My Make Nine for 2020

In early December I ran across a post on Instagram where someone was giving a year-end recap of how many of their “Make Nine” projects they’d completed. I did a quick search and found that Rochelle of Lucky Lucille had started Make Nine a few years back in response to all the Top 9 trends. I knew instantly that I’d be making one for 2020!

Years ago I made plenty of times for my hobbies--reading, nail painting, knitting, crafting. But then I went back to college to finish my degree followed immediately by jumping into my new career, and my hobbies were the very first thing to go. For years they lay dormant until I felt my life was moving too quickly, like my life focused solely on work was incomplete. 

My hobbies were the biggest part of slowing my life down. I recently took up my knitting again after my grandma passed away. The slow, methodical rhythm of counting stitches kept my mind engaged and at peace. I finished three projects these last two months so I’m so excited to work on the following nine projects in 2020!

My mom taught me knitting at Christmastime in 2010, however having let my knitting slow to a snail’s pace during busier seasons of life, my skills haven’t progressed much. This year I want to focus on two projects I’ve deemed too difficult and put off (socks and sweaters) as well as gaining some new knitting skills (colorwork and brioche).

So here is my Make Nine list for 2020!!

Over the last couple of months I have decided to put new clothing purchases (almost entirely) behind me, in favor of purchasing previously loved clothing. I don’t want to participate in fast fashion trends, and it’s important to me to constantly keep my consumerism in check. So instead I am opting for used (Goodwill, Thred Up, Poshmark, etc.), and I’m really excited to be able to add some of my own hand made pieces into my closet!

Holiday Grief

If you don’t know me, then let me say I am obsessed with Christmas. For me Christmas is a time of warmth, light, coziness. I love to cultivate those things within my home. To cover the walls with greenery, to string lights all around the house, to put childhood mementos in places of honor. For me Christmas is full of slow cozy mornings with low lighting and hot coffee, quiet nights with drinks by tree lights, weeks of cooking and creating and giving to others. Over our past few Christmases together, I’ve also been working to develop traditions with my husband making our holidays all the more magical.

And then in October, my grandma died. 

Loss. Fear. Darkness.

Hers is the only death I have experienced in my adult life. However it is the third death in my

family that has occurred in October. What a mess of a month.

Before I was born, my parents lost my old sister after just 8 days. Generational sadness

permeated my life without my ever realizing it.

When I was 13, my grandpa died. I had grown up near most of my family, but we had moved to

Arizona 4 months before his passing. I was already depressed, disconnected, lost. His loss was

never fully processed.

Nearly two months ago my grandma passed.

My sister’s birth and death, my grandma’s death, my grandpa’s death.The dates of these losses

span just 14 days in October.

In the past seven weeks I have felt overcome with layers and layers of sadness, years of grief, all

compounding with this most recent loss. And I find myself in the midst of my absolute favorite time

of year, completely unmerry and joyful. For a while I wasn’t sure I would even decorate for

Christmas but it does so much for my mood that I eventually knew I couldn’t weather the holidays

without doing so, but it's simply different. I put up a tree that I never finished decorating. I dried

oranges that I never strung into a garland. I have watched exactly one Christmas movie, done

zero Christmas bakes, seen zero lights, had no mulled wine, missed every single night of advent

thus far.

I have no answers, this story is not over nor will it end. I will journey through these losses for years,

carrying them with me. For now I am simply working to sort through them, to learn how to carry the

pain. All I wanted to do today is pass along some of my most favorite resources so far. This list is by

no means exhaustive, it’s simply my current lifeline as I prepare to weather to holidays with a heavy

heart.

My favorite resource (currently) is the podcast “Grief Cast” by Cariad Lloyd. I stumbled it upon it

ages ago through a comedian I followed. After my grandma passed, I checked it out again and have

begun listening daily to previous episodes. Cariad hosts comedians who talk about their life losses.

They go deep and simultaneously remain light. Feeling understood and connected, hearing my grief

through the words of others, they make me feel less alone when I don’t or can’t talk to those around

me.

Instragram:

@thatgoodgrief

@shelbyforsythia

Podcasts:

Grief Cast

What’s Your Grief

Coming Back

Books:

Permission to Grieve by Shelby Forsythe

It’s OK that You’re Not OK by Megan Devine

Grief Works by Julia Samuel

Website:

What’s Your Grief

Resources I’ve been given (but cannot vouch for yet):

Modern Loss by Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner

Grief Out Loud (podcast)

The Airing of Grief (podcast)

Grief Unveiled (podcast)

**Please note that while I use Amazon affiliate links in other places on this site, these are straight

links. I have no desire to profit off your grief and I wanted that to be clear.

