Ghee

Ghee. Clarified butter, essentially. But cooked a little longer to really get the oil purified and separated from the milk solids. I've been reading quite a bit lately about Ayurvedic medicine and cookery and ghee is much-touted for it's healthy properties. So I decided to make some myself. I used salted butter because that's all I had, but it does turn out very very salty. I compensate for that by being doubly careful not to oversalt food that I've cooked in ghee.

Yesterday I had a hankering for french fries at lunch time but we didn't have any in the freezer. So I peeled a potato, cooked it in a sandwich bag in the microwave, and then sliced it. I fried the slices in ghee. I got some wonderfully golden brown and delicious home-fried potatoes! Ghee, since it does not have the milk solids, has a much higher smoke point than butter. In fact, I've read that you can deep fry in it.

I'll be experimenting a lot more with my ghee. I think the next thing I'll make is chapati. I've made chapati quite a bit, but have not cooked them with ghee.

Shaman by Noah Gordon

Get this book.

I read "The Physician" while in Minneapolis and had to get the next book, "Shaman." The main characters are the descendants of the main character in other book. But not hideously over-worked. There's a connection, but just blood. The stories don't dovetail or anything. GREAT BOOK! It takes place during the Civil War.

End of Week One, Day Five

We all breathed a collective sigh of relief today at school when the bell rang at 3:30. We managed to complete our first week of school!

Yes, there were a few kids that were mis-directed. Placed in the wrong classes. A couple of disciplinary incidents already. Still no receptionist. A few classes filled to overflowing. Much paperwork done and data entry completed. More to do in the coming weeks. But 3:30 came and we all bid our students goodbye and considered the weekend.

I grocery-shopped with Taylor. We parked in a "Customer with Child" spot. Just to be rebellious. He drove the car in the store. We discussed food. He chose tacos for supper and so I made those...bean ones for me.

I also made my first batch of ghee. A pound of butter, simmered for a couple of hours. Skimmed the milk solids off the top and used a bit to fry my beans. SALTY!!! I guess that's where all the salt in salted butter goes! I'll have to make the next batch with unsalted butter. I'm looking forward to playing with the ghee. I think I'll make fry bread tomorrow with it.

Somewhat Wordless, Unlike Someone Else!

I haven't written much, and I blame it on Facebook. It's easy enough to write a 140 character observation about something. Harder to write a missive for a blog.

That said, I observed something today on our school fax machine that gave me pause. You know those stupid scamming emails about the dude from Nigeria that wants to send you a bucket of money because he has no other place to put it? He'll give you some percentage of it if you pay him to ship it to you? Something like that?

Today on our fax machine was a newer version of that scam. One I consider to be a new kind of low in the area of scamming. This one was a letter from "Robert Barnes," a US Marine serving in Afghanistan. It uses a whole bunch of jarhead jargon to tell you that things are really bad there but they found this stash of abandoned cash. Here's the kicker paragraph that sort of got me hot:

"I don't want you to judge me by what you just read. I am a Devil Dog with a lot pride and honour. No amount of money can make up for the pain and sacrifice we all got through here in the hell hole in service for our country. But I have to also secure my future and have something to bank on after my active service."


ugh.

Another Perk

So when we were in Minnesota week before last (has it been that long already?), we were staying at my parent's house. Each morning my mom would begin the day the by saying, "We need to plan supper."

Usually this conversation happened right after I stumbled into the house from the camper and poured my first cup of coffee.

Why did she need to know this so early each day? BECAUSE CARNIVORES HAVE TO TAKE STUFF OUT OF THE FREEZER TO THAW! We vegetarians? Not so much. The only advance planning I do anymore is to soak beans overnight or start them in a crockpot during the day. My freezer is full of bread flour and frozen blueberries.

I'm just sayin'

The Invisible Wall: A Love Story that Broke Barries

Mom encouraged me to read this book. I believe it was an Oprah book club selection at one time. I loved it. The book was the first written by this author, who is in his 90s. 

It takes place in a small English town right around the beginning of WWI. It's about a street where the Christians and Jews live across from each other and the barriers of religious beliefs that are evident. Autobiographical, the book is about the author's own family and their struggles to survive poverty. To complicate matters, Harry's sister falls in love with a Jewish boy across the street. It's sort of Romeo and Juliet and Angela's Ashes all rolled into one. Happier endings, though.

There are more books written by this author. I'll be looking for them.

My Summer is Coming to a Close

My summer break ends Sunday night and I will remember this one fondly. It did not involve raves or speedboats, but I had a great little party of my own all summer. I took a lot of naps, I read a lot of books. I played with my food and did a lot of yoga. I got a new car and a new phone, both of which have stretched me technologically. I played with my friends and family. We took a nice trip to Minnesota, where we saw all our family...both sides. Even the ones in Saskatchewan! We saw one niece play her senior recital and another get engaged. We met our one of our new grand-nieces, too.

And the other day we said hello and goodbye to our second son, Riley, who graduated from Army Basic Training. We had a graduation dinner at Yesterday's in Columbia, where he experienced for the first time the gratitude of our country for his service as the owner thanked him and paid for his lunch.

Any regrets at all about this summer? I don't think so. The only thing I didn't get to do that I wanted to was see a Twins game at Target field. But I figure that will be around  for many years to come.

And so on Monday I'll go back to work rested and happy, peaceful and calm. Maybe it will be Endless Summer in my mind.

Back into the Oven!

We have had the most unseasonable weather here this past week. The temps have only been in the low-to-mid 80s and we've gotten up to high 50s in the mornings. But that will end now, as we start to climb back up to the high 90s.

I'm grateful for the new car. Mensa Boy bought a 2010 Prius for me when the van decided to retire. Big Green had 182,000 miles on her, and she was going to need a couple thousand dollars of the work in the coming months. The most pressing of which was the air conditioning. Again. The new car cools off in minutes and this week I will be thinking about that whenever I get into it.

I have to confess I'm a little sheepish about the car. People exclaim and congratulate me, and my best pal has been teasing me unmercifully about it. But it seems so extravagant right now. I loved my van and could have happily driven it for many more years (if they'd ever been able to stop that creaking noise it made when I turned the steering wheel). With a kid in college and new carpet needing to be bought for the house, my salary and days being cut this coming year, and Bob's salary still the same as two years ago, I really feel dumb taking on a car payment. But at least this will be a known car expense and not something that bolts you out of the blue like car repairs do.

So when people exclaim over the vehicle and talk about it, I find myself wanting to just say "let's talk about something else."

This year's Independence Day was probably one of the most fun we've ever had. Mensa Boy organized the "First Ever Henry Nesbitt Grand Day Parade," which was a whopping 1/10th of a mile long. Henry Nesbitt is the end of our Shelley Mullis Rd as it crosses into North Carolina. Apparently you can't just let a SC road name cross the state line, so that last 1/10th of a mile is named for someone else. We still aren't sure who Henry was, but he was probably a war hero of some sort. Could be Revolutionary War, could be "The War of Northern Aggression," who knows?

