40 Day Vegan (Day 9)

So sorry I didn't get this up sooner...
And by the way, the asparagus soup recipe (Day 5) is up!
Yesterday was one of those days where I had a cup of coffee and then nothing else until later...but it was worth the wait.

Remember all those apples we picked?  One of my favorite things to make in the fall is homemade applesauce. I filled the crockpot with apple slices, added a half cup of water, a few allspice balls, 2 long cinnamon sticks, a little brown sugar and a good dose of vanilla extract.  Viola!  It fills the whole house with the most wonderful smell.  All you have to do is get a spoon and smoosh it after it cooks a few hours.  When the girls come home they can't get to it fast enough. We love it best warm.

I had leftovers (salad, rice, beans, peas) for lunch.  We desperately needed some family time.  So when Matt got home from work we decided to head over to Fiesta Mexico for a fun supper.

WE LOVE to have them make us guacamole at the table.  Avocados, lime, cilantro, jalapenos, onions, tomatoes, salt.  Warm corn chips and salsa.
I had a Margarita on the rocks with sugar on the rim, and for my main meal I had a burrito with beans and guacamole inside, lettuce on top and rice on the side. Very good, but I have to admit I could barely eat half after all the corn chips and guacamole.

40 Day Vegan (Day 8)

So much to tell tonight...
This morning I had my usual start...coffee.  Then Sarah and I went apple picking.  Literally up the hill.  The orchard is on my running route.

Later, we snacked on pickles while I got lunch ready.  I have been missing rice.  I really could eat it every day.  I made rice and beans (see Day 1) and served it with steamed broccoli.  Sarah loved it.

I served it with one of my favorite salads...

This is super easy, and very yummy.  Spinach, red onion, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, balsamic vinaigrette.  If you want to make it especially nice, trade the sunflower seeds for candied pecans or walnuts, or pine nuts and the nonvegan version would have smoked Gouda.

I must confess, I ate the rice and beans 3 times today.  At lunch, before school, and when I came home.

I must say, I have not had a craving for something nonvegan in a long time....but my husband bought a big bag of Reese's peanut butter cups and I was thinking about them on the drive home...
I didn't cheat.
Instead, after I ate some more of the above,  I had a glass of Bully Hill Banty Red wine, and I slapped a big glob of peanut butter on a plate, cup up some apple slices, grabbed a 70% cocoa vegan dark chocolate bar, and headed to heaven.

Bee

Photo by Bgrace
Taken 10-5-11

40 Day Vegan (Day 7)

You remember when you were in college cramming for exams and you ate terrible junk food to get you through the day with minimal effort?  Well, here is the vegan version...

I had coffee with soy hazelnut cream, a bagel with soy cream cheese, leftover pasta salad with a green salad for lunch.  On the way to school I grabbed a blueberry acai berry juice popsicle, and a bag of potato chips.

After my exam I pulled out some new gorp.  Show you later.  It's really good.  

Came home and celebrated my 98% on my anatomy exam with a batch of onion rings and ketchup and a few garlic dills I snagged at Roots yesterday.  And then shared a glass of Pinot Grigio with my hubby who is back from Pittsburgh   

Now I am going to sleep...as soon as I kick Sam off my feet.

Night.

BTW, I posted this later than the time reflects (you can cheat that way on blogger).  I just thought the Bee pic was prettier than this.

40 Day Vegan (Day 6)

Tuesday is usually Roots Day...and the day we go to The Country Store.  So in other words, lots of treats.  Warm apple cider with cinnamon sticks, whole allspice and orange slices.

Warm pretzels (old fashioned which means no butter). So incredibly good there are no words.
With or without yellow mustard.

Sweet and Spicy Thai Noodle Salad...bought premade at Roots.  I splurge on new foods so I can try and copy them.  They have lots of vegan options.

Got some goodies at The Country Store...like peanuts and sesame seeds and imitation bacon bits.

I ate these throughout the day, and also some garlic pickles that are in Sarah's words, "The best pickles EVER."  And had some leftover asparagus soup when I got home. 

Will post that recipe AFTER my exams (sometime on Friday) on Day 5 post. 

40 Day Vegan (Day 5)

This morning, I actually had breakfast.  I had a cinnamon raisin bagel with Tofutti cream cheese (soy.)  It's very good.  Had coffee and then mid morning had warmed apple cider.

