Christmas Bliss

          A snowy Sunday afternoon cuddled up in a blanket with Steven next to my twinkling Christmas tree is how I have contentedly spent my afternoon. We have been running here and there so much lately that doing absolutely nothing but wallow in contentment is pure bliss. 

          So far, this Christmas season has already been full of fun and family as we have spent many weekends back home for various activities. However, right now I am happy to be home and enjoying my own little Christmas wonderland.

A Vegan Thanksgiving

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo......uh, I haven't blogged in a while....whoops. My Thanksgiving was great! How bout yours? I started my holiday season off on Friday the 23rd by decorating for Christmas and then I made a delectable little Thanksgiving dinner for Steven and myself. to consume. with our mouths...and now I'm hungry and kind of want peanut butter. RANDOM. I'm feeling incredibly random right now. Ignore this. This was my first Vegan thanksgiving and I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out. I know for a lot of people it probably seems like a daunting task to make vegan foods that will measure up to the traditional holiday delicacies-but really it isn't a problem! I made large portions for our little dinner because when we were finished I put the leftovers in the fridge and then took them to my other two Thanksgiving dinners with family. Below are a few of my holiday dishes that I ate all weekend long (and didn't get tired of them)...

Our Vegan Feast

Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole (I left out the earth balance
butter because it wasn't necessary)

Vegan Green Bean Casserole (Super yum!!!!!)

Gardein Holiday Roast (Fantastic meat replacement!)

Vegan Stuffing (I made mine without the oil and used Ezekiel bread)

Cauliflower potato mash. This is a great lower fat version of mashed potatoes.
There is no sacrifice in this version because you still get that chunky homemade mashed
potato feel.

Ingredients:
1 Head of Cauliflower
2 Potatoes
Salt

Directions:
1)Steam cauliflower until it is super soft. 2) Boil potatoes until they are super soft as well.
3) Blend the cauliflower in a blender. 4) Mix the potatoes in a mixer and slowly add in the pureed cauliflower.
5) Sprinkle in your desired amount of salt.

It makes nice moist "potatoes" with no milk or butter!

Don't worry, I didn't forget about dessert. For my dessert I made a Vegan Pecan Pie (but I used a GF crust instead of the raw crust) and a Tofu Pumpkin Pie (I used a GF pie crust for this one as well)

Mmmmm Hummus

I love hummus. I'll it in a bowl with spoon or with veggies or pita chips or any other reasonable combination-it is an amazing food! I feel like I am always craving this creamy spread-I could be midway through a chocolate chip cookie and I'd still be interested in changing over my taste buds to consume a bit of hummus. Today for lunch I concocted a mouth-watering combination that I'm sure to try again soon.

Open Faced Hummus Sandwich

Hummus Ingredients:

1/2 can Garbanzo beans (Chick Peas)

1 tbs lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

water

Directions:

This is a lower fat hummus when you leave out the oil, so if you were wondering, that is why it isn't there.

1) Blend all the ingredients together and add water as needed to make it smooth

Sandwich Ingredients:

Hummus (previously made)

1/2 red pepper

1 slice of Ezekiel bread (or whatever whole grain bread you choose)

Capers

Directions:

1) Cook peppers in a frying bad with a bit of water until soft

2) Spread hummus on your slice of bread

3) Top with roasted red peppers and capers

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

In light of the quickly approaching Thanksgiving, I will post a this tasty little breakfast treat. Its wholesome, slow burning (so you won't get hungry mid morning), energizing, and not to mention equipped with sweetness to satisfy those who just can't stray to far from that box of frosted or sugar pumped cereal.

