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 

Outside of Time

    Four about a month now, I have been pouring over the book Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis. There are so many ideas outside the "normal Christianity" box, that are really challenging and cause me to think long and hard about what I have believed, what I am beginning to believe, and what I see myself believing in the future.
    I hesitate to bring up ideas like this because so many people do not like their boxes to be torn apart, and I'll admit that most of the time, I am that person. If I've been taught something, whether I have done my research or not, I will hold it to be true because that is what I have always known. This is a seriously flawed way to approach a system of belief, but it is comfortable, and that is what we like.
    The idea most fresh to my mind is the that of God's place in time, or rather out of time. Being of a human mindset with an inability to fathom the idea of eternity stretching in both directions, I have always assumed that God travels through time as we do. Though I could never understand the concept of God existing forever before I got here, I nevertheless established in my mind that that fact was true and moved on to the notion that when God decided to create the world that we became a point on God's timeline that would continue with him through the rest of eternity.
    This idea causes a lot more confusion when we think about God being able to listen to every single prayer being prayed to him at the same time, and that he is able to concentrate on any single being. While God is above anything we could ever imagine and we cannot begin to understand him, which means that this idea could very well be true, I find it a lot easier to believe that God is outside of time.
    The idea of God being outside of time is another mind blower, but in my head I see it like this: many many TV screens stacked one on top of the other. God sees them and has access to them all. While on one He sees me sitting here typing this post, but on another screen he sees Steven sitting at his computer. To us, our lives our continuing in time, but to God who is outside of time it is not. He could hit the pause button on any of our screens and come back to us later while he goes to check out a starving child in Africa. Does that make sense? I hope so, because I'm about to add more.
    Now imagine, because God is outside of time, that he not only sees me typing this post right now, but he also sees me making lunch in an hour, giving birth to my first child, and my death. So it isn't that God is traveling along our timeline and can see into the past and the future, but God is currently IN the past, present and future. CRAZY!
    This also helps me to understand the idea of free will. A lot people say well if God knows what is going to happen in the future why doesn't he just stop it? Well, because it isn't in the future to Him. He is already in the future watching us make our choices. God has given us free will and at the moment he created us and gave us that ability to choose, our entire lives were already being lived out before God's eyes.
    To me, this idea adds a whole other dimension to prayer. When I pray something like "God, please keep me safe this week as I got to work," I can immediately praise Him and thank Him for doing so, because He has already done it. My prayers are immediately answered, but because I am in time, I don't get to see the answer until my week is over.
    This is only a short glimpse of one of the ideas I have been thinking about, but even just this small portion is a lot to chew on. I share this in large part for myself so that my thoughts are written and I am able to come back to read it later, but also because I hope in some way it is encouraging to you and helps you to step outside your box.. As a fellow box lover, I encourage you to step outside!
 

Easter Again?!

    Incredible. Easter 2013 is over already! I'm pretty sure I was ringing in the new year just yesterday, anyone else feel the same? Anyway, my spring break last week was wonderful, our Easter celebration was wonderful, and today it was back to the old grind-stone.
    A quick review of my spring break looks something like this:

The pile is twice this size now...

I did a lot of packing because Steven's parents are coming up this weekend to take away as much of our stuff as they can. This process is making me super antsy to go! You have been fun Chicago, but I'm ready to run into the warm bosom of Pennsylvania!

    Friday was when I finally began to have some fun. My family and Steven and I got together via Skype to decorate Easter eggs (thank you technology).

Steven's eggs

The spread

My eggs

    Easter Sunday we got up early and went to the gym for our morning workout, then we returned home for a yummy Easter breakfast consisting of braided Easter bread (which tasted like an Auntie Ann's pretzel so the of course I must share the recipe) hard boiled eggs, and tempeh bacon.

