She shouldn't be this cute

Do you know how hard it is to spank said cutey for being bad when she is just well...so cute? I waiver too often than I care to admit.

Question for the day

Why is it that babies will see other babies and call out "Baby!"? As if they are so much bigger and older than the other child.

Snippets

I just saw pictures of ice cream being made in an old fashioned mixer. *sigh* now I want vanilla blackberry ice cream really badly! Maybe I will attempt the "frozen dessert maker" we got as a gift. It should work right? Ice cream is a frozen dessert!

In other thoughts, I just bought a bag of Eight O' Clock coffee and really like it! I was surprised because I have been searching for a lower priced coffee that tastes good - and that's hard to do. It still is more than the Costco stuff, but it's not too bad for when you are in a pinch. I would have gotten the Costco stuff since it's less money and honestly tastes better, but I was in a pinch because I already went to Costco today and failed to buy their coffee. And everyone knows you MUST have coffee each day. At least that's what I keep telling myself...

The End

So we stopped our vegetarian diet yesterday. It had been 22 days. I was feeling like it was bad stewardship to ignore the food we already had in our freezer and spend money on other things just so we could keep on with this challenge. So, we had some chicken yesterday.

I'm really grateful for this experiment! It has taught me a lot about being creative and using other forms of protein besides meat, and learning to love vegetables. I never actually hated them, but now I can honestly say I like them a lot! One thing I never could get my taste buds to like was tofu. I tried. Honest! It just was a strange texture and had an odd after-taste. I only liked it in Pad Thai - that was because I fried it within an inch of its life!

I think we will continue to do more vegetable/legume meals, but still have meat here and there. I think it will help with our grocery budget to know I don't HAVE to buy meat each week, but if it's on sale then I can grab some. Plus I really like some kinds of meat and it would be sad if we never had them. ;)

I must go attend to my child who is spreading oatmeal everywhere. Happy Tuesday everyone!

What day is it?

Oh yes, it's day 19. :)

Today I am excited to announce that I actually ran 3 miles today!! Never thought it would be possible. Thank you Jesus for that extra push (aka. road work guys in my normal route so I had to go around).

So I made corn and chickpea patties for dinner tonight and loved them! I added a bit too much salt, but they would work great on a bun with some cheese. Yes, lots of cheese...I'd post the recipe, but I'm too tired and lazy right now.

Josh is going to a men's breakfast tomorrow morning, so I will be getting up early to make his casserole. It's not really that early since Annie wakes up around 7:30 each morning. I decided to drag my friend into the mix and wake HER up early so she could keep me company while my husband is away. I bribed her with pancakes and she graciously offered to bring Starbucks. I should bribe people with pancakes more often!

Pretty Much Amazing

So I tried this recipe today: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/spinach_rice_casserole

And it was seriously tasty! I didn't use Worcestershire, used less spinach, and added a little more chopped onion. I am going to have to arm wrestle Josh for the leftovers.

We were on Oklahoma visiting family last weekend and they tried some new recipes out on us. We liked the nut/rice loaf and the orzo salad - thanks guys! I love anything pasta, so the orzo was my especial favorite. Someday maybe Josh will take me to Italy. Here's hopin'!

Dinner

I mentioned experimenting on a chickpea curry for dinner yesterday. I found a really great recipe online, so I didn't have to do much "experimenting".
I love how the spices are all different colors.
sauteed together
all done!
I made normal rice but put tumeric in it with some peas to make it look special.

The recipe I followed is here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chickpea-Curry/Detail.aspx?prop31=1

Lunch

Here's what I had for lunch yesterday:
Veggie burger with laughing cow swiss cheese, tomato and toasted bread.
Salad with tomato and Italian dressing

Yummy!

Day 11

I finally got to try the cheese pizza recipe last night! The sad part was the crust...I made a mental note never to use Pillsbury pizza crust again. The homemade is a lot better! The rest of it was good, though. I just mixed some salt, pepper, and oregano into some tomato sauce, spread it over the crust and topped with sliced mozzarella cheese. I told Josh last night the flavor I think I am missing is Provolone. Another mental note to try that next time.

Breakfast: I had the traditional oatmeal this morning. If you every wonder how to make oatmeal please go here: It has nearly a million (not literally) oatmeal recipes that look delicious! http://www.katheats.com/kaths-tribute-to-oatmeal/

Lunch: I have been craving spinach so I think I'll make a salad along with veggie burgers.

Dinner: Going to experiment with a chickpea curry.

Indian food has been sounding amazing lately. That and french fries. After a long struggle on the drive home from an errand I almost went to McDonald's today, but resisted the urge. YAY!

Day 8

Things have been going well on the veggie home front. :) We've found that Morningstar Farms makes a great "chicken" patty for sandwiches. Yummy!

I was hoping to make either cheese pizza for dinner last night or soft tacos but was disappointed. Since our recent power outage my mozzarella died, and so did my veggie crumbles! So we made bean and cheese burritos. I made up a list of around 15 vegetarian dinners, so I am cycling through those along with other ideas that strike.

This weekend I had a serious craving for cupcakes. It must have been from the baby shower I attended. I had to leave early with Annie, since she was starting to get squirmy. Anyway, I found some cute little mini ones that were perfect!