So after the 10 of us marched down to the end of the road and then marched back, we repaired to our home for supper. We grilled portabello mushrooms and corn and had sliced tomatoes and watermelon. After supper we progressed to Kriz's house, where we lit a bonfire, shot off fireworks and had blueberry cobbler and homemade ice cream. A great time was had by all, particularly Taylor and Ken, who tended the pyrotechnics. Mensa Boy was too tired to stress about the explosives, so Taylor just went to town with them...I think maybe he'd never done that before.

All in all a very nice 4th and a wonderful weekend. Now it's back to the hard work of...oh wait! I still have a month of summer left!

Oh...the Tour! If anyone thinks watching a bike race is boring, they should have watched yesterday's stage 2. Crashes, underdogs, demonstrations...it was all there.

Roast Okra

RoastOkra
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I know I've written about this before. But I truly think that roasted okra is one of the really good things about living in the south.

Not slimy.

At all.

Drying Stevia

DryingStevia
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

YogiLiz picked up two Stevia plants this spring when she was wandering through the garden centers. They are extremely easy to grow and taste wonderful! Just picking off a leaf and chewing on it gives a wonderful blast of pure sweet.

I've used it here and there for garnishes, but this last weekend I cut a big bunch of it to dry. When I'm satisfied that the leaves are sufficiently dry then I'll crumble them up and put them in a couple of empty spice jars. I think they will be excellent added to tea.

Surya Namaskar A X 108

It's the summer equinox and one traditional yogi way to celebrate it is by doing 108 sun salutations. And so I thought, "why not? I've got all day..."

I gathered 27 coins and put them on the upper right corner of my mat. As I get to to pose 10 pictured there on the right, I flick a coin off the mat onto the floor.

I am not doing 4 and 9. Instead I am going back to plank after 3 and then straight to uttanasana after 8.

I did the first 54 to a sanskrit chant. After doing shoelace to rest and stretch the hips, I switched to African drums. Now I'll start the next 27 to Gregorian chants and then finish off with Donna Delory.

Happy solstice! The longest day of the year. Make the most of it!

I found this picture of the sequence on Google Images. Here.

Blackberries

Blackberries
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

The first of the summer. I got about 1 1/2 cups. I was not dressed for blackberry foraging (long pants, long sleeves, boots, gloves), so I did didn't get very aggressive in my picking.

In my defense, this photo looked a lot less washed-out on my computer before I uploaded it.

Oh. That's a sprig of stevia on top. We are growing some in our yogagarden.

Tostada Night

Tostadas
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

When you decide to go vegetarian, and you are the only one in a family of carnivores, you really have to step it up in terms of "interestingness" when it comes to supper.

Sure, we've had tacos. Lots and lots of tacos. Using store-bought taco mix and hamburger and then all those tortilla chips or taco shells you buy in the bags and boxes. But this. Now THIS...it is the BEST WAY to eat that kind of food. The old-fashioned, fried-in-oil way.

Here's what I wrote about tostada night. And I should tell you, I had to kind of hunt for yellow corn tortillas. White corn rules the market. I think it's semi-tasteless.

Tostada Night

You know how you end up with days and days of leftover pinto beans whenever you cook up a pot? I mean … I like them. Don’t get me wrong. But I can only eat them so many days in a row before I’m ready to swear off them forever.  Of course that wears off after a month or so and then I’m ready to cook up another batch.

                One way I’ve discovered to use those up is to make homemade refried beans with them. Most of us are used to just opening cans of refritos (refried beans) and using those for our tacos or whatever.  But those canned varieties really miss the boat in flavor when compared to the homemade variety. They always seem a little watery to me. And bland. I’m giving you a recipe that I’ve adapted from “The New Moosewood Cookbook,” by Mollie Katzen. I think the cumin really makes or breaks these beans. See what you think.

                Tostada night is a great weeknight dinner event, and a fantastic way to get the family together to hang out and eat. I draw them into the kitchen when I start frying corn tortillas. It works every time. When I was a kid there were no bags of tortilla chips, or prepared taco shells. My mom cooked corn tortillas in oil on the stovetop. Nothing beats that flavor. I think we gave up that practice because we started shying away from frying due to its’ status as an unhealthy way to prepare food, and it was a messy and left oil clouds hanging in the room for a few hours. I keep the mess down by putting my frying screen over the top of the fry pan. I can’t do anything about the oil clouds, but my 10-foot ceilings sure make it easier to ignore!

                Lay out some lettuce, salsa, onions, tomatoes and grated cheese (or go really authentic and use queso) and start frying tortillas. Let the family build theirs as they come out of the skillet. They will stay there and eat them, waiting for the next one to come out of the skillet. And as they stand there, you will hear a lot more about their lives. Just be careful not to fry your tortillas too long. They really only take about half a minute or less on each side. 

Refritos (refried beans)

By Karen Paulson

Adapted from “The New Moosewood Cookbook,” by Mollie Katzen

 Leftover pinto beans, drained (maybe 2 cups)

1 1/2 C minced onion

5 or 6 (or more) medium cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp ground cumin, or to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a small amount of oil in a large skillet. Be sure it’s an old skillet that you don’t care about scratching. Add the onions, garlic and cumin. Heat, stirring, until the onions and garlic are starting to get soft. Add the beans. Heat and smash the beans to the consistency you prefer.

If you really want to add flavor, cook your pinto beans with a couple of halved, seeded jalapeno peppers. You can also consider adding a small bell pepper to the bean mixture when you make it in the skillet.

Frittata: The Vegetarian's Meatloaf

Since I became vegetarian in January, Frittatas have become my new meatloaf. My go-to dish. The entrée I whip out when I don’t have a lot of time or imagination. Like meatloaf, frittatas are made from whatever ingredients you have on hand, they have a short prep time, and a little bit of oven time to give you a chance to gather your wits about you (read: drink a glass of wine and check out the newspaper).

                Similar to quiche, frittatas are egg-based and can be the vehicle in which to hide all kinds of edible treasures from meat to veggies to cheese or all of the above. Most frittatas are started on top of the stove and finished in the oven. That’s how I do mine, although you can do the entire dish from start to finish on the stovetop. Unlike quiche, frittatas are generally not known to have a crust. Mine does. So if you are a frittata purist stop reading now. You’ll see my version as an abomination.

                My frittata recipe culminated out of my love for all things hash browned. As far as I am concerned, no egg-y meal is really complete without hash browns on the side.  The crunchier the better, I figure. And so I played with my food one afternoon and conceived this fine frittata with a hash brown crust. I hope you enjoy it.

Hash Brown-Crusted Frittata

2 medium-sized russet potatoes

6-8 eggs, beaten and set aside

1-2 C veggies of your choice, lightly sautéed and set aside

1 C cheese of your choice

Herbs of your choice

Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Microwave the potatoes on high for 3 minutes. They should be softened, but not cooked all the way to a mashable stage. Handling them carefully so as not to burn your hands, grate the potatoes on the large side of a cheese grater. You can leave the peels on or take them off.

Preheat a non-stick skillet on medium high. Heat 1 Tablespoon oil and 1 Tablespoon of butter. Swirl it around to coat the pan. Transfer the grated potatoes to the skillet, patting it down into an even layer on the bottom of the pan. DO NOT STIR AFTER THIS POINT! After about 4 or 5 minutes, gently tilt the pan that you can glimpse the underside of the potatoes. Are they getting brown and crisp? Keep checking until they look like golden, brown and delicious hash browns.

