Tag: October

Good-bye

50b130ec-3165-4198-80b3-0574b722b7deExcluding the third week of October, it was pretty nice. There was a point during which everything had gotten very tense with many in my life, Z in particular, but all of that has been talked through. Both of us had very hectic months…and it’s hard to be nice and supportive when you’re up to your ears in stress and tasks and nonsense. It almost being my birthday made me feel very stressed out. I’m always thinking about money, and my power-steering is going out, but mostly the idea that I’ve passed my mid-twenties and am now officially in my late-twenties. How did this even happen? HOW DOES AGING EVEN WORK AMIRITE???

But I had a fun birthday party and got a lot of cute pictures from it 🙂 I also got to bake a bunch, which was awesome. I made a pumpkin cake, a Coraline cookie cake, and tons of adorable cupcakes with skeletons made out of marshmallows and fudge pretzels. The wedding was also a ton of fun. The dress I got matched everyone and looked great, and I did my own make-up (which turned out well). But how did I do on goals?

I need to start making time for being productive outside of work. Taking time to myself is fine, but going home and watching Netflix until I’m relaxed (which ends up being time for bed) is not cutting it. I’ve gained almost 20 lbs since last December, so I went to my doctor to see what to do (because I’m fairly certain most of it is due to my Nexplanon implant), and he said that there wasn’t some kind of medication that would really help. He pointed out Alli, but mentioned that it only really worked up to ten pounds and that it wouldn’t do as much as controlling my diet would. Because of the hormones Nexplanon affects, I will probably have to be more strict than just normally dieting. He suggested keto, which I’ve done before, so good-bye carbs again. My gym membership restarts at the end of this month, so that’s something I will be using. Below is a little snapshot of my October. Can’t wait to see what November has in store!

October

Chicken & Dumplings

Mmm. Cold weather. But not yet. Because Louisiana.

It is, however, prime-sick time. One of my good friends got sick (that whole graduate school + wife + toddler + 11 year old thing with no sleep and the flu shot), got pretty sick this past week. She does a lot for me and is one of the people who has helped keep me sane over the last several years, so I figured the least I could do is cook her something filling, warm, and easy to reheat. I decided on one of my favorites, chicken and dumplings! 🙂

Ingredients

Finished Product
Finished Product
  • Large pot (3 qt or larger)
  • Boned Chicken (I usually do at least 4 chicken thighs – boned)
  •  4 cups of water
  • 4 cups of chicken broth (1 box or use bouillon)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp dried leaf thyme
  • 1 medium onion (chopped)
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 c. buttermilk
  • 1 c. buttermilk
  • 2-4 tbs butter

Directions

  1. Take out the large pot (at least 3 qt). Add water, chicken broth, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp thyme, onion, and chicken. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 hours, or until chicken is very tender and cooked through. Note: If the liquid level decreases, add more water as needed
  2. Remove and debone the chicken. Add the deboned chicken back to the pot and bring back to a boil. Stir in 1 c. buttermilk and butter. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed
  3. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and 1/2 tsp of salt. Mix until resembles a coarse meal. Stir in 3/4 c. buttermilk until the dough just clumps together. At this point you can do one of two things: I do not like to knead and roll the dough out and cut into strips, so I do not. I drop the dough in small clumps.
  4. Drop the dough, a few at a time, into the boiling chicken broth. Reduce heat to med-low and continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
  5. Let it cool down (and let the liquid thicken).

Bon Appetit!

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October is a great month! Not only because it’s the month in which I was born, but because it means pumpkin spice everything! And yeah, call me sodium bicarbonate because I’m basic. I’ve had pumpkin spice Noosa, Chobani, oreos, lattes, and everything else! The last couple of weeks have been very stressful for about ten thousand reasons. So many things have happened: familial and employment and financial and just. In general, it’s just been overwhelming. But that’s okay. I’ll make it work. I’ll make it work through Xanax and Excedrine Migraine and tying a knot in my rope and hanging on!

Anyway. Enough complaining. October is a good month, and will be a good month. This is what I’d like to accomplish (among other things).