New Years Resolutions 2022 Evaluation

Garden

Grow my own bedding plants 

 I grew marigolds, leeks, calendula, alyssum,  pansies, cosmos, Tithonia, gloriosa daisies, yarrow, basil, parsley, dill.  I am looking forward to growing again this year.

 

Make a cold frame - achieved

 

Health

Resurrect the the Twisted Sisters Cafe Blog 

 Blogged 4 times this year.  Hardly a resurrection but more than 2020 and 2021 combined!

 

Recover from shingles 

I recovered for the most part - still have some lasting nerve damage that will probably be forever but it is minor and easy to live with.

 

Hike 2x a week

This was partially met - I have taken to walking to the library and back to pick up books I have put on hold.  It is about 2 and 1/4 miles - the last section being uphill so it is not a bad little walk.  Otherwise most of the hiking I have done has been limited to camping trips.  I really have to step it up for 2023.

 

Ride Liathach 4x a week  and learn some new moves.  

While not learning any new moves, I have definitely spent a lot of time with the riding the horse this year even through the shingles and the knee injury.

 

Do yoga 3x a week. I got back to yoga in November and so only managed to do it 3x a week 1 month this year.

 

Cooking/diet

Try one vegan African recipe a month

This was fairly successful - we tried the following recipes and most were pretty tasty.  I have put them below as links.

African Pumpkin Peanut Stew 

Root Vegetable Tagine

Slow Cooker North African Cous Cous  

 The other six recipes I made were from the cook book Teff Love which features Ethiopian food.  I blogged about some of those recipes here.

Try one new fruit or veggie a month - something I rarely buy.

This was kind of a fail - I tried celeriac and watermelon radishes which were delish .  I attempted to try a guava but it never ripened.  Otherwise I stuck to my same old standbys

Make chutneys - especially mint chutney  

A complete success - I made mint chutney, and tamarind date chutney.  His Lordship made green tomato, zuchinni and  zuchinni and tomato chutney.

 

 Follow my Nutrition Facts AP for an entire year

 I managed to follow my ap from January to June and again in November and December so was very lax over the summer and in the spooky season.  To much gardening and Halloween I guess. It is a great ap though.  I always eat better when I follow it.

 

Do You Know the Mushroom Man?

 I got a mushroom man and I hope you do to.  My fella runs a company called Microvora and sells the biggest best mushrooms.  I usually order 2x a month and and pick up the order at his warehouse.

They are huge fresh mushrooms - so delicious and packaging free.  Plus I support a small local grower.  What is there not to love?

Teff Love

One of my resolutions is to learn to cook foods from the continent of Africa.  We have an Ethiopian Restaurant in town that I love but unfortunately, it is a fickle establishment and I think the proprietor opens only when she feels like it.  My take on it is that she and her husband are elderly and are not always up to the task of cooking for an adoring crowd.   I have been disappointed many times as, despite what google says about their open status, they refuse to answer their phone.

Enter Teff Love, a fun cookbook I got out of the library all about Ethiopian vegan cooking.

For my first Ethiopian meal, I made four recipes from the book.  One, a flax seed and collared greens dish, was a bit of a dud. The other three dishes however, were brilliant.

The yi'wot qimem, a black pepper spice blend and the ye'bedergan wot, an eggplant dish were simply scrumptious.  The spice blend was one of the ingredients in the eggplant so had to make that first.  I served this over some cous cous.

I also made Azifa, a tangy lentil salad.  It was delish and oh so healthy.  A brilliant edition to any ones repertoire.

It's a great cookbook and I think I am going to look to buy it.

The Daily Dozen

Back in December I downloaded Dr. Michael Gregor's Daily Dozen ap to use on my phone.  It corresponds with the Diet he recommends in his two books "How Not to Die" and "How Not to Diet".   It is worth noting that Dr. Gregor does not hide his content behind a paywall nor does he profit from his books.  His non profit Nutrition Facts.org is supported by voluntary donations.  He does collect a salary from the non profit as lead researcher.

Here is what he has to say about how Nutrition Facts is funded

Everything on NutritionFacts.org is free. There is no members-only area where additional life-saving information is available—for a price. There are no advertisements of any kind allowed. We don’t accept corporate sponsorships. NutritionFacts.org is strictly non-commercial. There’s no line of Dr. Greger’s Brand Snakeoilwondersupplements. We are not selling anything. Dr. Greger simply produces these videos as a public service for those hungry for evidence-based nutrition.

