Friday, March 30, 2012

Daniel Fast day 13

Last nights dinner was finally a good one. I had complained to a vegetarian friend about some of the recipies I tried, and my general not knowing what to make on this fast. She gave me a few of her favorite recipies. So last night I made open faced falafel burgers. Andrew and I already had a similar recipie that we like on tortilla wraps, and this one was pretty good too. I might have made my patties too thick so they were gooey in the middle, and since I ate it on a lettuce wrap and not a pita my fingers were getting all beany and saucey which I don't really like. But it was tasty. (I think I prefer the other recipie, but it was worth a try)


And since I am a dessert lover, I made some 'icecream'. Loosely based on this recipie. (This recipie looks really good, but I can't have chocolate chips yet.) Anyway, what I did was use my food processor to blend up two frozen bananas, two spoonfulls of natural pb, a bit of almond milk, and a big spoon of cocoa powder. You can taste the banana, but it is pretty tasty!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Daniel Fast day 11

Last night I made Rice & Cabbage Casserole. My mother-in-law makes super tasty cabbage rolls so I thought I'd like it. Not quite the same. The other thing too this blog lady says 'when you feel lazy make a casserole'... um, ok, I had to boil rice separately, chop and steam cabbage, blend up tomatoes, saute the onions, and then simmer in a sauce before finally putting it in the casserole dish and baking for 20 minutes. What was lazy about that!?! And what was lazy about having 5-6 separate pots to wash? Craziness.

Speaking of craziness. When I drove to book club at my friend's last week I started seeing things splatter on my windshield. I wondered if it was raining. It didn't last long, and the next morning, by the light of day I saw this:


Hundreds of teeny flies died as I drove to book club. The next day they were so crusty. I was at another friend's house and her husband came and scraped them off with a piece of wood. But they still left black spots behind and I haven't wanted to get out there with a sponge. Yuck! Hopefully it will rain soon!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Daniel Fast day 8

I've been so bad at cooking this last week. I had a cold all week. One day my 'meals' consisted of a bowl of oatmeal, some prunes and a spoon of natural pb. Not quite the well rounded meal plan. But since I mostly laid on the couch sleeping entire day, I think it was ok.

The next day I made this Jamaican Chili. I'm not sure what made it "Jamaican" maybe because it had parsley in it? It was ok, might be better if you like parsley more than I do.


This Daniel fasting has been hard! I'm a pretty healthy cook, and go vegetarian quite often, but there seems to be a big difference between vegetarian and vegan, which is pretty close to this Daniel fast. Anyway, a week and a half left and the concentrating on God part has been good.

So in the beginning of the month my mom stopped by my work to deliver me these flowers


I was having a particularly hard day and she just wanted to give me some flowers to cheer me up. And told me to look at the flowers and be reminded how much she loves me, and more so, how much God loves me. Which of course teared me up. I love my mom. They were on my desk at work for a whole week, and then lasted another almost 2 weeks at home on the table! It was a nice reminder.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Daniel Fast day 2

My church is doing the Daniel Fast for the 21 days before Easter. (the one from the Bible where Daniel tells the king he wants to eat fruits and veggies instead of the king's food, and then he's healthier than everyone else) Our church wants to do it to experience God more in our own lives and in our church.

So last night I make the black bean stir-fry which included a recipie for your own tortilla chips! I was all excited. Until I took it out of the oven. She said to use an ungreased baking sheet, so I did, but I pretty much had to chisel these 'chips' off the pan. Most broke off in tiny dime size pieces and I even had a few grains of cornmeal fly off and land in my eye. Ouch! I had to run to the bathroom for a saline rinse. That recipe had a note that blog lady's husband said it was his favorite daniel fast recipie, and it made me think, it's going to be a long 3 weeks. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't that great. The avocado was the best part.

For dessert I did make something tasty. Food processed a frozen banana with a scoop of natural pb and a scoop of cacao powder, and a bit of almond milk. You can for sure taste the banana-ness, but it was icecream like, and pretty good.

Last night I was driving home and saw something strange. A guy and girl were running, and had a dog on a leash, but there was another fluffy furry thing in the girls arms. I was straining to look and I think it was another tiny dog tucked under her arm! I just felt bad for that dog because it was being swung and jostled with every step, it was strange. I have seen weird things on that road though. One night I saw a girl leading a horse down the sidewalk, and this is NOT the country, it is city, right off the highway, I had no clue where they were going. But it was amusing.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

"cat"

This picture makes me laugh so hard.


