100

   

    100 is the number of years in a century, the number of tiles in a standard scrabble set, the number of pennies in a dollar, the number of yards in a football field, the number pounds the average woman would like to weigh, and as far as percentages go, it is a full amount. Obviously this is only a short list of the importance of the number 100, but you get the idea. One Hundred seems to be a very monumental number, so having said that, this is my 100th post!

    I feel that it is only appropriate to take a moment to thank you all for reading my blog. I really started this blog for myself because it seems so much easier to combine my thoughts, ideas, and recipes all in one place on the internet, where I know I won't lose them, as opposed to scattered all through my house or trash. However, after a while I received comments from people saying that they were reading my blog and enjoying it, so it become a little more-not only a way to organize my thoughts, but also a way to share and encourage others. 

    I love to write, it is my most comfortable form of communication. I feel like written words are so much more powerful! A lot has happened in the last two years, between several moves, a sick brother, adjusting to marriage, adjusting to city, changing jobs, and changing eating styles. I'm so glad I took the time to write down my thoughts and ideas and I'm so glad you all have taken the journey with me! I occasionally find myself reading back through posts and being encouraged by what I was learning and seeing how God was working in my life to bring to the place I am at now. 

    I hope my first 100 blogs have encouraged you, weather it was spiritual, through something I was learning or even encouraging you towards a healthy lifestyle. If not, stick around, maybe something in the next hundred will inspire you. You can follow me by clicking the "join this site" button under "followers" or you can type in your email where it says "follow by email" and you will get my blog sent straight to you whenever I post it.

  

  May the next leg of the journey begin...

Decorated Banana

    It would seem that I am still dwelling on my banana fetish and so of course a blog must follow. I am constantly trying to come up with creative and healthy snack ideas because I live with and am related to many people who feel they need to have a snack every five minutes. I'm starting to think maybe I'm the one that has a problem? Either way, it's a good thing I like culinary ventures. When my brother was visiting I made this banana concoction (does that word make it sound bad? It's really isn't...) and Steven really liked and it was super easy, so I made it a few more times as well. I think I just created a staple recipe. It chose my ingredients so as to make it look pretty-like decorating a banana

Decorated Banana

Ingredients:

Banana

Peanut butter

Honey

Dark Chocolate

Almond Meal

Ground Flax

Directions:

(1)Drizzle the peanut butter and honey on top of the banana (2) Sprinkle almond  meal, ground flax and grated dark chocolate on top. Simple, eh?

Breakfast Banana Bread

    I must admit I really enjoy cooking for other people. Not that I don't like cooking for just Steven and myself, but I think it is fun to introduce new healthy foods to people who aren't used to eating the way we do. Having said that, this week has been a fun week for cooking because I've had family hanging around since Sunday!

    Sunday evening my brother and in-laws came for dinner and I served some delicious lentil burgers with garlic aoli, greens seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice, and tomato, all served up on some yummy grilled whole wheat garlic bread! On the side we had some grilled asparagus and cantaloupe, then we finished off with a dessert of vegan/gluten free apple crisp with banana coconut ice cream-yum!

    My brother is still here and I have been feeding him and Steven some good foods to keep up their strength as we have been delving in to all sorts of projects-one of which is the construction of a kitchen island (I'll post pictures when it's finished). Yesterday morning we had some of <this> for breakfast, and it was fantastic! For dinner I made some copy-cat Panda Express Chow Mein which you can find <here>.

    Now to stray from the topic for just a moment, I have to say that I became very excited earlier this week when I purchased four bags of banana's at Aldi and the total came to something under $3. They were only .19 a pound which I thought was great, but still thought it would be real expensive in the end with tax and all that. However, after purchasing I realized, Hey, they don't tax food around here, this is fantastic! I can't wait to buy bananas again! So in short, I'm going banana's over my banana's...ha ha...ha. 

    Gearing back to my original topic, this morning I made some sweet, soft, and warm banana bread and decided to get a little creative with it for breakfast. Here is what happened:

Banana Bread Breakfast

Ingredients:

Banana Bread (I used <this> recipe, but added ground flax, oat bran, and wheat bran)

Blueberries

Strawberries

Earth Balance Butter

coconut milk foam (let a can of coconut milk sit in the fridge over night, open without shaking and scraped the foam off the top)

Directions:

1) Put a pat of butter on top of the warm banana bread and let it melt in. 2)Slice up the strawberries and arrange them on top, then drop of a few blueberries on top as well. 3) Plop a small spoonful of the coconut "whip cream" on top and wala!

New Home!

    I hear birds singing, crickets chirping, and Steven playing his trombone. What do all these things have in common? Life OUTSIDE the city! We have finally escaped (I do feel bad sometimes for putting the city down so much, but it really did feel a bit like bondage) the city.
    I am so thankful for the simple pleasure of living in nature-to be able to see animals, trees, and even bugs! I can finally have the garden I've always wanted. I think our landlords may think me a little silly, because as soon as we moved our stuff in I asked if I could make a garden and as soon as I got the OK I got right to digging!
    I have been waking up every morning to the sounds of nature, juicing myself a nice big glass of apple/plum juice, stepping outside to water my garden, and letting the day take it's course without ever knowing the time. When I'm hungry, it's time to eat and when I'm tired, it's time to sleep. It's been a wonderful week of relaxation before the summer hits.
    I mentioned earlier that Steven's trombone playing meant we weren't in the city, and this is simply because we never had a place to play instruments. We always had people living too close and getting annoyed by our music and instruments. I am so thankful that we finally have a place to play and sing as music was a big part of both our lives before marriage.
    It is truly amazing how God orchestrates our lives to bring us into the places He has for us. This house came up at just the right time and not only was it available to us, but they owners are also wonderful christian people who are happy to have us here and happy about the work we will be doing with Child Evangelism Fellowship®.
   In short, I am happy to be where I am, and extremely thankful to all those who have been praying for us throughout the move and as we transition into a new stage of life. Thank you everyone!

A few pictures of our darling little home

The view of the living room
from the fireplace.

The view of the living room from the bookshelves.

View of the bathroom from the door.

View of the bathroom from the window.

Music area of our large upstairs room.

The other half of the large upstairs room
is office space.

Looking at the back of the house from the garden.

The view from our back porch.

View from our front door.

My favorite room of the house...my kitchen!

It is a very large eat in kitchen, so this
is the other half of the room.

Bedroom

The rest of these pictures are of the guest room/game room.