Then how do the bills get paid? The Jesse and Julie Rasch Foundation provided the critical start-up seed money and expertise to get us off the ground, but now NutritionFacts.org runs strictly on the Wikipedia model of accepting donations from users who appreciate the content. We reach so many millions of people that if even 1 in 1,000 make a small contribution we will be able to continue to thrive. If you feel like NutritionFacts.org has enriched your life, please consider supporting us by making a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation.

So anyway, I like his style, transparency and mission.  All the claims he makes are well grounded in literature - double blind, peer reviewed, placebo controlled research is his go to - no shady citations from reddit or you tube.  

I do find it a challenge to eat all that I need to meet my daily dozen requirements - 24 boxes in total to tick.

My moving average currently is 16 out of 24 checks but I am fasting today so I am really bringing it down.  More often, I am up around 20.  I am boring you with all of this so when I share recipes later this year, you will understand why I am choosing whole grain and greens and beans.  I gotta eat a lot of those in a day.  

Any how it is a pretty cool ap and they are phenomenal books.  So if you are looking to make a lifestyle change, check it out.
 

 

Hiking Magic

 Last week, his Lordship and I hiked 5 miles into town.  It was a nice walk through lots of snowy scenery.

We started through the cemetery as we walked the old or lower Intermin trail.

We passed the leg sculpture which has some new footwear.  I think it wore a hiking boot for the longest time.

We dropped a book off at the library and noticed this lovely on a front porch.

Walking back we took a trail I had never been on that met up with the Intermin Trail.  This is his Lordship hiking toward  Tava aka Pikes Peak.

Lots of these gals out and about looking for sustenance..  Well I felt great on my hike but the next day I was so fatigued.  Sigh - healing is a bitch.

Garden Explosion

Despite being hailed on twice this season, the garden is going great gangbusters and keeping up with it has been kind of a chore.

Good thing we are house bound due to the pandemic and have the time to tend it.  For weeks now we have eaten unlimited kale, beets, and turnips.

The potatoes and onions are also ready for harvest.  I picked a lot of basil and made pesto for tonight's dinner using this recipe from The Minimalist Baker. The tomatoes are just getting started.  

All in all, it has been a year of abundance.  I am so thankful for my garden because without it, I might have gone crazy this year.  

P.S. I also have a Monarch caterpillar on the milkweed plant.

Making Milk

Now that I have your attention, I am to old to lactate.  I am making plant based milks.  So far I have tried almond, cashew, soy and oat.  Oat milk is by far my favorite and here's why:

No cooking like soy milk

Hardly any waste product like soy and almond.  It was a pain to find something to do with that okara and nut fiber leftover from soy and almond milk.

Organic oats are cheaper than organic almonds and organic cashews.

It's slimy - I like that and rolled oats soak fast so you can have milk in a couple of hours.

I buy organic oats in bulk so no waste.  

Vegan!

My Twisted Sister and I have gone vegan.  I am 3 weeks into the lifestyle change and feeling great.  The food I am preparing is delicious - even by his Lordships discriminating standards.  We are having fun exploring the wide world of aqua faba, okara, and agar agar.  Really though we watched a documentary called the The Game Changers and thought why not give it a try.  Our vegan diet is of course a whole food diet - no process over packaged vegan food for me.

Here are some the major effects of the diet:

• My shit don't stink - literally it doesn't

• The inflammation in my body is down - my plantar fasciitis, which acted up all summer and fall, is vastly improved.  So is my crabby shoulder.

• My enegy level is higher than over the summer and fall.

• My mood is better

So maybe it is all in my head but I plan to keep it up till my physical in Feb.  If my blood work shows a big improvement, then I am sold.

Our refill efforts made the Paper

We have an article in this weeks Pikes Peak Bulletin.  Thanks to Rhonda Van Pelt for taking an interest in our refill efforts. 

A Bumper Crop

We are enjoying masses of produces out of the garden this year.  Tomatoes are just coming ripe.  The beets were fab as were the turnips.  The carrots, potatoes, and green beans have exceeded expectations.  And the zucchini? Lets just say, despite urban myth, transplanting the seedlings was not hard at all.  Now we have twice as many as we need!

Into the kitchen to start cooking.  I am going to make two kinds of Salsa, pickle some carrots and make pickle relish.  Wish me luck.