Day 30. Recipe 30.

Here we are at the end of 30 recipes. It took a bit longer than expected. Honestly, there was a ton more cooking in the kitchen and other methods that didn't pan out. There were also a lot of learnings not just about cooking but about creating which I will share soon.

In the meantime, this Coconut Macaroon recipe is quick to mix up, comfortable, and delightful. It's a classic.

---

Coconut Macaroons

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups flaked coconut
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 teaspoon coconut oil

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 2: In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and coconut. Add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and mix together with the flour and coconut.

Step 3: Using a small cookie scoop or large spoon, drop the dough onto the sheet. Make sure they are approximately 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 min or until golden. Remove from oven and immediately transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Step 4: In a medium microwavable bowl, add the chocolate chips and the coconut oil. Heat in 15-second intervals, stirring every 15 seconds, until the chocolate is smooth. Dip the cookies in the chocolate or drizzle the chocolate on top with a spoon. Let dry and enjoy.

---

Now, let's go eat some cookies!

Until tomorrow friends.

Day 29. Recipe 29.

Pinterest is a fantastic place to find new opportunities and inspiration. There are great ideas that make our lives enjoyable, including tasty life altering recipes. Lucious photographs of perfectly baked bread, cakes oozing with caramel, and delicious one-pot meals dominate this social media heaven.

But if you are scrolling through and see "Taco Pizza" keep scrolling.

In fact, for the love of god don't make "Taco Pizza."

It's gross.

"Oh, BARF!!!" gross.

No one in my family could gulp down the crunchy, meaty, and worst of all sweet, spongy texture of this concoction. Yes, as a family we felt lucky to have food on our table. However, we also felt fortunate to all agree that we should never make this recipe again, ever.

Don't take our word for it. Take this recipe for a whirl and let us know if we should give taco pizza another chance.

---

Taco Pizza

• 2 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls
• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
• 1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
• 1 pound ground beef 
• 1/2 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 2 cups shredded mixed cheese
• 1 cup shredded lettuce

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Unroll the crescent roll dough and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Pinch the gaps together to seal. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool.

Step 2: Beat together the softened cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Layer over the cooled crust.

Step 3: Brown the ground beef and drain. Add the taco seasoning to the meat cook according to package directions. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 4: Layer the ground beef evenly over the cream cheese layer. Top with lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. Cut into serving-size pieces and serve immediately.

---

There is always a stinker in the bunch.

Until tomorrow friends.

We have been avoiding the candy dish for years. We go out of our way to skip the island of chocolate calling to us at the grocery store. The Twizzlers and M&Ms jump into our bucket of popcorn at the movie theater, and we willfully put them back in their slot. We place the sinful little delights deep in our cabinets for the temptation to be at peace. Until now, medical experts equate eating sugary sweets as addictive as narcotics. Candy is downright terrible for us. Or is it?

New studies show candy helps with cognitive functioning in the brain. It can give you a huge boost of productivity and the more we eat, the better or gray matter performs. Read more about how candy can make you smarter here: "The Science Of Candy And The Brain."

Let's go pile on the jelly beans, down some Hersey Kisses and grab a handful of Snickers. I'm off to gobble up a pound of Skittles for breakfast and then write a sonnet or two. 

Until tomorrow friends.

Finding our identity in this world is hard. We try to fit in, we try to stand out, and we try to make our mark. We offer the best intentions, the best product or the best service. We market ourselves on social media and put the goods in front of eyeballs in hope the world to take part. We can work harder than anyone else and make concrete strides needed to succeed. We can do everything in our power to make success blossom in our purpose.

However, if things aren't fruiting up to our expectations, we may have to stand back, reevaluate and decide we need to be an avocado.

Yes, an avocado. 

The word avocado is a wholly invented word. As the story goes, the avocado was introduced to the United States market around 1914, and it was called an alligator pear. Who wants to eat an alligator pear? I am positive there are a few of you out there that share in my personal revulsion regarding the name alligator pear. As the story goes, a group of brilliant farmers realized the distaste in the name and the marketing problem. They together formed a solution. They made up the name avocado. More can be read on NPR "What's In A Name The Avocado Story."

The teachable moment here is sometimes a problem isn't how hard we work, what channel we push or how to differentiate our offering. Sometimes we need to reframe and rename.

By reframing the problem, a label can bring us to a whole new story. In turn, an entirely new success can follow. 

The avocado market now is a billion dollar industry.

I'm off to reframe and rename. What will you reframe today and rename today?

