Hope Again

 They say that hope springs eternal. But does it?

 

A mere four years ago, hope took a hit. Body slam, as it turned out. For me, anyway. 

 

As we close out the nightmare that was most of 2020 and look to a new year, I've been thinking a lot about hope, in both consequential ways, and those with far less significance.

 

I have no intention of, nor the stomach for, rehashing all that's happened in this country's recent history. Suffice it to say that as my identity as an American along with my personal safety took a hit, so did hope. "Beacon of hope" declined to a "glimmer of hope", and then to "hope against hope". "Beyond hope" was staring me in the face. What then? We're better than this.

At least I hope to hell we are.

 

But the first step back up that slippery slope from near despair to hope is action. So we voted. Even in a pandemic, when the cavalier actions of so many literally threatened our lives, we found a way, took that step from "hope against hope" back to our old friend "glimmer of hope". Nothing new here, we did the same thing we always did, registered our beliefs.

Less consequential, globally anyway, was a conversation I had a few days before Thanksgiving based, it turns out, in blind hope. I was preparing foods differently this year due to my husband's diet restrictions (lower in fats). I'd made some adjustments to the pumpkin pie I always serve, Hubs and PurDude love it but the ingredients needed to be tweaked this year. I added espresso too because PurDude loves coffee as much as he loves pumpkin. I wanted to make a second dessert as well, for all of us, but because College Boy doesn't love pumpkin.

Me: I made an Espresso Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving. What should I make for a second dessert?

College Boy: Cheesecake.

Me: Cheesecake? Dad can't have cheesecake, that's about as high in fat as you can get. 

College Boy (as he's walking away): I'm sure you can come up with a lower fat version.

Of cheesecake? Are you kidding me? 

 

Looks like hope springs eternal after all. 

 

But you know what they say, where there's hope, there's fire. Or something like that.

Cheesecake (Lower Fat) 

 

I've struggled during this pandemic, as so many of us who trust science and doctors have, with not seeing family members. I'd never gone more than a few months without seeing my younger son, but this Thanksgiving was a full year. He sat in his home 8 hours away, working from home and I sat in mine, trying to stay healthy and alive. Numbers were spiking both there and here, making it unsafe for us to be together.

I checked in with him each day, and each day we had pretty much the same conversation, trying to come up with a way he could come home. Day after day after day, to no avail.

Until, finally, in what felt like out 300th conversation, we started to work out a way. It would take a lot of effort and a little luck, but it could work.

He came home for Thanksgiving. He stayed for a month. I can't even tell you how that felt.

 

You know, they say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

 

But maybe that's not insanity at all. Maybe it's just hope.

Cheesecake (Lower Fat)        

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 TBSP sugar

6 TBSP milk

 

1 block (8 oz) Neufchatel cheese, softened

1 block (8 oz) fat free cream cheese, softemed

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon extract

6 TBSP Greek yogurt

2 TBSP milk

2 TBSP flour

1 tsp lemon zest 3 eggs, room temperature 

 

OPT: macerated fruit for serving

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9 inch springform pan. On the outside of the pan, wrap a sheet of tin foil around the bottom and partially up the sides of the pan.

*Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and 6 TBSP milk. Press into and partially up the sides of the springform pan.

*Beat the Neufchatel cheese, cream cheese, brown sugar, vanilla, and lemon extract until smooth. Beat in the Greek yogurt, remaining milk, flour, and lemon zest, then the eggs, one at a time.

*Pour the filling into the prepared crust and bake for 60 - 75 minutes, until the center is just set.

*Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

*To serve: gently run a knife around the cheesecake before removing the side of the springform pan.

*OPT: serve topped with macerated fruit.

*Store leftovers, covered, in refrigerator.

Truth and Dare: Word Counters

 

Counting my words again. 

Today my fellow Word Counters and I are sharing our monthly group post. Each month one group member picks a number between 12 and 74. All participating bloggers are then challenged to write something (or a few somethings, as the case may be) using that exact number of words. Today we all share what we came up with.

The December number is 33. 

 It was chosen by Me.

As I've been doing in these Word Counters posts, I've chosen a theme and am using my word count multiple times in keeping with the theme. This month I've settled on the theme Truth and Dare.

~ This month was a first as far as choosing a theme goes. I chose, then I adjusted. Originally this post was called Truth or Dare. I've decided to call it Truth and Dare.

 

~ We're rounding the corner towards a new year, the finish line for this one in in sight, but when it comes to hoping for a better, happier, healthier year ahead, do I dare?

