Pin 2: 23 ways to eat clean

So I'm slightly ashamed to say that pin number 2 is more of a link than a pin that you can do, but in my defense I worked a night shift last night and another one tonight with class in between.  So my second pin is called 23 Ways to Eat Clean.  This is something dear to my heart. This year Adam and I are trying to eat healthier.  We are in the process of cutting out processed foods i.e. stuff that your great-grandmother couldn't buy.  It taking a while because we are trying to finishes what foods we have in the house first.  Both of us are enjoying the different foods we are getting to try and the trying to modify recipes so that they are clean.  What I like about this pin is it gives you visuals of how to make healthier choices.  So go check out 23 ways to eat clean and eat an apple while you are at it.   PS  feel free to ask me how eating clean is going at my house.   Tonight we are having chef salad.

Pin 1: Mosto cotto d’uva- Cooked grape must

So this pin came out of necessity. I opened up my fridge and saw a bag of grapes that was going old and knew that I had to make something out of them other wise by Saturday I would just throw them away.  So on to Pinterest I went and searched for grapes.  Most the the recipes I found I thought fresh grapes would work best for but this picture looked like a jar of preserves or something so that should work for old grapes right?

The original pin does not bring you to the website with the recipe but by doing a little digging I was able to fine the recipe with no problem.  It is from another blog called: Cibo, vino e parole.  My knowledge outside of the English language is limited but I do know that vino is wine in Italian, I think. While looking at the site I noticed that the whole website is in Italian.  Major bummer because I was looking forward to making what ever is in that jar.  But then I read "scroll down for English version."  Awesome back on track.   So here is my story of  making Cooked Grape Must.

Cooked grape must 

For ½ a liter of cooked grape must:

1 ½ l. fresh black grapes juice

2-3 tablespoons sugar (optional)

Look for freshly pressed, unfermented grape juice,  without skins and pips.

Pour the fresh grape  juice into a big pot.

 Put it on the fire to boil slowly and skim off any froth that rises.

Cook until the fresh juice is restricted to one third of its original volume (about 1 hour and a half for me) or until will have the consistency of syrup.

If you want, you can add almost at the end,  a few tablespoons of sugar to taste.

Turn off the heat and let cool in the pot. Strain and store in a tightly closed jar or  bottle .

Keep in a  in cool and dark place.

You can use grape syrup with cheese, to make  cookies, to add a bread dough  and drizzled over ice cream.

Read more: http://www.cibovinoeparole.com/2012/10/mosto-cotto-d-uva-grape-must-cooked.html#ixzz2TD8w3bxm

My first thought was I don't know what Grape Must is.  So I did what any 20 something would do; I googled it. Must (from the Latin vinum mustum, “young wine”) is freshly pressed fruit juice(usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. That really doesn't tell me to much but oh well.   I next looked at the ingredient list.  Fresh black grape juice.  I don't have that but I have maybe a pound of grapes.  I decided that would work just as well I would cook it down like I do chicken stock.   My next thought was to skin the grapes.  I skinned one of them and that took for ever; so instead I just cut the grapes in half.  After I had a pot of grape halves, I smashed them using a meat tenderizer.  Next I added a enough water so there would be some liquid in the pan along with a handful of sugar.  I set the burner to medium and let the grapes cook down.  After about an hour and a half I decided that the grapes had cooked down enough.   Next the recipe says to strain.  So I took my loose leave tea strainer to use to strain the grapes.  I got one small container of grape must but it is better than seeing the grapes go to waste.  I plan to use the must in sweetening homemade yogurt.  Adam is going to try it in his lunch tomorrow.  Hopefully it goes well.