For lunch I made my favorite EASY pasta salad.  1 package noodles cooked al dente (I usually use rotini), 1 can small kidney beans, 1 can white cannelloni beans, 1 can olives, 1 can diced tomatoes, half a bottle of Good Seasons Italian made up with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Mix well and serve.  You can add cukes.  If your not doing vegan pepperoni is nice too.  This my whole family eats.

For dinner, I got home late and needed something to warm my bones so I pulled out my favorite fall meal.  Asparagus Soup.  Just licked the bowl clean!  :)  I make it in the spring and freeze it.  I am so tired that I will put up a pic and the recipe tomorrow, (the soup recipe is seriously the best asparagus soup you will ever have.)  My kids beg me to make it.

Asparagus Soup Recipe:
1 LB. asparagus (Cut in thirds to make it easy.)
1/2 C. chopped onion
13 0Z broth (I use veggie but you can use chicken)
2 T. margarine (I use Earth Balance)
2 T. flour
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 t. fresh lemon juice
Cilantro
1 big scoop vegan (soy) sour cream (For nonvegan version you will need 1 C. milk, 1/2 C. sour cream.)

Cook asparagus in covered pan with onion and 1/2 C. broth 6-8 min. or until just tender.  Blend until smooth.  Melt margarine in pan, blend in flour, salt and pepper.  Stir in broth.  Cook to a boil.  Stir in asparagus puree and sour cream (and milk if non vegan.)  Add lemon juice, heat through.
Top with cilantro and serve.  (If I am serving my kids I also add about 1/4 C. shredded cheddar cheese on each of their bowls.)
If you are going to freeze this, leave out dairy and lemon juice.  Thaw and heat soup and add dairy and lemon juice after.  

40 Day Vegan (Day 4)

Had to teach this morning so I left the house too early to eat.  Had coffee on the way and decaff tea (with sugar) between services.  I was pretty beat when we got home so we made Sunday dinner easy.  While we were getting it ready I put out tortilla chips and salsas and hummus.

By Bgrace

In about 30 minutes dinner was on the table.  (Helps to have lots of hands.)
Big noodles with tomato sauce.
The sauce is homemade.  I learned it from my friend Heather who married into an Italian family.  Just heat a small amount of olive oil in pan and add a couple tablespoons chopped onion. When they are golden brown, add crushed tomatoes (I only had one small can in the cupboard so I added two cans of tomato juice and it was great.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Add generous amount of basil and Kosher or Sea Salt.  If your sauce is bitter, don't add sugar, add more salt.  Simmer 30 minutes.
Today I threw mushrooms (grilled from a couple days ago) and veggie balls in my sauce.  (I gave the rest of my family real meatballs.) The veggie balls are frozen and made of chickpeas and veggies and I forget what else.  They are OK, not great enough to promote.  And I realized after I made this recipe that I prefer my mushrooms sliced...oh well.  I tossed the noodles in a small amount of olive oil and then added sauce.  Salad with Italian dressing.  Rye bread heated in oven and dipped in a plate of olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.  It's nothing fancy but it's quick and easy and filling.

This afternoon I had apple chamomile tea and grazed on some potato chips because the kids were eating them.  (Does that sound like I am making excuses??)

Dinner was leftover green bean/potato/sundried tomato roast from yesterday, but I added stone ground dijon mustard and it became a great potato salad.  I really wasn't hungry for anything else, but had myself a nice glass of sangria before bed...(which is now.)
I will try to have a more interesting menu for you tomorrow, but I am not making promises because I am babysitting my cousin Michael's baby daughter Grace Stull and I am studying for my exam on the nervous system.

40 Day Vegan (Day 3)

Potato, Green Bean and Sun dried Tomato Roast
By Bgrace

Breakfast and lunch ended up being three cups of coffee, a small bag of potato chips, and a handful of gorp.  I also had a few bites of raisin bread with vegan butter.  Enough that I wasn't hungry until dinner.  I didn't feel like fussing too much, and since I needed to use up the rest of the green beans, I found 4 potatoes and a half a jar of sun dried tomatoes and made this combination.  It's really good.  Passed the Matt test. 

The key here is to take the oil the tomatoes are packed in and generously drizzle it over the raw sliced potatoes, green beans and chopped sun dried tomatoes.  Dig your hands in and toss it really well.  Put it on a cookie sheet and add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Bake uncovered at 400 for about 40 minutes, or until the potatoes are just tender.  I didn't squeeze lemon juice over it right before I served it, but that would have made it even better.  I ate this at room temperature, but you could eat it warm or cold. 

