#Cultivate15 Day 1: Reflection

Reflection: What did you set out to accomplish last year? What have you done to cultivate your goals and your life? Did your intentions manifest during the year?

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Last year I set out to glue my family back together and recover from the trauma inflicted on us. By sheer willpower and determination, I saw my intentions manifest during the year. When recovery came, I tried my very best to rest when I needed it. I’ve made dinner time around the table a nightly occurrence unless I’m working during dinner time. While I felt defeated several times during the year, overall I feel that 2014 was very successful.

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#FoodieFriday Soup 101

Making soup from scratch isn’t as difficult as it might sound. Take a leftover roasted chicken, an onion, a couple of well-scrubbed carrots, a couple of medium celery stalks, a bay leaf or two, garlic, salt, and pepper, fill the pot until everything’s covered, then bring everything to a boil. Lower the heat and allow to simmer for two or three hours, and you’re ready to add whatever you like. You can use this method on chicken bones, turkey bones, and even beef or pork bones. If you’re a vegetarian, add some more vegetables to make a great veggie broth. Personally, I love a good chicken or turkey broth based soup.

Once you’ve gotten your broth strained and ready, add some more veggies, meat, beans, rice, potatoes, and/ or noodles. The combinations are endless, but a classic chicken noodle soup with carrots, celery, and onions always warms my tummy the best. Bring it back to a boil and lower to a simmer to tenderize the veggies and potatoes. If you’re adding noodles, you can toss them in when it boils. You can also cook the rice in the pot, but my favorite method is cooking the rice separate in a half broth half water mixture and added once it has absorbed most of the liquid.

Then you’ve got accompaniments. Saltine crackers, butter crackers, multi-grain crackers, gluten free crackers. Biscuits, muffins, cornbread. Sandwiches and salads. There are so many ways to serve up soup as a meal. If you’re making a tomato soup, you’ve even got cheese and cheese crackers to add.

Yesterday I made my family my favorite traditional soup with some homemade biscuits. We neglected to snap a picture in time, but it was the perfect meal for a very cold day in the mountains.

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#ThankfulThursday A Day Off

Across the United States, we were slammed with an arctic blast. Temperatures dropped into the single digits here in Northwest Georgia early this morning. Schools delayed opening by two hours to allow the sun time to rise and melt any potential mountain run off so kids would be safe getting to school. I’m grateful they gave the babies extra time to sleep and time for the sun to warm things up a little bit. I’m also incredibly grateful that I was scheduled for a day off today. I wanted no part of leaving home at all today. After working six days straight and fighting off all the cold and flu strains flying around, I wanted to stay home, soak my aching bones in a hot bath, and cook up a big batch of chicken noodle soup. I had to roast a couple of chickens to accomplish this task, but we now have leftover chicken meat for a couple of meals. I’m grateful for freshly roasted chicken, mixed veggies, and mashed potatoes in my near future. I’m also grateful for the healing qualities in a bone broth. Call it a myth or an old wives’ tale — chicken soup will cure what ails you.

So while I’m snuggled here on the futon with a sweater-wearing pup, I’m extremely grateful to be warm and cozy. Stay warm everyone!

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#MotivationMonday Nurture Check-In

This is the first Monday of 2015, and so far I’ve been attempting to practice mindful nurturing. Breaking old habits will be challenging, especially since I’ve been terrible about drinking my water for several months now. In November I switched departments at work, and I find it even more difficult to maintain my water consumption. I’ve also faced issues with leftover junk food from holiday baking and making poor food choices while on breaks at work. I don’t like how I feel when I’ve eaten terribly, but I also feel too lazy to change that. Overall, I’m making mental notes of my problem areas so I can consciously change my habits.

We are also 5 days into my photo-a-day challenge, and so far I’ve made sure to snap pictures of myself and my children. Apparently I’m not only nurturing my inner photographer — I’m nurturing my children’s love of smiling for the camera! All 3 kids have been willing participants in the challenge. It’ll be interesting to see how each of us grows and changes over the year.

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#FoodieFriday New Year’s Partying

We like to party in our house — and by party I mean eat. Look at this delicious spread we enjoyed Wednesday evening…

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We had deviled eggs, corn dog mini-muffins, pepperoni, cheese, crackers (both regular and gluten free), a cute little cake my daughter made in her Easy Bake oven, shrimp and cocktail sauce, green grapes, veggies and dip, and (gluten free) oreo truffles.

Then today we had a ham dinner complete with cornbread, spinach, baked beans, and delicious gluten free macaroni and cheese.

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Happy New Year!

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#ThankfulThursday Happy New Year!

Happy 2015! I’m so thrilled that we’re now on the other side. This year is filled with so much promise and so many opportunities. I’m looking forward to a very big move we’ll be making during the first half of the year. I’m also looking forward to hosting the third Cultivate prompt series. If you haven’t signed up to receive the daily prompts, be sure to sign up here. I’ve already decided to retry the Lenten vows I had planned last year (I didn’t follow through because I was already playing circus animal for the ringmasters). I’m very grateful overall that I’ve got a fresh new year ahead of me with a lot of promise. After the last two years, I’m definitely ready for a clean slate and new beginnings. Here’s to cultivating a life worth loving in 2015!

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