New Year Goals: 2015 Style

Happy New Year! I know I�m a little late to the game here, being that we�re already half-way through January, but I took the last few weeks to recharge, and I�m excited to be back! I have a lot of fun ideas planned for this space in 2015� starting with a facelift!*

I always like to set a small health and lifestyle goal for January (in the past I've done no-boozuary, no process sugar, waking up earlier, etc), just so I can use the month to really get back into a healthy, productive mindset after all the holiday indulgences (which included tons of chocolate and butter, sleeping in later than I have since college, watching hours upon hours of Netflix, and barely leaving the house).  I also come up with a focus/theme for each new year (an idea I got from my friend LZ), and some goals for the year. So, here�s what I have planned for 2015! Let�s do this!

2015 Focus/Theme: Seek & Create Balance

Coming out of a year of extreme highs and extremely low low lows, I�m seeking a more even keeled, balanced year. Emotionally, physically, everything-ly. The low lows aside, I was hyper focused on the wedding for basically all of 2014, and if you�ve ever done that, you know it�s pretty much the opposite of balance. All wedding, all the time (thank you, patient friends and family!). So with that insanity behind me, I�m looking forward to more travel and entertaining, more outdoor adventures (and maybe a little less tv), and a new focus on creating a healthy and happy balance between creative pursuits, friendships, family, marriage (!), work, fitness, and even the boring stuff like keeping the house clean.

2015 Goals:

Food: Use my cookbooks�I think I�m most excited about this goal! I have a ton of great cookbooks, yet I never use them. I kicked this one off a little early with Sheet Pan Suppers, and just made an amazing cauliflower salad and a butternut squash dip from Jerusalem.

Travel: Visit (at least) two new places�with all the money we were spending on the wedding, we didn�t go on any international trips in 2014, and that bums me out. This year, I want to go on one big international trip, and also cross a few domestic destinations off my bucket list (NOLA, I�m looking at you� finger�s crossed!).

Home: Minimize, simplify, beautify�I have a tendency to hang on to everything, and I�m trying really hard to change that. when Evan and I moved into our new place in November, we made 7 trips to Goodwill! I�m talking entire carloads. Plus a couch and recliner. So in 2015, I want to continue to get rid of the clutter. But also, I want to focus on making our place more inviting. We moved into our old apartment when we were 24. It was a dark, cramped, cluttered space full of mismatched, ugly furniture and decorations. We hardly ever entertained because we hated it so much. Our new place is open and airy and beautiful, and we want to show it off!

January Goal:

Bring lunch to work every day: I was in an eating-out-every-day rut, so now�s a good time to reset, save a little money, and eat healthy homemade lunches. So far, so good! My tricks? Prepping a bunch of roast vegetables, beans, and grains over the weekend, so I can just throw everything together for a quick salad/bowl. Also, I�ve been making big batches of frozen burritos�chicken/bean/rice and egg/potato/sausage�so that I have quick options if I�m in a hurry. This week I made a few batches of juice to bring too!

So, that�s what I have planned for the year ahead. And, obviously, lots of new recipes for you to make! What about you? Any big goals, resolutions, or focus areas for 2015? Let�s do this together!

*PS. Thanks to Pipdig for the new design and layout! 
PPS. The photo above: the best day ever! More on that later!

Sarmen (Pork Cabbage Rolls)

The holidays were hard. Really hard. And the new year feels bittersweet. On one hand, I�m looking forward to putting a painful year behind me. On the other hand, this will be a new year without my dad. 2015. A year that he�ll never see a day of. I�m moving into this new year without resolutions, but with purpose. I want to live fully and love deeply, like he did. Like he would want us to do. I�m going to focus on health and wellness, to get out and move around more. If I've learned anything in the last year, it�s that these bodies are the only ones we have, and they can break. Our bodies can betray us. The worst thing we can do with a working, healthy body is to take it for granted. 

The last few  months I�ve grappled with whether or not I want to continue blogging. My priorities just feel different now. Writing about the joy of a good cookie when my heart is breaking feels fake. But I also don't want this to be a sad place that brings you down with each new post. So, I�m still figuring it out. Figuring out how I want to use this space and the time and effort I put into this blog.
Figuring out how to still enjoy the happy, good things. My dad wouldn�t want me to stop blogging because he�s gone. He would want me to figure out a way to make it work, to carry on. In 2015, I plan to honor him in these small ways.   

