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!

A Typical Lunch

The beautiful yellow color from the curry doesn't come through in this pic, but this is my tahini-curry carrot salad. I added apples and chickpeas and a side of sticky ginger tofu that I made last night.

Day 1

So, how did my 1st day go? Not bad at all! Actually, it was quite yummy!

During my trial run days these past few weeks, I learned that you can top anything with Coconut Oil (must be unrefined, extra virgin) and it will taste better. There is also coconut butter, which includes the meat of the coconut and tastes heavenly right off the spoon! So for breakfast I have been topping my oatmeal with either of those, some cocoa powder and a bit of raw sugar. Yumm-o! I admit that it probably helps that I love oatmeal and eat it daily anyway :)

Lunch consisted of sauteed veges purchased from Eastern Market this weekend, some polenta (topped with coconut oil) and a tomato, basil Tofurkey sausage. Yes, I went right for the processed vegan food, but last night I sauteed veges for today, so don't judge too harshly ;)

Tell me this doesn't look delish!

Dinner, I kind of took the easy way out. I worked late and wanted to exercise, and eating a full dinner at 7:30 or 8 didn't appeal to me. So what did I do? I repeated breakfast! Seriously though, would you have trouble eating something that looks (and tastes) this yummy, twice in one day?

Today (and for the month of November) I will be Vegan

Everyone's first question is "why?"

The real question (for me) has become "why not?" I can find NO evidence against it. Yes, there are certain vitamins and minerals (and proteins) that I will have to be sure to get, but that's the same in any diet. I found a blog with recipes that excite me to try and I'm longing for new food ideas. My goal is at least 90% (since Thanksgiving is in there and all) for the month of November. If I feel as good as all those vegans out there say I will, then I will make it a longer commitment.

I'm planning on blogging about it, so if you want to follow along, this is where you'll find me....

Mothers Day Memories

Tomorrow is Mothers Day. And next Sunday is the one year anniversary of my mothers death. That makes this not just any Mothers Day, but instead one which has me continually remembering last years'. I had no idea that it would be my last one with my mom. I stressed about what to buy for her, as always. She had enough junk already, and living in a nursing home had a limited amount of space for anything.

It seems fitting that the sermon series just starting at church is called One Month to Live. We are supposed ot live with a sense of urgency as if we had just found out that we only had one month to live. What would I do differently? Who would I call that I hadn't talked to in a long time? Would I want to climb a mountain, or bungee jump (again), or something else dare devilish that I wouldn't do otherwise? I found most of my personal answers were relational. I'd talk to my kids more and my sisters more. I'd have the tough conversations I've been putting off having. I'd tell people about Jesus more, instead of just expecting them to know already, because hopefully, they see Him in me. And I'd spend more time getting to know the Jesus who loved me enough to die for me. All relational. No mountains, no bungees, just relationships.

My mom didn't have the chance to know her time was limited, it was very sudden and shocked all of us. But I still had a good visit with her the last time I saw her. And although time, and my apparent lack of time management skills, resulted in me not seeing her on Mothers Day, but a couple days after instead, God still allowed me the chance to be with her again, limiting the huge regret I would experience, had I not.

So, here I am. Facing my 1st Mothers Day with no Mother here on earth to celebrate and buy for, and one week away from her being gone a whole year.

Fitting (or not), but wanting to honor her memory, I thought I'd share a note I wrote the night she died. Sometimes it helps me to just look back and remember...

My mom died tonight. I was at church hosting a game night with many of my favorite people there. Not the ending we had planned. It was totally unexpected as everything always was with my mom. I think my sisters and I thought that someday one of her illnesses would be terminal or she’d fall and hit her head one last time. We never imagined that she’d eat dinner, dose off and never wake up again. I have no parents now. That feels very weird to me and seems to be the hardest thing for me to accept. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose both parents at the same time.

My mother and I have not been close for years, but she was still my mother. And when she wasn’t in an argumentative mood I typically enjoyed my visits with her. She always accepted my shortcomings and never reprimanded me for letting her down when I missed a visit or a phone call. Yet, I was often irritated with her. Ron kept saying “you’ll be sorry” and I am so thankful for that reminder that she was my mom and that she loved me unconditionally and that I really did love her and needed to show it more often.

So tonight I feel numb. I’ve never planned this scenario out in my mind. I was prepared for when my dad died, he had been sick, we wanted his pain to end and for him to go home and be with Jesus. My mom was different. My sisters and I had talked in the past about funeral arrangements, but tonight none of those decisions made sense. Tonight we felt different and all want the chance to give her the respect a mother deserves. Liz came and stayed until we left the nursing home, Emma’s coming home for the week and Adam is trying to get here. I never expected them to do any of that. But again, what should I expect? I want my children here and I pray that home will always be a place that they want to come to.

I don’t know where my mom is tonight but I truly hope it’s with Jesus. I am resting in the knowledge that God knew her heart, even if her mind was confused. It’s funny but my mom and I have argued politics for years, but just a couple of weeks ago she shared her admonition of gay marriage and I was able for the first time to tell her the reason I vote the way I do, was economy and war opinions aside, that I could never, in good conscience, vote for someone who supported gay marriage or abortion. And you know what? She said she didn’t know that, and she nodded. Did she finally get it? Did she disagree with me all these years based on ignorance alone?
So that’s that. This week I will play a grown up and plan a funeral and be one of four daughters who lost their mom. And for that I will grieve and I will cry and I will have some regrets, but I will try to learn from them. And then my children will return home and I will go back to work and we will all go on with our lives with bittersweet memories filling the places where aggravations once were and we’ll all be ok because we have each other and we have many good memories which God allows to always out weigh any bad ones…
I love you mom. I hope you knew that.