In another oven-safe skillet (cast iron is really the best), heat 1 Tablespoon oil and 1 Tablespoon butter. Drizzle it over the potatoes in the non-stick pan. Then carefully invert the second skillet over the first one and flip over. Now your potatoes are in the second skillet and on their way to hash brown perfection.

Once you are satisfied that the potatoes are well-browned on the underside, remove the pan from the heat. Arrange the reserved veggies, cheese, herbs and spices over the potatoes. Pour the eggs over the mixture and lightly tamp down anything that’s sticking up out of the eggs. If you need more eggs, go ahead and beat them up and pour them in.

Put the frittata in the preheated oven and bake until the eggs are set, usually about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to finish cooking in the pan on the counter. 

Suppertime: Eggplant Gyros

My good friend Debbie Burgess (The Hungry Fox), sent me a link to this recipe on Cuisine Recipes and I was immediately sucked in by the gorgeous photo. This is my own shot, which I'm sorry to say is not quite as nice.

Anyway, our yogafarm produced some very fine cucumbers this week, which immediately made me think of tzatziki, which then made me think of gyros, which then reminded me of this recipe.

That's how my mind works.

The recipe on this site calls for a sauce made of yogurt and feta. I'm sure that is quite good, if not a little bland. Homemade tzatziki has that tangy zip of fresh garlic, which I think is needed in this recipe.

And now I'm going to see what how the leftover eggplant stuff tastes on an omelet.
Footnote: Eggplant stuff VERY GOOD on scrambled eggs. Think of it as eggplant pico de gallo. Scramble a couple of eggs and then drop some of the eggplant mixture on top. Mix in with the hot eggs to take some of the refrigerator chill off. Sea salt finishes it off!

34th Regiment: Always Forward

Riley is in the 34th Regiment at For Jackson. Apparently "Always Forward" is their motto. Riley is proving himself to be always forward. At least in my mind.

His girlfriend said he got a cut on his forehead and suffered a concussion on the "Victory Tower." He went to the infirmary and they told him he may have to take 3 weeks of Basic over again. He said "no way," and went back to his platoon. That's rough.

He's struggling. I've been ok with him being gone. Ok with him being in Basic. But now I'm starting to be a little anxious. His letter yesterday said he was awaiting word on his punishment for a weapons violation. Apparently he shot his (it was loaded with blanks) prematurely during a training exercise. His buddies said they'd help him cover it up, but he elected to tell his drill sergeant about it instead.

He's lonely and usually has a lot of friends around him. He doesn't know many of the guys and I think he'll start to feel better as he gains friendships.

I'm proud of him. And praying for him. I hope you will too.

Suppertime: Shiitake and Sweet Pea Risotto

Last night Taylor grilled burgers for himself and Nate while Liz and I enjoyed this recipe from Cooking Light. I didn't take my own photo of it this time. Too hungry. And you know? Mine was not quite as appetizing-looking as theirs. Because my risotto was a darker brown color. I think it must have been because of the very rich vegetable stock I used instead of the recipe's chicken stock. But boy! Was it delicious! We accompanied it with roasted and sauteed golden beets. I love to do that: roast the beets in the oven, slip the skin off, slice and then saute in butter.

I visited the chickens again this morning before work. I usually don't do that, but I had some very bland cherry tomatoes that needed to be disposed up. Chickens love juicy, seedy things. So I sliced them in half and took them over to the yogafarm. I was there at 6:15, when the sun was just starting to think about coming up. Obviously the chickens thought I was out of my mind for being up so early. None of them came down from their roosts. They just sat up there an murmured at me. I did feed them this time, since I received instruction from YogiLiz. I'll take some videos of the birds when Bob comes back with the camera.

Giant, Hairless Raccoon

That's what the chickens may think I am.
I went to Liz's and let them out this morning. But I could not figure out where their feeder is, so I didn't feed them (Liz was home, just not up yet). They followed me around, glaring at me and bwaawk bwaawking at me...getting all up in wing at me.
Then I took the one egg they'd laid and left.

Proud Parent of a Soldier

Mensa Boy has that sticker on the back of his car. I don't have it on mine yet. My car is too dirty to stick stuff on right now.

Riley is safely ensconced in Basic training at Fort Jackson. I just received the letter with his address. He's in Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment. Here is his address:

Pvt2 Porter, Jack R
Company Delta Platoon 3rd
1/34 In Regt
Fort Jackson  SC  29206

Family day is July 28
Graduation is July 29

We can follow his regiment on facebook. Here is the address:
http://www.facebook.com/134AlwaysForward

28 Years? or 20 Years and 11 Months?

Happy Anniversary, Mensa Boy! 28 years ago we got married at 11 o'clock in the morning. It was about this time that one of our groomsmen said that he thought WE were picking up his tux! What a fun day we had.

Every year I ask MB this question "So. It's been 'x' years. How many years does it feel like?" And he always answers the question with a number that is smaller than the actual (some could say he's sucking up!). This morning his answer was "A little less than 21 years."

It seems like that to me, too.

And now we are off for a quick trip to the beach. I can hear him filling the cooler with ice, and he's done most of our packing. Neither of us, when we moved into that roach-infested apartment in Eagan, Minnesota, ever would have dreamed that we would someday be living in sunny South Carolina, heading to the beach for our anniversary.

Love you, Bob.

Supper: Vegetables in Garlic Sauce

VegetablesinGarlicSauce
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

From China East, the only Chinese restaurant whose food I will allow the guys to pick up. After Taylor and I spent the afternoon on the football field in the 90 degree heat waiting for the Class of 2010 to GET A CLUE (!) we were not interested in any sort of supper-making.

We are both a little scorched tonight. I have sunburned the tops of my feet. Since Commencement will be outside tomorrow, who knows what we'll eat for supper?

Stay tuned.

Suppertime: Trail Mix

TrailMix
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

oh. I'm sorry. Did yesterday's post lead you think I was actually going to COOK supper and photograph it every night? Ain't gonna happen. Most nights, yes. But on nights when I go to yoga usually I just eat leftovers or a sandwich or, in this case, trail mix.

I make this mixture up with a bag of Harris Teeter unsalted dried fruit and nut mix, some roasted salted almonds, and then whatever other dried fruits I have on hand. I make a quart or so of it and we eat out of that all week. Tonight I'm having about 1/2 cup of it with a nice glass of late harvest Piesporter Riesling.

Suppertime: Penne with Chickpeas, Feta and Tomatoes

PenneTomatoesFeta
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I made this recipe from the March 2010 issue of Cooking Light. This is my own photo, though.
The recipe took only about 20 minutes to put together. We had a side of fresh green beans with it to round out a pleasant, vegetarian meal.
I have to say, though, that I should have simmered the chickpeas a little before using them. Canned chickpeas always seem a little too al dente and I've never really done anything about that. I don't know why. I think it's a paradigm I need to shift. I've just always used beans as they are out of the can, figuring they are cooked just right. But the other day I made another meal from a recipe on my new favorite food blog, Herbivoracious, and he also commented on chickpeas being too firm. He suggested simmering them a little before using them. I was much happier with the result. Incidentally, I'll do that recipe again and post it. It was delicious!

