Happy New Year In Cards & 2023 Life Hacks List

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Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were nice. We took a little break and went to the ranch. It was COLD but sunny last week. Unfortunately, a mountain lion has also been visiting lately. It's always something. 

I have my 2024 kickoff cards for you today, but I thought I'd share something different too - a top ten list of mostly NON crafty things I found this year or late last year that have vastly improved my life. A lot of these would make great gifts throughout the year. Many are cooking related. Very few are crafty. I know we've all been shopping for crafty stuff for three months, as we do, so I thought this might be a fun change. 

1. Sesame Seed Grinder from Japan - I toast sesame seeds and put them in this magical thing and I grate them over fried eggs, bulgogi, put them in my ssamjang etc. This was a recommendation from Soogia on TikTok and everything she recommends is great. I've mentioned this one before, but it's worth a second mention!
2. I can't do fragrance - and even the unscented tea lights have fragrance - so I was thrilled to find this fire-free wax melter for wax seals. It's cute and so functional - video soon.
3. This True Crime themed logic puzzle book. This series actually has a web version you can play every day and it's actually really challenging, and I do logic puzzles almost every night while we watch TV. 
4. I will admit that I bought this for myself, but it now belongs to Maddie - a giant oversized heating pad with a timer. After her MAJOR surgery and extended recovery with complications, she experienced a really bad depression from being in a cone and being confined to the tent. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. And she was shaved from stem to stern and she has a VERY thick undercoat unlike Splotchy. So when she finally got out of the cone and tent after three weeks (my back has still not recovered from sleeping in the tent!), I got her this heating pad and it has been a lifesaver. She instantly felt better lying on it, and now I leave it on throughout the day for her to warm her belly on. Occasionally, she shares with Splotchy.
5. Speaking of heat - this PHENOMENAL space heater. I have had many space heaters - none as powerful or quiet as this. 
6. This dehydrator I got for Christmas. I have tried many, most are terrible - this one is amazing. The apples I made first were incredible. 
7. This little gadget for cleaning your whisk - made in the US! Now if only someone would come up with something similar for cleaning the Vitamix!
8. This is not glamorous, but important - a gas detector. We had a leak after installing a new stovetop and this little thing is a must. 
9. We inherited this tiny food processor from a relative - and it is so great. Food processors are too big when you are cooking for one or two people - this one is perfect. I made mushroom pate in it that was to die for and it was the perfect size! I looked and they still make the exact same model - mine was made in the US in the 80s - the new version is made in China - and there is an improvement to how the bowl attaches. I bought one for my sister for her RV. It's a great machine.
10. This insanely great popcorn I learned about on YouTube from I can't remember who - some cooking guy.

I spent a little time after Christmas with my favorite colored pencils on kraft again - that made a big comeback for me in 2023 - it's a look I just love.

The flower is from this beautiful little magnolia set. It's hard to tell now, but I actually stamped it in white ink, not in no-line coloring ink, because I find that makes the image glow on darker cardstocks - it's like a built in highlight. And no matter what pencils I'm using, I ALWAYS use a Prismacolor white pencil for blending highlights. That's not my go-to pencil for coloring, but the white is an essential tool I always buy in open stock. I bought this extra warm, extra heavy duty kraft cardstock on January 3rd last year, and I only have a few sheets left - so I've used it on almost 80 cards this past year, because it comes in 40 sheet packages. The other flower groupings in the set are stunning too but I loved this delicate single and bud.

If you didn't think I'd zoom in on the little squirrel in this set - do you even know me?? Look at how the little eye and haunch negative space details are so crisp! So adorable! All the rainbow ink colors are Gina K except the blue - Red Hot, Tangerine Twist, Wild Dandelion, Key Lime and Wild Lilac.

I hope you've had a nice holiday and will have a restful New Year's - don't forget to eat your blackeyed peas & greens! My sister made her peate - faux pate with blackeyed peas so that us pea haters can still eat them for luck - it's always so good. 

I'll be adding my own blackeyed pea dish to my Patreon cookbook - it's so delicious - I made it out of desperation one year when she was out of town and I had no peate - and holy cow if it's not one of my favorite recipes now. OH - and it had chickpeas in it and I forgot to tell you that I found them in glass jars!!!!! I was out one day and shopping at a different store than my usual HEB on Instacart and found this whole line of jarred beans - I'm thrilled, as I don't trust the chemicals and glue they use to line cans these days. This same brand has a huge gluten free range, and also heritage wheat flours. Great random find in December. The chickpeas are delicious and so are the black beans. I got them to make my own copycat recipe - my friend Mary Ann had sent me the vegan chili pie from Dangerously Delicious in Baltimore and it was TO DIE FOR. Everything I've had on Goldbelly has been. I decided to try to recreate it - and this was a fun exercise I've done a couple of times this year with great success - I recreated the Gregg's vegan sausage roll filling which is now a staple as a layer in my lasagne - it's SO good. You can find that entire lasagne recipe here. I have a method for backwards engineering recipes that has served me well. So the vegan chili pie recipe will be in the cookbook soon. While you wait - you might want to make my copycat Chuy's creamy jalapeno recipe! 

Hope you enjoy today! Loveyameanitbye.

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