Until tomorrow.

Sometimes it doesn't take much to refresh our gray matter. We often need to slip on our shoes and go on a short twenty-minute field trip to revitalize our heads. We don't need to take a lavish trip to a far off land or plan a long weekend out into nature. We only have to step outside. There is so much out there waiting for us in our backyard, space, and community.

Today, I took a field trip. I walked into my back yard and once around the block. I focused my attention on the specific things around me that I had never noticed. It blew my mind how many times I had walked into my back yard or around my block never seeing the space around me. It has a lot to offer and help open up ideas.

It's important to grow in our heads, expand our lives and get away from our desks.

Blow your mind and get outside today.

Until tomorrow friends.

We tend to pile it on. We want more stuff. Sometimes it's to fill the parts of us that are empty. At other times it's to further our identity and to say we are someone special. Whatever style means to each of us, it tells a personal story. Whether we like it or not, who we are can be filtered by how we dress, where we live, what we own, and what we do. That's not to say style tells the story of the total package of us, but it does give a surface view on how we want the world to filter us.

The word chic gets a bad rap. Sure, the word can convey over privilege and self-importance. It can bring on images of thousand dollar dresses, the upper class and glamor found only in glossy magazines. However, what if we came to the agreement the word chic means "to be smart and selective about what we support in our lives?"

It might change how we look at things. If being chic is about being smart than education, self-restraint and selection are also a part of the definition of chic. Being chic can then be applied to filtering the words we read, the businesses we support, the causes we fund, the people we follow, the leaders we commit to, and most specifically support our core values. There is a certain bravery in the word chic because it means saying no. It empowers us to limit our choice and be thoughtful in the way we live and in turn, clearly, tells our personal story in a very specific way.

There is a certain level of a rebel in being chic and a particular kind of bravery in saying no.

How will you be chic today?

Until tomorrow friends.

It's an easy place to go. Deep inside we often make the mistake of turning on a speaker inside us that voices our fears. It whispers "You don't have the right skills. You don't have the right pedigree. You didn't go to the right school. You don't have the right connections. You don't know enough. You aren't ready for this. You can't make that choice, and you certainly don't have what it takes to make your dreams a reality." Just like that, we listen, and we sell ourselves. We trade our dreams for a figment of disillusion.

It happens to me every day and especially today. Somedays it doesn't feel like I have anything interesting to offer. I spend my whole day wondering, thinking, and searching for the right message. I scroll through social media, page through books and take walks to bring on the inspiration. By the end of the day, if there hasn't been a moment of clarity, the internal speaker squeaks on, and I start to think about selling my dreams to doubt. The thing about doubt is it's cheap, it's ubiquitous, and it serves no purpose.

At that moment I have to remind myself the most important thing is to do the work. It's as simple as getting our hands dirty. We have to dig deep and take back the story that is ours. 

We can't let our dreams sell for anything less than what we have to offer the world today.

We won't grow any other way.

Until tomorrow friends.

It's that time of year again. Spring has sprung, and we might be thinking about traditions of the season. When I was a kid, every year, we would pick up the PAAS egg decorating kit, a grown up would boil up a few eggs, and we would spend hours dipping the little white treasures into glasses full of spritely colored liquids. There was always one or two eggs that would be left in the color bath for a bit too long. They would be a shade of bright neon and would become the eggs no one wanted in their Spring basket.

Years later I find myself today with two tiny ones who desperately want to dye eggs. We could drive to the store and pick up an egg coloring kit. However, it has come to my attention there is a new or old way of getting eggs into their spring suits, a tea bath. As we have about every tea imaginable, we tried dying eggs today using various flavors of tea, and the eggs turned out pastel perfect. More importantly, we all had such a blast guessing what colors would emerge from the depths of the dark colored cups. Here are all the supplies needed to tea dye eggs:

• Various teas (Rooibos, Cherry, Blueberry, Matcha, Earl Grey)*
• For a lovely yellow color try turmeric spice
• White vinegar
• White hard boiled eggs
• A mug for each flavor of tea
• A spoon for removing the egg from the tea baths

Step 1: Boil water and fill the mugs about 3/4 full of water. Place 3 tea bags in each mug. Let the teas steep for 10 minutes and then allow the tea to cool to room temperature. Add ice to the mugs to help speed up the process. Now add one tablespoon of white vinegar per mug.

Step 2: Carefully lower one egg per mug into the tea. Let the eggs sit for an hour or so in the tea bath. For a stronger color, let the eggs sit overnight. However, leaving the eggs out for long periods would make them inedible. Keep that in mind as you color the eggs.