So, we carry on. We move forward. Eating pork for the year is supposed to be good luck, since pigs move forward when they eat (versus chickens, who root backwards). These cabbage rolls are a riff on my Oma�s sarmen. Sarmen is how she always said it, though online research tells me it�s more often sarma. Is sarmen plural maybe? Who knows. I mean, the country the woman came from isn�t even a country anymore, so I suppose words could have shifted and changed. Oma�s sarmen is ground pork and rice, heavily seasoned with Hungarian paprika, rolled up in cabbage leaves, and baked in a bed of sauerkraut. When Amanda and I were kids, my mom would often do tomato sauce instead of sauerkraut, which is what i�ve done here. Feel free to replace the sauce with sauerkraut or a store-bought tomato sauce though, if you�re so inclined. My Oma always makes sarmen for new year�s eve or day, for good luck.  

Here�s to the new year. To good luck, joy, and lightness. To carrying on and looking forward. And to JFK, the coolest dad a girl could ask for. We�re lucky we had you in our lives, and lucky we have you in our hearts. 

Sarmen (Pork Cabbage Rolls)

Makes about 12 rolls, serves 4-6

Sauce

Olive oil

1/2 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes (like san marzano)

Splash balsamic vinegar

Large handful fresh parsley

salt & pepper

1 large head cabbage, cored simmered in hot water until soft and easy to separate.

Filling

1 3/4 pounds ground pork

2 cloves garlic, minced

1.5 tablespoons Hungarian paprika

1 teaspoon salt

black pepper

1 egg

1 cup cooked, cooled rice

Preheat oven to 350. 

To make the sauce, heat olive oil in pot or high-sided large skillet. Add onion and cook until just browned, then add garlic, cook for a minute until fragrant but not burnt. Add tomatoes (with liquid), vinegar, parsley, salt, and pepper to taste, and simmer. Remove from heat and set aside. 

Separate the cabbage leaves and cut out the hard stem. Dry each leaf. 

To make filling, mix together pork through rice (using your hands is the easiest way to combine it all).

Add a small amount of the tomato sauce to the bottom of a baking dish (I used a 9x9 dish with tall-ish sides). One at a time, spoon the filling into the center of each cabbage leaf. Roll, and place each one snuggly in the dish. Top with remaining sauce. Cover dish with foil, and cook for 2 hours, until pork is cooked through and cabbage is tender. Serve rolls with sauce from dish, and a bit of grated parmesan if desired. 

See you guys in 2015! 

Cheers to the New Year: 2014

Christmas is over, and my house is, for the first time in months, cookie-free. My tree is still up and there are gifts strewn about the living room, but that's another story. Here are some phone pics of my Christmas vacation (we went ice-caving!). 

I don't know about you guys, but I'm beyond stoked for 2014! In 2014, I'm getting married. WHAT!? 

2013 has been a wild year. I got engaged and wrote a 50,000 word novel for NaNoWriMo. And that was only the month of November! 

I rang in 2013 at a snowy cabin with some of my favorite people. I went wine tasting in Sonoma, house-boating in Shasta, hiking and exploring in the Gifford Pinchot, and camping at the Oregon coast. We celebrated our nephew's 1st birthday in New York, and my sister's Masters graduation from UW. I won a quinoa recipe contest and this blog turned four years old. Evan and I bought a car together, and (after almost a decade of dating and several years of living together) our parents finally met. Some good things happened in 2013.  

2013 also had some bumps, with health scares and hospital visits for people I care very much about. I'm crossing my fingers that 2014 is a happy, healthy year for everyone I know and love. And for all of you guys, too!

So, here's to the new year! I'll be back in 2014 with great new recipes, photos, and stories. Until then, here are my top 20 of 2013. Some of these were the most visited posts, and some were just my favorite to write, eat, or photograph in 2013. Cheers!

Southwest Quinoa Burrito Bowl Salad

Peppermint Mocha Icebox Cookies

Simple Chicken Noodle Soup

Coconut Lemon Bars

BBQ Pulled Pork Hand Pies

Creamy White Chicken Chili

Sweet Potato, Pear, and Wild Rice Salad

Pumpkin Spice Almond Milk Coffee

Fried Green Tomato Salad

Peach Pineapple Crisp with Coconut Ginger Crumble

Tortas with Chorizo Scrambled Eggs

Totally Grilled Guacamole

Baja-Maui Zucchini Tacos

Wheat Berry Salad with Avocado, Strawberries, and Caramelized Shallots

Food Bloggers Against Hunger

Tex Mex Taco Stack (Dinner & a Movie)

Soba Salmon Noodle Bowls

Lemon Cake with Blackberry Buttercream

Roarin' 20s Murder Mystery Dinner

The Perfect Entree Salad