Things I'm super jazzed about right now:

I'm loving all of the 2012 recipe round-ups/top recipes of/etc that seem to be occurring all over the web. In fact, all of the top ten lists that seems only to be applied to movies and celebrities are simply abundant right now.   It's the best.  Not.

I'm super jazzed that it's already January.  This means we are whittling our way through winter at a reasonable speed.

I'm very jazzed that my friend T will be in town once a month for the next 3 months.

I'm hyper-jazzed that December is now behind us and we can focus on the future.  I'm hoping that it's a brighter, wiser future.

I'm not so jazzed about all the snow that fell over the holiday time (a 'White Christmas' is not necessary for me to have a memorable time) not because I don't like snow but because I have stuff to do and snow makes it 10x harder to do if not impossible (cycling, hello).  It's winter though so I'm not bitter.

I'm super jazzed that my friend and artist has agreed to participate in my next body art (aka tattoo) experience.

I'm hesitantly jazzed about signing up for my first half-marathon since my awful bout of plantar fasciitis last year.  The reason I'm only 'hesitantly jazzed' is that I'm still really nervous about pushing things with my foot.  I have until May to work up to being super jazzed.

I wish I were more jazzed about going to Rome in April.  If I weren't going for work I would be super jazzed.  As it stands (a lot of work is involved) I'm only moderately jazzed.


I'm definitely super jazzed about this salad I've been eating.  Ontario grown spinach, clementines - our seasonal import, and pecans.  Drizzled with a lemon juice/olive oil, parmesan cheese mixture.  Divine.


I've been jazzed about these nuts since I first tried them last week.  I made a big jar of them for my Dad for Christmas (he got some other stuff too - don't worry).  I had never tried them before and they are... well, AMAZING.  Not too sweet, not too spicy and it allows the nuts to still be the star.  When you are someone who makes a lot of your own ice cream you've got a lot of egg whites knocking around.  Great way to use up... 1.  Yeah - just one.  Unless you want to do an industrial size batch then I guess you would use two.  The recipe that I used as my inspiration called only for walnuts.  I used mixed nuts and it works very well.  I'm a mixed nuts kind of girl anyway.


Sweet Roasted Mixed Nuts adapted from 'Family Bites'
makes 4 cups

4 cups mixed nuts (pecans, cashews, brazil nuts, walnuts, peanuts - I'm not kidding, I literally threw in handfuls)
1 egg white
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne
2  heaping tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 300° F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment (ok) or silicon liner (better).
Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl and toss until everything is well coated.  Pour onto the baking  sheet and spread out evenly and hopefully in a single layer over the entire sheet.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until everything looks golden brown but not dark brown.
Cool completely and then break up and place in jars for gifting or in bowls for eating.

I realize, with a little embarrassment, that this is my fourth or fifth recipe in a row laden with sugar.  I realize that I've announced quite freely that I'm doing my best to cut down on sugar.  I'm not sure exactly how to apologize.  I thought that a lemon loaf might do the trick.  In my defence, I  have added a nice bit of whole wheat flour to this recipe.  It produced a slightly more dense cake but was well worth it.  I found that my cake didn't rise quite as high as it might have without the whole wheat flour but the combination of the baking powder/soda and the lemon juice can produce unpredictable results.  Either way, lemon loaf it is.
I went a little crazy with the lemons before christmas.  I ordered about 10 in my food box.  Once I got them I then realized that my lemon curd recipe only used about 3 lemons... oops.  So I've been adding lemon to everything... worse things could happen.  I've made salad dressing with lemons.  I've added lemons to my pesto pasta dish. (You see, we have been eating more than cookies)  I just couldn't think of a better or more satisfying thing to finish off the lemons with.  They are lemons after all and that sweet and sour combination is just amazing.


Our sweet Kid#1 is celebrating a birthday tomorrow so there may just be more sweets to come.  I do promise that I will get better with this whole sugar thing.  I love what Peabody said about it here.  I too think that this whole January-get-fit-thing is blown wildly out of proportion and fuelled by retailers who want to sell off over-priced exercise equipment, magazine and cookbooks touting low-fat, clean diets - Suzie the Foodie has some cool things to say about 'clean' eating.  I'm not worried about things myself. Christmas doesn't find me going completely overboard.  I don't radically change my eating habits over the holidays.  Admittedly, I've been finding it difficult to get out for a run with the snow we've been getting lately and biking is out of the question at the moment.  I still do stuff at home - I don't own a treadmill - but I do my thing.  It's possible to lead a normal life over the holidays so that in January I'm not allowing my guilt to pull my into the marketing mayhem.  I will eat something sweet if it's what I like and what I want.  I won't waste my time on something I don't want.  I do eat something sweet everyday... usually dark salted chocolate.


Aside from usual Christmas stuff and the imminent birthday prep, we've been laying low and enjoying some much needed quiet time.  Here are a few snaps from our life:





Lemon Loaf with Red Fife Flour adapted from 'Jenn's Random Scraps'
makes 1 loaf

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup red Fife or whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs room temperature
4 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp lemon zest
1/3 cup oil

Topping:
Lemon Sugar (optional)
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 - 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350° F.
Grease and flour a loaf pan (9x5) and set aside.
Combine both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and set aside.
Beat together the sugar, eggs, butter, lemon juice and lemon zest until all the ingredients are incorporated and nothing stands out.
Add the dry ingredients and mix just until the flour is incorporated.  Add the oil and continue to mix just until the mixture is no longer lumpy.
Sprinkle with Lemon sugar (optional).
Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool the loaf in the pan for about 15 minutes then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Topping:
Combine the sifted icing sugar and lemon juice until the mixture is a pouring consistency.  Pour over the completely cooled loaf.