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup water

1/4 tsp pumpkin spice

1 tsp honey

1 tbs peanut butter

1/2 tsp flax seeds

Directions:

1) Heat oats and water in the microwave for 2 minutes

2) Mix in the rest of the incredients

Today I am Thankful

Every November my Facebook feed is brimming with the "what I'm thankful for, countdown to Thanksgiving". I love to see what people are thankful for and to be honest, I like to be impressed with the fact that people actually find things to be thankful for. As soon as Thanksgiving passes, my Facebook feed once again fills up with complaints and depressing song lyrics. Anyway, the point of this post is not to rant

about Facebook, but rather to say that I am not a "thankful only in November" kind of person. No, this is also not a woohoo look at me post, just hang in there. What I mean is that I wake up every morning of the year and thank God for all the good He has blessed me with. I thank Him for an amazing husband who loves me, a loving family who raised me, a great church family, a house, a car, food, health, ministry and anything else that comes to mind. However, it's not often that I wake up and say thank you for the things I don't like in life. This morning I was studying my lesson for Good News Club (a children's Bible club that I teach in one of our public schools) and it was a lesson on thankfulness. The story was about a boy who moved away from everything he knew and loved. In the end of the lesson he learned to say "thank you" for the place God had put him in. Though it may seem repulsive to give thanks for the things we hate the most in life, it is pleasing to God and we may find that the more we thank Him, the less terrible those things may seem. So today I am thankful for both the good and the bad. "In everything Give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."-1 Thessalonians 5:18

Scary Food

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot! That was the sound I made yesterday when I finished the two classes I have been taking for the past couple months. So for those of you who were wondering where I've been, well, just imagine a dimly lit attic room with empty cans of seltzer water leading to a futon where a disheveled girl is sitting among books and strewn about papers while furiously typing on an overheated laptop. Yeaaaaaaah…that’s where I've been. Now that I have emerged from that world I am ready to get back to a bit a blogging.

                A few days ago I watched a film called Food Inc. and I had my eyes opened to a world that I

knew was there, but didn't understand. I know I can’t do it justice by simply explaining it so I would recommend watching it yourself, but it deals with the subject of mainstream food and how unhealthy it is and how it is produced. To be honest, it is quite scary to see what goes into your food. The film talks about how we think there is so much to choose from in the grocery store, but really there are only a few producing companies that own everything. They choose what goes into your food and quite frankly, it isn't good. Mostly it is corn that has been genetically altered to make all kinds of things.

                I think it is funny how there are all these initiatives to make America healthier so they tell us to eat more fruits and vegetables. While those things are good, most of our fruits and vegetables have been genetically modified and sprayed with chemicals that don’t agree with our bodies and therefore more diseases are born and American health continues to go down the drain.

                The film deals largely with animals, the way they are treated, and the meat that comes from them. I don’t disagree with eating meat, but the way the animals are treated truly is wrong. “Whoever is righteous has regard for his beast” (Proverbs 12:10). We are allowed to eat animals, but we are not allowed to torture them and make their lives miserable till death.

                There is just so much wrong with the way our food is produced and I have determined not to support it. Despite the larger cost of organic food, I have decided that this is what I will purchase. If it saves me from immune dysfunction, insulin disorders, organ damage, infertility, allergies, toxins, disease, nutritional problems and hey, even death…it’s worth it.

                I know that this life is not all about food, but it is about becoming Christ-like and living in a way that would please Him. “To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from,’ ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life’” (Genesis 3:17). Mans punishment is difficulty growing food, and no amount of genetic modification is going to eradicate that punishment. Obviously it is only adding problems as we get sicker and sicker by trying to get out of the punishment. I want to take care of my body by eating things that are good for it so that I will have many healthy years to serve my Savior.

When you go the drug store you don’t just pick out any old drug to treat your symptoms because that could fatal! You have to know the ingredients to know if it is going to help you. In the same way, we need to be aware of the ingredients in our food because there are many chemicals in them that will harm us rather than help us. I’m not judging you if you don’t eat organically. It is expensive and I may not always be able to afford it either, but when I can I will. Just be aware of what it going into your body.