This post is the beginning of what I plan to be a daily supper photo. We'll see how long I keep that up. My plan is to shoot whatever my evening meal is each night. I'll give the recipe (or in this case link to the one I used), tell how long to make it, and mention anything else I think you might want to know.

ILHS Class of 2010

Here they are. Well, I'm quite sure this isn't all 144 of them. But here is the Indian Land High School Class of 2010. Many thanks to photog Tim Champion for doing the post processing. He took a photo I thought was a lost cause, put a background on it, and recolored a hideous yellow shirt blue.

This class was much less cooperative than '09. It was seriously like herding cats. And because they are such a rowdy bunch, I kept getting administrators in the way because they were standing too close to the group, trying to mitigate any disturbances that might occur.

So this bunch graduates Friday, May 28. That's five days from now. A lot will happen to me between now and then. I'm cleaning out their files so I can give them a lot of papers to keep, working up grades and transcripts for everybody, shuffling and re-shuffling diplomas. Just a lot of stuff.

In other news: Mensa Boy had a good conversation with an organization that fights human trafficking. They are interested in having him serve on their board of directors. He's pretty excited about that. It's a way he can be involved in this issue without changing jobs or having us move anywhere. Nate has been accepted to Winthrop University for the fall. It'll be sad for him to leave Erskine, but Winthrop is a much larger school with more opportunities. It's also a public university, so the cost will be considerably less (along with the fact that he can live at home).

Taylor is winding up his freshman year and did really well with his Algebra EOC. 91! We were very pleased. And Riley called home last weekend and talked for quite some time about his first week at Basic Training. He was mainly bored, but I'm sure by now the Army has solved that problem for him. For several days he was just waiting in lines a lot and not really doing anything else. "Oh, and they are NOT CAREFUL about how they shave your head," he said. "A lot of guys are BLEEDING around here!" Hopefully we'll get his address soon.

We'll make a trip back to Minneapolis at the end of July.

Strawberry Pie

Strawberry Pie
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Strawberries are in season in South Carolina and of course a quart is not nearly enough. The next step up is a gallon, which is too much to buy and just eat. So I made this strawberry pie. I adapted the recipe from "The New Joy of Cooking."

First, the crust. I made a pat-in-the-crust of:

1 1/2 Cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

8 Tbsp butter, softened, cut into chunks.

2 Tbsp buttermilk

In a food processor, mix the flour and salt, add in the butter. Process til crumby. Drizzle the buttermilk over top, process until everything is wet. (the original recipe called for heavy cream, which I don't have).

Press into a 9-inch pie plate, prick with a fork, and bake for 15 minutes or so in a 400 degree oven.

Filling:

6 Cups cleaned and stemmed strawberries. Puree 2 cups in food processor.

In a saucepan combine:

3/4 Cup Agave Nectar (or 1 Cup sugar)

1/4 C cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

Whisk in

1/4 Cup water (or 1/2 cup water if using sugar)

Stir in:

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 Tblsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Bring to a simmer over low heat, whisking constantly. Allow to simmer another minute.

In the baked pie shell, arrange 2 cups of the strawberries (cut them into uniform-sized pieces), pour over half the cooked glaze, then the remaining 2 cups of strawberries, and the remaining glaze. Refrigerate until thoroughly cold.

I suspect the original pie, with the refined sugar, has a clearer glaze. I just suspect that.

Mensa Boy & Wanda

Bob&Wanda
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

We had a few minutes last night to take photos of the chicks. I'll post more later. Here is a shot of Mensa Boy and Wanda.

Bear & Sheryl

Bear&Sheryl
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This is the closest Bear has gotten to one of the chicks and she's handling it quite well. This is the last chick to receive a name. I think it will be Sheryl. It was Mensa Boy's idea. Of course.

Wisteria

Wisteria
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

South Carolina is draped all over with Wisteria now. I know my mom complains all the time about how allergic she is to it, but it doesn't bother me at all. I'd much rather have this than Lilac, which just the mere scent of can send me into paroxysms of sneezing. Lilac doesn't grow here. Aw shuuuucks!

I shot this on the walk into 40-Acre Rock last Friday. I struggled with the greens in Photoshop, but every time I got them looking the way I wanted, the wisteria got odd-looking. Then I remembered the greens actually were kind of yellowish.

Araucana

Here is a link to Willow Hill Araucana Farm in Washington state. My friend the chicken breeder says Amelia is an araucana.

Amelia (Earhart)

Amelia
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Introducing Amelia. She is the first of my 4 chicks to receive a name. That's because she's the first to show us a personality. And that personality is calculating and desiring flight!

She was looking up at me last night when I went to check on them. At least, I thought she was looking at me. But then I realized, as she swiveled her head around, that she was looking at the top edges of the box. Then she just took a little hop, flapped her wings, and flew straight up at me! She came about 4 inches from the top of the box before dropping back down.

I need to ask my friend Rick again what kind she is. We picked out 4 chicks yesterday afternoon. I'll keep them here for about a month and then we'll introduce them to bff's flock. They will live there with her seven.

Our yogafarm is coming along nicely. The beds are all turned and Mensa Boy is finishing framing in the ones that needed it. We'll start planting greens pretty soon, and we'll start the other seeds in pots.

Three more chicks need names.

A Miniature Field of Red

minifieldofredcropped
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Another photo of flowers from 40 Acre Rock. There are little tiny colonies of these flowers everywhere. I had no idea at first what they might be, but then I got to wondering if they might be some kind of sedum?

40 Acre Rock

BlueFlower40AcreRock
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

What a cool place! We drove to the very southern end of Lancaster County yesterday afternoon to explore 40 Acre Rock. (It's really more like 14 acres, guys)

It's just a big granite outcropping right on the edge of the Piedmont and Sandhills regions of South Carolina in the Flat Creek Preserve. It's pretty well hidden in the a wooded area. This is intentional, apparently, because of its delicate ecosystem.

We stayed mostly on the rock, where we saw amazing displays of swamp jasmine and a few small sedum and wildflowers. I took my Canon Powershot point & shoot because it has a macro setting. (I don't have a macro lens for the Nikon. Yet.) That's how I captured this closeup of this little blue flower. Carter, if you are still reading. let me know what this is, ok?

I needs to go back there. Again and again. There are hiking trails in there and apparently even a small waterfall. The rock itself has a bit of graffiti on it, but not as bad as I expected. I suspect the local conservancy has effectively shut down most of the abuse by local teens and rednecks by shutting off the unpaved road that takes you to the rock. You have to park and walk to get in.

Peach Tree Blossoms

PeachPollinationCropped3.30.10
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Things are bustin' out all over here in SC and that means many of my friends and family are suffering from allergies. YogiLiz is rubbing her eyes and Taylor is sneezing his fool head off. My car has it's first of many coatings of yellow pollen. Today we noticed that I have hand-print shaped pollen on my car windows. Apparently the pollen just adhered to the oils of the hands that had been placed there.