Step 3: Lastly, remove the eggs from their bath and enjoy the perfect pastel colors!

*Some tea worked better than others. Matcha was only vibrant when rubbed onto the egg after the color bath. It was fascinating to guess the color the eggs would turn. Cherry tea makes a gray egg? Who knew?

We are off to admire our pastel egg work. Enjoy the spring fun.

See you tomorrow Tea Lovers!

Perhaps it isn't clear. The problem at hand doesn't have a solution. Solving the problem feels like a dog chasing its tail. The problem is a paradox or rather by definition: "a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory." 

We have all encountered a paradox. Here are a few that might come to mind: I'm nobody, deep down you are really shallow, bittersweet, the wise fool, and a personal favorite jumbo shrimp. When we encounter a paradox, they can initially seem reasonable. However, once we think through the meaning, a paradox is downright aggravating, infuriating and maddening.

You Can't Hold A Taco While Solving A Rubik's Cube - A Paradox

I'm in the middle of a paradox, and it's driving me bonkers. It leads me to Google "How to solve a paradox." Finding a possible solution comes down to asking the following question: "What would be the craziest way to try to fix this problem?" Now brainstorm as many solutions as possible with no limitations. By considering the crazy solutions, it helps reframe the problem and frees up the mind to find a solution. 

I'm off to make a list of crazy ideas. What paradox are you trying to solve? What are the craziest solutions? How can we solve a Rubik's cube while eating a crunchy taco?

Until tomorrow Game Changers.

There is just something special about Friday. It's the day to put everything on hold, catch up cool stuff and the greatest day to procrastinate on just about any endeavor. Today let's celebrate the week, throw responsibility to the wind, and enjoy the day made for kicking off our work clothes. Let the hair down and let's mic drop Friday. Clink our glasses to the greatest day of the week.

Enough said.

Enjoy your Friday friends and see you tomorrow!

This post contains an affiliate link.

As the light stretches into the late afternoon hours, we most likely feel the pull to spend the last few hours of our day outside bathing ourselves in the extended spring light. However, we often find ourselves torn between responsibility and pleasure. Although we might find our minds gravitate to soaking up the sunshine and fresh air that spring offers, our stomachs rumble. We feel the pull to step outside and make spring count. However, our stomachs often win out, and we find ourselves stuck inside a kitchen throwing together dinner while staring out the window as spring fades to night.

That isn't happening today. With all this talk of pie, I've been working in the kitchen to create a simple portable dinner. It can be baked the night before, thrown in a container and hauled off to the park. Loved by even the pickiest of eaters, this recipe is a delicious way to usher in spring and satisfy a rumbling stomach.

This recipe has been adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks "Tarts Sweet & Savory" by Maxine Clark {affiliate link}. Her book contains step-by-step instructions on how to create tarts. Pick up this book if learning how to make pastry from scratch is on a bucket list. However, after this week's pie crust "meh" failure, a store bought crust for the below recipe will work just fine. I highly recommend a Trader Joe's pie crust. It's flaky, buttery and best of all easy. Let's get started on dinner.

Spring Quiche Lorraine

serves 4-6

• 1 store bought pie crust (thawed per package directions)
• 8 oz ham chopped (Canadian bacon)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 egg white
• 8oz cream cheese or crème fraîche
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg
• freshly ground nutmeg to taste
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• sea salt and ground black pepper
• a sprig of fresh rosemary (optional)
• a 9" tart pan or pie pan

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a nonstick skillet, place the olive oil over medium heat and add the ham. Cook the ham until the edges are slightly caramelized. Remove from heat and set aside.

Step 2: Lightly flour a clean, flat surface. Place the thawed pie crust on the surface and roll out to 1/8 of an inch thick. Place the dough on the tart or pie pan and lower the dough over the pan. Gently press the crust down on the bottom and sides of the pan. Cut off any excess dough that overhangs the pan's side with a sharp knife.

Do As I Say Not As I Do. This Dough Is Way Too Thick!

Step 3: Prick the base of the pie crust all over with a fork. Place the pie pan on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove and brush the 1 egg white on the bottom and sides of the crust. Slip the pan back in the oven and bake for 7 additional minutes. 

Step 3: While the crust is baking, in a large bowl add the cream cheese. With a stand-up or handheld mixer whip the cream cheese. Add the 4 egg yolks and 1 egg, mix until smooth. Add the nutmeg, salt, and black pepper. Mix again until smooth.

