These are soooo easy to make and sooooo super yummy (and good for you too). I’ve been making a couple batches of them a week lately, and they don’t last long around here.

Kale Chips Recipe

1 bunch kale, rinsed and dried, hard stems removed
Toss w/1 Tbsp. olive oil and a pinch of salt or brewer’s yeast (mess-free if you put it all in a bag and massage thoroughly)

Arrange kale pieces on cookie sheet in a single layer, bake for 15-20 mins @ 250 degrees (preheated), turn leaves halfway through for even cooking.

Don’t let them go too long or the edges will brown and taste bitter. It doesn’t take much olive oil either.

We went to Zilker Botanical Gardens–amazing, even in winter!!! It’s free too! This is the bamboo forest.

Everything’s calmed down some now. We’re getting into a routine and working a lot. My main focus has been on food (of course). I’m trying a primarily vegan, gluten-free diet (w/some fish and poultry), and it’s required a lot of energy to rethink how I eat and figure out what I can eat and make sure that I have those things on hand, all the time. My fridge is stuffed to the brim with kale, cauliflower, carrots, celery, carrot juice, blueberries, ground flaxseed, cucumber, celery, yogurt, hummus, spinach-white bean dip, tofu, applesauce, defrosting tilapia, baked apples, romaine, brewer’s yeast…. the list goes on and on. The hardest part is making sure I cook with everything!

Here’s a pic of what my fridge looked like a couple weeks ago. Pretty good, eh?

This awesome spinach/navy bean dip I made this weekend.

And lots of greens for lunch! Kale salad w/sesame seeds and coleslaw w/summer squash and asparagus w/a tahini dressing.

Drinking, and being silly.

And sillier…

And sillier…

This might’ve had something to do with it…

AJ shared with us the deer steaks his dad brought him when they visited for Thanksgiving. He shot and butchered the deer himself, and the steaks were INCREDIBLE!!!!! Truly amazing…..

I’m really proud of this accomplishment: I finally sorted and organized all my loose recipes into a binder with clear plastic covers so I can use them for quick reference and not spill all over them when I’m cooking. Lately, I reorganized it so that all my healthy recipes are at the front for quick reference so I’m not tempted to opt for the fatty stuff instead!

An unexpectedly nice weekend day in December. Babysitting Mer’s dog Ella. Cowboy boots, dogs, sun, and a book. That’s living!

Hunter up to no good.

New Year’s Eve! Kels and AJ came down and we made DIY sushi! It was soooooo good! (Well, definitely wasn’t restaurant-grade sushi, but because we made it and it cost a fraction (get this: $13 for all that sushi!) of the price, it was delicious!)

Almost got everyone in!

At Kerbey Lane on a pretty and windy day in January.

Showing off our new ferns.

Because the weather’s nice almost the whole year round (except today, when it’s 30 degrees in the middle of an Arctic cold front), you can go garage-saling all the time. This was our route one Saturday morning. And yes, I’m a little OCD.

By far, best and most affordable awesome food in Austin is the food carts. This year, they had the 1st ever Gypsy Picnic Food Cart Festival. It was phenomenal! We got there early at 11:30 or so, and boy were we glad–by 2pm, it was pretty warm, there were thousands of people (they weren’t expecting a huge turnout due to it being its first year), and vendors were starting to sell out.

Everyone lining up for the goodies.

Kimchee fries from ChiLantro, kind of like poutine.

Ev chowing down on a bulgogi taco.

Empanadas were a little dry. But interesting flavor combinations.

Starting to get full…

And even fuller. Lines were 45 mins long!

That was Nov. 6. A couple weeks later we all piled in the car and drove up to Kansas for Thanksgiving. This is on our way up–we had to stop at Braum’s and get biscuits and gravy. Well, I had to… Evan had yogurt and fruit.

Not the pretty Austin weather up in Russell. We went pheasant hunting, but I don’t think we got much this year. I always get the most shots… with my camera!!!

While they were here, we went to the art museum. I fell in love with this sculpture by James Tisdale.

And this series called “Real People” by Billy Ray Mangham… they’re all real life people who have been incarcerated.

Went to the capitol…

Saw where history’s made.

…and made a gigantic steak and twice-baked potato dinner (since everything’s bigger in Texas, you know).

At Mighty Cone, a food cart serving an incredibly delicious concoction of things in tortillas in sno-cone cups. Things like fried avocado. Yummo!

Crazy hair as Mer and I are on our way up to Dallas to see Elizabeth.

Pretty city! I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, especially after hearing what people here in Austin have to say about it.

On the way home–hair a bit more subdued with the Jeep top on!

Stopped at Kelsey’s and brought kolaches from West, TX, home of a famous Czech truck stop. Our bierrocks are better.

One weekend Evan and I decided to go to a flea market east of town. NOT a good idea. We were in and out in a matter of minutes. The whole thing gave me the heebie-jeebies.

In Greune, Texas Hill Country. Love this pic (it says “No Parking”).

At the Gristmill in Greune waiting for a table. They’ve got the right idea–outdoor seating, drinks, live music while you wait.

Cheers! (Spiciest Bloody Mary’s ever!!!!)

The fam-dangle.