 

~ The truth is that the alternative, taking that big, fairly (well, completely) permanent sleep isn't an option, of course. And not something to joke about in the reality of this age of Coronavirus.

 

~ Another truth is that this past year has gone by mostly in a daze, almost feeling like a long sleep. Well, nightmare anyway. Actually, the last four years, but this past one especially.

 

~ I'm now seeing a prolonged period of the denigration of norms, of the reality of a society unwilling to protect each other, as a form of sensory deprivation. This has been our truth.

~ I choose to dare. I acknowledge that to hope for change has to begin with an active continuation of those things I'd considered my normal. I still write, still share what I bake.

Pina Colada Bread

~ Truth is, we're going to need to find a balance. Continuation of the norm can only be achieved in part. Some things are gone forever, acceptance of this, adjustments for this, are critical.

 

~ The song (maybe because it's almost New Year's Eve) "make new friends, but keep the old" is my current earworm. We all need to hold onto what we can while embracing the new.

 

~ For success, dare must be collective. Whatever it takes, we all must find the ability to hope, the determination to see the coming year as a beacon of light after a long darkness.

 

~ I wish for you what I hope for myself, a new year full of new opportunities, time spent with love ones, the ability to safely rejoin our communities, travel, health, happiness, and peace.

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

Messymimi’s Meanderings 
On the Border 

Pina Colada Bread        
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 TBSP baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup toasted coconut

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

3 TBSP grenadine

3 TBSP milk

6 TBSP Malibu rum

8 oz can crushed pineapple with juice

2 TBSP untoasted coconut

6 maraschino cherries

 

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 5 loaf pan.

*In a large bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and toasted coconut. 

*In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, grenadine, milk, and rum. Add these liquid ingredients to the large bowl of dry ingredients, along with the crushed pineapple with its juice. Mix until just incorporated.

*Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and top with the untoasted coconut and the cherries. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the center springs back to the touch.

*Cool in pan for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edges to remove.

 

No Place but Up

When you spend the Saturday before Christmas at a laundromat, there's no place to go but up. I guess that's the good news.

It's that time of year again. When we nostalgically (well, if we're lucky) look back at 2017 and gingerly (when we've been unlucky of late) approach 2018 with some level of hope.

The trip to the laundromat is just the latest in a very unlucky and expensive end to 2017.

But that day also was the realization that we're all good at some things and we're all not so great at other things. Lately what I've been good at is having bad luck, and apparently I suck at laundromat. Who knew? But then again who wanted to know? Not me.

I said on FB and I'll say it again. If your dryer is going to die, especially in the winter months, it should let you know before you wash your clothes. I was not afforded that kindness. So there I stood, on a Saturday when I was determined not to leave the house to fight the holiday traffic, with a dilemma. I had planned it out, doing my errands during the week and leaving all the holiday cooking and baking for the weekends.

What's that old saying about the best laid plans?
So much for trying out my new Pizza Party Boat recipe this afternoon.

Pizza Party Boat

But that's the kind of luck I'd been having. In July we lost our a/c and had to replace our heating and cooling units. After that came the nail Hubs ran over with his car. His tires, taking a lesson from the Ark apparently, had to be replaced in twos, of course. Then came his trip to the dentist ending in his need for a crown. Insurance pays to fix a crown but a new one? That's on us. What next. . . oh yeah, my car needed either expensive repairs or to be replaced, PurDude ended up in the ER (just a little FYI: don't require IV fluids on the weekend when the school clinic is closed unless you have a spare $3000 laying around you want to get rid of), Hubs' cell phone died (and mine only works on "speaker"), my laptop died (but then I go through a few of those a year). The only thing piling up as fast as the bad luck was the bills.

And now the damn dryer. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. What I did was to google laundromats, since I have no idea where any might be. I went all McGyver on the laundry basket situation, since I don't have one, and emptied the pool toys out of an old beach bag, shoved all my wet clothes inside, took a deep breath and went out to fight my way through the . . . dum, dum, dum (insert dramatic sound effect here) . . . dreaded holiday traffic.

Seven hours later (I might possibly be exaggerating a tad bit) I had made the 10 mile trek and arrived with fumes left in my gas tank. I shlepped my bag of soggy clothes inside and looked around like I'd landed on Mars. I found the dryers and although I had hoped they'd take my debit card, it was change only. And I didn't have any. Of course. Fortunately there was a corner of the store for dry cleaning with a very sweet woman working there. She showed me where to find the change machine. 