Thursday night we went on a shootout, intending to start with the peach trees and end with the full moon. But by 9:15 I was ready to bag it from cold and fatigue. On the way home we did see the biggest, most fantastic orange-colored moon I've think I've ever seen.

Spring break started at 3:30 yesterday afternoon and I'm hoping there will be many shootouts in the coming 9 days, as well as many asana practices, plenty of time vegging on the patio or porch, and maybe a nap or two thrown in.

Happy Easter everyone. He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

The Much-Maligned Bradford Pear

BradfordPearMarch2010
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

They are gorgeous. For the week they are in bloom. Then they just turn into a dumb ole non-specific tree. Contractors like to plant them in new neighborhoods because they grow fast and are showy when they bloom. And they bloom in early spring, when lot of folks are out shopping for houses.

But the trees are not very strong. After they are full grown they can be easily blown over in a bad storm, particularly ice storms. And then you've lost a mature tree and you have to get it taken out and start all over.

But they sure are pretty right now.

Chasing Sunsets

31910skyNo1
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

You really have to chase to get good sunset shots here in Indian Land. Ones that don't have power lines in them. I took this on at the high school. It was a bit late by the time I found the spot to shoot from.

Yesterday I ate chicken pot pie for supper. eh. I made it for the guys and then went to a library board meeting. By time I got back it was late and I was hungry enough to just grab. I think as chicken pot pies go it was probably pretty good. But I didn't enjoy burping up chicken after that. Maybe I am becoming a dyed-in-the-wool vegetarian. At any rate, I'm sure it will be while before I try poultry again. And just the smell of beef kind of puts me off. Too heavy.

Tonight I had a massage after school and then dinner with my jazzerfriend Terri. Long, long conversations. Good for the soul but now I'm tired.

The March to Geezer-dom

Since January, when I became a vegetarian, I've been taking a multi-vitamin that was recommended by my massage therapist. I do feel great these days and I don't know if it's the vitamins, the veggie diet, the yoga, meditation, or whatever. But I do not want to change anything and risk going back to be a tired old hag. So I bought another bottle of vitamins yesterday at Earth Fare.

"Hey Liz! These senior vitamins are $7 less than the other ones and they are for 50 and older!"

"Hey Liz! Read these two bottles, will ya, and see if there is any real difference. It's way to much info for me to take in."

"Gee Liz, you'd think they'd make the print bigger on the senior bottle."

After studying the bottles, she announced that the senior vitamins seem to have more Vit D and the herbal ingredients are a little different but seem to be after about the same results. So why not?

No. I did not get an AARP discount. I didn't ask and it wouldn't have done any good anyway, since my AARP SPOUSE MEMBER CARD WAS STOLEN WITH MY WALLET! argh.

We finished the afternoon baking two batches of vegan cupcakes...carrot and chocolate. Both extremely delicious. We did have one minor snafu with the carrot cake ones. We had overfilled the muffin cups, so they adhered to the tops of the cups in the pan and had to be cut out. This made some of the tops pretty loose. We'd been dipping the chocolate ones in the glaze and, without thinking, scooped up a carrot one and tried to dip it. The entire lid came off in the bowl of frosting and we had to fish it out!

But all was not lost. We just got it out and mounded it on top with the frosting. I think it actually looked like on of the best ones.

This recipe was on a website Liz found. It's essentially all vegan cupcakes, all the time. It think it's this one.

It's a Vision Thing NOT!

"Thing is," I told Mensa Boy, "I can see just fine."

"'parently not," he said. And then went on to point out that I can just get the eyes enhanced fairly inexpensively with the Ophthalmologist that did the Lasik and then just move on.

"Thing is, I can see just fine." I repeated.

And that's what the optometrist said too. "I don't know...your eyes are 20/20," he said. Could be a problem with the machine, a problem with the operator. No ideas.

Back to the DMV. My 6-minute wait of last Friday was just a pipe dream today. I waited almost an hour before it was my turn.

But now I have a license again. I can be identified. I. Am BONAFIDE!

It's a Vision Thing

"I've got real problems, don't I?" I said to the lady at the DMV this morning.

"I'm afraid so," she said.

She sounded cautious, as most people are who deal with the public when they have to give bad news. I recognize the sound because I sound that way sometimes in my line of work.

My wallet was stolen on Monday. I haven't really wanted to say much about it because it was stolen at school. From my office, from my purse, that was in my tote bag, that lives on the floor next to my desk wedged between the wall and side of the desk. Was it stupid for me to leave it there? Well yes. But I still haven't wanted to say much because I still want to protect the image of our school as safe place. But of course any public place...any high school...any school at all for that matter...is going to have this kind of thing happen.

I noticed it missing Monday around lunchtime but didn't report it until Tuesday because I wanted to make sure it wasn't home or in the car or wherever. But I finally reported it, the School Resource Officer made a report, MB and I cancelled my two check cards and one credit card Monday night. No harm done. Except for the missing $40, his movie gift certificate the youth at church had given him, my Olive Garden certificate from my boss...nothing else had any value. Well, the wallet itself had some value to me. It was a $32 Vera Bradley wallet.

I know my friends can't believe I'd ever have something as fem-my as a VB wallet, but it was black & brown. As un-fem-my as I could get. But it had GREAT FEATURES! It was just the right size, had just the right crevices. Everything.

Oh. So the DMV.

I had to get a new driver's license. I couldn't renew mine online because I had a CDL...commercial driver's license. So I went to the DMV and told them I wanted to surrender the CDL and just get the basic license again. My physical certificate had expired a couple of years ago and I never intend to drive those kinds of vehicles again, so why not? This was the first gingerly-spoken bit by the lady:

"Well ma'am, that means you'll have to pay $25 because we'll have to surrender this and start with a new license."

OK.

"And take an eye test."

OK.

And now we are at the beginning of this story. Yup. Couldn't pass it. It's the left eye. Did I not notice this coming on? No, not really. Sure, my eyes have seemed a tiny bit blurry in the past little bit. But they always do this time of year when stuff starts blooming. Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis. Get some Patanol eye drops from the doc, I'm all fixed up.

darnit.

Well, I have an appointment for Monday at noon at the guys' optometrist. (Mine is not available until March 25.) It seemed like I shouldn't wait that long. And he'll probably have to give me a contact or something for the time being. Then I'll go to the guy who did my Lasik in 2004 or whenever and see about having and enhancement done. Sheesh!

I also bought a new Vera Bradley wallet while I was out putting Charlotte drivers in mortal danger. I found the same design, but the fabric is nowhere near what I'd like. All bright, shiny colors with flowers and crap. A bit too fem-my.

So that's how I've spent my furlough day. A day in which I did not work at my job, did not get paid for the time off, and moreover shelled out and will shell out more money.

Morning Stretch

I began the day with Kundalini, my favorite energizing yoga style. On a good week (by that I mean a week where I get up early enough), I'll do kundalini 4-5 times. I have a recorded set I follow in the early hours, mainly because my brain is not turned on enough to read directions. We're talking 4:30 a.m. folks.

