Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

Our trip to Trillium Gathering was truly a success - it was very much a spiritual retreat as well as a whole lot of fun and laughter, and the various workshops and ritual work has still got my head so full of things to think about, take in and simply absorb that I haven't really felt fully like I'm back yet.

I spent some time yesterday doing some decluttering and organizing in the bedroom - mainly the dresser top, which becomes a catch up for all sorts of things with no thought given about where they actually belong.  I plan to do an hour or so of organizing and decluttering a day until the house is done... this was one of the things I came to realize while away -  that too much stuff has been trapping me and keeping me from actually enjoying most of what I have.  Living simply for a few days will do that - it was easy to see how much less stressful it was to live lightly.

I'm also slowly getting back into the groove of cooking - we've got a little grocery shopping to do tonight, but last night we put together a soup made of whatever we could scrounge up, and it was very satisfying and delicious.

I don't think I can even lay out a real recipe here - it was very much 'toss this in!' 'hey, how about some of that?!'  If I remember rightly, what we used was some stored homemade chicken broth, about 1/3 of a slow-cooked roasted chicken (deboned), along with whatever gelatin had encased the leftovers when they were put up.  Then we tossed in a diced onion, some minced garlic, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper and then we went hunting for vegetables.

A couple chopped sweet potatoes, a package of frozen spinach, the remains of opened bags of frozen peas and corn, a few carrots.  I'd have liked to have had some celery, but our celery was used up.

We ate two big bowls of the stuff, and found it a tasty, easy dinner for a tired wind-down Monday.

Before I forget, I also want to note that we used this recipe for Grain Free Banana Bread from Small Footprint Family as our contribution to the Trillium potluck (I was mystified at how one brings a potluck dish on a camping trip that starts Thursday, when the potluck isn't until Saturday, coldish weather aside).  I actually quadrupled the recipe and realized in the middle that I was 3 eggs short for what I'd need for a straight quadruple, so I tossed in a halfpint of homemade peach marmalade and hoped for the best.  It was still very banana-ey and moist, thought possibly slightly less bound than it would have been with eggs.  The quadrupled batter filled 2 regular sized loaf pans, and cooked fine all the way through.

It held up very well and was delicious to the end - we will be doing this again.

Shared with: 
. Busy Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Frugal Crafty Blog Hop, Gathering Spot, Gluten-Free Recipe Round-Up, Homemade Mondays, Homestead Barn Hop, In and Out of the Kitchen Monday, Just Another Meatless Monday, Made By You Monday, Make It Yourself Monday, Making Your Home Sing Monday, Manic Monday, Marvelous Mondays, Mealtime Monday, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Menu Plan Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Monday Fun Day, Mop It Up Monday, Mostly Homemade Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Motivated Monday, My Meatless Monday, Natural Living Monday, Nomday Monday, On the Menu Monday. 
Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Backyard Farming Connection Blog HopFamily Table Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Hearth & Soul Hop, How-To Hop, Scratch Cooking Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday,  Tackle the Menu Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Time To Sparkle, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Traditional Tuesdays, Tuesday Greens, Tutorial Tuesday, You're Gonna Love It   
Allergy-Free Wednesday, Creative Spark, Down Home Blog Hop, Fluster's Creative Muster, Fresh Foods Wednesday, Frugal Days - Sustainable Ways, Gluten-Free Wednesday, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Party Wave Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Seasonal Celebration Wednesday, Show & Tell Wednesday, Tasty Traditions, Two Girls & a Party, Waste Not - Want Not Wednesday, Well Fed Wednesday, Wellness Wednesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Wheat-Free Wednesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Wonderful Food Wednesday, Works For Me Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday.
DIY Accomplished, Fabulously Frugal Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, HomeAcre Hop, Hookin' Up With HoH, Showcase Your Talent Thursday Simple Lives Thursday, Thank Your Body Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Thursday's Treasures, Transformation Thursday


 

13 comments:

  1. Sounds like a delicious and filling dinner. I am glad you shared it with us at MMM>

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  2. I need to set a snack by my writing space. Every time I visit your blog, I want to eat something lol

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  3. I love using up the bits of this and bits of that! Thanks for linking up with us for Fabulously Frugal Thursday.

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  4. Looks like a lovely and nutritious dinner.

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  5. Sounds yummy and looks even yummier! I like your idea of decluttering a little each day. That makes everything seem less overwhelming and that way you never have to spend too much time each day doing it! ;)

    Thanks so much for linking up to the "Making Your Home Sing Monday" linky party today! :)

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  6. I keep thinking I need to do this at the end of each week to use up leftover veggies. I have a bad habit of getting carried away with the produce at the grocery tore. Thanks for sharing on Thursdays Treasures.

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  7. We often do this on Friday night -- love soup and love to keep the leftovers used! Thanks so much for sharing on busy Monday!

    A Pinch of Joy/

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  8. I will be on a Spiritual Retreat next weekend and just can't wait. Your post is fabulous and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday. Have a great weekend and come back soon!
    Miz Helen

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  9. The beauty of soup is its versatility! The only down side is when it turns into something so wonderful that the family asks me to make it again ... unfortunately, there's no remaking 'clean out the fridge' soup the same twice. Looks yummy. Thanks for sharing on Hearth & Soul Hop. :)

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  10. I love that your camping had a potluck. Glad to hear that you had a good time. Thanks for sharing on Tuesday Greens!

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  11. Glad you had a good time! Thanks for sharing on The HomeAcre Hop! Stop by to say hi to our new co-host and share more of you great posts!
    http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/05/the-homeacre-hop-17-exciting-news.html

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  12. Decluttering our space, our minds, our lives... it's all a good thing. :D Thanks for sharing. Looks yummy and simple. :D
    p

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