Does this signmaker really not know this is an opposum?!? So funny, his mouth open in a shrieking hiss and she says he's "not friendly". Of course not! He's a wild animal. Hilarious.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Personality Test

I did one of those quizzes online today and it said:

Your personality type: "Good-natured Realist"

Quiet, kind and conscientious. Can be depended on to follow through. Usually puts the needs of others above their own needs. Stable and practical, they value security and traditions. Well-developed sense of space and function. Rich inner world of observations about people. Extremely perceptive of other’s feelings. Interested in serving others.

Careers that could fit you include:

Interior decorators, designers, nurses, administrators, managers, secretaries, child care/early childhood development, social work, counselors, paralegals, clergy, office managers, shopkeepers, bookkeepers, homemakers, gardeners, clerical supervisors, curators, family practice physicians, health service workers, librarians, medical technologists, typists.

I'm not sure I'm all that "richly observant of others", I can sometimes perceive how other people feel, but I prefer them to tell me. Much easier and clear that way! I did think it was a good sign that the job I have: paralegal and the job I want: nurse are supposed to be good fits for me.

Anyway, with St. Paddy's Day coming up I would love to make this cake I found a year or so ago online


It looks so cool! But alas, it also looks like so much work! And we never celebrate that holiday, even though I am 1/8 Irish. Or was it 1/16. Pretty small. It does look super neat though. Who are these people who have hours to spend cake baking!?!?

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

BSF

BSF aka Bible Study Fellowship

so while I am working a somewhat flexible, hourly paid job, I thought I would take advantage of that and attend a women's bible study group that meets in the mornings. There were so many women there! I wondered how they were so lucky they didn't have to be at work, but who knows, maybe they had to go right after like I did too.

Anyway, I am excited for the study. I was raised Christian, and have made that my choice for my adult life as well, but have never really been that good about studying my Bible. So I'm hopeful that this class will teach (and encourage) me how to do that. You meet every week and every BSF class (in the entire world!) is studying the same passage and has the same questions. I think that is really cool. So you have the class for the first hour, and then a large group sermon on the next week's chapters. Then you have assignments readings/more questions for the next week.

Two of my book club friends attend, and another friend from InterVarsity. So that is really nice. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to go to the morning classes, but for now carpe diem!

For anyone interested you can find a location near you- www.bsfinternational.org

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

First Run

Yesterday after work the sun was shining, and I had slept in and missed my morning workout, so I decided to go for a run. I'm not that crazy about where we live for running, no park trails, or anything interesting to look at, but off I went. I think I ran about 25 minutes and it was good! I'm not actually sure because my watch broke, but I survived the first run of the year :)

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Meals of Late

This week I made my menu as usual before grocery shopping. For some reason I always plan Sunday thru Thursday and then I lose interest or run out of ideas, so by the time Friday comes around I'm scrounging in the leftovers and to see what else remains in the fridge/pantry. I don't know why this happens! I usually have more time to cook on the weekends, but less desire.

Anyway, I tried a few recipies that I ripped out of a Real Simple waiting room magazine.

Monday I made Turkey Sloppy Joes. I liked this recipie because it didn't use canned sloppy joe sauce that is always filled with high-fructose corn syrup. These were pretty tasty, altho I do like the taste of canned sauce too.

Tuesday I did dinner in the crock pot Smoky Beef and Bean Chili. This was just ok. You had to use a bottle of lager beer and I felt like that was all I could taste. Not too crazy about that.

Wednesday I did another crock pot recipie Soy Glazed Chicken with Stir Fry Vegetables this one was pretty good. A bit hard to judge because both of us got home late and it had cooked for 14 hours instead of 8. Whoops! Plus I use chicken breasts instead of thighs so it was kind of dry. But pretty good. I just love the recipe for chinese stir fry that we use already. And you still have to cook rice, fry the veggies, so it doesn't really save much time to use the crockpot.

Tonight I'm planning on Butter Chicken, always a favorite, and then tomorrow I'll try that Chicken Enchilada Pasta. But I feel a bit recipie depressed, you always think 'this one's going to be the new fave!' and then it's just ok. Oh well! Back to the drawing board.