Hopeful Homesteading: Tangelo Edition

In another life, I would be a homesteader. Think, modern day Ma Ingalls--home all day growing my own food, making my own clothes, prepping, canning, baking, knitting. Guys, that is #goals. If I could, I would live somewhere secluded with my own plot for growing herbs and vegetables; I would harvest my food and then use up every last bit of the harvest. Instead, I live in a one bedroom apartment with no access to gardening land.

This post contains affiliate links, more information can be found in the disclosure policy.

I'm going to start a segment called Hopeful Homesteading, how I use up huge batches of certain produce before it goes bad. In Phoenix there is a great program for buying large amounts of produce that didn’t sell to grocery stores and would otherwise go to waste. It’s all seasonal, rotating produce and oftentimes I end up with large amounts of one item nearing their expiration date. These are often not items that can sit out on my counter or in my fridge for more than a couple of days, so I have learned to get very creative.

I was completely overwhelmed the first time I had 20 lbs of tomatoes. But now, armed with an arsenal of various canning jars and a stack of recipes and ideas, I can take care of those tomatoes easily.

Pinterest is a great tool for finding creative solutions when I masses of something that I’ve never eaten before.. Like this week, when I got 6 pounds of tangelos! Tangelos? Besides resembling an orange, I had no idea what they were like.

Tangelos are a hybrid fruit and the name is a portmanteau for the two fruits, tangerine and pomelo. They peel easily and are incredibly juicy. I have to REALLY be in the mood for eating a plain orange, so I started scouring Pinterest for what to do with 6 lbs. of tangelos.

In the end, I used 4 pounds to make marmalade. It’s slightly sweeter than marmalade, which I’m actually not a fan of, but I wanted to use it on a cake in the future.

With the remaining 2.5 pounds, I used half to make garland and half to make tangelo simple syrup. For the simple syrup,  I juiced the tangelos and measured it out with an equal amount of sugar in a small saucepan. I brought it to a gentle boil, then let it cool before transferring it to a jar and refrigerating it.

I used the remaining tangelos to use as Christmas decorations! My dream Christmas decor is basically the March home from the 1994 Little Women--all candles and greenery and homemade decor. The diy tangelo garland is just bringing me one step closer to my goals, ya’ll. I sliced four of them on my mandoline slicer, then arranged them on two sheet trays. These can be touching, because they shrink as they cook and they won’t stick together. These cooked in a 200°F oven for three hours. I flipped them over every hour and rotated the pans. 

Do you have a mandoline in your kitchen? Because you honestly need one. You can certainly slice these up, but to avoid mess and frustration and achieve QUICK and consistently thin slices using a mandoline. There are definitely some simple, cheaper options out there, but I have this mandoline and I highly recommend it. Mandolines are extremely sharp and make quick work of slicing through fruits and vegetables. The model I have can slice in two different thicknesses, as well and chopping and slicing as well. I sliced all four of my tangelos in about 60 seconds.

Also, may I suggest leaving your oven light on while you make this? The 200°F oven barely registers heat, so without timers and the light on, it would be easy to forget your oranges and burn them, she says from personal experience...Yep, last year I forgot about my oranges and left the house for a Christmas parade only to return to COMPLETELY BLACK oranges that evening.

These dried oranges make such a lovely addition to Christmas decor no matter how you use them. You can hang them on your tree, string them up and run them along your fireplace, even drop them in your apple cider and Grand Marnier! Go crazy and then definitely tag me on Instagram, @meganbmccarthy!

You coulda had a bad witch, non-committal

Guys, I love Lizzo. LOVE. HER. Her music is the ultimate hype playlist, no matter what I'm doing.

So if you get that, then this printable needs no introduction. You gotta have a little Lizzo wordplay in your life, amirite?

The file downloads as an 8x10 png but using different settings on your computer, you should be able to print it at various sizes. Enjoy, lovelies!

Get yours here, witch!

Vegetarian Meal Roundup

There was a point when I was younger where it felt like we were eating barbecued chicken 3-4 times a week. I mean, to this day I just can't eat bbq chicken. But because meat was often central in our meals growing up, when my husband and I were first married I realized that I had hardly any idea how to make a meal without meat as the focal point. I had informally decided to just try to mix it up by cooking less meat when I was thrown a very unexpected curveball--my husband told me he wanted to go vegan. Just like that, out of nowhere.

