Hummus New Year

I have perfected Hummus! Just had to share (before I forget!)

Here ya go:

Hummus Perfected

*2 c. (about 1 1/2 cans) canned garbanzo beans, drained (save liquid)
*1/3 cup Tahini
*1/4 fresh lemon juice
*1 tsp. salt
*4 cloves garlic,cut in half
*1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 TBSP olive oil
1 pinch paprika
fresh minced parsley

Place first 6 ingredients(*'d) in a food processor. Process until almost smooth. I like to leave some texture, though the Hummus Experts, of which I am not one, preach to process 'til smooth.
Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate over night to blend flavors.
When ready to serve, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with paprika and parsley.

Great with bagel chips, pita chips, fresh veggies, toasted slices of bread.

Hummus New Year!

I've got my black-eyed peas soaking and my collards ready to cook on New Year's Day. We eat them every year and so far, so good. I'm not taking my chances with 2011.

What do you do on New Year's Eve?
We usually go up to our Farm, but last minute work has kept us Home-Sweet-Home. So we'll be here tonight. Celebrating at home. Eating Hummus and Drinking Champagne and Popping Party Poppers....suits me fine!

Christmas Presence

Present for Christmas:

Snow flakes

WHAT?

Snow Flakes in Georgia on Christmas?

Unheard of!

But true....

Food and Family

Cookies

NO IMAGE AVAILABLE

~ALL EATEN~

(mostly by me.)

Used Cindy's saying time and time again:

"What's one more?!?"

I do indeed like that saying.

 Cutie Pa-Tootie

We've named him "OREO."

More Snow?!

What? MORE?

Oh yeah!

Bluebirds on the Feeder

Cutie Pa-Tootie IN the snow

The sun breaking through snow-laden evergreens.

(Never dreamed I'd see ever see that--much less on Christmas!)

Hope yours was MERRY and BRIGHT!

Merry Christmas, Sweeties!

Wishing you peace and joy

this day, yes!

But most of all I wish

you

HOPE.

Find it and keep it and share it.

Merry Christmas!

Rebekah

Drop-Add

I posted on the City Farmgirl Blog over at maryjanesfarm.com about Winter Solstice celebrations. Do you celebrate it? We are in the process of developing our own traditions. Here's the link. Come over and visit me!

Today we made a basket full of "Kong Wubbas"--dogs' favorite toys--to take to the animal shelter. 25 dogs there needed a bit of Christmas.

Left the basket of toys there.

But.

Came home with this.

What 'cha think??

S~N~O~W

Just had to pop in to say

IT'S SNOWING IN DIXIE!

This weather lately has been the winter weather of my dreams! SNOW AND BRRRRR..................

Whoopie!

Whoot!

And all that!!

Real vs. Fake

So I've been looking at a tree in my family room for a week now. We brought it home last Sunday.

I felt a bit guilty about purchasing a REAL tree. I mean, couldn't be very eco-conscious, could it?
But 'tis true. I so adore the way the REAL ones look and smell.
I've never had a fake one. And I don't think I ever will.
No, the dropping needles don't bother me; it's just part of Christmas in my house.

I happened to find a little tag on the bottom of the tree when I was checking the water level earlier this week.
(Not drinking water, by the way....need to re-cut perhaps?)

The tag has the name of the farm this tree came from.
It says, "Wolf Mountain Tree Farm
              Foye & Nancy Owen"
Even gives their phone number.
I looked them up on the Internet. How cool. This tree came from Western North Carolina, which is my favorite place ever.
Thank you Foye & Nancy for growing this tree.

It sits in my family room.
Not a thing on it.
No lights.
No decorations.

It's lovely.
Truly lovely.

I mentioned to my family~ hey, let's not put lights on it this year! Maybe we could off-set our eco-unfriendliness of having a REAL tree by not using electricity on it. It's so beautiful in its natural state.
No go.
They want lights.
Lots and lots of lights.
Hubs wants white ones.
Daughter wants all kinds of colors.

We'll see what happens today in the family room.
The saga of the tree.
AND YOU KNOW WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?
There are snow flurries flying in the air. You have to look REAL hard to see them between the rain drops, but they are indeed there!
Lucky, lucky, lucky us! woohoo!
I'll take snow flurries any way I can get 'em.
Must get outside....must get outside....

