Goals

How very, very basic of me. Here it is, New Years Day 2015, and I'm about to publish a list of goals for the year. Which-let's be honest-is basically just a trick of wording to deny I'm making New Years resolutions.

Certain people are awesome, ready made adults. I was never one of these people. I swear I was better at adulthood at fifteen than I am now. It's depressing. And it can feel impossible to really fix your broken disaster of a life. But that's exactly what I've spent the last couple of years doing-fixing my broken life. It's never to late to get it together.

Some of these goals are carryovers from last year and some specific things I've been working on steadily over the last few months. Knowing I've been able to make and sustain these changes gives me confidence I'll be able to attack more areas of my life. And it seemed right to start documenting my attempts at being a real, functioning adult {way, way late in the game} because as I was starting the process of getting it together I kept looking for a blog detailing a similar journey. I didn't really find it {although I do love Adulting}. So why not chronicle my experiences?

These are the fifteen in fifteen I'll be working on this year. These aren't in any order of importance, by the way.

1. Read more. Everyone who knows me in real-life just laughed out loud. I'm a voracious reader. The last year, though, I've really struggled with finishing books. Part of it is a time crunch, part of it is I'm just distracted. So I'm setting a goal of reading twenty-five books this year, which sounds doable {I'm trying not to overwhelm myself}. You can follow along and make fun of my book choices at Goodreads.
2. Socialize. This is basically my life. I get up, go to work, come home, hang out with J and the furs {which I love}, go to bed, do it again. For many reasons I severely pulled back from the world but it's time to rejoin fully. My own lameness keeps me from lots of fun social things-last night my best friend texted me to come to her party, but I was already passed out at ten o'clock. On New Years Eve. Must work on this. I've joined a book club and the first meeting is in a few weeks {and a book club will also help me work on goal one. Yay for efficiency}.
3. Money, Money, Money. This is one of the goals I've already started working on. I'll do a big post soon. 
4. Cook. I love cooking. I've written before about struggling to kick the take out habit. It's time to take my own advice and reboot my kitchen habits. Eating at home will also support my money {i.e. have more of it} goal.
5. Do one new thing with J each month. Maybe it's playing a new board game, checking out a museum, trying a new cuisine, making something together...no rules, other than doing something new together monthly. 
6. Walk. Here's another area of my life where I've gotten lazy. Here's an area with a simple fix available. At least three times a week I'm going to put Emily on her leash and walk around our {wonderfully walkable and scenic} neighborhood. I want to get into better shape without making a big deal about it. This will help.
7. Drink Water at Work. I can have coffee when I get to work, but I'm giving up keeping a two-liter of Coke under my desk. Water, water, water. I'm not going to say I'm giving up soda all together, but not drinking it at work will help keep it under control. 
8. Keep on keeping on at work. I love my job. I feel lucky to have it. I actually thinking working on my other goals will help me be better at work.
9. Calendar my life. This one of those areas I'm already working on. I found a system that really works well for me. Now I need to consistently work the system throughout the year.
10. Blog weekly. This is part of the accountability factor of working on my goals, but also I actually enjoy writing and blogging and have missed it. 
11. Unf?ck our habitat. We've lived here for four years. It's amazing the amount of sheer nonsense you can accumulate in four years. Weirdly, this is one of those areas where working on our money helped our house. I'll explain more later. I've been decluttering, organizing, and scrubbing all week.
12. Make home home. Again, we've lived here four years. We're going to live here at least another year. Time to really make it work for us, and to invest in things that will work for us no matter where we live. A great kitchen cart. Matching plates. Eventually a new sofa. 
13. My poor car. I love my car, so why do I let it deteriorate into a trash heap? Yes, I have a long commute. That's not a good enough excuse. 
14. Use my degree. Yes, I love my job but I miss working on genealogy and historic preservation projects. There's a chance I might get some freelance work this year in these fields, but even if I don't I need to plan and work on some projects.
15. Remember why I'm doing this.

This is what I've learned over the last couple of years. Start where you are. Is your whole life one big mess? You can't fix it all at once. I found a great job. My self-confidence started to increase. I had more disposable income. I started working on really getting on top of my money situation. Etc. 

My life isn't perfect and even if I work hard at all these goals all year it still won't be perfect. It will be better, and it will be better for J and our beloved furs.

So. What are you working on this year?

Best Fall Recipes in Blogland

Fall is here. The season of sweaters, falling leaves, and embracing comfort food. As I wrote out our grocery list for the next week, I realized many of my favorite come from my favorite food blogs. And I thought we all could use a little comfort today. So, without further ado, the BEST fall recipes from blogs. I've been using most of these recipes for years. So they are definitely Tracie tested and approved. J is also quite fond of most of them.