Corn Bread Stuffed Acorn Squash

    I always do a little happy dance inside when I am able to take a food that Steven is not a huge fan of and make it into something he could take seconds of. One of those foods happens to be acorn squash. I personally love it all coated with coconut oil and maple syrup or honey, but he one the other hand is content to eat it once every blue moon.
    Well it's squash season once again and I had a few acorn squash sitting in the back of my fridge waiting to be consumed. Finally, today I had a recipe come together in my head which included those delectable sweet fleshed squash. Here is what happened:

Corn Bread Stuffed Acorn Squash

Corn Bread Ingredients

1 Cup cornmeal

1 Cup flour

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1/2 Cup Raw Sugar

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Soy Milk

2 Tablespoons ground flax mixed with 6 tablespoons water (egg replacement)

1/2 Cup Earth Balance Butter

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and store in the fridge

Squash Ingredients

2 Acorn Squash

2 Tablespoon Coconut Oil

2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

Directions

1) Cut the acorn squash in half and scrape out the seeds  2) Fill a crock pot with about 1 inch of water 3) Put the acorn squash in the crock pot 4) Divide the Coconut oil and maple syrup evenly and place in each acorn squash 5) Cook on low for five hours or high for 2 hours or until the squash is soft 6) Fill squash halves with corn bread batter. 7) Cook at 400 degree for 15 minutes or until cornbread is cooked through. 

Optional Toppings

Toasted walnuts

Maple Syrup

Super yum!

Animal Frenzy

    Finally, a moment to breathe! I have been up to my ears in work these past few weeks, so leisurely activities have not played a role in my life lately. At the end of August Steven and I started some online classes for Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF) and that paired with actual ministry, meetings, and retreats has kept us pretty busy. However, I do love keeping busy, so I can't complain ;).
 
 On a different note, I am fairly convinced that nature is out to get me. Here is my proof:

1) One activity that I have managed to squeeze to my daily routine is running. I run a mile and a half every morning and occasionally lift some weights. So this morning I rolled out of bed, put on my sneakers and started running down through the neighbors orchard. When I got close to the barn I heard the cows going crazy, it was evident that were upset about something, but I figured eh, doesn't bother me any, so I kept running. Then I heard a rustling noise in the cornfield right beside me and I looked to my right and not five feet from me was a black bear! Ok, so I've always heard you don't run away from a black bear, so I wasn't going to do that. However, no one ever said you couldn't slowly back away from one, so I did. Thankfully he was content to munch on his corn instead of my head, but I'd still rather not have that happen again.

2) When we first moved to the area I was running back the same path and I heard loud, heavy, running footsteps behind me. I turned around and I was being chased by an angry mother cow. Apparently her and her calf had managed to get out out of the barn and I didn't see them and somewhere along the line she thought I got too close.

3) Reason number two happened two more time....

4) Also, while running I encountered some dogs running around in the field, thankfully they were content to just stare me down and not eat my legs.

5) While biking I had a large group of dogs run after me for a good quarter of a mile. It was not a fun time.

6) While I was still living in Chicago I had this tiny little dog who was somehow always outside (not in a fence or on leash) and it would come and bite my heels. Again, not a fun time.

Or maybe I'm like Doctor Dolittle and have a lot of animal fans...

At any rate, if you wouldn't mind sending a message to all you pets for me, tell them to tone down excitement a little bit and I'm not signing any autographs if they bite my heels!

Living for Another Life

    I have frequently been finding myself running a certain verse of scripture through my head. It is one of those challenging scriptures that you have to remind yourself of everyday lest you forget altogether. The passage I am referring to is is Matthew 6:21-22, which says "For where your treasure is there will your heart be also. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."
    This has increasingly been brought to my mind with our recent move and slight increase in income. It is so tempting to go crazy and buy all kinds of stuff and spend all my time making the house nicer and building and ect.. I have to stop and remind myself that my treasure cannot be found anywhere on this earth, but is stored up in heaven. Whatever I build for myself on this earth will only last for an incredibly short time and only brings temporary happiness.
    I desperately want to exert my energies into eternal rewards. This life is so distracting! Though it is a daily battle, I will continue to strive towards building my Fathers kingdom, serving Him, pleasing Him, and making sure it is my sole focus.

