John -10

http://cookieandkate.com/2013/sweet-potato-black-bean-veggie-burgers/ with oven home fries

http://cookieandkate.com/2015/vegan-sweet-potato-green-rice-burrito-bowls   

http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/smashed-chickpea-avocado-salad-sandwich/  

Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Corn Burritos

We had mushrooms, sauced, on polenta.

http://cookieandkate.com/2013/sweet-potato-black-bean-veggie-burgers/ the burgers unadorned. 

Sweet Hera waiting for me to get up so she can beg me to play with her and get underfoot.

John took the huge flight of stairs up from the parking lot to the lodge at Starved Rock. I drove!

Lots of questions about vegan food. Here are some photos of some of our meals. My very fave so far, and I've liked them all, is one I don't have a photo for . . . http://ohsheglows.com/2015/01/21/warm-roasted-winter-salad-bowl/.  The burrito bowls were also wonderful. Once you start looking at recipes you just find more and more. Everything has been delicious and filling. My least fave so far was the mushroom polenta dish, and even that was still good. Oatmeal for breakfast with a little peanut butter and some vegan chocolate chips . . . and some lentils! Try it. It is delicious and satisfying in this cold weather. I just made the veggie burgers and home fries last night, so leftover tonight. They were excellent. I never thought I'd be saying that! They truly were delicious. Next on the menu:

 http://www.connoisseurusveg.com/2015/08/sticky-sesame-cauliflower.html

and

http://cookieandkate.com/2015/thai-pineapple-fried-rice-recipe/  No eggs for us though, we are substituting in some Crispy Baked Tofu from the same blog.  Love this blog, the recipes have been bit hits. 

Kay :)

Mallaney Cousin Get-together

Had a great lunch at Maria's today with the Mallaney girls. Lots of fun to be together and NOT at a funeral or wake. Saw lots of great old photos. We are gonna do it again in May. Don't Mom and Aunt Kay look terrific! Mom is 78, Aunt Kay will be 83. Of course the rest of us are good looking too. Good genes.  We really can't help it, it's just the way it is.

I'm coming off a bug, even missed a few days at the Y tsk tsk. But I went back today. In fact I may have picked up my bug at the Y M C AAAAAA.

I am heading to John's tomorrow for another Vegan Week! In preparation I had a great hoagie for lunch. With cheese. And garlic butter. I'm ready!

I forgot to say that I got my red hair back thanks to Loreal Medium Reddish Brown. Next time it's going to be Carribean Caramel, Light Reddish Brown. No fear now!

January is going by freakishly fast!  I'm doing my job hunting, nothing really promising has reared its head yet, but I'm ever  hopeful.

Kay :)

Happy New Year

One year anniversary of Dad's passing.

We had a good Christmas, quiet, quiet is good, and are looking forward to 2016 being a good year.

I'm at John's for a few days. He started his Biggest Loser competition at work, and is eating vegan, so I've been the chef. I'm doing a good job. I predict he will win the first weigh-in! It is good for me too, lots of beans and veggies.  We had too many cookies over the holidays. I feel like a veg-o-matic. And it is fun looking at new recipes, vegan or not.

John's cats had their annual Friday, and I rode along. Gosh they were loud. Hera was 11.9 before she got sick, 7.3 whe she got sick and now . . . 15.1# Oh lordy. So we are all on a diet. Hera is supposed to be eating low carb, kind of the opposite of vegan. Lucky cat . . .

Nothing else exciting, I'm pretty boring and blah right now. I've been job hunting, going to the Y every day that I'm home, and pestering my kitties.  And I can be perfectly happy being boring and blah, at least for right now.

Kay :)

Mutant Root Vegetables

The Claw vs. Mega Carrot, and Methusacarrot.

More interesting garden veggies. Weird and delicious.

No Roommates for Midgie

My cute display in front window before Midge  . . .

I thought I'd tuck my smiley face Santas in the door of Midge's cat tree. Kind of cute, huh?

After Midge!

But Midge will not have it! She never gets in that little house in the cat tree, but she will not share.

Isis supervising puzzle assembly.

The delightfully non-anorexic Hera wants us to do a puzzle with a bigger box.

Cookie Day at Mar's yesterday. A lovely time had by all.

Mar and Mark, the twins, with the Super Cool Lucas, Mark's son, Mar's newphew. There will be a pop quiz later.

 

 

Photobomb! That Donna Lou!

In other news I lost my glasses in Streator. I super glued a drawer to my hand.

