Yodel-YAY!-Ee-Hoo

Vintage cornucopia found: here

Stand up and take chard of your holiday appetizer tray with this recipe for Boatyard Chard.  Move over Spinach Dip, there's a new spread in the slip!  The warm flavors of ginger root, and garlic bring a cozy heat to this otherwise mellow starter.

Here's what you need:

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves Garlic (minced)
• 1-2 Inch Piece of Ginger Root (grated) 
• 1 Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/4 Cup of Water
• 1-2 Bunches Swiss Chard (sliced into 1/4 - 1/2" pieces be sure to use some stems too!)
• 2 Cups Ricotta Cheese

Here's what you do:
Heat oil in a medium sized pot over medium heat.  Add garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes, and cook for 4-6 minutes (just long enough to get fragrant, don't burn it!).  Add chard, and water, cover and cook until wilted and tender - another 4-8 minutes.  Season with salt.

*HINT* If you're going salt free, however, use more diced chard stems in your recipe, they give a great salty flavoring to your dish.  The stems also contain glutamine (amino acid) that aids in tissue recovery in the body, so they're great to have around after injury or surgery!

Once your greens are nice and wilted, combine them with two cups of ricotta cheese in a baking dish, and pop into your pre-heated oven you set to 425° and bake for 12 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.  Serve with crostini or crackers of your choice, it's perfect straight out of the oven, or chilled overnight!

I stumbled upon this flavorful, yet gentle recipe when I altered, and combined one of my favorites (coconut chard) with the directions for a dip recipe that involved ricotta cheese, at a time when I had to engage in a brutally restrictive diet.  My body wasn't playing nicely with all of the other foods on the playground, or maybe it was the other way around, but this was one recipe that was a bit of a peace-maker, especially through the holiday season.  So, I thought I would share it this year for anyone dealing with food allergies, or mega-restrictions, or even weight loss, and diets that are leaving you with rather less-than-palatable options these days, because nobody wants to be unable to eat, and enjoy family gatherings, forever banished to loser-table ... it's a lot like the kids' table, but with no crayons.

xoxo

Rise & Shine!

The Leonie Dawson Shining Year Biz & Life workbooks are finally here for the masses (no memberships or pre-orders to fuss with and forget required).  For all of you swept up in the latest agenda craze, these workbooks, are weekly planners on steroids!  Mine are still in the mail, and this will be my very first year trying out Leonie's system for keeping all of my goals and deadlines on track.  I'm admittedly a little nervous (is that event the right word?) about diving into this packet, I am a complete and total minimalist when it comes to this kind of thing - like, 19¢ one subject notebook and black ink pen - minimalist aside from my old zip up calendar / address book with (ugly as hell) refillable pages from college. Almost nothing about the image above speaks to me on a personal or intuitive level, if I'm being perfectly honest.  No joke, it was like pulling teeth for my art instructors to get me to even entertain the idea of a sketchbook, and I kept maybe one and a half diaries during my entire childhood so, I am definitely not the constantly journaling / doodling / vision board-ing girl. I have, however, discovered this year that I work more efficiently when I have worksheets to check back with, and I already know that I closely follow the calendar to help keep me on task, but what drew me to this was the notion that I was missing a step in my planning that could push my productivity, and execution to the next level.  So, here I am giving it a whirl!  I'm curious to see how this all works out exactly.  If you are too, pounce on the images (hey, hey! They're links!) and snag a set that fits your life, or business goals, and see what all the hype is about!  I also recommend shaking a leg, these tend to sell out quickly, and thanks to successful pre-orders some stock is already running a bit low.

Seriously, people are bananas for this chick's products, and swear up and down that she has completely changed their lives and business, it's still too early for me to tell, but she just may be turning me into a believer.

And as always, you can check out some of Leonie's free goodies over here!

 xoxo

Ready for a Little World Building?

Alright gang, my annual Worldbuilders winter fundraiser post is coming out a little earlier than usual this year.  In years past I've posted about Patrick Rothfuss' end of the year charity extravaganza where geeks from all walks of life come together to change people's lives through Heifer International to kick off the holiday season around here on December 1st, and also help spread the word of a final two week push to the donation finish line.  This year things are a little different, Worldbuilders has announced that they have the ability to match donations made in 2016 up to a million dollars, meaning if anything near last year's total is achieved, TWO MILLION USD will be given to Heifer International to completely transform the lives of people in our own country and around the world who have been affected by the most devastating poverty imaginable.

So, how can you join in all of the merry-making, you ask?  Go HERE and check out Pat's charity launch post for an in-depth description of how this all works.  The basic idea is that there are three ways to help out: Auctions, Lottery, and Donate, but as the fundraiser goes on madness ensues with new stretch goals added, and new lottery and auction items thrown into the mix, so it's great to check back in with his blog between now and the end of the fundraiser **DEADLINE EXTENDED!!!** DECEMBER 19, 2016 11:59 UTC-11 to see what other shenanigans have cropped up that you might feel you need to be involved with.  If you're feeling generous this holiday season, or looking to deviate from the usual gift giving of this time of year give it a peek and maybe drop a few dollars to help someone out!

xoxo