Reaping the Harvest

    The first day I met the family I was going to nanny for in Chicago, I went to their house for dinner. Despite the fact that I was a ball of nerves because I wasn't actually sure if I had the job yet (though I found out later I did and it was just a come and meet us dinner), I managed to relax over a delicious meal of corn on the cob, chicken and a really good salad. I'm not entirely sure what all was in the salad anymore or what dressing it had, I just remember it was really good and it had fennel in it (which is something I had never had before, but quickly fell in love with). Needless to say fennel started appearing in my grocery shopping list.
    Anyway, while we were eating dinner she had mentioned something about being part of a program where you get fresh produce sent to your house in a box every week or couple weeks (I don't remember exactly how often). I remember thinking that was a really cool option for those living in the city. Not really having the funds to do something like that myself, I usually resorted to shopping at one of the various farmers markets hosted around the city, which was fun for me, but not always convenient.
    When I started nannying I noticed a cook book laying open on their counter top and became intrigued by the uniqueness of it. It was called Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables. It is a really cool cookbook organized by season. It has stories and information all about the different fruits and vegetables that come out in each season and then of course recipes. I was interested in the cookbook in the first place because I thought if whatever was in it was as good as what she served for dinner then I was going to be hooked! Sure enough, I was. I went home and bought the book for myself on my kindle and exhausted many the recipes in it.
    Though I enjoyed being able to cook with fruits and vegetables from the farmers market, I was always wishing I could grow my own plants and be a part of the entire process. There is something very satisfying about serving foods that you raised and cooked. Well God surely knows the desires of my heart because He brought us to a place in the country and gave us landlords who are very into growing things (they have an orchard, a corn field, a big garden, and all kinds of berry bushes). I asked if I could plant a garden and they loved the idea and even helped me till it! I think I wrote somewhere before that they probably thought I was a little silly planting a garden before my house was unpacked, but I was so excited to get a garden going!
    So now here I am a month and a half later reaping the harvest. I have been pulling tomatoes out for a couple weeks now, but today I harvested some zucchini, yellow squash, and radishes as well! I should also mention that I have been blessed with generous neighbors who have let me pick all I want from their cherry tree and raspberry bushes, so I have fruit in plenty as well. I am certainly a blessed little lady, and I am very thankful.

Reaping the harvest is a wonderful thing!

   

Summer Sushi Bowl

    I love sushi. For years I hated it and then one day my taste buds grew up and realized it is quite delicious. Of course now that I'm vegan, I'm that weirdo that sits there at the Chinese restaurant poking out half the ingredients, but it's still quite tasty. The sweet rice combined with the seaweed and the crunch of veggies-it's lovely.
    Anywho, I've made my own sushi on several occasions because it is really inexpensive and it makes a nice light meal. However, this last time I tried to make it, I used brown rice which really didn't work because it never got sticky. If you have ever tried making sushi before you know that without sticky rice, it's a lost cause. Not wanting to give up on that wonderful sushi taste, I decided to make a "sushi bowl". Upon completion I realized it's a nice quick alternative for when I don't have time to make a bunch of rolls (because it is quite time consuming). It is also a great summer food for when you just need to eat something cool and refreshing.

Sushi Bowl

Ingredients:

2 cups Brown Rice

2 tbs Vinegar (whatever you choose) I used white vinegar

Cucumber

Nori sheets

2 tbs honey (it calls for sugar, but I use honey)

1 tbs salt (I used sea salt)

Cucumber

Coleslaw Bag mix (aka cabbage, red cabbage and carrots)

Directions:

(1)Make rice like you would for the sushi, something like <this>. (2) put a nori sheet in the bottom of your bowl. (2) Fill the nori sheet with rice. (3) Mix in coleslaw mix. (4) Top with matchstick sized cucumber. (5) Rip up a nori sheet and sprinkle it over top. You can eat this alone or serve it up with some <homemade spring rolls>.