Happy Mothers Day. Make sure and cherish the day.

A day in the life...

So, if one has 2 different blogs, is one expected to blog regularly in both????
Or, as in my case, blog regularly in neither :(

So, I've been busy. There's something you don't hear me say very often. Truth be told, I think I've been more distracted than busy. Sometimes I am just too overwhelmed to press on and do the things I'm supposed to be doing. But today is April 15th and my taxes were mailed today. That's good for me. An accomplishment and an item checked off my to do list :)

I'm catching up at work it seems. This could be looked at as a positive or a negative. Yes, I'm catching up, but that's because there is a lack of new work coming in to distract me from the piles all over my desk. I've decided it's ok for awhile since I've been lost in the piles for far too long.

Mr & Mrs is getting ready to launch a new website, thanks to Carol, a phenomenal person who likes to stay in the background helping others and seems to live with a "git er done" attitude! So check us out at MrandMrsOnline.com. Of course feedback is always welcome.

And I think I've found a new favorite author, Jen Hatmaker, author of the Modern Girls Guide to Bible Study. She is refreshing and funny and leaves things in there, that most people would leave out, and those things typically make me laugh, sometimes even out loud :) I think I've found what I'll be teaching in September as well. Thank you Ellisa for the great recommendation, and of course for the willingness to lead the fall class with me.

So that's it for now, feel free to jump over to SoulyHis.Blogspot.com to check out things that make me go hmmm...?

The WorkOut Challenge Rantings

I went to the gym last night after work. At 7:30. I didn't want to go then and I'm pretty confident I will not want to go tonight, even though I turned around this morning to go home and get my gym bag.

I'm really having a hard time getting going with this whole eating right and exercising thing. It's not like I haven't been here before and I knew it was coming, but I still hate it. And I know that the reason I hate it, is the very reason I so desperately need it. But I still hate it.

Mind you I always feel better when I leave than I do when I skip, and I can envision what I want to look like as someone who regularly works out, but still nothing.

Paul says in Romans 7 “I do the things I don’t want to do but the things I want to do those I don’t do." Why? If I want to do something, then why can't I just tell my body to do it and enjoy it? Oh, how I wish I knew. I am comforted by the fact that Paul struggled with some of the same struggles as I do, and yet look at how much he was able to accomplish.

So I guess I just keep doing it, even when I don't quite feel like it. Since the one thing I do know, is that it is impossible for me to achieve my goals from my living room couch!

One of these days I'll wake up and love exercise, I just know it!

So 2 months of....nothing? I think not!

How about 2 months of craziness? I have really felt the need lately to become a structured schedule maker, although it goes against everything I believe in :) I'm just so tired of NOT doing the things I want to do, and instead getting caught up in things which are no benefit to me.

So, although I have many regrets from the past 2 months that I could dwell on, I choose instead to move forward with today. Today was a new day. It started by going to bed by 9:30 (ish) last night. My husband told me that he has fantasies of a wife who actually goes to bed at night the same time he does. I'm working on it, knowing it does so much good for my desire to get up early and have bible study before going to work.

Well, today it worked. It helped that there was snow and Ron decided to stay home giving me an extra 1/2 or so in my morning. So I picked up an Inspirational Study Bible that I had started a few years back in my never ending attempt to read through the bible. Apparently I had stopped at John 12 because that's where my ribbon was today. So John 12 it was. Oh the discoveries! Isn't it amazing how you can read through something so many times and see different details each time? I don't always know what I'm going to do with these details I pick up on, but I sure love picking up on them. I imagine many of them as further studies and/or presentation opportunities and get excited over the opportunity to find out more!

So here are a few of this morning's discoveries:

1. Judas had been stealing from the disciple "fund" all along (vs. 6). It makes me wonder about what Jesus knew when he picked him. Did He know he would be the betrayer? Or did He see good and Judas changed midway through His ministry?

2. The chief priests had made a plot to kill Lazarus as well, since many Jews were following Jesus after His raising Lazarus from the dead (vs. 10). It's interesting to me what lengths people will go to in order to protect their position.

3. When Jesus road in to Bethany (on the donkey) He was speaking about the reason he came and a voice from heaven answered Him. Some of the crowd thought it was thunder (I wonder about the word translation here) and others said an angel had spoken to Him (vs. 28-29). I'm still pondering this discovery....

4. Many of the leaders believed in Him but would not confess it "for fear they would be put out of the synagogue" (vs. 42). They valued their position more than the eternal life Jesus was offering. How we all must be careful to not make the same mistake.

5. He speaks about the judgement for those who hear His words and reject them (vs. 48). I want to start paying close attention to when he talks about judgement and who it involves. I want to be prepared for believers to be judged, but I think it may be a different judgement than those who reject Him will face. Stay tuned on this one...

So, there you have my morning nuggets. May they create a stirring in you to discover more, as they have for me. I can't wait to see what tomorrows discoveries will be, as I continue on to John 13, in an effort to finally read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation!