Kally's Cauldron

I hope you all had a lovely Blessing Moon on Friday! I did my usual monthly Esbat although I did it in my room this time instead of the kitchen and I'm not sure I would do it again. Climbing over the bed to cast the circle was really awkward LOL.

I've been wanting to learn more about the Tarot so I did a reading using the Celtic spread while in my circle. It was eerily foretelling so I've decided to study a little more and start doing a daily 3 card spread to start getting a better idea of my personal relationship with the Tarot.

Spirit Voyage is starting their next 40 Day Sadhana and I'm super excited because it's much more active than the previous two have been. I haven't been keeping up with my yoga (other than once a week) so hopefully this will get me get back into the swing of daily practice!

This has been my theme song lately. Finances are kicking our butts but we have our otherwise happy and healthy family and I'm thankful for that.

I love kale! It's relatively versatile and a powerhouse of nutrition. One cup of raw kale contains 1g of dietary fibre, 2g of protein and accounts for 206% of your Vitamin A, 134% of your Vitamin C, 9% of your Calcium and 6% of your Iron. It's also a good source of Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folate, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Potassium, Copper AND Manganese. (source)

One of my favourite ways to serve kale is in this soup:




Veggie Kale Soup

A dollop of oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 bunch kale, remove stems and chop leaves
4 cups veggie broth
4 cups water
1 can diced tomatoes
6 white potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cans black beans
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp dried parsley


Heat oil in large soup pot. Cook onion and garlic til soft. Add in kale and cook until wilted. Stir in the rest. Simmer on medium for about 25 minutes (potatoes should be cooked through).

Notes: I always hate putting actual measurements for soup so use this as a framework. You can use any kind of beans you like. You can add salt and pepper but I find the soup tasty enough without (and if you opt to use just water and a bouillon cube you'll have more than plenty of salt)




Full Moon Blessings!!!

Wow!!! I haven't logged in since mid June and when I came back today, I've added almost 10 followers to my blog! Thank you all for joining us, despite the fact that I haven't been around lately! Summer has meant being outside with the boys all day long, coming in for supper, putting them to bed, getting a few minutes with Boo and then crashing as soon as I hit the pillow leaving very little computer time.

Since I last posted, Bean had his first birthday. We kept it relatively small but had a great time and as usual, he was spoiled! This is the cake I made for him:



We attended our first Pagan non-event event at Raven's Knoll over the long weekend (ours was the Friday-Sunday as July 1 was Canada Day). Really it was just a laid back weekend of camping with other Pagans and it was a great intro for us and the boys to the world of tent living. We camped often enough before we were married but once I got preggo with Munchkin...well we haven't been since.



It was a lot of fun, but wow, no matter how busy we kept those boys, sleep was still not on the agenda. We had hoped for it to be a prep for the last weekend of July and Kaleidescope Gathering but unfortunately, the money just ain't there this year so we're going to start saving as soon as we can so hopefully we'll be able to attend next year. I'm still a fest virgin and really need to change that!

It's been hot as hell here the past week or so. With the humidex it's regularly reaching temperatures of 38-40C (100-104F for my American friends) We don't have central air although we do have an A/C unit that we put in the kitchen to keep the downstairs coolish. I've found just using the dehumidifier on it makes a massive difference (and uses a heck of a lot less power) With gas hitting almost $1.30L we've been spending a lot more time close to home so we're trying to keep it comfortable.

Well, off to bake some muffins for my Women's Spirituality Group tonight (I know, because turning on the oven on a day like today makes so much sense....I never claimed to be smart :P)

Welcome Strong Sun Moon! A fabulous lunar eclipse was part of the festivities, unfortunately there was no seeing it up here in the Northern Hemisphere since it happened during the day.

I'm working on Bean's birthday cake this week (can you imagine he's going to be a year old!!). It's going to be an elephant but I needed to make the ears and trunk from cookie dough. Being the intuitive witch I am, I made a full batch of dough despite only needing a small amount for the cake.

Full moon + boatloads of leftover cookie dough =



Too bad these don't freeze well! They'd be perfect for cakes and ale :)


I know he never reads my blog but I'd like to wish Boo a very happy birthday today. He does so much for our family and I can't express how thankful I am that I'm able to walk through this life with him.

So much has been going on lately, I barely know where to start.

I made it through Meatless May and have continued on into June (and pretty sure I'll just keep continuing on and on). I feel really good and I've even lost a couple of pounds!! I'm finally at my pre-pregnancy weight so I'm feeling really happy about that! Unfortunately, having babies means my hips have widened so certain "skinny" jeans that I've held on to are never going to fit again even if I continue to lose weight. I'm ok with that. I wasn't at first, but seeing the shape my body is now, I'm actually quite happy with it :) Also, seeing the struggles of some of my friends to lose their baby weight, I have no right to complain whatsoever!! I'm proud of what I've managed to accomplish.

If you don't already follow PaganDad (also the creator of The Pagan Village and The Pagan Household), you should be. He has such fantastic ideas for raising little witchlets in our faith. He's put together Pagan Summer Camp (in response to all of the Vacation Bible Schools out there). So much fun!

I'm going to be making a real effort to post at least a few times a week here (though I'm definitely not promising daily). I miss blogging! :(

I'm sorry it's been awhile. With summer being here I've spent most days outside with the boys and am usually so exhausted by the end of the day, I never take the time to write.

Life has been sort of stressful lately too. Due to unexpected circumstances and poor planning on our part, finances have been REALLY tight so I've had to watch our budget to the penny (which I probably should be doing anyway.) The whole summer is going to be pretty tight but hopefully by the autumn things will be back on track.

I'm hoping to get back to posting regularly...I have plenty to write about it's just sitting down and making the time to do it!!