As of late, I’ve been wanting more veggies! These are three things I make all the time.
Hungarian mushroom soup
This is probably the thing I make for other people and get the most requests for a recipe! That’s how I know it’s good! I also get cravings for this soup, and after the summer season is over, it’s one of the dishes I can’t wait to start making again. It’s rich, creamy, dilly and delicious.
Cucumber Sandwiches
When nothing looks good and I don’t feel like eating, this has saved the day! Literally just crusty bread, cream cheese, sliced cucumber, and freshly ground salt and pepper. Have you ever had this??
Vegetarian Sandwiches
I have never met a meat sandwich that I like better than my veggie sandwiches! Bold statement, I know. But there’s something about the combo of just bread, cheese, mayo, and crunchy vegetables that really go well together. For me the secret is slivered red onion, freshly ground salt and pepper on my tomatoes, and I’ll throw whatever else I have in the fridge in there- grilled or fresh bell peppers, sliced cucumber, micro greens, lettuce, or spinach. Don’t knock it until you try it! I get cravings for this.
Happy New year! Do you do any resolutions? I do Gretchen Rubin’s 26 for 2026 list and am currently trying to fill mine up. I would love to know your lists and resolutions! Here are few things I’m currently obsessed with.
My current favorite green smoothie
Not sure what it is, but the combination of kale, apple, lemon and ginger is something I’m craving. It has Jamba Juice vibes and you can water it down to your preference if you don’t like a thick juice. I make some kind of variation of this once a week!
• 1 cup kale (stems removed, packed) • 1 apple (Granny Smith or Fuji work well; core removed, chopped) • 1 tsp fresh ginger (peeled, roughly chopped — adjust to taste) • 6–8 mint leaves (fresh and optional) • 1 cup cold water or coconut water • Juice of ½ lemon or lime (balances the greens) • And 1 full dropper of stevia
Super warm, super stay put winter socks
A sock is a sock is a sock right?!! That’s what I thought until I tried Quince’s Merino Wool socks. Who knew my feet could be this toasty in winter! I’ve tried alpaca socks and my feet were still cold. Also they would slide off and turn to the left and right and omg they were so annoying. These socks have kind of like an arch band but not too tight? They don’t slide off or wiggle left and right. I had no idea how many years I had put up with the inconvenience of socks that didn’t keep me warm and also ended up with heel side up or slid down my foot. Wowza. Also I stepped on a wet spot at my brother’s house and it dried up pretty quickly! I was again, in shock. They aren’t as expensive or as tight as Bombas or Darn Tough socks either!
How am I waxing poetic about socks? I’m still not done. I did a lot of research. The last thing I love is that they come in a four pack of all black socks. The last thing I want to do is try to pair different colored socks. One less thing to think about and challenge myself with come laundry day!
Why your dog would make the perfect influencer
I have a friend of a friend who has about 400k followers on tik tok and a YouTube page and makes 10k per sponsored video post. This is just to say there’s so much money to be made in the influencer space. BUT you say, you don’t want to end up a famous meme, right?! I get it. There’s a lot of haters out there. Believe me, I only have less than 2k on my dating advice Tik Tok and they come after me. You want to remain anonymous? You want to protect your family and have your privacy? You don’t want anyone bullying you or your family or making AI generated videos and pics of you or your family?
Yes, yes, yes.
This is why your pup would be the perfect influencer. Bully the pup! He won’t know or care. Hide the family and hide yourself! Everyone loves a dog and a funny animal video. So yeah, just a side hustle idea for the new year featuring man’s best friend! At least maybe he can pay for his own Farmer’s Dog food eventually?!? 🤣
Hi friends! Hubby is off for two weeks! What are you doing while kids are off school?
Outdoor cold weather family friendly outing
Today it was cold but sunny, so we took our family to their first ever revolving sushi restaurant. It was actually super exciting for them to open up the doors and grab their choices or rush to grab something on the conveyer belt before it was too late. Oh the thrill of firsts! We let them be next to the belt.
