Roasted Carrots & Radishes

There's nothing like roasted veggies in the middle of winter to bring you out of a snowy funk. Ever since I was a kid I hated radishes. I didn't like their spicy bite that seemed to pinch the tip of my tongue every time I tried one. So of course, being the adventurous sort, when I heard you could cook them, I decided to give them another shot. After all, I gave brussels sprouts a second chance and they were heaven. Why couldn't radishes be the same?

I've always been a fan of carrots, and lately I've fallen in love with my broiler. This is a super-simple recipe that anyone can do (really!) It doesn't even have any measurements!

Roasted Carrots & Radishes

Ingredients:

Radishes

Carrots

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Other spices optional.
I used oregano, basil and thyme.

Clean and cut your radishes, removing the tops and bottoms, then cut each radish in half (or quarters if they're big.) You want all your radishes to be about the same size for even roasting.

Cut your carrots into pieces, unless you're using "baby carrots" in which case they're already prepared for roasting.

Put all of your veggie pieces into a big zipper bag and add a little olive oil- not too much. You just want enough to lightly coat your veggies. Zip the bag and shake it up! A couple tablespoons should do the trick.

Spread your veggies out on a cookie sheet. I used a pizza pan and it worked fine. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and other spices to taste. Get funky and experiment. Try garlic salt, or if you like it hot, a bit of red pepper. Whatever strikes your fancy.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. They should come out fork tender and slightly golden around the edges.

I absolutely LOVE this side dish, and it goes with almost anything. Roasting has a way of making bland, boring vegetables a kick, and it makes it easier to try new produce, even for the vegetable-shy.

The Wolf Moon

     Sometimes life has a way of really getting you down. You think when you can't take any more it throws another one at you. When you think your budget can't take any more stress, there life is, with one more bill. It's times like these when really all you can do is throw your hands up and say "Uncle!"

     I've been going through a bit of a rough patch lately. I work a regular daytime job that I'm not sure I can say I love but I certainly do like it. I like my work, I like the people (for the most part,) my schedule is pretty good and the pay is... adequate. Because the pay is adequate, but not as much as I need, I found myself taking on a second job. I loved it initially, and in many ways I still like it, but I think its season has passed. This leaves me in a somewhat precarious position with debts to pay off and a skin-of-my-teeth budget should I quit. My weight and my emotional wellbeing, however, will continue to be troublesome if I don't quit. It's truly a case of happiness versus money right now.

     It's not very often that I really say that I'm "depressed." Right now, I believe I am, and have been for a few weeks. It wasn't until today that I decided to accept it as reality. Not being one who is good at embracing my emotions, this is good practice. So not knowing what to do with myself, I went looking for inspiration and affirmation, turning to my faith (what little there seems to be these days) and knowing that the gods will provide direction and abundance... somehow.

     It's time to get my mind right, so after drowning my sadness and fear in a peanutbutter cup sundae for dinner, I made myself some spicy Xocolatl hot chocolate with coconut milk, lit a cozy fire, and went rummaging through my piles and stacks of "stuff." You know, all those papers, books, notebooks and other bits of information that "might be useful someday." In it, I came across the following...

The Wolf Moon

     The Full Moon rises in January while the wild winter wind howls. Like the wolves that stalked early villages, it prowls and growls, hungry and hunting, this Moon of deepest winter. Inside gather close to the warmth of hearth and home. Draw a cloak of protection and strength around you, and journey within. Let the darkness of the season shelter your plans and dreams. Inner visions appear, spurring us to plan what we will plant, for ahead lies the fertile cycle. Both in the spirit world and within the earth new life gathers its energies, preparing. Take time for quiet contemplation of what is to come. Focus on preparation and protection int eh privacy of loved ones, for strength grows in the quiet time as we are readied for the season ahead.

     -Dallas Jennifer Cobb

It may be no coincidence that my mother saw a very large wolf just the other day. I find that certain animal omens tend to show themselves in important times. Wolves aren't terribly abundant in this part of New York State, so seeing one, and a rather large one at that, is significant I would think. Being unfamiliar with animal signs and totems generally, I turned to Google. With it I found:

According to Celtic tradition, Wolf represents learning, loyalty, intuition, loyalty and the shadow. He teaches people not to feel strength and power of self when alone and to learn about the deepest self by imparting spiritual assistance and courage. Wolf also symbolizes cunning, wisdom, searching, dreams, magick, intuition, transformation, death and rebirth, intuition and protection.
Native Americans believe that Wolf is teacher and pathfinder to find new ideas and teach them to the tribe. He imparts a sense of family and loyalty, Moon is the power ally which helps Wolf to access the subconscious that has the secrets of knowledge and wisdom. Wolf tells people to seek out solitude to find the teacher within the self so they can teach others about spirituality. He helps people to learn to trust insights when they learn to value the inner voice. Some Native American tribes, African Dogon tribe and the Aborigines of Australia believe Wolf is allied with Sirius, the Dog Star. A number of these believe the teachers and ancestors came from there.