Braided Easter Bread

Vegan Braided Easter Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cup dark rye flour

2 tbs vital wheat gluten

1/4 cup raw sugar

1 tsp salt

1 package dry yeast

2/3 cup almond milk

2 tbs coconut oil (melted)

2 tbs ground flax mixed with 12 tbs water to make "eggs"

5 decorated eggs

Directions:

1) mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl 2) add all the wet ingredients. 3) knead the dough really well until it is elastic.4) Let the dough rise till it doubles in size. 5) Braid the dough into the shape you want on top of a cookie sheet. 6) Insert the eggs. 7) Let the dough continue to rise till double in size (I let mine rise overnight) 8) Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

    After breakfast we hid Easter eggs for each other. Steven's contained the peanut butter cups I made for him, and mine contained seeds, nuts and little notes. What a sweetie. Before heading off to church we snapped a few pics:

    We ended our Easter celebration with a nice little vegan dinner of mushroom tarts, grilled and seasoned potatoes, grilled asparagus, and finally a peanut butter chocolate tofu pie (I don't have a picture =( ).

Peanut Butter Tofu Pie

Ingredients:

1 cup dates

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 package of tofu

2 1/2 tbs honey

5 tbs coconut oil

5 tbs carob powder

water as needed

Directions: 

1) Melt coconut oil and mix in carob powder and 1 tbs honey. 2) pour the mixture into a pie pan and put in the freezer. 3) In a blender combine dates, peanut butter, tofu, and 1 tbs honey and a little bit of water if needed. 4) When everything is smooth and blended together, pour into the pie pan on top of the carob mixture. 5) Drizzle with remaining honey. 6) Put back into freezer until ready to eat.

    I really must end this post now before I begin salivating at the memory of such yummy food....

Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

    Easter is soon to be upon us! I do love Easter. The joyous mood is set because I am celebrating the eternal life I am able to have because of my savior. Secondly, it's of course fun to decorate eggs which I plan to do on skype with the rest of my family later today. And finally, I get to make and consume chocolate. Happy day.
    I am usually not a big Easter candy person, in fact when I lived with my parents, my Easter candy usually ended up in a box that would stay there till the next Easter when I would go to dump in more Easter candy. Yes, I was an abnormal child. Anyway, in spite of my lack of desire to eat the candy I got, there was always one little bit of goodness that I would consume on Easter morning : Homemade peanut butter eggs! Yum! This is my one Easter weakness, so, I of course set out to find a healthier way to make them that did not involve copious amounts of powdered sugar.
    Yesterday I grabbed my kindle and planted myself on the couch until I came up with a doable recipe for some form of chocolaty peanut butter goodness. After picking and choosing different ingredients from different recipes, here is what I came up with:

Healthy Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut oil (melted)

1 cup carob powder

1/4 cup + 1 tbs honey

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1 1/2 tbs nutritional yeast 

1/4 tsp salt (if your peanut butter is unsalted)

Directions:

1) Mix together coconut oil, carob powder and 1/4 cup of honey. 2) spoon into a tart pan enough of the mixture to cover the bottom and then put it in the freezer 3) Mix together peanut butter, 1 tbs honey, nutritional yeast, and salt (if using). 4) take the tart pan out of the freezer and scoop a little bit of the peanut butter mixture into the center of each piece of chocolate (carob). 5) With the remaining carob mixture, cover each blob of peanut butter. 6) put the tart pan back in the freezer. 7) when they are frozen, poke each one out with a knife and wrap each one in foil. 8) Put back into the freezer until you are ready for them.

Yummzers!

Ode to Spring

Ode to spring
We love you for the excitement you bring
And the way you make us want to sing.
Ode to spring
We have expectations of extravagant beauty
And we feel you ought to submit to this duty.
Ode to spring
But when your day comes we are so disappointed
Because you and your schedule are very disjointed.
Ode to spring
So on this first day of spring cold enough for flurries to be flying
To say that you're here would just simply be lying.
Ode to spring
On this march 21st I have shivering knees
And all that I ask, spring, is that you just hurry please.

