me by. I cannot be anyone else but myself, and myself wants to play.

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#FoodieFriday Gluten Free Pumpkin Cupcakes

Whoops! Never scheduled this in time, so let’s have Foodie Friday on Saturday! Today I’m moving to a different department at work, so I brought in some cupcakes to say goodbye to my co-workers. I decided to make gluten free pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting since it’s getting closer to autumn. Now, I’m going to admit to you right up front: gluten free baking can be very expensive in terms of buying flour substitutes. The boxed mixes are more expensive than regular boxed mixes, but they’re an easy alternative for me — especially since I live in a rural community. So, I decided to start with a simple gluten free yellow cake mix. Here’s what I did to turn a pre-made mix into a delectable delight:

1 box gluten free cake mix (15oz)
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 can pumpkin puree (15oz)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan (or 2, if you’re living the good life with a big kitchen) with liners. Beat the eggs and oil. Add the pumpkin, vanilla, and spices. Beat until combine. Pour in the box mix and whisk gently until combine. Carefully ladle the batter into the liners, using about half the mixture. Bake for 25 minutes. Set them to cool on a wire rack and re-line your cupcake pan (or be finished if you had 2 pans to start with). Bake the rest of the batter — you should have 24 cupcakes from this recipe.

Now, I may have used a boxed mix to make my cupcakes, but I didn’t get lazy when it came to the frosting. Here’s what I do to make my cream cheese frosting:

1 8oz bar of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup, 4oz), softened
1/2-1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Using a hand- or stand-mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-low until combine. Turn OFF the mixer. Add in your powdered sugar. Carefully turn the mixer on low until the sugar is mostly combined. Pour in the vanilla and beat on medium until smooth, creamy, and whipped in appearance.

Frost your cupcakes. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon for a nice touch, if you wish.

pumpkincupcake

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#ThankfulThursday It Takes A Village…

The month of August was incredibly trying. On August 6th, our van broke down. The head cylinder and gaskets broke. It was an expensive problem that required me to reach out to others in a very big way. Luckily, my community is filled with very caring, loving people who’ve shown me that kindness still exists. Friends and co-workers (who are more like extended family at this point) banded around my family and helped us get back and forth from our respective obligations. I’m incredibly thankful to have such a great community here, and I’m even more thankful that they’ve all touched my life in such a significant way. Without their aid, life could have become very, very scary.

I’m also very thankful for a relative who happened to have a nest egg ready to take away the burden of some of my student loans — after fixing our van, at least one loan will be paid off in full, the other paid down quite a bit. Not only will we be on our wheels again, but we will have freed up some monthly debt to begin snowballing the rest of our debts. I’m relieved and grateful to know that these rough days should be behind us.

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#MondayMeditations Forging Forward

The draft I “saved” disappeared. It’s sort of funny in a cosmic sense — not very much has been going my way, and I’ve been charged with forging forward in spite of circumstances. During August we had a serious failure of our only vehicle, and it has been a miserable experience. Thankfully, things have worked out, and our vehicle will be fixed by the weekend. However, this situation helped me realize that I’ve got a wonderful community willing to support me through rough times, and it helped me realize that I can’t keep taking life day-by-day. In the past I used to think months and years ahead, but the past two years have taught me that life doesn’t always follow your plans. Yet somehow I need to adapt my plans for contingencies. There’s no more room for error. What I do today helps shape what happens tomorrow. If I spend the day laying around bemoaning my woes, tomorrow the woes will still be waiting for me. If I spend today brainstorming ways to lessen and negate the woes, tomorrow I’m that much closer to achieving my goals.

These challenges are merely a test of my will — and my will is still stronger than the tests. But when my strength begins to fade, I know that I have very kind-hearted people who can help rebuild that strength.

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