Where to find me...

If you're looking for me, SoulyHis.blogspot.com is probably a better place to find me :)

Happy Mothers Day

Tomorrow is Mothers Day. My girls and I seem to be in highly reflective moods this year. They are trying to balance the act of having, and being, a mother and I am looking at the 2nd Mothers Day without my mother.

And I'm in such a different place than ever before. God has moved me so far in the last year or so. It's amazing. They both wrote beautiful blogs about having, and being, a mom. You can read them here and here. So I just thought I'd join them and share a little of where I am today.

I have two amazing girls, who are amazing moms, both with entirely different parenting styles and neither one very much like mine (at least I don't think so). But we all wanted nothing more in life than to become mothers and we all love the children God gave us to raise. alot.

Amazing. I love my relationship with all 3 of my kids (throw a son in there to round out the lot). I love the regular (and sometimes marathon length) phone conversations (since 2 of them live out of state) and that Emma will call me to chat almost every time she's in the car and I'm not at work, and that Adam will usually video call instead of just phone calling, so that we can see each other, just like he was here. And I love the impromptu conversations with the one that lives in my house. Not to mention our market Saturdays where we spend all day, beginning at Eastern Market and working our way back, coming home too exhausted to even prepare anything we've purchased :)

I love that although the 3 of them are totally different, i can see some of my personality in all of them. Emma and I can tackle anything together, and would prefer to do it ourselves, please. She is the yin to my yang. Adam and I have brains that never stop. Give us one little sliver of an idea and we will think about it in 1500 hundred different directions. Liz and I wear our hearts on our sleeves, and have to talk everything through with someone before we can trust that we've made the right decision for ourselves. Crazy and I love them all!

So as i reflect on 29 years of mothering, I am content. God has blessed me abundantly and I am continually amazed at how, even through the painful times, it just gets better and better.

Happy Mothers Day to all. May you see Gods abundant blessing, too.

Love,

My Favorite (thus far) Vegan Recipe

Black Beans with Lime-Peppered Mayo
Servings: Serves 4
Super simple and easy to pack for lunch

Black Bean Mixture:
• 2 15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 2 Tbsp. chopped shallots
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. Creole seasoning
• 1 tsp. canola oil
• Salt and pepper to taste (be careful because the creole seasoning usually contains salt)

Lime-Peppered "Mayo":
• 1-2 tbs mayonnaise (I use Vegenaise)
• 1 1/2 tsp. fresh lime juice
• 1 jalapeno pepper , minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Mix all ingredients in bean mixture and Mayo separately and refrigerate both at least 3-4 hours.
(I usually make it the night before). Spoon the beans over brown rice and top with the Lime-Peppered "Mayo."

Typically I heat the rice and then top with the beans and heat for another minute. I actually like the beans on the cool side. So good!

Food Fight!

I am Vegan (or at least have been mostly, sometimes, or almost vegan since November 1^st). I live with a foodie and an omnivore. The foodie likes raw milk. I don’t even like milk! She buys things like cow leases (to obtain raw milk), eggs direct from the farmers of cage free chickens and organic, pastured butter, whatever that is. The omnivore likes meat. A LOT! This is the man who orders his burgers plain and his BBQ with no sauce. Oh, and he really doesn’t like vegetables much.

To say being vegan is a challenge would be an understatement…in this house anyway.

It takes planning, but we do it. And we do it (while feeding 4 of the foodie’s children as well) on a pretty reasonable grocery budget. We make regular visits to the farmers market and the health food store, with a few visits to Trader Joes in between.

It also takes acceptance. And we’re getting better at that. What we’ve concluded is that choosing a healthy way of eating is an important decision, which healthy plan you choose is a personal choice and isn’t as important as simply making the decision to eat healthy.

So, yes, although we’ve had our food “fights” a time or two, we’ve all made the decision to eat healthier and that gives us a lot less to fight about :)

As for the omnivore, we just give him meat often enough that he stays pretty quiet :)

A success!

A lot of cooking was done today, including these gingerbread flax muffins. Healthy, vegan AND enjoyed by all :)

Tempeh with Sugar Snap Peas

What's this you ask? Besides leftovers for tomorrows lunch it's PW's Beef with Snow Peas recipe, made with tempeh instead of flank steak. I must say this is my favorite recipe yet! And, I like the texture of tempeh way better than tofu. It may well be my favorite meat replacement :)

I sure would like to win this :)

The Chocolate Covered Katie Magic Bullet Give Away!