Since I knew I would be up studying and my sweet tooth would be calling, I pulled some blueberries and cherries out of the freezer.  It was supposed to be a crisp...but I was a little suspicious about the topping...should have listened to my gut.  The topping just sort of melted into the blueberries and cherries.  It was still really yummy, but I was glad I wasn't serving it for company. 

Recipe:
4 Cups berries, 1 Cup sugar, 6 Tablespoons flour.  Let it thicken, just to a boil.
Topping is 1/3 Cup Vegan butter (first time I tried it in a crisp, I usually use canola oil), Heaping Cup Sugar and Almost a cup of flour.  Berries fit nicely in a round cake pan, add topping, bake at 350 for 40 min.  

Next time, I'll try the crisp with a topping of oats, brown sugar (which I was out of), and flour and the vegan butter. 

40 Day Vegan (Day 2)

Garlic and Chile Rice Soup with Spring Greens
(From Easy Vegan cookbook)
Photo and Food by Bgrace

Photo by Bgrace

This morning I had coffee and rye toast for breakfast.  Wasn't that hungry.  In my coffee I use a good helping of good old fashioned sugar and Silk  soy creamer.  It's really good. 

Sarah and I had pickles for a snack.  (She also had strawberry milk...yes, at the same time.) 

I usually eat a late lunch.  Today it was leftover soup.  Really good recipe.  After I took the pic I remembered to stick in tortilla chips and a handful of fresh cilantro over top.  It is much prettier that way...oh well, guess you will have to make it yourself to see. :-)  This is a tasty soup with an Asian flavor...It's basically garlic, ginger, soy sauce, veggie broth, green onions, rice, hot pepper and spring greens (I used spinach.)  Next time I will use half a hot pepper because this makes me cry when I eat it.  But seriously good for killing sinus problems.  I usually throw a salad together with whatever is in the fridge.  Today I used Zesty Italian dressing.

For dessert this is seriously good/good for you gorp.  I carry it to school sometimes.  Drank water...not nearly enough.  (Trigger Point Therapy class tonight.)

I was starving by the time I got home from school, so I did something you really shouldn't do...make yourself spaghetti at 10 PM.  It was so good.  Capellini with olive oil, salt and pepper, and  Diablo sauce (Giant's Simply Enjoy is my favorite.)  Topping it off with a glass of sangria.
'Night.

40 Day Vegan, Day 1 Recap



Rice and Beans
Photo by Bgrace

Here is a photo of yesterday's meal.  Rice and beans, Brazilian style, with green beans, vinagrete, rye bread and pineapple juice. 

To make rice:  Heat olive oil in pan (enough to coat)  stir fry rice until golden.  Pour boiling water over rice (Less than they say.  I usually do 5 cups water for 3 cups rice.) Add good amount of Kosher/sea salt to water and minced garlic (about a teaspoon).  Best rice you will ever have. 

Beans: sometimes I open a can, but if you want to do it right, soak beans overnight or for at least 6 hours.  Drain water and put in crockpot.  Add enough water to cover (by a couple inches and add more as needed.)  Throw in chopped garlic cloves (2-3) a few slices of bell pepper (red is best) a teaspoon of cumin if you have it, a bay leaf, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  It will be fantastic in about 5 hours.  Serve over rice.  (Later, you can blend the leftovers up and use it in all sorts of things, like a tortilla or pita with veggies.)

Vinagrete: Chop up about twice as much tomato and pepper as onion.  (I like the purple color of red onions.)  (About 2 tomatoes, 2 peppers, and 1/2 an onion.)  Add 1/4 cup white vinegar and 2 Tablespoons olive oil. Let it sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours, 3 is better.  The O &V will react with the veggies and do amazing things.  Stir it up and make sure the juices are well distributed about every hour.  Right before serving (at room temp) add salt and pepper to taste.  Brazilians actually use this over steak.  It is AMAZING.  But over rice it is fantastic too.  (Even without beans.)  My kids even love it.

Green Beans:  I know this may seem silly, but seriously, I think green beans taste fantastic cut this way.  Simmer until bright green in highly salted water.  Don't overcook. 

Bread: This is rye, store bought.  No eggs or milk.  The butter is vegan--Earth Balance.  Really good.