But today is FURLOUGH DAY! So I got up at 7 and started in on a practice that I picked out from my book. After a series of spinal warm-ups, I decided to follow a kriya that is supposed to "awaken the ten bodies." I don't have time, so I won't go into what all that means.

But the first pose, which I've done a few times in the past, just about sent me back to bed to hide under the covers. It's this one depicted above (I stole the photo from the Anmolmehta website. Thank you Anmolemehta!). The Stretch Pose. Looks simple doesn't it? WELL! IT'S NOT! And this fella doesn't seem to be doing Breath of Fire either, which my book instructed me to do. You're supposed to hold it 2 to 3 minutes while doing Breath of Fire. I'll explain that in another post sometime too. I ended up doing just one leg at a time and then held both legs up for about 10 seconds. I think I should maybe try to do this every day for a while so I can see if I can build up some strength.

So that's what I did. And a few other poses. And then I reset the security on our wireless router, cleaned up my desk, and now I'm going to get my new driver's license (which, of course, was in the wallet that was stolen on Monday...sheesh!), meet buddy Nannette for lunch, and shop for a new wallet (to replace the one I loved. I think I'm just going to go back to the same place and see if I can get another just like it).

And that's my day. Yours?

One Day, Two Creepy Movies

I don't actually watch these kinds of movies very often, so it's even more odd that I managed to watch two in one day. Joshua is about this little boy who is older than his 9 years, and whose parents have a new baby, Lily. Joshua is a gifted pianist and is very close to his maternal uncle.

Remember that Twilight Zone episode with the little boy Anthony, who could control an entire town with his thoughts? "It's a Good Life" was the name of the episode. This movie reminds me of that.

People around Joshua are going insane and animals...well...animals are experiencing something a little more permanent.

Good movie.

Then I watched "Knowing." This one has Nick Cage in it and it's pretty good. I'm glad I didn't pay to watch it in a theatre, though. It reminded me of "Sixth Sense" a bit. Little boy Caleb hears whispers and it turns out that a little girl at his same elementary school heard those whispers too 50 years ago. But these are whispers of truth and that little girl is hearing of events that will happen over the course of the the next 50 years. Caleb's dad is a professor at MIT and figures out what is happening. And of course is going to try to stop some of those things from happening.

It's a pretty good movie. A bit predictable, though.

Spring is Springing!

It's about noon on Sunday and I'm sitting on my patio grilling turkey burgers for my guys. Even though we've lived here over 7 years, I still can scarce believe it when I can do such a thing in March. It's a gloriously sunny day and should hit the low 60s. I'd like to go on a jaunt this afternoon. We'll see. We've had a very long run of nasty weather lately. Just five days ago we had snow piling up.

We are going to start the garden planning in earnest in the next couple of days. Our plan is to crew up with YogiLiz and garden on her property. Because...she HAS property! We don't really have a good situation for gardening here. Liz likes to garden but it's too much for just one person. MensaBoy offered his services as slave so why not? He'll prep the soil for us, with the able assistance of Riley and Taylor, and we hope to plant a big enough garden to sustain both families and put up some things, like tomatoes, for winter.

However, MB has a caveat. He wants us to plan moringa plants. And he's ordered the seeds already. Apparently this plant is a miracle. You can read about it here. Could be interesting. At the very least it looks like a pretty plant! I guess it's actually a tree but you can prune it to more plant-like. Stay tuned.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

PeanutButterChocChipMuffins
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

These are actually called "Only-Kids-Need-Apply Muffins" in my muffin cookbook, "Gloria's Glorious Muffins."

But frankly, I wouldn't waste these on kids. I used my $5-a-bag grain-sweetened chocolate chips in them. And my all-natural peanut butter. I doubt those galutes would appreciate the commitment I made to these!

We had a 2-hour school delay this morning so it seemed like the perfect time to bake.

1 C whole-wheat pastry flour (I used white because that's what I have right now)
1 C whole-wheat flour
1/2 C unbleached white flour
1/4 C toasted wheat germ
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Sift together those together in a big bowl. Toss in
1 1/4 C carob chips (my grain-sweetened choc chips. and I only had one cup)

Set aside.

1 C hot water
1/2 C chunky peanut butter (I used smooth)
1 C soy or cow's milk (I used vanilla soy)
1/4 C canola oil
1/4 C honey, warmed slightly

Blend those together in a smaller bowl. I used my immersion blender.

Pour wet into dry, mix just until mixed...no longer than that!
Spoon into muffin cups or tins. You're supposed to get 12, but I got 14.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. Cool in baking tins for another 10 minutes.

Tostadas with Homemade Refritos

It was a decadent meal last night. That's what it all boiled down to. It just was further proof that a vegetarian diet holds many delights that you never thought of before.

It began Saturday afternoon when I soaked the pintos. I intended to make the refried beans and do tostadas Sunday but got sidetracked and made this DELICIOUS Hungarian Mushroom Soup instead. I wanted to get those mushes out of the fridge and into the pot.

Back to the refritos: Yesterday I came home from work to change before going for a massage. I put the beans on to simmer while I was gone. (leaving Taylor with instructions to turn them off then the timer went off)When I got home the beans were cooked to a fairly good tender stage. If I'd been here I would have given them a little time, but I felt they were done enough to avoid any gastronomic upset. I sauteed onion, garlic, a little red bell pepper, cumin and salt in a big frying pan and then dropped in the beans. I then mashed the whole shooting match with my potato masher.

And here's the really decadent part: I fried fresh corn tortillas. I remember when we were kids Mom used to do that. At that time pre-fried or baked and shaped taco shells weren't on the market yet. Oh man! Nothing does it like freshly-fried tortillas.

And so I fried, and the three of us built, and we had a fantastic meal.

The refrito recipes is from the New Moosewood Cookbook, of course. I really enjoy Mollie Katzen's tips on how to eat a tostada:

"Take a crisp tortilla and place it on your place. add a spoonful of refritos, and spread them imaginatively in place. sprinkle on some grated cheese, followed by an elaborate mound of assorted accessories, the height of which considers the dimensions of your mouth. Ladle on a little sauce, or spoon on some salsa. Now you are ready to make a noble attempt to eat it daintily. Keep your plate under your chin to catch what falls or drips."

Given my guys and their addiction to all things sandwiche, they just used two tortillas and made sandwich tostadas. And then we ate them with forks for the most part.

Grace Under Pressure

"They couldn't do the surgery," my friend J told me this afternoon. The pancreatic cancer had spread further than they thought and so J, whose husband passed away from the same cancer one year ago today, was told that surgery was not an option for her sister.

J's sister L is quite a bit older than she and I are. I believe the difference is something like 16 or 18 years. L and her husband D have been close to my heart since shortly after we moved here to Indian Land. L had breast cancer some years ago and was going through the same fatigue symptoms from her medication that I was going through at the beginning of my menopause journey. Often she and I would look at each other in church and just sigh, knowing that we each understood how the other felt and both too tired to really talk about it. Hubby D has been my de facto big brother, in almost every sense of the word. I know he would turn himself inside-out to protect me and he also likes to patronize me in the same way a real big brother can. He's always as quick with a hug and backrub as he is to tease me about my wine drinking.