All I had was a $20 bill. I needed $1.25 so I figured I'd get $5 in quarters and $15 back in bills. Ummm . . . nope. Can you guess what happens if you a $20 bill into a change machine? I'll tell you. You get 80 quarters. 80. And I looked around but apparently they don't give you one of those cups to put them in like they do in Vegas. Turns out initially that was the least of my problems. It seems that 80 quarters in that little change retrieval slot block the door you need to push open to get those quarters out. If a public tug of war with a coin machine had ever been on my bucket list, I can now cross that sucker off.

Door now shoved open, where the hell was I going to put 80 quarters? PS: cross off yanking and tugging a 500 pound purse across the less-than-clean floor of a laundromat too. BTW, anyone want to buy a pocketbook? Bottom is a little scuffed but other than that it's in good shape. And it's big enough to hold a wallet, sunglasses, lipstick and 80 quarters.

Finally got my clothes into a dryer and sat down with my Kindle. But people watching turned out to be just too interesting to concentrate on my book. There were two people sitting in stools in one row of washers the whole time I was there. With them was a dog the size of a horse. I'm guessing that row of washers was their territory. Even if I had clothes to wash, I wasn't going near there. In fact, like a lion in the wild, I made sure not to make eye contact with that animal.

There was an older couple sitting close together, viewing something on a cell phone and speaking softly to each other. It warmed my heart to watch them, in their later years doing errands together. I had made up a whole love story in my head. And then she took something out of a washing machine, they walked out the door, got into different cars and headed in opposite directions.

In walks a woman with a trash bag. She kinda resembled me when she first entered, mimicking a deer in the headlights. She looked around and finally settled on a washer and emptied the contents of her trash bag into it. She started putting quarters into the machine, and then more and then more. She looked around, found the change machine, got more quarters and went back to feeding the washer. Another trip to the change machine and more quarters went into the washer. She finally started her laundry, turned and walked out. Most likely headed to the bank to take out a second mortgage on her home to afford her laundry.

OK, I'm nosy. I admit it. I nonchalantly sauntered over to the washing machine section (not the aisle with the horse-dog though) and checked out her machine. $7. Are you kidding? Let me tell you right now that if my washer dies I'll be grabbing a washboard and heading to the nearest stream.

Finally back home again with dry clothes but still no dryer, I'm hoping that 2018 will be a better year. And wondering if I can pay for a new dryer with quarters.

Pizza Party Boat         
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 loaf Italian bread
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
6 slices provolone cheese
1/2 cup marinara (my Homemade Marinara recipe HERE)
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese
10 slices of pepperoni
2 TBSP ricotta
1/2 tsp dried parsley

Directions:
*Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
*Cut the center out of the Italian loaf, leaving about 1 inch of crust around all sides and on the bottom to form your bread boat. Place on the baking sheet with the top beside it, crust side down
*Mix together the olive oil and garlic powder. Using a pastry brush, brush about half of the seasoned olive oil into the bread boat and onto the top.
*Place the provolone cheese sliced into the loaf. Cover with the marinara, then the mozzarella, then the grated parmesan, then pepperoni.
*Mix together the ricotta and dried parsley. Dollop onto the top of the parmesan.
*Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the top from oven but continue to bake the loaf for another 10 - 15 minutes. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, place the top onto the loaf if desired, slice and serve.

It’s a Wrap

I don’t know why it’s such a surprise to me. After all, it happens every year at right about this time. The calendar runs out of days and the year comes to a close.

Before we put a fork in another year (get it? fork? food? lame? OK, I tried) I’d like to take one last look at the current year on the blog; what worked and what . . . well . . . didn’t.

Here are the top ten posts of 2014 (according to page views), the bottom one (my first real stink bomb), a few of my favorites and some other memorable moments as they relate to the blog. If you’re a regular reader, I’d love to hear whether any of my posts stood out to you as memorable in the past year. And if you’re not a regular reader? You better go get your glasses, there are 284 posts you need to catch up on. Let me know when you’re done.

Top Ten Posts of 2014 ~ working up to #1

10) To My Boy

I’m so glad this one made the list. A little over a year previous to this post, I wrote a heartfelt post to my older son in the month of a milestone birthday. This one was to my younger son as he hit the same milestone. 

It included a recipe I developed with his favorite flavor combination, chocolate and peanut butter: Peanut Butter Cup Squares.

