The Simple Life

I've always been a simple person.  I don't need much to keep me happy.  Don't get me wrong, I love things as much as anyone else but I don't need them. 

We moved from Indiana on August 30, 2019, to Sebring, Florida leaving behind all the family and friends that I'd known and the town where I had been for about 60 years.  Big change!  Granted, all of our kids are grown and live elsewhere, but we left our church family, my siblings, and all of our friends behind.  Dogs and cats came in the Tahoe with us, pulling a small Uhaul trailer with some belongings that we didn't want to ship in the Pod for safety reasons.  And we were coming down in the face of potential Hurricane Dorian.  Thank goodness he changed course.  I had never been to Sebring, but my husband came ahead of our moving to search out employment and housing while I stayed home and packed.  Exciting.  Depressing....all the emotions that one could imagine.  My mom just passed away in April so I had that on my mind and heart as well.  I have survived.

Over the weekend, I showed my husband a picture of a room that I would love, one that was so peaceful.  It was labeled as Hygge Lifestyle.  My husband asked me what Hygge was and I told him it was a feeling of coziness.  Later that day, I googled it because I'd only heard the term in a yarn group that I am in...this is what it is:
 

Description

Description

Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. As a cultural category with its sets of associated practices hygge has more or less the same meanings in Danish and Norwegian, but the notion is more central in Denmark than in Norway. Wikipedia

This is the picture I showed him:

Isn't it beautiful and cozy?  I love it.  Now, here would be my issue though...I don't like snakes and I know there would be snakes lurking around under some of the blankets.

I guess I've always practiced Hygge and didn't know it had a name.  I love lots of candles, and plants, and natural things.  I love quiet, cozy, and Romantic.  

Right now, I'm finding myself...my happy self has been lost for a long time.  Since moving here, I've gained almost 10 pounds, which is probably boredom, depression, new surroundings...just a lot going on.  I am finally settling into my new role here though.  I'm still not working, only at home so far, one day I will find something that I really love though and then I'll do what I love.  Until then, I'm dabbling in painting and haven't done that for years.  I'm loving that, it is so relaxing.  I'm trying to organize our home and just want to be there in the evenings when my husband comes home from work and listen all about his day while we eat a good relaxing meal.

I hope to write more here....if you join in, let me know what you think from time to time.

Homemade Yogurt

I love Yogurt!

Homemade Yogurt is the absolute best and is really so easy to make.

I use about half a gallon of milk, (I prefer whole milk because the rest of it scorches in the pot).  I pour it into a saucepan large enough to hold about that much milk, put in a thermometer and use a flat whisk for stirring.  Turn the heat on high because I love cooking on high to "gitterdone".  Bring the temp up to 180 degrees then remove from the burner.  I have a heavy, large glass salad bowl that I pour the hot milk into and with the thermometer still in use, I let it sit on a trivet on top of the stove cooling down to at least 120 degrees.  When it reaches the low temp I add about 4 ounces of existing yogurt and whisk it gently into the milk and then I remove the thermometer and let it rest in the oven on 115 degrees for several hours.  Once everything has jelled....it is done.  I love it warm but of course, you can't keep it warm forever so I cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put into the fridge to chill (overnight) and then transfer it to the jars.  (my batch fills 2-quart jars)

I love it just plain and you can also use it for a sour cream replacement.  If you want flavored yogurt you should remove the "starter" of about 4 ounces for your next batch and refrigerate that.  After you've saved your starter, you can add honey or sugar and a flavoring if you like.  You can also add some fruit but I would do that in small batches.

Enjoy, and stay healthy.

20 minute Garlic, Beef & Broccoli lo-mein (Chicken)

   

https://therecipecritic.com/20-minute-garlic-beef-and-broccoli-lo-mein/

I've been trying to find new ideas for using produce from our bountiful garden so I started googling some things and this is one that we used 2 nights ago and it definitely is a keeper.  

• I did substitute chicken for the beef and
• I didn't have any Hoisin Sauce but googled that recipe as well and realized the only thing I needed to add was a dollop of peanut butter. 
• I also used Whole Wheat Spaghetti instead of the noodles it called for.

 It was so good.  It will be a recipe that we will use over and over again.