We immediately cut meat out of our meals. And I. Was. STUCK. I only cut out meat myself (because I refused to give up cheese!) but I suddenly was thinking about meals with this "vegetarian" label hanging over me and I felt so overwhelmed. Thank God for Pinterest! I was able to realize that I actually had a number of meat free meals in my rotation that I had never labeled as such.

But I found out I wasn't the only one who thought this way. I had quite a few people asking what we were even eating or what they could possibly cook for a vegetarian friend stopping by. If you're interested in becoming vegetarian or even introducing more meatless meals to cut down your environmental impact, it is a simple switch! Pasta is such a simple way to start off meatless without sacrificing variety, but since you probably don't want to be having pasta heavy meals 7 days a week, I have compiled some of my favorite vegetarian fall backs. Let me know which one you try on your next Meatless Monday!

1. Pumpkin coconut chickpea curry

This curry is one of my repeat favorites. It makes a lot so it's perfect for big groups too and it always gets rave reviews. Pro tip: don't skimp on the lime juice at the end--it makes a huge difference!

The nice thing about this recipe is that apart from chopping carrots and onion, it's basically just throwing together a bunch of cans and spices and letting them meld together in the pan.


2. Mushroom risotto

Risotto is such a lovely slow meal with amazing pay off. I love the pace of the constant slow stirring. It really slows me down and is so enjoyable. After you've set aside the wine called for in your recipe, you can turn down the lights, pour yourself a glass, and listen to some music while you prepare this amazing dish. Risotto is another dish with endless flavor opportunities so once you've tried one you can always search for more. One of my favorites involves lemon and leek! (Also, there are like 12 million recipes for mushroom risotto on Pinterest and I don't have a favorite so good luck!)


3. Creamy potato soup

This is the simplest weeknight meal, especially for cold winter days! I'll leave you guys with a recipe you can follow, but once you make it one time, you won't need a recipe anymore. I usually just toss my potatos in the crockpot with some veggie broth all day. After I have blended most of them up, I add in all my spices and some cream cheese. Then simply top this however you'd top a loaded baked potato--green onions, cheese, sour cream, whatever your heart desires! Also...there is clearly bacon in this picture, no denying it. This was definitely not a vegetarian moment for me...


4. Shepherd's pie

Another thing my husband introduced me to was shepherd's pie. All my life I'd avoided it because I'd just been too thrown off by the name. I knew they called it "pie" and there was meat involved. But that was the full extent of my knowledge. You guys....shepherd's pie is the ULTIMATE.

First of all, it is the heartiest most comforting meal on a cold night. It only involves two pots, and it is endlessly customizable. This is another of those dishes that once you make it once, you'll never need a recipe. Traditional shepherd's pie has lamb or ground beef, but I typically make ours with lentils, portabella mushrooms, carrots and onions. I have even made a lentil version with spiced sweet potatoes on top. You simply can't go wrong! Again, I don't have a recipe here. I have only used a recipe the first time I made this with meat.

I'll be honest, I haven't used the recipe linked at the beginning because like I said, you don't necessarily need one. But glancing at it, it looks like a good one to start with! In the future I'd like to share my "recipe" for shepherd's pie and I'll come back and link it here!

5. Breakfast

Breakfast is hands down my favorite meal to go out and eat. But breakfast for dinner? That is one of my favorite comfort food meals. I'm not even sure what it is, but something about it is so exciting and nostalgic for me.

Breakfast is also a super simple way to just...not cook a side of bacon or sausage. Voila, vegetarian! Seriously though, there are so many options here. Pancakes, eggs, eggs benedict (sans ham), toast, hashbrowns, waffles, french toast. Endless possibilities!


6. Sweet potato veggie burgers

These are SO simple and delicious, you will not regret it! For a while we bought cheap frozen veggie patties and just ate those. But one of my complaints about vegetarian/vegan foods (that aren't simply whole, plant foods), is that they are so processed. Prior to becoming (mostly) vegetarian, I worked hard to cut down on processed foods so suddenly buying processed vegetarian foods really bothered me. These are a super flavorful alternative to those frozen patties. And after you eat your burger for dinner, you can freeze the leftover patties for the same ease you get from the store based versions!


7. Mushroom stroganoff

Like I said, pasta is a very simple way to go vegetarian by simply switching your meat with any number of vegetables options. I don't want people to get stuck in a rut though so I made a point of only choosing one pasta dish--but this is one of my favorites.

Using portabella mushrooms in place of beef is a super simple switch if you're cutting down on meat. This stroganoff is so flavorful and hearty, you won't even miss the beef!