9) January Fly on the Wall

Every month some friends and I publish Fly on the Wall posts. They’re snippets of what goes on in our homes and people tell me all the time how much they look forward to laughing at me that glimpse into my home every month.

The recipe included was a winter favorite, Crockpot Beef Chili.

8) Not So Empty Nest

I spent so much time anxiously preparing myself for my anticipated empty nest and when the time came . . . it didn’t happen!

The recipe for this post was Caramel Angel Cake and it was a hit.

7) Holiday Gift Guide

I wrote this post just last month based on the hilarious, gotta see it to believe it, actual products I found on Amazon.

The post included the recipe for my Lemon Raspberry Mini Pies.

6) Secret Subject Swap: A Choice

The prompt I received for this Secret Subject Swap (a monthly group writing challenge) sent me in a serious direction. I spoke about introducing my children to funerals.

This serious post got a cocktail for a recipe, my Chocolate Raspberry Pie-Tini.

5) Love to Laugh

This post came about after I had been interviewed for one of the books I’ve contributed to, The Mother of All Meltdowns by Lydia of Cluttered Genius. She asked me what makes me laugh. I gave her an answer, then later sat down and wrote this longer response.

The post includes the recipe for PurDude’s favorite dinner, Baked Hot Wings.

4) Secret Subject Swap, June 2014

Another Secret Subject Swap post made the list. My prompt this time was about the famous person I’ve always been told that I look like.

 The recipe I included with this post was for Sweet Potato Cups with Maple Butter.

3) The Family Bang Checker

Every home has a bang checker. Guess who ours is . . . the only person who doesn’t ignore them, of course.

This post includes the recipe for my Caramel Peanut Butter Kisses.

2) Secret Subject Swap: Cupid

The second most popular post of the year was another Secret Subject Swap, this one a humorous one about who I think needs an arrow in the butt. 

Recipe included was this Pineapple Coconut Cake with Butterscotch Drizzle.

1) Be My Valentine

The NUMBER ONE post of 2014 was Be My Valentine. You can’t do this blogging thing alone, at least I can’t. This post from almost a year ago, was written to thank some fellow bloggers who’ve supported me. 

The post includes a recipe that was very popular, Chocolate Strawberry Brownie Cake.

Pass/Fail

One of These Things

And now that I’ve mentioned some of my successes, 2014 was also the year I had a post that was a total and complete failure. This post was supposed to be a humorous take-off on the kids’ game where you’re presented with a grouping of items and a category and you need to guess which one doesn’t belong. 

 Category: What does YOUR kid eat?

This thing did a complete belly-flop. I mean no one got it. People were polite but I could FEEL them making the “cookoo” sign behind my back.

Most Anticipated

Use Your Words: The One Where College Boy Lights My Car On Fire

The most anticipated post was the result of my vague-posting this one night on Facebook:

Tomorrow, when I’ve (hopefully) calmed down a bit, remind me to tell you about how my son and his friends lit my car on fire tonight . . .

Every day until I was ready to write about it, people would stop by my Facebook page and ask if I’d told the story yet. When I finally did post it, as a Use Your Words writing challenge, people couldn’t get over to read it fast enough.

And you know everyone had something to say about this one!

My Favorite Humerous Post

Fairy Tale 

In the beginning of 2014, my mother’s cousin told me about a talented children’s books author and illustrator in the family. That little bit of information resulted in my writing Fairy Tale, a story that was so much fun to write and illustrated. I later had the balls guts chutzpah to send the link to this woman and she was so magnanimous.

The feedback from this post was huge. Many people suggested and a few even insisted that I needed to write a book of these Fairy Tales. I did start one, but then I edited and edited and edited and now it’s about 3 words long. It’s tough being your own worst critic. I hope to get back to it, though.

This post remains my favorite of the year.

My Favorite Serious Post

A Holiday Story 

A Holiday Story, Part Deux 

A Holiday Story, The Finale

I had the idea to write a fictitious holiday story, but I wanted it to be unique. I know so many talented writers, I wondered if some might be willing to collaborate by adding a paragraph to an ongoing story.

Some? Nope.

Lots? Oh, yeah.

I was shocked by the response. What started as my hope for a blog post ended up being 3 posts, an amazing story somehow seamlessly crafted by 16 very diverse writers.

 This series of posts was a gift. One I couldn’t be more proud of.