We asked Chatgpt to find us a sushi place that was next to a bike trail, and then Nate used the footpath app to mark our route. For boys ages 7 and 10, 4 miles one way is just about perfect for us- exercise with no whining yet 🤣 It also helps that we searched for two geocaches en route. Even on a day that was 39 degrees, it was surprisingly warm since it was full sun and we bundled up and started moving. Highly recommend a biking-4-miles-to-a-food-destination-and-finding-geocaches-along-the-way outing.
Any other cold weather outdoor family friendly activities you’d recommend?
My number 1 shelving trick that anyone can follow
Ok, let’s talk shelving! A lot of people on interior design facebook groups get really frustrated and can’t seem to figure out shelving. I’m sure there are lots of other tricks, but the easiest trick I’ve found is to separate all your groupings. Every separate grouping has either 1,2,3, or 4 items clustered together and all those items must be different sizes.
Check it out above with the clients I helped! It’s such a simple little trick.
An easy peasy breakfast idea we are loving currently
So Nate is off from Dec 25- Jan 4 which means I’m making breakfast every morning. How many ways can a wife cook an egg? That is the question and challenge for the week. 🤣 We love smoked cheese scrambled eggs with bacon and cubed hashbrowns with onions, over medium fried eggs with crispy eggsnest hashbrowns, over medium eggs on tomato and mayo open faced sandwiches, soft boiled eggs made fancy eaten in the shell and cracked on top served with little buttery toasts the size of fingers and dipped into the soft boiled eggs, and now this here taco has made the cut. Wish we had the cilantro and the avocados – would have made it over the top amazing adding that bit of freshness!
Do you have any favorite egg recipes?!! I’d love to know!
P.s. my absolute favorite egg recipe is this crustless quiche given to me by a bed and breakfast owner!
Hi friends, hope your holidays have been a good mix of relaxing with some moments of quiet family time and energizing with some parties and festivities! Here’s what I’ve been thinking about lately.
All things funky, eclectic, and loud
I’m really obsessed with this bright violet fuchsia peplum top. The style I’m loving right now is everything over the top like flouncy sleeves on this! I’m loving funky, eclectic, and loud. Maybe this is me trying to hasten spring and survive the gloom of winter.
Aging with your siblings
One thing I never thought of when I was growing up was just how weird it would be to reach middle age with my brothers. We fought a lot when we were young and stuck under the same roof, but as we’ve gotten older, we have dropped the bickering and really do support and love each other. I wish my parents could verbalize what the secret sauce was because I know not all siblings are as close and well- meaning as we are. I don’t see or talk to my older brother Dee as often as I’d like, but he has always been a spiritual head to me. He has enlightened me to ideas like OMAD and intermittent fasting, homeschooling, and hiring someone on Craigslist to help me cook when I was working full time.
My younger brother has always been one of my best friends, and he moved to Seattle to be closer to me. We have a weekly regular date every Sunday where we share a meal, or I clean his condo, cut his hair or we walk through grocery stores together. We are so different, but we share our love of food, good gossip 🤣, and our entrepreneurial spirit. It just feels so weird to see us all aging. My brothers really will hold the longest friendship with me of any people because we knew each other as kids. That’s crazy to think! Anyways here are some things I think my parents did to help make us close-
They never compared us with each other. No “Why can’t you be more like _____?”
My mom really emphasized the importance of human relationships over material things. Her famous line was always, “We may not have much, but we have each other.” And somehow that really was engrained in my psyche.
They created an environment where teasing was absolutely not allowed.
They created an environment where no topic was off limits and there was no action or word spoken in our home that allowed for shame or guilt. Our home life felt completely free and open.
All of this has made for a very free and open relationship as adults!
Ask ChatGPT to choose your BBQ sauce (spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, sweet chili sauce, enchilada sauce etc) on the spot
Did this at grocery outlet yesterday, and maybe everyone’s already doing this and I’m the last one to get the memo but just in case, this was so helpful with decision fatigue. You know how you stand in front of the shelves and there are soooooo many options? Then you google or chatgpt, “What’s the best BBQ sauce?” And then that option is not on the shelf?
So frustrating if ever there were a first world frustration.
So instead, just snap a photo and ask ChatGPT, what is the best BBQ sauce on this shelf?