Y'all enjoy your Sunday
Rebekah

Wait now. Check this link out. This is the Foye and Nancy's Christmas tree farm. It says REAL trees are actually better for the environment.
Yay! And so my guilt evaporates-------

http://www.wolfcreektreefarm.com/envir.htm

Becoming Dog

I came across this quote on the website of the rescue organization I've been talking to about "a certain dog."

A certain lovely dog.
A certain lovely dog who I would love to come and live with us.
A princess rescue.

"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog."

Edward Hoagland

"I love my dogs and they love me: Just ask them."

Me

My daughter came home from school the other day distressed. A guest speaker- an "expert"- came to the class and talked about animals. This "expert" told the kids that animals cannot and do not love. They are incapable of emotion. (My daugter's cat, Elvis, died last year and her heart still hurts from the loss.) This "expert" further stated that it does indeed look like love to us, but it only looks like love; it is not. Why does it seem to us that our animals love us? Because we feed them, she explained.

What?! 

Can you hear me screaming all the way over there where you are? 'Cause I am. Don't come into my child's classroom, claim to be an expert on such matters, and say such stupid things.

Unless you want to deal with me. Who's with me?

Now, let me go and feed my dogs so I can fool myself into thinking they love me....

Here's the photo from yesterday. This one is clear, though.

See? It really is beets.
What a beautiful vegetable. 
The only way I really eat fresh beets is roasted.
Actually, I love my all my ROOT VEGETABLES roasted.
All those yummy sugars carmelize...so good!
Nature's gift.

I'm harvesting my small patch of turnips, so stay tuned for more on that!

Here they grow...........

Y'all enjoy your day!

Rebekah

Beginning to Begin

Number of presents purchased                          0

Number of cookies baked                                  0

Number of wreaths hung                                   2

Number of Christmas trees brought home        1

Number of Christmas trees decorated               0

Number of mantels decorated                            0

So there ya go.

It's beginning to begin to look a lot like Christmas.

My Christmas cactus is in bloom.

Bless it.

I've had it for 10 years or so and almost killed it this year.

Thought I had.

But it lives on! 

The tree is in a stand in the Family Room.

Smells wonderful. Looks beautiful.

Even in its "undecorated" state.

I will decorate some. Enough.

And the rest of the time I will spend in celebration.

Visiting and celebrating.

Now it is beginning to sound like Christmas....

Visit and celebrate.

Yes, it's beginning to develop into a "stress-less Christmas."

One sure sign that its Christmastime around here is all the stuff we can get in grocery stores. This is the only time they are available. Eggnog, which I LOVE. And candied fruit. (You know, that candied fruit stuff they put in fruitcakes?  Hmmm...."candied" isn't the word for it, is it? I can't think of what it is called. Other than my word for it--bleh.)

And then there are the nuts. Oh the glorious nuts!

The store I stopped by the other day had a large display of fresh Georgia pecans from south Georgia, Ft. Valley. 2 pounds, $6.99. Are you kidding me? What a great price!

Visions of chocolate covered pecans, my Daddy's famous Christmas concoction, danced through my head.

Oh, and pecan pie!

Georgia pecans are so easy to shell. Just put two together in the palm of your hand and squeeze. One will break the shell of the other. Or if you're lucky, both will crack.

Here's Blue checking them out.

He's a Nut Nut.

His favorite is almonds. So far.

Isn't he adorable?
By the way, I'm hoping to meet a dog this weekend. One for keeps, not fostering. One I've always dreamed of. But since I'm committed to rescues, never thought I'd have the opportunity to share my home and life with.
Oh my, stay tuned!

And check out this "mistake" picture. It looks so Christmas-y to me.
Tomorrow I'll show you what it is a picture of.
BEET you'd never guess....

Y'all have a great day!
Rebekah

How Do You Keep Christmas?

I posted over at my blog (The City Farmgirl Blog at http://www.maryjanesfarm.com/) about keeping Christmas.

Hop over there and share with us how and where you find Christmas and how you keep it.

Each year I keep Christmas differently.
Some years it's been complicated and overly busy.
Some years----
Wait, mine have all been complicated and overly busy.
More complicated than I'd choose these days anyway.