Rest of Day 1 Vegan Food Journal Log:
I drank water but not enough.  Ate swedish fish at school (which isn't exactly cheating (not meat or dairy) but not exactly a vegetable either.)  When I got home Grace snuck downstairs for a late night snack with me.  I warmed up corn tortilla chips and pulled out a couple premade salsas and an eggplant humus (babaganoush) out of the fridge to dip them in...and had a glass of sangria, which I did not share.  :-)

40 Day Vegan

Brazilian Vinagrete
Photo (and food) by Bgrace


I've been thinking about doing this for a while...

I thought I would do a 40 day vegan journal. 
What I eat, what I make, what I eat when I'd rather cheat.  The recipes I'm trying: the good and the bad, the products I've found that I like and some recipes and photos.  I will TRY to post daily, but we all know how that goes.  And rather than doing a whole NOTHER blog, I'll try this here with other blog material interspersed. 

This morning I did not have a normal start...Em had an orthodontist emergency...so when I got there, I had coffee with sugar...no cream since they didn't have non-dairy.  Took the girls out for a quick breakfast before we headed over to the dentist (since Em's problem is early molars.)
Went to Gus's.  Not very vegan friendly.  BUT they did have raisin toast with no egg or dairy in it, so I had it with peanut butter and I opted for mint tea instead of black coffee again. 
I had a crazy day...didn't stop until 3:30...so by the time I had lunch I was STARVING.  Lucky me, I had leftovers in the fridge.  Brazilian food.  I had made beans and rice and vinagrete and green beans yesterday.  That with a little pineapple juice and rye toast was a fantastic feast. 
I'll post some more pics, an explanation, and recipes later...but I am late for school!

(though, of course, the servants knew)

Photo by Bgrace

"When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. "Usually a host serves the best wine first," he said. "Then, when everyone is full and doesn't care, he brings out the less expensive wines.  But you have kept the best until now!" 

John 2:9-10 NLT

Em and I are going through the book of John together in the mornings before school.  Today we learned about the Wedding at Cana.  I was trying to explain that the jars Jesus asked the servants to fill were way bigger than the flannelgraph piece made them look.  I explained there were 6 enormous jars that could hold about 20 to 30 jugs (like we buy of milk) each.  Anywhere from 160-180 jugs of water. 

Jesus had turned to the servants and asked them to take jars to the commercial grade kitchen sink, fill them, put them in the back of their catering vehicle and drive them back over to the place where they were serving...

Not exactly.

Jesus told the servants, "Fill the jars with water."

Where?  At the well?  The village well?

I'm guessing there's a whole lot of backstory here we don't see. 

180 gallons

Did he have any idea what was involved with all of that...and there was a wedding going on!

Why did He have to give them even more work to do? 

They must have felt every drop of that water they poured into those jugs.  They felt it hot on the sweat of their brow, strained in each of their arm muscles, and in the soreness of their back.  They were going to remember this water all night...and think of Him with every ache.

180 gallons

Then, he tells them to dip the cup in the jugs and take WATER to the Master of Ceremonies. 

What...so they can be the bearer of bad news?

Kill the messenger...is that his game?

Hold on a second...what did the Master of Ceremonies just say...the best wine saved for last?  What was going on here?  What just happened?  Could it be...?  It must be a trick.  But how?  They had painstakingly poured every drop of those 180 gallons of water into those jars.  By hand.  By their very own hands. 

They had been the ones to dip the cup in, take it from those very jars to the Master of Ceremonies.  There couldn't be any trick involved.  Their hands had seen to every drop of that water.  Was the Master of Ceremonies in on it?  But everyone else started enjoying the wine.  And there it was...dripping sticky and sweet on their fingers as they ladeled it out fast...the guests just couldn't get enough of this stuff. 

No one else was aware of what had just happened...probably no one would believe it.

But, of course, the servants knew.

It strikes me that the story of Jesus' first miracle shows the truth that Jesus talked about his entire ministry.

"But many who seem to be important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then." Matt. 19:30

"And so it is, that many who are first now will be last then; and those who are last now will be first then."  Matt. 20:16

I wonder at what point the servants realized that Jesus hadn't used them.

That instead he had given them the opportunity to be used.

Perhaps it was simply a matter of perspective.

Perhaps it was a matter of faith.