People have study Wolf’s ways. He is a communal animal and teaches people to learn to cooperate in attaining those ends which are desired. Wolf helps people to learn to use body language as well as their voice in communicating these. Rituals are important to Wolf . People can learn from this to enable them in getting in touch with the Source of Life. (Source.)

So maybe that is something to think on and ponder. Personally, I relate much more to the coyote than the wolf. In fact I've always had something of an aversion to the wolf spirit, but who knows... the gods have a funny way of making a point. With the Wolf Moon just a week away, now is a good time to get prepared for whatever magic may be in order that night. I'll admit, that's another department I've unfortunately been slacking in. One could say my mundane life is suffering because my spiritual life is not being fed. One could be right.

And with my little umm... sugary indiscretion earlier this evening, and my overall indulgence throughout the evening, I feel tonight is a good night to wallow and tomorrow is a good day to start fresh and new. I am practicing expressing my true emotions rather than how I "should" feel, embracing the reality rather than the ideal. So with that, I am depressed, disappointed, discouraged and afraid, and I'm not ashamed to say so. I know my situation is nothing compared to those suffering in Haiti and around the world, but it IS the reality of my world and while it could be worse, it most certainly could be better.

Here's to a night of not caring about tomorrow, and to a tomorrow of not caring about tonight. Thanks for reading.

DIY: Clubbells

So I'm a little late getting to this. It's been an incredibly busy week. My mom had surgery on her foot to remove cancer cells. Later that day the whole family gathered at the hospital, waiting to welcome the arrival of my nephew's son. We had no idea that wait would be approximately 16 hours. Yeah, we kept ourselves entertained, but unfortunately it set my blogging back a day or two after playing catch up.

Here we go...

DIY Clubbells.

I really, really wanted a pair of clubbells after reading about them on MarksDailyApple.com and watching fellow Primals use them in YouTube videos. I was disappointed to discover that a nice pair of clubbells would cost $150 or more. That is certainly not in my budget. What's a low-income Primal to do? Make her own of course!

Making a nice pair of clubbells is actually really easy, and takes only a little time and a few supplies. All you need are a pair of T-Ball bats, which are smaller than regular baseball bats, a drill, some sand, and a plug... oh yeah, and a funnel (which I forgot at first, thus the reason it's not in the picture.)

Have a friend hold your bat steady and drill a hole in it. For mine, I decided I would drill the hole in the handle end. Makes sense, right? So we drilled a hole, and poured the sand in. Stick a plug in it, and you're done! Super, super simple. My clubbells came out at just about 6 pounds. Not too heavy to swing around with one hand, which is why I made a pair of them. I'm going to take a full-size bat and make a 2-handed clubbell pretty soon.

Yup, that's it! Pretty simple huh? Oh yeah, and the best part... it only cost about $25 to make them. The bats were $10 each, and the sand was about $3. The plugs were $1 each. Cool huh?


Oh yeah, and before I forget... I would like to share with you my Great nephew, Connor Cole Brooks, and his proud daddy, Josh. Momma Jocelyn is doing fantastic and looking beautiful. :)

Out For Blood (Sausage)

Blood Sausage

Also known as "black pudding" or "blood pudding", it's an interesting concoction made by cooking blood (usually beef or pork) with filler until it's thick enough to congeal. The fillers may or may not be Primal, ranging anywhere from meat, sweet potato, bread or oatmeal. There are numerous variations, depending on what region it's coming from.

The blood sausage I tried this New Years, and ate for breakfast with eggs this morning, came from Marky's Caviar. It's called Boudin Noir, a French all-natural blood sausage.

According to Marky's site, this particular sausage is "A traditonal South of France blood pudding sausage made of pork blood, onion, duck meat, pork snouts, pork fat, pork tongue, salt, beef bood plasma, cornstarch, sugar, spices, pepper, natural pork casing.

Not 100% Primal, but pretty darn close. I quickly became a huge fan, and it only took one bite. My mother, on the other hand, thought it looked (and sounded) disgusting and wouldn't give it a try. That's ok. More for me!

After heating, the sausage was pretty squishy, so we allowed it to cool some and firm up. When I finally dug in, it was still somewhat soft. The casing is thin and easy to cut, and the insides are delicate. You'll probably want to have a good sharp knife, unless you're like I tend to be- and you just pick it up and eat it. Being that it was New Years Eve dinner, I decided to be more civilized. At home this morning, I was decidedly not so much. The onion flavor is what stands out the most to me. It's not really very salty or sweet, but very savory. It went perfectly with fried eggs this morning. I think I'm going to see if my butcher can make it, or at least provide me with the ingredients I need, and I can experiment with making it myself.

My only minor disappointment is that there was no visible nutrition information on the web site, and I don't have the package to refer to. I'm pretty curious what the macro breakdown is for this stuff. Based on the ingredients, however, I don't think it's anything I have to worry myself over. Purely curiosity.

Over all, five stars in my book. I will be getting this again when I have the chance. Based on my opinion of this product, I'm curious to see what else Marky's has to offer.