25 Years...

    25 years ago today, two 19-year-olds made a very important promise to each other-a promise that would change their lives forever.

    They promised...

...to to give themselves away to other as a gift that could never be taken back or given to another.

...to give their bodies to each other to hold and protect as if it were their own.

...to stay true to each other when God's blessings were being poured out  and the world seemed just right.

...to stay true to each other when they had a difference of opinion, everything was going wrong, and when the world seemed hopeless.

...to stay committed when they were blessed financially.

...to stick together when the money ran out, bills couldn't be paid, and the cupboards were empty.

 ...to stay committed when the other was sick and needed care-despite the inconvenience.

...to stay commited when the other was healthy and happy.

...to love one another in a way they could love no other, in a way that isn't easy as humans with imperfections, in a way that they could only do with God's help.

...to cherish each other, for they were about to become one till death they would part.

25 years ago despite the steep obligations, these two 19-year-olds made this promise and signed up for a journey they would never forget.

25 later they have come through better and worse, sickness and health, poorer and well...less poor and they have kept their promise to stay true.

    Today on this 25 year celebration I would like to applaud my parents for the commitment that have kept to each other that has been a form of security for four blessed kids and an example that is now Much more appreciated as I approach my own anniversary-celebrating three years of wonderful marriage. Thanks mom and dad! May the journey through the next 25 be even sweeter.

 
  

Happy St. Patties Day!

    Happy St. Patrick's day everyone! Now normally I wouldn't care this holiday at all since my Irish heritage is next to none, but when you live in a very culturally diverse city, every holiday is a big deal. Plus, I do enjoy creating delightful green foods, seeing people dressed up like leprechauns(doing crazy things), and having a reason to celebrate something.
    Yesterday was the big day for partying and of course all the bars were full and people were crazy. We started this green holiday with our own healthy version of the Shamrock Shake.

Shamrock Shake (vegan)

Ingredients:

1/8 cup mint leaves

1/4 cup spinach

1 tsp vanilla

1tsp honey

1 frozen banana

1 tsp carob powder

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients together and enjoy.

    In the evening Steven and I went to a little vegan restaurant called Karyn's Cooked, which was very delicious!

Steven's taco bowl with seitan.

My eggplant Parmesan with delicious grilled bread! 

We shared a potato soup and corn bread.
(We also had a vegan pizza for an appetizer)

    We then proceeded to carry our overstuffed bodies down the road to Trader Joe's where we picked up a pint of chocolate ice cream made with coconut milk as well as a bottle of Sparkling Chardonnay Grape Juice. Our evening ended with the consumption of our yummy purchases and an episode of Gilmore Girls. It's a wonderful thing to have a husband who doesn't mind having a chick flick evening here and there.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

BBQ Shampoo

    Sometime last week Steven informed me that he and his good friend Austin, had been brainstorming the idea of teriyaki pizza. It was apparently suggested that I was a good match for the task. So, Friday evening Austin came over and we indulged ourselves with some delicious homemade teriyaki pizza.
    After this already unique experience, Steven decided that it would be a good idea to wash Austins hair with bbq sauce....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MITwjgzIH-c

Beet Chips

    Okay, it's time to reveal a truth about myself. I have always prided myself in being a lover of almost any healthy food. However, there is one vegetable that has been an exception: Beets. I have always crinkled my nose in the presence of others scooping those bloody looking pickled vegetables onto their plates. Having never been interested in the pickled version, I never explored other recipes for them.
    Last week, as you know I was doing a lot of juicing and one of the juices I made required beets. I have to be honest I wasn't a huge fan of the taste because all I could picture in my head was the nasty pickled thing, so I only drank it once. So, I had two beets left and didn't want them to go to waste so I started researching beet recipes. I ended up coming across Martha Stewart's recipe for Beet Chips. I just finished baking them and to my delight, they are delicious!
    Forgive my moment of morbidness, but I felt like a baker gone mad in a rat lab testing facility. Terribly confused? I'm pretty sure this picture says it all:

Tell me this doesn't look like bloody rat tails to you?