Have you ever been gifted a recipe? It’s so special. The recipes I’ve been gifted by relatives, friends, and even a bed and breakfast, are recipes that I repeat and go back to most often. I also love seeing them labeled in my collections by the giver- mom’s gluten and onions, Rochelle’s beans and rice etc…
Here are 5 I have been eating currently –
Bed and breakfast green chili quiche-
Back in college, I worked at an acupuncturist’s office located in a Victorian home. We visited the bed and breakfast across the street for brunch once and I tasted THE. MOST. MOUTHWATERING. quiche I had ever put in my mouth. I told the owner how much I loved it. She said, “Do you want the recipe?” I’ve made this quiche for decades and added anything and everything- ham, bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, spinach, kale… it goes with everything. I will never make another quiche again. Is it a quiche or a frittata, who knows?!
Hikari’s grilled Greek meat marinade
I am a self professed lazy foodie, so I want to get to the eating part as quick as humanly possible. I love this marinade so much because it tastes good on every kind of meat- I’ve tried it on lamb, beef, and chicken. Superb. I get asked for this recipe when I make it for people. I will never make another grilled Greek meat marinade again.
Mom’s tofu and green beans
My mom is not a cook, BUT she had three must eat recipes on repeat and the one I’ll share is my favorite tofu recipe of all time. It’s a Filipino dish with soy sauce, tons of garlic, lime, sugar, and pepper. It brings me back to my childhood every time I eat it. The annoying thing is that it has no measurements like so many typical inherited recipes. Just know that the base needs to taste more sweet than salty or tangy. It is sweet and garlicy with a hint of tang and saltiness. Good luck 😆
Rochelle’s black beans and garlic rice-
I don’t personally know Rochelle, but Rochelle was my brother Allan’s classmate and she gave him this recipe and he gave me this recipe. I never make any other kinds of beans and rice. I get regular cravings for this and make it at least once a month. The thing that makes this rice and beans so special is that the rice contains an entire head of garlic. So if you are a garlic fan, you will LOVE this.
Sol’s cucumber, tomato, onion salad
I eat this almost every week, with almost any meat or protein- see black beans above. 😆 It’s so simple and so delish! Again, no measurements but I do about 1 capful of apple cider vinegar and a lot of salt, like 25 grinds on my salt grinder-
Do you have any recipes you’ve inherited that are you make over and over? I’d love to know!
The perfect vegetable side dish in an Asian rice bowl
Call me the queen of lazy cooking, aka the lazy foodie. One of my favorite meals is a hearty Asian rice bowl. It could be chicken, tofu, salmon etc…, some kimchi, (my brother Allan made this, and it’s BOMB), some grilled veggies, some pickled veggies and rice of course, maybe topped with a fried egg for good measure. I just discovered my favorite vegetable side and it’s super duper easy to make- lightly sautéed salted cucumber. I had never cooked my cucumber before. Now I’m a believer! Here’s the recipe. If you’re not a lazy foodie and just want to make a big bowl of bibimbap, this is the recipe to use. I made all these sides for my brother one Sunday and it took a long time. I told him to enjoy the meal because it would be the last time I made it. 😂
Billy Joel in Concert
Billy Joel is my husband’s favorite artist. It was our first ever concert, me at 42 years old and him at 43! I have a newfound appreciation for him as an artist having seen him live. I think that’s what live shows do. He was really funny and self-depreciating. “My piano can move right and my piano can move left. That’s all the theatrics you’re getting tonight,” or something like that. I might be paraphrasing. Before another song, he admitted that the song made him nervous because of the high notes. I can’t imagine if I was Billy Joel’s grandkid. At 75 or 76? years old, he’s still a rock star! I can’t imagine just sticking to one field of work for so long and being so good at it and having so many fans. My favorite song was “New York State of Mind.” I don’t know how he does it, but it just sounds like New York.
The Most Comfortable Summer Shorts Ever
These short are soooo comfy. They have this wide stretchy garter band of a waist. They are the perfect short especially if you are an apple shape because horizontal lines in the hip area give the illusion of wider hips, which give the illusion of a smaller waist, and I don’t know why, maybe it’s all the layers of fabric, but they don’t shimmy up the center of my legs like most shorts do. I’m in LOVE.
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