Step 4: Sprinkle the ham over the base of the pie crust. Carefully, pour the egg mixture on top of the ham. Sprinkle the top of the mixture with cheddar cheese. Add a few leaves of fresh rosemary (optional) and bake for 25-27 minutes until set, golden brown and puffy. 

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Watch everyone smile as they enjoy the late afternoon sunshine and a lovely spring dinner outside.

Until tomorrow friends.

We all get bored with ourselves at times. Our personalities become regulated and steady. We know what we will choose at the grocery store, how we will act at a dinner party, and what we will wear in the morning. Some people say this is being comfortable in our identity or steady in our ways of navigating life.

I read an interesting article about how we are all dressing the same, at least here in the Bay Area. Like the androids produced here, the residents of San Francisco choose not to express themselves when it comes to fashion. They are selecting to wear t-shirts, designer jeans, and hoodies in various shades of black, gray and white. The article related back to leading tech giants who decided that a having a uniform would leave time for more important matters.

I'm guilty of this. I wear the same damn thing every day. My wardrobe consists of a black or white t-shirt, jeans, a black rain jacket and white & black scarf. While I recognize there are bigger things in this world that need attention, each time I slip into my uniform, there is a part of me that screams reclaim your personality. Wear something unexpected. However, what I am trying to tell myself is make a breakthrough today. Make a change. It makes life interesting.

Maybe it's time to make a change to reclaim our personalities? Wear something new, try something different, or eat pie for breakfast. 

It's important to reframe who we are currently. It helps us staying relevant, inspired and live a full life.

Until tomorrow friends.

Here we are today back in the kitchen. I have tackled creating pie crust from scratch, and it feels as difficult as whipping up a Greek sculpture from a block of marble. I've done some research, watched a few videos, consulted my notes, purchased only the finest ingredients, done mise en place, checked the oven temperature, brought out the heavy duty food processor, made a giant mess and worn myself out in a flour covered emotional state all to make a stink'n pie crust. 

When my five-year-old tasted the hand pie, she said, and I quote "The filling is really good the crust is meh."   

Three hours in the kitchen and I get a "meh." I clearly lack the gene for making pies. What happens when we lean into the work only to realize we don't have what it takes to create what we desire?

If anyone has an answer, let me know.

In the meantime, here is what surely is an excellent pie crust recipe from the Barefoot Contessa "Perfect Pie Crust." 

The important part of making pie crust is knowing when to quit! Plot twist, give up.

Until tomorrow Crusty.

Happy first day of Spring! What should we do on this charming day to celebrate the change of season? Maybe we should make a pie? Pie signals the start of a season ripe with possibilities. The bounty of the spring and summer brings fresh fruits and vegetables so delicious they can't help but be featured along a half a pound of butter mixed with a few cups of flour. However, pie takes a considerable amount of skill to make. There are a ton of you out there reading this thinking pie isn't hard, but I find it's like the soup of the dessert world. Yes, pie is simple but one wrong move and it goes from a heap of hopeful heaven to junk right for the garbage dump.

Let's be clear that I have never been great at making pies. I come from a long line of amazing, better than pastry chef pie makers. It should be in my genes like bad knees and crooked teeth. I, however, have yet to master the art of making a pie. I'm starting to wonder if the pie making gene skipped a generation. Today was no exception. 

After running around all morning trying to find fresh rhubarb, I settled on a bag of frozen strawberries and raspberries for the filling. Two hours bubbling, boiling, and baking resulted in a few hand pies. Sure they looked pretty but when I looked around the kitchen looked like a tsunami had struck. More about this tomorrow in Part 2. For today, let's talk about pie filling.

Pie filling is like the gold at the end of a rainbow or the candy inside a pinata. I would be lying if I said it was just MY favorite part because the filling IS EVERYONE'S favorite part. The good news is after much cursing in the kitchen, I developed a delicious pie filling. The bad news is that the filling will never be the guts of a whole pie. It was just too runny. However, the mixture makes a great stuffing for hand pies and an amazing topping for ice cream.

Top That! Pie Filling

• 1 bag 12oz frozen organic strawberries
• 1 bag 12oz  frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Step 1: Place both bags of frozen fruit in a 3qt sauce pan. Put the pan on medium heat and stir in the sugar. Heat the fruit and sugar mixture until all the fruit is soft and reduced down to a liquid.

Step 2: Wisk in the corn starch and vanilla extract. Boil the liquid until thickened, about 20 min, stirring frequently.

