people watching

she sits alone at a table in the library. she has a computer and a notebook laid out in front of her like I do. she wears headphones, a baggy sweatshirt, cargo pants and xtratufs. she is engrossed in her work, but gets up to move a little, then sits back down every once in a while. nothing is unusual except for one thing.

there is a piece of birthday cake sitting next to her. where did the birthday cake come from? did she bring it, or did someone give it to her? how did the librarian allow this? a singular pink candle sticks up from the yellow cake with the white frosting and sprinkles. it doesn't look like she's eating it. so many possibilities, but I'll never know for sure. 

Meet Doug

 

Oh, and this is Doug as of yesterday. 

Doug is a hen (I know) who is best friends with the barn cat. 

I thought I should introduce you, because she cracks us up every single day. 

We originally thought she was an egg eater, so we took her out from the coop and believe it or not

she isn't and still lays. She's just a free range chicken in the deep snow with an undeniable attachment

to the cat. Yep, that's Doug. 

more snow

 And we got another 16" today. Guess the blizzard warning was right after all. I think we have far exceeded our annual limit for snow...here's to hoping it's time for spring now. 

Quote

                             "Sunshine all the time makes a desert." -Arab Proverb

people watching

 there is a man, hands shoved deep in his pockets, head down, heels scuffing the pavement as he paces back and forth. back and forth. back and forth. he clearly is experiencing internal turmoil. 

he does this for forty minutes, pacing in front of the apartment door. why is he pacing? he leaves the door and walks around the block twice before heading in. he's been outside for at least an hour by now. 

why was he pacing? there is so many possibilities that are running through my mind as I sit here. 

Easy Airfried Chicken Salad Roll Ups

 Gluten no longer seems to be an issue (thank goodness) if it’s homemade. Store bought sometimes still cause a reaction. For a quick and easy lunch I decided to try something new and they turned out very good! 

I used a can of shredded chicken, Vegenaise (a vegan mayo because I’ve been reacting to stuff in regular), paprika and celery salt for the chicken salad. I added some bacon crumbles and spinach which made it even more amazing and rolled it up into tortillas. I sliced them and placed them in our preheated Air Fryer (we have a Foodi which is multipurpose and amazing) for about 7 minutes on 350. 

They were really really yummy and so fast and easy to prepare. 

my happy place

 

Cookie Pizza

 What do you do when you have a bunch of sugar cookie dough in the fridge, don't feel like dealing with cutouts, and have random frosting you need to use up? 

I present to you, cookie pizza. A thick rolled out sugar cookie, topped with green frosting, pink dinosaurs falling in love, and a couple shamrocks, because it's St. Patrick's Day. You're welcome for coming up with it first. 

definitely one of my uglier (yet creative) creations so far. 

so much for spring

 We got several inches yesterday-now we're expected to get dumped on by over a foot of heavy wet snow.                             *So fun* 

This picture is taken at 8 am. I'll have to take one this afternoon too! 

Update: we got around 30”. Like, thank you very much March. Winter-1 Spring-0. The picture I took is bad, but you get the gist. 

 

 Happy St. Patrick's Day!

what the wind blew in

 snow. the wind blew in lots of snow yesterday. happy second false spring! 

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

 My aunt sent me the recipe for vegan cinnamon rolls and I had to try them out…they were delicious! 

We’ve figured out that I’m not technically allergic to gluten, I can eat homemade gluten products without an issue but store bought stuff is. 

Anyway, these turned out so good and they weren’t difficult to make! 

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup vegan butter melted (I love Country Crock’s Olive Oil vegan butter) 

2 cups almond milk, room temp or even slightly warm (I used macadamia nut)

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

1 packet of active dry yeast (this is about 2 1/4 tsps) 

1 teaspoon salt 

 5 1/2 cups flour, divided

——

1/2 cup vegan butter, softened 

Brown sugar (as much as you prefer) 

Cinnamon (as much as you prefer)

——

I cup powdered sugar (I just used a blender to make regular sugar powdery-ish) 

2 Tbsp almond milk 

3/4 tsp vanilla extract 

Directions: 

 Prepare a 9x13 pan by oiling it. 

  Combine the melted butter, milk, and sugar in a large bowl. The mixture should be warm. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the mixture and let set for a few minutes. 

Add 5 cups of flour and the salt and mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place (the keep warm setting on an oven is very good for this, or near woodstove) for one hour, or until nearly doubled in size. 

Add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour to the dough and turn out on the countertop to knead gently until the dough isn’t sticky. Add more flour as necessary. Roll the dough into a large rectangle about 1/2” thick. Spread the softened butter onto the dough and sprinkle with as much brown sugar and cinnamon as you like. Roll the dough into a tight log and cut into even pieces (mine made 20 rolls). 

Place the rolls in the prepared pan and cover and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake for 25-30 minutes (mine took 27 minutes) until golden brown. Prepare the icing in a small bowl and drizzle over the warm cinnamon rolls.

Enjoy! 

sunsets have my heart pt 3