We don't know what is in store for L. Ever the optimist, I'm told she is still positive tonight from her hospital bed. It's too soon for her to go, I'm thinkin', and I'm concerned for J, who has lost so much.

And yet, as J told me this news today, we hugged, she told me she loved me, and she asked me how I was. This is a very special family. A very grace-filled family.

A Day That Could Only End with French Fries

I had a big bowl of french fries for supper. yup. me. I rarely do that, but today was that day. Since I have no guts and I'm heavily medicated, I can't really blame it on pms. I blame it on this realization I had today: I am quite certain that there is NO WAY that one person can get everything done that I need to get done by the time school is out.

When I realized this, at approximately 9 a.m. today, I stopped breathing. Well, I was actually breathing, but not really efficiently. Just sort of short, shallow breaths, and not very many of them. I'll need to pull out all the stops at home to keep body and soul together. Or rather to put body and soul back together. Because every weekday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. my body and soul will be sucked of all life.

I started back on my Qi Gong DVD today after work to see if that would help. I think it will. I hope to continue it every day for 21 days to establish the habit. I've never done the entire DVD, and I don't really plan to. I plan to do 20 minutes at a time until I learn all the movements. I then went to yoga.

It was after yoga that the french fry frenzy started. During which time we also watched Monday's "24" episode.

Just Call Him "Animal"

Riley stopped, panting, in the doorway of my room.

"Bob is an animal!" he said.

And then he proceeded to tell me about their cross-country run after work today. "I had to stop a couple of times," he said.

I told him about following Bob up Crowder's Mountain last fall. "I suggested once that he maybe just PRETEND he was breathing hard."

We are now eating sweet potato pancakes (The New Moosewood Cookbook," of course). And bacon. They are eating bacon. I tasted a bit the size of my fingernail. Nah. Not really appealing. They are testing various toppings for the pancakes. Like a science experiment. "I'm thinking butter and sugar," one says. "I don't know, I think the maple syrup is the best," another says. "Why not creole seasoning?" (this from Taylor, of course.)

Whatever. As long as they are happy. And they get to stand up while eating around the counter. Why do guys like to eat standing up?

Change: Inevitable, Embraceable

The Five Remembrances

I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

A version of the Buddha's Five Remembrances, offered by Thich Nhat Hanh in The Plum Village Chanting Book (Parallax Press, 1991).

To read more about change and dealing with it, take a look at this article in Yoga Journal.

Lentil Walnut Burger

Lentil Walnut Burger
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Ever since my encounter with a Hempnut burger at the Laughing Seed Cafe in Asheville, I've wanted to make and have another one here at home. I'd done a little googling around and I've also looked around a bit for ingredients at Earth Fair. I did actually find Hempnuts there but they were about $6 for a bag of them! Yiikes!

But then I stumbled on this recipe in my New Moosewood Cookbook. You cook lentils in water for about 30 minutes until the water is gone and then mash them with a bit of cider vinegar.
Saute minced mushrooms, walnuts, onion, garlic, spinach (optional but I course I went for that), salt, pepper and dry mustard. Add all that to the lentils and then put in either 1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs or wheat germ. I had wheat germ and am always looking for ways to use it so that went in.
Cool the mixture for an hour, shape patties and fry in a little oil or put under the broiler. The recipe says to make the patties 4 inches in diameter. Mine were a little bigger and I still got a lot more than the 4 to 6 servings they mention. I froze about 8 more patties and we ate three for supper.
A serving suggestion is to put a slice of ripe tomato on top along with some aoli. The aoli definitely would fit the flavor profile better than the onion, mustard and ketchup I used, but it was still delicious.
The guys loved them! Bob said he really like how full for flavor they were, with many different flavors coming through. He's right. I'll definitely make these again and I'll use the frozen ones when the guys want hamburgers.

When Taylor first saw them he said "I thought you said we were having HAMburgers!"

I corrected him. "No. Think about it," I said. "I said we were having BURGERS!"

Here's a link to the author's website with the recipe. They were a little time-consuming with all the mincing but you can get all that done and the sauteeing while the lentils cook.

Listen to this. Haunting. Beautiful. Uplifting. I've been listening to this a lot in the past few days.

Libera - Locus Iste (Sanctus)

Sanctus

Sanctus, Sanctus

Benedictus qui venit in Domine

Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabbaoth,

Pleni sunt coeli et terra Gloria

Benedictus in nomine

Qui venit in nomine

Here's a close translation:

This place was made by God,

A priceless offering.

Holy, holy

Blessed, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

The holy master/lord, God of Hosts -

The heavens and the earth are full of his glory.

Blessed is he who comes in his name, in his name.

Ash Wednesday

So it's Ash Wednesday. We did not go to the service tonight. Didn't even talk about it. We haven't gone in a while. I think I wish we had. I generally like the service, but I am not really interested in having the ashes placed on my forehead. It's a day of mourning and in ancient times the ashes on the forehead were a way to express repentance. I'm not certain why we do this tradition now. When I was growing up it was just the Catholics that did it. They would go to early morning mass and the kids would come to school with the ashes still there on their heads. I'm not really a fan of that kind of public display. I don't judge it. It's just not for me.

Much is discussed about what people are going to "give up" for Lent. Traditionally it's meat. When I was growing up the Catholic kids would have fish on Fridays. People today like to give up something during this period, but I suspect it's for another reason than the original penitence reason. It seems like now people use the period for a challenge or to try to establish a new habit they would like. Or to abolish some old habit they dislike.

Yogi Liz decided to become vegan for Lent. She's vegetarian so this is a bit more of a stretch for her. Mindful eating and culinary adventure are her two main reasons. But in her classes she's also talked about ADDING something during lent. A daily walk, a daily meditation, a daily asana. Something that is adding rather than taking away.

I like that.

Having just finished 6 weeks of vegetarianism and no refined sugar, I'm not really inclined to do something more for lent. But all this is food for thought.

La Vie en Rose

This weekend I watched La Vie en Rose, which is about the life of Edith Piaf. I'd never actually heard of Piaf, but ordered the movie because it was probably mentioned to me.

A fantastic, tragic, riveting story! It was done in that annoying manner, though, where they jump from present day to past and back and forth and back and forth? I've never really had a great appreciation for that technique.

Piaf was raised in a French bordello by her grandmother, who ran the place. Her mother was a street singer and her dad a circus contortionist. She was discovered by a cabaret man while singing on the street and made her way from there to New York and then to Hollywood in the 50s. She suffered a car accident in 1951 that left her addicted to morphine and barely able to move.

Amazing movie.

The Vegetarian Experiment is Over

And I think it's going to become a lifestyle. (yes Mom, I can actually HEAR your eyes rolling)

It's been a great 6 weeks. A very easy 6 weeks, actually. Well, except for the memorable pork roast incident. Other than that, I've really had no desire whatsoever for meat. Not. Even. Bacon. NOPE!

So I'll keep it up. But I'm leaving the door open. If meat appeals to me, I'll eat it. If not, I won't. I'll continue preparing it for the guys and plan to do something slightly different for myself. But I think I'm going to try spending more money on meat for the guys and buying free-range poultry and grass-fed beef. I figure since we'll be eating so much less, we'll be saving money anyway.