Is it possible to see the sacredness of our service this side of the veil?

Every once in a while, we get to serve a miracle. 

Every once in a while, we find our toiled-for water has been turned to wine.

Every once in a while, we can see that it is worth our while.

God...give us faith for all the other days.

Grass

I'm reading Amy Carmichael again.  The book is called Whispers of His Power...one of her daily devotionals.

Mark 6:39 "And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass."

Psalm 23:2 "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures."

"Before He can feed us we too must sit down." Amy C

To be quiet.

To listen.

To be taught.

To rest in Him.

So does the grass patch have to be green?

Mine has flowers...

Photo by Bgrace

And giraffes...

Photo by Bgrace

And palm trees (I'd be looking up at this one from a hammock)...

 And some combination of sea, gulls, and sailboats (there is one way off in the distance)...

Photo by Bgrace

What does your grass patch look like?

Here is the link to Sunday's Sermon:
http://www.anewhope.org/443006.ihtml

Where the Water Shallows

Photo by Bgrace

I met a new friend at school.  Yesterday was his last day. We became pals when we were lobbed into a discussion about massage therapy for people with HIV/AIDs.  I ended up having a bit of an epiphany because the thought crossed my mind that women who have come out of trafficking are at high risk for the disease. Many of them have been touched in horrific ways, and the idea of healing through positive touch was circling around in my head.  J was sort of watching this progression cross my face and raised a curl at me. (Seriously, you have to see this head of hair!)

I explained and through the conversation I found out he had received his Bachelors in Phsyc and was wanting to incorporate massage therapy into his toolbox (a bit like me) before going on to work on his Psy D. somewhere out west.  J shared with me that he had been a youth pastor a few summers before and so our conversation was comfortable including the Spiritual as well. 
I shared my blog with him and he brought in some of his writings for me to read.  While I was reading a piece he wrote about a "conversation" he had with his mom another pal from class looked over my shoulder and started to read, too.  She asked him if it was a real conversation. 
I loved his response.  He looked at her quite seriously and said, "It was real to me." 
I have one of those pieces.  I'll post it at the end. 
In the conversation with his mom, he wrote this phrase that I love and I have been turning it over in my head ever since.  I have already warned him that I am going to hijack it at some point.

Where the water shallows...

It is about coming to an understanding of things

About being able to see more clearly

About a place where that can happen

And also about time, about the when. 

I remembered some pictures I took at Carol's Cabin in May. 
I knew they were important when I took them, but now I know what they mean.

Where the water shallows, you can hold the earth, the water, and the sky in the palm of your hand in one courageous scoop. 

To write about those moments takes sheer fearlessness. 
Thanks for writing about yours J.
And for sharing...

Photo by Bgrace

Grace's Love

"He never loved me. I've known that."

She spoke quietly with a gentleness that seemed like it should be out of place and yet somehow, it wasn't.

"He loved my love for him."

Slowly her head moved from left to right and back again and her eyes closed against the words,

"It is not the same."
"Love, real love, withstands the demands of sacrifice."

"We don't all forge that kind of love, we're not all tested the same.
If love is true, when given the choice, it always determines to bleed."

"Love embraces the darkness in another. It does not excuse or explain away or keep it's eyes half-closed against corruption. It opens it's eyes wide, takes the whole landscape into view, then leans the force of it's wholeness into brokenness, chasing away the darkness with the light of it's goodness. It doesn't expect that which it is unwilling to give."

"Who wouldn't want to be loved like that?" My voice cracked as the beauty of her explanation caught in my throat.

She looked at me then, and saw my sorry eyes.
She smiled an old smile.

"Don't be sad for me my dear," she spoke intensely, "Don't you dare think I've lost."

"What is better? To be the object of whimsy and poetry and vapor? Or to know you carry in your being the capacity to love beyond yourself, beyond your own blood and your very own breath?"

She quieted then and I saw her chin rise just an inch in defiance.

"I will choose to love every time. It is how I become like the One who loves me most," she whispered carefully and clearly, though it didn't seem like she was speaking to me.

I pulled the blanket up over her frail shoulders, tucking them under her chin. I leaned my forehead lightly onto the side of her head and spoke quietly into her ear, "I love you Grandma Grace."

I hesitated, "At least, I hope I would, if I had the chance to."

Her chest rose and fell and her breathing deepened. I would have liked to hear more, but she was already resting...deeply resting.