The Joyful Housewife

Thank you to all of my visitors from Blogtrotting. It was a pleasure to be a tour guide. I really do love this city and my neighborhood and I had to cut out a lot to keep the length of the post down. But the chance to host the Denver Blogtrot has come at the perfect time for me, since my husband and I will be moving to Montrose, CO this summer. While running around with my camera, struggling to get photos of all my favorite places in time for the post, I realized that I’d like to get more pictures of Denver before I have to leave. So I’ll be keeping my camera on me from now on.

In other news, my phone is working fine now after the drowning it had a couple of weeks ago. I took the cover off and then stuck it in rice for 24 hours. I also managed found my missing watch after sticking using it as a bookmark two weeks ago and forgetting about it.

Recently, I got a motivational decluttering book from the library after listening to Sandra Felton speak about her Messies Handbook on a podcast. I then promptly lost it. My sister says, “See that’s how it works! It gets lost so that you have to declutter to find it.” And today, I finally found it under the couch. I swear, there must really be fairies in my house messing with me because I had looked there several times and NOTHING was there! It’s bare under there except for a few dust bunnies. And then, today, there it was!

Anyway, I’m glad I’ve found it because I’m really going through a difficult time clutter-wise, and it’s affecting my emotional and physical health. I’m ready to dig myself out! So tune into The Joyful Housewife the next couple of days to hear about my Clutter Kick 2009.

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One of the tons of wonderful things I’ve learned from my husband is how to make vinaigrette. He’s very anti-bottled-dressing (I’ve gently reminded him that I grew up in a single parent home and wasn’t even aware that there was an alternative, aside from ambitious, gourmet types).

It’s incredibly easy and it’s almost the only thing we put on our salads. The only bottled dressing we’ve used this past year is Annie’s Goddess dressing (and ranch, which we don’t put on salads, but which I use to dip many, many different foods into, from veggies to pizza.)

Anyway, it’s so easy that, although we were too tired to cook tonight and Tim picked up pasta from our favorite Italian restaurant on the way home, I still made a salad AND a dressing.

So how does one make a vinaigrette, you ask? The materials I like best are a small teacup (see photo), because I’m usually making a small salad for two people, and a fork to whisk with. I’ve tried a bowl and a real whisk, but for me, the fork works better (I also use it to scramble eggs for french toast batter).

Next, choose your vinegar. We have been using sherry vinegar lately, but in the past we have used red or white wine vinegar, or balsamic vinegar. I’ve also heard you can use lemon juice, but I haven’t tried it. For myself, I’ve used a fancy fig flavored balsamic vinegar that I bought for my husband and he never used once. I put this on a salad that featured strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

Put one or two tablespoons in the cup or bowl (eyeball it.)

Next, add seasonings that you would like to dissolve in it. I always add salt and cracked black pepper. You can mix it up by adding a dash of cayenne, as well, or white pepper instead of the black. This is also when we often add garlic. Usually a fresh clove pressed in a garlic presser. Raw garlic is very good for you but causes potent burbs, so beware!

The final ingredient before the oil is a tiny bit of dijon mustard. We sometimes leave it out, but it’s very good in the dressing. Try not to use too much.

Whisk a bit with the fork to mix the additions into the vinegar.

Finally, add extra virgin olive oil. A good rule is about 2:1 oil vs vinegar. If you are using a teacup, completely cover the top of the vinegar with the oil. Whisk, whisk, whisk, and taste. Add whatever you think is missing, toss on salad, and enjoy!

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Hey y’all. I’ve got the sniffles, but the end of the semester is almost here! Two more days of teaching and then I get ready to see my family in California. Apparently there was just an earthquake there last night. Yikes! At least it wasn’t worse than that.

I’m starting a new habit of eating millet for breakfast. It’s a great whole grain and so fast and simple. We cook a large batch on Sunday (it’s so easy, just boil like rice) and keep it in a tupperware in the fridge. For breakfast, I just microwave a bowl full and add a little bit of honey, milk, walnuts, and raisins.

For those of you who are gluten free (though I’m not sure I believe that’s necessary) there it is a gluten free whole grain!!!

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