Day 4

This day was a little late in getting posted, since our power was out. We had a huge thunderstorm all night and made us take shelter in the bathtub a couple times when the tornado alarm went off. Exciting!


Breakfast = Cereal

Lunch - Cheese pizza and Caesar salad.

Dinner - Omelettes with cheese, mushrooms and spinach. We also had some bread and strawberries with cool whip. Yummy!


I thought I might have to eat the entire contents of the fridge today in order to save our food - but the power came back on in time for lunch saving me from gaining more weight.

Day 3

Yesterday I changed my mind last minute about dinner and made cheese enchiladas instead. I mean, really last minute. Josh was due to arrive in 15 minutes along with my sister for dinner. It's fun being a stay at home mom and confusing your poor family with rather sporadic behavior. ;)

Today's plan is:

Breakfast - Josh had cereal and tea, I had some oatmeal with walnuts and brown sugar.

Lunch - The amazing taco salad. Josh hasn't tried it yet and I want to indoctrinate him.

Dinner - Veggie burgers! With potato salad and green beans.


I didn't want to eat breakfast this morning. For some reason if I don't eat soon enough after getting up I stop wanting to eat altogether and just drink coffee. Then I get really hyper and irritable and wonder why. I heard a distant voice belonging to my mother (or is it the health conscious media?) that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I buckled under pressure at got some yummy oatmeal.

The Salad

This is the taco salad I made for lunch yesterday. It was really quite good! I will definitely make it again soon.

Day 2 of Veggies!

I wanted to note that I am tracking how much protein, carbs, calories etc. I am getting - in case anyone wondered. Also, I do have snacks during the day which consist mainly of fruit or a granola bar. Josh is not tracking these things, but since I'm cooking for him I figure he's got a good chance of getting enough of what he needs!

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with brown sugar and walnuts. I absolutely love oatmeal with coffee in the morning!

Lunch:
Egg salad sandwiches with baby carrots

Dinner:
Most likely bean and cheese burritos with some type or two of vegetable.


Last night I made up a list of meals I could make and came up with quite a few! It's amazing how many things you can eat without meat added.

Day 1

Today our family is starting 30 days of being vegetarians. We won't go vegan, just will not eat meat including fish. It's not that I have something against eating meat, but it sounded like a fun challenge and generally healthy (If I can keep myself from eating lots of ice cream). I will post the meals we have each day here on this blog in case anyone is curious. If you have any ideas or good recipes please feel free to comment!

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with brown sugar (Josh does not eat breakfast generally, but when he does it is cereal)

Lunch:
Taco salad with salsa, black beans, cheese, veggie crumbles and rice cake "chips".

The chips are made by Quaker and are pretty good. I'm not usually a chip person, but every now and then the mood strikes me. Also the veggie crumbles are supposed to be like ground beef. I like the Morningstar Farms brand of veggie products but will probably branch out and try other stuff.

Dinner:
Spaghetti, bread, and salad



So it begins!

Ninja

My husband left yesterday to attend his grandfather's memorial service. He is driving through the night with his sisters (still on the road) to make it on time.

Back at the ranch - I mean home - we are enjoying some girly outings and plan on visiting my sister.

Now I leave you with a funny picture...

Spring all year

I was looking at one of my potted plants this morning. The first thing you have to realize is that me having even one potted plant that is still alive is a small miracle.

This particular plant I received as a gift when my daughter was born 8 months (has it really been that long?) ago. It's a succulent type plant (I think that's what they are called anyway) with beautiful little white flowers. It sat on my china shelf in the kitchen, brightening the room with it's lime green pot and white flowers. Then the trouble started.

I forgot to water it half the time. Then I would remember and flood the poor thing with a mini-monsoon. The white flowers eventually fell off except for one or two. The branches slowly died one at a time. It was near the "all-dead" mark being categorized as Miracle Max's "mostly dead". I had very little hope that the remaining branch would survive, but thought to give it a try anyway. The plant was placed by a window in the warm sun by the sink. Since I do dishes at least twice a day I see it all the time, so it tends to get watered more often. The dead branches were removed and coffee grounds were added to the soil to aid in nourishment. For a long while I saw no improvement. Then yesterday I noticed how much it had grown! It still was attached to that dead main "trunk", but it was steadily growing and putting out leaves.

Isn't that what the Lord does with us? When we come to Him, He takes us from our shelved and near dead state and brings us into the warm sun of His presence. He removes the dead branches, waters us with His Spirit and nourishes us with His Word. If we stayed stuck on the shelf, trying on our own to grow and produce flowers we would continue to die. We need the Lord's life giving presence, Spirit and Word.

I've got the joy...

It's amazing what a little sleep does to a person! The world will seem empty, meaningless and depressing - add a little sleep and it helps one's perspective immensely. That and prayer. I think that is what actually made me feel better more than the sleep. If I hadn't prayed what I did no amount of sleep would make me feel better.

I think it interesting that so often I find myself expecting my outward circumstances to make me feel happy or better or okay, but really those things happen when I choose to trust the Lord and lay at His feet my burdens. He is the secret to a good and joyful life no matter the circumstance.

This verse was brought to my attention a few weeks ago: "In Your presence is fullness of joy" ~ Psalm 16:11b