bits and pieces from comfy house

More of a random, mish-mosh of a post today. I've been on the run a lot lately and

haven't gotten much accomplished at home. I've also been dealing with a medical problem

(not the rotator cuff tear, but something else) that kinda of got swept under the rug this past 

year, but now came to light again. I received a ton of info today and will be going for a 

test and some treatments all within the next few weeks, so I'm feeling a little overwhelmed

by it all. I don't want to put too much personal information out here on my blog, but if you

want to know any of the details (and I'll warn you ahead of time: it's long), just send me a

private email (link to my email is in my profile) and I will share with you.

  

This past weekend, a friend of ours had a Halloween party and one of the games

we played was Bingo. On this round we were playing the coverall version, where you had

to cover every square. We ran out of official tokens, so we started looking around for what

we could use as tokens. At first we were using M&Ms, but everyone ended up

 eating them! Then we got desperate and used leftover candy corn, the white tops of the

 candy corn (which look like teeth!), and then we got really desperate and my friend 

found leftover party mints from her daughter's baby shower back in January.

Tim told me he needed a new pair of glittens - that the ones he bought last year got

chewed up by Mojo - one of his roommate's cute but naughty dog. I stopped at the store

where he got his pair last year and they had tons. I'm talking baskets and baskets full. They

had regular and fleece-lined and were very reasonably priced. I think I'm going to go back

and buy a pair for myself, too. This is just one of the times I'm glad I have a smartphone. I

picked out a few pairs that I thought he would like, took a photo and sent it to him via text

 so he could choose, and got his reply. He chose the red, black, and green ones. 

I filled up the bird feeder with seed now that weather is cold. It attracts mostly sparrows

and juncos, but this gorgeous red-bellied woodpecker has been visiting everyday, too.

I grabbed my DSLR camera and was able to get a decent photo through my living room

window. I love how he has a seed in his long beak.

 

I made a big pan of roasted vegetables the other day. I used broccoli, cauliflower,

turnips, butternut squash, red and white onion, fennel, red and orange peppers,

carrots and parsnips, and even a few pieces of leftover celery. It's a great way to use

 up any bits of leftover veggies. I tossed them all with a little bit of extra-virgin olive oil,

salt and pepper and popped in the oven at 350 degrees F. for about 40 minutes. I

opened the oven and stirred a couple of times while the veggies were roasting. The

great thing about this is that the veggies are so versatile. You can eat as is, make a

frittata (which I did the first night for dinner), make a rice or quinoa bowl, toss with

pasta or make veggie lasagna, put in a wrap, make veggie soup, veggie enchiladas,

or vegetarian pizzas.

 For a little something sweet, I baked this delicious pumpkin and dark chocolate cake

from Better Homes and Gardens magazine. When I bake, I indulge in just a little bit, then

either freeze the rest of send with Brian to work. This bread was delicious - and not

overly sweet because I cut back on the sugar in the recipe. The recipe calls for 1-1/4 

cups - way too much. I used 3/4 cup. Unfortunately, I only had regular white sugar in my

cabinet (poison, I know). I ran out of organic coconut sugar, which I had been using in

my baking. Shoot, who am I kidding...I just need to cut way back on sugar - period!

Well, if baking urge hits you and you're looking for a good recipe, here it is:

Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Swirl Cake

Thanks for your visit!