    Well now, after that I'm sure you are dying to eat some beet chips, right? Haha...

Beet Chips

Ingredients:

*Olive oil

*Salt

*2 beets

Directions:

(1) Chop of the the stems and the "rats tail" (2)thinly slice both beets 

(3) cover in olive oil and salt (4) bake at 350 till crispy.

City Love

Real Juice Cleanse

    Juice is a wonderful thing. I'm not talking about the "from concentrate" juices that you buy from the store that have been sitting on shelves for more than a few hours. I'm talking about juice right from the juicer, made with fresh fruits and vegetables.
 
Why fresh juice?

(1) Juice needs to be consumed right away, because unfortunately the nutrients begin to dissipate as soon as they are juiced.

(2) Store bought juice has nothing good to offer you. Think about orange juice for minute, imagine the flavor-did you know that store bought orange juice and fresh orange juice don't taste anything alike? Companies who make orange juice process it so much that it no longer deserves to be called orange juice. After sucking all the oxygen and nutrients out of it (in order to give it a long shelf life), they dump in "orange flavor" that is obviously unnatural. How does orange juice sound now?

What are the benefits of fresh juice?

(1) Lots of vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants

(1) Fresh juice cleanses the body of stored waste and toxins which interfere with proper body functions. As a result, problems that you may have had previously, such as lack of energy, lack of concentration, skin problems, hair problems, ect., would no longer exist.

    This weekend I decided to go on a little bit of a juice cleanse because I had been feeling sick with some sort of stomach bug all week. I thought some good raw juice would be a good boost for my system to get it ready for a new week. Drinking juice gives me a wonderful feeling. It's rejuvenating, like a breath of fresh air. I would recommend juicing to anyone and if you don't have a juicer-go get one! It's a great investment.
    Normally, on a juice cleanse I would only consume juice, but because I haven't eaten anything this week due to the stomach bug, I decided to juice through the day and then have dinner. Here is what I originally planned to do.

Breakfast Juice:
Kale (1 cup)
Romaine (1/2 stalk)
Spinach (1 cup)
Celery (1 rib)
Cucumber (1/2)
Green Apple (1)
Lemon (1/2)

Mid-Morning Juice:

Kale (1 cup)
Romaine (1/2 stalk)
Spinach (1 cup)
Celery (1 rib)
Cucumber (1/2)
Green Apple (1)

Lunch Juice:

Kale (1 cup)
Romaine (1/2 stalk)
Spinach (1 cup)
Celery (1 rib)
Cucumber (1/2)
Green Apple (1)
Ginger (1/2 inch piece)

Afternoon drink:
Bottle of Alkaline water (or add 1 tbs baking soda to bottle of water)
Lemon (1/2)
Cayenne Pepper (1 pinch)
Raw Agave (1 tbs)

Dinner Juice:

Kale (1 cup)
Romaine (1/2 stalk)
Spinach (1 cup)
Celery (1 rib)
Cucumber (1/2)
Green Apple (1)

Evening Drink:
Almond Milk (16 oz)
Cinnamon (1/2 tsp)
Vanilla (1 tsp)
Nutmeg (1/2 tsp)


For a full detox I would do this for three days. If the measurements I gave don't make enough to satisfy you then just make more! No biggie.

Also, if you plan to work out during your cleanse or if you just want something to boost your workout on a regular basis, try these:

Pre-workout Juice:
Beet (1)
Apple (1)
Pear (1)
Celery (1 rib)

Post-workout drink:
Almond Milk (16 oz)
Vanilla (1 tsp)
Raw agave (1 tbs)
Cinnamon (1/2 tsp)

Here's to healthy living