Kay :)

Uncle Jim

Uncle Jim, Aunt Kay, Dad and Aunt Joan.

Brothers at the reunion.

So sad to lose Uncle Jim this week. Cousin Peggy had a lovely celebration of life (94 years!) for him yesterday. He is back together with Aunt Shirley now. And what a joyous reunion in heaven, back with his family. The world would be a lot better place with a lot more Uncle Jims. Like Dad his faith was strong, and his morning prayers took a long time as he prayed for everybody by name. He knew someone wherever he went and could talk to anyone. He would call and check up on the happenings in Morris. I will really miss that. And he wrote the best cards and letters. I remember Dad sitting at the kitchen table, reading a card Uncle Jim sent. Uncle Jim advised Dad to "root for Notre Dame, stay loyal to the White Sox, and vote Republican!" Dad laughed out loud at the thought . . . of voting Republican! LOL  Uncle Jim had a great memory and even this past year laughed as he remembered one time when he was at our house, gosh over 30 years ago I think, and we always had cats around, and one of the cats, Pudgie, was showing off for him on the end table in the living room and settled in for a nap . . . with his head in the ashtray! lol A wonderful and generous husband, father, brother, uncle and friend, a another tremendous loss to our family. And Cousin Peggy losing both her folks within 6 months, that is heartbreaking. I commented to her that we were sure lucky girls to have had such fathers for as long as we did.

We cousins were and are lucky to have such uncles. The best ever I think. John remarked at the funeral dinner yesterday that all the male cousins resemble the uncles, but not necessarily their fathers, and it is true.

Cousin Peggy toasted her Dad yesterday, and remarked that she couldn't wait for 2015 to be over and the entire family heartily concurred!

Dad's birthday today, he would have been 96! So thankful he is in heaven, whole in mind and with his beloved family.

Peace.

Kay

Happy Thanksgiving

Here's what's happening around the homestead . . .

I paid $20 bucks at the Y and got this t-shirt. If I maintain my weight within 2 pounds until the final weigh-in on December 28th (I better have lost some by then!!) my $20 goes toward my next years membership. If I don't maintain, my $20 goes to charity.  I should say WHEN I maintain my weight (and lose some!), my $20 will go toward my next membership.

I think there is a scary Y-Man that could pop out and make me feel guilty if I go to the bakery. Or maybe "he" is Santa. Not sure

More kindness from friends. I'd like to thank Sue, Bonnie and Connie for the outing. Thanks to Sue for organizing, and for the company, and to Bonnie for the shrooms and to Connie for treating me to dinner and drinks. It was fun.

Also a shout out to Sue for helping me get my feet out of the rowing machine at the Y. That's all I have to say about that. What happens at the Y stays at the Y! I hope . . . I certainly don't want some of my shenanigans following me home . . .

I cleaned some more drawers and floors, and knocked down some cobwebs. I hauled a window with a broken seal to the glass shop and ordered a new one. Why didn't I do that when the weather was nicer lol?

I had a fun outing with John's work friends to a trivia event in Streator. The beer was great! Our team suffered from the absence of one team member (Diana!), but a good time was had by all.

I got my first unemployment check. I certified myself on Tuesday. I'm certifiable I guess.

I made Finn a kitty condo. and he moved right in. I think he went out in the rain multiple times last night because he loves getting toweled off.

 
I job hunted.
 
I cooked some good stuff.

Food is hard to photograph. That is pork with a mustard cream sauce . . . made with leftover half and half from the mashed taters (Pioneer Woman recipe). Those reheated wonderfully today for Thanksgiving dinner. The sweet potatoes are glazed with bourbon and dark brown sugar. Wow. Delicious. I know, two starches. That's just the way I roll sometimes. Not pictured is a hot buttered roll . . .

One day after John went to work and I turned his thermostat up to 59! Maybe even 60.  His kitties meowed in thanks and each ran to a heat vent lol. Hera is doing great. Anorexia is a distant memory, thank goodness.

Isis

Hera

I have to pick a healthcare plan from the marketplace by December 14th. I find the decision strangely hard. I'm going to pick one by Monday. And not with a dart or anything. 

First Thanksgiving without Dad. We had a nice dinner, turkey with all the trimmings, carrot cake for dessert. I burned the garden carrots I so carefully peeled and sliced. Tsk tsk. 

Prayers for Uncle Jim in the hospital and Cousin Peggy and for my whole family after a sad, bad year. Not that it was all bad, but a lot of bad things happened, that's for sure.

Peace. 

Kay :)