 From Smitten Kitchen 

Smitten Kitchen's Arroz Con Pollo (Cuban Chicken with Rice). Why do I love this? It's relatively cheap (especially if you ditch the beer for a little added chicken stock and make your own roasted pepper strips), it's a one pot meal, and it's even better the next day. Leftover are always awesome. They are even more awesome when they TASTE BETTER THE NEXT DAY.

Photo from Orangethe

Warm Butternut and Chickpea salad with Tahini from Orangette. This is, hands down, my favorite thing to make with butternut squash. It's so comforting. It's also really cheap, except for the tahini. But you'll have lots left over, so make some hummus. Here's a bonus recipe: the best hummus ever. When you roast red peppers for the hummus save some for the Cuban chicken and rice dish!

From The Wednesday Chef

The Wednesday Chef's adaptation of Mark Bittman's Tomato Paella is juicy and warm and slightly and spicy and...After a summer of eating tomatoes, you'd think I'd be sick of them. I'm never, ever sick of tomatoes. However, no one wants to eat hothouse tomatoes raw (ew!), so I start busting out the best cooked tomato recipes. This is one of the best. OMG, it is so good I want to get up and make this right now! True confession: I am cheap, so I don't buy Spanish pimenton. I do use Adobe seasoning in it, and it is awesome.

From The Wednesday Chef

 Roasted Carrot and Red Lentil Soup (from the Wednesday Chef) might not sound super exciting, but I promise you if you make this soup you'll thank me. Often, because you'll make it repeatedly. It's filling, incredibly tasty, and super cheap (and when you REALLY need cheap eats it also works with green lentils). It's also easy to make a lot of it, so it's great for a crowd.

Photo from Anne's Food

 Roasted chickpeas from Anne's Food changed my life. This might sound like hyperbole...okay, it is a little hyperbolic but roasted chickpeas are the most delicious snack/lunch/dinner/brunch/dessert option you'll ever have. Salty and crunchy and super filling- they are awesome party food. We make them for movie nights. We make them for Real Housewives nights. We make them because it's a day ending in -y. They are simply awesome. You can also toss different flavors on them for new roasted chickpea experiences.

From Cheap Healthy Good

Another awesome food to graze upon (instead of look upon, because it doesn't look all the awesome) is Cheap Healthy Good's white bean dip. A can or DIY cup of cannelloni beans, some garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice go into a blender and out comes one of my favorite dips of all time. And it's even good for you! It definitely has less calories than Helluva Good French Onion Dip, my other dip fave. Cheaper, too.

Photo from Beyond Salmon

 Beyond Salmon's Grapefruit Risotto was one of the first things I cooked for J. Aww! Memories! Seriously, this is good...so good! And rather sophisticated, so you could totally serve it to someone you're trying to impress. I know it can sound kind weird, but this dish is smooth, citrusy, cheesy deliciousness. Helen's oven risotto method is also awesome.

Photo from Beyond Salmon

 Another Beyond Salmon recipe. This tomato and onion tart recipe is WONDERFUL. The tomatoes char up, bringing their sugars to the forefront and cuts through the heavy richness of the cheese perfectly. Oh, and the jam you cook the onions down into? Heavenly. True confession time? I don't make my own pie crust. I recommend Trader Joe's/Aldi's frozen pie crusts. They brown up nicely and aren't sweet. I also use the mixture in the tiny little cute pie shells for an appetizer like experience.

Photo From 101 Cookbooks

 Roasted cauliflower popcorn from 101 Cookbooks. The first time I made this was Thanksgiving 2008. I've never stopped making it. Aldi's had cauliflower on sale for $.99 this week, so I had it for dinner, um, a few times this week. I've sometimes cheated and used panko breadcrumbs or substituted a ground spicy spice for a fresh minced pepper. It's still delicious, every time.

Photo from Smitten Kitchen

And now, ladies of gentlemen, the best recipe in the blogosphere. Yes, I'm serious. It's ridiculously good. It's Smitten Kitchen's Thai-Style Chicken Legs. She posted it in the summer, and apparently it is awesome on the grill, but I always get a hankering for it in the fall. The ingredient list might sound weird (fish sauce!), but I promise you it all blends together into something absolutely fantastic. It's sweet and complicated in this weird way you never knew you wanted your chicken to be sweet and complicated in. If you keep fish sauce and hoisin on hand it's also cheap for a meat dish.