Step 3: Let the mixture cool. Use as filling for hand pies, topping for oatmeal or ice cream.

I gotta be honest. I couldn't stop eating this pie filling. It was divine over ice cream. Now off to tackle the pie crust. Sometimes the stuff we create doesn't turn out as we intend. It's funny how mistakes make us pivot. Let's see what kind of plot twist happens with the pie crust.

Until tomorrow friends.

People like to equate life to a roller coaster. I suppose it is because it has highs and lows and ups and downs. It makes our stomach feel great at times and others we pass back our lunch. We can try to let go, but the safety bar keeps us firmly planted in our seats. At times life can seem crooked and cruel just like when a coaster car spins on a track or takes a 420-foot drop. 

However, here is the problem with equating life to a roller coaster; the ride on a roller coaster is designed to be the same experience for everyone. There is never a new twist or turn on a roller coaster. In life, however, there is always something to create friction and mystery. There is the car that won't start on the way to an important meeting, the new business that didn't get funding, the children's book that didn't get published, and most importantly the dream that didn't get fulfilled. We can find ourselves frustrated, sad and powerless.

Here is one way to create power. I stumbled upon this quote that put things in perspective and created a whole new meaning on how to move forward. 

Let's try it when the chips are down, and things need to pivot.

What's your plot twist?

Until tomorrow friends.

There are times we get into a rut. Sometimes people call a cycle of repetitive action a habit. A habit seems like a positive word where rut seems cynical. No matter how we spin it, there is a point reached when our habit becomes tedious. Even though it's something we love, we grow tired of the familiarity. We fall out of love with the work, and we are tempted to give up on something we have built. It has happened to all of us. The entrepreneur throws in the towel of their first start-up, a writer stuffs the first few chapters of the manuscript into a drawer, and blogger wants to turn off her computer and walk away.

I visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday. Watching the sardines was mesmerizing. If you haven't had the opportunity to see sardines at work, you can look at the video of the Open Sea exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on this page. Watching the fish swim and sway together, I realized that we don't have a choice. We need to keep working at the job we are intended to do because the work we do will eventually create something bigger than ourselves.

It times of doubt and moments of giving up, say no to temptation and just keep swimming.

Until tomorrow friends.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's a day full of pots-of-gold, corn beef, and tiny creatures dressed in green. It's also a day full of rainbows and mischevious behavior. In the spirit of fun, let's raise our green glass of beer, round up some rainbows and go searching for some leprechauns today.

Why not? It's St. Patrick's Day. Let's go find our rainbows.

Until tomorrow Little Leprechauns!

It only took a second. My son looked sweet as he casually walked over and blinked at me with this long lashes. I had been sitting quietly on a park bench not feeling particularly well. As he approached, I could feel myself tighten thinking he was going to ask for something. His arm came up and in his fist, he presented me with one perfect yellow flower. He said, "This is for you." 

It only took a second for him to make my day so much better. It's amazing what one little action can create. 

What will one second create for someone in your life today?

Until tomorrow friends.

Being sick is an awful way to start a week. Yesterday because of a stomach bug, I was curled up in a fetal position, under the covers, hoping to sleep the day away. I couldn't move. All that provided comfort was hiding under the covers. As I hid under the sheets starring my phone cover, I thought of all the work I needed to do. I realized working solo has lots of advantages, but when you can't do the job, nothing gets done. As I heard my husband nudging the kids around, getting them ready for school and preparing food for them, I realized the amount of love that builds a family. As pulled myself out of bed try to get on with my life, my head told me to lie back down and get more rest. I realized the amount of energy it takes to keep going. As I felt miserable in my body, it all put life in perspective.

Nothing is possible unless we are well. It takes a lot to get through the day. It takes a lot to make our lives happen. It is why we should stay in bed when we are sick. We should take care of ourselves when we are well. We should take the day off and enjoy our lives because having space can create a particular perspective we can lack in our daily lives.

I'm back at my desk today but thankful for yesterday. It allowed me to take in the broad view.

How about you? Is a day of rest in your future?

Until tomorrow friends.

Sometimes we don't feel creative. It's ok. It's just how it is some days. Maybe we don't feel inspired, or Monday has been the longest day in history. Whatever the reason, this is when it's important to pull out a marker and a piece of paper and create a few simple marks on a page. Don't think about drawing or writing. Just put down the first thing that comes to mind. Now, show the work to a friend.

I'm going to say this little project just might make your day better. It did for mine.

Until tomorrow friends.