Homemade Spring Rolls

    Towards the end of our time in Chicago (or rather Cicero), we started eating at this little Chinese take out place across the street. We had always walked by it and said we should try it sometime, but there are so many restaurants in Chicago that the tiny little take out place just never seemed all that exciting. However, when the countdown to our departure started and we began packing and the house was a mess and chaotic and I no longer felt like cooking because of the disastrous condition of my kitchen, the little take out place regained it's appeal.
    I must admit that this particular little take out place became a mainstay for our apathetic movers syndrome.   After that first time we fell in love. They had this biggest and most delicious egg rolls I think i have ever had. I'm sitting here drooling over my computer at the memory (it doesn't help that it's lunch time and I have no access to food).
    Now that I have expressed my love of Chinese and egg rolls, lets get to the point. Egg rolls are really not that hard to make, so I've made them on several occasions. I guess I mine are actually spring rolls, because I don't add egg, but spring rolls are just as yummy.

Homemade Spring Roll

Wrapper Ingredients:

2 cups flour (I usually use a combination of whole wheat white and whole wheat flour)

Vegan "egg" (1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with two tablespoons of water)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup ice water

Olive oil for coating

Directions:

(1) Mix all the ingredients together. (2) Roll it out thin and flat. (3) Cut into equal sized square pieces.

Filling Ingredients:

It's simply a bag of coleslaw mix.

Directions:

(1)Place a good sized pinch of the coleslaw mix into the center of each wrapper. (2) Fold in the sides and roll. (3) Coat each roll in olive oil. (4) Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.

    I found a really yummy sauce at Trader Joe's called "Sweet Chili Sauce" which is really good to dip them in. It's a bit spicy unlike duck sauce, but it's quite yummy. It also pairs well with my Sushi Bowl recipe which you can find <here>.

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.

Eggplant Sandwich

    Ok, seriously, this whole warm weather/cold weather thing is giving me whiplash! I started this past week playing in a blow up pool, eating popsicles, and getting sun burns. Three days later I walked to work dressed like an Eskimo. This is not ok, spring-not OK!
    Anyway, while I was still enjoying the warmth of the first half of my week I spent time dreaming of fresh vegetable sandwiches. Having said that, the meal plan for the week turned out very light, fresh, and springy, despite the sudden change in weather.
    One of my favorite sandwiches to make is: An Egg Plant Sandwich! It. Is. Amazing. I would have liked to make it on the grill, but since the weather wasn't cooperating I just used my oven, so keep that in mind.

Eggplant Sandwich

Ingredients (for one sandwich):

1 large slice of eggplant cut in half

1/3 piece of baguette cut in half lengthwise

2 slices of tomato

1/4 avocado

2 leaves of lettuce

2 red pepper rings

1/2 small onion sliced into rings

olive oil

garlic salt

oregano

Italian seasoning

3 slices of cucumber

Directions:

1) coat both half of eggplant, tomato,onion, and red pepper in olive oil, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning

2) Drizzle olive oil over the inside of the baguette, and top with oregano and garlic salt

3) Place all the prepared ingredients on a baking sheet and put in the oven at 350 for about ten minutes (or until the bread is toasted and the veggies are soft)

4)Spread avocado over one side of the baguette the place all the remaining ingredients inside and there you have it!

My Friend, the Grill

    Last week spring showed up for a couple days and it was sunny and semi-warm, so in a flurry of excitement I bought every grillable vegetable I could find and busted out my summer companion. Unfortunately I was only being teased with feeling of spring and it quickly turned cold and rainy. However, my trusty ol' grill agreed to continue helping me cook up the vegetables I had hastily purchased.
 

I chopped up some strawberries and pineapple and tossed t
hem in with some blackberries as a nice refreshing side to our  grilled goodies.

And for the pain course we had grilled corn covered in olive oil, garlic salt and paprika.
Next we had some grilled asparagus, covered in olive oil  and garlic salt.
Finally we had some brown rice which we cooked several different ways throughout the week:
1) I mixed it with chickpeas, garlic salt, and nutritional yeast
2) Just plain old rice
3) Fried rice with onion, olive oil, sesame oil, and soy sauce

Dear Spring,

 you better come before summer takes your chance away.

                                              Sincerely,

                                                          An Admirer