Favorite Recipe

Strawberry Shortcake, Nacho Style 

I developed this recipe for a Strawberry Shortcake recipe competition I was invited to enter. I’m not someone who often has her recipes come out as well as I’d envisioned them, but this one came out even better. My family loved how it looked and tasted and PurDude was mortified when it didn’t win. It did earn me enough coupons for free berries to get me through the whole summer. It also got a lot of attention, having been featured in a slide show on the website The Daily Meal, was featured in the online magazine ArtisanLife, Daily, and even had the honor of being chosen as a feature post on BlogHer.

Strawberry Shortcake, Nacho Style

Baking In A Tornado Milestones in 2014

Previous group blogging challenges I had developed and continue to run:

Secret Subject Swap, Use Your Words and Fly on the Wall got two siblings this year: Funny Friday and Blog With Friends.

Baking In A Tornado’s Facebook page topped 12,500 “likes”,

Twitter account went over 2000 followers,

Pinterest boards hit 800 followers,

Google + account exceeded 750 followers,

and I joined Instagram. No idea what I’m doing over there but I’m there.

As always, I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read this blog, to leave comments and encourages me to continue writing. I take a lot of time with my posts, not only writing them but I make all of the graphics myself, as well as developing, executing, photographing and editing the pictures. Your engagement makes it all worthwhile.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year.

With a Bow

 

As the year winds down, I wanted to take the time to reflect back on the past year here at Baking In A Tornado. There have been some fun, some serious, some yummy and some memorable moments in my first full year blogging. I’ve gone back through the year and compiled a few lists; top ten posts by page views, my top five favorite humorous posts and my favorite more serious posts.

So let’s wrap this year up, with a bow!

Top Ten Viewed Posts:

#10 was from back in June and was a Secret Subject Swap. This post happened to be on my one year blogoversary. It was about what I’d do if I were a man for 24 hours, and it featured a recipe for Broccoli Slaw.

 

 

 

 

#9 was called Death of a Weekend, from last March. It was an obituary of sorts for parents. It featured a recipe for Pepperoni Puffs.

   

 

           

#8 was a post called Fee Schedule, also from last March. It was a message to my kids about certain changes that would be imposed in the home. It also featured a recipe for Crockpot Chocolate Caramel Cake.

                      

 

The actual #7 by page views was a compilation of previously posted recipes, both mine and those of some contributing friends, called Happy Virtual Thanksgiving. Since it wasn’t an original piece, I’ll give another #7:

#7 as an original post was from last June. It’s called Antivite and is about an actual trend, sending people an official “DON’T save the date”. It included a recipe for Choc-Oat Chip Cheesecake Bars.

 

                      

#6 was a recipe I developed for a group I was proud to be asked to join. The project was called the 12 Cakes of December. I worked really hard developing and perfecting my recipe for a White Chocolate Peppermint Cake. It’s alcohol infused, but also has an alcohol-free option.

                         

 

 

#5 is a fairly recent post also from this past month. It’s another Secret Subject Swap called The Gift and this one is about a gift that changed so much about my life. It features a recipe for Strawberry Crinkles.

                        

  

#4 is from June. It’s a fun piece about a game and it’s called Addicted to Candy. It features a recipe for candy, of course, Homemade Peppermint Patties.

                      

#3 is from last May when my oldest son graduated from high school and is called All I Got. Some of this piece is humorous but it’s heartfelt as well. It includes a recipe for Angel Food Trifle.

                            

 

#2 is called Home Sweet Future Home and it’s from last February. It’s about my fantasy home, which has some interesting features. It includes a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cups.

                     

 

 

The #1 most popular post to my blog, with the highest page views by far is another Secret Subject Swap, this one from January, about a day when everything goes wrong. It features a recipe for Potato Crusted Meatloaf.

         

 

 

 

On a personal note, I’d like to mention a few posts that were my favorite. They’re listed in no particular order.

My Top Five

The Ten Commandments, a mom’s version.

Making a Run For It, told from an unusual point of view.

Take That, Hot Flashes. Life is full of changes, I found a way to use them to my advantage.

A Sense of Balance is also my mom’s favorite. It’s a humorous look at the Zombie Apocalypse.

and the January Secret Subject Swap (#1 above) about a day when everything goes wrong has made my top five too.

More Serious Posts

I Apologize is the first serious post I ever wrote. It’s about bullying.

Lightning Strikes tells some of the story of my struggle to have children.

Every Day is about the little things we do that matter.

As always, I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read this blog, leave comments, and encourage me to continue writing. I take a lot of time with my posts, not only writing them but I make all of the graphics myself, as well as developing or adapting the recipes. If you have a favorite post, I’d love to hear about it.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year.