One Year of Pinterest

So much of my wasted time on line is on Pinterest.  I love that site.  It makes me think  I am creative when I am really not. Because I spend so much time on Pinterest I have a lot of boards, 69 of them in fact, with 1, 639 pins on them.  That's a lot of stuff to look at or do.  I pin for many different reasons.  Because of all the time I spend on Pinterest and not so much on my blog; I have decided to do a series called One Year of Pinterest.  With this series I plan to do 365 post about different pins on my boards.  I have even created a special board so that you can find all of my pins featured in this blog.  That board is called: One Year of Pinterest.  Original I know.  With in this year I have several goals.  The first is to try new things and have fun with it.  The second is to write blog post more often.  With this I hope to become a better writer.  The third and final goal is to clean up my Pinterest boards.   I want to organize them and maybe make them more manageable.  I hope you join me on this year long journey.

One Month

So today we are three days shy of one month since our wedding day.  So how has one month of marriage been.  It has been wonderful.  Adam is the most amazing husband I could ever ask for.  He cooks, he cleans, he folds the laundry, he puts up with my stupid ideas, my crazy schedule. Me on the other hand. Im just surviving.  If I get out of bed and don't go back in I count it as a great day!  I except so much out of myself that I set myself up for failure.  Going to work is  a relief because I know what I am doing there.  When I check in next month I hope things are better.  Dont get me wrong. I love Adam. I just wish I was a better wife.

The mote and the beam

Today at Bible I was a very very bad person.  I literally tried to take the mote out of my sister's eye and forgot about the beam in mine Matthew 7:3-5. And the worst part about it right now is that I am too stubborn to go say I'm sorry for my behavior.  Its just that the issue we were talking about seems so black and white to me.
Looking at myself I have a ton of ideas of how my life will be after i get marriage.  You know the little white house, with fresh cookies in the kitchen every single day, happy husband, and perfect little children.  I do know that this will not happen but I have plans to try my best to make it happen. The thing that I know is I need to pray a lot.  The second thing is that Adam and I need to talk a lot about what we want in life and how to best worship God in our life.  My goal for now is to remove my beam from my eye and stop waiting until August

Bucket List

Things that I really want to do someday:
1. Visit Stonehenge
2. Visit Diggerland (Kent, England)
3. Visit Munich
4. Go to Washington DC
5. Visit all 50 states
6. Drive down Route 66--Adam says we need a classic car for this
7. Visit Napa Valley
8. Get Married---I get to cross this one off on August 3, 2012
9. Become a parent
10. Get a dog
11. Run a mile without stopping
12. Buy a home---should be crossing this off soon
13. Pay off my college debt by 2016
14. Make a knitted blanket or a quilt
15. Learn to play the piano
16. Play the clarinet
17. own the complete works of Beethhoven
18. Go to Boundary Waters with Adam
19. Get a new truck for Adam

Life (mainly a vent)

So I like it when life goes my way; how I planned it.  But I am slowly learning that you can not make life be how you want it to be. In my ideal world right now I would be typing this from the big white and red house sitting in an Adirondack chair on my front porch sipping sweet iced tea waiting for Adam coming home from work .   Once he arrives home I would make the final touches on supper that was created from my monthly meal plan.  This monthly meal plan allows me to only have to go shopping for food once a month.  I hope to grow this idea so that I only have to go shopping for everything once a month.
In my ideal world my family planner would be done.  Complete with addresses, people's birthdays, family calendar, my daily to do in it, cleaning list.  If someone had a question about our family they would go to that binder.

So that was part of a post from last week.  Most of the things in those two short paragraphs I am still frustrated about but I understand that what I want is not always going to happen.  I have noticed that my life motto maybe just be "if only this happens life will be better."  In reflection this life motto sucks.   I think that I'm going to try to live life in the moment.  I know that I love to have everything planned but I am learning that with Adam's family that is not possible.  I just pray that we (Adam and I) do not miss family functions or get togethers because I have planned something fun for the weekend or the night.

I have plans and dreams for us but sometimes I wonder if my dreams are too lofty.  I know they are dreams but I want to achieve some of them. I guess that my goal for this week.  Is live in the moment; be flexible and not complete freak out when things don't go as planned.