One of the things I've really enjoyed during this time is exploring my New Moosewood Cookbook and some of the recipes by Martha Rose Shulman on the New York Times website.

Another experiment also about to become a lifestyle is not consuming refined sugar. There is no denying that the inflammation in my body has reduced considerably. Yes, it's true that it could be the sugar, it could be the vitamins I started in January, I could be the three-times-daily meditation and breathing I've been doing...it could be all of those or any one of those. But cutting the refined sugar has done the main thing I wanted it to do: It made me a more mindful eater/snacker. I've found some great dessert recipes with honey, molasses, maple syrup and agave, and have found some nice snack bars with evaporated cane sugar or beet sugar. I've even found chocolate with no sweeteners at all that is quite good! I've received chocolate from people in the past six weeks...people who know that I like it and want to give me something...and I've just accepted it enthusiastically and then passed it to someone else. It's been very simple.

And so that's my recap. Tonight for supper Taylor, Erin and I had samosas from the Moosewood cookbook and on the counter are two loaves of 'Cracked Wheat' Bread from NYTimes.com. The "cracked wheat" is in quotes because Shulman actually used bulgur instead of wheat. And so did I. I haven't tried it yet. Because we are still finishing a half loaf of Wheat Germ Honey Wheat bread I made yesterday.

Blueberry Corn Muffins

BlueberryCornMuffins
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I have a muffin cookbook I received years ago and I've used it so much that it's falling apart. The book is called "Gloria's Glorious Muffins," by Gloria Ambrosia. The book is comprised of muffins made with no refined sugar and lots of whole grains, fruits and nuts. They are NOT intended to be low-fat muffins, but they are definitely nutrition powerhouses.

So this morning, inspired by Yogabuddy's facebook post yesterday about blueberry muffins, I whipped out the book and subsequently these muffins.

Blue Morning Muffins
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

3/4 C whole-wheat flour
1 C unbleached white flour
3/4 C blue or yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt

Sift all these dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Toss in:

1 1/4 C fresh or frozen blueberries

Stir them around to coat them with flour so they won't bleed too much into the rest of the muffin.

Whisk together in a smaller bowl:

1/2 C applesauce (which I made from two apples that were getting soft...I just peeled them and simmered them with a little lemon juice, adjusting the sweetness with a little agave--because one was a Granny Smith apple)
1 C milk-soy or cows
1/4 C Canola oil
1 egg-a nice, fresh yogabuddy chicken egg, I might add...
1/2 C blueberry or grape all-fruit preserves
1 tsp vanilla

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until all the flour is moistened. Do Not Overmix!

Spoon the batter in equal amounts into paper-lined or greased muffin tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin for another 15-20 minutes. Brush the tops with a little Canola oil.

Brownies

Brownies
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This is the brownie recipe I made Friday night. I found it on the 'net a couple of weeks ago but can't remember where! If you recognize it, please let me know so I can credit the author and website.

I found this recipe while googling for brownies made with no refined sugar. I added the rest of the grain-sweetened chocolate chips I'd bought for the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I made a couple of weeks ago.

2 eggs
1/2 C honey
t tsp vanilla
1/2 C maple syrup
1/2 C butter
6 TBSP cocoa powder
3/4 C whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Whisk together the eggs, honey, syrup and vanilla.
Melt butter and then stir in the cocoa until well-blended.
Blend into the egg mixture (just to be sure it's not still too hot, temper the egg mixture by whisking in small amounts first)
Sift together the dry ingredients
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix just until blended and all the flour is moistened. Do Not Overmix!
Pour into a greased 8 x 8 baking pan
Bake 30-35 minutes (however, mine took almost 45) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle come out clean.

Iced In

So we have been pretty much iced in since yesterday morning. Not totally. The guys and I went out to Showmars for lunch yesterday (we were heading to the new pizza place, Amici's, but it was closed), and then to Target. It was pretty nasty and slow going. I took advantage of my status as resident female and made them drop me at doors so I wouldn't have to slog across slushy parking lots.

Showmars was dead enough that Erin was able to sit and visit with us while we ate. That was nice. We don't get to see her much when Nate's not home. Target was devoid of shrieking toddlers and their equally-shrieky mothers. And I popped into Ulta to get more foundation and blush. I hate going in there because their employees must be screened for a high level of grouchiness before they get hired. But it beats going up to Southpark to the Bare Escentuals shop.

I made brownies Friday night with a recipe I found that uses maple syrup and honey for sweetener. I then dropped in the rest of the grain-sweetened chocolate chips that I had left over from the peanut butter cookies. They have been delicious, if perhaps a bit TOO sweet, and made a delightful breakfast yesterday as well as a pre-bedtime snack last night. There is only one left. I really should shoot it and put up the recipe. I'll do that.

The "no refined sugar challenge" is working pretty well. I did snap Friday afternoon when I came home from school. Mensa Boy brought back some "extra sauer" gummy worms from the Frankfurt airport. Taylor ate some and left the rest on the counter. I love those things. With just a millesecond pause I opened up the bag, dug out a red one, and popped it in my mouth.

Grapefruit. What a waste! Serves me right, I guess.

Yogabuddy Liz wrote on her facebook page a moment ago that she is making blueberry muffins. I have a TON of blueberries in the freezer. I dug out my favorite muffin cookbook and there is a recipe in there that calls for all-fruit jam as a sweetener. It wants blueberry or grape. I have two jars of apricot. I wonder how that would taste? I'll have to think about whether I want to do that or not. They are cornbread blueberry muffins.

The vegetarian challenge is going even better. I have absolutely NO CRAVINGS for meat. I've had fish once and crab once. The tuna casserole was just "ehhh." The artichoke crab dip at Big View Diner was so artichoke-y that I couldn't even taste the crab. Last night I made salisbury steak for MB and Taylor for supper. I really didn't have anything similar to make for myself. Hmm...I didn't think of it at the time but I could have made "salisbury mushrooms." I have leftover 'shrooms in the fridge that need to be used. Well anyway, I had leftover pizza and a salad.

So that's it. Lots of resting and movie watching and book reading yesterday. I have bread in the oven this morning and probably will cook something this afternoon. The bread is wheat in the middle and white on the outside. I had an odd amount of wheat dough leftover so just "cladded" it in white.

WoYoPracMo Jan 20 Post

A Little of This, a Little of That.

I'm still doing yoga every day, even if it's only 10 minutes. But honestly, I think my minimum time is more like 20 0r 25. I think, to be honest, I'll be glad when WoYoPracMo is over because then I won't be all OCD about WRITING about it! Doing the yoga is not the issue.

"Why not just stop?" you say.

Hey. It took me 46 years to be able to put down a book I hated instead of soldiering through to the end. "Finish what you start" has always been my one big thing! I only have 10 days of WoYo blogging. I can do it.

I haven't written about the Yin weekend. And I should. I think I'm still processing it. It was pretty mind-blowing, and not really about the yin itself. It was all the other life lessons we had along the way. It was definitely more than I bargained for. Was it fun? Well, kinda. I'd say it was more "cool" than "fun."

More on that later. I'm baking up a pizza pie for my guys before heading out to yoga.