Who wants onions? I want onions!

Yum!
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You can't see the side dish very well, but it is this recipe from the "A Year Of CrockPotting" journal:
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/sweet-and-sour-carmelized-onions.html

I love onions so this is a recipe I was excited about trying. I was sad, though, when our hickville grocery store didn't have enough pearl onions for the entire recipe. I ended up cutting the entire recipe in half. Even with only a pound of onions, it still took me an hour to prep the onions for cooking. For this reason, I probably wouldn't make this recipe again unless it was a special occasion. They were absolutely delicious, though. Sadly, they did not reheat well. Fresh out of the crockpot they were so good that I had to restrain myself to keep from eating the entire batch. The next day the raisins were so rubbery that I just picked the onions out and threw the rest out. I was surprised by how well these ingredients went together, though, and I highly reccomend this as a holiday dish!

(The pork chops were just cooked with salt and rosemary. I was tired.)

We love our crooked little house!

We really do love our crooked little house.
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Driving home on 421.

How do you like those clouds? Gorgeous!!
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I know the focus of the journal is supposed to be my allergy diet and health, but I had made the decision at one point to also make it about living a positive and optimistic life.

I took the picture on my blackberry as I was driving home from Winston-Salem. The clouds moving across the sky and the sun shining through was so gorgeous it just took my breath away, and I was a happy, happy girl as a result, even if only for a few moments.

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Gee, and I got this haircut to avoid bedhead!
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Sugar-free Hershey's Syrup!

From Janet :)
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I have tried other diabetic syrups and things like that, and Hershey's is by far the best. I also recently discovered that I can have the coffee flavored Breyer's all-natural ice-cream, and this is the perfect topper!

It is funny how simple things are so much better now that these allergies have given me a new appreciation.

BTW, if you are wondering, regular chocolate syrup usually has both soy lechetin (sp?) and high fructose corn syrup in it.

Thank you, Janet, for remembering how hard it is for me to find this in the boonies where we live!

<3

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Dinner is cooking.
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Christmas day. No, I don"t smoke.
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Mike and his parents.
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Christmas Dinner

I cooked christmas dinner all by myself!!! Are you proud?
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For Christmas dinner I made:

-my favorite bread in the breadmaker. No, it was not allergy-safe and although I enjoyed the smell of it cooking, I did not eat it. This is, quite possibly, the simplest and most delicious bread ever, so if you don't have allergies and own a breadmaker, let me know if you would like the recipe. Mike's father ended up taking the leftovers home with him, quite happily.

-green beans. I cooked fresh green beans in a pan with some butter, a little diced onion, garlic, and raw almonds. I thought they came out delicious. Mike even ate a little, and his mother acted like it was a Christmas miracle.

-corn. Plain old corn with just a little butter and salt. I can't eat corn, so I didn't bother with anything fancy.

-baked beans. I got the recipe from the "A Year Of CrockPotting" blog. Boy oh boy were those ever delicious. I highly reccomend making them. They were easy, and delicious. I put the link at the bottom of the page. I cooked them with bacon (I read the packages very carefully to make sure the bacon is cured in a way that I can eat it, and even then it sometimes gives me a belly ache). The bacon can stay in the pot because when you stir it up it falls apart, and it is edible. It does not have to be discarded if you don't want to, and yes, it was nice and moist!

-mashed potatoes. To please the masses these are just plain old mashed potatoes with salt, pepper, milk, and butter.

-ham. I could not eat the glaze that came with it so I glazed it with maple syrup, honey, vinegar, dry mustard, and brown sugar. It wasn't as attractive as it could have been but it tasted damn good!

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/09/crockpot-boston-baked-beans-recipe.html

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Life is good again.
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My backyard. It was 75 degrees out yesterdat, while it was blizzarding everywhere else!!
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Groceries are expensive!

That is $100 worth of groceries! Being healthy is expensive!
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We want what she's got!
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Antlers!
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So not the haircut I was going for.
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