Searching for "simple" has been my guiding light this year.
It's a harder search than it sounds.
Can I find simplicity now?
In the busiest season of the year?

I've wondered about keeping a homespun Christmas.
Not that I could pull that off at this point in my life, but it sounds so appealing and genuine.
Here, Sweetie, a pair of socks I knitted myself!
Wow, that would be the day! I like the sound of it. But know the reality.
But on the other hand, I've learned (you guys have taught me this!) that being "simple" doesn't mean "easy."
A simple, homespun Christmas for me would be very stressful indeed this year.

The bottom line for me, I believe, is to work on having a Christmas filled with less stuff and fewer decorations; one filled with more family and friends and food. And cookies.
There's always room for more cookies.
We can definitely NOT do the less thing with the cookies!

Y'all enjoy your day!

I'm Dreaming

I'm dreaming
Of eating that gingerbread cookie...
Hanging upon that tree...
Plastic or real
Doesn't matter to me....

"Blue! No, Blue!"

I wasn't really going to eat it...

I wasn't even looking at the gingerbread man...

You only thought I was looking at it....

I've been falsely accused.

Again.....

Two days straight, sitting in that conference.
Two days straight, sitting in rush hour traffic both ways.
My mind is numb and so is my bum.

"Bum."
Now there's a word you don't hear in the south. Well, you might hear it like this: "My ex- is a bum." Or like this: "A speeding ticket on the way to traffic court? That really bums me out!"
But this is a new use of the word. I read it on someone's blog and put it in my pocket. Forgot all about it being there until now! I like it.
 
I've gotta get my bum moving this morning.
Now, see there? That didn't work.
There it's not clear what bum is.
Sounds like it's a person.
Whatever.

I'm about dress up like an elf and head out "to do" a 5k run.
Two things.
Yes, I'm dressing up this time!
And 2. I know "to do" is vague. I'm just not sure exactly how I'll do this thing.
I've had such trouble with running, but am very competitive.
I don't know how much I'll actually run and how much I'll actually walk.

It's my kind of race though.
They are handing out jingle bells with the race bibs and asking everyone to put it on their shoe or somewhere so we will all jingle. I was the only one ringing in the 5k I did under the Christmas Light show. Here, we'll all be jingling.
I didn't plan my any ipod music either. I was going to download some Christmas tunes, but this week has been so full I haven't had the time.

Well, time to do a little elfing!
Don we know our elf apparel and running shoes, falalalalalalalala.

Conferencing

I am "conferencing" all day today and tomorrow. I have to leave very early this morning because of all the traffic. In no traffic the trip would take me 30 minutes or so. But, in Atlanta rush hour traffic, it will take me an hour and a half.

Traffic! (Shall I mention JT again? Okay, if you insist. That JT--Anyone remember his song "Traffic Jam"?)

Anyway, I've gotten out of the habit of sitting in traffic. Quite frankly, I have lost my tolerance for it. I used to do it every day without thought. I'll take a good cup of mint coffee and some Christmas CDs.

I got a request for the recipe for the Hashbrown Casserole I made on Thanksgiving, so I'll go ahead and share it before I forget.

It's so easy and everyone loves it. I got this recipe years ago at a gathering at the courthouse. It was so delicious, I asked around the room until I found out who had brought it. A juvenile court intake officer named Mrs. Culpepper was the chef and gladly shared her recipe with me.

Mrs. Culpepper's HashBrown Casserole

1 stick butter
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
30-oz bag of frozen "country style" hash browns, thawed ("country style" is not the cubes of potatoes, it's the grated ones)
16-oz container sour cream
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
pepper to taste
topping of choice--bread crumbs, crushed potato chips, whatever you have on hand or like

Melt your stick of butter in a pan and add onions to sautee.
Add the minced garlic.
Remove from heat.

Put the hash browns in a big bowl. Add all the other ingredients, except for the topping. Mix together.

Put into a baking dish and top with your topping of choice.

(potato chips for topping here)

Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Crazy yumminess.

I don't have a picture of it baked-sorry!

Okay. Let me run, I've got some sitting in traffic to do. And once I get there, I'll sit in a conference room for 7 hours! Mind numbing day ahead........